TALENT MOAT TOURING
Booking US tour dates for Aquarian Blood, Bailterspace, Lewsberg, Minibeast, Emily Robb, Optic Sink, Tyvek
OPTIC SINK (Memphis, Feel It Records)
OPTIC SINK is the post-punk project from Natalie Hoffmann (NOTS), Ben Bauermeister (Magic Kids) and Keith Cooper (Jack Oblivian & The Sheiks.) Their debut album was released on Goner Records in 2020, and their second album ‘Glass Blocks’ (recorded at the home studio of Caufield Schnug of Sweeping Promises) is out now on Feel It Records. Between albums, the band expanded on their electronic meets post-punk sound, adding multi-instrumentalist Keith Cooper on bass and guitar, and bringing Natalie’s no-wave guitar approach back into her synth-based setup. The result is a voyage into dynamic sonic territory, with the band’s wide array of influences—from house to punk and beyond—combining to create something vibrant and unexpected.
Bandcamp https://opticsink.bandcamp.com/album/glass-blocks
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/artist/1MvvtvDxR26LUL1mFc6aik
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6IK1u2zlUM (official video for “Modelesque”)
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/opticsink/?hl=en
"The band, featuring members of Memphis outfit NOTS, embraces a slippery strain of synth-punk, feeling like heirs to the cross pollination of punk and disco that led to unlikely pop offerings from Lizzy Mercier Descloux, Cristina, and X-Ray Pop.” - Raven Sings The Blues
"Natalie Hoffman’s NOTS were a combustible riot of rapid fire drums, clanging guitars, belligerent bass, hyped up on sweat and speed. Optic Sink, her band with Magic Kids’ Ben Bauermeister and Sheiks Keith Cooper runs chillier and more dystopian. It operates on a foundation of manic synthesizers and drum machines, with bass thrown in for threat and muscle. This second outing from the Memphis trio is, perhaps, even more alienated and spare. Caulfield Schnug of Sweeping Promises ran the decks, finding an eerie seam between Suicide’s synthy menace, Devo’s robotics and early female-dominated post-punk, the Raincoats and LiliPUT especially.” - Dusted
MAY 2024 WESTERN US TOUR DATES
Tickets on sale Tues., March 4th at 10:00am
5/9 - Dallas TX @ Texas Theatre w/ O-D-EX
5/10 - Austin TX @ Hotel Vegas w/ Guiding Light, Borzoi, Wet Dip
5/11 - Marfa TX @ The Pony
5/12 - Tucson @ Che’s Lounge w/ Class, Lenguas Largas
5/13 - Los Angeles @ Zebulon w/ Memo PST, Oog Bogo
5/14 - Los Angeles @ live on The Best Show with Tom Scharpling
5/15 - Oakland @ Stork Club w/ Jeweled Snakes, Fog Lamp
5/16 - San Francisco @ The Knockout w/ Itchy and the Nits, Warp
5/18 - Portland @ Th’ Fixin’ To w/ Collate, Cleanser
5/19 - Seattle @ Clock Out Lounge w/ Telehealth
5/21 - Reno NV @ Holland Project
5/22 - Salt Lake City @ Beehive Social Club w/ Body Horror
5/24 - Omaha NE @ Grapefruit Records
Emily Robb (Philadelphia, Petty Bunco)
Emily Robb is a Philadelphia based musician most known for her solo guitar works as well as her contributions to bands such as Astute Palate, Louie Louie and Lantern. Fall of 2023 saw her second solo release, If I Am Misery Then Give Me Company (named to Bandcamp’s Best Experimental Music of 2023 list by Marc Masters), a follow up to 2021’s How To Moonwalk, both on the Petty Bunco label and both beloved in the underground. Emily’s playing is rooted in rock ‘n’ roll but flies freely into perpetually uncharted territories. It surges within its own stratosphere, expressing a range of emotions occurring simultaneously or by taking abrupt turns. She utilizes distortion, warmth, tension and familiarity. Her playing is a ride - a sermon in the House of Guitar - with brief evocations of The Velvet Underground, Henry Flynt, and Tetuzi Akiyama’s Don’t Forget To Boogie.
Bandcamp: https://emilyrobb.bandcamp.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FqNYgaEAFE
"As if to underscore the primacy of the electric guitar in the evening’s entertainment, the Mdou Moctar show opened with a set by Emily Robb, a Philadelphia musician whose raucous solo instrumentals ranged through 20th-century guitar history from raga-rock string-bending to a Chuck Berry-style vamp that expanded into a wall of sound.” - Washington Post
"There’s no shortage of squall on Emily Robb’s new album, If I Am Misery Then Give Me Affection. It’s a guitar pageant! One listen and you’ll hear Charley Patton amidst the buzz, his primitive blues lurking in the cacophony. Pull those impulses forward 40 years and you’ll hear familiar sounds that take you right to the early Velvets. - Dusted
FEB. 2024 WEST COAST TOUR DATES
Thurs 2/22 - Yucca Valley, CA @ Joshua Tree Retreat Center w/ The Rubber Snake Charmers, Sister John Angela and Alma Sangre
Fri 2/23 - LA @ Permanent Roadhouse Patio w/ The Renderers and Dream_Mega
Sat 2/24 - San Francisco @ Make-Out Room w/ Bill Orcutt, Famous Mammals, DJ Tom Lax (Siltbreeze) EARLY SHOW 6-10pm
Sun 2/25 - Oakland, CA @ First Church of the Buzzard -- Emily Robb & ?!? duo, S*Glass and Zebra Secrets
Mon 2/26 - Sacramento, CA @ V Street House w/ San Kazakgascar duo and Donald Beaman
Tues 2/27 - Arcata, CA @ the Miniplex w/ Winter Band
Wed 2/28 - Portland, OR @ Th’ Fixin’ To w/ Lavender Flu and Bob Desaulniers (Lithics)
Thurs 2/29 - Seattle, WA @ Vera Project w/ Blessed Blood, A.F. Jones
Fri 3/1 - Olympia, WA @ Le Voyeur w/ Debt Rag, The Moving Pictures, James Mead
Rotterdam quartet LEWSBERG will be touring North America for the first time this Autumn in support of their new album, Out and About (12XU). 27 shows kicking off September 20 at Brooklyn’s Union Pool. The band’s first-ever trip to these shores includes a September 30 Memphis appearance at the 20th edition of Gonerfest. Full dates below.
Bandcamp: https://lewsberg.bandcamp.com/album/out-and-about
"Lewsberg’s new single ‘Six Hills’ harks back to classic first-album Lewsberg. Motorik drums, simple immediately-catchy guitar riffs, understated production with otherworldy guitar solos – hitting all the right reference point – Velvets, Television, Jonathan Richman – wrapped up in something that is completely their own. Coupled of course with those detached, deadpan, but engaging vocals.” – Beats Per Minute
‘In Your Hands’ feels like an important step for Lewsberg; if only one that breaks up a perception of what they do. The band could continue mining a very acceptable seam of alternative, arty rock and roll, playing the festival circuit and slowly losing their fire with another appropriation of what their audience would expect. Here, the band’s stark, honest appraisals and predilection for a form of rock minimalism can’t be avoided, it’s what you get, whether you like it or not.” - Louder Than War
“Three albums in, one could easily say “meet the new Lewsberg, same as the old Lewsberg”, and while they wouldn’t be wrong (just a little reductive), Lewsberg found their lane early on and continue to investigate its possibilities here. If you’re not familiar, The Velvet Underground’s “Pale Blue Eyes” is seemingly the entirety of Lewsberg’s influences, and yet they manipulate and maneuver through multiple variations of that sound in a way that I find deeply satisfying. It’s like, all skateboards are basically the same, but some people are doing 360 flips onto vertical cobblestones with theirs while others just push around and coast, you know? Lewsberg are erudite but approachable, and their dedication to repetitive song patterns is hypnotic and charming, the sort of thing that could easily become maddening or overly pretentious in lesser hands. For fans of the other two records, I’d note that Lewsberg play with mood and time a bit more here (see the b-side’s “All Things” and “All Things (Continued)”), and hone their narrative lyrics to an even sharper point, but the general vibe remains undoubtedly the same. I wouldn’t think I’d need three Lewsberg albums if you described their sound to me, but here I am already cherishing In Your Hands alongside the other two.” - Yellow Green Red
“There’s the feeling that Lewsberg just organically landed here. They’re unencumbered because they don’t feel the need to dress up the melodies with distraction. They’re straightforward with their songwriting because clutter makes them cringe and less is indeed more. There’s a reason that sounds like this have their own gravitational pull. We’re attracted to the sounds that don’t need us, the records that couldn’t seem to care if you listen or leave and that’s exactly what’s here. It’s a record that exists of its own volition. If you engage, all the better, but Lewsberg are going to saw at the raw nerves valley that exists between punk, pop, and poetry all the same.” - Raven Sings The Blues
LEWSBERG SEPT-OCT 2023 US TOUR
9/20 - Brooklyn NY, Union Pool w/ Ava Mendoza, Donna Allen
9/21 - Kingston NY, Tubby’s w/ Rider/Horse
9/22 - Philadelphia, Jerry’s on Front w/ Cartoon
9/23 - Wash., DC, Quarry House
9/24 - Chapel Hill, The Cave w/ Three Body Problem
9/26 - Atlanta, The Earl w/ Dippers, Arbor Labor Union
9/27 - Chattanooga, JJ’s w/ Dippers
9/28 - Louisville, The Portal w/ Charm School, Palomina
9/30 - Memphis, Gonerfest 20
10/1 - Jackson MS, End of All Music anniversary party
10/3 - New Orleans, Saturn Bar w/ Static Static
10/4 - Houston, Echoes w/ Tom Carter
10/5 - Austin, Hotel Vegas w/ Water Damage
10/7 - Lawrence KS, The White Schoolhouse
10/9 - Chicago, Sleeping Village w/ CB Radio Gorgeous
10/11 - Indianapolis, State Street Pub w/ Craig Bell & the Dead Man’s Handle, Living Dream
10/12 - Columbus, Cafe Bourbon St. w/ Unholy Two
10/13 - Detroit, Outer Limits Lounge w/ Tyvek
10/14 - Cleveland, Beachland w/ Obnox, Wrong Places
10/16 - Rochester NY, Lux Lounge w/ Nod
10/17 - Toronto, Tranzac
10/19 - Montreal, Casa del Popolo w/ Chris Forsyth, Helene Barbier
10/20 - Cambridge MA, Middle East Cafe w/ Chris Brokaw, Minibeast
10/21 - Brooklyn, Mama Tried w/ Weak Signal, Famous Logs in History
10/22 - Asbury Park NJ, Bond Street Basement w/ Emily Robb
Buck Biloxi (New Orleans, Total Punk) - May 2023 west coast
Is Buck back? NO! This is NEW BUCK BILOXI! Forget everything you thought you knew because chances are you didn't know it all and even if you did there is no way you know as much as Buck because he knows everything! The sound of the future is here! Robert Craig is back on the scene. More agile, wits sharpened, and glasses more expensive. Genius turned urban guerrilla! The band is new and so is the name. Total Punk is proud to bring you, NEW BUCK BILOXI, the latest outing from the man who knows everything. The perfect soundtrack for high kicking cops, leg sweeping meter maids, or blowing up government officials. Punk is back, punk is new, punk is Buck!
May 2023 west coast tour
Thurs 5/11 - San Diego — Tower Bar w/ The Junkys, Razor Nights
Fri 5/12 - Los Angeles — Permanent Roadhouse w/ Orvy , Dust Star
Sat 5/13 - Los Angeles — Genghis Cohen w/ Oog Bogo, Rearranged Face, presented by Sid the Cat
Sun 5/14 - San Pedro — The Sardine w/ Clown Sounds
Mon 5/15 - Oakland — Thee Stork Club w/ The Circulators, DJ Carolyn
Tues 5/16 - San Francisco — The Knockout w/ Violent Change, Replica Watch
Thu 5/18 - Seattle — Lucky Liquor w/ Juicy Thompson and the Snuggle Regime, Donner Party of One
Fri 5/19 - Olympia — Le Voyeur w/ Nudity
Sat 5/20 - Portland — Six Below Midnight w/ Sleeping Beauties, Yuvees, Cut Piece
En Attendant Ana (Paris, Trouble in Mind)
"En Attendant Ana are a Parisian indie quintet whose tightly focused melodies and energetic attack are fused with a curious blend of harmonic sophistication and wild abandon. Fronted by singer and chief songwriter Margaux Bouchaudon, En Attendant Ana are primarily a guitar band, though they make good use of multi-instrumentalist Camille Fréchou, whose lofty trumpet lines add a distinctive finesse to the group's energetic post-punk meets indie pop arrangements.”
Bandcamp: https://enattendantana.bandcamp.com/
"En Attendant Ana are a Parisian indie quintet whose tightly focused melodies and energetic attack are fused with a curious blend of harmonic sophistication and wild abandon. Fronted by singer and chief songwriter Margaux Bouchaudon, En Attendant Ana are primarily a guitar band, though they make good use of multi-instrumentalist Camille Fréchou, whose lofty trumpet lines add a distinctive finesse to the group's energetic post-punk meets indie pop arrangements. Sung in a straight, unaffected delivery, Bouchaudon's vibrato-less voice acts almost like a horn itself, drawing attention to the neatly crafted melodies. They manage to deliver thrilling, wholly committed performances with an organic liveliness that also adheres to a sort of Krautrock precision. There are shades of classic Stereolab in En Attendant Ana's stylish analog tone and sizzling vintage organs, though their garage-pop aesthetic and spiky attack feels ultimately more human. Infectious in spirit and boasting numerous memorable songs." - AllMusic
“A fearsome, joyful racket of garage top topped with surprising mellifluence, i.e. Margaux Bourchaudon’s serene vocals and Camille Fréchou’s luminous runs of trumpet. At its best, En Attendant Ana delivers a sugar high with a hard kick.” - Dusted
May 2023 west coast tour
Tue 5/9 - Boise, ID — Neurolux
Wed 5/10 - Seattle — The VERA Project (all-ages)
Thur 5/11 - Portland, OR — The Fixin’ To w/ Collate, Mini Blinds
Sat 5/13 - San Francisco — Rickshaw Stop w/ Chime School, Vivian Panache
Mon 5/15 - San Diego — Soda Bar
Tue 5/16 - Los Angeles — Zebulon w/ Jess Cornelius, Massage
Bailterspace (NZ/NYC, Flying Nun/Matador) - April 2023 west coast dates
Formed in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1987 as Nelsh Bailter Space, the band’s musical family tree touches on some of the nation’s most revered weirdo luminaries – including Flying Nun mainstays like the Skeptics, the Clean, and the Gordons. Bailterspace embrace chaos, but celebrate precision, finding melody amid networks of brooding noise and feedback.
Fri 4/21 - San Francisco — Bottom of the Hill w/ Terry Gross, Aluminum
Sat 4/22 - Los Angeles — Zebulon w/ Flat Worms
Sun 4/23 - Las Vegas — Artifice w/ Acid Sisters, Orange Eats Creeps presented by Dirty Rocknroll Dance Party
DIPPERS (Australia, Goner Records)
While many guitar-pop groups develop more easygoing tendencies, Melbourne Australia’s DIPPERS (formerly known as Thigh Master) are noted for a more rambunctious approach. Hook-laden exertion filled with imperious string bends and riffage framing witty tales of alternate realities through a neurodivergent lens. The intervals of ragged, jangly guitar riffs interspersed with waves of sonic mischief likened to the sounds of Kiwi bands a la Toy Love, The Bats and 3Ds, Australian bands of the same era such as The Cannanes, The Moles and early Go Betweens, and power-pop groups such as Big Star, The Toms and Cleaners From Venus. Under their previous guise as Thigh Master, the band have been invited to support internationally renowned artists such as Courtney Barnett, Real Estate, Ty Segall, Spiral Stairs, The Clean, Sheer Mag and more, received heavy rotation on independent radio stations world-wide, not to mention acclaim by publications such as The Guardian, Rolling Stone & The Wire.
DIPPERS MARCH 2023 western US tour
Thu 3/9 - Phoenix — Linger Longer Lounge w/ Lenguas Largas, Vid Nelson
Fri 3/10 - Bisbee AZ — Hitching Post w/ Rhys Gerwin, Gags
Thu 3/16 - Austin SXSW — Sounds Australia showcase at Lucille's
Fri 3/17 - Austin SXSW — Spaace Camp showcase at Hotel Vegas
Sun 3/19 - Memphis — Bar DKDC w/Aquarian Blood, Melinda
Tue 3/21 - Lawrence KS — Replay Lounge w/ Blanky, Sister Slate
Wed 3/22 - Omaha — Grapefruit Records w/ Mowed Sound
Fri 3/24 - Salt Lake City — Quarters Arcade Bar w/ Mopsy, Persona 749
Sat 3/25 - Boise — Treefort Music Fest, Lost Grove Brewing (all-ages)
Sun 3/26 - Seattle — Lucky Liquor w/Zebra Hunt, Juniper, Exploded Drawing
Tues 3/28 - Portland — Turn! Turn! Turn! w/ Collate, Low Fives
Thu 3/30 - San Francisco — Make Out Room w/Telephone Numbers, Now
Fri 3/31 - San Pedro — The Sardine
Sun 4/2 - Los Angeles — Permanent Roadhouse w/ Narrow Adventure
MINIBEAST (Providence, w/ Peter Prescott of Mission of Burma, Volcano Suns)
Fall 2022
Providence RI’s Minibeast is a three-piece band comprised of Peter Prescott (formerly of Mission of Burma, Volcano Suns, Kustomized) playing guitar, keys, noises (mouth & other) & the mind bending rhythm section of Keith Seidel on drums n' percussion and Niels LaWhite on bass. It's liquid music, always moving, mixing influences from Fela Kuti, Can, and the Stooges.
“Oddball rock infused with Afropop rhythms, spiraling psych guitars, and a healthy shot of feral punk attitude.” - Chicago Reader
“An unpredictable sonic swirl that evokes peak-level krautrock like Amon Düül II.” - NPR
"Eerily mystic blend of non-rock rock music. - Pop Matters
MICHAEL BEACH (Australia, Goner Records) - US tour dates, Sept-Oct 2022
photo: Louis Roach
poster: Archie Fitzgerald
"Michael Beach’s Dream Violence unfolds like a revelation, filled with sonic tumbleweeds that reference Neil Young’s On the Beach, Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska, the Velvet Underground’s Loaded, and the Go Betweens’ Before Hollywood. Influences ranging from the enigmatic outlier Megira to Glenn Branca to the Oblivians are combined to create a new, exhilarating sound, part of the path that Beach has been on since 2008’s Blood Courses. A veteran of year-end indie rock round ups beginning with Golden Theft in 2013 and continuing with Gravity/Repulsion, released in 2017, Beach distills the best of those early albums and adds sharpened intent."
9/22 - Oakland, Thee Stork Club
9/24 - Memphis, Gonerfest 19
9/25 - Nashville, Drkmttr
9/26 - Atlanta, The Earl
9/27 - Asheville, Fleetwood’s
9/28 - Chapel Hill, Nightlight
9/29 - Philly, Ortlieb’s
9/30 - Brooklyn, TV Eye
10/1 - Kingston NY, Tubby’s
10/4 - Los Angeles, Moroccan Lounge
10/5 - San Diego, Tower Bar
10/6 - San Francisco, Make-Out Room
Retail Simp$ (Total Punk Records) - west coast tour July 2022
Montreal's premier ramshackle party stabbers and Total Punk recording artists, THA RETAIL SIMP$, are touring the west coast of North America this July!
7/20 - Belltown Yacht Club, Seattle w/Nightcourt and SSDD
7/21 - Turn! Turn! Turn!, Portland w/Lavender Flu and Collate
7/22 - Stork Club, Oakland w/ Famous Mammals and Future Kill
7/23 - Zebulon, Los Angeles w/ Smirk, Narrow Adventure
7/24 - Tower Bar, San Diego w/Kan-Kan, Narrow Adventure
7/25 - The Sardine, San Pedro w/Clown Sounds, Narrow Adventure
7/26 - The Knockout, San Francisco w/Michael Mouse
7/27 - house party, Portland (ask a punk)
7/28 - Eagles Hall, Olympia w/TBA AND 7/29 - Black Lab, Vancouver w/ Night Court, Puzzlehead
“What if the Velvet Underground had written ‘Wooly Bully’ and Sam The Sham ‘Sister Ray?' If Ron House picked up some bongos and joined CCR or If Half Japanese and Hasil Adkins started a Meters cover band? This is the scrap yard of the Retail Simp's mind. A ruckus of tinny guitar sketching, horn-honking deliberations, keyboardarific doodles, and whatever else one can summon in a basement to bang on. It's a ramshackle party stabber. Loose, loud, and 100% TOTAL PUNK!!!”
SNOOPER + FAKE FRUIT - JULY 2022
7/2 - Mosswood Meltdown, Oakland
7/5 - Soda Bar, San Diego
7/6 - The Sardine, San Pedro
7/7 - Permanent Records Roadhouse, Los Angeles
7/8 - The Usual Place, Las Vegas
7/9 - Bob Baker Marionette Theater, Los Angeles
SNOOPER is a punk band from Nashville; the brainchild of videographer/visual artist Blair Tramel and Spodee Boy, Connor Cummins. Between Connor's energized drumming and Blair's blunt vocal delivery, the Snooper sound is effortlessly cool while simultaneously oozing adrenaline. In their short lifespan, Snooper has released music via Australia’s Computer Human Records, Italy’s Goodbye Boozy Records, and Nashville’s Electric Outlet. Debuting their prop-heavy, staccato synched up live set in September 2021, Snooper was the toast of Gonerfest 2021 and SXSW 2022.
"Imagine all the angular Devo worship done in the past few years and imagine all that as a sauce that gets reduced to the most flavorful incantation of. Each Snooper song "slaps", is a "bop", and makes you want to hop around with the same frivolity commanded by the Ramones. Check it!” - Goner Records
“SNOOPER’s first release is quite an impressive debut. They cover so much ground over the course of these four tracks that I was genuinely surprised to see that the whole EP’s running time is just seven minutes and twenty seconds. The inevitable comparison here would be to the CONEHEADS, as they certainly crib a lot from the NWI sound. But they infuse it with enough other influences that it feels like a fresh take. I hear fellow Tennesseeans LOST SOUNDS in their explosive choruses and a little bit of the URINALS in their production. The best track on the EP might be the one that bears the least resemblance to Mark Winter and company. “Running” establishes a borderline Krautrock groove with a simple drum beat, a DEVO-esque bassline, and chanted vocals, then it alternately weaves in a fuzzy surf guitar line and a MINUTEMEN-like funk riff. It really is something. An essential release!” - MRR
MINIBEAST (Providence) 2019 TOUR
Minibeast is a three-piece band comprised of Peter Prescott (formerly of Mission of Burma, Volcano Suns, Kustomized) playing guitar, keys, noises (mouth & other) & the mind bending rhythm section of Keith Seidel on drums n' percussion and Niels LaWhite on bass. It's liquid music, always moving. We gratefully accept influences from Fela Kuti, Can, and the Stooges.