As she prepares to release her third LP, Oakland’s Madeline Kenney is building a consistent and downright exquisite body of work. The singer and multi-instrumentalist co-produced Sucker’s Lunch with Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack, and Kenney has tightened her role in a bicoastal clique that has been spawning intriguing indie pop from Durham, N.C. to the Bay Area. On “Double Hearted,” Kenney’s synths and vocals soar in wavelengths as she sings, “voices get me high…!” on the hook, alongside Stack’s rhythmic percussion and Wasner’s unmistakable bass. Kenney’s first two albums showed skill and promise, but there’s something bolder and lasting building on Sucker’s Lunch. The new song today! ‘Double Hearted’ you can also watch a silly jello-filled lyric video + get some info on how I made the tune
“Double Hearted” is the second single taken from Madeline Kenney’s forthcoming album, “Sucker’s Lunch,” out July 31st.
Barely a year since their debut Dogrel earned them a spot as one of the most acclaimed new bands of 2019, Dublin’s Fontaines D.C. will return with “A Hero’s Death” on July 31 via Partisan Records. Arriving battered and bruised – albeit beautiful – the album is anything but a re-hash of the swaggering energy from their first record, instead the music is patient, confident, and complex – heady and philosophical takes on the modern world and its great uncertainty. The album serves as a conscious effort to subvert expectations, to challenge themselves and their listeners, and to sacrifice one identity in order to take on another – one that is fully their own.
We’re giving away handwritten lyrics by Grian for ‘I Don’t Belong’ & ‘A Hero’s Death’ and also a signed 7″. Pre-save ‘A Hero’s Death’ and follow us on Spotify by Monday 6th July for a chance to win fontainesDC.lnk.to/contest
Irish rockers Fontaines D.C. came out swinging on their debut album Dogrel—it became one of the years favourite albums of last year thanks to its propulsive rhythms, Grian Chatten’s mesmerizing speak-sing and their satisfying blend of post-punk, garage and surf sounds. After cementing themselves as one of the most exciting new bands of 2019, excitement began to swirl when news started circulating about a quick follow-up album that was recorded in Los Angeles and influenced by The Beach Boys. I figured an album full of surfy tunes like Dogrel highlight “Liberty Belle” and 2017 b-side “Winter in the Sun” was on the way, which I undoubtedly would’ve devoured, but that’s pretty far from what we’ll actually receive at the end of July.
A Hero’s Death is decidedly not perky—it’s full of somber, gothic numbers, slow ballads and a few very on-the-nose nods to Brian Wilson (but this is dejected Pet Sounds era Beach Boys—not the carefree “Surfin’ U.S.A.” Beach Boys). It’s not what many will expect from the group, but it’s a noticeably more mature second chapter that pays dividends with each listen. Sprinkled with ’60s armchair pop and ’80s post-punk references, this is a gloomy outdoor stroll record—but a very special one at that.
Fontaines D.C. perform A Hero’s Death Live at home for Later… with Jools Holland.
What makes Liza Anne an especially talented songwriter, are the many different ways in which she delivers her messages of empowerment and self-realization amidst clouds of depression. 2018’s Fine But Dying was one of the year’s sneaky best albums, and Bad Vacation sees Anne flowering out of the dark places she found herself in back then. She’s freely electrifying on “Devotion,” keeps her wits about her on the tongue-in-cheek “I Shouldn’t Ghost My Therapist,” glistens on the sparkling pop of “I Wanna Be There” and stares her darkest demon in the face—herself—on the gorgeous melancholy pop of “Terrible Discovery.” Anne has always come across as carefree, yet impactful, and when addressing one’s own mental health, her music is sure to help others find brighter skies ahead as well.
With her bold and bracing new album, ‘Bad Vacation,’ Liza Anne hasn’t just shaped her liberation, she’s completely reinvented it. The record is defiant and thoughtful, showcasing a remarkable confidence as it tackles destructive habits and finds Liza at her most self aware yet. “I was writing what I needed to hear,” Liza explains. “I was writing what I needed to feel. I was quite literally writing a stronger, more empowered version of myself into existence.”
New Liza Anne album, ‘Bad Vacation,’ out July 24th:
“Mike Hadreas has confidently dropped an intense album of brilliantly realised pop songs.As the quivering vocals mirror that synthesiser bouncing from from one ear to the other, the opening few seconds of opener Whole Life announces “Set My Heart On Fire Immediately” to the world.
The nom de plume of US singer/songwriter Mike Hadreas, Perfume Genius continues to flourish in his element as a genre-defying, expectation-destroying catalyst for modern pop.
No Shape,Perfume Genius’s remarkable fourth album, marked a bold leap for Mike Hadreas—stuffed with eye-popping pageantry, panicky swarms of violins, and incandescent, sun-drenched pop. Its follow-up, Set My Heart on Fire Immediately, instantly overwhelms the senses in much the same way. Hadreas hasn’t lost his flair for the cinematic, and Set My Heart sways from one musical style to another so casually you’ll feel the urge to stop and catch your breath.
That makes for a rewarding sonic journey, but underpinning Hadreas’s fearless versatility is striking self-analysis and vulnerability. Opener “Whole Life” is a glimmering 1960s waltz, but it’s also a grim reckoning with the passage of time. Likewise, while Hadreas’s vocals and a tiptoeing harpsichord initially command attention on “Jason,” his intimate, colourful recounting of a one-night stand, they elevate the song to something greater. Instantly accessible and technically impressive, Set Your Heart on Fire Immediately quickly earns your admiration, but its raw emotional weight is what keeps you coming back.
While many artists in Hadreas’ field openly struggle with their transition out of the prototypical “young pop star” motif, Perfume Genuis pushes the envelope as he always has, and continues to bring truth, emotion and raw sincerity to everything he does.
From Perfume Genius’ new album ‘Set My Heart On Fire Immediately” released on May 15, 2020 on Matador Records.
It seems an age since we saw or heard anything from the duo Fear Of Men playing at SxSW in Austin, and that was before they took a four year hiatus after the release of their sophomore album Fall Forever. With a new track ‘Into Strangeness’, our first song and video in 4 years We made the video ourselves during lockdown, co directed by Mikael Johansson. It’s inspired by 16th Century British witchcraft, uncanny dreamscapes and feminine power.
They are back with a new song, Into Strangeness, a sub-3 minute salvo tightly wound with a post-punk energy that recalls the likes of Section 25 and AR Kane. The song opens up with disorientating atonal saxophone, inspired by the opening credits of 70’s neorealist film Fear Eats the Soul, before Jessica Weiss’ vocals paint an ominous picture of tension, possession and affliction.
The band are donating their first week of sales via Bandcamp to The Audre Lorde Project, supporting LGBTQ+ People of Colour in the New York area.
Released July 1st, 2020
Words and music by Jessica Weiss and Daniel Falvey.
Drums by James Davies.
Ty Segall has released an album of Harry Nilsson covers called Segall Smeagol.
I wanted to cover Nilsson Schmilsson for years, so I used the opportunity of being at home to cover my favourite cuts from the record. So here it is free on Bandcamp – “Segall Smeagol” Love To Everyone – Ty Segall
Fontaines D.C.’s second album is out at the end of this month, which means the promo trail is giving us new songs from the record to hear as we approach.
So far, we’ve heard two very different songs from the record. ‘I Don’t Belong’ is a slower Whipping Boy-esque opening track while the title track is a looser take on the kind of thing that won that much praise on album one.
‘Televised Mind’ is coming from a different place, with a more psych-rock edge on a song they say, is inspired by The Brian Jonestown Massacre, which is about the echo chambers people have made for themselves – “how personality gets stripped away by surrounding approval.”
“This song is about the echo chamber, and how personality gets stripped away by surrounding approval. People’s opinions get reinforced by constant agreement, and we’re robbed of our ability to feel wrong. We’re never really given the education of our own fallibility. People feign these great beliefs in order to appear trendy, as opposed to independently arriving at their own thoughts.
We were listening to a lot of The Prodigy and The Brian Jonestown Massacre, specifically their song “Open Heart Surgery”. I was interested in extrapolating those types of chord progressions and capturing this droning, hypnotic feel. That last line repeated over and over [“What ya call it”] is a buffer expression that people used here in Dublin. It’s sort of like “umm” or “well…” – it’s what people say when they’re distracted.
“Televised Mind” taken from the forthcoming album ‘A Hero’s Death’ out 31st July on Partisan Records.
The first trailer for The Go-Go’s documentary has been released. The movie about the groundbreaking ’80s band made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, and will make its broadcast debut this weekend.
The trailer shows how the band went from the Los Angeles punk scene to chart-toppers in just a few years. “We were pretty crappy in the beginning,” lead guitarist Charlotte Caffey says. “But we had these songs that were just coming together.” That turned out to be 1981’s album “Beauty and the Beat”, which became the first – and still the only – album by a group comprised entirely of women that wrote and performed their own material to top the Billboard album chart. But success quickly took its toll on the group, which broke up after 1984’s Talk Show,.
The Go-Go’s have had several reunions since. “We didn’t communicate,” singer Belinda Carlisle remembers. “And then when we did communicate, we didn’t do it in a respectful way.”
Alison Ellwood, who previously directed History of the Eagles and Laurel Canyon: A Place in Time, uses archival performance and interview footage in the film, as well as newly conducted interviews with band members.
“I’ve always been a huge Go-Go’s fan,” Ellwood said in a press release. “When the band asked me to direct this film, I was thrilled. Like a lot of people, I thought of them as this wonderful, bubbly, all-girl pop band from L.A. What I’ve discovered is a much more complex and deeper truth.”
“We lived it and we survived it,” the Go-Go’s noted. “Now, looking back on our history through this film, we get to relive our journey as a band: the fun, the adventure, the highs and the lows. We hope this documentary will show the world that we were pioneers, and how our experience paved the way for many other female (and some male!) musicians.”
The day before the documentary airs, the group will release “Club Zero,” their first new music since 2001’s God Bless the Go-Go’s album.
The Go-Go’s are rooted in music history as not just a pop phenomenon but ground breakers as well. Born out of the L.A. punk scene, Charlotte Caffey (lead guitar, keyboards and vocals), Belinda Carlisle (lead vocals), Gina Schock (drums), Kathy Valentine (bass and vocals) and Jane Wiedlin (guitar and vocals) didn’t play the part of bad girls – they were genuine punk rockers. Their 1981 debut album Beauty and the Beat, featuring the hits “Our Lips Are Sealed” (one of Rolling Stone’s Top 100 Pop Singles) and “We Got the Beat,” was one of the most successful debut albums of all time, No. 1 on the Billboard charts for six consecutive weeks and resulted in a Grammy® nomination for Best New Artist. The Go-Go’s will release their first new recording in nearly 20 years, “Club Zero,” on July 31st on UMe Records:
Laura Marling’s exquisite seventh album “Song For Our Daughter” arrives almost without pre-amble or warning in the midst of uncharted global chaos, and yet instantly and tenderly offers a sense of purpose, clarity and calm. As a balm for the soul, this full-blooded new collection could be posited as Laura’s richest to date, but in truth it’s another incredibly fine record by a British Singer Songwriter who rarely strays from delivering incredibly fine records.
Taking much of the production reins herself, alongside long-time collaborators Ethan Johns and Dom Monks, Laura has layered up lush string arrangements and a broad sense of scale to these songs without losing any of the intimacy or reverence we’ve come to anticipate and almost take for granted from her throughout the past decade.
The album came out 6 months early, but since buying it’s been a constant and companionable listen. Maybe her most intimate, certainly her maturest work. Hints of Joni Mitchell on the opening duo help, but this is her work. A simple basic backing band that delights on the uptempo shuffle of “Only the Strong”, with tasteful addition of chamber music on “Blow By Blow”, title track, “Fortune”, choir on “The End of the Affair” , & steel on “Hope”. “For You” a great climax.
Taking much of the production reins herself, alongside long-time collaborators Ethan Johns and Dom Monks, Laura has layered up lush string arrangements and a broad sense of scale to these songs without losing any of the intimacy or reverence we’ve come to anticipate and almost take for granted from her throughout the past decade.
Absolutely gorgeous, amazing voice, beautiful songwriting, and I absolutely adore it.
Australian musician Gordi (real name: Sophie Payten) has just shared this shimmering new single which he says is a tribute to her late Grandmother. The song was produced by Bon Iver collaborators Chris Messina and Zach Hanson at Gordi’s family home in Canowindra, Australia. “Her whole life was in Canowindra,” say Gordi of her grandmother. “We made it in a house that’s a hundred meters from her house.” She’ll be on tour with Of Monsters & Men this spring.
The Australian musician Gordi, moniker of Sophie Payten, shares the new single, “Sandwiches,” and its accompanying Justin Ridler-directed video. “Sandwiches” It is a soaring, post-new wave anthem, and a tribute to her late grandmother. One of the first true Gordi “guitar songs,” it shimmers with the lush-yet-fragile momentum of The Cranberries’ classic “Dreams.” “Sandwiches” follows “The Cost,” a track released last month in support of the Australian Bushfire Relief efforts, and is Gordi’s first new recording since her 2017 debut album, “Reservoir”. Gordi has also recently collaborated with Troye Sivan, toured with Sam Smith, Julien Baker and Fleet Foxes, performed at Eaux Claires alongside The National, Bon Iver and Big Red Machine, and finished her medical degree to become a qualified doctor.
Her late grandmother was, in Gordi’s words, “a great feeder of people.” So when she fell ill, Gordi and her mother took it upon themselves to nourish the visitors gathered around her hospital bed. As they passed around sandwiches, “someone called out that she was gone.”
The gravity of the moment was poignant for its softness and mundanity. Gordi approaches the totality of a loved one’s life as measured in the small memories that stay with us. She sings, “When I think of you a movie-reel of moments plays / We’ll be in the car or after mass on Saturdays / You’ll be walking down the driveway, you’ll be in your chair / You’ll say ‘See you round’ or ‘Say your “Three”’ / And now you’re everywhere.”
Gordi called on long-time collaborators and Bon Iver production duo Chris Messina and Zach Hanson to make “Sandwiches” at her family home in Canowindra, Australia — an old cottage littered with some of Sophie’s favourite pieces of musical arsenal combined with some flown in from Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The tiny farm town where her family has lived for over a century, Canowindra, and the heart of the matriarch, is embedded in this song, and where the video was filmed. “Her whole life was in Canowindra…we made it in a house that’s a hundred meters from her house.”
“Sandwiches” by Gordi, out now on Jagjaguwar Records..
