Wooden Arms - BATS - Laughed The Boy

Wooden Arms latest single 'Pillar Of Salt' was released on Monday. We have to go back to September 2017 for our previous feature of the band, however this is a gorgeous song and reminded me of just how they impressed us back then with their genre spanning music.

'Old Hitler' from Dublin band BATS heralds their first new album in seven years entitled 'Alter Nature'. The song is a potent and powerful rocker that exudes excitement and drama, the vocals are embedded deep in the mix and surface with atmosphere along the way, this really is imaginative and solid rock.

Just a month on since we shared 'Sun from Laughed The Boy we now have the pleasure of featuring the whole album from which that track was taken namely 'Change Of Scenery.' Their catchy indie rock is just so likable, it's fresh, creative and unpretentious with just a little edge to some songs to keep it intriguing. 
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Wooden Arms - Pillar Of Salt.

The new Wooden Arms single "Pillar of Salt" is out now! A previously unreleased song from the Tide era, it is being released in celebration of its five year anniversary. "Pillar of Salt" is available now on all major digital platforms.

Wooden Arms are a contemporary quintet from the UK that draw from alternative, classical, and trip-hop styles.

"Trick of the Light", their sophomore record due out Spring of 2017, marks a change in sonic texture from Wooden Arms' debut release, "Tide". The band's new sound is markedly more contemporary and heralds something of a departure from the classical chamber music styling of their debut. Infused with a greater use of rhythm and ethereal melodies, Wooden Arms' instrumentation has also grown to include more production and electronic elements - shaking off the shackles of ‘folk music’ pigeonholing, towards something newer, darker, more strange.

The band's evolution has not only shifted their sound - but also their composition process. Previously a solo writing process by classically trained pianist Alex Carson, the evolution of Wooden Arms' sound has transformed them into a writing trio between Alex Carson, Jeff Smith (Trumpet & Guitar) and Alex Mackenzie (Drums). Through this more collaborative style of writing the band has developed a more refined and richer sound.

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BATS - Old Hitler.

Dublin avant-rock 5-piece BATS have announced details of their first new album in 7 years, 'Alter Nature', and have shared the first single to be taken from the record, 'Old Hitler'.

Having formed in 2006, the band released their EP 'Cruel Sea Scientist' in 2007, their debut LP 'Red In Tooth & Claw', produced by Converge's Kurt Ballou, in 2009 and ‘The Sleep Of Reason’ produced by These Arms Are Snakes’ Chris Common in 2012. Sporting their own brand of science inspired metal/post-hardcore and surprisingly danceable post-punk, the band have received critical acclaim from the likes of the Quietus, NME, Kerrang!, Metal Hammer, Rock Sound and more.

With the forthcoming release of their third studio album ‘ALTER NATURE’, BATS seek to continue their ongoing quest of promoting science and reason while combating superstition and pseudoscience with blastable riffs and existential grooves. This evident on the new single 'Old Hitler', with the band explaining:

"Old Hitler was a legendary giant hammerhead shark, nicknamed by US naval officers in the midst of WWII. This song posits the question... what if Old Hitler showed up at the sinking of the USS Indianapolis in 1945? What carnage would he have wrought? This question and many more answered on ALTER NATURE."

'ALTER NATURE' is a full-frontal attack to all of the senses. BATS incredibly idiosyncratic and cacophonous yet entirely rousing experimental noise-rock delves into intelligent and complex territory both lyrically and musically, but BATS understand that it need not exclude it from having a raw, rhythmic energy and a strong sense of melody.

This translates perfectly into their live shows and has seen the band earn plaudits and fans playing alongside the likes of The Locust, These Arms Are Snakes, The Jesus Lizard, Gang Gang Dance, Sebadoh and Chrome Hoof. BATS will also play this year's ArcTanGent festival with further live dates TBA.

7 years in the making, the band have purposefully set about honing and crafting these tracks with precision and dedication. If you’re lucky enough to have heard BATS before or have even seen them live, then this incredibly strong third effort should be instantly recognisable as a consummate and direct snapshot of the devastatingly efficient unit; let alone as another step towards wherever the band might take themselves. If you're still yet to hear them, then you could have picked no better space-time.


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Laughed The Boy - Change Of Scenery (Album).

Laughed The Boy's brand new album is now out and it's called, Change of Scenery.

For this LP, Laughed The Boy had to jump out of their comfort zone. The band went into the studio not knowing how the songs would sound and gave themselves enough time to play around with new ideas. There were a lot of firsts on this album, like the first time playing piano on their recordings and the first time they had someone record violin for them.

Laughed The Boy's previous album, Here is Fine, was recorded over three, straight sweaty days on a hot August weekend in 2016. Change of Scenery, on the other hand, was recorded over the course of a week that spanned from August to December of 2018.

It really let the songs breathe and gave the band time to reflect on what they were working on. There were many times where they went down a rabbit hole with producer Dylan Frankland. They were never really satisfied with an initial idea, they always wanted to see where else they could go. If something sounded too pretty, Dylan would step in and say it needs to sounds weirder or darker, and the group would know exactly what he meant.

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Codewalkers - The Blue Highways

Codewalkers brand new single 'Roadman' sees the bands eclectic mixture of rap, rock and reggae working beautifully, there is an instant hit of vital energy and a groove that is fabulously hypnotic.

The Blue Highways have released a video for 'He Worked' ahead of their debut E.P due out on the 23rd August. Already gaining recognition within the Americana community it has to be said that this song is a right little rocker that fires off hooks in all directions.
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Codewalkers - Roadman.

Cardiff's Codewalkers return with their brand new single 'Roadman'. After being selected for this years BBC Horizons project, figure headed by BBC Presenter Bethan Elfyn, Codewalkers find themselves with more momentum than ever.

Cardiff-based brothers: Producer, Ben Dabson and Guitarist, Dafydd Dabson, have been making noise together since before they could talk. Codewalkers was formed in 2016 when they recruited vocalist Seun Babatola to provide a message to their music. The trio were joined in 2018 by Bassist Chay Lockyer and Drummer Aled Lloyd.

Their music is a mix of rock, rap and reggae. Ambitious in scope and featuring a mix of live and electronic instruments, it moves from catchy reggae hooks to hip-hop grooves. Often drawing on his childhood experiences in Nigeria, lyricist Seun Babatola can cover serious issues in his writing - gender, violence, societal expectations - but the music is always full of life and energy. It makes you dance, it makes you think.

A few words about 'Roadman' by Seun - Codewalkers Lead Singer "Roadman’s based on the feelings of inadequacy we all have as we start off in our journey into independence, some later than others. It’s a fact that our society is increasingly expensive when you’re young or without resources. ‘Living in my mum’s basement’ is still something people get dissed for, when in fact it’s the only affordable option.

It also deals with the pressure to be more: more dangerous, more confident, more wealthy, etc. The image versus the reality. I remember being broke, living at home, still studying while everyone else seemed to be making money and climbing that corporate ladder, making waves in their respective fields. At the end of the track is the calm realisation that we are what we are. I am a Roadman. Not because I’m a gangster, not because I make paper. I’m a Roadman because I’m confident and competent and still too broke not to be chasing dreams on the street level."

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The Blue Highways - He Worked.

Formed in early 2018, London based four-piece The Blue Highways have already supported some of the biggest acts in the genre, including Iris Dement at the Sage Gateshead, and Bennett Wilson Poole on their first UK tour.

They now announce the release of their debut eponymous EP, due for release on August 23rd 2019.
A commanding live act with big vocals, close harmonies and narrative led songs; The Blue Highways are three brothers Callum Lury (Vocals / Rhythm Guitar); Theo Lury (Drums), & Jack Lury (Lead Guitar) and Bass guitarist Peter Dixon. The band were noticed early on by the Americana Music Association as ‘ones to watch’, before being offered showcase slots at Summertyne and AmericanaFest. Bob Harris and his team also took a keen interest, with the band recording a Under The Appletree session, whilst appearing on numerous stages for them both last year and over the year ahead.

The four-track EP combines songs of love and life with the first single He Worked questioning life choices, possible regrets and not always playing by the rules, whilst Matter Of Love, co-written with Dave Burn of Orphan Colours, follows the ending of a relationship, knowing it should end, but neither person having the guts. The EP effortlessly eases from biting guitars and bluesy pianos riffs to stripped back acoustic and pedal steel.

The band also appeared at numerous festivals over the past 18 months including Country2Country at the O2, Ramblin' Roots and Country in the Afternoon. They are also regulars on the London gigging circuit having recently played with Wildwood Kin, The Fargo Railroad Co, Speedbuggy USA and Matt Woods and the Natural Disasters.


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The Wedding Present - Louise Lemón - Sis - Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster

The Wedding Present have shared a taste of the re-recording of their 1989 album 'Tommy' with 'Go Out And Get 'Em, Boy! Titled 'Tommy 30' the re-work of this early compilation material feels like an upgrade, the experience, maturity and warmth adds so much more, as does the overall production. This is not a nostalgia trip, rather a recognition that The Wedding Present circa 2019 can reinterpret older songs and breathe new and relevant life into them and boy do they achieve that.

Louise Lemón has released a new single comprised of 'Almond Milk' and the B side an acoustic version of 'Not Enough'. Our fourth feature for Louise, her previously described death gospel has moved more towards psych rock without losing any of the atmosphere or originality that has consistently set her apart from her peers.

We have a new lyric video from Sis and the song 'Moon at the Peak' a gentle dreamy piece taken from their 'Gas Station Roses' album. It's a little genre defying, however it's also quite gorgeous.

Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster has a new album entitled 'Take Heart, Take Care' due for release at the end of this month and from which we have  'Educated Guesses' as a preview. His style of indie folk and notable vocals pretty much explain the huge number of streams the previous album received, this song suggests that trend will continue.
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The Wedding Present - Go Out And Get 'Em, Boy!

Brighton UK's The Wedding Present return with Tommy 30, a re-recording of their essential early tracks compilation Tommy on HHBTM Records (North America) - Scopitones (Europe).

George Best became The Wedding Present's first album in 1988. But Tommy, released one year later, was made up of the early songs from the singles and radio sessions that had catapulted them from being bedsit musicians into indie darlings: "Go Out And Get 'Em, Boy!" with its purposefully super-fast guitars, "You Should Always Keep In Touch With Your Friends" an anthem for those long time Wedding Present fans, "My Favourite Dress" the only single in the collection that ended up on George Best, the classic, fraught tale of losing one's first love that perfectly played on the heart strings and began David Gedge's legacy of understanding everyone's heartbreak.

Tommy 30, a brand-new re-recording of Tommy, did not come about simply as a "follow on" to George Best 30. The band felt, during a Tommy 30th anniversary concert tour, that the songs had grown and evolved. Enter a more confident vocalist... an altogether growlier guitar. A bigger sound. The urgency of a 25-year-old Gedge is replaced with a charming vocalist with years of experience. Everything's warmer and, maybe, gentler... but in a satisfying way. It's like your old friends have come home to see you.

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Louise Lemón - Almond Milk / Not Enough.

Louise Lemón is releasing new single ‘Almond Milk’, the latest cut from her album A Broken Heart Is An Open Heart.

The Swedish artist pairs soulful vocals with the macabre undertones of Chelsea Wolfe and Lorde. Stark, reverberating guitars cut through forlorn lyrics as the song builds to its melancholic climax.

Louise tells us that ‘Almond Milk’ is about "not letting go of the thought that your love would last forever. A bittersweet feeling that I’d stay no matter what. Regardless of what happens and not being able to see that the love has run out."

Her latest full length is an album of psych-rock tinged pop that was produced and mixed alongside regular collaborator Randall Dunn (Chelsea Wolfe / Thurston Moore / Algiers) in Copenhagen and New York.

The album has been taken on the road with a European tour with Sólstafir (IS, several shows at Eurosonic ESNS (NL), a well-received Roadburn Festival appearance (NL) and a Scandinavian tour.


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Sis - Moon at the Peak.

Gas Station Roses, Sis’s second full-length album, is the Berkeley-based band’s devotional document of six months spent in the dream zone of the studio. Lovingly made, with earthen percussive elements, chance technique, inside a glimmering forest full of synths and guitars, the album reunited Sis for their most assertive musical statement yet.

It all started with a visit to Lark in the Morning, a legendary store full of percussion instruments in Berkeley. The band left with a gopichand, a one-stringed lute from Bangladesh, a huge African drum, and pan flutes. Meanwhile, singer  and multi-instrumentalist Jenny Gillespie Mason, also the founder of Native Cat Recordings (Meernaa, John Vanderslice, Luke Temple, Brijean)  was writing at home on an OP-1 synth and tenor guitar, and readying her sketches to bring to co-collaborators and husband and wife team Carly Bond (electric guitar, flutes, vocals) and Rob Shelton (synths, programming), both of the band Meernaa.

Originally envisioning a quieter acoustic album to complement the darkly swooning r ‘n b of their debut album Euphorbia (Native Cat Recordings 2018), once in the studio, the band started playing each other songs by other artists before getting to work on anything, such as “Shadows from Nowhere” by the obscure dream-pop 80s band Blue Gas, the feminist and funky album Raw Like Sushi by Neneh Cherry, and the anthemic weirdness of Toto. It seemed, rather than head towards quietude, the band was keen on recreating the dramatic, layered beauty, the dance-ready and big moments of 80s-era recordings. Unabashedly drawing from the well of that musical era’s emotional yet funky potency, you can hear Blue Nile, Grace Jones, Talking Heads and Peter Gabriel in the elegantly shifting soundscapes of the album.

A longtime solo artist, Mason did not intend to form a band. When she stepped into the studio with Bond and Shelton in 2017, who, by chance assignment, were her engineers for a solo project at Tiny Telephone in San Francisco, she had no idea where the session would take her. Being a mother to a toddler and a baby at that point, Mason was unsure if she could fit music into her life again. But with Bond and Shelton, the recording process was so fun and unpredictable, and the undeniable lure of creating music together so strong, that any fear of balancing art with the raising of children was stamped out. The trio emerged from the studio a few months later as bandmates and co-producers, having completed their debut album, Euphorbia (Native Cat Recordings 2018).

Gas Station Roses’ songs travel through varying emotional states just like one going through one’s own life, but each song is marked by hopeful tenderness. There’s the grungy lust-driven rock of “Weathered Romeo,” the plaintive Japanese pop-influenced ballad to a suffering partner, “Moon at the Peak,”  the Afropop-tinged “Automatic Woman” with its message of defiance against misogyny, and the robust compassion of the final song, “Human Poses,” in which Mason sings “they’re roughin’ heaven up…turn it all off, I”m gonna turn it all off.” Going into the studio during a turbulent time on the Earth, turning it all off, gave Mason a therapeutic way to understand and cope with all that was happening politically, while trying to offer something beautiful back to the world. In her words, Gas Station Roses is about “desiring life so badly still as a grown-up, getting the joy and beauty in big gulps, but also recognizing its limitations, corruptions, and sadness, more than I ever would as a child. And in the face of that, choosing to smile and stay awake to the beauty around us.”


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Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster - Educated Guesses.

Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster's new album 'Take Heart, Take Care,' is due out August 30 on Big Legal Mess. The former Water Liars (14+ million streams on Spotify) indie-folk artist has earned raves from NY Times ad NPR and fans like Julien Baker and opening slots for Pedro the Lion but he's outdone himself on his sophomore record.

Musically, the Arkansasan's signatures are there: a sort of windswept soundscape; his vulnerable tenor; gorgeous melodies; and guitar figures that weave from Americana touchstones into unexpected indie rock territory. Lyrically, it's his most nuanced work to date; it's a result of finding a life with some balance in it.

Whereas much of his previous work explored darkness, there's a sense of curiosity on this album that's illuminating, examining different aspects of life (including darkness). As with his strongest work, it conjures humid Southern nights and kudzu-encased vistas but with unpredictable scenes and lines that cut to the core. I'm telling you: this is a great, great record.


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Bridal Party - Suggested Friends - Harry Heart

Bridal Party return just a couple of months after we first featured them, this time with 'Speak Easy' just ahead of their debut album release. Once again the bands art pop is beautifully melodic and imaginative, the albums looking good.

Indie rock band Suggested Friends share a music video for 'Cygnets' a deliciously melodic rocker and a slightly paranoid video.

Just a month after his first UK single 'Montaigne' Harry Heart is back with 'Work It Out'. Once again his vocals really impress, the alt rock arrangement adds further originality, the forthcoming Hands in the Hive EP, is out 6th September.
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Bridal Party - Speak Easy.

Victoria, BC art-pop quintet Bridal Party have always had the goal of making pop music they like. Now with the approaching release of debut full-length Too Much (due August 23rd on Kingfisher Bluez) the band find themselves at a critical moment: as songwriters and collaborators presenting their personal vision.

Principal lyricists Suzannah Raudaschl and Joseph Leroux formed Bridal Party with bassist and producer Lee Gauthier and drummer Adrian Heim in 2015. Jordan Clairmont joined on keys in 2017. Their initial EP release Hot Daze (2015) found chart success on college radio and some modest but promising support through placement on Bandcamp Weekly. Their second EP, Negative Space (2017) charted well and lead to six-figure streams of lead single Fruitless on Spotify. Beatroute (BC) magazine describes Bridal Party as “a perfect marriage of indie pop and soul.”

The band recorded Too Much over three separate week-long immersive studio visits in 2017 and 2018. This disparate recording process would ultimately undo and reform everything the band knew about their sound. A playful and unflinching lyrical voice was honed, drawing on themes of care and self-love as well as their sombre opposites. Each players’ particular handle on their instrument resonates without tuning out the chemistry of influence the members enjoy with one another.

The resultant record is a vibrant collection of songs of uncanny intimacy, thriving from experimentation in studio that remains honest to the band’s live set. Whether it’s the confessional lyricism and feathery textures of “When I’m Naked”, the plaintive riddle and bedlam of “Armour”, or the celebratory disco of the title track, Too Much shines a light on the band’s interior joys and terrors in equal measure.

A broad sonic landscape that shares territory with Crumb, U.S. Girls, and early work of The Cardigans, Too Much is due Friday, August 23rd, accompanied by a relentless tour schedule.

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Suggested Friends - Cygnets.

Suggested Friends are an indie rock quartet with a firm grounding in queer identity, fusing DIY punk roots with the interweaving guitars of 90s indie and a sometimes tongue-in-cheek take on the performative masculinity of 80s rock. There’s a tenderness to their songwriting, with lyrics reflecting on cultural malaise, trauma recovery and the banal absurdity of everyday life. Personal politics can come with an incisively dry sense of humour too.

Turtle Taxi is their second album and demonstrates just how far they’ve come from the raw, scuzzy sounds of their DIY debut; unrepentant in letting the pop hooks loose. The choruses are big, harmonies frequent, and guitar solos abound - this is a lush, textured leap forward. Suggested Friends are more confident, acknowledging emotional pain and exploring how this affective space elides with a more expansive sense of injustice in the world.

On "Pretty Soon Your Grave Will Be A Landfill" the earnestness and absurdity of gaslighting politicians is laid bare, through to the futility of naming social ills and not acting on them on "At Ease". The album’s title track, "Turtle Taxi", talks about the relationship between love as a labour and the focusing in on life as an opportunity for that to flourish in all directions – (‘teach ‘til I die, let this all pass by…’).

The quieter numbers on the record, such as "At Ease" or "Blooms", recall folkier inspiration such as The Weather Station and Hiss Golden Messenger, through to the alt-pop oddness of "Nilufer Yanya" and "Blood Orange". But for parallels as a socially conscious, high-energy and vulnerable punk pop band, think Martha or Charly Bliss - though they’d argue for that perfect sweet spot between Weezer and Abba!

Recorded in rural Norfolk over two separate sessions a year apart, album was able to flourish into a more collaborative effort, incorporating Faith’s wife Meghan on percussion and Sickroom Studio's Owen on trumpet - plus plenty of time to experiment with overdubs and piano flourishes to up that classic-rock vibe that simmers just under the surface.

Suggested Friends formed in late 2015 following a chance meeting at a gig between Christabel (drums) and Faith (guitar and vocals). They were soon joined by Jack on guitar, who had met Faith through an activist group in London. Mammoth Penguins’ Emma Kupa is the most recent addition on bass, having worked with Faith on a number of projects over the past four years.


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Harry Heart - Work It Out.

Still bathing in acclaim from the likes of BBC Radio 6, Amazing Radio and Record of the Day after the recent release of his last single Montaigne, Sydney via Walthamstow London artist Harry Heart shares the solemn and smooth-tongued new single Work It Out from his upcoming EP.

Earlier this year, Harry Heart was invited on his first ever UK headline tour, a total of 20 shows in just two weeks. The relentless tour-schedule proved to be worthwhile, resulting in BBC airplay and accumulating almost ​half a million streams across Spotify ​and​ Apple Music.

The second single to be released since Heart's foray into the UK is Work It Out, from the upcoming Hands in the Hive EP. Work It Out exudes indie-rock maturity with lyrical prowess, gritty guitar work, and a mix of urgency and poise in its delivery. Heart unpacks the origin of the song:

“I was listening to so much Otis Redding for a while there, I wanted to hear my take on Soul. That tempo’s a great platform for lyrics. The track talks about the strains of balancing ambitions with good relationships, trying to stay sane and keep problems at bay.”

After releasing the 2018 EP First Endorphin, Harry Heart toured Australia twice, and made his UK debut, while also performing at Australian Music Week and featuring on Apple's Best of the Week: Pop playlist.

Work It Out is just a taste of the forthcoming Hands in the Hive EP, out 6th September.

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