The Fat Angel Sings

Montreal melodic hardcore/post-hardcore band Spite House are releasing their self-titled debut LP on August 26th via New Morality Zine (pre-order), and today brings second single “Dying Leaves.” It follows lead single “Hope,” which had kind of a Shed-era Title Fight vibe, and this one’s a bit slower and almost has some untitled-era blink-182 vibes in those guitar patterns.

It’s also a very personal, sentimental song for vocalist/guitarist Maxime Lajoie, who says, “It is a song about the morning I last saw my father. I walked to school on November 2nd. A few moment’s later he left our house for the last time. He was wearing the same old clothes for a week (red clothes), I was 16 at the time and knew something was very weird and wrong, but couldn’t or didn’t know what to do about it. I’m not sure I’d go into more details of what happened, but we are releasing the song on what would’ve been his 70th birthday.”

Spite House is one of those bands born out of intuition. Vocalist Maxime Lajoie (guitar and vocals) cites the unexpected death of his mother as the spark to dig into his desire to sing for a band and ignite an old idea between former friend and schoolmate Marc Tremblay (drums). Shortly after, the two had fallen into a cohesive writing rhythm of tracks bearing influences such as Samiam, Jawbreaker and Seaweed with a modern flair. The band’s sonic trajectory was cemented with the inclusion of Nabil Ortega (bass), who also shared a mutual love for the band’s list of influences.

The band has wasted no time. Since their inception they have hit the ground running and have been hungry to create. In February, the band released their “3 Song Promo” that caught mention and interest ranging from casual music fans to the ears of music journalists at places such as BrooklynVegan. What was heard on these promo tracks is reinforced on their upcoming LP, “Spite House”.

The LP boasts 10 full post-hardcore tracks shaped by modern introspection and the curiosities of life. While this is Max Lajoie’s first time fronting a band, lyrically and vocally he delivers. Max’s wide vocal stylings offer listeners a glimpse into the emotions put into each line and driven home by the musicianship of the band as a unit.

releases August 26th, 2022 Debut LP on New Morality Zine

It’s powerful, emotional stuff, 

We started out as a cover band, and we’ve played more songs by @officialgogos than anyone else. And even after we started to write our own songs, we never stopped playing “Tonite.”

About a month ago teenage pop/punk sensation The Linda Lindas released
their mettlesome debut album “Growing Up“, singing/screaming about their (young) generation. Aged 12 to 18, these strong-minded juveniles put all lazy megastar bands in the shadow when it comes to throwing a get-up-and-go party with spiky
power-pop punches.

We’ve become friends with @realginaschock from The Go-Go’s, and she has drummed on the song with us at a few of our gigs. Not only were we onstage with a legend, but it allowed Mila to depart her throne, take centre stage, and show off her moves while singing lead vocals!

Because the cover is such a hit at shows, we decided to record a studio version to pay tribute to the greatest all-female rock band of all time, a crucial part of the L.A. punk scene, and our heroes.

“Tonite” is now streaming everywhere!

Written by The Go-Go’s Produced & mixed by Carlos de la Garza

How you function informs much of what you aspire to do, to be, to strive for. Berries have sieved the last four years of their lives through tight, crunchy guitar lines and puncturing rhythmic patterns. Bold, brave and brandishing their triumph over darker times, this trio had to put together their first cohesive full-length record – ‘How We Function’ – and tell their history shortly after signing to Xtra Mile Recordings in 2020.

“We do grow as musicians as the years go by and so for this album we really wanted to show that side of it,” says Holly – guitarist, songwriter, vocalist. “A lot of people describe us as off-kilter, riffy, jagged rock, which we love but there’s always been an underlying poppy side to us too. So we brought back some of the older tracks we recorded in demo form to see how they fared against the new tracks. Tracks like ‘Siren’, ‘Discreetly’, they’re different to where we’re heading but they still represent us as a band.”

These anthemic songs from 2018, the true inception of the band, weave so deftly around indelible calligraphic single ‘The Expert’ and nestle well with album tracks like the pulsing, wiry ‘Strength in Numbers’ interpreting their incremental, intricate development as a band. There’s been no switch to pop polish on ‘How We Function’ despite others telling them that’s what they should do. Instead, the fierce grip of rapid tectonic layers locking together with crystal clarity imparts all you need to understand Berries and for them to know themselves.

After connecting as friends and musicians, and hastily putting together some full-band songs, Berries really found themselves in 2018 after releasing ‘Discreetly’. In 2019, they released four-track EP ‘Lies’ which felt like the ignition of something significant for them, and then we were all suddenly stuck inside for all of 2020 and some of 2021. In this state of despair for the future, Berries were contacted by Xtra Mile, who signed them shortly after.

As if making up for lost time, in 2021 they released two new singles – ‘Copy’ and ‘The Expert’, the latter on a Flexidisc featuring their cover of Sleater-Kinney’s classic ‘Dance Song ‘97’ recorded for the killrockstars 30th anniversary covers compilation – and the ‘Live Sessions from Big Smith Studios’ EP.

The singles garnered plays on 6Music, BBC London and Amazing Radio as well as a session with supporter John Kennedy on Radio X. After the dead touring year of 2020, they joined Frank Turner’s The Gathering summer shows and Lost Evenings at the Roundhouse and headlined London’s The Grace as we all tentatively returned to life. With their first UK headline tour, a German tour with The Subways and later in the year Carter USM’s Jim Bob, and a debut album release all in 2022, that lost time is being torched in their afterburners.

The articulate and meticulous songs on that album are whittled with precision, revealing a dedication and passion that is bolstered by the words with which they’ve chosen to lace their sounds. An album ostensibly about mental health struggles and the resounding empowerment of overcoming and learning to live thoroughly with them, ‘How We Function’ is highly relatable to most of us.

‘How We Function’ released through Xtra Mile Recordings on July 8th.

Guy Chadwick still sounds in fine, His dramatic voice on this lead single from The House of Love’s first album in nine years.

UK alt-rock / indie greats The House of Love will release “A State of Grace”, which will be their first album in nine years, on September 16th via Cherry Red Records. The first single from the album is “Clouds,” which is about as full-on “rock” as we’ve ever heard from House Of Love, with a big anthemic chorus and frontman Guy Chadwick’s voice in fine form.

House of Love also recently released the “Burn Down the World: Fontana 1989 – 1993” box set, which collects all of the band’s recordings for Fontana Records. Those include most of their best-known songs, like “I Don’t Know Why I Love You,” “Never,” “The Girl with the Loneliest Eyes,” and more.

The official video for the new single from The House Of Love. Clouds is taken from the album The State Of Grace, released 16th September 2022.

Sorry’s “Let the Lights On” is a literal banger. They’ve packed this danceable indie rock number full of klanging production, courtesy Portishead’s Adrian Utley, that sounds like they recorded in a kitchen supply store. No actual pots, pans or cheese graters were used, however, but they’ve cooked up a winning first taste from their second album, “Anywhere But Here”. “It’s a fun love song for the club,” say the band, but “Lights” is invitingly dark.

London once again features as a prominent character on Sorry’s second studio album, “Anywhere But Here”. ’If our first version of London in 925 was innocent and fresh-faced, then this is rougher around the edges. It’s a much more haggard place,’ Louis says. Earwigged conversations, text messages, snatched speech recorded underground; the city’s discarded words fed into the lyrics which map the experience of urban life on a young and frustrated generation. Produced and recorded in Bristol, the result is an angular, acerbic, bittersweet triumph.

Sorry – “Let The Lights On” from the forthcoming album ‘Anywhere But Here’ out 7th October 2022 on DominoRecordings.

Kiwi Jr. have previewed their upcoming album “Chopper” with its latest single, ‘The Extra Sees The Film’,

“This song is quite literally a change of pace for us,” said the band’s Jeremy Gaudet said in a press release. “It’s more chill and a bit darker than previous Kiwi Jr. recordings. It’s a song about whether or not you’re the hero of your own story, or a smaller part of something bigger. It’s bragging that you’re in a movie and inviting all your friends and family, but when it screens, you’re barely an extra in it. A lot of our songs deal with reckoning, this one in particular. It’s what happens after you’ve told your story and the truth comes out later, and everything unravels.
What qualifies something as jangle pop? The parameters, as with all great indie niches, are somewhat nebulous, and there are overlaps with dream pop, power pop, the slacker side of indie (e.g. Courtney Barnett), and even more recondite post-punk. We know this nostalgic, guitar-led music features literate, often forlorn lyricism with esoteric references (see Kiwi Jr.’s “Swimming Pool” about Brian Jones’ abnormal death). The song structures are typically short and snappy, the band names playful, and a handful of labels are behind the key releases, such as Slumberland, Sub Pop, and Tough Love. 

Jangle is in the throes of a renaissance. The Bay Area is one locale boasting a bounty of anachronistic groups—The Reds, Pinks & Purples, The Umbrellas, and countless others that idle in Bandcamp’s jerkwater nooks. Toronto’s Kiwi Jr. and Ducks Ltd. are other notable forerunners. Both released extolled LPs in 2021 with a sound likewise indebted to New Zealand’s Flying Nun roster and the British indie acts featured on NME’s C86 compilation tapes. Speckling the rest of the continent and beyond are like-minded songwriters with similar sonic touchpoints, such as Chicago’s Dehd and Melbourne’s Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever. 

“Chopper” is set for release on August 12th via Sub Pop Records.

So far, Joyeria has charted his career in invisible ink. Always a shape shifter, never a genre chaser. He’s quit bands when their buzz was the buzziest, he’s released music under names even devotees could never remember how to spell and has insisted on building his backstory entirely with gaps in the narrative. He’s a maths-wiz, a crack chess player, a painter and Dad who smokes on the sly. Built like a hockey player, with a frame carved out by late nights and tour life – he is an imposing figure until you step into the presence of his gently voracious enthusiasm.

Joyeria announced his debut EP, “FIM“, which will be out October 14th via Speedy Wunderground. It was produced by label head Dan Carey. There’s a distinct Pavement. / Silver Jews vibe to Joyeria’s music which evident on new single “Colour Film.”

“Colour Film’ is about the mindless daily routine of being alive, what David Foster Wallace called ‘water,'” he says. “I apparently have the ability to choose how I feel or think as I participate in being alive just as I can choose how I feel and think when I explain songs which is to say at times, very uneasy. But this song is also about worry beads, American G.I.’s running fighter pilot drills over Mediterranean islands, stray cats, ice creams and falling rotten oranges. Like I said, I’m in a colour film, in fact we might all be.”

Over the course of six songs, a listener has room to luxuriate in electric confessions of fatigue, “Just let the dog eat from the table/ I lay in its spot catching some sleep.” And while the “FIM” (EP) never pretends to be positive and uplifting, it’s hard to shake the ecstatic thrill of Joyeria declaring: “There’s a wild joy I remember” — as if his voice is about to break its vessel. It’s too necessary a cry to be nostalgic. And if it sounds slightly insane, it is because it’s inspired.

Taken from the forthcoming ‘FIM EP’ – out digitally on 14th October 2022 & on 12” vinyl on 2nd December 2022 on Speedy Wunderground. Track produced by Dan Carey.

It’s been a helluva past few years and I’m glad to finally share a glimpse of what’s coming ahead. This is “Night Crawling,” featuring a video by Mickey Miles.

There was this period around mid-late 70s when David Bowie and I would run into each other in New York city. There was plenty of talk about getting some work done but of course we’d end up running the streets, sometimes until we couldn’t keep a thought in our heads, let alone actually get a song together! One night we managed to meet up for a benefit concert where I taught him a viola part so we could perform together. When I wrote “Night Crawling,” it was a reflective moment of particular times.

That kind of NYC that held art in its grip, strong enough to keep it safe and dangerous enough to keep it interesting. I always figured we’d have another go at the two of us recording together, this time without the interference of being perpetually off our heads! The thing about creating music is the ability to divine a thought or feeling even when reality says it’s a logical impossibility.

John Cale presents “Night Crawling,” his first new music since 2020 when he released the single, “Lazy Day,” and a taste of much more to come from Cale. He wrote “Night Crawling” with a nod to ’70s NYC pre-disco, recalling times when he and David Bowie would traverse the city at night.   

There’s a peculiar power to Caution’s driving, art-y dream pop. From the bluesy shoegaze romp of “Red Rose” to lo-fi electro ripper “Hand That Looks Like Mine,” Caution delight with sticky pop melodies and a deluge of sonic scuff marks. Songs are bathed in blinking fuzz, hypnagogic reverb, and cool charm, and the duo’s shared lead vocals take things to the next level. Nora Button’s wispy voice floats through the air like dandelion seeds, and Cash Langdon’s voice brings an endearing coziness—but melt the two together, and you get wonderfully pillow harmonies.

The band’s debut album, “Arcola”, evokes Chapterhouse’s synth-y shoegaze and The Jesus and Mary Chain’s timeless noise-pop, showing off their keen ear for texture and dynamics.

Caution has a new music video for “Volatile”! Spliced together from footage of their Spring tour, the video captures the spirit of being on the road: gas stations, long drives, standing around, friends, cats, the occasional show.

And for all its focus on nailing pop hooks and building interesting sound worlds, they’re also skilled wielders of bold, steamy guitars—the confident bombast of ”Swerve” is just good dumb fun and the duel between the central chiming riff and meaty fuzz on “Calendar of Waiting Stress” is an explosive sensory experience.

Not much is known about the young Dutch band A fungus, though they seem to derive from the same Amsterdam guitar scene that spawned groups such as Personal Trainer, Global Charming and Canshaker Pi and centers around a studio called Erik’s House.

Their song writing ability and math-y post-hardcore chops, however, are quite clear. On their self-released debut album “It Already Does That”, they evoke the wide-ranging experimental tendencies of recent British bands like black midi and Caroline—folding in the math-y tempo shifts of the former and the spidery slow-core and post-rock of the latter—plus various ‘90s indie rock, emo and post-hardcore bands. Ideas may be flowing 100 miles a minute on this record, but this band does a convincing job of balancing their penchant for stop-starts and intricate guitar work with delicate, rewarding hooks. 

“It Already Does That” is the work of a band who’s seemingly delighted by the thought of throwing listeners off their scent, with disintegrating guitar lines at the centre of everything they do, but their sensitive vocals are what really drives this album home. The taut vocals of “Health” that mirror its rollicking guitars are positively invigorating, and the tender vocals of “Mark’s Bag” are surprisingly singalong-worthy for an album this mercurial.  That quiet noise rock. A loud timbre but a quiet volume. Everything is noise but so delicate too.