New York City-based electronic punk band Lip Critic announce their debut album Hex Dealer out 17 May on Partisan Records. Accompanying the announcement is new single ‘Milky Max’ to give you a taste of what lies ahead.
Hex Dealer was produced in collaboration by vocalist Bret Kaser and sampler Connor Kleitz. Their eclectic style is amplified by infectious breakbeats and spark-igniting snares that takes not one, but two drummers, to execute: Danny Eberle and Ilan Natter. This singular mixture of classic punk/hardcore and electronic styles results in 12 tracks of postmodern pop for a genreless future.
A project of wide-reaching sonic and thematic curiosity, above all, Hex Dealer is an inquisition into the state of the spiritual marketplace and the isolating effects of mass consumption. The album’s lyrics often focus on the body, ways in which our internal functions combine with outside objects to solve problems of the soul. Painted with a broad palette of the furthest extremities of emotion, each track is marked by a distinctive danceable mania.
‘Milky Max‘, their latest single, is a pulverising slab of electronic hardcore. The song’s shapeshifting groove anchors a sound that’s theatrical, captivatingly irreverent, and completely outside so much of modern experimental music. Meanwhile, Bret Kaser’s vocal delivery feels like it’s being delivered by a cult leader who has occupied the announcer’s booth at a football stadium and refuses to come out.
Accompanying the track are the visuals in which the room is dark save for the glare of a video game where a player jumps across a city trying to avoid running into cows. The game features Ilan’s brother Jesse (the mastermind behind the video game) which will be released alongside the new single. To play the video games check here
After supporting IDLES, Geese and Screaming Females, as well as performances in London and Pitchfork Paris, Lip Critic will tour extensively in 2024. In May, they will be performing three dates in the UK including Bristol, Manchester and London. Their first-ever headline tour in the US will follow in the summer. Prior to that, the band will play a special hometown show on 22 February at Elsewhere (Zone 1) in Brooklyn and stop at SXSW for a string of shows.
Lip Critic Tour Dates
February
22nd | Brooklyn, NY – Elsewhere Zone 1
March
9th | Ashbury Park, NJ – Wonder Bar*
10th | Pittsburgh, PA – Mr. Roboto Project*
13th – 16th | Austin, TX – SXSW
18th | Nashville, TN – Drkmttr
20th | Columbus, OH – The Basement
May
13th | Bristol, UK – The Louisiana
14th | Manchester, UK – The Deaf Institute (The Lodge)
15th | London, UK – The Windmill
31st | Troy, NY – No Fun
June
1st | Philadelphia, PA – Milkboy
2nd | Washington, DC – DC9
4th | Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
5th | Atlanta, GA – Aisle 5
7th | Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall
8th | Austin, TX – Parish
10th | Phoenix, AZ – Rebel Lounge
11th | Los Angeles, CA – Echo
12th | San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill
14th | Portland, CA – Polaris
15th | Seattle, WA – Madame Lou’s
17th | Salt Lake City, UT – Kirby Court
18th | Denver, CO – Lost Lake Lounge
20th | Minneapolis, MN – 7th St Entry
21st | Chicago, IL – SubT
23rd | Cleveland, OH – Mahall’s Apt
24th | Detroit, MI – Lager House
25th | Toronto, ON – The Garrison
27th | Boston, MA – O’Brien’s Pub
* = w/ Smut
For more information on Lip Critic check their instagram and facebook.
