Half Eaten By Dogs - The Serfs

 

New album by thrilling Ohio trio via Trouble in Mind Records

In a world where pristine pop rules the mainstream - think Harry and Taylor - the trio from Cincinnati, Ohio of Dylan McCartney (vocals, guitar, bass), Dakota Carlyle (electronica, bass) and Andie Luman (vocals, synth), have curated a musical maelstrom of sound and wonder that is both thrilling to listen to and difficult to pigeon hole.

From the album opener, 'Order Imposing Sentence', this is a long player that is distinctive in tone and is happy to wear a multitude of influences on its sleeve from Depeche Mode in the post-Vince Clarke days before the stratospheric late 1980s run they enjoyed to that of Suicide. Its more like surf rock but howling at the moon as they ride the crest of the wave.

'Spectral Analysis' samples Air's 'Sexy Boy' as if it is a transmission from a by-gone era or another dimension and yet there is a thrust and drive to the album that should be applauded. This trio is sticking to its guns and shooting for the moon.

'Electric Like An Eel' has this pounding sound that is unrelenting and yet is infectious and bouncy; it is this constant contradiction and juxtaposition of genres taking place that is seemingly unsettling to a listener but also keeps them on their toes, unsurprisingly this was a single release of the album.

This refreshing album is great to hear and reminded this listener of new sounds discovered such as FACS and Activity - that unnerving distortive sonic soundscapes being created.

It does strike me that this is a band who are on the cusp of bigger and better things to come, and while this album is their third album it smacks of maturity and a keen sense of what direction they want to be going in. 

The simplest way to state this album is that it is electronica just not as you know it infused with punk goodness and thrashing guitars.

Half Eaten by Dogs is out on Friday 27th October via Trouble in Mind Records

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.

FACS - Still Life in Decay

 

New album from Chicago trio FACS out 7th April via Trouble in Mind

When the world was on lockdown, there was the opportunity to catch up on cultural aspects you missed but also a chance for discovery. In this role as a mild-mannered music reviewer, you get sent links to all sorts of musical genres and it is very hard on occasion to weave out of your lane and yet the chance came to review a three-piece from Chicago that were definitely not on my radar. This band was FACS encompassing guitarist Brian Case, bassist Alianna Kalaba and drummer Noah Leger. 

The album from 2020 was Void Moments and for this writer, it was a touchstone and portal for those times in lockdown - an album of ferocity and anger that spoke to me as this writer dealt with the boredom of lockdown and not seeing friends. FACS' brand of intense and post-punk noise was a calling card to me and yet a band that cleverly spoke more to me than an acoustic guitar.

After Void Moments came 2021's Present Tense, a quick follow-up to that pandemic album that sustained their growth as a band with buzzy feedback aplenty and Cage's lyrics again struggling to make sense of the world.

The new album Still Life in Decay is possibly the final swansong for the threesome as Kalaba seeks pastures new, yet the rhythm and unity of the band is still paramount, their tightness again only growing to this resounding maelstrom of disquiet. FACS are a loud band but are capable of such quiet moments of reflection amidst the undoubted sensory overload.

Opening track 'Constellation' is indicative - Cage's vocals burst out of the gate and then quickly recede to the pulsating bass and drum dance that Kalaba and Leger create. 'When You Say' is a call to arms of making sense of the world. 'Slogan' is about watching someone change which is a theme running through the album. 

As Brain Case explains: 'change...how that's seen from different people's perspectives. 'Still Life In Decay' is about that kind of change, realizing that relationships exist in different ways for individuals in shared situations, and how you navigate that as a unit. We knew when we were making this record that Alianna was going to be stepping away from the band, which of course heavily informed the sessions. Filled with deep understanding and love, but still those insecurities and feelings of loss, or an end of something. Despite that, 'Still Life In Decay' feels more like a beginning, it's tense and vulnerable in a way we haven't presented ourselves before. I'm so proud of what the three of us did with this album.'

The album is akin to a ghostly presence with this aura of transformation abounding, drifting past you but maintaining a lingering presence throughout, there is something earthly and yet other-worldy about the album as a whole. A journey of anxiety and white noise and with a gripping energy throughout.

Still Life in Decay is out from Trouble in Mind on 7th April

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity

In Plain Sight - Neal Francis

 

Second album from Chicago based singer-songwriter Neal Francis from ATO Records out 5th November

Encompassing a changing of personal momentum and relocating back to his hometown after a break-up, Neal Francis' second album In Plain Sight is an honest collection of new songs about resilience and overcoming adversity soaking up influence of rock and soul into a dreamlike state that is both absorbing and gratifying.

Produced by Grammy winning producer, Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, MGMT), who has experience of working with off the wall production; Francis takes the basis for the second album his debut Changes which was a New Orleans RnB effort that drew comparisons with Allen Touissant. High praise indeed, yet the music of this album is more rockier drawing inspiration from the Chicago jazz and rock scenes and for this listener you cannot ignore the influence of early Elton John when he was in true trubadour honky cat days or that of Leon Russell; that joie de vivre of piano performance.

The opening track of the album 'Alameda Apartments' kicks off as more a statement of intent than anything else; full of untethered melodies, luminous grooves and lyrics that find the protagonist drifting from despair to craziness as it tells the story of moving into a haunted apartment following another break-up.

Lead single 'Can't Stop the Rain' is perhaps the standout track of the album, a real tour de force combining the power of unabashed piano with anthemic guitar riffs, written with a friend David Shaw who came up with the refrain and incorporates a message of hope despite the prospect of rain, "You can't stop the rain/It's always coming down/It's always going to fall/But you're not gonna drown"

The album was recorded by Francis and his band in a defunct church (St. Peter's UCC) setting and on tape, to help grab the power of live music performance and a band in sync; such as the guitar-heavy 'Prometheus' which features Francis on St. Peter's pipe organ in combat with an electric synth. 

The surreal and odd nature of living and performing in a church infuses the album with this religious and spiritual context; you do not have to have faith to get the power of this album as the piano Francis plays is able to connect many a listener but the piano is Francis' tool for redemption and ultimately transformation for a person who has overcome addiction problems and is now happily sober in 2021.

The album is a pleasing and rocking joy to finish this most tumultuous of years, through it all we shall always have rock and roll.

In Plain Sight is out from ATO Records on 5th November 

Neal Francis is on tour in the UK headlining O2 Academy Islington on January 23rd 2022

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.

S. Raekwon 'Where I'm At Now'

 

Debut album by S. Raekwon, NY based artist out via Father/Daughter Records on 8th October

S. Raekwon, born Steven Raekwon Reynolds in 1995 is a singer/songwriter/producer from New York by way of Buffalo - the pseudonym of S. Raekwon embodies Reynolds upbringing in the Big Apple and the various genres that he would grow up around from a mother who adored musicl theatre and the sound of piano in the house.

Recorded over a six-month stint during the pandemic at his girlfriend's parents home in Illinois, extracting him out of his New York City lifestyle - Raekwon wrote a feverish demo of tracks in his studio apartment which gave him a purpose to write and finish with the sounds around him.

Snippets of the album cut in and out with amazing frequency of influence ranging from Frank Ocean and D'Angelo to the sound of rap troupes yet there are flourishes of rock, pop and folk popping up throughout the ten track album.

You need only listen to album opener 'Darling' and not be hit by the similarity in beauty of the track with that of Bon Iver's sophomore self-titled album from 2011. The pacing and momentum of the album is a joy to experience, moving through all manner of emotions ranging from turmoil to love as from 'Do You Feel the Same?' to the social message of 'T.D.T.K.A'

The end result is an album by an artist who refuses to be pigeonholed by a specific genre either as a musician or a person; an album full of sweeping moments that will be embraced by those far and wide from New York to old York.

Where I'm at Now is out from Father/Daughter records now.

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.

Spirit of the Beehive - Entertainment, Death

 

New album from Spirit of the Beehive on new label, Saddle Creek, out April 9th this is Entertainment, Death.

The shape shifting Philadelphia trio return with a new work for a new label but remaining true to their spirit of noise rock immersion with their work being less music but pop music just not as you know it.

Following on from the much praised 2018 release hypnic jerks, SotB modus operandi of creating a smorgasbord of influences from music, film and television. At times jolting and sudden but never less than satisfying, the juxtaposition of manic energy with deliberate production marks the now three-piece as a collective of unique vision and integrity. 

The alteration in the titling of the songs marks out a difference of intent - gone are the lower case titles of the 2018 release to the full bold upper case capitalisation of their work; are the band being more defiant or triumphant about their work in this instance.

While the compositions may not be everyone's cup of tea, there is nevertheless an accessibility to the tunes be it the vocal work of both guitarist Zack Schwartz and bassist Rivka Ravede, whose vocals tie in nicely with the discord of the music. This is never more evident than on 'THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN'T DO' where the lightness of Ravede's delivery coupled with Schwartz's howl showcases the collision between the sublime and the loud.

Even moments of poppiness such as 'THE SERVER IS IMMERSED' is a break from the monotony of the everyday where the work sways along until all three members sing in unison to break the listener from their hypnotic spell. The clash of the everyday with the artisan is never far away with this group.

Along with new band member, Corey Wichlin, the band's intentions of abstraction with an abundance of input from all media mark it out as a work of high recognition through keeping the listener on their toes seemingly. 

While the personnel has changed, the album remains a continuation of a band's ethos coupling electronic instrumentation, along with stream-of-consciousness lyrics to make an aural experience that is both gratifying and challenging in this day and age of the unknown future.

ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH is out on Friday 9th April from Saddle Creek

Follow the band on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

Mint Julep - In A Deep and Dreamless Sleep

New album from husband-wife duo Mint Julep, In a Deep and Dreamless Sleep out 19th March from Western Vinyl

Following on from 2019's sumptuous release Stray Fantasies, the duo of Hollie and Keith Kenniff return with a kaleidoscopic and dreamy shoegaze pop venture that is at times an extension of the previous album and a progression of the creative partnership.

From the album opener 'A Rising Sun' this is not merely an album but a mood piece of contemplation - the sun of the track is breaking through the fuzzy fog we as a listener may find ourselves in as we cope with the mounting pressures of a global pandemic and the stresses upon a person's mental health.

The rich harmonies between the two are on display on track two, 'Black Maps' with its pulsing underlying bassline and gorgeous vocals by Hollie. This track is perhaps the most familiar song structure from the pair, yet as Keith Kenniff explains, 'Our previous material tended to be structured largely in a verse/chorus setting, but these songs are more free flowing and through-composed with a focus on mood and texture.'

The ability to alter your songwriting structure from one means to another allowing the moment or feeling to navigate the song is expressed throughout the album as a shape-shifting quality rarely seen amongst groups. Yet if pandemic has taught us anything, it is that we have to learn to adapt to thrive or move forward in the post-Covid world.

The whole album seems and definitely feels like a construct of work from an alternative dimension or perhaps five minutes into the future; from the ethereal album cover featuring a multi-coloured mysterious shape dwelling near a cave - is it escaping or entering? - to the dreamy mood of psychedelia and imagination which runs the full gamut of spectrums available.

At times sparse but at other times highly emotive, this album has something for everyone and covers a range of mysticism through the use of synthesizers and guitars creating an absorbing ambient collection of romantic dream pop.

In A Deep and Dreamless Sleep is out 19th March from Western Vinyl 

Follow Mint Julep on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.

I Saw First Light - Anna McClellan

 

Third album from Omaha singer/songwriter via Father/Daughter Records

This new album by the Midwesterner was recorded over two weeks with a multitude of local cohorts in her hometown of Omaha; it is a love letter to collaboration and how you become a sponge through engaging with influences.

Original in its context, unique in its execution this is an album full of perception and piano driven indie pop songs which has led to people compare McClellan to one Fiona Apple.

McClellan reminded this listener of another Anna, that being Anna Burch, another solo star who engages us with tales of relationships and social issues but with a strong individualistic slant to her songwriting.

The rollicking 'Feel You' is a call to arms of wanting someone to hold but remaining a personal identity; these go hand in hand with the ruminations found on tracks ranging from 'Raisin' and 'To Prove'.

These little sub-three minute nuggets also recall a band she toured with in 2016/17, one Frankie Cosmos, not to mention the work of Tony Molina a similar artist who did not waste time with song construction eager to share playful bitesize portions of energy .

There is a real tenderness as well to the album harking back to a bygone era somewhat with stalwarts of country music being channelled such as Lynn and Wynette seeping into this Nebraskan's work such as the beautiful violins on 'Gone'.

This album is about connecting with the outside world; her wistful vocal delivery coupled with the lush instrumentation of the compositions marks McClellan as one to watch.

While this may be her third album you to get the feeling this is merely the tip of the iceberg and there is so much more in terms of potential and ability at her disposal.

I Saw First Light is out from Father/Daughter Records on 20th November.

You can follow Anna McClellan on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Bandcamp.

Staunch Honey - David Nance

 

New album from Nebraskan rocker David Nance from Trouble In Mind Records

David Nance turned many heads in 2019 with his last album, Peace and Slightly Pulverized, which was highly acclaimed with his fuzzy and bristling guitar rock.

Nance returns with his fifth studio album Staunch Honey, which he recorded the majority of at his Omaha home with assistance from longtime bandmates Jim Schroeder (guitar) and Kevin Donohue (drums), making this a recorded at home master due to the Covid-19 crisis.

A culmination of two years hard work, Nance recorded and reworked the album three times over, Nance has weaved a manic and sonic clash of mood and emotion from raging guitars to squealing feedback which was so prevlant on 'Pulverized..' to a more mellower form of songwriting fitting for a late night drive or hang at home.

This is never more apparent than on track 2, 'The Dark, My Love and I' a rocker of supreme intensity but goes hand in hand with the gentler 'Save Me Some Tears' and 'Gentle Traitor'.

Fans of Neil Young will love this album full of earthiness, there is a real connection to the land and how important music is to Nance comes through the speakers in all its feedback glory.

Nance continues to impress with his intelligent and provoking guitar rock, a few years back there was a renaissance of guitar led music with Nance and his group leading the charge along with contemporaries such as Rayland Baxter. Some groups still exist such as recent release by The Big Easy can attest to but in this year of isolation and introspection it is good and pleasing to see an artist willing to just let his hair down.

Staunch Honey is out on Friday 13th November from Trouble In Mind Records

Gum Country 'Somewhere'

The debut album from the duo of Courtney Gavin (The Courtneys) and multi-instrumentalist Connor Mayer, is released via Bandcamp on June 19th.

The album is a buzz of fuzz, feedback ricocheting off of walls and eardrums a plenty, Garvin’s open-tuned guitar has a warmness reminiscent of The Breeders and Mayer’s accompaniment is the perfect compliment of piercing percussion with gritty guitars.

There is a richness to the melodies being explored by the group, with a mixture of highs and lows in terms of expressions amidst the mundanity of normal life but touching upon love, loss, tennis and gardening.

All topics though are treated with sincerity and her dry delivery helps touch a nerve with the listener be it an instrumental portion of a song that concludes ‘There’s A Crumb’ or the vibrancy of ‘Talking To My Plants’.

In conclusion, this is an album that is ripe for listening and offers plenty of joys amidst the twelve track album. Gum Country are a band to keep an eye on and leaves you salivating at the thought of what they could become in years to come.

From the ferocity of ‘It Lives It Breeds It Feeds’ to the rightly so pomp and circumstance of ‘The Queen Rules’, this album serves as an entry point for punk and indie rock in this most uncertain of years.

The album is available on the band’s bandcamp page here.

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.

This review first appeared on Backseat Mafia on 18th June 2020.

Lithics 'Tower of Age'

Hailing from Portland, Oregon; the third album from Lithics is out now from Trouble in Mind records

Reminiscent of other noted North East American bands from the Seattle and Portland areas, the band seem to have harnessed their driving guitar sound to create this sonic soundscape of invention and minimalism; hooks that revolve around circular motion you get the sense that this album is communicating a sense of disenchantment but also a wonder at this weirdness. 

Songs range from the incessant 'Beat Fall' to 'A Highly Textured Ceiling' which is at times short but stubby.  This album will either make you angry or you will find the rhythm to tap along to; they sound like a band who can jam but find the sound when they are cut loose from the strangulation of melody and would instead prefer to find their own way through the uncertainty.

An album which will have something for everyone ranging from lead single 'Hands' to the ear worm churning of 'Twisting Vine', this band has crafted an album to breakthrough.

Tower of Age is out now from Trouble in Mind records

My thanks to One Beat PR for the opportunity to review.

Spice 'All My Best Shit'

The new single release from Californian band, Spice, this is a rip-roaring piece of grungy, fast adrenaline rock.

This is a song as much about anger and how to express it compared to sitting upon your emotions. In this day and age of mental awareness and being expressive about feelings, this is a guitar-driven indie rock song seeking to be heard amidst this pandemic of epic proportions.

The single 'All My Best Shit' is released ahead of the self-titled album out on July 21st from DAIS records.

The album is a nine track 30-minute cut of sonic infusion sparking discussion about co-existing with spikes of loud and soft, short and long but yet full of sparky punch and authority in this world of unrest.

The group comprise of Ross Farrar (vocals) and Jake Casarotti (drums) from the band Ceremony, along with Cody Sullivan (bass), Ian Simpson (guitar) and Victoria Skudlarek (violin) the band have honed a sound from the Bay Area pedigree full of modernity and anthemic yearning.

Spice is out from DAIS records on July 21st

Peter Oren - The Greener Pasture

New album from singer-songwriter Peter Oren out 24th April from Western Vinyl

FFO: Eerie Gaits, Bon Iver, Rayland Baxter, Bob Mould

His first new release since 2017's Anthropocene, Oren has recorded this album himself in his hometown of Nashville, Indiana. This is the first project he has mixed, mastered and produced himself and recorded mostly in seclusion at a cabin near his hometown surrounded by hilly and wooded acres totally 60.

The album involved him trading files with fellow musicians some he has never met in person, yet he has produced an album that is at both times about connecting in this large world, and in these unsettling times of pandemic that theme of unity and togetherness is even more telling.

Highly rooted in the history of Americana roots, blues and country and western, while it is indebted to that rich history of American musical genres, Oren is writing about prevelant first world problems so not tales of backwater gangs but as in 'Ones and Ohs' it is about excessive phone usage and becoming a slave to this modern technology at your fingertips.

'Fun Yet' (track 6 on the album) concerns the need to have fun despite all the ability at those same fingerprints. 'John Wayne' is about the search for heroes and icons in these times of trouble. So this album is as much about looking forwards as looking back in its stripped down woozy wonderfulness.

Opening single 'Gnawed to The Bone (Come By)' is about feeling isolation understandable when recording in isolation and the theme coming through the album is about Oren combating this period of isolation and having to overcome those fears of vulnerability and gain a voice amongst the chaos and loneliness.

That first single was released on 19th February, here we are two months later and the world is very much different to then. We are all coming together in periods of reflection and contemplation, and it is works like this that will help us do this - becoming a voice for the people who themselves are seeking answers amongst this weird dystopia we find ourselves living in.

The Greener Pasture is a rich work of individualism for the people, it is out on all platforms from 24th April from Western Vinyl.

Other Lives - For Their Love

The long awaited album from Oregon band, Other Lives, is out from Play It Again Sam Recordings.

A band that has a richness of sound and unity in their performance, and a timeless nature to the compositions as if they are songs pulled from the collective consciousness with a universal appeal and general freedom in their sound.

This comes from the overlong hiatus the band have subjected themselves to since the 2011 debut Tamer Animals and out of creative uncertainty the band have re-emerged in a personal necessity and it is a joyful rebirth we witness on For Their Love.

The album starts off slowly, admittedly, but slowly the band creates this aura of Americana with great ear worm songs such as 'Lost Day' which epitomises the ear that the band has for swooning melody coupled with mystical lyrics and lush harmonies stemming from the band as a unit but also where the album was recorded in the Oregon mountains as featured in the video above.

The songs evoke visions of this great lost American soundtrack to an indie film from Jim Jarmusch or John Sayles ('Cops'), images of road trips on lost highways ('For Their Love'), landscapes blowing in the ever changing environment which harkens back to this genuinely organic feel of the album layout.

This is the sort of album that will be great to listen to in most environments, from a festival backdrop to garden barbecues to listening parties. Hopefully in spite of the current climate, this album will find a willing and deserving audience for this swooning soundtrack to Americana by way of Stillwater, Oklahoma.

For Their Love is our on 24th April on all platforms

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.

FACS Interview

FACS release their third album on 27th March from Trouble in Mind records, I had the pleasure of interviewing Brian Case, guitarist of the band and a Chicago native. Read my review of VOID MOMENTS here

• What is the history of FACS and what is he MO of the group?

FACS formed out of the ashes of Disappears, no real trajectory or mission in mind just wanted to continue making music in relatively the same direction we were headed with Disappears. In that regard, there was no real MO other than letting things play out as they happen and not forcing any ideas into a certain box. That said, we like playing with limitations and having self-imposed constraints.

• How did the three of you come together?

We've all been friends for almost 20 years at this point, mostly through our various bands playing together over the years and community spaces like Empty Bottle and the Rainbo Club. We've all been working musicians that whole time so it was easy to connect and use our shared interests/experiences to make something together.

• How long was the recording process for this album?

Three days to track, I think it was about three days mixing as well but we weren't there for that part.

• Do you go in with an idea of what you want to record or does it come together when you start in the studio?

We try and leave room for both. It's nice to go in and get warmed up with what you know, ideas with some structure or familiarity, but we like to leave as much time to experiment and get uncomfortable or out of our zone. They're equally important in our process.

• What did you listen to when you were growing up?

It was just what I had access to, my parent's record collection, mostly radio. By the time I was a teenager I was almost exclusively listening to whatever Dischord Records was releasing, mixtapes by friends, The Smiths, Sonic Youth.

• What do you listen to nowadays?

It's all over the place, I'm as curious as ever but I'm still as much influenced by my initial sources as I ever was. Today I listened to Wayne Phoenix, Alternative TV, Shabaka and the Ancestors, The Native Cats, Alabaster Deplume, and Fugazi (so far).

• What is your hope for the album now the power of touring has been restricted?

I just want people to listen to it, hopefully in one sitting with no distractions. We don't really have an agenda other than making music and challenging what we think it is we do. Even touring, which we love, is not the priority, it's moving forward and making something unexpected or unknown.

• How do you see the music industry changing due to Covid-19? Are you worried as recording artists?

I'm hoping C-19 changes everything, the whole world. We all need to wake up and look at what we do day to day and figure out how to make things sustainable for the future. In this country there's a lot that needs to be broken down and rebuilt, the music industry included. I hope this forced self isolation is the first step in people looking outside of their own immediate field of vision for a way to move the world forward. We're the virus.

• Chicago Deep Pan or New York slice?

Chicago Deep Dish is trash, disgusting. New York slice is supreme. That said I will never live anywhere else, I firmly believe Chicago is the best city in the world, NYC being a close second.

Go seek out merch and material from FACS bandcamp page here.
Void Moments is out now on all formats

My thanks as always to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.

Margaret Glaspy - Devotion

Second album from American songstress Margaret Glaspy via ATO Records

The album is a collection of a dozen compositions that are about love coming in when you do not expect it, there is a soulful to this record in contrast to her debut 'Emotions and Math' which had a grittier sound and purpose. This is a record which has an energy of its own.

Songs that take on a life of their own, starting soft then becoming more universal as they ferment in the ether, much like the opening salvo 'Killing What Keeps Us Alive' a song that takes on this political comment but has a very personal energy to it due to the auto-tune nature with it being stripped back led by Glaspy's hypnotic vocal lead.

The distant cousin of Alanis Morisette's Jagged Little Pill but perhaps without the vitriol against men, this is an album that shows an artist spreading her creative wings and going for broke by putting her heart on the table and coming up trumps.

From the winning 'Without Him' and 'You've Got My Number' there is a yearning for love and the importance of love between two people, how a relationship can bring the best out of someone culminating in the brilliant 'Devotion' a song that is both about strength in each other and yourself.

Devotion is out from ATO Records on Friday 27th March.

My thanks as always to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.

FACS - Void Moments

Chicago trio, FACS, release 27th March by Trouble in Mind records

The trio comprise of Brian Case (guitarist), Noah Leger (drummer) and Alianna Kalaba (bassist) - the two men were in Disappears before the dissolution of that band an they made a 2017 debut entitled Negative Houses. The addition of Kalaba led to 2018's Lifelike.

They return with Void Moments, perhaps there most accessible album thus far - featuring songs that are less oblique and open to interpretation yet still featuring the darkness of their roots.

The album is full of these clashes - light and darkness, beauty and harshness, deafening din and softness - none more so encapsulated than in lead single 'Teenage Hive' and the follow up 'Casual Indifference'

There is a hypnotic quality to the compositions starting with opener 'Boy' a track that is both pulsating and full of flow, one thing this album could never be accused of would be lacking in energy which is infectious and careens through the seven tracks on the album.

'Teenage Hive' is one of those such infectious tracks, a riveting bassline and guitar thrash running through the core of the track that creates this sonic surge, no wonder it was the lead single.

'Casual Indifference' is the epitome of this brutal post-punk music and perhaps the standout of the album - a combination of art rock (see Activity release also) and emo shoegaze, it has a hook on you that will not let go.

FACS are a band who are searching for answers in this messy world, trying to make sense of their place and what purpose if any does this type of industrial heavy rock music have anymore.

Yet the musicianship of the trio really comes to the fore, a tightness as a group that cannot be matched plus there is a certain kind of joy coming through the airwaves in their unity together to create this unique soundscape.

Void Moments is out on 27th March from Trouble In Mind records and the bandcamp website.

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.

Activity - Unmask Whoever

Debut album from New York four piece available from Western Vinyl on 27th March 

Formed a year ago in NYC, Activity, the four piece comprise of Travis Johnson (vocals), Steve Levine (drummer), Zoe Browne (bassist) and Jess Rees (guitarist)

Attention to this avant garde foursome came about with the release of lead single 'Calls Your Name' with a corresponding video that is both hypnotic and unsettling.

Yet this band have made music that while being harsh on the exterior and the sort of unrelenting indie rock powered by bass lines, there is an accessibility that comes to the surface once you listen to the album.

The hypnotic power of the lead single is matched by second track 'Earth Angel' - embracing the power of the individual and bringing that to the fore with lyrical themes of paranoia clashing with the current fragility of the person in this mad mad world.


'Nude Prince' the last single before the album release is one of those stay with you songs that is both pulsating and mesmeric, bringing a throbbing art rock beat to the party - the perfect marriage of aloof lyrics and synth beauty.

The band are this finally balanced four piece of two males and two females, an avant garde rallying call to arms from the conventions of indie rock to mark this new breed of current dystopia - paranoid lyrics and flawed humanity in musical form.

A band who are an amalgam of various forms have created an album inspired by literature, music and current events to make an album that is wholly unique and coherent. At times subtle and radiant, proud but buoyant this is a work that will be spoken of for end of years lists.

Unmask Whoever is released from Western Vinyl on all formats from March 27th.

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.

Gold Cage 'Social Crutch'

LA trio Gold Cage release debut album SOCIAL CRUTCH on 27th March from Felte Records

Comprised of singer/bassist Mony Katz, singer/guitarist Cole Devine and drummer Sage Ross - the trio combine dreamy shoegaze melodies, with a lyrical tension of the present day environment and this is embedded in an aura of post-punk influence ranging from Yo La Tengo and Sonic Youth to the present day peers of Ezra Furman and Activity.

While Activity - whose own debut is released the same day - are more avant-garde, Gold Cage have the backbone of the punk ethos through their collective DNA, rich evocative songs dripping with hooky basslines and in Katz and Devine's combined penchant for whispered delivery they have a knack of making songs that stick with you.

From lead single and album opener, 'Repeater Kember', this is the song that shows off their influences and this was followed up by second single 'Halcion' - a song that shows off the best of New Order and Smashing Pumpkins to the fore.

Yet the best single might be third track 'Introduce My Mind' a song that is the most catchy of the album and ripe for radio play with the mainstream appeal every band requires for crossover potential.

All in all, Gold Cage have made a stunning debut album that if given the right audience may well shoot them to greater things, the band allows the listener to hear the tightness of the band as a unit and is not as inclusive as other works say allowing the listener to enter their world and enjoy the view.

Social Crutch is released from Felte Records on 27th March.
Visit their homepage to purchase material

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.

Jane Herships - The Home Record

New album from artist formerly known as Spider, The Home Record, released Friday 28th February

Jane Herships has shed her alias, and has made a highly personal album entitled The Home Record; away from her alter ego of Spider she has crafted a collection of songs that are both personal yet universal, an artist rebuilding a persona in public by baring her soul to all to hear.

Opening track 'Resembling the Neighbors' sets her stall out with this wistful ballad that is tuneful, soulful and yet full of the undercurrent of more to it than on the surface.

While the songs she would write with Spider and as bassist of Teen would concentrate on the sound, this series of songs are all about falling in and out of love.

Lead single 'Best Friends' something that harkens back to late 1980s feel bad ballads, is about breaking up with someone you considered your best friend, the first person you would tell anything to anyone and in this instance who do you talk to.  This is a notion you are sure songwriters have considered before without as much success as Herships has conveyed.

This is followed up by the gorgeous 'Caroline' a track about a friend who has gone off the radar; this wistfulness of the album as a whole makes this album a great companion piece to Annie Hart's A Softer Offering that was reviewed earlier this year.

Both albums are kindred cousins from the Twin Peaks album, this music is both hypnotic yet enticing to the layman ear, music to share and rejoice in the fact that such good music is being produced.

'Small Town Girls' is one of the more jangly songs but the message is that the more things change, the more they stay the same and you can spread your wings and leave a town but those things you remember will remain.

Best single off the album is final track 'Scott Carpenter' a love letter to the eponymous astronaut whose thirst for knowledge brought him to prominence bringing wonder to the masses, by being inspired by him, Herships hopes to inspire others.  The song also has a whimsical but beautiful video directed by Arielle Sarnoff to boot.

For fans of Joni Mitchell, Iron and Wine and Fleet Foxes, this is an album that will ear worm its way into your consciousness in this most tumultuous of years.

The Home Record is available from Jane Herships' bandcamp website.

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.

Margaret Glaspy Returns

Singer-songwriter Margaret Glaspy returns with a new album Devotion out on 27th March from ATO Records.

Following on from the release of her acclaimed debut in 2016 Emotions and Math and her EP Born Yesterday, and a three year trip on the road Glaspy is following a new direction on this new release.

She has released lead single 'Killing What Keeps Us Alive' which offers a new sound with digitised vocals and a bare electronic sound in contrast to the rich electric guitar swagger on her debut.

The new single which also has an excellent promo directed by Alex Chaloff which shows how colour can come to the fore if you look hard enough, and is as much about gestation and patience over the be here immediately mindset.

The album which was co-produced by Tyler Chester in Los Angeles features 12 love songs, of which Glaspy states, 'It's about letting love in even when you don't know what will happen when you do'

If the single/video is anything to go by, then listeners and fans both old and new are in for a pleasant surprise - gone is the angry guitar sound a la Glaspy's peer Anna Burch (herself returning with new material this year) and instead a more melodic and emotive soundscape - an artist willing to challenge herself in terms of production, subject matter and material.

Margaret Glaspy will be on tour in the UK for some selected shows:

27th March - Mono, Glasgow

28th March - Institute, Manchester

29th March - Fleece, Bristol

31st March - Lafayette, London

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.