The Fat Angel Sings

The Afghan Whigs are set to release their first studio album in five years, “How Do You Burn?“, on 9th september. The Afghan Whigs’ ninth album, and first in five years, was made like a lot of recent records — remotely during lockdown. Adding to “How Do You Burn’s” mood, already darkened by the pandemic, elections and protests, is the spectre of the late Mark Lanegan who appears on two songs, and gave the album its title.

“How Do You Burn?” the ninth studio album from The Afghan Whigs, finds the band in peak form, making the most vaulting and thrilling music of their lives. the album is virile, ready-for-action, and finds frontman Greg Dulli as swaggering, enigmatic and darkly charismatic as ever, and singing up a storm. the album reaches corners of sound that, twenty-six years after the band’s inception, find them at an apex. referencing Warren Zevon, Prince, and Zeppelin all while plugging in to the soul and r&b influences that have always set them apart, The Afghan Whigs are at a precipice of greatness. says Dulli, “i’m beginning to see there are a million places we can go. i feel virile, ready for action, and i want to keep stalking greatness.”

“The Getaway” taken from the forthcoming album “How Do You Burn?” out 9/9/22.

“I thank God the day we met in the gross bar,” Hannah Merrick sings on “It’s Me and You, Kid,” the closing track on Liverpool duo King Hannah‘s excellent debut album. It’s a track that also serves as their origin story, detailing Merrick and guitarist Charlie Whittle’s first meeting, when they both worked as bartenders by night at the same watering hole. “It’s Me and You, Kid” is King Hannah in a nutshell: darkly sarcastic but utterly sincere, a great eye for details, and an even better ear for mood and atmosphere. “I’m Not Sorry, I Was Just Being Me” is absolutely swimming in atmosphere, the kind that evokes if not a gross bar than a dingy club, probably near closing time, and definitely well past when you should be out. Whittle’s guitarwork is responsible for a lot of that. It hangs in the air like cigarette smoke on the songs, pure texture at times. You can almost smell it.

Merrick’s vocals are similarly smouldering and cool, all perfect for the bluesy music they make that usually stays at a low simmer but occasionally rips open into a rolling boil. Like 2019’s “Tell Me Your Mind and I’ll Tell You Mine” mini-LP, this is quiet music meant to be played loud, better to hear all the deft little touches. The devil is in the details and “I’m Not Sorry, I Was Just Being Me” is sinful as it gets.

City Slang Records released February 25th, 2022

“I Know” is the new single from Chicago-based band Cusp available digitally on Fire Talk imprint Open Tab. The “jagged, propulsive, anxious music” of debut EP ‘Spill’ made them a buzzy band to watch in their prior home of Rochester, where the four piece’s angular and exploratory post punk made them impossible to categorize. “I Know” sees the band pivot to more straightforward but no less engaging rock music, with heavy guitar riffs juxtaposed with Bender’s melancholic drawl.

Making a home within their own niche between the resurgent emo scene and the blossoming creative sphere of Chicago, Cusp continue to craft their own fascinatingly temperamental sound.

“I Know” follows Open Tab’s string of launch singles including “song of the year contender” “I Am The Car” by Fake Fruit, “Now It’s Gone” by Maria BC, “Asterisk” by Sub*T, “Televised” by headboy, and “All I Know” by Pedazo de Carne con Ojo. Highlighting one previously unreleased track from an artist monthly, each Open Tab release will also encapsulate a short Q&A profile and mix created by the artist. With an emphasis on new music, the imprint will lend itself as a discovery tool for listeners worldwide as well as an opportunity to give a platform to artists whose work Fire Talk is enthusiastic about.

North London’s Sorry have today announced their hugely-anticipated second album “Anywhere But Here” due out October 7th on Domino Recordings. Sorry have also shared their brand new single “Let The Lights On” taken from the record.  

Sorry’s universally-acclaimed debut album “925″ earned a string of near-perfect review scores, A-List national radio play listings and global media profiles upon its release in March 2020. “Anywhere But Here” is the band’s first full body of work since the “Twixtustwain” EP arrived last year, alongside the official digital release of their brace of 2017 mixtapes Home Demo/ns Vol I. and Home Demo/ns Vol. II.   

Commenting on new single “Let The Lights On”, which was produced by Charlie Andrew and is accompanied by a MILTON & FLASHA directed video,

Sorry say: “It’s a fun love song for the club. A bittersweet track for us. It kinda touches on how you want to be honest and say things directly, but in the end that can also ruin them. If you’ve got a light don’t let it go out… sometimes you have to leave things behind but it’s hard to do. We tried to make it a bit ironic by saying things very plainly and direct. It’s the last song we wrote from the album and came out of us trying to find something more upbeat for the album. It started off as a dancey song with driving bass and drums and became more poppy when we played it with the band and recorded it.”

26th October Metronome, Nottingham, Produced alongside Portishead’s Adrian Utley in Bristol, the result is an angular, acerbic, bittersweet triumph.

Panda Bear and Sonic Boom have officially announced their collaborative album “Reset” (due 8/12 via Domino Recordings), The longtime friends Panda Bear (Noah Lennox) and Sonic Boom (Peter Kember) announced their collaborative record “Reset”, due out August 12th (digital) and November 18th (physical) on Domino. Although the two are no strangers to each other’s music – Sonic Boom worked on Panda Bear’s acclaimed solo records “Tomboy” (2011) and “Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper” (2015).

“Reset” marks their first joint release. Inspired by Sonic Boom’s collection of ‘50s and ‘60s American doo-wop and rock-and-roll LPs, the songs of “Reset” are as catchy and bright as anything either Panda Bear or Sonic Boom have made in their own vaunted career and serve as a testament to the power of communion and collaboration. The album’s jubilant first single “Go On,” which features a sample of the 1967 Troggs song “Give It to Me”; the song’s video was directed and animated by James Siewert. 

Panda Bear & Sonic Boom – “Go On” from the album ‘Reset’ out 12th August 2022 on Domino Recording Co.

Canadian punks The Flatliners have shared the third single off their first album in five years, “New Ruin”, and this one works in some grungy anthemicism. Don’t you feel like you’ve been cheated? Prepare yourself for the double take of the summer with the deceitful new video for ‘Rat King’. The legend of Ron Regal continues in the third and final installment of a story so unhinged you might just have to go back to the very beginning to connect the dots.

We are less than a month away from releasing The Flatliners brand new album, “New Ruin”. If you’ve been following along, you’ve already witnessed the chaos of Ron Regal in their first video, “Performative Hours.” Then we were treated to possibly the catchiest song in ages, “Souvenir.” Today, we have the deceitful new video for their third single, “Rat King.”

The new song is called “Rat King” and is off their upcoming album “New Ruin” due out August 5th via Fat Wreck Chords.

Still feels so good to finally have our second record out in the world. Thanks for all the kind messages of love & support, and for blasting the album wherever you are in the world.

“Yesterday Park” is Island’s first new material since 2019 and has seen them already rack up millions of streams as well as earning plaudits from a vast array of publications including American Songwriter, Gigwise, Clash, DIY, The Independent, BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2 and more.

Alongside the release of the album, the band have also shared the final single titled “By Your Side”. As with all of the recent songs, the new anthemic ballad sees the band lean further into a theme of nostalgia that is at once poignant and sanguine, combining wistful and passionate vocals with deceptively intricate instrumentation that is at once hook-driven and dynamically expansive.

Speaking about the single, the band says, “‘By Your Side’ is a song about that messy world of relationships and close friendships. Sometimes complicated times call for simple songs, and ‘By Your Side’ is one of those.”

“Yesterday Park” covers a number of themes, but at its core, it is rooted in the band members’ formative memories. When writing the record, Island considered how their understanding of past experiences had shifted through the many different retrospective lenses they have. Questioning and tackling the complexities of modern life, the band aims to capture that feeling of looking back and finding the beauty in those simple moments that exist as silver-linings.

Island had the majority of the album written just before lockdown in March last year, but, since taking that enforced pause, the songs have grown to take on new significance for them. Speaking on the album, the band go on to say, “Nostalgia is a feeling that has become more relevant for everyone in the last year, with more time and space to reflect on past experiences.”

Brooklyn-based Hello Mary have signed to esteemed indie label Frenchkiss Records. Today the trio – Helena Straight (guitar, vox), Mikaela Oppenheimer (bass), and Stella Wave (drums, vox) – have also shared a new single “Looking Right Into The Sun.” Driven by a tight and dynamic rhythm section that gives way to Straight’s crystalline and confident falsetto, the song features the band’s trademark harmonies and their ability to meld elements of 90s shoegaze with indie rock and grunge into something that is all their own. It was written in true Hello Mary fashion – a collage of different guitar parts, lyrics and rhythmic changes written by all three members. They share, “‘Looking Right Into The Sun’ plays with general themes of feeling stuck and restricted by circumstances out of one’s control. For us specifically it relates to us having to practice as a band during COVID, not being able to play shows, and being stuck in the thick of writing songs out of a need to cope. The main repeating line of the song ‘Looking right into the Sun,’ plays with the idea of confronting something with such duality – the sun is beautiful and mesmerizing yet looking directly at it will blind you- kind of like confronting a hard truth and turning it into a sick song.” 

The video concept, which was developed by Abbie Jones and Stella Wave together, plays with these general themes through depicting the band tirelessly promoting a show that only one person ends up attending. Hello Mary is Helena Straight, Stella Wave and Mikaela Oppenheimer.

New Orleans-based singer-songwriter Julie Odell has announced a new album, “Autumn Eve”, due out September 30 via Frenchkiss Records. The new single is propulsive retro rocker “Cardinal Feather,” which Odell says “was born out of a panic attack. It’s about finding support in the dark times and finding the strength within to be gentle with yourself. It’s about accepting help when you need it and not being ashamed for needing it. It can be hard to feel seen when you can’t fully recognize yourself in moments of extreme anxiety and confusion. I’m thankful for the people who have stuck around after all the moments like this that I’ve had, along with so many others.”

Lead single “Cardinal Feather”  is a quicksilver ripper, with both a graceful, silky patience and fiery rock motor. The accompanying video finds Odell lakeside in swampy Louisiana, shot from sunrise to dusk in the lush environment under swarms of mosquitoes.

“demonstrates the New Orleans–based songwriter’s talents both on the instrument and for singing, creating a recording that sounds like Neko Case by way of Veckatimest”

Frenchkiss Records Released on: 13th July 2022

Blues guitarist and vocalist Blind Boy Fuller, born Fulton Allen, on this day July 10th, (1907) in Wadesboro, North Carolina — he passed away on February 13th, 1941.

He was one of the most popular of the recorded Piedmont blues artists with rural Black Americans. Piedmont Blues seems dominated by blind men who managed to survive by playing for change on street corners. That was true of Blind Blake,  Blind Willie McTell and Gary Davis Josh White, and Buddy Moss, and none of them sold enough records to make a good living while they were in their prime. That was not true of Blind Boy Fuller, who had a strong career as a recording artist, but died at the age of only thirty-three. He learned guitar as a boy by listening to the work-songs and field-hollers he heard around him every day, and picking up ragtime tunes and popular Blues songs from older players.

By his mid-teens he was starting to lose his sight and, as he was already married and needed money, Fulton began playing full-time on the streets of Rockingham and later in the bigger towns of Winston Salem and Durham. By 1928, Fulton was totally blind, but he had gained a reputation as a versatile musician with a powerful voice and a good ear for copying the records of Blind Blake. He would play outside tobacco warehouses for tips after work and got himself invited to play for money at weekend parties. Some of these gigs would involve playing with local harp player Saunders Terrell (Sonny Terry).

Fuller’s repertoire included a number of popular double entendre “hokum” songs such as “I Want Some Of Your Pie”, “Truckin’ My Blues Away” (the origin of the phrase “keep on truckin”), and “Get Your Yas Yas Out” (adapted as “Get Your Ya-Yas Out” for the origin of a later Rolling Stones album title), and deep and soulful Blues like ‘Steel Hearted Blues’ and ‘Lost Lover Blues’.

He was usually joined on his recordings by some combination of his friends Gary Davis, Sonny Terry and ‘Red’ together with the autobiographical “Big House Bound” dedicated to his time spent in jail. Though much of his material was culled from traditional folk and blues numbers, he possessed a formidable finger-picking guitar style.  Fuller’s wide range of styles and his open and honest presentation made him one of the best selling Blues artists of the pre-War period.

Fuller went to meet his maker on February 13^th 1941, dying from blood-poisoning after complications from a kidney complaint. After he died, his protege Brownie McGhee issued ‘The Death of Blind Boy Fuller’ and was briefly persuaded to appear as ‘Blind Boy Fuller II’. Fuller’s real legacy comes to us in the form of his wide stylistic range, and his influence on the players of modern Piedmont Blues.