Sweeping theatrics are the order of the day on Picture Parlour’s second single ‘Judgement Day’. Liverpudlian frontwoman Katherine Parlour weaves together words with all the witty ingenuity of Alex Turner and the four piece’s dramatic instrumentation has more than a little in common with latter day Arctic Monkeys wide screen vision, or better still Father John Misty – but English and northern.
Verbosely declaring the religious extent to which she has been bowled by love, the singer’s commanding Patti Smith grade growl fills the orchestral space between bundles of cinematic surf guitars and reverberating drums, with an altogether grander sound than their already excellent debut track ‘Norwegian Wood’.
Picture Parlour are coming up at just the same time as their spellbinding tour-mates, the excellent The Last Dinner Party, so we’re pretty confident that, between them, there’s something big happening here.
‘Judgement Day’ was released on 17th October 2023 and you can watch the single’s brilliant video below:
NY duo Shallowhalo’s latest track is a succinct crystal glass electro gem. Energized with all the dancefloor dominating prowess of CSS, Ladytron and the electroclash masters, on ‘Decision of a Flower’ producers Allyson Camitta and Ezra Tenenbaum create two tasty minutes of synth-loaded, sludgy beat smothered, worked up excellence.
Transposing the act of plucking petals off flowers to coolly suss out the object of her heart’s desire’s affection into a digitized party soundtrack essential, Camitta’s sacchariferous tones work euphoric magic over the record’s rapturously regimented rhythms to create a work of the finest glacial, immaculate pop at it’s most untarnished. Almost like a Crystal Castles that won’t give you a brain hemorrhage.
‘Decision of a Flower’, the first track for Shallowhalo’s forthcoming EP, was released on 13th October 2023, along with the gloriously arty promo video that we have linked you to below:
Our absolute favourite troubadour poet debauchees have made a grand return with their catchiest, most immediate single to date. Lead by co-frontman Carl Barat and peppered with background yells from other co-frontman Peter Doherty, ‘Run Run Run’ sees The Libertines achieve what they’ve only managed twice before in their two decade history – a straightforward radio smash (the other tracks being ‘Don’t Look Back Into The Sun’ and ‘Can’t Stand Me Now’, obviously).
Surreptitiously appropriating a Velvet Underground song title, the rascally foursome sing their way through a succinct candid assessment of their current standing – “It’s a life long project of a life on the lash, I’ve forgotten how to care but I’ll remember for cash”, the trademark chiming skiffle punk guitars and stop-start drumming acknowledging their intention of outpacing their past bloody rock’n’roll soap opera turmoil and making a right old arcadian knees up out of the present – “You’d better run, run, run, boy, faster than the past, through the looking glass, if you want the night to last”.
‘Run, Run Run’ is the first single to be taken from The Libertines first album release in nine years – ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’, due out on 8th March 2024. The track listing is below:
1 – Run, Run, Run 2 – Mustang 3 – Have A Friend 4 – Merry Old England 5 – Man With The Melody 6 – Oh Shit 7 – Night Of The Hunter 8 – Baron’s Claw 9 – Shiver 10 – Be Young 11 – Songs They Never Play On The Radio
The record can be pre-ordered now in various dazzling bundles of coloured vinyl, CDs, cassettes, t-shirts and lyric prints. And if you were to literally buy it tonight, you’ll get pre-sale access to a weekend of Libertines live shows in Margate on 9th and 10th December (pre-sale going live on Wednesday 18th October 2023).
There’s a video for the track coming soon, but it’s not out yet. For now, we’ve included a Spotify link so you can take a listen below:
Airy synths and carefree beats galore are abundantly on offer from Newport sad-popsters PARCSand their latest single ‘Wait!’. The husband and wife fronted four piece have gotten crafting danceable rhythms and snappy melodies down to a fine art, their latest track boasting all the glitz of Chvrches or Bis when they went full on electro-pop (‘Return to Central’, not ‘Eurodisco’).
Vocalists Elly and Kristy’s starry-eyed and craving phrases get spread across a sprightly sonic environment creating a record that’s two-thirds disco-banger and one-third daydreamily wistful. What we mean is, ‘Wait!’ could be equally loved whilst sat listening through headphones on a rainy Sunday afternoon or being broadcast through the speakers whilst having a dance at your local indie club.
‘Wait!’ was released on 13th September through the pretty excellent Phwoar & Peace records. It’s available to stream all over the place right now or you can find it to buy over on their bandcamp. We’ve put the Spotify link below here for you:
Andrew Cushin’s ascendency has been hard won. Since releasing his first music at the start of 2020 and receiving kudos from the elder Gallagher brother early doors, the Newcastle singer-songwriter went on to get a further leg-up from Peter Doherty, signing to his Strap Originals label. Although that may all sound star-studded and plain sailing, Cushin spent the whole three year period slogging it through the small venue circuit the length and breadth of the British Isles, notching his discography up with single after single. Although the larger venues eventually came calling through Peter Doherty support slots and a further bolster from Louis Tomlinson with a succession of US and worldwide tour dates, no-one can say the boy hasn’t earned his stripes.
‘Waiting For The Rain’ is the culmination of all of this groundwork, whilst precisely capturing what the northern musician is all about. See, it’s not easy to place or categorise him. All of his songs are guitar based and self-written, glancing at the writing credits there’s not even the whiff of a co-write, yet there’s an aspect, possibly in the note-perfect, sonorously expressive vocals or polished instrumentation, that ekes aesthetically close to the Ed Sheerens and Lewis Capaldis of the world. Yet thankfully, what Andrew Cushin has that the rest of his young solo artist fraternity don’t have, is an indefinable indie rock edge that ultimately places his tunes alongside the Noels and Paul Wellers of the world.
Rootsy opener ‘Let Me Give It To You’ maintains that rock’n’roll is at the record’s core, ‘Comedown’ has a deliciously dirty bassline and ‘Wor Flags’ goes full jaunty merseybeat, so through and through the album has solid alternative rock sympathies, but the most satisfying songs are when the emotions flow without restraint, as on ‘Just Like You’d Want Me To’, ‘Broken Love Song’, ‘I Want You To Be There’ and the lushly reworked title track. For a 23 year old, Cushin’s experiences communicated through the harrowing ‘4.5%’, of coping with the death of his father through alcoholism, could be the experiences of someone twice his age.
It would be worth checking whether Oasis left ‘Dream For A Moment’ lying around somewhere as it’s good enough by itself to fit on either of their early LPs but the biggest praise is reserved for final track ‘The End’ which sees the artist at his most lyrically profound against rolling drums and cathartic keyboards, a choir of kids joining in the contemplative, liberating chorus “Cause in the end, when the sun goes down, and our kids they stand to put me in the ground, it’s the end of everything, and I didn’t mean a thing”.
His ascendency has been hard fought for, but ‘Waiting For The Rain’ is Andrew Cushin’s victory lap and he’s entirely deserving of whatever trophies it’s gonna bring his way.
‘Waiting For The Rain’ was released via Strap Originals on 29th September 2023 and is available wherever you normally find your music. You can give it a stream, buy it on itunes, or get hold of the physical release. We’ve included a link to the record on Spotify below:
For the past couple of years Black Foxxes have been working feverishly away on the follow up to their 2020 darkly enchanting self-titled album, embarking on a crowd funding journey for fourth LP ‘The Haar’. Record complete, the Exeter indie-grunge trio announced a solitary show at Le Pub in Newport (later adding dates in London and Glasgow too), eventually confirming the gig would be an epic two hours long, showcasing much of their forthcoming new release.
Which is where we find ourselves tonight, eagerly stood in the packed-out 100 capacity venue with a dedicated hardcore grouping of fans from as far afield as Germany and Wolverhampton as incense burns from on top of the amp stack and Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers’s version of ‘Islands In The Stream’ rolls out from the speakers. This is not to be the average Friday night out in Newport.
Forgoing the expectation of having a support band in order to lengthen their own set, Black Foxxes weave through the crowd to find the stage, frontman Mark Holley in trademark black beanie, bassist Jack Barrett wearing leopard print harem pants, drummer Finn Mclean sporting a Death Grips t-shirt and, additional member for these tour dates, saxophonist Sam Irvine with ‘Let’s summon demons’ emblazoned on his top. As soon as they find the platform, the four-piece tear into a blistering clarinet assisted version of ‘The Diving Bell’ that would suit a lesser band’s final song for the night. However, as this is Black Foxxes, the set has barely started to get warmed up.
The group have an abundance of new material to share but seem to have a fine awareness that we’ve come to hear the songs we know as well, with the yelped “Come call me erasable” refrain from ‘Joy’ causing hectic movement from their enraptured audience, the track from second album ‘Reiði’ sounding beasted up with Irvine’s saxophone. It’s not long before new music from ‘The Haar’ starts flowing though, with ‘Where Have You Been?’ sounding a glorious grungy death waltz and ‘Carsaig’ like their take on Muse’s ‘Hyper Chondriac Music’.
Whilst careening through some of their most adored numbers – we’re looking at you, ‘Jungle Skies’ and ‘Panic’, there are moments when Holley’s voice morphs entirely and beautifully into Jeff Buckley’s and other moments so heavy that if they went up just one decibel your ears would be gushing scarlet. Before kicking off ‘River’ the frontman makes the wholesome comment that, next to their newest material, this is the first song he ever wrote, 10 years ago, a song that descends into fierce feedback from the mic and even more otherworldly saxophone.
As the first hour of the show ends we’re promised the second half would be weirder than the first and as the next newie we hear is shivering piano-led ‘Only With You’ we find that statement to be true. In ‘Bitcrusher’ and ‘Shakey’, there are tracks that borrow from Pixies deranged ebullience and, at times, Black Foxxes achieve the looming guitar sound Kevin Shields bust a record label to create with My Bloody Valentine. The stop and start involved in ‘Drug Holiday’ threatens to give us whiplash and ‘Oh, It Had To Be You’ veers between drummer Finn Mclean, eyes closed, getting lost in the song’s dreaminess, and Holley’s anger-spasm cries of “Cheater, cheater, watch it as she moves me”, as he reaches for his glass of red wine.
The apex of the entire night comes with underappreciated masterpiece ‘Badlands’, the band entirely aware of the utter gold that the song is and loving every moment of performing it, Holley savouring the stuttered seething elucidation of lines “I am confused, conflicted, why’s this so hard? I am contorted in my vision, why’s this so hard?”, letting the track meander into Irvine’s capable hands with a saxophone solo before crashing into its final violent crescendo.
With the audience recovering from a two hour set that demonstrated relentless passion and energy, Holley hops off stage to dash for the merch stand, with endless “thank-yous” from grateful attendees echoing after him. Making light conversation and taking time to snap selfies with fans, Holley consistently thanks everyone who attended in the midst of t-shirt purchases.
Coupled with aforementioned Kickstarter to support their impending fourth album, and as the rest of the band set about unloading their gear from the stage, it was a stark reminder that true DIY rock and roll is thriving, flourishing in the same soil that allowed punk to bloom. Needless to say, with ‘Foxxes at the helm, we reckon the future of rock and roll is in safe hands.
Black Foxxes have finished this run of dates and quite frankly have nothing else announced going forward yet, though we hear a European tour is in the offing and releases from ‘The Haar’ can’t be too far off yet. We’ll be giving the first single a write up whenever it materialises. For now though, if we’ve whet your whistle, howsabout giving ‘Badlands’ a listen:
Playing the cosy upstairs room at Bristol’s The Louisiana has been a rite of passage for up-and-coming bands for many a year, with an abundance of the UK’s, even the world’s, greatest groups tramping their way up the skinny staircase from the innocuous downstairs pub to perform their wares in the upstairs, dimly lit, dream palace. Taking their place tonight within The Louisiana’s cannon of legends are Nottingham’s Vona Vella, as they bowl past the halfway mark of their first ever headline tour of the country.
With their debut self-titled LP freshly released and last year’s magnificent ‘Go Outside Forever’ EP firmly under their belts, the duo have graduated to the point where they not only have more than enough material to captivate a crowd for nearly an hour, their sound has expanded from the breezily delicate acoustic-jazz of their initial releases to an uplifting and energetic, free-form indie, so in order to do their more recent creations justice the twosome, Dan Cunningham and Izzy Davies, have expanded their set up to a full five piece band for this span of ten dates, comprised of bassist Claud, drummer Jake and guitarist/keyboardist Dexter.
Poppy Rose
First to take the stage is Bath based support act Poppy Rose who performs a beautifully brittle, acoustic set of boldly fragile numbers, bringing the venue to a hush, telling candid tales between tracks of being a star-crossed lover in Berlin (‘Midnight at Boddinstrasse’) and fighting against body dysmorphia (‘I Love My Body’). She ends her set with a surprisingly felicitous version of Jay-Z and Beyonce’s ‘Crazy In Love’.
Vona Vella
Vona Vella lead their set with their album’s first single ‘Thought We Were Falling In Love’, showing off the eclectic capabilities of their augmented line-up, with swooning guitars and the principle duo sharing ethereal vocals in front of an attentive crowd including Izzy’s brother, several vocal friends of guitarist Dexter and enthusiastic supporters from across the Welsh border. The choice of songs tonight cascade mainly through the album’s highlights. A divine version of ‘Divine’, starting with a sweet female led solo intro from Davies in the guise of surly 1960s chanteuse, sees the rest of the group kicking in with an easy jazz waltz and after a full gusted performance of ‘Intertwined’ it’s up to Dan to bashfully take the mic and wish Claud a happy 26th birthday to fill a moment as Izzy prepares her second guitar.
Vona Vella
‘Telephones’ is preluded by a louche drum roll with Dexter substituting his guitar for the keys and ‘Driving To LA’ gives Dan free reign of the mic again, his husky blues vocals taking us back to the group’s dreamy acoustic roots for a while. As the night draws to an end they recount the story of how ‘Roll Into Forever’, their LP’s final track and the title they gave to the tour, came about: named after a line in a poem Peter Doherty, founder of their label Strap Originals, wrote for them when they signed their record deal, a poem now respectfully framed and hung on their home studio wall. The acoustic rendition of the track compels the audience to fascinated silence, then exploded when the fivesome funk it up on their final song with Izzy and Dan vacating the stage before the end, letting the remaining three freestyle it out, Dexter especially making sure his eminent guitar skills are displayed.
Vona Vella
Managing to spark up Bristol with their warmly spirited and beatific suave retro melodies on a Tuesday night, Vona Vella prove themselves the salve for a wound you never knew you had.
Vona Vella are finishing off the final three dates of the ‘Roll Into Forever’ tour so there’s still time to catch them:
Topsy-turvy, swooning, warped, skewed, lilting, oblique, haywire, crooked, blissful, contorted, breezy, floating, rowdy and sedate is what Pregoblin’s next single Big Hitters is. All of those things. On their latest release, Pregoblin are helped along by US guitarist and radio host Armand Schaubroeck and together they want to empathise with those who have had their songs chewed up and discarded by the music industry, making way for them ‘big hitters’.
Alex Sebley is bolstered by a ragtag multitude of musicians and co-songwriterWill Barker, to make sure their seething guitars meander, their gusty keyboards drift, their besieged drums spring and the vocals get packed with moony sentiment about not letting the bastards steal all the hard grown, plump, sweetly melodious, harmonic apples from the songwriting tree.
Released on 13th September 2023, Big Hitters is the second track Pregoblin have put out on Strap Original records and the second song to get an outing from their forthcoming sophomore LP – Pregoblin II, due for release on 12th January 2024. You can pre-order the LP now. Take a little look at the track list below:
1 – Big Hitters – feat. Armand Schaubroeck 2 – Roma 3 – Everybody’s Ill (At The Moment) Part 1 & 4 – Moving On 5 – Nobody Likes Me – feat. Jessica Winter 6 – Make Luv (I Like To Party) – feat. Erin Lawrie 7 – Alpha Business 8 – These Hands AKA Danny Knife – feat. Pete Doherty 9 – Sort It Out Down There 10 – Wimpy (album version) 11 – Two Kinds Of Music 12 – Big Hitters (Reprise)
There’s also an ace video for Big Hitters that you can watch below:
“Half a lager top, some ready salted crisps/ Pastel coloured polo, bumbag on their hip”, there’s a type of bloke that winds Fate Of The Sun right up. For the sake of F.O.T.S’s new single, we’re calling him Mr Beige. He’s not an arsehole, he’s definitely not evil – a predilection for crusty rolls dipped in crème of mushroom soup, driving the family about in a Volvo minivan with a bike rack on top and never pulling a sicky doesn’t a scoundrel make, Mr Beige is just fucking bland.
With his latest single, Penarth’s finest music-making son makes it fiercely clear he refuses to bow down to the culture of mediocrity, choosing to denounce the trappings of dull, wage-slave suckerdom, delivering his severe spoken word reprimand to the drab like a clearer headed Mike Skinner, over dark, unsettling keyboard, ascending and descending synth tones and eerily distorted backing vox. If Mr Beige doesn’t at least go for a bag of Flamin’ Hot Monster Munch instead after hearing this tune then the bloke’s got no hope left.
Mr Beige was released to the world on 15th September 2023 and has already gotten airplay on Adam Walton’s essential BBC Wales Introducing radio show.
You don’t simply listen to Sufjan Stevens. When he’s at the top of his game, hearing a Sufjan Stevens release is a spiritual, nay evangelical experience. And ‘Will Anybody Ever Love Me?’ is the Detroit alt-folk artist at the very top of his game, with all of the finger picked lute and soft, sensitive vocal sighs you could hope for.
Backed with full gospel choir, Stevens conceptualizes unconditional love through having himself sacrificed at the stake in order to find out: “Will anybody love me, for good reasons, without grievance, not for sport?”, ramping up the burning heart religiosity like a man on a mission to have his whole audience baptised in the holy spirit.
Since 2015’s ‘Carrie & Lowell’ the singer-songwriter has put out a stream of collaborations and experimental releases but ‘Will Anybody Ever Love Me?’ and former single ‘So You Are Tired’ suggest his 10th solo LP ‘Javelin’ will see the artist back to his rapturously stirring best.
Sufjan Stevens new album ‘Javelin’ is due for release on 6th October 2023. The track listing is below:
1 – Goodbye Evergreen 2 – Running Start 3 – Will Anybody Ever Love Me? 4 – Everything That Rises 5 – Genuflecting Ghost 6 – My Little Red Fox 7 – So You Are Tired 8 – Javelin (To Have And To Hold) 9 – Shit Talk 10 – There’s A World
Edge of Arcady 