Sextile at The White Hotel
Johnny James, Managing Editor
From sunny Los Angeles to deepest darkest Salford, electronic punk duo Sextile perform at The White Hotel this May.
For 10 years, Sextile have been providing the underground LA scene with anarchic, serotonin-boosting parties that split the difference between gigs and raves. Industrial synth squalls meet sharp-elbowed guitars across musical odes to living and never looking back.
Originally formed by Brady Keehn and Melissa Scaduto after the pair relocated from New York to LA, Sextile released their debut album A Thousand Hands in 2015. Its Grand Canyon-sized echoes, haunted screams and post-punk invocations turned heads, but it wasn’t until 2017’s Albeit Living that the duo cemented their sound, pushing monster-sized synths down front.
Drilling down on this new direction, 2023’s Push went in hard, with thrashy post punk trading blows with hardcore dance. With the hallmarks of drum & bass, gabber and trance illuminating the record like glowsticks at a ‘90s Fantazia rave, its 11 tracks offer a speaker-busting adrenaline rush – one that couldn’t feel further away from the Californian sun under which it was written.
No, much more suited to the den of debauchery that is The White Hotel, where the duo will arrive with a brand new album in tow. According to a press release, Yes, please “pushes their sound into bold new territory, fusing anarchic electro fire with raw personal recollections”.
The spirit of electroclash stalks the first single ‘Freak Eyes’, which hits like a thunderbolt as Keehn chants about the pressures of making art, living, and aspiring. More punky defiance comes with the follow-up ‘S is For’, with Melissa Scaduto repeating “Sex / Shit / Swell / Stiff / Slag / Snap / Shut” over pulsating synths and pounding techno drums.
It’s all we’ve heard so far, but there’s a lot more to come, including an intriguing guest spot by Jhenny Beth, which a press release touts as “pure muscle music, fortified by hoover bass and fleshed out by synths that hammer as hard as lumps of hail on a glass roof.”
The new record drops on 2 May. Plenty of time to wrap it around your ears before the gig.
