THE PARANOYDS (photo Renee Parkhurst)
Following the release of their LP ‘Carnage Bargain’ via Suicide Squeeze late last year, Los Angeles four-piece The Paranoyds continue their streak of reminiscent sci-fi boogie with new digital single “Memory Foam”. The track accompanies a list of live dates, their first ever European tour.
On this unearthed outtake from their ‘Carnage Bargain’ recording session, the band ruminates on the tedium and loss of innocence that comes with adulthood. ‘Memory Foam’ is a playful track with a rhythm that encourages you to do a dance and evoke the spirits to ward off all the guys without jobs still living off of their parents.
“Memory Foam is about the loss of innocence and transition into adulthood, about both the pride and sadness that can come from making an ‘adult’ purchase“, said The Paranoyds.
“We’re living in the dystopian future. Our lives are completely tracked and programmed, our extension of ourselves is a handheld computer with a microphone and camera that stays on while were unaware, and, on top of everything, the extreme right is gaining continuous world power,” The Paranoyds explain of their name. “What isn’t there to be paranoid about?”
It’s ironic that the band’s moniker winds up being an apt summary of the band’s general outlook on technology and modern culture given that The Paranoyds’ humble beginnings can be traced back to a friendship forged between Staz Lindes (bass/vocals) and Laila Hashemi (keys/vocals) over Myspace in their early teens. Bonded by a shared interest in local underground music, the pair eventually moved their online friendship into the real world. Laila’s childhood friend Lexi Funston was brought into the fold and the first vestiges of The Paranoyds began to take shape. “We would all go to our friends’ shows and it hit us that we could start a band and play shows too”, Funston says. With the addition of drummer David Ruiz in 2015, the band found the perfect personnel for their sonic balance of jubilant energy and foreboding undercurrents.
‘Carnage Bargain’ captures this chemistry perfectly—channelling the genre-mashing weirdness of guitar-and-keyboard provocateurs like The Intelligence on tracks like ‘Laundry’, the fever-dream kitsch of early B-52s on ‘Ratboy’, krautrock’s motorik groove on ‘Hungry Sam’, and the beguiling pop of Blondie on the sweet-and-salty highlight ‘Courtney’. The band may indeed be paranoid, but they offer a solution to our modern ills through the simple act of being an inspiring, independent, and unflappable musical force.
So far The Paranoyds have one UK date lined up, at Shacklewell Arms London on the 2nd May.
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