Baus Released New Single “Big Black Cloak”

Photo courtesy of the band.

“Big Black Cloak” is the latest output from long-standing Oakland/Los Angeles trio Baus, who have toured the US and Europe since forming in 2013.

“‘Big Black Cloak’s’ danceable melody is juxtaposed to its lyrics, illuminating the anxiety that arises from constant fear and anticipation of one’s untimely death,” drummer Thomas Jackson writes via email.

Bay Area/Los Angeles-based trio BAUS has spent the last ten years touring extensively and exploring the ever-changing landscape of post-punk. Creating angular, polyrhythmic songs that range from sparse and minimalistic to lush and multifaceted, BAUS specializes in clever, dynamic songwriting and high-energy live performance.

Taking more of an art damaged approach to punk rock, like The Fall or Pere Ubu, BAUS challenges our perspective on what’s “acceptable” by presenting themselves in front of unassuming audiences and striking them with some of the most thought-provoking two-minute songs one can catch these days.

With roots buried deeply in Oakland’s DIY punk scene, BAUS has both held steady and evolved, despite pandemic pauses and every member relocating to different cities and states.

Zum started as a print fanzine but evolved into a standalone record label in 1998. Started by siblings Yvonne (Xiu Xiu, Little Otsu) and George Chen (Common Eider, King Eider, KIT, Chen Santa Maria), they launched the Zum Audio compilation series (including acts like Duster, Modest Mouse, Deerhoof, Yellow Swans) and started releasing vinyl and CDs from upstart acts in California and as far away as Canada, Italy, and Australia. DIY acts Nuzzle, The Intima, Beans, !!!, OUT HUD, and Sea Scouts toured the US extensively while the Chens learned the ins and outs of press, distributing, and manufacturing. 

Yvonne left the label to George to focus on her budding retail business Little Otsu.  Around the same time George worked for Jello Biafra’s Alternative Tentacles Records and organized all-ages shows in the Bay Area with the show promotion collective Club Sandwich. Chen spent a brief stint working at Oakland’s Tigerbeat6, so his tastes and contacts expanded in experimental and electronic directions. Acts in this era included Abe Vigoda, Weird Weeds, Zs, Child Abuse, AIDS Wolf, Scary Mansion (graphic novelist Leah Hayes), High Castle, Core of the Coalman, and George’s band Chen Santa Maria.

Family tragedy led to Chen taking a break from releasing music in the early 2010s. After a relocation to Los Angeles, Zum returned to digital and cassette releases (including Chen’s own stand-up comedy EP). The next phase of the label took off during the 2020 lockdown with vinyl releases from Body Double, My Heart, an Inverted Flame, The Acharis, and a digital-only Zum Audio Vol 4 compilation.

2023 marks the 25th anniversary of Zum as a record label proper. Zum Audio Vol 5 is a double CD format, necessitated by the 2:20 runtime of these tracks. The latest iteration of the comp not only features legacy Zum artists GROWING, The Intima, P:ano, Giardini di Mirò (collaborating with SunnO)))’s Daniel O’Sullivan), My Heart, an Inverted Flame, Somnambulists, and Davey Harms (fka Mincemeat Or Tenspeed).

The compilation also shows new configurations by old pals like Exotic Gardens (Aaron Coyes of Peaking Lights), Curse All Kings (Rob Fisk of 7 Year Rabbit Cycle and Common Eider, King Eider), Jonathan Snipes (of Captain Ahab and clipping.), Second Dinner (Colin Langenus from USA IS A MONSTER), Paul Costuros (Total Shutdown, Death Sentence: Panda!) in a duo with Marshall Trammell (Black Spirituals, Music Research Strategies), Chris Ando (Mikaela’s Fiend) as The Drivers, Pulitzer Prize winning composer Raven Chacon in a duo with Chicago activist/writer/musician Mark Trecka, Adam Hervey’s (Pehr Records, Timonium) instrumental rock quartet Eucalyptus,Portland ambient vet Marcus Fischer, and Kevin Gan Yuen of Sutekh Hexen debuting his project EERIÆRMOR.

The new blood includes Las Vegas warped synth punk purveyors Spring Breeding, Oakland dirge metal trio KIM, spastic hardcore from Trough, power pop post-punk of Baus, synth workout from Left Hand Path label founder Nihar Bhatt, Belgian visual artist and curator Wouter Vanhaelmeesch’s loner guitar exploration as Builenradar, a dance punk remix by Low Praise, noise rock jam by Ho Chi Minh City’s Rắn Cạp Đuôi, and a beatific cosmic-Americana contribution from Aux Meadows.

Cover artwork and packaging for this compilation was executed by Robert Beatty who has created iconic covers for Oneohtrix Point Never, Oh Sees, Kesha, and his own project Three Legged Race.

Source: thoughtswordsaction.com