The Fat Angel Sings

On January 22nd, 2016, Savages released its riveting sophomore album “Adore Life”, the band’s final release to date. Today, the London quartet celebrate the album’s first decade by sharing two unreleased songs from the era—a piano-lead cover of Black Sabbath’s iconic “Paranoid” and the haunting original “Prayer.” .

From Savages: Celebrating 10 years of “Adore Life”, we’re sharing with you two unreleased songs that never made it onto the albums. We left them exactly as they were—no retakes, no remixing. What you’ll hear is precisely how they were first recorded. To us, they feel like snapshots of a moment in time, and while we’ve never been ones to dwell too much on nostalgia we felt these songs offered a fresh perspective on the band, or at the very least—a gentle reminder of its magic. Enjoy the music and video. It is our gift to you. Happy Birthday to “Adore Life”. What a record. What a time.
Ayse, Fay, Gemma & Jehnny

“When Savages delivered the “Adore Life” artwork, they really captured the feeling of the music contained within,” recalls Matador founder Chris Lombardi. “A giant fist of a record. It’s visceral and taut much like their incendiary live shows. This record reminds that Savages were the REAL DEAL.”

The band’s performance of “Paranoid” was captured on film by Grammy-nominated director Giorgio Testi and premieres today as well. “Paranoid” was recorded by Johnny Hostile and Matt Farrar, produced and mixed by Johnny Hostile. “Prayer” was recorded at RAK studios in London by Richard Woodcraft, produced and mixed by Johnny Hostile.

The release serves as the latest entry in Matador Records’ Revisionist History series, our ongoing campaign to jog the record-buying (and streaming!) public’s memory about our many catalog items now poised to celebrate a significant anniversary.

Over the course of the year, Matador will mark these anniversaries with new reissues and re-pressings. Each release will be accompanied by rare live footage, unreleased music, photos, and videos.

Savages’ are Ayşe Hassan (bass), Fay Milton (drums), Gemma Thompson (guitar), and Jehnny Beth (vocals).

If art is to be exhibited, then Ulrika Spacek will ensure that their art is collective; that even as the world becomes inhospitable to community, their intentions are an act of resistance.

Whether it is Oysterland, the self-curated night the band have been hosting for over 10 years to platform artists of other disciplines in live music spaces; Total Refreshment Centre, the East London studio Syd runs which connects the dots between the jazz scene and like-minded experimental artists of the capital and beyond; or their creative bleed as musicians and producers over the years with the likes of Crack Cloud, caroline, DIIV, Holy Wave and Slowdive, the band’s existence is inseparable from its community.

In a hyper-individual world, the band’s fourth album, “EXPO”, offers an antidote. It’s there, in the shared dream logic of the music: the off-kilter melodies, jagged guitars and cirrus cloud atmospherics. It’s there, in all the things that are said and unsaid between them; there in the writing, producing and mixing processes they share in. And even as each of their parts moves toward a unified vision, it’s never more keenly felt than in the bigger picture to which Ulrika Spacek belong.

“EXPO” is a symbol of collective art, and a dialectic between analogue and electronic.

Though their well-established foundations are in the art-rock world – and though they are inspired by electronic elements more than ever – Ulrika Spacek are interested in the glitch that exists between the two. Their music reckons with human warmth and digital isolation, equal parts welcoming and altogether alienating. “Our music has always been a collage – a bit patchwork, sonically – but what makes this album a landmark for us is that we went one step further and made our own sample bank,” explains singer/guitarist Rhys. They create their own doppelgängers in a world of almost-real, where the band appear as if in a hall of mirrors. Digital drums are sampled layered upon real drums, and the effect is almost like birth in reverse – pulled from the ether and returned back to the tangible world.

“There’s a lot that can be said about writing when there is no aim, there is a freedom and a purity in it which opens a door to more music, and in this case, it set a mood for a new album, one that would be colder, darker and one that would embrace electronics and new instrumentation in a new terrain” the band share. “The album’s greater theme is isolation and alienation in an online world where it seems everybody around you is constantly exhibiting themselves, living in public wanting to be seen and heard. The age of ‘individuality’ is lonely, it’s a room of concave mirrors, and with this in mind, we set upon making our most collective effort; ‘It’s back to strength in numbers, count in fives.”

Ratboys have signed to New West Records, marking the announcement with a frantically paced, sprawling track called ‘Light Night Mountains All That’. It features piano and production from Chris Walla. “My original idea was to write an ultra-high energy folk song, in the style of the Dodos’ Visiter, with somewhat spooky, mysterious, and pastoral lyrics — like what Chris Otepka of the Heligoats might conjure up on a mushroom trip,” Julia Steiner said in a statement. “This song really took shape during our initial writing session up at the Driftless Cabin in Wisconsin last March; the guys and I nearly went insane fleshing out the arrangement and its odd timings together. I wrote the lyrics during that original demoing trip, centered around the idea of a fantastic, rural vision-quest where the days and nights blend together and nothing is quite as it seems.”

This week, Chicago indie rockers Ratboys shared a new song, “Light Night Mountains All That,” and announced some new tour dates. They also announced that they have signed to a new label, New West Records. 

Ratboys is singer/guitarist Julia Steiner, guitarist Dave Sagan, drummer Marcus Nuccio, and bassist Sean Neumann. The song also features piano by its co-producer Chris Walla (Death Cab for Cutie, Tegan and Sara, Foxing).

Following a heavy touring cycle that included opening for The Decemberists, Ratboys return with “Singin’ to An Empty Chair“. The 11-track album was produced by Chris Walla, the former Death Cab for Cutie member who also produced “The Window“.

Singer and guitarist Julia Steiner wrote most of the album after attending therapy for the first time. She was working through a difficult conversation with someone she is estranged from, using a technique called “Empty Chair.” The exercise involves imagining the person sitting across from you.

“The goal is to update this person on what’s been going on in my life and to try to bridge that impasse and reach out a hand into the void,” Steiner explained.

The album includes recent singles “Light Night Mountains All That”, “Anywhere”, and “What’s Right?”. They all hint at a natural evolution, sharpening the band’s emotional clarity without losing its melodic core.

Ratboys’ last album, “The Window”, was among the Top 100 Albums of 2023

With “Future Soul”, Tedeschi Trucks Band expands their horizon without losing the roots that ground them. Produced by the genre-bending Mike Elizondo (known for his work with 21 Pilots and Turnstile), the album finds the 12-piece ensemble exploring deeper grooves and richer textures than ever before.  

The title track, “Future Soul,” hits with a muscular riff and searing vocals, proving the band can still unleash full- tilt rock whenever they choose. “I Got You” arrives as an early fan favourite from its live debut. “Crazy Cryin’” pours out emotion, weaving gospel inflections with blues-soaked grit in unmistakable TTB style. “Who Am I” turns inward, spotlighting Susan Tedeschi’s soulful presence and the lyrical touch of Derek Trucks’ guitar in a strikingly natural balance.  

Lyrically, the record looks forward as much as it looks within—grappling with identity, resilience, and hope in uncertain times. Elizondo’s production adds subtle modern touches—warm bass, layered percussion, and space for the horns and background vocals to shine—without sacrificing the organic interplay that defines the band’s live magic.  

“Future Soul”, stands as both a reinvention and a reaffirmation: a vibrant next chapter for one of America’s most formidable bands. Known for its world-class musicianship, Tedeschi Trucks Band is Susan Tedeschi (guitar, vocals), Derek Trucks (guitar), Mike Mattison (guitar, vocals), Gabe Dixon (keys, vocals), Brandon Boone (bass), Tyler “Falcon” Greenwell (drums, percussion), Isaac Eady (drums, percussion), Mark Rivers (vocals), Alecia Chakour (vocals), Kebbi Williams (saxophone), Emmanuel Echem (trumpet) and Elizabeth Lea (trombone).

Tedeschi Trucks Band Announces Sixth Studio Album ‘Future Soul’ out March 20th,  

London dream-pop/shoegaze trio Deary announced their debut album, “Birding”, and shared its lead single, “Seabird.” “Birding” is due out April via Bella Union Records.

Of the new single, Easton says: “With the whole bird theme, there was also a direct nod to religious iconography—the majesty of feeling insignificant in the wider world. ‘Seabird’ is like a fable, a story of this person pleading to a bird and asking, ‘When does it get better?’ We wanted to recreate that kind of majesty, feeling insignificant to the wider world. It is the perfect introduction to the rest of the record in that regard.”

Across 11 tracks that run the gamut from ocean-deep shoegaze riffs to cloud-light sprinkles of ethereal indie, “Birding” is the sound of a band who have definitively found their groove.

Birds are alluring, fascinating creatures. Unencumbered by earthly concepts, they soar through the skies, only briefly interacting with those of us watching them from below. It’s like they inhabit a parallel world, almost, one where the turmoil of daily life on Earth is entirely escapable. When deary, the London– based dreampop three- piece of Ben Easton, Dottie Cockram and Harry Catchpole named their debut album “Birding”, it wasn’t just as an homage to our feathered friends- they were referencing the sense of expansion, wonder, and abandon their music evokes. They chose the title to draw attention to the direct impact humans have on the world around us, whether that be nature, or ourselves. 

With “Birding”, Deary have purposely evolved their sound, opting for starker lyrics and heavier instrumentation than on their previous releases. A perfect example of this is “Smile”, the album’s opener: amid buzzsaw guitars and airy windchimes, Dottie sings of the announcement of a national epidemic of violence against women. It’s a haunting track, and the first time the band have tackled such an intense subject matter. “Seabird”, the album’s lead single, takes “Smile’s” heaviness and transmutes it into something heartening. Propelled by Harry’s Portishead– esque backbeats, the track sonically resembles a wide open sky, with layer upon layer of guitar chords echoing to the heavens. Other focus tracks include the seven-and-a-half-minute long dreampop epic “Alfie” and “Alma”, probably the album’s most pop-forward moment

Of the album as a whole, Easton says: “I was writing the record in one of the worst periods of my life. I was not in a good space at all. Our last EP, “Aurelia”, was about transition, and how it’s cool to change. And “Birding” is, ‘Oh no, I‘ve made some really disruptive life decisions.’ The album came from an isolated, almost hopeless space, and you can hear that in parts of the record. But there are also moments that are very self-loving and meditative, and a bit more uplifting.”

Easton adds: “Our last EP was us trying to be deary, and this album is us being deary.”

Deary is Rebecca “Dottie” Cockram (guitar, vocals), Ben Easton (guitar), and Harry Catchpole (drums).

Kim Gordon (formerly of Sonic Youth) announced a new solo album, “PLAY ME”, and shared its first single, “Not Today,” via a music video. “PLAY ME” is due out March 13th via Matador. Kate & Laura Mulleavy directed the “Not Today” video. Kim Gordon’s vision of art and noise has come sharper into focus just as readily as it has changed—a paradigm of possibility that, four decades on, still feels like a dare.

“Play Me” is Kim Gordon’s third solo album and follows 2024’s “The Collective” and 2019’s “No Home Record”. As with those albums, Gordon once again collaborated with producer Justin Raisen (Charli XCX, Sky Ferreira, Yves Tumor).

Gordon had this to say about the album in a press release: “We wanted the songs to be short. We wanted to do it really fast. It’s more focused, and maybe more confident. I always kind of work off of rhythms, and I knew I wanted it to be even more beat-oriented than the last one. Justin really gets my voice and my lyrics and he understands how I work—that came forth even more on this record.” 

Play Me is distilled and immediate, expanding Gordon’s sonic palette to include more melodic beats and the motorik drive of krautrock.