Solar Haze’s The Solar Age will be out July 16, 2021. Photo: google
Southern California’s heavy rock / metal trio Solar Haze will release their mind altering EP The Solar Age on July 16, 2021 via Metal Assault Records. Pre-orders for The Solar Age began on June 18 and the band released their official music video for the single and EP lead off track, “The Solar Age.” In celebration of their forthcoming release, Solar Haze will perform at “Blunt Force Trauma Fest,” a virtual mini festival experience presented by Ebony Jeanette PR & Metal Assault Records streaming July 16 via YouTube. More details about the virtual festival are available online. (Solar Haze, 2021)
Solar Haze is: Guitar/Vocals/Bass Guitar: Stephen Falla Guitar: Ross Cowan Drums/Percussion: Ryan Michael Falla
The end is near, The Solar Age is here. Metal Assault Records will release the eagerly awaited EP The Solar Age from Southern California heavy rock / metal group Solar Haze on July 16, 2021. The three-track, 18-minute EP was produced by Eddie Vasquez (of San Diego based band Tzimani) and includes violent sequences that may induce frequent night-terrors and sudden mood swings which can cause bouts of severe irritability or thoughts of violence. Do not be alarmed if you receive frequent home visitations from mysterious individuals in black, phone calls from numbers with no area codes, or voices in your head that seem to be of foreign origin. These are common side effects that come with indulging in The Solar Age.
‘The Killing Hills’ is the new thriller by Chris Offutt. Photo: amazon
Chris Offutt is the author of the short-story collections “Kentucky Straight” and “Out of the Woods,” the novel “The Good Brother,” and three memoirs: “The Same River Twice,” “No Heroes,” and “My Father, the Pornographer.” His work has appeared in Best American Short Stories and Best American Essays, among many other places. He has written screenplays for Weeds, True Blood, and Treme, and has received fellowships from the Lannan and Guggenheim foundations. His new book “The Killing Hills” is a compelling, propulsive thriller in which a suspicious death exposes the loyalties and rivalries of a deep-rooted and fiercely private community in the Kentucky backwoods. (amazon, 2021)
Mick Hardin, a combat veteran now working as an Army CID agent, is home on a leave that is almost done. His wife is about to give birth, but they are not getting along. His sister, newly risen to sheriff, has just landed her first murder case, and local politicians are pushing for city police or the FBI to take the case. Are they convinced she cannot handle it, or is there something else at work? She calls on Mick who, with his homicide investigation experience and familiarity with the terrain, is well-suited to staying under the radar. As he delves into the investigation, he dodges his commanding officer’s increasingly urgent calls while attempting to head off further murders. And he needs to talk to his wife. “The Killing Hills” is a novel of betrayal―sexual, personal, within and between the clans that populate the hollers―and the way it so often shades into violence. Chris Offutt has delivered a dark, witty, and absolutely compelling novel of murder and honor, with an investigator-hero unlike any in fiction.
Suzanne Santo’s sophomore release features Gary Clark, Jr and Shakey Graves and blends Americana, Southern-gothic soul, and forward-thinking rock and roll. The first single “Bad Beast” is out now. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
Yard Sale, the sophomore solo album from the now Austin, TX-based Suzanne Santo, is the musical equivalent of a homeowner’s purging of old possessions in order to clear up some much-needed room. Releasing August 27 via Soundly Music, the album marks the moment where Santo makes peace with her past and embraces a better, bolder present. A tireless creator, Santo has built her sound in the grey area between Americana, Southern-gothic soul, and forward-thinking rock & roll. It is a sound that nods to her past—a childhood spent in the Rust Belt which is also where she learned to love a yard sale; a decade logged as a member of the L.A.-based duo HoneyHoney; the acclaimed solo album, Ruby Red, of which Paste called “shameless, self-aware dialogue that opens the door for conversation that leads to real healing;” and the world tour that took her from Greece to Glastonbury as a member of Hozier’s band—while still exploring new territory. With Yard Sale, Santo boldly moves forward, staking her claim once again as an Americana innovator. It is an album inspired by the past, written by an artist who is only interested in the here-and-now. And for Suzanne Santo, the here-and-now sounds pretty good. The album’s first single “Bad Beast” is available everywhere today, listen here. Fans can pre-order or pre-save by clicking here. (Suzanne Santo, 2021)
Yard Sale finds Santo in transition, physically and emotionally. She began writing the album while touring the globe with Hozier—a gig that utilized her strengths not only as a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, but also as a road warrior. Some songs were written between Hozier rehearsals, with Santo holing up in a farmhouse on the rural Irish coast, while others were finished during bus rides, backstage writing sessions, and hotel stays. Grateful for the experience but eager to return to her solo career, she finished her run with Hozier, joining the band for one final gig at Glastonbury before flying home to Los Angeles. Within three days, she was back in the studio, working with producer John Spiker on what was to become Yard Sale.
Upon returning home, Los Angeles became stale for Santo as the city is inclined to do. A partner breakup paired with the hiatus of HoneyHoney left her feeling lonely in her own home—sparking the cosmic relocation to Austin, TX—a city whose fingerprints are all over Yard Sale, thanks to appearances by hometown heroes like Gary Clark Jr. and Shakey Graves. Thus the metaphorical album title of Yard Sale became literal with a cross country move and the emotional unpacking and shedding that happens when life in a new city, with a new love, beckons.
The album presents Santo at the very top of her game musically, writing her own string arrangements and singing each song in an agile, acrobatic voice—perhaps in part due to the cathartic making-of process and what that has meant for her professionally and personally. At times she bridges the gap between indie-rock and neo-soul. On other tracks, she mixes gospel influences with a deconstructed R&B beat. Fans will hear layers of spacey, atmospheric electric guitar and Shakey Graves on a rainy-day ballad driven forward by a metronomic drum pattern, and Gary Clark punctuating with fiery fretwork.
Of the album as a whole, Santo says, “I’m into the emotional concept of what a yard sale really is. This record is about the things I’ve left behind and the things I’ve held onto. I was broken up with while writing the record. I fell in love again while writing the record. And I learned to fearlessly follow my gut, in all places of my life, while making this record.”
Yard Sale track listing: Over and Over Again Mercy Gold Rush Save For Love Bad Beast Since I Had Your Love Afraid Of Heights Fall For That Common Sense To No End Idiot Island
On tour: July 5-6 – The RIDE Festival – Telluride, CO August 26 – Album release show @ Antone’s – Austin, TX September 8 – Mercury Lounge – New York, NY November 5 – Space Ballroom – Hamden, CT* November 6 – Big Night Live – Boston, MA* November 7 – Colony – Woodstock, NY November 10 – Southern – Charlottesville, VA* November 11 – Black Cat – Washington, DC* November 12 – Otto Bar – Baltimore, MD* November 13 – Union Transfer – Philadelphia, PA* November 14 – Grog Shop – Cleveland Heights, OH* November 16 – Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL* *with Murder By Death
SA Examiner 