“There are times”, remarked Chris T Popper, at the end of the Idles gig last night, “when you know you’ve seen a band at exactly the right time”. Touring on the back of the release of their savage, embittered and brilliant debut Brutalism, this was one of those times. Idles are rapidly cementing their place in an already overcrowded genre that stretches from Slaves and … Continue reading Live Review: Idles (Bullingdon, Oxford)
Shadow Mode is the latest track to be shared from Annie Hardy’s upcoming album Rules. It is another song that is shot through with all the emotional grief and raw pain that comes from suffering some truly heartbreaking losses. With a spooky piano melody and buzzing synths Shadow Mode is discomforting and affecting, managing to be both equally harrowing and poignant. It is a compelling listen. … Continue reading Annie Hardy – Shadow Mode
We’ve already posted three singles from Belgian garage punks Mind Rays and here is the fourth (and final) track shared from upcoming debut album Nerve Endings. Follow Suit is the best yet – another snarling, pulsating slab of sleaze-riddled proto-punk that gleefully runs the gamut from primetime Stooges to Ty Segall. Wig out to it below. Continue reading More From Mind Rays
San Francisco five piece No Vacation combine the novel sounds of college nostalgia and surf-tinged bedroom indie to create wistful, yet buoyant dream-pop. New single Mind Fields is out in June via Topshelf Records. Heavily influenced by the band’s previous break-up, year-long hiatus, and subsequent reunion the song is a gem – tinged with a touch of shoegaze, and sounding like it has just been re-discovered … Continue reading No Vacation – Mind Fields
The excellently named Dolly Spartans new EP Time Sides With No One, was written in the wake of their guitarists’ sudden death of a drug overdose at age 22 and details frontman Michael Eliran’s struggle to cope with the tragedy of losing his best friend. With echoes of Wavves or Fidlar, Hanging Out is a prime slice of thrumming, garage pop that documents the turmoil … Continue reading MM Shorts 930: Dolly Spartans
Lawrence, Kansas duo Arc Flash, who will release their full length debut Carbon Copy on 31st March, via High Dive Records, have shared the record’s latest single, Divination. The duo of Mark Rockwell (drums) and James Thomblison (guitar/vocals) who also play in garage psych band Psychic Heat, offer their own unique brand of sonic space rock and intense mutant pop, built on blistering punk energy, infectious hooks, and raw, fuzzy … Continue reading Introducing >>> Arc Flash
What’s All This New Piss? might well be our favourite record title of the year so far. It is the name of the latest release from New York fuzz-pop duo Yawn Mower. The ethos of the pair is simple: make fuzzy, surfy good time tunes while having a blast doing it. On the evidence of Paddle Out and Shed Is Old, it’s mission accomplished. Have a listen. … Continue reading MM Shorts 928: Yawn Mower
Scab Hand are another band to emerge from Brighton’s febrile underbelly, a three-piece forged from former Love Buzzard frontman and guitarist Kevin Lennon, former Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster drummer Rob Ling and bassist Dan Stirrat. Irregular Bed is their debut single, a hugely enjoyable squelching fuzz pot of squealing aural mayhem. Have a listen. Continue reading MM Shorts 927: Scab Hand
This week our round up includes a brilliantly angry and frustrated single from Swedish sisters First Aid Kit for International Women’s Day, another track from the prolific Ty Segall’s upcoming EP, the first taste from Bonnie Prince Billy’s Merle Haggard covers record with a version of the classic Mama Tried. This week’s offering from the Our First 100 Days Project comes from Self Esteem (none other … Continue reading Nine Songs You Should Have Heard This Week
Steeped in a lo-fi aesthetic, Top Down’s debut album, Rough Roads, is a record of powerful guitar riffs, catchy lines and melodies and a tough drum beat. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes loud and sometimes quiet, it is a road trip to nowhere through a ragged landscape telling stories of love and failure, doubts and contradictions, and endless struggles and temptation. Check out the first … Continue reading Top Down – Rough Roads
The Mad Mackerel 