Name: Laughing Matter
Brand: Wand

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

DC744

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Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2019-04-19

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

PIAS

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

0781484074410

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Total Cap

2 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

DC744CS

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Tape

0781484074441

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1 / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No / Tape

Artist

Wand

Genre GB

Psychedelic

Label GB

Drag City

Drag City is a renowned music label that was founded by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn. With an impressive roster of artists, Drag City has established itself as a leading force in the music industry. Known for their diverse range of genres, the label has consistently released groundbreaking and influential albums. From indie rock to experimental folk, Drag City continues to push boundaries and nurture innovative talent.

Since its inception, Drag City has been dedicated to supporting artists who defy conventions and create unique sounds. The label's commitment to artistic freedom has allowed musicians to explore their creativity without limitations. This approach has resulted in a catalog of critically acclaimed albums that have resonated with audiences worldwide.

With an unwavering focus on quality over quantity, Drag City carefully curates its releases, ensuring each album receives the attention it deserves. Their meticulous attention to detail extends beyond the music itself, with beautifully designed album artwork and packaging that enhance the overall listening experience.

Wand is an influential artist in the music industry, known for their unique sound and captivating performances. With a discography spanning several albums, Wand has established themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the alternative rock genre.

Their music draws inspiration from a variety of genres, including psychedelic rock and garage punk. The result is a distinct blend of melodic hooks, powerful guitar riffs, and introspective lyrics that resonate with listeners.

Wand's sound has often been compared to other notable artists such as Meatbodies, Gøggs, and Cory Hanson. Their energetic live shows have garnered them a dedicated fan base who eagerly await each new release.

A little less than two years on from 2016’s Plum, Californian scrap polymorphs Wand release their newest, and fifth long playing record, Laughing Matter. Laughing Matter is marked by the confidence and exuberance of a band that has lived, feuded, thrived and grown together through years of dedicated jamming, touring and recording, across western and eastern states, continents and mind-sets. In this world that insists we must increasingly rely upon ourselves, Wand listen to each other, and this is the sound.

Largely recorded on the infamous southern border of broken, decadent America, Laughing Matter belongs to the after-life. After the dull flood. As rock n roll lurched sideways and fell away, drunkenly lost in a funhouse mirror of…recycled Funhouses. With no major label funding, no management or lawyers, no corporate distribution, near zero social media presence and no commercial dealings whatsoever (with only poor, pitiful Drag City to help them carry the flag!), Wand have toured the world a bajillion times in five years and made four varied and compelling records while accumulating a devoted following. There may be a future in rock music beyond slapping rote regurgitations onto a lifeless syntactic grid. Wand are proof you don’t have to be an industry toy to sell records – that, with devotion and time, the seeds you plant with intention and care will grow back into the world.

Swerving between out-of-focus parable, travel diary, pep talk, polemic, love song, and lullabye, Laughing Matter is a tough and tender album, its eyes on a lot of prizes. Where Plum held the tension of its five band members getting on their feet, the songs on Laughing Matter are concentrated and relaxed, even as they search for the right accusations to hurl at cynics and megalomaniacs. The music is distilled and sculpted from an ash heap of collected improvisations, riven with audio-verite; the methods and instrumentation are traditional handmade rock ‘n’ roll. Yet the unorthodox arrangements of Scarecrow, the joyous embrace of pastiche and disruption on Walkie Talkie, the radical eclecticism of shapes and approaches on Thin Air, the ascendant choruses of Wonder are all decidedly contemporary. This music is not revivalism or throwback; Wand are a precision instrument, a band that probes and teases style, genre, trope and anachronism into material, according to a law of motion that is aimed directly toward an uncertain future.

Laughing Matter is a record about love in a time of terror, about making the best use of the surveillance technology available today. It calls you down from panic room labyrinths, to work the deep tissue of unravelling trauma we all carry so dear. The 15 songs on this record face their energy outward, to take with you through a common world that can’t suffer its human abusers much longer. Laughing Matter encourages you to shake hands with your old demons, to lay your pathologies to rest, to hold your spirit close, and let your body do what’s next.