Feels like yesterday that many of us were just meeting Mitski for the first time, that all-American girl sucking face with her hand while a totally unanticipated grunge-guitar chorus roused us from the somnambulistic acoustic ballad she was wooing us with. It’s a very similar energy that recently also introduced many of us to Common Holly, aka Brigitte Naggar whose “Crazy Ok” follows a very similar trajectory, abruptly escalating from a borderline-twee folk love song to arena-reaching riffs subdued only by an indie-label budget. With little more warning than a blip of harsh electric guitar, the song descends into an utterly chaotic close to Brigitte Naggar’s mostly hushed—though wildly experimental—second album.
“Crazy Ok” from my album ‘When I say to you Black Lightning’ hey what’s this one about? cool have a great day
Following on from their ‘Induction Party e.p’, Mush are circulating their own sonic mythology, blurring the lines between abstract surrealism, existentialism and social commentary. like its predecessor ‘3d routine’ is a sensory overload of clattering, hooky, guitar work. however, this time space emerges between the onslaughts and in this respite, room is found for new emotional depth. more expansive than ever before, ‘3d routine’ manages to maintain the rawness of a classic debut but it’s experimentation and variety portray a band unlikely to rest on their ‘guitar band’ chops. songwriter Dan Hyndman explains the genesis of the band as being “fairly boiler plate” a combination of friends old and new converging in Leeds post-uni to form a band predominantly united in their mutual affection for the Pavement back catalogue. finally settling on a lineup of Nick Grant (bass), Tyson (guitar) and Phil Porter (drums) the band’s progression has taken them far beyond this original vision.
having garnered local attention in the early days for their unhinged and often calamitous live shows in Leeds, it was the unlikely radio hit ‘Alternative Facts’, (clocking in at an uncompromising ten minutes) that brought the Mush to the attention of a wider audience. the song, one of the last releases for the legendary too pure singles club saw early support from Marc Riley and others on BBC 6music with them playing multiple sessions, and the follow up single, ‘Gig Economy’ hopping onto the 6music playlist. roaming further afield from their hometown, Mush spent the first half of 2019 heading out around the uk, earning a reputation for their intense live performances, supporting the likes of Girl Band, the Lovely Eggs, Yak, Shame and Stereolab, as well as releasing the ‘induction Party’ ep to great acclaim. at the tail end of summer of 2019 mush headed to Leeds’ green mount studio and with Andy Savours (dream wife, our girl, my bloody valentine) manning the mixing desk, their debut lp, ‘3d routine’ was born. the way in which the album brazenly moves from polished 3- minute punk tracks, to avant-garde spoken word, to sardonic-political funk, whilst sounding like the same band is testament to an uncompromisingly unrefined ethic and compounds the jarring nature of mush. together, the songs form a unified, abrasive, emotive, frenetic and entirely beguiling concoction of sound and opinion, a fast-moving snapshot of current times, relatable, politically minded and incredibly personal. music for those who want their guitars loud and weird, and their political commentary a little less ‘on the nose’.
Chicago quartet The Hecks have been at it since 2012, starting out as the duo of guitarist Andy Mosiman and Zach Hebert. The band drafted guitarist Dave Vettraino into the fold, a recording engineer who was recording the band’s s/t debut (Trouble In Mind, 2016) & ended up joining the band shortly thereafter. The band’s journey to the end result of “My Star” their second album – has taken them nearly three years in the making.
The new Hecks album is way more fun than anything released by a godchild of Women has any business being. Despite mining the same corner of ’80s pop culture at nearly the same time as Ceremony and Omni, neither of those bands were quite as playful with their homage to new wave, even if that recreational period doesn’t extend all the way to My Star’s repetitive eight-minute closer. The slow build-up of vocals, percussion, synths, and an additional guitar over a single, simple riff across the title-track’s extensive runtime is subtle in a way the rest of the record definitely isn’t, recalling the harsh guitar-rock of their debut.
After recording an initial version of the album in 2017, The Hecks started gigging with new fourth member & keyboardist Jeff Graupner, whose synthesized squiggles added some welcome heft & swagger to the band’s tunes. After reworking & rearranging much of the new material to integrate Graupner, the band scrapped the recordings & rebuilt them from the ground up, incorporating Graupner’s skills at the keys.
Dave V: Vocals / Electric Guitar / Electric Bass Guitar / Engineering
Andy M: Vocals / Electric Guitar / Electric Bass Guitar / Drum Machine / Synthsizer
Jeff G: Vocals / Synthesizer
Zach H: Vocals / Drums / Electric Drums / Drum Machine
“My Star” Trouble In Mind Records, Released on: 2019-10-11
’Letter’ is a visual and sonic representation of the physical embodiment of subtle lingering grief and the arc of healing that follows once love has lost and relationship dynamics have shifted. The pain of one party moving on before the other, leaving a feeling of replacement. The empowerment and strength found from non-sexual friendship, from creative pursuits, and from constant, unapologetic self care, self soothing, and acts of self love. A moving on and moving forward that only happens once one has returned truly to oneself. ‘Letter’ is the beginning of the end of an era.
As if Emily Kempf’s throaty vocals weren’t pronounced enough on Dehd’s sophomore album “Water”, the Chicago trio dropped “Letter” as conclusive evidence that her voice is equally fit for fronting a metal ensemble or going solo as a theatrical pop singer of the exclusive tier pioneered by Kate Bush. As if to prep for another winter on the frigid coast of Lake Michigan, the band seems to be closeting their surfboards and infiltrating the icy post-punk scene, the track opening with nearly a minute of ambient synths before a familiar surf-rock guitar gets to work thawing things out.
released October 10th, 2019, Recorded by Jason Balla
The EP, largely recorded at the Third Man Studio and released on Friday 1st November 2019 through Virgin EMI and Third Man Records, follows on from the release of their critically acclaimed second album Pursuit of Momentary Happiness earlier this year. Frontman Oli Burslem explains, “‘Atlas Complex’ was recorded between Nashville and South London at the beginning of this summer. The “atlas complex” is centred around an idea of losing all sense of everything. It’s a state of mind in which a person believes that the world is on their shoulders and they’re unable to deal with what they perceive as endless problems and uncertainty.” Following the release of Pursuit of Momentary Happiness, the trio completed a month long UK and European tour, followed by 18 dates supporting Foals and performances at Glastonbury and Green Man festivals.
In November they’ll play another run of headlines shows across the UK. Press: •“More refined and guttural, Yak show real intent on flourishing their sound.” – Clash •“Yak are riotous and impossible to tame on their new LP.” – The Line of Best Fit 8/10 • “The trio’s second album is excessive but searches for contentment.” – NME.com 4/5.
Taylor Hawkins and his side-project The Coattail Riders have shared new song ‘Middle Child’ – featuring his fellow Foo Fighters bandmate Dave Grohl. Check it out below.
Taken from The Coattail Riders’ upcoming new album ‘Get The Money‘ (which also features Perry Farrell, Queen‘s Roger Taylor and many more), ‘Middle Child’ is a glam-rock stomper indebted to Hawkins’ love of ’70s classic rock.
The LP is the third to be released by the Foo Fighters drummer’s side project, following up on 2010’s ‘Red LightFever’. It’s the first non-Foos material to be released by Hawkins since his 2016 six-song mini-LP ‘KOTA’.
‘Get The Money’ will be released on November 8th.
Meanwhile, Hawkins and Foo Fighters are also currently at work on their new album – their first since 2017’s ‘Concrete & Gold‘. ‘Middle Child‘ is the latest cut from Taylor Hawkins & The Coattail Riders new album, ‘Get The Money.’
Beach Bunny started in 2015 as a solo outlet for the lead singer Lili Trifilio to process her feelings about a budding relationship. Her early recordings were spare, lo-fi and home-recorded, delicately tackling heartbreak and loss across EPs like 2015’s Animalism, 2016’s Pool Party, and 2017’s Crybaby. In 2017, the project became a full band with Matt Henkels (guitar), Anthony Vaccaro (bass) and Jonathan Alvarado (drums) joining on.
With the 2018 single “Sports” and their breakout 2018 EP Prom Queen, Beach Bunny is now one of Chicago’s most exciting indie rock bands. Their infectious and muscular new musical palate perfectly translated to a raucous, sing-along heavy live show. Though Trifilio’s songwriting remained just as resonant and intimate as her earliest efforts, having her self-described “family unit” backing her has brought a new vitality to these songs. Tracks like “Prom Queen” have earned them millions of streams and their obvious onstage chemistry charmed on tours with bands like PUP and Remo Drive.
With the announcement of Beach Bunny joining the M+P family, we are excited to give you the first single, “Dream Boy,” off their upcoming debut LP Honeymoon out February 14th, 2020. The album is available for pre-order everywhere with limited-edition merch and signed posters available on the band’s webstore. Check out the first single .
Along with the announcement of the new single and album, Beach Bunny has revealed a full headline tour across North America this Fall/Winter.
Haim most recently teased their new single on Twitter on Tuesday, October. 30th (aka “Haimoween”), promising a “HAIMMMMMMMMbop” and posting a delightful mini-tribute to another beloved sibling pop act, Hanson. The Twitter tease was preceded by quite a few others: Haim called their impending single “the most haim haimy haim song ever written” last Monday, revealing that they’d finished recording it on the following day. This Monday, they expanded on the inspiration behind “Now I’m in It” in an emotional series of tweets, with an unidentified Haim sister explaining that the song is “about going through it. a depression. not leaving the house type of shit.” Rostam Batmanglij, Danielle Haim and Ariel Rechtshaid as credited as the recording’s producers in the “Now I’m in It” video’s YouTube description, with mixing by Manny Marroquin, mastering by Emily Lazar (assisted by Chris Allgood), and engineering by Rechtshaid, Batmanglij, John DeBold and Dalton Ricks. Anderson and his team filmed the video on location around Los Angeles earlier this month.
“Now I’m In It“ directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Out now.
Maria McKee returns early next year with a new album La Vita Nuova. Mckee is remembered for her role in American country-rock band Lone Justice and for issuing some amazing solo records, including 1993’s You Gotta Sin To Be Saved (which includes the exquisite ‘I’m Gonna Soothe You’) and Life Is Sweet ( from 1996). Of course, she best known for UK number one single ‘Show Me Heaven’ which was featured in the Tony Scott film Days of Thunder.
Mckee’s last studio long-player, Late December, was released way back in 2007 and in the intervening years, Maria was working alongside her husband in independent film – casting, producing, scoring and acting in them.
However change was afoot. She is no longer with her husband and has recently come out as gay. She said: “Much of queer liberation is finding a way to live beyond hetero ruminative models we’re conditioned to live with. This album is, in a way, an exorcism, a sort of purging of those ideas and expectations”
Expanding on her feelings on what is “a really personal record”, Mckee said:
“I guess I was at that mid-point in life, looking at death, like a ‘Death In Venice’ moment where you have that vision of youth and beauty and it possesses you and you start to grieve for the loss of all the things that youth and beauty allow you to experience; I was grieving at not having had a child and also witnessing young lovers in a relationship that became a friendship and not knowing how to take a step beyond that.”
La Vita Nuova isn’t out until 13th March next year but you can secure a special limited ‘indies-only’ double white vinyl edition
