AR-KAICS, THE - See The World On Fire LP
OUT NOW!!!!!
The Ar-Kaics are back with See the World on Fire, their first new album
in six years. It’s also the first release from this newly-minted
partnership between Feel It Records and the bands’ own imprint, Dig!
Records; with Bachelor Records delivering a European edition. Expect
eight new tunes of dark, moody, rollicking garage psych not altogether
dissimilar from their previous output (across two LPs and a mess of
singles). What you get here is the next chapter. All written and
recorded in singer-guitarist Johnny’s bedroom / garage (pictured on the
album cover), it’s a concept album based on the concept of making an
album—on their own, from the brink.
But don’t just take our word for it…
“The Ar-Kaics out of Virginia are pretty groovy. They got THAT sound, man.”
- Marc Maron
“What could possibly have possessed these seasoned vets peppered
throughout the Commonwealth (a region philosophically averse to light
pollution) to paint it all even blacker? Where have all the good times
gone, and how? When that '60s clang-n-fuzz gets too much humidity on it,
that swamp-heavy "let's go get stoned" midnight choir to the black
vacuum of electric hum at the hour only the
birds and paw-paws are listening and the true believers among us can
unbottle some secrets to the stars above... you get this album. So many
third-wave garage juggernauts always kept the shtick secured in their
pocket protectors. Even Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs’ emotional
investment translated directly to their market parameters. No risks, no
rewards, no 4th walls and no 5th columns. Great shit, but who's feeling?
This album calls the bluff on the whole genre—a Hail Mary by dudes
who've used and been used by the entanglement. There was always a
suspension of disbelief to the cathartic hokiness, and this is the
ultimate trump card. They still believe in music, and you can too. In
the intersections of love and trust and money and hope, we're all
crosstown traffic, and if there aren't marks on your back, pat it.
You'll hear echoes of Lou and Neil and Keith, but there's no indication
what part of the woods they're coming from. It's music from where they
went on occasion, mapless. Music from the other side. A land free of
time.”
- Brandon Gaffney
“Love over gold.”
- Don Van Vliet