Porridge Radio are pretty new to us, but we’re loving the sounds of latest single Sweet.
Sweet is a schizophrenic sounding track – on the one hand the verses are initially, like the song’s title, sweet, almost delicate, but as the song progresses, increasingly angry and cachophonous guitars squall and battle over vocals that are only a couple of decibels shy of unhinged.
The whole package somehow works brilliantly and we’ve had this one on repeat.
The single is taken from their forthcoming album Every Bad due 13th March. Pre-order here.
Catch them live: 26th March – Soup Kitchen, Manchester
27th March – Studio 2, Liverpool
28th March – Ritual Union Festival, Bristol
29th March – Glad Cafe, Glasgow
31st March – Record Junkee, Sheffield
1st April – Colours, London
3rd April – The Bullingdon, Oxford
4th April – The Westhill Hall, Brighton
Just picked this up off our Soundcloud feed (which is pretty crappy nowadays so God knows what they’ve done to it).
Anyway, stalwart Atlanta based underground garage rockers Black Lips will release new album Sing… in a World that’s Falling Apart via Fire Records at the end of this week.
We’re told the twelve-song collection marks the quintet’s most pronounced dalliance with country music yet, with a clang and harmony that is unmistakably the inimitable sound and feel of the Black Lips, and that is certainly true of the latest track to be shared from it – Rumbler.
Jared Swiller says “this is a song I wrote about a G.I. Joe doll, code-named Rumbler, that I am almost certain is based on my great uncle and war hero Bobby Earl Swilley. The cadence of the song is kind of based on a bear hunting poem that my granddaddy, Bobby Earl’s brother, used to recite to me. This is an ode to my elders.”
Chris T Popper has been with MM from the very first post. Every year he produces his own list of favourite tunes and here are his selections for 2019. This year he was helped by Stan the greyhound. Next year I’m hoping we get Stan’s choices…
10. She Keeps Bees – Kinship
Never got bored of that opening drum groove. Backed up by Jessica Larabee’s smooth intonations it’s aural ketamine for the ears. Her voice really is something special, giving the song an affecting, unique quality.
9. Water Music- It Ain’t Over…
As time went by I got proper gripped up by this tune. It’s dreamlike; alternating between the plaintive wonderfully sparse vocal to a splendid guitar pay-off three quarters through. ‘Everyone’s a leader but no one’s got a plan’ warbles Matty Barker, the creative force behind Water Music. Which seems to nail it, the year 2019 summed up in 9 words.
8. DJ Shadow (feat Rockwell Knuckles, Tef Poe, Daemon) – Urgent, Important, Please Read
Over Shadow’s gnarled chords and clashing drum breaks, Rockwell Knuckles, Tef Poe and Daemon take turns to administer the warnings. Angry and bleak it also feels kind of uplifting which is what makes it so interesting for me. Buried inside is a glimmer of hope, somewhere. A properly brutal record when played loud, which is always an added bonus.
7. Baxter Dury – Slumlord
Every time I sit down at the laptop to write about this song I play it, quite loud to be fair, to help my creative juices flow. Transfixed I listen to the whole song and by the end I haven’t written a single word. Just listened to it. Again. Baxter Dury has a way with words, a sort of analgesic to the unremittingly dull male solo artists currently filling the airwaves. Baxter’s world is shadowy betting shops, dodgy landlords, grimy comedowns and all the other type of things I readily relate to.
6. Lightning Dust – Led Astray
From the album Spectre, their first in four years comes this absolute gem. I’ve kept an eye on Lightning Dust since I heard I Knew, which I think was 2009ish when LD were more of a side project for Amber Webber and Josh Wells. Since the beginning Webber’s vocals have had me under a bit of a spell and the arrangement on Led Astray feels utterly flawless, including some groovy tremolo guitar. This year’s earworm for me, just couldn’t get it out of my noggin.
5. Siskiyou – Unreal Erections///Severed Heads
Another four year hiatus for Siskiyou’s Colin Huebert before releasing this mini epic. Whatever is happening in those four years seems to work. There is a sense of wretchedness to the whole song which appeals to my darker inclinations. Although half way through it almost gets upbeat with a wonderfully maniacal ‘ha ha’ thrown in for good measure. It ends up feeling quite playful, horns blaring out but… but… it still feels like it’s simply masking the futility of it all. Echoes of one of my favourite artists Howling Owls, which is as big a compliment as I can pay.
4. Hideous Sun Demon – Cheap Association
A deep bassline coupled with a sneering Australian accent is right up there on my list of ‘musical triggers I like’. It’s one of those tunes that hits you square between the eyes at first listen. It’s so damn accessible I was singing along with the ‘Mac DeMarco’ bits from the get-go. With each passing year I find myself getting a little more cynical and disappointed. When I do, I just put this on and I instantly know someone else understands.
3. Sleaford Mods – OBCT
I’m in a love/hate relationship with Sleaford Mods (mainly love) and this song encapsulates the problem. The authenticity of what you carp on about. Well everything changes and you can’t be a gobshite forever. Cognitive dissonance with a kazoo. And Fearn’s banging bass line which is guaranteed to get my jaw grinding along. Favourite line of the year is Williamson’s guilty admission ‘You know, now I just fantasiiiissse in a house 3 times the sizzzzzze… of my old one’ A belter of a tune and probably the song I have played the most this year.
2. Dry Cleaning – Magic of Meghan
Tackling the complexities of the UK’s relationship with Meghan Markle using a belter of a guitar lick (just like Meghan ‘it’s a smasher!’) and Florence Shaw’s superbly droll narration this is perhaps the only lens to view the chaos through. Considering recent events I like Meghan more and more. Maybe she’ll bring down the monarchy. Fingers crossed.
1. hd hausman – a modern weight
So my favourite song of the year… Many a time my greyhound Stanley has pricked up his ears as I whistle the whistling bit from a modern weight for the 9,000th time. He fucking hates this song now. It never grows tired to my ears though. The catchy melody shimmers about your lugholes with multiple layers of instruments and Liam Palmer’s brilliant vocal combining to make a song so packed with emotional punch I can get a bit teary. And I have no idea why. The power of music eh. Stan still hates it though.
And here we have the final part of our favourite tunes of 2019… Discover and enjoy.
25 UV Race – Mr Blame A brash, unapologetic race through proto-punk stomp and malodorous glam-punk aesthetics.
24 Lonesome Shack – The City is a Desert Anchored by an insistent country blues refrain that has a touch of something primal about it, and sounds like it could almost be a lost take from the Doors’LA Woman.
23 Sudakistan – Automaton A storming, irresistible slab of psych infused garage rock. Prepare to be pounded into submission.
22 Siskiyou – Nothing Disease Hushed, twilight folk matched with a macabre, ironic pathos. Gorgeous stuff.
21 Ezra Furman – Calm Down aka I Should Not Be Alone Vicious. A fast and furious thrash. Like an amphetamine fuelled Lou Reed for our own desperate times.
20 The Felice Brothers – Special Announcement I’m saving up my money / To be president / I can promise more berries / On Blueberry Hill / I can promise you this / Charlie Parker on the ten dollar bill Classic Felice Brothers ramshackle Americana and our favourite lyrics of the year – mobsters eating lobsters in dim-lit rooms!
19 The Lumineers – Gloria A song about addiction and love. The catchy uptempo folky strum is perfectly juxtaposed with the resigned sadness of the lyrics.
18 DIIV – Blankenship Capitalist greed, climate destruction. Explosive riffs and distortion sets off the condemnation perfectly.
17 Lightning Dust – Led Astray A haunting reflective ballad set to cosmic synths.
16 The Tallest Man On Earth – I’m A Stranger Now A poetic, heartbreaking rumination on growing apart. A little drop of poison in the rain / a little drop of madness in my heart
15 FEWS – More Than Ever More Than Ever takes FEWS’ propulsive menace and aligns it once more to themes of estrangement and alienation. It is a song about apathy and pointlessness, and is a brilliant, unrelenting anthem for the disenfranchised.
14 Water Music – It Ain’t Over Yet… Outsider folk of the very best kind. Dark, melancholic and lyrical.
13 Fontaines DC – Big Dogrel was album of the year for many, and a host of Fontaines DC’s tunes from it featured in our round up last year. However, Big was one of the new tracks, and it was another crackerjack of short, snappy, irresistibly catchy punk rock.
12 Baxter Dury – Slumlord Slumlord is a tale of the unpleasant, the tainted and the grotesque, whilst still retaining a sense of something despairingly romantic about it. It is the musical equivalent of a bare lightbulb swinging in a dingy bedsit, casting sickly light on things you might not want to see, and then suddenly illuminating something that might break your heart. Musically there are echoes of The Clash, of Straight to Hell perhaps, and some Nile Rodgers style funk that just settles into a groove that quickly becomes irresistible.
11 She Keeps Bees – Kinship Drum heavy, hypnotic folk. A meditative hymn to mother nature.
10 Hideous Sun Demon – Cheap Association Savage, scuzzy slab of punk rock that is so good it would give Buddha a migraine.
9 Ohtis- Runnin Beautifully dark country-Americana taking us through songwriter Sam Swinson’s autobiographical journey of indoctrination and addiction. Has a touch of Lord Huron about it.
8 Ian Noe – Meth Head Stark, brutal and unforgettable folk. A despairing, unflinching story of prowling junkies that are way beyond hope or redemption. I just kept pacing by / Swattin’ through the flies / And her stench, rancid and stout / While she stood there cryin’ “Please!” / With her fist between her knees / And the sores drainin’ ’round her mouth
7 Dry Cleaning – Magic of Meghan A sparkling, effervescent joy of shimmering guitars and indie jangle. And prophetic to boot…
6 Party Hardly – Rats in the Kitchen A rousing indie anthem that is the musical equivalent of waking a guard dog – a bit woozy in places, but equally likely to suddenly tear your ears off with no warning and no apology!
5 WIVES – Servants Like the Rolling Stones seen through the prism of New York’s seediest underside, a perfect bass-driven combination of menacing modern blues and post-punk rumble.
4 Deliluh – Lickspittle A Nut In The Paste By equal measure propulsive and laconic, it hums along at a fair old pace with something of classic era Sonic Youth about it.
3 The Murder Capital – Feeling Fades Intense, brooding post-punk par excellence, a song with menace aforethought…
2 Guru – Ltd Reminiscent of the best of Traams, Brighton punks Guru deliver a brilliantly tense, propulsive anthem that builds to a frenzied crescendo.
1 hd hausmann – A Modern Weight Taking in elements of folk and Americana but ultimately producing a kind of outsider pop, hd hausmann recall the early works of The National or David Kitt crossed with Leonard Cohen’s poetic charms. Anchored by a deep, velvety vocal the gently hypnotic A Modern Weight surreptitiously wormed its way into our consciousness and would not be dislodged. A slow burner that creeps up and grips like a vice.
We’ve decided to do things a bit differently this year – too many times in the past we’ve posted our favourite songs of the year and then discovered late releases we wished we’d added! And also 2019 was a shit year for the world – Brexit, Johnson, Trump, the world burning… at least there is music.
So, way after everyone else has done theirs, here is MM’s countdown of top 100 tunes for 2019 – part 1!
100 Chupa Cabra – Violent Urges
99 Metz – Dry Up
98 Youth Sector – Renting Spaces In My World
97 Some Bodies – TV Show
96 Tummyache – Median
95 Dr. Dog – Can’t Catch Me
94 Amyl & The Snifters – Monsoon Rock
93 DITZ – Gayboy
92 Phobophobes – Blind Muscle
91 B Boys – I Want
90 Big Thief – Not
89 Matt Shapiro – Rockaway Girl
88 Pile – The Soft Hands of Stephen Miller
87 Port Juvee – Hope to Lose
86 The Murder Capital – Green & Blue
85 Better Oblivion Community Center – Dylan Thomas
84 Oh Sees – Heart Worm
83 Spectator – Weight
82 Fat White Family – Feet
81 Hurt Valley – Apartment Houses
80 Bambara – Serafina
79 Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – At The Back Of The Pit
78 Crows – Chain of Being
77 WIVES – Hit Me Up
76 Cate le Bon – Daylight Matters
75 Slaves – One More Day Won’t Hurt
74 B Boys – Instant Pace
73 LIFE – Moral Fibre
72 Catholic Action – People Don’t Protest Enough
71 Black Adidas – Be Cool
70 Panik Attaks – Terror
69 FEET – Outer Rim
68 The Dream Syndicate – Put Some Miles On
67 Purple Mountains – Margaritas At The Mall
66 Lightning Dust – Competitive Depression
65 Comet Gain – We’re All Fucking Morons
64 LIFE – Excites Me
63 Hotel Lux – Tabloid Newspaper
62 Sunflowers – Dreamweaver
61 Sleep Eaters – Bad Love
60 Frog – Black Friday
59 Patio – Boy Scout
58 Working Men’s Club – Teeth
57 The Stroppies – Cellophane Car
56 Brooke Bentham – All My Friends Are Drunk
55 IDLES – Mercedes Marxist
54 Bee Bee Sea – Be Bop Palooza
53 Sleep Eaters – Life of Sin
52 Field Medic – The Bottle’s My Lover, She’s Just My Friend
Bambara’s new album Stray was announced in October ahead of a February 14th release on the always reliable Brooklyn indie Wharf Cat. The album is structured like a collection of short stories about a group of loosely-related characters living in a fictionalized Georgia community.
Beginning with lead single Serafina, and followed by Sing Me To The Street, the band have shared the third single from the album Heat Lightning. It is a driving punk song with almost western-style guitar leads undercut by ominous synth swells, frontman Reid Bateh turns the spotlight on one of the album’s lead characters, the personified figure of Death.
We missed this at the tail end of last year, but Bristol’s new five piece Birdman Cult peddle a very nice line in scorching riffs and bone shaking percussion on recent single Snakes. It is a fuzzy gem of sweaty rock ‘n’ roll that stomps a line somewhere between the black clad doom of BMRC and the voodoo rock of the Cramps.
Happy New Year! Our top 100 tunes of 2019 will be coming shortly, but in the meantime the Lost Brothers have unveiled the second single and video from their forthcoming album After The Fire After The Rain (out on the 7th February).
Appropriately enough the new song is the title track and was recorded in Brooklyn New York – long standing MM faves, M.Ward and Howe Gelb feature on electric guitars.
Watch the new video here. Pre-order the album on limited edition signed Vinyl, CD and Download by clicking here.
And in case you missed it, here is the excellent first single, Fugitive Moon, also featuring M.Ward.
Scuzzy garage-punk London four-piece Nothingheads have released their ferocious new single Cockroach 2051.
The unhinged and epically heavy track follows recent release Topsy, and recalls the likes of The Jesus Lizard and The Membranes. The band tell us that “the idea for Cockroach 2051 all came from a film called The Very Brief Life of an Ember. A load of street kids takeover Manila in a decadent future and run riot. The synth sirens and choppy guitars are as chaotic sounding as possible”.
