Born out of a makeshift studio in rural Queensland and matured and distilled in Sydney, the group’s debut album could not sound more distant from its geography. Borrowing from a number of French singers and synth-auteurs, Jessica Mincher’s measured crooning and ribbons of shimmering synthesizer would be at home permeating through night clubs across Europe. But entwined with Billy James’ distinctly Western guitar tones that just as easily conjure up chilling night-time desert scenes, they create something incredibly complex. As a result, Some Kind Of Blueis stylized yet effortless; warm yet crystalline. Their lyrics too are atmospheric and evocative; Lynchian and dripping with narrative. Does she love him? Will she be true? With their beautiful-nightmare appeal, it’s no surprise that Noire have played David Lynch’s Parisian Silencio bar.
The Orange Kyte is an experimental music project with a manifesto to release music in various shapes and forms varying in fidelity and approach but always drawing heavily from a love of ethereal tones, fuzz, reverberation and all things psychedelic. Introducing Stevie Moonboots and a revolving cast of collaborators and cohorts, musical and otherwise. Vancouver, British Columbia’s The Orange Kyte is an exercise in boundless sonic tomfoolery with an emphasis on mind expansion and continuous evolution.
New Candys have shared the mesmerising visuals for ‘Tempera’ from their third LP ‘Bleeding Magenta‘, out now on Fuzz Club Records.
New Candys hail from Venice, Italy and formed back in 2008. After recently reissuing their highly-praised first two LPs ‘As Medicine’ and ‘Stars Reach The Abyss’, the four-piece are teaming up with Fuzz Club for the release of their third album, ‘Bleeding Magentas’.
Their latest effort is a seriously impressive collection of dark, swirling psych-rock – atmospheric yet overdriven, pacing but ethereal, brooding at times but always wallowing in a dazed pop sensibility, ‘Bleeding Magenta’ see’s New Candys’ songwriting at its best.
On the video, the Venice band explain: “We were interested in giving life to the imaginary of the album artwork, playing with natural and surreal elements, balancing what is real and what is artificial.”
“Tempera” from the album “Bleeding Magenta” out 6th October 2017 on Fuzz Club Records.
Little Cloud Records was founded in October 2016 by Mike Nesbitt, Josiah Webb and Mike’s twin brother, Joe. What started as a way to release Magic Shoppe records has become a vehicle for releasing vinyl for other bands we dig. This includes releases from Pete International Airport (Pete Holmström of Dandy Warhols), New Candys (dark psych rockers from Venice, Italy), The Orange Kyte (tripped-out Irish transplants living in Vancouver, BC), Firefriend (São Paulo psych warlords) , Heaven (Brooklyn based psych rock) and Arizona’s Wiccan Godesses, Burning Palms.
We’re partnering with a Portland, OR vinyl based plant and Joe runs a Chicago based printing facility. This allows us to produce all records, printing jacket design / printing and vinyl pressing in-house. We have been established by Cobraside in the United States and Fuzz Club Records in the UK. For digital distribution we use our own department to plaster your bit Across the usual suspects … like Spotify, iTunes, Google Play Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music and many more.
Parquets Courts’ fifth album Wide Awake! – produced by Danger Mouse – is a groundbreaking work, an album about independence and individuality but also about collectivity and communitarianism. The songs, written by Andrew Savage and Austin Brown but elevated to even greater heights by the dynamic rhythmic propulsion of Max Savage (drums) and Sean Yeaton (bass), are filled with their traditional punk rock passion, as well as a lyrical tenderness. The record reflects a burgeoning confidence in the band’s exploration of new ideas in a hi-fi context.
From Parquet Courts’ album ‘Wide Awake!’, out 18th May on Rough Trade Records. *deluxe vinyl with 16-page double booklet of art and illustration by A. Savage available
Parquet Courts get funky on their latest with a little help from producer Danger Mouse. Whistles! ParquetCourts’ new album, Wide Awake! is out May 18th.
Lucy Rose has been around for a little while, but is one of those artists that just keeps getting better & better. She’s sublime, I think as a songwriter , It will be really interesing to watch her further progress in 2018 . Lucy’s third album ‘Something’s Changing’, released a mini-documentary and gone on a tour of cinemas across the country.
As 2018 begins Lucy’s not putting her feet up with a cuppa. Instead, she’s shared a brand new track, ‘End Up Here’, which was recorded during the sessions for ‘Something’s Changing’. It’s a sparse, guitar-led number that puts Lucy’s vocals and words at the forefront.
This is the official video for ‘End Up Here’ by Lucy Rose
Lucy Rose’s splendid return ‘Something’s Changing’ was another record we’ve had listening too on heavy rotation since the summer. After you’ve dug into the stunning record, watch the moving documentary of the same name to learn about the inspiration behind the songs.
Something’s Changing is out now on Communion Records.
The legendary Manic Street Preachers have released a new track called ‘Dylan and Caitlin’ off their forthcoming album ‘Resistance is Futile’ due out 1th3 April 2018.
The track is a “conversation between Dylan and Caitlin Thomas at the apex of their alcohol soaked relationship” James Dean Bradfield explained. Nicky Wire added “The story itself rolls through their relationship – drinking, fighting and ended up broken by America. The conversational nature of the lyrics lent themselves to a duet so we asked Catherine AD (aka the Anchoress) to provide the female perspective. She’s a hugely talented kindred spirit.”
It has all the hallmarks of the Manics – an impassioned, literate and melodic anthem with the Anchoress’s softer vocals counterbalancing Bradfield’s distinctive gruffness.
Big Skies commands a strong presence. Following their post-punk roots, Mere Women build up to a four-piece incorporating thumping bass into the already strong ensemble; precise pulsating rhythms that are never predictable, hallowing synths and spiralling guitar echoing off the ceiling. Thematically, Amy Wilson draws from dated ideas of gender roles. During the title track, Wilson repeats in quick succession ‘You’d better get a dog, girl’ linking to her first-hand experiences as a woman living regionally, receiving word that getting a dog and locking all doors will offer protection. Mere Women have presented a true statement piece in Big Skies; encapsulating the beauty, isolation and gendered perspective of the countryside – presented with pure urgency and hopefulness veiled beneath unsettling tones.
Band Members
Katrina Byrne
Amy Wilson
Flyn Mckinnirey
Trisch Roberts
Stark acoustic rumblings and tales of yesteryear are brought to the forefront on Down The Unmarked Road, a joint collaboration between Peter Fenton (Crow) and Jamie Hutchings (Bluebottle Kiss/Infinity Broke) that feels like it has more in common with 70’s Dylan and Van Morrison than their individual projects. It is an album that conjures up Sydney’s Inner West and by extension, the rural outskirts of New South Wales.
Fenton and Hutchings spin yarns about solitary travels at dusk, nights out gallivanting on King Street, and abrupt endings that lead to hazy beginnings, which feel like they’re only still just occurring; all the while pointing out the nostalgia and the regret of it all. The album doesn’t just feel brooding however, songs like ‘Moller’ and ‘The Buyer Beware’ give the record momentous lifts with their presence. You can’t help but be drawn to the almost effortless approach that each song takes with the album feeling like it began with two friends sitting down with acoustic guitars to see what would transpire.
It’s heartening that a new voice can still come along that requires you to stop everything, take notice and listen. The owner of these beautiful vocals is Adrianne Lenker, singer and guitarist with Big Thief, a four-piece from New York, who have more than delivered on their early potential.
As the front cover may allude to (it features vocalist Adrianne Lenker being held by her young Uncle), Big Thief’s sophomore album delves deep in to family history. There are stark accounts of death, domestic abuse as well as guttural romances themes littered throughout the LP. Though the true theme lie in the duality of life and the continued fight between the two. It’s a piece of work that sees Lenker and Co. at the height of their powers.
Intense yet generous, Capacitymakes you wonder what the big deal is with second albums. That just 14 months separated the release of Masterpiece and Capacity ensured the band wouldn’t overthink their next move, but there’s more to it than prolificness. Adrianne Lenker’s lyrics and the music they inhabit rarely subvert each other via the more familiar way of placing words and melody at opposite emotional poles. Equally fluent in metaphor and memoir, Lenker blurs the two in a way that resists strict autobiography, while still inviting you into her worlds.
Only formed in 2015, the band are already onto their second album – Capacity is the follow-up to last year’s well-received debut Masterpiece – and the band have long been championed by BBC 6 Music.
The album’s cover – Adrianne Lenker’s uncle cradling her when she was a baby – gives a clue to the themes of family explored on the record. Standout track Mythological Beauty, recalls a childhood accident that almost killed Adrianne, considering the impact it had on her mother. In an interview reflecting on the familial story-telling, she reveals “I’m not quite sure if I’m writing the songs from myself to my future child, or to my inner child, or from my mother to me.”
Expect to hear more from this group as 2017 continues to unfold. They’ll be visiting the UK for gigs .
