Tag Archives: Screaming Females

Mad Mackerel’s Best Of The Month: January 2013

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Mad Mackerel's Best Of The Month: January 2013

So, all things considered January got off to a rip-roaring start where new tunes are concerned. Here is our selection of our best of the month’s downloads (27 in all) and a few new tunes too – more than 30 to pick from, so blow those January blues away with these babies.

Prissy Clerks – Bruise or Be Bruised
Mix of fuzzed up punk and slacker indie with garage pop undertones managing to balance a confused, dark isolation with some tender sweetness.

Download The Chaw – The Whole Night Through mp3 (from The Chaw)
Propulsive rhythms and guitar squalls drenched in reverb, referencing soundtracks of the classic spaghetti westerns, big open bar chords and barky low register guitar leads ala Dick Dale.

Download Water Liars – Fake Heat mp3 (from Wyoming)
Plaintive vocals building over the slowly increasing guitar distortion creates a real treat of a first taste from forthcoming album.

Big Harp – Waiting For Some Drunk
Literate Americana, with fuzzed-out, needle-sharp textures.

Download Indian Wars – Sweetheart Of The North mp3 (from Songs From The North)
First taste of new album is a cracker from countrified rockers.

Download Airstrip – Pleasure Center mp3 (from Willing)
Hypnotic and dark “nightmare pop”

Download Colleen Green – Time In The World mp3 (from Sock it to Me)
Showcases vintage synth tones alongside Green’s trademark multi-tracked harmonies, deep-fried guitar chords, and spartan drum machine beats.

Download Milo Greene – Parents mp3 (from Filter Presents: Milo Turns 50)
Eerily hushed and woozy version of the scathing 1982 classic Descendents track Parents. Cover of the month undoubtedly.

Lower Plenty – Strange Beast
Hazy, beautifully melancholy, suburban-country music. Click through to download for free.

Download Tom Morgan – Taste For Blood mp3 (from Orange Syringe)
Stripped back and laconic folk laced with self effacing black humour.

Download Swallows – The Winnowing mp3 (from Witching & Divining)
Rasping, gravelly vocals, sombre cello and chanted junkyard chorus call to mind Tom Waits and The Wicker Man in equal measure.

Wooden Wand – Outsider Blues
No description needed – best album of the month. Mellow, oak-aged, yet still oddly warped folk. Brilliant.

Download Summer Aviation – Love So Fine mp3 (from Love So Fine single)
Combine the fresh, supercharged sound of 60s pop arrangements with post-punk avant-garde: Think Burt Bacharach meets My Bloody Valentine.

Honeyslide – Sugar Routine
Warm distorted guitars, complex hooks and captivating melodies swathed in reverb to create piercing sonic landscapes.

PRAVADA – Campfire Song
Catchy-as-hell tune filled with swirling guitars and sugary indie pop harmonies.

Download Frontier Ruckus – Dealerships mp3 (from Eternity of Dimming)
Wonderfully folky Americana from much anticipated new album.

Harry George Johns – Hospital Blues
Raw personal folk, an incredibly personal diary of a dark and desperate time.

Download Cobalt Cranes – Head In The Clouds mp3 (from Head In The Clouds)
Blend elements of desert, psychedelic and shoegaze sounds, taking a modern approach to classic California rock.

Download The Lovely Bad Things – Fried Eggs mp3 (from The Late Great Whatever)
Garage-punk masterclass.

Download Torres – Mother Earth, Father God mp3 (from Torres)
Minimal, ragged, and raw folk from singer-songwriter’s debut release.

As Elephants Are – Lucifer
Another blistering slice of epic, widescreen indie rock.

Download Fletcher C Johnson – Happy Birthday mp3 (from Salutations)
A nostalgic paean to the 60s with a sweet melody and chorus. Perfect garage pop.

Download The Futurebirds – Man With No Knees (demo) mp3 (from Exhume)
Brilliantly ramshackle Americana and pedal-steel inspired psychedelia.

Download Little Wings – Sandy Babe mp3 (from LAST)
Little Wings at their warmest and most mellow.

Pickering Pick – Standing Stone
Warm, sensitive, thoughtful and restrained – perfect fare from singer-songwriter par-excellence.

Download Lazy Talkers – Killing Time mp3 (from Lazy Talkers)
Sweet, easy-going jangle from indie-folksters.

Jack James – Three Names
Brooding slice of dark folk (click through to download for free).

And to finish off, new tunes from Screaming Females with the sinewy and rickety Poison Arrow from their forthcoming tape release Chalk Tape, a second (brilliant) track from John Grant’s much anticipated new record Pale Green Ghosts, the excellent literate Americana tinged indie of Yellow Red Sparks and the song that gave them their name, and finally the mesmerising brilliance of Secret Mountains and their haunting track Coasting.

Download Screaming Females – Poison Arrow mp3 (from Chalk Tape)

Download John Grant – Black Belt mp3 (from Pale Green Ghosts)

Download Yellow Red Sparks – Yellow Red Sparks mp3 (from Yellow Red Sparks)

Download Secret Mountains – Coasting mp3 (from Rainer)

Mad Mackerel’s Best Of The Month: March 2012

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Mad Mackerel's Best Of The Month: March 2012. Here is our cherry picked selection of our favourite downloads from March for you, together with a few new tracks to create a perfect end-of-month mix. Enjoy.

Download Thee Exciters – Dinosaur Traffic mp3 (from Perpetual Happening)
Psychedelia meets proto-punk

Download The Lonesome Savages – All Outta Love mp3 (from All Outta Love 7″)
50s inflected rock’n’roll revamped and updated with elements of the current garage punk sound – oozes from the speakers in a way that is raw, primal and downright dangerous

Download Lera Lynn – Ring Of Fire mp3 (from Ring Of Fire EP)
Dark interpretation on an upbeat classic

Download Einar Lind – Brother Don’t Steal My Wife mp3 (from Introducing Einar Lind)
Perfect late-at-night soundtrack where you cannot sleep and settle in an armchair with a whiskey to wait out the darkness, while the house creaks and ticks amidst the silence around you

Roomrunner – Super Vague

Pulverising punk rock

Download The Stammer – Follow The Leader mp3 (from The Stammer EP)
A sinewy guitar lead and military percussion over which gloomy tones prevail, provides a two minute rush of monochrome tinged adrenalin

Download Justin Farren – Broken Shit mp3 (from Songs From Spare Rooms)
Comes across like a speed-fuelled Loudon Wainwright III duelling with Arol Guthrie

Download AU – Get Alive mp3 (from Both Lights)
Experimental indie-rock

Download Beast Make Bomb – It Snowed Last Night mp3 (from Skinny Legs)
Combines the distorted punk attitude of the late 1970s with some classic fuzzed out pop melodies to deliver a sweetly addictive tune

Download Violens – Der Microarc mp3 (from True)
Excellent slice of psych-pop

Download Mirel Wagner – The Road mp3 (from Mirel Wagner)
Another cheery tale of death, sparsely plucked and whispered, and coming across like a Strange Fruit for the modern day.

Download The Hussy – Stab Me mp3 (from Weed Seizure)
Like a flick-knife in a crowded flophouse, comes out of the darkness at you with a ferocity and a viciousness that is impossible to avoid and pointless to deflect

Download Dinosaur Feathers – Beatcha mp3 (from Whistle Tips)
Satisfyingly crunchy guitars with infectious groove and jangle

Download Josh & Mer – Mind Control mp3 (from Planet Music)
Unsettling and eerie electro-folk

Download Owsley Brothers – Hot Mess mp3 (from Cobalt)
Crackerjack of experimental blues and rock

Download Roadkill Ghost Choir – In The Lion’s Mouth mp3 (from In The Lion’s Mouth)
Spacey, folk rock

Download Ancient Whales – Everyone mp3 (from Birthing EP)
Insistently catchy, full of memorable guitar riffs, splashes of woozy reverb and hits a sweet spot or two with the cool doubled up vocals

Download Nu Sensae – Gumbo mp3 (from Tea Swamp Park EP)
Scrappy, tribal punk

Download Burnt Ones – Meet The Golden One mp3 (from Meet The Golden One 7″)
High octane garage glam

Download Wye Oak – Pocahontas mp3 (from Daytrotter Session, Neil Young Cover)
Top notch cover of classic

Download Guy Capecelatro III – Switch mp3 (from North For The Winter)
Tale of a killer who meets a woman who proves to be his undoing – with added pedal steel and Hammond organ

Download Titus Andronicus - Upon Viewing Oregon’s Landscape With the Flood of Detritus (from split 7″ with Diarrhea Planet)
Typically raucous, literately sharp punk rock

Download Screaming Females – It All Means Nothing mp3 (from Ugly)
Suitably coruscating and pummeling cut from NJ punks

Download Orpheum Bell – Daddy’s Crying mp3 (from The Old Sister’s Home)
Intimate, waltzy vignette is another example of their elegant and organic sound

Download Chelle Rose – Browder Holler Boy mp3 (from Ghost of Browder Holler)
Ripe with mystery and passion, and sounds like it was plucked from the kudzu-scented air of her native Loudon County in East Tennessee

Download Johnny Bertram & The Bicycles – Miracle mp3 (from Neon City)
Steeped in indie-rock and Americana and filtered through a Deep South lens

Download Ty Segall & White Fence – I Am Not A Game mp3 (from Hair)
Twisty, insistent garage-psych with junkyard vocals

Download Tyburn Saints – Broken Bottles mp3 (from You And I In Heaven EP)
Dark and foreboding indie that feels almost cinematic in its purpose and delivery

Pontiak – Highest Echo

Vintage organic stoner rock

And to finish off we have a breezy new track of indie rock from Maps & Atlases new album, we have the frenetic bank robbing fantasy of Baby Baby’s Nothing To Lose and a welcome return from veteran catchy psych-rockers The Dandy Warhols. Finally, two tracks from Field Report’s much acclaimed and anticipated self-titled debut of fragile, heartfelt folk.

Download Maps & Atlases – Fever mp3 (from Beware And Be Grateful)

Download The Dandy Warhols – Sad Vacation mp3 (from This Machine)

Download Field Report – Fergus Falls mp3 (from Field Report)

Download Field Report – I Am Not Waiting Anymore mp3 (from Field Report)

Baby Baby – Nothing To Lose

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MM’s Best of the Month: July

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Here we are again. A round up of our favourite postings of the month. Twenty one outstanding songs from July plus three new ones to make the perfect mix tape. From folk to garage to stoner rock and summer pop it is all here for you. Download, burn to CD, play – groove!

1) Sharon Van Etten – Love More mp3

A slow burning, mesmerising song that envelops like a soft blanket with that always captivating and haunting voice to the fore

2) Roadside Graves – Everything mp3

Another absolute gem of ramshackle, atmospheric country rock

3) Bombay Bicycle Club – Jewel mp3

Acoustic folk standout from classy new album

4) Vanish Valley – Bad Things mp3

Short, mournful folky lament about being used by the Devil as “the sun slips down the ceiling“.

5) Best Coast – Boyfriend mp3

More 60s inspired lo-fi pop goodness from flavour of the month…

6) Dax Riggs – No One Will Be A Stranger mp3

Scuzzy, hypnotic blend of swamp rock with buzzsaw guitars and a healthy dose of psychedelia

7) Javi Garcia & The Cold Cold Ground – The Pills mp3

A mix of gothic country, bitter folk, full on righteous, reverb heavy southern rock, and straight-up country. All with ominous, brooding fiddle

8) Big Blood – Lay Your Head On The Rails II mp3

Comes across like an outtake from Rust Never Sleeps – feedback buzz and a big fat riff powers from the speakers while the reedy, but determinedly unbreakable vocals fight to the finish to make themselves heard

9) Ten Kens – Screaming Viking mp3

Heavenly vocals appear hauntingly over dark sludgy guitars with a surprisingly spiky post-punk riff

10) Lower Dens – Hospice Gates mp3

Weirdly beautiful, it is throbbing, insistent drone-pop on the one hand and haunting, ghostly freak-folk on the other

11) Rare Grooves – Cause For Concern mp3

Hybrid of anthemic chanting, finger-picked twang, and sometimes experimental sounding guitar

12) Fungi Girls – Doldrums mp3

A shuffling groove and dynamic hook – three minutes of pure joyful escapism that tips its hat to Bo Diddley by way of the Jesus & Mary Chain.

13) Secret Colours – Jellybean mp3

Psych-pop with warm, hazy guitars and vocals to match. Evocative of lava lamps, kaleidoscopic displays and some heavy weed man.

14) The Bees – Silver Line mp3

A little summer breeze of a taster, trademark harmonies and the sunshine are there in equal measure to put a smile on your face

15) Bridal Party – Made Me mp3

A freak folk extravaganza, a heady concoction of pulsing rhythms, drone and echoing, downtrodden vocals

16) Screaming Females – I Don’t Mind It mp3

Grungy, distorted and catchy as hell

17) Ghost Animal – In Shrouds mp3

Frantic, but eerie, slice of garage psychedelia that is fuzzy, distorted and deliciously sleazy.

18) The War Crimes – Levin As I mp3

More down-tempo, minimalist pessimism from MM faves

19) Black Mountain – Hair Song mp3

Classic rock. Enough said.

20) Moulettes – Talisman mp3

Avant-garde folk with strands of classical, gypsy, jazz, and rock that create a complex yet accessible whole.

21) Minks – Ophelia mp3

Reflective, 80s tinged dream pop

And three more corking new ones. Enjoy the jangly, indie pop perfection of French Films and the breezy summer pop of The Knocks and then immerse yourself in rock ‘n’ roll’s sleazy underbelly that is Nick Cave’s brilliant Grinderman.

Download Grinderman – Heathen Child mp3 (from Heathen Child 7″)

Download The Knocks – Make It Better mp3 (from Make It Better 7″)

Download French Films – Golden Sea mp3 (from Golden Sea 7″)

Mad Mackerel Recommends…Noun & Screaming Females

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The Screaming Females are a band that MM likes a lot. So it is to our own detriment that we didn’t even know that before she was in the band, guitarist Melissa Paternoster had recorded for a number of years under the name Noun.

A discovery like this is always better late than never though, and Paternoster released her first official full length entitled Holy Hell earlier this month. Having sampled via eMusic, we are pleased to report that it is a cracking record full of grungy, distorted riffs and strong basslines on the one hand and some softer, piano led tracks that offer a lighter touch on the other. Call it a psychedelic ramble with punk overtones if that makes any sense at all.

However, you describe it, it sounds pretty damn good coming out the speakers and we’ll be hunting around for more stuff from Noun. In the meantime enjoy the title track from the album and as a bonus a brilliant new one from Screaming Females too. It’s from their forthcoming album (their fourth) titled Castle Talk due in September. Both albums are out on Don Giovanni Records.

You won’t be disappointed.

Visit Noun’s MySpace here. Screaming Females here.

Download Noun – Holy Hell mp3 (from Holy Hell)

Download Screaming Females – I Don’t Mind It mp3 (from Castle Talk)