Nilufer Yanya’s new release ‘Inside Out’ is a compilation of her previous eps, ‘Small Crimes’, ‘Plant Feed’ and ‘Do You Like Pain?’. Londoner Yanya might just be one of the most interesting guitarists operating right now, her songs are technically impressive but never bypass the instant pleasures a good riff can bring. “Stabilise,” the first single from new album “Painless” (March 4th, 2022), is a dizzying experience built for repeat listens.
After picking up heaps of critical praise (including a Best Music Music designation from Pitchfork) with her debut, Nilufer Yanya looks to make good on the hype with her follow-up “Painless”. The UK singer/songwriter cuts through the fog of the first record for a piercing display of emotional vulnerability.
Recorded between a basement studio in Stoke Newington and Riverfish Music in Penzance, the record is a more sonically direct effort, narrowing her previously broad palette to a handful of robust ideas. Yanya’s debut album “Miss Universe” (2019) earned a Best New Music tag from Pitchfork and saw support tours with Sharon Van Etten, Mitski and The XX.
Nilufer is donating her release profits to the organization artists in transit, ait is a non-profit collaborative artists project bringing creative workshops to displaced communities and people in times of hardships.
Fionn Regan began writing “100 Acres Of Sycamore” whilst living on the island of Majorca.
Regarding the album’s composition Regan stated: “I think if you could bottle a bit of the atmosphere and put it into the record, it’s there. In saying that, I think it’s spliced with walking in the woods in Ireland.” The album was recorded to tape using analogue methods, with Regan noting, “I just love the sound of it, I love the process. I love the idea that there’s a master tape. It’s a very potent thing.” Regan and co-producer Sean Read recorded using the same console that the White Stripes used to record their fourth studio album, “Elephant”. regarding the stylistic differences between 100 Acres of Sycamore and his previous album, “The Shadow Of An Empire”, Regan noted, “the last album was kind of like a chrysalis and this is the butterfly. I think sometimes that everyone has to remember that you don’t get ‘this’ without ‘that’. this album wouldn’t have happened without the last record. The second one wouldn’t have happened without the first one. I think sometimes after the first record there might have been a feeling that, because I was on to a good thing, to just repeat it but I wasn’t interested in that. It’s very important for me to do what feels right at the time.” Regan also noted, “my previous record, the shadow of an empire was me looking out of a window at the world. with this one, it’s a clear look in.”
Fionn Regan is a unique poetic voice in music and has been consistently critically acclaimed. over the course of six sublime albums Regan has been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize as well as the choice, meteor and shortlist awards. his song “Abacus” was sampled by Bon Iver on his grammy nominated album, 22, a million. Regan was recently made an ‘Honorary Member’ of the Trinity College Dublin literary society, its chairman saying, “in his music, Mr. Regan has done more than many artists to erode the boundaries between music and literature, with his lyrics always possessing the most beautiful poetry.” Regan also appeared beside celebrated actor Cillian Murphy in the music video for his song “The Meetings of the Waters” which has now had over 50 million streams worldwide.
The infinite divide is the chasm that grows between our real selves and our projected selves when we choose to exist online. In the song we question our need to condense our lives into show reels and flattering narratives and what affect that has on our relationships and our ability to connect with others.”
The sound of Peakes has always been steeped in isolation, crafting hymnal electro-pop that floats, weightless and suspended, over the world they move through.
Using the lens of nostalgia as a kind of refuge, their synth-led dreamscapes defy any sense of time and place: their sound is both current, yet transportive like a memory. since their formation in 2017, vocalist Molly Puckering, synth-player and producer Max Shirley and drummer Pete Redshaw, have been solidifying what it means to be Peakes. with a smattering of Eps and singles laying out their statement of intent, each one a run-up growing in momentum, their trajectory was clear: get into the studio and bring the music to the stage. this was the plan for the Leeds-based trio in 2020 – until the world stopped. No one could have predicted that touring and recording, an artist’s lifeblood, would grind to a global halt, and Peakes could never have predicted that in a year defined by impossibilities, they would make their debut album, “Peripheral Figures”. “I think last year, when you had everything taken away from you, it made it easier to try something new,” says Molly.
Having released their four-track EP ‘pre-invented world’ on the cusp of the covid-19 pandemic, amidst the world’s disorder, their music fell into a void: the appetite for new music had understandably dried up, and there was nothing Peakes could do to change that. so rather than dwell on it, they took a step back and returned to the drawing board and went back to basics, learning to fall in love with music again through the purest sense of creation. Yet despite the logistical hurdles they had to overcome during the pandemic, where ten minutes might as well have been ten thousand miles away, “Peripheral Figures” is their most personal, hands-on project yet – and it’s entirely their own. Molly recorded her vocals in the wardrobe of her bedroom, while Pete’s drums were sent in a file-sharing back and forth over email: a departure from the sessions they’d had with producers in fully-fledged studios. “This is the closest that we wanted everything to sound like,” Max says. “whereas before, it was someone else’s vision too, this time, we’ve had the final say, and it feels great.” the suspended time allowed them to experiment without a timeframe, having the opportunity to dedicate hours to perfecting the details, rather than minutes. what started as a means of escapism developed into an album which not only serves as the definitive realisation of Peakes’ potential, but acts as a capsule for the universal feeling of isolation channelled through boundless imagination. another freedom that the pandemic afforded them was to step away from a singles-driven mindset, Embracing slow-burning songs that didn’t necessarily meet the tick-box requirements of upbeat with the ability to instantly connect with a listener. “Clouds”, one of the most interesting tracks on “Peripheral Figures”, wouldn’t exist if they weren’t writing in an album state of mind. Sonically stripped back, Molly’s entrancing, almost spoken vocals, carry it. “we’re quite nostalgic in the sounds we use and the world we want to create,” says Max. inspired by the hazy dreamscapes of shoegaze, Peakes choose to bring those elements forward, leaning towards synth rather than guitar. “Infinite Divide” merges the retrospective, synth-driven energy of the 80s and brings it to the brink of modernity. experimenting with distortion, Peakes welcomed the grittiness that their diy production created over the far more polished, studio-level sheen they’d been used to.
While the two tracks stand in contrast to one another, they are also the band’s favourites: “We’d never written two songs with that much energy from the start,” says Molly. “Day and Age” was written with nightclubs in mind, with its propulsive, entirely electric new-wave beat dreaming of crowded spaces. their lyrics, penned between Max and Molly, usually came from a place of observation: “We didn’t realise how much we were influenced by being out in the world until we weren’t in it anymore,” Molly says. using limitless imagination as a crutch, they started to explore scenarios in their head, embedded themselves into different stories. “Nameless Machines” was a concept song, built upon Max’s lyric: “nameless machines / statistical dreams”, envisioning someone working the same nine-to-five office job, being consumed by it and trapped within it. “I loved getting into the mindset of that and writing from it,” Max says. Peakes’ music is a catalogue of reference points, from essentials such as Gary Numan, Depeche Mode and New Order the wonky german electro-beats of grauzone.
While Max is indebted to 80s new age, Molly looks to the female-led electronic renaissance of the 00s, with Portishead, Goldfrapp and Moloko being enormously influential for her own approach as the band’s frontwoman. The band met at university while they were studying at the Leeds conservatoire in 2017 after cramming into an eight-bed house together, discovering that they shared a similar vision. Molly, as well as being Peakes’ vocalist and lyricist, is also the architect behind the “Silent Stuff”,
Having styled all their outfits with an eye for dreamy, whimsical aesthetics that they bring into their artwork. Max, whose multi-hyphenate role extends to lyrics, production and instrumentation, brings a meticulous eye for detail that means that every track is finished to a sky-high standard, and Pete is Peakes’ grounding force and peacemaker – not to mention their roadman (he’s the only one with a driver’s license). with the release of “Peripheral Figures”, Peakes feel one step closer to their vision than ever: their debut album was hard-won, and yet stands brightly as an example that out of trauma, there is a possibility to build something beautiful.
Florida punx UV-TV turned heads with their debut LP Glass. A short five months later and they’ll be dropping this EP on Emotional Response (City Yelps, Sleaford Mods). The three-piece tear through two new bits and cover tracks by The Primitives and Screaming Sneakers with bratty exuberance.
Raw, speedy punk songs with the edges softened out by bright melodic sensibilities. UV-TV supported by 9 fans who also own “Go Away EP” Half of the record consists of rerecorded tracks from their demo, but in the context of the album, they work really well. the first half is a blast into high speed post-punk, and slipping into dreamier, almost shoegazy type soundscapes on the later half of the record. solid record! really hope to hear this band grow more!
The 4 song ep of female fronted crash-pop. raw, speedy punk songs with the edges softened out by bright melodic sensibilities and faint hints of jangle hiding just beneath the surface riyl the shop assistants, the primitives, c86 fuzz pop, etc.
The Dream Syndicate’s 1986 album ‘What can I say? no regrets…Out of the Grey + Live, Demos & Outtakes’ is back on CD for the first time in 24 years.
Hidden inside of “Out of the Grey’ are some of Steve Wynn’s strongest songs – “Slide Away” is delightful pop, “Now I Ride Alone” is moody and intense “like the hardboiled typewriting of novelists Jim Thompson, Ross Macdonald, and James Cain” that Wynn dug back in july ‘85. the epic “Boston” imagines the era in which Van Morrison was holed-up in that city circa 1967-68 writing the songs that comprised astral weeks while “50 in a 25 Zone” is a vehicle for a band-driven, slow burn groove. deliciously remastered with new liner notes from the band’s historian Pat Thomas, the package compiles 51 songs spread across 3 Cds, including a previously unreleased live album (from July 1985) and many unreleased demos and out-takes. the deluxe reissue also features interviews with Steve Wynn, Mark Walton, PaulCutler, and Dennis Duck – plus plenty of rare photos. discs 2 and 3 reveal a wealth of unreleased material – including a never-before-heard July 1985 live album which has the ‘balls to the wall’ energy hard not captured in the studio.
The songs were so fresh on that july night – they had not been recorded in the studio yet. on disc 3, you’ll hear alternate versions of several out of the grey songs recorded as ‘demos’ before the album versions. these studio versions also have the raw energy of the live show, plus the band plays rare cover versions by Pink Floyd, Cream, Santana, Green on Red, Alice Cooper, Temptations, and Dolly Parton.
During the 1980s, The Dream Syndicate were the most incendiary band to come out of Los Angeles’ Paisley Underground scene. Their debut LP ‘The Days of Wine & Roses’ was a seminal moment that we recently reissued on deluxe vinyl. Singer/songwriter Steve Wynn went on to a successful solo career – in 2017, the band reunited for a series of acclaimed albums on Anti/Epitaph. The reunited band wasn’t about regurgitating past glories – their new albums moved forward with contemporary yet wickedly psychedelic. Now in 2021, the band have decided it makes sense for The Dream Syndicate to join the Fire Records roster. Rarely has a band reinvented themselves like this – maintaining the integrity of their original mission (dynamic guitar driven rock inspired by both the 1960s and punk), yet modernizing their approach and production to sound fresh in the 2020s. We’re honoured to have both vintage and current material to present.
51 songs including 34 never-before heard dream syndicate recordings – released under the title of: what can i say? no regrets… out of the grey + live, demos & outtakes… in other words, you need this!
Deliciously remastered with new liner notes, the package compiles 51 songs spread across 3 CDs, including a previously unreleased live album (from July 1985) and many unreleased demos and out-takes. The deluxe reissue also features interviews with Steve Wynn, Mark Walton, Paul Cutler, and Dennis Duck – plus plenty of rare photos.
The Primitives are an English indie pop band from Coventry, best known for their 1988 international hit single “Crash”. Formed in 1984, disbanded in 1992 and reformed in 2009, the band’s two constant members throughout their recording career have been vocalist Tracy Tracy and guitarist Paul Court. Drummer Tig Williams has been a constant member since 1987. Often described as an indie pop or indie rock band, The Primitives’ musical style can also be seen as straddling power pop, new wave and post-punk. The band’s early singles were released on their own Lazy Records imprint. In late 1987, they signed the label over to RCARecords, who released the band’s material from then until their split.
Singer Kieron, guitarist Paul Court, bassist Steve Dullaghan, and drummer Pete Tweedie; after a handful of gigs Kieron was replaced by vocalist Tracy Tracy, a peroxide-blonde bombshell whose presence inspired a more melodic approach, which earned the group inevitable comparisons to Blondie. ThePrimitives’ debut single, “Thru the Flowers,” appeared on their own Lazy label in 1986 and was quickly followed by radio sessions for Janice Long, Andy Kershaw, and John Peel. Their second effort, “Really Stupid,” preceded the band’s first European tour, with “Stop Killing Me” appearing in early 1987. Tweedie was dismissed from the group (allegedly for mistreating Tracy’s cats) prior to the Primitives’ signing to RCA.
First released in 1988, “Lovely” is the debut album by the english indie pop group the Primitives.
Prime-era Primitives had a fantastic run, mixing cheery, twee-ish early 1990s guitar pop with a dark Velvet Underground crosscurrent. It’s scary-easy to fall in love with Tracy Tracy’s laconic yet insistent harmonies, showcased to full effect on “Haunted”. Backed by the swirling jangle of Paul Court’s layered guitars, this sonic high-wire act plays like priceless china teetering on a high shelf, just waiting to drop.
The album features the international hit single ‘ which was a top ten hit in both the UK and the US the timeless song has gone on to be covered by artists including Johnny Marr, Belle and Sebastian, the Vibrators, and the Wonder Stuff other highlights on the album include the singles ‘Out Of Reach’, Reach’,‘ Thru the Flowers’ and ‘Ocean Blue’The Primitives are an English indie pop band from Coventry, best known for their 1988 international hit single “Crash”. The Primitives’ sound pretty much defines the lighter side of British pop in the late ’80s: straight-ahead pop melodies, tinged with a bit of Manchester danceability and shoegazer experimentation. Some of the Primitives’ more “pop” songs are a bit too straightforward and bland, but the majority of Lovely is well-written enough to make up for the occasional lapse into plainness.
The album is at its best when the band departs from its pop sound — the Jesus and Mary Chain-inspired noise of “Spacehead” and “Stop Killing Me,” or the Eastern-sounding “Shadow,” with its sitar and backwards vocals, stand out as some of the more artistically worthwhile tracks. The Primitives, however, are more about writing hooky pop songs than making great artistic strides; Lovely’s most memorable tracks are built around P.J. Court’s simple, jangly guitar lines and Tracey’s sweet, melodic vocals. If one can look past the fact that their brand of Brit-pop sounds a bit dated, the Primitives are a consistently exciting listen.
The band were described in Melody Maker as ‘…the perfect band who have made the perfect single.
The band were part of the indie music scene of the mid-1980s alongside bands like The Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, The Soup Dragons and The Wedding Present. Their major rivals within the ‘blonde pop’ scene were Transvision Vamp and The Darling Buds. They received valuable publicity when The Smiths singer Morrissey was photographed wearing a Primitives t-shirt.
The band’s early singles were released on their own Lazy Records imprint. In late 1987, they signed the label over to RCA, who released the band’s material from then until their split.
On “Pure”, the Primitives churn out typical late-’80s pop mixed with a little Manchester influence. Focusing on catchy hooks, jangly guitars, and Tracy’s sweet, melodic voice, the band creates solid pop songs, such as “Sick of It” and “Dizzy Heights.” But it’s the songs where the band experiments and moves away from its traditional sound that stand out. On “Shine,” and “I AlmostTouched You,” guitarist P.J. Court takes over lead vocals, and the band explores a more psychedelic-influenced sound that wouldn’t seem out of place on a Stone Roses album. Unfortunately, there are only a few tracks like this on “Pure”. The majority of the record is devoted to straight pop songs that, while enjoyable, begin to blend together in places.
First released in 1989, “Pure” was the second album by the Coventry based English indie pop group The Primitives. The band’s second album was preceded by three singles – “Way Behind Me”, “Modern Rock” , “Sick of It” and “Secrets”,
The album was recorded as the follow up to their break out debut album ‘ and features more of the signature indie pop sound the band had become known for stand out tracks include the singles ‘Way Behind Me’, Me’,‘ Sick Of It’, and ‘ along with the more experimental tracks such as ‘ and ‘All The Way Down’
In 1990, the band did a co-headlining tour of the US with The Sugarcubes as well as a short tour of Japan
By the time of their third album, 1991’s “Galore”, the Primitives found themselves out of step with the times and almost completely out of fashion. Their brand of cheery, simple pop came off as a little quaint by then and even though it’s likely their most consistent album, it’s also the one that marked the end of their initial run. Featuring a batch of very clean, very hooky songs that had a touch of Madchester in them, the Ian Broudie-produced “Galore” shows that even though they had changed dramatically since their noisy beginnings, their skill at crafting brilliant guitar pop was still intact.
Two of the album’s singles are classic Primitives pop, with “Lead Me Astray” featuring one of Tracy Tracy’s better vocals. “Earth Thing,” the third single, was a little bit of a stretch with its heavily baggy guitar riffing, but even its of-the-moment production doesn’t sound too bad. The rest of the album is made up of bright and cheerful pop that may have been a little too unadventurous for the times, but was never less than lovely. The album’s best songs, like the dreamy ballad “Empathise” and the folk-rocky “Smile,” even show some new directions that the Primitives could have explored a little more if this hadn’t been their last album. Even though it’s a forgotten piece of a small catalogue, and wasn’t even released in the U.S., “Galore” is something of a hidden gem that fans of well-crafted, well-preserved ’90s guitar pop would do well to check out.
“Galore” was the final album released by English indie pop group ThePrimitives during their original years together.
The Album release features 12 tracks filled with the signature hooky indie pop sound the group had become known for highlights include ‘You Are The Way’, Way’, ‘Earth Thing’, and the final single the band released before reuniting in 2009 ‘Lead Me Astray’
After nearly 18 years of dormancy, The Primitives re-formed, with new bassist Raphael Moore
Effortlessly cool and the best debut of 2021. Geese is a band that begins and ends in Brooklyn, as a project between friends to build a home studio out of a basement. Their songs are born from the same ambition: make music by any means necessary. They began recording together with sneakers as mic stands and blankets draped over the amps, all within the afternoon following a school day, up until they ran the risk of noise complaints. Recently, they signed a record deal, so they are thinking about moving on from sneaker-laden mics and blanketed amps, but their musical ethos has not changed a bit.
Curiously alien, yet strangely familiar, the band’s debut album, “Projector“, is a product of five teenagers whose love of music touches every part of their lives: their restless anxiety about their futures, and their pent-up frustration with their present-a perspective all too familiar in today’s uncertain world. For fans of Television, The Strokes, Shame and The Feelies.
Geese is a band that begins and ends in Brooklyn, as a project between friends to build a home studio out of a basement. Their songs are born from the same ambition: make music by any means necessary. They began recording together with sneakers as mic stands and blankets draped over the amps, all within the afternoon following a school day, up until they ran the risk of noise complaints. Recently, they signed a record deal, so they are thinking about moving on from sneaker-laden mics and blanketed amps, but their musical ethos has not changed a bit. Curiously alien, yet strangely familiar, the band’s debut album, “Projector“, is a product of five teenagers whose love of music touches every part of their lives: their restless anxiety about their futures, and their pent-up frustration with their present-a perspective all too familiar in today’s uncertain world.
Projector will be released digitally on October 29th and physically on December 3rd, 2021 on PartisanRecords and Play It Again Sam.
Releases October 29th, 2021
Includes a bonus CD featuring live tracks.
“Projector” will be released digitally on October 29th and physically on December 3rd, 2021 on PartisanRecords and Play It Again Sam.
“House of Confusion” is Trace Mountains’ third album and the rugged, earthier follow-up companion to 2020’s Lost in the Country. The songs and arrangements on “House of Confusion” lean ever-more into the rootsier impulses of“Lost in the Country“, relying heavily on live recording and instrumentation that features the acoustic guitar and pedal steel. This shift reveals a new, understated complexity within the songs and the tangible, tactile nature of the performances, evoking the free-flowing nature of influences like Tom Petty or Built to Spill, all-throughout imbued with the energy of Country icon Emmylou Harris’ cult classic and band favourite,Wrecking Ball.
The album is comprised of road songs, rock songs, country songs, religious songs, disco songs, satanic songs, jams and simple tunes, laid out in careful presentation to use at your leisure.
The five members of Sun June spent their early years spread out across the United States, from the boonies of the Hudson Valley to the sprawling outskirts of LA. Having spent their college years within the gloomy, cold winters of the Northeast, Laura Colwell and Stephen Salisbury found themselves in the vibrant melting-pot of inspiration that is Austin, Texas. Meeting each other while working on Terrence Malick’s Song to Song, the pair were immediately taken by the city’s bustling small clubs and honky-tonk scene, and the fact that there was always an instrument within reach, always someone to play alongside.
Coming alive in this newly discovered landscape, Colwell and Salisbury formed Sun June alongside Michael Bain on lead guitar, Sarah Schultz on drums, and Justin Harris on bass. Their latest album, Somewhere, is out now.
Sun June performing live, recorded exclusively for KEXP.
Performers: Laura Colwell, Michael Bain, Sarah Schultz, Justin Harris, Santiago Dietche
Songs: Bad Girl Everywhere Everything I Had Bad With Time Colors Session recorded at Good Danny’s studio in Lockhart, TX
Bess Atwell amazes again with her live version of ‘Nobody’ taken from her upcoming album ‘Already, Always’, out on Real Kind Records. Spend any time with Bess Atwell’s long awaited new album, “Already, Always”, and it soon becomes apparent that every single moment of her life to date has fed into and shaped its tales. Opener, “Co-Op“, is the perfect contemporary, indie pop song – time and place is established at a ‘Blondie tribute concert’, but Atwell could be anywhere. Her emotions are what keep her company – and through the highs and lows of loving someone, being in love with someone, in fact, just life itself, she turns out to be the one person she can always rely on.
There is comfort in the familiar. Yet it is precisely when we are most comfortable that we begin to ask questions. Artist Bess Atwell is full of questions: on life, death, love, loss… and how things that at first seem mundane become profound when looked at in a different light. Residing now in Brighton, Bess grew up in the English countryside in a creative family of songwriters and artists. Whilst her crystalline vocals draw favourable comparisons to the likes of Marika Hackman and Julia Jacklin, her lyrics evoke an imagery that often spins from the pastoral to the abstract. She tends to stay away from traditionally “feminine” imagery, but like Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker, one of her heroes, Atwell uses nature to evoke those themes of conflict.
Handpicked by Lucy Rose for signing to her own label Real Kind Records, tracks from the album are already on high rotation at BBC 6 music.
The Fat Angel Sings 