Car Seat Headrest, Holy White Hounds & Lower Dens to perform Sonic Sessions concerts at Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announces three Sonic Sessions concerts for August and September 2016, presented by Magic Hat Brewing Company. Holy White Hounds will perform on Thurs., Aug. 25; Lower Dens on Wed., Sept. 14; and Car Seat Headrest on Sun., Sept. 25.
Holy White Hounds is an apt name for the quartet’s endearing but feral alt-rock. The moniker also conjures the band’s origins as small town underdogs who are rising to earn national prominence. When pressed on the significance of the handle, lead vocalist and guitarist Brenton Dean states: “We’re dirty but we’re not unclean. We’re mangy, but you’d still let us sleep in your bed.”
For young kids with guitars, prodigious musical gifts, and aspirations of being professional musicians, the distance culturally and opportunity wise between a town like Des Moines, Iowa and New York or Los Angeles can make dreams feels unattainable.
In addition to Brenton, on vocals/guitar, Holy White Hounds is comprised of Ambrose Lupercal on bass, James Manson on guitar, and Seth Luloff on drums. They released their full-length debut album on May 6 on Razor & Tie.
Concert Info:
Holy White Hounds
Thursday, August 25, 2016
7 p.m. Doors | 8 p.m. Show
$5.50
Tickets on sale now at tickets.rockhall.com
Baltimore’s Lower Dens released their third album, Escape from Evil via Ribbon Music, in March 2015.
On Escape From Evil, Lower Dens’ Jana Hunter emerges: cerebral and hot-blooded, rash and incorruptible, and, crucially, possessing of a loud, clear voice. The album sees Hunter stepping up and taking center stage, and emboldening every aspect of the band.
Escape From Evil is a cinematic, tonally rich work. The sounds are clean and warm. The pulse of the album is strong. Melodies are potent and songs are physical. Lyrics are direct, frank confrontations with life’s common crises. The album title is brazen, and along with the grimly funny title of lead single, “To Die in L.A.”, almost theatrical.
Concert Info:
Lower Dens
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
7 p.m. Doors | 8 p.m. Show
$5.50
Tickets on sale now at tickets.rockhall.com
Car Seat Headrest began in 2010 in Will Toledo’s hometown of Leesburg, Virginia. Needing a place of solitude (and soundproofing) where he could record vocals undisturbed, a 17-year-old Toledo set up shop in the family car. Toledo’s catalogue is sharp, literary, and culturally omnivorous as it touches upon youth and death, love and depression, drunken parties and 2nd century theologians. Ever surprising, his lyrical imagery ranges from playful to sexually frank to sorrowful, often within the same song.
After relocating to the Seattle suburbs in 2014, Toledo assembled a lineup with bassist Ethan Ives and drummer Andrew Katz. Teens of Style (his Matador Records debut) is the first Car Seat Headrest album recorded with a full band, and the sound is vibrant and powerful, with a wide stylistic range.
On Teens of Style, Toledo has taken material from the first three years of the band’s existence and reworked it to generate some of the most realized arrangements to date. Drawing material from 3 (2010), My Back Is Killing Me Baby (2011), and Monomania (2012), Teens of Style provides a concise overview of the band’s many sonic and emotional facets, with the songs ranging from electronic psychedelia to punky anthems to melancholic acoustic numbers.
Concert Info:
Car Seat Headrest
with special guest Lucy Dacus
Sunday, September 25, 2016
7 p.m. Doors | 8 p.m. Show
$5.50
Tickets on sale now at tickets.rockhall.com
