Pinact

I've been sitting on Pinact for a while because I'm a terrible new music blogger. They're a two-piece from Glasgow and they're fucking great. Abrasive yet melodic, they write pop songs with riffs and distortion and fuzz and cymbal crashes and "WOAH"s. Music comparisons are lazy and shit but if you like Paws and Poledo and Rice Milk and Joanna Gruesome and Dolfinz and all those other sweet bands then you'll like them.

They've just streamed new track 'Brew' through Art is Hard as part of the label's postcard club series and also have a lot of ace stuff on bandcamp - including the really good (and totally free) 'Spill Your Guts, Let Out Some Noise' EP.



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FFNORDZZ

Previously working under the name FNORDS for a little bit, FFNORDZZ is a dude from my home town of Plymouth who I've blogged about before but who I've never met and whose real name I don't know. His earlier tracks were experimental pop songs which I really liked so it's cool to see the arrival of a new EP.

Imagine a modern day Frank Zappa writing out and out pop songs and you're not far off. The result is something that could (hopefully fairly) be compared to Gross Magic in that it shares that kind of guitar-led, relatively lo-fi experimental pop sound. Lots of high-pitched guitars, catchy melodies, and even at times that hushed vocal. It's cool.

'Pop Stardom' is the name of the new EP. It's also the opening track and I supposed the 'most immediate' of the five. Listen to it below or download the whole thing on bandcamp. Apparently there should be another EP out this month too so eyes peeled etc.



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Trust Fund

Went to a house gig in Bristol last week to watch King Of Cats in the guy from Trust Fund's bedroom. Trust Fund were the first of three bands to play and I was totally blown away with the beauty of his music and how powerful and emotive his songs were. It was a literally teary-eyed, hairs-on-end set that makes you question everything and one that I completely didn't expect.

The recorded stuff is equally as eloquent and charming and absolutely heartbreaking. Hear stuff below or catch them live at Joanna Gruesome's album launch at London's Shacklewell Arms on 16 September.







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Rice Milk - nnnv

New music from two-piece Newcastle noise pop weirdos following their impressive first EP earlier this year. I excitedly wrote about them on DIY in April saying they sounded a bit like No Age And PAWS and Let's Wrestle and that they wrote catchy, charming songs so it's cool to finally hear more.

'nnnv' is set to feature on a new EP, out on cassette through ASDFG Records on September 30. It's good. Listen.



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Lone Omi

Lone Omi is Joss formerly of London shouty-punks Yucky Slime. Lone Omi is considerably less shouty-punk than Yucky Slime. Lone Omi is dark, intense, sparse, dense, unsettling, but absolutely beautiful.

Four tracks on SoundCloud or my pick of the bunch below.



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Menace Beach

Always listen to your editor. DIY boss Stephen Ackroyd sent me Menace Beach ages ago. 26th June 2012. I listened. I liked. I forgot to listen again until a few months ago, and have taken this long to post them on the blog. Yeah, I actually get paid to write about music.

Menace Beach are great. Their lo-fi grungy, poppy, 90s-ish sound combines everything I love about Joey Fourr with everything I love about Gross Magic. That's a pretty fucking great combo. It's mucky but it's catchy as hell. They've recorded with MJ of Hookworms at his Suburban Home Studio in Leeds which is always a great sign (he also plays in the live band) and they're going to be putting out a release on the Too Pure singles club in the future which will no doubt be very good indeed. Before then you can check out their four track EP, which is out now on French indie label Desire Records and also available as a free download (or pay as much as you like) from bandcamp.



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The Yawns

The point of a new music blog: to point people in the direction of new music they might like that they otherwise might not have heard. It's fun, I like doing it, but I tend to not find enough time to commit to it properly which results in a blog updated sporadically featuring music that turns out to be not that new after all. Still, let's ignore that this album from the Yawns has been on bandcamp for a good few months. Let's ignore that the band have been around since 2011. Let's ignore that I've been listening to it and not getting around to writing about it for that time. Let's ignore that this blog post comes just as they finish a tour of the UK rather than, more usefully, just before they start one. Let's ignore that both Gold Flake Paint and Song By Toad managed to include it in their albums of 2012 lists. Let's ignore that even R. Stevie Moore liked them before me. Let's just focus on the fact that this is a really bloody good album.

They're a band from Glasgow apparently made up of some of Copy Haho (not that that is especially important) who write jangly, woozy, slightly shoegazey pop songs with lovely guitars and ace vocals and stuff like that. It's so good that the lovely people of Records Records Records decided it deserved to get pressed to vinyl. It does. Enough blabbering, listen below.




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Giant Burger

London's Giant Burger kind of defy genre and description. There are vocals and drums and guitar and bass and keys. There are melodies and there is noise. It's kind of experimental but it's also kind of pop at the same time as being kind of rock and prog and punk and blah blah blah. But then, being made up of a good few members of the now deceased BAANEEX, this kind of skullfuckery is to be expected really.

All that really matters is that I like their songs and hopefully some people who frequent this blog will do too. 'Trapped In Egypt' sounds like the kind of song you might expect to soundtrack a kids' horror TV show, while new track 'Fridges' (taken from a forthcoming four-track cassette on London's Odd Box Records, I think...) hears them at their most self-assured and well-recorded to date. A band increasingly comfortable with their place in the corner of the room with no friends, and I admire that.





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FFNORDZZ

When I was young, I was pretty vocally defensive of Plymouth, the city I was born and raised in, to anyone who ever criticised it. Only when I went to university in Cardiff and visited places like Brighton, Manchester, Bristol, and London did I realise just how shit Plymouth was. There is no live music scene, there are (or at least were, thanks to The Last Shop Standing) no indepdent record stores to buy new music, and there are even very, very few bands from or based in Plymouth - especially now Gorgeous Bully has pissed off to Manchester. So when I find an even semi-good band or musician in Plymouth, I get very excited.

Amazingly, one-man-band FFNORDZZ (formerly briefly FNORDS) is even more than semi-good. Also born and raised in Plymouth (and currently based here oncemore), the musician spends all of his time putting together experimental bedroom pop songs with a dark and sinister twist. Though he has no Facebook page, two songs sit on his bandcamp: 'Surfer Of The Apocalypse' hears frenzied high-pitched guitar sit atop a repetitive, creepy bassier guitar line, while 'Acid At The Beach' is a slightly lighter and catchier psychedelic-tinged surf-pop ditty.

They're taken from a split cassette single with Pagan Moon on Hello, Hello, How Lo-Fi? out on 17th January and I bloody love them both. Check them out below and keep an eye on his bandcamp for apparently 'a lot more material uploaded' throughout 2013.





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Sauna Youth - False Jesii Pt II / Oh Joel

Sauna Youth's 'Dreamlands' was without doubt one of my favourite albums of 2012 (better than Dirty Projectors, Animal Collective, and Grizzly Bear in my opinion, which isn't bad going) so an email about a new single from the London band was always going to be a pretty great way to start the day - especially when half of the single is a cover of Pissed Jeans.

'False Jesii Pt II / Oh Joel' is set to be released on 7" single through Static Shock Records on 21st January and sees the band taking a somewhat surprising step towards indie pop. Where debut 'Dreamlands' was full of largely aggressive, energetic punk songs (albeit sometimes aggressive, energetic punk songs that went on for 10 minutes...) with vocals from drummer Rich, the new single hears lead vocals handed to usual backing vocalist Jen and a definite switch in sound. Gone is the immediate punk sound, replaced with a more melodic and noisy pop-oriented core - though somehow with none of the punch and magic of Sauna Youth lost. This is mighty good stuff, I think.





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The Soft Walls - Never Come Back Again

Earlier this year, Cold Pumas guitarist and Faux Discx label-boss Dan Reeves released a debut solo album under the name The Soft Walls. The self-titled record was a delightful blend of Krautrock-ish loops and minimalist noise rock comparable to the likes of Deerhunter that was so impressive that Tough Love also offered to release it.

Today sees a brand new song from the Brighton-based musician and, as you'd expect, it's bloody ace. 'Never Come Back Again' (again comparable to the work Bradford Cox) slowly builds like a developing polaroid snap - electro din and a looping drum machine is gradually and delicately added to with spiralling bass-lines and repetitive guitar before being topped off with Dan's hushed vocals and synth to really quite excellent effect.



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Dolfinz - Yeah Right

It's almost 18 months since I first stumbled upon and wrote about Stonehaven noise-monsters Dolfinz. Since the days of those early rough recordings, the two-piece have been fairly busy - touring the UK and Europe with Slowcoaches; releasing a 7" with Tuff Wax; featuring on a Song, By Toad 12" split along with the likes of PAWS and Sex Hands; getting played on Radio 1 and 6Music. But it's been a while since we heard much new stuff from them.

So it's good to see that the band have finally unveiled some new(er) material in the form of 'Yeah Right' on Art Is Hard Records' Pizza Club single series. Slightly less lo-fi and maxed out than their earlier recordings but very much still rough and ready, it's arguably my favourite track of theirs so far. Yeah right. I don't feel right.



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Totem Terrors - Unkind

I went to Cardiff for Swn Festival on the weekend. It was fun. I drank lots of beer and watched lots of bands and saw many friends.

Despite being a Cardiff band, Totem Terrors weren't on the line-up for Swn, which is sad because they are good. Their latest song, 'Unkind' is an example of this. Jerky guitars rallies with bass while vocals bounce between male and female, all coming together to sound slightly The Fall-style post-punk/art-rock.



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Videos: King of Cats

Sometimes you have to stop and applaud raw talent. Brighton/Oxford-based Max Levy is unlikely to get playlisted on Radio 1 with his work under the King of Cats banner, but he has an undeniable gift for writing bloody excellent songs - and he seems pretty accomplished in performing them live with a certain charm going by these videos. Lyrically, musically, vocally it's entirely captivating, interesting, and - dare I say it - unique.





For his recorded stuff, check out the previous post on this blog here. You can also purchase his Reeks of Effort-released cassette, and keep an eye out for his forthcoming split with ides too.

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MYSTYRYS

Given their name, you'd be excused for thinking that MYSTRYS were another one of those bands going for the whole anonymity thing to create a sense of, well, mystery. They're not, as it happens, but that's not to say the internet is awash with information about the London band. Though folks like The 405 first posted about them last November - and though they have support from Soft Arrows and Rough Trade DJs at their upcoming single launch party for Normals/Shadows (released through Psychic Healing Network on 27 August) - the three-piece seem to play their cards pretty close to their chest.

Not that any of that guff really matters. What's important is, of course, their music - and it just so happens to be good. While 'Shadows' is an urgent, scuzzy, guitar-led ditty that brings to mind post-punk bands like Killing Joke and Bauhaus, 'Normals' sounds a bit more 'Tom Vek' in its slightly funky feel and unusual song structure. It's noisy, energetic, and all a little bit mucky - and I like that.







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Yucky Slime

Most people won't like this. It's not the best way to start a blog post, but it's true. There's lo-fi, there's noisy, and then there's Yucky Slime bringing it to a whole new level. For those that can handle the fidelity (these demos were recorded in a shed...) and the feedback and the shouting, though, there's lots to love about the London band. For instance: it's fun, it's urgent, it's exciting, it's energetic, it doesn't really give a shit, it'll make you want to jump up and down and spin round round round, and - much like Jay Reatard or Wavves - below the noise you'll find some ace hooks and melodies. Plus, I can rarely resist a sing-along "wooh-ooh-ooh-ooh" (see: 'Battlegasm').

Again, most people won't like this. But then, most music is shite and this isn't, so who cares?







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Entertainment

Judging a band by one song alone is a bit of a risky business. Granted, judging them on two recordings isn't much better, but hearing that second song does give you a better feel as to how they sound, as well as easing any fears of a lack of consistency.

I first heard London's Entertainment when they sent me 'You're Still In Me' a month ago to the day. Apparently only a demo, it's that same kind of distorted, fuzzy pop we've been hearing (and, indeed, I've been blogging) a lot of in the past few years and - for a band who barely seemed old enough to have even decided upon a name - it was certainly a strong introduction with a really nice chorus.

And last night came 'Shine' - more of the same in terms of the noisy, 90s-ish, guitar-led sound but already a step up in quality, it's a really assured sound for a band so young. And I'm always a sucker for the "oohs". Hear both tracks for yourself below.





Edit: fixed SoundCloud embeds.





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The Hundredth Anniversary

I want you all to close your eyes for a second. Actually, don't do that. Then you wouldn't be able to read. Okay, instead of closing your eyes, just pause for a moment and imagine what a band formed just four months ago would sound like. Okay, paused? Imagined? Alright. Well let go of that thought now because, well, you're wrong. It's not calatamous or sloppy or at all shite.

Instead it's rather quite glorious, going by Brighton four-piece The Hundredth Anniversary, at least. The band may have only played their first live show a matter of weeks ago, and might have only got around to recording a handful of tracklss so far, but judging from 'Slip' - the only song available online at this stage - there's certainly plenty of reason to be excited. It's brooding and it's warm and it's fuzzy and it's beautiful. They're due to release a split cassette with GUM and Tyrannosaurus Dead through Reeks of Effort on June 30.



Edit: fixed SoundCloud embed:





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Video: YRRS - Mob Life

Not one to be usually too fussed about videos, this one comes with a brand new song and some good news from YRRS - so it seemed more than worthy of a few words. The noisy guitar/drums two-piece from New Milton/Christchurch (who knows... somewhere on the south coast of England) are back with 'Mob Life', another driving, distorted pop effort that grips you (well, it gripped me) from the off. They're a really good live band and the drummer is 17 years old. The drummer is 17 years old. It seemed worth mentioning twice.

It's due to be released on a split 7" with Honeyslide through Keep It Yours Records (who have previously released a split with The Babies) on June 25. Honeyslide's contribution 'Made For You' is top too - you can hear both tracks below.

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Gorgeous Bully - I'm A Little Worried

Plymouth artist Gorgeous Bully has been on a few bloggers' radars for a while now (BF first featured him six months back.), and his easily accessible lo-fi pop sound is certainly pleasing on the ear. But if there was one negative thing you could say about musician Thomas Crang's sound was that it can at times be a little too easy. As good as tracks like 'Quiet House' (taken from the Art Is Hard-released 'The Young Obese' EP) are, his sound can sometimes feel there's something lacking.

You might expect that from a musician writing songs on his own in his bedroom at the rate that he does - but his latest track lifts Crang to a whole new level. 'I'm A Little Worried' - which features on the latest beko release - has that same kind of lo-fi, scruffy sound blanketing his catchy pop melodies, but adds a little more texture and emotion. The results: listen for yourself.



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