Today, American Motors share the video for “(A Billboard Reading) Dissolve Jefferson” from its debut, Content. Content was released on October 4, 2024, via The Ghost Is Clear Records and Expert Works Records. Order Content here or here.
It’s probably wise that one “post” is enough. Post-rock. Most “established” record stores have a “post-rock” or “post-punk” section, now, in roaring ‘20s, and every year, as we uncover how glorious those first few Killing Joke albums were, or how influential Magazine, or say, even Shellac, were to a nation of millions, the pile grows taller. And for every inch, there’s an upstart group of misfits in some part of Indiana or Zagreb aping the next iteration of “post” that becomes an en vogue apparition. And we can’t fault those zip guns, they keep the blood flowing. But how do we come full circle, how do we add a “post,” is there life after Red Medicine?
American Motors was established in 2023; not only to clear the drains, but to add that extra “post,” to cleanse the lives of those spent chasing the punk, post-punk, and heck, shoegazing dreams of a generation dosed by the DIY ideals of indie rock. Manipulating a post-pandemic narrative—because why can’t the narrative be manipulated now, by any means necessary?—is the duo of Dustin White and Alex Steward. Both have traveled Lewis and Clark paths towards a musical salvation that put them within the magma. Their CVs too voluminous to get into now, but rest assured, they’re coast to coast post-rock journeymen who have spent just as much time rewiring the gear as they have screen-printing the ‘zines, putting on house shows, and intently studying the lineage of those who came before.
American Motors reflect a quiet sonic war. A leveling of post-expectations. You can have your corporeal catharsis and carve mazes in your brain at the same time. American Motors aren’t re-inventing the wheel as much as they are smashing it to bits, reconfiguring those bits into something that is what? A new wheel? Why not? This is one of those opportunities.
Catch the band live:
Mar 5 – Louisville, KY
MagBar
Bad Wires + Hirt
Mar 6 – Chicago, IL
Burlington
Denude + Bronson Arm + Salvation
Mar 7 – Columbia, MO
PDM
Bad Wires + Telepathy Club + Western Grip
Mar 8 – Lincoln, NE
Zoo Bar
Nowhere + DipTet
Mar 9 – Kansas City, MO
Farewell
Nowhere + Kitty Hell + Ontario + Kariah
Mar 10 – Memphis, TN
Hi Tone
Jadewick + Cherry Smoke
Mar 12 – Atlanta, GA
Disorder Vinyl
Thousandaire + Mothers Milk
Mar 13 – Charleston, SC
Tin Roof
Pretty Baby
Mar 14 – Charlotte, NC
Petras
Pretty Baby + Pet Bug
Mar 15 – Durham, NC
Pinhook
Pretty Baby + Mean Habit
Photo courtesy of J.N.
