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| You Don't Know / On Holiday |
 On Holiday |
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EVENTS |
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| Jul 1 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive |
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| Jul 2 Albuquerque, NM @ The Tree House |
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| Jul 3 Phoenix, AZ @ Rhythm Room |
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| Jul 4 Tucson, AZ @ Hotel Congress w/ Mates of State, Free Energy |
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| Jul 5 Los Angeles, CA @ Echo Curio |
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| Jul 6 San Francisco, CA @ Elbo Room |
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| Jul 7 Sacramento, CA @ The Hub |
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| Jul 8 Portland, OR @ Berbati's Pan |
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| Jul 9 Seattle, WA @ Black Lodge |
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| more events |
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We're proud to announce the addition of Fargo's Secret Cities to the WV roster. The band began with tapes flying through the mail back and forth between the Easternmost to the Westernmost borders of North Dakota. MJ Parker and Charlie Gokey were barely 15 when they met at band camp, but a shared love of psychedelia and scads of secret, unheard songs between them drew the pair together. They passed cassettes back and forth across the tundra of their home state, each manipulating and adding to the other's work via 4-track. Slowly they built up a catalog of sound collage and darkly romantic pop. Those songs might not have made it beyond the UPS had a friend not put them in contact with Baltimore based Fall Records three years and about a dozen cassettes in. In 2005 they released Zurich, an album that embraced both the weirdness that grows in rural isolation and the psychedelic music that had initially brought the pair together. Following the addition of Alex Abnos (aka Kansas City's Tut Tut) on drums and a whirlwind tour of Midwest, the three went back to the drawing board. Over the next four years, they tore down and rebuilt their sound, sometimes woodshedding in an actual wooden shed on the prairie. Eventually, Secret Cities emerged with a cocktail of Spector-esque doe-eyed romanticism, electronic flourishes indebted to minimalist composers like Terry Riley, the noisy, art damaged sensibilities of late psych groups like The United States of America |
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"Magnificent...I've rarely heard an album that wields so many weapons — not effortlessly, but with such painstaking mastery that it's almost arduous not to be won over... 4/5" |
| – Tiny Mix Tapes [read more here] |
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"For a three-piece, Secret Cities lay down a whole lot of noise, but never to the point of sounding overstuffed, and they’re also lucky enough to have two top-tier vocalists. As an album, Pink Graffiti is a little schizophrenic, but it’s a rousing handful of songs... 8.0"
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| – Paste [read more here] |
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"...a fractured piece of music made from just about every possible sound under the sun, probably not too far off from what [Brian] Wilson’s been attempting for his entire career." |
| – Fader [read more here] |
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"...intimate and immediately likable...It gets better and better the more you listen to it."
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| – Stereogum [read more here] |
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"Fucking awesome... Everybody should love it. I don’t know what else to tell you. Listen to it, for God’s sake."
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| – Delusions of Adequacy [read more here] |
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""[W]hen I popped the CD into my laptop drive, I was dumbfounded by what I was listening to... The album is one of lush, melodic arrangements that bring to mind images of lazy rivers, warm evenings on the grass, climbing trees, evenings with good friends and a cold beverage... Album of the Week"
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| – Treble [read more here] |
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"Secret Cities manage to make chipper co-ed harmonies, acoustic jangle, and toy-like instrumental accents sound damn near subversive in their innocence. On swinging opener "Pink City", Charlie Gokey sings, "we had a lot to say, but it would take all day," a pretty accurate mission statement for an album that's got all manner of instrumental bric-a-brac but never really makes a point of stressing its bustle."
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| – Pitchfork [read more here] |
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"...layered electronics, live instruments, dreamy vocals and tunes you keep whistling the whole day." |
| – Subbacultcha [read more here] |
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"A great record, with lots of detail - one that rewards many listens." |
| – Kid Millions of Oneida |
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"[Pink Graffiti pt. 1] never really leaves the realms that it established from the beginning, but it’s not such a big deal when the established realms are fantastic sounding."
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| – The Tape Is Not Sticky [read more here] |
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"...a gorgeous release..."
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| – Pasta Primavera [read more here] |
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"...a subtly addictive bit of dream-pop that deftly mixes elements of lo-fi, folk, beats, and synths...I'm looking forward to what this band does in the future.." |
| – Pop Headwound [read more here] |
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"Hype aside, it’s the band’s music that speaks volumes about their talent. There’s sort of an otherworldly quality to their sound, layering in Antlers style vocals with electro-folk instrumentals. The whole thing is topped off with perfectly delicate details..." |
| – Melophobe [read more here] |
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