Track Of The Day: Mesadorm – ‘Yours And Not Yours’

An urgent exploration of insecurity and doubt, London-based collaborative project Mesadorm have shared their latest single ‘Yours and Not Yours’. Released via Babylegs Records earlier this month, the track is taken from the band’s upcoming album Heterogaster, which will be released in Spring 2018.

Formed in 2015 by a group of long term friends, Mesadorm are a combination of each band member’s musical and artistic influences. Every individual is a performer in their own right, having written and/or recorded with such artists as Goldfrapp, MIKA, Paloma Faith, Rae Morris, The Magnetic North, John Metcalfe, The Unthanks, Hannah Peel and Frank Turner.

‘Yours and Not Yours’ is an amalgamation of each band member’s talent, collectively exploring an intense sense of doubt, ricocheting between security and unease with the help of an abrasive synth line and urgent, rich vocals.

“’YANY’ is a purging song for me,” vocalist & songwriter Blythe Pepino explains about the track.”It has something of the moment when self-doubt and doubt in everything around us collides. A special kind of doubt I think us ‘beneficiaries’ of the Western Capitalist model are now experiencing. The kind where, perhaps at a certain destabilising point in your life, the kind faces of friends and family and lovers melt into the smiles of the adverts forced upon you for addictive crap you don’t need. It has something of the taste of looking for home when everything you’ve been grown to enjoy carries the smell of burnt flesh and deceit. After that you must learn to look for what joy really is to you because the potential to fill yourself up with the other stuff is very real and very easy and all the while someone else is dying for your comfort on the TV screen.”

Listen to ‘Yours And Not Yours’ below, and follow the band on Facebook for more updates.

Mesadorm are: Blythe Pepino (Vox/Keys), Aaron Zahl (Guitars/Production), Daisy Palmer (Drums/Bvs), David Johnston (Bass/Bvs), Jo Silverston (Cello/Bvs).

Photo Credit: Sarah Cresswell

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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ALBUM: Weekend Recovery – ‘Get What You Came For’

“Get what you came for. Why don’t you give it to me?”

What would you get if you mixed the vocals of an edge-of-the-seventies punk band, an early ’90s riot fest, and a turn-of-the-century nu-metal outfit (but better)…? The answer is Weekend Recovery’s new album, Get What You Came For.

Riotous is the word from the Kent-hailing pop/rock outfit that has the vibes and energy of an early Paramore. The album opens with ‘Turn it Up’ and the catchy kind of guitar riff everyone enjoys in the vein of Jack Off Jill with dudes, whose influence is rife to the point of referential lyrics (“Can we pretend we’re Jack Off Jill?”) and a chorus reminiscent of Juliette & the Licks’ ‘Comin’ Around’.

These riffs can be found throughout the album, sometimes changing gear in the middle of the song to the joy you’d imagine coming as a surprise if you were to see the band live. “Is that the end of the — ” track, and the band plays on.

The majority of the album switches pace between fast, powerful, anthemic tracks like ‘Why Don’t You Love Me?’ and ‘Why Don’t You Stay?’, and the softer ‘Anyway’ and ‘All My Own’, harking back to times that, for a lot of us, felt simpler politically and personally; it’s easier to picture the band on the stage of The Bronze in Buffy the Vampire Slayer than it is with a guest spot on Riverdale (do they even have bands?).

Get What You Came For is the sort of album I would have looped to the death ten years ago, when my body and mind were both rife with existential, teenage-to-twenty-something angst, not because the music mirrors that but instead because it heals it.

Good albums are journeys and lyrically Weekend Recovery’s Get What You Came For is exactly that; a weekend recovery and a breath of fresh air, and it’s another piece in the puzzle I’ve been trying to put together forever: Riot Grrrl needs a comeback.

Maybe that time is now.

Get What You Came For is out now. Catch Weekend Recovery live at the following dates (full dates here):

2nd March – Aatma, Manchester
8th March – Tap n Tumbler, Notts
10th March – Maguires Pizza Bar, Liverpool
17th March – Get the Fear, Birmingham
22nd March – The Fulford Arms, York
23rd March – The Junction, Plymouth
5th April – Sebright Arms, London
6th April – Poco Loco, Chatham
7th April – Green Door Store, Brighton
18th April – Wharf Chambers, Leeds
28th April – Rock Bar Metro, Bolton

Em Burfitt
@fenderqueer

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ALBUM: Screaming Females – ‘All At Once’

Screaming Females have been touring and producing records for just shy of a decade and they’ve managed to keep both their energy and integrity in tact with the release of their seventh studio album, All At Once.

Released via Don Giovanni Records and produced by long-time collaborator Matt Bayles (Pearl Jam, Mastodon, Murder City Devils), band members Marissa Paternoster (guitar, vox), Mike Abbate (bass), and Jarrett Dougherty (drums) spent a month recording in Seattle and the result is a relentless fourteen track record.

Powerful opener ‘Glass House’ is fueled by filthy bass lines and sturdy vocals from Paternoster. Despite sounding like a break-up song, following track ‘Black Moon’ is actually about “the planet abandoning humanity,” but thanks to the riotous guitar and knockout percussion it doesn’t sound as bleak as that.

‘I’ll Make You Sorry’ is no idle threat, even if Paternoster asks “am I losing faith in my own anger?” ‘Dirt’ kicks up the musical dust again, before ‘Agnes Martin’ busts wide open with its “emblems built of garbage” and devious riffs. ‘Deeply’ is a passionate two minutes of slow-building, burning vocals, whilst ‘Soft Domination’ is equally as heated.

Despite originally being conceived as a minimalist drum machine-driven demo, ‘End Of My Bloodline’ sounds fleshy enough, while bookend tracks ‘Chamber For Sleep (Part One)’ and ‘Chamber For Sleep (Part Two)’ ponder a similarly morbid subject: the afterlife. “It’s sort of about sitting around, fantasizing about your own funeral and kind of wishing you could be there to see what it would be like,” explains Paternoster. “I would consider that a very universal human experience. Or maybe I’m crazy. I have no idea.”

Crazy or not, ‘Bird In Space’ soars like “a bird in paradise” with its rich guitar sounds and contrasts well with the jarring opening on following track ‘Fantasy Lens’. ‘My Body’, ‘Drop By Drop’ and ‘Step Outside’ sound minimal, but they’re all loud lessons in self-restraint, something Paternoster said she was “conscious” of whilst writing this album, wary of adding too many layers to each song.

Screaming Females seventh offering is a lively affair that should be played loud and All At Once for full effect. It’s sure to please fans who have stayed loyal to the band along the way and grasp the attention of new ears too.

You can order your copy of All At Once here. Follow Screaming Females on Facebook for more updates.

Photo Credit: Farrah Skeiky

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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ALBUM: Belako – ‘Render Me Numb, Trivial Violence’

A “head twisting mix” of punk, techno, indie, & electro, Spanish band Belako have shared their third album Render Me Numb, Trivial Violence via Primavera Sound’s label El Segell. The group were already well versed in fusing different genres and their talent for doing so has thrived on this record.

Upbeat cacophony ‘Maskenfreiheit’ kicks things off in trademark Belako style, with a manic mix of electronics, guitar riffs and lush vocals. There’s no time to catch your breath as ‘Lungs’ immediately follows, still bursting with the same organised musical chaos.

‘Two Faced Simulation’ impresses with its gritty bass lines, restless guitar riffs and heavier vocal delivery, whilst following track ‘Over The Edge’ keeps up the momentum with sharp, persistent percussion and more driving bass lines. ‘Nice Church’ is a joyful tune, combining both buoyant and dense synths with watery-fx vocals and more powerful percussion. Even when they sing of losing emotional focus on ‘Stumble’, Belako keep everything together musically. ‘Stumble II’ is equally as well constructed, with gentle keys tripping over more lush vocals.

The stripped back, hazy ‘Strangers In A Box’ follows, before brief instrumental ‘Render Arp’ leads in to title track ‘Render Me Numb’, which is permeated by forceful beats. The uplifting party-style synths on ‘The Fiend Thinker’ will get listeners feet moving, whilst the happily named ‘Something To Adore (Arinau)’ rolls out in the same passionate vein.

Penultimate track ‘Hegodun Baleak II’ meanders musically for five minutes, before the brief ‘Maskenfreiheit II’ bookends this fusion of manic indie and alternative sounds. With Render Me Numb, Trivial Violence, Belako have shown their skill for creating carnivalesque, yet ornate and considered music.

Render Me Numb, Trivial Violence is available now. Follow Belako on Facebook for more updates.

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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