So lend an ear and tuck into our pick of some of this week’s most prominent music releases. You never know, your new favourite record may be in there!
Glints Feat. Jan Paternoster - Alarm
Belgium’s Jan Maarschalk Lemmens - aka Glints - is back with surprise new single “Alarm”, featuring Black Box Revelation guitarist, Jan Paternoster. And from the get-go it’s obvious that this is a change of direction compared to Glint’s output on his most recent album ‘Dark’. With an energetic lyrical call-to-arms, overlaying a ripping indie guitar groove, ‘“Alarm” will wake you up at any time of the day. Don’t sleep, this one is out now on PIAS.
Sleater-Kinney - Hell
Original Riot grrrl rockers Sleater-Kinney have a new album - ‘Little Rope’ - due out in January and as a preview they’ve just dropped opening track “Hell”. Very much a song of audible contrasts and vocal apprehension, “Hell” turns out to be anything but. Featuring a minimal vs maximal approach, when the verses subside and the chorus drops you’ll certainly know about it! That these ladies are still gifting us with such delicacy and energy almost three decades since they first kicked up hell is nothing short of a revelation and bodes well for their upcoming album. “Hell” is very much here and available now via UMG.
Francis of Delirium - First Touch
Following up their brilliant slow burner (and Today Radio favourite) single “Real Love”, Luxembourg’s very own Francis Of Delirium return with another introspective release which will only further cement their status as a band destined for bigger things. Fuelled by a playful and vibrant vocal from Jana Bahrich, “First Touch” both serves to solidify the band’s sound and elevate it to new highs. The Luxembourg-based trio will be playing an intimate gig at De Gudde Wëllen on November 10th. In the meantime, “First Touch” is out now on FUGA. If you’re not familiar with the band, check out our exclusive interview with Jana, where she details in’s-and-out’s of the band’s first tour in the USA.
The Streets - The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light
Dry your eyes, mate, because our boy Mike Skinner is back on the streets and bang on form as he finally serves up 15-track epic ‘The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light’. We previewed the first single “Troubled Water” back in July and we’ve been looking forward to what would follow. So what do Skinner and Co. deliver? Probably their most cohesive set of songs since 2004’s ‘A Grand Don’t Come for Free’ but without most of the cheeky-chappy-geezer vibes of the old days. If that’s your preference, no bad thing, but with more than 20 years on the clock it only seems appropriate for The Streets to switch up how they see the world, and this allows the weight of Skinner’s observation and introspection to sit more comfortably than on his most recent output of stand-alone singles, mixtapes and guest appearances. It may be the hardest way to make an easy living but we’re glad they’ve put in the work on this one. ‘The Darker the Shadow the Brighter the Light’ is released through 679 on the 13th of October.
Gotts Street Park - On The Inside
Leeds-based trio Gotts Street Park return to the collective consciousness with a wonderfully laidback, ultra-smooth, genre-hopping collection of new music which swings deftly from Motown admiration to Khruangbin-esque grooves in a heartbeat. With a host of guest vocals (from the likes of Rosie Lowe, Olive Jones, Enny and Pip Millett) it would be easy to suggest that the overall vibe of this long player would suffer from inconsistency but the matching of singer to song is wonderfully balanced and helps to elevate each track beyond its already quality instrumentation. Highlights include the ultra cool instrumental “Fuego”, the almost Winehouse-like soul of “Got To Be Good” and the confidently executed rap-soul musings of “Mountains”. This delicious chill-fest of soulful euphoria drops on Blue Flowers Music on the 13th.
Goat - Medicine
Mysterious Swedish psych-folksters Goat follow-up this year’s “Seu Sangue” EP with ‘Medicine’, their 5th studio album. Highly secretive yet powerfully emotive, Goat are a live tour-de-force who effortlessly combine eastern vibes and instrumentation with western folk-rock sensibilities, and on ‘Medicine’ they retain all of those wonderful signature elements but this time deliver them with a slightly more eerie and introspective approach. But if you think that means the riffs have been stripped back or the vocals toned down, you’d be very much wrong. It’s just that now they’re delivered with more confidence and aplomb. This is a band that no longer needs to continually prove itself from behind their masks and costumes. Highlights on ‘Medicine’ include the ‘psychedelic 70’s meet Nick Drake’ underpinnings of instrumental “Tripping In The Graveyard”, the ghostly, treated vocal delivery on uplifting rocker “Join The Resistance”, and the near six minutes of swaying, warping guitar solos which hold together “Varna”. Released by Rocket Recordings on the 13th, ‘Medicine’ is proof that Goat’s masks haven’t slipped. Highly prescribed.
If you’ve found some new tunes recently, have any recommendations for what we should be checking out, or simply have an earworm that you just can’t shift, then why not drop us the details via WhatsApp (+352 621 525 000) and, as our esteemed colleague Stephen ‘Steps’ Lowe always says, if we have it - we’ll play it!
