DYSON, STRINGER, CLOHER – ” Falling Clouds “

Posted: July 24, 2019 in MUSIC
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In 2013,Jen Cloher, Mia DysonandLiz Stringercame together in the spirit of collaboration and experimentation to release an all-too-brief 3-track EP. They took their music deep into the heart of the country, playing more than 40 shows across every state and territory. Dyson Stringer Cloher was a moment in time that showed extraordinary promise. In the intervening six years they all pursued their solo careers – releasing a combined 8 studio albums, winning multiple awards and touring globally. Now, the trio mark their return with a new single & video ‘Falling Clouds’ out now on Milk! Records.

‘Falling Clouds’ reminisces a time when Jen saw The Clouds and Falling Joys at an underage gig in her hometown of Adelaide in the early 90s. “You kicked the door wide open so I could walk onto that stage”  Jen sings, paying tribute to the axe wielding women in Australian music who showed those coming up that it could be done. In the same song, the band questions the absence of Australia’s female poet laureate, “Nothing against Paul or Nick, but if you want to be remembered, then you better have a dick.”

Of the video directed by Annelise Hickey, Jen explains, “Drag has always been a fun way to explore gender through performance. ‘Falling Clouds’ examines how the rules and privileges of gender have shaped the careers of women and non binary artists in Australia. Whilst it’s a serious subject, we decided to have some fun with it. Choosing to take on three of glam rocks most revered icons, we discovered that even masculinity is a performance. Ru Paul nailed it when he said, “We’re all born naked, the rest is drag.”

‘Falling Clouds’ is out now on Milk! Records:

JADU HEART – ” Melt Away “

Posted: July 23, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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UK electronic duo Jadu Heart, who don’t seem to take their homemade masks off for anyone, will release their debut album, “Melt Away”, on August 16th. The new single is this moody, athemic cut that the duo say is “about seeing a bird fall from the sky and trying to bring it back to life. Life is full of these moments and I guess the song is a metaphor for trying to make the best out of a bad situation- which is obviously easier said than done. It’s a super emotional song to us and we always wanted it to be on the album, especially the ending where we sing together and the song ends with a really beautiful counterpoint of arpeggiators.”

Melt Away is the debut album from masked London duo Jadu Heart. Co-produced by Guy Sigsworth (Bjork, Imogen Heap) the record is a dark and dreamy collection of alternative electronic and guitar-led songs for fans of Jai Paul, Radiohead and Tame Impala alike. Despite the spectrum of sounds, throughout the 14 tracks you know you’re in Jadu’s world. It’s a world they have thought a lot about. Having met whilst studying music, Diva and Alex formed the band in conjunction with an extensive universe surrounding two supernatural cursed characters (Dina & Faro), who have become as much a part of them as their own identities.

It’s this supernatural jump-off that gives Jadu Heart the scope to explore raw topics (loneliness, love, sex, drugs, mental health) without clichés or confessions. With a depth to its narrative, Melt Away harks back to an era of concept albums like Ziggy Stardust and Sgt Pepper but the stories within it very much speak to the world as it is today. Despite having no established record label or significant promotion, the launch singles ‘U Never Call Me’, ‘The Cure’ and ‘I’m A Kid’ have already been streamed over 15 million times and their first 5 headline shows have sold out in days.

There seems to be a hunger for Jadu Heart’s brand of storytelling and this is only the beginning of their tale.

Jadu Heart’s new album “Melt Away” is out August 16th, 2019. We’re well excited to play for you, we will even scribble our stupid names over your nice new vinyl of MELT AWAY.

Jadu Heart will live be in-store at Rough Trade NOTTINGHAM to perform tracks from their debut album ‘Melt Away’, released 16th August on VLF Records.

PITCHFORK MUSIC FESTIVAL – Grande Hall Paris 1st November 2019

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SHEER MAG – ” Hardly To Blame “

Posted: July 23, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Sheer Mag

Here’s another glammy rocker from Sheer Mag’s forthcoming “A Distant Call”. Says the band’s guitarist, Matt Palmer, of the song and its video: “In ‘Hardly to Blame’ we see the psychic landscape of Philadelphia transformed by the collapse of Tina’s relationship with her partner. The streets they used to walk together, the bars they used to drink at, and the friends they used to share have all been tainted by the lingering memories of their time together. Closing out side A of A Distant Call, ‘Hardly to Blame’ shows Tina spiraling further down and down. Unfortunately the worst is yet to come, but “Hardly to Blame” gives us a glimpse at someone who thinks they’ve hit bedrock, unaware that the bottom is about to drop out.”

“A Distant Call” is due out 23rd August 2019

SLOWNESS – ” Berths “

Posted: July 21, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Slowness was formed in 2008 in San Francisco by Julie Lynn and Geoffrey Scott. Their 2011 debut EP “Hopeless but Otherwise” was produced by Monte Vallier (Weekend, The Soft Moon, Wax Idols). The LPs “For Those Who Wish to See the Glass Half Full” and  “How to Keep from Falling off a Mountain” followed and were supported by tours in America and Europe. “Berths” was released on June 7th, 2019.

This is their 4th record.

Released June 7th, 2019

Written by Julie Lynn and Geoffrey Scott
Lyrics by Geoffrey Scott
Geoffrey Scott – vocals, guitar and keys
Julie Lynn – vocals, bass and keys
Christy Davis – Drums and additional vocals

 

PLEASURE LEFTISTS – ” The Gate “

Posted: July 21, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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“The Gate”, a new ten song album of cathartic, riveting post-punk excellence. The long-running group, comprised of veteran players in the Cleveland scene, have turned in what is arguably their best recorded output – and the first since 2015’s “The Woods of Heaven”. For “The Gate”, Pleasure Leftists ventured out to Portland, OR in March 2019 to record on tape with Stan Wright (Arctic Flowers) – and the results are massive. Those familiar with previous Pleasure Leftists material will immediately feel reacquainted with the group’s masterful arrangements and cool, confident execution – a style that draws from the early British post-punk classics on labels like 4AD and Factory Records,

Haley Morris’s voice is a force of nature. The singer of long-running Cleveland post-punk outfit Pleasure Leftists has always had a strong, controlled alto, but the range and vibrance of her instrument—she’s gotten comparisons to Siouxsie, Savages’ Jehnny Beth, and “crying Dracula” in the past—is especially luminous on The Gate. Much less gloomy than their previous (excellent) work, The Gate still has the propulsive, danceable rhythms and winding, chorused-out minor key guitars of death rock, but there are moments here where the whole thing cracks open and joy—joy!!—leaks in. See “The Conversation,” when the sublime pop chorus kicks in at roughly 0:45; both Morris’s voice and Kevin Jaworski’s guitar lift several steps; as Morris sings “The conversation is over now,” bassist Steve Peffer and drummer Mark TerVeen hustle to a peak that feels like relief and release. (Feels like the best, and rarest, kind of closure.) Even the gothiest songs, like the spiky “Dancing in the Dark” and the tense, moody “Try the Door,” have soaring bridges or choruses.

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The musicianship is what makes this album feel like an absolutely classic piece of work. The tones are perfect – almost as though Greg Sage dialed them in for a Wipers record. You’ll immediately be taken by Haley Morris’s vocal range and projection, which shines across the entire album and is absolute next level work. The sheer artistic quality of the songwriting is propelled along in perfect rhythm, as the guitar and bass play off of each other wonderfully.

SLAVES – ” The Velvet Ditch ” EP

Posted: July 21, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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“It sounds like everything we want our band to be”. Slaves have released their new EP ‘The Velvet Ditch’ which shows off the “two perspectives” of the Kent punk duo.

Their latest effort, sees the pair showcasing four new songs which failed to make the cut on 2018’s ‘Acts of Fear and Love’. The first track, ‘One More Day Won’t Hurt’ is described by guitarist Laurie Vincent as one of their strongest tracks to date – but he says it didn’t fit in the landscape of their third album.

“Knowing you’ve got a song like that in your back pocket is a nice feeling and it sounds like everything we want our band to be,” said Vincent.

The track is also one of their most thoughtful too, with the pair riffing on how widespread drug use has affected society. A late section of the song sees vocalist Isaac Holman chanting “Cocaine is a hell of a drug when it’s wandering through the veins of a small town thug“.

“It’s that honeypot and small town mentality of where we’re from, and being unable to escape,” Vincent explains.

“It is kind of right, because when I was growing up, drugs were so prominent in all of society and with our job, it’s clear how visible substance is. There’s all these different walks of life, but drugs can be this unifying factor in their lives. It’s almost like the norm now, so we were exploring how it affects us.”

If the first two tracks sees Slaves on typically furious form, the latter half of the EP sees the duo heading into more serene territory. While Isaac says it reflects the “two perspectives” of the band, the title track is a contemplative ballad that sees them exploring the idea of home comforts.

“Isaac’s from Tunbridge Wells in Kent and there was a comedian who coined Tunbridge Wells as being the Velvet Ditch. It’s a place of comfort,” Vincent explained.

“He’s had a few spells being back in Tunbridge Wells and been in-between houses. He has these little periods of his life where he comes back into contact with old friends and past acquaintances and it’s about how easy it is to be lured into that honey pot.

“It’s a comfortable nice place to be, but obviously it isn’t always the best place for you.”

And as for the EP itself, they say it’s reflective of how modern culture has changed the way in which music is consumed.

“Music culture has moved on a lot and albums don’t have the same importance as when we were growing up. It’s more about people wanting to consume a lot of music and you have fans who might only know a couple of tracks off an album. “But they won’t consume them back to front in the way they used to,” Vincent said. The duo will also mark the EP with a series of intimate shows at the end of the year.
Check out those dates in full below.

DECEMBER 2019

7 – Dome, Brighton
9 – Parr Hall, Warrington
10 – Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow
12 – ULU, London
13 – ULU, London
14 – ULU, London

SQUID – ” The Cleaner “

Posted: July 21, 2019 in MUSIC
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One of the weird and/or fun aspects about new bands (loosely) playing into some kind of post-punk lineage is trying to locate all the through lines, piecing together the DNA that gave them their individual sound. Recently, one buzzy London-based band called Black Midi perhaps provided the greatest Rorschach test in this vein, some people hearing Talking Heads and some people hearing something as far removed as King Crimson. But another buzzy London (by way of Brighton) guitar band called Squid.

The intro rhythm — you’ve heard that before. It’s pretty similar to the tightened groove that opens LCD Soundsystem’s “Us V Them,” a callback to another band deeply indebted to late ’70s and early ’80s music and deeply committed to playing fast and loose with those influences. Ollie Judge’s squawking vocals recall early Liars. But it isn’t all filtered through a previous generation’s interpretation of bygone glory days — the synths in the beginning sound like early ’80s Prince, the melodic parts kinda like Wire, and the droning strings of the outro like Nick Cave.

None of this is meant to reduce “The Cleaner” to its touchstones. In quoting all those older artists, the young band came out with a shape-shifting epic, frenzied and twitchy at first then at times genuinely pretty or trippy. And all along the way, it gets right in your bloodstream. “So I can’t dance,” Judge yelps. But it’ll make you want to.

Sure, there’s plenty of great post-punk knocking about on the shores of the old Blighty, but Squid separate themselves with multiple lead vocalists and additional instrumentation—horns, synths, cowbell, triangle, a guiro and god knows what else. They only have a few singles to their name, but tracks like “The Dial” and “Houseplants” are the kind of nervy, spunky art punk tunes that are supremely enjoyable and memorable in both their studio and live forms. Plus, everyone loves a good singing drummer and the London via Brighton five-piece have a great one at that.

Band Members
Louis, Ollie, Anton, Arthur, Laurie,

From the forthcoming ‘Town Centre’ EP – out on Speedy Wunderground digitally on 6th September,

MOLLY SARLE – ” Suddenly “

Posted: July 21, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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From the cliffs of Big Sur to the North Carolina backwoods – Molly Sarlé brings open-hearted, unflinching songwriting perfect for late-night karaoke comedowns, plaintive morning walks, and conjuring the spirit world. West Coast incantations with a warm, Appalachian glow.

Her debut LP (due out in 2019) is a collection of songs by a woman who was born understanding that her ability to feel – deeply and without shame – is her greatest strength. It is the result of a free and open-hearted devotion to the search for passion, and the complete, unwavering depiction of truth. Molly’s songs observe their own kind of internal logic, always a few steps behind or ahead of where you expect them to be – occasionally funny, always uncannily real.

The work on her upcoming album began in a trailer on a the pacific coast and continued with stints in Los Angeles and Durham, NC. Recorded in a church-turned-recording studio in Woodstock, NY, a minimal but carefully assembled palette of guitar, bass, and percussion form the foundation: an orchestra of unrecognizable atmospherics bounce off the high ceilings—but Molly’s delicate, expressive voice is always at the center.

“Suddenly” is from Molly Sarlé’s new album, “Karaoke Angel”, out 9.20.19 on Partisan Records.

STRAND OF OAKS – ” Moon Landing ” Alternate Version On 50th Anniversary Of Apollo 11

Posted: July 20, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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This year Tim Showalter released his sixth album as Strand Of Oaks, “Eraserland”. Recorded with the assistance of his friends in My Morning Jacket, Eraserland is of his strongest works yet, and one of the best albums of 2019 so far. One of its key tracks sits as a centerpiece of the album, the funky, seemingly stream-of-consciousness “Moon Landing” And, appropriately enough, Showalter has chosen the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, to share an alternate take of the song.

The original “Moon Landing” is a feverish rush. The new alternate take is a more restrained, acoustic-based reading that allows the lyrics to come through a bit clearer. In each version, Showalter touches on various aspects of his life, including the fact that he shares his birthday with Chris Cornell and the anniversary of the moon landing — being born on that day then becoming some unifying symbol for all the loose pieces visited throughout the song, the pieces that formed his identity.

Here’s what Showalter had to say about “Moon Landing,” and sharing this new meditative iteration on his birthday:

If Eraserland is a place, “Moon Landing” is the door to get there. There is no chorus or even riffs. It is a glossary to help define who I was when I wrote the record and help piece together all the loose ends. On record it is a career highlight for me probably because my only contribution was vocals. When it came time to play this live, it was bittersweet, missing Jason Isbell’s guitar, Carl’s sax, Kevin’s insane sonics, and really just everyone who was on that recording. It’s meant to be a document and not to be duplicated. I was trying to unlock the song, and I sat on my acoustic strumming three chords and found a totally different song. What I couldn’t recapture was the frenetic energy of studio production, but what I found was the emotional waterfall of lyrics that I honestly never paid a lot of attention to. Then the added weight of 50 years since the Moon Landing, 37 years since I was born, and the beautiful gift that I got to share my birthday with Chris Cornell. I feel like even the date of my birth sums up my life and musical career, the cosmic mixed with musical admiration. I hope you enjoy listening and do me a favour after you do put on “The Day I Tried to Live” and let it flow over you.

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