Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour tour (and the feminist indie-rock multiverse of madness it featured) may be coming to an end, but angsty pop-punk lives on. Pale Waves, the British quartet that counts Avril Lavigne as one of their main inspirations, returns with their third studio album, “Unwanted”. The project’s lead single “Lies” dropped on May 9th; they’ve also shared two additional tracks since then, “Jealousy” and “The Hard Way.” As an album-promo opening statement, “Lies” is all middle fingers and crunchy guitars, with singer Heather Baron-Gracie coming to collect responsibility from the former paramour who ripped out her heart.
“Fortunately for me that person is no longer in my life,” singer Heather Baron-Gracie said of the biting track’s inspiration. “Once you do me wrong you’re gone!” Nothing spawns creativity like clean-cut betrayal.
We are excited to share our sophomore album “Emotional Creature” is out now!!!
“Emotional Creature” is, at its centre, an album about allowing oneself to feel the full spectrum of human emotions, to let go of the shame associated with having big feelings, and to be more kind to yourself. We are all humans enduring a lifetime of experiences – I wanted this album to be authentically vulnerable and not only cover topics that cause big emotions to arise but to address the shame that many, including myself, carry with respect to what we choose to express as acceptable emotions and what emotions are deemed inappropriate. It can be quite suffocating for me to not allow myself to process and feel and this album in a way gave me permission to feel everything I was suppressing for a long time.
At her first-ever show in London, Lili Trifilio played what might be her favourite song from “EmotionalCreature”, her record with Beach Bunny. Since it hadn’t been released at the time, she led the audience through a practice run of the ending bridge on “Weeds,” an irresistible chant: “You keep taking another piece of me / Not your problem / Not my problem.” But the crowd at Camden Assembly that night didn’t need much encouragement: “The song stopped, but the audience kept singing that line really, really loud almost screaming it with no music behind them,” she recalls a month later over Zoom. “I’m excited for the moment where people know the song well enough that I don’t even have to teach them; we’re all just screaming it together and having that letting-go moment.”
It’s that kind of spontaneous outpouring that makes up the very DNA of “Emotional Creature“. From its dealings with zero-G euphoria to its run-ins with shame and anxiety, the record finds the Chicago-based singer/songwriter wrestling with the futility of running from her feelings, going beyond even the heart-on-sleeve pop rock of her 2020 debut LP, “Honeymoon“. “I’ve come to peace with a lot of stuff from the past few years, and I’ve realized that I shouldn’t be shameful of being a sensitive, emotional person,” says Trifilio. “I feel things in a big way, and it gives really good fuel for song writing, so I just gotta embrace it.”
Beach Bunny’s New Album ‘Emotional Creature’ Out Now
Leipzig psych/krautrock group Flying Moon In Space are today releasing their second album, ‘Zwei’ You can stream/download the album and buy the vinyl (out July 15th)
Arriving following their 2020 self-titled debut and this year’s remix 12″, Flying Moon In Space said of the new album: “Zwei” has a more structured, poppy side compared to our debut, even though sound-wise we opened up to more experimental layers – using synthesisers for the first time, loops and field recordings. The process behind this LP was manifold – testing out personal and aesthetic borders, and carrying on our idea of what Flying Moon In Space can be sonically.”
On their previous album, Flying Moon In Space honed in an improv-driven approach to their art that, when committed to wax, resulted in a maximalist, shape-shifting melting pot of psych-pop, krautrock, techno and math-rock. This approach, however, was an extension of their live shows: huge, improvised performances that were known to last hours at a time. As they began work on the album’s follow-up whilst the world shut down around them, it’s of little surprise that the resulting ‘Zwei’ LP sees FlyingMoon In Space change course (but get no less creative with it.)
The latest album from the six-piece will arrive off the back of their highly-praised and sold-out self-titled debut album and a recent remix 12″ that featured reworkings of tracks from the S/T album courtesy of kindred spirits Xiu Xiu, Suuns, A Place To Bury Strangers, Minami Deutsch, Camera and Warm Graves.
The band are currently out on a UK/EU tour in support of the new LP,
Californian electronic duo Wet Satin (comprised of former Lumerians members Jason Miller and Marc Melzer)are releasing their new single ‘Golden Prawn’ The latest to be lifted from their incoming self-titled debut album out August 12th on Fuzz Club Records.
Taking a step away from the brain-frying space-rock/psych wig-outs harnessed in their 15 years playing together in Lumerians, Wet Satin deals in what the duo call “Kosmische Tropicale” – an expression of reverence and enthusiasm growing from a long-time shared obsession with lost Cosmic Disco, Cumbia, Afrofunk and Library Music records. “We wanted to make something fun. Not too serious, but not frivolous either. Something that paid respect to its influences by adding a square to the quilt rather than trying to make a replica.”
Wet Satin is a new project that got underway when the pair disbanded Lumerians in 2020 and then proceeded to suddenly have a lot of unplanned downtime for some reason. Borne out of a desire to offer up a more uplifting and hedonistic respite from our reigning hellscape, Miller says of Wet Satin’s intentions: “We started writing this album during a pretty bleak and heavy time, which I guess sort of sounds like ‘we started writing this album on a Wednesday’ now, but that’s sort of the point too. There’s an endless buffet of suffering you have a lifetime pass to gorge yourself on whenever you want it, but there’s also a lesser-known dance club attached where you can work off some of those doom calories. Music has the ability to alter your environment and take you somewhere else. We genuinely had a lot of fun writing and recording this. The process fell somewhere in between over-indulgence and necessary catharsis, but it achieved a kind of balance in the end. It’s a travel brochure for a very specifically peculiar psychological terrain. We think you’ll have fun there. Try the hot springs.”
New single “Golden Prawn” is a surreal science fiction odyssey, powered by oxygen deprivation, that takes place at the bottom of a swimming pool.
“We recorded this last summer in a basement in Grass Valley, California. It captures the feeling of a surreal summer, reframed as a sort of psychedelic Cumbia science fiction odyssey that takes place at the bottom of a swimming pool. We were watching lots of experimental films and listening to synth-driven Colombian music, which we found a comforting alternative to an increasingly bizarre news cycle and fractured shared reality.”
The album arrives on 180g baby pink vinyl and is included in the August Fuzz Club Membership package. There is also an exclusive LEVITATION Edition available in the US on cream vinyl with pink + orange splatter.
Wet Satin’s self-titled debut album, due out August 12 on Fuzz Club Records.
Dion Lunadon is a New Zealand born musician. He is known for being the guitarist and singer of The D4 and bass player in A Place To Bury Strangers. He is also known for his high energy and often unpredictable stage presence.
After releasing his self titled debut album in 2017, Dion Lunadon is set to release his sophomore album – “Beyond Everything” June 10th via In The Red Records.“Beyond Everything” will be his first release on In The Red Records (an ideal match for his music) as well as his first full length since departing A Place To Bury Strangers. Written, performed and recorded by Dion, the songs tap into a raw, palpable energy that blur the line between the music and the person. Drums on the record were played by Blaze Bateh (Bambara) and Nick Ferrante (The Black Hollies).
Dion says “The record was written and recorded sporadically between 2017 and 2019. I probably wrote about 100 songs during this period. The first album was pretty relentless which I liked but I wanted to make something more dynamic for the 2nd record. Something that could be more conducive to repeated listens. I’d get in my studio, come up with a song title, and start working on any ideas that I had. For example, with “Elastic Diagnostic“, the idea was to create a hum that evokes the sound of life coursing though your body. Everything else kind of formed around that idea.”
Debut LP from Dion Lunadon (ex APTBS, The D4) reissued by Agitated Records. This LP’s barbed, primal garage-punk got some very heavy rotation first time around so we’re stoked that it’s back in stock.
Made in collaboration with Blau! Production. From the forthcoming album: “Beyond Everything” released June 10th, 2022
With US, UK & EU shows coming up soon, Night Beats are revisiting the ‘That’s All You Got’ single feat. Robert Levon Been (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club) with a new video by Sergio Angot! Out today, you can watch the new video and pick up the last remaining copies of the 7″.
Describing the video, London-based film-maker Angot said: “In essence it’s an after-hours eulogy to life scurrying past our prime. The film follows the nocturnal rut of a janitor, laying bare their intimate struggle for the extraordinary. It is for the audience to decide whether this duality represents the delusions inflicted by a lacklustre existence or the vain melancholia of someone who, perhaps a long time before, had found themselves at the more glamorous end of showbiz.”
Danny Lee Blackwell wrote of the single: “That’s All You Got’ is a reminder that when the world tries to keep you down, we will have a flame. That eternal fire still burns and all we can do is keep going. The human spirit perseveres and love conquers all. I was honoured to work with one of the greatest writers I’ve had the pleasure of calling a friend, Robert. Hopefully this song can bring light to the darkness surrounding all of us.”
Luton dance-punk trio Regressive Left are releasing their incredible debut EP, ‘On The Wrong Side Of History’, today on Bad Vibrations! To celebrate the release the band are also sharing a new video for the ‘World On Fire’ track. Taking influence from the booming post-punk, funk and disco scenes of New York, Regressive Left’s sound is stark and danceable.
Angular guitar scratches meet dirty synth basslines, whilst Simon Tyrie’s Edwyn Collins croon is chased around by effervescent drums. The banal horror of life in Tory Britain expressed with sharp and dry wit, and then set to truly barnstorming and infectious dance music
On ‘World On Fire’, front-man Simon Tyrie says: “I don’t know if we’ll ever write a song that’s as obvious as this. It does what it says on the tin. We’re burning the world for the sake of investment portfolios, and hoping that so-called green stocks can save us, when the problem is the system itself.”
the debut EP “On The Wrong Side of History” out now on Bad Vibrations: regressiveleft.lnk.to/history
Swedish post-punk band Viagra Boys shared a video for their new single, “Punk Rock Loser.” It is the latest release from their forthcoming album, “Cave World“, which will be out on July 8th via YEAR0001.
“Punk Rock Loser” displays the band’s trademark wit and makes fun of guys who try to out-punk-rock each other. “I tried to warn ya that I’m bad and I’m loose/I’m looser than a piece of low hanging fruit,” frontman Sebastian Murphy sings. “And I don’t go to parties where folks get dressed up I go to the function just to fuck shit up/I warned you baby, that ain’t juice in my cup/It’s Promethazine and a little 7 Up.”
The song is accompanied by an equally amusing video directed by SNASK and featuring Murphy strutting through an Old West town shooting off his pistol nonchalantly.
Upon announcement of the new album in April, Viagra Boys shared the song “Ain’t No Thief,” They later shared the album track “Troglodyte,” . The Stockholm punks Viagra Boys“Cave World” channel the chaos of our crisis-riddled era on their latest. Satirical, tragicomic takedowns of the alt-right, anti-vaxxers and gun violence set to debauched, muscular post-punk grooves | Black LP
Their previous album, “Welfare Jazz“, came out last year via YEAR0001. “Cave World” Out July 8th 2022 on YEAR0001
Introducing the latest Uncut Special Edition, It’s a pleasure to introduce the latest of our Curated By…Editions, in which we invite a single artist to tell us, in depth, about their influences, their recordings – ultimately, about their life in music. This time around, it’s the turn of one of the world’s most unpredictable and best-loved bands: Pavement, now reconvened to play live for the first time in 12 years.
The full story of Pavement, by Pavement. Their work. Their words. Their life in music.
Each of the band’s members (and one prominent ex-member) has given us an idea of the music which was most influential on them, introducing features from our extensive archive of classic interviews. The band have also picked over the records nearest their stereos to choose (getting on for) 100 important albums in their lives. It’s been illuminating. Not only that, in a series of far-ranging new interviews, the band have told us all about their current reunion, and spoken in detail about making the impressive, freewheeling catalogue of music which has brought it about. From their debut EP “Slay Tracks 1933-1969” in 1989, to the grand and psychedelic “Terror Twilight” ten years later, here you’ll find the definitive history of their music – told in Pavement’s own words.
We’ve also made time to explore some lesser-known parts on the band’s story. We’ve tracked them across the globe from, Stockton, California in the 1970s and 80s to Hull, UK in the 1990s and all points in between, to join them at pivotal moments in their history. Along the way, we’ve unearthed rarely-seen photos – the Malkmus/Nastanovich/Berman house! – and important stories of key relationships. We’ve confronted them with the assertions on their Wikipedia pages, and heard the tales of their most mind-blowing live music experiences.
Pavement’s latest live show’s selected 30 Pavement deep cuts we’d like to hear on tour, met Rebecca Cole, the latest addition to the Pavement family (“She’s a musician,” Bob Nastanovich tells us, “which makes her the second, possibly the third in the band”). We’ve talked to Steve Keene, sleeve artist of “Wowee Zowee“, tracked down Pavement’s first drummer Gary Young, and the people who are making a film about him – and heard about his part in the band’s story.
Not every 20-something band would have taken a chance on an alcoholic drummer who was as likely to be doing a headstand as keeping time on the next song. If they hadn’t, Pavement might have happened more efficiently, but it certainly wouldn’t have happened quite as in such an original way. “It was not quite like the British trope that you write an ad in NME and the right person turns up who’s into Bowie and the Velvet Underground,” says Stephen Malkmus. “We don’t have that.” Instead, from inception to reunion, Pavement have been a band to break the mould. It’s been a pleasure working with them on the issue. I hope you enjoy it.
Father John Misty is announcing a live bootleg series featuring recordings of select performances from the tour that will be available every Tuesday beginning August 9th, 2022. The shows will be available for download and streaming via Father John Misty’s Bandcamp page.
The first installment of the bootleg series is one from the archives and available now, a blistering set from the “I Love You, Honeybear” tour at Ancienne Belgique in Brussels during the fall of 2015.
Father John Misty will also be livestreaming three dates from his upcoming tour – New Orleans’s Orpheum Theatre on Saturday, August 13th; Asheville’s Rabbit Rabbit Saturday, September 17th; and Nashville’s The Ryman Auditorium on Thursday, October 6th. Each performance will be a multi-camera concert special and directed by longtime collaborator Grant James.
Father John Misty Band: Josh Tillman – Vocals, Guitar Daniel Bailey – Drums Chris Dixie Darley – Guitars, Vocals Kyle Flynn – Piano and keyboards Eli Thomson – Bass and synths David Vandervelde – Guitars, Keys, and Vocals
