Six months after the release of their debut single, London’s test plan unveil their follow up single/music video ‘Walking in a Vacuum’, out on 26th March.
Uniting ferocious guitar-driven havoc and pulsating rhythmic force, ‘Walking in a Vacuum’ delves into repression and avoidance in the face of life’s pressures. Loaded with hypnotic bass lines, resilient drum beats, raw, animated guitar hooks and propelled by manic and captivating vocals, test plan’s follow up single is a blast of existential despair and a love for intense volume.
“There’s a lot to be said for resilience in life, for grinning and bearing it.” says drummer / vocalistMax Mason. “This can become psychotic when you begin to actively deceive yourself. Moving down the wrong path, aware of each step making things worse. ‘[Walking in a] Vacuum’ dances with this notion of pushing your emotions down and letting the world swallow you up. It’s a dance song about over-thinking and surrender, when maybe you should be doing neither.”
Recorded and mixed by Darren Jones (Fat Dog, The Fall, Gorillaz) in the band’s own north-east London practice space, ‘Walking in a Vacuum’ captures test plan’s intense and visceral energy, matching the force seen in their live performances; pumping and scuzzy in equal measures, seamlessly treading between dancing and moshing.
The accompanying music video, filmed, edited, animated and directed in-house by Mason, captures the essence of the song’s themes; propulsion, horror and elation, surfacing the concepts of resilience in a world filled with chaos and uncertainty. Mason muses on the idea of surrendering to overwhelming forces of the world: “It was a deliberate effort to be artistic and wanted it to feel as if it were a performance art in a gallery space. It was an attempt to make something that looked sort of cursed or horrifying without actually doing anything blatantly to make it so. The animated touches were a way to add an extra layer of mysticism; colour and playfulness to our otherwise angsty performances.”
test plan are set for a busy year with their biggest headline show to date, an overseas summer tour starting at Paris’ Supersonic Block Party, a live session and a forthcoming EP. ‘Walking in a Vacuum’ will be released on 26th March with their headline single launch show on 29th March at Paper Dress Vintage with in violet and Brides.
Upcoming Live Dates:
29/03/24: Paper Dress Vintage, London (Single Launch)
18/04/24: Strongroom, London 24/05/24: Sebright Arms, London 01/06/24: Supersonic Black Party, Paris (FR) 06/06/24: Le Ravelin, Toulouse (FR) 07/06/24: Jokers, Angers (FR)
Keep your mind open.
[Why not walk on over to the subscription box while you’re here?]
Today we’re excited to introduce you to new Manchester-based band Duvet who are set to release a split 7″ ‘Girlcow / Sweaty Dog’ on October 6th via Fear of Missing Out Records. Today the band are sharing the first single “Girlcow“. Duvet’s jagged post-punk tales conjure sleazy cowboys, bone-dry badlands, and grotty indie discos in northern England.
Speaking about new single, the band said ‘“‘Girlcow’ is a song that includes a bit of fictional story telling about a confident cowboy pursuing a play girl bunny type character. The lyrics are a bit scattered, stream of conscious and all over the place, with the verse and chorus switching from the two perspectives. Given that, it only felt natural to write something that’s quite erratic to go with the words. It’s a very up and down song and that was kind of our intent, to put together something that’s slightly nauseating but still catchy.”
Self-released earlier this year, previously single “Rodeo” takes these markers and gallops full steam ahead, kicking up a dust storm of dissonance and teflon-tough drumming fortified by howls from lead singer Grace Walkden. The song lays into armchair activists who “jump on the rodeo” and “complain about topics they never actually act on”, according to the band.
First forming in 2022, Duvet dipped their toes in dream-pop and riot grrrl before landing on the driving basslines of post-punk. The band’s debut offering “Clown Clown Clown” cuts a hard-hitting figure of scabrous riot grrrl energy in thrall to the 1990s. Duvet assembled their current lineup of vocalist Grace Walkden, guitarists Tasmin Stephens and Seth Lloyd, bassist Jimmi Brown and drummer Victoria Melling and settled on a post-punk sound indebted to the genre’s new wave of artists like Shame, Warmduchser, and Viagra Boys.
Released as a split 7” with “Sweaty Dog,” new single “Girlcow” is flecked with specks of noisy grunge and was written from the perspective of “a pervy cowboy”. The haunting track showcases the band’s knack for crafting stories, as they flip the script and hand over the narrative reins to a female protagonist. “We all mutually find cowboys quite funny,” offers Tasmin Stephens. “I think we all live through cowboys – somehow.”
On the flipside, “Sweaty Dog” channels the band’s cider-drenched commitment to having a good time. The propulsive track is “basically just about being really sweaty and dancing”, according to Walkden. Meanwhile, guitarist Seth Lloyd has designs on transforming “Sweaty Dog” into a dance. “There are sweaty dogs inside all of us,” he jokes.
It’s this uninhibited sense of humour that shines through the band’s songwriting and at their riotous live shows with which they have been building their reputation over the past few years. “The reason we tend to write songs more of the fun side of life is because myself and Grace had many conversations at the start about how people only expect us to only talk/sing about harsh topics that affect a lot of women,” explains Stephens. “We tried it, but it didn’t work for us. Maybe in the future it will, but we came to the conclusion that we are here to have fun with the band and escape that side of life.”
“You come to the practice room with a smile on your face because this is meant to be fun, and that’s why we hopefully write songs that we think are fun,” says Lloyd. “We are here to distract from the shit things in life.”
UK-based quintet Squid present the new single, “Undergrowth,” from their sophomore album, O Monolith, out June 9th on Warp Records, the “Undergrowth”-inspired video game by Frank Force, and announce a North American Tour. Renowned for their unerring experimentation, Squid continue their idiosyncratic sonic journey with “Undergrowth,” where dubbed-out bass grooves under cinematic synth chops explode into bursts of guitar and frenetic brass. Through the radical meld of textures and tones, Squid drummer and vocalist Ollie Judgestill manages to create an earworm chorus, repeating “Ergonomic for the rest of my days, I’d rather melt melt melt melt melt melt away.” Themes of environmental peril, morality, and the natural world are all present on “Undergrowth” and further explored on the rest of O Monolith.
Judge explains, “I really got into animism, the idea that spirits can live in inanimate objects. I was watching Twin Peaks, and there was the episode where Josie Packard’s spirit goes into a chest of drawers. So ‘Undergrowth’ was written from the perspective of me being reincarnated as a bedside table in the afterlife, and how the thought of being reincarnated as an inanimate object would be dreadful. ‘This isn’t what I wanted/ So many options to be disappointed.’ Even though I’m in no way religious I don’t think anyone who isn’t religious is confident enough to not have had the fleeting thought of ‘Fuck, what if there is an afterlife? What if I’m going to Hell?’”
“Undergrowth” is accompanied by a visualizer directed by Squid’s Louis Borlase. In describing the story behind it, he says, “When we were writing O Monolith we rented a little studio in St Pauls and whichever way we’d walk home, the BRI Hospital chimney would always be standing there – jutting out in front of a disc of countryside beyond. Sometimes it feels like most folklore hides in the countryside’s nooks. At other times it comes in closer, lurking in the bins on the walk back from the shops.”
Additionally, today, the band unveil “Undergrowth,” the game! A bit like the bastardized love child of Super Mario and Space Invaders, with an English Folklore twist. Who’s gonna get the high score? Who’s gonna defeat the monolith? Creator Frank Force adds, “Imagine the game itself as an interactive music video where gameplay and animation is synched up to the music and changes as the song progresses, moving into different phases.”
Produced by long-time collaborator, Dan Carey, and mixed by John McEntire (of Tortoise), O Monolith teems with melodic epiphanies and is a musical evocation of environment, domesticity and self-made folklore. Like its predecessor, it is dense and tricksy – but also warmer, with a winding, questioning nature. Squid began work on O Monolith only two weeks after the release of Bright Green Field while the band were on tour in 2021. The songs continued to take shape in rehearsal rooms around Bristol, where the band were based at the time, eventually moving to Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios in Wiltshire. This change in environment further pushed the development of the band’s sound from claustrophobic post-punk to something more free-flowing and spacious. Although originating in Brighton and now largely based in South London, every member of the band has a strong connection with the West Country, which only deepened during the recording process. One interpretation of O Monolith is a condensation of the environment into song. “There’s a running theme of the relation of people to the environment throughout,” says Borlase. “There are allusions to the world we became so immersed in, environmental emergency, the role of domesticity, and the displacement you feel when you’re away for a long time.”
“Undergrowth” follows lead single “Swing (In A Dream)” which was recently added to BBC 6 Music’s A-List. As FADER commented, “[‘Swing (In A Dream)’] suggests their new album O Monolith will retain all of the intensity and sense of adventure that made their 2021 debut Bright Green Field essential listening for post-punk fans.” Indeed, like its namesake, O Monolith is vast and strange; alive with endless possible interpretations of its inner mysteries.
Squid have long been praised for their expansive must-see live show, touring extensively in support of Bright Green Fieldin 2021 and 2022. Following the band’s biggest UK and EU shows yet in support of O Monolith this fall, Squid will return to North America in 2024. This run sees them playing many cities for the first time. Tickets are on sale now.
Dry Cleaning share a new single/video, “No Decent Shoes for Rain,” off their upcoming album Stumpwork, out October 21st on 4AD. Following the recently released “Gary Ashby,” the group takes a more somber turn on “No Decent Shoes for Rain.” It begins with Florence Shaw’s vocals coiled tightly over woozy guitar and minimal percussion: “my poor heart is breaking.” Shaw says about the track; “’No Decent Shoes for Rain’ is inspired by grief, grief over past relationships, grief for loved ones who have died, and all the things that come with that; loneliness, numbness, yearning, ruminating about the past.” It shows Dry Cleaning in a more pared back state, not seen in their previous discography. The video is made of footage of the band in the studio at Rockfield and on tour.
Stumpwork was made in the aftermath of the death of two very important people to the band; bassist Lewis Maynard’s mother, and guitarist Tom Dowse’s grandfather. Both were instrumental in the band’s development, both in encouragement and, in the case of Maynard’s mother, literally providing the band with a place to rehearse. Shaw’s lyrics explore not only loss and detachment but all the twists and turns, simple joys and minor gripes of human experience too. Ultimately, what emerges from it all is a subtle but assertive optimism, and a lesson in the value of curiosity. Stumpwork is a heady mix that is entirely the band’s own, distinguishing it from anything produced by their contemporaries.
This fall, Dry Cleaning will tour across Europe. Following, they’ll play in Australia, and then embark on a lengthy run in the US. Then, they’ll return to Europe. Tickets for all shows are on sale now and a full list of dates can be found below.
Today, London-based quartet Dry Cleaning share “Gary Ashby,” the third single from their forthcoming sophomore album, Stumpwork, out October 21st on 4AD, & announce a worldwide headlining tour. “Gary Ashby” follows the travails of a beloved family tortoise lost in lockdown (“Have you seen Gary?”). Loaded with melodious hooks, the 2-minute jangle pop song is “a lament about a pet tortoise, escaped as a result of family chaos,” explains the band. “We wrote it in December 2020, one of the first new songs after the New Long Leg session.”
Tour dates for Dry Cleaning’s forthcoming world tour are listed below and tickets are on sale Wednesday, Sept. 14th at 10am local time. There will be a fan pre-sale for anyone signed up to the Dry Cleaning mailing list on Friday, Sept. 9th at 3pm EST.
Having already started writing their second record before New Long Legwas released, Nick Buxton, Tom Dowse, Lewis Maynard and Florence Shaw returned to Rockfield Studios with producer John Parish with the plan to spend twice as much time on the follow-up. Stumpwork is the result, and it is a heady mix that is entirely the band’s own, distinguishing it from anything produced by their contemporaries. Frontwoman Florence Shaw demonstrated increased spontaneity in the studio, improvising many of her lyrics straight on to the album. The lyrics are almost entirely observational, stemming from sources as varied as a quote from the artist Maggi Hambling, snippets from the press cuttings library of archivist Edda Tasiemka, and more. “I wrote about the things that preoccupied me over this period, like loss, masculinity, feminism, my mum, being separated from my partner for little stretches in the lockdown, lust,” she explains. “There were two murders of women in London that were extensively covered on the news, and the specific details of one of those murders were reported on whilst we were [in the studio]. That coverage influenced some of my writing and my state of mind.”
Stumpwork was made in the aftermath of the death of two very important people to the band as well, bassist Lewis Maynard’s mother, and guitarist Tom Dowse’s grandfather. Both were instrumental in the band’s development, both in encouragement and, in the case of Maynard’s mother, literally providing the band with a place to rehearse. “It’s of course devastating to lose close family members but their legacy in Dry Cleaning is wholly positive,” says Dowse. “The moments in the songs which are upbeat and joyful made me think of them both the most.” The breadth of influences on Stumpwork is dizzying, a definitive rebuke to those who might reduce Dry Cleaning as a post-punk band. Their music is bolder and more expansive, Shaw’s lyrics explore not only loss and detachment but all the twists and turns, simple joys and minor gripes of human experience too. Ultimately, what emerges from it all is a subtle but assertive optimism, and a lesson in the value of curiosity. As Shaw sings on “Kwenchy Kups,” “Things are shit, but they’re gonna be OK.”
DRY CLEANING TOUR DATES (new dates in bold) Sat. Sept. 17 – Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up Sun. Sept. 18 – Los Angeles, US @ Primavera Sound LA Tue. Sept. 20 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel Wed. Sept. 21 – San Jose, CA @ The Ritz Thu. Sept. 22 – Big Sur, CA @ Henry Miller Memorial Library Tue. Nov. 8 – Paris, FR @ Le Trabendo Wed. Nov. 9 – Cologne, DE @ Club Volta Fri. Nov. 11 – Utrecht, NL @ Le Guess Who? Festival Sat. Nov. 12 – Kortrijk, BE @ Sonic City Wed. Nov. 30 – Tokyo, JP @ Liquid Room Thu. Dec. 1 – Osaka, JP @ Club Quattro Tue. Dec. 6 – Auckland, NZ @ Tuning Fork Wed. Dec. 7 – Wellington, NZ @ San Fran Fri. Dec. 9 – Brisbane, AU @ The Brightside Sat. Dec. 10 – Meredith, AU @ Meredith Festival Mon. Dec. 12 – Melbourne, AU @ The Corner Hotel Tue. Dec. 13 – Melbourne, AU @ The Corner Hotel Wed. Dec. 14 – Sydney, AU @ Manning Bar Fri. Dec. 16 – Perth, AU @ Rosemount Hotel Tue. Jan. 10, 2023 – Montreal, QC @ La Tulipe Wed. Jan. 11, 2023 – Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Fri. Jan. 13, 2023 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall Sat. Jan 14, 2023 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Tue. Jan. 17, 2023 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Wed. Jan. 18, 2023 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune Thu. Jan. 19, 2023 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom Sat. Jan. 21, 2023 – San Francisco, CA @ August Hall Mon. Jan. 23, 2023 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom Tue. Jan. 24, 2023 – Tucson, AZ @ Congress Plaza Thu. Jan. 26, 2023 – Dallas, TX @ Texas Theatre Fri. Jan. 27, 2023 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk Sat. Jan. 28, 2023 – New Orleans, LA @ Toulouse Theatre Sun. Jan. 29, 2023 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West Tue. Jan. 31, 2023 – Washington, DC @ The Howard Theatre Wed. Feb. 1, 2023 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer Thu. Feb. 2, 2023 – Brooklyn, NY @ Pioneers Works Tue. Feb. 14, 2023 – Dublin, IE @ Vicar Street Wed. Feb. 15, 2023 – Belfast, UK @ Mandela Hall Fri. Feb. 17, 2023 – Glasgow, UK @ Barrowlands Sat. Feb. 18, 2023 – Leeds, UK @ O2 Academy Mon. Feb. 20, 2023 – Liverpool, UK @ Invisible Wind Factory Tue. Feb. 21, 2023 – Nottingham, UK @ Rock City Wed Feb. 22, 2023 – Sheffield, UK @ O2 Academy Fri. Feb. 24, 2023 – Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall Sat. Feb. 25, 2023 – Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institute Sun. Feb. 26, 2023 – Bristol, UK @ O2 Academy Tue. Feb. 28, 2023 – Cardiff, UK @ Tramshed Wed. March 1, 2023 – Brighton, UK @ Chalk Fri. March 3, 2023 – London, UK @ O2 Academy Brixton Mon. Mar. 13, 2023 – Copenhagen, DK @ VEGA Wed. Mar. 15, 2023 – Stockholm, SE @ Debaser Strand Thu. Mar. 16, 2023 – Oslo, NO @ Parkteatret Sat. Mar. 18, 2023 – Hamburg, DE @ Knust Sun. Mar. 19, 2023 – Groningen, NL @ Vera Mon. Mar. 20, 2023 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Tue. March 22, 2023 – Offenbach, DE @ Hafen2 Thu. Mar. 23, 2023 – Munich, DE @ Strom Fri. Mar. 24, 2023 – Vienna, AT @ Flex Fri. Mar. 25, 2023 – Prague, CZ @ Futurum Mon. Mar. 27, 2023 – Warsaw, PL @ Hybrydy Tue. Mar. 28, 2023 – Leipzig, DE @ UT Connewitz Wed. Mar. 29, 2023 – Berlin, DE @ Festsaal Kreuzberg Fri. Mar. 31, 2023 – Rotterdam, NL @ Maassilo Sat. Apr. 1, 2023 – Antwerp, BE @ Trix
Keep your mind open.
[Like Gary Ashby, you’re missing…from the subscription box.]
London-based band Dry Cleaning release a new single, “Anna Calls From The Arctic,” off their highly-anticipated sophomore album, Stumpwork, out October 21st on 4AD. On “Anna Calls From The Arctic,” Florence Shaw narrates an off-kilter conversation with a distant friend. The track is whacked-out and otherworldly. “The lyrics were partly inspired by phone calls with a friend who was living and working in the Arctic,” explain the band. ”The song developed from a keyboard, bass and clarinet jam. This then took shape during our pre-recording sessions with John Parish and Joe Jones in Bristol and finalized at Rockfield studios a month later, with some musical inspiration coming from the dramatic scores of John Barry. The song is observational and sensual.” Today’s visualizer features the band’s drummer, Nick Buxton, displaying perfect form while skating backwards.
Having already started writing their second record before 2021’s acclaimed New Long Leg was released, they proposed to producer John Parish that they spend twice as much time on the follow-up. Listen to the album and you can feel that increased boldness – vocals which coil tightly around deft and complex riffs, great meshes of instrumental texture and the willingness to launch into full-on abstraction. It is a heady mix that is entirely Dry Cleaning’s own, distinguishing it from their contemporaries.
Shaw demonstrated increased spontaneity in the studio, improvising many of her lyrics straight on to the album. The lyrics are almost entirely observational. There is one quote from the artist Maggi Hambling on the woozy title track, text from an old Macintosh computer virus on “Don’t Press Me,” and snippets from the press cuttings library of archivist Edda Tasiemka scattered throughout, but the use of ‘found lyrics’ employed in the band’s early years is now far in the past. “I wrote about the things that preoccupied me over this period, like loss, masculinity, feminism, my mum, being separated from my partner for little stretches in the lockdown, lust,” she continues, preoccupations from which wider political and social commentary emerges. “I think if you make something observational, which I think I do, it’s political,” Shaw says. “There were two murders of women in London that were extensively covered on the news, and the specific details of one of those murders were reported on whilst we were at Rockfield. That coverage influenced some of my writing and my state of mind.” The band’s instrumentation, too, may well reflect our increasingly bleak socio-political landscape, the way it can pick up intense and urgent momentum, or zone out into icy detachment.
The band’s loss of a number of loved family members over the last year would also have an impact on Stumpwork. Among them was bassist Lewis Maynard’s mother Susan, at whose home the band rehearsed in their early days, the location of which inspired the name of their debut EPBoundary Road Snacks And Drinks. On the day that the band appeared on Later With Jools Holland, she was in hospital and unable to receive visitors due to coronavirus restrictions. “It felt special that what we had achieved from the first record, could still entertain her and communicate with her while no one could see her,” says Maynard. New Long Leg was released a week before she passed away, so she was able to see it reach number four in the charts. “The success of the band became a distraction for the whole family while grieving. And it gave even more importance to what we are doing,” Maynard adds.
Stumpwork was made in the aftermath – they were in the studio writing the day before Susan died – but from their grief they found fuel for the record’s most joyous elements. “I see the album as a celebration of what she gave us and a reflection of how fortunate we were to know her,” says Buxton. Guitarist Tom Dowse also lost his grandfather who was extremely proud of the band’s success. “It’s of course devastating to lose close family members but their legacy in Dry Cleaning is wholly positive,” he says. “The moments in the songs which are upbeat and joyful made me think of them both the most.”
The breadth of influences on Stumpwork is dizzying, a definitive rebuke to those who might reduce Dry Cleaning as a post-punk band. Their music is bolder and more expansive, Shaw’s lyrics explore not only loss and detachment but all the twists and turns, simple joys and minor gripes of human experience too. Ultimately, what emerges from it all is a subtle but assertive optimism, and a lesson in the value of curiosity. As Shaw sings on “Kwenchy Kups,” “Things are shit, but they’re gonna be OK.”
DRY CLEANING TOUR DATES Sun. July 31 – Thirsk, UK @ Deer Shed Festival Sat. Aug. 6 – Katowic, PL @ OFF Festival Thu. Aug. 11 – Haldern, DE @ Haldern Pop Festival Fri. Aug. 19 – Crickhowell, UK @ Green Man Festival Thu. Aug. 25 – London, UK @ All Points East Sat. Aug. 27 – Manchester, UK @ Depot Mayfield w/ The National Sat. Sept. 17 – Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up Tavern Sun. Sept. 18 – Los Angeles, US @ Primavera Sound LA Tue. Sept. 20 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel Wed. Sept. 21 – San Jose, CA @ The Ritz Thu. Sept. 22 – Big Sur, CA @ Henry Miller Memorial Library Tue. Nov. 8 – Paris, FR @ Le Trabendo Wed. Nov. 9 – Cologne, DE @ Club Volta Fri. Nov. 11 – Utrecht, NL @ Le Guess Who? Festival Sat. Nov. 12 – Kortrijk, BE @ Sonic City
Coming out of the 2022 gate with strong chops and wit, Yard Act‘s The Overload has already set the bar high for post-punk albums (and ones in other genres, for that matter) to come.
The title track opens the record with a breakneck dance bass riff from Ryan Needham while lead singer James Smith sings about “The overload of discontent…The constant burden of making sense. It won’t relent.” Good grief, is he right. “Dead Horse” is a punch at Brexit and racism in England (“England, my heart bleeds. Why’d you abandon me? Yeah, I abandoned you, too, but we both know I wasn’t the one lied to, and I’m not scared of people who don’t look like me, unlike you.”)
“Payday” and “Rich” are a nice double-punch, both with crunchy guitar by Sam Shjipstone. “Payday” is all about getting rich on the efforts of others and getting away with it. “Rich” is a witty track about how wealth often brings misery and / or desire to become richer despite having everything you need.
“The Incident” seems to have Smith, Needham, Shjipstone, and drummer Jay Russell almost each playing their own song, but it somehow works and produces a funny tune about the different set of rules for CEOs and VIPs, even though their reputation and worth is built on illusions (“We’ve created rules that you can’t find in the book, a different type of prison for a different type of crook. Ever since the incident, my complete incompetence has been exposed to everyone and rendered me irrelevant.”)
“Witness (Can I Get a?)” is a fun punk riff on trying to get people to agree with whatever you’re yelling about at the time. “Land of the Blind” is a song about graft played with beats great for walking your dog, strutting to the ring, or working the catwalk. “Quarantine the Sticks” takes on both bad police and corporate practices. It reminds me of some of Sleaford Mods‘ stuff in its delivery and message.
“Tall Poppies” might have the hardest-hitting lyrics on the entire record as Smith spins a tale of a good joe who has a decent life and dies in his nice home, knowing he had a good run. It’s an allegory for everyone trying to make do with the hand they’ve been dealt and make the world a bit better in their own way (“We cry because children are dying across the sea, and there is nothing we can do about it. Whilst we benefit from the bombs they dropped, which we had no part in building. We are sorry, truly we are sorry. We are just trying to get by, too.”)
“Pour Another” has some of Russell’s coolest beats while Smith sings about pals kicking back with a few pints while the world burns around them. “100% Endurance” has Smith telling all of us to tell everyone we love that we love them and all of us have the means within to be happy (“Everything has already happened. Time is an illusion. It’s hippie bullshit, but it’s true.”)
A neat thing about The Overload is that it doesn’t overload you. It delivers all the goods, yes, and plenty of bite and beats, but it doesn’t hammer you over the head or try so hard that Yard Act become self-parodies or annoying. In other words, they crafted a damn fine album.
Squid’s acclaimed debut album Bright Green Field, released via Warp Records, has been called one of the best albums of 2021 by Pitchfork, Stereogum, The Quietus, Consequence, Paste, Exclaim!, and beyond. On the heels of their sold out first-ever US tour, the UK band announces a 2022 North American tour which sees them playing their biggest venues yet. Having built a reputation for their must-see live performances, Squid — Ollie Judge, Louis Borlase, Arthur Leadbetter, Laurie Nankivell, and Anton Pearson — are not to be missed. Tour dates are listed below and tickets are on sale here.
Squid Tour Dates Wed. Jan. 26 – Belfast, UK @ Empire Music Hall Thu. Jan 27 – Galway, IE @ Roisin Dubh Fri. Jan. 28 – Cork, IE @ Cyprus Avenue Sun. Jan. 30 – Dublin, IE @ The Button Factory Mon. Jan. 31 – Dublin, IE @ The Button Factory Mon. March 7 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom Tue. March 8 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile Wed. March 9 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre Sat. March 12 – San Francisco, CA @ August Hall Sun. March 13 – Los Angeles, CA @ Regent Theater Wed. March 16 – Chicago, IL @ Vic Theatre Thu. March 17 – Detroit, MI @ El Club Fri. March 18 – Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern Sat. March 19 – Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz Mon. March 21 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat Tue. March 22 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom Wed. March 23 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg Fri. March 25 – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall Sun. June 5 – Sun. June 12 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound Fri. Jul. 8 – London, UK @ Somerset House Fri. Aug. 5 – Sun. Aug. 7 – Katowice, PL @ OFF Festival Wed. Aug. 17 – Sat. Aug. 20 – Paredes de Coura, PT @ Paredes de Coura Festival Thu. Aug. 25 – Sun. Aug. 28 – Saint Cloud, FR @ Rock en Seine Mon. Sep. 16 – Sun. Sep. 18 – Los Angeles, CA @ Primavera Sound LA
Excitement just keeps building behind the Leeds band Yard Act ahead of the release debut LP, The Overload,which is due out via Island Records and their own imprint Zen F.C. on the recently revised release date of January 21st. The album follows a collection of early singles released in 2020 and early 2021, that immediately caught on in their home country, earning accolades from outlets like The Guardian, NME and Loud & Quiet, and creating a stir in the US, earning praise from outlets like NPR, Stereogum, Paste and Under The Radar, who designated them a band to watch in 2021. The band’s hot streak has continued apace, recently garnering the support of high profile fans in Elton John and Cillian Murphy, selling out a run of shows, appearing on the soundtrack to the latest FIFA game, and performing their album’s title track on Later…w/ Jools Holland.
Following on the heels of “The Land of The Blind,” the band are sharing a new track and video “Payday”.
Speaking about the new single, Smith explains: “‘Payday’ was one of the few tracks on the record we had to rebuild completely in the studio because the first demo was recorded on my computer and the hard drive corrupted. We spent about TWO hours trying to figure out that stupid keyboard part I’d put on it and couldn’t remember how to play. It was boring but worth it. It’s about gentrification, class fetish and how the human brain is so powerful that with enough time and processing power combined it will be able to justify, defend and/or continue to commit the actions of any human being it controls.”
The accompanying video is the band’s third collaboration with director James Slater and his production team, following “The Overload” and “Land Of The Blind”, and further develops the world Yard Act have created and the characters that exist within it. Smith says: “We wanted to do something less location and narrative based for this video, so an infinity white studio served as the perfect purgatory for an anti capitalist anthem funded by a major record label. It was great to get Kayleigh from ‘The Overload’ car boot shoot back with her friends, and they choreographed a brilliant dance routine for it themselves, which really brings the video to life. It’s also nice to finally be able to explain all the lettuces that kept cropping up in the previous videos.”
The four members of London’s post-punk rockers TV Priest (Nic Bueth – bass and keyboards, Charlie Drinkwater – vocals, Ed Kelland – drums, Alex Sprogis – guitar) started making music when they were young lads, but they put their musical aspirations aside to get “real jobs” and do various adulting things. Luckily for us, the four of them got back together, with a bunch of “real life” experience under their belts, to create and release their solid full-length album Uppers.
The album is solid from beginning to end, full of bangers, heavy riffs, and witty, scathing lyrics. Bueth’s opening bass on “The Big Curve” alone is enough to shake you out of your cubicle chair and make you want to smash that damn copier / fax / scanner that always smears your papers. Kelland’s drums on “Press Gang” are like an anxious heartbeat of a sprinter before the starting gun (which is the sound of Bueth’s bass and Sprogis’ guitar).
“Leg Room” has krautrock synths and Drinkwater singing above, under, and around, Bueth’s bass stabs – which hit like Michael Myers’ knife. “Hey, buddy, normalize this,” Drinkwater sings / chants on “Journal of a Plague Year” – a song about dealing with you-know-what and how it altered all of us, for good or bad (“And the new normal sets in…”).
After the brief, instrumental “History Week,” “Decoration” comes in with its clever lyrics about everyone seeking their fifteen minutes of fame (“I’m through to the next round. Yes, I’m through.”). “Well, all I can do is talk. My God, I’ve never had an original thought!” Drinkwater claims on “Slideshow” – a rocker that skewers the emptiness of online culture.
“How you feelin’?” Drinkwater keeps asking while Sprogis’ guitar drones and squeaks like a robotic animal of some sort and Bueth and Kelland’s rhythms match the anxiety everyone’s been feeling since 2019. “Powers of Ten” fades into what sounds like radio or communications satellite static – a fitting image of everyone looking for something in the ether during the pandemic.
“This Island” brings in brighter synths to dance alongside the bold guitars as Drinkwater sings about creating a new reality, albeit a possible guarded one, out of life-altering events. The album ends with “Saintless” – the longest track on the album – which swells and swirls like a whirlpool of guitars and cymbal crashes amid Drinkwater’s steady, yet slightly nervous vocals.
To sum it up, Uppers is one of the best post-punk records of 2021.
Keep your mind open.
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