Ex-Cult records are in! Order your copy HERE!
Listen to the album in its entirety at SPIN
Read about the band’s influences at MTV Hive
Listen to “M.P.D.” via Pitchfork
Listen to “Knives On Both Sides” via KEXP
A WFMU favorite!
#32 on College Radio charts this week!
One of Cargo Records (UK) Best Albums of 2012
“a weird, sometimes frightening set of tight-fisted proto-punk” – Spin
“Those various strains are apparent on Ex-Cult’s self-titled debut, which– no surprise– sounds like a Memphis punk band recording in San Francisco. It’s never quite that simple, however: There are nods to nervy UK bands like Magazine and Wire, as well as to rambunctious Aussie punks like the Victims and the Angry Somoans (Ex-Cult covered “No Fun on the Beaches”, by Mornington Peninsula’s the Chosen Few, for the b-side of their recent “M.P.D.” single). The Memphians’ sound is streamlined but not hostile, powerful but not brutal, with ear-catching flourishes peppered throughout the dozen songs.” – Pitchfork (Album Review, 6.9)
“Ex-Cult is the Memphis punk band f/k/a Sex Cult, who offer a fresh take on the darkened, deadpan corners of noisy 1970s proto-punk.” – Pitchfork (Track Review)
“Memphis has become home to one of America’s most interesting punk scenes in recent years, and with this album, Ex-Cult have quickly moved close to the head of the class; this is great, raw rock & roll with just as much brains as guts.” – AllMusic
“They are certainly contenders for one of the most interesting punk releases of the year.” – Santa Barbara Independent
“The album opens with the the hard-hitting “Knives on Both Sides” and keeps intensifying as it goes, dialing back the sneer here and there on surprisingly catchy, poppy tracks such as “Better Life through Chemistry” and “Young Trash,” and going out strong on the sprawling yet claustrophobic “Future Victims.” There’s not a single skip-worthy song on the thing.” – Hexbeat
“This Memphis band bring trashy, thrashy rock and roll that occasionally nods toward the kind of locked-groove, dead-eyed punk of early Wire.” – eMusic
“Ex-Cult seem to be reviving the idea of “Memphis punk” and adding a significant bit of weirdness to it. Which most people could use a dose of. The new record is the first wider-released album we’ve heard in a while that reaches points of uncertainty and intimidation and can be a little unnerving – but that’s what punk should be like. And with one of the more vicious and raw live shows that we’ve seen in a few years, it’s easy to tell that Ex-Cult are for real.” – Nashville’s Dead
“Memphis punk outfit Ex-Cult is twisting the genre into new shapes on their self-titled debut.” – MTV Hive
“Holy shit, I do not think we know what we have in our hands. It’s a tremendous musical bomb, the debut of a band called Ex-Cult…an album capable of raising a jump to a group of Olympus punk of our time.” – Lo-Fi Your Brains Out (Spain, Google-translated)
“Ex-Cult’s self-titled debut is a thrashy guitar frenzy with some head cramming energy that is bound to do some damage to all that will listen… The LP is a fierce and passionate record that incorporates gritty vocals in front of catchy, guitar blazing power punk.” – Chromewaves
“The band draws inspiration from everything between hardcore and indie pop, but is primarily a garage punk band did during last SXSW such a strong impression on Ty Segall that he decided to be with and produce the disc, and this is the result. Really good if you ask me.” – Dangerkids (Sweden)
MORE INFO
Taking cues from the psychedelic noise of the 1960’s, the art-damaged post-punk of the late 1970’s, and the aggression and immediacy of early 1980’s US Hardcore, Ex-Cult has curated a sound that audiences nationwide find accessible, yet not quite like anything else they’ve heard.
Conceived at the legendary Memphis dive, the Lamplighter, by longtime friends Michael Peery (drums) and Chris Shaw (vocals), the band played their first show three months after the first practice, immediately gaining a local fan base and grabbing the attention of the Memphis punk institution known as Goner Records.
After going through a name change (from Sex Cult to Ex-Cult) and releasing a couple of now impossible to find singles, Ex-Cult headed to San Francisco to record with producer and fan Ty Segall. The result is a post-punk juggernaut, oozing with flying saucer fuzz guitar, a pummeling rhythm section, and snarling vocals. Ex-Cult heads out on their first US tour this January supporting Ty Segall, with plans to release a handful of records in 2013 already in the works.
Winter 2013 Tour Dates
12.15 Memphis, TN: Record Release Party @ 1372 Overton Park
01.21 Oklahoma City, OK: The Conservatory
01.23 Tucson, AZ: Club Congress *
01.24 Marfa, TX: Padre’s *
01.25 Austin, TX: Mohawk * (w/ OBN III’s)
01.26 Dallas, TX: Club Dada *
01.27 Memphis, TN: Hi Tone * (w/ Moving Finger)
01.28 Nashville, TN: The End *
01.29 Atlanta, GA: Terminal West * (w/ Gentleman Jesse)
01.30 Raleigh, NC: Kings Barcade *
01.31 Washington, DC: Black Cat * (w/ Roomrunner)
02.01 New York, NY: Webster Hall * (w/ Mac DeMarco)
02.02 Live on WFMU – Cherry Blossom Clinic 3pm
02.02 Brooklyn, NY: Music Hall of Williamsburg * (w/ K-Holes)
02.05 Montreal, QC: Cabaret Du Mile End * (w/ K-Holes)
02.06 Toronto, ON: Phoenix Club * (w/ K-Holes)
02.07 Ann Arbor, MI: Blind Pig * (w/ K-Holes)
02.09 Chicago, IL: Empty Bottle *
02.10 Omaha, NE: Sokol Underground *
02.12 Denver, CO: Hi-Dive *
* w/ Ty Segall
CD / Red Vinyl / Black Vinyl <— ORDER HERE!