Track Of The Day: Momma – ‘Rockstar’

An effortlessly cool guitar tune that playfully picks apart the novelties of being in a band, Brooklyn-based Momma have shared their latest single ‘Rockstar’. Following on from their previous offering ‘Medicine‘, the group have announced this single alongside the news that they’ll be embarking on their first UK tour in May, with a headline show at London’s Brixton Windmill on 10th May.

Formed of Etta Friedman (guitars/vocals), Allegra Weingarten (guitars/vocals), Aron Kobayashi Ritch (bass) and Zach Capitti Fenton (drums), Momma create sounds inspired by the 90s pop and alternative scenes. Blending soft dual vocals with grunge-tinged guitars, the band seamlessly craft heady, swirling anthems focused on their observations on life, with ‘Rockstar’ being an infectious, melodic combination of these talents.

“Etta and I wanted to write a song about making it big, and becoming rock stars,” Allegra explains about the new single. “We didn’t want to take anything too seriously, lyrically, or musically. We just wanted the song to sound big. We thought it would be cool to have our own little rockumentary condensed in a 3-minute music video. It’s also kind of like a manifestation – I think we shamelessly want all of these things to happen in our careers.”

Directed by LA-based duo Batshit!, the video is a playful ode to Friedman and Weingarten’s rock music comedy favourites such as Josie and the Pussycats, School of Rock and Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny. It also features spiritual guidance in the form of a poster of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain.

Watch the video for ‘Rockstar’ below.

Follow Momma on bandcamp, Spotify, Twitter, Instagram & Facebook

Momma will be supporting Wet Leg and Snail Mail on a series of US dates and announcing additional UK shows soon.

Photo Credit: Cooper Winterson

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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WATCH: Wet Leg – ‘Oh No’

A playful take on the relatable desire to doom-scroll on social media when you find yourself alone with your thoughts, Isle Of Wight duo Wet Leg have shared a new video for their latest single ‘Oh No’. Taken from their upcoming self-titled debut album, which is set for release on 8th April via Domino Records, the video gives fans an opportunity to sing-along to the catchy lyrics as the duo dance around in a uniquely Wet Leg costume.

Formed by Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers, Wet Leg began making music together in the summer of 2019 and in the space of two short years, the pair have garnered a loyal and excited following. Their refreshingly laid back attitude, dead-pan humourous lyrics and memorable guitar licks provide their listeners with instant gratification and new single ‘Oh No’ is no exception. The accompanying video, like all Wet Leg videos, was self-directed by the band.

“The footage was shot on the Isle of Wight at the bottom of a chairlift that you can take from the top of the cliff,” Teasdale explains. “The rope costume – made by costume designer Kate Tabor – weighed an absolute tonne and it took three of us to carry it down the cliff to shoot. We’d each grab onto a limb, and after 20 minutes of heavy lifting managed to get it down the steep steps leading to the beach. We’re thinking of starting it up as a work-out class for alternative types.”

“It’s been a pretty wild ride for us these past few months, we never really thought much past actually making music and playing gigs,” Teasdale continues. “It’s quite an odd thing to suddenly open yourself to so much criticism and praise alike. The comments that complete strangers will leave on our videos are so funny and range wildly in sentiment. Although we know it is bad for us to read them and we try to avoid it, sometimes it’s irresistible when you’re on your own; the 3am doom scroll really gets you. For this video, we have obsessively selected our favourite bits from the comments sections across our socials, the good, the bad, the ugly and have repurposed them to make something new – it has been quite cathartic actually.”

Watch the video for ‘Oh No’ below.

Wet Leg UK 2022 In Store Tour Dates
Thursday 7th April – Banquet @ PRYZM
Friday 8th April – Rough Trade East
Saturday 9th April – Resident, Brighton
Sunday 10th April – Rough Trade, Bristol
Monday 11th April – Rough Trade, Nottingham
Tuesday 12th April – HMV, Birmingham

Follow Wet Leg on bandcamp, Spotify, Twitter, Instagram & Facebook

Photo Credit: Hollie Fernando

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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ALBUM: Los Bitchos – ‘Let the Festivities Begin!’

The first week of February. The deepest depths of winter. The coldest time of the year. A couple of weeks on from ‘Blue Monday,’ supposedly the most depressing day of the year. What better time to release an album full of summer party bangers? Enter Los Bitchos, wielding their debut record Let the Festivities Begin!, a bumper pack of the pan-continental band’s signature swashbuckling, psych-swirling instrumentals – the sound of the festival you are already impatiently looking forward to.

This is an album dedicated to joy. It is full of irresistible grooves and winding guitar lines and occasionally punctuated by yells of triumph overheard at the end of takes. The guitar line on ‘Pista (Great Start)’ is almost physically tangible, reaching out of the speaker to tickle your spine. Other tunes, particularly ‘Tropico’, move with the synth pulse and go-ahead danceability of a Tom Tom Club record. Half the song names sound like the captions of polaroids from a summer holiday – especially ‘Lindsay Goes to Mykonos’ and ‘Try the Circle!’ – a feeling heightened by the sunny flange guitars that lead most tunes. The group seem to stand for escape to faraway climes, from their pseudo-Spanish name through to the evident inspiration they’ve drawn from the music of warmer countries, from Turkish and Australian psych to Argentinian cumbia.

With Let the Festivities Begin!, Los Bitchos herald the arrival of summer with an album to thaw your soul. It’s playful and modestly epic, encapsulating the infectious spirit that has led the group to be one of the best loved acts on the scene.

Los Bitchos’ new album Let The Festivities Begin! will be released on 4th February.

Follow Los Bitchos on bandcamp, Spotify, Twitter, Instagram & Facebook

Photo Credit: Tom Mitchell

Lloyd Bolton
@lloyd_bolton

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WATCH: Witch Fever – ‘Bully Boy’

A thunderous, ruthless assertion of autonomy that spits in the face of misogynistic behaviour, Manchester four-piece Witch Fever have shared their latest single ‘Bully Boy’. Taken from the band’s recent EP Reincarnate, released via Sony’s Music For Nations, the track is a cathartic, brutal takedown of the toxic men who repeatedly push women to their limits.

Full of thumping beats, gritty riffs and Amy Walpole’s visceral vocals, ‘Bully Boy’ is a scathing reflection on the misogyny that Witch Fever have experienced first-hand. “We wrote this song after we played a gig where the guitarist from one of the support bands shouted at us on stage to take our tops off,” Amy explains. “For us ‘Bully Boy’ is our combined rage about these experiences funnelled into one track. The alternative music scene is still very much a ‘boys club’ leaving female and non-binary people vulnerable to misogynistic and sexist behaviour, and we are always challenging this.”

Aware of the track’s heavy context, Witch Fever decided to put a dramatic but playful spin on the accompanying visuals for the track. Directed by Sam O’Leary, the video’s concept was “The Witch Trials meets drag queens and CBeebies”, which Sam and Roma Allenby helped the band create. “The video is different to anything we’ve done before,” Amy continues. “The lyrics are quite brutal so we thought it’d be fun to turn it on it’s head and create something that on the surface is colourful and fun but has a dark undercurrent.”

Fusing their rage with a darkly comic twist, Witch Fever’s mantra “Off with his head!” is one that listeners can scream in unison together, channelling their rage through an empowering and fearless sentiment.

Watch the video for ‘Bully Boy’ below.

Follow Witch Fever on bandcamp, Spotify, Twitter, Instagram & Facebook

Photo Credit: Debbie Ellis

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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