Ed Schrader's Music Beat are Ed Schrader and Devlin Rice - a minimalist punk duo from the fair city of Baltimore, Maryland.

In the beginning there was only Ed: a man unhinged, channelling to the world a sacred message in the form of song. His only divining instruments: a single floor tom, one light, and a commanding baritone. "He's a master songsmith who has reduced pop and punk to their most basic building blocks," said Christopher Weingarten of the Village Voice.

Ed was soon joined by Devlin on bass, who proved to be an acute match for encapsulating the space-time from whence they came.

Their union quickly brought about the release of their 2012 debut album 'Jazz Mind' through Upset The Rhythm (and Load Records in the US), which The Wire magazine said recalled "the percussion-heavy chants of Liars", with Ed "affecting a mournful Arthur Russell tone on the a cappella songs" whilst "roaring like Rollins" on the album's faster numbers.

The album (featuring collaborations with Matmos and Randy Randall of No Age) captured their raw and jarring live show through weird, wiry rock songs with a decidedly smart sensibility. The band quickly followed with album with their excellent second effort 'Party Jail' out on Upset The Rhythm (2014). Since then, Ed Schrader's Music Beat have toured frequently in North America and Europe, notably alongside their friends Dan Deacon and Future Islands, they also released two fantstic albums on Carpark Records called 'Riddles' (2018) and 'Nightclub Daydreaming' (2022).

'ORCHESTRA HITS'

Daylight Commander

UTR165 | CD / LP | 9 tracks, 37 minutes | Buy

Aesthetically, Ed Schrader's Music Beat hates to tread water. At the same time, the Baltimore-based two-piece of vocalist Ed Schrader and bassist Devlin Rice won't force their songs to fit a preconceived style. "The next album's always gotta be different from the last one. We're different people from record to record. So, writing authentically to ourselves will always bring our work to a place that we haven't been to yet," Rice said. Schrader added, "We're terrified of turning into AC/DC. We never want to be married to one scene or time or sound. We want to be the Boba Fett of bands! Constantly altering the way in which we make records has been pretty key in that process."

For Orchestra Hits, the band's latest, that alteration was welcoming longtime musical comrade Dylan Going into the fold as a co-writer and co-producer. A songwriter in his own right, a guitar sideman for ESMB on their last two tours, and a collaborator with Rice in the noise riffage band Mandate, Going had both a unique vision and an intimate familiarity with the ESMB vibe.

"Dylan came to every show we've ever played in New York - no matter how weird it was," Schrader said. "He'd be standing there ready to move an amp or feed us barbecued cactus after the gig and toss on some Golden Girls so we could decompress. It felt like family as soon as we began working, but I honestly had no idea how damn good he was at tossing out these hooks."

Lyrically, the album finds Schrader, now 45, meditating on experiences in their youth to make sense of the present moment. "We are not into the garden," Schrader wails on the relentless "Roman Candle," a song about the sad debacle of Woodstock '99, and a direct response to Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock," a utopian ode to hippie idealism. A 19-year-old Schrader, having snuck into Woodstock '99 through a hole in the fence, was there the night members of the crowd used candles intended for a vigil for victims of the Columbine High School massacre to set fires all over the grounds. Even before the fires, Schrader remembered feeling disconnected from the music, the nostalgic cash grab, and the meatheads in the crowd. After watching a press tower collapse, they boarded a random shuttle bus and were dropped off near a Denny's. "It was a far cry from the Garden of Eden," Schrader said. "That experience defined what I didn't want to be a part of, and yet America is more like Woodstock '99 than ever."

With percolating synthesizer arpeggios, and climbing bass grooves, "IDKS" is the album's dance-floor slapper. "IDKS" is a funny one," Schrader said. "We already had a pretty satisfying suite of songs when Dylan was packing up to head back to New York, but he missed the train because of a freak snowstorm. Realizing he'd be stuck in town another day, he says to me, "Here's this other weird thing I have." It was "IDKS." The hooks were so good I felt like Homer Simpson at a free donut convention. I just dove right in, and we cranked that baby out in like 20 minutes."

With the soaring "Daylight Commander," the band went against all of their musty-basement-bred instincts. "I went full High School Musical with the vocals," Schrader said. "At first it felt almost embarrassing, but I remember reading somewhere that Bowie recommended always floating a little bit above your comfort zone, and that's what we did here." The song is part exercise in absurdity and part pop Trojan horse. "If ever we had a 'Shiny Happy People' moment, I guess this is it," Schrader said. Orchestra Hits will be released by Upset The Rhythm on September 20th on LP, CD and digitally.

'PARTY JAIL'

Pantomime Jack

UTR066 | CD / LP | 13 tracks, 21 minutes | Buy

'Party Jail' picks up where 'Jazz Mind' left off, adding a thoughtfully crafted, minimal pop vibe to their already terse punk sound. The follow-up features songs that are equally loud and destructive, pensive and strangely haunting.

An early version of "Radio Eyes" was chosen for the "Sub Pop 1000" Record Store Day 2013 compilation. A new version of this song appears on 'Party Jail', as well as the upcoming single "Pantomime Jack" which, among other subjects, ponders existing in a universe that culturally charts music that began and ended with the "Live Aid" generation through its self important pontifications and documentaries.

"Music begins now!" says Ed. The album also features additional drums by Jeremy Hyman of Ponytail, Dan Deacon, and Boredoms.

'JAZZ MIND'

When I'm In My Car | Sermon

UTR053 | CD / LP | 11 tracks, 21 minutes | Buy