Video: No Win, ‘Surfing’

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No Win (Photo by Leah Rom)

Fresh off the the March release of an EP titled “Enhanced CD,” L.A. rockers No Win have announced further enhancements — their sophomore album, “Dodger Stadium,” will be out Aug. 19 via Dangerbird Records.

Mastermind Danny Nogueiras, who produced the album in his Balboa Recording Studio in Glassell Park, has this to say about the title: “It’s always been this center of culture in Northeast L.A. for me. In this past year, while we were making this record, I was there at least once a week for COVID testing. I got vaccinated there. I got to vote against Donald Trump there.”

So, batter up. “Dodger Stadium” channels all the feelings — political malaise, confusion and angst — with which Nogueiras grappled during the pandemic. And as demonstrated by the three tracks on the EP (all of which reappear on the full-length), he turns those feelings inside out. There’s a certain brightness to them, as well as the new single “Surfing,” released this week.

“The studio became a safe haven and it felt really good to express things and explore things that were, like, ‘Fuck yeah! This feels fun, this feels good, this feels happy,’” he says.

On the new single, which utilizes a pitch-manipulated dial-up modem sample and a vinyl scratch-driven drum break, Nogueiras repeats, “Why is it so hard to live in these modern times?” — not with a defeatist groan but in an upbeat, “I’m soooo close to figuring it out the answer” way.

Ryan Baxley directs the video. “The concept for the video stemmed from [that] lyric,” he says. “It got us talking about how it feels like a very current question, but it’s also a question that’s been endlessly asked. Brian Wilson sang about the same thing with the Beach Boys almost 60 years ago, you know? So our idea was to shoot Danny in a variety of settings, including one which had multiple fabricated versions of him. It represents an evolution that culminates in the modern version of himself, still asking the same question.”

||| Watch: The video for “Surfing”

||| Previously: “Spent Outside,” “New Year,” “Same” live at the Highland Park Ebell Club, “Vision” “2Real,” “Shelley Duvall”