Moon Duo Ready <i>Mazes</i>

BY Gregory AdamsPublished Feb 8, 2011

While initially tagged as an offshoot of psych rockers Wooden Shjips, Moon Duo have made a name for themselves over the past couple of years with a series of spaced-out releases. Following up last year's trippy Escape release, the duo of Shjips member Erik "Ripley" Johnson and Sanae Yamada have prepped yet another platter of rock ramblers with an experimental bent.

A press release for the group says they are ready to unleash their new album Mazes this spring. While described as the most accessible Moon Duo record yet, the set is still said to feature the band's now-familiar psychedelic touches. Despite a slightly more commercial appeal, pointing to the vocals in particular, Mazes continues "to push this band and genre into uncharted territory."

Of the album, Johnson told the Quietus it's about "finding one's place in the world -- moving forward, and the different paths one takes moving through life, trying to reach various goals, literally moving, love, pain, change. Or just getting by, and making sense of things."

Sacred Bones, whom released the group's 2009 Killing Time EP, is set to drop the new disc March 29. You can check out the tracklisting, as well as a stream of the record's washed-out, organ-driven title track, below. That's the cover up there above.

The LP version of the set features a hand-screened cover, as well as a 22"x22" reversible poster. Limited quantities of the CD will feature a bonus disc of remixes done by Psychic Ills and Sonic Boom of Spacemen 3 fame, among others.

The band will also be heading out on a North American tour in support of Mazes, with Canadian stops including Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.

Mazes:

1. "Seer"
2. "Mazes"

3. "Scars"
4. "Fallout"
5. "When You Cut"
6. "Run Around"
7. "In The Sun"
8. "Goners"

Tour dates:

3/15 Kansas City, MO - Record Bar
3/16 Norman, OK - The Opolis
3/22 Atlanta, GA - 529
3/23 Raleigh, NC - Kings Barcade
3/24 Baltimore, MD - The Golden West Cafe
3/25 Philadelphia, PA - King Fu Necktie
3/26 New York, NY - Cake Shop
3/27 Brooklyn, NY - Knitting Factory
3/29 Boston, MA - T.T. The Bear's Place *
3/30 Montreal, QC - Il Motore *
3/31 Toronto, ON - Sneaky Dee's *
4/2 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle *
4/3 St. Paul, MN - Turf Club
4/4 Fargo, MD - The Aquarium
4/7 Vancouver, BC - Media Club
4/8 Seattle, WA - The Funhouse
4/9 Portland, OR - East End
4/11 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
4/12 Los Angeles, CA - The Echo
4/13 San Diego, CA - The Casbah
4/15 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
4/16 Denver, CO - Hi-Dive

* with Blank Dogs

Moon Duo - Mazes by souterraintransmissions

Latest Coverage