SW014 – the Art of Murder

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The Art of Murder - Art by Rick Forberg

artwork by Rick Froberg.

This record was written and mostly arranged leisurely between November 7th, 2014 and March 7th 2015 by Conan Neutron. Tracks were given final arrangements and recorded at Sound of Sirens studio in Sun Valley, CA between May14th-18th, 2015 by Toshi Kasai. Mixing was done at Sound of Sirens between June 12th- July 28th. 2015 by Toshi Kasai.

Mastering was done at Chicago Mastering Company by Bob Weston: September 2015

Art and layout by Rick Froberg

This record was directly inspired by the Hannibal Lecter series of books by Thomas Harris. Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal and the fascinating interpersonal dynamics between the characters within. As well as some of the other associated material around the characters of said stories. Certain phrases are cited in the lyrical content and are done so with the utmost respect and admiration.

Thanks to Lindsey Neutron, Stephanie Vogt, Jordan Sobolew, Michael Marchant, Erica Strout, Lindsey Charles, Kevin Burkett and the Electrical Guitar Company and to all of the rest of the Friends of the Neutron out there. Secret, explicit or otherwise.

www.neutronfriends.com

SW014 – Seismic Wave Entertainment. 2016

All songs © Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Sharealike 3.0 unported (CC BY-NC-SA3.0)
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ 

credits

released May 1, 2016

Engineering/Production: Toshi Kasai
Vocals/Guitar: Conan Neutron
Bass: Tony Ash
Drums: Dale Crover
Additional Synth/Organ and Strings: Conan Neutron
Additional Vocals on Avid Fan and Chair of Antlers: Buzz Osborne
Additional Vocals on Eat the Rude and Chair of Antlers: Tony Ash
Additional Harmony Vocals on Quid Pro Quo and The Doctor Will See You Now: Dana Poblete
Additional Percussion and Vocals: Toshi Kasai
Additional Percussion: Dale Crover

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Protons and Electrons: Atom 1 – Litany of Grievances / Trophy Wives – TomorrowlandProtons and Electrons: Atom 1 – Litany of Grievances / Trophy Wives – Tomorrowland

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Hello! This is “A Litany of Grievances” the new single from Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends (Me: guitar/Vocals, Tony Ash: Bass, Dale Crover: Drums). This is Atom 1, the first volume of a 12 volume series called “Protons and Electrons”. Each Protons and Electrons volume features a great band on the B-side that either plays in Secret Friends, Records with Secret Friends or has some heavy relevance to how Neutron Friends came to be. In this case the other band is TROPHY WIVES, their first release in quite some time. Trophy Wives features the low end majesty of Mr. Tony Ash. Tony and I were label mates with previous bands and toured on multiple occasions. If I am the brain of the Secret Friends, he is absolutely the heart. It would probably exist without him, but I wouldn’t want it too. As per always the incredible Toshi Kasai is in the producer’s chair on this one, engineering and mixing as well, and in this case Cristy Joy provided some excellent background vocals.

The B-Side song: Trophy Wives – “Tomorrowland” was always a favorite of mine live, and it’s a pleasure to have it associated with this series. It’s an ass kicker.
Bob Weston of Chicago Mastering Company mastered and cut the lacquer.

This 7” is available for immediate purchase at $8 each, each one comes in a limited edition hand screened jacket by Christopher Williams of Plastic Flame Press, shipping later in March.
You can also purchase a digital version through bandcamp or through any of the usual ways one does that (as of later this week).

To say that this is a massive undertaking is an understatement of the highest order. It has been a grueling and involved process that is now just beginning to pay off with the actual release. Take all of the hassles of one release and multiply it by a dozen, and then involve other bands as well… yeah… let’s go ahead and say I have some tales. Yet, this is the way we wanted to present this material to you, as singles… months by months as part of this series.
What you will see is a digital single every month, followed by a physical single of the same song the next one.

If you wish you can purchase a “Friends of the Neutron” subscription and guarantee yourself a copy of each one as well as copies of the entire back catalog digitally, a custom t-shirt and another fun surprise. Either way, this is here for you to listen to now, and that makes us very happy. Spread the word!

LUNG x CONAN NEUTRON & THE SECRET FRIENDS – Adult PromLUNG x CONAN NEUTRON & THE SECRET FRIENDS – Adult Prom

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LUNG x CONAN NEUTRON & THE SECRET FRIENDS: cello-grunge powerhouse joins forces with Melvins-affiliated rockers on electrifying new split LP; West Coast tour announced

Learning Curve Records announces the October 6th release of Adult Prom, the new split LP by Lung and Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends.

Pre-order the album, here: 

https://learningcurverecords.bandcamp.com/album/adult-prom

Stream new Lung track, “Fucked Up Darling,” here: 

https://learningcurverecords.bandcamp.com/album/adult-prom

Stream new Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends track, “Wild Antics,” here: 

https://learningcurverecords.bandcamp.com/album/adult-prom

Adult Prom is an example of the magic that can happen when an unlikely pair of bands, bonded more by spirit than by sound, choose to join forces and make a thing together. Like a mouthful of sugar and salt, the contrast between the two reveals the power of each. 

Where Lung brings sheer intensity, executed with dark, neoclassical flair, Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends revel in an exuberant, noisy reimagining of classic rock. Despite the divergent energies, these bands are united by friendship and mutual respect and they give themselves, one hundred percent, to this project. On Adult Prom, not only do the two share space on a slab of vinyl; each also covers one song by the other, reinterpreting it in its own singular style, and members lend their talents to other tracks as guest vocalists and musicians.

Explaining how the collab came to be, Conan Neutron states, simply: “We are fans of each other’s music and enjoy each other’s company and it just seemed like a cool thing to do.”

From Cincinnati, Ohio, Lung consists of Kate Wakefield, a classically trained opera singer and cellist, and drummer Daisy Caplan, formerly of Foxy Shazam. Fierce, ethereal, and heavy as hell, Lung rocks with the intensity of early grunge, layered with sinister undertones. “Tony Iommi teaching a Nirvana class at Juilliard,” reads one review from Cincinnati paper CityBeat.

“PJ Harvey is absolutely brilliant,” states Wakefield. “I also am a huge fan of Tori Amos, Hole, Cibo Matto. I also love dramatic classical composers like Prokofiev, Sibelius and Barber – who are all pretty metal, in a way. Daisy has also introduced me to tons of bands that have influenced our style since we started playing, like Minutemen, Smart Went Crazy, and Death From Above. Our sound is intentionally genre-bending, but the consistent thread is that everything we do has an intensity to it. We mean every word and every note we play, and people can feel that.”


People can feel that, indeed, as Wakefield runs her cello through distortion pedals and big amps, and Caplan pounds out earthquaking beats on cartoonishly bell-shaped, vintage North drums. A relentless touring machine, the duo has played over 700 shows across North America and Europe, on bills with Brainiac, Screaming Females, Fucked Up, and so many more.

With roots in Oakland, California, transplanted to Milwaukee, Conan Neutron is a wildly prolific musician, podcaster, and impresario. As a co-founder and curator of Caterwaul Festival, and as the founder and host of the Protonic Reversal podcast, Neutron is a self-built pillar of what he has termed “independent-minded, iconoclastic, noisy music.” With Caterwaul, he has helped create an annual fest that has quickly become a major new axis for this “noisy music” scene, putting the likes of Flipper and Chat Pile on one stage and serving to strengthen a community of diverse, yet connected, bands and fans. With Protonic Reversal, he has chatted for hours with an absolutely legendary list of artists – members of The Stooges, Devo, The Birthday Party, Black Flag, and Fugazi, to name but a few – amassing a huge library of conversations that exists as a resource for the world to enjoy.

As a band leader, Neutron wields the same creative fire and the same knack for putting exceptional people under one roof. His rhythm section, The Secret Friends, consists of none other than Melvins drum-slayer Dale Crover and bassist Tony Ash, formerly of Coliseum. (When Neutron takes the show on the road, he and Ash are joined by a revolving cast of live players – “a bench deeper than a baseball team,” in Neutron’s words.)

Contrary to what one might expect from these guys, the sound hits like a burlier version of power pop – more Cheap Trick than AmRep. Honed over four full-length albums and shows with Big Business, Torche, and more, the songwriting and execution are world-class. Crover’s iconic drumming lays the foundation for rich tones, sweet hooks, and Neutron’s croon.

Given the underground cred of Neutron and his gang, their choice to rock unabashedly might come across like a subversive act. Neutron puts it like this: “What we do is BIG WEIRD ROCK MUSIC. I have to throw the WEIRD in, because when people think of rock music they tend to think of slavish imitators of bygone eras or a specific kind of very safe consonant guitar music for middle managers and wraparound shade dads.”

One press release from the recent past calls it: “small scale arena rock for smart alecks and malcontents.”

Lung’s tracks on Adult Prom were recorded and mixed by John Hoffman at The Lodge in Dayton, KY; Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends’ trackswere engineered and mixed by Toshi Kasai. The album was mastered by Shellac’s Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service.

Adult Prom’s album artwork, created by Aaron Cross, comprises paintings of the two bands’ vans – two 2006 Ford Econolines, coincidentally. On October 6th, the day of the LP’s release, Lung and Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends will get in said vans and kick off a West Coast tour together. (See those dates, along with Lung’s other upcoming touring, below.)


Adult Prom tracklist:

1) Lung – Fucked Up Darling
2) Lung – Kingpin
3) Lung – Cash Machine (Two Ton Boa cover)
4) Lung – The Impossible Task (Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends cover)
5) Lung – Pastor
6) Lung – Anyone Else (feat. Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends)
7) Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends – Wild Antics
8) Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends – Crybullies
9) Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends – Fridging (feat. Kate Wakefield of Lung)
10) Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends – I’m Nervous (Lung cover)
11) Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends – Criminal Hypnosis
12) Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends – We Were Wolves

Lung w/ Screaming Females:

Aug 16 – Morgantown, WV @ 123 Pleasant St
Aug 17 – Cincinnati, OH @ Legends
Aug 18 – Chattanooga, TN @ Songbirds
Aug 19 – Asheville, NC @ Static Age Records
Aug 20 – Washington, DC @ Songbyrd

Lung:
Sep 1 – Michigan City, IN @ Oktoberfest
Sep 2 – Indianapolis, IN @ Romanus Fest
Sep 7 – Knoxville, TN @ Pilot Light
Sep 8 – Athens, GA @ Flicker Theatre

Lung w/ Djunah:
Sep 9 – Savannah, GA @ It Takes Two fest
Sep 10 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
Sep 11 – Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle

Lung w/ Thelma and the Sleaze:
Sep 19 – Newport, KY @ Southgate House Revival
Sep 20 – Louisville, KY @ Whirling Tiger
Sep 21 – Athens, OH @ Union
Sep 22 – Cincinnati OH @ Fountain Square
Sep 23 – Lafayette, IN @ North End Pub
Sep 24 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle

Lung:
Sep 26 – St. Louis, MO @ CBGB
Sep 28 – Denton, TX @ Rubber Gloves
Sep 29 – Austin, TX @ The Electric Church
Sep 30 – San Angelo, TX @ The Deadhorse
Oct 1 – El Paso TX @ Mona
Oct 2 – Bisbee, AZ @ The Quarry

Lung w/ Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends:

Oct 6 – Tempe, AZ @ Time Out Lounge
Oct 7 – Los Angeles, CA @ Redwood Bar and Grill
Oct 8 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
Oct 9 – Sacramento, CA @ Old Ironsides
Oct 10 – Reno, NV @ The Loving Cup
Oct 11 – Eugene, OR @ Sam Bond’s Garage
Oct 12 – Portland, OR @ High Water Mark
Oct 13 – Bellingham, WA @ Make Shift Art Space
Oct 14 – Seattle, WA @ Southgate Roller Rink

Lung:

Oct 20 – Logansport, IN @ The Record Farm
Oct 21 – Dayton, OH @ Dayton Music Fest


Photo of Lung, by Rachelle Caplan
Photo of Conan Neutron, by Abbey Garside

Protons and Electrons: Atom 9 – Cop Knock / Cheap Sleaze – Freeze Queen​/​Troll TrapProtons and Electrons: Atom 9 – Cop Knock / Cheap Sleaze – Freeze Queen​/​Troll Trap

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Atom 9 of Conan Neutron and the Secret Friends’ “Protons and Electrons” split 7″ series is now streaming and available for order on Bandcamp. $8 for the 7″, plus shipping, $2 to buy digital, free to listen.

This one is interesting because, like the first one, it features Mr. Tony Ash on bass on both sides. Cheap Sleaze is the name of the band, and this is their first official release. A hell ass rock/punk band. The Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends song is “Cop Knock”, as always it’s Conan Neutron on vocals and guitar, Tony Ash on bass, and Dale Crover on drums, Toshi Kasai producing and engineering. This song also features an awesome guitar lead courtesy of Rick Valentin of Poster Children and Thoughts Detecting Machines. CS offers up a 1-2 punch of “Freeze Queen” and “Troll Trap” recorded at Electrical Audio.

artwork by the incredible Plastic Flame Press, as always.