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TRACK: Arca’s ‘Mequetrefe’ is shattered-mirror futurism
XL RECORDINGS’ avant-pop futurist Arca has premiered a new track, “Mequetrefe,” ahead of forthcoming album Kick i, which XL is releasing next Friday, June 26th (with a vinyl press available from July 17th). Draped in stuttering, post-Squarepusher percussive stutter, AFXy cut-up and Arca’s disembodied vocal chanting, treated and filtered into a distant century, it’s out …
TRACK: Long Faces bring the Canterbury vibe on ‘Sail Away’
SOMETIMES the musical DNA of a city seeps into your bones. At first listen the fourth release from London-Leeds-based alt-rock quintet The Long Faces, “Sail Away”, would seem to give no clues. Big, strong, theatrical vocals with a hint of vibrato sit atop complex guitar figures, spiralling away over a twelve-string. That’s until you learn …
SEE: the fine English psych whimsy of Jeremy Tuplin’s ‘Space Folk’
“I BELIEVE in magic / space magic … put on your unicorn jacket, covered in bat ships.”. So exhorts Somerset’s Jeremy Tuplin in the opening lines of his current single, “Space Magic”. So whoah: where are we, exactly, now … ground control? As with the lyrics, the video for the song (which you can watch …
SEE: Ane Brun releases ‘Honey’ ahead of autumn album, UK tour
NORWEGIAN songstress Ane Brun has released the fifth in a series of monthly tracks ahead of an as-yet-untitled eighth studio set. The album is due to be in the racks in time for winter, and will be her first set of original material since 2015’s When I’m Free, and her first longform outing in the …
TRACK: Red River Dialect frontman shares ‘Ballad of Ross Wyld’
DAVID MORRIS, proud Falmothian and singer with Red River Dialect – the six-piece who’ve brought us some of the most vital of British folk-rock over the past decade – has shared a solo sketch. Described by David as “a lockdown love letter to my housemates”, “The Ballad of Ross Wyld” strips back the layered instrumentation …
SEE: Standard Fare’s Emma Kupa returns with folksy gem ‘Nothing At All’
EMMA KUPA has been something of British indiepop’s best-kept secret this past decade. Starting out in North Derbyshire trio Standard Fare, who released two albums of cracking, bouncy guitar pop, coming on like Talulah Gosh’s knowing, insouciant, smokey voiced big sis. A solo mini-album in 2015 was followed by an album with the former front …
SEE: The Blinders up the darkness on ‘Mule Track’
MANCHESTER-based, Doncaster-bred goth-punk outfit The Blinders are back in the fray, with their second album in the can – and their latest single “Mule Track” is a dark thrust into the psyche. The track is named for the painting in the Imperial War Museum, which depicts a mule train making its way through a battlefield. …
SEE: M83’s Jordan Lawlor steps out on his own with J. Laser EP
FORMERLY a member of French shoegazers-turned synth-wielding dreampop angels M83, Jordan Lawlor has stepped outside the fold with a bright new EP, J Laser, due for release on June 26th. The first song from the five-tracker, “Sunshine”, a glimmering slice of halcyon synth shimmer, was well received; and now another track from the EP, the …
LISTEN: L.A.B.’s NZ chart-busting summer deep house groove
iT DOESN’T look like we’re going to have a summer to remember, at least for the right reasons; but we could all use a little musical balm right now. Stepping up to the task are New Zealand’s L.A.B, who have just released a new package of their single, “In The Air” – which was the …
Track: Swansea’s Mojo Jnr make hazy bedroom pop with Miles Away
SWANSEA’S Josh David-Read might just be Cymru music scene’s latest little treasure. The nation that brought us Super Furry Animals, Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci and Cate Le Bon will have a new songster to embrace with the debut track from Josh, who records as Mojo JNR. He said: “My goal is to make great …