Buzz or Howl Roundup 11/2
Some music I've enjoyed from the last few weeks and some music I've seen live. And any other business, old school blogging style.
Songs
‘Blow my Lid’ - Pollyfromthedirt
Pollyfromthedirt just released his debut EP, this is a new song from that - at one point the lyrics quote The Smiths, and I think he’s for sure channeling Morrissey in his vocal performance across the track, it sounds great - this song is a bit more lowkey production-wise than some of the other stuff on the EP, & I really love it - Pollyfromthedirt is a very intriguing and exciting artist, excited to see how the project develops.
‘Avalanche Sound Effect’ - Robber Robber
Thank you to Tom Sloman for the reccommendation, I love this new album so much - in my mind its a bit like a combination of Water From Your Eyes and YHWH Nailgun, that is to say: relatively chilled vocals with harsh upfront & interesting drums. A few great forays into breakbeat science, and an overwhelming spiky, metallic sound. From reading interviews, it seems a lot of the story of the album’s creation is tied up with the band’s apartment block burning down.
This is the first single from Beatrice M.’s upcoming debut album on Techtonic records- it sits in my favourite zone of dance music, dark, atmospheric & dubby but groovy as well. To me it doesn’t sound all that much like a ‘Disco Corner’, more like you’re at a disco & hiding in the corner - maybe on a slightly more chill vibe than the rest of the people at the party. I saw Beatrice M. perform a set at Palais a few weeks ago. It was great, & the MC kept shouting ‘CMON BEEEEAAAATTTRICE’ into the mic.
‘Somewhere Good’ - Tara Clerkin Trio
The most swirlingest band around - all of their music sprials outwards forevvverrr. They’re so great and so unique, I love this new song - open skies, far horizons, big rural dairy farms.
New from DJ Sprinter, an Oslo-based producer making awesome UK bass style music - this is suitably rumbly and breaky, pretty minimal with some nice vocal samples interspersed throughout. There’s this particularly cool noise which surfaces ocassionally & kind of sounds like a duck quacking. He’s playing in London soonish I believe, & in the meantime he puts out new stuff pretty frequently, so worth keeping an eye (or ear?) out.
‘Sometimes I Believe in God (Sometimes I Believe in Me) - Bassvictim
I think Bassvictim keep getting better and more interesting with every new release. It’s a bit niche, but this song kind of reminds me of those videos of the John Frum Cargo Cult - with its beautiful, kind of strained vocal stacks.
‘Baby Grand’ - Blaketheman1000
A spun-out indie country banger from an artist who has had a pretty ecletic cross-genre output so far, including a very pretty indietronica cover of Coldplay’s ‘The Scientist’. This is a really gorgeous song, a bed of acoustic guitar with layers of quirky synths. Check out his new album ‘City of Careless Angels’ - a record about faith, New York and ex girlfriends.
‘Close’ - Jump Source ft. POiSON GiRL FRiEND
Lovely, dreamy song - featuring POiSON GiRL FRiEND, whose music has had an amazing second life after her 1992 album Melting Moment was re-released & re-discovered a few years ago. She’s great on this song, very wistful.
Fried & fuzzy, I love the commitment to a proper lofi production aesthetic, works mainly because it’s fundamentally a great song, catchy with awesome riffs & a kind of manic Interpol-ish vocal performance. Nice and surf-rocky I think.
Live Music and Life Musings
I’ve seen so much great stuff recently! Big headline thing was seeing my bloody valentine for the first time, at the Royal Albert Hall: it was as loud, overwhelming & beautiful as I had always dreamed it would be. Seeing them live kind of shifted my perspective on the band, I think I now associate them less with the other big shoegaze bands like Slowdive, Ride etc , & see them more in the lineage of bands like Sonic Youth & Swans - their music is properly avant-garde, they do incredible & singular things with sound & the physicality of sound - an amazing night, even though I ended up on a lime bike on a BIGG road while trying to get to the venue.
Elsewhere I’ve been trying to do more dancing & more clubbing. I had a great time at the North London Dubstep Club last week - it’s a monthly, free club night at Cu in Dalston - & saw a great vinyl set from a DJ called Decibella. As mentioned above, I went to Palais to see Beatrice M., great new club, great DJ. That was after seeing Moin at Vespers, a very busy show. They’re another band, like mbv, who make powerful, physical music which hits deeeep. Still probably my pick for the best band in the world right now. I’ve seen lots of great stuff while working on the bar at the George - Ladylike & SLAG were both great, as was Everett - I also saw Everett perform an incredibly special & defiant solo set at lost a couple weeks ago (an interesting night…)
Oh also Tony Bontana at the Windmill, he’s very special - an awesome producer, rapper & performer.
That’s all for now. The website was down for a bit which was very annoying, but everything seems fine now & I’m feeling inspried to write and share lots of things with you all.
Lots of love,
David