New music from University, The Orchestra (For Now), YHWH Nailgun, Ideal Living, tall child, AtticOMatic, Sunglasz Vendor and Babe Rainbow.
Kicking off March, we’re back with a bumper set of vital new releases for you to check out. Including established favourites like Ideal Living, The Orchestra (For Now) and University, the list is completed by exciting relative newcomers Sunglasz Vendor, new Sad Club Records signee tall child, and more!
University – ‘Massive Twenty One Pilots Tattoo’
From their farcical onstage antics to the raw, rabid intensity of their songs, UNIVERSITY possess a quality that feels intangibly singular to them in the current alternative landscape. On their new single, ‘Massive Twenty One Pilots Tattoo’, the Crewe band and Transgressive signees catapult together the rugged, breakneck foundations of emo and hardcore, erupting with a similar energy to the flailing, beer-soaked limbs that jostle into a state of bruised elation inside the mosh pit. Supposedly gaining its title from a game of “what would be the worst tattoo in the world”, the track’s furious cacophony of elements succumbs to the precariousness of its rhythm and structure in a way that captures both the rowdy abandon of young manhood and the latent fragilities that accompany it. (Hazel Blacher)
The Orchestra (For Now) – ‘The Strip’
Dazzling with their signature baroque maximalism, ‘The Strip’ is the latest taster of the debut EP from The Orchestra (For Now). An insistent piano riff attempts to pin down a spiralling tune, competing with whizzing violins and tense scraps of lyrics. Eventually the chaos takes over, the music a jolting, industrial downward spiral. Bursts of clarity, however, built around tightly arranged staccato bursts from the whole band acting as one, the guiding order of any composition from this band firmly asserted. (Lloyd Bolton)
YHWH Nailgun – ‘Animal Death Already Breathing’
The bonkers Brooklyn outfit YHWH Nailgun have returned with another visceral piece of experimental vehement art-rock. ‘Animal Death Already Breathing’ is the latest release ahead of the band’s debut album ‘45 Pounds’, set for release later this month via AD93. A percussion-heavy cacophony, YHWH Nailgun’s gloriously gloomy realm of industrial noise is once again present, capturing the essence of their blistering live show. The New Yorkers will also be returning to the UK very soon, playing the Institute of Contemporary of Arts in London 2nd April, with buzzy Brigthon folk-garage-rock The New Eves joining the line-up for a double dose of exciting acts from each side of the Atlantic. (Brad Sked)
Ideal Living – ‘March’
No strangers to boldness, beauty nor fastidiousness in everything they do, from the devastating fervidity of their live performances to the multidisciplinary grandeur of their collective output, Brighton’s Ideal Living are perhaps one of the most ambitious and exciting new projects to emerge from the buzzing coastal city of late. ‘March’ is the focus track from their debut EP ‘This Big House’, out today via Crafting Room Recordings, and sees the 7-strong group making their triumphant ascent to a cloudless, emancipatory summit, via the track’s lilting slopes of winding, dynamic art-rock. Lyrically ‘March’ touches on ways of “finding comfort and happiness” in the modern day “social-media driven world” that we live in, and, coloured further by the timbral smorgasbord of both orchestral and rock instrumentation that demarcates their sound, the track makes for further evidence that Ideal Living are a group worthy of adding to your ‘must check out’ list in thick, permanent marker. (Hazel Blacher)
tall child – ‘Stupid Body’
Sad Club Records have announced the signing of South London indie rock artist tall child. The song speaks of the careening indie Americana of standard-setters like Sharon von Etten and Alvvays, though it is made by stranger elements make for something impressively unique, guitars squalling unpredictably over chords that yank the song away from any predictability. This in turn upholds the vitality of the lyrics, a frustrated elucidation of tall child’s experience as a disabled person, coming up against the ignorance of doctors and struggles with body image. The asthmatic guitar sound, reminiscent of Courtney Barnett’s ‘Avant Gardener’, is the cherry on top with this piece, and perfectly underscores the tension and pain of the lyrics. (Lloyd Bolton)
AtticOMatic – ‘Wait’
Fraught with the street-lit motion of an aimless midnight drive, blistering over the tarmac until the nervous system quells, AtticOMatic’s latest single ‘Wait’ situates itself firmly on the grid of all-guitars-blazing indie rock, whilst simultaneously flirting with a gentler dream-pop ethereality. Much like the yin and yang nature of the human experience, the track captures the emotional tumult that often follows fleeting moments of calm and tranquillity as it flits turbulently between thick, frantic guitar sludge and sparse, dulcet noodling. ‘Wait’ is taken from AtticOMatic’s upcoming debut EP ‘Fold The World’, due for release on the 9th of May, and is rooted lyrically in the perspective of a neurodivergent relationship, exploring “how overwhelming love sometimes feels”. (Hazel Blacher)
Sunglasz Vendor – ‘Ice Cream Tubs’
Sunglasz Vendor have that magic that is unique to indie music of making all things feel possible and accessible. Their new single ‘Ice Cream Tubs’ illustrates this with rambling vocals and simple choruses that Trojan Horse some bafflingly brilliant and original moments. We open with a lyrical ramble about stage chat anxieties, the music wonky without falling into simple post-punk revivalism or the tidiness associated with jangle rock. Then just as it seems to have settled into the exchanges of verse and chorus, a wild guitar solo takes us in a completely new direction. The rambling verse then returns, the singer Rafi Cohen cast as a depressingly irrelevant supervillain. Just as the musuc threatens to wind down, we are hit with a surprising, chant-fuelled finale. The spirit of Camper van Beethoven is perhaps the best point of comparison for this peculiar and wonderful take on indie music and its breadth of possibilities. (Lloyd Bolton)
Babe Rainbow – ‘Aquarium cowgirl’
Released via p(doom Records) being King Gizzard of Lizard Wizard’s own imprint, Byron Bay beach chillers Babe Rainbow are back once again with ‘Aquarium cowgirl’. The single is a shimmering delightful treat, where the the group’s breezy, balmy, late morning sounds have been parked, and instead delve into some neon-like, honeyed, 80s-style pop for the muggy summer late nights. Of the single, vocalist Angus Downing states “‘Aquarium cowgirl’ is the dreamcatcher kinda song off the album. It’s about my own personal spiritual awakening and all the learning in that.” The quietly prolific outfit have also shared a visualiser, filmed at the Rainbow Temple at Rosebank in Australia. (Brad Sked)