Track Of The Day: Joanna And The Dropouts – ‘You’re So Cool’

Dropping in hard with a throbbing riff that promises not to leave you alone any time soon, ‘You’re So Cool’ by Joanna And The Dropouts is inspired by all-consuming love. It is composed of throbbing key and string lines that roll all over each other, with a solid drum track keeping the whole piece in line.

The song is both inspired by love that has been genuinely experienced and a tribute to the movie True Romance. It is funky and upbeat, and will inevitably refuse to leave your head for days on end. In many ways, it evokes the lingering memories of the love it depicts and the iconic film that inspired it. Whether or not you are familiar with the film, the song captures a hugely relatable feeling in just a short burst of fizzing strings.

The lyrics are simple, repeating the titular “you’re so cool” consistently throughout the track. The verses and lines surrounding that core phrase evoke the exhilarating, intoxicating, potentially dangerous feeling of falling for someone who takes up all your headspace at once.

Every component of the song comes together perfectly to form a track that ultimately comes to less than three minutes long. Nonetheless, those rich vocals and bouncy hooks swell with all the exciting, addictive energy of infatuation into an infectious and uplifting punk-rock anthem.


Kirstie Summers
@ActuallyKurt

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Track Of The Day: Panic Shack – ‘Mannequin Man’

Cardiff band Panic Shack describe their upcoming debut EP as “raw, honest and always chaotic”, and new single ‘Mannequin Man’ is the ideal track to showcase the band. Upbeat and fun throughout, it’s just under three minutes of pure joyous energy.

Every element of this track, from the sound to the aesthetic, has a camp ‘80s vibe. In the accompanying video, the band are dressed in leopard-print leotards and leg-warmers as they bounce around, as the music blends a simple drum beat with rolling bass and the kind of strings you can’t help but get stuck in your head.

The whole atmosphere is infectious – it’s impossible to watch the video and not feel the itch to bop along with it. Shot in front of a green screen, it is definitely to the band’s credit that they’ve managed to work around the limitations of a peak-pandemic release to create something so fun.

The lyrics specifically refer to one subject – the titular Mannequin Man – but are vague enough that it’s easy to project meaning into them. Lines like “Do you even feel? Do something! Show me you’re real!” feel like there is hidden depth within them. Perhaps the man in question is emotionally unavailable… Maybe he “better run as fast as you can” because the narrator has finally given up on a connection. So, I found it really fun to learn that the song is simply a reaction to the band meeting a man whose job to was to be a real-life mannequin. I like that this song has taught me that that is a job that exists. I have so many questions and I’m enjoying wondering how and why you might end up in that career. The song effortlessly captures the fun inherent in the idea and stays with you in the same delightful way.

Baby Shack, the debut EP from Panic Shack, is out on 8th April via Brace Yourself Records. Pre-order here.

Kirstie Summers
@ActuallyKurt

Photo Credit: Ren Faulkner

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Track Of The Day: Spurge feat. Bri Foxx – ‘Why Would You?’

Having met in the Atlanta underground scene, queer feminist artists Bri Foxx and Jen Hodges decided to join forces after playing a show together in their respective bands. And now, we’re super excited to share the outcome of their collaboration – Spurge‘s catchy new single!

A song that carries the weight of failed relationships in its core, ‘Why Would You?‘ has a simple but relatable premise. The track as a whole is executed in a way that takes the familiar stab of heartache and draws out the raw and powerful emotions within.

The song reflects on relationships, written from a healthier place. The lyrics juxtapose a heartbroken chorus against wiser, more contemplative verses which creates a moving narrative – a story of growth following pain, only to revisit that same sorrow with another person later on. The fact that the separate sections were written during very different emotional times in the writer’s life is evident in the rich texture of the song. It makes for a more powerful piece that encapsulates the moments of pain in the context of a positive, hopeful journey. There is a cycle to it, but one that delicately balances the resignation to start over with a great sense of hope that next time will be the one.

The vocals pair elegantly with the feeling in the lyrics. You can really feel the rawness and the power in the lead line, whilst backing vocals lend weight to the emotional high points in the track – the hardest parts of the conversation that herald the end of a relationship. Every never and don’t go and why would you feels ripped from the moment.

This is bolstered by instruments that flow together really well. The string lines running through the track are playful and catchy, ramping up into very fun interludes that give the song a lot of energy.

‘Why Would You?’ ends with the lead vocal, alone, holding one final, powerful note. It clings to that emotional feeling down to the very last beats, lingering like the memory of an old love.

‘Why Would You?’ is accompanied by a gritty live video, directed by Tyree Smith and Daniel Medina. Watch it here:

Kirstie Summers
@actuallykurt

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Track Of The Day: First Frontier – ‘Break Away’

As a debut single, ‘Break Away‘ cements First Frontier as a band that don’t hold their punches. They define themselves forcefully as performers who aren’t afraid to be vocal about their real, raw reactions to the world around them.

The Birmingham-based garage rock duo use a simple but incredible combination of drums, guitar and vocals to create a powerful sound that narrows in on its message. The raw strings and precise drums flow effortlessly together, pouring in from the first beat. The simplicity of just the two instruments provides a great foundation for the impact of the vocals.

‘Break Away’ speaks to something that a lot of people are feeling right now, in terms of the time when people are thinking about fresh starts for the new year, as well as the general social landscape. If the past two years haven’t been enough to encourage people to deeply think about what makes them truly happy and drop anything that doesn’t bring a little bit of joy into the grim reality of the world, then I don’t know what will. The repeated call to “break away” hits exactly how it needs to. The track as a whole sucks you into its energy; you can’t help but feel the rage and the heartache behind it, and be inspired by the way that pain manifests through upbeat and catchy music.

The lyrics allude to the political in a way that is satisfying for anyone paying attention to the state of UK politics right now. References to “this wasteland of a union” and calling for the offending party to be “overthrown” feel revolutionary, but they’re structured in such a way that you could easily apply them allegorically to whatever else might be bothering you on a personal level. If you’re not feeling like breaking away from a corrupt capitalist system, the vibe still matches up to the need to escape from oppressive workplaces or toxic relationships.

It all comes together into a song that is incredibly easy to connect to and sing along with. It’s a vibrant, exciting sound that you’re happy to get swept up along in, wherever First Frontier are going next.

Find out more about First Frontier on their website now.

Kirstie Summers
@actuallykurt

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