Cold Court–the rising Philadelphia-based band of siblings/co-songwriters/producers Mini Serrano (she/her) and Jojo Lavina-Maldonado (he/him)–today released “Cola,” their final single previewing their anticipated debut EP \ (^_^) / (aka HANDS UP) due out this Friday, June 19th. The last song the duo wrote for the EP, the heavy-hitting “Cola” blends blown-out explosive noise, hooky writing, and syncopated rhythms to create its euphoric highs. Glitchy synth bass, drum loops, and nestled vocals bring listeners on a maximalist dance-pop journey. “We created without inhibition or concern for genre or era. We approached it more like a painting. We didn’t want to be another band, we wanted to be Basquiat. We were in our neo-expressionism bag \ (^_^) /,” explains Jojo.
Cold Court play an early show at NYC’s Night Club 101 tomorrow June 16th as part of three headlining June release shows, followed by a Toronto festival later this year; a full itinerary is below and tickets are on-sale now. “Cola” follows EP singles “Backslang,” recently picked by Geese for their guest DJ slot for BBC 6Music, and “Burn.” The thrilling tracks collectively earned praise and support from KCRW’s (5 Songs to Hear), Apple Radio’s The Zane Lowe Show, NME, Stereogum, Alternative Press, FLOOD, Northern Transmissions, and more. The \ (^_^) / EP is available for pre-save HERE.
Since making their debut in the DIY scene as no-wave noisemakers, Cold Court developed a remarkably idiosyncratic style that flaunts its influences and demolishes even the most open-minded listener’s hierarchies of taste. Think Bitches Brew shouldn’t be within a hundred miles of Justice? Think again. \ (^_^) / can feel a bit like tumbling through your internet service provider’s coaxial cable, an overwhelming spree of information and input that’s held together by tight, compact energy and the siblings’ confidence in their own taste.
This approach makes HANDS UP feel hyperkinetic, as if it’s just sprung from a compact enclosure. Their precision and intensity have made them one of Philadelphia’s most exciting young bands and landed them opening slots with musically likeminded bands such as black midi, Geese, and Deerhoof. Their willingness to follow their own weird impulses was nurtured by the bands they were seeing when Jojo left their New Jersey home to go to college at Drexel University in Philadelphia. They went to house shows and saw bands with unusual instrumentation, people with weird hair and fucked-up clothes. “It changed my life, the way that it was a place that you could be yourself–you could be anything,” reflects Mini. “We knew as long as we fully show up as ourselves, we know that people will get into it. We had a violinist; we had a percussion player; we had a synth player and saxophonist.”
While their sound has evolved since those heady early days, Cold Court’s ethos centers around setting expectations of who they are and what they might do, then defying them. Maybe it has something to do with identity and the ways some might assume a band with two people of color–including a trans singer in Mini–should sound. But it has more to do with their artistic identity and the ways in which growing up in the 21st century, with the entirety of music history ready to be absorbed, can shape the taste and personality of anyone curious enough to lose themselves within it from an early age. You enter HANDS UP thinking Cold Court are a prog-influenced noise band; you leave it thinking they might have a Top 40 hit in them. What matters to Jojo and Mini is that they’re both of these things and much more all at once.
