Jarring, streetwise, darkly shimmering rock & roll – Beechwood is a New York City band born out of necessity. Formed by a pair of close neighbourhood friends as teenagers, Beechwood initially developed a buzz in the small clubs and DIY spaces of New York City, honing their unpredictable, frenzied live performances (twice even leading to mid-show arrests) while building a dedicated following. Beechwood released their debut album “Trash Glamour” (Lolipop! Records) in 2016, but it wasn’t until 2018’s “SongsFrom The Land of Nod” and “Inside the Flesh Hotel” (Alive Naturalsound Records) that they began attracting a significant audience outside of the NYC area. Centred around the close-knit song writing and guitar-weaving partnership of Gordon Lawrence and Sid Simons, also featuring Russ Yusuf on drums and recent addition Jensen Gore on bass – Beechwood’s 4th studio album entitled
“Sleep Without Dreaming” is set for release on Alive Naturalsound Records.
We are getting closer and closer to the end of the year we feel a lot of emotion for what it can bring us in every way. However, before closing 2021 we still have in our sights many things within the musical aspect, particulary our favourite bands of 2021, bands from the great spectrum of garage and psychedelia, a group in which a band like Frankie and the Witch Fingers excel.
The band originally from Los Angeles, California is already in the second five years of its career, officially debuting in 2015. However, it seems that the energy of Frankie and the Witch Fingers has done nothing but increase, creating the fastest and most adrenaline-filled combinations that the spectre of psychedelia presents today. Band members Dylan Sizemore and Nikki Pickle talk about what the band has done so far, what makes psychedelia so interesting and important in today’s music scene.
“We’ve just come back from a pretty long tour and we’re already getting a feel for what it’s like to play live now, as our last show had been in January 2020. It was very exciting to come back and connect with people again. We were still thrilled by the fact that we had a lot of songs that people hadn’t heard live. Some of the newer songs connected well with the rest of our repertoire, so it was very interesting to see how we created a new set. We really enjoy playing our music live, they are written and made with so much dynamics, which makes it very enjoyable to explore them in a live show where we can incorporate new things suddenly.”
The atmosphere of the live shows is something that we not only missed a lot, but also something that puts us in front of endless inspirations for what we do. For the band, this has become fundamental. Hearing and seeing those who make up the same scene has become something natural and necessary for Frankie and the Witch Fingers,since from there they connect with their surroundings and with what can lead them as a group to improve.
“When you see something that you really connect with, that ends up coming out through what you create, so if you see a band that really surprises you with its energy or its precision when playing live that inspires you to get to the same level with your own project or whatever you create. In our case, we remember on tour having the opportunity to see Fuzz. The sound was so big and heavy that it made us think, ‘We need bigger amps.’ We’re definitely influenced by the bands we’ve played with and that’s very beautiful. It helps everyone and when we learn from other talents we grow together.” I think it’s a very healthy thing and a much-needed show of respect and admiration for our music.
On visual issues, the band’s art can seem incredibly chaotic on first inspection, full of vivid colours and flickering images that could stun the viewer in some way. However, it is not too long before finding the perfect relationship between the music of Frankie and the Witch Fingers and their visual art, which makes their creations rise in a way that few bands within their music scene manage to do.
“We are of varied tastes. We are fortunate to be able to use the band as a platform to be able to work with artists we admire and find a connection. Creating bonds with the people we work with greatly influences the aesthetics we give to the band, but I still think that the same relationships we make when playing with other bands creates this exchange of ideas that pushes us to do new things. There’s not necessarily a single example, like a movie or something like that. It’s just this bridge of, ‘I inspire you, you inspire me.’ Many of the creators we’ve worked with simply listen to the song and then come up with ideas. Somehow we have some sytasis where our senses get confused and when we listen to our music we automatically know what we would like to see. Even when we’re writing music I think, ‘This song feels like an army march with intergalactic ships.’ Dylan is also a visual artist and I think that still inspires the people we work with to create a similar style, because that’s what we get to link most commonly with our music.”
Off the new album Monsters Eating People Eating Monsters..
From Louiseville Kentucky Wombo are a 3 peice with a new EP “Mountain” out on Fire Records, from which we bring you their video single “One of These’. The video has vibes of Blair Witch (set in a basement-type rehearsal space that many of us will be familiar with) while the track istelf has lusciously haunting vocal melodies against a backdrop of nineties Pixies-esque guitar. There is an air of melancholic dischord about both the track and the video which is particularly great.
The weird world of Wombo is a kaleidoscopic journey of sharp turns and surprising visions, a melting pot of influences with a cheeky cheshire-cat grin that coalesce into a trippy but infinite universe, a portal into their unique vantage point without limitation.
Already committed to living outside the traditionally-heralded country sound of the music scene in their hometown of Louisville Kentucky, Sydney Chadwick (vocals) and Cameron Lowe (guitar) had previously played in punk pop band the Debauchees, and with the addition of Joel Taylor (drums) in 2016 they found a winning combination of more straightforward indie rock combined with Chadwick’s pitched up, oscillating vocals and unpredictable shifts in melody that see the band moving forward at an impressive pace.
New single from Wombo out December 1st on Fire Talk Records
Yumi Zouma have shared yet another bop – the instantly memorable “Mona Lisa” is boisterously deceptive as candied melodies and ethereal production cloaks a lyrical darkness and triumphant brass-filled conclusion. The song, mixed by Kenny Gilmore (Weyes Blood, Julia Holter) is accompanied by a self-directed music video filmed in Lyttleton, New Zealand – a stone’s throw south of the band’s hometown of Christchurch.
The video stars lead singer Christie Simpson as the sole protagonist and illustrates the jubilation, claustrophobia, and mayhem of her months in lockdown in both the UK and New Zealand, having just moved back to her home country after making the fortuitous decision to pack her bags for London in the week prior to the outbreak of COVID-19. We see Simpson move into an apartment, make it her own, and lose her mind in the span of 3 minutes and 33 seconds. The entire video takes place in a single room, purpose-built by the band to match the single artwork for the song.
“’Mona Lisa’ came to us gradually over a long period of time – so its story has changed and shifted, developing new relevance with each new phase of our lives,” says Christie. “It’s a song that ruminates on conflicting, shifting uncertainty – of wanting someone that maybe you can’t have – of uncertain boundaries, of confusing interactions, misunderstanding, yearning. Trying to forget an obsession – or shifting between losing all hope and giving in to the obsession – lured back by the excitement and promise – the moments of feeling so alive. The terror and joy of a big crush. And so we wanted the video to feel like a mirror to all those emotions along the passage of time – except in isolation. A year stuck inside (as we have been), alone with the big feelings, the big highs, and the low lows – dancing around your bedroom, losing it a little bit. Moving in, making it yours, moving out again. The strange phase we’ve been existing in, trying to thrive in (occasionally succeeding, but often not). The joy, the sadness, the conflict, the chaos – without ever really leaving your bedroom.”
Last month, the band shared the equally unforgettable “Give It Hell” – their first song since the release of their March 2020 album “Truth Or Consequence”.
A couple months ago, Laura Jane Grace released the EP “At War with the Silverfish“. It contained a jammy little number called “Day Old Coffee” that captured the anxiety, restlessness, and mundanity of coffee consumption. “Day old coffee microwaved to boiling / Pour it on my eyeballs and boil my dumb-shit brains out,” she sings on the opening verse. Honestly, a very relatable stance when you’re frustrated with just about anything—a creative block, the Wi-Fi going out, the world.
This is the worst song I’ve ever written but the video turned out really good,” Grace says of the charming (and highly caffeinated) clip filmed by directors Chris Bauer and Richard Louis Ulrich. Watch the frenzied music video below.
The follow-up to Laura’s critically acclaimed solo album “Stay Alive”was mixed by her Devouring Mothers bandmate MarcHudson, and half recorded at her TinyQuietStudio in Chicago, IL and half at Electric Eel in St. Louis, MO. At War With The Silverfish finds our heroine in a range of stripped-back, poignant modes that amount to an honest and holistic account of our shared humanity.
We get the video for “Day Old Coffee,” which finds Grace performing to an audience of a dozen coffee mugs and her microwave. She paces around an empty room and writes in her notebook. It’s a charming video directed by Chris Bauer and Richard Louis Ulrich. Grace commented on the visual saying, “This is the worst song I’ve ever written but the video turned out really good.”
New Yorkers Momma mix sludgy ‘90s guitars with the intoxicating feeling of young love on new song “Medicine.” The band recently signed with PolyvinylRecords ahead of their new album, the follow-up to 2020’s “Two Of Me“.
“Medicine” is the new single from Momma, on Polyvinyl and Lucky Number Records.
Momma is: Allegra Weingarten, Etta Friedman, Zach CapittiFenton, and Aron Kobayashi Ritch Written and performed by: Momma. “Medicine,” is the driving new single from NY based rock group Momma, is an exciting glimpse into what’s in store for 2022. “Medicine” is the band’s strongest work to date, clearly showcasing their knack for developing hooky guitar lines paired with an intricate, yet boisterous rhythm section. The band’s use of fuzzed-out distortion intertwined with clean and bright picking patterns is a tasteful nod to their love of 90’s alternative and could easily pair well with bands like Sonic Youth, Pavement, Liz Phair, and Jimmy Eat World circa Clarity.
“We wanted to write about that feeling of just being addicted to someone, and how someone else’s company can really feel like a drug,” explains the band. “‘Medicine’ is really the first Momma song that was written as a complete 4-piece.”
Momma (now a 4-piece consisting of Etta Friedman, Allegra Weingarten, Aron Kobayashi Ritch and Zach CapittiFenton) have honed in on their symbiotic writing style and creative intuition to craft a sound that feels oddly familiar, yet all their own.
Kelly Lee Owens is well known for her extraordinary avant-garde approach to electronica, and on new album ‘Inner Song’ she does not disappoint. Exploring causes of personal pain and discovering resolution through an appreciation for natural beauty, the revealing record resonates with the listener and becomes a shared absolving of trauma.
Carefully crafted last winter, Owens spent a month hidden away in a studio to write and record what would become her second album with producer James Greenwood. The pair channelled the sound of freeform jazz which helped find both the direction of the record, and the name.
“I’m so grateful for him and his perspectives—he’s always thinking outside of the box. Those two words really reflect what it felt like to make this record. I did a lot of inner work in the past few years, and this is a true reflection of that.”
Kelly Lee Owens had carved out a distinctive style — a mix of Berlin techno, trip hop, ambient textures and elements from her shoegazer past — by the time of her 2017 debut album. With “Inner Song“, she refines that sound while expanding its horizons. It’s a confident album that finds her growing as a musician but also as a singer. Look no further than single “On,” which starts as a vulnerable ballad about moving past a bad relationship until the zippy synth hook eventually pulls the song out of the doldrums and into joyous, danceable freedom. The album swings between ethereal mood pieces and serious club music, with wonderful side trips to Wales (the woozy, psychedelic “The Corner of My Sky” with John Cale) and an instrumental cover of Radiohead’s “Arpeggi,” all with KLO’s signature pinging synth leads and gossamer voice holding it together like delicate, silken web.
‘Inner Song’ is released via Smalltown Supersound.
Five teenagers from Brooklyn, NYC with the ambition to make music by any means necessary. Friendship lies at the core of the post-punk project with the young members of Geese – vocalist Cameron Winter, guitarist Gus Green, guitarist Foster Hudson, bassist Dom DiGesu and drummer Max Bassin, meeting at high school and first recording in a home studio out of a basement.
Effortlessly cool and the best debut of 2021. Geese is a band that begins and ends in Brooklyn, as a project between friends to build a home studio out of a basement. Their songs are born from the same ambition: make music by any means necessary. They began recording together with sneakers as mic stands and blankets draped over the amps, all within the afternoon following a school day, up until they ran the risk of noise complaints. Recently, they signed a record deal, so they are thinking about moving on from sneaker-laden mics and blanketed amps, but their musical ethos has not changed a bit.
Curiously alien, yet strangely familiar, the band’s debut album, “Projector“, is a product of five teenagers whose love of music touches every part of their lives: their restless anxiety about their futures, and their pent-up frustration with their present-a perspective all too familiar in today’s uncertain world. For fans of Television, The Strokes, Shame and The Feelies.
“The band’s sound presents a virtual Venn diagram of New York underground rock history” – THE NEW YORK TIMES “Excellent debut” – ROLLINGSTONE “One of the year’s most thrilling rock debuts” – NME “Geese, no matter what happens next, are undoubtably going far” – SO YOUNG
If this isn’t the catchiest song then I don’t know what would be. All I know is that I wish this song was 24 hours long and had 2000 verses. Already feeling a strong “Song of the Summer” vibe about this one.
So far Wet Leg‘s Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers have only released one song, via the DominoRecords label, and this is it. Amidst a night of hazy scenes in their native Isle of Wight, Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers found themselves at the summit of a Ferris wheel. They decided to start a band. The band is called Wet Leg.
Arming themselves with guitars, a penchant for French disco, effervescent imaginations and a shared love of the The Ronettes and Jane Birkin, through to Ty Segall and Bjork, they set about making some recordings of their own. Is that a Faust sample loaded into their drum machine? Wet Leg performed over various festivals this summer.
Wetleg just announced the release of their self titled debut album, which will be out on April 8th, 2022 via Domino. The duo have also shared two new songs, “Too Late Now” and “Oh No” with an accompanying music video for “Too Late Now.”
Teasdale explains “Too Late Now” in a press release: “It is about sleepwalking into adulthood. I never imagined that my adult life would look the way it does and I guess this song reflects on some of the pressures and pulls of life. Sometimes I get really inside my head and everything can feel very overwhelming. I think this song is about accepting that life can feel a bit shit from time to time. Maybe don’t indulge that thought too much though. Just take some time for yourself. Take a breath. Have a bath. It might make you feel a bit better.”
She adds, regarding the album: “I wanted to write fun songs, I didn’t want to indulge sad feelings too much, I wanted to write stuff that’s fun to listen to and fun to play. But then, the sad seeps through, as well. Wet Leg was originally just supposed to be funny. As a woman, there’s so much put on you, in that your only value is how pretty or cool you look. But we want to be goofy and a little bit rude. We want to write songs that people can dance to. And we want people to have a good time, even if that might not be possible all of the time.”
Kim Gordon shared a new track “Grass Jeans,” recorded with touring band members Sterling Laws, SarahRegister & Camilla Charlesworth and is the first new music since releasing her critically acclaimed solo debut, “No Home Record”. All proceeds from the month of December for the song will be benefiting Fund Texas Choice (formerly Fund Texas Women), a non-profit organization that pays for Texans’ travel to abortion clinics. The Fund was formed in response to the passage of Texas House Bill 2, which closed nearly 75% of over 40 Texan clinics in 2013 and 2014.
The closures were primarily in rural and low-income areas of the state, necessitating cost-prohibitive, time-wasting, and geographically-difficult travel for groups already facing financial obstacles to abortion.
