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Pop Mutations presents:ADULT.
+ Spike Hellis
Thursday 13th February
Stereo
18+
ADULT. -
With over 23 years working and a sprawling discography to show for that labor, Adam Lee Miller and Nicola Kuperus have spent their entire career as ADULT. obscuring any defined genre or style, writing and recording albums as art for life’s sake. On their latest album, the group are back at it with some discordant, doom dance sludge to mark their 9th studio album Becoming Undone. Written between November 2020 and April 2021, the album might be the bands most non-conformant yet. Sure there’s plenty of dance bangers, but ultimately the album is riddled with impermanence, loss and looping dissatisfactions.
A brief history of ADULT.
In 2020, ADULT. released Perception is/as/of Deception on DAIS, an anxiety fueled cyclone of pandemonium that only ADULT. would know how to harness. While This Behavior (2018) was recorded in the isolated snow-covered woods of northern Michigan, Perception is/as/of Deception was given life in a temporary space the duo created by painting their windowless basement entirely black, with the sole intention to deprive their senses, question their perceptions, and witness the resulting ramifications. The pieces that make up Perception is/as/of Deception might be perceived as their most punk-infused and introspective work to date. The elements of frustration and apprehension that have consistently woven throughout their material are at full mast, although augmented by a strident and more “head-on” approach.
Bill Pearis of Brooklyn Vegan writes “The synths, drum machines and vocal delivery all feel more intense, with tracks like “Second Nature” and “Total Total Damage” hurtling you through a strobe-lit tunnel with a cinderblock on the gas pedal, the brake line cut, and doors have been welded shut.”
In September of 2018, ADULT. released their seventh album, THIS BEHAVIOR on DAIS. Called “…one of the best records of their career…” by Ryan Lathan of Pop Matters, the album began as 23 demos written and recorded in a remote cabin in the woods of Northern Michigan during the dead of winter. In total isolation, and with a reduced amount of gear (a modified version of their live setup) on the cabin’s kitchen table, the duo were completely immersed in an incessant, inescapable studio of their own making – looping, repetitive analogue sequences grinding away day and night.
In 2017, ADULT. released their sixth album entitled “Detroit House Guests” on MUTE Records. This project was funded through a Knight Arts grant which allowed them to collaborate with six guest artists: Dorit Chrysler (NY Theremin Society), Shannon Funchess (Light Asylum), Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe (Lichens), Michael Gira (Swans), Lun•na Menoh (Les Sewing Sisters) and Douglas McCarthy (Nitzer Ebb). Philip Serburne for Pitchfork writes “On their first album in four years, the electro duo curate a highly collaborative record that is richer and stranger than anything they’ve done before. It’s unusually electrifying.”
ADULT. have released five other full length albums on Ghostly International, Thrill Jockey and their own label founded in 1995; Ersatz Audio. They also released their first live album in 2017 on Jack White’s Third Man Records. ADULT. have remixed the likes of LIARS, John Foxx, Barry Adamson and Death in Vegas, to name a few. They are currently working on a collaboration 7” with Planet B – members Justin Pearson (The Locust) & Luke Henshaw.
Spike Hellis -
Los Angeles based electronic duo Spike Hellis comprises of Cortland Gibson and Lainey, who got their start on Halloween of 2019. They self-released their first full-length, self-titled album in. April 2022, under their imprint Over-Pop.
The album chaotically shifts pace back and forth; the songs running into one another with no time in-between. The record opens with “Control (Rage)”, a layered, firm-handshake body-music track designed to hijack the amygdala. The kick drum resembles the steady flash of a panic button. You press it, but nothing happens—no relief. The irregular placement of snare matches Chang’s cries of dysregulation, spiraling red-eyed after having lost command asking, “Will I regain control?” While presented as a song of despair, optimism and determination shine through in the final line as the question is taken back and turned into a statement, “Watch me regain control”. This is a theme that permeates throughout the album: Taking challenging times of despair and coming through the other end with hope and optimism. Spike Hellis (S/T) was made with the intention to feel jolting. Techno-tinged “Flight” is an SH-101 track wherein lyrical instructions for escaping a dream are chanted over the iconic rubber band sound, with the claps paying homage to Charlie’s “Spacer Woman”. “Slices” is the funky first single which leads into its supplementary counterpart, “Stitches”. Footsteps grow louder until it opens into a dark waltz. Samples of William S. Burroughs cackling ring out over Emulator arpeggios until we arrive at “Teardrops (Kisses)”. While it is perhaps the most light-hearted track on the album sonically, themes of social punishment and isolation push through the surface to reveal conflict at its core. Chang and Gibson trade off cries of shame and humiliation while distorted synths, swirling in polyrhythms, close out Side A.
Side B continues with the song “Help”—a straight-forward, freestyle number with a pinch of synth-pop. The disjointed “Cause of Death” may be the most challenging song on the record. Floating between major and minor scales and heavy handed sampling, this track takes Spike Hellis from the dance floor to the speedway. Lacing each verse with the line “I never rush, but I like to speed”, a nod to taking risks and enduring hardships in favor of triumph in the long run. Arguably the biggest cut from the record is the closing track “Mouth”. This minimal track winds it’s way through a four-verse build. Chang’s pitch-shifted voice softly narrates a catch-and-release scenario in which baiting fish is used as an allegory for manipulation. “Baby look at you, setting your hook in my mouth – Reel me in, rip it out”.
Since finishing the album, Spike Hellis has hit the road hard with zero hesitation—completing two full US tours and a handful of smaller runs within the span of one year. They’ve performed in good company with fellow artists and friends such as ADULT., Kontravoid, Choir Boy, Soft K*ll, Portrayal of Guilt, Plack Blague, Pixel Grip, Twin Tribes and many others. They have also been invited to play at festivals including Cold Waves, Substance, Sanctum, Sound and Fury, Verboden and Vampire’s Ball.
Blasting their bleak outlook and spreading their gospel of disenchantment and sarcasm, Spike Hellis announces their arrival.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Stereo, Glasgow, United Kingdom
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