Morrissey‘s long awaited autobiography was finally released yesterday via Penguin Books following hiccups with his chosen publishers just days before the original release date last month. Supposedly a last minute content disagreement occurred between The Smiths’ frontman and his publisher, but who knows if this was just a publicity stunt to keep us all awake. Regardless, the book is sure to be fascinating as Mozzer’s big mouth finds it difficult to keep stuff in. Put it on your Christmas list.
Destruction Unit
Deep Trip
(Sacred Bones Records)
Destruction Unit are without doubt the most exciting cacophony of vicious rock n’roll noise I have heard in quite some time. Hailing from Arizona, Destruction Unit sound like the exact moment a group of young hardcore punk kids put aside their Minor Threat and 7-Seconds records, dropped LSD into their Kool Aid and cranked up Hawkwind to head-melting volume.
Opening track ‘The World On Drugs’ is a shockingly brutal statement of intent; a squealing barrage of feedback opens the track, building in intensity and noise, getting louder and louder, swirling and pulsating, until from out of nowhere a double snare crack signals the start of the best punk rock riff possibly EVER and slams you right between the eyes. From that moment, chaos and bedlam ensures, as each track takes turns to pulsate and pulverise. ‘Bumpy Road’ is a broody, moody piece that ebbs and flows and throbs, getting increasingly louder and more intense until you can physically feel a wet sensation in your ears. You check with the tip of your fingers. It’s blood.
‘Night Loner’ sounds like Loop fed through a meat grinder, whilst ‘The Church Of Jesus Christ’ is utterly menacing and foreboding. In short, ‘Deep Trip’ is no easy listen. It’s dark, scary, aggressive and harsh. And very, very exciting.
Catch them live in the UK this month.
James Sherry
Blessa
‘Between Times’
No Self Records
It’s satisfying when you stumble across a new band, and even more so when they’re out on a brand new label. ‘Between Times’ is the debut single from Sheffield five piece Blessa. Due for release on new London indie No Self Records from November 11th.
Produced by MJ from Hookworms, who’s already built a fine reputation for himself working with some of the finest new bands out there right (now like Joanna Gruesome and Crows) ‘Between Times‘ is full of shiny, shimmering vocal inflections matched with some watery licks, a reaction to the current music emerging from their hometown. Offering an alternative to the garage rock and punk influenced acts surrounding them, the band say they draw inspiration from New York School poets such as Frank O’Hara and John Ashbery rather than the musical contemporaries you’d suspect. This being the result of front woman Olivia and guitarist Alex studying English Lit together at University, soaking up all the poetry and prose that was thrown at them at the time. This is refreshing to hear considering most find it virtually impossible to describe music without listing some iconic bands from the past.
If this debut single is anything to go by it looks like Blessa are on to something good and are sure to feature on numerous ‘one’s to watch for 2014’ lists. Grab this 7″ from November 11th.
Celebrating the success and critical acclaim of his debut album 2, Mac Demarco announced today he is to embark on a world tour, October through December. The Montreal song smith and his band make the most pleasing surf tinged indie psych and there’s only one UK date on this tour so make sure you don’t miss out.
Dates:
10-28 London, England, UK – Scala
10-29 Antwerp, Belgium – Trix Bar
10-30 Caen, France – Nordik Impakt Festival
10-31 Paris, France – Pitchfork Paris Festival
11-01 Amsterdam, Netherlands – London Calling Festival at Paradiso
11-02 Reykjavik, Iceland – Iceland Airwaves Festival
11-08 Austin, TX, US – Fun Fun Fun Festival
11-21 Québec City, QC, Canada – Le Cercle
11-22 Chicoutimi, QC, Canada – Le Sous Bois
11-23 Montreal, QC, Canada – M for Montreal
11-24 Toronto, ON, Canada – The Hoxton
11-29 Beijing, China – MAO Livehouse
11-30 Shanghai, China – Yuyintang
12-01 Hong Kong, China – Clockenflap Festival
12-04 Taipei, Taiwan – The Wall
12-06 Bangkok, Thailand – Cosmic RCA
12-07 Singapore – Home Club
12-09 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – The Bee
12-11 Melbourne, Australia – The Corner Hotel
12-12 Sydney, Australia – The Standard
12-14 Meredith, Victoria, Australia – Meredith Music Festival
12-18 Brisbane, Queensland, Australia – The Zoo
12-19 Perth, Western Australia, Australia – The Bakery
Today, indie slackers Scott and Charlene’s Wedding reveal the video for new single ‘Jackie Boy’.
This is the first official music video from their Any Port In A Storm album and features main man Craig Dermody with the gloves on in a full motion picture. Dressed in a full Rocky Balboa tracksuit, Dermody runs up those famous steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, pummeling sides of beef, bobbing and weaving his way about town on a boxing themed adventure. Click play and enjoy. To see Dermody with the gloves off, read our take on Any Port In A Storm here.
Danny Brown
Old
Fools Gold
Danny Brown is a ridiculous human being, as latest album ‘Old’ attests. If you were to draw a pie chart of the lyrical content of this album, you’d basically be looking at a 50/50 split between drug talk and sex talk with the two overlapping somewhere in between. Hang on, maybe a Venn diagram would be more appropriate. It’s certainly not subtle in that respect and Danny’s lyrical reputation as crude and lewd (albeit smart and unique) remains intact. Yet the production, as much as it is big and bold at times , is also nuanced and thoughtful. The guest spots are varied and interesting, solidifying Brown’s foray into indie-pop with production and contribution from blog-tastic Purity Ring (remember when he appeared on a remix of Belispeak?) as well as Charli XCX appearing.
Danny also stays true to his hip hop cred and potential scope to start appealing to a wider audience in that world with the likes of A$AP Rocky, Schoolboy Q & Ab-Soul also cropping up with admirable turns. He continues his love affair with UK grime and the underbelly of the London scene too with a positively candescent verse from Londoner Scruffizer in ‘Dubstep’. This track and the next ‘Dip’ (featuring an almost tourettes-like use of the word mollie and a mind-bending use of dark, dirty and driving electronic beats) make for one of the most compelling track pairings in recent times. They each sound unique in their own way yet the flow from one to the other is seamless and compelling. Producer SKYWLKR done good there.
Danny Brown was recently quoted as saying that he uses his signature high-pitched rapping voice when it’s party / happy time and a lower tone for the more serious moments in his music. For those accustomed to “party” Danny, the lower-pitched moments of ‘Old’ will throw you. He literally sounds like a different person and you can’t be blamed for wondering who is guesting on some of the tracks near the start of the album when really that’s just Danny’s serious side coming to the fore. There are certainly dark points and the production is oftentimes ominous in its mood, despite the overall good times vibe. Plus, you can’t help but feel dirty listening to some of those lyrics. But when party Danny is in full flow, you can’t help but want to party with Danny Brown. His live performances are already stuff of party legend.
Unquestionably one of the albums of the year.
Winegums
Seeing Buzz Osbourne leading a herd of kids towards an Ice Cream van before bursting into a cover of ‘Graveyard’ by the Butthole Surfers is quite an unexpected sight. But it happened in August in the middle of Chicago’s Humboldt Park. Why this Ice Cream meets noise collaboration occurred we are unsure But the Surfers’ own bassist Jeff Pinkus showed up for the party too in this rad new clip.
The Melvins are set to release a brand new album, Tres Cabrones, featuring original drummer Mike Dillard in November, keep your ear to the ground for updates.
Released on New York indie, What’s Your Rupture?, Tally All The Things That You Broke is the latest from Brooklyn’s finest four, Parquet Courts. A follow up EP to the debut album Light Up Gold, which we stumbled upon earlier this year, has been highly anticipated in Crossfire HQ and it doesn’t disappoint. Stream the five tracks below.
Yuck
Glow and Behold
Fat Possum
East Londoners Yuck are back with a brand new album called Glow and Behold this month, but this time around something’s changed.
The departure of frontman and lead vocalist Daniel Blumberg earlier this year left most with the feeling that it could have been the end of Yuck, as Blumberg’s vocal style and loosely strummed chords grabbed everyone by the balls back in 2011 and spearheaded a welcome resurgence of shoegaze and slacker rock into the British scene. If memory serves, it was only four months ago that Yuck announced their frontman’s departure. For a band to come to terms with the loss of such an important part of their signature sound, hunt for a worthy replacement and then record a whole album seemed like an impossible task, but Yuck have bounced back in style regardless of such changes and delivered a beautifully crafted follow up.
Glow and Behold opens in an unexpected nonexplosive way. Easing into the guitar-led groove of ‘Sunrise in Maple Shade’, the band set the tone for the next 45 minutes with a sea of laid back grunge and driving tracks that bring the summer back in to this Autumnal stage of the year. Never abrasive, but at the same time totally immersed in noise, Glow and Behold feels like a progression for Yuck and proves that despite the challenge, they have pulled off the inevitable..
The production is more interesting in contrast to their self-produced and home recorded 2011 debut. All the instruments sit in the mix together rather than a wave of over-driven guitar jumping out at you. There’s exciting instrumentation that you don’t expect to hear in a Yuck album too, like the horn section in ‘Middle Sea’ and ‘How Does it Feel’, or the organ that resonates underneath ‘Somewhere’ and ‘Nothing New’. It’s by no means a soft record though, Yuck still retain the aspect of ‘cool’ that you want from a guitar-led rock band, despite the change in their sound.
After a little help from Google it became apparent that new frontman, Max Bloom had been working on Glow and Behold well before Yuck’ s debut was released and I can totally hear that in the songs. They sound complete and well formed, in contrast to the more spontaneous sounding tracks of their debut but you will have to judge that for yourself.
Glow and Behold is made up of 11 strong tracks of guitar-led goodness. If you’re looking for a slice of true melodic grunge this is the album for you. Look out for it on September 30th via Fat Possum Records.
Dave Palmer
The Dismemberment Plan are headed across the pond this November to play one of their first UK shows since reforming. They’re at the Electric Ballroom on Tuesday 26th November, tickets are cheap and you can buy them