Mari and Kate were back in the Hoxton Radio studio this week with all the new music, including tracks from Witching Waves, Jelly Cleaver, Vanity Fairy, Tusks & Gurr.
Tune in next week for more new music with Tash!
Listen back here:
ALBUM: Anteros – ‘When We Land’
After putting it off for many years, I’ve finally learned to drive, and as every 27 (or 17) year old knows; a perfect driving album is key to any good road trip. Enter When We Land, the debut album from Anteros released via Distiller Records. It’s the perfect dream-pop companion to hit the open road with.
Since forming in 2014, the band have been making the rounds touring the UK with groups such as Two Door Cinema Club, Blaenavon, and White Lies. They hit up Glastonbury and Reading along the way, honing their disco-pumping rock. I love a band that waits a little while to put out their debut album, and just like driving, this album is well worth the wait.
Standout Tracks include ‘Honey’ – an absolute thumping ear-worm with a lovely, sticky, fuzzy-bee of a bass tone. If ‘Honey’ is the call, then ‘Afterglow’ is the superb melancholic response. This banger would sound at home on the Atomic Blonde soundtrack. It sounds like you’re trying to dance your troubles away in a Berlin club and don’t want to find the exit.
‘Drive On’, the lead single from the album, keeps this record steaming on, and I particularly love the exposed fragility of Laura Hayden’s vocal in the bridge. ‘Ordinary Girl’ is a slowed down power ballad to gesticulate to, the best part of which being the drop before the gargantuan chorus kicks in. If the rest of the album is a night out, then this is the crippling, reflective hangover. Actually, this track is the reason for the night out in the first place; there’s an underpin of heartbreak to this album, and ‘Ordinary Girl’ finally gives the listener some answers as to where this heartbreak came from.
If you’re a fan of Black Honey, Dream Wife or Goldfrapp; you’re definitely going to be interested in Anteros’ album. It’s a great debut from a hard-working new band and it’ll take them to all the right places. Grab your copy here.
Anteros UK Live Dates 2019
26/03 Banquet Records in-store, London
27/03 Rough Trade in-store, Bristol
28/03 Rough Trade in-store, Nottingham
07/04 The Waterfront, Norwich
08/04 The Joiners, Southampton
09/04 Scala, London
11/04 Mama Roux’s, Birmingham
12/04 Dryden Street Social, Leicester
13/04 Arts Club, Liverpool
15/04 Stereo, Glasgow
16/04 The Cluny, Newcastle
17/04 The Gorilla, Manchester
19/04 Bodega Social Club, Nottingham
20/04 The Key Club, Leeds
Mark Docherty
Track Of The Day: The Franklys – ‘Not Guilty’
‘Not Guilty’, taken from The Franklys’ upcoming new EP, is pure rock ‘n’ roll. The opening riffs hook you in and by the time the big, shout-along choruses and pure-pop harmonies hit, you’re having a full-on shimmy in your seat. Or at least I was.
Much like The Donnas or Joan Jett and The Runaways, ‘Not Guilty’ feels effortlessly cool and stupid amount of fun. It’s empowering, exciting and threatens to get stuck in your brain until the end of time.
The Franklys say they formed when Swedish Jen Ahlkvist and Fanny Broberg came to London “intent on carving out a vital new sound”. And if ‘Not Guilty’ is representative of the rest of their material, it feels like they’re doing just that. They’re really putting their own spin on macho garage rock, and I love it.
Framed, the upcoming EP from The Franklys, is out 5th April.
Victoria Conway
LIVE: Madison McFerrin @ Jazz Cafe, 08.03.19
With just a loop pedal and a small tablet, hidden behind the flowers looped around her mic stand, Madison McFerrin has got more stage presence than most four-piece bands. She’s got a gift for putting an audience totally at ease, switching up the pace between songs with chatty anecdotes about her school days and occasional self-deprecating humour.
Typically at the start of a gig, there’s a shift in the atmosphere of a room as the artist begins their set and the audience decides whether or not they’re on their side: this audience are instantly on Madison’s. Her songs develop seemingly from scratch, using the loop pedal to build increasingly complex vocal harmonies that, despite their soulful pop melodies, have a jazzy undercurrent of progression and improvisation.
She’s supported by new London artist Rahaven and R&B duo S4U, in an all-female line-up curated by gal-dem for International Women’s Day. Jazz Café usually does a great job of booking a diverse range of acts (as I recently grumbled about on Twitter, they were at the time of writing the only London venue to have booked a non-male act for Piano Day), and this collaboration with gal-dem is a master stroke. Hats off to them, and here’s hoping for more Jazz Café takeovers in the year ahead.
Apropos of not much, I’ll also mention here that it’s apparently one of the few venues in London where it’s still possible to vape indoors (a fact I’ve learned from my boss, Sam, an enthusiastic vaper): the DJ backing one of the support acts, keen to keep things casual, had a quick vape on stage in the middle of a song.
In my old age, I’m increasingly grumpy about weeknight gigs where the headliner doesn’t come on stage til after 9.30: it’s not very punk-rock of me I know, but I love an early bedtime. Madison McFerrin’s jazzy a cappella and witty banter are worth getting the last train home for, and that’s saying something.
Frances Salter
@goodcanarymusic
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