The Armed have announced a new album, “Ultrapop”, available on April 16th, 2021, via Sargent House - their first album with the label. Featuring work from Mark Lanegan and Queens of the Stone Age guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen this is the first album co-produced by the band’s own Dan Greene in collaboration with Ben Chisholm (Chelsea Wolfe).
Kurt Ballou remains at the helm as executive producer. With the announcement comes a live video for the first track, “All Futures”, explicitly revealing this album’s band member lineup for the first time. The video is a live take of the studio track, which can be seen below.
“Ultrapop” is the genre of music that said album features. It reaches the same extremities of sonic expression as the furthest depths of metal, noise, and otherwise “heavy” counterculture music subgenres but finds its foundation firmly in pop music and pop culture. As is always The Armed’s mission, it seeks only to create the most intense experience possible, a magnification of all culture, beauty, and things.
Dan Greene goes on to explain: “Crafting vital art means presenting the audience with new and intriguing tensions - sonically, visually, conceptually. Over time and through use, those tensions become less novel and effective - and they become expectations. The concept of "subgenre" becomes almost the antithesis of vitality in art - itself a fetishization of expectation. "Ultrapop" seeks, in earnest, to create a truly new listener experience. It is an open rebellion against the culture of expectation in "heavy" music. It is a joyous, genderless, post-nihilist, anti-punk, razor-focused take on creating the most intense listener experience possible. It’s the harshest, most beautiful, most hideous thing we could make”.
Pre-order “Ultrapop” here.
Tracklist:
01. Ultrapop
02. All Futures
03. Masunaga Vapors
04. A Life So Wonderful
05. An Iteration
06. Big Shell
07. Average Death
08. Faith in Medication
09. Where Man Knows Want
10. Real Folk Blues
11. Bad Selection
12. The Music Becomes a Skull
European Tour Dates 2021:
09/10/21 - Bristol, UK - The Exchange
10/10/21 - Birmingham, UK - Dead Wax
11/10/21 - Dublin, Ireland - Whelan’s
12/10/21 - Manchester, UK - YES
13/10/21 - Glasgow, UK - Nice N Sleazy
14/10/21 - Leeds, UK - Boom
15/10/21 - London, UK - MOTH Club
16/10/21- Brighton, UK - The Green Door Store
18/10/21 - Antwerp, Belgium - TRIX
19/10/21 - Reims, France - La Cartonnerie
20/10/21 - Lorient, France - L’Hydrophone
21/10/21 - Nantes, France - Stereolux
22/10/21 - Rouen, France - Le 106
23/10/21 - Paris. France - La Boule Noire
Line-up:
Jonni Randall - Vocals + Bass
Chris Slorach - Vocals + GUITAR
Dan Greene - Guitar + Vocals
Adam Valley - Guitar + Vocals
Dan Stolarski - Guitar + Vocals
Clark Huge - Synth
Urian Hackney - Drums
Ben Koller - Drums
Cara Drolshagen - Vocals
Weblinks:
www.thearmed.com
www.facebook.com/thearmed
Kurt Ballou remains at the helm as executive producer. With the announcement comes a live video for the first track, “All Futures”, explicitly revealing this album’s band member lineup for the first time. The video is a live take of the studio track, which can be seen below.
“Ultrapop” is the genre of music that said album features. It reaches the same extremities of sonic expression as the furthest depths of metal, noise, and otherwise “heavy” counterculture music subgenres but finds its foundation firmly in pop music and pop culture. As is always The Armed’s mission, it seeks only to create the most intense experience possible, a magnification of all culture, beauty, and things.
Dan Greene goes on to explain: “Crafting vital art means presenting the audience with new and intriguing tensions - sonically, visually, conceptually. Over time and through use, those tensions become less novel and effective - and they become expectations. The concept of "subgenre" becomes almost the antithesis of vitality in art - itself a fetishization of expectation. "Ultrapop" seeks, in earnest, to create a truly new listener experience. It is an open rebellion against the culture of expectation in "heavy" music. It is a joyous, genderless, post-nihilist, anti-punk, razor-focused take on creating the most intense listener experience possible. It’s the harshest, most beautiful, most hideous thing we could make”.
Pre-order “Ultrapop” here.
Tracklist:
01. Ultrapop
02. All Futures
03. Masunaga Vapors
04. A Life So Wonderful
05. An Iteration
06. Big Shell
07. Average Death
08. Faith in Medication
09. Where Man Knows Want
10. Real Folk Blues
11. Bad Selection
12. The Music Becomes a Skull
European Tour Dates 2021:
09/10/21 - Bristol, UK - The Exchange
10/10/21 - Birmingham, UK - Dead Wax
11/10/21 - Dublin, Ireland - Whelan’s
12/10/21 - Manchester, UK - YES
13/10/21 - Glasgow, UK - Nice N Sleazy
14/10/21 - Leeds, UK - Boom
15/10/21 - London, UK - MOTH Club
16/10/21- Brighton, UK - The Green Door Store
18/10/21 - Antwerp, Belgium - TRIX
19/10/21 - Reims, France - La Cartonnerie
20/10/21 - Lorient, France - L’Hydrophone
21/10/21 - Nantes, France - Stereolux
22/10/21 - Rouen, France - Le 106
23/10/21 - Paris. France - La Boule Noire
Line-up:
Jonni Randall - Vocals + Bass
Chris Slorach - Vocals + GUITAR
Dan Greene - Guitar + Vocals
Adam Valley - Guitar + Vocals
Dan Stolarski - Guitar + Vocals
Clark Huge - Synth
Urian Hackney - Drums
Ben Koller - Drums
Cara Drolshagen - Vocals
Weblinks:
www.thearmed.com
www.facebook.com/thearmed