by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Last week Buck Gooter's Billy Brat wrote "Half A Dozen Top Freaks From America's Rock Basements," an article that featured some of his favorite touring weirdos throughout the punk underground that included Chicago's Wei Zhongle. Speaking about their recordings, Brat called them, "laid back, lush, beautiful, alien but strangely familiar. It’s like prog infected power pop from the 80s. Big Country meets Gentle Giant!? It doesn’t make any damn sense but it sounds real good and HITS, dammit!"
The record he's describing is Nice Mask Over An Ugly Face, the band's upcoming album due out August 5th via Pretty Purgatory. We're excited to share the premiere of "Decentralized," the second single from the record ahead of the band's tour dates with Cloud Becomes Your Hand (which kick off this Thursday in Chicago). Built on an ascending bass line, Wei Zhongle's wild bubbling prepared guitar and spiraling clarinet set the tone for the other dimensional pop odyssey. The whole thing squiggles through your senses like an alien life force making its home inside you... in a pleasant way. The song bursts open for the mantra-like hook, as Rob Jacobs (guitar/vocals) repeats "I don't want to know" amid a series of groans and plunking melodies.
Wei Zhongle's Nice Mask Over An Ugly Face is due out August 5th via Pretty Purgatory. Check out the band's tour dates below.
7/21 - Chicago, IL @ The Hideout w/ Paper Mice *
7/22 - Minneapolis, MN @ White Page w/ HASPS & Controversial New Skinny Pill *
7/23 - Madison, WI @ Mickey's w/ Czarbles *
7/24 - Chicago, IL @ Archer Beach Haus w/ Health & Beauty & Jeremiah Fisher *
7/25 - Cincinnati, OH @ the Comet *
7/26 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Pgh Art House w/ Joey Molinaro, Anna Azzizy & Other Girls *
7/27 - Ithaca, NY @ Sacred Root Kava Lounge & Tea Bar w/ Brian! & Fa *
7/28 - Brooklyn, NY @ Alphaville w/ Ryan Power & Reina Terror *
7/29 - Boston, MA @ SBC w/ Sun Young
7/30 - Greenfield, MA @ Jaume I w/ Flaming Dragons Of Middle Earth
7/31 - Portland, ME @ TBA w/ Tom Kovacevic & 3D Jet Scooter
8/01 - Manchester, NH @ Fuzz Hut w/ Family Planning
8/02 - Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk Place
8/03 - Athens, OH @ The Union Bar & Grill w/ Gay Cum Daddies
* with Cloud Becomes Your Hand