I’ve got a bloody cold. My nose is pouring like the rain outside. My lungs are like a knackered pair of bellows. My ears are more blocked out than Donald Trump’s security. My sinuses are more congested than the M25 and M3 combined. Very annoying. But sod the Lemsip, Vicks Vapour Rub or tab of speed, I’ll just stick these mofos on repeat in my even more partially deaf lug holes.
Smashing. It’s TOTW. Hit it!!!!
J Spaceman & John Coxon – Mother’s milk
Why we love it: because J Spaceman & John Coxon lay it down slow. Again. Nearly a decade after Spaceman, Coxon, and friends performed a new original, instrumental score to William Eggleston’s black and white documentary Stranded in Canton live at a special film screening at the Barbican Gallery in London, the recording of that night is finally set for release.
The album Music For William Eggleston’s Stranded In Canton will see the light of day on 18th of October via Fat Possum. And our first taste of that record comes to us courtesy of ‘Mother’s milk’.
The American photographer William Eggleston’s sole foray into filmmaking, Stranded in Canton is produced from assembled video footage shot in bars and on street corners in Memphis, New Orleans, and Greenwood, Mississippi throughout 1974.
The series of vignettes in the film are often edgy, dangerous, and invariably strange. As evidenced here by ‘Mother’s milk’, J Spaceman & John Coxon’s score counterbalances and complements the weirdness and blurred charm of Stranded in Canton perfectly. The dream-like cosmic consciousness of the music merges seamlessly with the voices of the characters of the film. (Simon Godley)
Monobloc – Irish Goodbye
Why we love it: Monobloc were borne out of New York City’s booming DIY scene, helmed by vocalist Timothy Waldron and Michael Silverglade on bass. Creators of the viral Minecraft music festival Block by Blockwest, Waldron and Silverglade were inspired to form Monobloc. Completed by Zack Pockrose on drums, and guitarists Ben Scofield and Nina Lüders, Monobloc have released their new single ‘Irish Goodbye’. Thematically exploring the social stresses of being young in a new city it’s a suitably fragmentated, twitchy, track, full of weird and wonderful background noises perhaps reflecting unfamiliarity. The vocals are impassioned and honest, the delivery giving the impression of someone stumbling around trying to find their place. The two blend together to create a suitable chaotic but thoroughly engrossing soundscape which draws the listener in.
Monobloc share a self-directed video for the track shot in New York City. Lead vocalist Timothy Waldron shares:
“In the fall of 2022, I was religiously watching this live video of Eric Burdon and War performing Spill The Wine. I was new to the city and still finding my crowd, ducking and dodging strong characters at every turn. I was in too deep with my odd jobs. I was falling in and out of love with it all. This song slipped out.”
This is only the third single for the band following ‘Where is My Garden’ and ‘I’m Just Trying To Love You’. Definitely one to watch. (Julia Mason)
Nerina Pallot – High Time
Why we love it: because, fortunately,“getting side-eyed by Marilyn Manson” wasn’t the only consequence of Nerina Pallot taking all those Californian moonlight drives a couple of decades back. The inspiration for her latest single ‘High Time’ also came out of her then quest to find the Laurel Canyon of her imagination.
As the British singer, songwriter and producer explains, “it (‘High Time’) is also a song looking for ghosts. The ghosts of songs I have loved, the ghosts of people I no longer know but once knew well; and that intangible, filmic feeling of a memory of driving through the night in the Californian desert.”
‘High Time’ is the second preview track to be taken from her forthcoming eighth studio album, A Psalm for Emily Salvi which is due out on the 1st of November. With a respectful tip of her cap towards prime time Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac, Nerina Pallot cruises off down the Golden State’s sonic highways with a glorious open-topped melody and a song in her heart. It’s going to be great hearing her on tour next February performing her critically acclaimed album, 2005’s Fires and songs from A Psalm for Emily Salvi complete with a full band and string section (Simon Godley)
Fuzz Lightyear – My Body
Why we love it: Leeds newcomers Fuzz Lightyear have signed toNice Swan Records (English Teacher, Sprints, Chalk) and share new single ‘My Body‘. The Yorkshire quartet are consistently trying to be the loudest and fastest band around, channelling the DIY ethos which is in the fabric of their being. This is obvious in the new track. Rough and ready rock n’ roll, ‘My Body’ is made to be played loud. Its not all ferocious though as a gorgeous guitar riff mid track gives a moments pause, but still claims the listeners ear. Speaking ahead of their first release, frontman and guitarist Ben Parry explained:
“‘My Body’ asks to what extent is your mental self yours, and how much of yourself is everyone else. I wanted to look at the line between myself and the world around me – how much my environment affects my thoughts, and vice versa”.
Fuzz Lightyear are completed by Josh Taylor (drums), Varun Govil (bass), Alex Calder (synth, guitar) and together they have created a song to both think and mosh to. Arguably the perfect combination. (Julia Mason)
Freya Beer – False Hope
Why we love it: because it’s a great life if you don’t weaken and Freya Beer is showing absolutely no signs of doing so. Her best life continues with cracking new single ‘False Hope’. It follows hot on the heels of recent four–track EP release Tatianna and after a summer of festival dates at the likes of Y-NOT and FYA.
Talking about ‘False Hope’, Freya Beer tells us “it is about coming across individuals who promise the world to you but fail to present. It’s a song about picking yourself up after you come across ‘flaky’ characters.”
And with great determination and no little resolution, the singer-songwriter from west London harnesses that energy and invests it in a song that smoulders and burns before exploding into heady pop life. It promises much for Freya Beer’s mammoth 22 date tour of the UK that opens in Woking on the 5th of October. (Simon Godley)
Uniform – Permanent Embrace ((Nightmare City mix)
Why we love it: because the time is right for us all to revisit ‘Permanent Embrace’. The second single to be taken from Uniform’s last album, American Standard, it first saw the light of day back in July. Now it returns in a dramatically different guise as part of the release of Nightmare City, an album comprising a “selection of reinterpretations of the American Standard tracks with the traditional “rock” elements removed.”
Formed eleven years ago in New York City by vocalist Michael Berdan and guitarist Ben Greenberg, Uniform is an American industrial metal and noise rock band. To now hear them in such gloriously stripped-down Technicolor is a revelation. Nightmare City is accurately described as “straddling the worlds of Basic Channel influenced dub, Tangerine Dream inspired soundscapes, and brutal death industrial” and the remix of ‘Permanent Embrace’ is a perfect example of this. (Simon Godley)
Minas – R U OK, UK?
Why we love it: Minas is back with a furiously essential new single in ‘R U OK, UK?’. The song was a work in progress for some time. What started out as simply a commentary on the artist’s youth in The Valleys, quickly transformed into a different beast. Having been a live staple for the past couple of years, the response to the call is usually “no” – with Minas hoping one day the answer won’t be such a resounding rebuff. ‘R U OK, UK?’ builds tension from atmospheric and brooding of Mina’s fiery polemic to enraged, with synths rising in temperature into a breakbeat, it is a vital slab of funk-punk poetry that sums up the sheer rage at the injustice, poverty and inequality that he sees around him and at the heart of our society.
Expanding on the types of questions that inspired ‘R U OK, UK?’, Minas added: “I never understood why things were the way they were for us when we were younger, why I got the piss consistently taken out of me for being from Wales when I was in Uni in England, why there is such an underlying resentment for England in Wales, why it’s pretty much all down to the upper class of this and past generations, why it’s been and always will be the working class that take the brunt of everything they put on us. So I ask the question, it’s sincere and it’s something I genuinely look for an answer for when I ask it on whatever stage I’m on.”
Minas is the project from Greek/Welsh producer & musician James Minas, alongside rhythm section the Davies Brothers. Growing up in a circus to parents who were heavily involved in the 1980s punk scene, Minas draws influence from the memories of the irregular happenings and boredom. His songs reveal stories of a checkered past over a mix of deep melodic soundscapes and loud, aggressive impacts. Covering subjects from his personal struggles with mental health to disillusionment. Minas holds a mirror up to society, trying to understand it. As a respected producer, James is working to build a new sound for the South Wales scene with a number of artists and genres. (Bill Cummings)
Mariam The Believer – Dreams
Why we love it: Swedish songstress Mariam The Believer, known also for her mesmerising work with Wildbirds & Peacedrums alongside her husband Andreas Werliin, has returned with a gorgeous new single ‘Dreams’ lifted from her third studio album Breathing Techniques set to release October 4th via Repeat Until Death.
As the Swedish Midsummer wanes, the gorgeous ‘Dreams’ arrives with swooping spellbinding vocals and glowing harps, Mariam’s prayer-like vocals inhabiting the moments between sleeping and waking. The track delves deeper into Mariam’s exploration of air, breath, and space – the album’s central motif. With its hymnal opening growing into a dramatic and epic soar in the arms of string stabs that are plucked. The resplendent second portion is absolutely wonderful, with mellifluous melodies reeling you in, with hope in its heart.
‘Dreams’ is a transfixing lullaby, that tells the tale of a man who’s ran away in despair. Lost and alone, he yearns to escape the emptiness that consumes him. Mariam invites listeners into the depths of her world. “I was searching for a specific state of mind, a floating sound, a rhythm,” she shares. “A simple plea, a drama unfolding without grand gestures, like life itself.” It’s a song that takes you on a hear swelling journey, stunning.
Mariam The Believer is the solo moniker of Mariam Wallentin. Since her 2013 debut, Blood Donation, she’s been captivating audiences with an alchemy that fuses jazz, soul and classical elements with spiritual undercurrents. (Bill Cummings)
