Category Archives: Indie

New Album From Kill The Captains

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New Album From Kill The Captains

It goes without saying that anyone who releases an album containing songs about ‘sado-masochistic rumpy-pumpy’ is alright with us. Add in topics such as corporate greed, conveyor-belt consumerism, and superpower struggles and it immediately becomes an album we want to hear.

So it is with Sheffield four-piece Kill The Captains and new record Sounds Mean. It is not meant to be subtle – guitars fizz and spit, choruses are (often) shouted, bass lines hum, and drums are beaten and battered – but nor is it to be dismissed as mere cartoonish musical thuggery.

The band have a keen ear for melody and an ability to change gear from full throttle to something altogether more thoughtful and reflective with a skill and imagination that is to be admired – while this album could easily be called modern day punk, it is clear that there is as much of the Smiths as there is Carter USM and even Julian Cope in there too. All this is complemented by lyrics which are full of whip smart observations and searing assessments of the greedy, the apathetic and the stupid.

It all means we actually have a band (and a record) with a genuine opinion of their own and willing to pass comment on the world around them.

Download Disco Nazi below.

Sounds Mean is out on the 12th August via the excellent Armellodie Records. Pre-order it here.


[Click through for free download]

Deer Tick Return

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Deer Tick Return

One of our favourite bands, Deer Tick will return with a new album Negativity in September this year. Preceding it by a month will be this single and first taste from the album, the brilliant The Rock.

It is another in their ever-growing collection of guitar-heavy, heart-on-sleeve Americana gems, but this time includes blasts of brass and piercing strings that spit dirt all over the song’s underbelly. Undoubtedly The Rock enters new, darker territory for the Providence quintet and we’re with them every step of the way.

Listen here.

Introducing >>> Whale Belly

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Introducing >>> Whale Belly

Brooklyn based folk quintet Whale Belly will release their second album I Was Once A Bird this autumn.

The first focus track Bubbles In My Blood proudly bears the imprint of traditional folk music but steadfastly refuses to conform to expectations – the song boasts a big band sound, but it’s soft and gentle, and the violin adds a classical element that contrasts sweetly with the naggingly insistent high-pitched guitar riffs. The result is something with time-honoured undertones, but also with an original and imaginative contemporary feel.

Recommended. Download it here.

The Return Of Lanterns On The Lake

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The Return Of Lanterns On The Lake

Another Tale From Another English Town heralds the return of the dreamy, haunting folk of Lanterns On The Lake and is taken from their forthcoming new album Until The Colours Run, that will see a release via Bella Union.

It is typically beautiful, cinematic and orchestral, with strings and vocals that rise and fall as though they were swelling waves, but the lyrics are sharper than previously, with more bite, and reflect the hard times with a nod to harder ones still to come. It is majestic stuff.

“Its getting hard to breathe round here, to think round here,
and we’ve been sold a thousand lies this year”

Have a listen. Watch the video. Immerse yourself.

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Volcano Choir – New Single Byegone

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Byegone is the first single from Repave, the second album by Wisconsin band Volcano Choir, out on Jagjaguwar on September

Previously known as much for being a collaboration between a certain Justin Vernon and the experimental rock leanings of Collections Of Colonies Of Bees, it has been four years since the release of their debut Unmap. However, to these ears, Byegone perhaps trumps anything on that record.

It is a hypnotic and twisting anthem that rises and churns like the sea, and calls to mind both the muscular lyrics of The National and the quarrelsome guitars of Wolf Parade.

Have a listen.

Pre-order Repave from Amazon here.

New Album From The Blood Arm

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New Album From The Blood Arm

It seems to us that The Blood Arm are one of those bands who simply never quite get the kudos and appreciation that they deserve. The most cursory listen to their back catalogue reveals some real gems of glam inspired indie, art-rock cool and new wave swagger. Heck they even followed Bowie’s and Iggy’s footsteps and decamped to Berlin for a while.

Hopefully that may change with the release of their fourth long player Infinite Nights, which is out now via RIP Ben Lee Records. The album retains the influences of before, but if first taste Bubblegum is anything to go by, it also showcases a more mature sound with a wonderfully weary, almost resigned feel to the glam undercurrent – imagine Roxy Music on downers…

Download it below. Buy the album here.

Gaoler’s Daughter To Release Debut Album – How To Make Time

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Debut Album From Gaoler's Daughter

Following a series of excellent singles, EPs and digital releases, long time MM faves Gaoler’s Daughter will finally release their long awaited fan-funded debut album How To Make Time on the 26th August.

As you might expect it combines voyeuristic vocals, reverb-washed guitars and driving rhythms, resulting in an album that subtly acknowledges the band’s influences from Can to Sonic Youth. The first taste comes in the form of the video and stream for energetic lead single Cordelia, which is currently monopolising our play-count and more than whetting the appetite for the full album.

Watch it/listen to it below.

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Videos of the Day: T. Hardy Morris || Fist City || Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros || Radkey

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Videos of the Day

Videos to start the week from the acoustic Americana of the places in peril initiative of T. Hardy Morris to the weird party freaks of Fist City’s Boring Kids, and the visual gymnastics of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros film for Better Days. Lastly we have the speed and fury of Radkey perfectly captured in this performance of Cat & Mouse.

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Introducing >>> Annie Eve

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Introducing >>> Annie Eve

London’s Annie Eve  has brought out her debut self-titled EP on Young & Lost Club.

Delicately and respectfully blending the mystical magic of Bon Iver with a raw sensibility, Annie Eve pours sugar and bitter spice into her angelic compositions with disturbing ease and sincerity. Throw in her unusual grasp of language and awkward perspective, which bleed into her lyrics and fuels an enchanting and haunting style of music.

Deriving her influences from tormented poets to her own experiences, Annie Eve blends her sense of the raw and the irrational to create original and evocative songs.

Watch. Listen. Become entranced.

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