For the past few years, London four-piece Honey Lung have quietly been making some of the most satisfyingly melodic guitar music available. The band recently signed to Big Scary Monsters (American Football, Beach Slang) for the release of a forthcoming EP, the follow-up to their singles and demos collection, Memory, which landed on the list of best EPs of 2019. There’s something vaguely classic and deeply meaningful about their lo-fi rock songs. File Honey Lung under heartfelt, yearning lyrics and eccentric, dynamic instrumentals.
Led by singer/guitarist/songwriter Jamie Batten, Honey Lung’s sound pulls from ’90s indie rock, alt-rock and shoegaze and puts equal emphasis on melody and hooks and wild guitar squalls. Honey Lung released their debut album, Memory, via Kanine Records last year and recently returned with new single “Nothing”:
Honey Lung are: Jamie Batten, Harry Chambers, David Sherry, Omri Covo.
Beat Poetry For Survivalists is the new collaboration between Peter Buck and Luke Haines. Peter Buck was the guitarist for the biggest band in the world – REM. Luke Haines was the guitarist for the Auteurs. The Auteurs were not the biggest band in the world. They were pretty good though. Luke Haines also does paintings of Lou Reed.
One day, Peter Buck bought one of Luke Haines’ Lou Reed paintings. They had never met before but decided that the fates had brought them together and they should write some songs together and make an album.
Beat Poetry For The Survivalist is that album. With songs about legendary rocket scientist and occultist Jack Parsons, The Enfield Hauntings (of 1978), a post-apocalyptic radio station that only plays Donovan records, Bigfoot, and Pol Pot.
Beat Poetry For Survivalists is the new collaboration between Peter Buck & Luke Haines. ‘Jack Parsons’ is the first single and track from the new album
Peter has two new albums out this month including a collaboration with Luke Haines (ex-Auteurs) called Beat Poetry for Survivalists as well as new material with the No Ones called The Great Lost No Ones Album.
Beat Poetry for Survivalists which Peter calls “a freaked-out post-apocalyptic beast of a record,” was released on March 6yj on Cherry Red Records (UK) and Omnivore (USA) while The Great Lost No Ones Album will be released on March 27th on Yep Roc Records.
In addition, Peter will be touring in support of both records this spring,
Stuck in limbo between wanting closure and never getting it, ‘Keep Walking’ begs you to look inward and move on. It poses the tough questions of vulnerability with the risk of leaving them unanswered: Why do we stick around for those who don’t deserve it? Why are we ashamed of how we feel? Why is it so difficult for others to confront their own emotions? ‘Keep Walking’ captures the frustration of having to do all the emotional labour alone. It’s an inner monologue, a solitary debate between rational and reality and how to resolve the unresolved. And yet it always comes back to a simple conclusion: trust your gut, and trust yourself.” – El Tee
Written following a bout of heavy touring, eventual hiatus of previous incarnation EZTV and amidst the degradation of multiple relationships, the songs that make up ‘Carousel’ were culled from an obsessive trove of over 50 home recorded demos. Sounds oscillate from jangly meditations (“Turn the Time), drum machine fueled heart pangs (“Picture Taker), and the ethereal ruminations of a shut in (“Loud Sounds)”. After tracking live at Brooklyn’s Figure 8 Studios, guitarist Ezra Tenenbaum and drummer Michael Stasiak fleshed out knotty hook-filled arrangements at home with the help of a rotating crew of friends.
Bambara have been around long enough that you should know by now what to expect from one of their séance-punk records, but “Miracle” is still a “Smells Like Teen Spirit”–caliber opener. If vaguely familiar VH1 talking heads ever heard this song, they’d be like, “I remember exactly where I was when I heard Bambara’s ‘Miracle,’ and I remember I just froze. I was like, ‘umm, what is this!?,’” or something to that effect. With Stray being particularly infused with themes of death, the album’s opener introduces the impending macabre with chilling gothic blues that strip Pop. 1280 of their title as best Nick Cave homage.
Cayetana is no more, but singer Augusta Koch has stayed busy with other projects, including Sheena Anika & Augusta and Gladie. a collaborative project with Matt Schimelfenig (Three Man Cannon) who are now rounded out by bassist Ian Farmer (Modern Baseball) and drummer Pat Conaboy (The Spirit of the Beehive) — are set to release their debut album, Safe Sins, on February 28th.
The first single is “A Pace Far Different,” which, like Gladie’s EP, is more atmospheric than Cayetana, but finds Augusta’s voice in perhaps even more powerful form. She says, “This song is about feeling trapped by your own limitations and trying desperately to escape them. We tried to capture that sensation with the erratic production of the song, in that it focuses mainly around repetitive loops that are meant to mirror the feeling of spiraling.”
The very-Philadelphian Safe Sins sounds born of the same brotherly-love pop-punk that fuels groups like Remember Sports and Hop Along, translating years of ex-Cayetana vocalist Augusta Koch’s diaries into something a bit more universal, not to mention streamable. In addition to its early singles, “Even at Your Easel” stands out as one of the best examples of Koch’s ability to balance lyrics about the blue hues against upbeat instrumentation, peaking early with the warm guitar fill following the line “I listened to ‘Sleepwalker’ by The Kinks.” It’s certainly more overcast than “Sleepwalker,” but seems to harness the same literal restless energy.
Promising young musician Brooke Bentham quickly exploded after her singles ‘Heavy And Ephemeral’ and ‘I Need Your Body’ started to get heavy rotation on both BBC Radio 1 and 6music. Having established a widespread following, the South Shields songwriter now drops her debut album ‘Everyday Nothing’.
Despite her early success, Bentham began to experience writer’s block which was triggered by underlining problems hampering her creative process; “I felt very empty and numb. There wasn’t a sadness to it, there was a nothingness to it which I guess is what people say depression is.”
Bentham was able to address her problems and channel it into the music with aid of Bill Ryder-Jones, who produced the record and was able to help her create a masterful first album which feels like a fresh take on grunge influences.
“I’ve worked with some amazing songwriters in my career. I think Brooke at 23 is well on her way to being up there with Alex (Turner), Saint Savoir, Mick (Head) and James (Skelly). Her lyric writing will be overlooked because of her voice but it is her words that will set her apart from others.” – Bill Ryder-Jones
North Carolina-born, Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Jonathan Wilson whether you recognize his name or not—shares his fourth album Dixie Blur released this week via BMG.Wilson knows his way ‘round a tune, as his resumé reflects. As a producer, he’s worked with the likes of Father John Misty, Conor Oberst, Laura Marling, Dawes and Karen Elson. Wilson recorded Dixie Blur in Nashville in order to reconnect to his Southern roots, working with producer Pat Sansone of Wilco and recording everything live in-studio with a stacked supporting cast, a stark contrast to his previous albums, on which he handled most of the instrumentation himself.
With Wilson’s longtime friend Pat Sansone of Wilco producing, Wilson and the band recorded in Studio A at the Sound Emporium, the late country maverick Cowboy Jack Clement’s studio. The musicians included Nashville’s premier session players including bass player Dennis Crouch, Russ Pahl on pedal steel, multi-instrumentalist JimHoke, and world renowned Fiddle master Mark O’Connor. Working with this Nashville band gave Wilson the same kind of feeling he had as a kid, strumming along with those bluegrass bands.
The album was cut in six days and shows the magic that occurs when musicians play together in a room and create that one consistent thing in time. The album sounds like a stoner Laurel Canyon album performed by a crack band. Standouts include Wilson’s new take on Korean Tea, an old song he had done with his ‘90’s band Muscadine. Heaven Making Love is a killer song Wilson wrote for Rare Birds but was abandoned whilst 69 Corvette is a song thinking about his southern home whilst on tour with Roger Waters in 2017-18.
Jonathan Wilson “maximalist” album Rare Birds was released in 2018 to glowing reviews. Not only did it earn him Album of the Year awards in Rolling Stone,
Hailed indie-rock duo Ohmme as both a Chicago band to know and an outstanding live act, so you could say we’re pleased to report they’ve announced a new album, the follow-up to their 2018 debut Parts. Fantasize Your Ghost, coming June 5th via Joyful Noise Recordings, is preceded by lead single “3 2 4 3,” which arrives alongside an arresting music video somewhat reminiscent of Jordan Peele’s Us. Stewart and Cunningham are both classically trained musicians and are established players within the Chicago music scene. They are especially involved in performing and working for venues within the local experimental music scene. They’re constant collaborators and have recorded and toured with homegrown acts as varied as Tweedy, Whitney, Chance The Rapper and Twin Peaks.
Cunningham and Stewart are multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriters with a penchant for two instruments in particular. “The band started because we knew we could sing well together and we wanted to make some noise with the guitar,” says Cunningham. Stewart elaborates, “Sima and I are both trained classical pianists and we know many of the sonic spaces keyboards have to offer. Since we were interested in experimenting and creating something different from what we had both done in the past, we chose guitar as our outlet for this band. We wanted to create both new and uncomfortable parameters for ourselves to force us into a different creative space.” These guitar-heavy experiments are sometimes earthy and resounding, at other times shimmering and buzzing—swirling around the duo’s expertly crafted vocals while creating a chaotic bed of harmony. Cunningham’s smoky alto complements Stewart’s higher-register croon, all underpinned by the restrained yet highly inventive polyrhythmic percussion of drummer Matt Carroll. Think Amber Coffman and Angel Deradoorian-era Dirty Projectors.
Band Members
Macie Stewart
Sima Cunningham
Official Video for “3 2 4 3” by Ohmme off the album ‘Fantasize Your Ghost’ out on Joyful Noise Recordings.
Big-hearted Americana singer/songwriter Courtney Marie Andrews has announced her next album. “Old Flowers”, a follow-up to 2018’s May Your Kindness Remain (one of our favourite releases from that year), is set to arrive June 5th on Mississippi indie powerhouse Fat Possum Records. “I learned to love the worst parts of you,” Andrews sings on “If I Told.” It’s a Dolly Parton-esque country song tinged with regret and curiosity in regards to the serendipity of relationships.
“These songs came to me alone, late nights in Bisbee, Lisbon, Nashville, and London. Sometimes I’d just cry and sing, and a song would come out. I drank too much wine while writing this record, lit too many candles. You could say this was my attempt to summon the muse, but she was just standing there naked looking me in the eyes. So I told her the truth.
“This is my story of the most heartbreaking, but soul-revealing, year of my life. I drove myself mad. I drove to the smoky mountains just to drive back. I danced with a Portuguese boxer and cried on his shoulder in a Fado cafe. I did everything an artist is ‘supposed to do’. But at the end of the day, beyond all the romance, these songs are my truth. I think they might be yours too.”
With tears of joy, I am here to announce, my new album, ‘Old Flowers,’ will be released on June 5th. In these songs, I am grappling with saying goodbye to a nine-year relationship. I am voyaging closer to myself and to my work. I am vulnerable as hell, and it’s scary as hell. Love, CMA
P.S. I’ll be returning to the UK to play these new songs this June, as well as two album release shows in Brooklyn and Nashville. All the new dates are below and you can find more info at courtneymarieandrews.com. I can’t wait to sing these with you.
May 6—Manchester Center, VT—Billsville
June 5—Nashville, TN—Analog
June 9—Brooklyn, NY—Union Pool June 16—Birmingham, U.K.—Hare & Hounds
June 17—Pocklington, U.K.—Pocklington Arts Centre
June 18—London, U.K.—Omeara June 21—Nottingham, U.K.—Metronome
June 22—Oxford, U.K.—Wesley Memorial Church
