London based indie rock/baggy/alt band The Utopiates have premiered the video for their catchy new single "Anything You Want".
Featuring the bands trademark rhythm and endearing honesty in the lyrics, this song includes searing synths and majestic guitar solos and takes inspiration from the likes of The Happy Monday’s, Primal Scream and Simple Minds.
Sydney via Wollongong new wave/synth punk DROVES have premiered their new single "Trash".
The song is taken from their upcoming Self-Titled EP.
Drawing on punk influences and blending them with a dance heavy chorus in a way that feels both nostalgic and fresh at the same time has become a calling card for DROVES. Leaning into that very aesthetic, 'Trash' speaks to finding acceptance in yourself, battling against imposter-syndrome and overcoming feelings of being out of place.
Virginia indie rock/pop band Vacation Manor have dropped the video for their new single "Parachute".
The song is out today (April 30) via Nettwerk Music Group and is taken from their forthcoming self-titled debut album. Get it here.
From the duo: "‘Parachute’ is a song we’ve been after for a while. The whole feel of it comes from our 90’s alt rock influences that manage to blend a head-bobbing and upbeat groove, underneath a layer of melancholy. It took a lot of re-writing and re-recording to get it to sound how we were imagining it, but we’re really proud of what we captured. This song fills a very specific role on the album, but we tend to think that about all of the songs on this record. There are albums that zero in and explore a particular sonic landscape, and others that feel like taking a drive across the country and you’re in a new place by the end. To me, this record feels like it takes you for a ride.”
From the band: “With all sorts of wings be they left or right swinging for each other with mocking tweets or cancel culture as their weaponry, it's easy to feel lost as an onlooking bystander in a world full of hostility. Relationships become strained and questioning your own mental stability becomes just another daily problem as you peruse through endless news articles, each one presenting you with a slice of self-loathing or existential dread. But nothing is to fear as the longer you stare upon the words you read in your sunday newspaper or mobile device the more you will feel the sweet embrace and comfort of Big Brother's gentle arms. Orwell's Idyllic future has come to be, and everything is going to be just okay.”
London/Manchester electronic/synth duo Oh Baby (Rick Hornby and Jen Devereux) have premiered their new single "Cruel Intention".
The song is taken from their forthcoming debut album 'Hey Genius', which will be available on July 23 through Burning Witches Records.
Recorded primarily at Hornby’s home studio in Manchester, the band explained the process behind the creation of Hey Genius, saying: “The writing process always follows the same pattern, we will hole up separately for weeks that become months, stockpiling ideas and venturing down rabbit holes of sounds, words, effects and riffs, then getting together to plug-in, switch on and start building the tracks. We set up an outside home studio during last year’s Summer lockdown, which ended up looking just how we wanted but being about as soundproof as a shower curtain so there are a few neighbours that got to know the basslines a bit too well.
Neither of us are particularly technically minded at all so working with synths there tends to be a lot of ‘see what this button does’ moments, discovering sounds as we write and a lot of trial and error which can be either rewarding or torturous depending on which day or night you catch us on. A lot of the 80s type sounds on this record come from an old Juno that’s been here forever and a Korg MS20 as a midi keyboard that we also use live. The drum machine parts are always first worked out on an old Boss DR55. We tend to try and wiring as much as we can out of what we have, and try to use those limitations well, partly for obvious financial reasons but also to try and not be overwhelmed by choice, which seems to be an easy trap to fall into in a home studio with wi-fi.”
Los Angeles new wave/post punk/synth pop duo Second Skin (aka Brian Tarney and Brian DaMert) have unveiled the Kontravoid Remix of their latest single "Colder".
The remix comes out tomorrow, get it here. The original version of the song came out last month (March 19).
French psych rock/electronic outfit Moodoïd & Paris-based psych-pop artist Melody's Echo Chamber have shared the video for their collaborative single "Only One Man".
The song is part of our current playlist and is taken from Moodoïd's new EP 'Primadonna Vol.1', out tomorrow (April 30) through Because Music. Get your copy here.
Nottingham indie/post punk quartet Cucamaras have released the video for their newest single "Death Of The Social".
The song is part of our current playlist and is out now. Get it here.
Speaking about it, band member Josh Hart said: “The lyrics that Olly wrote for the track took a really simple but stark form. I think we both enjoy how literal and honest the track is, and that’s matched with probably our most simple song structure we’ve ever had, but that chorus just has impact and I think it will be somewhat of a protagonist in our live set. You can’t not go nuts for that, surely?”.
Noon Garden, the solo project of Flamingods member Charles Prest, has released the video for their new single "Decca Divine".
The song "a love letter to all the vibrant African disco and funk of the 70s and 80s", is out today (April 28) and is the lead single from his forthcoming debut album due out November 2021 via The Liquid Label. Get it here.
Noon Garden says of the single: "Sonically this is the most I’ve ever drawn on my African heritage and love for African music. I was obsessed with Charly Kingson’s track ‘Nimele Bolo’ for a time which has such an infectious, repetitive bass line and groove that I wanted to explore something similar myself. Musicians like Nigerian funk master William Onyeabor influenced all the bright synth work and I even named the song after a popular recording studio in Lagos called Decca Studios where a lot of my favourite African artists like the Lijadu Sisters, Obenezer Obey and King Sunny Ade recorded albums. Lyrically it’s a celebration of ambition and determination and a call to exorcise one's self-doubt"
Berlin-based psych pop/post punk musician Nicholas Wood aka Saccades (best known for making up one-half of The KVB) has unleashed the video for the Theo Kottis Remix of his track "Heat".
The original version of the song is taken from his sophomore album 'Flowing Fades', released earlier this month via Fuzz Club Records. Get your copy here.
Glasgow indie rock/punk band Baby Strange have unleashed the video for their latest single "I Want to Believe".
The song is part of our current playlist and is taken from their new EP ‘Land of Nothing’, which will be out this Friday (April 30) via Icons Creating Evil Art. Get it here.
British indie pop duo Wings of Desire (the new project of INHEAVEN’s James Taylor and Chloe Little) have shared the video for their new single "Better Late Than Never".
From the duo: "In the west, we are ingrained to think getting older is a bad thing. In the east ageing is championed and seen as an opportunity to gain great insight and wisdom. The song is about letting go and allowing time to take you on a grand journey of self discovery, and finding empowerment in all the life experience one has gained. We need to find the transcendent in a world rooted in constant change and destruction. Otherwise we risk being washed ashore."
New York/L.A based dark wave/cold wave act Cold Cave have aired the video for their new single "Prayer From Nowhere".
The song is taken from their upcoming EP 'Fate in Seven Lessons', set to be released on June 11 via Heartworm Press. Pre-order your copy here.
Wesley Eisold words: "‘Prayer From Nowhere’ is a revival song from the lowest I get, written in surrender to save me from myself. I have been blessed by a curse and chained to rock bottom, in search and need of the love I can not give. It has not been easy for me. Amy Lee saved my life and I love her."
Nottingham post punk band Do Nothing have released the video for their latest single "Rolex".
The song is part of our current playlist and is taken from their recent EP ‘Glueland’, released last month (March 12) via Exact Truth.out now. Grab it here.
Founding member and co-creative mind behind proto-industrial post-punk icons Killing Joke, Big Paul Ferguson has announced the release of his new solo album 'Virtual Control'.
Featuring ten original tracks written with guitarist Mark Gemini Thwaite and highlighted with special guest appearances from former Marilyn Manson member Tim Skold as well as Die Krupps mastermind Jürgen Engler, Virtual Control conjures a dense and foreboding aural atmosphere, layering guitars, synths and Ferguson’s own distinctive vocals, that underscores the thoughtfulness of Ferguson’s introspective and observant lyrics. It will be out on June 25. Pre-order your copy here.
In anticipation of the album’s full release on June 25, we are excited to share Virtual Control’s first single “Extrapolate,” one of the album’s most propulsive tracks that rides an unrelenting guitar/bass hook supported by taut percussion and a hypnotic lead vocal, expertly mixed by award-winning producer Tom Dalgety (Pixies, Rammstein).
Ferguson shares these thoughts on what inspired the song, “My reflections on the dichotomies, social and personal, of these times. How our lives are being affected by isolation coupled with the bombardment of conflicting information. Our trust in what is real and true being challenged on a daily basis.”
Check out the album's tracklist and watch the video for "Extrapolate", below.
London supergroup Piroshka (made up of members from Lush, Elastica, Moose and Modern English) have announced the release of their second studio album 'Love Drips And Gathers'.
The record – named after a line in a Dylan Thomas poem – is the follow-up to their 2019's debut Brickbat, and was inspired by love, family, belonging, memory. It will be out on July 23 via Bella Union. Pre-order your copy here.
The four band members are former Lush vocalist/guitarist (and former redhead) Miki Berenyi, former Moose guitarist KJ "Moose" McKillop, Modern English bassist Mick Conroy and former Elastica drummer Justin Welch.
Love Drips And Gathers follows a more introspective line – the ties that bind us, as lovers, parents, children, friends – to a suitably subtler, more ethereal sound, whilst still revelling in energy and drama.
“If Brickbat was our Britpop album, then Love Drips And Gathers is shoegaze!” reckons vocalist/guitarist Miki Berenyi, formerly of Lush, a band that effortlessly bridged the two genres like no other. “It wasn’t intentional; we just wanted a different focus. I’ve always seen debut albums as capturing a band’s first moments, when you really have momentum, and then the second album is the chance for a more thoughtful approach.”
Bassist Mick Conroy (Modern English) agrees. “Brickbat was a classic first album; noisy and raucous. On Love Drips And Gathers, we’ve calmed down and explored sounds, and space.”
The way Love Drips And Gathers changes shape and dynamic is less a reprise of nineties Brit indie than a transformation into a more shivery, Euro-mantic version with glistening electronic filigrees.
The band have also shared their new single “Scratching At The Lid”, take a listen below the album's tracklist.
Irish post-punk duo Twin Diver have unleashed their new single "Sweet Sick".
Speaking about it, the duo explain: “‘Sweet Sick’ is about boredom and existential dread. A lot of my friends who are also in their early 20s have talked about not knowing what they’re ‘supposed’ to be doing with their lives.
Trying to plan your life is a losing game at the best of times, but given the pandemic, I think that feeling was exacerbated for many people, including us.”
Canadian experimental/industrial/post-gaze band Odonis Odonis have unveiled their addictive new single "Impossible".
The song is taken from the band's forthcoming new album 'Spectrums', which will be released on October 15 through Felte. Pre-order your copy here.
On Spectrums, Odonis Odonis showcase the extreme ends of their musical margins. Embracing a love of ‘80s goth and darkwave melodicism while maintaining an industrial strength intensity, the dualities of their sound are revealed in a striking new light.
The icy blue shades of “Impossible” merge the band’s feelings of fear, hope, and trust. Take a lsiten below.
American singer-songwriter John Grant has premiered his catchy new single "Rhetorical Figure".
The song is taken from his forthcoming fifth album 'Boy from Michigan', which will be available on 25th June via Bella Union. Pre-order your copy here.
Built in the lineage of Grant’s nascent electropop darlings, Devo, the song suggests a formative world in which brains are regarded as horny as bodies. According to Grant, “This is a song about my love of language and rhetorical figures and what a turn-on it is when someone wields language in a very capable manner.”
French coldwave/shoegaze/dream wave band Candélabre have shared the video for their new single "Endless Ride".
The song is taken from their upcoming new album 'For To Have Time Is To Have Wings', which will be available on May 7 through Manic Depression Records. Pre-order your copy here.
Portsmouth indie rock/alt/post punk band Hallan have dropped a live video for their latest single "Hands Up".
The song is part of our current playlist and is taken from their debut EP 'Reporting Live From The Living Room Floor', set to be released on July 16 through Nice Swan Records. Pre-order your copy here.
Frontman Conor speaks on the track; “Our sound changes depending on our agenda at any time, finding a different stride with every step. With ‘Hands Up’ we found ourselves dropped into a western rerun armed with a fiercely cowboyish twang on our six string shooter. We wanted to forth a thematic, semi abstract prose, attacking businessmen and penny pinchers in a flurry of suitably delirious criticisms.”
UK post punk/shoegaze band Sunstinger have released the video for their newest single "Shadows".
The song is part of our current playlist andi is taken from their upcoming 4-track debut EP 'Beyond The Frame', which was written during lockdown 1. Grab it here.
Speaking about the band's Taylor Wright said: "[The song] is about people we knew while we were younger and how we see them doing the same things now that they were doing back then. Is about getting past that. Where we are from, it doesn't happen very often and people often get stuck in a cycle. But being from around here, these villages become a part of you. So there's always a temptation to fall back into your old ways. It's like a comfort. It's about temptations and how your decisions have an impact on who you become."
Minsk, Belarus post punk/new wave/cold wave trio Dlina Volny have shared their new single "Bipolar".
The song is out today (April 23) via Italians Do It Better. Grab it here.
“There’s a dark side to each of us. At some point we are on the precipice of having to choose whether to embrace it. But what is it like being on the border?”
Brooklyn post punk/dream pop/indie rock band Veda Rays have aired the video for their latest single "Rose Likes Leather".
The song is part of our current playlist and came out last month (March 19). Get it here.
Speaking about the song and the video, frontman James says: “The song is quite literally about love lasting forever. Veiled in wordplay to varying degrees line by line, it reveals certain techniques of sexual alchemy used in the pursuit of immortality.
The video’s imagery is reasonably true to the song’s meaning. We feel it succeeds in expanding upon the initial concept, bringing the ideas through a more nuanced spectrum of experience via mood and visual interpretation. I could go scene by scene but I may have already said too much. I wanna leave some of it open. But I will say every frame is purposeful and intended.”
British electronic duo The Chemical Brothers (aka Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons) have unveiled the video for their new single "The Darkness That You Fear".
The song is out today (April 23) through Astralworks. Grab your copy here.
“The Darkness That You Fear is a hopeful piece of music. When we found the combination of the different voices worked set to the flow of the music it made us feel optimistic, like it was something we wanted to share.” - Tom Rowlands
The video is directed by @Ruffmercy “When I first heard the song I immediately connected with the theme and the overall positive vibe. New government rules for relaxing lockdown had been announced and combined with the sun shining, it left me feeling positive about the forthcoming summer. It also triggered a strong sense of nostalgia that led to me going back to look for visual inspiration from the period in time when I first discovered The Chemical Brothers in the mid ’90’s. The video combines archive rave footage from the mid to late 90’s with hand painted Super 8 film textures and hand drawn animation. I love using colour to create chaos and evoke emotions and this was the perfect project to do that.”
French dream pop/lo-fi/indie pop band Pastel Coast have announced the release of their sophomore studio album 'Sun'.
The follow-up to their 2019's debut album Hovercraft, will be out on June 4th via Shelflife Records/Groover.
Pastel Coast are looking towards the sea. Quentin Isidore and his band ride the US indie pop wave with a French touch [Phoenix- Futures islands - The Drums - Surf Curse]. We have already heard the songs 'Rendez-vous', and 'Dial', now the band have shared their new single "Sunset", in which they are in a race against time, trying to find love before the sun goes down. Get it here.
Directed by Robin Laroque and Quentin Marinelllo, starring Samya Arrat, the music video for "Sunset" mocks a romantic love affair… 4 minutes filmed as a super 8 movie!
Texas-born, Switzerland-based indie rock/alt band Laddermen have aired their new single "Welcome to the 20's".
The song is taken from their debut studio album 'Special Kind of Violence', due out later this year. We have previously heard the record's first single "The Huntress Obeyed".
'Welcome to the 20's' is a track that could come directly from a towering city in a shady alley. The spirit of acts like Interpol and Editors shimmer unmistakably here.
Cardiff glam rockers band Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard have aired their new single "New Age Millennial Magic", alongside an accompanying music video.
Speaking about it, frontman Tom Rees says: “Seeing gen z’ers quitting school and actually influencing real change in place of me theorising whether Engels would have put his recycling out really brought into focus how fickle millennials (including myself) really are.”
“I take absolute delight in lecturing a table of my half-cut peers on the failures of capitalism but little do they know my grab bag of 250 plastic guitar picks are already Priming their way down the A470 straight to my door in the hands of an underpaid delivery driver with eyes like pissholes in fake snow.”
Edinburgh, Scotland alt/pop band We Were Promised Jetpacks have revealed their new single "If It Happens".
The song features on their new 7” single, set to arrive on 29th June via Big Scary Monsters. Pre-order here.
This new track signifies a change in musical direction for the band. ‘If It Happens’ is all at once grand yet restrained – sonically reflective of its lyrical examination of the bigger picture of life and how that can be boiled down to a simple phrase; “If it happens, it happens.”
Lead singer Adam Thompson explains:“I feel that ‘If It Happens’ expresses a lot about what I had been trying to get across to myself. It was all part of my new mindset of trying to be more positive about what I have and not always thinking about what I don’t. It’s about embracing the idea of happiness, doing what you can to encourage it and generally be a lot more ‘c’est la vie’ about everything. If it happens, it happens; if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. What can you do?”
English electro-industrial pioneer Gary Numan has dropped his new single "Now And Forever".
The song is taken from his upcoming 18th solo studio album 'Intruder', set to be released on May 21. Pre-order your copy here.
‘Now And Forever’ presents a subtle change of tone to the tracks that have preceded it. Its spare industrial opening marches like a funeral procession for a fatally wounded world, but its comparatively luminous synths and warm female backing vocals establish a mood of hope rather than pure despair. That ambience also resonates in the lyrics, which are viewed from the perspective of a world which has purged the population that plagued it. There’s regret for what has happened, but there’s the possibility for redemption at some point in the distant future: “Until it’s your time, I’ll wait here for you, forever.”
“This is one of two songs on Intruder where I tried to write a lyric that continued with the earth speaking theme of the album, but also had a second, entirely different meaning within it. In the case of Now And Forever the lyric is not only a message from the earth to humanity, but also a message from me to my wife Gemma. ” says Gary.
