Sextile
As another Singles Club rolls around, Getintothis’ Chris Burgess dives headlong into cryptic lyrics, Russian revivalists and pregnant White Stripes singers, headbutting a Shy Tory on the way.
Sextile: Can’t Take It – Single of the Week
Can’t Take It is an immediate punch to the throat of a tune, panicked and anxious and delivering some of the best drumming I’ve heard in months.
As debut records go, this one is a corker – all bubbling synths, chunky guitars and moody vocals. An instant post-surf punk classic, if that’s even a genre. If not, Sextile might just have invented it.
The LA-based band’s debut album A Thousand Hands is released via Felte on 21 August. Eagerly awaited in my household, given the sheer power of this track.
BEAK>: Split EP
Here’s a strange one – Geoff Barrow’s band BEAK> have decided to release a split EP, with themselves.
It seems unfair to label the Portishead pioneer’s ‘new’ band as a side project, given that they’ve toured extensively in their own right and continue to drop tracks as dreamy as this.
A world away from Portishead’s gloomy trip hop, the EP offers two surprisingly different bands. There’s the renowed trio of BEAK> of course, but also their ‘alter ego’ <KAEB, who have a floating and expanding membership policy.
The 4 track Split EP is out on Invada Records at the end of July.
I’lls: Let Me Have Just One
The Melbourne three-piece of I’lls (pronounced ‘isles’) bring us some fractured and ambient electronica,
Let Me Have Just One is an intimate and spacey tune, distracting and distorting itself as its muted 808 bass melodies and Simon Lam’s wispy vocals float by.
The track is taken from their upcoming EP Can I Go With You Back To My Country – released through Solitaire Records on 6 July.
Gulf: Out Here
GIT Award 2015 nominees Gulf – fresh from their amazing Sound City performance – have here produced a work of pure breezy pop that seems to summon the summer sunshine.
The track evokes glimpses of New Order in their prime, snatches of Tame Impala and subtle nods to Foals with their clipped guitar lines. There are glimpses of many influences here, without the band straying from their own sound.
The band play The Kazimier on June 18 – a homeground gig that’s sure to be packed to the rafters.
HeCTA: Til Someone Gets Hurt
HeCTA is the electronic side project of Lambchop members Kurt Wagner, Scott Martin and Ryan Norris.
Til Someone Gets Hurt is a playful, experimental track that seems to promise more than it ever delivers. Sadly the staccato organ and overcooked beats just seem to veer the song towards the cheesy side of electronica.
The gang are obviously having tonnes of fun though, so maybe I shouldn’t be too harsh.
Statement Haircut: Cover
The still-amazingly-named Statement Haircut were one of the highlights of this year’s Threshold Festival, and offer up Cover, a bouncing yet delicately balanced collision of synths and sophisticated beats.
The band, led by the duo of Michael Stevenson and Darren Reynolds, continue to develop their excellent brand of cryptic, witty lyricism, as Cover could be about anything from an introspective look at the emotions of heartbreak to a treatise on the rise of the Shy Tory.
Real Lies: Seven Sisters
Imagine Madonna’s Vogue, sung by a gang of North London hooligans, and you’ve got something close to Seven Sisters by Real Lies, recent Sound City performers.
The video was recorded on the last night of Peoples Club on Holloway Road, shut down to “make room for places where Happy Days wankers can go to eat burgers and drink coffee while having pretentious conversations with their hands”, according to their press release.
Thank the Lord that kind of thing doesn’t happen in Liverpool, eh?
Sewer Rats: Skint
The debut single from Grimbsy’s Sewer Rats is taken from their debut Money Maker EP, released 27 July through Fluffer Records.
It’s a rough and riotous ride, drenched with override distortion and grungey hooks big enough to hang your leather jacket on.
If Lemmy were ever to get Jack White pregnant, this is the kind of music their baby would make.
Russkaja: Rock’n’Roll Today
Fresh out on Napalm Records is this tantalising folk-punk tune from Russkaja, Russia’s biggest band since…erm…t.A.T.u.?
The song rattles and polkas past at a million miles an hour, like a Gogol Bordello that’s been working out.
But that’s not the point here. The fact is that Russian rock music has died a death in the past decade or so. Russkaja, although based in Vienna, are leading the way for Russian resurgence, which is interesting to see.
Their singer looks like a young Alexei Sayle character too, which is always a good thing.
Ducktails: Surreal Exposure
Matt Mondanile’s Ducktails has released the latest single from forthcoming album St. Catherine – released 24 July on Domino.
Surreal Exposure sees the Real Estate guitarist move away from his previous output with a dreamy, summertime chilled out tune.
