Car Seat Headrest's bold new rock opera The Scholars isn't just a new chapter for the premiere standard bearers of young internet rockers. It's a spiritual rebirth, and one that didn't come easily.
In May of 2020, Car Seat Headrest (frontman Will Toledo, lead guitarist Ethan Ives, drummer Andrew Katz, and bassist Seth Dalby) released their album Making a Door Less Open, right as the world shut down. This led to a long period of enforced inactivity. When they were finally able to tour in 2022 they were delighted that their audience was now younger than ever, thanks a new generation discovering their coming-of-age classics Teens of Denial and Twin Fantasy
However, the band was soon sidelined again, this time due to illness. This hiatus resulted in a sustained period of contemplation and reflection for Toledo, which ultimately shaped The Scholars.
Inspired by an apocryphal poem by "Archbishop Guillermo Guadalupe del Toledo," and featuring character designs from Toledo's friend, the cartoonist Cate Wurtz, the album focuses on the yearning and spiritual crisis of the titular Scholars. They range from the doubt-filled playwright Beolco to Devereaux, a person born to religious conservatives who finds themselves desperate for higher guidance. Meanwhile, the music draws, carefully, from classic rock story song cycles such as The Who's Tommy and David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
Self-produced by Toledo, the band have never sounded more fully realized or assured of themselves. And while Car Seat Headrest started as Toledo's solo project, it is now fully a band. "It didn't really feel to me like things got in sync in an inner feeling way until this record, with that internal communal energy," he explains. "That's been a big journey."
~~~~~~~~
Matador Records is thrilled to announce that it has signed Car Seat Headrest and will release Teens of Style on October 30, with Teens of Denial to follow soon after in 2016. This prolific artist (n Will Toledo) comes to Matador having already crafted an 11-album catalog of staggering depth, all self-released on Bandcamp, which has gained him an obsessive following and over 25,000 downloads - all without the muscle of a manager, label, agent, or publicist - until now.
Car Seat Headrest began in 2010 in Will Toledo's hometown of Leesburg, Virginia. Needing a place of solitude (and soundproofing) where he could record vocals undisturbed, a 17-year-old Toledo set up shop in the family car. Toledo's catalogue is sharp, literary, and culturally omnivorous as it touches upon youth and death, love and depression, drunken parties and 2nd century theologians. Ever surprising, his lyrical imagery ranges from playful to sexually frank to sorrowful, often within the same song.
After relocating to the Seattle suburbs in 2014, Toledo assembled a lineup with bassist Ethan Ives and drummer Andrew Katz. Teens of Style is the first Car Seat Headrest album recorded with a full band, and the sound is vibrant and powerful, with a wide stylistic range.
On Teens of Style, Toledo has taken material from the first three years of the band's existence and reworked it to generate some of the most realized arrangements to date. Drawing material from 3 (2010), My Back Is Killing Me Baby (2011), and Monomania (2012), Teens of Style provides a concise overview of the band's many sonic and emotional facets, with the songs ranging from electronic psychedelia to punky anthems to melancholic acoustic numbers.
The longest track on Teens of Style, "Times to Die," is just under seven minutes, applying breakbeat cut-ups and "Low Rider" horns to a groove-driven neo-psych jam with lyrics about Judaism, Hinduism, and the record business. Similarly, "Maud Gone" is a wistful 60s-inspired pop number paying homage to Yeats's unrequited love, while the intricate party track "Los Borrachos" borrows its title from the Diego Velasquez painting.
Car Seat Headrest's conceptual ambition and stunning songwriting has been apparent since its early days of laptop recording, the scale of Toledo's vision going far beyond the constricting "lo-fi" term. Now on his Matador Records debut, Teens of Style, we witness Toledo presenting his intricate ideas with more clarity and refinement than ever, delivering an enthralling collection of songs destined for wide acclaim.
show less
In May of 2020, Car Seat Headrest (frontman Will Toledo, lead guitarist Ethan Ives, drummer Andrew Katz, and bassist Seth Dalby) released their album Making a Door Less Open, right as the world shut down. This led to a long period of enforced inactivity. When they were finally able to tour in 2022 they were delighted that their audience was now younger than ever, thanks a new generation discovering their coming-of-age classics Teens of Denial and Twin Fantasy
However, the band was soon sidelined again, this time due to illness. This hiatus resulted in a sustained period of contemplation and reflection for Toledo, which ultimately shaped The Scholars.
Inspired by an apocryphal poem by "Archbishop Guillermo Guadalupe del Toledo," and featuring character designs from Toledo's friend, the cartoonist Cate Wurtz, the album focuses on the yearning and spiritual crisis of the titular Scholars. They range from the doubt-filled playwright Beolco to Devereaux, a person born to religious conservatives who finds themselves desperate for higher guidance. Meanwhile, the music draws, carefully, from classic rock story song cycles such as The Who's Tommy and David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
Self-produced by Toledo, the band have never sounded more fully realized or assured of themselves. And while Car Seat Headrest started as Toledo's solo project, it is now fully a band. "It didn't really feel to me like things got in sync in an inner feeling way until this record, with that internal communal energy," he explains. "That's been a big journey."
~~~~~~~~
Matador Records is thrilled to announce that it has signed Car Seat Headrest and will release Teens of Style on October 30, with Teens of Denial to follow soon after in 2016. This prolific artist (n Will Toledo) comes to Matador having already crafted an 11-album catalog of staggering depth, all self-released on Bandcamp, which has gained him an obsessive following and over 25,000 downloads - all without the muscle of a manager, label, agent, or publicist - until now.
Car Seat Headrest began in 2010 in Will Toledo's hometown of Leesburg, Virginia. Needing a place of solitude (and soundproofing) where he could record vocals undisturbed, a 17-year-old Toledo set up shop in the family car. Toledo's catalogue is sharp, literary, and culturally omnivorous as it touches upon youth and death, love and depression, drunken parties and 2nd century theologians. Ever surprising, his lyrical imagery ranges from playful to sexually frank to sorrowful, often within the same song.
After relocating to the Seattle suburbs in 2014, Toledo assembled a lineup with bassist Ethan Ives and drummer Andrew Katz. Teens of Style is the first Car Seat Headrest album recorded with a full band, and the sound is vibrant and powerful, with a wide stylistic range.
On Teens of Style, Toledo has taken material from the first three years of the band's existence and reworked it to generate some of the most realized arrangements to date. Drawing material from 3 (2010), My Back Is Killing Me Baby (2011), and Monomania (2012), Teens of Style provides a concise overview of the band's many sonic and emotional facets, with the songs ranging from electronic psychedelia to punky anthems to melancholic acoustic numbers.
The longest track on Teens of Style, "Times to Die," is just under seven minutes, applying breakbeat cut-ups and "Low Rider" horns to a groove-driven neo-psych jam with lyrics about Judaism, Hinduism, and the record business. Similarly, "Maud Gone" is a wistful 60s-inspired pop number paying homage to Yeats's unrequited love, while the intricate party track "Los Borrachos" borrows its title from the Diego Velasquez painting.
Car Seat Headrest's conceptual ambition and stunning songwriting has been apparent since its early days of laptop recording, the scale of Toledo's vision going far beyond the constricting "lo-fi" term. Now on his Matador Records debut, Teens of Style, we witness Toledo presenting his intricate ideas with more clarity and refinement than ever, delivering an enthralling collection of songs destined for wide acclaim.
Car Seat Headrest's bold new rock opera The Scholars isn't just a new chapter for the premiere standard bearers of young internet rockers. It's a spiritual rebirth, and one that didn't come easily.
In May of 2020, Car Seat Headrest (frontman Will Toledo, lead guitarist Ethan Ives, drummer Andrew Katz, and bassist Seth Dalby) released their album Making a Door Less Open, right as the world shut down. This led to a long period of enforced inactivity. When they were finally able to tour in 2022 they were delighted that their audience was now younger than ever, thanks a new generation discovering their coming-of-age classics Teens of Denial and Twin Fantasy
However, the band was soon sidelined again, this time due to illness. This hiatus resulted in a sustained period of contemplation and reflection for Toledo, which ultimately shaped The Scholars.
Inspired by an apocryphal poem by "Archbishop Guillermo Guadalupe del Toledo," and featuring character designs from Toledo's friend, the cartoonist Cate Wurtz, the album focuses on the yearning and spiritual crisis of the titular Scholars. They range from the doubt-filled playwright Beolco to Devereaux, a person born to religious conservatives who finds themselves desperate for higher guidance. Meanwhile, the music draws, carefully, from classic rock story song cycles such as The Who's Tommy and David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
Self-produced by Toledo, the band have never sounded more fully realized or assured of themselves. And while Car Seat Headrest started as Toledo's solo project, it is now fully a band. "It didn't really feel to me like things got in sync in an inner feeling way until this record, with that internal communal energy," he explains. "That's been a big journey."
~~~~~~~~
Matador Records is thrilled to announce that it has signed Car Seat Headrest and will release Teens of Style on October 30, with Teens of Denial to follow soon after in 2016. This prolific artist (n Will Toledo) comes to Matador having already crafted an 11-album catalog of staggering depth, all self-released on Bandcamp, which has gained him an obsessive following and over 25,000 downloads - all without the muscle of a manager, label, agent, or publicist - until now.
Car Seat Headrest began in 2010 in Will Toledo's hometown of Leesburg, Virginia. Needing a place of solitude (and soundproofing) where he could record vocals undisturbed, a 17-year-old Toledo set up shop in the family car. Toledo's catalogue is sharp, literary, and culturally omnivorous as it touches upon youth and death, love and depression, drunken parties and 2nd century theologians. Ever surprising, his lyrical imagery ranges from playful to sexually frank to sorrowful, often within the same song.
After relocating to the Seattle suburbs in 2014, Toledo assembled a lineup with bassist Ethan Ives and drummer Andrew Katz. Teens of Style is the first Car Seat Headrest album recorded with a full band, and the sound is vibrant and powerful, with a wide stylistic range.
On Teens of Style, Toledo has taken material from the first three years of the band's existence and reworked it to generate some of the most realized arrangements to date. Drawing material from 3 (2010), My Back Is Killing Me Baby (2011), and Monomania (2012), Teens of Style provides a concise overview of the band's many sonic and emotional facets, with the songs ranging from electronic psychedelia to punky anthems to melancholic acoustic numbers.
The longest track on Teens of Style, "Times to Die," is just under seven minutes, applying breakbeat cut-ups and "Low Rider" horns to a groove-driven neo-psych jam with lyrics about Judaism, Hinduism, and the record business. Similarly, "Maud Gone" is a wistful 60s-inspired pop number paying homage to Yeats's unrequited love, while the intricate party track "Los Borrachos" borrows its title from the Diego Velasquez painting.
Car Seat Headrest's conceptual ambition and stunning songwriting has been apparent since its early days of laptop recording, the scale of Toledo's vision going far beyond the constricting "lo-fi" term. Now on his Matador Records debut, Teens of Style, we witness Toledo presenting his intricate ideas with more clarity and refinement than ever, delivering an enthralling collection of songs destined for wide acclaim.
read more
In May of 2020, Car Seat Headrest (frontman Will Toledo, lead guitarist Ethan Ives, drummer Andrew Katz, and bassist Seth Dalby) released their album Making a Door Less Open, right as the world shut down. This led to a long period of enforced inactivity. When they were finally able to tour in 2022 they were delighted that their audience was now younger than ever, thanks a new generation discovering their coming-of-age classics Teens of Denial and Twin Fantasy
However, the band was soon sidelined again, this time due to illness. This hiatus resulted in a sustained period of contemplation and reflection for Toledo, which ultimately shaped The Scholars.
Inspired by an apocryphal poem by "Archbishop Guillermo Guadalupe del Toledo," and featuring character designs from Toledo's friend, the cartoonist Cate Wurtz, the album focuses on the yearning and spiritual crisis of the titular Scholars. They range from the doubt-filled playwright Beolco to Devereaux, a person born to religious conservatives who finds themselves desperate for higher guidance. Meanwhile, the music draws, carefully, from classic rock story song cycles such as The Who's Tommy and David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
Self-produced by Toledo, the band have never sounded more fully realized or assured of themselves. And while Car Seat Headrest started as Toledo's solo project, it is now fully a band. "It didn't really feel to me like things got in sync in an inner feeling way until this record, with that internal communal energy," he explains. "That's been a big journey."
~~~~~~~~
Matador Records is thrilled to announce that it has signed Car Seat Headrest and will release Teens of Style on October 30, with Teens of Denial to follow soon after in 2016. This prolific artist (n Will Toledo) comes to Matador having already crafted an 11-album catalog of staggering depth, all self-released on Bandcamp, which has gained him an obsessive following and over 25,000 downloads - all without the muscle of a manager, label, agent, or publicist - until now.
Car Seat Headrest began in 2010 in Will Toledo's hometown of Leesburg, Virginia. Needing a place of solitude (and soundproofing) where he could record vocals undisturbed, a 17-year-old Toledo set up shop in the family car. Toledo's catalogue is sharp, literary, and culturally omnivorous as it touches upon youth and death, love and depression, drunken parties and 2nd century theologians. Ever surprising, his lyrical imagery ranges from playful to sexually frank to sorrowful, often within the same song.
After relocating to the Seattle suburbs in 2014, Toledo assembled a lineup with bassist Ethan Ives and drummer Andrew Katz. Teens of Style is the first Car Seat Headrest album recorded with a full band, and the sound is vibrant and powerful, with a wide stylistic range.
On Teens of Style, Toledo has taken material from the first three years of the band's existence and reworked it to generate some of the most realized arrangements to date. Drawing material from 3 (2010), My Back Is Killing Me Baby (2011), and Monomania (2012), Teens of Style provides a concise overview of the band's many sonic and emotional facets, with the songs ranging from electronic psychedelia to punky anthems to melancholic acoustic numbers.
The longest track on Teens of Style, "Times to Die," is just under seven minutes, applying breakbeat cut-ups and "Low Rider" horns to a groove-driven neo-psych jam with lyrics about Judaism, Hinduism, and the record business. Similarly, "Maud Gone" is a wistful 60s-inspired pop number paying homage to Yeats's unrequited love, while the intricate party track "Los Borrachos" borrows its title from the Diego Velasquez painting.
Car Seat Headrest's conceptual ambition and stunning songwriting has been apparent since its early days of laptop recording, the scale of Toledo's vision going far beyond the constricting "lo-fi" term. Now on his Matador Records debut, Teens of Style, we witness Toledo presenting his intricate ideas with more clarity and refinement than ever, delivering an enthralling collection of songs destined for wide acclaim.
show less
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