Ready for the weekend? We know you are! Gigantic has got you a #NewMusicFriday playlist ready to shake off the working days and get you in the mood for some serious fun featuring the very best new releases.
Not only can you hear the latest need-to-know tracks, Gigantic also offers you tickets to see the cutting-edge acts hit the stage to play their tunes live!
Singles
Daniel Knox – ‘Cut From The Belly’
After impressing with his eponymously titled debut album three years ago, songwriter and composer Daniel Knox returns with his new single ‘Cut From The Belly’. The baroque pop is a sumptuous descent into violence, describing an urban tale of retaliation.
"I think of ‘Cut From The Belly’ as a sort of backyard Moby Dick. Or maybe an internal one. I think it's protagonist is very sure of himself and there's a sort of comedy in that kind of confidence. The sort of person who would take their vengeance to the brink of absurdity always fascinated and horrified me.
I really like the video W.S. Beasley directed because he knows how to let the music serve the images instead of the other way around. It doesn't try to interpret or tell the song's story. It gives it somewhere else to live without trying to sell you a beginning or ending. But it feels connected to the song in that it's like watching a missing piece set to a song about missing pieces." - Daniel Knox
‘Cut From The Belly’ is the first single to be taken from his forthcoming album ‘Chasescene’. Released on December 7th by Carrot Top Records, Knox’s second LP features contributions from both Jarvis Cocker and Nina Nastasia, plus hand-drawn cover art by artist James Harvey.
Daniel Knox tickets are currently available.
Albums
Adrianne Lenker – ‘abysskiss’
"I want to archive the songs in their original forms every few years. My first solo record I made was ‘Hours Were the Birds’. I had just turned 21 and moved to New York City where I was sleeping in a warehouse, working in a restaurant and photographing pigeons. Now five years later, another skin is being shed." - Adrianne Lenker
‘abysskiss’ is the latest solo album from Big Thief singer Adrianne Lenker. Inspired by a two-week road trip around the South West of US, the Brooklyn based songwriter hit the studio with her friend Luke Temple to thrash out songs, with the best material being saved for this new LP.
Leneker’s latest collection of songs translates that sense of exploration wonderfully into ten songs which range from folk to chugging indie rock into a musical equivalent of a modern-day Jack Kerouac novel. The spidery guitars and fireside story telling manner make perfect Autumnal listening.
Adrianne Lenker tickets are currently available.
Behemoth – ‘I Loved You At Your Darkest’
Behemoth gleefully declare that “It doesn’t get more blasphemous than this” and on their eleventh studio album ‘I Loved You At Your Darkest’, that dark sense of humour really shines through. With goading song titles like ‘God=Dog’ and ‘Ecclesia Diabolica Catholica’, the Polish death metallers certainly lay down their challenges towards the Christian faith that dominates the west and press the point home with devastating guitar riffs and an unrelenting wall of sound.
Taking inspiration from Ryan Gosling of all people, ‘I Loved You At Your Darkest’ includes the use of children’s choirs as also employed by Gosling’s band Dead Man Bones, plus a huge 17-piece orchestra, Behemoth expand their bludgeoning sonic assault to a truly epic scale.
Behemoth tickets are currently available.
Kodaline – ‘Politics Of Living’
Irish indie rockers Kodaline set themselves up as the favourite band of many with the release of their first LP ‘In A Perfect World’ back in 2013, continuing to impress with their second outing ‘Coming Up For Air’ two years later which would achieve Gold certification. Having only released a couple of EPs in recent years, Vincent May (Drums), Steve Garrigan (Vocals / Rhythm Guitar), Mark Prendergast (Lead Guitar) and Jason Bland (Bass) have finally hit the studio to create ‘Politics Of Living’.
‘Politics Of Living’ sees the boys amass a mighty team of writing and production heavyweights, including Johnny Coffer (Rag’N’Bone Man, Beyonce), Jonas Jeberg (Dizzee Rascal, Kylie Minogue), Stephen Harris (Miles Kane, Kaiser Chiefs) and Mac (‘Shape Of You’ by Ed Sheeran) to create an compulsive listen.
“It's been a while since we released our second album, but we felt we needed to take the time to make sure this was the best album we could make! We are so happy with it and can't wait for people to hear it!” - Steve Garrigan
Kodaline tickets are currently available.
Amber Arcades – ‘European Heartbreak’
Amber Arcades is the work of Dutch songwriter Annelotte De Graaf. The past five years have seen her release a succession of sumptuous self-released records which has seen her sign to Heavenly Records for the release of debut album ‘Fading Lines’ in 2016 and now her new album ‘European Heartbreak’ which details her overview of the crisis currently gripping the Eurozone.
“If it were called American Heartbreak, you wouldn’t bat an eye. Somehow calling it European Heartbreak feels far less comfortable, almost like a statement in itself. I’m Dutch, hence European. The focus of the record is Europe. As for Heartbreak, for me heartbreak symbolises any kind of falling apart of one of these concepts or stories we invent for ourselves, like romantic love, a sense of identity, nationality, an economic system. It’s kind of a universal thing in my mind.” - Annelotte De Graaf
‘European Heartbreak’ saw De Graaf recruit the services of former Deerhoof guitarist Chris Cohen to record and co-produce sessions in LA, plus Trey Pollard (Bedouine, Natalie Prass, The Waterboys) who took the helm with the incorporation of horns and strings. The expert assistance certainly pays off as every little detail is captured on the record and is awash with grand sweeps, with a bright indie pop feel throughout.