Get In Her Ears

PLAYLIST: June 2018

We’re mid-way through 2018, and we’re ready to share another playlist packed with fresh new sounds for your very eager ears! Take some time to scroll through our track selections, hit play on the Spotify link below, and let your ears fill up with the glorious new sounds of June…

Fever Ray – ‘If I Had A Heart’
Fever Ray were one of the headliners of Field Day this year and it could not have been a better end to the festival, hypnotic beats, terrifyingly warped vocals and an explosive stage performance. Gender bending outfits, with reverberating sound all whipped up together by the psychedelic and endorphin inducing visuals. When this track started I lost my mind – wow wow wow. (Tash Walker)

Catgod – ‘Keep My Promises’
Lead by sibling duo Robin and Catherine, Catgod’s new single interweaves swirling folk-tinged melodies with trip-hop inspired beats. As Robin’s soaring vocals are perfectly complemented by Cat’s exquisite harmonies, it showcases the band’s unique musicality in a cinematic soundscape that’ll captivate on first listen. Heartbeat In My Hand, the debut EP from Catgod, is out 22nd June. (Mari Lane)

Dott – ‘Bleached Blonde’
Galway’s Dott have released the perfect single for girls who love sunshine, surfing, and super-catchy garage pop anthems. The track is taken from their upcoming album Heart Swell, which is set to be released via Graveface Records on 8th June. It’s not on Spotify yet, but you can watch the video for it below. (Kate Crudgington)

S4U – ‘Heart’
‘Heart’ is the latest single London-based duo S4U (Something For You) taken from their upcoming Mixtape Heart 2 Say, which will be released via Different Recordings on 6th July. Looking forward to that a lot… I’m loving S4U’s new low-slung R&B experimental electro with some heavy 90s influences. Of the track S4U says “Curved, Parallel conscious, sub conscious, the synergy of heart and mind generates wise choices that benefit all. In other words as you appreciate that which is appreciating you. It is a wonderful thing to hold someone as your object of attention while you feel that G force Roses in Britain” Lovely. (TW)

The Menstrual Cramps – ‘Make Girls Feel Good’
Combining activism with musical prowess, The Menstrual Cramps provide a captivating force that we all need now more than ever. With their fist-clenching ferocity, racing catchy hooks and a tongue in cheek wit, they create truly infectious punk-rock anthems. And this track is no exception – an epic dose of empowering energy, with lyrics like “you always look like such perfection that you don’t even need to try”, it’ll leave you feeling good and ready to take on the world. And we CANNOT WAIT to see The Menstrual Cramps headline for us at The Finsbury on Friday! (ML)

Slowcoaches – ‘Found Down’
Having previously captured our hearts with the totally epic, anti-toxic-masculinity anthem ‘Complex’, Slowcoaches are back with a new single. Racing with a seething energy, ‘Found Down’ hits your ears with its scuzzy riffs and the raw, angst-driven vocals of Heather Perkins. Oozing an immense, punk-fuelled power, it’s a perfect blast of raging honesty that we need now more than ever. (ML)

Placebo – ‘Scared Of Girls’
I scored tickets to Placebo’s Meltdown gig at Southbank Centre (curated by Robert Smith) and although this will be the fourth time I’ve seen them (quit bragging Kate), my heart is still beating double time with joy at the prospect of potentially hearing this track live. I imagine this song title accurately describes how most men feel when they see me dancing to it on a night out… (KC)

The Joy Formidable – ‘Dance Of The Lotus’
This is the band responsible for getting me in to alternative music a decade ago, so when I heard new single ‘Dance Of The Lotus’, my inner 18 year old imploded. They’re playing Robert Smith’s Meltdown Festival on the same day as NIN, and they’ll be playing at one of my favourite venues, The Lexington, in August. I missed out on tickets for both, so if anyone wants to help a girl out…I write good reviews… (KC)

Hilary Woods – ‘Inhaler’
‘Inhaler’ is the first single from Hilary Woods’ upcoming debut solo album Colt, which is set to be released via my favourite label Sacred Bones Records on 8th June. It’s a pensive, delicate, melancholy track about her struggles with homesickness, and it’s going to sound beautiful live when ringing out against the walls of St Pancras Old Church on 11th June. (KC)

VTR – ‘Soul To Skin’
‘Soul To Skin’ is taken from Brixton duo VTR’s recently released EP of the same name via Dream Diary. So sultry, so smooth, so seductive. This track reverberates around my ears giving me so much audible pleasure, very excited to hear more from these two in the future. (TW)

Barrie – ‘Tal Uno’
The new single from Brooklyn’s Barrie, ‘Tal Uno’ is filled with jangly hooks and swooning vocals, creating a totally dreamy, twinkling soundscape. As glistening synth-filled melodies glide alongside glitchy beats, it’s impossible not to float away in the shimmering, psychedelic haze that Barrie create. (ML)

ELA Lindsey – ‘Healing Me Slow’
This is the debut track from Nashville’s singer-songwriter ELA Lindsey who found her musical passion later in life starting at the age of 29. She says that by releasing this single she hopes to inspire other women to start their artistic journeys later than the typical industry standard usually allows. ‘Healing Me Slow’ has been firmly stuck in my head over the last couple of weeks, starting with her sweet and gentle vocals, then breaking down into this dark electro synth laden TUNE. With all the hooks and loops I could ever want. INTO IT. (TW)

Tigercats – ‘Candy’s Tailor’
Tigercats’ new single ‘Candy’s Tailor’ is filled with twinkling, jangly melodies and uptempo, calypso-like beats. Flowing with raw vocals and rich layers of sound, it’s an utterly uplifting summer anthem, and I’m already getting pretty excited about seeing these guys at Indietracks Festival next month! Pig City, the new album from Tigercats, is out now. (ML)

Nine Inch Nails – ‘Ringfinger’
I only discovered the true glory of NINs last year (always late to the party, when will I learn?) but I’m seeing Trent Reznor & co twice this month – at Meltdown Festival & The Royal Albert Hall – and I am nerve-shreddingly excited. ‘Ringfinger’ is one of my favourite tracks on 1989’s Pretty Hate Machine, and although they’re unlikely to play it live – I’ll still be bouncing off the walls in anticipation leading up to the gigs. (KC)

Photo Credit: Slowcaoches shot by Priti Shikotra

June 6, 2018

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Interview: Leah Dou

Leah Dou has firmly established herself as the face of China’s alt-pop scene with her work receiving nominations at China’s biggest annual Film Festival awards, 53rd Golden Horse Awards and the 36th Hong Kong Film Award. Having grown up under the musical guidance of her pop royalty parents, Leah exudes self-confidence within her genre-defying style which she showcased recently at The Great Escape Festival as part of her UK tour. We caught up with Leah ahead of her sell-out performance at Birthdays…

How was playing the Great Escape over the weekend as an experience?
I don’t really have anything else to compare it to, I’ve never really played a festival that’s been on such a big scale! I’ve played festivals with a big crowd but with this covering a whole town – that’s really amazing. I don’t know how they (the festival organisers) do it as I hear there’s about a thousand bands playing there.

Do you find there’s much difference in the culture which surrounds the live music scene in the UK compared to China?
Oh yeah, definitely! The live scene in China is not as flourished as the one over here. I think it’s something in China which is still building, or it might just be the way people aren’t used to things. There aren’t that many venues in China to be honest, so this is like heaven to me!

As a child, you travelled with your parents on tour. Did that help shape you as a musician?
I’m sure it did as I don’t know any differently.

Do you feel that as you were touring with them at such a young age that your career was written in the stars so to speak?
I felt like as a kid a lot of people were anticipating that I go on the same path. For a while I struggled with that. When I was a teenager, I was really starting to think through these things – I was wondering if I wanted to do that (follow in her parent’s footsteps) as it was the obvious choice. Then I came to the conclusion that I’m doing it because I love it. I’m not trying to impress or not do something because people are anticipating me to do it. Once I was able to figure out what mattered the most to me, and what I care about, then I was able to be more clear minded and pure about music.

Do you have any creature comforts or routines which help you deal with the pressures of tour life?
Not so much just when I’m touring, but in life in general, I find it important to have time to meditate. It helps you to slow down a little bit. Taking a break from technology as well – you’re online 24 / 7, that brings me a lot of anxiety.

Do you feel technology and social media is a platform for change for musicians or too consuming?
I think the whole thing with social media is that it really depends on you, how you treat it and what your take on it is. It’s a wonderful thing in a way it creates platforms for so many young artists. It’s really great, but if you go overboard than it consumes you.

Lastly, what can we expect from the songs you’ll be working on this year?
I think for the next project, it’s going to be very different from the previous record. A lot of different sounds and it’s spread across a pretty wide range of genres and styles. It’s certainly not going to be a singular sound.

Huge thanks to Leah for answering our questions!

Nicky Lee-Delisle
@Nicky___Lee

June 5, 2018June 5, 2018

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ALBUM: Argonaut – ‘Forever’

Let me posit an idea: The writer asks themselves the questions required for the process of a good album review. Actors do it, why can’t we? My first (and only, to be honest) question would be: what do you think has been lacking from the overall music scene? Aside from estrogen, queerness, and artists of colour, it’s the space for old-school DIY punk rock spirit that is most sorely vacuous.

London-based band Argonaut have that in spades. The card spades, because Wiki told me that one time when I thought it meant the tools you scoop up sand with at the beach. Influenced by bands that make me weak in the knees – Pixies, Sonic Youth, Le Tigre – Argonaut have absolutely nothing to prove when it comes to the art of do-it-yourself no wave art-anarchy.Their third album, Forever, was recorded live over a couple of days in Bally Studios in Tottenham Hale and hits the punk rock spots I sometimes forget still exist.

I remember hearing Dave Grohl talk about his recording process before the Foo Fighters. He’d record the song all the way through, then he’d have to record that tape on another tape to add the next track and so on, so forth. Always thought that was fucking cool.

Recording tracks live and in one piece is a challenge and fifty more, but in listening to tracks like Argonaut’s ‘Zero Said’, ‘Touch Electric’, and the Breeders-like ‘No Song’, you wouldn’t know it. I mean, just listening to the album (which I have been on loop for the last week, battling against the mainstream white-boy snoozy pop music coming from next door’s Sonos), I could hear Argonaut on a line-up with their influences. Or like in a quick cutscene from the (best) documentary (of all time), 1991: The Year Punk Broke. Like there’d be Sebadoh and Dinosaur Jr. and Babes in Toyland, and then Argonaut. Yeah, I could see that.

Even cooler is the fact that despite the music landscape these days being so openly accessible to anyone with cash or an internet connection, the band are releasing the record as a limited edition of 100 CD copies. I love the fucking up of a corporate future. The limited release will also be available only from former Argonaut bassist, Paul Saiya’s, independent record store.

If there’s anything better in life than from the belly of the beast punk rock, I don’t even want to know about it. I am awash with the joys of a kid who worshipped Kim Gordon, Deal, and Kathleen Hanna, and because of Argonaut’s Forever, I’m reminded once more that punk will never die. Not so long as there are women around.

Now, how fucking cool is that?

Argonaut’s Forever is out now. Order it here.

Em Burfitt
@fenderqueer

June 5, 2018June 5, 2018

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Track Of The Day: LOTIC – ‘Hunted’

Described as a “high-camp, very abstract take on Queen of the Damned meets Lost Boys,” Berlin-based Lotic has shared a new video for their single ‘Hunted’. Directed by Matt Lambert who gave the above explanation, the dark, sensual, delightfully disturbing set of visuals are the perfect accompaniment to Lotic’s altruistic sound.

The opening lyrics to ‘Hunted’ – “brown skin / masculine frame / head’s a target / actin’ real feminine / make ’em vomit” – provided the perfect context for Lambert’s video: “We had this spontaneous idea of a cursed deity whose strength and sexual energy is fuelled by the souls of bougie white boys they seduced, and then murdered ritualistically in a small beach resort town.” This gritty backdrop is made all the more alluring by Lotic’s mesmerising beats and well-crafted electronics.

‘Hunted’ will feature on Lotic’s debut album Power, which is set to be released via Tri Angle Records on 13th July. “It originally started as an empowerment album,” explains Lotic. “I felt that I needed to offer something outside of myself, as sort of a healing moment.” Power will also be released on limited edition vinyl, housed in a die cut sleeve designed by Marwan Kaabour and will feature a vinyl only exclusive track called ‘Burn A Print’.

Watch the video for ‘Hunted’ below and pre-order your copy of Lotic’s Power here.