PREMIERE | Miranda and the Beat, "Concrete"

Pop provocateurs Miranda and the Beat; photographed by Allen Ying.

The heart of DIY art is in the journey. The energy. The attitude. The story. The kind of phenomena that people write books about, documentaries, mockumentaries, biopics, mini-series, graphic novels and other media items that expand the lore. Humble wishes and big visions take on the circuits of makeshift spaces, galleries, warehouses, garages, living rooms, classrooms, abandoned spaces and more that utilize economic minimalism to create a style and noise that is loud and grand in delivery and scope.

The story of Miranda and the Beat is something like a cult film favorite. With west coast beginnings, Miranda Zipse and Kim Sollecito made a dash for the Big Apple where they rounded out their punky pop posse with Dylan Fernandez and Alvin Jackson to make music in the vernacular of the viscous and visceral. Announcing their self-titled debut album via Ernest Jenning Record Co. / Khannibalism (a vanity imprint curated by legend King Khan), Miranda and the gang invite you to traverse NYC’s seemingly infinite expanses of electric asphalt on the world debut of “Concrete”. Catching the attention of the world with their Third Man Records single "Such A Fool”, the band trades freak beat psych frenzies for speedy leather clad punk dive bar devotionals.

“Concrete” hits the pavement with the group’s hardest rhythms and riffs to date. Like the sassy glam sleaze of “Sweat”, Miranda and the Beat keep the heart pulsing rhythms running around the streets of New York like a Melitta pour over drip of Dexedrine. Miranda pounds the pavement in pursuit of an angry fix, like a clique of besties running about the city in a pub hopping frenzy to keep the good times rolling on. The visual accompaniment from Miranda Zipse and Nate Turbow offers up plenty of horror show antics that correspond to the rhythms and peppy progressions of the track, launching it off with a sample from the 1959 cult classic The House on Haunted Hill. Beginning with the opening lines that go; the ghosts are moving tonight, restless...hungry — images of ghosts, tarot cards, a vintage Zenith CRT television, skeletons, chopped off fingers, eyeballs and more ramp up the midnight popcorn camp like a moonlit matinee.

Miranda and the Beat make a sound for scooting around the various late night scenes, jumping from one after party to the next. The cool and quixotic sound of “Concrete” is a tribute to the manic search of those rare after hours offered only by the sleepless few. The jittery, jumpy guitars and frantic vocals doused in fuzzy distortion resembles a clandestine performance at a lowkey DIY space long after the last call bell has been rung. “Concrete” is the subterranean ruckus heard in the underground tributaries beneath the asphalt layers of NYC, replete with loud resonances of anarchic and anachronistic pop movements.

Miranda and the Beat shared some thoughts on the new track & visuals for “Concrete”

Concrete and cement are not the same. There are 12,000 miles of concrete in New York City for us to walk down together.

As a bartender in NYC for the past 5 years, I've found it's almost impossible to kick people out at 4am, 5am, 6am, whenever! No one ever wants to leave the bar, they'll just beg to have afters or hit another one. This is about traversing the 12,000 miles of concrete around NYC just to keep the party alive.

Miranda and the Beat’s self-titled debut will be available May 26 via Ernest Jenning Record Co. / Khannibalism (King Khan’s label).