So where were we?

Yes, for the third time this year we're trying a new approach, AKA come crawling back to the one successful outlet we ever had. Twitter is an algorithmic cesspool where everything new gets lost unless you work a lot harder than these posts necessitate, Substack was a decent idea to us but evidently very few others, so for permanence it turns out we're back at the blog. From now on instead of grouping several together so the nuances get lost we're going to go back to what we did years and years ago and much better and more committed music bloggers still do perfectly well, namely posting single tracks as and when we hear something that we think you should too. Except for this first one, which is just to clear the decks of everything up to this point - bearing in mind on said newsletter this year we've already covered these tracks and these tracks.


Lambrini Girls - White Van

Maybe there is something to this whole party-like-it's-1997-at-the-Highbury-Garage/Camden-Palace glitter scene semi-revival/DIY femmepunk thing we've been plugging away at over the last year or so. The Brighton trio whose You're Welcome EP https://bsmrocks.bandcamp.com/album/youre-welcome is out on 19th May and are supporting scene-in-our-own-heads leaders Panic Shack's London date tomorrow (as we post this) are actively explosive, a mildly satirical and very much visceral blast of punkish fury a la Dream Nails on the wolf whistling passing male gaze in particular and whose actual responsibility for such behaviour it is generally.



Private Party - Pink Daydream

From Cardiff Gets Splattered, a R*E*P*E*A*T Records 7" out this Friday also including tracks from Helen Love, The Mudd Club and Femmebug, some hazy emotionally contradicted chiming by some teenagers from Llanelli who it turns out released a more than promising EP, Artificial Feelings, last July. Also their singer is called Violet Sourbutts, which is a magnificent name.



Sluice - Centurion

North Carolinan Justin Morris has something of the Yo La Tengo about this from his forthcoming second album as a deceptively simple, almost folky rhythmic song by way of Bill Callahan is slowly overtaken at intervals by feedback as Morris' writing starts breaking up and then turns into an art-rock semi-freakout.



Thandii - Give Me A Smile

The second track in this selection to deal with unwanted street catcalling but one that goes about it in a very different way, as you'd expect from a duo from hip Margate who've actually been around since 2017 but are only on March 31st getting around to an album, comprising a jazz vocalist and Inflo's percussionist of choice (Simz, Kiwanuka, Sault) The latter is a big touchstone here, the kind of slightly left of centre psychedelic soul touching on unsteady trip-hop that fits snugly into retro-futurism.

Thandii · Give Me A Smile

Drahla - Lip Sync

We'd assumed the Leeds trio had gone the way of all flesh over the pandemic given their silence on all fronts since 2019's Useless Coordinates album but nope, they're back and developing their art-noise into industrial electronic percussion, burrowing bass, switches from noise to minimalism, crazed sax in the background and Luciel Brown generally daring you to turn away.



Dream Wife - Hot (Don't Date A Musician)

Sardonic? Noisy? We're about back where we started. This might even rival FUU as their best song, and who'd have thought that would ever happen.