Introducing Cosmicide and the Video for “A New Disaster”

First things first, I must confess a bias: I have a very warm, special place carved out in my heart and it’s reserved for Secret Machines. Now Here Is Nowhere, the NYC-via-Dallas trio’s 2004 album, remains a powerfully resonant collection, combining motorik beats and psychedelic segues, topped off with shimmery pop hooks. Take “First Wave Intact”—an album opener that burrows its way into your consciousness and manages to hold attention for the full nine minutes. Despite maintaining roughly the same drum beat throughout, it traverses so much ground that by the time it’s finished you feel as if you’ve traveled to Jupiter and back. Secret Machines were defiantly and thrillingly out of step with the music of the day.

All of which is to say that although SM are no more, I’ve kept a close eye on the Curtis brothers ever since. Ben went on to form the ever-brilliant School of Seven Bells and it turns out Brandon has been slyly making music under the moniker Cosmicide. Thus far only one song has emerged—last year’s “Talos’ Corpse”—because, for the past five years Brandon’s been looping the world (on and off) as Interpol’s touring keyboardist. But with the 18-month El Pintor jaunt in its homestretch, the time is nigh for this project to emerge. Above is the premiere of Cosmicide’s debut video for “A New Disaster,” which is of course, anything but. Much like Secret Machines, Curtis excels at composing songs to sink into—a wall of synth pulses and hypnotic guitars collude to create a spacey kind psych-pop that sounds at once conscise and expansive.

Visually director Richard Krause leads a milky-skinned redhead through a series a disconnected dreamscapes, imagery that’s both sensual and slyly unsettling. “A New Disaster” is a very exciting teaser of what’s to come. Watch, listen, absorb.

Cosmicide on Tour with Interpol

Tues. July 14th – Toronto ON – Danforth Music Hall

Wed. July 15th – Toronto ON – Danforth Music Hall

Mon. July 20th – Portland ME – State Theatre

Tues. July 21st – Brooklyn NY – Prospect Park Bandshell

Thur. July 23rd – Boston MA – House Of Blues

Fri. July 24th – Boston MA – House Of Blues

Sat. July 25th – Philadelphia, Penn. – Festival Pier At Penn’s Landing

Mon. July 27th – Norfolk VA – The Norva

Tue. July 28th – Washington DC – Echo Stage

Wed July 29th – Albany NY – Upstate Concert Hall

Fri. July 31st – Montreal QC – Metropolis

Kim Taylor Bennett is coming to the realization that a lot of her favorite records came out in 2004. She’s on Twitter.