Thousand Yard Stare continue their most unlikely of comebacks with a new single “Isadora”, the third in a series of four releases this year that will both remind longer-term fans of their infinitely catchy hooks yet still sound like a band exploring new elements of their sound.
The single comes hot on the heels of previous releases this year Adverse Cambers and Measures as part of a four-song set that they announced earlier this year. After reforming in 2015 the band have released a double EP, an album “The Panglossian Momentum” and one-off singles, almost matching the output of their first period in the early nineties.
Thousand Yard Stare frontman Stephen Barnes described the tune – “When Giles sent me the bones of this track, I think initially it was destined to be an instrumental, but it’s kooky ear worm nature got inside my head. It’s a track about looking for the essence of who you are. It’s a fever-search for identity and a place in your world…. Yeh, Isadora is definitely a child of those pandemic times and surreal mind-sets brought about by so much uncertainty at the time. Ultimately though, Isadora is anyone or anything you want them to be. They could be you, they could be me, they could be who you want to be. Or, it’s just rollicking lung bursting carnival of chaos to lose yourself in for two minutes.… that’s fine too!”
Thousand Yard Stare were formed in 1988 in Slough, Berkshire, releasing several EPs that reached the top of the indie charts in 1991-2, and 2 LPs for Polydor. The band have recently reformed to sell out gigs throughout the UK described by critics as “a band who are as good – if not better – than when they were the next big thing back in the early 90’s”.
Released July 22nd, 2022
Written by Barnes / Duffy Performed by Thousand Yard Stare
With the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the state of Kansas, where we live, has become a really important haven for bordering states in the fight for access to reproductive healthcare. There’s an amendment to the state constitution in the upcoming election that would put abortion rights at risk. We’re asking Kansas folks to vote no on this amendment in the August 2nd election and we’re supporting Vote No Kansas, an amazing local organization raising awareness about this issue.
We record covers on a 4-track at home from time to time, so we’re releasing 2 of those today on Bandcamp. It’s a sliding scale starting at $5 and the amount of funds raised will be donated to Vote No Kansas.
Gum has released reissues of his first two studio albums “Delorean Highway” and “Glamorous Damage”, newly remastered by Kevin Parker. The digital version of “Delorean Highway” includes a bonus demo cover of Ron Davies’ “It Ain’t Easy“, and new album artwork – a plasticine remake by animator, videographer and photographer Alex McLaren of the original by Jason Galea. “Glamorous Damage” features a never-before-released demo of “The Plot” on the digital adaption.
“Ancients”, taken from the remastered / repressed album “Glamorous Damage” out on 8th July.
Stoked to announce that my first two records as GUM from 2014/15 are now remastered, repressed on 180gram vinyl and available for pre-order on Spinning Top Music!
“Delorean Highway” features a plasticine remake of the original artwork of Jason Galea by Alex McLaren Long out of print, Jay Watson’s second album as Gum ‘Glamorous Damage’ has been lovingly remastered by Kevin Parker – “Glamorous Damage” comes on gold vinyl and DH on silver.
These records are a snapshot of a particular time in my life for me – while parts of them make me uncomfortable and embarrassed, other parts I’m really proud of, and I’m glad that people can get them again easily if they want.
The title track from my upcoming album, ‘Loose Future,’ is here. This is a song for all you hurt and hesitant lovers out there. A song for our very unpredictable futures. A song for summer and a song for love when you’re self-aware enough to know what love can become.
You can watch the ‘Loose Future’ music video, When I first concepted this video, I wanted to showcase how the world places all its impressions and stereotypes onto us, and the importance of sticking to our own true north so we can brace ourselves for a future in which we are satisfied with all the decisions we have made. The title track from my upcoming album ‘Loose Future’ is here. This is a song for all you hurt and hesitant lovers out there. A song for our very unpredictable futures. A song for summer and a song for love when you’re self-aware enough to know what love can become.
When I first concepted this video, I wanted to showcase how the world places all its impressions and stereotypes onto us, and the importance of sticking to our own true north so we can brace ourselves for a future in which we are satisfied with all the decisions we have made.
We did this video in one take, as it felt more in line with the rawness and randomness of life’s ever-curving paths.
We did this video in one take, as it felt more in line with the rawness and randomness of life’s ever-curving paths. I’m excited to announce the dates of some October in-store appearances in the UK, where I’ll be playing some songs, signing records, and saying hello in celebration of “Loose Future’s” release!
Recorded in locations around the world over the pandemic era, “Shufflemania” offers up 10 gloriously ingenious new Robyn Hitchcock songs in just under 40 minutes – a “proper pop album” as nature intended. Songs like “Midnight Tram To Nowhere” and the optimistic, album-closing “One Day (It’s Being Scheduled)” are state-of-the-art Hitchcock, manifesting his signature wit, miraculous gift for melodic craftsmanship, and striking humanity in a world gone mad.
A note from Robyn: Hello dear listener, I am thrilled to be unleashing my new record album “Shufflemania” on the world.
What is “Shufflemania” It’s surfing fate, trusting your intuition, and bullfighting with destiny. It’s embracing the random and dancing with it, even when it needs to clean its teeth. It’s probably the most consistent album I’ve made. It’s a party record, with a few solemn moments, as parties are wont to supply. Groove on, groovers!
OSEES on Tuesday offered another preview from their upcoming album with the title track to “A FoulForm”. The latest experiment from John Dwyer‘s genre-hopping underground act is out on August 12th via Castle Face.
“A Foul Form” condenses all the components of OSEES down to their most basic form. The banging, fuzzed-out central guitar riff and driving drums meet up with Dwyer’s visceral vocals for a 1:45-minute sonic assault. The track is yet another example of the “Brain stem cracking scum-punk” Dwyer promised on the new LP.
“The sound is in the slurry of the rest of the album and is basically about the craven, selfish side of humanity,” Dwyer saidof the album’s third single. “Greed and fear-based decision-making have brought us here. I sang this track while I had COVID so good luck getting that gravel back in yer voice on stage.”
Dwyer’s don’t-try-this-at-home vocal experiment epitomizes the band’s DIY aesthetic and is also reminiscent of genre-fluid forefathers Ween. While recording 2003’s “Quebec“, guitarist Dean Ween called up bassist Dave Dreiwitz to sing “It’s Gonna Be A Long Night” while his voice was strained with laryngitis.
Check out the Andrew Schrader-directed music video for the latest OSEES single, “A Foul Form”.
Courtney Barnett returned to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday for a performance of “Before You Gotta Go”. The song appears on the Australian singer-songwriter’s latest album, “Things Take Time, Take Time”, available now.
Don’t be fooled by Barnett’s trio configuration, as the performance begins with a pre-recorded drum track. Courtney gives off a bedroom aesthetic with the stripped-down guitar and vocal performance for the first verse before the rest of the band drops in for the second. Another verse later, more pre-loaded instrumentation comes in with a synth-like guitar medley that sits atop the rhythm.
There are some sour notes in there at one point, but Barnett just smiles it off. If anything, it picks up the emotion of the performance that was until that point something of a Prozac-mellowed daze. The emotion rises to a boil at the bridge before returning to a simmer and covering for the next minute, or until rice is tender.
Cheersquad Records are stoked to give you L.A. Mood’s debut album ‘A Print out of the Sun’. L.A. Mood is the solo project of Melbourne based multi-instrumentalist and producer Dave Mudie. Dave is the full-time drummer for Grammy Award Nominee Courtney Barnett, and has played in upwards of 40 other bands and counting.
After two EPs, 2022 will finally see L.A. Mood’s debut album release, titled ‘A Print out of the Sun’. It was written and recorded across Melbourne, Portland (USA) and Castlemaine, and mixed by Collin Hegna of The Brian Jonestown Massacre. The title is inspired by a longing for the sun in places where it can seem hard to find. It’s an opportunity to take lightness with you wherever you go. And there’s plenty of lightness on the album – 60s harmonies, bright guitars and psychedelia… But there’s also plenty of grit, distortion and thumping drums. “In the Rock and Roll solar system, I could live on planet Mudie. ‘Catch the Sun’ is as playfully joyous and soul-expanding as one would expect from Dave and his pych-pop cohort. 10/10.” – Ashley Naylor (The Church, Even).
‘A Print out of the Sun’ is a welcome statement from one of Australia’s most experienced musicians, both on stage and in the studio. Effortless production meets confident song writing. With a national tour planned upon release, 2022 will see The L.A Mood very bright indeed.
For Dave Mudie, touring down-time means burying into studio projects and playing local gigs. Most recently he played drums on Jess Ribeiro’s album ‘LOVE HATE’, recorded Jade Imagine’s debut ‘StayAwake’, and played on releases from Gumboot, Super American Eagle (alongside Brent DeBoer of The Dandy Warhols), Cannon, Baby Blue & Evan Dando (The Lemonheads). Having grown up in a musical family (both parents were professional musicians – his mum a singer, his dad played in Axiom), music has always been an obsession in Mudie’s life.
In 2017, after years of touring the seminal album ‘Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit’ with Courtney Barnett, Dave Mudie finally turned his attention to his own music. Before ever playing a gig, L.A. Mood signed with Hotel Motel Records for his first two releases.
Debut EP ‘Crushing Highs & Amazing Lows’ was recorded at Revolver Studios in Portland, Oregon with producer Collin Hegna of The Brian Jonestown Massacre. It showcased a range of styles – slacker rock, indie-pop and alt-country; and influences – T. Rex, Dandy Warhols, Ty Segall etc. It includes collaborations with Courtney Barnett and Bob Harrow (Immigrant Union), and artwork by Celeste Potter.
2019’s EP ‘Breakfast at Sassy’s’ draws from the swinging 60s, psychedelic 70s and indie-pop of the 00s, and was again recorded in Portland with Hegna. It features collaborations with Ambrose Kenny Smith (King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard), Bones Sloane (fellow band member of the Courtney Barnett band), Jess Ribeiro and Bob Harrow. The EP tour was the first time L.A. Mood played live with a full band, seeing them sell out shows in Melbourne and Sydney.
“Out of all the drummers in Melbourne’s nu-rock scene of the 2000s, Dave Mudie was the most musical, the most expressive, the most effortless, and just generally the best.” – LNWY “Each track on the EP transports the listener to the sun-soaked streets of California.” – Beat “With irony-laden tack piano tinkling away above waltzing guitar chords, Mudie’s louchely chanted vocal evokes drunken saloon singalongs and long periods of self-reflection. Enjoy.” – Killing Moon “The vibe is ’90s/’00s rock that sounds like it was cooked in a garage with a touch of blues on the side.” – “When You Motor Away“ “Charging power-pop, waltzing country and hazy slacker rock, all joined in an unshakably accomplished feel that belies the fact it’s his debut release as a solo songwriter.” – For the Rabbits
“It’s just good old-fashioned Aussie indie rock.” – Double J
“Classic power pop, a welcome ray of audible sunshine.” – Peter G. Holmström (The Dandy Warhols)
‘A Print out of the Sun’ is pressed on sunny orange marbled vinyl as a limited edition of 100 copies only. The album is also available on black vinyl and digitally. All vinyl includes a digital download card and digital tracks will be added to your Bandcamp collection.
In 2012 a strange, masked collective from Sweden called Goat released one of the unexpected and most talked about albums of the year. Mixing heavy fuzz-psych with tribal Afro grooves, head nod funk, the repetitions of krautrock and the pop of post-punk to create something completely unique.
“World Music” received an avalanche of acclaim with critics, psych heads, outernational crate diggers etc, all left enraptured by its thunderous intensity, conjured from a singular mix of sounds from across the globe. Now, exactly a decade later, Rocket Recordings and the band have decided to dust-off the original recordings of “World Music” and pass them over to the capable hands of the team at the legendary Abbey Road Studios to remaster the tracks and make them shine like they have never before.
The results are better than we could have hoped. New details within the tracks have been revealed and – most importantly – the fuzz is even more explosive than before. You hear every crackle of electricity as it flows through the pedals. World Music’s famous die-cut sleeve has been updated too, the colours of the eye-popping pattern have been reversed from the original, making this package even more desirable. The album is brimming with tracks now seen as ‘classic’ Goat live favourites.
Tracks that have been wowing audiences all over the world; the afrobeat stomp of ‘Disco Fever’ , the fuzz abuse of ‘Goathead’, the post-punk groove of ‘Let it Bleed’, the sing-along repetitive pop of ‘Run to your Mama’ …From the first note to the last, “World Music” oozes with a sonic confidence rarely seen on a debut album.
