Los Angeles based post punk artist Gold Cage are hot off their debut release Social Crutch and were recently added to the local Felte label roster, which is also home to fellow post punk artists like Deserta, Ritual Howls, Odonis Odonis and more. The album was recorded and engineered by Franky Flowers at Camelia Sound Studio in LA. Before their debut release, Gold Cage sent a lot of time performing at small local venues from Non Plus Ultra, to opening for well-known and beloved psych rock acts like Texas’ Holy Wave at The Factory.
I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Gold Cage three times now, twice at local Long Beach venues The Prospector and Que Sera, and at one of the coolest shows I went to last year, the aforementioned Holy Wave show with locals Triptides at The Factory in Downtown LA. If you haven’t been to The Factory, the upstairs, semi-sketchy warehouse venue is one big open floor with black and white headshots of local artists like Feels members Shannon Lay and Laena Geronimo and Numb.er’s Jeff Fribourg. It’s quite the homage to the LA indie scene, and I’ll definitely be checking out more shows there once all this is over.
Comprised of singer/bassist Monica Katz, singer/guitarist Cole Devine, and drummer Sage Ross, the band knows how to create delicate layers of dreamy, atmospheric sounds. They keep their tempos pretty slow and consistent, and the whispering vocals of Katz and Devine blend in with the atmospheric sounds. Their arrangements are spacious and expansive, and bring to mind a softer Slowdive and Peel Dream Magazine. Their shoegaze, reverb-drenched guitars are much louder in person that on their recording, making a live performance from Gold Cage a vibrational, heavy act to experience in person.
“Repeater Kember,” the first song on their debut album was also the first single they recorded. Katz explains how the song came about in an article on post-punk.com: “We wrote this song while babysitting…In the beginning, we had somewhat of a Can approach to writing…The sounds were so indescribable, and pleasing to hear—all it needed was arrangement. We never did get around to it because it happened so naturally. I like to describe it as a song that sounds as if it is disintegrating as you listen.”
Watch the dark and dreamy video for “Repeater Kember” directed by Shannon Wiedemeyer below, via the Felte label YouTube:
Listen to some of my favorite tracks off their album Social Crutch released March 27, 2020:
“Halcion” is the second track off the album and is dreamy and catchy, featuring vocal verses by Devine with Katz jumping in at the chorus.
“Shadows” bends and shimmers, creating a dreamy atmospheric sound using more intricate drumming and catchy guitar hooks.
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