New Orleans no-wave disco group Special Interest released their second album, The Passion Of, via Night School last year; in our review, we wrote:
If you're in the mood, The Passion Of is loaded with bangers, emphasis on "bang": the blazing "Don't Kiss Me In Public," the aforementioned dance floor filler "All Tomorrow's Carry," the bluesy industrial disco of "A Depravity Such As This," the charmingly abrasive "Homogenized Milk" and "Street Pulse Beat" which struts like John Travolta eating three slices of pizza at once. There's been a lot of music this year already that could be described as the soundtrack of 2020, but The Passion Of may be the first to assume things are about to get worse.
They followed it with a remix album in January, and now the band have announced that they've signed to Rough Trade Records. With the signing they've shared a new video for The Passion Of track "Street Pulse Beat." Frontperson Alli Logout directed it, and they write:
N this place { A Note On The Visual Conspiracy of Street Pulse Beat }
What you see N this place is possibility. This possibility is grounded in rejection. The rejection of the recuperation of Black culture, the rejection of the homogenizing force of all institutions, the rejection of individualism and most importantly the rejection of peace. Here in this realm, The conspiracy lies in the halls and the sheets and in the stomach of a laugh you feel deep in your bones. We have found that grief never gets easier; it just is. We are holding it all. All at once.
What you see N this place is love. A love that is gentle and jarring sprouting from the tears that nourish the ground where one’s heart has been laid to rest. A love coming from a place where one never thought love would happen again. Somehow in that way only WE can, we find it over again here in this place. Sometimes it is messy and sometimes it is selfish and sometimes it is even horrid. But even so in this place we believe in a love that delves deeper into our fears and desires, remembering we are soft, beautiful and young as night. A love that bears witness to our wonder, our truths, and our capacity to change. We go forward, not alone but Together, with love.
What you see N this place is a metaphor, what you see N this place is a legacy, what you see N this place is our lives. We are not fated to wither in the margins we are pushed into. We will see the earth before the world ends. We are thriving, joyously, loud in both our triumph and our lamentation. We celebrate through this urgent form of cinema, turning away from what is seen towards what is felt. This conspiracy was made possible only through the collaboration of the artists seen on screen. No role was bigger nor smaller than the other; this conspiracy is collectively all of ours. It was shot in historic punk house, Nowe Miasto. Nowe was around for over a decade and housed many Black artists and accomplices until a fire marshal shut it down in 2014. We gutted it, cleaned it and built every set from scratch. We made this together, we talked it out, this need for rupture, our unfaltering desire to escape. So join us and bask in the mundanity of the day for we know all too well yesterday's crisis is always just tomorrow's carry…
Xoxo
Alli Logout
Watch the video below.
Special Interest are also playing some shows this fall following their set at Pitchfork Festival. They'll stop in Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Brooklyn; see all dates below.
The Brooklyn show is at Market Hotel on September 18, and tickets will be on sale soon.
SPECIAL INTEREST: 2021 TOUR
Sun 9/12 Chicago @ Pitchfork Fest
Mon 9/13 Detroit @ Outer Limits
Tues 9/14 Cleveland @ Now That’s Class
Wed 9/15 Pittsburgh @ Spirit
Thurs 9/16 Baltimore @ Metro Gallery
Fri 9/17 Philadelphia @ First Unitarian Church
Sat 9/18 Brooklyn @ Market Hotel
