Dead Pioneers – Post American
Another incendiary single from the new album from Dead Pioneers, in the form of its title track. Post American is huge attitude fuelled attack on white nationalism and a swipe at “giant toddlers with demands” and the country “built on genocide” and “slave labour”, in a year which beggars belief where one of the first acts the orange one took was to take rights away from just about everyone who isn’t a white cis male. Powerful stuff.
benefits- Divide
Closer to home benefits have plenty to say too, with another attack on nationalism and “patriots” and the divide that continues to grow within British society. The language used in both this single and the Dead Patriots collides synchronously and confirms the insidious problems cross not only borders but oceans. benefits album has just been released as I write this, with the Middlesborough duo visiting Glasgow’s Rum Shack as part of the album tour, for which they’ve shown the current Labour Party what true socialism looks like by keeping ticket prices low and timings such that people can travel on public transport to and from the gig.
Bob Mould – Neanderthal
The legendary Bob Mould released his new album, Here We Go Crazy, at the start of March from whence this 2 minute burst of frantic raw energy comes. Mould has released 24 album in all his incarnations from Husker Du through Sugar to his solo work, and November sees his return to Glasgow to play Oran Mor.
two blinks, I love you – the coldest winter ever
two blinks, I love you brings the pace and ferociousness down several notches with another of his slices of beautiful melancholic pop, this time sharing vocals with fellow Liverpudlian Tonia. The song feels like a post Christmas update on Baby It’s Cold Outside but much less creepy and stalkerish…
Sohodolls – My Religion
My Religion continues in the vein of addictively bombastic glam-synth electro-clash tunes that Sohodolls excel at, this time taking inspiration from 1990s excess.
BAMBARA – Letters from Sing Sing
Anthemic is probably a good word to describe Letters From Sings Sing from NYC rockers Bambara’s 4th album Birthmarks, the single is a haunting series of plea’s from a murderer serving time to the girlfriend of his victim, in which he tells of his wish to be executed.
Calva Louise – WTF
This song indicates pretty much what my morning thought has been of late… “what the fuck am I meant to do”…when confronted with a list of daily tasks which are night in impossible to achieve…
Tangerinecat – Grief
The first single from Tangerinecat’s new album, also titled Grief is a song of mourning and dedication to loss of life across the world due to war. As they say in their press release “not only people but animals, forests… It’s a lost life which calls us from the very bowels of the Earth demanding change.” The mood and feel of the song is the very embodiment of grief, a feeling which comes from love for all life. I was blown away by Tangerinecat’s last album Glass, an album like no other I’d ever heard. This new single gives me that tingle of excitement for the new album.
The Primitives – Sweet Sister Sorrow
A band that never fails to impress, either on record or live, their gig with House of Love in the QM at the end of last year was a triumph. Sweet Sister Sorrow is classic Primitives, and is paired with a sublime Symphonic Dream Pop version.
Burnt Log – Sharks
Burnt Log’s single Sharks premiered on the Ginger Quiff in February, and the song still sends a shiver up my spine, tackling the very real modern day issue of financial scammers and the impact on the victims of these “sharks”.
Rialto – No-one Leaves This Discotheque Alive
Formed in the late 90’s from the ashes of Kinky Machine, Rialto played one of my most memorable King Tuts gig of that era alongside Lodger, I’m glad to say over the intervening years Louis Elliott has lost none of his style and charm in creating soaring and statuesque indie pop.
The Cassandra Complex/Suzi Sabotage – Nazi Goths Fuck Off (Suzi Sabotage cover)
Goth music had changed a lot since my days as a young music fan in the early eighties. The sound may have evolved but the message remains from the late seventies with the title reflecting Dead Kennedys 1981 singles. The sentiment is understandable, it’s just a shame we still have to be promoting the same message 40 plus years later.
The Cassandra Complex/Suzi Sabotage