Calva Louise – I Heard a Cry
Exciting trio Calva Louise make a second appearance in our TOTW, with the storming ‘I Heard A Cry’, offering another glimpse of their debut album release early next year.
Laced with hooks, and a thunderous rhythm ‘I Heard a Cry’ isn’t just an addictive tune that recalls Dream Wife or Hole, its rooted in the frustration of injustice and fake news, but its got an empowering twist: “I Heard A Cry deals with the misinformation we often feel regarding what’s happening elsewhere in the world. But at the same time, it’s about the will of many people who are trying to inform themselves.”
Having earned support slots alongside the likes of Albert Hammond Jr, Spring King and Anteros and will be heading off on tour with label-mates The Blinders later this autumn.
‘I Heard A Cry’ is available now via Modern Sky Records and available on all digital platforms. (BC)
Live Dates
04 Oct – Gorilla, Manchester*
06 Oct – Institute 3, Birmingham*
07 Oct – Thekla, Bristol*
09 Oct – Junction 1, Cambridge*
10 Oct – Scala, London*
12 Oct – Bodega, Nottingham*
15 Oct – Academy 2, Manchester+
16 Oct – The Cluny, Newcastle+
18 Oct – The Adelphi, Hull+
20 Oct – The Garage, Glasgow*
22 Oct – Sugarmill, Stoke+
23 Oct – The Castle & Falcon, Birmingham+
24 Oct – Bodega, Nottingham+
25 Oct – The Venue, Derby+
26 Oct – Plug, Sheffield+
28 Oct – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds+
07 Nov – The Garage, London+
*supporting Hunter & The Bear
+supporting The Blinders
Japanese Television – Tick Tock
Japanese Television shared a new track this week; ‘Tick Tock’ hurtles across the galaxy laced with gigantic surf guitars, a driving baseline and a cacophony of drums, it sounds absolutely colossal. Taken from their forthcoming self-titled EP, the track was recorded in a “studio” outside of Peterborough (i.e a village hall armed with an 8-track) with Kristian Bell of The Wytches at the helm. The EP was released on 7th September via revered underground label Tip Top Recordings.
From the ashes of three separate psychedelic rock bands, rose Japanese Television – who formed late last year with a shared vision of creating wonky surf-rock. “Although the band is instrumental, we don’t play solos. It’s more about the atmosphere and creating a hypnotic effect. Hypnotism through repetition, reverbs and delays, harps and fuzzboxes,” Ian explains. (BC)
Hairband – Bubble Sword
Hairband are a new five-piece group from Glasgow who, on their debut recordings, have distilled the joy and bittersweet trials of youth into five songs that bend to no rules but the ones they make up as they go along. Deeply immersed in their local DIY scene and featuring members of groups Spinning Coin, Breakfast Muff, Lush Purr and Kaputt. Recorded in Glasgow’s famed Green Door Studios, and played at the moment, Hairband is life-giving. Their multicoloured opening salvo ‘Bubble Sword’ channels the playful rhythms of The Slits of Orange Juice, and infuses them with shut along hollers, its the sound of life teetering on the edge of joy and heartbreak. I should imagine its great to dance to as well! (BC)
Hot Sauce Pony – What You Don’t Know
After the very short and very sharp shock of the minute-long ‘Burnt Ends’, the first fruit to emerge from this South London four piece’s debut album sessions in Chicago with Steve Albini, this equally pulverising but perhaps catchier single ‘What You Don’t Know’ gives us more of a clue of what to expect. As befits a song about a relationship reaching the point of implosion – “what you don’t know will hurt you most” is its hook line, turning the traditional maxim on its head – this features male and female vocals apparently in a screaming war of words. Set to a lumbering but the irresistible groove and the trademark HSP rising wail of feedback-laced guitar, it’s kind of tragic and hilarious all at the same time (JR)
Country Line Runner – Wide Eyes
County Line Runner release their second single ‘Wide Eyes’ today listen below.
Adam Day aka Country Line Runner follows on from ‘Hard To Find’ which accumulated over 40,000 plays on Spotify in just a few weeks. ‘Wide Eyes’ channels swelling, heart on its sleeve to sound of Bruce Springsteen, a riff redolent of The Cult and sprinkles in synths, and an anthemic quality and a new wave rhythm that is redolent of a big Simple Minds single. It was written about someone coming to terms with parts of their personality they didn’t know existed. The track was recorded in Parr Street Studios in Liverpool and produced by former member of The Coral, Bill Ryder-Jones. (BC)
MUNYA – Hotel Delmano
With the likes of Christine and the Queens and Charlotte Gainsbourg carving a niche for cool French music over the last few years, now enters MUNYA harnessing the effortless pristine synth pop of Broadcast or the delectable psych-tinged vocals of Melody’s Echo Chamber and tying to it the sweetest melodies. Hotel Delmano is an entire boulangerie of aural treats for the ears!
Her first recordings in 2017 would eventually become a part of an EP trilogy – three projects comprised of three songs – each named for a significant place in Boivin’s life. The trilogy’s second EP entitled Delmano, named for Hotel Delmano in Williamsburg. The EP will be released on Fat Possum imprint Luminelle Recordings on October 5th sung in French, called Hotel Demano. (BC)
Highasakite – I Call Bullshit
The song, the third single to be issued so far in 2018 and written in 2014, is a call to arms for the party goers who refuse to end the night at closing time. Because of its age one might expect it to mirror its peer songs and it is certainly a little different from the other two singles that have been released this year, ‘Out of Order’ and ‘Elastic State of Mind’, the first of which did it for me (a fan) while the second didn’t, really.
It is immediately identifiable as a Highasakite song through its complex electronic arrangements, in this instance with subtle trap beats, and the harmonies that make you yearn for Marte Eberson to be there on backing vocals in live shows. But she’s gone now, along with another two-fifths of the band. C’est la vie.
The tune is also a little different. It doesn’t rise to the typical crescendo; rather it hangs on the deft little chorus, “I call bullshit, the night is young/my drug of choice and I sure ain’t done”. The song has distinctly headed back in the direction of first international album ‘Silent Treatment’ which will please many of Highasakite’s most ardent fans and pose the question “how much more unreleased material is there from that era?” (DB).
Iselin –Lost
The voice of Alan Walker’s colossal worldwide hit, ‘Faded’, Iselin (Solheim) is trying to forge a solo career of her own. Her first effort, ‘Bathtub’, about the personal therapy she adopted to combat stress, was a strange one but she’s back on track here with the follow-up, ‘Lost.’
In this case, she talks with equal frankness about a tumultuous period of her life. She says, “’Lost’ is probably one of the most personal and emotional songs I’ve ever written. That terrifies me a bit, to be honest, but at the same time, it feels good to release something that just came straight from the heart. It’s mainly about letting go of something that meant a lot to you, and how it affects you in so many ways when you know that part of your life is over.”
There’s quite a lot going on musically in the background here but it will take a couple of hearings to pick it up. The song will grow on you. (DB)
