Hello music lovers! 🎶
Last Friday I skipped the new song releases, I was more busy with the Spotify playlist #newtunes2023, where I've collected all this year's #newtunes.
So now I had a lot more music to choose from. And, maybe some of this will fill your weekend and the days ahead.
Most of them are lesser-known artists who are just trying to find their place under the musical sun, and if you have a few minutes to spare, you can support them just by listening.
If you don't like something, skip it.
Music4life!
The Jesus And Mary Chain - Cracking Up
A pleasant surprise from this Scottish alternative rock band that laid the foundations for the shoegaze and noise rock subgenres. In March 2024 they will release a new album, Glasgow Eyes, their eighth in a row and their first after a seven-year hiatus. Songs have already started to appear on all streaming platforms and this one, Cracking Up, is promising. Rhythmic minimalism and a venomous guitar riff that burns into your ears and head for a while.
But are we witnessing a return to the 80s? Maybe.
Tee Vee Repairmann - People (Everywhere I Go)
What else is missing from a man who plays in five or six bands? A solo project, of course! Behind the nickname, Tee Vee Repairmann is Ishka Edmeades, a Sydney weirdo active in punk bands such as Gee Tee, Satanic Togas, Research Reactor Corporation, Set-Top Box, and Remote Control.
But Edmeades has gone one step further and put together a true power pop punk album inspired by genre-bending bands and the atmospheric garage songs of the sixties.
It's worth noting that Edmeades played and recorded all the instruments himself in his living room using a cassette recorder. A DIY production that suits the melodic tracks thematising the banalities of modern life and leisure in the urban jungle.
The KVB - Pictures of Matchstick Men
Nicholas Wood and Kat Day have been playing together since 2010 under the name KVB. This darkwave/shoegaze duo released their seventh album Artefacts (Reimaginings From The Original Psychedelic Era) earlier this year, one of the most interesting recent overviews of the rich legacy of British and American garage rock and early psychedelia from 1965-1968.
They didn't bother too much with nostalgia, but very carefully developed a retro-futuristic concept in which old psychedelic colorfulness was adapted to monochromatic combinations, and sound images were digitized.
The song Pictures of Matchstick Men is an adaptation of an early Status Quo hit from 1968.
The Psychotic Monks - Crash
The French band The Psychotic Monks from Paris, France, is a new name for me and a surprise. They've been playing since 2015 and have released three albums, the last one this February called Pink Colour Surgery. I became aware of them when I watched a live recording in the KEXP studio a couple of days ago. At times they remind me of the early NiN.
Strange, subtle, and very good fusion of classic rock instruments and techno electronica in a hypnotic, dark, trembling, and fascinating atmosphere.
A good example of European avant-garde that challenges the sound in presenting the urban paranoia we live in.
Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys - Stereoscope (visual loop)
Lucy Kruger has South African roots and has been working in Berlin, Germany with The Lost Boys since 2014, releasing seven albums and one EP to date. The latest, Heaving, was released at the end of April this year. A new name for me and from listening I have the feeling that a new diva of the calibre of P.J.Harvey, Nico, or Siouxie is on the horizon. Twin Peaks pop-noir-noise like it came out of a Lynch movie. Visceral and unbounded exploration of sonic storytelling.
I will definitely follow her because I think she has a lot more to say.
Marina Herlop - La Alhambra
Marina Hernández López or Marina Herlop is a Catalan experimental pianist, vocalist, composer, and producer.
As a classically trained pianist, it's immediately apparent from Herlop's music that she knows the rules or theory well and is technically extremely precise, which is why it's a pleasure to hear her break those rules, play with them, and use them to her advantage.
Nekkuja is her second solo album, and the forest as a musical landscape is filled with layers and layers of magical vocal harmonies and field recordings - the chirping of birds and the subtle murmur of a forest stream, as well as rich orchestral pianos, harps, electric and acoustic guitar, and flute.
The first single from the album, La Alhambra, shows technical precision and mastery of music theory, but what fascinates is her remarkable vocal of almost opera-like range, with high samples of her voice, sighing as it develops into a rhythmic mantra of layered vocals and slowly dissolves into silence. It's difficult to describe, it's necessary to hear.
Iguana Death Cult - Paper Straws
Iguana Death Cult is band from Rotterdam, Nederland. They're not exactly newcomers, they're in their tenth year on the alt-indie scene, having released a couple of EPs and three albums. The last one, Echo Palace, released at the end of May this year, caught the attention of music critics and propelled them on tours in Europe and the US. They remind me of the Swedish Viagra Boys in their approach to music.
Melodic post-punk sound with a touch of psychedelics and a lot of guitars is present in all their songs. The sarcasm and humor in the lyrics take all this to an even higher level.
Giant Lungs - Ego
Giant Lungs is a rock band from Augsburg, Germany. Founded in 2022, and new band for me. I was attracted by their unique mix of stoner and desert rock, spiced with psychedelic guitars, tight bass, and sharp drums.
Everything in its place and as one of their Bandcamp followers said:
That nice fuzzy tone wrapped my maggot infested brain with like a warm tortilla on a chilly Texas morning.
Their only album to date is called, as a band, Giant Lungs, and you can download it for free.
I'll keep following them, I'm sure they have a lot more to show.
The Pogues - Dirty Old Town
Yesterday I heard that one of the most eminent performers of Celtic punk music, Shane MacGowan, best known as the lead singer of The Pogues, has died. He truly symbolized the genre, and he lived as he sang. Rest In Peace.
🎶That's all for today, enjoy in #newtunes!
I hope you liked something, and thank you for your attention.
If you're interested in #newtunes suggestions from the past four years, you can listen to them at these links - there are Spotify playlists for each year:
newtunes2019 | newtunes2020 | newtunes2021 | newtunes2022 | newtunes2023
If you like rare alternative live performances take a look at my recordings at Seckorama Music Podcast - audio or 3speak video channel.
And here's something else:
I post everything in the @ecency front-end. So I invite you to support Ecency Development And Maintenance #4 Proposal because I'd like to keep using it.
Thank you in advance.
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