Promoting and Supporting Women in Music
This week Tash and Mari played the usual array of fantastic new music, including tunes from Dream Nails, LibraLibra, LIINES, Hero Fisher and RYD.
They also had the lovely Heka live in the studio who talked about her new Singles Collection and captivated us with some beautiful live tracks.
Listen back to the show here:
If you need something inspiring to motivate you during these ridiculously cold, and depressingly dark, times, then look no further. Punk legend Alice Bag has brought together a dream team if ever there was one – Riot Grrrl queens Kathleen Hanna and Allison Wolfe, plus an appearance from Shirley Manson – to bring us the perfect angst-driven anthem.
Much like Dolly Parton’s 1980 proto-feminist workplace comedy ‘9 to 5′, ’77’ comments on the gender pay gap that still plagues society nearly forty years after the country star’s film theme-song. With a fantastically tongue-in-cheek video that sees Hanna, Wolfe and Bag each fake typing in coloured wigs, the women not only rage that “I make 77 cents and it’s not right / It’s bad for women!”, but make the point that “it’s worse if you’re not white” and insist that “it’s time for change…”
Filled with seething, punk-driven riffs, ’77’ is an empowering, inspiring call to arms to unite against the patriarchy and make the changes needed for equality, in the workplace and beyond. As Bag poignantly sneers “… don’t pretend that we’re paid equal… You wrote the script / But I’m writing the sequel.”
Watch the wonderful video for ’77’ here:
Blueprint, the upcoming album from Alice Bag, is out 23rd March.
Following the success of her last single ‘You’, Danish artist Maria Malmø and her band – aka MALMØ – have now shared another captivating offering from their upcoming debut album.
The title track from the album, ‘We Come From The Stars’ is an exquisite, twinkling slice of alt-pop, showcasing everything there is to love about MALMØ. Flowing with Maria’s soulful, rich vocals, delicate, shimmering melodies and a sweeping ethereal splendour, it’s an utterly dreamy creation, oozing a resplendent, other-worldly magic.
Of the inspiration behind the track, Maria explains:
“We’re nature all the way through – although we often forget it because of all the layers and things we surround ourselves with. It gives me great peace and a sense of purpose to think that we actually consist of stardust: Nitrogen in our brains, chalk in our bones, iron in our veins, and carbon in our souls.”
Watch the new video for ‘We Come From The Stars’ here:
We Come From The Stars, the debut album from MALMØ, is out 4th May via Integrity Records.
Mari Lane
@marimindles
Keeping the spirit of ’90s Riot Grrrl alive and well in the 21st century, ARXX are an exciting, energetic, garage punk duo from Brighton. Although only playing together since March 2017, when singer/guitarist Hannah Pidduck joined forces with drummer Clara Townsend, they have a big sound that packs a definitive punch with heart and soul. Debut EP Daughters Of Daughters showcases an eclectic range of sounds with subject matter ranging from toxic relationships, to cats, feminism, and addiction.
Throughout the EP there is a raw, unapologetic honesty. Opening track ‘Moments At A Time’ kicks off to the pummelling sound of thrashing guitar and drums, channelling female aggression, just because it can and should – “I’ll break your bones before I break the rules, I don’t really need you, I just don’t want to be alone”, whilst ‘Intervention’ explores misogyny – “this world is still a man’s world, and it still ain’t enough for a woman or a girl.”
Moments where we hear the full range of emotion and power in Hannah’s vocals occur when the music slows down, as on ‘Stuck on You’ and ‘The Cat Song’ – two searing, heartbreakingly catchy love songs (the cat’s miaow!). Finally, closing tracks ‘Tired of you’ and ‘Masters of Device’ deal with toxic relationships, fusing together energy and anger in an emotional powerhouse that you can thrash out to whatever way you want, in the kitchen or out of it!
Thirty minutes of listening, and a lifetime to love this band.
Daughters Of Daughters, the debut EP from ARXX, is out now. Catch them live (they really are one of the most exciting bands to see!) at the following dates:
8th March – The Prince Albert, Brighton
15th March – The Victoria, London
Fi Ni Aicead
@gotnomoniker
