ANCHR's Artist of the Week: Automatic

This week’s artist of the week goes to Automatic, the trio from LA composed of Izzy Glaudini (synths, lead vocals), Lola Dompé (drums, vocals) and Halle Saxon-Gaines (bass).

Photo by Dana Trippe

Automatic released their sophomore record Excess during the summer of 2022, which includes singles like “Skyscraper” and “New Beginning.” When writing the new album, the band began by imagining the time between the 70’s and 80’s that they describe as “that fleeting moment when what was once cool quickly turned and became mainstream all for the sake of consumerism” and reframing it through a modern-day lens. The end result is a glossy blend of cheeky punk, dreamy psychedelia, and hazy pop that encompasses themes of alienation and escapism.

The bandmates collaborated on the songs together before moving on to work in the studio with producer Joo Joo Ashworth. Many of the songs on Excess stemmed from jam sessions, but Saxon-Gaines says that these newer songs didn’t come as easily as their debut record, and that all three band members had to be resilient with trying out new techniques in the studio. Talking about their song “Teen Beat,” Saxon-Gaines says, “To us, the name came to be about Gen Z inheriting the world at the eleventh hour, before they’re even old enough to drink. Before we landed on ‘Teen Beat,’ we affectionately called it ‘Madness’ — the madness you feel with the state of polarization today.” With the song “NRG,” Dompé says it discusses “the unknowingness that comes with testing boundaries and exploring one’s own values while finding your place in the world as an individual.”

Ultimately though, Automatic wants to leave listeners with a sense of hope with the final song on the album “Turn Away.” The band sings “There’s a light in the dark, feel the world open up” in hopes that listeners will “feel empowered to do what they can to save the world, to reject any complacency of watching the world burn,” as Saxon-Gaines says.

See where you can catch the band on tour here, and tune into the video for “Skyscraper” below,

ANCHR's Artist of the Week: The Linda Lindas

Photo by Zen Sekizaw

The future of punk rock seems to be safe. For live music fanatics like myself, we know and see young punk bands regularly. Every major city in the US has a scene, Chicago being no different with bars and venues like Delilahs, Cobra Lounge, Reggies, and Liars Club. Not the to mention the countless basement, garage, back yard, and living room parties, but with The Linda Lindas breaking out of the LA scene with such incredible talent and ferocity, they have shown us another example of age just being a number.

The Linda Lindas are composed of Lucia de la Garza, age 15, Mila de la Garza, age 11, Bela Salazar, age 17, and Eloise Wong, age 14. The de la Garza duo are sisters, Wong is their cousin, and Salazar is a long time family friend. Many may recognize The Linda Lindas from when their performance of “Racist, Sexist Boy” in a LA public library went viral in 2021. I remember the first time I saw the video was when RATM's Tom Morello shared it on his Instagram. Seeing these teens and tweens rock out like if they were seasoned punk vets was refreshing. The music was raw, loud, and sincere. Learning that the drummer was just 10 made them even more impressive.

I got to catch The Linda Lindas in Barcelona, Spain at the Primavera Sound Music Festival. Salazar did most of the speaking since, I assume, her Spanish is a bit more fine tuned than the others. When she introduced her band mates, along with their ages, there was a collective "Whoa!" from the audience coupled with cheers and adulation. They rocked their entire 50 minute set playing a number of songs from their debut album Growing Up and ended with the crowd favorite "Oh!" There was headbanging, guitar shredding, fist pumping, and even moshing. I've been to my fair share of rock shows, but this was the first time I've seen grown men mosh to a band with an eleven year old drummer. The band is stirring and inspiring. I hope they continue to see success and make great music.

The Linda Lindas are currently on tour. See all upcoming tour dates here, and watch the video for their debut album’s title track below.

ANCHR Artist of the Week: Cola

This week’s Artist of the Week goes to Cola— yet another Fire Talk band that doesn’t disappoint! Cola is a supergroup consisting of Tim Darcy and Ben Stidworthy (formerly of Ought) and Evan Cartwright.

Photo by: Colin Medley

The trio got together in 2019 when Darcy and Stidworthy reached out to Cartwright about collaborating on something new, after they’d met Cartwright on the road with one of his many other projects. Darcy describes the initial period of time working together as very natural, especially one they met for some in-person sessions. “We really just took time to enjoy the process of collaborating and writing songs together,” Darcy says. Once the pandemic hit, the group had to end up working separately from one another, and Darcy describes the solitude work as being a “defining color as well as a barrier” to their debut album called Deep in View.

Sonically, Deep in View is packed with distorted, hazy guitar tones that contrast with bouncy melodies and bright drumbeats. Lyrically, the group comments on wading through the modern world and living with technology. Darcy describes the process of writing the record as solo work combined with team efforts— "Ben and I had a flow writing this record where we would send each other demos every Friday. It was a really motivating way to write, as I would spend the week working on something but then get the bonus of hearing what Ben had written when I sent him my track,” he says.

If you’re a fan of Ducks Ltd., Wet Leg, or of course Ought, you should tune into the new album.

I have yet to experience any of Cola’s songs in person, but luckily they are hitting the road soon, including a stop at Sleeping Village. Don’t miss out on their debut Chicago show on July 21st—grab tickets here.

ANCHR's Artist of the Week: Arlo Parks

One of the most lovely sounding songs to come out in 2020 was “Black Dog” by Arlo Parks. The song is about a friend or loved one that is in a dark place and Arlo Parks is expressing to them that she is there, mindful of the depression, and willing to assist in comfort, companionship, and support. Being heedful of the declining mental health of those we are close to is important in our every day lives already, but in 2020 many people had an even tougher time with their mental health while in isolation and shelter-in-place. “Black Dog” was a song in which those people were able to find solace.  The song’s thoughtful lyrics and Arlo’s sweet sounding voice made it the soundtrack for many people’s entire year. 

Arlo Parks is the stage name for Anaïs Oluwatoyin Estelle Marinho.  She is a young poet and singer-songwriter from West London. Her debut album Collapsed In Sunbeams finally came out at the end of January 2021 and it included the aforementioned “Black Dog” along with a number of already released songs that garnered some popularity like “Eugene” and “Green Eyes.” 

Arlo Parks is yet another artist I wish 2020 didn’t screw us live music lovers on, but if I put on my optimistic goggles, hopefully she’ll be part of what makes the tail end of 2021 awesome.  She currently has tour dates scheduled for Europe and in two cities in the States (Brooklyn and Los Angeles), but I wouldn’t be surprised if more dates were added once things become more clear and the vaccines become more readily available. 

Order your own copy of Arlo Parks’ album here and check out Arlo and her band performing “Black Dog” virtually in quarantine below.