Told Slant, is the solo project of Brooklyn songwriter Felix Walworth, is releasing a new album, “Point the Flashlight and Walk”, out on November 13th via Double Double Whammy. Following previous singles “Family Still,” “No Backpack” and “Run Around the School,” Walworth shared “Whirlpool” this month. It’s a bare track centered on acoustic guitar rhythms and the precious, yet often tragic idea of what it is to really know a person. Told Slant is the solo recording project of Brooklyn songwriter Felix Walworth (they/them). Known for their bare, down-tempo, guitar-driven arrangements and understated lyricism, Walworth is their first album in four years, Point The Flashlight and Walk.
On Told Slant’s third full-length and most complex work to date, Walworth uses Point The Flashlight and Walk to explore the limits of devotion. How deeply can one sublimate themselves through devotion to another? What is lost and gained when that devotion is ruptured?. The album weaves through hypnotic rhythms, tumbling piano, and delicate harp, continuously complemented by Walworth’s keen ability to evoke tangible intimacy through vocals and unconventional percussion. Tracks like “Family Still” and “No Backpack” dive headfirst into the theme of devotion and encapsulate the graceful and layering arrangements that shine through the album. It’s an adventurous and personal collection of songs, employing new instruments and avoiding the song structures Told Slant fans are used to. The album title itself becomes a repeated mantra for the listener by the third track “Flashlight On.”
Written and recorded in solitude in their bedroom, the creative process of making the record mirrors its narrative subject; the result being a layered arrangement built from the bottom up through experimentation, failure, failure, more failure, and inspiration.
“Family Still” is a poetic exploration of interpersonal dynamics. “Power isn’t taking / It’s making you give in freely / And I hope you don’t come home / and think it’s enough to be near me,” Felix Walworth sings in a gentle tone on this single from Told Slant’s latest album Point The Flashlight and Walk. This layered acoustic track excels in its dissection of the complicated shades of intimacy: “What can be said of desire / when every longing instilled in my heart was instilled in such a violent world?”
Told Slant – “Whirlpool” Directed by V Haddad Shot by Emily Sprague Preorder Told Slant’s “Point The Flashlight And Walk” on Double Double Whammy . Told Slant is a bedroom punk band from New York, the music of Felix Walworth.
Told Slant is now: Felix Walworth, Oliver Kalb, Gabrielle Smith, Emily Sprague. Told Slant’s third album, “Point The Flashlight And Walk”, is out November 13th, 2020.
Philadelphia-based band Another Michael are recent signees to the label Run For Cover Records. This month, they also released their new single “New Music” and b-side “Boring For The Times.” ” Combined with their eclectic, dreamy sound and formed chemistry together as a band, their debut LP has a promising outlook.
One of the most charming things about music is the shared experience of listening, whether it be from a song that resonates with you and someone else, connecting to the artists’ work or any other way in between. Another Michael’s “New Music,” unpacks this sensation as the band sings about the simple yet exhilarating act of listening to new music, particularly when recommended by someone else. “We were up late online talking about new music / and you sent me a link to a song that I’d never heard before / I need to get my headphones on.”
The Philly-based group, made up of multi-instrumentalists Michael Doherty, Alenni Davis, and Nick Sebastiano, draws on numerous genres in their new track, from indie-rock to dreamy lo-fi elements. The song’s raw, guitar plucking-led instrumentals leading up to a lively outro of Michael Doherty’s layered vocals create an intimate world with the dark solaces of the night time further enhanced by an escape into headphones. “New Music” is a relatively quiet song, highlighting the calming, subtle yet emotive vocals of Michael Doherty.
The “New Music” single was released on Bandcamp last week with B-side “Boring For The Times” — a more upbeat track with a heavier guitar riff accompanying Doherty’s high-pitched vocals. It sounds like a combination of Philly’s (Sandy) Alex G’s ragged indie rock-meets-lo-fi pop, the eccentric sounds of Zack Villere, and all pulled together with their unique flair. The different styled approaches to each track are together a preview of the three-piece’s upcoming debut LP that “listeners won’t have to wait long to hear more from,” according to the group’s Bandcamp.
“New Music” by Another Michael from the 7″ / 2 song digital single ‘New Music’ out now via Run For Cover Records
The debut album from Loma, a collaborative trio formed of members of Shearwater and Cross Record, has an intriguing atmosphere and dynamic to it, likely due in part to the unusual circumstances of its creation. At the outset of the sessions, singer Emily Cross and multi-instrumentalist Dan Duszynski were a married couple, who towards the end of recording decided to divorce. Despite this, the trio completed ‘Loma’, a record of incredible depth and clarity that cathartically explores rich soundscapes. Though the album is strong in its entirety, the stunning highlight ‘I Don’t Want Children’ exemplifies the trio’s acute attention to detail as synthesised textures gradually layer over a delicate piano arrangement, with Cross‘ crystal-clear vocals piercing straight through. ‘Loma’ is an emotionally wrought and delicately crafted album that is beyond impressive for any first offering – regardless of its circumstances.
It was only last month that the return of Loma, the collaboration of Cross Record’s Emily Cross, Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater and Dan Duszynski. That was around the release of the track “Ocotillo”, the first track from their upcoming second album, Don’t Shy Away, out in October via Sub Pop Records. This week the band have shared the latest offering from the record, Half Silences.
The first song the band wrote for Don’t Shy Away, “Half Silences” is the result of what Jonathan described as, “tinkering”, the track evolving from its early form, into the final version that, “always seemed to belong”, on this record. The whole track is built around the propulsive, brilliant drum beat, accompanied by chiming guitars and Emily’s echo-drenched vocal, creating an eerie shuffle that slowly worms its way into your mind and refuses to let go. Particularly wonderful is the chant along chorus, where voices arrive en masse to repeat the line, “generate light, generate heat, generate feeling”, driving the uneasy message home with each run-through. Further evidence that we’re on the right track when we declare Don’t Shy Away our most anticipated record of 2020,
“Half Silences” by Loma from their album Don’t Shy Away (Release Date: 10/23/2020 on @Sub Pop Records)
Homer Steinweiss, the Brooklyn based soul/funk drummer, always had a soft spot for folk music. Paul Spring, a young idealist folk singer traveling the country with his guitar, always had a beautiful falsetto in his back pocket. A family introduction would lead to Homer producing a few solo records of Paul’s, which would eventually lead to the creation of Holy Hive. The two enlisted Joe Harrison on bass and started out recording their first tunes as a group. A tour with soul legend Lee Fields would turn out to have an unexpected effect on their sound as they played their material to crowds of soul fanatics looking to dance. It was this realization that forced the next step in their evolution and gave birth to a sound unique to Holy Hive, a sound that walks a line so perfectly it necessitated a new genre, Folk Soul.
Homer has been drumming professionally since 2000 and has provided the back beat to records by Amy Winehouse, Bruno Mars, The Jonas Brothers, and Lady Gaga to name a few. He has toured the world over with soul acts like Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings and The Arcs. With all of that under his belt, Holy Hive is the first band that is truly his own and you can hear that it is close to his heart. Paul is from a small town in Minnesota where he spent his formative years studying Ancient Greek mythology and practicing classical guitar. He toured the states for years with only the company of his guitar, playing solo shows to make ends meet and occasional library gigs promoting his self released children’s record, Home Of Song.
Listening to their debut album, their different experiences and influences have all shown up. From the heavy downbeat of the lead single “Broom” to their intimate cover of Honeybus’ “Be ThouBy My Side,” Float Back To You showcases their song writing prowess as well as their impeccable musicianship. Spring’s fondness for ancient mythology shows up in a few places on the album as well adding another level to their work. They adapt the Greek poet Sappho’s “Fragment 31” to music on “Embers To Ash” and completely rework the Irish folk tune “Red Is The Rose” into a modern day two stepper. Another standout track is the already classic “Oh I Miss Her So,” which first showed up on their 2018 Harping EP and features accomplished harpist Mary Lattimore and trumpet by Dave Guy of The Roots.
The symbiotic relationship of Homer and Paul has been likened to that of an oxpecker and a black rhino. Paul’s delicate falsetto and fluttering guitar rests atop Homer’s brawny drums in perfect harmony. There are many levels to Holy Hive, some of them show up on the surface, but some of them are like the album’s title track; you listen to a gorgeous love song only to find out later it is about coming home to your cat. This is perhaps the most telling of Holy Hive, they are easy to like on first listen but spending time with their music will reveal a much deeper experience.
Earlier this summer, Etta Friedman was visiting her family in Yerington, Nevada, when she crashed her cousin’s motorcycle and broke both wrists. “I let go of the clutch on the bike and popped a wheelie,” the 21-year-old musician says. “And then immediately went and went into the front of my aunt’s trailer and crashed directly into it.” Friedman was taken to the local hospital, where she was wrapped in splints. “They gave me this really old-school-looking baggie full of Percocet,” she adds. “I was like, ‘Very cool.’” With a sound that stems from the duo’s love of Veruca Salt and the Breeders, is a welcome throwback to the Nineties, built on Friedman and Weingarten’s syrupy vocals that fuse together on each track.
The core of LA indie/alt band Momma is dual guitarist/vocalists Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten. With super catchy and fun verse-chorus-verse reminiscent of some of our favourite 90’s act, the band’s new music picks up where their previous album (which we loved here at BTR today!) left off and makes it bigger, brighter, and even hookier.
The highlight is the three-track sequence of “Stringer,” “Double Dare,” and “Carny,” which tell the dark tale of a news stringer on the margins of society. “If you’ve ever seen or on Netflix, it’s about people that chase car crashes and film them and then sell it to news stations,” Weingarten says. The character encounters a fight at a fair (“Double Dare”) and then abandons his lover (“Carny”). “Said goodbye to my sweetheart, or he might’ve been,” they lament on the latter song. “Warping his portrait, he’s a sideshow kid.”
“Two of Me” is an ambitious concept album by the budding grunge four-piece, Momma, made up of fictional vignettes dealing with morality, youth, and punishment, that songwriters Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten have populated with tragic heroes from their imagination. “The Bug House represents this sort of underground purgatory or hell that people are sent to as punishment,” Weingarten explains. “Two of Me’s songs are about coming to terms with the side of you within yourself that is maybe capable of darker things.” Momma’s second full length unfolds like a small town drama, where characters like video stringers and young lovers experience poetic justice in carnivalesque settings, detailed through Friedman and Weingarten’s illustrative lyrics.
On Momma’s sophomore album, the band explores some of their heaviest sounds to date, creating dense arrangements to match their complex storytelling. Two Of Me’s opener “Bug House” sets the stage for the record, with its expressive guitar tones and brooding mood. The album’s more abrasive moments like “Derby,” which alludes to the anxiety of a Jockey in a fixed horse race, are balanced by melodic ballads like “Double Dare,” which follows a romantic pair pining for a world away from their violent hometown. Inspired by songwriters like Kim Deal and Elliott Smith and bands like Ovlov and Throwing Muses, Momma has mastered their own dynamic song writing and gripping lyrics on Two of Me, creating a record that feels both familiar and intriguing.
Yerington is a small town with a population of roughly 3,000 people. Friedman, who grew up outside of Los Angeles, has been visiting her relatives there for the last few years, along with her bandmate, Allegra Weingarten; the isolated locale helped inspire Two of Me, the recently released album from their band, Momma. “[It’s about] the glorification of a small town and all the secrets and gossip that happen
The band: Guitar and Vocals Performed by Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten Drums by Zach Capitti Fenton Bass on all tracks besides “Biohazard” Performed by Sebastian Jones Bass on “Biohazard” Performed by Yarden Erez
“Two of Me” is out June 5th, 2020, on Danger Collective Records.
The sound of “Think Pink” is a musical mood stimulant. An album that hits the half-century mark this year, and still sounds as adventurous as ever, just like it’s creator. Twink is a musician with the midas touch, everything he has turned his hand to has stood out, remaining both influential and indispensable. Examples of these are his contributions to the legendary Pretty Things’ ’68 conceptual masterpiece S.F. Sorrow, and the Pink Fairies’ ’71 debut Never Never Land. In between both of those records stands “Think Pink”, a stylish execution of ideas that stands shoulder to shoulder with the best albums of the day.
In many ways, this is the album that would clear the runway for the Pink Fairies. Many of the original band members including the late Steve Peregrin Took (Tyrannosaurus Rex) contributed, Took himself co-writing the final two tracks on Think Pink. Also however, lending further musical muscle is The DeviantsPaul Rudolph, and Mick Farren, and the Pretty ThingsViv Prince. Although in recent years Twink has spectacularly revisited the album with Think Pink II (2015), and Think Pink III (2018), the original holds the roar of the revolution, capturing a time in music perfectly.
Recorded in London in July 1969, produced by the renowned Mick Farren and featuring members of Tomorrow, the Pretty Things, the Deviants, Tyrannosaurus Rex and the Pink Fairies, the legendary Think Pink is one of the hallowed relics of the British underground rock.
Sunbeam is delighted to present it here in both its strikingly different mixes for the first time. the mono mix was intended to appear in Decca’s “Nova” series in early 1970, but that release was cancelled, with the stereo mix finally creeping out on Polydor in early 1971. assembled with the full participation of John ‘Twink’ Alder, this deluxe set comes in a gatefold sleeve and includes a reproduction of the original lyric sheet as well as a large-format colour booklet telling the full story behind its creation. in addition, each copy contains a certificate hand-signed by the legendary Twink, with whose full participation the set has been assembled. ‘a very significant disc in the wilderness of British psychedelia’ – the Tapestry of Delights ‘an incredibly varied album with no two songs resembling each other… pure psychedelic acid rock of the highest order’.
Starting with spoken word passages, and Indian mysticism the album faithfully begins with “The Coming Of The Other One”. On this remaster everything is prominent, alive with an eerie splendor. The drum crack of “10,000 Words In A Cardboard Box” has never sounded so vibrant, with the distant vocals and warped guitars this is the last breath of the UK’s psychedelic scene. It is deliciously experimental. That experimentation twists and turns unexpectedly, as it falls further into the drones of “Dawn Of Magic”. Moving into the slender space of “Tiptoe On The Highest Hill”, a song which flourishes in a minimalistic, haunting framework. The beauty that magnifies Think Pink, and indeed Twink as a musician is his ability to build addictive kaleidoscopes of noise. Collages of sound such as “Fluid”, out-Floyd’s what Waters and co. were attempting at the time. That is the fearlessness here which is obvious and adventurous, such as the proto-punk sound of “Mexican Grass War”. A distorted piece of instrumental art that marches forward through the screams of feedback. Again with the following “Rock An’ Roll The Joint “, after a short nursery rhyme, a wall of guitars lift off within a vortex of wah-wah and distortion.
Stretching back into acoustics with the playfully inspired acoustics of “Suicide”, and the get-together singalong “Three Little Piggies”. A track that is off-the-wall but holds a unique charm of camaraderie. All this comes to a finale with “The Sparrow Is A Sign”. Again a straight laced acoustic number, but done in that style pronounced by Twink. The crank of the guitars at the chorus give the track a refreshing edge of mischief. In truth it is one hell of an album, and now sounds absolutely sublime, though I do feel this latest vinyl remaster is superior to previous outings. Whether first time out listener, or a veteran to the work of Twink, Think Pink is certainly an album worthy of investigation if not re-evaluation.
• limited edition of 1000 copies only • 1969 UK underground classic • definitive vinyl edition • pressed with the full involvement of John ‘Twink’ Alder • includes numbered certificate, signed by the legendary Twink • features members of Tomorrow, the Deviants, Tyrannosaurus Rex & the Pretty Things • digitally remastered • large-format 16-page booklet with comprehensive notes and rare photos • most comprehensive edition ever mono version side one 1. the coming of the other one 2. 10,000 words in a cardboard box 3. dawn of magic 4. tiptoe on the highest hill 5. fluid side two 1. mexican grass war 2. rock an’ roll the joint 3. suicide 4. three little piggies 5. the sparrow is a sign stereo version side one 1. the coming of the other one 2. 10,000 words in a cardboard box 3. dawn of magic 4. tiptoe on the highest hill 5. fluid side two 1. mexican grass war 2. rock an’ roll the joint 3. suicide 4. three little piggies 5. the sparrow is a sign
Elvis Costello has released a new album, “Hey Clockface”, recorded in Helsinki, Paris, and New York. The album, released October. 30th, is his first new music since 2018, and is at times playful, on other occasions introspective. The highlight is its jaunty title track; listen to it and many of the other tracks below. Hey Clockface was recorded in Helsinki, Paris and New York and mixed by Sebastian Krys in Los Angeles. Following the solo recording of tracks, No Flag, Hetty O’Hara Confidential and We Are All Cowards Now at Suomenlinnan Studio, Helsinki by Eetü Seppälä in February 2020, Costello immediately travelled to Paris for a weekend session at Les Studios Saint Germain. Costello tells us, “I sang live on the studio floor, directing from the vocal booth. We cut nine songs in two days. We spoke very little. His strikingly good 31st studio album, “Hey Clockface,” which dropped October 30th, and a deluxe vinyl boxed set commemorating his third album, the 1979 masterpiece “Armed Forces,” which arrives just a week later, on November 6th. There is a lot of clock-punching, or smashing, to go around in this sudden flurry of releases.
These old and new works are almost ridiculously incomparable in style, but there is a striking commonality. “Hey Clockface” doesn’t sound remotely like his last album, “Look Now,” which didn’t sound like any of the ones before it. And “Armed Forces” found Costello already shedding the lean, frantic signature sound of the prior record, “This Year’s Model,” to embrace the possibilities of the studio in a more ambitious and even grandiose way.
Watch the video for “Hey Clockface”/”How Can You Face Me”
Almost everything the musicians played was a spontaneous response to the song I was singing. I’d had a dream of recording in Paris like this, one day.” The assembled album, Hey Clockface is “An Elvis Costello & Sebastian Krys Production” following on from their work together on Elvis Costello and The Imposters Grammy-winning album Look Now. The motion picture of We Are All Cowards Now by Eamon Singer and Arlo McFurlow features images of flowers and pistols, smoke and mirrors, tombstones and monuments, courage and cowardice, peace love and misunderstanding. Specifically, what Costello had done was take time out before and during those tour dates to book quick, experimental sessions — by himself, as a clanging one-man rock band in Helsinki, and with a jazzy combo of Parisians put together by his keyboard player Steve Nieve in France. (He had even booked time with his touring band and his old producer Nick Lowe in London, with a whole different set of songs earmarked to work on, but those plans got scotched and will wait for another day and another album.
The ensemble, dubbed, “Le Quintette Saint Germain” by Costello, was recruited for these dates by Steve Nieve (who plays grand piano, upright piano, organ, mellotron and melodica) and features Mickaél Gasche on trumpet, flugel horn and serpent, Pierre-François “Titi” Dufour on cello, and the drums, percussion and high harmonies of Ajuq. Listen to the beautiful instrumentation on “The Whirlwind”
Reed player Renaud-Gabriel Pion plays contrabass clarinet, bass clarinet, Bb clarinet, tenor saxophone, bass flute and cor anglais. The Paris sessions were recorded by François Delabrière. Watch the video for “We Are All Cowards Now”
The New York sessions were produced by composer, arranger and trumpet player, Michael Leonhart in collaboration with guitarists, Bill Frisell and Nels Cline and completed, lyrically and vocally by Costello, “via Electrical Wire.” The musician had been teasing the first two songs’ release in late spring and early summer with a series of tweets that featured some of the songs’ lyrics and illustrations from the music videos. Costello performs Hammond organ, Fender Jazzmaster, upright piano, Rhythm Ace and “all other noises.”
“She could kill a man with a single stroke,” he sings on “Hetty O’Hara Confidential.” “She is not the one you want to provoke.” Watch the lyric video for “Hetty O’Hara Confidential”
As with all of us, 2020 has been a memorable year for ElvisCostello, though he has several unique reasons. On February 14th, he became an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, at a ceremony overseen by Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace.
And though his celebrated career is decades old, Costello had never won a Grammy Award for one of his albums. That all changed at the 62nd Grammy Awards, held on January . The musician won for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for his Oct. 2018 release, Look Now. The legend had previously won in 1999 for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, with Burt Bacharach.
“You may be joking, but I don’t get the gag,” he sings in “No Flag.” “I sense no future, but time seems to drag.” Watch the lyric video for “No Flag” There’s some days where none of it matters, and it doesn’t mean anybody would want to stay there forever, but maybe it’s better to write that out in a song.” Costello says he has no need to “live in the past, trying to summon up some old kind of fury. Because I’ve got all the fury that I need right now. Put on ‘No Flag’ and tell me which track on ‘This Year’s Model’ is more aggressive than that. There isn’t one.”
All songs written by Elvis Costello except as noted. On Aug. 28, Costello surprised his audience with the release of a spoken word song, “Phonographic Memory,” described as “the B-Side of the recently released, ‘We Are All Cowards Now’. “Phonographic Memory” imagines a post-war ceremony involving an archive recording of the voice of Orson Welles and someone identified only as “President Swift”. The recording takes the form of a short story recited over an open-tuned acoustic guitar soundtrack and as such is unique in Costello’s recorded catalogue.
On their new album Midnight Manor, released earlier this month, the Nude Party go the full monty in revealing their influences: the record has streaks of the Kinks, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and early Rolling Stones, along with the garage-rock vibes of the Nuggets 1965-68 compilation. The group pays tribute to another influence in a new Amazon Original performance released Friday, covering Neil Young’s “Out on the Weekend.”
The Nude Party offer a faithful if somewhat ironic rendition of the track off Young’s 1972 Harvest album, recording their performance in a barn in their communal Catskills home.
“We couldn’t resist the irony of covering ‘Out on the Weekend’ in a time when none of us were allowed to leave the house,” says singer Patton Magee. “Knowing we were filming in our old wooden barn, Neil Young immediately came to mind. This song feels like sitting melancholy and wondering. It feels like something is missing, and that was easy to connect with.”
The Nude Party formed when the members were all in college at North Carolina’s Appalachian State University. Under the moniker of the “Naked Party Band,” the self-taught musicians played covers by CCR and the Doors around campus. “I think a lot of the influences are pretty on our sleeve. We wanted to play like the Rolling Stones, CCR and the Kinks,” Magee said this month. “We were into like that late Sixties, early Seventies rock & roll. It just hit us all in a particular way.”
“Azaleas” is the sound of Bowerbirds’ Phil Moore wrestling with uncertainty; it’s a succinct examination of how Bowerbirds’ hopefulness endures, in spite of itself. Written and recorded in just a few weeks at Moore’s North Carolina home during quarantine, on these songs, Bowerbirds’ subtle, tender folk rails against capitalism and complacency, rippling with the frustration of wanting to push back against the world at large.
Like Bowerbirds earlier 2020 EP, Endless Chase: 2020 Singles, Azaleas mines Moore’s memories for inspiration – but here, that collides sharply with existential malaise. These six songs exist in the strange, stark chasm between the dread of the present and the warmth of nostalgia, teetering between now and then.
The bookends of Azaleas contain Moore’s thesis in its purest form. Opener “Home Wrecker” unfolds with him wondering, What’s it all worth in the end? As long as there’s lives left, there’s lives left to waste, trying to push back against the weight of how fucked we all are. But by the end, he’s come back around –closer “No One Left in the Garden,” written for Moore’s son, is sanguine and inherently forward-looking. He’s buoyed by his faith in the person his son is becoming, and how he seems better off with handling hardships than his father. It’s like leaving places better than we found them –it’s the cyclical nature of how and why we come around to believe in the future again, even when the odds seem against it.
The new Bowerbirds EP ‘Azaleas’ is out everywhere now, along with the lyric video and visuals I made for “Home Wrecker.” I wrote and recorded all of the songs on this EP during a just few weeks at home during this unprecedented time… Including some 4am drum tracking (sorry, neighbours.) This is an EP about feeling frustrated with the world at large and not knowing how to push back against it. It’s also about finding hope, in spite of everything.
Home Wrecker” from the new EP by Bowerbirds, Azaleas, out now on Psychic Hotline. released October 30th, 2020
Petrol Girls are a feminist post-hardcore punk band, originally formed in London, with members from Austria, Lithuania and the UK. Now based in Austria, and touring incessantly, the band are strong advocates of freedom of movement, anti-capitalism and intersectional feminism. With a wide range of musical influences, and having had the pleasure to support bands such as Strike Anywhere, The Dead Kennedys, Propagandhi, RVIVR, War on Women and Refused, the band are constantly developing musically as well as politically. Their new album, ‘Cut & Stitch’, develops the sentiment (inspired by writer Rebecca Solnit) behind their last EP, ‘The Future is Dark (which is the best thing the future can be I think)’ – that political change is a constant collective process that never stops, and that is often hard to see our place within. The band advocate this as reason to not give up on ourselves or the causes we care about – to keep acting, caring, connecting and creating in a sustainable way. Cutting and stitching is a process that can go on indefinitely; stitches are easily unpicked, new shapes can be cut, everything can be rearranged. It’s a familiar activity to the punk scene where sewing patches and modifying clothes have always formed part of the culture and aesthetic.
Petrol Girls are rooted in this DIY music community that has always combined politics with punk rock; part of a counter culture that constantly challenges mainstream values like nationalism and the gender binary, and the oppressions that these ideals promote. Petrol Girls are named after Pétroleuses, mythical women of the Paris commune who allegedly set fire to private property with Molotov cocktails made from milk bottles, and rejected traditional gender roles. The inspiration came from a talk on Women and Protest given by writer Laurie Penny, who loosely translated Pétroleuses to Petrol Girls. The band first formed in 2013 for a house show that singer Ren was putting on to celebrate International Women’s Day. This feminist context was essential for the band’s formation within a wider music community that at the time did very little to encourage women’s participation.
‘Cut & Stitch’ was released via Hassle Records on May 24th 2019.
The Fat Angel Sings 