Join international poet and artist Caroline Bergvall for free on the 27 November at 6 – 9pm as she leads her ground-breaking online writing event Night & Refuge, alongside five other established international writers.
Caroline has invited five multilingual poets and performance artists to write a poem following a strict brief while discussing important themes of migration, identities under pressure, ancient and new cultural memory as well as art as a refuge.
This global online event will explore what it means to seek refuge and how to renew and restore our life and art energy for new communal practices at this time of intense global crises. The backdrop to the work is the internet, where networks are created and experiences exchanged to develop a shared respite that blends borders, languages, identities and performance practices.
Fast rising superstars Nova Twins have scooped the coveted LOUD WOMEN Hercury Prize for 2020 with their debut album Who Are The Girls? The band have recently announced they will be playing Reading and Leeds festival in 2021, and they recently picked up the ‘Best UK Breakthrough Band’ award at the Heavy Metal Awards. The ‘Twins aka Amy and Georgia said
“Omg!! Really?! Thank you so much! Thats so awesome and means a lot to us!! 💕🖤 Super excited and proud to be seen/represented by you! Wooop!”
The winners were announced live on the internets by LOUD WOMEN’s Cassie Fox and son Dylan.
It’s that time of year again, time for the only prize that really matters: the LOUD WOMEN Hercury Music Award.
After taut, masked-up, socially-distanced deliberations amongst the LOUD WOMEN team (not just mouths under our masks, but full noses and everything), we have whittled this year’s crop of Hercury contenders down from nearly fifty albums to a dashing dozen nominations. Many are played, few are chosen.
You know the criteria by now: LPs (sorry, EP fans) released by self-identified female or non-binary artists in the twelve months from mid July 2019. Any format, any distribution.
After pretty much the only election guaranteed to produce a good result, the democratically-decided winner of the 2020 Hercury Music Award will be announced in September. Without further ado, here are those tiptop twelve:
Bugeye – Ready Steady Bang (July 2020)
The Hercury-nominee with the longest gestation period, an early incarnation of Bugeye having been active in the late 90s before the band reformed five years ago. Ten indie-disco-punk nuggets with a post-Britpop feel on this Reckless Yes debut.
Charmpit – Cause a Stir (April 2020)
Debut album on Specialist Subject from the partly California-raised ‘anarcuties’. Quietly subversive cultural politics with a barrelful of musical sugar to ease the medicine down. File under femme, not twee (then burn the filing system; they’re anarchists).
deux furieuses – My War Is Your War (Oct 2019)
Formidable follow-up political statement to first record ‘Tracks of Wire’ from the Furieuses, once more produced by Rob Ellis (PJ Harvey, Anna Calvi). An alternative rock LP about “reaching out to find common cause” against regressive populism, patriarchy and despair. Righteousness done right.
Dream Wife – So When You Gonna… (July 2020)
Recorded with an all-female production team, a measured second album from this politically-engaged art school trio, presenting a mixture of moods amidst nagging hooks and irresistible vocals. To cherry-pick an interview quote: “It’s not our job to satisfy men; we’re here to rock out”.
Gaptooth – Sharp Minds, Raised Fists (Oct 2019)
A second DIY album from Hannah Lucy’s ‘riot grrrl-influenced electro-pop’ solo project. An immediate album of sharp lyrics and big choruses but also one that reveals new layers of emotional depth with repeated listening. (Full LW review here)
Hurtling – Future From Here (Oct 2019)
Broodingly-powerful debut album from Hurtling, the latest alt rock project from Jen Macro (Something Beginning With L, My Bloody Valentine, CharlotteHatherley). Elements of Boston indie and English shoegaze with grunge-pop hooks. (Full LW review here)
The Lovely Eggs – I Am Moron (April 2020)
A sixth album of wry, quirky, psychedelic indie from the unstoppable Eggs, just two years since their last release. A topical focus lends an angrier edge to the band’s typically sardonic guitar pop.
Nova Twins – Who Are The Girls? (Feb 2020)
A relentless big beat/rapcore noise monster of a debut album from the Twins, that fulfils all the promise of their EP/singles and more. Bolstered by a strong visual style all their own, and supported by a series of Harry Lindley/Wanderland Films-produced promo videos.
Salad – The Salad Way (Aug 2019)
Third album proper and a well-received return after a twenty-year break from this underrated Britpop band, their their near-complete original line up of Marijne van der Vlugt, Paul Kennedy and Pete Brown now augmented with Charley Stone on guitar/vocals. Tuneful, idiosyncratic indie rock.
Shopping – All or Nothing (Feb 2020)
The fourth long player from Rachel, Andrew and Billy, with their adept lo-fi take on that mutant disco/no wave dance-punk sound. Shopping pull the neat trick of getting better with every album, leaving you restless to hear what they do next.
Sink Ya Teeth – Two (Feb 2020)
Second album of postpunked-up electro funk from Maria and Gemma. Bass-driven retrofuturist ennui, ideal for dancing to in your room while the world collapses
Slum of Legs – Slum of Legs (March 2020)
Long-awaited eponymous ‘queer feminist noise pop’ debut album from the Brighton-based Slum of Legs, a self-described ‘giant pop-psych, punk monster with twelve legs’. In their own words, “a manifesto for compassion and defiance in a confusing, unrestful world.” (Full LW review and interview here)
There were some excellent runners up this year as always, including the swansong second album from the already-missed Suggested Friends and the debut from Jemma Freeman & the Cosmic Something as well as Es, BLÓM, Porridge Radio, Brix & the Extricated, Harkin, Pet Crow, Nadine Shah, FKA Twigs, No Home, False Advertising, Lauren Tate, Piney Gir, Cultdreams, Marika Hackman, Foxcunt, Slagheap, Killdren and more.
DIY punk witches Dream Nails have scooped the 2019 LOUD WOMEN Hercury Prize for their album ‘Take Up Space’ – available on Bandcamp.
The prize was announced in a ridiculous DIY ceremony broadcast on Facebook live, by Cassie and her son Dylan.
The Hercury Prize is judged by Team LOUD WOMEN, who whittled down a Top 12 from nearly one hundred albums by UK-based self-identified female and non-binary artists released in the twelve months from July 2018: that’s albums released on any format, with any level of industry distribution. This year’s shortlist was:
Big Joanie – Sistahs (Nov, 2018)
Brix & the Extricated – Breaking State (Oct, 2018)
Desperate Journalist – In Search of the Miraculous (Feb, 2019)
Dream Nails – Take Up Space (Jan, 2019)
Neneh Cherry – Broken Politics (Oct, 2018)
Grace Petrie – Queer as Folk (Sept, 2018)
Little Simz – Grey Area (March, 2019)
Muncie Girls – Fixed Ideals (Aug, 2018)
Petrol Girls – Cut and Stitch (May, 2019)
Queen Zee – Queen Zee (Feb, 2019)
She Makes War – Brace for Impact (Oct, 2018)
Trash Kit – Horizon (Jul, 2019)
Dream Nails accepted their award on tour in Madrid!
Drumroll please as we can finally announce the full 22 track listing for the hotly-anticipated LOUD WOMEN Volume Two compilation album, which will be launched 14 September 2019 at LOUD WOMEN Fest 4!
1
The Franklys
Not Guilty
2
The Txlips
The Lost One
3
I, Doris
The Girl From Clapham
4
The Menstrual Cramps
No Means No
5
The Cleopatras
Forty
6
LIINES
Never Wanted This
7
Pussyliquor
My Body My Choice
8
Pleasure Venom
Hive
9
ARXX
Iron Lung
10
Ms Mohammed
Never Again
11
The Baby Seals
It’s Not About the Money, Honey
12
Peach Club
Not Your Girl
13
T-Bitch
Frighty Nighty
14
Jemma Freeman & The Cosmic Something
Someone Else to Blame
15
Jelly Cleaver
Yarl’s Wood
16
Secondhand Underpants
The Anthem
17
Gaptooth
Post-Patriarchy Disco
18
Vaginas, What Else?
Loose Tile
19
GGAllan Partridge
I Feel Lobe
20
Hurtling
Don’t Know Us
21
Personal Best
Radio
22
Bridget Hart
Let Loose Lucy
The CD is available to pre-order now for just £5 from our Bandcamp page – and as a thank you for pre-ordering, when the CD releases after 14 Sept we’ll also send you a copy of Volume One! So that’s 42 of the loudest of loud women, all for a cheeky fiver.
“Scabrous riffs, inventive songcraft and full force in-your-face woman power from all bands involved. Loud Women festival shows up the mainstream by exhibiting the very best of women in rock.”
– Paula Frost, Vive Le Rock
“LOUD WOMEN are inspiring social change”
– Kerrang!
“At a time of toxic masculinity in the industry, platforms like Loud Women are a brilliant, and brazen, beacon of hope shining a floodlight on marginalised musicians. Turn it up LOUD.“
As a thank you for pre-ordering, for every Volume Two CD you order, we’ll also send you a copy of Volume One! So that’s 42 of the loudest of loud women, all for a cheeky fiver.
14 Sept 2019 at London’s Dome and Boston Music Room looks set to see the biggest (and best?) LOUD WOMEN Fest yet! Here’s the news we’ve been dying to tell you for months … our final* lineup, in no particular order …
Plus afterparty DJs, food, zines, records, and all manner of fun things we’ve not even thought up yet – get in touch with us on loudwomenclub@gmail.com if you’d like to get involved!
Earlybird tickets are now sold out but you can still grab regular advanced tickets from here.
*I mean, as final as anything is that could possibly have slight changes here and there in cases of sickness, injury, best friends throwing last-minute weddings, that sort of thing. But pretty damn final I’d say!
LOUD WOMEN Fest 4 is nearly 3 months away, so it’s time to announce the next wave of awesome bands booked to play! Stand by your internets on Friday lunchtime and we’ll reveal a further 8 acts that will be rocking our worlds come 14 Sept at The Dome, London.
The 2018 LOUD WOMEN album of the year is therefore shared by five artists; and if that wasn’t enough we’ve inaugurated a spanking new LOUD WOMEN People’s Vote Readers’ Choice Award chosen by LOUD WOMEN readers themselves (who are clearly better at making decisions!)
Without giving too much way at this stage let’s just say that it’s been a good year for block capitals: here goes!
With stellar gigs performed all over the London-based DIY scene that they call home and extensive radio play on shows like BBC Music Introducing, it’s been a big year for Big Joanie. The feminist punk trio have certainly ended 2018 with a bang thanks to the acclaim that’s already been given to their debut album Sistahs…By allowing their true feelings to be at the forefront of their songwriting, the band create tracks that truly empower the listener; not only to rebel but to check their own activism, to continue growing, and to do better. [Read full review here]
“An irrepressible sense of fun runs through Tits and Nails, in spite of everything its lyrics address. GUTTFULL has created a brilliant and uncompromising summation of the trials of being ‘other’ in 2018 and they’re ready to shout down their oppressors – with wit and with groove.” [Read more from this review]
They write songs which are both silly and serious, and they attack them (as well as each other) playfully. You can make a case for pretension in art, but there’s none with ILL; like so many of the best bands they seem like a gang you’d love to join, but ILL go one better and make you feel like you’d be welcome: friendly if not quite family-friendly (unless the family in question is more Addams than Partridge, perhaps). … A perfect storm of enigma, whimsy and controlled violence, and a genre-straddling state-of-the-nation address. With added bear growls. [Read more from this review]
‘Long-awaited’ might be a cliché, but in the case of LIINES‘ debut album, it’s a fitting description for a band that’s evolved steadily from fin-de-siecle Manc post-riot grrrl stalwarts Hooker: the tightest, heaviest rhythm section in DIY supports Zoe McVeigh’s emotional vocals and haiku-like songwriting, together conjuring an atmosphere of taut, claustrophobic menace like a UK postpunk time capsule. [Read more from this review]
A perfect ten tracks of no wave-disco electropop on a brilliant debut album from this Norwich duo. Described by The Guardian as “Thrillingly chilly, perfectly funky, no-wave straight out of early 80’s NYC…except that Sink Ya Teeth are a duo from Norwich. In a different era they’d have been all over TOTP” 4/5
The LOUD WOMEN People’s Vote Readers’ Choice Award:
The Menstrual Cramps is an anti-capitalist feminist band, therefore expect direct attacks on Tories, Neo-Nazis, big brands, business owners, famous idols who shouldn’t be idols anymore, and of course, “boyz-who-will-be-boyz”. The songs are so catchy that half of the album will get stuck in your head after giving one listen to the whole album. They produce music rapidly, though diligently. This rapidity actually shows itself in the guitars as fast riffs, playful strokes and abrupt small silences and it just sounds so good and steady. [Read more from this review]
The Top Twenty in full:
Big Joanie – Sistahs
The Breeders – All Nerve
Colour Me Wednesday – Counting Pennies in the Afterlife
Doe – Grow Into It
Dream Wife – Dream Wife
ILL – We Are ILL
GUTTFULL – Tits and Nails
Gwenno – Le Kov
The Menstrual Cramps – Free Bleedin’
Fightmilk – Not With That Attitude
LIINES – Stop/Start
Janelle Monae – Dirty Computer
Muncie Girls – Fixed Ideals
Grace Petrie – Queer As Folk
Screaming Females – All At Once
She Makes War – Brace For Impact
Shopping – The Official Body
Sink Ya Teeth – Sink Ya Teeth
Skinny Girl Diet – Ideal Woman
The Twistettes – A Strange Play
For all those who support putting women on stage, and turning up the volume
