Welcome to our run down of the new music exciting us this week! Follow our playlist here.
Dana Gavanski – Indigo Highway
Why we love it: On the 29th of April, some 25 months after the release of her debut album Yesterday Is Gone, Dana Gavanski will bring us its follow-up When It Comes via the London independent record label Full Time Hobby (and Flemish Eye in North America). And if we are use the new single ‘Indigo Highway’ as our yardstick then the Canadian-Serbian artist’s music has most certainly evolved in the interim period. The wistfulness and delicacy that was evident on some of her earlier material, whilst not entirely jettisoned here, has been replaced by something that is altogether more robust. A confidence seeps through the pores of ‘Indigo Highway’. There is a knowing playfulness in its arrangement as if Gavanski has somehow been freed from a previous weight on her shoulders. (Simon Godley)
El Ten Eleven – The Time Knife
Why we love it: The instrumental duo of Kristian Dunn (guitar/bass) and Tim Fogarty (drums) are El Ten Eleven and have been together now for a couple of decades. In that time they have released 11 albums and number 12 is about to roll off their consistently impressive and innovative Southern Californian conveyor belt of sound from which they continue to stretch the creative limits of bass and drums.
The new album is New Year’s Eve and it is out on the 4th of March on Joyful Noise Recordings and ‘The Time Knife’ is the third single to be taken from it.
Kristian Dunn explains how the TV show, The Good Place, influenced the track: “A character named Chidi has just returned from an interdimensional trip that only lasted a moment and, overwhelmed, says, ‘I just saw a trillion different realities folding onto each other like thin sheets of metal forming a single blade.’ Ted Danson’s character responds, saying, ‘Yeah, yeah, the time knife, we’ve all seen it.’ My wife and I were watching this together and for whatever reason this struck us as so funny we couldn’t stop laughing. This song is a combination of my experience with my wife (and experiences, journeys, really, generally with her) and Chidi’s journey.”
Now you have the chance to share the voyage with El Ten Eleven. Fasten your seatbelts; it’s going to be a thrilling ride. (Simon Godley)
Personal Trainer – Key of Ego
Why we love it: Amsterdam’s Personal Trainer return with a new single ‘Key Of Ego’. It’s the first new material since last years debut EP Gazebo. Personal Trainer are the brainchild of Willem Smit, the band’s front man and multi-instrumentalist. ‘Key of Ego’ is produced by regular collaborator Casper van der Laans. Its a multi-layered track, trashy thrashy funk punk…if such a thing exists. Personal Trainer love to combine various tempos and styles. There is a chaotic energy to ‘Key of Ego’ but it’s still dancefloor friendly. Lyrically Willem is confronting his struggle with masculinity and maybe this layered approach is a perfect expression of such confusion. “I have to find my way back home’’ Its part of the human condition that there are many facets to any issue and here it is explored with a myriad of tempos throughout producing a cracking track.
Willem Smit says of their new single: “I would rather see myself as a question-type-of-guy than an answer-type-of-guy. For me, that translates to being a vague-gesture-type-of-writer. Which I like, but can get really insecure about. I’m not too sure what ‘Key Of Ego’ is about yet, but I think it has something to do with masculinity, machismo and shame.
Like most Personal Trainer songs, Casper and I worked from a demo I had been working on for a while. We started the recording process by travelling to the Dutch town of Culemborg, where we had Leon Harms (of Yuko Yuko, Korfbal, Canshaker Pi and Real Farmer fame) bang the drums at 120 beats per minute. Back in Amsterdam I slowed the beat down by 20 bpm and added a whole bunch of sounds on top with Casper. We messed around a lot and the moments when something actually worked always brought forth this fun energy that I hope we’ve captured for all to hear in the final song.” (Julia Mason)
DITZ – I am Kate Moss
Why we love it: DITZ have released their new single ‘I Am Kate Moss’ on Alcopop! Records. This is taken from their debut album The Great Regression which will land on 4 March 2022. The Brighton-based punk quintet mix brooding industrial minimalism with blasts of dynamic noise. ‘I Am Kate Moss’ is a perhaps a little calmer than previous singles ‘The Warden’ and ‘Ded Würst’. However this shows a confidence in their music and their desire to experiment. There is a tension and menace here which bubbles along as an undercurrent throughout the track. That bassline creates a depth and darkness with singer Cal Francis’s vocals sounding initially vulnerable before breaking out as if fighting back. The pounding drum is ever present, sometimes prominent like a heartbeat, and at other times quieter. And all the while there is the drama that is created within the wonderfully ominous sonic soundscape.
Interesting fact. DITZ have a song called ‘I Am Chris Martin’ which is on their 2016 release EP1. (Julia Mason)
TOUTS – Shane MacGowan’s New Teeth
Why we love it: Derry 3-piece TOUTS return with new single ‘Shane MacGowan’s New Teeth’ in advance of a new four-track EP set for release in the spring. TOUTS were just out of school when their 2017’s debut EP Sickening and Deplorable was released. The angry punk assault on disenchantment of their youth saw the band grab a lot of media attention and hype at the time.
Five years on including of course, numerous lockdowns, TOUTS are back with an attack on celebrity culture and its infiltration across the media dumbing down what is consumed by the public. It’s a reference to The Pogues’ front man’s widely-publicised dental work in 2015, featured in a one-hour TV special plus acres of news coverage and banal commentary. TOUTS believe there are more important matters to be addressed. ‘Shane MacGowan’s New Teeth’ may not be quite as angry as the music of five years ago, but it still has an edge and is completely captivating, perfect for the mosh pit.
TOUTS’ Matthew Crossan expands on the track: “’Shane MacGowan’s New Teeth’ is “a simple desultory philippic” against the overlooked absurdity of our modern lives and the seeming inescapable throwaway culture that many of us celebrate.”
TOUTS are Matthew Crossan (vocals/guitars), Jason Feenan (drums) and Luke McLaughlin (bass), and together they are preparing to tour again in 2022 promising that live shows will feature songs from their first releases as well as their new music. It’s good to have TOUTS back. (Julia Mason)
Colleagues – Abide
Why we love it: Swedish musical collective Colleagues first came together in 2013 as a place for the band members to experiment with their music and visual art. Together with some guest artists, Colleagues will share this new incarnation via an album in the spring of 2022.
First single ‘Abide’, is described by the band as ”a study in people-pleasing, not a crowd pleaser”. Popping percussive beats, funky vocals, burrowing synth lines refreshing twists and turns, brimful of playfulness this is inventive and elastic alt pop, ‘Abide’ is a knowing nod to the past while looking firmly ahead.
”It feels as though we are back in the apartment we shared,” say Colleagues. “Same structure, same laughs, only we require a wee bit more space…” (Bill Cummings)
Deer Scout – Cowboy
Why we love it: Charming and wistful, spindly finger picked guitars and Miller aka Deer Scout‘s intimate and almost childlike tone captures my heart, taking its little fish, big pond inspiration from the character Joe Buck in Midnight Cowboy. Heartfelt and beguiling it nods towards the likes of Waxahatchee and Cat Power, yet has a personality all of its own.
Yonkers-native Deer Scout, who was raised by two folk musicians, spent six years writing and exploring projects through Philly’s punk scene, Oberlin’s conservatory experimentalism and New York’s DIY history before arriving at her debut. (Bill Cummings)
