Back to School, mother hubbards. Welcome to the School of Rock, I am your Jack Black for the morning, and the lesson today is to listen to these 8 tracks in the curriculum and your homework is to listen again and absorb, rinse and repeat. Kick some ass!!
SWEETS – Charm Offensive
Why We Love It: SWEETS are an alternative rock band from Limerick, Ireland, and their debut single is ‘Charm Offensive’. This is a thunderous track led by the unrelenting drums and heavy bass guitar. The vibe is one of letting lose both musically and lyrically, just going for it. Music can be cathartic on so many different levels and I suspect the members of SWEETS always few a million times better once they have played this track. The band’s roots are firmly entrenched in Limerick’s prolific music scene and features members of Tooth, Giveamanakick, Windings & Japanese Jesus. Dark and raw there is some irony in the title of the track. Seriously if this is SWEETS charm offensive, imagine what the sound is when the gloves are off.
Good news to know there is already a debut EP in the works and the band say to expect:
“powerful, guitar-driven, hook-filled songs, laden with unexpected riffs, pounding rhythms and textured vocals that flips the riffy/post-hardcore/grunge sound on its head.”
I say, Bring. It. On. (Julia Mason)
Mor Mor – Seasons Change
Why we love it: MorMor is releasing his new single ‘Seasons Change’ wholly written and produced by MorMor himself, it arrives as summer begins to draw to a close and features a spiralling tapestry of dreamy melodies, chiming acoustic motifs and electronic textures, underpinned by a cyclical groove, woven with and sensitive tremulous vocals.
It captures a wistfulness of staring into the skyline as the sky shifts from blue to grey, as the seasons shift, fading from hopefulness of summer escape to autumnal contemplation. Oscillating between the infectious electro pop of the likes of Empire and the Sun, the folky leanings of Bon Iver and the sonorous nu-soul and pop of The Weeknd. Speaking on the new single MorMor said “‘Seasons Change’ is a song about the constraints of time. The sentiment is that if you are to live once why not give into your natural desires.”
MorMor, the moniker of artist Seth Nyquist, has always known exactly what he wanted to hear. A preternatural connoisseur of sound, he would sit in front of the stereo in his mother’s house in Toronto, fast forward to a particular passage in a recording, and immerse himself in those seconds. (Bill Cummings)
DIVES – Say
Why We Love It: Well this is a first, reviewing a track from a Viennese band. In this instance the trio DIVES who have released their second UK single ‘Say’. DIVES formed at Pink Noise Girls Rock Camp in 2016, bonding over Riot Grrrl ethos and garage-rock guitars. That sounds like the best way to spend your summer holidays and indeed the new single ‘Say’ is the sound of hazy summer days. DIVES tell personal stories with an unflinching honesty, rallying against discrimination and inequality. The gorgeous two-part singing and the jangly surf-pop guitars are blissful. I suspect this is a little gentler perhaps than their normal sound, but nevertheless a fab late summer track to enjoy. DIVES say of new single ‘Say’, “It’s about going in circles with one person over and over again, discussing the same topics, and reaching the limits of the relationship as you realize you can’t get out of the cycle even though you like each other so much.” (Julia Mason)
Kikker – Trash
Why we love it: This country currently resembles a trash fire right now, a cost of living crisis, eye watering bills, spiralling debt, we are careering towards a recession and have just booted out Bodger, the man who “got brexit done” but at what cost did it get done? Into this post apocalyptic environment enter Swansea group Kikker, with a ferocious shot of pure anger and bile aimed at the boomers that have kicked away the opportunities of the generation left behind.
A caustic cavalcade of guitars, and an abrasive howl from the depths laced with withering sardonic scorn, it’s inspired by anger, injustice and inequality. It sounds like The Birthday Party‘s spitting rage and fury, colliding with the relentlessness of the early work of Fontaines DC. Absolutely fearsome and truly cathartic to hear.(Bill Cummings)
Jonathan Jeremiah – Youngblood
Why We Love It: Jonathan Jeremiah’s forthcoming album Horsepower For The Streets is out this Friday, 9th September via [PIAS] Recordings. This is the London-based songwriter’s fifth album and to further increase our anticipation for its imminent arrival he has shared with us the track ‘Youngblood’.
Explaining the genesis of the song and it’s inherent message, Jonathan Jeremiah says: “I wrote this at a friend’s country house in Saint Pierre De Côle, just outside of Bordeaux whilst touring across France prior to lockdown. Whilst there I came across the works of the German surrealist painter Neo Rauch, whose work gave me a visual of the song. Along with being inspired by everyday life it’s always been ‘Art inspired by art’ for me. Rauch’s surreal almost Victorian scenes of sailors, circus performers, fishermen and women all under a dark red sky, it took me to an otherworldly scene in my head where the kids are out in the streets in need of being young and maybe letting off steam in amongst the chaos they’re having to live through”
“So really Youngblood is a song of hope and optimism in unstable and chaotic times. So heavy Northern Soul vibes, a haunting vocal, whispering demons in my head, milk maids shouting at the sea dogs, and a place for us, ‘I sense a glimpse of day. Brighter than you’ve ever seen.”
With a huge widescreen sound and the allegorical nature of Jonathan Jeremiah’s words there is undoubtedly an elusivenesses about ‘Youngblood’ that brings Neo Rauch’s work to mind. Inspired by this premise, ‘Youngblood’ lifts off, acquiring a wonderfully overblown choral backing along the way as it is transformed into a modern psychedelic-soul sensation. (Simon Godley)
Grandma’s House – Body
Why We Love It: Bristol punk-trio Grandmas House return with their new single ‘Body’ via Brace Yourself Records. Grandmas House always provide a pleasant surprise. The music is always darker, punkier and louder than expected, and ‘Body’ is no exception. With its important theme of body image, the quality in the vocals in particular takes their music to a whole new level. They have a captivating sound which has already quite rightly caught the attention of BBC Radio 1’s Jack Saunders, BBC 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq, DIY, Dork, Upset, NME (Essential Artists for 2022) and more.
“The band say of the track: ‘Body’ is an anthem for anyone that’s ever felt uncomfortable in their own skin. An urgent statement about disassociation, feeling trapped and not recognising yourself in the mirror, it’s an ode to anyone who has ever felt different.”
The track features a menacing guitar line over a driving bass and explosive drums, as all three members chime in on singing, “haven’t seen myself for a second of the day / it feels like everyone is growing / and I just stay the same.
You do not recognise the bodies in the water / you do not know their face / I do not know the body I was born with / I do not recognise my face”. (Julia Mason)
girlpuppy – Wish
Why We Love It: With her awesome new track girlpuppy previews her debut LP When I’m Alone, which will be out October 28th on Royal Mountain. With a hook laden strum that , girlpuppy aka Becca Harvey burrows its way in on a wistful melody that embodies that feeling of parting from a friendship and wondering why, and longing to find out, the pre-chorus kicks with a catchy, dreamy refrain living in your head for days ‘Wish’ possess a bittersweet quality that’s both personal and universal. Watch the accompanying summer hangout video for lead single “Wish“.
“On ‘Wish’ I was thinking about when friends leave your life and you’re not entirely sure why,” Harvey explains. “It’s a pretty universal feeling, I think. And, the thing is—even if you managed to live in the walls of that person’s apartment and were able to figure it out, their reasons might not make total sense. This song is me living with that feeling, when loss just doesn’t quite add up. This is the first shoegaze rock song I’ve made and I did that intentionally—the emotions in the song go from anger to sadness to nostalgia and all the other emotions that you feel when you go through a “friend breakup.” I imagined it being really cathartic to play it live.”
girlpuppy (aka Becca Harvey) released her debut EP Swan. Made with producer Marshall Vore who is known for his work with folk dynamo Phoebe Bridgers. (Bill Cummings)
Mount Palomar – Simmer
Why We Love It: Neil Kerr is the pioneering Northern Irish LGBT electronic producer who launched his Mount Palomar moniker in 2018. He has released his new single ‘Simmer‘ which is a collaboration with critically acclaimed folk singer-songwriter Joshua Burnside. This is indeed an unlikely match of folk and electronica but surely that is one of the joys of music creation – there are no rules. With the announcement of his new EP Brace For Impact, it’s been a while since Mount Palomar has released new music and this is a gorgeous ethereal track which opens with Joshua’s beautiful vocal echoing through the atmosphere. The gentle bobbing beats begin to build as the track progresses and indeed midway through ‘Simmer‘ there is a pause before both vocal and beats restart. There is a touch of a Massive Attack vibe here but with an added Celtic twist due to the glorious wavering of the vocal. With the news that a second single will be released from the EP, its good to have Mount Palomar back. (Julia Mason)
