After three long years of anticipation, San Francisco’s psych-blasted, starry-eyed weirdos The Fresh & Only’s are returning with their new album, Wolf Lie Down.
The brilliant title track is one of our favourites of the year so far, and now we also have the smouldering garage chug of Impossible Man for you.
Stream both below.
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Brutal noise rockers METZ are back with a new record, Strange Peace, that sees them turning in a much more nuanced, interesting set of songs, one that feels particularly indebted to Sonic Youth, Preoccupations, Fugazi and the more angular edges of the alt rock pantheon.
It’s a record that is still immersed in the kind of biting social commentary they’ve often dealt in, but this time it’s more audible than ever: provocative and uncompromising but, dare we say it, a lot of fun too.
Check out the infectiously powerful first single Cellophane. Â The album arrives on the 22nd September via Sub Pop.
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Time for some more musical films…
Hull Goth Punk outfit Lumer have released the video for their unhinged new single Gruel on Warren Records. Reminiscent of Bauhaus, Killing Joke and YAK it is a brutally thrilling cut.
Spirit Valley’s expansive, primal psych-rock falls somewhere between the fuzzed out rock’n’roll of The Black Angels and the warped synths of Moon Duo check out new single Waiting For Real.
Fuzz Club Records’ live session series – the Fuzz Club Sessions – has already seen cracking releases from the likes of Night Beats, Heaters, The Entrance Band and 10,000 Russos and it’s still showing no sign of slowing down. The latest to join the club is Austin’s finest garage/surf heavyweights, Holy Wave.
During a UK tour in support of their 2016 LP Freaks Of Nurture, Fuzz Club invited the band to an analogue recording studio in South London to lay down a live album. As with all the sessions, it’s to be released as a series of videos from the day and pressed to vinyl (released July 20th). Here is the video for the sublime, washed-out croons of California Took My Bobby Away.
Grunge-pop four-piece Otherkin have shared the video for their new single React. They describe it as “a trivial, little joke-man ends up massive, and acts like a total plum with his new-found size. He is still, at core though, a fat, old human, and his reign of terror doesn’t last long. It’s a pretty simple analogy.”
The video for Muertos’ excellent  single Spin takes their vintage garage sleaze and dials it right up – a full sonic assault of feedback collides with a motoric beat and the band’s signature duel vocals. Drawing influences from the likes of Jesus and Mary Chain, The Kills, and The Black Angels, this single marks the announcement of the band’s first long player which will be released later in the year.
Weasels may well be our favourite (land) animal so any song with it in the title automatically gets a thumbs up from us. Crumbs’Â sound comprises a bumper post-punk/pop party bag mix of sprightly basslines, super-danceable cowbell-tinged rhythms, fizzing guitars and effervescent interchanging vocal lines. Weasels Can Wait is a two minute jangly romp – a party song about being the one crying at the party. The video also features an inexplicably long worm!
Saint Leonard’s Horses bewitching gothic video for latest single Little Girl Scientist features Sophie Kennedy Clark (Nymphomaniac, The Danish Girl) as a tortured soul who uses witchcraft to conjure up her lover. It is book-ended with a voice over by acclaimed author and journalist Jonathan Meades.Â
Brighton three-piece LOM combine their love of folk, soul and pop to create songs centred around the rich vocal harmonies of two sisters Leila and Millie Watts, and the finger picking style of Owen Davey’s acoustic guitar. There is some nice animation in their video for recent single There Is A Place. It follows the journey of a woman who sets out to regain her youthful joy in simple things.
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We’re a little late to this one, but our recent discovery of Bad//Dreems’ latest album Gutful was simply too good to keep to ourselves.
From the self-proclaimed Aussie “outsider rock” camp, their blend of snotty garage punk, self-deprecating black humour and infectiously catchy pop melodies draw positive comparisons with other MM faves from the same stable such as The Dune Rats and Scott & Charlene’s Wedding.
Listen to the excellent title track and equally good Mob Rule below. Order the record here.
Had a gutful of your speed and coke
Had a gutful of your racist jokes
Had a gutful of Australia Day
Had a gutful of the USA
Had a gutful of Donald Trump
Had a gutful of your baby bump
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Compared to Townes Van Zandt, Jackson C. Frank, Jason Molina, and Bob Dylan (his biggest influence), Joseph Childress’ emotionally charged voice captivates over guitar playing that ranges from delicate finger-style to furious strumming.
Drawing inspiration from his close relationships and the wild nature of the American west, the tracks on his new self-titled album are borne from his most recent adventures working on a cattle ranch in Wyoming, riding trains, and living out of his car.
Poignant lyrics about loneliness and the western landscape are right at home with a stronger country sound – listen to Virginia Bound from it below.
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A new project from Stefanie Drootin (The Good Life, Big Harp, Bright Eyes, She & Him) and Chris Senseney (Big Harp), Umm finds the couple drawing inward, draping vintage harmonies and shards of fuzz over grounded, primitive rhythms and simple, aching pop melodies. Like the Everly Brothers and Suicide smoking cigarettes in bed and listening to the Breeders!
Sound good? If so, check out a couple of tracks from upcoming album Double Worshipper (out via Majestic Litter on 28th July).
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We’ve been sharing a few tracks from Quiet Hollers forthcoming album Amen Breaks (it is out tomorrow via sonaBLAST!).
The latest is Funny Ways, a song about criminality and the self-perpetuating prison-industrial complex. Have you ever had a friend that just can’t seem to stay out of trouble? That’s exactly who frontman Shadwick Wilde wrote this song for….
Listen below.
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Bury, Manchester five-piece Ethan & The Reformation are all set to take off on their magic carpet whilst putting a contemporary twist on lost 60s psychedelia that allows them to make the most alluring escapist music.
Across its 7 minutes, new single Free From Everything, is full of Eastern promise as its sucks up the dust from melodic artefacts through history and scatters it wide over a rich tapestry of magical wizardry, anchored down by a heavy rock’n’roll guitar sound.
Give it a blast.
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BRONCHO write some of the catchiest, most infectious indie-rock anthems around and Get In My Car, the Oklahoma quartet’s first new offering since releasing their third album Double Vanity in 2016, completely lives up to all expectations.
A bit of glam rock, some garage swagger, and classic pop…stream it below.
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