From Belfast, Girls Names could perhaps be considered as the UK’s spirited answer to all those surf-rock, lo-fi garage obsessed bands from the US that are proving so popular at the moment. But let’s not kid ourselves – that is some stiff competition to live up to and thankfully with their four track self titled EP from Captured Tracks they’ve more than risen to the … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends…Girls Names
As anyone who reads MM will know we are big fans of Emily Reo and have been eagerly awaiting the release of her EP Witch Mountain. The five track cassette is (of course) as dreamily seductive and captivating as we were hoping. There are fuzzy, distorted vocals, loops and washed out synths but always carried along by a lovely melody and the overall result is … Continue reading Emily Reo Releases Witch Mountain
At the beginning of this month we posted the excellent b-side to the new single from The Cloud Nothings. The single Didn’t You is out today on Old Flame and now you can get that too with a simple click of your mouse below. It’s a cleaner sound, but still packed full of hooks and shot through with that punk arrogance that we like so … Continue reading Cloud Nothings New Single
This year, one of MM’s fave labels, Young & Lost Club have put out a whopping fifty singles. They are celebrating by whittling thirty four of them down to a compilation of the greatest hits and misses! And it is a cracker. The compilation includes Noah & The Whale, Vincent Vincent and the Villains, Larrikin Love, Johnny Flynn, Bombay Bicycle Club and many, many more bands that have gone … Continue reading Free Mixtape from Young & Lost Club
It must be a day for videos. Following on from the previous post, here is Black Mountain’s video for Old Fangs, which we posted the other day. The album Wilderness Heart will be released through Jagjaguwar Records on Monday 13th September. Download Black Mountain – Old Fangs mp3 (from Wilderness Heart) Continue reading Old Fangs Video from Black Mountain
We loved Electric Tickle Machine’s debut album, 2009’s Blew It Again. Originally out on vinyl, it will finally see a wide release on their own Science Diction Records next Tuesday the 29th. They also have a new video for one of the album’s standout tracks Bones – you can watch it below and then download a couple of tracks of loud, fast, snotty rock’n’roll including Gimme … Continue reading New video from Electric Tickle Machine
Perfume Genius is the adopted moniker of Seattle singer-songwriter Mike Hadreas. His debut album Learning came out via Matador Records on Monday, and is one of those unsettling, bruised records that stays in the mind long, long after you have finished listening. Fragile, whispered lyrics and a muffled, lo-fi hiss create an intimacy that is almost painful, but at the same time totally absorbing and … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends…Perfume Genius
Salem are perhaps the arch exponents of a sound you can only describe as sinister, dark-hearted and experimental, trading as much on the atmospherics as the music itself. Album King Night is out in September (check out the marvellous cover art), and the lead off title track is just as bleak and as obtuse as you might expect. For all those ghostly leanings and haunted, … Continue reading New from Salem
One suspects The Crocodiles have had the Echo & The Bunnymen manual out for this, their new single, Sleep Forever. In fact Barry-Sean from the office (and a great E&TB fan/expert/obsessive) was suitably moved to observe that everything right down to the vocal phrasing seemed deliberately Bunnyesque. However, as he also observed, this is no bad thing – especially when they also manage to bring … Continue reading New from The Crocodiles
The Local Natives have made a what seems to be a pretty big breakthrough with their debut album Gorilla Manor, deservedly picking up universal acclaim from critics (and fans) on both sides of the Atlantic. Now as part of what looks like a most promising Aquarium Drunkard digital compilation titled L’Aventure (which is a tribute to the 1978 Television album Adventure), they have covered the track Careful. … Continue reading Local Natives Cover Television for Aquarium Drunkard
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