Hello, welcome to Tracks of the Week edition number two hundred and sixty eight. That’s quite a few isn’t it?!?! Blimey. Wonder how many more we’ll do? Let’s aim for 300 shall we?!? Is this the best of the 268? I’ll let you decide. It’s good. It’s definitely good. Have a gander. Nice one. See you on the ice!!
Jess Ribeiro – Jump The Gun
Why we love it: because twelve years into her recording career and with her third album on the horizon, the Australian artist Jess Ribeiro continues to enchant. ‘Jump The Gun’ is the third single to be taken from the upcoming album, Summer of Love – due out on April 12th via Labelman – and just like its two predecessors from the record it is a song that teems with cosmic invention and an industrial folk-pop energy that could quite easily be mined from the late 1960s.
In keeping with the other nine songs that comprise the new album, ‘Jump The Gun’ is the product of a remote collaboration with several other stellar musicians including Jim White (The Dirty Three / Xylouris White), Dave Mudie (Courtney Barnett), and Darcy McNulty (Jazz Party). As Jess Ribeiro explains:
“I love the saxophone played by Darcy on this song alongside the screeching guitar towards the end. It was a pleasure working with Darcy. Jim was fun to work with in the studio too, open to trying anything, and going with whatever we presented him with. Dave recorded the original drums at his house and sent them over. He didn’t get to come in due to the nature of the time. Despite the fact we didn’t get to be together in the same studio, I love how it all came together.” (Simon Godley)
Cola – Bitter Melon
Why we love it: because we’ve come over all thirsty all of a sudden. What do I fancy?!? Hmm, how about a nice glass of Cola. I’ve not seen a bitter melon flavoured vegetable extract based soda before and I don’t think it’d exactly fly off the shelves (unless you get some YouTuber influencer to tell the kids to buy it and then I’m sure you wouldn’t see a can for dust).
There is a certain fizziness to this brooding, six minute opus. The shimmering brushed cymbals as the ring pull breaks the seal. The gentle, strumming of a clean guitar at the beginning and in the verses, like the slow popping of the bubbles on the surface of a freshly poured can into a glass full of ice on a hot summers day. By a pool in Spain. Not England of course. What were you thinking?!! However there is a undercurrent of simmering tension. The cyclical nature means it isn’t bursting forth but staying under the pan lid. Waiting, constantly waiting….
Vocalist Tim Day says “I wrote what was almost a piece of fiction (fleshed out in the accompanying zine we’ve released) where a person is up in the middle of the night studying ‘the gloss’–additional comments written in the margins of a book. In my mind the text was like the rind of a fruit surrounding something, maybe even written at an earlier point by the reader themselves. The motorik drums and chiming guitars are guided by the bass on this song, something not unusual for us but the bass really provides a compelling longform melody on this song. The track has the energy of a full moon or some kind of fertile dark / gaia-facing productive spirit to me.” (Jim Auton)
Annie-Claude Deschênes – PHONES
Why we love it: because Annie-Claude Deschênes invites us on board her wonderful trans-global express with ‘PHONES.’ The latest offering from the Montreal-based multidisciplinary artist comes to us via the Italians Do It Better record label with more than a hint of those German electro-pioneers Kraftwerk in its sonic DNA. ‘PHONES’ is the third track to be unveiled from her forthcoming her debut album LES MANIÈRES DE TABLE which is set for release on April 5th (digitally) and April 26th (physically).
In 1981 Kraftwerk released the album Computer World, a most prescient release which was sonically and conceptually years ahead of the technological advances that were still to come. Annie-Claude Deschênes has taken this premise and relocated it into another music on another iPhone planet. It is both scary and sublime. (Simon Godley)
Crumbs – You’re Just Jealous
Why we love it : Crumbs deliver a invitation to dance and a plea for understanding on the quickfire hook laden ‘You’re Just Jealous’ with bounding bass, jagged riffing and vocal sparring that ripples with a playfulness and a withering kiss off. Underpinned by scampering rhythm section of Jamie and Gem, with a side order of riot grrl and post punk, but also a knack for addictive melodies, it’s like as the press release puts it “like Delta 5 meeting Le Tigre in a dark alley in Leeds.” Which is as good as it sounds!
It’s lifted from the Leeds bands forthcoming album of the same name out on Skep Wax on 10 May 2024 Aabum available on vinyl LP, CD, digital. The rhythm section (Jamie and Gem) fusing blindly and completely, and then forcing its way into the back entrance of a venue, sending volts through the limbs of the unwitting punters, forcing them to dance. Ruth’s vocals sweetly assault their ears with anger, joy, political intelligence – and all around, Stuart’s guitar, sometimes twangly-melodic like the B52s, sometimes sweet and ringing like a memory of Scars, sometimes furious and feeding back, keeps you alert and thirsty for more. (Bill Cummings)
BOGO – Fuming
Why we love it: On Friday I attended a last minute gig, the launch of BOYO’s new record ‘In a minute, now’ riotous, witty and cracking. He has a raw intensity and humour about his flow and delivery that makes him unmissable. Tapping into the poverty, struggle and at times farcical nature of valleys life. He mashes up influence of grime, hip hop and drill you can tell he’s a fan as it’s an effective imagining andhe delivers it with a energetic and quickfie personality. That’s impossible to ignore. Someone said he looked like Paul Calf with a tash and a bowl cut, but that just adds to the intrigue is this a caricature, parody or BOYO’s life, maybe a bit of everything? Last week he also dropped a video for ‘Fuming’ this stomping bounced on 140 bpm beat, a swaying swag with BOYO’s flow is addictive, moody and rattling with rage and humour of struggling to make it in a place that’s been left behind it. His delivery is locked on, coated in his unmistakable South Wales accent, confident and hitting back at the haterz. Want a shorthand? Think Stormzy, meets the Beastie Boys with a sprinkling of GLC, maybe you get a idea. But it’s just BOYO from the valley anah! And he just getting started. (Bill Cummings)
Moonpools – Forget
Why we love it: Basel based, Swiss five-piece Moonpools recently released their gorgeously longing single ‘Forget’ that captured our hearts, taken from their upcoming EP Hide and Seek, coming 19 April via Young And Aspiring..
With enveloping guitar textures, widescreen percussion and a gorgeous vocal of Marcie Nyffeler elegant and something of the choir singer about its top range, it’s dipped in regret and an inability to move on: “‘Forget’ is about being caught up in memories. An attempt to assign blame and evade responsibility. Perceptions that have been distorted by the years gone by and now won’t let one go.”
The wonderful sweeping sound is augmented by the subtle interplay of synth and chuffing guitar that harks to the influence of the work of My Bloody Valentine and Cocteau Twins. Moonpools recorded and produced the EP themselves at home. (Bill Cummings)
Lola Young – Intrusive Thoughts
Why we love it: Intrusive Thoughts from South London singer / songwriter Lola Young is both raw, and also somehow beguiling at once. Delving into melancholia with a slightly distorted vocal affect and scratchy guitars that add to the frustration and brutal struggles with suicidal thoughts and mental health issues. Reflecting on those unwelcome ways of thinking, “Intrusive Thoughts” is diaristtcally relatable and striking. Placing you inside Young’s head it’s an effective modern piece of bedrooom pop production, with lyrics that rise in a cathartic chorus as she tries to dispel the mental torment plaguing here every day. follows her previous singles ‘Wish You Were Dead’ and “Conceited.” The new single also hints at a larger project to come. Lola’s 16-date North American tour includes stops in New York, Toronto, Philadelphia, Chicago and San Francisco before rounding off her tour with two dates in Los Angeles. Lola will commence the European leg of her tour in April. (Bill Cummings)
