Released on October 5th, 1993, Gentlemen found The Afghan Whigs at their peak, alongside the album ‘Black Love’ that would follow it three years later. “If I Were Going” – 3:05 “Gentlemen” – 3:54 “Be Sweet” – 3:37 “Debonair” – 4:15 “When We Two Parted” – 5:47 “Fountain and Fairfax” – 4:21 “What Jail Is Like” – 3:30 “My Curse” – 5:45 “Now You Know” … Continue reading 30th Anniversary: The Afghan Whigs – Gentlemen
For fans of Talk Talk, Aldous Harding, Tortoise, Sam Gendel Faye Webster embraces a slow mellifluous drift on her new single ‘Lifetime‘. The dreamy sway of the song is beautifully augmented by relaxed post-rock drums, a jazz and cosmic country looseness and a wandering poignancy as she sings the repeating refrain “In a lifetime…” The companion music video was directed by Kyle Ng of Brain Dead. In February … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Faye Webster – Lifetime
Melbourne / Naarm art-punks Gut Health have released the utterly infectious, ‘Uh oh’, and announced that a new 7” – Gut Health Singles ’23 – is on its way via Marthouse Records. A brilliant and urgent bass line opens proceedings before a choppy, slashing guitar skitters nervously across the speakers. Vocals are sing-song chanted – late night dance floor incantations that descend into the yelping curtailed statements of the chorus. It’s … Continue reading GUT HEALTH HIT THE POST-PUNK DANCEFLOOR ON NEW SINGLE ‘UH OH’
Melbourne band Big League released their brilliant single ‘Dine Out on the Subdivide’ earlier this year and now they’ve released the followup ‘At All‘. It’s another gem of hotwired fuzz and indie rock, a ragged rush of an anthem for the disaffected, with a streak of positivity woven into it. With a key carnivalesque guitar sound, it tumbles out of the speakers with an urgency … Continue reading VIDEO PREMIERE: Big League – At All
Mystery bands are always a fascinating proposition. Who are they, where are they from, is this new, is this old???? The Hallrunners will keep you guessing with this debut release, ‘Clumsy Boys’, recorded at Rockbottom Studios in Croydon and released on Australian label Half A Cow. Ita slice of jangly, anthemic power pop par excellence that bursts out of the speakers and embeds itself in … Continue reading PREMIERE: The Hallrunners – Clumsy Boys
Tāmaki Makaurau-based band Office Dog share their new single ‘Gleam’, the latest unveiling from their forthcoming debut album Spiel (Flying Nun Records, Sept 15th), plus the song’s music video directed and edited by Sophie Black, and shot by Pepe de Hoyos. Another sonic gem of a song, it follows Kane Strang, Mitchell Innes and Rassani Tolovaa’s excellent first release ‘Hand In Hand’, a more reflective post-rock sounding song. ‘Gleam’ dives further … Continue reading AOTEAROA TRIO OFFICE DOG RELEASE NEW SINGLE ‘GLEAM’ ON FLYING NUN
Straight off the bat there’s a big nod to Bailterspace on this new track from Auckland, Aotearoa/NZ trio Swallow The Rat. Killer sound! There’s sonic weight and tectonic shifts in the way the guitar buzz and swing with a heavy MBV sway or Swervedriver if they were more indebted to post-punk. It’s noisy, woozy and rock solid. Vocals are barked, giving it a Girls Against … Continue reading SWALLOW THE RAT RELEASE HEAVY SHOEGAZE/POST-PUNK SINGLE TERRA NULLIUS
Taken from Dick Move‘s forthcoming new LP Wet, set for release on 6th October through 1:12 Records, ‘Small Man, Big Tweet’ is another brisk and bristling single from the Auckland group. Straight out of the gate the guitars buzz and fuzz, gloriously accompanied and interrupted by primitive drums and Frances Carter’s righteous yelp and snarl. The new album was produced by Peter Ruddell (Wax Chattels, Sulfate) and … Continue reading AOTEAROA GROUP DICK MOVE RELEASE NEW PUNK SINGLE
Ben Leece & Left of the Dial‘s new single ‘Swastika Kids‘, out now on Stanley Records, is only 2:24 mins long but it’s a vibrant, high-velocity dispatch from the songwriter who sounds fully unshackled from any genre restraints as he releases the follow-up single to ‘Big Red Black’. Melodies tumble and bristle as he mixes references to The Hard Ons, Public Enemy, Guns N Roses … Continue reading BEN LEECE RELEASES THE HIGH VELOCITY, MELODIC POST-HARDOCRE SOUND OF ‘SWASTIKA KIDS’
Anti- have announced they’ll be releasing a new posthumous Sparklehorse album called Bird Machine on September 9th. The record was being worked on by Mark Linkous when he committed suicide in 2010 and has been completed by his brother Matt and sister-in-law Melissa. As Mark began work on what he planned to be the fifth Sparklehorse album in 2009, he and Matt would talk through … Continue reading NEW SPARKLEHORSE ALBUM COMING IN SEPTEMBER!
Margaret Glaspy‘s Emotions and Math album from 2016 was one of my favourite albums of that year. Great guitars, heady melodies and fine songwriting right across it. 2020’s Devotion didn’t quite hit the spot in the same way as her debut but I’m really digging the sound of this new single ‘Act Natural‘. The song is the first single from her forthcoming LP Echo The … Continue reading MARGARET GLASPY LETS THE GUITARS CHIME ON NEW SINGLE
Two of my favourite songs from this part of the world, both possessing a dreamy moodiness and exemplary rhythm sections that underpin the intangible magic that both of them have. They evoke similar feelings when I hear them and interestingly they were recorded less than six months apart in 1982. Martin Phillips wrote ‘Pink Frost’ in Dunedin, Grant McLennan wrote ‘Cattle & Cane’ in Nick … Continue reading The Antipodean Aesthetic of The Chills and The Go-Betweens
