One of the fondest memories I have of my most recent trip to Los Angeles is driving down the 101 in a rental car, windows down, blaring Young Prisms' most recent full-length, Friends For Now. With that transcendental experience still lingering in my mind, I couldn't withhold my anticipation for the release of these outtakes and demos from Friends. I wasn’t sure what to expect from these versions after growing so close to the originals, but these stripped down, angelic renditions offer an experience that is equally rewarding. Check out the acoustic version of "Weekends and Treehouses" below. Gnar Tapes says:
Not to blow our horn, but this release is one of Young Prisms best and showcases a more gentle and dreamy sound that is beautifully in-step with their classic stoner-fuzz gazer tendencies. Stef’s vocals are particularly haunting and beautiful, allowing for a level lyrical clarity thus far unmatched by any of their previous releases.
MP3: Young Prisms: "Weekends and Treehouses (Accoustic)"
Gnar Tapes is doing everyone a solid and giving this away gratis, but if you're into it take a moment and order the cassette here.
It all started with the layered prisms in the San Francisco band's last video for "Sugar"; the latest video, "Breathless," features blown-out kaleidoscopes of VHS glitch that's superimposed onto the silhouettes of Young Prisms. Shot by Andrew Creighton, the material was brought back to Denver to director by Trevor Peterson, of Woodsman, where he shot and embedded extra imagery. The result echoes and amplifies the music's ingrained psychedelia, as if the video's visuals have resided within the sounds all along. --Coco Zoabi, International Tapes
MP3: Young Prisms: "Breathless"
Friends For Now is available now from Kanine Records
MP3: Young Prisms: "Feel Fine"
I kind of hate the portrait the alternative media has painted of Young Prisms. Every article that I read seems to either glamorize or condemn the San Franciscan quartet for their "stoner-slacker" reputation. Often, the articles themselves foster this image by offering little in terms of critically engaging with the stereotype itself. Writers seem determined to reduce “Sugar,” their recent single, to a marijuana anthem, assuming the connection runs deep, given the group’s nonchalant attitude toward talking about drugs with the media. Even their own press kit perpetuates the image, pushing for their own Golden State genre of "Psychedelic Slackerdom.”
Admittedly, they know how to make their music sound how California can feel. Friends For Now, their debut full-length on Brooklyn’s Kanine Records, conjures up cliches of seventy-five degreed Sundays in February with weed fresher than water, a taco joint just beyond the horizon. But even if the music of Young Prisms perfectly refracts the illusion of the West Coast lazy day-off, there is nothing lazy about Matt Allen, Gio Betteo, Stef Hodapp, and Jordan Silbert. Between the national tour they are on as we speak-- alongside the likes of The Radio Dept., Melted Toys, and Speculator-- their new record, and an upcoming trip to the UK, Young Prisms seem to be everything but the kind of unemployed jackasses who collect bongs and survive on mooching off their mothers' pantries and empty guest bedrooms.
I guess there is some traditional sense of "slackerdom.” The foursome all dropped out of their scholastic programs-- ranging from community college to fashion to master's programs-- to pursue music. "Speaking for myself," singer Stef Hodapp comments, "I just never knew what I wanted. I kept trying different things out, like ‘Maybe this will work! Maybe this will work!’ But it never really worked out. I never planned on singing either, but this seems to be working out [laughs]."
Home movies from a family of youthful spectrums? Nah, a new video from San Fran's own Young Prisms, layering literal prisms and charming but practical special effects over their resounding psych-shoegaze. "Sugar" actually plays more like two songs. Halfway through a dreary, jangle-pop drawl, the song hits that upbeat and the vocals begin to drown in oceanic reverb, with the band's live performance as dichotomous as the song. Directed by Fred Velez and Jared Silbert, Jordan of the band's twin brother. (Weekly Tape Deck co-premiere)
Friends For Now is available now through Kanine.
Check out this gorgeously shot San Franciscan dream-dirge double header courtesy of our friends at Yours Truly. The Bay Area's foremost purveyors of damaged downer-pop gorgeousness, Weekend and Young Prisms, share the stage and go blow-for-blow, trading bouts of scorched serenity in a recently shot hometown session. (via Transparent)
Hear our favorite tracks by the up-and-coming San Franciscans:
San Francisco's Young Prisms first appeared on our radar in '09 with their self-recorded self-titled EP, and are now prepping an effort to be released on Kanine Records. Comparing the original version of "Feel Fine", the only song to crossover to the upcoming Friends For Now, we can already see Young Prisms' grow into a band with a sharper sonic palette, cloaked in cavernous walls of shoegaze guitars built thicker than before. Treat yourself to a listen to the first from the LP, "Sugar", too. --Ric Leichtung, International Tapes
MP3: Young Prisms: "Feel Fine"
Pre-order Friends For Now via Kanine Records before it drops January 18th
La nouvelle petite merveille du label français Atelier Ciseaux est un split 7" rassemblant Mathemagic et Young Prisms. Ces derniers qui ont pour habitude de transformer le bruit blanc en arc-en-ciel reviennent ici avec "These Daze", une surprenante ballade shoegaze psychédélique et claire-obscure, délocalisant The Jesus & Mary Chain en Californie. Et offrent ainsi un écho troublant à la chillwave rêveuse du célèbre "Breaststroke" de Mathemagic, pour la première fois en vinyle. Cerise sur le gâteau de ce split: le délicieux "Ivory Coast" et sa dream pop tropicale, disponible en téléchargement avec la copie physique du split. Un morceau inédit de Mathemagic, emblématique du talent indéniable des frères Euteneier de Guelph, Ontario.
La pertinence de l’alliance à priori contre-nature entre Mathemagic et Young Prisms est parfaitement mise en lumière par les vidéos officielles des New Yorkais d’Eyebodega réalisées pour l’occasion. Chacune magnifiant les caractéristiques de leur morceau. Alors que le charme mystérieux du fantastique "These Daze" opère de façon encore plus glaciale et irréelle, "Breaststroke" y apparaît encore plus chaude, colorée, et hypnotisante. Des réussites sur toute la ligne.
Mathemagic: "Breast Stroke"
MP3: Mathemagic: "Breaststroke"
Young Prisms: "These Daze"
Videos by Eyebodega. Mathemagic/Young Prisms split 7" is out today on Atelier Ciseaux (limited to 350). Purchase includes free MP3 download of Mathemagic's "Ivory Coast"
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