Today’s track of the day comes from Perth post-punk quartet New Talk: ‘Amytis’ is out today. Gothic vocals over lush guitarscapes provide a powerful platform for the song’s themes of mistreatment of both First Nations peoples of Australia and also the migrants. The song’s title refers to “he legend of Amytis who, being sated by her husband King Nebuchadnezzar II, had the Hanging Gardens of Babylon built for her to remind her of her homeland”.
The single is taken from forthcoming LP ‘Time & Memory’, slated for release on Friday 12th February 2021.
Out today from Dead Naked Hippies: ‘Curiosity (Dawn)’ is our video of the day. A change of style for a band known for rock guitars and drums, this is an alt-disco bedroom banger born of lockdown necessity.
Frontwoman Lucy explains;
“Curiosity (Dawn) is a question of existence and purpose, how life shapes us & we shape it, and reflecting on it as if it were coming to an end. Society is so focused on moving at pace, achieving, doing, proving & sometimes it feels so ingrained into us, that this is the way we should be. Lyrically, I wanted to explore myself beyond expectation – what does it mean to be human? To me. I think that’s felt particularly prevalent given the events of 2020, in pausing & reflecting as life itself has unexpectedly slowed down this year.
“Honing our production skills has given us something to focus on, to create a silver lining out of a not so great situation & it has been an extremely liberating process. Gaining the confidence to be able to release a self produced track feels like quite a big deal to us.”
Today’s track of the day comes from London/Kent electropunx FeralFive: ‘Get a Grip’. It’s a sexy 80s synth-goth disco in space! Band Captain Kat tells us:
“It’s a song for when enough is enough, and you need to reclaim your own power.”
Today’s video of the day is a sparklingly indiepop collaboration between Norway’s Emilie Østebø and Lokoy from Stavanger punks Sløtface.
“It’s nothing too complicated; it deals with the relationship between two people, the dynamic between them. Often I feel like songs are a parody of yourself. The chorus of ‘a mistake’ is sort of a parody of the self-indulgent things you imagine saying to a person you’ve just had a fight with. I wrote the melody of the post-chorus on guitar, but Lasse had the idea to sing it instead. The childish and sarcastic tone of that melody when sung perfectly communicates the petulance of the lyrics.”
Our track of the day today comes from Brisbane ‘surfgaze’ The Double Happiness. ‘What You Said’ is out today, the final track on their album Surfgazing out Nov 26.
The Double Happiness consists of two couples who “create sonic ear-worms about beaches, ping pong, cities, existentialism, miscommunication, oysters and more”.
The delightful Party Fears (of Berlin via Northern Ireland) releases lush new single ‘Time in Space’ today – a dreamy pop shuffle, showcasing Maggie Devlin’s honey vocals, and space age retro effects. She says:
“It’s a song about prioritising security over authenticity; not necessarily bad, but sometimes hard. This year has forced us to cling to whatever security we can find; sometimes against our deepest instincts. For this song, I did a bit of projecting, imagining selves beyond this self; maybe some of them more authentic than the me imagining them. It’s a weird year that calls for some light astral projection.”
We loved it so much we pinned the lovely Maggie down for a 5 question interview …
1. For anyone who doesn’t know already (fools!) tell us in your own words about Party Fears? Party Fears is me making music mostly out of some weird compulsion I can’t control. Sometimes it’s happy and sometimes it’s sad and sometimes it’s angry and sometimes it’s joyous but most often it’s all of these smooshed together.
2. Tell us about Time in Space… I first started Time in Space last year when I was daydreaming about how much I used to obsess with space as a kid. Then I sat with the song for ages cos I couldn’t quite work my way to a chorus that fit the song. Eventually, I arrived at something and then the song finally came together. But it took a lot of going down wrong paths first! I recorded it in my bedroom at the end of summer through a wee Steinberg interface and a c606 microphone, and it was mixed by the amazing lmtlase studios who also worked on the previous single, All Is Good.
3. What artists are you most excited about/inspired by at the moment? Great question! I really like what HAVVK have been getting up to, especially with their team-ups. Also from the South (of Ireland), I’ve been enjoying Denise Chaila and Fears. Lisa O’Neill is also amazing: my God, her voice and this, like, aggressive authenticity. Cherym is one of the most exciting bands on the go, writing absolute pop bangers. I loveCareerist too. Under their former name, Hot Cops, they released this song Dumbbo that I obsessed over for about two years. Problem Patterns and Charmpit are great bands to have a bop around the house to, and Beauty Sleep remain one of my biggest loves. They are such a genuine joy and have a very special and abundant relationship with music that’s really contagious. I’m forgetting loads! In terms of inspiration, I find that really hard to talk about as I usually don’t know! Like, for Time in Space, Babywoman’s Charlotte asked me for bands the song sounds like and I literally spent an evening going through my playlists trying to unearth some influences (landed on the Delgados and Judy Garland?). I think there’s always this kind of subterranean river of all kinds of stuff that sometimes overflows and that’s what ends up being a song. A big soup of piles of stuff!
4. What are your top 3 lockdown tips? Oh, man. In the early days of lockdown I started eating like a queen. I have loved making big extravagant lunches! So cooking is one for sure. I can very recommend Rukmini Iyer’s Quick Roasting Tin cookbook! I’ve also rediscovered writing, which has been really nice. I mean music and text. I had horrible writer’s block for ages, which made me miserable, so it feels brilliant to be creative again! And then my ultimate tip is birds. Love me some birds. Birdsong is known to reduce stress, and in general, observing things in the natural world helps bring us outside ourselves and regain some perspective. I recommend just getting out there and trying to spot some wee fluffters bopping about the trees, living their lives and having their own wee wins and losses. I hear the sparrows come to my garden every morning and I always leap out of bed and run to the window, tear the curtain open and go, “Baybaysss!” which is a completely normal thing to do.
5. What kind of a party do you most fear? The Tories.
Today’s track of the day comes from Newcastle-upon-Tyne trio Cat Ryan: ‘Mary Shelley Song’ is out today. A catchy, summery little number continuing the British indie tradition of absolute nonsense lyrics …
“It’s a very unique song and, despite the title, it’s only the first verse that’s about Mary Shelley. Lyrically it’s quite random, having been inspired by a variety of memories stemming from my time at college studying for my A-Levels. Essentially, I showed my friends a new song I’d been working on and one of them came up with the first three lines on the spot. It was funny because it doesn’t fully make sense, but that’s sort of the theme of the song: it kind of makes sense to us, but other people will probably wonder how the lyrics were created and what they’re supposed to be about.”
We have some news – LOUD WOMEN Fest 5 has a new revised date of 18 September 2021.
Same venue, 229 London, and same format of 20 awesome bands over one day. With vaccines on the close horizon, we feel confident that the new date of 18 Sept 2021 will allow us to hold our fest exactly how we all want to experience it – nicely packed, up close and personal, and above all safe.
We have already personally contacted everyone who has already purchased tickets for the fest to let them know about the new date, and offer them a refund if necessary. All tickets purchased for LW Fest 5’s previous dates are valid for 18 Sept 2021. If you have any queries, contact us at loudwomenclub@gmail.com
LIBRALIBRA joins the lineup!
Of the 13 bands already announced for the festival, 12 will still be performing the new date of 18 Sept 2021. Sadly the date was a clash for Pink Lemonade, but we will hopefully get to see them another time on a LW stage once we return to regular gigging. We are delighted to announce though that Brighton’s so-hot-right-now LibraLibra are jumping on board the line-up! With further bands still to announce, our LW Fest 5 line-up is currently announced as:
LOUD WOMEN is delighted to bring you today the premiere of the beautiful and poignant new single from ThemmeFatale. ‘The Girl That Never Was’ is out tomorrow:
“This song is about grappling with what reality could have been if I transitioned earlier. I used the metaphor of accidentally (or not?) killing a girl in a car accident because that’s what the hesitation feels like every day when I see my body mutilated by puberty.
The track is taken from forthcoming album Let’s Destroy Themme:
It’s basically a kind of DIY musical diary investigating dysphoria, self-sabotage, loneliness, etc., and letting all those negative feelings go. I’ve spent so long diminishing myself and putting myself down that I wanted to use it as an opportunity to let something go into the world that might be rough around the edges, but it expresses a lot of raw emotions in a cathartic way that I hope will resonate with people who feel similarly.
Themme Fatale describes themselves as “a nonbinary, genderless and genreless artist who uses their music to experiment with whatever they feel like”. Really looking forward to hearing this talented young artist’s album when it appears!
OK so Cat of the Day is now officially a thing. This fine feline is Mrs Nesbit and it’s her birthday today – happy fluffin birthday Mrs Nesbit! Here she is starring in a pop video with her chums, Buns and Swanson – made by her owner NualaHonan, whose talents include choosing awesome cat names, and making brilliant music.
‘K.I.T.Y.’ is taken from Bristol-based Australian Nuala Honan’s second album ‘Doubt & Reckoning’,
“The video is a reflection of things that seem simple, that I use to healand to try live a passionate life. Cats, swimming in nature, and playing music with my friends. (Not necessarily in that order, but actually, yes, cats first.) And I’m passionate about sharing that joy with anyone who passes by my work.
“It was bittersweet going through the footage of the cats, because two of them have now passed away, so we just have Mrs Nesbit (the nutter in the sink). I never had pets growing up and had no idea how much they would get their claws into my heart and what a companion they’d be for my mental health. Snuggling up to Mrs Nesbit can heal any mood, she is a wizard.”
So much love for all of this, particularly Mrs Nesbit.
