Cheekface – Black Site

Cheekface — the Los Angeles trio of Greg Katz, Amanda Tannen, and Mark “Echo” Edwards — have announced their sixth album, Podium, due July 28, and they’re previewing it with “Black Site”. The song is, in the band’s own words, a “hooky indictment of CIA black sites and the weaponization of music as a tool to annoy or coerce detainees”. That’s a precise description. It arrives with a lyric video shot and edited by Mallory Turner.

Produced and mixed by Eric Palmquist at Palmquist Studios in Los Angeles and mastered by David Kutch, “Black Site” is classic Cheekface construction: a politically serious subject delivered through an infectiously singable hook. Katz narrates the anxiety of a world going sideways in short, punchy lines — “I boycotted everything / nothing got better, it only got worse / and now I don’t know where to buy soap” — that land somewhere between genuine dread and absurdist comedy. The band calls it a bait-and-switch and they’re not wrong; the song sounds like a good time right until you sit with what it’s actually saying.

Podium expands the band’s collaborative circle: the album features contributions from Teddy Roxpin (known for his work with Mac Miller), Jer Hunter of Skatune Network, and Elise Okusami of Oceanator. Cover art is by Tannen. “Black Site” follows the February single “Hostile Street”, which also appears on the record.

Cheekface have been doing this particular thing — sharp political comedy dressed as indie rock — for five albums now. “Black Site” suggests Podium isn’t going to change the formula, and I don’t see why it should.

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Tracklist:

1. There Is A God
2. Peanut Butter Prawns
3. The Weather
4. MFT
5. Rent Is Down
6. Black Site
7. No Fly Zone
8. I Don’t Work Here
9. EBT
10. Discrete
11. U Can’t Do It
12. I Decline

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Tour Dates North America:

• August 21 — Ventura, CA — Ventura Music Hall *
• August 22 — San Diego, CA — Casbah *
• August 23 — Phoenix, AZ — Rebel Lounge *
• August 24 — Albuquerque, NM — Revel *
• August 26 — Oklahoma City, OK — Beer City Music Hall *
• August 27 — Dallas, TX — Puzzles *
• August 28 — Austin, TX — Antone’s *
• August 29 — Houston, TX — White Oak Upstairs *
• August 31 — New Orleans, LA — Gasa Gasa *
• September 1 — Pensacola, FL — Handlebar *
• September 2 — Tampa, FL — New World Music Hall *
• September 3 — West Palm Beach, FL — Respectable Street *
• September 5 — Birmingham, AL — Saturn *
• September 6 — Atlanta, GA — Masquerade *
• September 7 — Nashville, TN — The End *
• September 9 — Charleston, SC — Music Farm *
• September 10 — Durham, NC — Motorco *
• September 11 — Richmond, VA — Richmond Music Hall *
• September 16 — Washington, DC — Black Cat ^
• September 18 — Philadelphia, PA — Underground Arts ^
• September 19 — New York, NY — Racket ^
• September 20 — Boston, MA — Brighton Music Hall ^
• September 21 — Burlington, VT — Higher Ground ^
• September 24 — Pittsburgh, PA — Spirit ^
• September 25 — Grand Rapids, MI — Pyramid Scheme ^
• September 26 — Chicago, IL — Bottom Lounge ^
• September 28 — Toronto, ON — The Mod Club ^
• September 29 — Rochester, NY — Montage Music Hall ^
• September 30 — Cleveland, OH — Cambridge Room @ HOB ^
• October 1 — Madison, WI — High Noon ^
• October 3 — Des Moines, IA — xBk ^
• October 4 — Omaha, NE — Reverb Lounge ^
• October 5 — Minneapolis, MN — Fine Line ^
• October 7 — St. Louis, MO — Off Broadway ^
• October 8 — Indianapolis, IN — HI-FI ^
• October 9 — Kansas City, MO — RecordBar ^
• October 11 — Denver, CO — Marquis Theater @
• October 13 — Midvale, UT — The Pearl on Main @
• October 14 — Boise, ID — Shrine Social Club @
• October 15 — Portland, OR — Hawthorne Theatre @
• October 16 — Vancouver, BC — Wise Hall @
• October 18 — Seattle, WA — The Crocodile @
• October 21 — Reno, NV — Holland Project @
• October 22 — Fresno, CA — Strummers @
• October 23 — Berkeley, CA — Cornerstone @
• October 24 — Los Angeles, CA — Teragram Ballroom @

* with Catbite ^ with Apes of the State @ with Bodega