Brooklyn psych/pop/metal experience NETHERLANDS announces new EP Hope Porn, to be released in early 2018 on Records and Tapes Records. The EP’s first single “Negative Likes” premiered today via PunkNews in the form of a lyric video. Watch and listen here or below.
Netherlands frontman Timo Ellis, whose 20+ years in the New York scene have included collabs with Yoko Ono, John Zorn, and Cibo Matto, describes “Negative Likes” as: “Earth Wind And Fire, Noam Chomsky, and Melvins walk into a bar.” PunkNews’ review reads, simply, “totally whacked out.”
A harsh critique of internet-fueled consumerism and vanity, the song hits the bullseye with lines like, “Desperate to get laid, desperate to get likes, disembodied in the virtual maze / But it pairs well with the fish, and it looks good with your bag, still may take up to 14 business days.”
With the Hope Porn EP in the works now, Ellis has also launched a video series called Shame Party, which sees him conducting surreal, minute-long interviews with notable musicians and friends. Episode 5, featuring a chat with Jaleel Bunton of TV On The Radio, makes its premiere today on PunkNews along with the new Netherlands song. Past episodes, featuring members of Antony and the Johnsons, Mutilation Rites, and more, can be viewed here.
“Dio-inflected yowling over Drive Like Jehu overridden-in-the-red propulsion… Glammed out Highway Star vocals running wild and free over distorted bass chaos.”
–Noisey“Gritty, high energy punk/metal, anchored by a huge distorted synth bass tone; the effect is something like Future of the Left banging out one of Torche’s more rambunctious tunes.”
–BrooklynVegan
