Sunday, November 01, 2015

Feel good hits of the 1st November

1. 'Nothing In My Heart' - Marissa Nadler
July has been back on heavy rotation of late, and this, the track with which it signs off, is spinetinglingly good. I won over a couple of new converts while away with friends at the weekend - or, should I say, she did.

2. 'Lights Out' - Angel Olsen
Burn Your Fire For No Witness has also come back off the shelf recently, 'Lights Out' being the current flavour of the month - one of the slow-burners that she does so well.

3. 'Priestess' - Pumarosa
I know next to nothing about this lot except that the esteemed editor of Nightshift caught them recently and enthused about the way they blew everyone else off stage. 'Priestess' is quite something - graceful and hypnotic, subtle in its use of drones, not dissimilar to Oxford's own Foals or Maiians, though perhaps most closely resembling the languid trancey-dance of 'Disco/Very', the standout track on Warpaint's second album.

4. 'The Answer' - Savages
"Evil" and "very heavy, very mean" were just two of the ways Savages described their new material to Rolling Stone back in May. 'The Answer' is more than enough proof that they weren't lying. Clearly the time they've spent working with Bo Ningen has had an effect. The album Adore Life is out on 22nd January and you can be damn sure I'll be buying it.

5. 'Golden Lion' - The Besnard Lakes
22nd January is also marked in the diary for the fact that the quietly quite wonderful Besnard Lakes release their latest magnum opus - bearing the characteristically preposterous title A Coliseum Complex Museum - on the same day. 'Golden Lion', released this month on an EP, is essentially a condensed version of everything they do so bloody well.

6. 'Elegy To The Void' - Beach House
No sooner had Beach House released Depression Cherry than they were announcing a follow-up, Thank Your Lucky Stars. I don't have either yet, but this delicious taster of the latter suggests that it certainly wasn't a half-arsed rush job.

7. 'Grievances' - Kowloon Walled City
I would have struggled to imagine how Shellac and Codeine could possibly be synthesised into something that not only works but that is the sum of its parts, were it not for Pitchfork helpfully pointing me in the direction of Kowloon Walled City and this track in particular.

8. 'Faultlines' - Lanterns On The Lake
Yet another SWSL favourite back with a new album, soldiering on in the face of criminal indifference. Maybe this track or the album itself, Beings, will finally propel them to receive the recognition they deserve.

9. 'Sunny Side Up' - Faith No More
To be honest, I've been enjoying this mostly for the video - pensioners running riot in a care home, in a knowing commentary on the band members' veteran status - though the song isn't bad either.

10. 'Don't Sit/Lie' - Erase Errata
Another one of those bands who've have passed me by until now, when I've learned they're calling it quits. Pretty shameful on my part, really, given the obvious Sleater-Kinney influence on their itchy, febrile punk.

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