Emanating from the primordial ooze of LA’s thriving heavy psych scene, JJUUJJUU have spent the last several years becoming pillars of the coastal desert community. They have announced their debut LP, ‘Zionic Mud,’ and shared two versions of the album’s lead single Camo, one of which was reworked by Liars, one of JJUUJJUU’s many notable supporters. Take a listen to both below via Soundcloud.
The track was recorded in sessions for the album that spanned a several year period during the project’s principle member, and Desert Daze festival founder, Phil Pirrone’s wanderings around California. The album version of the track, which features contributions from Fever the Ghost’s Mason Rothschild and Vinyl Williams, is a hypnotic burst of densely layered, covertly danceable space rock that creeps into being under the power of Rothschild’s increasingly athletic bass playing, morphing and evolving through waves of Hawkwind-esque delay.
Liars’ remix, which is one of a collection of forthcoming alternate interpretations of the album’s tracks from JJUUJJUU supporters like J. Mascis, METZ, Warpaint’s Jenny Lee, and Autolux, bends Camo in the direction of their signature anarchic electronica, dropping a break beat under warped vocal samples, and disrupting the album version’s long dynamic arc by reapportioning its disorienting groove.
Pirrone details the creation of Camo, “Camo is the most spontaneous track on the record. I think I may have texted a rough demo to Mason (bass) and Lionel (drums) the day of the session and I’m pretty sure they didn’t listen to it, which kind of worked out. We recorded live to tape over the course of one evening until we just couldn’t play anymore, and we left feeling like we didn’t get it. Went back the next day, wondering what we’d have to re-do, put on the very last take from the session – and it was exactly what we wanted, and more or less exactly what you hear on the finished track, imperfections and all. Everything is so quantized and auto tuned these days – this song certainly is not. ‘Camo’ is for moving and was very much done on the move.”
‘Zionic Mud’ tracklist
1. Camo
2. Zionic Mud
3. Bleck
4. Level
5. Fast
6. Rubber Dust
7. Italian Toothpaste
8. Positive Transfer/Sonic Drip
9. Cold Light
‘Zionic Mud’ will be released via Dine Alone Records on April 13th.
In support of the release, JJUUJJUU will be touring extensively around North America, beginning with a cross country tour with stoner rock legends Earthless and Japanese psych wizards Kikagaku Moyo, which kicked off yesterday, followed by a stop at Levitation, a string of dates with Ariel Pink, DIIV, Nick Hakim, & SUUNS as part of the Desert Daze Caravan, and Primus and Mastodon later in the year. Full details can be found below.
Tour dates
3/1 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall ^
3/2 San Diego, CA Casbah ^
3/3 San Diego, CA Casbah ^
3/4 Los Angeles, CA Teragram Ballroom ^
3/5 Santa Cruz, CA Catalyst Atrium ^
3/7 Las Vegas, NV Beauty Bar ^
3/8 Pioneertown, CA Pappy & Harriet’s ^
3/13 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop ^
3/14 Toronto, ONT Lee’s Palace ^
3/15 Montreal, QC L’Astral ^
3/16 Brooklyn, NY Market Hotel ^
3/17 Boston, MA The Sinclair ^
3/18 Philadelphia, PA Underground Arts ^
3/20 Washington, DC Rock n Roll Hotel ^
3/21 Richmond, VA Broadberry ^
3/22 Nashville, TN Mercy Lounge ^
3/23 St Louis, MO Blueberry Hill ^
3/24 Chicago, IL Empty Bottle ^
3/25 Chicago, IL Empty Bottle ^
4/26 San Antonio, TX Paper Tiger §
4/27 Austin, TX Levitation @ Empire Control Room ~
5/1 Dallas, TX Canton Hall #
5/3 Denver, CO Summit Music Hall #
5/4 Santa Fe, NM Meow Wolf #
5/5 Phoenix, AZ The Van Buren •
5/6 San Diego, CA House of Blues #
5/8 San Francisco, CA Warfield #
5/10 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom #
5/11 Seattle, WA Neptune #
5/12 Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballroom #
5/15 Santa Barbara, CA SoHo #
5/16 Tijuana, MX Black Box #
5/17 Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern #
5/18 San Luis Obispo, CA Fremont Theater +
5/19 Santa Cruz CA The Catalyst +
6/5 Columbus, OH Express Live! Outdoor Amphitheatre ∞
6/6 Chicago, IL Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island ∞
6/8 Pittsburgh, PA Stage AE Outdoors ∞
6/9 Sterling Heights, MI Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill ∞
6/10 Indianapolis, IN Farmer’s Bureau Insurance Lawn at White River State Park ∞
6/12 Cincinnati, OH PNC Pavilion ∞
6/14 St Paul, MN Myth Live Event Center ∞
6/15 Bonner Springs, KS Providence Medical Center Amphitheater ∞
6/16 Camdenton, MO Ozark Amphitheater ∞
6/18 Lincoln, NE Pinewood Bowl ∞
6/21 Bonner, MT Kettlehouse Amphitheater ∞
6/22 Redmond, WA Marymoor Park ∞
6/23 Bend, OR Le Schwab Amphitheater ∞
6/25 Troutdale, OR Edgefield ∞
6/26 Jacksonville, OR Britt Pavilion ∞
6/28 Avila Beach, CA Avila Beach Resort Amphitheater ∞
6/29 Berkley, CA Greek Theatre ∞
6/30 Lincoln, CA Thunder Valley Casino ∞
7/2 Magna, UT The Great Salt Air ∞
7/3 Las Vegas, NV Downtown Event Center ∞
7/5 Los Angeles, CA Greek Theatre ∞
7/6 San Diego, CA Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre ∞
7/7 Phoenix, AZ Comerica Theatre ∞
^ = w/ Earthless, Kikagaku Moyo
§ = w/ DIIV
~ = Desert Daze Caravan II w/ Ariel Pink, DIIV, Nick Hakim, SUUNS, L.A. Witch
# = Desert Daze Caravan II w/ Ariel Pink, DIIV, Nick Hakim, SUUNS
• = Desert Daze Caravan II w/ Ariel Pink, DIIV, Nick Hakim, Acid Mothers Temple, SUUNS
+ = Desert Daze Caravan II w/ Ariel Pink, DIIV, Nick Hakim
∞ = w/ Primus, Mastodon
