This week Philadelphia-based trio Another Michael shared the song “Row,” another sneak peek from their upcoming album. “New Music and Big Pop” will be out next Friday (February. 19th) on Run For Cover Records,
Frontman Michael Doherty speaks about the song in a press release: “‘Row’ is a song that I built around a rhythm guitar line that to me, resembles the feeling of rowing a boat. I wanted to create a song that allowed our acoustic and electric elements to ring out as one texture, and to showcase the range of musical styles that we’ve touched on since the start of this project.”
For Another Michael, it all boils down to trust. In mid-2017, the critically acclaimed indie three-piece packed their bags and collectively relocated from Albany, NY to a shared house in West Philadelphia. This move signalled not only the start of a new chapter for the trio, but also a deepening of the bonds that would come to define their captivating debut LP, ‘New Music and Big Pop.’ “It’s hard for a group of people to get closer than living together,” says bassist and producer Nick Sebastiano. “The stronger our connection grew, the more it shaped the music we found ourselves making.”
It should come as little surprise, then, that ‘New Music and Big Pop’ is Another Michael’s most collaborative work yet. Recorded in a small A-frame house-turned-makeshift studio outside Ferndale, NY, the record finds the trio pushing their sound in a dreamier, more folk-influenced direction, building songs around vulnerable, intimate performances using an ethereal palette of breezy guitars, subtle keyboards, and layered harmonies. As on the band’s early EPs, singer and songwriter Michael Doherty’s mesmerizing voice is front and centre here, calling to mind Robin Pecknold or Ben Bridwell in its reedy, crystalline timbre, but it feels more at home than ever before amidst the album’s lush, Technicolor landscape, which the band partnered with producer and fellow housemate Scoops Dardaris to create. The result is a masterfully understated record that belies its status as a full-length debut, a thoughtful, poetic, collection all about growth and change, hope and faith, endings and beginnings, delivered by a band that’s only just begun to scratch the surface of their story.
The band has previously shared the songs “Big Pop,” “I Know You’re Wrong,” and “New Music” from their upcoming album.
“New Music” by Another Michael from the 7″ / 2 song digital single ‘New Music’ out now via Run For Cover Records
UK trio Mush release new album “Lines Redacted” and here’s one last new single before the whole album drops. “The concept for “Hazmat Suits” bizarrely predates the pandemic,” explains frontman Dan Hyndman. “It then quickly became relevant and I retroactively rewrote some of the verses. I saw a group of guys in Hazmat Suits going into a building in Leeds town center around March, it was a really strong image that made me pick the tune-up again. It evoked a real modern dystopian vibe.”
The Leeds three piece, Mush’s new album Lines Redacted is out this week. Politically on point without being didactic, musically uncompromising yet as catchy as the Kent variant and as funny as it is coruscating, it’s Album of the Day on BBC 6 Music today and is getting praised to the rafters elsewhere:
“One of the finest British guitar records of recent years” 8/10 UNCUT “Rallying against aggravating, absurd political realities with passion and humor, the Leeds post-punks offer a tongue-in-cheek counterpoint to dourer contemporaries” Pitchfork “Twisty indie rock that pulls from the gamut of the arch and angular” Brooklyn Vegan
Pale Waves‘ next album ‘Who Am I?’ singer/guitarist Heather Baron-Gracie has revealed is out now. Baron-Gracie confirmed the news when she responded to a fan on Twitter who posited the idea that the Manchester band’s follow-up “is just chilling on a hard drive somewhere”
Pale Waves’ debut album, ‘My Mind Makes Noises’, was released in 2018. In a four-star review, “Pale Waves’ debut album packs a whole lotta love. ‘My Mind Makes Noises’ is an album that obsesses over break-ups and make-ups, as well as dizzy affairs and their bitter fallouts – purposefully telling the story from all different angles. It’s the perfect record to summarise the band’s rise from Manchester’s little secret to one of the most adored new bands in the country.”
“This is the perfect title: ‘Who Am I?’“, says Pale Waves’ lead vocalist Heather Baron-Gracie of the band’s stellar second album. “It’s simple. It’s easy to understand. It represents where I was in my life, ready to embark on that journey to become the better version of myself.”
With its release date pushed back by not only a near-fatal bus crash but a world-shaking pandemic, too, the arrival of the follow-up to 2018’s Top 10 LP ‘My Mind Makes Noises’ feels like a hard-won triumph. Informed by the Manchester group’s collective struggles with fame and its spoils, it’s a bracingly candid effort that explores the physical and mental constraints of growing up in the spotlight. “I feel like as an artist you feel vulnerable all the time,” Baron-Gracie continues on the real meaning behind the album’s title. “Putting yourself on show to the world is intimidating, and I do have mini freakouts quite often about it.
“I tend to feel vulnerable a lot of the time, but it really helps people. The music that I write is there for them, and creates a safe space. So all that vulnerability, all those feelings of me freaking out are worth it.”
‘Who Am I?’ is open, authentic and honest – a record which Baron-Grace explainswas heavily inspired by the unflinching strength of legendary alt-rock artists Courtney Love, Alanis Morissette and Liz Phair. Making the album also gave the frontwoman the space and confidence to explore her sexuality openly through the band’s lyrics, a personal subject that was left untouched when recording Pale Waves’ debut three years ago.
“This is the first time where I’ve been so open about my sexuality,” she says. “I needed to represent the LGBTQ+ community in a healthy and positive manner. I didn’t want to jump into it too soon… I needed time to figure myself out even more. Our fans, some who are gay themselves, finally feel represented in a healthy way – and they feel understood. I’m really glad that we can do that for them.”
The White Stripes have shared the full version of their “From The Basement” performance from 2005 for the first time, Created by Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, the web TV series ran between 2007 and 2009 and saw The White Stripes and Thom Yorke perform during its pilot episode.
Originally recorded in November 2005 at Maida Vale Studios in London, this is the first time that The White Stripes’ entire “From The Basement” performance – as well as “exclusive, never-before-seen B-roll from the session” – has been available to watch in full. The White Stripes played such tracks as ‘Blue Orchid’, ‘Forever for Her (Is Over for Me)’ and ‘As Ugly As I Seem’ during their performance, while they also covered Captain Beefheart’s ‘Party of Special Things to Do’.
“The dream of From the Basement is to capture great performances with the most direct and beautiful coverage possible, both sonically and visually,” Godrich said in a statement. “We were so fortunate early on to have the support of Jack and Meg who instinctively understood the concept of the show and so came to be part of it.
“As a result, we have this amazing snapshot of their fantastic energy and style. It’s an intimate and direct performance, something magic, powerful and special. A day I will not forget.”
Director Sophie Muller said: “Everything fell into place very quickly, and because of Meg and Jack’s ease and natural chemistry with each other I could just shoot what I saw. Whatever it was between them made it very simple, but so, so special and it was an honour to be there. I just love this electrifying performance.”
Jack White added: “It was beautifully filmed and the sound quality makes a performance on a regular TV show sound like a wax cylinder recording. No host. Thank God.”
The From The Basement footage is the latest in a series of archive performances that The White Stripes have shared with their fans over the past six months.
The White Stripes’ full set from Episode 1 of “From The Basement”. Originally broadcast in November 2005, this is the first time the entire performance has been made available in full, along with exclusive, never-before-seen B-roll from the session.
Setlist:00:30 – Blue Orchid 03:06 – Party of Special Things To Do 05:27 – Forever For Her (Is Over For Me) 09:22 – As Ugly As I Seem 14:11 – Little Ghost 16:31 – Red Rain
Earlier this month, the duo shared a fierce 2007 performance of ‘Seven Nation Army’ from their set at that year’s Bonnaroo festival.
Adelaide’s Teenage Joans talk making “juice box punk-pop” and how Camp Cope and Tired Lion have inspired them, Not many acts can say they’ve sold out a 200-person capacity room before even releasing their debut single – but Teenage Joans can. The Adelaide duo of guitarist Cahli Blakers and drummer Tahlia Borg (who both sing) speak about the experience with a sense of awe, yes, but also in a way that humbly says: we went through hours of hard work and failed side projects that led up to this point.
“We both had played in bands before in school with people who just weren’t as passionate,” Blakers says. It’s a Thursday morning and the pair are sitting on Zoom, from the comfort of their bedrooms. Blakers is rocking a WAAX tee, a gritty Brisbane punk band they recently shared a bill with. “I don’t think it’s skill level,” she adds. “If someone’s got a lower skill level but a lot of passion, it can always work. Whereas [when] we were jamming with people who had high skill levels or whatever, but weren’t as passionate as us, it just always fell apart.”
The two then-high school students teamed up in 2018 following Blakers’ short stint as a solo artist. Borg hosted the inaugural jam session at her house. A two hour-session turned into Blakers staying for dinner, and the rest, as they say, is history. Their personable lyrics, dynamic stage presence and joint willingness to share the good, bad and confusing parts of life right there on stage made for a kickass live show. Teenage Joans soon advanced to bigger venues, supporting the likes of Ruby Fields and The Hard Aches. The pair focused on “mastering their craft” on-stage before ever releasing a taste of music, so by the time the launch for their first single came around – a not-so-intimate party for ‘By The Way’ at Adelaide’s Crown and Anchor – they already had a small army of fans. “The song came out a few days before and everyone knew all the words by the time the gig came up,” Blakers explained. “Having this song that everyone just knows every single word to because they’ve chosen to listen to it enough to learn the words was just like, the craziest feeling ever.”
Flash forward to 2020 and Teenage Joans caught the attention of music lovers and industry members alike when they entered triple j’s beloved Unearthed High competition – which they went on to win, as announced on the day of Borg’s year 12 psychology exam. Their sophomore track ‘Three Leaf Clover’, which is about embracing self-love even as you feel like you don’t fit in, immediately won hearts across the nation.
Teenage Joans have dubbed their music “juice-box punk-pop”, nodding towards the cathartic nature of pop punk as a genre and how powerful it can be as a vessel for understanding the world around you. As for the “juice box” bit, Blakers says it “kind of means lyrics that feel nostalgic and feel like you could consume as a young person, but also have a heavier kind of meaning that people can relate to. So we try to keep our lyrics pretty quirky and fun and relatable, but also try and spread a message through that.” She notes the “juxtaposition is really cool.”
Still in their teens, both Blakers and Borg have a lifetime of learning to do. The pair openly admit this as they speak of their latest single ‘Something About Being Sixteen’. “This song of all of our songs is the most nostalgic. We wrote it about feeling things that you feel when you are 16 and old enough to have figured out enough of the world so far to kind of know what’s going on, but not old enough to have experienced, like, a first heartbreak or… Just a lot of big monumental things like first career, big move or whatever,” Blakers explains.
The peppy cut soundtracks a slow-burning yet necessary breakup: “This is overdue, I’m getting over you,” they wail over and over. Borg thinks of it as an “emotional outlet” that’s helped her make sense of the situation. Here Teenage Joans contrast blunt lyrics with a pastel-tinged music video in a way that feels fresh but also borrows from some of their biggest musical influences: namely the aforementioned WAAX and Tired Lion’s Sophie Hopes (who mentored the pair after their Unearthed High win).
“I love Camp Cope; they’re one of my favourite bands,” Blakers excitedly adds. “They were one of the first bands that [made me realise] I could pursue music… just watching them play and hearing the message they speak through their music. I was like, that’s so cool! I don’t have to limit myself to just playing by myself.”
Similarities between the two bands are clear: both Camp Cope and Teenage Joans offer unapologetic and raw song writing, crafting sing-along choruses that stay with you long after the music has stopped. No life experience is off the cards and nothing felt is too shameful to share.
“We just want people to know that we’re just trying to make a space for everyone,” Blakers concluded. “We just want to make everyone feel happy and have fun.”
Atlanta-based indie-rock all stars Manchester Orchestra composed of rhythm guitarist-singer-songwriter Andy Hull, lead guitarist Robert McDowell, bassist Andy Prince and drummer Tim Very will shortly release their lush sixth album “The Million Masks of God”.It is a true pleasure and joy to finally share the first piece of music from our sixth full length album “The Million Masks of God”. It’s near impossible to put into words what this album means to us on a personal level. I’m amazed and grateful at how so much hard work from so many incredible people ended up working together to finally get us here. I’m so happy it’s here. This record, what it’s about and what it represents holds a particularly intimate place in our hearts. Writing it, creating it, building it, destroying it and rebuilding it together over the last two and a half years has been the most gratifying challenge of our career so far. I hope that you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed creating it. Thank you for your continued support of our band. We can’t wait to go on this next journey together.
This exclusive vinyl variant is 140g on “sea blue.” The Million Masks of God is limited to only 500 copies,
‘Let’s Not Fight!’ and ‘Strong Enough’ are the two new singles from Porridge Radio. A collaboration with Irish songwriter/producer Piglet, the duo of songs will appear on a Deluxe Edition of the Mercury-nominated “Every Bad”.
A member of Great Dad, Piglet is Charlie Loane. Here, he helps take ‘Let’s Not Fight!’ and ‘Strong Enough’ to eerie and dissonant yet deeply satisfying listens that add yet more oomph to an already-excellent album. I’m so happy they’re finally out properly for everyone to hear.
“Something that Charlie really gets is emotional intensity and I am so glad we could be intense as hell together on these tracks” Dana Margolin said of the collaboration. Piglet is one of my favourite artists. I remember the first time I saw Charlie fronting his other band, Great Dad, and just being completely blown away and entranced by his songs and the way he was performing them. I feel very lucky that he likes my music. This collaboration felt like it was coming for a while, and luckily lockdown gave us a chance to make these songs last summer. I really loved the whole process of writing together. Something that Charlie really gets is emotional intensity and I am so glad we could be intense as hell together on these tracks.
“Let’s Not Fight !” the new song by Porridge Radio x Piglet, out February 16th on Secretly Canadian.
Jehnny Beth has unveiled the stunning new video for latest single ‘French Countryside’, showcasing a raw and vulnerable side to the singer-songwriter. The song is taken from last year’s “To Love Is To Live” , which made it onto our Best Albums of 2020 list. Filmed at director and long-time partner Johnny Hostile’s studio in France, the direct imagery blends intensely well with Beth’s intimate and electrifying performance. Beth says of the track: “it’s a promise song, I wrote the verses on a plane as I was convinced it was going to crash. I was making promises to myself about what I was going to do differently if I survived.”
The track was co-written with The xx’s Romy Madley-Croft, and featured on last year’s solo debut To Love Is To Live, the album was lauded it as “a cathartic listen filled with trembling courage”. Most of you have said your favourite song on the album is “French Countryside“ – well today u can watch the video filmed and directed by Johnny Hostile.
Marie Naffah is certainly on a hot streak. Bashing away the typecasting of sound that could pigeonhole an artist and fresh from the release of the 2020 boisterous singles ‘The Cage’ and ‘California’, Naffah returns with new single ‘Wasteland’ a procession of nostalgic Californian seventies-sounding-sass with what may be the most devilish bassline since Foals dropped ‘Inhaler’.
On ‘Wasteland’ Naffah demonstrates admirable confidence in lyricism – “am I everything you want?” – that partners advantageously with an evident desire to seek out one’s own extraordinariness; Naffah herself has stated that she hopes the song assists listeners in discovering their own ‘Wonderland’ in 2021.
The dynamic hook, “lower your lids, loudly promise me this” truly fires up the motor of the song and Naffah’s raw but profound vocal delivery throughout, loaded with sentiment and neat vigour; sketches a rebellious attitude.
There’s a lot of fun to be had on ‘Wasteland’ and it quite rightly declares Naffah as a musical force capable of thrilling and unexpected things.
Based out of Glasgow, Lizzie Reid is a hot-off-the-presses songwriter, who despite only starting releasing her music earlier this year is already making quite the impression. Back in March, working with producer Oli Barton-Wood, Lizzie finished recording her debut EP, “Cubicle”, just days before the UK-wide lockdown arrived. With the record due out in January, this week Lizzie has shared the latest single from it, “Always Lovely”.
A song about insecurity, Lizzie has suggested Always Lovely is about, “obsessing with the idea of perfection and worth – whether that be about your physical appearance, your personality or social identity”. It’s a deeply personal track, the song’s lyrical content mirrored perfectly in the intimate musical setting, Lizzie’s swooping vocal delivery drawing you close to the speaker, as if she’s whispering her words directly into your ear. Equally impressive as the jaw-dropping vocal, think the poise of Laura Marling and the emotional depth of Black Belt Eagle Scout, is the brilliant guitar-playing, it has a visceral, physical quality, chords hewn straight from her body direct to the tape. If intimacy can often be characterised as a softness, in Lizzie Reid’s music it becomes a strength, an exploration of her experiences and emotions shaped into a personal monument of hope for the world at large, and one that’s very exciting indeed.
She made a marvellous case for her then-forthcoming EP Cubicle earlier this year with the scintillating ‘Been Thinking About You’, and today the full twenty-minute proposal is here. Lizzie Reid explores folk reminiscent of Waxahatchee and Courtney Marie Andrews on her debut seven-track confessional, out now on Seven Four Seven Six Records.
Below, you’ll find each of the songs on this gorgeous EP explained in Lizzie Reid’s own words.
‘Tribute’
I recorded this in one take on my iPhone the day that I wrote it. It was a last-minute decision to make it the first track of the EP and I’m very glad it happened. ‘Tribute’ is a song about letting go of a past relationship. It’s about seeking something new in other people and it not working out. I realised that I had to let go of feeling in control, having expectations and to be okay with the idea of change. The lyric “I don’t regret a word that I said, when I was in your bed” consistently transports me back to those moments of being completely vulnerable with someone. It’s a reminder that although we’ve had to say goodbye, I hold those moments close to me and don’t take for granted the time spent.
‘Seamless’
‘Seamless’ was written a couple of months after my break-up with my first girlfriend. It was one of the first times I had written lyrics that were particularly on the nose. The process left me feeling a tad uneasy and I wasn’t sure I liked the result. But then I listened to the demo on the train from London to Glasgow. I had tears streaming down my face. That was when I realised we had written something deeply personal to me. Having recorded it in the house and the fact that my cat makes an appearance at the end makes the song feel that little bit more exposed, to me.
‘Always Lovely’
This song is about insecurity. Feeling like you’re not quite up to it. It’s about obsessing with the idea of perfection and worth – whether that be about your physical appearance, your personality or social identity. This is the oldest song on the EP so I was quite young and very unsure of myself when I wrote it. I’ve come a long way since then but there is always room for more self-discovery and reflecting – especially when you have had nearly a year of lockdown to live through!!!
‘Been Thinking About You’
This was written around the same time as ‘Company Car’ in the summer of 2019. I had a lot of affection for a very good friend of mine and I needed to vent that in some way. He was such a support for me at a time I wasn’t feeling my best. But ultimately I was going through quite a confusing time and felt guilty that I couldn’t support him in the same way he supported me. There is a definite relief in this song compared to the other tracks. That represents a very much needed release for me, at the time of writing it.
‘Company Car’
2019 was a year of self-discovery for me. I did a lot of thinking and growing. ‘Company Car’ was a way of expressing my frustration about my sexuality. I realised that I wasn’t fully accepting of it. It feels weird speaking about it now as I have come to accept and feel pride in my queerness. I can’t speak for the whole LGBT+ community but I think it’s something a lot of us have had to go through and are still working on. It’s a difficult process to accept something that you’ve grown up to believe isn’t ‘normal’. The lyric “my feet don’t work and it feels they never will – there’s a company car on the way” is about me feeling that I am not capable of functioning as myself or by myself, and not dealing with my/society’s expectations.
‘Cubicle’
I wrote this song in tears the morning after a very emotionally-demanding night out. I wasn’t sure if I was the happiest I had ever been, or if I was completely heartbroken. I don’t know how it’s even possible to confuse the two. I locked myself in a toilet cubicle of an underground jazz bar in Glasgow. I was having a bit of a panic attack and knew I needed to calm down before facing the rest of night. This evening marked the end of something, and the beginning of something else.
“Cubicle” EP is out January 22nd via 7476 Records.
