Odonis Odonis's sophomore record, Hard Boiled Soft Boiled, finally sees release next week on Buzz Records after two years of delays.
Originally pegged for a spring 2012 release, it's been a long road for the album, which was recorded in 2009 just outside Vancouver in Burnaby, BC, with producer Colin Stewart before singer-guitarist Dean Tzenos had even assembled the tracks that became the band's lo-fi debut, Hollandaze.
"Part of me regrets waiting so long but the time seems to be working out in our favour," Tzenos tells Exclaim! "[The new album] is more of a mature record than Hollandaze was."
As previously reported, Tzenos split the album along sonic lines. Industrial-influenced tracks make up the Hard Boiled half of the record while more ambient, dream-pop selections were slotted into the Soft Boiled half.
Despite the split, the record is held together by a surprising funkiness that runs through its dozen tracks. "The funny part about industrial music is that it kind of gets monotonous. I love the stuff, but if you listen back to the post-punk that led into it and a lot of the early industrial stuff, a lot of the '80s industrial stuff is just dance music."
It was the post-punk groove of bands like ESG that inspired these sonic subtleties. "They always had a real danceable feel to the music. I just really wanted that to be the underlying thing. It's not just pure noise."
An unmastered version of Hard Boiled Soft Boiled, with a different tracklist, leaked online a few years ago. The new, mastered version of the album omits a track from that older version, replaced by "New Obsession," the only song on the album that wasn't recorded in Burnaby, although it was written at the same time as the rest of the album's tracks.
"I tried to match the sound quality. I sent it to Colin and he threw it through his mixer to blend it in," says Tzenos. "The album is a whole piece of music now whereas before it was halfway there."
Tzenos has a third record of material, from the same bout of writing that produced Hollandaze and Hard Boiled Soft Boiled, sitting on his computer. But its release would be yet another sonic reversal for the band, and he says he's more interested in moving forward than continuing to dip back into his past.
"I don't know if it's ever going to see the light of day at this point. It's taking too long to put this shit out."
Hard Boiled Soft Boiled arrives Tuesday (April 15) via Buzz, and you can check out the band's upcoming tour dates below.
Tour dates:
04/10 Hamilton, ON - The Baltimore House +
04/11 Québec City, QC - Le Cercle (Les Nuits Psychédéliques de Québec) *
04/13 New York, NY - Baby's All Right ~
04/14 Washington DC - Black Cat
04/16 Durham, NC - The Pinhook
04/18 Athens, GA - World Famous
04/20 Baton Rouge, LA - Mud And Water
04/21 Austin, TX - Mohawk (Inside)
04/22 Dallas, TX - Club Dada
04/25 Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge
06/19-20 Toronto, ON - NXNE
+ with Weaves
* with Hellshovel, PyPy, Tonstartssbandht
~ with Yamantaka Sonic Titan
Read an interview with Tzenos here.
Originally pegged for a spring 2012 release, it's been a long road for the album, which was recorded in 2009 just outside Vancouver in Burnaby, BC, with producer Colin Stewart before singer-guitarist Dean Tzenos had even assembled the tracks that became the band's lo-fi debut, Hollandaze.
"Part of me regrets waiting so long but the time seems to be working out in our favour," Tzenos tells Exclaim! "[The new album] is more of a mature record than Hollandaze was."
As previously reported, Tzenos split the album along sonic lines. Industrial-influenced tracks make up the Hard Boiled half of the record while more ambient, dream-pop selections were slotted into the Soft Boiled half.
Despite the split, the record is held together by a surprising funkiness that runs through its dozen tracks. "The funny part about industrial music is that it kind of gets monotonous. I love the stuff, but if you listen back to the post-punk that led into it and a lot of the early industrial stuff, a lot of the '80s industrial stuff is just dance music."
It was the post-punk groove of bands like ESG that inspired these sonic subtleties. "They always had a real danceable feel to the music. I just really wanted that to be the underlying thing. It's not just pure noise."
An unmastered version of Hard Boiled Soft Boiled, with a different tracklist, leaked online a few years ago. The new, mastered version of the album omits a track from that older version, replaced by "New Obsession," the only song on the album that wasn't recorded in Burnaby, although it was written at the same time as the rest of the album's tracks.
"I tried to match the sound quality. I sent it to Colin and he threw it through his mixer to blend it in," says Tzenos. "The album is a whole piece of music now whereas before it was halfway there."
Tzenos has a third record of material, from the same bout of writing that produced Hollandaze and Hard Boiled Soft Boiled, sitting on his computer. But its release would be yet another sonic reversal for the band, and he says he's more interested in moving forward than continuing to dip back into his past.
"I don't know if it's ever going to see the light of day at this point. It's taking too long to put this shit out."
Hard Boiled Soft Boiled arrives Tuesday (April 15) via Buzz, and you can check out the band's upcoming tour dates below.
Tour dates:
04/10 Hamilton, ON - The Baltimore House +
04/11 Québec City, QC - Le Cercle (Les Nuits Psychédéliques de Québec) *
04/13 New York, NY - Baby's All Right ~
04/14 Washington DC - Black Cat
04/16 Durham, NC - The Pinhook
04/18 Athens, GA - World Famous
04/20 Baton Rouge, LA - Mud And Water
04/21 Austin, TX - Mohawk (Inside)
04/22 Dallas, TX - Club Dada
04/25 Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge
06/19-20 Toronto, ON - NXNE
+ with Weaves
* with Hellshovel, PyPy, Tonstartssbandht
~ with Yamantaka Sonic Titan
Read an interview with Tzenos here.
