LISTEN: Alternative ‘Best Of British’

If you’re anything like us, you’d have been pretty bewildered to wake up this morning to Radio X’s ‘Best Of British‘ chart – a list of what their listeners apparently deem to be the ‘best’ 100 British songs ever made. Not only did the list not feature one single female artist or female-led band, but it seemed to consist of pretty much the same few white male ‘rock’ bands repeated throughout…

Whoever it was who compiled the list, this seems like an embarrassing and unbelievably short-sighted representation of the British music scene. So, whilst we’re not denying the influence that the likes of Oasis, The Rolling Stones, Arctic Monkeys, Stone Roses and – of course – The Beatles have had (we count some of their songs as our faves too!), we feel that there were too many fantastic and pivotal songs missing from the list not to make our own!

So, have a listen to a few more of the ‘best’ British songs (in our opinion), courtesy of yours truly…

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Track Of The Day: For Esmé – ‘For Others’

Dazzling synths and strong feminist beliefs combine on ‘For Others’, the latest single from Toronto-based For Esmé. The track negotiates the struggle between the “impossible things” women must contemplate whilst struggling to balance a career, a family, a romantic life and an honest expression of self-identity.

The project is fronted by multi-talented artist Martha Meredith and the new single is taken from For Esmé’s upcoming LP, Righteous Woman, set to be released on 25th May this year. The album was co-created with collaborator Dave Thiel and producer James Bunton (Donovan Woods, Too Attached) and mastered by Mandy Parnell (Bjork, Aphex Twin, Dirty Projectors).

Described as “a confrontation with self and the systems that shape us,” Righteous Woman was influenced by Meredith’s ongoing work with Toronto Women in Music, a network of female identifying musicians working to support one another and claim space in a male-dominated industry. With such vital foresight and passion, we’re sure For Esmé’s music is going to inspire other women to create their own sounds and opinions in music and beyond.

Watch the video for ‘For Others’ below and follow For Esmé on Facebook for more updates.

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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LISTEN: Cat Turner – ‘Waster’

Don’t you just love it when you hear something new and exciting, coming from an unexpected place? This is what you’ll get when you hear the Irish alt-electro-pop artist Cat Turner for the first time. Based in Galway, she brings something fresh and slightly twisted to the genre with her unique crafting of ‘goth pop’, featuring angst-ridden lyrics delivered with raw emotion, and a clever crafting of seductive synth.  

Self-producing for just a year, her new single ‘Waster’ is the taster track from her forthcoming debut EP, Contrast. The song showcases the contrasts that a young woman faces as an internal battle between the strong driven part of the ‘self’ opposes the weaker side. These themes are also prevalent in the music, powerfully expressed through Cat’s bruising, raw vocals (like a female Kurt Cobain);  an immediate contrast to the classic ’80s/’90s sound of the synth which spiral you into the song. You’re being lured in, and then spat out as the song unfolds.

Intensity rises in the first verse as the stronger side addresses the weaker side – “Can you stand up, please try because you’re wasting time/ Take a backseat, I’ll drive.” You can almost hear Turner spitting in anger through the vocal delivery, more suited to a rock song than an electro song; and again this is another powerful contrast.

The pain of the struggle is evident – “It’s breaking my back, creeping into my spine” – as, towards the middle of the song, the weaker side has ‘dug her grave’. The pace of the music slows briefly before building up once more in an intoxicating rush of synth-filled drum beats and emotion.

Contrast, the debut EP from Cat Turner, is out now.

 

Fi Ni Aicead
@gotnomoniker

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LIVE: L.A. Witch @ The Cluny, 30.03.18

The Cluny is a bar and venue based in an old bottling plant between the Quayside and the Byker Bridge, seated at the bottom of Stepney Bank. I hoped the first time I got to see L.A. Witch live that it would be in a place exactly like this one: a split-level venue with echoes of its city’s industrial past.

Fittingly, I almost caught their Rough Trade East show at the tail end of last year. Anyone who knows Brick Lane knows how much of the area reflects what was once there, celebrating rather than belittling it. As far as interconnectedness goes, my personal L.A. Witch narrative remains on par.

L.A. Witch is one of the most exciting, fresh bands to come out of the west coast in a long time. They mix the British dream of Venice Beach and Malibu with the dark and dirty truths that lurk in the underbelly of every seemingly perfect town, and the marriage of their lo-fi beer-soaked-cabaret-bar-floor tracks to a floor of kids desperate to escape the realities of life with a good time is one that will last forever.

Seeing L.A. Witch reminds me just what a great bassist can do. They remind me of what a great drummer can do and a guitarist whose captivatingly lilting voice takes a backseat to the music in the sense of it being a gorgeous backseat driver that ties it all together.

L.A Witch play together like they’ve been playing together since the womb, and a good camaraderie can stretch miles in a world of male bands trying to outdo each other. Their songs — their act — is one of togetherness, of one, of all.

They are, by all means, a coven, and it’s a coven of which I would like to be a part.

Em Burfitt
@fenderqueer

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