Hope everyone had a nice moveable feast weekend. Good old Jesus. He got something right. Big lovely long weekend off. Although the Christos did steal it off the Pagans.
His choice of disciples wasn’t the best, he trusted people too easily if you ask me. He suffered fools a little gladly. Hope his Dad had a word when he got home.
Anyway, here’s some belting tunes that’ll raise you from the dead. It’ll nearly be time for another Monday off soon. Then another a few weeks after that. You lucky people.
Vicki Peterson & John Cowsill – Is Anybody Here
Why we love it: because when Vicki Peterson gets together with John Cowsill you kind of know that good things are going to happen. Their individual musical heritages would tell you as much. She has been the lead guitarist with The Bangles since they formed in 1981. He was the drummer/vocalist for The Beach Boys for over 23 years and an original member of the platinum-selling family band The Cowsills.
Vicki Peterson and John Cowsill’s debut duo album Long After the Fire was released last Friday on Label 51 Recordings. It is a set of Americana songs written by John’s late brothers, Barry and Bill Cowsill. ‘Is Anybody Here’ is one of the singles from the album and here is the new video to accompany that song.
It’s a gorgeous, heartfelt interpretation of ‘Is Anybody Here,’ distilling all the essence of the family history that lies behind it. (Simon Godley)
TV Death – Propaganda
Why we love it: “’Propaganda’ is a 2-minute-34 blast of raw, relentless psych punk. A commentary on how truth gets twisted and how misinformation fuels fear, division, and apathy. It’s a wake-up call about the narratives we’re fed and the damage they cause,” explains TV Death’s frontman, Jack Burlison.
I couldn’t put it better myself, so why even bother to try. Suffice to say that the Newcastle band’s new single ‘Propaganda’ is taken from their forthcoming debut album Neon Dreamland which is due out on the 21st of August on Dogged Sound Records. Get it in yer ears, as they say. And then get down and get with it with TV Death when they take to the road in May and August this year. It will be time well spent. (Simon Godley)
The Sick Man Of Europe – Obsolete
Why we love it: because despite having a name which might suggest otherwise, The Sick Man Of Europe remains in very good health. Fresh from a hugely successful tour supporting Snapped Ankles, the band that first came out of the London Underground scene has now announced details of their debut self-titled album which will be released June 20th via The Leaf Label and the lead single/video ‘Obsolete.’
“There’s nothing more human than the fear of the inevitable and we’re reminded of it everywhere we look,” The Sick Man Of Europe explains. “As the relentless pace of progress takes over, everything we’ve ever made is retired so quickly in the name of endless growth. At what point do we become obsolete?”
On ‘Obsolete’, The Sick Man Of Europe pose the question over the backbone of the German electronic pioneers Neu!’s “long line” rhythmic beat. The relentless propulsion is maintained for more than six minutes. It is dark minimalism coming to us headlong with a disturbing vision. (Simon Godley)
Black Honey – Dead
Why we love it: Black Honey release their fourth album, Soak, on August 15th. It arrives with a new temptation of what awaits in the form of the intoxicating ‘Dead’ – that they describe as “anthem of dissociation” rife with scuzzy riffing, and do your worst chants that pack a punch delivered by Izzy B. Phillips as she prizes emotional heft over technical perfections. Her storytelling takes on a newfound sharpness – quite literally. ‘Dead’ evokes the visceral eyeball torture of A Clockwork Orange: “And you couldn’t decide to stab my back or my eyes / Oh no, I know what you like / Just press on the knife”. You can’t hurt her now because she’s already dead, it’s quite some indescructable anthem.
After their previous records have drawn from the cinematic worlds of Quentin Tarantino (Black Honey, Written & Directed) and Wes Anderson (Fistful of Peaches), Soak is decidedly Kubrickan. Steeped in retrofuturism and unsettling geometry, it sets the visual backdrop for the record’s wild dynamic shifts from the gothic to the psychedelic.
Speaking on the vision for the album, Phillips shares: “Soak is me processing a decade of touring and creating music and art as an addict. It’s me picking at the layers of messy, romantic, confusing, woozy, beautiful and fucked up things. Who I thought I was, who I was supposed to be and who looks back at me now are all so different but I’m kind of here for it.” (Bill Cummings)
Sunday (1994) – Rain
Why we love it: Anglo/American trio Sunday (1994) test the strength of devotion on their excellent new single ‘Rain’ . Another gorgeously drawn pop song scattered with chiming guitars, luxurious bass lines, pianos and a gospel hew, and tantalisingly addictive melodies that sweep you off your feet: housing a typically deeper message. “If I don’t have you / Then I’ve got nothing to lose” and “Did it even happen / If you didn’t see it too?” Sings Paige Turner achingly asking the question, if you can’t be there for someone at their worst, then is this love real?
Speaking about ‘Rain’, Sunday (1994) explain: “A devotion so deep it borders on doom, where love clings to the wreckage of crime and consequence. If fate demands suffering, then let it be shared; whether in a lover’s arms or behind prison bars”.
It’s lifted from their second EP ‘Devotion’, set for release on 9th May via RCA, they are set to tour the UK this May and we recommend you see them very much.
They say: “We are thrilled to unveil Devotion, our second EP, a fevered companion to our first. Each song converses, conspires, or continues the story of one that came before. We won’t tell you which; discovery is far more divine. Call it a psalm for the disenchanted. Or… an EP. Whatever you prefer.” The EP follows the band’s brilliant self-titled debut released last year. (Bill Cummings)
Po Griff – Porto
Why we love it: Po Griff is a hip hop artist from.Carmarthen Wales, his latest single ‘Porto‘ is an excellent hook up with producer and artist Minas and it’s rather special. Slowed down samples and a crooner track lays the foundation for Griff’s vivid, witty and incisive word play.
Descriptive and sprawling between social commentary, intense imagery all pouring forth at once. Hazy and yet powerfully pertinent this freestyle takes in, war, injustice, inequality, personal introspection, knowing pop culture references to Macaulay Culkin, Trainspotting and Darth Vader and dream-like imagery all come under his jeweler’s piece. It’s fantastic. “A hater is just a lover that is too scared to tell ya“. (Bill Cummings)
Katie Phelan – nothing stays the same
Why we love it: Katie Phelan shared a first taste into her upcoming EP, Blues and Greens, out 11th June via 7476, with the contemplative and wistful ‘nothing stays the same’. This marks Katie’s first single of the year, and is both a intimate love letter to home, and an ode to moving on from a life you’ve always known. Rippling with gently strummed guitars and ripe with her evocative and hushed vocals, “nothing stays the same/everything is changing” she sings embodying the bittersweet feelings of leaving home, the aching passage of time and realising how much you miss the place where you grew up, gorgeously drawn and shot through with emotion, Katie Phelan shows she can move with poetic piece of elegant and minimal, songwriting.
“I wrote it in my childhood bedroom on the floor, where I have written a lot of my songs, in anticipation of moving away from home for the first time.” Phelan explains “It is about missing the little mundane things (like the sounds of family pottering around the house) and these simple things being more important than you realised.” She shares that her brother also played his part in the song. “I got my brother Peter to play piano on the bridge. This is one of the sounds I’m used to hearing around the house and one of the things I really miss is him being in the room across from me whenever I want to chat or ask something.”
For Irish singer-songwriter Katie Phelan, this bittersweet tug forms the heart of her upcoming EP, Blues and Greens. Produced by Pete Robertson (founding member of The Vaccines, and producer to Beabadoobee, Orla Gartland, Clairo) is an EP for the overthinkers, for kind hearts and sensitive souls, and for those preparing to bravely embark on previously unwalked paths. (Bill Cummings)
