CR best of 2016

My favorite music of the year, not including the many wonderful bands I worked with:

1) Broncho – Double Vanity
2) Wormed – Krighsu
3) TV Baby – “Powering” single
4) Code Orange – “Forever” single
5) The Soft Moon – Deeper Remixed
6) Xiu Xiu – Plays the Music of Twin Peaks
7) 1-800-BAND – High Beams
8) Black Sugar Transmission – In the City’s Arms
9) Johnny Couch – “Animal Instinct” single
10) Rihanna – Anti

See my year-end list, and others', here:
http://ghettoblastermagazine.com/category/features/special-report/best-of-2016/

See the list of bands I worked with this year, here:
http://curranreynolds.blogspot.com/p/new-releases.html

2016, 2017

Closing out 2016, preparing for 2017.

I spent 2016, like most years, making art and championing the art of others I admire.

The two biggest things that came to fruition:

The release of my second solo EP, Body Stuff 2. 

Listen, here:

bodystuff.bandcamp.com

Read about it, here:

noecho.net/interviews/curran-reynolds-body-stuff-wetnurse-today-is-the-day-music-publicist

The launch of my PR team, The Chain, with my partners Justin Pearson and Brandon Gallagher. 

Check us out here:

thechainworld.blogspot.com

facebook.com/thechainworld

instagram.com/thechainworld

twitter.com/thechainworld

I had the honor to represent so many great bands in 2016, as a publicist. Some highlights:

Graf Orlock added one more new album, Crime Traveler, to its legacy. I love the DIY spirit and wild creativity this band represents. Their vibe lands right on the line between fun and brutality, intelligence and boneheadedness – right where I like it. And they're my longest-running client, going back more than 10 years. Brother band Ghostlimb put out a new one too, Difficult Loves, and the mastermind of both bands, Justin Smith, put out both records via his label, Vitriol Records.

Eight Bells made their masterpiece, Landless, and toured with Voivod.

I got to rep my friend Martin Bisi, a legend of NYC's musical history (see: Sonic Youth, Swans, John Zorn), with whom I've recorded two albums in the past.

I teamed up with Ben Weinman of The Dillinger Escape Plan and his label Party Smasher Inc, to handle the new Primitive Weapons album, The Future of Death.

Old Wounds did Warped Tour and followed it up with an Every Time I Die tour. '68 toured hard too.

New supergroup Asphalt Graves (current/ex Misery Index, Dying Fetus, GWAR, The Black Dahlia Murder) achieved death-grind greatness on their Vitriol Records debut.

Spotlights – success story of the year, maybe. Married couple from Brooklyn makes heavy, dreamy rock, lands tour with Deftones and Refused.

Car Bomb – wow. Unparalleled musicianship on their new album, Meta.

Explosive and awesome new albums by Meek Is Murder (NYC buffalo stampede-core), Nomads (streetwise LA crust punk), Knife Hits (ultra intense O.G. screamo revival), Black Table (blackened tar pit of prog-depression, featuring my favorite female metal vocalist), and Moon Tooth (Living Colour meets Gojira!?).

Fight Amp – when I was in Today Is the Day I toured North America with this band for six weeks, and I was honored to work with them as a publicist this fall on what would turn out to be their final tour.

I teamed up with Profound Lore Records for the first time, via post-punk band Soft Kill.

Italian duo OvO released their ninth album – a carnival of primitive industrial, horror-movie ambience, and noise-rock harshness.

Good Fight Music put out a slew of good stuff, including Ion Dissonance (huge comeback album from a band that helped shape the course of heavy music), Homewrecker (absolutely badass young Slayer-ites), Hollow Earth (deep space-themed Neurosis-core), and much more.

A full list of the year's releases and tours is here:

curranreynolds.blogspot.com/p/new-releases.html

2017 kicks off with the Jan 27th release of the new Set and Setting album, Reflectionless. Dual-drummer, instrumental band from Florida brings an aggressive attack to the lulls and swells of the post-rock genre. Recorded by Ryan Haft (Torche, Capsule), mastered by Ed Brooks (R.E.M., Death Cab for Cutie).

Also in January, we have Old Wounds hitting the road for four weekend tours across the US, featuring the debut of their as-yet-unannounced new frontman!

Happy holidays, everyone.

Peace and love in these crazy times.

THANKS!

THANKS!

THANKS!

BODY STUFF + Decibel

Review in the Jan '17 issue of Decibel Magazine – "It's as though a housebound, pimply-faced dweeb with a rat moustache started writing music after absorbing INXS, Crowded House and Cure in between all the cool stuff that led to him making Roadrunner mix tapes and bootleg Earache shirts... Malice dominates the pumping industrial of 'Coward Song,' 'Ice' discordantly recalls early Jim (Foetus) Thirlwell and 'Cabin Song' is all razor-sharp elegy."

BODY STUFF + Svbterranean

Svbterranean inteviewed me about Body Stuff 2. Read the full piece, here...

BODY STUFF + Gear Gods

Ryan Jones and I talked with Gear Gods about the musical, lyrical, and technical ideas behind Body Stuff 2. Check it out...

 

Out today: BODY STUFF - Body Stuff 2

My new EP, Body Stuff 2, is out today on The Path Less Traveled Records.

Listen, here:
http://bodystuff.bandcamp.com

Buy the cassette here:
https://thepathlesstraveledrecords.bandcamp.com/album/body-stuff-2

Read an interview here:
http://www.noecho.net/interviews/curran-reynolds-body-stuff-wetnurse-today-is-the-day-music-publicist

"Creepy, beautiful, inspiring, and an interesting example of the kinds of uncommon influences that can work in heavy music today... Haunting, almost goth-ish post-rock... A deluge of heavy riffs and sweaty, groaned vocals... And though Reynolds is a New York metal star, the music on the record was written in a cabin on a lake in Maine." 
–MetalSucks 

"It's as though a housebound, pimply-faced dweeb with a rat moustache started writing music after absorbing INXS, Crowded House and Cure in between all the cool stuff that led to him making Roadrunner mix tapes and bootleg Earache shirts... Malice dominates the pumping industrial of 'Coward Song,' 'Ice' discordantly recalls early Jim (Foetus) Thirlwell and 'Cabin Song' is all razor-sharp elegy."
–Decibel

"Written completely by Reynolds, but with instruments played by Ryan Jones (Mutilation Rites), the endeavour combines industrial metal, post-rock and experimental drone in a Killing Joke-meets-Godflesh-meets-Swans kind of way — it's totally unexpected, yet works brilliantly. While Body Stuff's 2013 debut self-titled EP was an ode to NYC, new EP Body Stuff 2 was written at a lake house in Maine and features cryptic lyrics and an eerie vibe that reflect the remote surroundings... Reynolds' dark, haunting vocals are highlighted throughout Body Stuff 2, showcasing intense emotions to complement the strange, brooding atmospheres that will linger in your mind even after it's over." 
–Exclaim! 

"Of all his work, Body Stuff might be the closest to Reynolds' heart. The solo project serves as a vessel for the NYC-based musician to indulge his various influences in the worlds of industrial, '80s pop, and post-punk. Composed in a house on a lake in Maine, Body Stuff 2 is a forthcoming EP from the project that brings to mind something legendary Long Island new wave-leaning radio station WLIR would have played in the late '80s." 
–No Echo 

"Decidedly New York... Rolling, dream pop... Devolves into a sonic, post-metal pummeling that would fit right at home on a Swans record." 
–PunkNews 

"Ice-cold punk... A really catchy, fun little piece of music."
–Gear Gods

"Nods to everyone from Billy Idol to Suicide." 
–Ghettoblaster 

"Harsh rhythms, dreamy melodies and dark, Michael Gira-esque vocals."
–Svbterranean

"Joyous experimental heavy rock music."
–Idioteq

BODY STUFF - "Witness"

Ghettoblaster premiered my new song "Witness" today, off the new EP, Body Stuff 2.

"A fist-pumper that nods to everyone from Billy Idol to Suicide."
–Ghettoblaster

At the end of my final tour with Today Is the Day in 2013, I found myself in a small town on the coast of Maine. I would end up staying there for a year, renting a house on a lake and writing most of Body Stuff 2. For 15 years up to that point I had been living the loud, fast life in New York City. Always pushing forward, forward, forward. The year in Maine was a moment of stillness and quiet. “Witness” is a song that reflects on the fast life and finds not much to show for it, not even memories.

Read more...

CR + No Echo

Honored to do this interview with Carlos Ramirez, looking back at my life so far as a music fan, musician, and publicist.

http://www.noecho.net/interviews/curran-reynolds-body-stuff-wetnurse-today-is-the-day-music-publicist

BODY STUFF - "World of Men"

The third single off my new EP, Body Stuff 2, debuted today via No Echo.

"Of all his work, Body Stuff might be the closest to Reynolds' heart. The solo project serves as a vessel for the NYC-based musician to indulge his various influences in the worlds of industrial, '80s pop, and post-punk. Composed in a house on a lake in Maine, Body Stuff 2 is a forthcoming EP from the project that brings to mind something legendary Long Island new wave-leaning radio station WLIR would have played in the late '80s."
–No Echo

As a young kid, I was raised by my mom and my sister. There were some tough times. We were broke. We moved a lot. There was no father figure in sight. But there was a lot of love between us. For a few years in the late '80s, we lived in a house in the country in Maine, a mile down a dirt road, next to a blueberry field. My mom and I would split wood with an axe to heat the house. I was thinking back to those years when I wrote "World of Men." The song is a tribute to the women who raised me, and the life we had.

Read more...

BODY STUFF - "Cabin Song"

The second single off my new EP, Body Stuff 2, debuted today via MetalSucks.

"Creepy, beautiful, inspiring, and an interesting example of the kinds of uncommon influences that can work in heavy music today... 'Cabin Song' starts as a haunting, almost goth-ish post-rock tune that then opens up into a deluge of heavy riffs and sweaty, groaned vocals... When Reynolds sings about staying up late, you can feel the night moving on into the wee hours, and your sanity stretching thin accordingly... And though Reynolds is a New York metal star, the music on the record was written in a cabin on a lake in Maine, which explains the songs theme and eerie atmosphere."

–MetalSucks

Read more...

BODY STUFF - "Ice"

My new song "Ice" is here. First song off the new EP, Body Stuff 2, out November 4th on The Path Less Traveled Records.

"'Ice' is a far out jam. The band is decidedly New York, though they pull from seemingly disparate corners of the metropolis. 'Ice' starts out with a rolling, dream pop intro that would fit at home at many a Brooklyn loft. But then, just as the intro fades away, the song devolves into a sonic, post-metal pummeling that would fit right at home on a Swans record. Rarely does a band go from sounding so nice to so mean!"
–PunkNews

Read more...

THE CHAIN + Head Wound City

https://www.facebook.com/events/1822501388783

BODY STUFF - Body Stuff 2

Body Stuff 2 will be released November 4th on The Path Less Traveled Records.

Body Stuff 2 is the second EP by Body Stuff, the solo project of Curran Reynolds (ex-Today Is the Day, Wetnurse). The sound is like a dream state where late '80s radio hits, New York City ambience, and industrial-metal power intertwine in brief, radiant rock songs, driven by programmed drums and heart-on-sleeve vocals.

The first Body Stuff EP was written entirely in and about New York City; Body Stuff 2 was composed in a house on a lake in Maine. Lyrics range between ruminations on the past and urgent calls to seize the day. 

Body Stuff 2 was recorded and mixed by Ryan Jones of Mutilation Rites (and ex-Today Is the Day, Wetnurse), and mastered by Brad Boatright (Nails, Full of Hell, Author & Punisher).

Reference points: Bon Jovi, Billy Idol, U2, INXS, Suicide, The Gun Club, Killing Joke, Godflesh

Tracklist:
1) Ice
2) World of Men
3) Witness
4) Cabin Song
5) Coward Song
6) Last Dance

The cover art and layout were created by Brandon Gallagher and Curran Reynolds.

Reviews of the first Body Stuff EP (2013, The Path Less Traveled Records):

"[Body Stuff] exists in a sick reality all its own... There's an analytical passion to the songs, like Killing Joke scoring a David Cronenberg flick."
–Decibel

"Reynolds’s lyrics are a focal point and tell snippets of stories in a hundred words or less that are as haunting as they are evocative... Add to that an otherworldly blend of drone, metal, post-rock, and more that endlessly loops, rises, and falls over a metronomic beat, and we’re looking at something glorious." 
–Stereogum 

"Body Stuff is an extremely personal ode to NYC, with haunting yet alluring, deep vocals - a cross between Justin Broadrick and Michael Gira... A stunning debut, Body Stuff is simple and pure, showcasing immense attention to detail..." 
–Exclaim!

BODY STUFF 2

Coming soon

THE CHAIN

Announcing The Chain, my new venture with Justin Pearson and Brandon Gallagher. Here we go!

facebook.com/thechainworld

instagram.com/thechainworld

twitter.com/thechainworld

soundcloud.com/thechainworld

"The Chain is a new alliance of three creative forces in the music industry: Curran Reynolds, Justin Pearson, Brandon Gallagher. These three have made their mark on the current scene by creating music of their own and by helping the careers of other artists – world-touring musician, label owner, publicist, journalist, booker, promoter, and graphic designer are some of the roles they have played. Now, under the banner of The Chain, Reynolds, Pearson and Gallagher team up to launch a new collective vision, channeling their experience and passion into a music PR company providing next-level publicity and branding to clients they believe in.

Based in Brooklyn, New York, Curran Reynolds started his PR career in 2000 as the publicist at Earache Records' New York office then moved on to become one of the most respected indie publicists in the game. As a writer, his work has been published in VICE, Mass Appeal, The Journal, and more. He is the founder of Precious Metal, a weekly series of live shows in New York City that is credited with helping to revitalize the city's metal scene, over its seven-year run. He has toured the world and recorded albums as the drummer of Today Is The Day and Wetnurse. He is currently the vocalist and songwriter for Body Stuff.

Based in San Diego, California, Justin Pearson is a musician who has helped shape the course of the indie music scene since the early '90s. He is the founder of Three One G Records and a member of such bands as The Locust, Head Wound City, Retox, and Dead Cross. He is the author of several books, including From the Graveyard of the Arousal Industry and How To Lose Friends and Irritate People, and a film actor, appearing most recently in Asia Argento's Incompresa with Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Based in Asbury Park, New Jersey, Brandon Gallagher is a young powerhouse in today's hardcore scene, making big moves as a graphic designer and publicist, and as the drummer of Old Wounds."

CR + Nine Circles

Thanks to Nine Circles for this interview about the work I do:
http://ninecircles.co/2016/03/30/profile-curran-reynolds-of-today-is-the-day-body-stuff-and-curran-reynolds-pr/