If Prince wrote a whole EP for Placebo expounding the flashy, deathly seediness of the Hollywood circuit through flourishes of jazz and avant-garde funk guitar twangs, we reckon it may have sounded something like the record Coventry performer Duke Keats has put together for his latest luxuriant EP release – ‘Dirty Glamour’.
Essentially a selection of songs recorded live, testament to Keats’ on-stage set up is the fact that it’s barely noticeable, the saxophone and booming bass creating a bleak and sleazy world in battle with the charismatic frontman’s feline vocals and spellbinding synths, with only a hint of echo and ripples of delight from the crowd giving the lo-fi concert-recording game away.
The faded movie star sheen gets spread across four tracks that careen from perching on the Hollywood sign on ‘Again’ (“I’m sitting on the sign, The sign is not your friend”), a grimy, sloping proposition on ‘Skid Row’, the alluring lights and candy canes of ‘Fairground’ and ‘Damn Dara’, the sordid tale of a doomed Mulholland Drive Lynchian actress.
Duke Keats’ ‘Dirty Glamour’ EP was released on 9th June 2023 and you can listen to it right about now on Spotify below:
We’ve been racking our brains on this one but we’re pretty sure that, to date, there have been zero songs inspired by the utter horrendousness of suffering private rental landlords with rules like 1) No Dogs and 2) Fines for putting up pictures on your wall. With her latest single ‘I Wish I Had A Dog’, Cardiff’s Aderyn has seen that gap in the market and done something about it.
With pristine Paramore and No Doubt-esque craftsmanship, the grunge-pop songstress takes obliteratingly sharp social commentary on the absurdity of the 2020s – digging into the trend of young people selling foot pics and the high likelihood that kids with enough time to make music are already well moneyed – setting her sardonic observations to fiery punk-pop guitars, ludicrously energetic drums and an all-round severely excellent indie-rock tune.
‘I Wish I Had A Dog’ is the first single from Aderyn’s forthcoming debut EP ‘Sea Glass’. We don’t know a release date yet, or what the other tracks will be, but we cannot recommend enough that you take a listen to the track on the Spotify link below or wherever you satisfy your lust for bangers:
From Lewis Capaldi and Ed Sheeran all the way over to Sam Fender and Jake Bugg, solo boys with guitars are currently in vogue and they tend to stick to formulas, like the former two artists with their arena and stadium packing emotion saturated acoustic-ish pop songs or the latter two artists who make sonically full indie group records without the faff of having to split their financial proceeds five-ways with their backing band.
Photo Credit: Tom Hill
Andrew Cushin bucks the trend, with new single ‘4.5%’ standing stark, honest and sentimentally moving up against much of his melodically raucous output to date. The Newcastle native tells the heartbreaking story of his father’s fight with alcohol and the impact it had on himself and his family over a harrowing keyboard backing and sinisterly pulsating beat that, once the feelings truly start kicking in, sends things soaring skyward with a spectacular guitar solo before the heart-rending, forgiving final line “but I’m still your son”.
Having witnessed audience members burst into empathetic tears in the front row of a couple of Cushin’s gigs after hearing the song live for the first time, it’s safe to say the singer’s new single is his most personal and relatable yet.
He’s also found time to write and record his debut album ‘Waiting For The Rain’, due for release on 29th September 2023 via the fantastic Strap Originals records. You can pre-order it now in all of it’s many ltd edition colours and bundles. Find the tracklist below:
1. Let Me Give it To You 2. Just Like You’d Want Me To 3. Comedown 4. It’s Coming Round Again 5. 4.5% 6. Broken Love Song 7. Waiting For The Rain 8. Wor Flags 9. Dream For a Moment 10. I Want You To Be There 11. You’ll Be Free 12. The End
The sun’s out, June’s kicking on, the air’s warming and all the barbeque parties, sunbathing sessions in the park and weekend trips to the beach are firing up. It’s as if Scottish indie professionals The Snuts have been gripping tight hold of ‘Gloria’, ready to drop it as soon as the seasons shoot up a gear and Summer truly kicks in.
Photo Credit: Gaz Williamson
A chipper, effervescent, feel-good composition, taking the spirit of Bombay Bicycle Club and coupling it with the force of Sam Fender, the first tidbit released on the band’s own label – Happy Artist Records, is a song about the everyday bliss of falling in love in the humblest of surroundings and it still feeling extraordinary. We’ve a feeling ‘Gloria’ will be the soundtrack of much swooning and heartbreak throughout the coming three months.
‘Gloria’ was released today, 8th June 2023, on Happy Artist Records and you can find it all over the internet on every single streaming site you have your bluetooth speaker blasting tunes all over your garden from. There’s also a sweet video for the track over on youtube and you can watch it below:
Looking for a low down and dirty, utterly intoxicating, brooding blues-rock record to have on repeat for an indeterminate number of days? Well your search has come to its sweet end as Cardiff singer/songwriter/guitar and production virtuoso Tom Auton has just the piece of Royal Blood-esque audio gold you need.
The riffs on ‘Go Back’ are delectably mean, reaching peak levels of scuzz, Auton’s masterly vocals acting as a clean and tuned-up counterpoint to the satisfyingly murky instrumentation, with lyrics oozing paranoia, intrigue and loss. Auton is already a veteran of the South Wales music scene, with a hefty arsenal of releases and production credits under his belt, but if ‘Go Back’ is any indication we reckon the artist has plenty of fruitfully fuzzed-up musical ground spread out in front of him to explore yet.
‘Go Back’ was released on 26th May 2023 and comes complete with Tom Auton’s first ever music video, a beguiling black and white take that sees the musician performing with his band aside some utterly exemplary rockstar guitar poses. You can find the track on all the streaming platforms, and we’ve linked the video below:
Minimalism, mystery and rabid stylophone abound on Papa Jupe’s T.C.’s newest one ‘Other Men’, the first offering unleashed on the world from their forthcoming debut EP ‘Wetmarket’. Sparsely draped over a mesmerizing bassline, the Cardiffian quintent (we think there are five of them, they keep their faces in the shadows for the blessed glory of Jupe) create tunes like a more mystical Working Men’s Club.
Positioning themselves at the melodic reaches of the post-punk genre, Papa Jupe’s T.C.’s tough to decipher lyrics jack up the grand enigma at play whilst the wavy melody mingled with rugged vocals and stop-start rhythms ensure proceedings stay accessible. If you stick around, we’ve a feeling it won’t be long at all until you too are also falling at the feet of the ever wondrous Jupe.
Also – SOS: Papa Jupe’s T.C. have been nominated on the ‘Green Man Rising’ shortlist. They’re currently battling it out against a load of other quality acts to get on the Green Man festival line up. Please have a heart and donate your last vote to their very worthy cause. Tap the link to get started – ‘Green Man Rising’ vote.
The ‘Wetmarket’ EP is due for release on 28th June, ‘Other Men’ is available right now for the express purpose of your satisfaction. You can find the stalker-torturing video for the track below:
At it’s most powerful and wonderfully vicious, music can act as a mirror to beauty, but also to sheer ugliness in a desperate effort to effect change. Cardiff glam-punks Small Miracles take the second tack on latest single ‘Mercury’, confronting the toxic masculinity of violent fathers, frightened youths and the patheticness of getting a kick out of hurting those weaker than you – especially your own kids.
Wielding new wave panache, unyielding flamboyance and a burly, thunderous bassline to hammer their message home to every fist-flailing meathead in earshot, the South Wales four-piece meld Talking Heads with Pixies and the result is magnificently thrilling. On hearing lead vocalist Finn Pelling’s obliterating primal howl rubbed up against shimmering synths and resounding guitar, even the stockiest fat-necked dullard will crumble.
‘Mercury’ was released on 19th May 2023 via Newport label Dirty Carrot records. You can listen to it in all its ferocious glory on all streaming platforms right now. We’ve conveniently put a Spotify link for you below:
Tom Emlyn is a man of ideas. Many, many abundant ideas bursting out of him. So much so, his latest release, ‘Return Journey Revisited: Scaredycat, Vol. 1’ is his third album release in the short time frame of two years. Even more remarkable when you bear in mind his ‘Scrounger EP’ of original tunes put out at the start of 2023. Unlike previous LP ‘I’ve Seen You In Town’ which documented a life and history steeped in the city of Swansea, his latest work is a collection of material recorded between 2016-2018 that reflect on the inner workings of the singer’s personal world rather than his South Wales surroundings.
The artwork is sparse, containing the album’s title alone in simple white backgrounded black font, ensuring the listener’s full attention is aimed on the music. Revolving around two instrumental tracks that comprise the title – ‘Scaredycat’ and ‘Return Journey Revisited’, this time around Emlyn’s inspirational has no bounds, taking in and using elements of jazz, psychedelia, folk and garage rock, all of which are evident in the singles he’s put out so far – ‘Broken Mirror’ which hears the songsmith’s South Wales lilt over strings and acoustic guitar, lamenting “Beauty is a curse, and ugliness is worse and loneliness is always worst”, ‘Like A Cigarette’ and the gritty, catchy ‘It Doesn’t Bother Me’.
The conventional song structures are here and done really well, like on ‘Serenade’, as well as wonderfully poetic far-out concepts – see ‘The Robin That Went To Space’, but it’s the final two songs that show how far the Swansea troubadour is willing to push the envelope, ‘White Whale’ squalling in with feedback and grungy guitar and final song ‘Every Shadow’, carrying itself at first acoustically, the singer, ever the master of poetic literary devices, graciously describes ‘Every shadow is the sun shining down on everyone’ before picking up a harmonica and giving a whistle to see the LP out to the end.
‘Return Journey Revisited: Scaredycat Vol. 1’ was released on on 5th May 2023 and you can stream it everywhere you normally go to stream music. We’ve got links to the videos of ‘It Doesn’t Bother Me’, ‘Like A Cigarette’ and ‘Broken Mirror’ below, along with a Spotify link to the full LP:
It’s been noted by many a musical philosopher gone before that one of the hardest parts of being a band is you have your whole life until your debut album to write the first record and only a year to write the rest. On their fourth LP, the admiringly (or is it menacingly) titled ‘Look At You All Now’, London via Brighton via the whole wide world’s The Othersbuck that trend, their decade long hiatus serving as fuel to unshackle their selves from their history to this point and come back with their most extensive, strongest, cohesive record yet.
Well gone are the NME cover star punky upstarts of yore, straight-talking controversy-bating frontman Dominic Masters now leading a seven-strong troupe still boasting original guitarist and bassist Johnny Others and guitarist Jimmy Lager, bolstered by two additional guitarist and bassists and a keyboardist alongside their drummer, meaning they’ve a savvier sound than their Barfly-bothering former incarnation could have fantasised.
The Others at The Garage, London, 25th March 2023
That fleshed out sound is tantalisingly demonstrated on the first of the collection ‘Nowhere To Go’, a flighty, new wave-esque pop heavyweight, Masters singing about his latterly-found misanthrope over a fun and chirpy guitar line. Put aside the carefree sound of the first track, then, and focus more on the introspective nature of the song’s words and you’ll be on the right track for the rest of the record as, on their latest LP, The Others delve deep into some grittiness, finding themselves largely out of step with mainstream society both on a personal level and with society as a whole.
There are some snarly, industrial-blues numbers, ‘Disdain’ is the angriest track the group have yet committed to tape with some low and lethal guitar parts, ‘Who Cares’ keeps the same spirit but retains a somewhat bouyant melody and some of the LP’s finest points are the bleaker moments that pack a slow intensity and brutal basslines, ‘Decadent Clothes’, ‘Alibis’, ‘You Don’t Even Know Me’ and ‘Paranoid Times’ being prime cases in point.
The Others at The Garage, London, 25th March 2023
It’s the handful of truly stand-out songs that really make the record – ‘Rights’ sees the band adopt a snare and keyboard heavy dance beat as Masters’ explores his view on Brexit and the European Union, taking the ‘Lexit’ (left exit) stance and specifically questioning the value of EU membership when “Thatcher sold us out of the EU workers rights”, inviting further discussion by asking “Are you on a settled status or a points system?”.
‘Get Out’ is another misleadingly upbeat creation that deals in the ostracization of the band and their cherished community, and ‘Paranoid Times’ uses a Doors-style hammond organ sound to veer from the singer’s own worries of getting stalked by the police to the wider effect of paranoia on the nation when it comes to Brexit and the fractured United Kingdom.
The Others at The Garage, London, 25th March 2023
Closer ‘Billy’ finds The Others at their most candid with a sparse, almost uplifting combination of soaring guitar parts, measured drums and keyboard making space for Dominic to harrowingly contemplate estranged parts of his own family.
Although the release has been their most low-key yet, ‘Look At You All Now’ is evidence that, even though they’ve flirted with a mass-media profile and sizeable record deals, when the camera’s not pointed in their direction they still have it in them to come up with some remarkable goods. If there’s any justice in this fickle world, we hope they regain the wider world’s attention but for the time being we’re just relieved there’s plenty of life in the The Others yet.
The Others at The Garage, London, 25th March 2023
The Others are – Dominic Masters,Johnny Others, Jimmy Lager, Joseph Gardiner-Lowe, Eddie Darko, Alex S Tower (Stef) and Steve McCready. ‘Look At You All Now’ was released on 21st March 2023 and you can listen to the record on all the streaming platforms now, along with the rest of The Others excellent back catalogue. Have a listen through the Spotify link below:
Thought the days of bands getting hype and magazine covers before releasing any music was over? That bands like Suede, The Libertines and Arctic Monkeys were an extinct breed, disappearing with the weekly music press? Meet The Last Dinner Party, fresh off of support slots with Nick Cave and The Rolling Stones with precisely zero records available in the public realm, that was until stupendous debut single ‘Nothing Matters’ dropped last month. And as with the aforementioned groups, the hype is every little bit deserved.
Striking out innocuously, vocalist Abigail Morris lends her classical sounding vocals to a calm intro, drifting along with synths, harp and lilting guitar, but the track soon takes an unlikely turn as the raunch advances and the song becomes a vaudevillian celebration of femininity and forthright, tender, loving lust with the incredible chorus refrain of “You can hold me, like he held her, and I will fuck you, like nothing matters”. It even includes a decent, old-fashioned guitar solo and the most satisfying brass backed outro since the 90s. Easily, easily our favourite thing since Wet Leg put out ‘Chaise Longue’.
Produced by the legendary James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Foals, Florence and The Machine, Klaxons), ‘Nothing Matters’ was released on 19th April 2023 and came along with an incredible video, using the energy of films The Virgin Suicides and Black Swan as inspiration. You can give it a watch below:
Edge of Arcady 