L.A. underground favorites HEALTH hits the road this fall. Cold Sweat Records signs on to release LP version of forthcoming album.
The impressive word-of-mouth excitement about L.A. underground quartet HEALTH that has surged throughout that city like a series of rolling blackouts has quickly become an international phenomenon. The band recently ripped a swath across the U.K. — garnering praise from the NME, BBC radio and many more — and this week HEALTH announce tour dates throughout the US beginning on September 25th (see complete dates below.) The band’s live shows are sweaty, packed fits of beautiful noise that could perhaps be best compared to Liars, Animal Collective and latter-period Black Dice.
HEALTH‘s self-titled debut full length on the ultrahip Lovepump United label hits shelves on September 18th. Soon thereafter, L.A. based Cold Sweat Records (Battles, Phantom Family Halo, This Moment in Black History) will issue the vinyl version of the album. As if that weren’t enough HEALTH activity, the band has announced a slew of commissioned remixes to follow hot on the heels of the album. The impressive list of remix collaborators includes Pink Skull (Minneapolis), David Gilmore Girls (Amsterdam), Crystal Castles (Toronto), Curses! (NYC), Toxic Avenger (Paris), CFCF (Montreal), Juiceboxxx (Milwaukee), Narctrax (Tokyo), Lovely Chords (Buenos Aires), et al.
The group’s surging notoriety is also due in part to the magic of the Interwebs. “Crimewave” was the #2 most blogged about song according to Elbo.ws. Likewise, HEALTH was recently the #5 most blogged about band according to that blog aggregator, and #9 on Hypemachine.com. Anthem Magazine recently shot an amazing live performance of the song “Glitter Pills” at The Smell (where the HEALTH album was recorded) in downtown L.A., which can be seen HERE. Additionally, director Nik Mercer shot a collaboration between HEALTH and Aa (Big A Little a) reworking the band’s “Crimewave” that can be viewed HERE.
Regarding the remix onslaught, the band issued the following statement: “HEALTH likes to make scary noises, we like to chant until our faces go red, we like to beat on drums until there’s blood on the floor. But we also like to boogie, and sometimes we need help from people we admire. There is a great big world full of music and there is no excuse for standing in the corner with your eyes closed. You can always make friends with the other kids in class, even If your favorite band is Slayer and theirs is Bell Biv Devoe, so let’s hold hands.”
Instead of finding a room where the only thing one can hear is their heartbeat, HEALTH recorded its debut full length in one of the band’s favorite places. The Smell is an all ages music venue in downtown Los Angeles. It is open and brick and dirty and dark, but when you sing a church hymnal or hit a drum as hard as you can the sound is beautiful. They did both of these things on the record. They also went out and found equipment built the same time as The Smell, mostly ribbon microphones designed by the BBC for radio broadcasts in the 1930’s, things George Martin liked to use, and other things they didn’t know about. The record is 11 songs in less than thirty minutes – on it there is new music with old sounds.
HEALTH was six months old the first time they played for real people. Before that, there was more talk than music, mostly about art, food, sex, animals, records, drugs, politics and sleeping. After two more shows in Los Angeles, the group self released a 7” and went on tour. While they were traveling, people told them their music was weird. When they got back they played on a bill with Ex-Models and Death Sentence Panda. They felt like grown men. After that, people let them play shows more often, mostly at all ages art spaces like The Smell and Il Corral. They became friends with other L.A bands like No Age, The Mae Shi, Mika Miko, BARR, Captain Ahab, Anavan, and Abe Vigoda. Then they went on three more tours and a trip to SXSW.
HEALTH has also had a hand in 8-bit glitch duo Crystal Castles’ recent success. In addition to a Crystal Castles/HEALTH split 7” (to be released concurrently on Lovepump United with HEALTH‘s LP), Crystal Castles highly anticipated Crimewave EP is named for a HEALTH remix for which the two bands recently shot a video.
HEALTH Live:
* w/ Crime Novels
^ w/ Yip Yip
09/25 Phoenix, AZ The Modified*
09/27 Denver, CO Rhinoceropolis *
09/28 Lincoln, NE Pile of Kevins*
09/29 East Moline, IL Mixtapes*
10/01 Bloomington, IN Uncle Festers*
10/02 Madison, WI King Club*
10/04 Oberlin, OH Oberlin College*
10/06 Montreal, QC Pop Montreal^
10/07 Rochester, NY Bug Jar*^
10/08 Poughkeepsie, NY Vassar College*
10/09 Middletown, CT Wesleyan College*
10/11 Northampton, MA House Party*
10/12 Boston, MA Obrien’s Pub^
10/13 Providence, RI May N Kevin 4 Eva^
10/14 Pompton Lakes, NJ Mainstage Club^
10/16 Purchase, NY Suny Purchase*^
10/17 Annandale-on-Hudson, NY Bard College*
10/18 Philadelphia, PA Danger Danger Gallery*^
10/19 New York, NY Knitting Factory CMJ^
10/21 Baltimore, MD The Depot
10/22 Washington, DC Civilian Arts Project*^
10/23 Charlottesville, VA Bridge Progressive Arts Space*
10/24 Charleston, SC Cumberlands*
10/25 Savannah, GA Jojos Backyard*
10/26 Atlanta, GA Lenny’s Bar*
10/27 Birmingham, AL Bottletree*
10/29 Houston, TX Proletariat*
10/30 Austin, TX Emos*
10/31 Denton, TX Eighth Continent*
11/01 Lubbock, TX Bash Riprocks*
11/03 Los Angeles, CA The Smell*
HEALTH Tracklisting:
Stream The Album HERE
Release Date: Sept. 18, 2007
01. Heaven
02. Girl Attorney
03. Triceratops (MP3) | (CFCF Remix MP3)
04. Crimewave (MP3)
05. Courtship
06. Zoothorns
07. Tabloid Sores
08. //M\\
09. Glitter Pills
10. Perfect Skin (MP3)
11. Lost Time
written by Mike Cox