Jaguar Jonze is on the move, the artist otherwise known as Deena Lynch is working on her new year’s resolution: getting in her 10,000 steps a day. It’s an amusing sight, even through Zoom – she’s in an oversized pink cowgirl hat, chatting through AirPods and sipping a hot chocolate while cheerfully roaming the streets of north Brisbane. When faced with a more serious question, though, she stops dead in her tracks, and doesn’t move on until she’s done it justice.
As Lynch later admits, her resolution is a consequence of contracting COVID-19 in March of 2020, a year where “obviously, nothing went to plan”. She continues, “I now know that I have a new body from after COVID, which is riddled with fatigue. I can’t do what I used to anymore, which was to run on adrenaline and exhaustion.” Maintaining her mental and physical health is a daily struggle. And yet, Lynch is becoming more and more Jaguar Jonze – the titular ‘Antihero’ of her upcoming EP – each day.
Jaguar Jonze is an unforgettable stage name. It begs the questions: who could possibly have the confidence to go by such a name, and what could their music sound like? In her social media bios, Jonze dubs herself an “Eastern cowgirl howling at the rising sun”. You could call her music Spaghetti Western Pop: full of dusty twang and atmosphere, yet crisp, modern production. Her debut EP, last year’s ‘Diamonds & Liquid Gold’, introduced Jonze with an ambitious flourish, with songs ranging from the desperate and frenetic – ‘Kill Me With Your Love’, ‘Rabbit Hole’ – to the dreamy ‘Beijing Baby’.
Lynch wields supreme control when she sings: always dramatic, but never over the top. But her earthy voice doesn’t soar above the music, as most pop singers do: it sits embedded within the grit of her four-piece band. On stage and in the studio, Lynch is accompanied by Joe Fallon, guitar; Jacob Mann, drums; and Aidan Hogg, bass and co-producer, who helped imbue her sound with a deep, bluesy rock’n’roll swagger. Lynch attests, “I see us as like Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. I am Jaguar Jonze – that is my alter ego. But the boys and their band sound also make up the soul of Jaguar Jonze. It is nothing without them as well.”
Hi friends! Today you can hear the B side of my new 7″, a song called “Party’s Over.” I’m so excited to share it with you!
New song and video out today, along with the limited edition 7” that includes “Orange Blossoms” as the A side! This is a song for remembering how good it feels to keep moving, letting the source of your discontent slide into the background till it blinks out like a distant star. A song for not just carving out your own path, but dancing down it. For accepting yourself for who you are. For casting aside the imagined ideals that scream at you like a neon sign: Never Enough. It’s a song for when you’re standing on the outside and you know you’re not alone. Out in this wide world, it’s a party where everyone is invited.
I wanted to write a song that would set my body into motion, propelling me away from the source of a dark feeling – the feeling of not belonging. How many times have I stood on the outside, wanting to be inside? This song is a reminder in those moments to keep moving, to feel your strength build with the distance gained, to not only carve out your own path but to dance down it. There is so much joy in releasing ourselves from what we think of as the center and discovering that the real depth of experience exists at the margins: a space that embraces our full complexity. That’s where the real party is happening.
This song is another product of my collaboration with Zubin Hensler, and the video was made with my partner-in-crime Kenna Hynes.
It’s been four years since British synth-krautrockers The Horrors made our ears happy with their fifth LP called “V”. A first-class work of multi-layered-soundscapes. The Horrors’ EP “Lout” is a quick listen at only three tracks, and it doesn’t waste a second of fuzzy, thrashing sound. “Lout” is the British band’s first release of new music since 2017’s “V“, and is a chaotic and addicting outpouring of noise. From the pulsating synths on “Org” to the driving distorted guitar on the title track, The Horrors take no breaks from their intense, high-energy creation on their latest release.
A great Surpriiiise! that The Horrors are back to deafen/delight in equal measure. Our new song “Lout” is available to dissect, devour and destroy on all streaming platforms now. Taken from our upcoming EP, released in full on 12.03.21. Thank you to Lauren Laverne for giving it its first play today.
They’re finally back from wherever they were hiding. And how! New single “Lout”, the title-track from a new upcoming EP, is a mind-slashing, industrial drone that keeps on pounding and pounding until the wall comes down. Hefty stuff, folks! Just the way I like it, any day, any time!
The long-awaited return with a brand-new single “Lout” released on blood red 7” vinyl, strictly limited to 1500 copies worldwide.
According to lead singer Faris Badwan, “Lout is about the relationship between choice and chance, compulsive risk-taking and pushing your luck. As a band, particularly live, we’ve always had an aggressive side and as we began writing new songs it became clear that we were heading in that direction.”
This bold new sound is partnered with a striking visual aesthetic carried across the artwork, videos, upcoming merch collection and press shots, born from collaborations between the band and creative director Bunny Kinney, legendary beauty executive Isamaya Ffrench, videographer Jordan Hemingway and Loverboy designer Charles Jeffrey.
The Horrors the band returns to their roots with more of a Ministry/Nine Inch Nails edge. This three-song EP takes a sharp left turn from the band’s more recent albums which swam more in the pop/electronic pool and we’re happy to see the band embrace the heavier side of their sound.
“Consolations”, my debut EP, is a collection of songs written over the last year or so, so-called because I wrote them to “console” myself, to find comfort when things were turbulent or when I felt somehow disconnected from world around me.
My music emerged from a world of books, paintings, and poetry, as well as a love of song, and for me, it is a weaving together of those loose strands, an assembling and mending of the fragments of the things I love, that might otherwise have remained scattered across my life and never quite have come together.
“Bad Hair Day” is the first taste of his Francis Lung’s forthcoming second album, “Miracle” which is set for release via Memphis Industries on 18 June 2021.
“Bad Hair Day” is a relentlessly catchy and deceptively upbeat ode to hangovers and missed connections. Sonically, the song arrives as a fusion of power-pop and sunny art-rock where angular guitars dart around glowing melodies and quickfire percussion. “For me, [Miracle] is about the struggle between my self destructive side and my problem-solving, constructive side,” says Francis. “I suppose through a lot of these songs I’m dealing with these emotional problems, acknowledging the negative aspects of my behaviour instead of burying them, and providing an alternative point of view for myself”. Despite its serious subject matter, Miracle is far from austere in sound, marrying the cinematic, dreamlike quality of Francis’s earlier music with the pared-back charm of great singer-songwriters like Judee Sill, Jeff Tweedy and Elliott Smith.
The album opens with ‘Bad Hair Day’, a relentlessly catchy—and deceptively upbeat—ode to hangovers and missed connections. “I’ve been calling on you all night /But I never get through, I just get in the way” Francis laments; “I am a cloud in the sun’s light/Whatever I do, whatever I say.” Elsewhere, the title track finds him pondering the fickle nature of the music industry: “I think of [Miracle] as acknowledging and even encouraging the feelings we’re not supposed to succumb to – giving up, giving in – just because it can be comforting to hear it from someone else. ‘Why am I climbing these social ladders and jumping through the hoops of this creative industry? Does this make me happy?’”
These themes of longing, and lacking, missing and being missed, reoccur throughout Miracle. “When I die/Will I be missed/Or am I missing the point?” asks ‘Say So’; while ‘Lonesome No More’, inspired by the Kurt Vonnegut book of the same name, begs the question: if loneliness was eradicated, would we miss it? By confronting these feelings, Francis is able to move forward, as triumphant album closer ‘The Let Down’ proves. Its lyrics serve as a call to action, as Francis wills himself (and the listener) to ‘Get up/Get something going/Do something, do it/Do it now’
Miracle was produced by Francis in collaboration with Brendan Williams (Dutch Uncles, Matthew Halsall, Kiran Leonard) and Robin Koob (who co-arranged and performed strings). The opportunity to take creative control was one Francis relished. “I’m quite bad at delegating” he admits, noting that he played every instrument except strings on Miracle. The result is a cohesive, deeply personal record, which is as vital as it is vulnerable. “I don’t want to be defined by my anxiety, my depression or any history of substance abuse,” Francis says, “but I do want to reach out to other people who have had similar experiences, especially if it’s in a way that helps them feel a little better. To me, this music is celebrating healing as much as it focuses on the darker sides of the human psyche.”
Francis Lung, the uber-talented Manchester singer songwriter (& former Wu lyf man), to the dinked fold. Despite its serious subject matter, ‘miracle’ is far from austere in sound, marrying the cinematic, dreamlike quality of Fancis’s earlier music with the pared-back charm of great singer-songwriters like brian wilson or elliott smith & the prog-like maximalism of b.c.camplight or field music. the album opens with ‘Bad Hair Day’, a relentlessly catchy – & deceptively upbeat – ode to hangovers & missed connections & from here on in, we are besotted.
John Darnielle has written almost 600 songs now, and some of them are very sad, dealing with hard drugs and tragic ends, hurting yourself and others, sicknesses of both body and brain, off-brand alcohols. They are told in beautiful, unnerving, specific detail because he is a very good writer, and also some of them are just true stories about his own life.
The Mountain Goats released this live collection, The Jordan Lake Sessions: Volumes 1 And 2, on Bandcamp today via Merge Records. The recordings come from a pair of virtual concerts the band conducted at Manifold Recording in Pittsboro, North Carolina in August of last year.
The Jordan Lake Sessions: Volumes 1 And 2 follow The Mountain Goats’ 2020 studio release, “Getting Into Knives”, which arrived in October. The new live collection — featuring John Darnielle (vocals, guitar, piano), Peter Hughes (bass), Matt Douglas (keyboards, guitar, saxophone, piano) and Jon Wurster (drums) — contains 36 carrer-spanning songs the band recorded over the course of two virtual concerts on NoonChorus, which became one of the livestream platform’s highest-attended online concerts to date.
Like a lot of bands, we thought, we have to figure out some way to play together, it is unnatural for us to not be playing together, it feels weird and wrong, and it also feels weird and wrong to not be playing for the people who dig what we do, that is a huge part of who we are, it’s a circuit, you know, an energy transfer, it’s the coolest thing and we’re lucky to have it and then the pandemic came in to remind us just how lucky. And also there’s the I-try-not-to-be-talking-about-this-stuff issue of how playing live is our paycheck, it is how we make ends meet, it’s the gig. So we booked a studio that had cameras, and I put together a couple of set lists, and we played two shows in two days and then we put the shows up on sale; and the Mountain Goats Massive showed up, in truly humbling numbers, and the whole groove felt really emotional for us—and, it seemed to me, for the audience, too. There is an immense loss for me in this time away from the stages and rooms which are, in many ways for us, home. I miss the people who bring our music to life, so much.
And so a lot of people, like a lot, in the chat during the show, and in various @’s across social media, said, Hey buddy, what if there were a live release of some kind, I’d buy that, and I thought, well, cool, I’ll look into it; and we did indeed do that, and here it is, but I wanted to make it “pay what you like” on release day: because you people who already paid to see these shows, you are the people who literally put food in our children’s mouths this year. If you feel like you’re done paying for these shows, then we are cool with that, zero pressure. But!! if you’re in good shape, and your own job has figured out a way to let you report to the workplace in 2020, and you’re in a position to pay for these shows, then we are deeply grateful, it has been pretty harrowing to be banned from all clubs for a whole year. The news on the wire however is that a vaccine is coming which will unban us from clubs around the world, and, friends, when that viral ban is lifted, please know that there will be few places to hide from the Mountain Goats. We will rock them in the steel towns, and in the coastal towns, too; and on the cities of the plains, and in the oases of the desert, lo, we shall rock them, and then rock them even harder, at serious Deep Purple levels of rocking, the head-nodding, hair-flying style, at which many will say, I have been rocked, and indeed I wondered if my time of rocking were past, but it has returned this day with gale force. May that day speed hither with all due haste! Finally, if you are a reclusive Howard Hughes type reading these words, and thinking, What if “pay what you like” means I just throw an absurd amount of money at the Mountain Goats, well, friend, we’re glad to meet you. Please be assured that your gesture will be met by JD with similarly absurd gestures, as for example fulfilling his dream of commissioning a translation of the book Elfriede Jelinek got the Nobel for, but which still hasn’t been published in English twenty years later, for crying out loud.
Anyway that’s the news! Here’s two shows! We’re proud of them! If you wanna pay us for ’em, we won’t complain! We will see you next year!
Released December 4th, 2020
John Darnielle – vocals, guitar, piano Peter Hughes – bass Matt Douglas – keyboards, guitar, saxophone, piano Jon Wurster – drums
Recorded live in studio at Manifold Recording in Pittsboro, NC, on August 8th & 9th, 2020
It’s been a while, 4 years in fact. We quite literally could’ve had 4 babies each in that time but instead we’ve grown out two mullets, gathered a few wrinkles, downloaded TikTok, deleted it and then downloaded it again and now finally we’ve made you some new music. We think it’s our best stuff yet. it doesn’t get much bigger than this! after 2017’s mercury prize-winning stunner, ‘visions of a life’, our anticipation for Wolf Alice’s third album couldn’t be higher. its predecessor showed an unwavering boldness & desire to constantly play around with genres, working through moods of shoegaze, fuzzy punk, moody pop rock & understated, emotionally charged lighter-wavers. the cherry on top is the limited indies only transparent red lp!,
Sweet Annie Mac will be premiering our new single ‘The Last Man On Earth’ from 6pm tomorrow on BBC Radio 1.
Lets tune in together, hope you’re ok out there we have missed you so so much. xxx Our third album ‘Blue Weekend’ will be released on the 11th of June.
Arrlo combines elements of pop and rock in their debut songs “LSD” and “WFTWTE.” The two songs serve as a great introduction to the band, showcasing their musical and song writing talents. Both tracks are packed with emotion and energy.
Their first release, “LSD” combines the elements of heavy drums and catchy melodies to tell the story about a toxic relationship that’s coming to a close. This song has a dance beat, but stands out with an emo sounding vocal delivery style. The song features a breakdown section with a melodic guitar solo. The chorus on this track is irresistible and definitely hooky enough to get a party singing along. I could definitely see this song becoming an anthem at live shows or college parties!
On “LSD” Arrlo says: “With lyrics that showcase a “DGAF” attitude, LSD highlights the nature of wanting your cake, and eating it, too. So much growth comes from ending toxic relationships, but some of us don’t end them because we’d rather spare someone else’s feelings. That’s when two-timing, drug use, and mentally/emotionally checking out of the relationship all together can come into play. LSD gives off mysteriously seductive energy throughout, and presents the listener with the chaotic freedom of finally finding yourself again, by putting yourself first.”
“WFTWTE” is another song about the ending of a romantic relationship, where the singer seems to take the blame. The band mentions their hometown of Riverside, California in the opening lyrics. The songs title is an acronym meaning “Waiting For The World To End.” This song has another irresistibly catchy hook line, that feels very relatable during the pandemic as the singer paints the picture of sitting alone in an apartment and waiting. The guitarist plays a quickly paced riff which serves as another hook line for this already very catchy song.
Los Angeles’s Beachwood Sparks said that they hated the term “americana” to describe their music . But looking back now, there was something about their sound in terms of the production and energy in it that I think is missing from some of the big names in americana these days. It had that Laurel Canyon country-rock feel of bands like The Byrds and Buffalo Springfield but didn’t feel derivative. There was a buzz about it – the album felt messy but at the same time exciting. And the songs were just crazily good. Those first few bars of opener‘ Desert Skies’ still make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Even the cover is one of my favourite album covers of all time. Thank God they were reincarnated into GospelbeacH, but nothing will beat their debut – it’s a record I can’t imagine ever tiring of hearing and it’s great news to hear it is now being re-issued.
If ever a band sounded like the sunbaked children of a partnership between the trippy psychedelic dreamers of the paisley underground and the lonesome cowboys of the late-’60s Laurel Canyon cosmic country, Beachwood Sparks are it. The group’s self-titled debut album is a perfect distillation of the two thanks to soaring pedal steel, winsome harmonies, alternately twanging and swirling guitars, and songs that sparkle like lost gems. The band take care to adorn each sweet and sad melody with note-perfect arrangements that fill every corner of the mix with something good. They coat the melancholy songs in a woody patina of dusky sunlight, surrounding Chris Gunst’s fragile vocals with sympathetic strums and vocal harmonies. “Canyon Ride” is a blue delight, especially when the downcast “doo-doo-doos” come in, “New County” is a lovely laid-back waltz that sounds lifted from a late-’60s Byrds record, and “The Reminder” features some excellent barroom piano and sounds as lowdown and broken as the saddest Gram Parsons song.
The bulk of the album revolves around these tender ballads with the band showing off considerable skill as singers, writers, and players. They balance these moments with a handful that cut loose a little as they kick up some serious dust on rockers like “Sister Rose” or “The Calming Seas,” take a detour to the beach for “This Is What It Sounds Like,” drop some acid-y, guitar-heavy elements into the woozy “Something I Don’t Recognize,” and ramble through some hippie C&W on “Silver Morning After.” No matter the mood or tempo, every song comes across like the band playing at their absolute peak. Most of the members of the group had already been making music for a long time when they started Beachwood Sparks, notably with lo-fi heroes Further, and it shows. They play with confidence and restraint, while still filling the uptempo songs with a sense of joy and the sad songs with tear-streaked soul. Beachwood Sparks might not be the first band to give cosmic country a shot, but their debut album proves right away that they are one of the best.
[The 2020 reissue of the album adds a second disc of single tracks and rarities, including two that were on the Japanese release of the record. Two alternate versions of songs from the album are fun: “This Is What It Feels Like” has an explosive psych-rock coda that doubles its length; “Canyon Ride” leans even more into Laurel Canyon rock with a ripping guitar solo added.
The band’s 1999 Sub Pop single is made up of one of their summeriest tunes in “Midsummer Daydream” and a pleasantly laid-back slice of country-pop titled “Windows 65.” The two tracks from the Japanese album are lovely: “We’d Love to See You” is fine soft rock complete with electric piano; “Surfing Saints” is drifting psych pop that the Rain Parade might have come up with if they were stranded in the desert for a week. Best of all is the previously unreleased song “Morning Light.” It’s hard to see why this jangling, sun-dappled power pop ballad didn’t make the final cut for the album. These extra tracks help tell the complete story of this version of the band and make for an essential addition to what’s already a brilliant album.
Born to a musical family in rural Wales, Greta Isaac started writing songs as a child, often in her native Welsh language. The poetic traditions and storytelling of her homeland continue to shape and influence her artistic process; one that has culminated in her forthcoming EP “Pessimist” due out next spring.
Cramming joy, sorrow and hope into each of her explosive pop tracks, Greta Isaac is about to embark on the release of a collection of songs written across an 18-month period of self-reflection.
Greta, with other writers and producers wrote in their bedrooms, tracked vocals in tiny box studios and worked on the tracks bit by bit over months and months, letting them breathe before coming back to them when it felt right. Her first offering “Power” combines a sharp message with choral arrangements and minimal background music; an almost a cappella song about the effect of poisoned compliments. Singer-songwriter, Greta Isaac, expresses the effect of poisoned compliments in her commanding new single “Power”.
Greta says, “This is about how I feel being looked at as a woman and how I can feel useless without the affirmation of the male gaze. Each line starts as a compliment then slowly transitions to sinister promises. The idea of being complimented about my appearance and when I haven’t accepted them, or actively challenged them, my appearance and my femininity is used as a weapon against me”.
‘Pessimist‘ is the lead track from Welsh Singer Songwriter Greta Isaac’s forthcoming EP. Built upon insistent nagging guitar loops, beguiling multi faceted vocals and bombastic choruses that have hints of Taylor Swift, releasing the frustration and self annoyance at constantly dragging yourself down. It comes after an 18-month period of artistic and personal self-reflection for Isaac. She says: “I wrote this song about seeing the contrast between having this very childlike carefree mindset and that suddenly switching into this negative, exhausted state of mind. This song is a perspective song, an ode to myself.” Fantasically refreshing!
With her clear talent for crafting the catchiest of pop melodies, the forthcoming EPPessimist takes influence from the poetic traditions of the musical family in rural Wales where she grew up. Now in London and working closely with writers and producers like Martin Luke Brown and Matt Zara, this new single becomes especially personal for Greta with its bedroom written lyrics and tiny box studio recordings.
![Beachwood Sparks [Deluxe Edition]](https://rovimusic.rovicorp.com/image.jpg?c=VTzY6S_nwk-kpTMAgzPohlWnbEN5fCjifro6xhIBuB4=&f=5 "click to embiggen")
The Fat Angel Sings 