Apex content reflect get ahead
Apex concept refract senseless
Los Angeles chanteuse Taleen Kali transmutes familiar refrains into something more enigmatic and untethered, each note drifting somewhere between fragility and flame, delicately poised on the edge of darkness and illumination. Aepex, their newest release via Dum Dum Records, channels the electric essence of contemporaries L.A. Witch and The Horrors, mingling them with echoes of early ’90s shoegazers Chapterhouse and Curve. Think Debbie Harry caught in a midnight rendezvous with Garbage and Ride beneath an expansive desert sky.
Heavy breakbeats crash with a distant rumble, guitars spiral like ghostly wisps through a midnight haze, reshaping familiar melodies into something ethereal, something reborn. Aepex surges with a hypnotic intensity, fusing Middle Eastern melodies and a fuzzy warmth that draws listeners into its depths. Here, Kali interrogates the duality of ambition: ascending toward greatness while confronting the hollowness of modern existence. The song’s repetitive, ascending chorus embodies this paradox, each iteration amplifying the urgency and tension inherent in the pursuit of transcendence.
“There’s a point after which you can’t keep driving up against the current anymore,” says Kali. “You just want to pierce through it. I grew up in L.A. It’s my home. I love being in DIY community here. And yet sometimes being in the music scene during these dark political times can feel so daunting. Capitalism makes artists compete, turning us into content machines churning ourselves to a pulp…I don’t just want to keep pushing upward into oblivion. Aepex is the pinnacle of pleasure. A crest. A threshold. It’s about how meaningless the chase can be and finding other ways to forge meaning, finding transcendence amidst chaos and madness. All of these elements started driving me toward a darker direction, both during the songwriting process and in the studio when we were redefining our sound.”
Listen to Aepex below and order the single here.
Renowned as the voice behind flower-punk outfit TÜLIPS, Taleen Kali melds her Armenian heritage with Lebanese and Ethiopian rhythms, breathing life into a genre often starved of diverse cultural textures. Her vocal presence slices through the night air with neon intensity, guiding listeners through an ever-evolving musical landscape.
Outside her role as performer, Kali helms the avant-garde Dum Dum Records and the celebrated DUM DUM Zine, ventures pushing boundaries far beyond the typical indie milieu. Her sonic explorations further encompass the mystical realm of sound healing, reflected vividly in her meditative 2021 release, Songs For Meditation, a gentle counterpoint to her punk-rooted rebellion.
For Aepex, the band returned to the familiar embrace of The Cave Studios under the watchful ear of engineer Josiah Mazzaschi (Light FM, Bizou, Child Seat), alongside mixing virtuoso Chris King (Cold Showers, Kai Tak). Notably, Kali steps into the role of co-producer for the first time, imbuing the recording with an intimate creative vision. The track also marks bassist Miles Marsico’s inaugural turn on drums, enhanced by a poignant cameo guitar solo from former member Royce Hsu and an introduction to new guitarist Genevieve Quiquivix. Touring drummer Anthony Schillaci adds rhythmic flourishes.
Aepex‘s release comes ahead of the band’s ongoing support tour with Ringo Deathstarr. They will culminate the tour at The Echoplex on Sunday, June 8, which will also serve as the single release party for Aepex. The band will release a limited edition 7-inch lathe-cut record to celebrate.
More info and tickets here.
- Sat, June 7 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
- Sun, June 8 – Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex
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