Retox Sign to Epitaph for 'YPLL'

BY Gregory AdamsPublished Feb 27, 2013

Last summer, Retox vocalist Justin Pearson told Exclaim! that the band were prepping an LP of "brutal surf music" to follow up the 2011 LP Ugly Animals. Titled YPLL, the sophomore set will drop May 7 through the quartet's new home, Epitaph Records.

A press release explains that the 12-song LP was recorded with producer Chris Rakestraw and finds the band ratcheting up the intensity of their debut, while also simplifying their brutal attack.

"While writing YPLL, we were particularly focused on riffs and simpler song structures," guitarist Michael Crain said in a statement. "Not so much on the extras, such as effects and layers of guitar, but more on an actual song's flow. The guitar lines, kick drum, and snare are definitely driving the ideas home while the bass guitar is the glue holding it all together. And the vocals are telling each song's story. We really just wanted to keep it simple and make everything fun to listen to."

This is the first Retox LP to feature drummer Brian Evans, who joined the band following the departure of original skinsman Gabe Serbian (the Locust, Rats Eyes). Yeah Yeah Yeahs' guitarist Nick Zinner, who had played with Pearson in Head Wound City, also lent his skills to album track "Congratulations, You Are Good Enough," which you can sample in the live-footage-filled video down below.

While YPLL is the first Epitaph release for Retox, Pearson had previously issued the Heaven's Pregnant Teens LP with hardcore supergroup Some Girls on the imprint and delivered material with the Locust via side-label Anti-. Retox released Ugly Animals through Ipecac Recordings and a 7-inch via Pearson's own Three One G.

You can pre-order YPLL here, as well as check out some U.S. dates after the tracklist.

YPLL:

1. Modern Balls
2. Mature Science
3. Don't Fall In Love With Yourself
4. You Lost Me At "It Wasn't My Fault"
5. Congratulations, You Are Good Enough
6. Soviet Reunion
7. Greasy Pslams
8. I've Had It Up To Here, I'm Going To Prison
9. The Art of Really, Really Sucking
10. Biological Process of Politics
11. Nose to Tail
12. Consider the Scab Already Picked

Tour dates:

3/4 Los Angeles, CA - Pehrspace
3/14 Austin, TX - The Liberty (SXSW)
3/15 San Antonio, TX - The Korova
3/16 Austin, TX - The Scoot Inn (SXSW)
3/17 Austin, TX - Beerland (SXSW)
3/19 Tempe, AZ - Sail Inn.
3/20 San Diego, CA - Che Cafe

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