LISTEN: GIHE on Soho Radio with Cheri Percy (29.05.23)

Tash and Kate were back on Soho Radio’s airwaves playing loads of new music from some of their favourite female, non-binary and LGBTQIA+ artists! Mari offered some of her “musical musings” too. The pair talked about their highlights from The Great Escape Festival – which included spotting Courtney Love – and how much they collectively love Hypsoline after they headlined the latest GIHE gig at The Shacklewell Arms. They also enthused about the eclectic mix of tracks on the playlist, including ARXX, Ezra Williams, Touch Excellent, HotWax, GENN, SPIDER, CATBEAR, DEWEY, Midwife, Brutus and more.

Tash also caught up with author and journalist Cheri Percy to talk about her new book Come Away With ESG. Inspired by the story of ESG – one of the most under-rated and influential bands in electronic music – Cheri penned the book which features interviews with founding member Renee Scroggins, alongside cult-figures from 1980s New York and North England. Tash and Cheri spoke about all this and more. You can buy your copy of the book here.

Listen back to the radio show below:

 

We’ll be back on Soho Radio on Monday 26th June from 12-2pm!

Tracklist
ANOHNI and the Johnsons – It Must Change
Hypsoline – With You Gone
ARXX – Ride Or Die
HotWax – Rip It Out
GENN – A Reprise (That Girl)
INDIGOS – Drug Dealer, Faith Healer
FLOSSING – Switch
SOLE – en och en
Headboy – cement
Heff Vansaint – Ladder Rungs
BRUTUS – Brave
My Ugly Clementine – Are You In?
Aldous Harding – The Barrel
Ezra Williams – Until I’m Home
Janelle Monae – Lipstick Lover
jellyskin – bringer of brine
**Interview with Cheri Percy**
ESG – The Beat
DEWEY – The Janitor
CATBEAR – I’ll Meet You At The End
Midwife & Vyva Melinkolya – Hounds Of Heaven
Charlotte Carpenter – Spinning Plates
Carpenters – Yesterday Once More
SPIDER – Growing Into It
Touch Excellent – Record
pink suits – Fake Great Britain
Hole – Awful

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Five Favourites: SOFTEE

Having just released her debut album, Brooklyn based artist Nina Grollman – aka Softee – creates sparkling alt-pop soundscapes with a stirring, heartfelt emotion. Oozing a glistening immersive splendour throughout, Natural explores complex themes of identity and transformation with a soulful, uplifting energy.

We think one of the best ways to get to know an artist is by asking what music inspires them. So, to celebrate the release of Natural, we caught up with Softee to ask about the music that has inspired her the most. So, read about her five favourite songs, and make sure you check out the album, and watch the beaut new video for latest single ‘Isn’t Enough‘ below...

Stevie Wonder – ‘Summer Soft’
The first time I heard this track, I was nine years old. My mom played it in the car. I was so into all the key changes and the build of the song. I’m obsessed with Stevie’s voice. As I grew up, my appreciation for the song deepened. For years I thought he was singing about a past relationship. When I finally looked up the lyrics, I realized it’s about the seasons, and aging. It makes me so emotional when I hear it now, because it’s so full of passion and fervour, and it’s about getting older and time slipping by. The dichotomy of these two concepts is so rich. Stevie can truly write about everything and make it timeless.

Charlie XCX – ‘Sucker’
Let me explain. I know this isn’t Charli’s best song, but it’s extremely important to me. The year is 2014, and one of my best friends had an extra ticket to the Bleachers concert in Minneapolis. Charli was co-headlining the show, but I had no idea who she was. I barely even knew Jack Antonoff but I went cause duh, free ticket. Charli comes onstage in Adidas pants (BEFORE they were super trendy) and sports bra, with an inflatable guitar and sunglasses. She has an all girl band. She opens the set with ‘Sucker’. Something in me completely shifted. I was like “oh, THIS is a fucking POP star.” I didn’t know pop could be grunge??? For that album, she was influenced by the Shangri-Las and super cool underground ’90s pop. I was obsessed with her energy and the set brought me an adrenaline high I don’t think I’ve ever topped at a show. To this day I hear this song and I get butterflies.

Robyn – ‘With Every Heartbeat‘
I think my favourite Robyn song changes daily, but today it’s this one. The strings. The simplicity of the beat. This song completely hypnotises you while ripping your heart out of your chest. It’s hopeful while reckoning with the fact that the relationship is over. Robyn is a genius, and one of my biggest influences. I love how simple and powerful her songwriting is. She is endlessly innovative. Her chords and melodies make me want to cry.

La Roux – ‘Automatic Driver’
When this song came out I listened to it on loop for ages! It’s so danceable and fun. A perfect song to walk to on a sunny day when you’re in a good mood!

Little Dragon – ‘Another Lover’
This is me and my fiancé’s song. It’s so infectious, from the melody to the production, to Yakimi Nagano’s vocals, to the driving bassline. This song has it all. I’m a major Little Dragon fan. Their electronic-pop-rnb fusion is so singular to their sound. I am very inspired by it. 


Massive thanks to Softee for sharing her Five Favourites with us! Watch the video for latest single ‘Isn’t Enough’ here:


Natural, the debut album from Softee, is out now via City Slang.


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ALBUM: Hannah Jadagu – ‘Aperture’

Blurring the lines between pop, shoegaze, hip hop and grunge, Texas-born, New York-based musician Hannah Jadagu‘s debut album Aperture is a bright, kaleidoscopic collection of heart-on-sleeve indie anthems. Released via Sub Pop, the record’s title – defined as both “an opening, hole or gap” and as the “space through which light passes in an optical or photographic instrument” – hints at the way the artist processes and filters her musings on family ties, personal growth and epiphanies about life, love and religion. The result is a shimmering collection of guitar-based tunes that reflect Jadagu’s vibrant talent as a songwriter.

The follow up to her 2021 EP, What Is Going On?, also released via Sub Pop, Jadagu’s debut full length is a real step up. Her simple but effective method of using Garageband iOS and her iPhone 7 to produce and record her five track EP in her bedroom, has been subbed in for time in a professional recording studio alongside French songwriter and producer Max Robert Baby. Whilst her environment and set up may have changed, the result remains the same: Aperture deftly captures Jadagu’s personal-yet-universal approach to songwriting; it just feels more polished and precise.

“Every track on this album, except for ‘Admit It’, was written first on guitar, which is an instrumental throughline,” Jadagu explains about the process. “The blanket of synths I use throughout helps me move between sensibilities. There’s rock Hannah, there’s hip-hop Hannah, and so on. I didn’t want any of the songs to sound too alike.” This desire to thread her collective influences and experiences together underscores Aperture.

From the tender, slow-building opener ‘Explanation’, to the combination of hip hop-inspired beats, ambient guitar tones and buzzier riffs that cut through on ‘Warning Sign’, right up to her buoyant ruminations on final track ‘Your Thoughts Are Ur Biggest Obstacle’, Jadagu’s charming vocals lead her navigation through genres and emotional learning curves. The songwriter’s self doubt melts away when it’s pushed through a vocoder on the latter, allowing listeners to drift off into the ether with her.

There are two tracks that stand out on the record: ‘What You Did’ and ‘Admit It’. The driving beats and jangly, reverb-laden riffs on the first are totally infectious, enhanced by Jadagu’s cutting lyrics and bittersweet vocal delivery. The latter is a hazy, humble ode to her older sister, who Jadagu refers to as “the blueprint”. She made the reluctant songwriter join the local children’s chorus when they were younger, an experience which Jadagu says she “hated”, but was core to her learning how to harmonize, as well as being able to recognise and write melody.

Reflections on her upbringing – which are also underscored by her relationship to, and growing distance from Christianity – permeate Aperture, simultaneously giving the record its intimate-yet-omnipresent feeling. Whether she’s working through feelings of frustration on ‘Say It Now’, or drifting away on a cloud of melancholic bedroom-pop on ‘Dreaming’, Jadagu’s shimmering guitar tones, catchy beats and emotive lyrics are the bittersweet soundtrack to growth in all its forms.

Follow Hannah Jadagu on bandcamp, Spotify, Twitter, Instagram & Facebook

Photo Credit: Sam Wilbert

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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PREMIERE: CATBEAR – ‘I’ll Meet You At The End’

Having been charming our ears for some time now, and having recently toured with indie legends The Subways, London duo CATBEAR now follow the success of their stirring last single ‘I Choose Love’ with a brand new release.

A love song for the apocalypse, ‘I’ll Meet You At The End’ is propelled by deep propulsive beats as swirling synths ripple alongside honey-sweet vocals with a blissful allure. Reflecting on the power of connection, even in the darkest of times, it builds with an anthemic whirring splendour to an utterly immersive soundscape, oozing an all-encompassing shimmering grace. Taking the listener on a soaring sonic journey, it’ll instantly captivate; showcasing the impassioned power that this innovative duo are able to create.

Listen to ‘I’ll Meet You At The End’ for the first time here:

‘I’ll Meet You At The End’ is set for release tomorrow, 12th May. And catch CATBEAR at The Great Escape today, where they’ll be debuting the track live!

Mari Lane
@marimindles

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