The Fat Angel Sings

In 2019, Big Scary‘s Tom Iansek and Jo Syme asked themselves one big question. It had been a few years since their last album. Both had busied themselves with new projects and record labels. “It is the music made by me and you,” Lansek reportedly said.

As a band Big Scary has looked and sounded like many different things over the years. “Me and You”, their second album in 18 months, affirms the strength of its core. This dynamic collaboration between two friends, collaborators, and expert songwriters. Melbourne’s Tom Iansek and Joanna Syme have released multiple EPs and five studio albums as Big Scary since forming in 2006. They’ve accrued a number of awards as well as winning the Australian Music Prize in 2014 for their second album, “Not Art”. Tom and Joanna hosted Australian Music Is Bloody Great this week to reflect upon their artistic contemporaries and their work as well as share a slice of their fifth studio album “Me and You”.

Unlike last year’s Daisy, Big Scary’s fifth record feels gentle. The guitars are largely acoustic, a lot of the synths from last year’s album are traded for grand piano, and the melodies are a little less direct and somewhat more ethereal.

It’s in this setting that Iansek and Syme’s songwriting nous is laid bare. With no big guitars or sonic sidesteps to hide behind, the songs must be strong. And they are, without exception.

The comparatively upbeat ‘Goodbye Earle Street’ is lovely, but no more so than the hypnotic ‘Firefly’. Vaguely jazzy ballad ‘Real Love’ might sound sunnier, but is no less emotionally affecting than beautiful, somewhat brusque closer ‘You Won’t Always’.

This is to say, Big Scary’s new album has no real lowlights. Its ten tracks are somewhat varied in their tone, but consistent in their quality. It’s one thing to show the breadth of your musical proclivities, as Big Scary have across their five albums thus far. It’s another thing altogether to illustrate the depth with which they can interrogate them.

If Big Scary is “the music made by me and you”, then “Me and You” is proof that Big Scary have a lot to offer. To music, to us, and to themselves.

To tie in with the 40^th anniversary of the multi-platinum selling album, we present ‘Too-Rye-Ay, as it should have sounded’. 

Kevin Rowland was never happy with the final mix of the album, despite its huge commercial success. So with Helen O’Hara, and Pete Schwier they decided to mix it again.

In recent interviews Kevin has stated…“The songs and performances are great, but I always felt the mixes could be better. It’s my most successful album, but it doesn’t sound as good as the others” 

“This is the director’s cut and it’s how it should have sounded…” 

The album’s cover has also been re-modelled, using the preferred image from the “Come On Eileen” single sleeve. 

There are two retail versions of this reissue. A 3CD edition is housed in an A5 hardcover book set with a 12-page booklet including new interviews and liner notes, rare archive photos and memorabilia. CD 1 is the ‘as it should have sounded’ version of the album, CD 2 features B-sides, rarities and three previously unreleased outtakes, while the final disc offers 16 tracks from the live shows at London’s Shaftesbury Theatre, in October 1982. Other tracks include the signature single, “Jackie Wilson Said (I’m in Heaven When You Smile),” as well as fan favourites such as “Let’s Make This Precious,” “Plan B,” and “Liars A to E.”

The black vinyl edition offers just the album (‘as it should have sounded’). There is a 4LP version that is D2C only but it costs £140 (along with a coloured vinyl pressing).

“Too-Rye-Ay as it should have sounded” is released on 14th October 2022.

Formed by Parker Forbes and Cole Shugart, Nashville based rock band, The Criticals, bust out rock songs as tight as the crack of a whip. Their EPs ‘Mimosa Hygiene’ & ‘Sour Grapes’ set The Criticals apart from other traditional rock outfits with a seamless and deliberate sound listeners can’t help but tap their feet to. Check out The Criticals on Audiotree Live!

Band Members

Parker Forbes – Lead Vocals

Cole Shugart – Lead guitar, BG Vocals

Jesus “Chuy” Rosas – Rhythm guitar, BG Vocals

Michael Meadows – Bass guitar, BG Vocals

Tyelen Gibbs – Drums, BG Vocals

released October 6th, 2022

Alvvays return with a classic and charming indie-pop song that explodes into life with perfect timing. The Toronto band’s new album “Blue Rev” arrives on October 7th. The Canadians’ third album is still identifiably Alvvays, but the hooks here are sweeter, the instrumentation brighter, the energy more palpable, Since releasing their self-titled debut album eight years ago, Toronto’s Alvvays have been tweaking and perfecting their formula of sweet, delectable indie-pop through second album ‘Antisocialites’ (2017) and countless lauded live shows.

‘Blue Rev’ is still identifiably Alvvays, but the hooks here are sweeter, the instrumentation brighter, the energy more palpable. Opening track ‘Pharmacist’ serves as the first – and most perfectly formed – example of this. While the track comes in a distinctly Alvvays-shaped package, Alec O’Hanley’s guitars swirl with more vengeance and energy than before, while Molly Rankin’s vocals have a newfound clarity as she sings of “getting out of neutral” and being on a “new track.” As if to emphasise these exciting new beginnings, the track then closes with an extravagant, ripping guitar solo.

Here’s a second early taste of Alvvays’ long-awaited third album, “Blue Rev”. “Easy on Your Own?” is a post-breakup anthem, with a soaring chorus and roaring guitars.

Rankin frequently stretches herself lyrically and vocally across ‘Blue Rev’, finding new energies and themes to welcome into the Alvvays universe. On the romantically confused highlight ‘Velveteen’, she ends the track with a stunning, piercing vocal turn that bursts out emphatically. As well as ‘Blue Rev’ being more musically confident, Rankin’s lyrics also prove funnier and more witty than ever before. On standout ‘Very Online Guy’, she takes shots at an unnamed subject who “types his cool replies” and is “only one filter away” over the album’s most lo-fi production.

Without digging deeper though, ‘Blue Rev’ is 14 songs of what Alvvays do so very well: layers of jangly guitars hit all the right notes and are backed up by the band’s metronomic rhythm section, featuring new members – drummer Sheridan Riley and bassist Abbey Blackwell – for this album. ‘After The Earthquake’ is a delectable, melodic indie-pop gem, with another highlight, ‘Pomeranian Spinster’, a scuzzy punk gem.

The writing and recording of ‘Blue Rev’ was disrupted and delayed when Rankin’s demos were burgled from her house and the band’s gear nearly flooded inside two days, but – as has become the norm with this band – patience proved a virtue and ‘Blue Rev’ stands as an ode to continuing to evolve despite obstacles, slowly honing and tweaking your craft, and keeping on moving. It’s another total delight from the Canadians.

From “Blue Rev”, Out October 7th, 2022

The label accidentally let slip about this a while back, but now it’s official. Paul Weller’s ‘Will of the People’ is a 3CD or 3LP rarities collection spanning the years 2002-2021. The collection follows up his 2003 “Fly On The Wall” rarities collection with “Will of the People”, a similar mix of non-album rarities which takes in an array of B-sides, tracks from singles, remixes and live recordings. From covers to remixes, “Will Of The People” crosses genres. Featuring tracks such as Paul’s cover of The Beatles‘ ‘Birthday’, released to celebrate Macca’s 70th, and the disco-ball banger remix of ‘Cosmic Fringes’ by the Pet Shop Boys.

Also now available: The “Whoosh” EP is available to stream across all digital platforms. This features four unreleased tracks including a demo of a track Paul wrote with Noel Gallagher for The Monkees last album.

The period for this set spans 2002-2021 and was compiled by Weller himself. Paul also contributes track-by-track sleeve notes and there’s additional commentary by broadcaster John Wilson.

Will of the People” will be released on 28th October 2022, via UMC. 

New music from H.C. McEntire Today, hear the new single “Soft Crook,” accompanied by a DIY music video McEntire filmed herself.

“‘Soft Crook’ was an exercise in vulnerability and trust,” says McEntire. “At its narrative core, the lyrics expose my struggle with depression through an unfiltered lens—calling it what it is, shaking hands with it, unapologetically honouring the power of its grip. It’s a mysterious and unpredictable companion that can make walking this world feel like slogging through unforgiving fields of mud.”

“Soft Crook” is out now on Merge Records.

The Flaming Lips have now announced the 20th anniversary box set editions of their great 2002 album, “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots”. The 100-track 6-CD set is out November 25th and the 56-track 5-LP vinyl set will be out spring 2023. The American band’s 10th studio outing, “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” was their first since 1999’s breakthrough album “The Soft Bulletin” and reached number 13 in the UK album chart. It earned widespread critical acclaim for its electronic creativity and meshing of ideas and styles.

Additionally, The Flaming Lips have announced two special “Yoshimi” shows where they’ll play the album in full at London’s Eventim Apollo on April 28th and Washington, DC’s The Anthem on May 25th.

Both the vinyl and CD box sets include the original album remastered plus rare b-sides and other non-LP songs (including Japan-only bonus tracks), and radio sessions. Those include a long-requested instrumental version of “Do You Realize?,” B-side “Thank You Jack White (For the Fiber-Optic Jesus You Gave Me),” covers of Radiohead’s “Knives Out” and Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” and lots more.

The CD box also includes the “Fight Test” and “Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell” EPs as well as two live albums: Paradise Lounge, Boston, October 27th 2002 and The Forum, London, UK, January 22nd, 2003.

The Flaming Lips say that everything that’s on the CD set will also make its way to vinyl, separately, in 2023. “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” will be released as a 6CD set on 25 November 2022, via Warner Records. The vinyl follows on 14th April 2023.

Our newest band signing Wednesday has released “Bull Believer”, an eight minute sprawling epic in two parts. Powered by lead singer Karly Hartzman’s ripping vocals, and supported by rock and roll powerhouses MJ Lenderman, Margo Shultz, Alan Miller, and Xandy Chelmis, “Bull Believer” winces, shudders, reverberates and breaks open, leaving us with goosebumps as Wednesday’s music cuts through the noise. Hailing from Asheville, NC and inspired by nineties shoegaze and country, the distortion heard on “Bull Believer” will rip you open and leave you new.

Dead Oceans have signed the incredible Wednesday (ok wait why did we announce this on a Thursday? and released their eight and a half minute epic “Bull Believer”. By the halfway mark you’ll be dancing, by minute eight you’ll be sobbing, “Bull Believer” is Wednesday’s most reference-heavy song yet, the bull metaphor lifted from an episode of Cocaine & Rhinestones, a podcast about the history of 20th century country music which begins with a detailed history of bullfighting, and positions it as a metaphor for the Country great George Jones’ various addictions.

The song ruminates on addiction and on teenage sadness, and reveals just enough to feel the ache of the singer while leaving enough open to place our own feelings and memories within its lines. “Bull Believer” striking visuals and wailing cry stay with you in the form of goosebumps that last far longer than its glorious 8 minute run time.

“Bull Believer” by Wednesday, out now on Dead Oceans.

Palomino, our FIFTH (!!) album is out November 4th and our new single “Out of My Head” is out now. We love this record. It’s a special one. We can’t wait for you to hear it.

Like all great First Aid Kit songs, “Turning Onto You” opens with the duo’s engulfing harmonies — which here are just a brief warm up before the production and their voices grow even more powerful. With lyrics like “I’m listening out for the sound of my sanity tuning out,” and “Fell in love with a dream, I guess,” this latest single off upcoming album “Palomino” proves the pair is successful as ever at patching up emotional wounds through their music.

“Turning Onto You” by First Aid Kit

Montreal group Men I Trust’s latest sounds something like the Cocteau Twins trying to re-create Parquet Courts’ “Stoned and Starving”… in other words, post-punk bliss, but in a crunchy shell. The drums and bass line push “Billie Toppy” downhill, but Emmanuelle Proulx’s voice elevates this affair into something mysterious and gorgeous; the result is a studio masterclass that also begs to be experienced live in concert. 

Following “Hard to Let Go,” the single they released in June, Men I Trust have shared another new song, the upbeat “Billie Toppy” where a propulsive bass-line contrasts with Emmanuelle Proulx’s chilled out vocals.