The Armed – ULTRAPOP

Detroit punk collective, The Armed, have announced their new album, ‘ULTRAPOP’, will be released on April 16. This will be the first album under their new label Sargent House and the first album for the band since 2018’s ‘Only Love’. 

 

This album seems to be a turning point for the enigmatic band. For the first time The Armed are revealing their full lineup and all eight of them appear in their new music video for the first single off the album. The music video features the whole band performing the song in a studio and puts the band members front and center.  

‘ULTRAPOP’ features guest appearances from former Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan and Queens of the Stone Age guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen. The album was co-produced by Dan Greene (The Armed guitarist and singer) and Ben Chisholm. Kurt Ballou returns as executive producer as he has on every album The Armed has made. 

 

Dan Greene made a statement about the new album below:

 

“Crafting vital art means presenting the audience with new and intriguing tensions—sonically, visually, conceptually. Over time and through use, those tensions become less novel and effective—and they become expectations. The concept of “subgenre” becomes almost the antithesis of vitality in art—itself a fetishization of expectation. ULTRAPOP seeks, in earnest, to create a truly new listener experience. It is an open rebellion against the culture of expectation in “heavy” music. It is a joyous, genderless, post-nihilist, anti-punk, razor-focused take on creating the most intense listener experience possible. It’s the harshest, most beautiful, most hideous thing we could make.”

 

 

ULTRAPOP Tracklist

01 ULTRAPOP

02 ALL FUTURES

03 MASUNAGA VAPORS

04 A LIFE SO WONDERFUL

05 AN ITERATION

06 BIG SHELL

07 AVERAGE DEATH

08 FAITH IN MEDICATION

09 WHERE MAN KNOWS WANT

10 REAL FOLK BLUES

11 BAD SELECTION

12 THE MUSIC BECOMES A SKULL (ft. Mark Lanegan)