The Fat Angel Sings

Luluc singer songwriter from Brooklyn, New York are excited to announce their fifth album “Diamonds”, due September 15th via Community Music. The announcement is heralded by the release of the album’s title track alongside a striking black-and-white video, a perfect visual accompaniment to the placid dreaminess of the music.

“The songs speak for themselves, they contain all you will need. It doesn’t feel right to say ‘what they are about,” the band’s Zoë Randell says about the album. “What inspired them is, as always, vast and uncontainable. The personal is of course in there, but only in a detached way, and I use it only to launch or find a way into the possibilities and ideas. I do it that way, so the songs can be for you, whoever the listener is, or may be. Not as some kind of catharsis session for me.

“I/we want to create expansive, deep worlds that go well beyond the sense of author, and creators, to create musical and lyrical spaces that have layers and (hopefully) intrigue. That reward you when you come back, and that you can enjoy in different moods and modes. Loud or soft. It does feel akin to a kind of diamond mining. It requires going into depths, not always or at all easy, and then getting the idea all the way to something that gleams and glints; and offers a sense of music and light, a sense of the richness that is everywhere if you get your perspective just so.”

Through their 14-year creative partnership, the duo of Zoë Randell and Steve Hassett have carved a formidable niche for themselves with their imaginative folk, successively incorporating new elements as disparate as icy synths and warm brass with each new album. After several Sub Pop releases, collaborations with Aaron Dessner, and tours with J Mascis and more, Luluc has reached a new creative peak with “Diamonds”, and it feels very much like their true time in the spotlight has arrived.

“Spare and haunted, with electronic sputters that ominously circle Randell’s singing,

“Luluc’s dream world, like the real one, is still complicated: at times as idyllic as the vision of “blue water and sunshine” in the Carpenters-esque “Dreaming”; at times a claustrophobic nightmare roping you in against your will.” – UNCUT

releases September 15th, 2023

Zoe Randell – voice, guitars
Steve Hassett – voice, guitars, synths, piano, bass, drums & percussion
Stuart Bogie – horns (tracks 1 & 5)
JT Bates – drums (tracks 1, 3 & 5)
Richard Vaudrey – cellos (tracks 4, 6 & 8)
Horn arrangements by Steve Hassett & Stuart Bogie
String arrangements by Steve Hassett & Zoe Randell

All songs written and produced by Zoe Randell and Steve Hassett except As Tears Go By, written by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Andrew Loog Oldham

Maple Glider, aka Melbourne / Naarm-based artist Tori Zietsch, returns with new album “I Get Into Trouble”, the follow-up to her stunning 2021 debut “To Enjoy is the Only Thing”. “I Get Into Trouble” sees Zietsch delve into her Christian childhood, exploring her relationship to her body, consent, shame, and the death of relationships, both romantic and familial. Heartbreaking at times, the songs ultimately paint a hopeful picture, shining a light on new life, new love, and the desire to find peace and connection with these experiences.

While Maple Glider’s delicate brand of sneakily catchy psych-folk has never sounded sharper, the music centers around the lyrics, exploring these deeply personal themes and often serving as a self-catharsis, brought to vivid life by the beauty of Zietsch’s artistry and wry sense of dark humour.

Small-town dream pop band Wild Nothing is set to release their sixth studio album “Hold” next month, and their second single from the album, “Suburban Solutions,” is a shimmering synth soundtrack of subversive suburbia—the counterpart to previous groovy single “Headlights On” (featuring Hatchie). Packed with an unflinching ‘80s pop influence and a biting satire of the beloved decade, Jack Tatum’s comeback after five years of new fatherhood and the return of personal production is off to an impeccable start. The chorus delivers a jingle for a fictitious company, reassuring us to “Take a deep breath, “Suburban Solutions2 has your back.” The single is the perfect merger of nihilism and nostalgia, punctuated with the promise of a colourful album we can’t wait to indulge in.

“Suburban Solutions” by Wild Nothing off new album ‘Hold’ out October 27, 2023.

There’s an argument to be made that no alt-rock outfit is primed to have a more explosive breakout than Truth Club. The Raleigh, North Carolina-based quartet go absolutely dummy on “Uh Oh,” the latest single from their forthcoming sophomore record “Running From the Chase”. It’s drawling, introspective singer/songwriter bliss tinged with extra dimples of shoegaze and sludge. As a successor to “Blue Eternal” and “Exit Cycle,” “Uh Oh” is a perfect third chapter—and perhaps the band’s most shining moment to date. Travis Harrington’s vocals are particularly gauzy, as if Alex G was trying to do his best Slowdive impersonation. But even then, what Truth Club is doing here is unparalleled.

“Uh Oh” quickly has become one of my favourite tracks of the year—and it’s just another reason why the band exists in a space with folks like Wednesday, Squirrel Flower and Indigo De Souza, rock musicians making compelling tunes that are just so damn rewarding and mountain-moving that you can’t quite put an exact finger on why this moment, here in 2023, has been the perfect time to catch lightning in a bottle.

From Truth Club’s “Running From the Chase“, out October 6th, 2023 via Double Double Whammy

The lead single from their forthcoming record “Bananasugarfire”, Philadelphian stalwarts Golden Apples evoke wondrous, left-of-the-dial pop-rock on “Waiting For A Cloud.” It’s a sunsoaked marauding of gold-plated guitars and explosive percussion behind Russell Edling’s bright, relentlessly dreamy vocals. Imagine Yo La Tengo making a Replacements song at Miami Beach and you’ll get Golden Apples’ “Waiting For A Cloud.” It’s relentlessly catchy and lyrically confounding, as Edling spins crisp, warm language into mesmerizing verses. “Sentries of your psyche were seduced and led away,” he sings. “Tomorrow’s urgencies are marking targets from today, a growing chill inside you keeps you hopeless. Unknowing still, you’re racing for the edge.” Golden Apples have been socking under-the-radar dingers since 2017, but “Bananasugarfire” suggests it’s high-time they break out.

If “Waiting For A Cloud” is any indication, we’re right on the money. The Golden Apples sound like a cool band from the College Radio days of the late 80s early 90s or a really happy upbeat version of REM, Teenage Fanclub.

Russell is joined by a handful of other familiar faces from the Philly music scene, including Mimi Gallagher (Nona, Year of Glad, Eight), Melissa Brain (Amanda X), and Matthew Scheuermann (The Sidekicks, Lowercase Roses). Russell, Mimi, and Melissa have also all played together in Dave Tomaine’s Cave People collective.

“Waiting For A Cloud'” by Golden Apples , from the album ‘Bananasugarfire’ out October 27th on Lame-O Records.

The second single from their comeback album “Hard Light”, “A Hitch” was the first song Drop Nineteens wrote together when they reunited. It’s been three decades since the Boston band put out a record, but they don’t miss a beat here. “A Hitch” could have come out on “Delaware” in 1992, yet it feels unequivocally modern and fresh—a testament to just how good Drop Nineteens are.

Vocalist Greg Ackell delivers a woozy sermon, as his beloved bandmates offer a mountain of guitar-driven distortion behind him.

“Hard Light” is every bit the ride that “Delaware” was, diverse in its sounds, with surprises at every turn. Drop Nineteens have brought clarity and cool in 2023 to the genre they helped create. A portrait of a band 30 years later, as talented and dedicated to their craft as ever. To put it more bluntly, they’re at the top of their game.

“Well, there’s somethin’ you should know, and there’s nothing crude about it,” he sings. “Is it too fast or too slow? It was oceans ago, shoveling up the snow like I couldn’t live without it.” It’s good to have Drop Nineteens back; it’s even better that they sound as good as a band who never left.

Following the release of singles “Soft Like A Flower” and “Ready For You” from Cherry Glazerr’s upcoming album “I Don’t Want You Anymore”, the haunting third single, “Sugar,” is sickeningly sweet. After reflecting and maturing during a five-year hiatus, Clementine Creevy returns to her roots of self-production for her fifth album—which she hasn’t explored since her debut, “Haxel Princess” in 2014. “Sugar” details Creevy’s distaste for a lover that she can’t let go of, presented through a raw confession of a tumultuous relationship.

The song creeps along with melodic croons from Creevy and it builds into the morbidly danceable third act—combining the anthemic energy of “Ready For You” and the hypnotic chorus of “Soft Like A Flower.”

Full album out September 29th on Secretly Canadian.

Released as the B-side to fan-favourite “Vampire Empire,” Big Thief’s latest single offering is all unbridled elation bubbling underneath the surface of indie folk mastery. Adrianne Lenker sings “​​When the hard times come and the hard times stay, when they stick around and won’t go away, I was born for loving you. That’s just something I was made to do.” The arrangement is understated, twangy and laid-back—even Lenker’s delivery lands on the mellower side of her catalogue—but it’s the warmest the band has ever sounded. Though a new staple in the group’s live sets, this studio version of “Born for Loving You” is a stark reminder of what it means to be genuine and genuinely in love.

A limited 7″ vinyl will be released October 20th,

Ebony Lamb finalist for the 2023 Silver Scroll Award, continues to tease her self-titled debut album, out on 20th October via Nadia Reid’s Slow Time Records. The Pōneke-based songwriter today reveals her latest single and video for ‘Drive Me Around’, directed by Shyam Patel and Jacob Munro, made with the support of NZ On Air. It features the producing chops of Aotearoa icons Bic Runga and Kody Nielson (Opossum, Silicon, UMO), with additional collaboration from old Eb & Sparrow bandmate Gram Antler.

The soulful singer leans into vintage sounds from Mellotron flute, marching percussion and restrained guitar as she twirls through urban locales in the accompanying clip — including the Woodward Street pedestrian tunnel, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa (The National Library of New Zealand) and the overbridge of Aurora Terrace Motorway. Lamb will soon commence a tour with bandmates Phoebe Johnson and Hikurangi Schaverien-Kaa.

“I’m thinking about one of my oldest best friends (in the song). We grew up together in Hawkes Bay, and he really looked out for me in my formative years, driving us all over the place, spending time together, experimenting, and experiencing life. We don’t see each other anymore, but I still think about him that way.”

Ebony Lamb’s self-titled debut solo album is out on Friday 20th October via Slow Time Records. 

The third album and the Sub Pop Records debut by Chicago rock band Deeper brings touches of The Cars, Television, and Low-era David Bowie to the band’s brand of catchy, energetic, guitar-driven rock. Deeper is an integral part of the vibrant Chicago scene that includes bands like Dehd, Lala Lala, Horsegirl, and Lifeguard.

You can’t get Deeper if you’re standing still. That’s intentional, says the Chicago quartet’s Nic Gohl. “Does it feel good when you’re listening to this song? Does your body want to move with it?” These are the questions he asked himself as he and bandmates Shiraz Bhatti, Drew McBride, and Kevin Fairbairn were writing and recording “Careful!”, their third record and Sub Pop debut album release. “I wanted these to be interesting songs, but in a way where a two-year-old would vibe out to it,” Gohl adds. “It’s pop music, basically.” That “basically” qualifier is working pretty hard, as fans of 2020’s “Auto-Pain” might suppose. On “Careful!”, they’re not reimagining their sound so much as testing its limits. If you want to, you can hear echoes of David Bowie’s Low in the snapping rhythm and gray-sky synths of “Tele,” but you can also hear a bit of “Auto-Pain” in the nailed-in, stippling lines being spit out by Bhatti’s drum programming and McBride’s synthesizer. “Fame” seems to stumble together and nearly fall apart, the dialed-up noise making the beat feel maniacal and a little invincible, the whole thing a series of short, snipped, autonomous gestures that are by now Deeper’s trademark.

“Build a Bridge” pushes in the opposite direction, using a prickly guitar line to launch into big, smeary art-pop, its emotional palette clear, well-defined, and easy to latch onto. On “Sub,” Gohl sings above and below the melody like Ian McCulloch, bellowing and wondering and ruminating and rounding into swaggering confidence that the band rises to meet. It’s festival headliner music that still feels like it was written in a garage. That fraternal interdependence is near the center of Deeper’s music. The musical and lyrical devotion to mutuality makes this restlessly curious, stylistically broad album feels like the most coherent portrait of who Deeper is. Or, as McBride ultimately frames it, “Careful! is about looking out for one another.”

And if “Careful!” is the result of such self-interrogation, then a Deeper song is a maze. These songs tangle and untangle. They smash together tightly-wound instrumentals with Nic Gohls’ amorphic shouting. Lines like “Playful words are meaningless / Cover them with gasoline and pray” gesture towards some kind of profoundness, even though they’re oblique enough to not mean anything at all. For all of its pulsing, four-on-the-floor rock music, “Careful!” still feels like a thinker. Even if Deeper wanted this album to be their “pop music” record, as Gohl has suggested, the album is coursing with too much dissonance and angularity to land that way. At the same time, it’s that puzzling and vibrative energy that keeps these songs interesting.

Deeper have always had a musical connectedness that makes them sound lean and confident, but they seem more comfortable incorporating new elements into that connective tissue now. The synth-work across “Careful!” adds electricity; a saxophone snarls in between the guitars on “Fame”; there’s a nearly-danceable beat on “Tele.” And yet, the distinction between “Careful!” and isn’t quite the leaps and bounds that the band might’ve promised. The colour palettes have changed slightly, but the architecture remains the same. They still sound sharp.

Careful! , out now on Sub Pop Records.