The Fat Angel Sings

On “Yard”, Wisconsin-bred, Chicago-based four-piece Slow Pulp nestles comfortably into pockets of nuance, impressions, contradictions – sonics and lyrics finessed together to bottle the specific tension of a feeling you’ve never quite been able to find the right words for.

In that regard, listening to Slow Pulp can feel like being in a room with someone who’s known you so long that they can read your every micro-expression and pinpoint exactly how you’re feeling before you can. Perhaps this spawns from the band’s own shared history and chemistry; in various ways, the four of them grew up – are still growing up – together.

The dreamy songs of the Midwest (United States) indie rock outfit draw on moody shoegaze, hooky grunge, and intimate lo-fi fare. The band made their full- length debut with “Moveys” in 2020. After the downcast 2021 7″ “Deleted Scenes“, they put the focus on hooky grunge pop for singles like 2021’s “In Too Deep” and 2023’s “Cramps”. After their label debut single the band toured throughout Europe and the UK earlier this year as main support for Death Cab For Cutie. The new album “Yard” is their second full-length album and first for ANTI-Records.

After recording their 2019 debut “Moveys” remotely during the pandemic, Slow Pulp opted to do the same on “Yard”, their gauzy, confident, and endlessly comforting sophomore full-length. The album showcases a band capable of switching between loud, intoxicating indie rock songs and soft, quietly affecting ones – what’s remarkable is that they so clearly share the same heart. Grappling with anxious isolation as much as it benefits from collaboration, it finds Emily Massey pushing her vocal limits while continuing to express self-doubt around different facets of her life. “Am I wrong?/ Or is it okay to stay inside and out of love?/ Tell me I’m wrong/ I’m just gonna give it a try and hope that it’s enough,” she sings on ‘Broadview’. All over “Yard”, you can feel the sun burning, and you can feel the love slipping through. Those questions don’t go away, but the feeling is infectious.

Teddy Mathews – Drums, auxiliary percussion, bass, guitar Alex Leeds – Bass, guitar, vocals Emily Massey – Vocals, guitar, bass Henry Stoehr – Guitar, piano, keyboards, bass, auxiliary percussion Sachi DiSerafino – Additional production on ‘Slugs’

“Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You” might seem like an ominous title for an album of such simple, homespun beauty. The quiet domesticity that permeated Will Oldham’s last solo album as Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, 2019’s “I Made a Place”, can be heard at the root of the new songs, but they wear their lessons with proud and penetrating ease, less prone to guard and puzzle. They’re bare-bones, soft, and raw even when embellished by strings, horns, and backing vocals, taking their time to unwind slowly, as if to exist this way is our only salvation against destructive forces both beyond and very much in our control.

The songs on “Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You” have no choice but to live in an apocalypse, but in the you there also lives an us: if I share these and you pass them around, we might make something of our doomed time.

Part of what makes Snõõper’s approach as a punk band so unique is the way they combine some of the members’ hardcore background with a wild playfulness that not only extends to, but is largely cantered around, their live show, which incorporates mediums such as 8-bit animation and puppetry for a meticulously structured yet constantly evolving set. It’s that experience they set out to mirror on their debut full-length, “Super Snõõper”, released via Jack White’s Third Man Records.

From Nashville, Tennessee… Snooper definitely not the sound you would normally associate with the city, rather the opposite. 50 minutes of madness, songs ranging from 30 – 90 seconds (although indulged themselves with a 3 min prog number, non-stop dancing, crowd surfing and stage diving…and that was the band.

It’s impressive just how many ideas they pack in under 23 minutes, boasting an assemblage of styles that comes across as gleeful yet frantic, mangled yet precise, intense and extremely danceable at the same time. The whole time, it’s clear the thing Snõõper capitalize on isn’t chaos or aggression, but pure fun – even if it only funnels out as such at the very last second.

At the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on November 3rd, 2023, The former Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page performs 2023 Inductee Link Wray’s rock instrumental cover of “Rumble”. The live performances were held at the Barclays Center in New York. Billboard: Jimmy Page – one of the best and most influential guitarists of all time – made an unannounced appearance at the Rock Hall to induct the late Link Wray. Page appeared in a video montage about the power chord pioneer, calling Wray his “hero” and saying, “If ever there was a guitarist who deserved this, it was Link Wray.” But when the lights came up and the Led Zeppelin legend was on stage in the flesh, the crowd went crazy. Busting into “Rumble,” Wray’s iconic instrumental, Page looked happy as hell playing a song he’s loved his whole life on a double-necked guitar. And the crowd ate up every moment, with Elton John blowing him a kiss as he took the stage to induct Bernie Taupin.

One of a couple tribute performances from this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, Jimmy Page appeared as an unannounced surprise guest to chug through Link Wray’s instrumental distortion-fest. He even brought the double-necked guitar, just to make it extra epic (given he only uses the one neck).

Tulsa singer Casii Stephan took to the city’s recently renovated Church Studio, founded by local hero Leon Russell, to cover the man himself. She said she first learned the love song to play at a friend’s wedding, but now it’s part of the repertoire. It’s a simple one-take recording, just her and a piano, but she has the pipes and the chops to deliver it beautifully.

The moment that was captured in The Church Studio is due to these people right here. Mike and Gary made it possible for me to keep playing and get the right take. Bobby Ross and Keith Daniel’s aka SneakthePoet captured the moment on film so beautifully. And then Bobby Ross captured it in photos so that I could look like the serious musician I’ve always dreamed to be. Being an artist is always about the people you have around you.

Toledo made a splash with their debut album “How It Ends” in 2022. It seems that they’re ready to carry that momentum even further, with a new single “Jesus Bathroom” might just be the catchiest song you hear all month. As the year comes to a close, Dan Álvarez de Toledo and Jordan Dunn-Pilz are making sure they get in on the action before it’s all said and done—and what a way to do it. “Jesus Bathroom” is synth-driven and bubbly, arriving like a grand amalgam of dream pop and the type of indie rock we’ve known, adored and revisited over and over for the last decade. But, even then, Toledo is onto something much grander here.

The turns are punchy, the vocals are saccharine. Caught somewhere between the 1975 and Wild Pink, “Jesus Bathroom” is a perfect three-minute achievement. I’m crossing my fingers that it means a new Toledo album is on the way. The world needs it. 

Released on: 2nd November 2023

NYC singer/songwriter Katy Kirby is on another level right now. Her last two singles—“Cubic Zirconia” and “Table”—have been among some of our favourite tracks of the year so far. Now, she’s unloading another clip of distinctive, stirring beauty. “Party Of The Century” might, based on the title alone, suggest that it’s an anthemic, upbeat song—but Kirby is not the type of musician to let us off so easily. No, “Party Of The Century” is pensive and sublime and harmonic, as the largely acoustic arrangement—packed with violin and folkloric percussion—establishes itself, immediately, as one of the best Kirby has ever proctored.

Co-written with Christian Lee Hutson, the story is one that is as devastating as it is so deftly romantic, as she opens the track with an observation that the one she loves doesn’t want to bring kids into this world, even though they’re so good with kids. “You’re my worst survival strategy, last safety match I’ve got to light up,” she sings. “Happy anniversary, I’m happy as I’ll ever be. And I still wanna make love in this club.” Party of the century? Yes. Song of the year? You could argue that. I certainly will. 

“Party of the Century” from the upcoming album “Blue Raspberry”, out on January 26th, 2024

The fiery lead single from Chicago duo Friko’s forthcoming debut album “Where we’ve been, Where we go from here”, “Crashing Through” does what its title suggests. A sonic drop hits right after a fine-tuned drum fill from Bailey Minzenberger, and it’s a breakdown that arrives as an organic fixture of Friko’s guiding momentum they bring to every song. The harmonics embrace the untapped, energetic potential of a live show, and Niko Kapetan’s singing galvanize saccharine, heavy guitar chords into an oblivion of noise, gang vocals and a wallpaper of distortion. “I haven’t said what I mean to say, haven’t done what I mean to do,” Kapetan wails. “‘Cause every coward looks away from all the light crashing through.” The volume metrics are off the chart, as Minzenberger’s percussion ensconces Kapetan’s worn-in, sandpaper-polished singing like a fence of landmines.

You can pick out familiar components in the band’s work and name them but, how they’re merged together—under the bow of Friko’s finesse and button-bursting energy—arrives untapped, nuanced and dramatic. 

“Crashing Through” previews Friko’s debut album ‘Where we’ve been, where we go from here’ which will be released on 16th February 2024

After years of silently grieving the loss of Richard Swift and Danny Lacy and focusing on supporting other musicians, Jonathan Rado brings his voice—and the voices of his dearly departed friends—to “For Who the Bell Tolls For”. Rado wasn’t planning on turning his musical catharsis into a full album—which is evident in the vast range of sonic variation from song to song—yet he captured the essence of his two beloved friends through comedy, beauty and their love of art. The intention behind “For Who The Bell Tolls For” was an exploration of Rado’s losses and, rather than create a sappy tribute album, he wanted to bring his friends back to life in a way they would have loved. The title track is an anthemic open letter to Swift that surrounds Rado’s complex feelings towards his mentor’s death—layered with trumpets, keys and drums.

The piano melody invokes the vibrancy of Elton John while adding Rado’s productional flair to create a larger-than-life sound. “When you reach the deepest depths / And you take your final steps / You can finally get some rest / Under the ocean,” he sings, hoping for a peaceful afterlife for the acclaimed producer. Yet some of Rado’s remorse creeps in with the line “I was just too blind to see that terrible disease,” he sings as a confession to Swift, who dealt with alcoholism throughout his life.

“Yer Funeral” closes out the album in a wordless eulogy that begins as a simple organ ballad and builds into a grand symphony of memory resurrected through a display of Rado’s multi-instrumental talents. Unsurprisingly, the most melancholic track references Swift writing “Yer Mom” on the side of a barn in a yard sale painting. A silly joke between friends turned into a moving ballad is exactly what Rado hoped to accomplish by bringing his unique perspective to the concept of a classic tribute album. Although he writes some incredibly thoughtful lyrics throughout the album, “Yer Funeral” is the most beautifully painful arrangement on “For Who The Bell Tolls For” altogether. After all, Jonathan Rado’s strength has always been how he expresses himself through his instruments; letting them speak for themselves on the languid seven-minute song feels like a fitting final goodbye to his loved ones. Hemingway also said: “Everything you have is to give,” and Rado gave his friends’ souls one last chance to be a piece of his art from beyond.

On Friday, December 1st, a years-long prophecy will be fulfilled. Kevin Patrick Sullivan—known to many as Field Medic—will release his highly anticipated new album, a record first announced seven years ago when, at a gig, he prefaced “Do A Little Dope” with a single promise: The song will have its official studio release in 2023, on a forthcoming collection entitled “dope girl chronicles”. The album is a labour of immense love from Sullivan—both in service to the lore of Field Medic and to the listeners who’ve been supporting him for a decade. The songs were written around the same time “dope girl chronicles” was first teased on-stage, but this chapter is not a spur-of-the-moment construction of brand-new tracks meant to bring a fable to life. No, these songs are of a special moment in Sullivan’s creativity. Written through the headspace he was in in 2015 and 2016, tracks like “dope girl,” “cemetery,” and “cement” are as affixed to the legacy and legend of dope girl chronicles as Sullivan is himself. The songs all share a common thread of relationships, not crafting an orbit around sobriety and mental health like Sullivan’s recent releases

Lyrically, “dope girl chronicles” is as gut-wrenching, evocative and clever as ever; a black light inspection of Sullivan’s own psyche. You don’t write a song like “do a little dope”—and center a record around it—without a keen sense of gallows humour. And yet, there’s a hopeful throughline running throughout the record, focused most squarely on the titular “dope girl.” Never has Sullivan’s lyrics painted such a cozy scene. “Tell me, what am I supposed to do when you’re kissing me awake?” he sings on “clear thoughts of morning,” before adding a swift “my love, her eyes go unadorned and see right through me.” Some moments are downright silly in their domestic bliss, such as the opening line of “silver girl,” where Sullivan muses: “Girl, your command of language has got me sprung, you express yourself just like Joan Didion.” So much of the Field Medic catalogue features Sullivan working through things internally, so it’s nice to find him shifting the perspective here.

“dope girl chronicles” is unlikely to upend anyone’s year-end lists. It might well be, by its very nature, destined for a lifetime as a companion piece to its predecessor, something for the real OGs that might need to be rediscovered years down the line. Its very existence is evidence of Sullivan’s many devout fans holding him to a promise he made seven years ago. It might not have been a promise he truly intended on keeping, but it’s pretty incredible he got the chance to make good with an album that routinely delivers the best of what Field Medic has to offer.

released December 1st, 2023