The Fat Angel Sings

Limited to just 125 Copies. After the release of “The Mound / Disappear” in March, Girls In Synthesis follow up the white-noise bludgeon of their debut single with the “Suburban Hell EP”; a 4 track exposition into the group’s sonic arsenal. From the breathless, spitting attack on small-town bigotry of the title track to the woozy waltz-time, dual-vocal paranoia that is “Fucked“, the EP regularly shifts pace and sonic boundaries without losing any of the intensity the band are acclaimed for. Produced and recorded by the band at their s.i.c.k studio in South London, the project pushed creativity to a high and a decision was made to include an experimental, electronic dub remix version of the E.P as a free download to work as a companion and as a nod to the bands punk and post-punk influences.

Being the first physical release, the same amount of care and attention has gone into the presentation and packaging of the 7”; the limited edition 7” comes on white label, black vinyl with a hand-stamped GiS logo on the a-side. The sleeve is a unique hand-numbered A3, black and white fold-out poster printed on 120gsm recycled stock. For fans of Big Black, Sleaford Mods, Suburban Homes and The Stooges.

Knifeplay is a band that eludes definition, existing somewhere between the nihilistic detachment of shoegaze and the emotional honesty of folk songwriting. Originally a solo bedroom recording project of Tj Strohmer’s, they’ve made a slow and careful shift into a collaborative, production focused, studio recorded band. Through their ever-expanding genre palette, range of fidelities, and long list of collaborators runs a unique current that ties everything together.

Informed by his experiences living in Philadelphia and their contrast with his rural southern Maryland upbringing, Strohmer’s sometimes straightforward, sometimes dreamlike, but always philosophical lyrics feature scenes of darkness from many different aspects of life. He deals with themes of death, drugs, heartbreak, abuse, and self-destruction, all expressed through a delicate vocal style, which, combined with the band’s lush orchestral instrumentation gives a beautiful lightness to the heavy subject matter.

Since their 2017 debut of home-recorded EPs, Knifeplay have earned a dedicated cult following through acclaimed debut album “Pearlty” (2019) and a lengthy “B-Sides Compilation” (2020), all either self-released or through small run tape labels. In 2021 they entered the studio with producer Jeff Zeigler, known for his work with Kurt Vile, Nothing, The War on Drugs, and more, first producing the “Hurt Someone” EP (Born Losers Records) before recording their upcoming sophomore full-length, “Animal Drowning”,

released October 19, 2022

All music written by Knifeplay

Tj Strohmer – Vocals, Guitar, Songwriting
Alex Stackhouse – Bass
John Sciortino – Drums
Max Black – Keyboards, String composition
John Klein – Guitar

Front man Aaron Starkie explained the thought process behind the lyrics to the single and the album’s title – “Growing up as a council estate kid in Manchester I was very conscious of having a limited horizon and I guess I had a chip on my shoulder and something to prove. It’s that background that inspired both our band name and the album’s title track ‘Knowledge Freedom Power’. It is an exercise in positive sloganeering, a mantra for education as a means of a way out from social and psychological confinement.” 

The single is the first to be taken from the album of the same name, which is due for release on February 24th on blue vinyl, CD and cassette as well as “flipped” versions of the artwork with a yellow vinyl variant, CD and cassette available exclusively from their website. The album release precedes a tour of the UK and Europe, which includes an already sold-out hometown show in Manchester, their first in the city since before the pandemic.

The album features ten tracks – all previously unreleased and unheard – Modernise, Afterlife, Sacred Song, Lay Your Troubles On Me, How Could You Know?, Knowledge Freedom Power, What Might Have Been, Seconds Out, Forget About Me and No You Never.

The title track from the Slow Readers Club‘s upcoming album of the same name – Out February 24th 2023!

“Jaguar Sound” is the second solo album of 2022 from Adrian Quesada and with it the Black Pumas co-founder showcases another impressive side of his artistry with 12 head-nodding, cinematic instrumentals landing somewhere between Khruangbin, Lee Hazlewood and The Alchemist.

On the heels of his acclaimed “Boleros Psicodélicos” LP, Adrian Quesada releases “Jaguar Sound“. The twelve-track collection marks the second new album of the year from the Grammy-winning guitarist, producer and Black Pumas co-founder, further showcasing his singular and signature ability to build a bridge between seemingly disparate worlds of music. Steeped in a heady fusion of hip-hop, psychedelic soul and the opulent orchestration of Italian film scores from the 1970s, the LP draws upon inspirations like The Alchemist, Ennio Morricone and Nico Fidenco, as well as his own experience growing up on the border of multiple countries, cultures and languages.

Featuring a special appearance from Ikebe Shakedown, as well as harp by Mary Lattimore, Neal Francis on piano, keys from David Garza and an array of strings, horns and percussion, “Jaguar Sound” was produced, written, engineered, mixed and largely performed by Adrian Quesada.  

Recorded at Quesada’s own Electric Deluxe Studio across 2020, “Jaguar Sound” proves that he is one of the most exciting stylists in modern independent music.

The Cure performing at their first concert in Riga, October 6th, 2022, for the first time and with the only concert in the Baltic States The Cure performed at Arēna Rīga. The icons, supported by now-regular touring partners and one of frontman Robert Smith’s favourite bands The Twilight Sad, began their long run of 2022 dates with a show at Arena Riga in Riga this evening – airing two new songs fans assume are from their long-awaited new album, ‘Songs Of A Lost World‘

Discussing the themes and character of the long-awaited follow-up to 2008’s ‘4:13 Dream‘, Smith said that the album “doesn’t have very much light on it” and that it sounds “more like ‘Disintegration’ than ‘Head On The Door’.” Having long teased the band’s long-awaited “merciless” new record – after telling us that two new albums were on the way back in 2020 – Smith revealed this year that one of them would be “real very soon” and would be called ‘Songs Of A Lost World’.

“It’s pretty relentless, which will appeal to the hardcore of our audience, but I don’t think we’ll be getting any Number One singles off it or anything like that!” he laughed. “It’s been quite harrowing, like it has for everyone else.

Smith added: “Essentially we recorded two albums in 2019. I’ve been trying to finish two at the same time, which is pretty much impossible. One is nearly ready to go.”

“I’ve been more privileged than most, but lockdown and COVID has affected me in as much as I’ve lost an entire generation of aunts and uncles in under a year. It’s things like that which have informed the way I’ve been with the record.”

Opening their 25 song set – where they were also joined by Bamonte, returning to the band having been a member between 1990 and 2005 – The Cure started with the sprawling and bittersweet ‘Alone’; a tender track that saw Smith begin with the line: ‘This is the end of every song we sing‘.

At the end of the first set, which included classics and fan favourites such as ‘Pictures Of You’, ‘Trust’, ‘Fascination Street’ and ‘In Between Days’, The Cure debuted another new song ‘Endsong’ – a much more sombre number where Smith lamented how ‘it’s all gone‘ repeatedly, in a life with ‘no hopes, no dreams, no love – I don’t belong‘.

The concert last night also saw the return of guitarist Perry Bamonte to The Cure’s ranks after 17 years away. He was previously a member of The Cure from 1990 to 2015. Alongside frontman and founder Robert Smith, The Cure’s line-up also features Simon Gallup (bass), Roger O’Donnell (keyboards), Jason Cooper (drums) and Reeves Gabriels (guitars/bass).

The band then returned for more more encores, delivering the likes of ‘Plainsong’, ‘Close To Me’, ‘Friday I’m In Love’ and ‘Boys Don’t Cry’.

Just a couple days before the much-anticipated release of Weyes Blood’s (aka Natalie Mering) forthcoming album, “And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow“, Mering released yet another song that somehow immediately finds its seat in the center of your heart. On “God Turn Me Into A Flower,” her third single from this album, Mering emerges from a synth-laden darkness, with gentle, drawn-out tones that trail off into the sky.

It feels like you’re stepping into a world of her design, with all different bird calls emerging at the end of the track, immersing you in an imaginary, breathless universe. The artist truly steps up to the daunting task of having her voice be the main attraction of the track. Some synth and strings join her, but for the most part, it is her singing twisting throughout the open space created, at some times deeply sorrowful, at others at peace with it all. The way the birds chime in at the end leaves the track feeling like a call to freedom, full of hope even as Mering repeats, “Oh God, turn me into a flower.” Coming from the cathedral-esque quiet of the beginning, it truly does feel like a prayer.

“God Turn Me Into a Flower” by Weyes Blood From the album ‘And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow,’ out November 18th, 2022 on Sub Pop Records.

South London rockers Shame have announced their third album, “Food for Worms”, due to be released February 24th, 2023, on Dead Oceans Records. The Lead single and album opener “Fingers of Steel” is out now and Shame frontman Charlie Steen describes the band’s follow up to “Drunk Tank Pink“ as “the Lamborghini of Shame records,” while a press release says the album, produced by Flood (Nick Cave, U2, PJ Harvey), “marks a sonic departure from anything they’ve done before, and—for the first time—the band are not delving inwards, but seeking to capture the world around them.” On “Fingers of Steel,” Steen and company pair this new perspective with a fresh sense of purpose and restraint. The brute force post-punk of their 2018 debut “Songs of Praise” is gone, replaced by more clear-eyed precision and complex instrumentation.

A distant piano is soon joined by staccato guitar and backing vocals, as Steen observes an avatar of our modern plight: Alone, indoors, days devoid of meaningful connection, chasing fake validation online—always wanting, never fulfilled. “Well, this time you feel that you’ve been found / But when you look there’s no one around,” shame sing in unison, their singalong punctuated with spidery riffs. Looming synths cast a shadow over the song halfway in, like the sun going down at the end of an already-dark day. An explosive solo races like an anxious mind, shortly before the song drifts to an abrupt end.

“Fingers of Steel” by Shame from the upcoming album ‘Food for Worms’, out February 24th on Dead Oceans Records.

Nicole Rodriguez aka Pearla return singing a melancholic yet loving waltz full of sadness and loneliness. It’s easy to picture her at a bandstand as her ghosts all dance alone. This track, the fifth of a string of excellent singles, leading up to her album “Oh Glistening Onion, The Nighttime Is Coming” to be released on February 10th, once again holds a gentle, glowing promise. “All the lights are left on and I’m trying to receive you but / I’m only beautiful when I’m alone,” she sings. This intense honesty seems to be the kind that you can only afford when you think yourself to be alone, writing a love letter in your room to someone who will never read it.

“Oh Glistening Onion, The Nighttime Is Coming” is due October 21st, 2022, on Spacebomb Records. Parts of the album were recorded at Thump Recording in Brooklyn and Spacebomb Studios in Richmond, but the bulk of its creation took place in Pearla’s home. 

The sweet timbre of her voice doesn’t lose its slight notes of hope, and the swaying of the bass and guitar make you believe this could be a band that comes together only when Rodriguez dreams. But in fact, someone has captured this intimate moment, and done listeners a huge favour. Throughout the course of the song, she sings of beginning to believe in her own endless love for the world, but it’s hard to tell whether she quite believes herself. 

When asked about the album title, Pearla offers: “It’s always been the title. I think it means, you don’t have to peel back every layer before you go to sleep.”

“With” from upcoming debut album ‘Oh Glistening Onion, The Nighttime Is Coming’ out February 10th, 2023 on Spacebomb Records.