Womb is Purity Ring’s first album in more than five years. The ten songs are entirely written, recorded, produced and mixed by the duo, and the album chronicles a quest for comfort and the search for a resting place in a world where so much is beyond our control.
Song from ”Womb , Purity Ring’s first album in more than five years. The ten songs are entirely written, recorded, produced and mixed by the duo of Megan James and Corin Roddick, and the album chronicles a quest for comfort and the search for a resting place in a world where so much is beyond our control.”
To celebrate the album’s release, the duo of Megan James and Corin Roddick will do an AMA on the Reddit forum today at 4pm EST. Due to the coronavirus pandemic,u Purity Ring will postpone their May-June North American tour dates until Fall 2020. The new dates will be announced soon. All tickets will be honoured and refunds will be available at point of purchase. European and UK shows are still as scheduled.
‘i like the devil’ by Purity Ring, from new album ‘Womb’ released April 3rd:
Brand new music from the much-praised Vanishing Twin…“This is a band that fearlessly floats in the hazy space between the real world and an imagined one, blurring the line between warmly nostalgic and eerily haunted”
Following their hugely successful second album ‘The Age Of Immunology’ (roundly raved over by The Line Of Best Fit, PopMatters, Pitchfork, Q, MOJO, The Quietus and Uncut) and one of Rough Trade, MOJO and Uncut’s albums of 2019.
Cocktail umbrellas and chlorinated fantasies! It’s time to get cool in the pool with Vanishing Twin. Here are four streams of analogue consciousness to super-soak your deckchair daydreams.
“Fantastical soundscapes that are as welcoming as they are unusual.” All Music
This album is nothing less than transcendently beautiful. The heart and soul of everything that made me fall in love with Cymbals Eat Guitars now lives on in the form of Empty Country with new twists and complexities that make EC it’s own clearly unique entity as well. A great transitional document for Joseph D’Agostino as he moves on from Cymbals Eat Guitars (still sad they are over). This album is great in that it’s not a huge departure , yet it is still distinctly D’Agostino’s own thing. It’s got the great melodies and catchy hooks of Cymbals Eat Guitars with that characteristic melancholy. But with more acoustic guitar, Empty Country sounds more personal.
Up there with Joe’s best work, it feels like it pulls from every record he’s done before while still being completely distinct from any Cymbals record in the way it combines the psychedelia and accessibility with some of the lushest, most ornately arranged music I’ve heard. Plus the guitars still rock, the solos fucking slap, and the ballads somehow slap just as hard. The narrative based lyrics also hit a sweet spot in Joe’s lyricism — direct but inventive, descriptive and endlessly compelling.
Empty Country is the first album from Joseph D’Agostino since the dissolution of his other project, Cymbals Eat Guitars, one of the most perennially underappreciated indie-rock bands in recent memory. The album lets D’Agostino’s unique song writing and raspy voice take center stage: The gorgeous “Marion,” for instance, weaves a multigenerational epic through its spacious, slightly shambling indie rock, while “Ultrasound” finds D’Agostino yelping atop a thick wall of guitars and distortion. One of the most straightforward songs on the album is “Becca,” a seemingly jovial acoustic character sketch that tells the somewhat disturbing story of a woman selling fraudulent eclipse glasses to unsuspecting tourists. Empty Country thrives in its simplicity relative to the last few Cymbals albums, getting back to the heart of what makes D’Agostino such a compelling artist.
released March 20th, 2020
Music and lyrics by Joseph D’Agostino
Released in August 2019, Modern Nature’s debut album – How to Live – crossed the urban and rural into each other. Plaintive cello strains melted into motorik beats. Pastoral field recordings drifted through looping guitar figures. Rising melodies shone with reflective saxophone accents, placing the record somewhere between the subtle mediations of Talk Talk, the stirring folk of Anne Briggs and the atmospheric waves of Harmonia.
The album was met with universal acclaim and featured in a variety of publication’s ‘Best Of 2019’ lists. As the group took the album out on the road, saxophonist Jeff Tobias’ (Sunwatchers) role informed something even more expansive. “It feels like there’s such scope and room to grow. I want the group to feel fluid and that whoever’s playing with us can express themselves and interpret what they think this music is” says bandleader Jack Cooper.
Their new mini album “Annual”, recorded in December 2019 at Gizzard Studio in London, is another step towards something more liberated and a world away from the sound of Jack Cooper’s previous bands. Will Young sits this one out, concentrating on his work with Beak, but ‘How To Live’ collaborator Jeff Tobias takes a more central role, alongside percussionist Jim Wallis.
Jack explains how ‘Annual‘ came about: “Towards the end of 2018, I began filling a new diary with words, observations from walks, descriptions of events, thoughts…free associative streams of just.. stuff. Reading back, as the year progressed from winter to spring, the tone of the diary seemed to change as well… optimism crept in, brightness and then things began to dip as autumn approached… warmth, isolation again and into winter.”
“I split the diary into four seasons and used them as the template for the four main songs. The shorter instrumental songs on the record are meant to signify specific events and transitions from one season to the next. I figured it wouldn’t be a very long record, but to me it stands up next to ‘How To Live’ in every way.”
Annual opens with Dawn which brings to mind the peace and space of Miles Davis’ ‘In A Silent Way’; it rises from nothing like shoots reaching for the light. “I wanted Dawn to feel like the moment you realise spring is coming, when you notice blossom on the trees or nights getting lighter.”
On lead track Flourish, it’s clear Modern Nature have moved on from the first album; as muted percussion and double-bass stirs behind Cooper’s Slint-like ambling guitar; the chorus soars into a collaged crescendo. “Flourish is my part of the world coming to life. I live on the edge of London between Leytonstone and Epping Forest, so the signs of spring are very apparent round here – flowers, light, people talking in their gardens.”
“Mayday started as an outro to Flourish or ‘Spring’ as it was titled originally. The idea was a segueway into the summer section to represent the sort of collective excitement a city gets once it realises summer is here.”
The summer of Jack’s diary inspired ‘Halo’. “The Wanstead Flats where I live, change a lot in the summer; a haze descends on them instead of the spring mist and the city’s proximity is more apparent. Blue bags of empty cans and scorched grass from out of control barbeques.” Arnulf Lindner on double-bass recalls the playing of Danny Thompson’s with Jeff Tobias‘ wonderfully lyrical saxophone referencing Pharoah Sanders. Cooper’s vocals on this record barely rise above a whisper making Halo a perfect addition to the canon of bucolic North London songs of summer, alongside Donovan’s Sunny Goodge Street or Nick Drake’s Hazey Jane II.
On Harvest Jack takes a backseat with Kayla Cohen of Itasca singing. “All these songs are in the same key but the melody was above my range. I’d been playing the new Itasca record most days and just reached out on a whim. Her phrasing and the economy with which she sings is perfect.”
“The intention with the record was for it to feel like a circle, so Wynter reflects the opening. I guess having to get up and flip the record destroys the illusion so it’s a rare circumstance where listening with the ability to just loop the album into another year is closer to our intention.”
Annual then acts both like a companion piece to the band’s ‘How To Live’ debut but also a pointer to the paths ahead. Cooper has already started work on the next album, his speed of output an indication of the excitement and creativity that surrounds the project. Who will be involved and what the touchstones might be are yet to be firmly established but then who would have it any other way with this most fascinatingly free-flowing and mutable of groups?
Snarls spent 2019 quietly blooming. Two songs landed this Columbus, OH four-piece on Stereogum’s Top 100 Songs and Best New Bands to watch this year. With that running start in mind, 2020 is when they’ll surely blossom into a band to watch. Debut LP “Burst” finds the next charming coming-of-age story in shimmering character drama (2019 standout “Walk in the Woods”), woozy indie-pop (“Hair”), and blue-eyed existentialism (“Concrete”). Snarls’ songwriting is as unfiltered and spectral as growing into one’s own should be, but it promises just as an enchanting listen for those outside looking in. It’s no wonder MTV tried to brand Snarls‘ enchanting indie rock as promising “the best of emo and shoegaze” or that the band themselves sees themselves as the fore bearers of “glitter emo alt rock.” Snarls is fresh, frenzied, and worth fawning over. You’ll just have to find out on your own.
This is knock-out indie-pop that looks forward by all the while looking back to the past by taking a more than a passing interest in late 80s and early 90s indie… guitar riffs a go-go, fuzzy bass, a dash of shoegazy soundscapes and a hint of psychedelia all wrap around self-deprecating lyrics and gorgeous vocals… this is one killer of an album which makes you want to trawl the band’s back-catalogue… seriously, what’s not to like here?”
Released March 6th, 2020
Snarls is Chlo White (Vocals, Guitar), Riley Hall (Bass, Vocals), Mick Martinez (Guitar), and Max Martinez (Drums).
All songs written and performed by Snarls. “Burst” is out now on CD/Digital via Take This To Heart Records.
Dirty Projectors have been in a transitory period for some time now. With the announcement of Dirty Projectors’ new EP Windows Open, we can firmly say they’re back with a solid sense of identity. The EP features four tracks, all of which feature BOBBY member Maia Friedman on lead vocals. The EP not only embraces Friedman as the band’s new centerpiece but also welcomes in the touring members from Lamp Lit Prose as mainstays.
Our Windows Open EP is out today! It includes ‘Overlord’ and ‘Search For Life’ and two brand new ones. Dirty Projectors – Search For Life (Official Lyric Video) Out now on Domino Record Co.
Our Windows Open EP is out today! It includes ‘Overlord’ and ‘Search For Life’ and two brand new ones. Dirty Projectors – Search For Life (Official Lyric Video) Out now on Domino Record Co.
Based out of London, although originally from Northampton, Katie Malco is a songwriter who’s been making quiet waves for a few years now. Back in 2013, Katie released the well-received Tearing Ventricles EP, and has subsequently toured with the likes of BC Camplight, Jenny Lewis and This Is The Kit. Now seven years on, Katie is set to return this summer with her debut album, “Failures”, due out in June on 6131 Records.
Described by Katie as, “a coming of age record”, Failures serves as a documentation of growing up, learning to accept adulthood and figuring out who you really are. While we’ll have to wait until June to get the full picture, Katie has thus far shared two offerings to whet our appetites. Creatures, released in September last year, is a raw and wonderful thing, all crunchy alt-rock guitars and impassioned vocals, as Katie reflects on the thoughts that run through your head as you lie down to sleep. Even better is Katie’s most recent single, Animals; a reflection on a particularly dark time in her life, where Katie was sofa-surfing to avoid her mum’s abusive partner, and turning to drink and drugs for a sense of escapism. Musically, Animals seems to nod to equally to the likes of The Breeders and We Were Promised Jetpacks, as powerful guitar lines are cut through with crystalline vocal tones.
Both tracks hint at a record of emotional outpouring, of a songwriter digging back into their past, working through it, and emerging out the other side, Failures is shaping up to be far more successful than it’s title lets on
On this day in 1977, The Clash dropped their self-titled debut album on CBS Records, and it still stands up as one of punk’s most essential releases. With their speedy and reckless yet musically adept political punk rock, The Clash arguably became the most influential punk band of their era. On their debut LP, frontman Joe Strummer took on uncomfortable topics like class warfare and imperialism, and their gritty songs exuded a frantic rage and the spirit of alienated youth.
Released on 8th April 1977 .Written and recorded over just three weeks in February 1977 for a paltry £4,000, Most of the album was conceived on the 18th floor of a council high rise on London’s Harrow Road, in a flat that was rented by Mick Jones’s grandmother, who frequently went to see their live concerts, it would go on to reach No. 12 on the UK charts, and has been included on many retrospective rankings as one of the greatest punk albums of all time.
Songs on the album were composed by guitarists Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, with the notable exception of the reggae cover “Police and Thieves”. Several songs from these sessions, including “Janie Jones”, “White Riot”, and “London’s Burning” became classics of the punk genre and were among the first punk songs to see significant presence on singles charts. The album featured Jones and Strummer sharing guitar and vocal duties, with Paul Simonon on bass and Terry Chimes on drums. The subject of the opening track, “Janie Jones”, was a famous brothel keeper in London during the 1970s. “Remote Control” was written by Mick Jones after the Anarchy Tour and contains pointed observations about the civic hall bureaucrats who had cancelled concerts, the police, big business and especially record companies.
“Career Opportunities”, the opening track of the second side of the album, attacks the political and economic situation in England at the time, citing the lack of jobs available, and the dreariness and lack of appeal of those that were available. “Protex Blue”, sung by Mick Jones, is about a 1970s brand of condom. It was inspired by the contraceptive vending machine in the Windsor Castle’s toilets.
The version of “White Riot” featured on the album was not recorded for the album; the original demo (recorded at Beaconsfield Studios before the band signed to CBS) was used instead.
“Police & Thieves” was added to the album when the group realised that the track listing was too short. Another cover the band played at these sessions was The Wailer’s “Dancing Shoes”. “Garageland” was written in response to music critic Charles Shaar Murray’s damning review of the Clash’s early appearance at the Sex Pistols Screen on the Green concert – “The Clash are the kind of garage band who should be returned to the garage immediately, preferably with the engine running”
The Clash’s first official recording was the single for “White Riot”, that was released by CBS Records in March 1977. Then in April, CBS released their self-titled debut album, The Clash, in the United Kingdom, but refused to release it in the United States, saying that the sound was not “radio friendly”. A US version of the album with a modified track listing four songs from the original version were replaced with five non-album singles and B-sides—was released by Epic Records in 1979, after the UK original became the best-selling import album of all time in the United States. Terry Chimes left the band for the second time soon after the recording, so only Joe Strummer, Mick Jones and Paul Simonon were featured on the album’s cover, The album’s front cover photo, shot by Kate Simon, was taken in the alleyway directly opposite the front door of the band’s ‘Rehearsal Rehearsals’ building in Camden Market. Chimes was credited as “Tory Crimes”.
In the same month, the band also released an EP single, Capital Radio, which was given away to NME‘s readers. In May, CBS released the single “Remote Control” without asking them first, and, in September, “Complete Control“, produced by Lee “Scratch” Perry, was Topper Headon’s first recording with the band.
“I’ve been trying to get ‘Heart Of An Animal’ on a Dears album for a very long time, but for whatever reason it just never fit,” says Dears frontman Murray Lightburn. “Now it kicks off and sets the overall tone of Lovers Rock. It was by far the most difficult song to sing for me, as it hits the very top of my range.” If you are a fan of the No Cities Left era of The Dears, this might be for you.
It’s no coincidence that Murray Lightburn and Natalia Yanchak’s eighth album as The Dears echoes the apocalyptic energy of their 2003 breakthrough No Cities Left, as the world post-9/11 was the last time everybody was this on-edge. While the duo couldn’t have possibly predicted the pandemic we’re undergoing while they were writing the record, there was a general, ambiguous sense of doom mounting over the past few years.
Then again, the driving, vaguely psychedelic rock heard on the group’s new single “Heart of an Animal” doesn’t quite feel intentional, but rather manifests as a subtle infiltration upon an alt-rock cut nostalgic for the mid-’00s. Now it kicks off and sets the overall tone of Lovers Rock. It was by far the most difficult song to sing for me as it hits the very very top of my range.”
“It’s a tender, psychedelic runaway train,” Yanchak adds, noting the trance-inducing chorus. “You should be left wondering where this album is going, and let me tell you…it just gets weirder from here.”
“Lovers Rock” is out May 15th via Dangerbird Records
Polyvinyl has just released the Stay Home compilation, which features previously unreleased music, demos, and covers from 16 artists on their roster, with all proceeds going directly to the artists. “What originally began as a way to help support the Polyvinyl artists affected by COVID-19, quickly grew into a project spanning more than half of the label’s active roster,” the label writes. And as you might’ve guessed, “The compilation’s titular theme, Stay Home, doubles as both a social plea – a worldwide effort to help ‘flatten the curve,’ while giving nod to the sprawling classic on American Football’s landmark self-titled debut.”
The covers include American Football frontman Mike Kinsella doing an exceptionally gorgeous cover of The 1975‘s “Me” under his Owen moniker, Palehound doing Karen Dalton‘s “Something On Your Mind,” Squirrel Flower doing Emmylou Harris‘ “Icy Blue Heart,” Hazel English doing The Mamas & The Papas‘ “California Dreamin’,” and Xiu Xiu doing Kim Jung Mi‘s “Haenim,” and there are also demos by The Get Up Kids, of Montreal, Yumi Zouma, and STRFKR, a new Chris Farren song, and tracks by Pedro the Lion, Kero Kero Bonito, and more.
Introducing Stay Home, a Polyvinyl Record Co. compilation featuring 16 tracks including previously unreleased music, demos, and covers.
Available exclusively on Bandcamp for Pay What You Want (starting at $5) with all proceeds going directly to the artists involved.
