Reptaliens from Portland, Oregon return with the video for “Like a Dog” (made with Tristan Scott-Behrends) from the group’s forthcoming album Multiverse. Though returning to using guitar and drums following the duo’s excellent 2020 minimal synth/post-punk EP Wrestling, Reptaliens haven’t lost their knack for solid, extended melodies and culture jamming with left field ideas about the nature of society, the universe and our place in it freely referencing Philip K. Dick novels and the work of transhumanist philosopher FM-2030 after whom the band named its 2017 album. With “Like A Dog” Reptaliens use popular culture as a vehicle for time travel and create an a kind of alternative history of the 1990s from the over hyped and bizarre late night/overly sexualized daytime commercials, Chris Cunningham’s phantasmagoric music videos for Aphex Twin, the manufactured grit and grime of many alternative rock videos and perhaps the truly eccentric music video programs as seen on the Canada’s version of MTV with Much Music. The nods to Nirvana’s Unplugged performance on the aforementioned MTV, the dramatic daytime talk show parody and air of general boredom with fake excitement that was often in the air once the then most recent wave of youth culture had crested by mid-decade all point to what seems like the absurdity of nostalgia for a time that was too often characterized by glossing over mediocrity with the patina of significance through surreal marketing and performative enthusiasm. The almost hypnotic melody maintained by Reptaliens in the tuneful psychedelic pop song is almost a parallel to the air of the time depicted in the video and yet it also strangely draws you in like some of the recreations of 90s media tropes that accompany the music. Watch the video below when it premiers on November 15.
Multiverse is out on Captured Tracks on January 21 and the first pressing comes with rolling papers since the band works on a weed farm in Oregon when not engaged in musicianly endeavors. The tour in support of the record launches in SLC on 1/24 (other dates listed below including the show in Denver on Tuesday, January 25, 2022).
Thurs. Dec 9, 2021 – Eugene, OR – Sessions Music Hall
Mon. Jan 24, 2022 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court
Tues. Jan 25, 2022 – Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge
Thurs. Jan 27, 2022 – Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street Entry
Fri. Jan 28, 2022 – Chicago, IL – Beat Kitchen
Sat. Jan 29, 2022 – Pontiac, MI – Pike Room
Sun. Jan 30, 2022 – Cleveland, OH – Mahall’s
Tues. Feb 1, 2022 – Pittsburgh, PA – Thunderbird
Thurs. Feb 3, 2022 – Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall
Fri. Feb 4, 2022 – New York, NY – Baby’s All Right
Sat. Feb 5, 2022 – Philadelphia, PA – The Foundry
Sun. Feb 6, 2022 – Washington DC – Songbyrd
Tues. Feb 8, 2022 – Asheville, NC – Grey Eagle
Wed. Feb 9, 2022 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
Thurs. Feb 10, 2022 – Atlanta, GA – Aisle 5
Fri. Feb 11, 2022 – Nashville, TN – TBD
Sun. Feb 13, 2022 – Dallas, TX – DaDa
Mon. Feb 14, 2022 – Austin, TX – Empire
Tues. Feb 16, 2022 – Phoenix, AZ – Rebel Lounge
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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