SEE: The lyric video for Horsey’s ‘Sippy Cup’: as if The Lemon Twigs were transposed into Brit culture
WELL, you gotta hand it to ’em; they picked their ingredients, they simmered them down, and they arrived somewhere bewitchingly odd. South London four-piece Horsey are as square a peg in as round a hole of British music culture as anything you’ll hear in a good while; and they’ve thrown themselves back into the spotlight …
TRACK: Melin Melyn – ‘Rebecca’: announcing Cymru’s latest quirk-psych crackers
GORKY’S. (There’s never any escaping Gorky’s, and how great they are, let’s face it. If you were really lucky, you actually could’ve seen them at the Hacienda.) Meilyr Jones. Gulp. El Goodo. The river of brilliant and wayward Welsh quirky, psych-inflected bands floweth ever on; and rounding this bend in our canoe, we come across …
SEE: the cosmic anime for Battles’ ‘Sugar Foot’; remix EP out now on Warp
TRIPPY NYC art-rock outfit Battles have dropped a cosmic animation for their track “Sugar Foot”, featuring the gliding vocal talents of none other than Yes’s Jon Anderson, and visually referring more than a little to past galaxial greats such as Battle Of The Planets. The song is taken from their latest LP Juice B Crypts, which is …
TRACKS: See the video for Femi Kuti’s ‘Pà Pá Pà’ and hear Made Kuti’s ‘Your Enemy’ ahead of February’s twin albums
AFROBEAT founding father and steely political activist Fela Kuti gifted us a wondrous back catalogue investigating jazz, funk, hiphop, rock, traditional Nigerian musics, so much more, before passing in 1997. Of course, he also gifted us his son, Femi; and in turn Femi’s gifted us his son, Made, to continue that legacy and take it …
SEE: Arlo Parks – ‘Caroline’: extra UK dates for next summer
MAY WE talk of one of the artists to properly keep an eye on in ’21? We may? Excellent. Arlo Parks grew up in South-West London, a self-confessed tomboy, super-sensitive, who sums her teenage self up as “a black kid who can’t dance for shit, listens to emo music and currently has a crush on …
SEE: CAMERA announce their February album with the feedback motorik of ‘Kartoffelstampf’
NOW ENTERING their second decade as a band, Berlin’s CAMERA are pushing, to borrow the phrase of Ken Kesey, furthur; deeper. They’re poised to release their fifth studio set, Prosthuman, on Bureau B in February; a news bulletin they’re firing at you point-blank with the first single drop and accompanying video, “Kartoffelstampf”, which you can …
TRACK: Azmari – ‘Azalaï’: aboard the Brussels Afro/Persian jazz sextet’s caravan
AZMARI is a sextet formed in Brussels in 2015 with a deep take on the North African groove. The name? Well, an azmari is literally “one who praises” in Amharic; an Ethiopian singer-musician, comparable to the European bard. Reportedly inspired by such leading lights as Mulatu Astatke, Cymande, Fela Kuti and The Heliocentrics, the band performed at …
TRACK: FLOCKS – ‘Grammar King’: think Tortoise tooting a line of pure Squarepusher
WHEN you think of a great line-up combination, a trio that can really pull it off is a truly great thing: think The Jimi Hendrix Experience, think The Jam, even Kitchens of Distinction. No doubt you’ll have your faves too. A great trio operating out of Cincinnatti right now are post-/outrock threesome FLOCKS, who are …
PREMIERE: The Sound of Kalima – ‘Destroy U’: straight outta Vancouver on a mission
COMIN straight atcha from Vancouver, in the Pacific Northwest, Sound of Kalima are buzzing up their hometown; and with their new single they’re hoping to take things a lot, lot further. They’ve just dropped a new single, “Destroy U”, full of guitar crunch, looming breaks, sassy lyrics . And we’re delighted to be premiering it …
SEE: Cheval Sombre returns with the hazy hush of ‘It’s Not Time’
HE’S BEEN away from our ears as a solo artist for what? Crikey it’s actually eight years now, how the egg-timer sands run; but Chris Porpora, who guises up for the world of music as Cheval Sombre, has come ambling in at the absolute final knockings of the year with a leaf-skeleton of absolute delicacy …