The Fat Angel Sings

The follow-up to last year’s ‘MERCY’ LP is led by new single ‘How We See The Light’

John Cale has shared details of his second album in just over a year, titled “POPtical Illusion”.

The follow-up to MERCY, released last January, spans 13 tracks and eschews the collaboration-heavy approach of its predecessor. The album makes use of synths, samples, pianos and organs through its various cuts. It was produced by Cale and his longtime artistic partner Nita Scott at the former’s Los Angeles studio.

POPtical Illusion is preceded by lead cut ‘How We See The Light’, which appears at the record’s midpoint. You can watch a video for the song above.

Double Six / Domino will release “POPtical Illusion” on June 14th, 2024.

Despite the album’s playful title, Cale’s second album in just over a year still contains the same feelings of fierce and inquisitive rage that were present in 2023 album “Mercy”. He remains angry, still incensed by the willful destruction that unchecked capitalists and unrepentant conmen have hoisted upon the wonders of this world and the goodness of its people. But this is not at all Mercy II, or some collection of castoffs, as throughout his career of more than six decades, Cale has never been much for repetition. His vanguard-shaping enthusiasms have shifted among ecstatic classicism and unbound rock, classic songcraft and electronic reimagination with proud restlessness. 

And so, on “POPtical Illusion“, he foregoes the illustrious cast to burrow mostly alone into mazes of synthesizers and samples, organs and pianos, with words that, as far as Cale goes, constitute a sort of swirling hope, a sage insistence that change is yet possible. Produced by Cale and longtime artistic partner Nita Scott, “POPtical Illusion” is the work of someone trying to turn toward the future – exactly as Cale always has.

“Sometimes you write a song purely for a mood,” John Cale says of his new single “Shark-Shark” and it’s video by Abigail Portner. “‘Shark-Shark’ has two versions – both a nod to finding humour in music. When you’re feeling too much of the real world, the best diversion is something that puts a grin on your face. I don’t know how Abby & team kept this shoot together – being ‘unserious’ was a lot of fun!” New album “POPtical Illusion” is out June 14 via Domino Recordings.

A bit over ten years separated John Cale’s 2012 album “Shifty Adventures in Nookie Wood” and his next LP of original material, 2023’s “Mercy”. Chalk it up to a more dedicated creative focus or simply momentum, but a mere 18 months passed before Cale delivered his follow-up to “Mercy”, 2024’s “Poptical Illusion”.

As the title suggests, “Poptical Illusion” is a bit more approachable than the dark, forbidding tone of “Mercy”. While the arrangements are largely built around electronics, in terms of melodies, the songs recall the more graceful tone of albums like 1970’s “Vintage Violence” and 1973’s “Paris 1919”, and the material has a warmth missing from much of Cale’s catalogue, even if the performances on tracks like “I’m Angry” and “Edge of Reason” are nearly as spare as those on 1982’s brilliant but harrowing “Music for a New Society”, and the rhythmic chatter of “Company Commander” suggests a dance track without the central pulse that would make it user-friendly. “Mercy” was an often mournful work, full of damaged lives in a world succumbing to its own chaos; “Poptical Illusion” isn’t as heavily invested in its clouds of ambient sound and doomstruck navel-gazing (and it doesn’t feature a raft of guest stars, with Cale handling most of the instrumental work himself), and the observations are more personal than political. However, just as “Mercy” found Cale sounding fully engaged in new music after a long period of working with others or examining his past, “Poptical Illusion” is full of ideas and energy, perhaps not the work of a man full of hope but certainly one with plenty to say. At the age of 82, Cale’s music is fresh and contemporary in a way very few of his peers can manage, making use of the seemingly endless palate of electronic sounds in a way that engages the head and the heart, and even the darkest selections here display a bold, uncompromising humanity that turns his pessimism into a rage against the dying of the light. He is also in fine voice, singing with a force and control that’s as flexible as it was 50 years ago. John Cale may be a respected elder statesman of adventurous music that explores the nexus of rock and art, but on “Poptical Illusion” he sounds like a contemporary artist bubbling over with ideas and the will to execute them. It may not be especially optimistic, but it’s certainly powerful and inspiring, and we probably need that more from Cale than forced cheeriness, a skill he need not acquire this far into his career.

John Cale – “Shark-Shark” from the album ‘POPtical Illusion’ out now on Double Six / Domino.

“The Gloss” is the second album from Cola – from their inception Cola have expanded on the diy ethic of the Dischord and SST eras, creating potent sounds from a minimal palette of drums/bass/guitar and lacing their songs with winsome one-liners and societal commentary.

The second album from Montreal’s Cola is one of a much brighter disposition. Having disbanded art rock project Ought, vocalist Tim Darcy and bassist Ben Stidworthy released their debut album, “Deep In View“, as Cola in 2021 with the addition of Evan Cartwright on drums. What emerged from this new era of artistic endeavor from the trio was a mixture of new wave and post-punk sounds. Within sparse arrangements, they crafted out a niche, as they leaned heavily towards the more melodic side of the recent post-punk boom. Their debut had more of a neutral emotional palette, which is in sharp contrast to their new album “The Gloss”, in which they’ve managed to create denser and much more vibrant compositions.

What’s another word for commentary? “Gloss“, apparently. Never basic, the lyrics reward repeated listening for deeper meanings. David Berman’s poetry-via-garage light pennings are an inspiration, as equally so are the lighter side of UK first-wave New Wave and the Dunedin sound.

The results are in the pudding: at times sparse and poetic, at others a thrilling, hook-laden good time, as with the cheeky romantic sketch of a one-night stand that is so overflowing with innuendo-cum-journalism talk that it almost teeters over into self-parody.

But the results are the right combination of lightheartedness and sincerity. Romanticism is never far from laughter, and equally never far from righteous anger in the music of Cola: “Pulling quotes now in the dark/Our outlook is restrained/Your tongue might weaken to be-fit your smile/Til nothing ill remains.” ’nuff said. It’s an album bursting with energy and wit and ideas-filled to the margins.

The most immediately striking difference is the sense of warmth you feel across “The Gloss“, where it feels as though you’re basking in the glorious dayglow of perfect morning sunshine. Its presence is felt from the jump on opener “Tracing Hallmarks,” where the guitars become more and more buoyant as the track goes on. Every inch of this album enthuses brighter days, from the gentle flutters of flute on “Pallor Tricks” to the meditative quiet that sets the tone of “Nice Try”. From the beginning of Cola’s existence, Cartwright’s drumming has been one of their greatest attributes. On “Deep In View“, it was essential in creating the vastness felt in their minimal style. This time around, it truly feels like the lifeblood of the tracks, opening the door for Darcy and Stidworthy’s parts to come to life. There are little flourishes, such as the footprint-like taps on “Keys Down If You Stay,” which help bring a greater sense of life to “The Gloss” than the band have achieved previously.

Cola’s new album “The Gloss” out June 14th on Fire Talk / Next Door.

New Year’s Day is the perfect example of a band that just gets better with each album they release, ‘Half Black Heart’ is definitely one of the band’s stronger albums. It opens with an immediate guitar riff throwing you head first into ‘Vampyr’, a thrilling introduction to the album. Returning members Brandon Wolfe, Jeremy Valentine, and Trixx Daniel have definitely made their presence felt, it’s almost like they never left, they work together perfectly with Ash Costello to create a familiar yet refreshing New Year’s Day Sound.

Throughout the album , Costello harnesses her power as a strong female frontwoman but especially shines towards the end of the album on tracks ‘So Sick’ and ‘Creature of Habit’. An album that both new and old fans of New Year’s Day will be able to appreciate, ‘Half Black Heart’ is likely to be up there on my albums of the year come December.

Galway indie-rock quartet NewDad when they announced their next single ‘Say It’ released on 11th January, with sophomore EP ‘Banshee’ arriving on 9th February via Fair Youth Records.

Another debut album from an Irish band released in January, NewDad’s ‘Madra’ is best described as hypnotic. Lead singer Julie Dawson’s voice perfectly fits the shoegaze sound of the album. It is so easy to just lose yourself listening to the album, there is something so dreamy about it. You can hear how the likes of The Cure have inspired the band, it brings familiarity to the album but doesn’t overpower it, NewDad is still the signature sound of the album The lyrics are heavy, leaning into themes of self-loathing on the part of Dawson. It’s a harsh juxtaposition with the gentleness of her voice but it is so well executed. The two parts come together extremely well to create a whole album that is just so enjoyable to listen to. Another strong debut album released in 2024 that you should definitely listen to!

Julie Dawson fronts the rising band alongside Áindle O’Beirn, Sean O’Dowd, and Fiachra Parslow. NewDad formed while still at school in Galway and credit a random band name generator for their unusual moniker. Having initially felt isolated as a new Irish band, the success of friends and fellow countrymen Fontaines D.C. and The Murder Capital forged a path for the band. In early 2020, they recruited Sean O’Dowd on bass, having existed as a three piece prior to that point. Initially getting together because Julie “hates playing and singing on my own,” the band grew more serious about their sound and decided to move in together to write and record as much as possible when lockdown hit.

The first result of this was the band’s debut EP “Waves”, released in early 2021. Dark and stormy with undeniably beautiful moments amid the mammoth guitars, the EP acted as a perfect introduction to the world NewDad have created for themselves and picked up fans across the globe. There’s a heaviness to the music, which the band pin to a love of The Cure, Pixies, and Slowdive among others, that transcends local scenes or languages. Julie’s songwriting brings a subtlety to their sound, weaving personal relationships and influences from the worlds of literature and cinema to add depth.

She explores these themes more closely on the band’s new EP, which was mixed by legendary producer John Congleton. “When I was writing “Waves”, I was out of school but looking back at experiences from that time,” Julie says of an EP that delves into “family, relationships, and all of the mistakes you make at that age.”

‘Say It’ is “perfect pop, a brilliantly urgent single that highlights the extra experience and time the band have had in the studio,” according to a press release. “Julie’s vocals are amongst her best yet, and capture the emotion of the track, the rushing sensation you feel when in the midst of an affair.”

Referring to the origins of the single, the band write:

“‘Say It’ is about unrequited love, about when someone is with you but not really, it’s supposed to capture that frustration you feel when you’re giving someone your all and they’re giving you nothing in return. The fast pace of the song makes it feel like I’m venting which works considering the feelings of irritation and bitterness I’m talking about when you don’t want to like someone but you can’t help it’. “

“Banshee” is the band’s second EP. “Banshee” was recorded and co-produced in Belfast with frequent collaborator Chris W Ryan and was mixed by John Congleton (Lana Del Rey, Phoebe Bridgers).

“This EP is definitely bigger, having more time in the studio definitely meant we got to experiment more and layer more into each track so there’s an overall bigger sound!” NewDad said of their new EP. “The main themes of this EP are restlessness and anxiety, during lockdown that’s how myself and most people were feeling so that’s what inspired a lot of the writing.”

The new music is brighter, something Julie pins on the excitement of moving in together as a band.

“There’s a lightness to the songs and we’re moving in a more pop direction, too.” “Ladybird” was inspired by the Greta Gerwig movie of the same name while the bittersweet jangle of ‘Say It’ deals with the heartache of being more interested in someone than they are in you.

Other songs, including the epic and sprawling ‘Spring’, are more inward looking and tackle the waves of anxiety living in the modern world can make feel inescapable. “I’ve written a lot of songs about dreams, sleep and restlessness. This past year has added a whole heap of pressure onto us so I’ve been doing a lot of talking through what’s going on in my mind.”

These songs capture a moment in time for a band with big ambitions, and a bright future they’re eager to chase down as quickly as possible. Work has already begun on a debut album.

NewDad have also confirmed more live dates for next year following the incredible success of their first UK tour.

‘Letter To Self’ was released in January and is the debut from Dublin band, Sprints. This is such a strong debut album that at times, is hard to believe is the band’s first full length album. ‘Letter To Self’ is predominantly garage punk/rock but you can hear it when the band dips their toes into other genres, such as grunge and pop-rock. There’s an energy throughout the entire album that leaves you wanting more.There’s power in lead singer Karla Chubbs’ voice that perfectly suits the fierce guitar from Colm O’Reilly. Bassist Sam McCann and drummer Jack Callan complete the strong line up. All four artists work well together to create a dynamic album that’s dark yet optimistic, a reminder that good things do still happen. ‘Literary Mind’ is a perfect example of this. It’s the song that gets stuck in my head the most too! A debut album that is very much worth a listen.

There’s “Letter to Self” by Sprints (Bandcamp) which was released at the start of 2024 that made me feel 14 again within a few thudded drum builds, listening to L7 and Babes in Toyland for the first time on the way home from an Idlewild gig. “Letter to Self” is an exceptional debut album, by a band from Dublin, produced by Gilla Band’s Daniel Fox in a way that feels as if everything is ricocheting around Karla Chubb as her voice rises above the glorious racket. It’s an intense and cathartic listen, tackling women’s ongoing fight for bodily autonomy, mental health storms, sexuality, identity, and catholic guilt. Karla Chubb sums it up thus: “No matter what you’re born into, or have experienced, there’s a way to emerge from this and be happy within yourself.”

Sprints’ debut album ‘Letter to Self’ embodies their substantial evolution over the past 3 years. Transforming pain into truth, passion into purpose and perseverance into strength, the Dublin four-piece have steadily grown in stature, releasing two acclaimed EPs and building a fearsome live reputation. ‘Letter to Self’ is the sound of Sprints consolidating and levelling up. Exhibiting their most vulnerable moments and imbuing their visceral garage-punk with a palpable sense of catharsis that we can all benefit from.

debut album “Letter to Self” is out now on City Slang Records!

An album that caught everyone’s attention earlier this year, ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’ is one of three thrilling debut albums on this list. Released in February this was our introduction to The Last Dinner Party, and I think it’s safe to say that no one will be forgetting this quintet anytime soon! More than anything, this album is interesting. Opening with an orchestral prelude, it’s a little unclear what direction the album is going to take but any uncertainty is soon dissolved on the second track, ‘Burn Alive’. This song is reminiscent of Kate Bush and is a great example of slow moody versus paired with more upbeat choruses, something that band does rather well.

The Last Dinner Party are sweating buckets, having carried their instruments across town for rehearsals. In case you’ve somehow missed it, the quintet released their debut single “Nothing Matters” back in April and quickly became the most talked about band in Britain. Critics and fans were united in declaring it song of the year and the band’s distinctive baroque-pop sound and look has been compared to heavyweights like Queen, Kate Bush, ABBA and David Bowie. The single has already racked up 4 million streams.

It wasn’t long, however, before the band found themselves in the midst of a cruel online storm. Some accused them of being manufactured, others said they were industry plants. Many said they were nepo babies – the children of music industry parents – while others accused them of not writing any of their own music.

“We’re real friends,” Morris says. They met while at different London universities (some studying music, some English literature) and bonded over music. “The basis of our friendship was just going to gigs all the time,” says keyboardist Aurora Nishevci. “And we did that for years.”

“I think the first conversation I had about the band was at The Shack after watching a band play and Abigail said: ‘we’re going to start a band,’” adds guitarist Lizzie Maylan. “We were watching some post-punk lads up on stage and we were like: ‘This is shit! We need to do something about this.

Their visual identity is as important to them as the music. On stage, they wear gothy, medievalish gowns and corsets (think Midsommar crossed with Wuthering Heights-era Kate Bush). “We thought a lot about it, big time,” says Davies. “Which is why it bit us in the butt,” adds Morris, “because everyone is like, ‘How are they so fully formed and prepared – they must be industry plants!’ But really, it’s because from the very beginning, before we even had a rehearsal, we knew we we’re going to think about this so carefully.” 

“We could have signed to an indie or a major…” Nishevci says, “…but we wanted money,” Morris interjects. Before the deal with Island Records, they balanced their studies alongside odd jobs and gigging to make ends meet. Lead guitarist Emily Roberts was even moonlighting in a Queen tribute band at the time. “I was Brian,” she laughs. “It was my back up plan, I was meant to go on a cruise ship playing.” After the band signed to Island, .

Of course, the hate continued, with some critics accusing them of ‘selling out’ by signing to a major label. “We weren’t going to turn down an incredible opportunity like this,” Morris says.

“I think it’s a really dangerous mentality, where to make art, you must be struggling, all the time,” adds Davies. “We want to encourage people to be able to do art and make a living from it, to be comfortable and able to do it with longevity and sustainability. If we’re only celebrating or accepting art where it’s been a real struggle, it’s a terrible message.”

They also point out how few artists now have a choice, at a time when so many earn so little from the industry, and arts cuts abound. “If we didn’t have management or any help, there’s no way we could afford to play festivals,” Davies says. “It cuts out so many great bands from these opportunities because of how little [they earn]. I think there should be so much more help… but the government doesn’t fund anything, so they’re not going to fund the arts.”

The Last Dinner Party present their debut 7″ vinyl. Limited to only 1000 copies worldwide, this exclusive release features a stunning debossed cover sleeve and two captivating tracks. From the hauntingly beautiful “Nothing Matters” on the A-side to the ethereal “Prelude to Ecstasy” on the B-side, this record showcases the band’s unique sound and undeniable talent. 

‘Prelude To Ecstasy’ covers several different styles and does them all so well that it’s almost hard to describe. The only thing I can say with complete certainty is that you need to just give this album a listen, it’s definitely worth your time! 

“Nothing Matters” is a seductively crude and unashamedly vulnerable love song, produced by James Ford. For fans of Florence and the Machine, Marina and Sparks.

This is the best live Black Sabbath there is. They were beasts in 1975. Ozzy, Geezer and Bill Ward – No Words. Just Incredible. and it includes some of the best live guitar tones from Tony Iommi ever captured on tape.  It captures the band at the tail end of their absolutely unbeatable first six album run, right before they ran into a wall (by their standards anyway) with the album “Technical Ecstasy“. This live set is basically a celebration of the incredible catalogue Sabbath had already created in just five to six years, where they forever redefined heaviness. The entire band sounds electrifying, with Tony Iommi delivering phenomenal six-string fire per usual but Ozzy Osbourne is also at his absolute best. Although Ozzy has several vocal moments that are admittedly far from perfect, I’ve never heard a show where he sounded this vibrant and ready to throw down. His spirited performance really adds the extra spark that makes this a particularly memorable gig.

I like comparing this version of “Megalomania” to the “Sabotage” take – it has to rely less on elaborate studio trickery and interestingly sounds a bit more like how the song might have come out if it had been recorded on one of Sabbath’s first four albums.

Tony Iommi really awesomely rips things up on it too and sometimes I like this live edition a bit more than the studio one. There are also a couple jams on here that essentially serve as otherwise-unreleased songs, with Tony going wild on guitar solos and Geezer Butler providing unexpectedly funky bass action at times. Bill Ward gets into the action too and I’m pretty sure at one point he humorously exclaims “All drum solos are boring!” – well, usually that’d be accurate, but I gotta respectfully disagree with Bill this time. A later Tony guitar solo also previews “Rock ‘n’ Roll Doctor” more than a year before it’d appear on “Technical Ecstasy”. My only real complaint is that the band only runs through an abbreviated 2½ minute version of “Supernaut” but that’s just something Tony does a lot in concert, you gotta learn to accept that and be thankful that he played that crushingly riveting track at all. Even “Iron Man,” which to my jaded ears feels like it’s long been run into the ground through overexposure, sounds fresh, exciting and heavy all over again.

This is a swell recording that fans definitely shouldn’t miss out on. Great sound quality too. This longtime bootleg fave has appeared on releases of varying lengths but it’s finally been officially remastered and is now included as discs two and three on Rhino / BMG’s 2021 “Sabotage” [Super Deluxe] reissue. It’s honestly worth buying yet again just to get all of this thrilling live set.

Tracklist: Killing Yourself to Live, Hole in the Sky, Snowblind, Symptom of the Universe, War Pigs, Megalomania, Sabbra Cadabra, Supernaut (partial), Iron Man, Orchid / Rock N’ Roll Doctor / Don’t Start (Too Late), Black Sabbath, Spiral Architect, Embryo – Children of the Grave, Paranoid,

It’s my pleasure to finally announce the release of “The Universal Fire” on Fluff and Gravy Records, and the release of the title track as a single anywhere music is undervalued. “The Universal Fire” is a sort of almanac, the winter count of a season of grief. Its context is the illness and death of Billy Conway – my best friend and our drummer and brother for a decade on the road – and the album sets that loss against the 2008 fire at the Universal Studios lot in Los Angeles that destroyed the masters of certain bedrock recordings of American music, to get after ideas about mortality, legacy, memory,

Sonically it’s a rock’n’roll record, in line with albums like Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits, or Tonight’s the Night by Neil Young. It covers most of what I know how to play, rock’n’roll and fingerstyle ballad, country lament and greasy blues shuffle, and the band is outrageous. They play with so much heart, these dear friends of mine.

Recorded at Wavelab in Tucson, Arizona, and produced by Bon Iver’s Mike Lewis (who also played saxophone and piano), the album features my long-time band with Eric Heywood on steel, Jeremy Moses Curtis on bass, and Erik Koskinen on electric guitar, joined by the great John Convertino of Calexico on drums. Kris Delmhorst Pieta Brown and Barbara Jean Meyers all sang backing vocals, and Tucson’s Sergio Mendoza played some beautiful ranchera-style accordion. The cover image was created by the incomparable Brandise Danesewich and the layout done by Jamie Breiwick .

If you want to help, please order the album right damn now, share the single with anyone you think might like it, and then go pre-save the album wherever you stream music.

Then, make your plans to come find us this fall. We’ll be on the road across the country with the full band Sep-Dec, with Europe and other regions at home on deck for 2025.

Screaming Females an American rock band from New Brunswick, New Jersey comprising Marissa Paternoster on vocals and guitar, Jarrett Dougherty on drums, and Mike Abbate on bass. Paternoster and Abbate had formed a band in high school under the name Surgery On TV. After several line-up changes they finally became a trio with Dougherty and changed the name of the band to Screaming Females.  Their eight albums manage to capture the bombast, excitement, and proficiency of their live sound better than most bands working, 

They released their debut album “Baby Teeth” in 2006. They have toured with bands such as Garbage, Throwing Muses, Dinosaur Jr., The Dead Weather, Arctic Monkeys, and The Breeders. Screaming Females – or Screamales, as they were affectionately known by fans – accomplished a lot in their too-short career. They made eight albums together, from the scuzzy punk belter “Baby Teeth” to the Steve Albini-helmed “Ugly” to the maximalist double LP “All At Once” . This year’s swansong, “Desire Pathway“, was classic Screamales a sharply observed collection of hooky, nervy rock songs full of ripping guitar solos and hypnotic grooves. Paternoster’s fretboard pyrotechnics and bellowing vocals have always grabbed the headlines, but there’s no Screaming Females without the genius-level interplay between Abbate and Dougherty.

As uniformly excellent as their albums are, the real Screaming Females could only be found onstage. They have played around 1,500 shows in total, (check out the documentary Screaming Females Do Alaska There’s a scene where Paternoster shreds out a solo while crowd-surfing through an Anchorage dive bar.

On “Desire Pathway” highlight “Let You Go,” Paternoster sings, “Now the stage is empty, and I am too.” Whether or not that line was meant as foreshadowing, it’s now a bittersweet epitaph for one of the greatest unknown rock bands in the world. 

Baby Teeth, (2006)

“Baby Teeth” revels in its youthful exuberance with thrashy garage-pop, lots of silly lyrics, and even a few forays into ska. Paternoster’s terrific, distinct vocals get much stronger after “Baby Teeth,” though, which means it probably isn’t the album to start with.

“Foul Mouth” is the rare debut-album opener that introduces a fully formed band and establishes the themes they’d riff on for the rest of their career. “Foul Mouth” has everything that makes a great Screaming Females song a techtonic groove; a stomping, midtempo riff; smeary, abstract lyrics that occasionally pull into vivid focus; With a couple of smouldering guitar solos from Paternoster. A lot of the time, “Baby Teeth” feels like a rough draft for what was to come. But “Foul Mouth” is perfect as it is.

What If Someone Is Watching Their TV?

The band lives up to their name on their second LP, also self-recorded/released. Paternoster is shouting her head off on the excellent, Pixiesesque opener “Theme Song,” and the record doesn’t let up from there. The band itself sounds harder and meaner, but retains the charm of a group willing to try any song that’s fun to play. 

Screaming Females’ second sound-defining album, featuring fan favourites like “Starve the Beat,” “Mothership,” and “Boyfriend.” The name of the record is based on something a cop said to the band when he told them to stop practicing because they were being too loud.

Power Move, (2009)

Screaming Females bring the sweaty intensity of basement punk to a new level with their third and most scorching full-length, “Power Move“. Their urgent vocals, gritty guitar solos, and iron- strong rhythms have garnered the attention of Spin Magazine, Maximum Rock n Roll, and everyone in-between. “Power Move” has a startlingly original sound that incorporates elements of Hendrix-like jazz-fusion, screamed post-punk vocals, electrically charged basslines, and hypnotic melodies. In a nutshell, it’s indie rock with shredding.

 “Power Move” is the first Screaming Females record to be released on a label Don Giovanni Records, also based in their home scene of New Brunswick, N.J.— and gives the band the perfect amount of upgrade by improving the sound quality without changing the recipe. It’s the most punk-sounding of the albums listed so far, with loud-quiet-loud dynamics, major keys anchoring melt-your-face guitar riffs, and lyrics that will make your mom ask if you’re doing okay (“The curtains part/The shades are flesh/Second hands turn to knives/You are buried in the nude”). All of this rocking is still accomplished with little to no overdubbing, so good luck being mad that your favorite band is signed now.

Paternoster’s vocals tend to oscillate between a talky, melodic register and a booming roar, but in the early days, she would sometimes also dip into a venomous hardcore shriek. Take “Buried In The Nude,” the closer from the band’s Don Giovanni debut, “Power Move”. Paternoster delivers most of the song in a post-punkish monotone, but a few lines come out as throat-flaying screams.

Castle Talk (2010)

2010 release from the critically acclaimed Punk trio, for the first half-decade of their career, Screaming Females just got stronger with each release. On 2010’s “Castle Talk,” Paternoster’s voice has reached full power, effortlessly shifting from Stevie Nicks warble to wraith-like shriek mid-song. The drums, bass, and guitar are in lockstep with each other from years of sharing the same stage. Musically the songs are more adventurous here— with pretty, emo-ish chord progressions mixed into the record’s hardcore stew. The band started to gain some critical attention from this one, so time to get on the horse or be trampled underfoot. 

Ugly , (2012)

Their fifth album, “Ugly”, was released in 2012 and was recorded by noted audio engineer Steve Albini, “Ugly” marked a turning point for Screaming Females. They recorded the 54-minute behemoth at Electrical Audio with Steve Albini, who helped drag their sound out of the basement and indulged their most experimental tendencies. “Doom 84” and “It’s Nice” aren’t on this list, but they’re both insane and worthy of an honourable-mention shout.

Screaming Females’ seven years as a band, four full-length albums and 700 globe-spanning live shows has made them difficult to miss – Through it all, the New Brunswick, New Jersey trio have continued to exude a frenetic energy which is built upon the zeitgeist of America’s punk and indie underground yet has always remained forward-looking. Fittingly, for Screaming Females‘ 5th album “Ugly“, the band enlisted legendary recording engineer Steve Albini, famed for his unique ability to capture the ferociousness of a live performance while delivering gorgeous sonic clarity. The album’s 14 tracks reaffirm the touchstones of the band; they can still shred and front-woman Marissa Paternoster can still unleash a powerful howl. But it doesn’t end there. The album ushers in new explorations for the band, a truly remarkable feat considering their already prolific output. “Ugly” has the perfect combination of raw energy and honed musicianship that produces the type of rock & roll which is still a force to be reckoned with.

The band’s level-up was evident straight out of the gates, with the groove-drenched album opener “It All Means Nothing.” Paternoster rips wild leads for much of the song, which means Abbate’s bass holds down most of the riffs. That’s a common dynamic on Screamales songs — especially live, where Abbate is frequently the bassist and rhythm guitarist at the same time. On “It All Means Nothing,” he makes a meal out of a potentially unglamorous role, delivering bass riffs that can stand toe-to-toe with Paternoster’s paroxysms.

Even on their earliest records, when they were still fundamentally a punk band, the Screamales favoured a big-tent interpretation of rock music. That makes the punky sound of “Rotten Apple” as precious as gold. It’s still weird and melodic and full of guitar heroics, but it has a casually tossed-off quality that becomes harder to replicate the longer a band sticks together. The thing also just moves, and it remains irreverent and playful for its entire three-minute runtime. Paternoster’s vocal on the self-flagellating chorus sounds like one big ironic eyeroll, but it also shows a range that was beginning to develop new contours. “Ugly” was a transitional time for the band, and the collision of their DIY instincts and Albini’s pro-studio production is never more thrilling than it is on “Rotten Apple.”

With the heat of “Castle Talk” and years of touring behind them, Screaming Females finally got the Steve Albini Treatment. Since there wasn’t much frill here for Albini to trim, “Ugly” goes straight to the work of capturing the live feel of Screaming Females, and gives the listener the sense of hearing them play to a big room with a mosh pit for one. More than anything, “Ugly” sounds loud— Dougherty’s drums are more to the front of the mix than they’ve ever been, Abbate’s bass is rattling with fuzz, and Pasternator takes many gain-drenched, feedback-squealing guitar solos way into the red. 

Rose Mountain, (2015)

For a songwriter who has said she doesn’t write songs that are about one thing in particular, “Rose Mountain” contains Marissa Paternoster’s most evocative lyrics yet. The record addresses dealing with chronic sickness and pain, after cutting the tour supporting “Ugly” short to deal with Paternoster’s initially undiagnosed illness of fibromyalgia. “Ripe” practically dares an unnamed assailant to do their worst, with a repeated plea to “peel the skin raw,” and “pinch ‘til the feeling’s gone.” The only title track of the band’s career is named after Rose Mountain Care Center, a rehab in Paternoster’s native North Jersey that she saw as a child and dreamed of one day going to to get well. It’s not surprising that music so preoccupied with bodies and pain is among the band’s most visceral; it’s lean and direct at 35 minutes, only coming up for air long enough in a few spots to plunge you right back into its seething rage. Paternoster’s guitar work here pays homage to the ‘90s rock legends that inspired her to pick the instrument up as a teenager, and the album’s stellar closer “Criminal Image” wouldn’t sound out of place nestled with the best tracks on Siamese Dream. From the peak of “Rose Mountain” you can see everything the band has done before and after perfectly coalescing into their most cohesive, confident, and yearning collection of songs.

A rock band is only as good as its power ballads. Screaming Females don’t crank out the lighters-aloft jams often, but when they do, they can hang with the best of them. “Hopeless” is their finest hour working in that mode. It’s a breakup song addressed to one’s own body, and a plea for mercy in the throes of chronic illness. Paternoster had been sick with mono for a year going into the recording of “Rose Mountain”, and she pours all the anguish and desperation of that experience into the song’s devastating refrain: “I’m not hopeless, helpless, or begging you to stay/ It’s just turning out that way.” The album version of “Hopeless” builds to a crescendo, with Dougherty and Abbate ushering the song’s simple riff to a powerful conclusion. 

The demo that appears that on “Singles Too” compilation is just as potent. Stripped down to just Paternoster’s vocals and acoustic guitar, the song feels as intimate as anything in the Screamales catalogue.

Screaming Females will probably always be underappreciated as songwriters. That’s what happens when your band plays raucous live shows and boasts an old-school, shred-goddess lead guitarist. But the Screamales’ knack for melody and structure has always been crucial to what they do. Even back on “Baby Teeth”, they were writing hooks, not just riffs.

Their finest moment of pure songcraft is “Wishing Well,” which plays like a lost ’90s alt-rock radio hit. With its wobbly, sunny guitar licks and huge, sugar-rush chorus, the song is uncharacteristically bright for the Screamales. That’s exactly why it works so well. “Wishing Well” wears its melodic sensibility on its sleeve, offering an unvarnished look at the sturdy frame that holds up all the shredding and shouting.

All At Once , (2018)

The weird and ambitious masterpiece “All At Once.” The band absolutely shreds all over this one– their proggiest record by far. It starts with their best opener before or since “Glass House” and over its 15 tracks it leaves few stones unturned in its gleeful classic rock revelry (there’s even a Skynardesque, neo-soul ballad with “Bird In Space”. In less deft hands the result could be messy, but every Music Club indulgence yields beautiful results here.

Marissa Paternoster says the only time she ever weighed in on album sequencing was when she pushed for “Glass House” to lead off the album “All At Once” . That gives her a perfect lifetime shooting percentage. “Glass House” is one of the best opening tracks in recent memory, and it’s also the best song Screaming Females ever wrote. It takes its time getting going, spending much of its first two-thirds locked to Abbate’s insistent bass part. Paternoster’s main riff is simple, and it only comes in intermittently, punctuating the bass line. Mostly, she sticks to squiggly little figures that roil beneath her vocals. There’s not even a guitar solo on “Glass House,” which makes me feel insane for calling it the best Screaming Females song.

Instead, it’s all about the crescendo, which takes up the final 70 seconds of the song. “My life in this glass house/ Impossible to get out,” Paternoster sings over and over, with paranoiac intensity. Everything around that refrain steadily gets bigger and louder and denser. Dougherty adds more drums to his insistent, pulsing pattern. The guitars and bass begin to swell and merge into a Sabbathian wall of sound. A cello comes in, just loud and long enough for you to notice it. Claustrophobia starts to set in. The tension finally breaks as the song reaches its final moments, and Paternoster finishes her last repetition of the line a cappella. Only then can you move on and hear the rest of what “All At Once” has in store. It’s the most exhilarating moment in a discography full of them, 

The latent radio-friendly sensibility that “Wishing Well” brought to the surface blossoms into a full-on pop song on “I’ll Make You Sorry” or at least the Screaming Females version of a pop song. It’s a total blast, balancing the jilted-lover revenge fantasy of its title and chorus with the sweetness of its pop-punk melodies.

This being Screaming Females, the verses are still laced with abstract poetry, and the song still builds to a muscular and relatively noisy peak. But when Paternoster sings about how she was in love before but she’s given up, it makes me want to roll the windows down and shout along into the night. By my definition, that makes it a pop song.

Early on in the pandemic we got asked to cover a 1980s punk rock song for a special edition release of the comic What’s the Furthest Place From Here. Mike immediately said “We should do a ska song” to which Jarrett replied “Cool. It should be The Selecter followed quickly with Marissa stating “Great. Let’s do “On My Radio” It happened over the course of about 30 seconds. I don’t know if we have ever made such a quick decision as a band.

Many people are familiar with The Specials but The Selecter should be just as renowned. Their first string of singles and first LP are legendary and Pauline Black’s live performances, as captured in “Dance Craze”, are absolutely transcendent.

Singles Too (2019)

“Singles Too” collects Screaming Females’ complete non-album recordings, gathering together early 7” singles, digital-only b-sides, and one pretty great remix. The download and CD will also feature six cover songs, including the New Jersey trio’s takes on music by Neil Young, Taylor Swift, Sheryl Crow, and Patti Smith. The vinyl version of the album will be a one-time pressing limited to 1500 copies.

The tracklist also provides a roadmap of the band’s progress through 15+ years of music-making — tracking Screaming Females from their early days playing New Brunswick basement shows into life as a full-time band with a tour schedule rigorous enough that their van earned its own New York Times profile.

“On the first single we ever put out, there were mistakes that I made playing guitar that make me want to crawl into a hole and die,” says guitarist Marissa Paternoster, recalling the sessions for “Arm Over Arm” and “Zoo of Death.” “At the time I didn’t know I was allowed to say, ‘Can I do that again and correct it? I was 19, giving it my all.”

On “Singles Too”, you can hear Screaming Females lay it down at Milltown, NJ’s post-apocalyptic recording-on-a-budget one-stop, The Hunt — tin roof, flammable mixing board, DIY growlab housed in back of Marshall cab — AND at posh Los Angeles hit-factory, East West Studios, where they convened with members of Garbage to cover “Because the Night.”

The b-sides included here also capture the breadth of the trio’s creativity, with compelling detours and tangents otherwise unrepresented in their catalogue, from Sammus and Moor Mother’s re-work of “End of My Bloodline” to the stripped down demo of Rose Mountain’s “Hopeless.” “Singles Too” is a rarities comp, but it’s a compelling one — a deep dive into SF ephemera, an introduction, and a history lesson all at once.

Desire Pathway, (2023)

The abnormally lengthy pause between 2018’s “All At Once” and was punctuated by a spectacular solo effort from G&L mangling guitarist/frontwoman Marissa Paternoster, a compilation album of singles, B-sides, and covers titled “Singles Too”, and of course, there was small matter of a global shutdown. 

The band’s third with producer Matt Bayles, and though the production is the slickest it’s ever been it manages not to sacrifice the raw power of their sound or make a record that can’t be reproduced live. Paternoster is harmonizing with herself more on this one while taking fun departures into old-school punk “Desert Train”, hooky radio-rock “Ornament” and power-pop that could turn Blondie green with envy “Mourning Dove”. 

From the stormy discordance of “Desert Train“, to the tuneful pop-punk of “Mourning Dove” and the cathartic “Let You Go” (complete with seesawing wah-wah badassery), there are killer songs, matched with sympathetic guitar lines aplenty.

“Brass Bell” starts with an extended, slow-building synth riff, introducing “Desire Pathway” with a sound largely alien to the Screamales’ true-blue rock configuration. (Paternoster’s underrated solo album “Peace Meter” has a lot more electronic elements, “Desire Pathway” has a subtly otherworldly feel to it, aided by Matt Bayles’ bold production. “Brass Bell” ultimately blossoms into a crunching riff-rocker with martial, almost metallic vigour. But that synth intro, along with some spacey vocal effects and a mix that swells in intensity as the song reaches its peak, helps “Brass Bell” feel like new ground for the Screamales.

It’s impossible to trace Screaming Females’ sound back to a single formative influence. But sometimes, they sound a lot like Dinosaur Jr. “Ornament” is one of those times. The song opens with a wailing guitar solo – a time-honored J. Mascis trick – before settling into a sturdy pocket. It’s not just Paternoster’s shredding that ties Screaming Females to Dino Jr.

The band established a power trio model for indie rock, finding a balance between punk-rock verve and sharp musicianship. Screaming Females follow in those footsteps. “Ornament” always sounds like the work of three people, even as it builds to a heady climax. Everybody has to lock in, but everybody also has to stay loose. A song like “Ornament” makes that sound a lot easier than it is.

“Desire Pathway” isn’t afraid to be catchy, and serves as a perfect entry point to the band.

In December 2023, The New Jersey rock legends Screaming Females band announced their breakup on their social media pages, ending a brilliant 18-year run. The trio of guitarist/vocalist Marissa Paternoster, bassist “King” Mike Abbate, and drummer Jarrett Dougherty had started playing together in the New Brunswick DIY scene that orbited Rutgers University in the mid-2000s. They always kept a foot in that world, even as they became critical darlings and fixtures of the indie-rock touring circuit.

Their final album, 2023’s “Desire Pathway”, kicks nearly as much ass as anything that the band ever released. There’s been no announcement about a grand-finale show or anything like that, but we’re now getting one final recording from the band, and it stands as further evidence that they were an absolute wrecking ball until the very end. Screaming Females recorded the five songs on their newly released “Clover” EP during their “Desire Pathway” sessions. As with that album, the band laid those tracks down at Pachyderm Studios in Minnesota, the same place where Nirvana made In Utero and PJ Harvey made Rid Of Me.

Their producer was longtime collaborator Matt Bayles, who’s also worked with bands like Mastodon and Pearl Jam. The EP is an unexpected treat, and all five songs rock hard. “Violence And Anger”? . If Screaming Females ever decide to get back together, the “Clover” EP stands as evidence that they’ll still be in fighting form.