METZ - Metz - CASSETTES

Vinyl LP pressing. 2017 . Born and raised in London to Kosovar-Albanian parents, the sultry-voiced Lipa attended Sylvia Young Theater School (Rita Ora, Amy Winehouse) until the age of 13, when she relocated to Kosovo with her family. However, the move wouldn't last very long, and she was back in London by age 15, living on her own and pursuing a singing career. Longlisted for the prestigious BBC's Sound of 2016, Dua Lipa released InchHotter Than HellInch and InchBlow Your Mind (Mwah)Inch in 2016, coinciding with a tour throughout the spring and summer. While InchHotter Than HellInch went on to break the Top 20 in the U.K., in 2017, she earned the distinction of having three simultaneously-charting singles in the U.K. Top 15 with InchBe the One,Inch InchScared to Be LonelyInch with Martin Garrix, and InchNo LieInch with Sean Paul.

2020 . InchChange is inevitable if you're lucky,Inch says guitarist/vocalist Alex Edkins while talking about Atlas Vending, the fourth full-length album by Toronto's METZ. InchOur goal is to remain in flux, to grow in a natural and gradual way. We've always been wary to not overthink or intellectualize the music we love but also not satisfied until we've accomplished something that pushes us forward.Inch The music made by Edkins and his compatriots Hayden Menzies (drums) and Chris Slorach (bass) has always been a little difficult to pin down. Their earliest recordings contained nods to the teeming energy of early '90s DIY hardcore, the aggravated angularities of This Heat, and the noisy riffing of AmRep's quintessential guitar manglers, but there was never a moment where METZ sounded like they were paying tribute to the heroes of their youth.

'I look at it like this,' METZ frontman Alex Edkins says. 'You start a band, just as something to do, because music's what makes you tick, the thing you dream about and think about and that's it. You never think that you'll be able to do it all the time. But then, for some inexplicable reason, people actually listen and latch on and the band begins to take on new meaning. All of a sudden there are expectations and pressure, real or imagined, to change who you are. It was important to us, when making this record, not to give in to that pressure.' What happens when a seemingly irresistible force meets an immovable object is a serviceable metaphor for the music METZ creates, both live and on record. Now behold II, the concussive new full-length from what is arguably North America's finest touring rock band. Written and recorded in 2014, after two years of constant touring behind their rightly adored self-titled debut, II is METZ at their most true to form - as pure an expression of what they do as can currently be committed to tape. The guitars are titanic, the drums ill-tempered, the vocals chilling, and the volume worrisome.