Colorado-based artist Alien Gothicpresent their debut single‘In The Night’, a song that stretches cosmic goth music into a whole new realm, combining all the elements the duo has been striving to integrate into the project in the four years since their inception.
Conjuring up music that can be described as gloom from other worlds, they have been trying to find their way back to the original trajectory they were on previous to crash landing in Barnum, Colorado. With no time to put their lives on hold, they have cooked up a deal to release their ‘High and Dry’ album viaLatenight Weeknight Records.
With classic goth rock as its backbone, ‘In The Night’ also sees darkwave smoldering at the surface. A symphonic journey telling the tale of two unknown lifeforms, bringing their favorite sounds to a place they have never explored before, this music is inspired by the beauty of the world around them, while still being pulled into the darkness of the dead stars they came from.
The video tells the tale of their recent exploration as they look for a way out of this world, gravitating to the most iconic structures they find along the way. Mixing in elements of AI, traditional film and lost portraits of the two core members, the song blends reality and fiction, while introducing a vibe they hope to spread to all the other planetary systems around us.
Made up of Ryan Policky (A Shoreline Dream) and Andy Uhrmacher (Genessier), Alien Gothic creates deep gothic electronica, fused with spacial goth autoharp symphonies, deep mellotron overtures mixed with noises from unknown origins on the vast hour long debut. Themes and words recall events that the duo have had from the far reaches of the beyond. With deep beats, lush goth rock entwine with psych and shoegaze layers to create cosmic, pulsating melodies.
Recorded from 2020-2023, Alien Gothic take a journey out of a world gone mad, to spread a sound that is immersive and rich with varied instrumentation. Soundscaping goth is what these artists have become known for elsewhere along the milky way, their spectrums now hitting earth to bring forth a dreary alien orchestra, lost deep in a dark forest beyond the normal stretches of human imagination.
“It’s something we knew would destroy the seedy, cobweb filled danceclubs of the past, bringing forth a new era of goth… alien goth!” says Ryan Policky.
As of July 18, ‘In The Night’ will be available exclusively via Bandcamp. The full ‘High and Dry’ album will be released digitally on August 18 across all fine music platforms.
With little more under their belt than a relentless string of live performances, and a twice pressed (subsequently sold out) Self-Titled Demo, NYC based band Lathe of Heaven have proved themselves to be a potent and cohesive element amidst the torrent of hardcore punk and synth-driven pop revival currently proliferating throughout the U.S. underground. Today the band sign to Sacred Bones Records and announce their debut album ‘Bound By Naked Skies‘ is out September 1st. To coincide with the announce, the band are sharing the first single from the record, “Ekpyrosis” alongside a video directed by Lucas Cabu and Vitor Jabour.
Though the term Ekpyrosis has roots in Ancient Greek philosophy, the name has since been adopted and reformatted to signify a cosmological theory that describes the origins and destiny of space and time. The Ekpyrotic Model, commonly associated with The Cyclic Model, hypothesises that the universe undergoes periodic cycles of contraction and expansion, leading to the creation, destruction, and thus recreation of the universe.
Despite this theory’s contentious place in the field of cosmology, the band nevertheless finds its implications inherently compelling. There is something both horrifying and beautiful about the idea of our universe being in a constant state of death and rebirth, which Lathe of Heaven believes serves as a strong and apt portrayal of the various themes spanning across their upcoming debut record, Bound by Naked Skies.
The “Ekpyrosis” video aims to place its viewer in the uncanny space of present and past, thematically exploiting neo retro-futuristic depictions of New York City, it’s punk underground and its dystopian future – a future the universe may have unknowingly seen before. On the visuals, director Lucas Cabu said “This was a fun project. The band wanted to have space images playing behind them and have an 80’s look to it, so we used an analog mixer to do the chroma key in real time while the band was playing in my room! We kind of pre-edited it in real time then did the master in a beta-cam to give it an even more antiquated look.”
Formed in 2021, the band features members of noteworthy Brooklyn based projects such as People’s Temple, Porvenir Oscuro, Pawns, Android, Hustler and more.
Though this roster of past and alternate musical endeavors exposes a diverse range of genre and skill sets, Lathe of Heaven can only be understood as a departure from such influences, exploring a sound entirely of its own.
Now nearly two years later, LoH are finally prepared to unleash their debut Full Length Bound by Naked Skies. With careful consideration, this eleven track LP blends elements of British New-Wave and Finnish Post-Punk into a nuanced juxtaposition of 80s sonic mania. Incorporating themes of classic and contemporary Science-Fiction, Bound by Naked Skies indebts itself as much to its literary influences as it does to the music that informs its unique and deliberate sound. Paying powerful homage to the uncanny worlds of authors Arthur C. Clarke, Octavia Butler, Ken Liu and of course Ursula Le Guin (whose novel the band is named after), themes of cosmology (Ekpyrosis), simulation (Heralds of the Circuit-Born), mental illness (Moon-Driven Sea), and ontology (Entropy, The Spider.), weave implicitly throughout the arch of the record, providing a sense of insight into the minds of those plagued by the ambiguous nature of humankind’s terrifying and not-so-distant future.
Lathe of Heaven tour dates: 4th Aug – TV Eye (w/ Home Front and Deluxxe), Brooklyn, NY (Tickets) 18th Aug – Union Pool (w/ Temple of Angels), Brooklyn,, NY (Tickets) 7th Sept – TV Eye (w/ Witness and Eyedrops), Brooklyn, NY (Tickets) 13th Sept – The Dirty Bird (w/ The Poisoning and The Exile), Santa Ana, CA 14th Sept – Knucklehead ( w/ The Exile and Shrouds), Los Angeles, CA 15th Sept – Zebulon (w/ Protocultura), Los Angeles, CA 16th Sept – Stork Club (w/ Vulture Feather and Vague Lanes), Oakland, CA 17th Sept – Enzyme, San Francisco, CA 18th Sept – Naked Lounge (w/ Vulture Feather and Exposure Therapy), Chico, CA 19th Sept – Coffin Club, Portland, OR 21st Sept – 23rd Sept – Varning Festival, Montreal, MTL (Tickets)
Today, Austin, Texas outfit Holy Wave continue to push their historically psychedelic sound with intricate, heady single “Nothing in the Dark”, premiering on post-trash. It’s accompanied by a beautifully-shot, atmospheric visual, directed by Vanessa Pla. The track follows airy “Bog Song,” and psych-tinged single “Happier” featuring Mint Field’s Estrella del Sol.
Both songs taken from their upcoming new album Five of Cups, out August 4, 2023 on Suicide Squeeze Records.
The band have also announced further US + UK/EU fall tour dates.
On the track, band member, Cook offers: “Nothing in the Dark is about how easy it is to let fear take over and control what you do and don’t do, how distractions can keep you from the things you want or disguise themselves as what you want. But when the light disappears from your life, like shadows, the distractions fade away, and you’re left with just yourself and the darkness. So I guess the song is about moving past the fear of the shadows; you can see in the light so that you don’t end up sitting alone in the dark.”
On the video, band member, Fuson offers: “We all acted in the video, but we also did the set design and all the props. Since it was a super small budget, we had to wear a bunch of hats to afford to pay the people who were good at their jobs, haha. The director Vanessa Pla also made some mean carnitas for the crew. They were fire.”
Tour dates Live Dates Aug 8 – Andy’s – Denton, TX Aug 9 – Opolis – Norman, OK Aug 11 – Back Alley Ballyhoo – Indianapolis, IN Aug 12 – JJs Bohemia – Chattanooga, TN Aug 13 – Upstairs at Avondale – Birmingham, AL Aug 15 – Alabama Music Box – Mobile, AL Aug 16 – Continental Club – Houston, TX Aug 17 – Paper Tiger – San Antonio, TX Oct 12 – Constellation Room – Santa Ana, CA Oct 14 – Sister – Albuquerque, NM Oct 15 – Hi-Dive – Denver, CO Oct 17 – Sleeping Village – Chicago, IL Oct 18 – Lager House – Detroit, MI Oct 20 – No Fun – Troy, NY Oct 21 – Mercury Lounge – NYC, NY Oct 22 – Baby’s All Right – Brooklyn, NY Oct 23 – Metro Baltimore – Baltimore, MD Oct 25 – Gasa Gasa – New Orleans, LA Oct 26 – Levitation – Austin, TX Oct 29 – Love Buzz – El Paso, TX Oct 30 – The Rebel Lounge – Phoenix, AZ Oct 31 – Casbah – San Diego, CA Nov 1 – Lodge Room – Highland Park, CA 11/7 – Lille, FR – L’Aéronef 11/8 – Groningen, NL – Vera 11/9 – Copenhagen, DK – Stengade 11/10 – Berlin, DE – Kesselhaus 11/11 – Halle, DE – Huhnermanhattan 11/12 – Prague, CZ – Cafe V Lese 11/13 – Munich, DE – Milla 11/16- Bucharest, RO – Control Club 11/17 – Belgrade, SE – Dom Onladine 11/19 – Zagreb, HR – Vintage Industrial 11/21 – Lyon, FR – Le Sonic 11/22 – Barcelona, ES – Sala Upload 11/23 – San Sebastian, ES – Dabadaba 11/24 – Madrid, ES – Wurlitzer Ballroom 11/28 – Vigo, ES – Kominski 11/30 – Bordeaux, FR – Allez Les Filles 12/1 – Paris, FR – Point Ephemere 12/2 – Brussels, BE – Botanique 12/3 – The Hague, NL – Hink Festival 12/4 – Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso 12/6 – Brighton, UK – The Hope & Ruin 12/7 – Bristol, UK – Crofters Rights 12/8 – Manchester, UK – YES 12/9 – Glasgow, UK – Stereo 12/10 Newcastle, UK – Cluny 2 12/11 – Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club 12/12 – London, UK – Moth Club
Keep your mind open.
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DFL aka Dead F*cking Last, the iconic ‘90s hardcore band that featured first wave punker Monty Messex, Adam Horovitz aka Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys, and skater “Crazy Tom” Davis, will reissue their influential debut album, My Crazy Life. Originally released on the Beastie Boys’ own Grand Royal Records in 1994, the record turned heads as it was fueled by the savage power of first wave hardcore during a time when punk rock was heading in a poppier, radio-friendly direction. The reissue is the first time the album has ever been on 12-inch vinyl and is also the first printing of the album in 29 years.
The band brought in original producer Mario Caldato Jr. (Beastie Boys, Moby, Freddie Gibbs) to remaster the entire release. Further, the reissue contains expanded art, unreleased pictures, as well as a 10,000 word oral history of the band, as taken from interviews with the band members themselves, Grand Royal Records executives, and other contributors from the scene. As an additional bonus, the first run of the reissue will come with a complete, previously unreleased, live show titled Live at G-Son Studios. The live album was professionally recorded by Caldato at the Beastie Boys’ G-Son Studio during a party the day after DFL recorded the tracks from My Crazy Life and features eleven, savage live recordings.
My Crazy Life will be released via Trust Records on August 11, 2023 in stores and across all digital retailers. Trust is an archival record label whose mission is to preserve and present classic punk records as an iconic and important part of America’s cultural history, much in the same way as jazz, folk, and the blues have been celebrated. In order to pay tribute to the iconic records that it releases, each Trust pressing is presented as a deluxe release with premium vinyl, expanded and heavy-duty liner notes and jacket, as well other bonuses. Trust Records previously released deluxe reissues of Circle Jerks’ Group Sex and 7 Seconds’ The Crew, both which received massive critical acclaim.
More about DFL: Originally arriving in 1994, My Crazy Life faced a somewhat “polished” punk rock landscape. Due to the massive surge in popularity of bands like Green Day or The Offspring, punk had become poppier, more accessible, and more melodic. Meanwhile, each of DFL’s original members came from the earliest, most crazed days of first wave hardcore: Messex formed hardcore punk band the Atoms, which included Izzy Stradlin (pre-Guns n Roses) in 1981; Horovitz started in the early NYC hardcore scene with the Young and the Useless before joining the Beastie Boys during their initial run as a hardcore band; Crazy Tom was a seasoned skateboarder hailing from the Marina Del Rey skatepark.
Messex recalls, “In 1993, I was obsessively listening to Bad Religion’s ‘How Could Hell Be Any Worse’. I had this beat up cassette that I’d listen to over and over and over and over again on my Walkman. That record brought me back to the early 80s hardcore scene I grew up on- that included Circle Jerks, the Germs, The Adolescents. I wanted to make a record that called back to the initial rush I got from the early hardcore scene.”
Without much planning, Messex linked up with Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys, who, at the time, were recording the seminal Check Your Head album. Messex threw the idea of starting a hardcore punk band past Horovitz and DFL was born. Messex says, “I literally remember the moment when we started DFL. Adam dropped by my place in Echo Park and kinda half jokingly asked him if he wanted to start a hardcore band. To my surprise he was like, ‘uh… yeah!’ I had a few songs and we went over to G-Son. I played them for Adam and the band was born right there and then.”
Shortly thereafter, Messex and Horovitz drafted “Crazy” Tom Davis into the group. Hailing the SoCal skate scene, Davis was added as much for his explosive singing style and unpredictability. Along with drummer Tony Converse, the band recorded the volatile My Crazy Life album in the time it takes to listen to it: 20 minutes. Unlike the more polished records of the day, My Crazy Life was 15 tracks of raw and ragged hardcore punk that, while fueled by the same energy as first wave of California hardcore, was pushed into the present, addressing issues like mental health, ‘90s Hollywood, and the fact that pizza is tasty.
The record not only stood as a landmark release because it featured one of the Beastie Boys playing back-to-basics hardcore punk, but also because the record was composed of sub 60 second songs built off Messex’s smashing riffs and Davis’ deranged howl. While most records were getting bigger and more polished, DFL was one of the few that made their music shorter, faster, and rawer. Since the album’s release, My Crazy Life has remained a cult record, prized by the hardcore scene due to its ferocious sound and askew lyrics… and also because it is really, really, really good.
“The ‘My Crazy Life’ era was a real moment in time for me and I feel like the record captures that,” Messex tells. “There was so much shit going on. The Beasties and Grand Royal were blowing up. There were all these crazy parties with celebs and skaters and all sorts of people hanging out. It’s almost 30 years later, but that moment has never left me.”
Ahead of its release, DFL has shared a preview of “Pizza Man” and “America’s Most Hardcore” remastered studio versions; check them out below.
The Beths — “one of the greatest indie-rock bands of their time” (Rolling Stone) — announce Expert In A Dying Field (Deluxe), out September 15th on Carpark Records, and present the new single, “I Told You That I Was Afraid (Acoustic).” Expert In A Dying Field (Deluxe) expands upon the brilliance of The Beths’ acclaimed 2022 album, “another collection of tunes that cements their status as one of the great guitar-pop bands of this present moment” (Stereogum), with three demos, two acoustic renditions, and the inclusion of previously shared standalone singles “A Real Thing” and “Watching The Credits.” The latter has already been deemed one of 2023’s best songs by Rolling Stone and Paste, who praised “Watching The Credits” as “a terrific, heat-seeking missile of glittering guitars and steadfast percussion work” that “speaks to how they endure as one of the most exciting rock bands in the world right now.”
Later this week, The Beths (and their beloved inflatable fish) will take to the U.K.for a string of select festivals and headline dates. Shortly after, they will return to North America for a full, almost entirely sold out tour including dates supporting The National, Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service. The Beths will also headline three nights at Los Angeles’ Lodge Room (surrounding their sold out show at the Hollywood Bowl supporting Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service), plus three nights at New York’s Music Hall of Williamsburg. Full dates are listed below and tickets are on sale now.
Expert In A Dying Field, the third studio album from The Beths, was released to a wealth of critical praise, and was named one of 2022’s best releases by the likes of Pitchfork, The Ringer, Stereogum and more. Surrounding its release, The Beths were profiled by Rolling Stone, Document Journal, The Big Takeoverand more, and made their U.S. television debuton CBS Saturday Morning. The Beths are undeniably one of the most exciting indie rock bands to emerge in recent memory.
The Nashville-based DIY punk outfit Snõõper will release their highly anticipated debut album, Super Snõõper, on July 14th via Third Man Records.Today, they present another fully-charged single/video, “Powerball.” Clocking in at just over a minute, Snõõper max out the short and sweet run time on “Powerball” by packing it with frantic guitars, berserk drums, and the ever-cool vocals of Blair Tramel. The accompanying “Powerball” video — directed by Tramel and featuring puppeteering by Grace Hall — channels the song’s chaos delectably, and previews the playful mayhem of Snõõper’s storied live sets for those yet indoctrinated.
Tramel explains: “‘Powerball’ was written after a scratch-off winning streak. My mom called me to let us know that the Powerball jackpot was the highest it had been in years. It’s a funny thing to feel like you are going to win something so arbitrary – to feel like you are going to be the one in a billion winner. When our numbers were not announced, we decided to buy some scratch-offs and, to my surprise, I won $50 on a $2 scratch off. I kept buying scratch-offs from different gas stations around town and kept winning. It was a comical sort of high I hadn’t felt before and even when I started losing money I wanted to keep going.” Watch Snõõper’s “Powerball” Video
Snõõper doesn’t play fast; they play at the speed of Snõõper. They maintain super precise instrumentals and skillfully melodic vocals, even though they’re flooring it almost the entire time. The project began in 2020 as a collaboration between local Nashville punk mainstay Connor Cummins (guitar) and Blair Tramel (vocals), an early education teacher with a sideline in wickedly funny animation and art. As their cassette tapes and homemade videos began to find scattered fans around the world, the duo brought the project to the live stage in late 2021 with the addition of Cam Sarrett (drums), Happy Haugen (bass), and Ian Teeple (guitar). Thus, Snõõper was born.
Snõõper is a band who, in a 33 ⅓ RPM world, make 45 RPM music they play at 78 RPM. Their debut album, Super Snõõper, was recorded at The Bomb Shelter in Nashville. It follows EPs “Music For Spies” (2020), “Snõõper” (2021), and “Town Topic” (2022), as well as the live album LIVE AT EXIT/IN 11-23-22released this past February. Given the brief glimpses into Snõõper’s music from their 7”s, EPS, and thrilling live performances, one might wonder if the group could hold the line for a full album. The answer is an enthusiastic yes. In the words of Henry Rollins, “Speaking selfishly, I want Snõõper to hurry up and make another album. Super Snõõper is a really cool record.” Snõõper are known for their raucous live show which integrates many different artistic mediums — music, video art, puppetry, assemblages, and more — to create a unique experience for each performance. The band is currently touring Australia and will return stateside for a handful of shows. A full list of dates is below, with more to be announced soon. Stream “Powerball” Watch “Pod” Video Watch “Fitness” Video Pre-order Super Snõõper
Snõõper Tour Dates Sun, July 16 – Pomona, CA @ Viva Pomona Fri. Oct. 13 – Sun. Oct. 15 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits Festival Sun. Nov. 5 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club Mon. Nov. 6 – Gladow, UK @ Hug & Pint Tue. Nov. 7 – Manchester, UK @ YES Basement Wed. Nov. 8 – London, UK @ The Windmill Fri. Nov. 10 – London, UK @ Pitchfork Festival (Roadhouse) Sat. Nov. 11 – Bristol, UK @ The Lanes
Will Butler + Sister Squares announce their new self-titled album out September 22nd on Merge and present its lead single/video, “Long Grass.” Sister Squares are Miles Francis, Julie Shore, Jenny Shore, and Sara Dobbs; what made them a musical unit was working with Grammy winner and Oscar nominee Will Butler. The resulting Will Butler + Sister Squares is a record with a warm, humane soul.
“I met Jenny—my wife!—in college, the year before I joined Arcade Fire,” says Will. “When I needed a band to tourPolicy[Merge, 2015], I asked [Jenny’s sister] Julie to join because I trusted her musically. And I asked Sara, Jenny and Julie’s childhood friend, because I knew she was super talented,” says Will. “Antibalas (who I was drumming for) opened some Arcade Fire shows,” says Miles, who offered to play drums anytime Will needed. Will, Julie, Sara, and Miles jelled on tour and everyone worked on vocal arrangements. All along, Jenny contributed to recordings and general performance ideas, and she joined onstage in 2019.
“After Generations[Merge, 2020], I considered making a weird solo record. Me alone in the basement, etc., etc. Mostly I realized that what I wanted was the opposite,” says Will. He increasingly turned to the band for feedback on lyrics and song structures. He asked Miles if they’d produce the record.
“Will and I organically discovered our relationship as a production duo through making this album. We didn’t have to talk too much about things as they happened, because the music just flowed,” says Miles. “As a producer, working with Jenny, Julie, and Sara is the dream. They connect so innately. In one motion they can conjure a mood, or get at the root of a feeling.”
The band played a run of shows in August 2022, airing out studio ideas in live rooms. After coming home, the band regrouped at Figure 8 Studios in Brooklyn. The album, broadly, is equal parts from Figure 8, group experiments from Will’s basement, and sessions in Miles’ Synthia Studio.
“I had quit my band Arcade Fire very recently, after 20 years—maybe the most complex decision of my life. I had spent the preceding two years at home with my three children. I was 39 years old. I was waking up every morning and reading Emily Dickinson, until I had read every Emily Dickinson poem. I was listening to Morrissey, to Shostakovich, to the Spotify top 50. I had unformed questions with inchoate answers,” says Will. “But, honestly, I was feeling great about the record.”
The album projects widescreen emotional landscapes. Lead-off single “Long Grass” is like a Harry Styles song with 20 more years of life behind it. “I had read this novella called Jamila by a Soviet/Kyrgyz author named Chingiz Aitmatov from the ’50s,” says Will. “It’s about an artist looking back on his childhood in a small town in Kyrgyzstan in WWII. It’s about love, and becoming an artist, and melancholy, and vast landscapes with a single train track running through them. And it reminded me of young adulthood, of wandering moodily down the train tracks. Maybe the song is also about leaving behind the things that formed us, but trying to remember the world as it used to be?”
Will Butler + Sister Squares will tour in support of their new album this fall.
Edinburgh-based producer George T announces the release of his latest single, “Love Letter,” which is set to drop on Paradise Palms Records. The track, a beautiful mind buffet of left-field and dubby influences, marching hypnotic lead synth, pads, syncopation, and an enchanting, haunting vocal. “Love Letter” marks a new chapter in George T’s rich and ever blossoming career, showcasing his talent for crafting genre-bending tracks that blur the lines between electronic and experimental music. With its intricate production, mesmerizing melodies, and captivating rhythms, the single transports the listener to a warped pleasure planet. In addition to the original version of the track, George T also offers up a hypnotic dub version “Dub Letter.” Doused in acid and featuring an instrumental-only arrangement that emphasizes the song’s rhythmic and atmospheric qualities.
The single and accompanying dub is releasing digitally with Paradise Palms Records and being distributed globally through EPM on the 14th of July.
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Teddy Thompson has announced his eighth studio album, My Love Of Country, will be released August 18. True to its title, Thompson offers deeply personal and heartfelt readings of ten classic country songs by songwriters like Buck Owens, Hank Cochran, Eddy Arnold, Cindy Walker and even his own father, Richard Thompson. The collection’s first single “A Picture Of Me Without You” (listen/share here), a top ten hit for George Jones in 1972, and its accompanying video (watch/share here), directed by Ethan Covey, is out today
The simplicity and emotional intensity of classic country has been a big part of Thompson’s own sound as an artist, which The New York Times called “beautifully finessed” and NPR hailed as “the musical equivalent of an arrow to the heart.” Back in 2007, he explored his roots with Up Front and Down Low, an album of Nashville golden era favorites. And now he’s picked up the thread again.
“The goal was to do it in the way that country records I love – mostly from the ’60s – were made,” says Thompson. “Everything was mapped out, with charts and string parts in place. The musicians came in, and we cut the songs the way they did back then. We just blazed through them.”
The results are riveting. Thompson’s rich, honeyed voice responds beautifully to “A Picture Of Me Without You,” “Cryin’ Time,” and other songs of poetic despondence, throwing off both sparks and tears without ever seeming showy. You can hear how he’s listened deeply to the genre’s masters, absorbing the finer stylistic points of their influence. But rather than imitate, he does something more nuanced and profound. He makes the material his own, and makes the familiar sound new.
Helping Thompson realize his vision for My Love Of Country was multi-instrumentalist producer David Mansfield, whose resume includes touring with Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue, scoring Oscar-nominated films like The Apostle and years of high-profile session work with the likes of Johnny Cash, Lucinda Williams and Dwight Yoakam. Mansfield and Thompson assembled a list of twenty titles, then whittled it down to ten. There are well-known standards, old and new, such as Hank Cochran & Harland Howard’s “I Fall To Pieces” (a signature hit for Patsy Cline in 1961), Randy Travis’s 1989 western swing-flavored chart-topper “Is It Still Over?” and Cindy Walker’s portrait of unrequited love, “You Don’t Know Me” (a hit for both Eddy Arnold and Ray Charles). Adding balance are lesser-known gems such as Dolly Parton’s 1968 album track “Love and Learn,” Don Everly’s “Oh, What A Feeling” and a finely-etched drinking song, “I’ll Regret It All In The Morning,” penned by Thompson’s father Richard Thompson. Recorded at Mansfield’s studio Hobo Sound in Hoboken, NJ, the album balances elegant, wrap-around arrangements with one-take energy. A star-studded group of harmony vocalists, including Vince Gill, Rodney Crowell, Logan Ledger and Aoife O’Donovan, added final touches.
“These are all songs that I’ve known and loved for years. That’s the real key, having them in your body for a long time, decades really. I didn’t really have to think at all about how to sing them. I just honored the originals,” explains Thompson. “In my favorite eras of music, it was all about the song. Most of the classics that I know and love were recorded by dozens and dozens of people. And it was all in the service of the song. I grew up with that being the most important thing. For this record, that was a huge part of it. I just want people to hear these songs.”
Today Glasgow & Berlin-based band Current Affairs have shared another new single from their forthcoming debut album ‘Off the Tongue’, which is set for release on July 14th via Tough Love Records.
Written from within the world of crumbling services, broken bonds and wounded spirits, their debut album ‘Off the Tongue’ rolls off an ecstatic rage, filled with hope for you, them and everyone else.
Following the raw and biting love song, “No Fuss“, and the call to arms against the fragmentation of the left, “Right Time“ today they share third new track entitled “Reactor“.
“We wrote Reactor in that fizzy space of the will-you, won’t-you” explains front-woman Joan Sweeney. “It’s a love song more for the feeling than the person, if you’re really honest.” The track comes accompanied by a karaoke-style visual – online now.
To call Current Affairs a Glasgow band may initially seem misdirection. Though Joan Sweeney (ex-Rose McDowall’s Band, Aggi Doom, The Royal We) is a lifer, Sebastian Ymai (Comidillo Tapes, Pissy, Anxiety)came from Chile via York, recently relocating to Berlin in 2021, and new member Gemma Fleet (The Wharves, Order of the Toad, Dancer) alongside Andrew Milk (Shopping, Pink Pound) were persuaded to leave London for the ‘second city’ after touring through with previous bands. However, Glasgow is the heart and hub of the band’s music, musical life and the place where ‘Off the Tongue’ was solidified and produced.
Current Affairs’ presentline up formed in 2020, but the four have been circling each other for years, touring and playing with their previous bands within the close UK network of DIY music. Stalwarts of their respective scenes they finally began working together through the creation of the Spitehouse collective – a project designed to promote Queer and female-fronted music through events mainly held at Transmission Gallery and Glasgow Autonomous Space, putting on many local and international acts (Sneaks, Sacred Paws, Still House Plants and Comfort amongst others). When an opening for a new bassist arrived, Gemma was the obvious compliment, the slogan of Spitehouse being the language of Current Affairs – “Everyone’s welcome, but don’t get it twisted.”
Following on from 2019’s EP singles collection, ‘Object & Subject’, the wait for their debut full-length may belie the urgency of its sound, but as the album’s lead single emphasises, “it’s the right time!”
‘Off The Tongue’ is ten short, sharp bursts, written in pieces over a long time and distance, but fully formed in the instant of the recording room across just a few days by producer Ross McGowan at Chime Studio. Current Affairs’ song-writing process has always been collaborative. Songs are developed responsively, with each of the band’s members sending/bringing elements or hooks to each other, but practices being the place where the songs flesh out, structure and are fully realised. These new songs feel a little brighter than their previous offerings, yet still hold true to their propulsive and caterwauling sound. Still embryonic in the most exciting way that that can be. Current Affairs’ music straddles new-wave pop and gothic post-punk in the way that you should expect a Glasgow-Berlin band to do so: with grit and panache.
Flowing through the many different layers of relationships, moving from romance to friendship, community and socio-politics before coming back to a personal conversation at the end, Sweeney sees her songwriting on ‘Off the Tongue’ as a way to inhabit the different parts of herself and let them speak with unfettered clarity. “Current Affairs is where I can burn the world down one minute and then push for brighter things the next” she explains. “I wanted to show that there’s a place for all your feelings and personalities and that we should sometimes let the negative thought ring out honestly and then show it a little compassion, give it a purpose. It’s not always bad to rage, cry or be a Pollyanna.”
Current Affairs tour dates: July 20th – Glasgow, Stereo July 21st – Birkenhead, Future Yard July 22nd – Sheffield, Delicious Clam/Clamlines July 23rd – Cardiff, The Moon July 24th – Nottingham, JT Soar July 25th – Bristol, Crofter’s Rights July 26th – London, The Lexington July 27th – Oxford, Divine Schism July 28th – Leeds, Wharf Chambers July 29th – Newcastle, Lubber Fiend July 30th – Edinburgh, The Wee Red Bar
Keep your mind open.
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