POND have shared a new song called ‘Lights of Leeming’. It’s set to appear on the deluxe edition of their 2021 album 9 alongside three previously unreleased tracks. Check out a visual of ‘Lights of Leeming’ below.
“‘Lights Of Leeming’ is a true story about the crushing boredom of suburbia and the wild and destructive things people do to break the monotony,” frontman Nicholas Allbrook explained in a statement. “To see that there’s at least something you can do to affect your surroundings — to be seen and validated as a real, existent part of the world — even if it’s just breaking something or getting in trouble. It’s pretty dumb fun, but dumb fun is important, right?”
The deluxe version of 9 features etching and a holographic gatefold sleeve, as well as a 12-page booklet. It’s out May 20 via Spinning Top Records.
Julia-Sophie has shared a new EP called it feels like thunder, her first release on Beat Palace Records, the new imprint founded by Metronomy’s Anna Prior. Listen to the three-song project below.
“It’s about ending the ending, the last time you’re going to speak to someone you love,” the Oxford-based musician said of the EP’s lead single, ‘Dial Your Number’. “You know, even though you don’t want something to end but you can’t see any other way out. I was trying to use that heavy, almost tribal drum beat to reflect that punch in the gut feeling. It’s pretty relentless, it makes it hard for you to breathe and expresses how I feel really deep inside.”
Of the second track, ‘Not Beautiful’, Julia-Sophie commented: “I only do depressive shit because that’s what’s in me, I’m afraid. Life doesn’t always have to be beautiful. By trying to make everything perfect we’re setting ourselves up for a fall.”
Talking about closer ‘Video Game’, she said: “I guess I wanted to show a vulnerable side, which was really exposing, with all my hurt, fragility and longing. It’s a bit of a nod to my roots, my singer-songwriter background, because I love writing songs. It’s pretty open, vulnerable, and is imbued with feelings of solitude in the opening half of the song. I loved playing with the production and structure of what could have been a very straight up acoustic song, I wanted to really play with the idea of being open and vulnerable verses that safety, the sheen we can all hide behind. The world is this relentless fucking beating machine, and I’m trying to put the human back in. I’m trying to find the human inside me too and not just become a machine.”
it feels like thunder follows Julia-Sophie’s y? and </3 EPs, which came out in 2020 and 2021 respectively.
Francis of Delirium are back with a new single called ‘The Funhouse’. Accompanied by a self-directed video, the track comes ahead of the band’s debut US tour supporting The Districts, which kicks off next week. Check it out below.
“The Funhouse is largely about how we are adapting to the chaos that is present in our everyday lives,” Jana Bahrich explained in a press release. “The way it can feel that the world is crashing down around us and in order to protect ourselves, we become numb to the sheer terror of it all. Sort of like walking through a funhouse and attempting to remain unphased by the mayhem that surrounds you.”
W. H. Lung have shared a new music video for ‘Kaya’, a track from their second album Vanities. It arrives alongside news that the group will head to Austin in March for SXSW and play their biggest headline show to date at London’s Village Underground on November 2. They’ve also announced a string of EU dates and rescheduled their sold-out shows in Manchester and Glasgow. Watch the Craig McLaughlin-directed video for ‘Kaya’ and find the list of dates below.
“The original thought behind any creative venture begins life as a feeling, a sensation, which the artist then fumbles into the physical world,” singer Joesph Evans said in a statement. “Original inspiration for this video came from David Hockney’s timelapse iPad paintings. The creature who is chased into the studio is inspired by the Japanese movement art of Butoh.”
Mar 16 – British Music Embassy, Licks Party, SXSW Official – Austin, Texas
Mar 17 – Hotel Vegas, Fire Records Party, SXSW Official – Austin, Texas
Mar 18 – The Green Jay, SXSW Official – Austin, Texas
Apr 1 – Strange Waves O2 Ritz – Manchester
May 26 – Dauwpop – Hellendoorn, Netherlands
Jun 11 – Long Division Festival – Wakefield
Jun 19 – Pinkpop Festival – Landgraaf, Netherlands
Jul 14 – The Lanes – Bristol
Jul 16 – Gorilla – Manchester
Jul 17 – Hug & Pint – Glasgow
Jul 18 – Hug & Pint – Glasgow
Jul 24 – Bluedot Festival, Jodrell Bank Observatory
Sep 24 – Float Along Festival – Sheffield
Nov 2 – Village Underground – London
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever have released ‘Tidal River’, the second single from their upcoming album Endless Rooms. The track follows lead offering ‘The Way It Shatters’ and arrives with an accompanying video directed by Nick Mckk. Check it out below.
“‘Tidal River’ is a little snapshot of living in a place at a time when it feels like there is no-one at the wheel,” Tom Russo explained in a statement. “If there were a complacency Olympics, Australia would win gold by a mile. In the ‘lucky country’, the luckiest ones jealously guard their fortune, as if it will disappear if they share it around. There is so much potential to do better, but it sometimes seems like progress is two steps forward, two steps back. Tidal River is located in what Europeans named Wilsons Promontory, where the river meets the ocean. It has great significance for the Gunai/Kurnai and Boonwurrung peoples, who call it Yiruk and Wamoon respectively. No matter the struggles and politics that go on, the river keeps churning into the sea.”
Live Nation Entertainment, the world’s largest concert promoter, is ceasing all business activity with Russia in the wake of the country’s invasion of Ukraine. “Live Nation joins the world in strongly condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” the company wrote in a statement. “We will not promote shows in Russia, and we will not do business with Russia. We’re in the process of reviewing our vendors so we can cease work with any and all Russian-based suppliers.”
The news came the same day that Spotify announced plans to close its Russia offices indefinitely. “We are deeply shocked and saddened by the unprovoked attack on Ukraine,” a Spotify spokesperson said in a statement yesterday. “Our first priority over the past week has been the safety of our employees and to ensure that Spotify continues to serve as an important source of global and regional news at a time when access to information is more important than ever.”
A number of musicians have also canceled their scheduled appearances in Russia, including HEALTH, The Killers, Iggy Pop, Nick Cave, Green Day, Louis Tomlinson, and more.
Turnstile took the Jimmy Kimmel Live stage last night (March 2), delivering a performance of ‘Mystery’, the lead single off their 2021 LP Glow On. The Baltimore-based band also played ‘Blackout’, ‘Don’t Play’, and ‘Holiday’ as a web exclusive. Watch it below.
Glow On was released last August and landed on our 50 Best Albums on 2021 list. Turnstile are currently on tour in support of the album, which will keep them on the road until July. The band made its television debut on Late Night With Seth Meyers back in December, played a ‘Tiny Desk (Home) Concert’ for NPR in January, and recently shared a video for ‘Underwater Boi’.
The Linda Lindas have released a new song, ‘Talking to Myself’, taken from their forthcoming debut album Growing Up. The track comes with an accompanying Ryan Baxley-directed video that pays homage to the classic Twilight Zone episode ‘Living Doll’. Check it out below.
“The song is about the spiral you go into when you’re lonely,” the band’s Lucia de la Garza explained in a statement. “You start to question yourself and all the decisions you’ve made. I’m always looking back on conversations and going, ‘Oh, I should have said this, I should have said that”. But it’s also about needing other people, not just for reassurance, but because we’ve all learned from the pandemic that you need other people to talk to in order to stay sane.”
Pixies have returned with a new song called ‘Human Crime’. The track arrives with an accompanying video directed by bassist Paz Lenchantin and filmed at Santa Monica’s Gold Diggers Bar and the San Pedro abandoned bunkers. Watch and listen below.
“The storyline is loosely based on an ‘inside joke’ between Charles and me about going on tour,” Lenchantin said in a statement. “How we go through a door from our reality state into the altered state of becoming and being a Pixie.”
‘Human Crime’ follows Pixies’ 2020 single ‘Hear Me Out’. Their most recent album was 2019’s Beneath the Eyrie.
New York label Fire Talk is reissuing three early Tonstartssbandht LPs: 2009’s An When and Dick Nights, and 2011’s Hymn. The albums are out now digitally, with physical editions arriving on July 15. It’s the first time ever that the latter two albumswill receive vinyl pressings. To mark the announcement, the brother duo of Andy and Edwin White have shared a video for the 2009 track ‘5ft7, which features live performance footage from the era in which the records were made. Check it out below.
“We self-released these three albums in the early days of Tonstartssbandht, our cherished ‘Montreal era,’” Tonstartssbandht said in a statement. “They were made in the late aughts and early ’10s, over a period of time when we first started to feel like a real band. Working at times both separately and together, we began to feed all of our energy into this new project, witnessing our own style begin to evolve, and putting our faith in each other that this is what we want to do.”
Last year, Tonstartssbandht released their first album in four years, Petunia.
