Prissy Whip deliver twisted sci-fi-influenced noise rock—watch
Los Angeles-based no-wave crew Prissy Whip have spent the last four years of their existence making a glorious racket with alien melodies and stuttering rhythms, the kind of tracks that are in regular rotation on some unknown planet you’d be afraid to visit.
Today, AP is premiering their new video, “Dr. Jessup,” which features some crude animations from Eric Livingston as the band ratchet away on a noise approximating something along the lines of the Scissor Girls, Point Line Plane, Arab On Radar and that band’s new ancestors, Psychic Graveyard (who they’ve actually shared stages with).
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Regarding “Dr. Jessup,” frontwoman Crow Jane (also of L.A. gothic post-punk lunatics Egrets On Ergot) says the song and vid are inspired by movie auteur Ken Russell’s 1980 science-fiction horror film, Altered States. “There’s a line from the film,” Jane begins, “‘The final truth of all things is that there is no final truth. Truth is what’s transitory. It’s human life that is real.’
“The journey in trying to discover the meaning of life can be horrific, stimulating, profound or even destructive,” she continues. “Sometimes what you find can be harsh realities about your own defective humanity. Did you find the meaning of life? Or have you missed the whole point completely by looking?”
You might not find the answer to that question in the frames of “Dr. Jessup,” but the clip’s visuals complement the quartet’s keyboard-driven noise rock in the most twisted ’n’ tangled way.
Their new album, Swallow, comes out Sept. 21, and you really should preorder one right here. (Warning: That cover’s a little rough to look at …just ayin’…) Prissy Whip are also traipsing around America in late September to make your school year even more gloriously weird. You’re welcome.
Dates:
09/28 – Oakland, CA @ Elbo Room (PRF)
10/01 – Denver, CO @ Rhinoceropolis
10/02 – Kansas City, MO @ miniBar
10/05 – Detroit, MI @ Trumbullplex
10/06 – Millvale, PA @ The Funhouse at Mr. Small’s
10/08 – Pawtucket, RI @ Machines With Magnets
10/14 – New Orleans, LA @ Poor Boys Bar
10/16 – Austin, TX @ 523 Thompson
10/18 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Lunchbox
