L.A. trio Kevin—much like L.A. trio Susan—is a band with the name of a person and a lot of personality, too, and their new video “Bike” is an blown-out visual acid-bath that’s a perfect fit for those local summer days when the asphalt starts melting and the sidewalks get too hot to touch. Quincy Larsen (Cat Scan, just premiered here, and Sextile), Julian Smith and Kimi Recor wanna be “the perfect mix of the Screamers and La Bouche,” they say, which is probably one of the last unexplored conceptual combinations out there—and they do have that serrated Screamers synth tone making everything in this song seem especially unsettling. (Does it sound like some sinister machine slightly but forever off-screen? That’s a good Screamers vibe.) And the Teutonic thing is definitely in there, too, although maybe closer to P1/E than La Bouche … or maybe not.

“Bike” is a queasy/uneasy song seething with barely contained chaotic energy, and this video by Railroad Bill—who made the VHS-a-delic Death Valley Girls’ “Street Justice”—is a fitting exploration of disorientation, social maladjustment and the complicated process of self-discovery, as literalized by a surly dude with a truly potent sneer who gets a pharmaceutical attitude adjustment in a back alley after a long day of being agile/mobile/hostile. And speaking of chemical initiation into a higher plane:

“‘Bike’ is the gateway drug to Kevin,” says Recor. “Every time ‘Bike’ is played, it triggers a Mandela effect somewhere in the world. We are hoping that by 2020, ‘Bike’ will have changed the paranormal landscape of the universe. It’s been on heavy rotation on Part-Time Punks. The video is the creation of the surreal mastermind Railroad Bill, who has created music videos for Death Valley Girls, Draemings, Lauren Ruth Ward and more.”

Kevin has an EP due out in a few weeks, and a full length to follow. They’ll play Saturday and Sunday at Echo Park Rising, and then visit Long Beach for a set at the Happy Sundays fest. Full info below!

Echo Park Rising:
8/17
7PM Pretty but Wicked Showcase at Stories
10PM Cosmic Vinyl

August 25th at Happy Sundays in Long Beach
September 3rd at The Echo