Mondays child is fair of face, Mondays child has learned to tie it’s boot lace. See how they run. Only beautiful, dexterous children please.
Here are our children. For this week anyway. Starts off a bit morose doesn’t it. Bit maudlin. Anyway, they’re all belters, obviously. We wouldn’t have them otherwise. Get stuck in you gluttonous swines.
Planning For Burial – A Flowing Field of Green
Why we love it: because Planning For Burial is now making plans for the future. After a gap of seven years the musical project of American musician and singer-songwriter Thom Wasluck has just announced details of its new album, It’s Closeness, It’s Easy, which is set for release on May 30th via The Flenser. And its arrival is heralded by ‘A Flowing Field of Green,’ the first single to be taken from the forthcoming album.
As Thom Wasluck explains, “When I first wrote it, I was thinking about how often on tour or when visiting other cities I’d want to move there away from everything I know. But I’ve been to a lot of places and lived in a few too and realised everywhere will suck if you let it. You gotta be the change you wanna see, you gotta make the things you want to happen become a reality no matter where you’re at.”
‘A Flowing Field of Green’ is a taut, reverberant slab of deeply textured noise, yet for all of its thunderous foreboding it is music that offers the listener hope in moving forward. (Simon Godley)
SONS – Do My Thing
Why we love it: because SONS are just doin’ their own thing and it feels alright. The Belgian powerhouse quartet have just released ‘Do My Thing,’ the lead single from their new album Hallo which is set for release later this year.
Driven along by a glorious New Order-esque bass line and complete with vocals that possess a certain Mark E. Smith intonation, the garage rock band are certainly enjoying that brand new retro vibe on ‘Do My Thing’, a song that motors along very nicely indeed on its own infectious groove.
Don’t waste time looking for any hidden meaning. “It’s about enjoying the moment and just doing your own thing. Sometimes our songs are self-explanatory,” the band’s singer/guitarist Robin Borghgraef tells us. (Simon Godley)
Yann Tiersen – Caledonian Canal
Why we love it: because ‘Caledonian Canal’ is a breath of fresh air, a gorgeous slice of post-minimalist tranquility. It is the closing piece of the first half the French Breton composer’s new album Rathlin from a Distance | The Liquid Hour, which will be out on vinyl, CD and digitally on 4 April 2025 via Mute.
The album is divided into two distinct parts and ‘Caledonian Canal’ is the closing piece of Rathlin from a Distance’s eight introspective instrumental piano tracks.
As Yann Tiersen explains, “‘Caledonian Canal’ is the last station in our quest for identity. Here, we find our true selves, harness the energy we need, and finally prepare to face the world. This song represents the final phase before the Liquid Hour part of the album, where we find the courage to go out and fight. The calm before the storm.”
If you’ve got a couple of minutes to spare, do yourself a huge favour and sit down and listen to this. It will bring some delightful calm to your day. (Simon Godley)
100%WET – Leave It
Why we love it: Copenhagen duo 100%WET shared their new single, ‘Leave It’ last week. It’s a shiny and enveloping bricolage of sophisticated pop gleaming across your horizon, woven with gossamer melodies of vocalist Amalie Hannibal Petri that tip toe across notes like dew drop kisses, underpinned by shimmering riffing and bouncing breakbeats and wrapped in a dream pop glow. Lyrically, ‘Leave It’ is a sonic exorcism of emotions that no longer serve. While nostalgia lingers in its melodies, the song ultimately pulses forward, carrying a sense of renewal and clarity.
“I don’t really think about you’ Petri sings sweetly, ‘Leave It’ is a sonic exorcism of emotions that no longer serve. While nostalgia lingers in its melodies, the song pushes forward, carrying with it a sense of renewal and clarity.
They describe it as “hypergaze” and follows in the slipstream of Magdalena Bay or M83 it takes you for a spin with music that whilst is clearly influenced by the last forty years of music, but sounds resolutely individual that you can’t see the joins. It’s a shiny hit of emotional bliss that lets go, intriguing and delighting at every lit corner.
“This track plays with contrast,” explain Jakob Birch and Casper Munns, the creative force behind 100%WET. “It’s nostalgic, but also about moving on. The groove feels loose and baggy, but the production is sharp and intentional. That kind of push and pull – between past and future, chaos and control – is a huge part of what excites us musically.”100%WET ‘s eponymous debut album, set to land May 16th on Crunchy Frog Recordings. (Bill Cummings)
Kikker – Destroy
Why we love it: There has been a preponderance post-punk-influenced bands in recent years, and in truth most of them don’t do much for me, but Swansea’s Kikker are different, their visceral new single quietly rages at the dying of the night with a brooding intensity. Their new single ‘Destroy’ is possessed with a nihilistic edge reflecting the constant overwhelm of mental torment and transposing it into a primal cry,. With echoes the dark corners of early records by the Fall supercharged with the sinewy darkness of gothic bands like The Cult and early Birthday Party. with unsheathed snarling guitar licks that sound like the flashing of knives, and a pummelling percussion section, the galloping drums and howls of release in the outro are majestic.
“Destroy is existentially nihilistic in its nature. It’s about cycles of overwhelm, repeatedly passing the mental threshold where everything becomes too much to handle; inevitable breakdown. It questions how we deal with emotional struggle that is both repetitive and consistent. The modern world is a difficult and complex place to navigate, its systems and structures unnecessarily (but intentionally) causing detriment to psyche and wellbeing. God is a fraud, so what can we turn to to help us navigate through showers of shit?”
Hailing from the overcast concrete metropolis of Swansea, ‘Kikker’ emerge from a refreshingly mature, vibrant and ever expanding DIY scene, thats been boiling and bubbling now for about a decade. New venues such as Tangled Parrot and The Elysium Gallery in the City center instigate catalyst, and play part in the recent insurge of Punk-core, with MONET, BABY SCHILLACHI and more. (Bill Cummings)
Geo – My Turn
Why we love it: ‘My Turn’ sounds like someone singing into your ear and it sounds very sweet indeed, but it belies Geo‘s self-empowered couplets, that stand firm with her needs, expressing her self-worth and quiet, dignified resilience. Smooth and yet textured, this stripped-back soul track is scattered with Geo’s meditative reflections, above nimble little licks, wah wah guitars and a hazy lazy percussive shuffle. It’s rather delightful and rustles with a depth and promise.
With echoes of artists like Cleo Sol or Snoh Aalegra, London based Geo is finding her own lane in British soul and R&B, blending nostalgic warmth with modern production sensibilities. Her performance prowess has already been felt on stages across the UK, Europe, and the US, including London’s iconic Union Chapel, and the glorious Ancienne Belgique in Brussels. (Bill Cummings)
Asha Wells – Ophelia
Why we love it Asha Wells‘ turns towards shadowy balladry with her literate and haunting new offering ‘Ophelia’ richly steeped in references to the literary character, her entrancing and ethereal vocals circle each couplet amidst rickety acoustic, mournful violins and synths, yet it punctures with an intensely personal tapestry and a grandeur that unfurls and shows a wealth of promise echoing the likes of P J Harvey or Laura Marlin, yet sounding uniquely her. She says “we are brought to our knees at the foot of a grandfather clock, whose endless ticking, like rattlesnake whipping, breeds a blinding urgency.” Wells paints us a vivid picture of swelling fatalistic sorrows, stilted by the crux of femininity. “Ophelia departs from her literary likeness through a newfound sense of agency. the power to write the end of her own tale.” Intoxicating.
Wells’ assembled a talented team of artists to flesh out the three songs from The Lesson, including production from Stephen Steinbrink and Jason Kick (Mild High Club, Healing Potpourri), drumming from Zach Elsasser (Affectionately, Jay Som), vocals from Ainsley Wagoner (Silverware), vocals and violin from Lizzy Dutton, and bass/piano from Jack Brown (Healing Potpourri). Over the course of the EP, unique song structures coincide with unorthodox instrumentation putting Wells’ idiosyncratic, percussive tastes on full display and melding into something far greater than the sum of its parts. (Bill Cummings)
