The Fat Angel Sings

If you have heard Opus Kink the buzz coming off the new Brighton band is enough to set everyone’s ears ringing – mixing raucous Western punk with screaming brass that can blow the speakers out. Coming out of somewhere between The Birthday Party and Madness, frontman Angus Rogers breaking out a full-punk tarantella dangerously hovering around.

After releasing a series of increasingly tantalising singles and playing some rather exhilarating live shows this sextet have now put together an EP they describe as “six songs of bad love, ill winds, possession, stagnation, and earthly delights.” It is an apt summary for a record that’s thick with poignant, carefully crafted, in places, unsettling lyrics; a feat of storytelling as well as music. This storytelling element is one of the strongest features, setting this EP apart, indeed; it is particularly successful in the way that the lyrics and the music work together in painting a vivid picture, the descriptions outlined by sound compounding those created by the words into a whole that is smoothly and accurately delivered.

There truly is a raconteur’s grace to the band’s blend of rock, blues, and country suggestions, brought together with a subtly punk edge and a shrewd use of vocals, both main and backing, all meant to summon an atmosphere which is somewhere in between old western movie and late night in a dingy bar.

Opus Kink – “Dog Stay Down”, out now on Nice Swan Records.

Our debut EP “Til The Stream Runs Dr”y is our now everywhere, vinyl and digital, prostrate and heaving, thank be to all gods.

We have a string or UK headline dates in September to commiserate the release of our EP. Tickets are flying for these shows and we’d urge you to pick up yours now rather than suffer eternal public shame.

When I think of San Francisco Bay Area trio Sour Widows (Maia Sinaiko, Susanna Thomson and Max Edelman) playing live, I think of “Crossing Over,” the sprawling center piece from their 2021-standout EP of the same name. Inspired by a true story, the song captures a moment of pure catharsis in performance: “We caught the storm pulling in / From Ohio to Wisconsin / Let the guitars wail / And the flood take the basement / Screamed to sing above it,” Thomson recalls.

Sour Widows’ slowcore-imbued “bedroom rock” captures such a storm’s intensity in every way, from the eerie quiet that precedes it to the explosive force of its crescendo and the light that breaks through the clouds in its aftermath.

With “Crossing Over”, Sour Widows discover a new intensity by turning inward. The second EP from this Bay Area band dials back some of the volume that drove their self-titled 2020 debut to make space for themes of self-reflection and painful change that cut through with sharpened clarity. The luminous vocal harmonies, complex guitar interplay, and understated drumming that have been at the core of the band’s sound remain foundational; but these four songs reach deeper, all the more stirring in their subtlety.

“Witness” is a patient, poignant slow-core track that explores the murky depths of loss and pain. Sour Widows—Maia Sinaiko, Susanna Thomson and Max Edelman move through grief’s disparate emotional spaces, from steely resolve (“I’ve had practice / I can let things die”) to overwhelming heartache (“My heart beating / Like a fist against the veil”) and a sense of insignificance—as if dwarfed by the enormity of life and death, and the inexorability of time (“The moments repeat / and feedback into and endlessly”). All the while, their dynamic rock fortifies these feelings, peaking as Sinaiko and Thomson vocalize together, then finding a gentler form in its home stretch, like the clear skies after a storm has blown through. “This is the first song we finished since I lost my mom in June 2021,” Thomson says of the song in a statement. “Monumental loss creates a very clear divide between those in your life who can understand the depth of that kind of pain and those who can’t. ‘Witness’ speaks to that experience.”

Written by Sour Widows

Guitar and vocals: Susanna Thomson
Guitar and vocals: Maia Sinaiko
Drums: Max Edelman
Bass: Timmy Stabler

“Crossing Over” by Sour Widows from their EP ‘Crossing Over’ released April 23rd, 2021 on Exploding in Sound Records.

Tacoma, Washington’s own rising rock stars Enumclaw are back with another single from their debut album “Save the Baby”, coming October 14th on Luminelle Recordings. “Cowboy Bepop” follows June’s “Jimmy Neutron,” hailed as one of the year’s best songs (so far). Over his and Nathan Cornell’s warm guitars, Aramis Johnson’s narrator finds himself happy with his life, yet longing for more control as it flies by. ”’Cause if you had to choose, would you / Wanna be brand new? / Well, joke’s on you, nothing’s new / I’m just the same as you,” he sings, finding peace in helplessness—like throwing your arms in the air on a rollercoaster. When a volcanic guitar solo punctuates his contemplation (“If you had to choose / What would you do?”), it hits like all of life’s possibilities manifesting at once. 

Official music video for Enumclaw’s new single “Cowboy Bepop” off of their forthcoming debut album “Save the Baby.”

Though initially formed as an extension of the lifelong friendship between guitarist Isaac DeBroux-Slone and bassist Raina Bock, Disq has evolved into a far more democratic and egalitarian organization, as “Desperately Imagining Someplace Quiet” finds guitarists Logan Severson and Shannon Conor splitting singing and song writing duties with the aforementioned DeBroux-Slone and Bock. Such an approach could have easily fallen into the trap of “satisfying everyone, pleasing no one,” resulting in committee-approved music devoid of any personality or rough edges, but happily, the opposite is true.

Pushing play on “Desperately Imagining Someplace Quiet”, it is easy to imagine that it is the year 1998, and your cool older sister has returned from her freshman year at college only to hand you the sort of mind-altering mixtape out of which lifelong rock fanatics are born. It is the sort of record Beck might have made in his prime, if you swapped out the hip-hop and delta blues of Odelay for midwestern emo, Scottish power-pop, and the sort of all-American indie that functions as “classic rock” for this cherubic cohort.

Wrangling a melange of styles such as this is no simple task, but the record is held together by the powerful yet nimble rhythm section of Bock and drummer Stu Manley, whose muscular and hyperactive playing alternately keeps these adventurous compositions tethered firmly to the Earth and sends them soaring into stratosphere. Producer Matt Schuessler (the recording engineer of Collector making the most of his promotion) rarely lets a verse or chorus go by without adding some new sonic sparkle, keeping the arrangements an ever-shifting kaleidoscope of textures and moods. If there is a record in 2022 which squeezes more ideas into 41 minutes, then that record could surely only be the unlistenable mess that “Desperately Imagining Someplace Quiet” avoids becoming so deftly.

Things being how they are in the world today, the idea of finding “someplace quiet” feels like an increasingly remote possibility, and the act of imagining such a place does, indeed, feel more and more desperate. Listening to Disq navigate the myriad twists and turns of their new album can feel akin to an attempted processing of our endless poly-crisis, where each new catastrophe and atrocity jostle for position at the top of the timeline. With their new album, Disq take a valiant stand against the temptation of complacency. As for that “someplace quiet?” It will have to wait… it’s about to get loud in here. 

Disq – “Cujo Kiddies” from “Desperately Imagining Someplace Quiet“

Releases October 7th, 2022

New Zealand did for jangle pop what Ireland did for shoegaze, or the Midwest did for emo. The “Dunedin sound,” coined by the 1982 Dunedin Double compilation EP, encompassed a certain subset of the country’s clattery pop bands, most of which were signed to the South Island’s foremost indie label, Flying Nun. This oceanic college rock profoundly informed the transatlantic bands that succeeded it. A case in point is Kiwi Jr., who named themselves in honour of their mood-board country (the “Jr.” suffix elevates things to a Mascis-approved cool).

Based in Toronto but hailing from Prince Edward Island, the four childhood friends released a flawless sophomore record, “Cooler Returns”, on Sub Pop Records last January, defined by very jangly open chords and Jeremy Gaudet’s detached delivery of learned lyrics. He straddles the bygone and the topical with musings on Toronto’s gentrification, turn-of-the-century baseball incidents, and election politics, while his surrogate bros harmonize around their 21st century Brian Wilson.

Despite being a snapshot of the pandemic-infused beginnings of this decade, “Cooler Returns” is truly a whole lot of fun.

The most intimate, raw and devastating ten songs of her career to date. An uncompromising and masterful lyricist, always willing to mine the depths of her own life experience, and singular in translating it into deeply personal, timeless songs. Now

Julia Jacklin has shared another single from her forthcoming album “Pre Pleasure”. It’s titled ‘Love, Try Not To Let Go’, and it comes paired with video shot by Nick Mckk and featuring a collaboration with visual artist Juliet Bryant. .

“Love, Try Not To Let Go’ was written one night during the recording period in my apartment in Montreal,” Jacklin explained in a statement. “It’s the first song I’ve ever written fully on piano. It’s the first time I’ve played piano on a record. I thought someone better would redo the take but we kept it so now I’m officially a pianist. We recorded it the next day. I made everyone watch the running scene from Rocky beforehand.”

“Pre Pleasure” comes out August 26th via Transgressive Records. It includes the previously released tracks ‘Lydia Wears a Cross’ and ‘I Was Neon’.

She & Him have announced their first tour of non-holiday material since 2013. This June, Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward will embark on the “Melt Away Tour: A Tribute to Brian Wilson.”

She and Him, the acclaimed twosome of M.Ward and Zooey Deschanel are known for the stylish arrangements, sophisticated interpretations, and sharply drawn originals they have perfected across their exceedingly fruitful six-album, 14-year collaboration. Now, with “Melt Away: A Tribute to Brian Wilson”, their seventh full-length release, the duo has crafted a love letter to 60’s-era Southern California-inspired pop that stands on its own as a defining musical achievement.

Produced by M.Ward and mixed by Tom Schick (Wilco, Norah Jones, Iron and Wine), “Melt Away: A Tribute to Brian Wilson” is the pair’s first in six years and features an abundance of smartly chosen Wilson / Beach Boys compositions, some universally beloved and others a little less familiar. All of them though, whether ingrained in your soul or hearing for the first time, share a flair for the dramatic. Ward and Deschanel bring their uncanny communal musical instincts to these pop-noir confections and re-imagine them for these times.

The inviting, twangy album opener, Brian Wilson and Mike Love’s “Darlin’,” (from the Beach Boys 1967 album “Wild Honey“) sets a high bar that She and Him meets throughout. The duo’s devoted take on “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” is especially revealing. Most wouldn’t consider touching the stone-cold classic, yet they lean into it with unabashed joy. Elsewhere, the band’s sublime version of Wilson’s mournful “Til I Die” is a three-minute and 22 second marvel. Deschanel’s spectacular vocal turn on the criminally overlooked Wilson solo cut “Melt Away” transforms the original’s lush, string-heavy treatment into a post-modern folk-pop gem. Other highlights include the surf-rock throwback “Do It Again,” featuring vocals from Brian Wilson himself (!) and the graceful “Please Let Me Wonder,” a long-treasured Wilson album cut. Finally, the Beach Boy’s timeless “Don’t Worry Baby” might be the album’s center piece and most affecting track. M.Ward’s earthy, laconic lead vocal layered over an exquisite arrangement feels organic and completely new – just like this album, a stunner in every way.

Performers

Zooey Deschanel – Vocals M. Ward – Guitar, keys, vocals, Brian Wilson – Vocals on “Do It Again”, Joey Spampinato – Bass, Paul Brainard – Pedal steel, trumpet, Jose Medeles – Drums, Mark Powers – Percussion, John Perrin – Drums on “Do It Again”

Produced by M. Ward

Fazerdaze – the project of singer-songwriter Amelia Murray has signed to section1, accompanying the announcement with a new single called ‘Come Apart’. It marks her first release in five years, following her 2017 debut record “Morningside“. Check out the new song below.

“‘Come Apart’ is an angsty surrender to growing apart from people in my life,” Murray explained in a press release. “I wrote this at a time when I wasn’t accepting that some of my closest relationships were just not working. I was contorting myself to fit others, doing everything I could to keep the relationships going instead of allowing them to be what they were; ending, done. I believe this song was a way for my subconscious to shout at me to surrender and to allow things in my life to come to an end.”

After completing her tour in support of Morningside at the end of 2018, Murray struggled to write due to a deep sense of burnout. “I lost a lot of confidence during that time and my sense-of-self really eroded,” she added. “Eventually, I had to surrender to the truth of the toxic situations I was finding myself in, both professionally and personally.

No longer being stoic and strong was the best thing I ever did for myself. Giving up on the people and things that weren’t working in my life was this big emotional release. I could finally put down this weight I was carrying. Ever since then, things have been flowing in my life again. I can hear my intuition, write songs and be creative again; I signed a record deal, I moved into my own place. It’s like the floodgates opened for good stuff coming back into my life.”

Bleach Lab have announced their signing to the Nettwerk Group, marking the news with the single ‘Take It Slow’. “‘Take It Slow’ is about finding your way and not wanting to rush through life without taking time to appreciate the view,” lead singer Jenna Kyle explained in a statement. “‘Trying to fit the space of a shape that you don’t know’, refers to not getting stuck as someone that you don’t recognise by losing sight of yourself. It is very much about being and living in the moment, being present and trying to let go of anxieties of everyday life whilst trying to view things more positively.”

Bleach Lab’s ‘Take It Slow’ follows two EPs from last year, “A Calm Sense of Surrounding” and “Nothing Feels Real”.

The Afghan Whigs have released the new song ‘A Line of Shots’, which is taken from their upcoming album “How Do You Burn?”. It’s the third single from the LP, following ‘The Getaway’ and ‘I’ll Make You See God’. The Afghan Whigs have announced their first studio album in five years “How Do You Burn?”, which is set for release on September 9th via Royal Cream/BMG.

“How Do You Burn?’”, will be their ninth album overall and following on from the brace of widely-acclaimed records they’ve made previously since re-grouping in 2012, ‘Do to the Beast’ (2014) and ‘In Spades’ (2017). ‘How Do You Burn?’ picks up the baton laid down by each of those records and runs it to the horizon.

For his supporting cast, Dulli called upon several serial collaborators including the late Mark Lanegan, who was a regular in Dulli’s Twilight Singers, a partner in The Gutter Twins and a close friend. Lanegan makes his Afghan Whigs debut singing backup vocals on two tracks. “It was Mark who named the album,” Dulli remarked.

Susan Marshall, who sang on the Whigs album 1965, returns to the fray for “Catch A Colt,” one of the album’s standout tracks, loose-limbed like ‘Some Girls’-era Rolling Stones and with the liquid polyrhythms of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Tusk’.

The multi-talented Van Hunt, who toured with the Whigs in 2012 and guested on ‘Do to the Beast’, brings his stacked-up, wall-of-sound vocals to both the plunging, voodoo-blues of ‘Jyja’ and the audacious ‘Take Me There’, transforming the latter, says Dulli, “into this feral gospel song. We sing really well together, but what Van does production-wise… it’s unrelenting.”

Then there’s Marcy Mays, lead vocalist on ‘My Curse’, the torch-song highlight of 1993’s seminal ‘Gentlemen’ album, reprising her role here on the celestial ‘Domino and Jimmy’, playing Stevie Nicks to Dulli’s Lindsey Buckingham. “I wrote that song with Marcy in mind,” says Dulli. “No-one sounds like her; she’s got an incredibly unique, emotional and evocative voice.”

The Afghan Whigs – Dulli, Curley, Nelson, Keeler and with Christopher Thorn now joining the band on guitar – will take ‘How Do You Burn?’ out on the road in 2022. Beyond that, says Dulli, their future is gloriously wide open.

“How Do You Burn?”, by The Afghan Whigs’ ninth album and first in five years, is due for release on September 9th via Royal Cream/BMG.