See who made the cut alongside Belle & Sebastian and The Fall
Gigwise

13:37 28th July 2017

To add to the overwhelming number of releases that Friday's are always throwing at you, here's some tracks that - mostly - will have slipped under your radar.

This week's are picked by our musical gold panners Nick Roseblade and Patrick Clarke, who've made it their mission this week to dig deep through the piles of release information on the internet, and what they've heard about through word of mouth to get some genuinely interesting, subversive music to shout about.

Happy sifting, we hope you find something new you didn't know you liked:

Belle & Sebastian - 'We Were Beautiful'

There’s something gorgeously nostalgic about Belle & Sebastian’s new single, a throwback to the naïve understatement of their debut, Tigermilk that retreats from the more forceful, dancier tendencies they’ve had of late. That shift towards electronica is still there, but buried deep to the bare beat that underpins a rich, sweeping mix of melancholy guitars and joyful horn. Though deliberately nostalgic – the lyrics feel intently self-aware – it’s forward facing too, the sound of a band entirely comfortable with their legacy but with one eye always on progression. (PC)

Hi & Saberhägen- ‘Redacted’

‘Redacted’ by Hi & Saberhägen is a quirky bird. On one hand, it features all the woozy electronics that has made Lo Recordings a powerhouse in electronic music, but there are organic, almost jazz, motifs that sets them apart from their peers. Ultimately ‘Redacted’ sounds like a wonky remix of 808 State played just as the club is closing. You are being ushered out of the door, but you want to stay and enjoy every moment, as your eyes readjust to natural light, this wafts out and gives everything an eerie cinematic vibe. (NR)

Beachtape - 'Rearranging My Ways'

It’s hard to combine discordant and melodious, but somehow Brighton’s Beachtape manage to do this effortlessly. From the opening moments the slacker cool of ‘Rearranging My Ways’ carries you on a travellator of blissed out vocals and lackadaisical guitars, until there sounds like an explosion in a fuzz factory and, like a snow globe, everything is violently shaken up before it starts to slowly settle again. ‘Rearranging My Ways’ was produced by Kristian Smith from the Magic Gang, so it all kinda makes sense. Hold Music is released 08th September through PNKSLM.(NR)

Hype Williams - 'Kathy Goes 2 Haiti'

Don’t worry. Your speakers aren’t broken, this is what Hype Williams’ new song ‘Katy Goes 2 Haiti’ is meant to sound like. This is an abrasive and channelling 93 seconds of music, but this everything we’ve come to expect from Dean Blunt and Inga Copeland. They have just announced a new album, Rainbow Edition, and it is being released through Big Dada later in the year. Of the record, Hype Williams said: “We been gone for a minute, but now we’re back with the jump off. We can’t get jiggy with no hundreds and thousands or nuthin like that, we gotta get back in that M game. Wanna own the block b4 the ball drops”. Yes people it’s time to get excited!

Prism Tats - 'Used To Be Cool'

Prism Tats used to be cool. This is either a clever play on words, or Garrett van der Spek is sending us a message from the future. Anyway ‘Used to be Cool’ is as catchy as it is fuzzy. What Prism Tats do well is mix post-punk, garage rock and a pop sensibility, coupled with insightful lyrics, to create something alluring and captivating. Imagine Guided By Voices were covered by Tama Impala or Boogarins and you are close. If this isn’t being cool, I’m happy with that. 11:11 is released 28th July through Anti (NR)

A.M. Son - 'Tightrope Walker'

A.M. Son feeling a Wes Anderson house band. They make the kind of music that is twee and quirky, but there is something not quite so pleasant lurking under the surface. Their melodies are strong and the music is like a dose of B12 straight to your ears. But the lyrics are a slightly darker affair. “Tightrope walker with you on the other side, calling my name like you want me to fall” and “They cut off my legs, then you tell me to crawl” let us into a darker, more sinister world. (NR)

Mary Epworth- 'Surprise Yourself'

After the drifting enigma that was Me Swimming, the first single from Mary Epworth’s stellar forthcoming LP Elytral, its follow-up, Surprise Yourself, finds her on more direct grounds. Anchored by a thick, hypnotic synth riff that loops around Epworth’s understated vocal and sits over a subtly bombastic beat, she shifts tone effortlessly from driving momentum to serene, psychedelic drifts. When the two singles from Elytral so far are taken side by side, they’re as good an indication as any just how excellent that new LP is shaping up to be.(PC)

The Fall - 'Brillo De Facto'

It’s a cliché to say The Fall are back on form – it’s a phrase flaunted whenever the venerable Mark E Smith and co return with a new record. Though their new album, New Facts Emerge, is a mixed bag it has to be said: on Brillo De Facto at the very least, The Fall are back on form. Smith’s vocal hasn’t sounded this venomous in ages, snarling with phlegm and fury over a looping stabs of guitar imbued with every ounce of the glorious repetition on which the group’s legacy has been founded. New Facts Emerge is not one of The Fall’s finest albums, but this track, and the tremendous chug of lead single Fol de Rol, are among the best they’ve ever produced.(PC)

Margo Price - 'Just Like Love'

Margo Price has been heralded as the new queen of country ever since last year’s excellent Midwest Farmer’s Daughter, a reputation she’s clearly seized on her new EP, Weakness. The upbeat hoedown of the title track, however, is a little too country for this writer; the real joy is to be found on the EP’s buried moments of melancholy. Just Like Love finds Price at her most contemplative, her stunning vocals laid over delicate plucks of acoustic guitar and distant sweeps of slide, before rising to an immense, moving chorus. (PC)


Photo: Press