Published on July 31st, 2018 | by Guest Contributor

Megative Self-Titled Debut Album Out Today On Last Gang Records

New York City collective MEGATIVE released their self-titled debut album today via Last Gang Records – stream if via your favorite DSP HERE. The band recorded a CBC First Play Live session earlier this month, which aired this week – watch it HERE.

Featuring vocalist Tim Fletcher (The Stills) and producer/bassist Gus Van Go (Me, Mom & Morgentaler), with producer/mixer/songwriting tandem Likeminds, aka Jesse Singer and Chris Soper (Wu-Tang Clan, The Roots, Snoop Dog, Kanye West), plus legendary dancehall veteran Screechy Dan (co-founder of Ruff Entry Crew), MEGATIVE’s music is an addictive pulse shot through with the immediacy of the moment.

Fusing the spirit of late-70’s UK punk and reggae with today’s sense of urgency and foreboding to create a deep, dense, subterranean dub, MEGATIVE aspire to stand up tall amidst the noise and confusion of the world with a big, bold, defiant sound. Part Gorillaz, part The Clash, laced with King Tubby-style dubt FX and swirling sirens straight out Jah Shakka’s sound system, MEGATIVE is the sound of all these jamming together in an underground basement after-party at the end of the world.

With echoes of Two-Tone, UK-punk, the trance of nocturnal dub and the aggressive insistence of modern hip-hop, these are songs that fuse space-and-time with the vibe of a monstrous global megacity sprawl… an urban ghost-walk through the haunted negative space that exists invisible within the accelerating hyper-noise of incessant information. “There’s a lot of great music out there, but what we missed was the bass-heavy grooves and delay-soaked effects of ’70’s reggae and dub, along with the biting wit of the early UK punk scene. The mission is clear,” Van Go explains, “We aim to inject American mainstream culture with the idea that these sounds are not some retro, clichéd thing. They can be dark, ominous, and also lyrically relevant and challenging.”

Lyrical themes of paranoia and existential dread, and doomsday prophesying as a warning call to social consciousness and awakening from the great ignorance of our time, flood the record from start to finish. A call for the brave living in dark ages. “The world is in an unprecedented state of precariousness, and the lives we lead in this age of extremity — and our absurd, heart-breaking grasping for meaning, for connection, for some sense of a common shared humanity in this age — that yearning is what creates our songs”, adds Fletcher “and its byproduct becomes more than just positive or negative… it’s MEGATIVE.”

Fresh off performances at Montreal Jazz Fest, Festival D’ete in Quebec City and Hillside Festival in Ontario, MEGATIVE will return to the road this fall (dates below).

Tour dates:
09/25 – Chicago, IL @ Cobra
09/27 – London, ON @ Rum Runners
09/28 – Toronto, ON @ Longboat Hall
09/29 – Hamilton, ON @ Mills Hardware
10/11 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat
10/12 – Asbury Park, NJ @ Asbury Park Brewery
10/13 – Brooklyn, NY @ Knitting Factory