P.E. is back with NOPE Tapes Vol 1! This is the first in a series of digital mixtapes, and was recorded live & totally improvised. The release and its lead track “Branding Crisis” was premiered on Brooklyn Vegan, included on Uproxx’s “Best New Indie Music” list, and featured on Stereogum, Treble, and others. The NOPE shows have been a fun way to collaborate with an extended circle of friends and to get back to the origins of P.E., and the NOPE Tapes promise to be a fun way to experiment in between “proper” releases. NOPE Tapes Vol. 1 is out now on Wharf Cat Records.
They’ve since made the most of that happenstance, honing their industrial dancepunk sound into a gleaming and sleek set of razor’s edge grooves on sophomore album The Leather Lemon. The group’s penchant for experimental sounds hasn’t been smoothed over, but even as they continue to follow the thread of where their improvisation takes them, their songwriting has grown even stronger, whether on the dancefloor stomp “Contradiction of Wants” or the melancholy sophisti-pop ballad “Tears in the Rain.”
While you’re at Treble’s site, also check out this feature on Broadcast, where I wrote about Tender Buttons.
LIARS is back with a brand-new remix of “My Pulse To Ponder” by my group P.E.! Brooklyn Vegan premiered the remix, writing “P.E. have turned it into a saxy, skronky club track that is basically a whole new, awesome song.” Check out the statements from Angus and me & Jonny Campolo, the video (by Jonny C), and pick it up over at Bandcamp. The Apple Drop is out now on MUTE Records.
Angus Andrew of LIARS – “I’d classify ‘My Pulse To Ponder’ as the zaniest track from The Apple Drop so it felt apt to hand it over to the happiest band I know – P.E. Jonathan Schenke, as part of his day job, mixed The Apple Drop and so already had deep insight into the song’s inner workings. In fact, while mixing ‘My Pulse To Ponder’, JS had wielded significant influence by encouraging me to push this song further to its extreme – at which point a horn section was added.”
P.E. – “One of the recurring conversations between Angus and members of P.E. has been about how affable people get known for making ‘dark’ music, and ways to bring ‘fun’ into the mix without sounding too corny. With the ‘I Gotcha!’ remix of ‘My Pulse To Ponder’, we scavenged samples from the original and reshaped them into something completely different, a Frankenstein-ed banger built from two different directions. Staying true to the maximalist palette of The Apple Drop, we dubbed, scrubbed, washed and dried ‘My Pulse To Ponder’ until it resembled both of our worlds, like looking through a kaleidoscope at both bands. As the single artwork suggests, the song sounds like peeling back LIARS to reveal the sneaky shock of P.E. freaking out behind the curtain.”
The Leather Lemon – the second full-length album from my experimental electronic-pop group P.E. – is out now on Wharf Cat Records. The record was Album Of The Week on Treble Zine and at Big Love Records (in Tokyo), and it received a glowing review from Bill Pearis on Brooklyn Vegan (“their best record yet… the production is wilder, the hooks are bigger, and everything feels more confident.”). I also did a Talkhouse interview with Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu, and our singer Veronica Torres was profiled on Audiofemme. I am so proud of this album – from both creative and professional standpoints, it’s simply one of the best records that I’ve ever had a hand in making. Pink, teal, and black LPs are available at record shops worldwide! The Leather Lemon is out now via Wharf Cat Records.
“Contradiction Of Wants” is the final single from The Leather Lemon, the new record from my group P.E. Sharp-eared and detail-oriented listeners alike may recognize the seeds of “Contradiction Of Wants” from the Sick, Sad, Fun! mixtape we released with our debut LP Person. What started as a practice-space jam became an explosion of sound in its studio form, and yet another example of why you should always be recording. We’re throwing a record release show in NYC at Union Pool on March 23 with Pop 1280 and DJ A. Savage – get yr tix here!The Leather Lemon is out March 25 via Wharf Cat Records.
My group P.E. is back with the new single “Tears In The Rain”, co-written and featuring A. Savage of Parquet Courts. Rolling Stone premiered the track, calling it “the perfect soundtrack for a neo-noir”, and it was featured in Stereogum, Under The Radar, and Brooklyn Vegan. Andrew’s been a part of the P.E. family since before the band began – he put out records by both Pill and Eaters on his label Dull Tools, both bands played with Parquet Courts, and I’ve worked on many Parquet Courts records over the years. This song – built around a sample of Jonny Campolo at the piano, and featuring a gorgeous one-take sax solo by Ben Jaffe – was special to us from the beginning, and it was Andrew that helped see it through by writing lyrics for Veronica (and she for him). This is honestly one of my favorite pieces of music I’ve ever worked on, and it was made with some of my closest & long-running collaborators… I hope you enjoy it too. The Leather Lemon is out March 25 via Wharf Cat Records.
P.E. – my group of electronic-pop weirdos – have announced our new album The Leather Lemon and released its first single “Blue Nude (Reclined)”. The Fader premiered the new song, calling it “soft and a little sleazy”, and the track also appeared on Stereogum (“pushing further ahead into the mutated pop side of their sound”), Brooklyn Vegan (“exploring dance music by way of post-punk and no wave”), and Treble’s “Essential Tracks” (“P.E. have some honest-to-god dancefloor bangers in them”). As I wrote in the press release, “This was one of the first songs we wrote for the new record, shortly after settling ourselves mentally and physically around the country. With all of our tour plans scrapped in the initial wave of the pandemic, the five of us decided to put our energies into writing new material for the next record, trading files back and forth in order to shape our new sound. ‘Blue Nude’ quickly became an inspiration for the rest of The Leather Lemon, something that foregrounded both the song and the sound, as fun as it was abstract.” The Leather Lemon is out March 25 on Wharf Cat Records.
Brooklyn-based P.E. don’t merely play the notes on The Reason for My Love as much as they barrel right through them. The quintet refines their post-punk impulses on their 2020 debut Person and transforms them into a body-moving EP. The jittery electronics are still there, but the drum cuts feel sharper and lighter, bringing a sense of structure to what could easily be shapeless. Vocalist Veronica Torres abandons spoken-word and leans fully into singing about poetry, beauty, and the contours of the body. Her lovely vocal stretches fill up the space once occupied by industrial bass drops. Sensuality suits them well. –Kelly Liu
The Reason For My Love is the new EP from my group P.E. (along with Bob Jones of Eaters and former members of Pill Veronica Torres, Ben Jaffe, and Jon Campolo). Featuring three new songs (including the lead single title track) and two remixes (one by Xiu Xiu, the other by us), this collection is inspired by classic 12″ EPs and is designed for the dancefloor. Bill Pearis from Brooklyn Vegan reviewed the EP in this week’s Indie Basement column, saying “the three new songs here are the band’s most song-like creations yet. And best. While still experimental, there is a pop backbone to all three, not to mention an overt danceability.” The Reason For My Love is out now via Wharf Cat Records.
P.E. – my psychedelic industrial pop group with members of Pill and Eaters – is back with the new single “The Reason For My Love.” Brooklyn Vegan premiered the track, with Stereogum and Recommended Listen also featuring the new song, “an altered zone of sax pop and asymmetrical synth lines grooving their way around Veronica Torres’ cool faith in the greatest emotion.” It’s the title track from our upcoming EP of the same name, which features two other new tracks and two remixes – one by Xiu Xiu and another by the band. We spent much of 2020 generating new song ideas, and convened at Studio Windows earlier this year to pull everything together. I love this song – it’s one of my favorites P.E. has ever done – and the EP is a dance-floor-ready summer jammer. You can stream the single below, and pre-order The Reason For My Love EP now (available Sept 3 via Wharf Cat Records).
Jonathan Schenke 