On Friday 18th March I will be abseiling 150ft down the side of Peterborough Cathedral dressed not as an oily fish, but as a giant bear. It is all for a wonderful charity called Shine who provide specialist support pre birth and beyond for anyone living with spina bifida and/or hydrocephalus. These are very complex conditions that affect moving, learning and health. And for the record Benny Bear is the charity mascot. Anyway, it is a long, long way up (or down depending how you look at it), and apparently, even on a good day, the top of the tower gets pretty blustery. I can’t say I’m filled with joy at the prospect, more a low level anxiety at the moment, and that’s just dressing up as a giant bear…So have a heart for a fishy old bloke in a furry onesie and sponsor me a few pounds if you can.
The new releases juggernaut has well and truly got into gear for 2017 with a whole host of new tracks from some longstanding MM faves seeing the light of day this week.
So, rather than post them all one-by-one, we’ve rounded them up for you into one neat package.
Wonderful New York duo Diet Cig have announced the forthcoming release of their hugely anticipated debut album entitled Swear I’m Good At This. The album will be released on 7th April via Frenchkiss Records. Today the band have shared the first single off the album – the highly infectious Tummy Ache.
Toronto alt-rock quartet The Wooden Sky will also release their new album Swimming in Strange Waters on 7th April via Nevado Music. Drawing its title from a line in Frank Herbert’s 1965 sci-fi novel, Dune – Survival is the ability to swim in strange water – the record finds frontman and multi-instrumentalist Gavin Gardiner struggling to come to terms with the trauma and unknowns haunting both his personal life and the world at large. Have a listen to the title track.
Churning out hauntingly bittersweet lo-fi, Manchester girlfriend/boyfriend duo Luxury Death are back with their new single Glue, alongside the announcement of their debut EP of the same name.
Laura Marling has shared a second track, Wild Fire, from her upcoming new album Semper Femina.
Laura Marling also contributes backing vocals to Karen Elson’s new track Distant Shore, which comes from the English-born, Nashville-based singer-songwriter’s sophomore album Double Roses – also out on 7th April (mark the date!) via H.O.T Records Ltd.
Long-running Toronto indie-folk trio Rural Alberta Advantage have shared Beacon Hill, it comes ahead of a planned new album for later in the year.
Experimental psych-rock institution Grails have just shared a second track Pelham, ahead of their first studio album in six years, Chalice Hymnal. The track is a visceral collusion of acid-psych, 20th century Western film scores, and jazz-infused prog.
Ignorecam is Pissed Jeans crushing new offering from Why Love Now, their forthcoming fifth album available 24th February on Sub Pop.
And finally, noisy post-punk duo Japandroids have given us No Known Drink Or Drug, a new track from their long awaited third album, Near To The Wild Heart Of Life.
If one thing really irritates me then it is the bloke (it is always a bloke) at the back of the gig who, at the end, opines how the band “were a bit too samey”, or they “didn’t quite get it”, or it “was OK, but nothing special”, or they’ve “seen it done better by other bands” and then goes on to list a load of obscure or not-so-obscure bands that were (or are) apparently better.
This bloke, in various guises, plagued me yesterday. At the end of Man Of Moon, The K, Diet Cig, and Black Honey I heard various pompous, patronising and pissy comments from people who clearly spent their lives going to gigs and telling people how they weren’t as good as other gigs they’ve been to…
So for the record, Man Of Moon were nothing like Hawkwind, but did deliver an excellent set of spacey psychedelia. The K were nothing like Rage Against the Machine, but did shred their guitars with the best of them, Diet Cig were nothing like Pavement, but instead provided the best set I’ve seen so far and in Dinner Date have (their own) indie-punk classic. Local heroes Black Honey were nothing like “Lush-lite”, but instead wowed a crowd with surfy guitars and high octane indie anthems.
In between these I was blown away by the visceral punk rock of Otherkin, pleasantly transfixed by the dark, throbbing electro-indie of Drones Club, and sadly disappointed by Eagulls who I had been eagerly waiting for all day. They seemed infected by a somewhat thin and disinterested crowd and the slightly new direction taken on their new record didn’t translate well live and felt flat and diluted compared to their storming debut. Nerve Endings was a standout, but I will resist the temptation to say I’ve seen it done better by other bands…
It’s the third instalment of our end of year list of our favourite tracks of 2015. Today we enter the top half of the chart with numbers 50 through to 26.
50 Mutual Benefit – Not For Nothing
49 Rats On Rafts – Last Day On Earth
48 Slaves – Ninety Nine
47 Diet Cig – Harvard
46 Decemberists – The Harrow And The Haunted
45 Laura Marling – I Feel Your Love
44 Elephant Stone – The Devil’s Shelter
43 Harrison Storm – Sense Of Home
42 Protomartyr – Dope Cloud
41 Noah Gundersen – Slow Dancer
40 Karen Meat & The Players – Pizza & Beer
39 Du Blonde – Chips To Go
38 Bjork – Stonemilker
37 Chaika – The Mirror
36 Marika Hackman – Drown
35 Gun Outfit – Gotta Wanna
34 Traams – Silver Lining
33 Fat White Family – Whitest Boy On The Beach
32 Abandoned Delta – I Never Lived In New Orleans
31 Jeffrey Lewis + The Bolts – Scowling Crackhead Ian
30 Fritjof Norrmo – Set Me On Fire
29 James McMurtry – Copper Canteen
28 Tow’rs – The Kitchen
27 Hanni El Khatib – Moonlight
26 Gaz Coombes – 20/20
Check in tomorrow for the final countdown to our number one choice of the year. Click here for numbers 100-76 and here for 75-51.
Time for the MM countdown of our favourite tracks of the year to begin. Over the next few days we’ll be revealing our top 100 tracks and top 30 albums of 2015, with contributions from Mrs Mackerel, Chris T Popper, Polly Pocket and Franca. We’ll also share their personal choices with you next week.
So without further ado, here are numbers 100 through to 76.
100 Ultimate Painting – Woken By Noises
99 Samantha Crain – Elk City
98 Diet Cig – Dinner Date
97 Cruising – Safe Corridor
96 Gold Class – Life As A Gun
95 Beach Slang – Bad Art & Weirdo Ideas
94 Arborist – Twisted Arrow
93 Kodiak Deathbeds – Borderline
92 Summer Twins – Demons
91 Together PANGEA – Blue Mirror
90 Tallest Man On Earth – Dark Bird Is Home
89 Wilco – Random Name Generator
88 James McMurtry – South Dakota
87 J Fernandez – Between The Channels
86 Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy & The Cairo Gang – I’ve Been A Long Time Leaving
NY’s punky power-pop duo Diet Cig have shared the second song from their double A-side Sleep Talk/Dinner Date 7″.
Dinner Date is (maybe) our favourite song of theirs to date – one that continues them along their path of unflinchingly highlighting failures and disenchantments (their own and others). The song is plaintive yet spiky, building to a fuzzy finale of frustration and stinging disappointment. Brilliant.
The frosted clear vinyl, available September 18th in the UK from Art Is Hard, is limited to only 1,000 records – order here.
You know the drill I’m sure. Here then are no less than 13 collected new tunes from the past week for a perfect weekend playlist…
1. Surfer Blood – Hey Ya (Outkast cover)
2. Childbirth – Nasty Grrls
3. Yuck – Hold Me Closer
4. Diet Cig – Sleep Talk
5. Public Service Broadcasting – The Other Side
6. Chelsea Wolfe – After The Fall
7. Goat – It’s Time For Fun
8. Hamilton Leithauser & Paul Maroon – Proud Irene
9. Phil Cook – 1922 (Charlie Parr cover)
10. Yung – Burning Bodies
11. Together PANGEA – No Oz
12. Palehound – Healthier Folk
13. Wand – Stolen Footsteps
Despite already sharing some great new songs this week from 
