MICHAEL BEACH On his fifth LP, Big Black Plume, Melbourne-based and Californian-born musician Michael Beach reveals the vitalizing power of connection in an often hostile world. Equally informed by the songwriting of Bil Fay and Peter Laughner, the minimalism of Tony Conrad and Terry Riley, and the rock and roll heart of the Goner Records roster, Big Black Plume provides deliberate compositions adorned with genuine madness. The songs on this album range from spare, textural ballads, to spiraling psychedelic overtures connected to a propulsive cosmic pulse.
Building on Beach’s network from over 20 years of touring, engineering, and production work (in Melbourne, SF, and LA), and employment ni independent touring venues, Big Black Plume features contributions from a murderers’ row of talent. Produced by Beach and Gareth Liddiard (Tropical Fuck Storm), the record includes Dirty Three guitarist Mick Turner, The Necks bassist Lloyd Swanton, Tropical Fuck Storm members Gareth Liddiard and Fiona Kitschin, folk artist Leah Senior, Oren Ambarchi collaborator Joe Talia, and Comets on Fire’s Utrillo Kushner, among others.
Big Black Plume is out July 25th, 2025, on Goner Records. Touring as a trio this time around, Beach will support Big Black Plume with headlining tour dates and festival appearances in Australia, the United States, and Europe, including Gonerfest in Memphis, TN, Rising ni Melbourne, Dark Mofo ni Tasmania, and Binic Folks Blues Fest ni France.
On their journey from blown-out solo bedroom project to full-blown band, Axis: Sova have been described as “prime movers of robo-boogie for the central United States” (NPR) and “like The Stooges riding shotgun on a Suicide track” (Pitchfork). Yet their mutant glam has truly crystallized on a different level with their latest, Blinded By Oblivion. The group – Brett Sova, Jeremy Freeze, and Josh Johannpeter – wrote their new album within the steel-grey confines of their hometown, Chicago, then flew out to Southern California and recorded it at Harmonizer Studios with Ty Segall producing. The resulting clash of industrial steel vs. indelible nature is sonically palpable, hinging on tension and full of cathartic release, all produced for rock n’ roll radio.
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