Our second offering today is from Irish band Half Forward Line. The trio consists of the type of guys who can be found at the back of Mass on a Sunday morning, coming in late and noisily, leaving early and equally noisily, and perhaps either not singing or singing a bit too loud. So quite appropriately their songs hit with a blast and don't stay too long. But like the lovable lugs at the back of mass, the songs are charming and fun, and you can enjoy 12 of them on their debut album. Oh, the title? Quite appropriately, it is The Back of Mass.
If speedy power pop, poppy punk and buzzsaw pop is your thing, get out of your pew and head to The Back of Mass. A change of perspective is a good thing, and so is this album.
Half Forward Line is Brian Kelly, Hiall Murphy, and Ciaran o Maolain. The Back of Mass is out now in digital and CD formats. North American fans can source through Jigsaw Records. European fans can buy it in cassette form as well.
We start out today's musical pleasures with "Candy Man", the latest single from Opium, the forthcoming second LP from Finland's Cats of Transnistria. The song is presented via a video edited from the 1931 film Svengali, showcases the band's talent for shadowy, atmospheric soundscapes and soaring melodies.
Cats of Transnistria are Henna Emilia Hietamäki, Tuomas Alatalo, and Sanna Komi. Opium will be released February 2 via Soliti Music.
Try if you like, but you really can't hate Hater, although after the first few notes of their new Red Blinders EP we don't think anyone would even try. The quick and simple take on the band is that they hoist the banner of glossy, shimmering Swedish indie pop and carry it proudly and well. Fine enough, I suppose, but in our view that is the lazy approach as Hater really offers more. The scope of the Malmo quartet's music finds room for elements of '80s post punk pop-rock, C-86, and dreampop. Then adding the band's lyrical talents, minor key melodic creations, and a mature ability to polish all of the components into coherent and seamless musical gems, you have some of the finest indie pop you are going to discover this year. Hater is a band that can can slay you with a few bittersweet words while thrilling your heart with adeptly chosen hooks and chords -- and you will love every second of it.
Red Blinders is released Friday, December 1 via Fire Records. And note that Hater is scheduled to perform at SXSW in 2018.
With every retailer in the galaxy trying to grab your wallet, we have to appreciate a 'name your price' album. And especially so when the music is good. So lend your ears to the aptly named Enjoy by Auckland band Water. With plenty of jangle and fuzz to their psychedelic tunes, this is the sort of music that gets a lot of airplay in our lives.
Montreal's The Moonlight Club have a new album coming in February 2018, but are they going to make you wait that long to hear a song? Of course not. Here is "A Little Too Easy". Quite simply, that is a great song. Reminds us a bit of the '80s, perhaps for the soundtrack of a Bratpack movie, but in a very good way.
Welcome to Four Waters, the dreamy debut EP by Steve Buscemi's Dreamy Eyes. The Swedish four-piece makes layered, melodic music that shimmers over driving rhythms. Well constructed with intriguing details and a current of mystery, the songs are as substantial as they are entertaining -- perfect tunes for wintery days. We suggest that you sink into Steve Buscemi's Dreamy Eyes.
Steve Buscemi's Dreamy Eyes are Tilde Hansen, Siri Sjoberg, Elias Mahfoud, and Edvin Srleskar. Four Waters is available in vinyl via Rama Lama Records as well as in digital via the usual outlets.
Supposedly, if you watch the hypnotist's spinning coin, you will enter a dream state, and no matter what happens, you will have no bad memories of what transpired while hypnotized. The founding members of Glasgow's Spinning Coin spied an advertisement for the standard hypnotist aid in a comic, and chose it for the name of their band. And while we can't promise a dream state, we assure you -- and we are experts -- that the music conjured by the five-piece on Permo is hypnotically sublime and leaves only positive memories.
All veterans of other bands, the members of Spinning Coin possess the enviable ability to craft melodic gems that are unassuming, but intriguing. They can be intense and noisy or simple and dreamy, and can be appealingly inventive in either mode. The band writes about what interests them, but the passion is sincere without being preachy. There is a bent towards escapism in the vibe and lyrics that may reflect the songwriters' response to current events, and perhaps that sentiment is echoed as well in the album's title, which references a permanent drug trip. Permo is one of the most charming albums we've heard this year, and reflects a band that is both hitting its stride and promising great things for the future.
Spinning Coin are Cal Donnelly, Chris White, Jack Mellin, Sean Armstrong, and Rachel Taylor. Katrina Mitchell also provides the vocals on track 8. Permo is out now in digital, CD and vinyl formats via Domino's Geologic Music imprint. Eight tracks on Permo were recorded and engineered by Stu Evans at Green Door Studios in Glasgow, and six tracks were recorded by Edwyn Collins and engineered by David Henderson at Crashnarrow Studios in Helmsdale.
As we ease into the week, our frayed nerves demand some dreamy jangle pop. And we are willing to travel for it. And travel we did -- to Indonesia. Well, truthfully the legwork is attributable to Chris, the CEO of Jigsaw Records, who discovered Capital, an album from Indonesian band Kaveh Kanes. The original release date was a few years ago, but the album didn't get the wide audience of indie pop fans it deserves, so we're happy to help the band, and Jigsaw, give it new life. The band's sound reminds of of late Seattle favorite Seapony, although several of the songs on the latter half of the album also echo early work by New Zealand's Surf City. It is delicious stuff and well worth your time. Also note that the band will have an album of new material out in the new year.
Kaveh Kanes are Asad Gibran (vocals), Zaimmudin Mukarrom (guitar), Muchammad Najib (drums), and Hafid Alattas (bass). Capital is out now in CD and digital formats via Jigsaw Records. See the Bandcamp link below.
We always are happy to hear the Dublin musician Paddy Hanna is releasing more music. Today we can provide you with a stream of his new single "Mario Lanza", and news that Paddy's Frankly I Mutate LP will be out February 16. Both releases are via Strange Brew.
The single has an upbeat, even jaunty vibe, although its roots are in found in Paddy's feelings about his father's recent serious illness.
In providing us with the dose of pure energy we need to get a week's worth of work done in three days so we can enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday, Razz demonstrates on Time Frames the art of the perfect punk-smeared power pop song. The album features eight tracks that deliver their message with shredding guitars and pounding rhythms, leaving you breathless. And they usually accomplish all that in under three minutes. With public spaces starting the holiday music assault already, we need a band like Razz now more than ever. Perfect timing, we say.
The Bay Area quartet joins together members of Talkies (Phillip Lantz and Joel Cusamano), Pets (Dan Wood) and Reptoids (Andy Human). Score a digital copy at the Bandcamp link, or hit the Emotional Response Records link for vinyl.
With all the bad things going on the world, we are especially grateful when the Universe's Central Planning Committee decides we can have good things. One such good thing was George Best. Well, I guess that was two things, George Best, the dazzling attacker from Northern Ireland who played for Manchester United and partied with the Beatles, and George Best, the debut album from David Gedge's The Wedding Present. In all my many decades listening to pop music, this 1987 release is one of the finest debut albums. A full on holiday feast of crunching guitars, frenetic energy and masterful songwriting, it lives well beyond its time and the associated UK groups of the era. But perhaps because we all now need good things more than usual, we are presented (no pun intended) with George Best 30, which is no less than a complete, live re-recording of the original album by The Wedding Present with Steve Albini at the controls.
There are no major changes to the album, nor should there be. But Albini, who recorded The Wedding Present's superb Seamonsters in 1991, is the right man for the recording. And Gedge and his bandmates manage the tough feat of delivering the material with warmth and understanding, without losing the immediacy that these songs demand. I make the rules around here, and while these songs may be 30 years old, the recording is new, so this a going to be one of my top albums of 2017.
George Best 30 is released via Scopitones, with vinyl available in North America from HHBTM Records (limited pressing of 1,000 copies) and CDs in Japan via Vinyl Junkie.
We highlight "When You're Mine" because it is a great song, but also because it heralds the December 8 arrival of Anglesea, a new album from NYC duo Fascinations Grand Chorus. The song has elements of power pop and bubblegum. The lyrics are sweet and yearning, but with a hint of uncertainty. This is a band that was good "out of the box", but our ears tell us they are getting even better.
Anglesea will be released on Silent Stereo Records, and can be pre-ordered at the link below.
Around WYMA offices we know Declan Welsh & The Decadent West as reliable and fierce anti-fascists. But today we are showcasing the Glasgow quartet's talents with respect to the personal side of life, as today is the release day of their new single, "Useless". Passion, vulnerability, and longing are on display in fine fashion; check out your favorite digital outlet.
The band are Declan Welsh (vocals/songwriting), Duncan McBride (guitars), Ben Corlett (bass), and Calum Murray (drums).
Well, well, well -- here is a big load of rot. Specifically, the 11 tracks of heavy, hooky, aggressively-jangling garage rock which comprise Rot, the new album from Sydney's Bed Wettin' Bad Boys. Introspection can come at you a number of different ways, and a listener can choose his or her poison. But we have a weakness for well written songs crafted by musicians with enough experience to know what they are talking about (and know what they don't know) and uncompromising, full-bore performances. And that is exactly what you get with Bed Wettin' Bad Boys. This is a face-melting treatment with a pop-glaze, and that is hard to find and treasured when you have it in your hand. Go ahead and ignore the band's name, but don't ignore this music.
Bed Wettin' Bad Boys is Joe Sukit of Royal Headache (vocals/guitar), Ben Warnock (guitar), Nic Warnock (bass), and Doug Gibson (drums). Rot is out now via R.I.P. Society in CD, vinyl, cassette and digital formats. The point of purchase depends on where you hang your hat; see the links below.
Today's word is Shame, but don't worry. We aren't addressing what you said at the pub last night, or your snitch of the last cookie (although that was bad form, indeed). We are talking about South London's Shame. The five-piece's debut album Songs of Praise (given the title, we anticipate some sincere devotional numbers that really make us think) will be released by Dead Oceans on January 12. The ten songs promise grit and post-punk energy, but we will have more on that later. For now, listen to album track "One Rizla", or watch the video below.
Shame is Eddie Green, Charlie Forbes, Josh Finerty, Sean Coyle-Smith, and Charlie Steen.
Certain bands have the unique ability to punch you in the gut while soaring melodically. The Twilight Sad has been such a band, and more recently, Mt. Doubt has proven themselves in that channel. Perhaps the Scots are predestined to thrill in this manner, but whatever the source, we are big fans. If you are a regular reader, Mt. Doubt needs no introduction. For those who are less familiar, know that the Edinburgh-based project was founded in 2014 by Leo Bargery. Prolific of late, Mt. Doubt has released the new Moon Landings EP. On this effort, Leo is joined by Ryan Firth and Annie Booth. You will find the expected mountain of doom, heralded by Leo's baritone, but also rays of almost sunny pop tones. It is a winning combination and a welcome expansion of the band's sound.
Variously termed rummage sales, yard sales, garage sales, jumble sales, among other terms, when someone clears out their attic, basement, closets and other collection points, the rest of us have an opportunity to find treasure. In the case of the UK's Martin Newell, recording as The Cleaners From Venus, a long career in music has produced a bumper crop of outtakes and other musical odds and ends. And in a fit of housecleaning, he has assembled 17 tracks from 22 years of work and packaged them as Martin Newell's Jumble Sale. So this will be one of your easiest jumble sale shopping excursions -- one stop shopping for a pre-selected set of songs. There is no need to sort through boxes of crockery, loud holiday sweaters, or vintage roller skates. Even with odds and ends of a recording session, Martin's keen observational skills, melodic sensibilities, and deft wordsmithing produce gems that others in the business should envy. Welcome to the jumble sale!
Martin Newell's Jumble Sale is out now as a digital release, as well as a limited run of CDs. Check out the Bandcamp link below or visit your preferred online store.
We aren't the maudlin types around here. In fact, we tend to be quite cheery in nearly all circumstances. Nevertheless, we are going to start out the week with Sob Stories. And what a great set of sob stories they are -- six tracks of chunky riffs, snarling leads and tales of failed love, dark observations, and dessert. Yes, we wrote "dessert", deal with it. The songs are concise and energetic, featuring frontman and songwriter Joel Cusumano's baritone growl and a band that sounds more like mid-career Clash than any band deserves to. It isn't every day you can find sob stories that make you happy.
Sob Stories EP is out now via Emotional Response Records in digital and vinyl formats. In addition to Cusumano (ex Talkies and Terry Six), Sob Stories includes member of Razz and Cocktails.
A slinky rhythmic intro to a gritty, soulful vocal. Indeed, this is the way to end the day. The song is "The Day I Die", and it is excellent. While allegedly no man is an island, apparently Londoners Rollo Doherty, Jack Raeder, James Wolfe and Toby Richards are Island. The song is from the band's debut album Feels Like Air, which will be released via Frenchkiss Records on April 6, 2018. We're going to look forward to that one, and we suggest you do so as well.
Secret Place is a special place, a place where melodic, upbeat psychedelia and warm, intimate lyricism meet. According to the lyrics, those places could include various planets and the surface of the sun, but there is nothing wrong with some imaginary traveling supported by a killer soundtrack. With elements of dreampop and psychedelia -- the band calls it "beach wave", the ten tracks on the album present a hazy celebration of the inner space of both the performers and the listeners. It is sweet, sunny and playful, all qualities which pop music should have more of.
The Zephyr Bones are Brian Silva (guitar/vocals), Jossip Tkalcic (guitar/vocals/synth), Marc Lopez (drums), and Carlos Ramos. The band is based in Barcelona, which is the hometown of Marc and Carlos (bass). Brian and Jossip originally are from Chile. Secret Place is out now in CD, vinyl and digital formats via La Castanya.
As casual fans of film and television, we spend very little time thinking about Steve Buscemi's admittedly dreamy eyes. However, as indie music fans we are very excited about Steve Buscemi's Dreamy Eyes. The Stockholm quartet will be releasing an EP titled Four Waters on November 24, but have provided a taste of the goods via closing track "Swim Deep". Shimmering, propulsive and richly layered, it suggests very good things for this band.
The members of Steve Buscemi's Dreamy Eyes are Tilde Hansen, Siri Sjoberg, Elias Mahfoud, and Edvin Srleskar. Four Waters will be available via the usual digital outlets, and as a limited vinyl release via Rama Lama Records.
One of the first impressions a listener may have upon listening to Other Towns Than Ours is how confident the band sounds on their first LP. And of course, the listener is correct, although the amazement may be tempered a bit upon learning that Last Leaves includes three members of the long-running and beloved Lucksmiths. The three are long-time songwriter and guitarist Marty Donald, who also is lead vocalist for this band, guitarist Louis Richter, and bassist Mark Monnone. The non-Luckie is drummer Noah Symons of Great Earthquake.
Even with three members of the former group, Last Leaves isn't just a continuation project, but rather a new take on the members' guitar pop vision. There is plenty of melody, but this band also embraces their guitars' fuzz and rumble as much as the jangle. Take for example, the grit and swagger in "Love and the World Well Lost" and "The World We Had". There is a bit of The Posies or Teenage Fanclub here, and you'll never hear us complain about that. Donald's songs are superbly drawn, with a look back on relationships as well as some peeks forward to the future, resulting in a lyrical atmosphere that is both sentimental and hopeful. This is great stuff for the folks down under anticipating summer, and for those of us up north trying to hang on to the last vestiges of ours.
Other Towns Than Ours is out now via Matinee Recordings in North America and Lost and Lonesome Recording Company in Australia.
Crafted with care and performed with passion, The Birth of Industry is the triumphant culmination of three years of inspiration and hard work by Aberdeen's The Deportees. The album reflects intelligent songwriting and dynamic arrangements, combining elements of Celtic roots, folk, Americana, and indie rock. The songs whisper then soar grandly into exploding soundscapes while the Scots-inflected vocals infuse the tracks with drama. While the five-piece can give a song space when needed, allowing a solo piano riff to carry the line, their inclination is to layer instruments into the song until is resembles a well-appointed musical Christmas tree. Of course, in the wrong hands that could be a hot mess, but The Deportees are a well-oiled machine and you can't find a note out of place. And it must be said that the lads aren't shy about noise -- this album rocks more often than it whispers. The Birth of Industry is a fine autumnal gem, and a welcome counterbalance to most of what one finds these days.
The Deportees are Duncan Dallas, Adam Keenan, Adam Morrice, Diarmaid O'Gallagher, and Ricky Osborne.
We are so much more than international music people here at WYMA. We also are keenly interested in science. And pursuing this interest, we recently asked our science department to run a saturation test to determine the saturation point for music for certain bands. Our hypothesis was that the saturation point is a function not only of quantity of music and lapse of time, but also of the quality of music. We are happy to report that our hypothesis was proved over the course of exhaustive testing. To give you just a taste of the results, the Guns and Roses saturation point was 45. No, not 45 songs, 45 seconds. And we had left the room to get a beer for most of that time. Early Rolling Stones doesn't hit saturation until two albums have run; later Stones saturate the listener more rapidly.
However, at the other end of the spectrum is Melbourne's The Ocean Party. Considering the relatively short period of time (in terms of music production) of calendar year 2017, the prolific band has released a collection of B-side type material (our feature here), a tour tape (our feature here), the massively impressive LP Beauty Point (our feature here), and soon the Guilt EP. This material was played to our test subjects in addition to other projects involving band members, such as Ciggie Witch, and attending The Ocean Party's show earlier in the year. And despite all of that music, not one of our test subjects hit saturation point for The Ocean Party. In fact, they all begged to hear the upcoming EP. Of course we didn't allow them to do that, because "upcoming" has to mean something, and even we have ethics (unless procurement of beer is involved). But we can share with you one of the six EP tracks, "Tell". The song underscores the band's ability to provide introspective lyrical content in a universally relatable manner and wrap it up in a glistening pop song.
Guilty will be out in early December via Spunk Records.
A Certain Smile distills their influences with perfection. Presumably devouring the catalogs of Sarah, Creation, Heavenly, Slumberland and the various noise pop and dream pop bands that make us sigh and smile that certain smile, the Philadelphia-to-Portland band has released Fits & Starts, a nine-track dissertation of their genre that deserves a much, much wider audience than it appears to have garnered so far. From start to finish, the album displays a knack for melody, driven by a twin guitar attack that soars, jangles and dances with authority, and super sweet hooks. The sound is confident, and the arrangements robust, but detailed. Fans of Aberdeen, Rocketship, and The Clientele will find this release especially welcome, but it should be a delight to all.
A Certain Smile consists of Thomas (vocals/guitar), Casey (bass), Zach (guitars/keys), and Ian (drums). Additional performances provided by Ryan, Lisle, and Kitt.
We have been dedicated fans of Los Angeles' Allah-Las for several years. In fact, our first post about them appears to have been in 2011. While we always are thrilled to be able to bring you new music from the band, their distinctive sound is welcome on treatments of other artists' work, as well as their own compositions. While working on their next full length, Allah-Las have recorded Covers #1, a 10" consisting of songs by George Harrison ("Fish On Sand"), Television ("Hard On Love"), Further ("JO. Eleven"), and Kathy Heideman ("The Earth Won't Hold Me"). The record is available via Mexican Summer in a high quality vinyl package and as a digital download. In choosing a format, note that the cover of Further's "J.O. Eleven" is only available on the vinyl version.
Allah-Las are Miles Michaud (vocals/rhythm guitar), Matthew Correia (drum/vocals), Pedrum Siadatian (lead guitar/vocals), and Spencer Dunham (bass/vocals).
At least on the surface, it may seem perverse to reissue music by an artist that noted that pop music was a disposable product. But appreciation of art is a matter of emotions, not logic, so when The Wasted Years reached our ears, we felt like we hit the lottery. The four CD collection (plus booklet) is assembled from four records -- Bath Of Bacon, A Scandal In Bohemia, Sex And Travel, and Distressed Gentlefolk -- by The Jazz Butcher. The project, also known as the Jazz Butcher Conspiracy and other, similar, names, was founded in the late '70s by Oxford student Pat Fish (Patrick Huntrods). Fish, often with a rotating cast of collaborators has been prolific over the years, creating music that reflects melody, wit, and an incredible genius for expressing pop music in just about every format possible. Lo-fi indie pop? Of course. Soft rock with tones of jazz? Got it covered. A bit of country? You don't need to ask. Alternative folk? Plenty of the best. Rockabilly? Dance away! Oddball pop? See stage left. Cabaret? Have a seat, your waiter will be along momentarily.
The four constituent records were released between 1983 and 1986 by Glass Records, a small outfit that also released records by the Pastels, Spaceman 3, and Teenage Fanclub. This is music constructed from pop components, with pop widely defined and the songs adventurously created with a punk attitude. But don't assume that it was hastily made or carelessly performed. The players are excellent, the arrangements detailed and the vocals layered. The listener is treated to the cascading delights of 41 varied and invariably interesting songs running two and a half hours. In our opinion, The Wasted Years is disposable art that deserves to live forever.
The Wasted Years is out now as a four CD box set (plus booklet with an essay by Mr. Fish, himself) or digital download via Fire records.
Hey, we want to spend more of your money. It may seem a burden, but you'll thank us. Today's suggestion is the self-titled album from Melbourne's The Stroppies. Given our admiration for many of the other bands in which its members ply their trade, we are inclined to consider it an indie super group. But regardless of whether you agree with that designation, we think you'll find the quality of the music quite compelling. If you are fans of Guided By Voices and Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, this will hit your sweet spot.
The Stroppies are Angus Lord, Claudia Serfaty, Stephanie Hughes, Rory Heane and Adam Hewwit, who are members of various bands, including Dick Diver, Boomgates, The Stevens, Primetime, Possible Humans, White Walls, and See/Saw. The self-titled album is out now via Tough Love Records. The vinyl is sold out already, but digital versions are available.
