Punk icons THE CLASH released their 4th LP, a triple one, called SANDINISTA! today 45 years ago, on 12 December 1980.
#19 in the UK, #24 in the US, #3 in Canada
The longplayer(s) crossed various genres including funk, reggae, jazz, gospel, rockabilly, folk, dub, rhythm and blues, calypso, disco, and rap. For the first time, the band’s songs were credited to The Clash as a group, rather than to Joe Strummer and Mick Jones.
The band agreed to a decrease in album royalties
in order to release the 3-LP at a low price.
Rolling Stone said: “The Clash drop the big one.
To hell with Clash style, there’s a world out there.”
Mick Jones: “I always saw it as a record for people who were, like, on oil rigs.
Or Arctic stations. People that weren’t able to get to the record shops regularly.”
After 28 years Skin and her henchmen still make your blood cook.
This new sizzling stroke calls out all incompetent governments,
specifically UK’s short-sighted Brexit statesmen. It’s a metallic bomb
with a volcanic Skin chorus.
When grunge has a date with metal, when Nirvana hooks up with Korn, an earthquake is in the making. These Belgian bulldozing
rockers know all about it and make it happen with this explosive
detonation. Hell bloody hell yeah!
Two years ago, director Matt Yoka’s documentary Whirlybird
premiered. It shows the adventures of two video journalists,
soaring above the chaotic spectacle of ’80s and ’90s Los Angeles,
including the OJ Simpson chase in 1994.
A re-release accompanied by a new soundtrack will be issued soon.
One of the participators is musical centipede Ty Segall drumming his
tail off on this dynamizing instrumental
Libertine Peter Doherty is clean for 2 years now and has just been married.
The happy man lives in Normandy, France and teamed up with French musician Frédéric Lo. The result is the album The Fantasy Life Of Poetry & Crime,
coming out on 22 March.
The second single from their 11th LP
called Wild Loneliness, out 25 February.
Mac McCaughan (guitarist) About: “Like much of Wild Loneliness, this song was
written in the mode of “let’s look around and be thankful for what we have rather
than focusing on what Republicans have taken from an entire generation.”
Almost three years after their debut album Silver Tongues this must-hear
post-punk hit team returns with follow-up Beware Believers, out 1st of April.
James Cox (frontman): “Slowly Separate is about living in London, working a job
you hate and just going through the mundane routine of hand to mouth living.”
A blazing uppercut with the
cutting force of a chainsaw.
I’m not a big fan of remixes unless the remixer – in this case, electro duo Flight Facilities – transforms a head-dazzling rocker into a head-dazzling
disco stomper that works like a vaccination with a shot of adrenalin.
I’m sure that this Big Apple indie squad has all Parquet Courts records on their shelves. You already could hear it on their 2019 debut album Endless Scroll and their second one, titled Broken Equipment looks to go in the same direction when hearing new single Thrown.
Not original but tumbling
and revolving nevertheless…
7. ‘Fraggle Rock Rock’ by FOO FIGHTERS (Seattle, US)
Seems like Dave Grohl and his Fighters adore the spotlights
and do anything to have them shine on them every day.
Check this… children’s television series Fraggle Rock gets a full revival on Apple TV+ and yes, you already guessed it, the Foos are among the musical guests on the show. For the occasion, they wrote this bonkers retro rocker that triggers your laughing muscles.
This new single is vintage Korn. Uncomplicated nu-metal for everybody
who wants their ears to go bonkers. From their forthcoming, 14th LP Requiem, out early next month.
This comeback haymaker is” “about standing your ground against bullies, whether that
be on the playground, at work or anywhere.” I was a fan of early Muse exploits (their 2004 masterwork Absolution still gives me goosebumps). Their stardom made them go a bit too artificial and predictable for my liking. But this new one roars hard with a metallic sound as big as St Paul’s Cathedral in London. Cast-iron!
The late 70s cult post-punks (Factory Records) are back and their free-jazz-punk
firework is still intact. Led by poet/musician Ted Miltonthe mavericks groove as hell.
Message to all young bands out there: listen and take notes.
Not really a new track. It’s a previously unrealized song from their Twilight Terror
album sessions (their final LP – 1999). It will be part of a deluxe reissue edition titled ‘Terror Twilight: Farewell Horizontal’, out next April. More info here.
New York’s electro darkwave bulldozer has its 6th album See Through You
ready for release on 4th February 2022. It’s a return to their fiercely independent,
DIY roots on their own label Dedstrange.
Lead single Let’s See Each Other is an intimate and disarming love song from
a forgotten future. Syncopated memories and deconstructed fantasies of lovers
lost in an ity that doesn’t know their names.
This indie dream-pop band from Leicester, England, combines nursery rhyme melodies, reverb-drenched guitars, and electronic textures. They released their debut full-length Honeyspun two years ago and now return with this astonishing wall-of-shoegaze stroke. Imagine My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, and Swervedriver having a decibels contest.
Sonic is a hazy, multi-layered and perplexing
discharge leaving you behind with your mouth open
and totally puzzled.
3. ‘Do Ya Feel The Love’ by STEREOPHONICS (Wales, UK)
On 4 March 2022, the vivid Welsh veterans will make their
loyal fans smile with new full-length Oochya!, their 12th LP.
This track is a feverish rocker with an immediate impact on your
body’s activity. Add Kelly Jones‘ characteristically fervid vocals and
energetic guitars and you have a solid gold Stereophonics winner.
This fervent German trio fuzz and buzz with panache and determination. Jingle jangle electricity with that early B-52′s swagger. If this steaming stunner doesn’t make you jump out of your lazy couch you better fire your shrink and change your meds at once while we all go crazy to this head-spinning twister. Top!
Melted Wings is the multigenre project of Toronto musician Michael Wynn (founding member of bands Trains of Winter and Vicky von Vicky.)
His new longplayer lands next year. Ahead of it comes first taster Capture Lovewhich explores the melancholy of feeling down and the occasional small lights of brightness
that can help you get out of the funk of these depressing times.
Expect an electro head-in-the-clouds groove with an 80s New Romantics vibe.
Heartening, beatific, and hopeful…
Vivid guitar pop band centered around multi-instrumentalist Madison Lucas who took up songwriting in college.
Two years ago entrancing debut album Claw Your Way Out saw the day
of light and now Modern Moxie have a 5-track EP, called Gutter Honey,
ready to unleash on 9 December.
First taster Big Wave sticks from the kick-off, jumps forth and back
and energizes all the way driven by Lucas‘ avid vocals. Touchdown!
At the start of this year, the South London gunslingers
released their second top album called Drink Tank Pink.
On this brand new single it’s guitars all over the place again.
Not their best effort, but a hefty hammer nonetheless.
“The whole song came together on the day we recorded it at the studio.
It’s also the first live recording we’ve ever done, we didn’t want it to sound
overworked. It’s a pure banger, listen with a piña colada in your left hand.”
The two-man drill machine out of Kalamazoo, MI nails it again.
This rumbling rollercoaster bulldozes its way in slow motion,
forth and back, while producing an ominous vocal brouhaha
that causes a creepy nightmare experience. Whatever the song’s
protagonist’s ilk is, it doesn’t sound like you want to be friends
This striking stroke is part of the soundtrack for Mark, Mary & Some Other People, a new indie rom-com
about a young married couple trying out an open relationship.
Billie Joe Armstrong and his buddies do what they did throughout
their whole career, rockin’ and rollin’ without thinking too much.
C’mon, get your lazy ass out of your lazy couch and make some
room to move like a sensual snake with your window dressing
doll while swaying your hips to the sickly sticky beat of Fuzz Guitar.
Wurlitzer jukeboxes were invented to play sultry jams
like these in pubs, discos and your living room.
After they contributed a new song to a compilation album, the veterans
from down under are back. And, yes, the beds are still burning, they still
know how to rock and they still write songs about our fiercely threatened
nature/climate.
“The song is meant to “add the band’s unique voice to billions of others
around the world seeking a safe, habitable, and fair future for our planet.”
Sitting somewhere between arena rock and the classic sound of 1960’s soul
singers, Philadelphia-based band PHNTMS creates music bursting with vast
soundscapes and colliding instrumentation. The band has opened for Kings
of Leon, The 1975, Bastille, Fitz & The Tantrums and Empire of the Sun among
others.
Paper Flowers is the first single from a forthcoming EP.
A funky guitar-fueled pop earworm with charismatic frontwoman Alyssa Gambino in the middle having a ball.
Big sound, big tune, big vox.
With Gambino identifying as queer, PHNTMS also hope to reach
out to and support the LGBTQA+ community. Damn right!
Who? A genre’less pack of guerrilla D.I.Y / D.I.T musicians making war on music
of mass production with our satirical not so moderate rock. I’m sure that these
Nothern Ireland rebels will dedicate their upcoming mini-album titled ‘Super
Callous Fascist Racist Tories Are Atrocious‘ to Bojo and his professional idiots.
Anyway, here’s single number two. A haunting and minatory mid-tempo groove
that moves like a vicious serpent waiting to attack, but so far no Tories within sight
unless they’re the ones playing Irish folk instruments in the end. Wankers!
Albums are medals
For the medical Sheep
For the pop propaganda
For the false n the weak
Costello phoned his band The Imposters, they met in
the studio and recorded new album The Boy Named If,
out January 2022.
The lead single takes us back to his 70s sound. Crackling pop
a la Costello with that retro organ glow, vocal twists and turns,
a steady beat/chorus and muscled guitars.
Theis bouncy riff-addicted trio produced a couple of EPs
and 3 albums between 2013 and 2017 and then went missing.
But the sonic surfers are back in business now. A bit older but still wild at heart.
With Valley Boys they do what they do best, dropping bathing a mesmerizing melody
in an electrifying pool of burning guitars. No, they don’t like the spoiled Valley Boys
and Girls and their rich dads.
The Texan quartet that lives and works in the Big Apple released their new, seventh LP Sympathy For Life yesterday. Another solid work of indie masterclass with a mix of straightforward rockers and Talking Heads inspired chants. Here’s one of the highlights…
Who? A Toronto punk group that has been described as a raw garage-pop band
with virtuosic protopunk influences. Their sound falls somewhere between Warhol
pre-punk and the Toronto DIY indie that they flowered in.
New single Antisocial speaks to the mental health issues born from industry pressure
and self-destructive tendencies as one tries to make ends meet while still having fun.
Expect red-hot-blooded and untamed-explosive aggression. A walloping sucker punch,
left and right. All record label idiots should run for cover before this Canadian fury blow their money greedy egos to pieces. Bullseye shot! Holy smoke!
‘The People I Know (Don’t Like Me) by KULICK (Pennsylvania)
Who? An artistic visionary, singer-songwriter, producer, audio engineer, and lover of life, continues to mesmerize music fans with an ever-growing catalog of deeply personal, yet relatable songs that combine his roots in heavy rock music with ultra-catchy pop melodies, resulting in a sound all his own.
The new single is “about not fitting in with who you’re around and being very aware of it.”
After an edgy vocal intro, this fervent firestarter explodes into a supersonic stunner
with the iron cast punk intenseness of riff rollercoasters Green Day and Blink-182.
With this new song, White ignites the promo rollout of a newCall Of Duty game.
Feels like he wants to make some big money in between his cool work with his
record label.
I’ll be honest. It’s a notable brain-breaker. Schizophrenic synths, deranged guitars,
and the former White Stripe‘s howling voice. Sounds like a video game crashing down
like an airplane. Bingo!
‘When We Fall‘ by KOALRA (From Chicago to Portland)
Who: Dynamic gunslingers fusing the fuzz-fueled guitars and loose rhythms
of acts like Dinosaur Jr. to the experimental soundscapes of artists such as Sonic Youth and The Cure.
A melancholic musing floating sonically somewhere between Band Of Horses
and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Spellbinding flow, magnetizing catchiness and
perfervid vocals. A total triumph.
The urge to find passion and freedom were the main reasons for this
trio to leave their homes (in Israel, Spain, Germany, and the UK) and
resulted in creating songs together as urban and pulsing as the city
which Janis’ music is inspired by Berlin.
The new cut “is an exploration of loneliness at the point where it reaches its peak.
The point where an inner lack of love creates a vacuum. A black hole which devours
everything that happens to come too close, while pushing away those who are still
dear and important at the same time.”
This is how frustration, alienation, and lonesomeness sounds like when translated
to a nervous and fucked-up electric eruption. Biting, irascible and anxious. This jagged jackhammer is driven by dogged drum hits, anxious guitars, and strained vocals. The nervous breakdown finale doesn’t bode well. Post lockdown blues.
Last week punkette Amyl and her Sniffers dropped their second smashing
album Comfort To Me on Planet Earth with ‘Hertz‘ as one of the razzle-dazzle jackhammers.
Time for some kangaroo pogo, all you punks out there…
Brian Molko (frontman): “If the song serves to irritate the squares and the
uptight, so gleefully be it. But it remains imperative for me that each listener
discovers their own personal story within it – I really don’t want to tell you
how to feel.”
Lindsey Jordan aka Snail Mail throws her 2nd album,
titled Valentineat the world on 5th November.
Jordan: “I wanted to take as much time as possible with this record to
make sure I was happy with every detail before unleashing it unto y’all.
Referring to the process as the deepest level of catharsis and therapy I
have ever experienced would be a huge understatement. Valentine is
my child!”
Here comes Jordan‘s macabre side. Only for cannibals
(go directly to YT via the link below)…
Another rockin’ taster from Turner‘s upcoming
full-length FTHC, out 22 February 2022.
Turner: “It’s been a difficult time for a lot of people and their
mental health, myself included, and discussing that openly is
important to me, so this is a song about anxiety and the
struggles that come with that.”
This side project of former Sonic Youth queen Kim Gordon and
avant-garde guitarist Bill Nace will release its second LP in November.
The duo teamed up with Aaron Dilloway for this one.
The Louisville ensemble is back in town. New album Regularly Scheduled Programming comes our way on 22 October. Along with that announcement, they share the title track.
A slow-burning tower of song growing towards a sort of apocalyptic finale. Wow!
This fervent Nashville-based singer-songwriter hits big time with his new jackhammer. Sounds as if Bruce Springsteen turns up the decibels to the max and behaves like an 18-year old punk. The song “was inspired by reaching a point where you tell yourself, “Enough is enough!” I really want people to feel what I felt when I wrote this song and hopefully can use it as a catalyst for the kind of change they’re seeking in their life.”
These red-hot-blooded Orlando misfits have a new LP
in the pipeline called Dirty Water coming in >October.
The razor-sharp-edged title track is: ““about the Flint Water Crisisand how ashamed
our country should be about letting it happen. We’re supposed to be “the richest country in the world,” but people were poisoned with dangerous levels of lead (among other cancer and illness causing toxins), people died, and many of the children in Flint will be dealing with lifelong health issues because of it.”
Anger, disbelief, and disgust fuel this spot-on stonker. An immediate
change is necessary. Now. All humans must be treated as humans.
Just like heavy rock heroes AC/DC these veteran metalheads repeat themselves for years now. And nothing seems to suggest a change when I heard this new single. Same formula as ever… but once in a while, I need this sort of thunder to practice my headbanging.
Metal icons Metallica have two major commemorative releases lined up to celebrate
the 30th-anniversay of their self-titled breakthrough LP known as the Black Album.
What can you expect: A standard expanded reissue edition, available in various formats including a behemoth box set with 6 LPs, 14 CDs, and 6 DVDs. And a massive covers compilation called The Metallica Blacklist featuring no less than 53 artists interpreting
a Black Album track. Out in September.
UK punks Idles are also part of the anniversary firework.
They picked The Gods That Failed track. Metallica never sounded this raw and blustery.
This alternative rock trio, interested in hearts and brains combines guitar rock and catching poppiness in a most effective way. For 140 seconds you can’t control your toe-tapping feet and your head’s approving movements. Bingo. Their new album arrives October 1.
The Magnificent Seven are about new firecrackers, but you’ll understand why
I included this golden Stones oldie. Goodbye Charlie Watts, we gonna miss you.
