Dirty Beaches (aka Alex Zhang Hungtai) has been kicking around the Canadian music scene for a few years, moving between Montreal and Vancouver and building a fanbase with his minimalist electro-blues stylings. On March 29, he will release the album Badlands via the San Diego-based Zoo Music.
The LP has eight songs, two of which can be heard over at MySpace ("True Blue" and "Lord Knows Best"). According to a press release, "Drum loops entrance, Hungtai's croon enchants, and the yearning melodies draped overtop belie as much a sense of haunting mystery as they do romanticism and wry humour."
Much like Dirty Beaches' early releases, the tracks are "coated in noise, echoed vocals and layered distortion." You can see a video for "True Blue" embedded at the bottom of this page.
Zoo Music has previously released material by Dum Dum Girls and Crocodiles. It's fitting, then, that Dirty Beaches will be teaming up with Crocodiles for a pair of Pacific Northwest shows before heading out on an extensive North American tour with Dum Dum Girls. The run of dates includes shows in Toronto and Montreal. Scroll past the Badlands tracklist to see the schedule
Badlands:
1. "Speedway King"
2. "Horses"
3. "Sweet 17"
4 "A Hundred Highways"
5. "True Blue"
6. "Lord Knows Best"
7. "Black Nylon"
8. "Hotel"
Tour dates:
1/18 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge *
1/19 Seattle, WA - The Crocodile *
2/16 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill ^
2/18 San Diego, CA - Casbah ^
2/21 Denver, CO - Hi Dive ^
2/23 St. Louis, MO - Billiken Club ^
2/24 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle ^
2/25 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick ^
2/26 Toronto, ON - El Mocambo ^
2/27 Montreal, QC - Il Motore ^
3/1 Burlington, VT - Metronome ^
3/2 Boston, MA - Brighton Music Hall ^
3/4 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom ^
3/5 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's ^
3/6 Washington, DC - Black Cat ^
3/8 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506 ^
3/9 Charlotte, NC - Milestone ^
3/10 Atlanta, GA - Earl ^
3/11 Jacksonville, FL - Jackrabbits ^
3/12 Orlando, FL - Social ^
3/13 Tampa, FL - Orpheum ^
* with Crocodiles
^ with Dum Dum Girls
The LP has eight songs, two of which can be heard over at MySpace ("True Blue" and "Lord Knows Best"). According to a press release, "Drum loops entrance, Hungtai's croon enchants, and the yearning melodies draped overtop belie as much a sense of haunting mystery as they do romanticism and wry humour."
Much like Dirty Beaches' early releases, the tracks are "coated in noise, echoed vocals and layered distortion." You can see a video for "True Blue" embedded at the bottom of this page.
Zoo Music has previously released material by Dum Dum Girls and Crocodiles. It's fitting, then, that Dirty Beaches will be teaming up with Crocodiles for a pair of Pacific Northwest shows before heading out on an extensive North American tour with Dum Dum Girls. The run of dates includes shows in Toronto and Montreal. Scroll past the Badlands tracklist to see the schedule
Badlands:
1. "Speedway King"
2. "Horses"
3. "Sweet 17"
4 "A Hundred Highways"
5. "True Blue"
6. "Lord Knows Best"
7. "Black Nylon"
8. "Hotel"
Tour dates:
1/18 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge *
1/19 Seattle, WA - The Crocodile *
2/16 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill ^
2/18 San Diego, CA - Casbah ^
2/21 Denver, CO - Hi Dive ^
2/23 St. Louis, MO - Billiken Club ^
2/24 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle ^
2/25 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick ^
2/26 Toronto, ON - El Mocambo ^
2/27 Montreal, QC - Il Motore ^
3/1 Burlington, VT - Metronome ^
3/2 Boston, MA - Brighton Music Hall ^
3/4 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom ^
3/5 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's ^
3/6 Washington, DC - Black Cat ^
3/8 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506 ^
3/9 Charlotte, NC - Milestone ^
3/10 Atlanta, GA - Earl ^
3/11 Jacksonville, FL - Jackrabbits ^
3/12 Orlando, FL - Social ^
3/13 Tampa, FL - Orpheum ^
* with Crocodiles
^ with Dum Dum Girls