Sea Girls have unveiled their next single ‘Heavenly War’. Last year, Londoners Sea Girls unveiled a string of explosive singles, including their debut ‘Call Me Out’, the compelling track ‘Lost’ and ‘What For’. It’s yet another slice of shimmering indie-disco that’s filled with rolling, cascading drum licks and another soaring hook.
The single release comes ahead of the band’s first headline UK tour, launching from London’s Omera on February 1st. Speaking of the single, frontman Henry Camamile explained: “This song is about that weirdly exciting but quite difficult conflict of feelings and events that makes our lives worth living. Ultimately describing that moment when you feel the best about life. I think it’s a really positive message.”
With its addictive shimmering sound, ‘Heavenly War’ is another cracking indie-soaked single from Sea Girls that had us instantly hitting repeat. London alt-indie quartet, with Henry Camamile’s baritone arguably one of the best new indie voices to be heard. Two previous singles, ‘Call Me Out’ and ‘Lost’ in 2017 proved they’re not one hit wonders
FEBRUARY
01 London, Omeara
02 Bristol, The Exchange
03 Leicester, The Cookie
08 Manchester, Deaf Institute
09 Leeds, Brudenell Community Room
10 Glasgow, King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut
In case you missed it, we recorded a collection of covers! These will be available on our EP,“Show Me How You Want It To Be”, released in November on Dangerbird Records. The EP will be available digitally on vinyl.
Slothrust impressed us last year with their album Everyone Else, and now the Brooklyn trio are following that up with an EP of covers entitled Show Me How You Want It To Be. The collection features songs by everyone from Britney Spears to Black Sabbath, and they’ve also shared their rendition of Marcy Playground’s nonsensical 1997 hit “Sex And Candy,” turning it into a hard-charging, fuzzed-out rocker complete with a blistering classic-rock guitar solo.
Show Me How You Want It To Be EP tracklist:
01 “Sex And Candy” (Marcy Playground Cover)
02 “Electric Funeral” (Black Sabbath Cover)
03 “What A Wonderful World” (Louis Armstrong Cover)
04 “…Baby One More Time” (Britney Spears Cover)
05 “Happy Together” (The Turtles Cover)
06 “Let’s Stay Together” (Al Green Cover)
It’s possible you managed to miss the debut album from Manchester’s The Breath – the unique pairing of Rioghnach Connolly (of folk-hoppers Honeyfeet) and guitarist Stuart McCallum (of The Cinematic Orchestra). If they can build on its brilliance in 2017, then prepare to see them hit the mainstream.
Tantalising in theory; and in reality, a creative union between singer/flautist Rioghnach and guitarist Stuart surpassed our already high expectations. Carry Your Kin’s charm lays in its organic, unhurried sense of musicality. Tough to pigeonhole, it flowed easily between soul, folk and ambient styles.”
When you listen to Sylvan Esso singer and lyricist Amelia Meath talk about the band’s new album, “What Now”, you quickly learn how profoundly she’s motivated by love. There’s the love of magical sounds and the euphoria she feels when music “lifts you off the earth.” There’s the love for the audience, of connecting with and freeing them through song. And, especially for Meath, there’s the love of dance and of feeling the body (literally) become the music.
The release of What Now, we asked Meath to share some of the stories behind the new songs. She revealed a lot about what went into each track, but also reflected on the kinds of things that can keep her up at night, like whether being in a band matters when there’s more important work to do, how she’s sometimes sad when everything is awesome and how flagrant sexism in the music industry can ruin everything.
1. Sound
“Writing ‘Sound’ was one of the more relieving moments of creating What Now. Once it was finished we knew that it was the first track. It became a reassuring light post through what would become a rather intense and doubt-filled writing process. That opening sound is an old, half-broken Korg MS-20 being tuned by my voice. So much was wrapped up in that initial sound for us — the mission statement of our makeshift reverse-auto-tune, the combination of the two of us in a single sound, the idea of translating your humanity through a machine in the hopes of connecting with someone on the other side, it all feels contained in that moment. It functions as a statement of purpose and a love letter to the listener. ‘Here you go, we made this for you, let it take you away from your general day-to-day for a little while, let it lift you.'”
2. The Glow
“‘The Glow’ is about listening to The Microphones’ record The Glow Pt. 2, one of the first records that I really loved. Each track made my heartsick, high-schooler self feel less lonely and more safe. I used to listen to it on a Discman while I walked home from shows at The Middle East or TT The Bear’s in Cambridge MA. All of the people mentioned in the verses are people I went to high school with, whom I was completely in awe of — pretty much still am.
“Overall, it’s a song about being lifted off the earth by music — a feeling that I was so used to when I was 14 and which I am constantly reaching towards and trying to create as a musician. I miss it and I’m worried that it’s happening less and less. I want to give it to other people.”
3. Die Young
“I wanted to write a love song. There are so many of them that I tend to avoid directly writing about love. Poor love — its been compared to everything! But I wanted to get in the game, because I am in love and wanted to see if I could do it. So of course I write this bummer of a happy pop-dirge.”
4. Radio
“Lyrically, this is mostly me talking to myself. Hilariously enough this song is on the radio now, but at the time I was feeling an immense amount of pressure to write new songs for What Now even though we were still mid-cycle on our first record. Most of the song is spent accusing myself of trying to become a successful musician when there are so many other important things to be doing other than sucking up to the man, trying to get America to think you are cool. Also — getting on mainstream radio is like trying to join a secret society, particularly if you are female. Stations have literally come back to us saying that they already have ‘a female vocal’ in their playlist.
5. Kick Jump Twist
“This is about jumping through hoops trying to get people to love you. Be it practicing your dance moves and sexy face in the mirror, or prepping your audition for RuPaul’s Drag Race. It’s a song about how we perform our lives — and also, about being in a band and touring forever.”
6. Song
“My favorite manifestation of heartache is wanting to be a piece of music. As in, actually being so filled with emotion and energy that you leave your human body and transcend into pure melody. For real. That is what this tune is about, as well as the reality of being in love versus what love songs and rom-coms tell us love is like — how sometimes a song can make you feel more in love than the real thing. Or at least it gives you a moment to completely feel it, without distraction.”
7. Just Dancing
“I wanted to talk about how Tinder has made it possible to only go on first dates forever. How all of the sudden it is completely possible to be in control of how potential romantic partners see you. How if you wanted to, you could be your own most ideal version of yourself. But you would have to keep on changing who you were dating to keep that beginning of a relationship feeling. How you could live in this false image of yourself, reflected through your partners’ eyes, never landing.”
8. Signal
“It’s about life mimicking technology and technology mimicking life. Searching for truth and honesty in a sea of noise. How, despite all the changes to the ways we go about it, we all still want the same thing any human has ever wanted: to be, connect with other humans and feel understood.
9. Slack Jaw
“Everything is awesome — and I am still sad.”
10. Rewind
“This is about me watching scenes from movies over and over again when I was a kid, learning turns of phrases and dance moves, and how to be a person. The chorus is about repeated viewings on VHS — how when you are rewinding something the picture dims and when you press ‘play,’ the room floods with light again. It is about building your personality from media, and then slowly dismantling it to become an honest human and an amalgamation of your influences from family, friends, movies, music and idols.”
The Only Ones formed in 1976 at the dawn of the punk era although while incorporating elements of that style they also brought studied musicianship with guitarist John Perry citing Jeff Beck and Hendrix as major influences. Singer, songwriter and rhythm guitarist Peter Perrett, on the other hand, was steeped in the melancholic acid musings of Syd Barrett and his vocal phrasings often echoed the drawl of punk godfather Lou Reed. The band line-up was completed by Alan Mair on bass and ex-Spooky Tooth member Mike Kellie on drums.
Initially active in the late 1970s, they were associated with punk rock yet straddled the musical territory in between punk, power pop and rock, with noticeable influences from psychedelia (qualities they shared with contemporaries the Soft Boys).
The band’s debut album for CBS included the critically-acclaimed single ‘Another Girl, Another Planet’. Whilst it might be claimed that The Only Ones never realised their full potential, they were somewhat dogged by record label pressures, internecine wrangling and, inevitably, Peter Perrett’s drug dependency. The band split after working out their CBS contract in 1981.
Peel played the group’s self-released debut single when issued in summer 1977 and continued to support the group over the next few years, booking them for a total of four sessions. He described perennial Festive 50 favourite ‘Another Girl, Another Planet’ as an “artful little caprice” but wasn’t sure what to make of the group’s 1980 single “Fools”, a duet recorded with Pauline Murray, formerly of Penetration:
“still haven’t come to terms with the new Only Ones single featuring Pauline Murray. I see it as a sort of a bit of a jape. It’s quite an amiable record in a way but not what one expects at all. Nothing wrong with that I suppose. One looks forward to the forthcoming LP though.”
This didn’t dissuade him from playing it on at least two occasions though upon release.
In 1989 Peel was impressed with the release of a live album recorded in 1977 (“genuinely a first class LP” and a few years later mentioned that the group’s Peel sessions LP was amongst his favourite Strange Fruit releases .
Peel also played at least one track from England’s Glory, the band Perrett fronted immediately before forming the Only Ones and whose demo recordings were first issued in the late Eighties.
The complete session recorded by The Only Ones on 13th September 1977 for the John Peel show on BBC Radio 1 and broadcast on the 20th of that month.
Tracklist: 1. Lovers Of Today (0:07) 2. Oh No (3:15) 3. Telescopic Love (Special View) (5:23) 4. In Betweens (8:11)
The complete session recorded by The Only Ones on 19th December 1978 for the John Peel show on BBC Radio 1 and broadcast on 3rd January 1979.
Tracklist: 1. Miles From Nowhere (0:07) 2. Flaming Torch (3:47) 3. From Here To Eternity (6:06) 4. Prisoners (9:30)
The complete session recorded on the 5th April 1978 by The Only Ones for the John Peel show on BBC Radio 1 and broadcast on the 14th of that month.
Tracklist: 1. Another Girl, Another Planet (0:07) 2. The Beast (3:07) 3. No Peace For The Wicked (8:47) 4. Language Problem (11:24)
The complete session recorded by The Only Ones on 21 May 1980 for the John Peel show on BBC Radio 1 and broadcast on 2nd June 1980.
Tracklist: 1. The Happy Pilgrim (0:07) 2. The Big Sleep (2:49) 3. Oh Lucinda (Love Becomes A Habit) (8:03) 4. Why Don’t You Kill Yourself (11:16)
Two priceless gifts were bestowed upon Replacements fans this year, most notably the formal release of the band’s oft-bootlegged 1986 live set at Maxwell’s. Unfortunately, that nostalgia trip diverted attention from a new collection of gloriously boozy rock ’n’ roll songs by the Mats’ main sideman and erstwhile Guns N’ Roses bassist, Tommy Stinson. Recorded under his long-dormant Bash & Pop moniker, Anything Could Happen hears Stinson cement his status as the Keith Richards of Generation X: a reedy-voiced, rock ’n’ roll traveler finding his muse in country, blues and Maker’s Mark. Also like Richards, the spiky-haired Stinson manages to be eternally youthful and world-weary at the same time, a study in contradictions that carries through to his songwriting. “I might change my life,” the protagonist sings on the title track, but you’re not entirely sure he believes it.
No surprise that this push and pull of hope and regret is a consistent thread as Stinson faces down the other side of 50. Really, though, what’s so special about Anything Could Happen is that it doesn’t try to be special at all. Instead, it conjures a freewheeling, live-to-tape basement jam fueled by adrenaline and a few cases of beer. And isn’t that what rock ’n’ roll is all about?
New Year’s Eve is the debut EP by English Indie Pop band Pale Waves. The song “New Years Eve” was released through Dirty Hit Records as the band’s third single with the EP to be released on 18th January 2018.
The song was originally released on 7th November 2017 as a download and made available on streaming services the same day . The EP will have three tracks with the full track listing to be announced. It will also be pressed on a limited edition transparent heavyweight red 12″ vinyl, On December 12th 2017 the second single “My Obsession” was released to radio.
From the self-titled debut album released in June 2015,
The self-titled debut record by Algiers definitely deserves attention from 2015, as it is one of the most intense and powerful records of that year. The experimental trio from Atlanta managed to combine post punk, soul, industrial sounds and gospel elements like for instance hums in a very ambitious way and they created a sinister and dark atmosphere throughout the 40min long album. It’s probably not one of these records that impress you at first listen as everything sounds very complex and uncommon – but it is undeniably worth a second listen.
What probably characterizes the band most is Franklin James Fishers infectious and outstanding voice – it is just impressive how it keeps all the influences together. Algiers is an exciting and challenging record, not only concerning the sound, also concerning the emotive and strong lyrics – A record of protest that deals with provocative and political topics like racism. It’s out now via Matador Records.
When Katie Crutchfield released her last record as Waxahatchee, 2015’s Ivy Tripp, she called the album a gas and her release before that, 2013’s Cerulean Salt, a solid. But her fourth full-length, Out in the Storm, may not symbolize a physical state of matter, but it reveals Crutchfield as a scientific element in her own right—explosive, volatile and uncontrollable. At moments where Crutchfield used to put herself down, like on Ivy Tripp’s “Less Than,” she now talks back, standing up for herself, even to herself. She allows herself to get angry or frustrated, such as on “Never Wrong,” the record’s purely rock ‘n’ roll opening track. And she indignantly removes herself from a noxious relationship and asserts her independence on tracks like “8 Ball” and “Brass Beam,” but later portrays the vulnerability and weakness that unavoidably merge with that withdrawal
After the release of 2015’s excellent Ivy Tripp, Katie Crutchfield, a.k.a. Waxahatchee, suggested her next album would revisit the quiet minimalism of her debut, American Weekend. What she produced instead was her loudest, angriest, and—most importantly—best album to date. Out In The Storm is a scathingly candid post-mortem of a bad relationship that isn’t the slog such a description might suggest. The album opens with the catchy, Superchunk-esque guitar rocker “Never Been Wrong” and keeps its hooks in for the nine following tracks. (Credit producer John Agnello for some of that, as his discography goes deep with some of the best guitar-rock bands of the past two decades.) This being Waxahatchee, Out In The Storm still offers plenty of quieter moments, like the slow burn of “Recite Remorse,” the acoustic “A Little More,” and somber album closer “Fade.” The album marks a high point for Crutchfield, who turned a soul-destroying time of her life into one of 2017’s best releases.
Ten years into her career as U.S. Girls, Meg Remy switches up her M.O. for In a Poem Unlimited, eschewing samples in favor of a full live band. She’s still pulling from ‘60s girl groups and R&B, but theres a real ‘70s vibe this time out, adding glam, glitter, disco and funk to her arty mix. (“Sed Knife” from 2016’s Half Free pointed in this direction.) Lyrically, Meg remains a potent voice of protest, mad as hell — literally in one case — and laying into the powers the be. Having road-tested the record with her new band late last year, this year’s tour should be as anticipated as the LP itself.
‘In A Poem Unlimited’, the new album by U.S. Girls, will be released on February 16th 2018 on 4AD Records:
