Ice Balloons – “Calypso Heartworm”
Ice Balloons are a New York supergroup that count TV On The Radio’s Kyp Malone, Samiam’s Sean Kennerly, Fuckemos’ Sean Powell, and Midnight Masses’ Giselle Reiber amongst its members. Oh, and they’re fronted by a giant golden fly.
“I spent four days high in the mountains of Colorado suffering from altitude sickness, unable to breathe properly or to sleep through the night,” Kennerly explains. “When I got back to Brooklyn, I slept for 18 hours straight and woke up with an intense feeling of weird lucidity, and wrote several songs during that day and came up with concept of the band as a skeletal punk rock band led by a fly (drums, bass and vocals) around which swirled layers of chaos noise (synthesizers) and the name Ice Balloons. For some reason it seems appropriate that most of the songs be about insects.”
After releasing an eight-song self-titled EP back in 2013, they’re finally getting around to releasing a debut album, Fiesta, in August, and today they’re whetting your appetite with a new song called “Calypso Heartworm.” It’s a droning noise-punk assault that feels both primitive and futuristic, and it’s even better if you picture it being sung by a giant golden fly. Do that below.
Fiesta is out 8/11 via Volar Records. Pre-order it at Bandcamp.