SWEEPING PROMISES

Friday, Sep 18

KALX-FM co-presents

SWEEPING PROMISES

with Fake Fruit and System Exclusive

8 pm doors

$20 advance / $25 at door

all ages

Sweeping Promises was born in a disused and reverberant concrete laboratory in Cambridge, MA. Tracked with a self-devised “single-mic technique” and mixed in mono, serial band-starters Lira Mondal and CauField Schnug completed their debut, Hunger for a Way Out, just in time to enter quarantine. With only a single basement show under their belt, the band received an unexpectedly wide reception, Firstly in online punk circles, and eventually stretching beyond. In 2023, having gotten the chance to tour the USA and abroad with live drummer Spenser Gralla, the duo relocated to their new home and DIY recording compound in Lawrence, KS, and released their sophomore album, Good Living is Coming for You, on Feel It Records (US) and Sub Pop (EU/UK). The album received wide critical acclaim for its pop songwriting and idiosyncratic punk production and led to yet more touring, boosting the band’s reputation as a Fierce live act.

Fake Fruit’s visceral indie rock operates so firmly in the present that it’s transportive and unmooring. The Oakland trio’s songs careen with volatile energy and lead singer Ham D’Amato’s lyrics are enveloped with acerbic humor and resonant perceptiveness. Though their new LP Mucho Mistrust is a sly reference to a beloved Blondie lyric, the title encapsulates both the anxieties of daily life, a bloodless music industry, and global capitalism as well as the clear-eyed skepticism needed to rebel against it. Across 12 propulsively unpredictable tracks, the album is both their most collaborative and most immediate yet. 

System Exclusive are Ari B and Matt Jones – a SF based, Pasadena, CA originated duo, balancing the hard edged electronic pulse of old school synthwerks against hot-under-the-collar live drums and slashing post-punk guitar. Ari’s melismatic alto completes the triangle, crowning the cyborg-rock compositions with a torn and vulnerable human edge. Faced with the near-impossible task of making a living in California while working as touring musicians, they put their life in storage, put a bed in the van, and have been living wherever the shows take them. On a mission to make strangers misty in the disco throughout the US, UK, and Europe…and wherever else fine records are sold.