NYC’s BODEGA return with “City Is Taken”, a song that further displays the true ambition and heart of their upcoming third album, “Our Brand Could Be Yr Life”, coming April 12th on Chrysalis.
Tender, melodic and with a narrative about the band’s relationship to gentrification, it shows a different side to their upcoming record; one that widens their growing sonic palette ever further, offering up a cohesive, moreish set of songs that are both stylistically diverse and irresistibly anthemic.
Nikki Belfiglio, joint lead vocalist of BODEGA, and the lead on “City Is Taken”, had the following to say about the themes behind their new single:
“‘City Is Taken’ a song about my experience of moving to NYC in 2010. I came to view myself and my artistic role models as a force of gentrification caught in the invisible web on profiteering that follows artists wherever they go. My visual presence became an unwitting symbol of destruction; the antithesis of everything I sought to create.”
“City Is Taken” also features a music video directed by Luca Balser that features Ben and Nikki performing the track throughout a nocturnal NYC in front of defunct venues from the city’s storied musical past alongside the commercial banks and chain restaurants of today. The video works as a study of personal geography and archeology, unearthing the band’s NY story up to now.
BODEGA’s Ben Hozie says of the video:
“It starts in front of what was Goodbye Blue Monday, where I played my first show in the city way back in 2009. The camera frames key DIY spots in BODEGA’s history such as Party Expo, Palisades (where the release party for the original ‘Our Brand Could Be Your Life’ happened in 2015), Silent Barn II, Sunnyvale (where the ‘Endless Scroll’ release party was…) Shea Stadium, Death by Audio, 285 Kent, Glasslands, Monster Island, Aviv, and Cake Shop plus some classic punk spots from before our time such as Mercer Arts Center, Palladium, Tier 3, Mudd Club, and Max’s Kansas City – the track references Patti Smith’s recent dictum that young NYC artists should ‘pack (their) bags and move to Detroit’.”
“City Is Taken” follows the fidgety pop sass of last month’s “Tarkovski”, a single that is currently playlisted at 6 Music.
Both songs feature on the band’s third and greatest LP yet, ”Our Brand Could Be Yr Life”, a concept album about the current corporate mentality of underground/indie rock, where the band simultaneously desecrate and celebrate a certain indie rock cannon, hoping to redeem its’ ‘fall from grace’ like foolish missionaries who inherited a stained formal tradition that needs to change in order to become meaningful again.
The album will be available on digital, CD and a silver coloured vinyl paired with a 20 page lyric booklet. Rough Trade will also have an exclusive run of 100 lino prints, handmade, numbered and signed by the band’s own Nikki Belfiglio
PRE-ORDER “OUR BRAND COULD BE YR LIFE” HERE
BODEGA have announced a number of live dates across the Spring in support of the record Stateside. They’ve also already confirmed a performance at Wide Awake Festival in the UK and a series of further dates across the UK and EU.
BODEGA – LIVE DATES
March 2024
12th – 16th – SXSW, US – Austin
April 2024
19th – Boston, MA, US – Rockwell
20th – Montreal, QC, CA – Bar le Ritz
21st – Toronto, ON, CA – Garrison
22nd – Cleveland, OH, US – Beachland Tavern
23rd – Chicago, IL, US – Schubas
24th – Pittsburgh, PA, US – Club Café
26th – Philadelphia, PA, US – Latvian Society
27th – Washington, DC, US – Comet Ping Pong
29th – Atlanta, GA, US – The Earl
30th – Savannah, GA, US – El Rocko
May 2024
1st – Tampa, FL, US – Hooch and Hive
2nd – Miami, FL, US – Gramps
3rd – Jacksonville, FL, US – The Walrus
4th – Charlotte, NC, US – Snug Harbor
24th – Madrid, ES – Tomavistas Festival
25th – London, UK – Wide Awake Festival
26th – Walton-on-Trent, UK – Bearded Theory Festival
27th – Manchester, UK – New Century Hall
28th – Brighton, UK – Concorde 2
30th – Paris, FR – Le Trabendo
31st – Rennes, FR – Antipode
June 2024
1st – La Rochelle, FR – La Sirene
2nd – Orléans, FR – Astrolabe
BODEGA
OUR BRAND COULD BE YR LIFE
OUT APRIL 12TH ON CHRYSALIS
1. Dedicated To The Dedicated
2. G.N.D. Deity
3. Bodega Bait
4. Tarkovski
5. Major Amberson
6. Stain Gaze
7. Webster Hall
8. ATM
9. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Drum
10. Protean
11. Born Into By What Consumes
12. Cultural Consumer I
13. Cultural Consumer II
14. Cultural Consumer III
15. City Is Taken