LISTEN: GIHE Live on Soho Radio (09.01.23)

Tash and Kate were back on Soho Radio’s main channel for the first time this year, playing some of their favourite new music by female, non-binary and LGBTQ+ artists! They enthused about the eclectic playlist, their love for DIY punks Big Joanie who are headlining The Garage this Wednesday (11th Jan), and Kate finally listened to one of Tash’s many music recommendations – Sevdaliza.

The pair also spoke about some of their ‘Ones To Watch’ for 2023 and the artists they are most looking forward to catching live, including Alien Chicks, CIRCE, NYX, BLAB and ME REX, who will be headlining our next Get In Her Ears gig at The Shacklewell Arms on 10th February. Support comes from Oxford glitch-pop duo Dream Phone and DIY legend Jen Denitto. Grab your tickets here.

Listen back below:

 

We’ll be back on Soho Radio on Monday 6th February, 12-2pm!

Tracklist
Big Joanie – New Year
Amaroun – Just Be Good To Me
Sweet Magnolia Brass Band – How Long
CIL – Warm Dependence
Ghum – Shallow
Fraulein – And I Go (La La La)
Razor Braids – Nashville, Again
LINN – Okay, Sister
Faetooth – Fifth Circle
Alien Chicks – Woodlouse
Rumpistol x Kill J – Walk On Home 2.0
CHIVVY – Reign
Hypsoline – With You Gone
girl with dream – H.R.T. (Heart Replacement Theory)
NAMELESS TWIN – Dead Roses
CIRCE – Ruined Your Sons
Debby Friday – So Hard To Tell
ISHA ft. Nico Harris – Run
Prima Hera – Sidecar
Midwife – Sickworld
NYX – Emergence
Livia Rita – FUGA FUTURA
VISCERENE – Zeros and Ones
Lizzy Young – Cigarettes Are Good For Pain
Sevdaliza – High Alone
ME REX – Jupiter Pluvius
Ritual Forms – Dreaming
BLAB – Eton Mess
Taylor Swift – Anti-Hero

Kate CrudgingtonLeave a comment

ALBUM: ME REX – ‘Megabear’

Megabear by ME REX is easily one of the coolest and most ambitious albums to come out this generation.

It is comprised of fifty two short tracks, most of which last a little over thirty seconds, with a total album length of around half an hour. Each track has a corresponding tarot card designed by artist Jono Ganz. This is so you can shuffle your tarot deck, play the tracks in whichever order the cards decide for you and experience the album in an entirely new way.

You’ll have a perfectly enjoyable time listening to the songs in the order they appear automatically on bandcamp, but you’ll miss out on the layers that make this experiment so special. These tracks are designed to be played in near infinite possible combinations. They are designed to be able to flow from one to the next, regardless of which songs might get paired. To me, this sounds like it should be impossible. But ME REX have made it work. Particularly if you listen to it on their purpose-built website – free of the risk of Spotify ads to break your immersion. It’s easy to let the site automatically shuffle the tracks for you and listen to the looping, flowing music for hours on end. If you want to look for the seams between songs, obviously you can find them. But it takes no effort at all to sit back and let them wash over you in their shifting uncanny beauty.

The music itself suits being attached to a tarot deck so well. It is clearly influenced by the movement of nature, with lyrics referencing rivers and refrains that evoke that feeling of being carried along gentle eddies through a glittering natural wonderland. There is a gorgeous dance between the keys, strings and drums. ME REX have crafted something genuinely special, forging a unique sound for themselves that is distinct, original and stunning.

The thought and effort that has gone into creating a piece that makes you think about not just the music you’re listening to, but how you consume music in the digital age is astounding. It is a thoroughly well executed experiment that deserves to be remembered for sheer ambition alone.

Megabear is out now. Buy the album, plus your very own special deck of tarot cards, on bandcamp.

Kirstie Summers
@ActuallyKurt

Kirstie SummersLeave a comment