The Fat Angel Sings

The Bug Club are sharing “Appropriate Emotions,” a new offering and the closing track from the group’s forthcoming new long-player, “Very Human Features”. the band shared ‘Appropriate Emotions’, the breezy final single from their forthcoming album.  I love the little laugh that escapes after the final chorus. “Go have a listen feel the feelings have a little cry then have a little dancey rinse and repeat,” the band commented.
 
It’s no surprise that, in poking fun at the familiar, the humour is turned inwards and it’s The Bug Club themselves in their own firing line. It’s a rollercoaster unpicking of whatever-it-is The Bug Club do, while at the same time building on the work done in previous albums and presenting us with layers of creativity piled up atop one another.

 Sam and Tilly, combined. There’s a name for that – and it’s tempting to think that they might be, given all the joking around. But the multi-dimensional nature to The Bug Club is what makes “Very Human Features” just as re-listenable as their previous work.
 
The new single tackles expectations and comparisons, with a loud-quiet-loud structure reflecting the ups-and-downs and outbursts unavoidable in frustration and anger. “Appropriate Emotions” manages to be deeply relatable while making its singers sound about as removed from the human experience as possible – perhaps that’s why it’s relatable.
 
The Bug Club is currently on the road supporting “Very Human Features” and their previous Sub Pop release, 2024’s “On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System by Means of Popular Music, or the Contemplation of Pretty Faces, Tinned Bubbles and Strife.

PLUS! Some of their older songs. Tonight, Wednesday, May 14th they’ll headline L’Aeronef in Lille, France, before a short UK festival run May 15th-May 31st, which includes two appearances at The Great Escape Festival.
 
Then in June, the band will pair up with Sub Pop label mates Omni for a month-long trek beginning Friday, June 13th in Montreal, QC at Cabaret Foufounes and running through Friday, June 27th in Philadelphia, PA at Johnny Brenda’s.
 
From July 26th-September 13th, the Bug Club will hit the UK festival circuit once again, with stops at Deershed Festival (Jul. 26th), Utrecht, NL’s Loose Ends Festival (Aug.23rd), End of the Road Festival (Aug. 29th), Manchester’s Psych Fest (Aug. 30th), and Sonic Boom Festival (Sep.13th).

The Bug Club’s “Very Human Features” includes the only-very-recently mentioned “Appropriate Emotions,” “How to Be a Confidante,” “Jealous Boy,” and ten other excellent songs. It was produced and mixed by Tom Rees at Rat Trap Studios in Cardiff, Wales, and mastered by Mikey Young.
 

News of Billie Marten‘s fifth studio album “Dog Eared” is a warm, rich, and textured record that bristles with confidence and self-belief. It’s a left turn from her previous recordings, albeit a subtle one, taken with a deftness of touch. A musician embracing change, while staying true to her core self. With “Dog Eared“, Billie calmly posits herself at the top of the tree of not just British contemporary folk artists, but with British songwriters at large. 

‘Dog Eared’ is a warm, rich, and textured record that bristles with confidence and self-belief, with Billie already approaching the prolificacy of a ‘lifer’ with so much life left to live.

It’s a left turn from her previous recordings, albeit a subtle one, taken with a deftness of touch. A musician embracing change, while staying true to her core self. There’s a certain strength of conviction here that finds its voice more prominently in the extensive pool of her acclaimed American contemporaries, of which she now surely stands shoulder to shoulder with. With ‘Dog Eared’, Billie calmly posits herself at the top of the tree of not just British contemporary folk artists, but with British songwriters at large.

The prolific British singer-songwriter headed to New York in the summer of 2024 to record with producer, Phil Weinrobe (Adrianne Lenker, Buck Meek, Laura Veirs) at his Sugar Mountain studio, alongside an all-star cast of musicians. The likes of Catalan singer-songwriter/guitarist Núuria Graham, bassist Josh Crumbly, virtuosic guitarist Mike Haldeman, multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily, revered indie-rock musician Sam Evian, former Dirty Projectors vocalist/folk musician Maia Friedman, Brazilian percussionist Mauro Refosco, drummer/multi-instrumentalist Vishal Nayak, and acclaimed folk musician Sam Amidon all sprinkle their gold dust over “Dog Eared”.

Billlie Marten has shared the new single from her upcoming LP “Dog Eared”, the rootsy, wonderful ‘Swing’. “I wanted it to sound like the Meat Puppets-meets-The Breeders,” the singer-songwriter remarked. “I think we got pretty close without sharing any influences in the studio. This one’s funny because we had Mauro Refosco (who does percussion on nearly every song) try out lots of different things, and in the end, producer Phil just turned all of his tracks up at once and what you’re hearing is every pass that he did. It’s awesome. The bass is also supremely loud. The last addition to the record was Sam Amidon with his fiddle part, which the song would be nothing without.”

Los Angeles band Rocket are back with another swirling, infectious track, “‘One Million’ is about wanting someone to meet you halfway but not knowing if they ever will,” they explained. “It’s the feeling of doing everything you can, going above and beyond for someone, knowing that you would wait a million years for them just to notice how important they are to you. It’s the hoping that maybe you are as important to them as well. It’s learning to be okay with the fact that you might always love them more.”

Official video for “One Million” – out now May via Transgressive Records/ Canvasback

Evan Dando has been promising a new Lemonheads album for a while now, and now it’s officially announced: “Love Chant”, their first album of original material since 2006’s self-titled release, will be out in October via Fire Records.

Full details have not been shared but Evan says, “I’m really excited about our new record “Love Chant” coming out on FIRE Records. I have a feeling people are really gonna enjoy it. It was made with Love, Fire and Chanting. It will be out fall 2025. We will be peppering the airwaves with singles from May 14th onwards.”

Following a decade-long partnership with Fire Records – one that’s unearthed a treasure trove of unreleased gems – the arcane adventure continues. “Love Chant” is the long-awaited new chapter.

The Lemonheads have shared ‘Deep End’, a rugged rock jam that features J Mascis on guitar, former Lemonhead member Juliana Hatfield, and Australian singer-songwriter Tom Morgan of Smudge. Its flipside is a cover of Townes Van Zandt’s ‘Sad Cinderella’, sung by  Evan Dando and Nashville singer-songwriter Erin Rae as a duet.

Ahead of it’s release, The Lemonheads head back to Australia and NZ this May for a special tour ‘It’s A Shame About Come On Feel’ where they’ll perform both ‘It’s a Shame About Ray’ and ‘Come On Feel the Lemonheads’ in their entirety. Fans can also expect an exclusive preview of new material.

Nation of Language – the Brooklyn-based trio made up of Ian Richard Devaney, Aidan Noell, and Alex MacKay – have signed to Sub Pop. Along with the news, they’ve shared a video for the luminous new single ‘Inept Apollo’. Discussing the new song and video, Devanaey said in a press release:

Work is a respite from pain. Whether it’s a paying job or just the thing you pour yourself into, having a direction to move in, finding a flow state, it can move focus away from the heaviness of the heart. So after life’s losses, in moments of despair, we resolve time and time again to dive headfirst into the work as best we can. But the artistic process also tends to be when imposter syndrome rears its ugly head – when I find my inner monologue spiraling: ‘this is the best coping mechanism I have at my disposal and I’m not even qualified to be doing it.’

Accompanying the song is a killer music video by our friend and brother John MacKay: it is an homage to creative pursuits, and in some ways came to represent the feeling of living in a city as an artist. The video feels like walking through an old warehouse in Brooklyn, full of practice spaces and studios, each room occupied by artists striving to express and understand themselves and their place in the world. No matter how bizarre the act may seem or how much self-doubt or pain runs through the mind of the creator, the beautiful thing is the striving and continuing on, rather than the final product or any notion of “success.” The power of creation belongs to all of us; requires the approval of none.

Nation of Language’s most recent album was 2023’s “Strange Disciple“. 

Our new album “The Clearing” out 29th August. Produced by the incredible Greg Kurstin.
The first single “Bloom Baby Bloom” is out now.

Wolf Alice have announced a new album, “The Clearing“. The follow-up to 2021’s “Blue Weekend” is slated to arrive on August 29th via RCA Records. The British alt-rock outfit recorded the new LP in Los Angeles with producer Greg Kurstin. Along with the announcement, they’ve shared the thrilling, piano-led ‘Bloom Baby Bloom’. Check out its accompanying video, directed by Colin Solal Cardo.

“I wanted a rock song, to focus on the performance element of a rock song and sing like Axl Rose, but to be singing a song about being a woman,” lead singer Ellie Rowsell said of ‘Bloom Baby Bloom’. She added, “I’ve used the guitar as a shield in the past, playing it has perhaps been some way to reject the ‘girl singer in band’ trope, but I wanted to focus on my voice as a rock instrument so it’s been freeing to put the guitar down and reach a point where I don’t feel like I need to prove that I’m a musician.”

Deradoorian (Decisive Pink, Dirty Projectors) returns with a new album “Ready for Heaven”, dealing with heaven and earth, damnation and salvation. It is a classic forty-minute set of inquisitive pop songs, blessed with a lightness of touch and a sharp focus that can’t help but charm the listener. It conjures up some last, faint afterglow of the old belief that an electronic, programmed beat can smash itself – and you – into another, more egalitarian consciousness

It is a remarkable fact that this bold and open-hearted record is made by one person, working alone. Repeatedly reworking the songs until they were complete is a painstaking process that generated an energy and space where Angel Deradoorian could indulge in the arcana of her artform. “I love the production more than the songwriting. […] In fact, I don’t even feel like a songwriter at times, I feel like someone who is just inspired by so much music. And I want to try it all out! Like Lizzy Mercier Descloux, Mingus, or ESG and Silver Apples, or making weird krautrock and industrial music. I love dub, and Sly and Robbie. I love the productions of those records and the collective energies released by their creators in the studio. It’s just a weird thing to do it by yourself!”

Engaging with past musical glories helps deal with a major theme of this album; the awful nature of the world around us. Deradoorian: “This album is partly about watching humanity erode. It’s about mental struggle, and it’s avowedly anti-capitalist. I mean; would we have all these identity labels we have to live by, if we didn’t live in a capitalist world?”

A lot of the lyrical content deals with the struggle to be a human being in the modern world, and the determination to keep on keeping on. But even when a darker mood informs a track, as with ‘Hell Island’ or ‘Digital Gravestone’, there are arrangements that seduce and hooks that ensnare.

We are dealing with a world where there is too much chaos to cut through and where human connections are burnt dry. “Ready for Heaven” is an avowedly human response to the world we find ourselves in, and Deradoorian uses every ounce of her reserves of wit and knowledge to create a source of comfort and solace for the listener.

William Morris rejected the idea that technological change automatically meant progress. “I believe,” he wrote, “the multiplication of machinery will just multiply machinery.” His beliefs that a fairer society could be achieved through engaging with the arts echoes throughout Deradoorian’s (Decisive Pink, Dirty Projectors) new album “Ready For Heaven” set for release on May 9th via Fire Records.

Deradoorian releases new single ‘Any Other World’ with its short sung melody line nestled against a beautifully melancholic chord progression that artful uses repetition and enunciation to make an emotional point. There’s something of Patrick Cowley’s glazed, mesmeric synths at play in the mix here.

‘Any Other World’ nestles against a beautiful melancholic chord progression with an artful use of repetition and enunciation to make an emotional point. There’s something of Patrick Cowley’s glazed, mesmeric synths at play in the mix here adding to the bassline.

A lot of the lyrical content deals with the struggle to be a human being in the modern world, and the determination to keep on keeping on: “This album is partly about watching humanity erode. It’s about mental struggle, and it’s avowedly anti-capitalist. I mean; would we have all these identity labels we have to live by, if we didn’t live in a capitalist world?” Deradoorian ‘Ready for Heaven’ is an avowedly human response to the world we find ourselves in, and Deradoorian uses every ounce of her reserves of wit and knowledge to create a source of comfort and solace for the listener.

It is a classic forty-minute set of inquisitive pop songs, blessed with a lightness of touch and a sharp focus that can’t help but charm the listener. It conjures up some last, faint afterglow of the old belief that an electronic, programmed beat can smash itself – and you – into another, more egalitarian consciousness.

Triathalon — the New York-based trio of Adam Intrator, Chad Chilton and Hunter Jayne— announces its new album “Funeral Music”, out May 16th on Lex Records, and presents the lead single/video, “RIP.” “Funeral Music”, is the band’s fifth album, began taking shape when the band imagined what they’d like played during their memorials. Continuously referencing “play this at my funeral” throughout writing and recording, the album became a realization of this concept. Lead single “RIP” is a 90s-influenced rock track inspired by artists like Pixies, Deftones, and Nirvana. Adam Intrator says, “The aim for ‘RIP’ was to kickstart feelings on what it felt like to listen to a late 90s rock song for the first time as a kid in your parents car in the backseat and asking to hear it louder. ‘RIP’ has a double meaning; it’s about both dying and being reborn.”

Born out of a period of heartbreak, growing pains, and self discovery, “Funeral Music” showcases a darker, more vulnerable side of the band. With a more minimal approach, every element within the album is highlighted, from cleaner guitar tones, to live-tracked drums, to first-take vocals mixed with singular piano playing and experimental production.

“Funeral Music” not only reflects the band’s sonic shift but also reinvents the overall dynamics between their sound, energy and workflow. These songs were written, demoed, recorded and mixed in various places, bedrooms, studios and houses over the course of two years and is the band’s strongest and most cohesive work to date.

released May 16th, 2025

All Songs Written by Triathalon
Performed by Adam Intrator, Hunter Jayne and Chad Chilton

Spill Tab were highlighted as a band to watch back in 2021; several years and EPs later, the Korean-French singer-songwriter has dropped her debut album, “Angie”. Working with collaborators including David Marinelli, Solomonophonic, Wyatt and Austin and John DeBold, her playful versatility continues to shine through. “I love this collection of songs so deeply,” Claire Chicha shared, “they feel more honest than anything I’ve created in a long time, and I’m so proud of the hundreds (thousands??) of hours that were spent writing, producing, chipping away at vocals, tightening up harmonies, re-writing bass lines, deleting entire sections, coming up with completely new ones, with all the the insane collaborators that worked on this project. It’s really special to hear all these experiences on love and loss, rejection and passion, walking away and holding on too tight, all coexisting together in one place: a cumulation of these last few years of my life.”

Listen on

released May 16th, 2025 Spill tab Inc. under exclusive licence to Because Music

Philadelphia band Friendship have released a new album, Caveman Wakes Up, their second for Merge Records. The record – bleary, somber, and diaristically evocative – started taking shape in the summer of 2023; frontman Dan Wriggins had just left the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and the breakdown of a relationship led him to crash for several weeks at Jake Lenderman and Wednesday’s Karly Hartzman’s home in North Carolina. Joined by guitarist Peter Gill, drummer Michael Cormier-O’Leary, and bassist Jon Samuels, Wriggins returned to Philly to lay down the album in five days with engineer Jeff Ziegler (Mary Lattimore, War on Drugs).

He tracked vocals with engineer Bradford Kreiger, while organ, violin (Jason Calhoun), and flute (Adelyn Strei) were recorded by Lucas Knapp in a West Philadelphia church. The singles ‘All Over the World’ and ‘Resident Evil’ arrived ahead of the release.

An album for sleeping and waking, walking and driving, hunting and fishing, for loitering outside a roadhouse on the haunted tundra. Okay in elevators, not great for dinner. On “Caveman Wakes Up”, Friendship’s second album for Merge Records, the band’s historically capacious definition of country music grows wider still. Shambolic guitars are offset by flute pads, bleary poetry is set against a Motown rhythm section, a song about Jerry Garcia and First Lady Betty Ford fades out with a drum solo, like if Talk Talk came from a dingy Philadelphia basement and was fronted by James Tate. Songwriter Dan Wriggins’ ragged baritone cuts through eleven murky, swirling country-rock songs with profound lyrical substance and sincerity. Like an alarm clock incorporated into the edge of a dream, “Caveman Wakes Up” belongs equally to the conscious and subconscious mind, fraught with background, steeped in reference and experimentation, delivered casually and as a dire warning, dedicated, above all, to music’s creative soul.

“Caveman Wakes Up” is out May 16th on Merge Records

Peter Gill: guitar, synth, vibraphone, vox
Michael Cormier-O’Leary: drums, percussion, piano, organ, synth, vibraphone, drum machine, string and woodwind arrangement
Jon Samuels: bass, synth
Dan Wriggins: vox, guitar

Adelyn Strei: flute, clarinet
Jason Calhoun: violin