TRACK: Whitney take on The Roches’ ‘Hammond Song’; full covers set next month
CHICAGO’S Whitney, who set all kindsa ears on fire with that fragile, world-weary crossover slice of Americana “No Woman” back in 2016, have released a video for their cover of The Roches’ “Hammond Song” ahead of a ten-song covers set, out via Secretly Canadian on August 14th. Following their acclaimed 2019 album Forever Turned Around, …
NEWS: Peter Green, RIP: Fleetwood Mac guitarist dies at 73
A GREAT of the guitar world has left us: it has been announced that Fleetwood Mac founder member Peter Green has died at the age of 73. The news was revealed in a short statement from his family solicitors, Swan Turton, which reads as follows: “It is with great sadness that the family of Peter …
NEWS: mod revival nearly men The V.I.P.’s get an Optic compilation
OPTIC NERVE is really becoming the go-to mecca for wax heads who want pristine vinyl reissues of lost, past greats; an Edsel for the 21st century. The latest cult musical waifs to receive the label’s loving care is British powerpop/mod outfit The V.I.P.’s. The V.I.P.’s are notable, besides perhaps an over-blessing of punctuation, for never …
NEWS: vinyl for Chemical Brothers’ ‘Got To Keep On’; museum exhibition
ATTENTION wax heads: in conjunction with The Design Museum in London, The Chemical Brothers have announced a limited edition pink vinyl 12” of the award-winning single “Got To Keep On”, the mesmerising video to which you can watch below. The museum, in Kensington, is reopening with the lead exhibition Electronic: From Kraftwerk To The Chemical …
SEE: Becky and the Birds – ‘Paris’: awesome Swedish future soul
LEAVING aside the Anglophone countries, there’s a cast-iron case that no other country has engaged with the world of post-1955 popular music quite like Sweden. There’s that acronymical band, two As, two Bs; you’ve probably heard the odd tune by them. But look past them at Avicii, Lykke Li, First Aid Kit, The Cardigans, The …
EP REVIEW: Devendra Banhart – ‘Vast Ovoid’: bursting with ideas
DEVENDRA BANHART was one of the main beneficiaries of the American acid-folk explosion just after the turn of the century. He came in as part of that movement with bands like Vetiver and Espers and became almost the George Best of the movement: piratically handsome with that dusky hair and huge hoop earrings, a brace …
TRACK: Big Bad Mama Jama – ‘Memory’: steel city funksters forge forward
STEEL CITY funksters Big Bad Mama Jama got together just last year in Sheffield. Their mission? To “bring you the biggest baddest mama jams”. And today they release their second single, “Memory” ahead of their debut EP, Summer’s Here To Stay, which will be with us on August 21st. Powering ahead on a rush of …
SEE: Floodlights – ‘Matter Of Time’: garagey Melbourne bite
GUITAR pop from Australia and New Zealand: it’s inarguably a very good thing. From the 1980s onwards, with bands like The Chills, The Go-Betweens, Straitjacket Fits, The Verlaines – no area of the world has had such a dialogue with that particular brand of British-originating indie six-string action. And now we’re into a new and …
TRACK: Lack of Afro – ‘You Could Do Better’: classy South West soul empowerment
WEST COUNTRY boy Adam Gibbons, better known to the funk and groove cognoscenti as Lack of Afro, has today dropped a new single taken from his sixth studio set, I’m Here Now, a genre-hopping and melding excursion through the musics that make his world, our world: soul, funk, rock, disco, hiphop … The single, “You …
SEE: Sofie – ‘Georgia Waves’: elegant piano songsmithery
VIENNA’S Sofie Fatourechi has moved from behind the scenes at California’s ice-cool Stone’s Throw imprint to hog a little of the spotlight, with a very finely crafted album of sophisticated, wholly European pop, Cult Survivor, released in June. We reviewed it here, found much to love in the autobiographical, nuanced songcraft; we said of it: …