Well, well, well, if it isn’t Monday again?!?! Last working one for a few weeks though, thanks to some ponce getting a crown on his noggin, but we’ll take the extra Bank Holiday, thanks Charlie. There’s some whizz bangers in the tracks of the week this week so have a good old rummage and see what you like. See you next week, if we remember. Ta ta.
Claudia Fenoglio – As Good As This
Why we love it: The Leeds-based singer-songwriter Claudia Fenoglio returns with her brilliant new single ‘As Good As This’, the latest release from the exciting new partnership between award-winning non-profit music development organisation Come Play With Me and EMI North, the first physical major label office to open outside London.
Claudia Fenoglio says: “’As Good as This’ is about feeling entirely comfortable around somebody. I think a lot of people, myself included, have the tendency to love in a tumultuous way that makes you lose yourself and go a bit mad. However, I’ve recently come to realise that love should feel like coming home and this song is the embodiment of that.”
With summer on the horizon, ‘As Good As This’ possesses a most welcome warmth, its gentle familiarity as intoxicating as it is reassuring.
Released as a single today (24th April), ‘As Good as This’ will also appear on Come Play With Breed, Vol 1, a 10” compilation supported by Breed Mediathat features rising local artists Hang Linton, Fehlt, Tirikalatops alongside Claudia Fenoglio as well as exclusive spoken work pieces from Jack Collins and Lily Fontaine (English Teacher).
Come Play With Breed, Vol 1 will be released on the 26th of May and is available to pre-order now. (Simon Godley)
The Last Dinner Party – Nothing Matters
Why we love it: because the music justifies the hype. Believe the hype. The Last Dinner Party have only just released their first single despite having already supported The Rolling Stones at Hyde Park. Yes you heard me right. The fucking Rolling Stones (Although Mick Jagger is now dead to them as he thanked the other support acts and not them. Naughty Mick).
‘Nothing Matters’ is a perfect introduction to them, all the best parts of The Big Moon and Lime Garden with the idiosyncrasies and eccentricities of Kate Bush. It chimes in with organ tripping and skipping along, guitar licks flying across the back, a stunning theatrical, flamboyant vocal from Abigail Morris, telling us to “hold me/like he held her/and I will fuck you/like nothing matters”. It has one of the best middle eights you’ll hear all year, and a humongous guitar solo from Emily Roberts like they used to make until the snobs told us you weren’t allowed to like guitars anymore. A triumphant debut record that they held off releasing until they were ready and had honed their sound on the stage.
“We wanted to come out with a bang,” says bassist Georgia. “We want to always be a band that you can’t really pin down, so none of the other singles sound like this one. But this is a great banger to start off with.” (Jim Auton)
Annie Taylor – Love Is Blind
Why we love it: To be crystal clear Annie Taylor is not a singer but a band and they have released the debut single from their forthcoming album Inner Smile. ‘Love Is Blind’ is a pulsating introduction to the 4-piece. A two-minute explosion of raw energy. Opening with static fuelled guitar and thrashing drums this is punk rock. With a fury singer Gini Jungi warns the listener: “Stay away before I explode, anything could make me overload”.
The four-piece from Zurich combine an explosive mixture of grunge and rock which unsurprisingly has seen them garner attention. ‘Love Is Blind’ is a track propelled forwards, thrillingly energised by distorted strings and acidic rage. Point of note – Annie Taylor will be performing at The Great Escape in Brighton next month. On evidence of this single definitely worth a look. (Julia Mason)
Lambrini Girls – Lads Lads Lads
Why we love it: Brighton based trio Lambrini Girls have released their new single ‘Lads Lads Lads’. It’s a hard hitting, no holds barred attack on toxic masculinity. This is punk. Raucous, raw and visceral. The soundscape is all consuming, thunderous and ferocious. The moshpit will be love this.
The band expand further on the track:
“In order to be a lad, make sure to follow the following guidelines: excessive drinking, harassing anyone with a pulse and starting fights. Most importantly, make sure to never talk about your feelings as this simply cannot be associated with manliness. Lad culture is the shit stain on the bathroom floor and toxic masculinity is the toilet paper that refuses to unstick from the shoe of society. Nobody wins.”
Lambrini Girls are phenomenal live – simples. They follow no rules. Iggy Pop is obviously impressed as the band are due to open for him for his Dog Day Afternoon at London’s Crystal Palace on 1st July, as well as their own headline tour in May/June, and a long list of live dates including The Great Escape, 2000 Trees, Truck Festival, Rebellion…..the list goes on and on.
With their debut EP You’re Welcome due out on 19 May via Big Scary Monsters, 2023 is turning into the year of Lambrini Girls. (Julia Mason)
Parliamo – You’re An Animal
We we love it: Scottish six-piece Parliamo have released their new single ‘You’re An Animal’, the first release of 2023. With bobbing electronica to open ‘You’re An Animal’ is funky with gorgeous harmonies and a guitar driven bounce. This vibe is perfect as the days lengthen towards summer. Music to put a smile on your face and get you grooving! More indie pop than we are used to from Parliamo, which is not a criticism. It demonstrates the versatility of the band.
Vocalist Jack Dailly expands of the track:
“The lyrics centre on projecting your own failures and insecurities onto someone else in an argument: when you really should be having a go at yourself, you deflect the blame and double down. It quickly became an effective live number, with loads of people who had seen us live asking us when it would be released.”
Parliamo’s reputation has been growing since the release of their debut EP ‘The Parliamo Manifesto’ in 2021. This saw the band employ a tongue-in-cheek approach to some of the darker aspects of life faced by young people. On the evidence of ‘You’re An Animal’ I see that trajectory continuing in only one direction. (Julia Mason)
splint – Awaiting Hills
Why we love it: ‘Awaiting Hills’ is the third single by splint, again released on Nice Swan Records. Urgent and demanding of attention it’s a track which immediately grabs. The echoey opening quickly moves into the percussion led rhythm of the track. And then that guitar. ‘Awaiting Hills’ is driven by the instrumentation, its a wall of sound. Yes the vocal of Jake Bogacki is layered in, but it absolutely combines to complement rather than dominate. At six minutes long there is, quite rightly, no desire to fill every single second with lyrics, which gives them space to be heard.
“I will die on a hill”
“I’ve seen signs of a better life.”
Bogacki reluctantly says of the track:
“The portrait of ‘Awaiting Hills’ is reflective and meaningless, creating an idea of magnitude from the ordinary. Self-expression isn’t something that necessarily has to be dissected. It takes the realness and meaning from a moment that’s now only a song. It’s for someone else to find meaning.”
Isn’t all art open to interpretation? Not everything has to be fully explained. It is for the, in this case, listener to experience, appreciate and enjoy. And there is further good news from splint and Nice Swan as they announce that the band’s debut EP, compiled in both digital and vinyl formats, will be available this June. (Julia Mason)
Gillie – Llawn
Why we love it: After the success of her single ‘i ti’, Gillie returns with her new single ‘Llawn’ on Libertino records. Sewn with elliptical looping guitars, the pitter patter of drums and Gillie’s sensitively drawn vocals that deal with anxieties of life, entwined with her golden melodies it’s another intimate and sublime cut of Welsh pop from this fascinating artist. Gillie who also produces and records her own music wanted to “Sonically explore something that felt both rhythmically uncertain, and free, with builds and small releases of tension throughout”
Thematically Gillie explains the background to the song: “‘Llawn’ centres around the feeling of your life changing due to external factors/other people’s control over decisions, and finding a safe place for yourself within this. The idea that someone has power over you whilst you’re in a vulnerable state is interesting to me, and when I was writing this song, I had an image of someone force feeding me these ‘changes’, hence the opening lyrics. It’s also about finding freedom in uncertainty and practicing resilience, trying to find warmth in the present and embrace ambiguity.” (Bill Cummings)