Indie track
Track: Badgers – Why Am I Your Only Friend?
There’s nothing like a good dose of aural medicine to stimulate the system and the new single from Melbourne band Badgers does that and more. ‘Why Am I You Only Friend?’ is a veritable onslaught of jangling guitars, delicious layered harmonies with an epic swagger and joie de vivre bigger than the temporal world. Plowing …
PREMIERE: People Soup – ‘Rosemary’: fragrant ‘n’ wired Leeds post-punk debut
PEOPLE SOUP is a new post-punk trio outta the capital of God’s Own Country, Leeds, comprised of singer-guitarist Harry Jones, bassist Ryan Walker and drummer Joe Willis. They’ve got it going on and have just released their first single, “Rosemary”, via the offices of Bandcamp, who’ve certainly come through as one of the good guys …
SEE: The Lathums – ‘I See Your Ghost’: a ska-psych grenade lobbed over pop’s wall
WIGAN’S THE Lathums? I mean, they’re sweet, thoughtful lads (see their recent, very neat plan to raise funds for beleaguered hometown football club by raffling off a one-only vinyl pressing of their cover of northern soul classic, “The Snake”- and there’s still time to enter the draw). But appearances can be deceptive; they’ve followed up …
TRACK: The Native – ‘Break Away’: South West indie risers’ second laments Brexit
PLYMOUTH’S The Native are on an upward curve: they’ve been building a real reputation down in the South West, getting themselves a real fanbase and a name as purveyors of a certain brand of soaring indie guitar rock. Back in August they debuted with the power melodiousness of “Chasing Highs”, written in response to a …
TRACK: Yo La Tengo share the warm hush of ‘Bleeding’ from their new EP
AWW, YO LA TENGO, when they’re on (sleepy) fire, you just have to adore them; and they really are, right now. They’ve just shared a second song from their forthcoming Sleepless Night EP, to follow their blissful cover of The Byrds’ majestic “Wasn’t Born To Follow”. “Bleeding” is the only original on the single-sided five-tracker, …
PREMIERE: Fixtures – ‘Five Ft One, Six Ft Ten’: proper scruffy, shredding alt.guitar pop like they used to make
BROOKLYN five-piece Fixtures know how to do a ridiculously fun guitar pop rush. Really, they do. They’ve just signed on the dotted with Spain’s Bobo Integral, and will be releasing their debut EP, Weak Automatic, for their new home in December. We’ve had a little listen, and another one, and another; and it really is …
SEE: Tune-Yards’ ‘nowhere, man’: brilliantly freakish stop-motion and a rousing groove
MERRILL GARBUS and Nate Brenner’s excellent, genre-busting, rousing Tune-Yards have released a brilliantly freakish stop-motion animation for their new track, “nowhere, man”. It’s bright, groovy, offbeat, spacious, eccentrically paced, passionately sung: in short, everything you need a Tune-Yards’ tune to be. And that accompanying video … Merrill and Nate are caught giving it the Chaplin …
TRACK: The Dawdler – ‘Crocodile’: a pristine guitar-pop thrill
THE DAWDLER – the brilliant North-East singer-songwriter known to friends and family as John Edgar – has today released a second song from his forthcoming debut EP Sign of Growth for his new home, Akira Records. It follows the heartbreak of last month’s “Lava Lamps”, the elegy for a lost friend which, with T-shirt sales …
TRACK: Palace Winter feat. Jason Lytle – ‘The Deeper End’: ‘Think Kraftwerk playing country’
SINGER-guitarist Carl Coleman and pianist-producer Caspar Hesselager are the musicians behind Danish-Australian duo Palace Winter; they’ve been plying a line in grand, intelligent pop since Waiting For The World To Turn, their debut album, back in 2016. They’ve readied the more synthy textures of their third album, …Keep Dreaming, Buddy, which they’ll be unveiling come …
SEE: Slow Pulp – ‘At It Again’: a Chicago fuzzpop cracker
SLOW PULP are a band who’ve been around the block – in a really, dreadfully short space of time. Don’t wish for the kinda year singer Emily Massey’s had. No, really: don’t. Things were very much on the upward curve for the young band, outta Wisconsin and Chicago-based – on tour with Alex G, gaining …