Lip Critic – Jackpot
The backstory for Theft World — Lip Critic’s third album, due May 1 on Partisan Records — is genuinely difficult to make up. While touring behind their 2024 debut Hex Dealer, frontman Bret Kaser’s identity was stolen by a young fan who believed the band’s music contained hidden codes for an elaborate scavenger hunt. Rather than calling the police, the band tracked him down, recorded him explaining his imagined mythology, scrapped the album they were working on, and built a new one around the whole episode. That kind of creative decision either produces something unhinged or something interesting. Based on “Jackpot”, the second single, it looks like the latter.
“Jackpot” runs on jarring percussion, discordant synths and slot machine clatter, with Kaser’s vocals riding the line between rapping and shouting — cycling through debt paranoia, withdrawal logic and the kind of self-bargaining that sounds like a person losing an argument with themselves. The lyrics put a protagonist raised on gambling ads into a hotel room, sweating, hiding coins in jars sewn under his skin to keep himself from spending. It’s bleak subject delivered at high velocity. What works is how the track earns its chaos — it isn’t just noise for noise’s sake. The structure tightens as the addiction narrative tightens, and by the time it opens back out, the damage feels real.
The video, directed by Colter Fellows, places Kaser in a casino going through the predictable and inevitable motions. It does the job.
Tour Dates North America:
- March 21 – Brooklyn, NY – Yong Xin Tan Laundromat (Theft Saga, support: Pop Music Fever Dream)
- March 26 – New York, NY – Spring Bar Basement (Theft Saga, support: Balaclava)
- April 9 – Brooklyn, NY – 148 Frost St Boxing Ring (Theft Saga, support: mx lonely)
- May 25 – Troy, NY – No Fun (support: Bejalvin, Flatwounds)
- May 26 – Boston, MA – The Rockwell (support: Bejalvin, Flatwounds)
- May 27 – Montreal, QC – La Sala Rossa (support: Bejalvin, Flatwounds)
- May 28 – Toronto, ON – The Garrison (support: Bejalvin, Flatwounds)
- May 29 – Detroit, MI – The Sanctuary (support: Bejalvin, Flatwounds)
- May 30 – Chicago, IL – Beat Kitchen (support: Bejalvin, Flatwounds)
- June 2 – Denver, CO – Hi-Dive (support: Bejalvin, Flatwounds)
- June 4 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court (support: Bejalvin, Flatwounds)
- June 5 – Reno, NV – Holland Project (support: Bejalvin, Flatwounds)
- June 7 – Seattle, WA – Barboza (support: Bejalvin, Flatwounds)
- June 8 – Vancouver, BC – Wise Hall (support: Bejalvin, Flatwounds)
- June 9 – Portland, OR – Polaris Hall (support: Bejalvin, Flatwounds)
- June 11 – Sacramento, CA – Cafe Colonial (support: Bejalvin, Flatwounds)
- June 12 – San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill (support: Bejalvin, Flatwounds)
- June 13 – Los Angeles, CA – Zebulon (support: Bejalvin, Flatwounds)
- June 14 – Phoenix, AZ – Valley Bar (support: Bejalvin, Flatwounds)
- June 17 – Austin, TX – 29th Street Ballroom (support: Bejalvin, Flatwounds)
- June 18 – Dallas, TX – Dada (support: Bejalvin, Flatwounds)
- June 19 – Hattiesburg, MS – Fat Cat (support: Bejalvin, Flatwounds)
- June 20 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade (Altar) (support: Bejalvin, Flatwounds)
- June 21 – Durham, NC – Pinhook (support: Bejalvin, Flatwounds)
- June 23 – Pittsburgh, PA – Little Giant @ Bottlerocket Social Hall (support: Bejalvin, Flatwounds)
- June 24 – Philadelphia, PA – PhilaMOCA (support: Bejalvin, Flatwounds)
