Eyesore & The Jinx are very new to me and I came across them thanks to their rather splendid new single “Float Like a Jellyfish (Sting Like a Subtweet)”. What is it all about? I have no fucking idea, but it is a stunningly good track. If the B-52s, Yoko Ono, Devo, and the Moldy Peaches were absorbed into magical plasticine and molded into a band it might very well result in Eyesore & The Jinx. The single has a fuzzy feel and a weird hypnotic beat all overlayed with one of the catchiest and wackiest choruses in a long while. It is taken from their album, ‘Jitterbug,’ which is due out on 15th March.
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Mieko Shimizu‘s new single is a gorgeous slice of ambient, electro, and orchestral music which might have come from a Bjork side project. It is a haunting track that sits with you long after it has finished and after that first hit of “My Tentacles,” you will be craving another high from it. It has already garnered airplay on BBC 6 Music and is the first release from her next album, which will be called ‘My Tentacles.’ Mieko is a Japanese singer-songwriter, producer, and composer based in London. Before this, she had huge success as alter ego Apache 61 and she has remixed Coldcut and the Yellow Magic Orchestra to name just a couple. She has also collaborated with Mick Karn (Japan), David Cunningham (The Flying Lizards), Nitin Sawhney, and Robert Lippok (To Rococo Rot). Mieko has played at Sonar, alongside Kraftwerk, and has supported Goldfrapp and Massive Attack at their Melt Down Festival. She is currently the artist in residence for Wonky Plonky Electronk, an experimental, electronic live event that is touring the UK throughout 2024, the next show being on 28th March at The Cinema Room at All Is Joy in London.
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I am regularly wary of bands that have been heavily hyped as often they cannot match that hype in recording and performance. On that basis, I did not expect to like the debut album from The Last Dinner Party. Actually, that stands true, I don’t like ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’, I bloody love it. The album flows together like not many albums before. I also feel, particularly in this modern age of streaming, that there is not a single track here that I would want to skip. It seems the album format is not quite dead yet, The Last Dinner party has given it a great boost! Although I can sense several possible influences, this is a very original band. Notably, I can hear small references to Queen, 10cc, Supertramp, Kate Bush, Abba, and Sparks to name just a few.
The band formed in London back in 2021 and consists of Abigail Morris, Lizzie Mayland, Emily Roberts, Georgia Davies, and Aurora Nishevci. I love the huge ambition and low arrogance that means the band has included a gorgeously orchestrated overture to open the album. It introduces a cinematic scope to the whole record and makes you want to listen to the whole thing, and I have, quite a few times so far. All five of the band’s singles to date are included and the familiarity with some of those tracks does not demean in the slightest the overall quality. The immaculate “Nothing Matters” and striking “Caesar On A TV Screen” are the best of the bunch in my opinion. I also feel that “My Lady Of Mercy” rocks like an absolute hellhound and might fit onto the kind of concept album that the Who used to be so good at. “Burn Alive” has a wonderfully dark vibe and strikes me as something Florence Welch might write if she was coming out of a fight with the black dog of depression. The instrumentation on “The Feminine Urge” evokes some of the best early sixties girl group hits. Although I can’t imagine any of those groups getting away with some of the stunningly powerful lyrics like “I am a dark red liver stretched out on the rocks. All the poison, I convert it and I turn it to love. Here comes the feminine urge, I know it so well“. That said the Crystals, who once recorded “He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)”, might have got away with it.
“Beautiful Boy” is Baroque Pop at its finest and a full-on emotionally charged ballad that once again is evocative of Florence And The Machine. The shortest track on the album is “Gjuha” which according to Aurora translates from Albanian into Tongue. She has previously said that it describes her shame at not knowing the language of her mother country very well. It provides a wonderfully mystical interlude in the intensity of the flow of the record. “Portrait Of A Dead Girl” nods to a dreamlike duet between Lana del Ray and Kate Bush. Is it possible to get any deeper and darker than the album closer “Mirror”? I doubt it, it is a song with the ability to give you chills and closes this delightful set of songs perfectly with an orchestral finale to go full circle back to the overture.
So yes I am now a huge fan of The Last Dinner Party and ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’. But there is an elephant in the room isn’t there? All the talk about whether or not they are an “industry plant”. If you thought the hype around them was huge then I reckon the conspiracies around them being an industry plant are even bigger. The band has previously said that they believed that these accusations resulted from misogyny in the music industry. Following the struggles that Rebecca Ferguson, Delilah Bon (a.k.a. Lauren Tate) and others have had I suspect that this is true. In a recent NME interview the band said “If you don’t like our music, or our vibes, that’s okay! But it’s not fine to accuse us of not writing these songs or existing as a band in our own right. None of us have famous or industry parents either, shock horror!” Do I think they are an industry plant? Of course not, I doubt there is anyone in the industry with the intellect or nous to be able to create an industry plant. On top of that it would soon become obvious given the amount of people that would need to be in on it. In my view, people should dump the conspiracy theory shite and just follow what will, I am sure, become a truly gifted and great band. This is a contender for album of the year.
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This was another Northern Radar show and as I have said before, Simon P, Head Honcho of that splendid promotions company has never let me down with a dud band…..yet! Did that change at this gig? read on to find out. First up it was King Thieves with some anthemic rock with a sprinkling of blues. This was coupled with soaring and soulful vocal contributions from the guitarist and drummer. The rumbling bass lines were sometimes evocative of New Order’s Peter Hook. They played a new song, “Lucifer” which was fantastic and made me think of early-period Manic Street Preachers. A great band that is new to me.
Next was the Hangnails, a band I had seen in a previous incarnation, as a two-piece in 2014. They were called And The Hangnails back then. They have developed so much and moved forward tremendously since then, they are now playing as a three-piece. Was that Mr. Blackwell on bass and keys? The Hangnails’ new material is spectacularly good and in describing their performance I will need to use the word anthemic once again. The vocals hint at Bono, Ian McCulloch, and Tim Booth. Their songs ooze emotion and are filled with hooks to die for. A phenomenally good band!
Finally, it was time for the headliners, King Nun, who apparently have been around for eleven years. How the fuck is that possible? Were they formed in primary school? This was their first gig in York and I hope it won’t be their last. I spoke to four people in the audience tonight who had come to see them here off the back of the support slots they did for Nothing But Thieves. Their sound has some Nirvana and Pixies influences with some classic punk sound, attitude, and poses thrown into the mix. Their multiple guitar assault fired riff, after riff, after riff into the happily shellshocked crowd. They packed the power of a Panzer Division in World War Two. If they turned their power up even half a notch they might have laid waste to the venue. I am pleased to say that didn’t happen. The band’s excursions into the crowd ignited the already excited punters. They cheekily threatened jazz, but thankfully they didn’t deliver on that. But one of the guitarists was so committed to the cause he gave his blood up in the final song! After tonight I am now a huge fan of King Nun! Oh and just to confirm, Simon from Northern Radar still hasn’t let me down! It was also great to catch up with so many people that I know at this fab venue (Simon, Joe, Chris, Billie, Tim, Amelia, and many more!)
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BUKVE is the solo project of songwriter Sveinung Fossan Bukve of Bergen in Norway. He has just released a new single under the name “Gonna Get It”. It is the second single which precedes his forthcoming album due out in the spring. (“Alive” was released in January). It has a happy indie vibe which propels you to the supremely positive chorus. The opening jangly indie guitar has a faint feel of Hank Marvin in his Shadows heyday. BUKVE says that the song “bears the message that despite a hectic everyday life, you should aim to give others a chance, try to be generous, listen and put yourself in other people’s situations before you judge them harshly.” It really does make you feel good listening to it. All the music and lyrics were written by Sveinung and it was recorded in the Black Valley Studios in Oslo where it was produced by Stamos Koliousis. I am a BUKVE fan now!
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Polish artist and musician Przemysław Tymiński records under the name poto&aby and he has just put out a single called “Where The Music Comes From”. It is a deeply reflective and melancholy piece of music. There is a repeated lyric line which for me does suggest sources that might inspire where music arises from, “The first stars at dusk, the rustle of distant railway tracks“. What do you think? The lyrics apparently come from fragments of a novel started 20 years ago by Przemysław. There is a dark tone to the music with some element of ‘Low’ period David Bowie, particularly in the saxophone sound. The vocals are rather good too.
He released his debut album 12 years ago in 2012. It was called ‘Football Won’t Save The World’. The original Polish title was ‘Futbol nie zbawi świata’ and it was described at the time as “a kind of philosophical acoustic punk” and there is definitely the spirit of punk in the new track. “Where The Music Comes From” is the first release from the third poto&aby album, “The Window Of His Room” which will be out later this year. The video is simple and old school and brings together footage shot in 2006 when Przemysław was testing a new video camera. poto&aby is an intriguing and talented artist and I am looking forward to the new album!
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Massachusetts-born, Los Angeles-based artist Mandi Crimmins has just released a very heavy, hard, dark, deep single called “Lose Control”. Apparently, it is about a traumatic time for her, where she was groomed and trafficked by someone she thought was her friend. Which explains the stygian darkness in the music and the subconscious underlying menace. The bass drives into your brain like some kind of heavy metal maggot with the tenacity of a robot woodpecker. I love everything about this track. Mandi’s lyrics are brutally honest and very raw. She suffers from her own mental health issues but uses her experiences to talk to and connect with her listeners. Describing “Lose Control,” she says ““I was groomed and trafficked by someone older who I thought was my friend. It took me nearly 7 years and a lot of therapy to accept that it happened. Because accepting it happened meant accepting that I was never in control and that I was a pawn. I wanted to tell my story publicly without shame, in hopes that it might bring peace, validation, and community to someone who might be struggling with the same thing.” She has also said that some of the lyrics in “Lose Control” are drawn directly from her diaries. I need to listen to more from Mandi Crimmins she has a supreme musical talent!
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Barnsley’s Porcine is back with a delightful and fun-packed new single via Safe Suburban Home Records. It is called “Stop The World” and frankly I suggest that you make yourself a hot beverage of your choice sit down comfortably and then press play on the video below. It is the sort of song you need to listen to to take away the stresses of your day. I bloody love it, I just listened to it twice while nursing a rather decent cup of black coffee (Aldi’s Sumatran blend if you must know).
This is the first track from their new self-titled album which comes out on 1st March. The song has a kind of poppy, slacker shoegaze vibe with some splendid harmonies. The song and the forthcoming album were produced by Andrey Pavlovic (Allusinlove) and mastered by David Watts (The Fall, The Reytons, OMD). Was that the “I wish I could be like David Watts” David Watts? The video is like a throwback to 70s TV and features some rather odd characters, all of whom might be a tad too surreal to appear in ‘The League Of Gentlemen’. Apparently, the band met and formed while ghost hunting in Barnsley market back in 2018. Let’s hope that they didn’t cross the streams. So if the music’s strange in your neighbourhood, who you gonna call? Porcine……. Obviously!
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Skylights are back with a stunning new single, “Time To Let Things Go”. Is it their best yet? Possibly. It has a gorgeous soaring and emotive vocal, and the orchestration takes the tune into cinematic territory. The guitar which underpins the song is exquisite. This is a band on fire, and this is the song where the band has really come into their own with so many of their influences are receding in the slipstream of their continued rise. Last year was a big year for these boys, and I believe 2024 may be even bigger for them.
Click here to listen to the song on Spotify and click here to buy a physical copy.
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Aussie rockers the Dizzy Ducks are a tight four-piece band from Camden, New South Wales. Their new single is an anthemic rock tune with gargantuan hooks, pop sensibilities, and a guitar solo that time travelled from the 70s. Cat Sexton’s vocals are perfect and playful and Jon Valenzuela’s guitar sound is immense and intricate. Meanwhile, the motor is kept running by the metronomic magnificence of Michael Boundy’s drums and Mark Kenny’s bass power. It is impossible to not move when listening to “Love You Not”. The song, I think, is about breaking out of a controlling relationship, so perfectly timed for a dark, alternative Valentine Disco. This band has got something special and you need to get listening to them! An obvious bonus is that the band name is a great, albeit slightly silly, one!
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