The Fat Angel Sings

This past July, L.A. band Beachwood Sparks released their first album in 12 years, “Across the River of Stars“. Sometimes, when a band makes a comeback after such a long hiatus, the music can be hit or miss. Do they still have ‘it’? Is this just a money grab? “Across the River of Stars” has the psychedelic country vibes longtime fans of Beachwood Sparks know and love. They did a great job of channeling their classic sound, but still making it fresh with new influences.

“Across The River of Stars” shines bright, a prime example of the band’s West Coast winds. Balancing the gauziest textures of Once We Were Trees with the Americana openness of Tarnished Gold, the band feels confident in their own skin. The album retains Beachwood’s golden glow, buoyed by synths, sonorous harmonies, and the sepia-tinged twang that has long been their ally. With Chris Robinson behind the boards, they’ve crafted a record that speaks to their legacy, while pushing their sound to the forefront of the current cosmic crop.

played & sung by
Chris Gunst, Brent Rademaker, Farmer Dave Scher,
Ben Knight, Andres Renteria, Jen Cohen Gunst

released July 19th, 2024

Aluminum slice through the shoegaze garden with well-prepared shears — nipping the topline luminaries like MBV and Ride, but slicing deeper into Chapterhouse, The Swirlies and Drop Nineteens. Unlike many nu-gaze contemporaries, the band doesn’t see fit to stop at the foam and fuzz. Rather than just create a smudged wonderland that’s beholden to their influences, the band embraces the baggy beat of Madchester, letting it litter a few of their singles. They flirt with Brit-pop’s love of rhythm, the influx of rave, and the verdant sweat of Mazzy Star.

“Fully Beat”, overflows with tenured confidence and a singular style that deftly comprises shoegaze, big beat, and jangle pop. With influences ranging from Orbital, to Wipers, to The Avalanches and Sly and the Family Stone, theirs is a multifaceted take on established forms, fed through fuzz and led by honeyed, dual vocal harmonies from Bay Area post-punk veterans Marc Leyda (of Wild Moth) and Ryann Gonsalves (of Torrey).

Band Members::
Marc Leyda – vocals, guitar, sampler
Ryann Gonsalves – vocals, bass
Austin Montanari – guitar
Chris Natividad – drums

released May 24th, 2024

As Alex Izenberg was piecing together the sweeping, psychedelic opuses on his full-band debut Alex Izenberg & The Exiles, the Los Angeles artist was focused on a simple goal: making something built to last. At the heart of his songs are bold ideas that take inspiration from the heady musings of philosopher Alan Watts, the multi-layered storytelling of King Crimson, and the imagistic vistas of Fleet Foxes. While the subject matter may feel esoteric—“My unconscious named the tongue/Of the lights of closed eyes” goes a characteristic lyric—Izenberg and his band let the music drift pleasantly to earth.

The melodies are romantic and warm, and the arrangements are invitingly expansive, making expert use of a new ensemble formed around the strongest songs of his career.

released July 26th, 2024

2024, Domino Recording Co Ltd

Ex-Vöid – featuring Lan McArdle (Joanna Gruesome, Lanny), Owen Williams (The Tubs), Laurie Foster (bass) and George Rothman (drums) – return with their second album: “In Love Again“. The record sees the band flourish from a chaotic power punk group into a fully fledged pop behemoth.

Fans of Joanna Gruesome Both Ex-Vöid and fellow Owen Williams-led outfit The Tubs have records on the way. Of the two, Ex-Vöid is softer at heart. Williams serves more as a sparring partner here with Lan McArdle, whose plush vocals render the band’s songs warm and inviting. On their second outing the two songwriters parry harmonies while picking apart the particulars of love and longing. Atop the fizzing churn of the band’s indie pop, peppered with just enough punk to sate those who’ve come for the fuzzed riffs over the ringing jangles, the Vöid turns personal turbulence into whirlpools of pop. It’s easy to get sucked in, lost in the band’s whoosh and whisper, listening to the guitars crash against the edges of the soul.

It’s the kind of perfect pop that stops listeners in their tracks, or at least those that have a soft spot for pockets of the ‘90s that showed a bit of vulnerability. That may be the band’s most valuable asset. For every fizzing riff and towering wave of sound that gets thrown at the listener, the band always leaves themselves unguarded. It’s an album of soft underbelly, but in an era when artifice often outweighs authenticity, it’s nice to see a band that displays their loneliness, their insecurities, their infatuations, and their regrets in bold pastel strokes. The band hooked me hard with their debut, but they show no signs of letting the barbs loose on “In Love Again“.

Inhaler have dropped a new single called ‘A Question Of You’ ,  the track marks the latest preview of the Dublin quartet’s upcoming third album ‘Open Wide’. Recorded in RAK Studios in London and produced by Grammy and BRIT Award-winning Kid Harpoon, the upcoming album is set to showcase “jubilant pop melodies, intricate grooves and rock’n’roll dynamism”. Following on from previous singles ‘Your House’ and the title track, the album is set for release on February 7th via Polydor.

“You killed the morning / You called me up / Poured your heart out into my cup / Words of desire / Are they enough / What is it you were trying to make up?” sings frontman Elijah Hewson atop a playful, guitar-pop riff.

“Can’t believe we got left where we’re left / Can’t be old if we don’t wanna be grown / Sing me a love song / I know the words / Tell me a story but I already heard,” he continues, as the track evolves into a playful love song.

“This is love song territory for me, about how in order to be honest with someone else you’ve got to be honest with yourself, like, ‘I’ve gotta sort my own shit out so I can be around other people,’” explained Hewson. “It’s also a soulmates thing. The choir really changed everything on this one.”

Speaking about how New York City served as an inspiration for the album, Hewson explained: “People always talk about that adrenaline of the journey from the airport to the city, when you drive over the bridge and you see the skyline for the first time. A lot of that energy was used to finish our songs, and having that kind of spark just made things feel fresher. We love Dublin and the UK, but whenever we land in New York, we just want to go and do something immediately.

Neil Young has dropped his first song with The Chrome Hearts, ‘Big Change is Coming’ Young now aged 79, the singer, songwriter and guitarist has been performing with The Chrome Hearts lately – a band which comprises Micah Nelson on guitar, Corey McCormick on bass, Anthony Logerfo on drums, and Spooner Oldham on Farfisa organ.

The band have dropped their first single, a boisterous, defiant track called ‘big change is coming’.

Stylised in all lower-case, the debut single captures a rock song in its purest form. “Big change is coming, you know what you gotta do/ Big change is coming, could be bad or it could be good,” Young promises throughout, while huge guitars and drums driving the track forward. The song sheds light on all of the moving parts of the modern world and reflects on the feeling of wanting to be heard.

“For seven decades, his songs have addressed where life has been and where it is going,” reads a press release (via Noise11). “‘big change is coming’ takes another big bold step in looking at where that might be. The way this new song confronts the big questions facing life right now makes it an instant thriller”.

 Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts are set to perform as Glastonbury headliners later this summer.

The Lottery Winners have shared a new single called ‘Dirt And Gold’, starring Frank Turner. The track marks the latest single to be shared by the band from their upcoming album ‘KOKO’. Taking on a passionate, high-energy feel, the new single gradually builds into a defiant, empowering anthem and champions a message of resilience.

“They say you build it and they will come/ But if they don’t at least you’ve built something / And we’re so good at demolition / That now we’ve got nothing / We can’t stop it all from crumbling,” “We’re wild animals in a cage / And we’re plotting our escape / We scratch our nails into the walls / As we’re counting down the days / In the hope that we’ll be saved.” sings frontman Thom Rylance as the song develops. “There’s nobody else who can deliver a chorus like he can,” frontman Thom Rylance said of Turner.

The long-awaited follow-up to their first UK Number One album, 2023’s ‘Anxiety Replacement Therapy’, the record is set to arrive on March 21st via Modern Sky .

Sonically the album has its roots in the usual DITZ influences, classic noise rock such as The Jesus Lizard or Shellac, or the obtuse post punk of the Fall, but also brings in fresh influences. The closing track Britney, could be compared to Radiohead or Mogwai. Overall the album is a clear development from their first effort. A sign of things to come. “Never Exhale” is the sound of a band that hasn’t stopped for a breath. DITZ have toured relentlessly since the release of their first album “The Great Regression“. The songs that form their newest offering were written across Europe, often on off days and in borrowed rehearsal rooms. 

It could be said that the band treat recording and release of music as an afterthought. Often playing songs live years before their release, tweaking them as they go. The songs on the final record may change before they are ever heard as part of the album. 

“Never Exhale” was largely recorded at Holy Mountain studios in London during a freezing cold January. The process was frought with obstacles, the original plan, to go and record in Rhode Island, was abandoned when DITZ were offered a support tour with IDLES, although the album was still mixed by the originally intended engineer, Seth Manchester (Model/Actriz, Lingua Ignota, Big Brave). The result is an album hardened by the pressure of its own making. Laboured but not loved. 

The album themes reveal themselves more on further listens. The opening gambit taxi man is an exploration into what it would be like to weigh up your impact of the world. The eponymous taxi man could be seen as a St Peter type figure. 

  Further on the album explores themes of unnecessary hatred and division, Space/Smile and It smells like something died in here, aging, Senor Siniestro and the separation of the physical from reality, The Body As A Structure. It’s political, but ultimately personal. More Genet or Kafka than Orwell or Huxley. 

Sonically the album has its roots in the usual DITZ influences, classic noise rock such as The Jesus Lizard or Shellac, or the obtuse post punk of the Fall, but also brings in fresh influences. The closing track Britney, could be compared to Radiohead or Mogwai. Overall the album is a clear development from their first effort. A sign of things to come.

‘Never Exhale’ due on 24th January 2025