Hi Gigantic gang,
Welcome back for your latest edition of #NewMusicFriday – your essential guide to the hottest tracks plus tickets to hear them played live. Enjoy the playlist and discover the stories behind the music.
EP
LAURAN HIBBERD – ‘Everything Is Dogs’
Lauren Hibberd was one of last year’s best breakthrough artists and heralded by the online press as a worthy champion of guitar driven alt-rock. She has now released her killer debut EP ‘Everything Is Dogs’ which is four wonderful tracks of snarling distortion and sardonic lyrics. Check out her interview in DORK, going through each track in detail.
Hibberd is playing headline dates next month, plus she makes an appearance at Mirrors 2019 which takes over the best venues in Camden on Saturday 2nd of November.
Lauren Hibberd tickets are currently available.
THE COMET IS COMING – ‘The Afterlife’
Following hot on the heels of their hugely successful sophomore album ‘Trust In The Lifeforce Of The Deep Mystery’, London based nu jazz band The Comet Is Coming now release their new EP ‘The Afterlife’.
“The Afterlife has been a topic of deep consideration and of the keys to spiritual mythology around the world for millennia. The two records can be seen as companions, that cannot exist without each other, like day and night, light and dark, creation and destruction. They were made together, at the same time, and have always been intended to be experienced together.” – Danalogue
And so, ‘The Afterlife’ is six tracks of truly exploratory progressive jazz, drawing on elements of psychedelia, trip hop and space rock. It is yet another creative high for The Comet Is Coming which have spent the summer proving that they are a vital live band on the European festival circuit and will wrap up the year with a huge tour round the UK.
The Comet Is Coming tickets are currently available.
Album
GIRL BAND – ‘The Talkies’
Well, the thing about Girl Band is that you know where you stand with them; either you love their abrasive all out sonic assault or it’s an insane random mess. If you fall into the second camp, we’re not judging you but you probably think that mayonnaise is spicy.
Fans of the Irish noiseniks have been wondering if we would ever get any new material as the cult bands debut album ‘Holding Hands With Jamie’ was released four long years ago. Fortunately, ‘The Talkies’ is unrelenting as ever and sure to rattle the fillings of your skull.
Girl Band tickets are currently available.
LIFE – ‘A Picture Of Good Health’
Hull firebrands LIFE are back with second album ‘A Picture Of Good Health’ and this time the politically astute post punks are looking inwards and revealing their personal strife and the everyday problems of singer Mez Green; "The six months leading up to recording this record, there was a certain part of my life where it all just went to shit."
Describing his experiences of depression, alienation and the trials of being a single parent; it could easily have been a truly bleak listen. However, they have channelled their frustrations into a really addictive album with every track feeling like a single. ‘A Picture Of Good Health’ is the soundtrack for the lost BREXIT generation.
Produced by Luke Smith (Foals) and mixed by Claudius Mittendorfer (Parquet Courts), the essential new record manages to capture a mainstream appeal which harks back somewhat to the credible end of Britpop without ever losing any of its bitter bite. And this balance has definitely worked well for the snotty cynics as the LP has broken the Top 40.
LIFE tickets are currently available.
TEMPLES – ‘Hot Motion’
We absolutely loved the last LP ‘Volcano’ from Kettering psyche resurgent Temples and so we are very excited that they have just dropped third album ‘Hot Motion’. Immaculately crafted and practically perfect in every way: it’s sometimes hard to believe that they are a trio – but then three is a magic number!
The genius of ‘Hot Motion’ lies in its flexibility. While their roots lie in psyche, Temples don’t feel the need to rigidly remain within the narrow confides of the genre and allow themselves to run down some crazy sonic avenues; the intro to ‘Context’ could be a daytime quiz show theme tune, ‘It’s All Coming Out’ sounds like a circuit bent loved up pop song, ‘Not Quite The Same’ has a Madchester baggy quality and ‘Holy Horses’ is a spaghetti western on 2C-B.