#constant smiles

[ourladyofomega]

📸 Record Reserve

[bandcampsnoop]

9/2/25.

Constant Smiles (Queens, New York) just announced a new album for their new label, Felte Records (Los Angeles). And while there is only one song currently available, it seems to track more toward "Kenneth Anger" and its dreamy synth soundscape than the pop sounds of "Paragons". The Bandcamp notes do suggest a more airy, slower sound on this album:

"Like the best moments of foundational albums by Talk Talk or Nick Drake, the lived-in majesty of Adrianne Lenker’s Songs/Instrumentals or Jim O’Rourke’s excursions into chamber pop, Moonflowers reaches its dynamic swells naturally, almost subliminally. It’s a sound that past Constant Smiles releases hinted at but never fully achieved."

Ben Jones, the bedroom recording auteur who, in the 2020s has opted for a regular band, not only is a studio regular, but also enlists a lot of help: Fred Thomas, Cassandra Jenkins, and Katie von Schleicher to name a few.

This will fully release in November 2025.

[omegaremix]

[ourladyofomega]

Two Constant Smiles singles. The single's cover for "The Things I Miss" was taken at 66-44 Forest Ave. in Flushing (Queens), New York; facing northwest. For "Run To Stay", that photo was taken at 57-33 Catalpa Ave in Ridgewood (Queens), New York; facing west.

📸 unknown

[omegaremix]

Sacred Bones 15th Anniversary @ The Knockdown Center; May 28, 2022.

Uniform has had an effect on me that’s made all difference. Their live performance as then-unknowns at Output led me to the Sacred Bones label. Lead singer Michael Berdan repped Shame which had me finally visit Rough Trade NYC before their re-location and got me hooked on Totalitar. Not only that, I also sought out each and every band member’s projects (York Factory Complaint, Coca Leaf, Impalers, Liturgy, Anatomy) and discovered other labels in Dais and Wharf Cat. It took me six years before finally seeing the band in full and even bought merch- from Berdan himself. Did I mention they’ve become one of the hardest, most destructive, and pulverizing industrial-metal bands as of recent? All the reasons why they became one of my top ten all-time favorite artists ever.

Meanwhile, New York City label Sacred Bones housed some great artists such as Zola Jesus, Lust For Youth, Blanck Mass, The Holydrug Couple, Spellling, and Marrisa Nadler. They’ve praised the likes of John Carpenter, Mort Garson, and Suicide’s Alan Vega, plus had Boris and Black Marble come aboard. They’re based in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn. With what they’ve done and where they’re situated, how would I not support them?

They celebrated their 10th anniversary in 2017 with two separate shows. I bought tickets to both April and May dates, but I had doubts going as I was in the midst of recovering from life-saving shoulder surgery. Re-injuring it would not be a good look for my trust and my surgeon’s reputation so I ended up eating the cost. Another New York City-based label, Hospital Productions, celebrated their 20th anniversary which I attended, but I held out hope that Sacred Bones would return for their 15th. In short notice, they would. Five years later, I have a chance of finally attending my all-time favorite label’s showcase while keeping my New York City / Brooklyn quotient up. You wouldn’t even understand how fast my heart was beating as I got closer to the event. That’s the case with every trip to New York City because it’s always a big deal to me.

Long Island had a succession of greyscale cloudy days and rain. Saturday would be no different, I feared. Coincidentally, the clouds broke up while I rode the Central Islip line to Woodside. By the time I took the 7 line to catch the Q39 bus, it was a baking, bright and hazy 75*F by the time I got to the Knockdown Center. Security and detail dressed in full black asked everyone if they were here for Sacred Bones or Zero (an alternate techno dance event). After weaving through the guard rail labyrinth, showing ID, and having our tickets scanned, we were welcomed in. I took for granted just attending and supporting the label’s showcase because I knew it was an event. By the end of the night, this experience would be nothing I expected.

I entered the Knockdown Center’s huge lobby and through its conduits, observing several people sitting outside and enjoying the now shining skies like it was a university campus. I arrive at the huge main stage area and it was a dazzler. Once a thriving glass and door factory, this centurian structure is now out-of-commission for its original purposes and became a live venue and art space. It’s been internally repurposed and most of its original structures and aesthetic had faithfully remained intact. The bill would have seven artists across two areas and it would all start in the Texas room.

I walk in and the festivities had already started. Thirty people were here before me; some standing against the wall, some even sitting on the four-foot tall upper level. Everyone was totally silent and attentive as Constant Smiles’ sound welcomed everyone in with arms wide open. I look around and I see punks, metalheads, artist-types, longhairs, goth girls, girls in pigtails, an older silver gentleman wearing all-black matching sportscoat and miniskirt, and many more broad-minded walks of life coming in from Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. Ben Jones’ and personnel’s peaceful delivery of gentle long-distance drone, dreampop, and shoegaze painted this picture of total tranquility and serenity. Their sound perfectly juxtaposed with the setting sun’s rays beaming through the windows and into the Texas room. Nobody couldn’t have symbolically started the entire production any better.

All of us migrated to see The Men, the second artist up and the first to take the main stage. If Constant Smiles were the warm-up, then The Men got everything going with a such a slamming free-wheeling set. The line-up of Kevin Faulkner, Mark Perro, Nick Chiericozzi, and Rich Samis delivered a near-endless performance that sounded like it took forever and that’s not a bad thing. I stood about twenty feet away from the main stage and I zoned out letting the music take me to places. At this point, the people were sparse with lots of space to move around on the main floor but they were into it. One song of theirs I instantly recognized from their old line-up was “( )” because I did feature it on Omega WUSB.That was their most powerful one of the night. After their performance, things would take a turn to the unexpected.

Some of us decided to march on to the Ready Room, Knockdown’s former main office-turned bar where they held conferences, panels, and small celebratory events. I had no idea who LD Deutsch was. When I walked in the almost pitch-black space, I seen plenty of people packed in and seated with a projector set-up in front. It looked so surreal. A lecture during a concert night? Where am I? I don’t believe this. This was the stuff my dreams were usually made of: odd situations, things, and re-arrangements that could possibly happen in real-life but never did. Now this was it. Am I now in my own dream? For a good firty-five minutes LD Deutsch presented to us “A Revised Lecture On Time: Reality at the Edge of Itself”. It was a compliment of her latest material “Mythologies Of Time And Timelessness” and her second one published through Sacred Bones’ press. As part of their 15th anniversary, the label chose a great opportunity to showcase their best example of featured authors and filmmakers.

Meanwhile, the next act already got going on the main stage. In the past five years, Sacred Bones really ramped up their signings. I’m more accustomed to their first ten years when almost every artist signed on the label played for their 10th. Anika released Change on the label in 2021 and…I didn’t know what to think when I first witnessed them. Here was Annika Henderson up front on vocals, sounding reserved, quite soft spoken, calm and in control. Her touring personnel behind her put together an amalgam of minimal post-punk, art-rock, and krautrock and it felt up there. Once they played “Sand Witches”, I started finding plenty of elements of their sound that had that specific something and that continued with “Change”. Both had that just-about-right hypnotic spell that drew me in and enough to at least give them another chance in the very near future.

Squrl was another unfamiliar unknown to me and recent signing on that night’s line-up. Anika’s set spilled a little over its end time so I ended up being a little late for the Texas room to see them. It was another attentive, quiet trip on the bill that painted a lively adventurous picture through long expansive guitar drones and a relaxing sound that went the distance. After one of their songs, a fan was dared by her friends to scream out “Jim Jarmusch!” and she did. What a surprise - that is him! Ghost Dog. Coffee And Cigarettes. Fifteen feet away was the closest I ever came in presence of a film director. Anyway - everyone knew it was him with the three of them creating another calm, pleasurable experience. P.S.: no one thought you were funny, you donkey.

I wasn’t too familiar with Spellling’s music but I was still auditioning it for a future use. I was also on the fence about her because she’s not my usual fare. I got to know her better as she performed on the main stage and she won it. Spellling had so much fun onstage and felt super gracious performing for Knockdown’s main crowd who saw her as an amazing performer and being. She was alive. Her presence was animated, playful, free-spirited, and boundless for her type of musical work that was imaginative, magical, and full of fantasy - the total opposite of where I was heading to next.

I wanted to return to the Texas room one final time as early as possible because I did not want to miss the next act, and promised myself to be in the thick of it when it happened. Brooklyn’s scream-core icon Jenna Rose (Anatomy) and Sacred Bones king-of-all-trades Ben Greenberg took to their instruments when were done chilling with their friends. Then their touring drummer (who to this day I still don’t know who he is) came aboard and finally lead singer Michael Berdan showed up wearing Salo / 120 Days Of Sodom to win the T-Shirt Of The Year award. Uniform finally got going and we all were ready for them. Berdan gave thanks and hat-tipped Bones label founder Caleb Braaten for signing them before delivering a few laugh-out-loud wisecracks. Like the last time I saw them at Saint Vitus last year, they kicked off the set with “Life In Regression” and brought the out-of-mind insanity and violence. During the second song, I got splashed hard with a cup of beer. Now it’s going down. About seven or eight guys (including myself) wailed and pushed each other like you would with any nihilist affair. People got knocked down and were promptly pulled up to keep going. Someone lost their glasses and frantically searched for them during the thick of the action. He found them all right: near my boots. That summed up my third time seeing Uniform. If not for them, I wouldn’t have been here. Simple as that.

The label listed six artists and one author appearing “plus more to be announced”. At the last minute, they added Black Marble to end the night. I can thank Chris Stewart’s unforgettable sounds for getting me by during an insurmountably difficult and surreal time. I already seen him open up for Cold Cave at Greenpoint’s Warsaw four years ago, so seeing him again was a nice bonus. Stewart returned to his hometown and his no-wave dressed suspects also took the stage. As a 2020 signee (and I was floored when that was announced), they leaned towards their newer stuff with that familiar cute synthpop and special lo-fi tonality. To me, Black Marble isn’t just a great artist but also a mood; a unique feeling I wouldn’t get from any other outfit. The idea that Stewart originated from New York City, the aesthetic of A Different Arrangement,how “A Great Design” resonates with me, and a sound that leads my heart to where it truly should be (Brooklyn, not Long Island) still makes Black Marble one of personal sentiment. Everyone got into them. The petites, too, as they danced and rocked out to “One Eye Open”. I always wondered what type of significant other would be into them as I never met anyone who were. Now I have my answer.

For five hours, I felt like everything lined up: the label, their fans, the setting, location, and how everything played out. The Sacred Bones fans repp-ing Spacemen 3, Sannhet, Health, and Converge who surrounded me were exactly the type I’d be associated with. Only in the city, because Long Island has nothing going for it. As I observed and took in everything, I couldn’t help having that feeling of someone, anyone such as a Brooklyn contact or a city-minded interest I met during the pandemic summer to come join me because it would’ve turned an already 9.5 to a perfect 10. I held it in knowing that having those contacts would’ve certainly made all the difference. Imagine if I were to meet someone new from the event? But that didn’t happen. My anxiety, fright, and uncertainty held me back.

But that didn’t even leave a permanent scratch. No. What did was the subway lines and bis rides on the way to Queens, the semi-sweet smell of old decaying wood, the high-definition visuals of heavy fog and sweet colored lighting, and another improbable-turned-unforgettable night written in the books. Spring couldn’t have ended on such a high note.

Once again, I faced the dilemma of getting to the subway in time, getting home early enough and not come to work sleepy the next day. I exited the Knockout and walked past all the groups of people converging on how great the event was or some other insignificant bullshit. I had an Uber pick me up and take me to the Woodmere stop heading east where I’d transfer at Jamaica and back home to Central Islip. As with all rail rides to and from the city, there’s always a pair of headphones plugged in my ears and the music playing from my iPhone. There’s always a playlist made to forever remember the day by.

[omegaremix]

Omega Radio for April 15, 2024 A; #373.

Thousandaire: "One Day I'll Finally Go Deaf"

TV Star: "These Trees Heard The Drums"

Slow Crush: "Thrill"

A Beacon School: "Mantra"

Absolutely Free: "How To Repaint Clouds"

Sour Widows: "Witness"

Verity Den: "Prudence"

Grass Jaw: "Tic Tac"

Soda Die: "Sit With It"

Sprain: "Constant Hum"

Shizuka: "Bloodsplattered Blossom"

Haress: "White Over"

Constant Smiles: "Sea Of Birds"

Wednesday: "Love Has No Pride (Condemned)"

Keep: "7 Days"

Lower Plenty: "A Letter To Grief"

Sonic Boom: "If I Should Die"

Mountain Movers: "Bodega On My Mind / Sun Shines On The Moon"

Dolly: "Process"

cursetheknife: "cursetheknife"

Downward: "Budge"

Velvet: "Sunlight"

A Very Special Episode: "Smolder"

MX Lonely: "Rest In Salt"

Honeymoon: "Like Suffering"

Stargazer Lilies, The: "Dizzying Heights"

There Is No Teenage Love: "Randezvous Zero"

First of two same-day broadcasts. Deluxe shoegaze, dreampop, bedroom-pop, alternative, jangle, and lo-fi.

[ourladyofomega]

My heart was literally pounding leading up to Sacred Bones 15th Anniversary showcase, not just because it was going to be exciting but because of my anxiety. I usually feel that way as every trip to New York City is big to me. A great night was a given, but when I arrived at Queens’ Knockdown Center I felt a special magic I’ve never felt before. I was surrounded by some of the coolest people and subcultures imaginable as we all observed the label’s anniversary in its entirety. Constant Smiles played in a very attentive, quiet small room as the setting sun beamed through the windows. The Men delivered a raging, stacked performance on the main stage while Anika, whom I first wondered what they were, did end up growing on me with some curious art-rock elements to their set. I ended up running into Squrl’s set and had no idea that was Jim Jarmusch up on stage until some drunk fan screamed out his name. Everyone, and I mean everyone, was in spectacular awe when Spellling performed and had them all just like that. Then I went back up front for nihilist pit-fighting during Uniform’s set. (Shout-out to Michael Berdan wearing an awesome-as-fuck Salo shirt.) Finally, Black Marble and his no-wave suspects returned to his home city to end what ultimately became a totally phenomenal night.

It’s nights like these where I wished I had some Brooklyn connections come join me which would’ve become a perfect day for me, but this was already a 9.5. I took in the surrounding company, the stale smell and deteriorating aesthetic of Knockdown Center to remind myself that every trip taken to the city is where I should be.

[omegaremix]