i think i better follow you around

Tomahawk, the rock band featuring Duane Denison (The Jesus Lizard/Unsemble), Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle/Fantômas), Mike Patton (Faith No More/Mr. Bungle, etc.) and John Stanier (Helmet/Battles), return with their first full-length album in eight years, the highly-anticipated Tonic Immobility (March 26, Ipecac Recordings).

Tonic Immobility track list:

1. SHHH!
2. Valentine Shine
3. Predators and Scavengers
4. Doomsday Fatigue
5. Business Casual
6. Tattoo Zero
7. Fatback
8. Howlie
9. Eureka
10. Sidewinder
11. Recoil
12. Dog Eat Dog

“Tonic Immobility could just be something in the air we’re feeling,” says Denison. “It’s been a rough year between the pandemic and everything else. A lot of people feel somewhat powerless and stuck as they’re not able to make a move without second guessing themselves or worrying about the outcomes. For as much as the record possibly reflects that, it’s also an escape from the realities of the world. We’re not wallowing in negativity or getting political. For me, rock has always been an alternate reality to everything else. I feel like this is yet another example.”

A preview of the twelve-song album, which was co-produced by the band and Paul Allen, arrived overnight, with the release of “Business Casual”. The track, which Denison describes as “a mocking look at the life of work in America,” marks the first new music from the foursome since 2014’s “M.E.A.T.” single.

About Tomahawk: Stop if you’ve heard this one before…Four guys from a bunch of other bands walk into a studio and walk out with a record. That’s sort of the story of Tomahawk, but it’s not the whole shebang. The guys—guitarist Duane Denison [the Jesus Lizard, Unsemble, etc.], vocalist Mike Patton [Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Fantômas, etc.], drummer John Stanier [Helmet, Battles, etc.], and bassist Trevor Dunn [Mr. Bungle, Fantômas, etc.]—show up just when we need them. The first time was in 2001 with the self-titled Tomahawk. Following Mit Gas [2003] and Anonymous [2007], they dropped Oddfellows during 2013. It marked their best debut, reaching #9 on the Billboard Top Independent Albums Chart. The A.V. Club gave it a grade of “A-,” Revolver rated it “4-out-of-5 stars,” and Pitchfork chimed in, “This lurid, thorny, profoundly weird music–just comes tearing out.” All kinds of touring and festivals followed before the members went back to their gazillion other gigs in 2014. On their 20^th anniversary they finally return with their fifth full-length album, Tonic Immobility [Ipecac], in 2021. Thawed out from their slumber, they sound like, well, Tomahawk…

Sleaford Mods are releasing their 6th (proper) album on January 15th via Rough Trade.

TRACKLISTING: ——————————————————————
The New Brick
Shortcummings
Nudge It (feat. Amy Taylor)
Elocution
Out There
Glimpses
Top Room
Mork n Mindy (feat. Billy Nomates)
Spare Ribs
All Day Ticket
Thick Ear
I Don’t Rate You
Fishcakes

Per their press release: Recorded in lockdown in a furious three-week studio blitz at JT Soar in July, the polemical Jason Williamson and dexterous producer Andrew Fearn kick against the pricks with unrivalled bite, railing against hypocrisy, inequality and apathy with their inimitable, scabrous sense of humour. And ‘Spare Ribs’, featuring Amy Taylor of Melbourne punks Amyl and the Sniffers and the British newcomer Billy Nomates, finds the duo charged with ire at the UK Government’s sense of entitlement, epitomized by its devil-may-care approach to the coronavirus crisis. Commenting on the new album Jason says, “’Our lives are expendable under most governments, secondary under a system of monetary rule. We are stock if you like, parts on a shelf for the purposes of profit, discarded at any moment if fabricated or non-fabricated crisis threatens productivity. This is constant, obviously and notably in the current pandemic. The masses cannot be present in the minds of ill-fitting leaders, surely? Or else the realisation of their catastrophic management would cripple their minds. Much like the human body can still survive without a full set of ribs we are all ‘spare ribs’, preservation for capitalism, through ignorance and remote rule, available for parts.”

In anticipation or the album the band released the following videos:

“Mork N Mindy” feat. Billy Nomates. Directed by: Ben Wheatley. The band said that this song is the sound of the central heating and the dying smells of Sunday dinner on an estate in 1982. Concrete, dinted garages, nicotine. Where beauty mainly exists in small cracks on the shell of your imagination.

“Shortcomings” Directed by: Ian Tatham “The arrogance of the privileged generally leads to short, short, short, short, short comings in a momentary centre stage at the cost of untold human misery and exploitation of public money.”

“Nudge It” feat. Amy Taylor. Directed by: Eddie The Wheel. “Imagine you’ve got limited options, unsure how you’re getting by that week, looking out the window of the damp flat you don’t want to live in, and seeing a bunch of posers having a photo shoot because “cool architecture bro, we feel your pain”. Reduced circumstance isn’t a pantomime. If you haven’t lived within its confines don’t use it to enamour your ideas. It confuses the platform for those that truly live it and more often than not buried creative breakthroughs because the arena is polluted by the view of their world through someone else’s privileged lense. So beware the eager networkers, don’t settle for the 20p payout, nudge it, pop the posers. And don’t apologize for the fucker either.”

shame have the follow up album to the amazing “Songs Of Praise” titled “Drunk Tank Pink” out January 15th, 2021 via Dead Oceans.

Drunk Tank Pink Tracklist:

01. Alphabet
02. Nigel Hitter
03. Born in Luton
04. March Day
05. Water in the Well
06. Snow Day
07. Human, for a Minute
08. Great Dog
09. 6/1
10. Harsh Degrees
11. Station Wagon

In anticipation for the album they released the following videos. “Water In The Well” directed by Peter Takahashi:

“Snow Day” was filmed by Starkey Reay:

“Alphabet” directed by Tegen Williams:

And the latest, “Nigel Hitter” directed by Maxim Kelly:

Since the first time we saw them when they were opening up for Protomartyr at Space Bar and then again opening for Iceage at the Casbah they’ve been amazing live, to the point of upstaging the headlining band. Their energy and enthusiasm live are what makes going to shows so much fun.

Agender released the song “Preach” in anticipation of their upcoming album “No Nostalgia” out Spring 2021.

Agender is a SCHIZO SYNTHY PARANOID POST-PUNK WITH A DASH OF DYSMORPHIC DESIRE.EXISTENTIAL TERROR HURRAH AND A FETISH FOR FEMININITY. And they are: Romy Hoffman (Virgo) – vocals, guitar. Cristy Michel (Virgo) – bass. Sara Rivas (Cancer) – synth. Christy Greenwood (Cancer) – drums

This is how the band describe their song:

“Preach is a critique, A crossroads, a cry. A siren, a sermon, a scream. A proclamation to hold your power close, like currency. A ritualised transformation from God into Goddess energy. An anti-elegy in favor of empathy.”

The video was directed, edited and chopped by Anthony Maldonado. Maldonado added: “A technicolor vision on the static screens of defiance against this age of madness and misinformation. Preach is an anthem of uprising against a control system fueled by a power-drunk American dictator and the corrupt. Rise up together and vote them out now!”

The album “No Nostalgia” was co-produced by David Scott Stone. He said this of the album: “During pre-production Romy and I decided we wanted to make a record that felt more like a mixtape of all the post punk that we loved. Siouxsie, Wire, ESG, Raincoats, The Voidoids, Slits, Big Black, PiL, Birthday Party, Sonic Youth and other, distill those influences into something new and NOW. For the last 8 years I’ve been learning how to record and produce music and all my friends at DFA records have been my mentors. That means live drums and sequenced synths! I’m very grateful and proud of the work everyone did. When deciding what would be the first song released Preach made perfect sense in a world so rapidly changing and I hope you’ll dance to others when the record is released! Masterfully mixed by Sean Cook (St. Vincent, Angel Olsen, Best Coast) and mastered by the one and only Bob Weston from Shellac of North America”.

Es el comienzo del 2021 y Los Planetas estrenan una nueva canción para estos tiempos. No hubo necesidad de hacer una reseña acerca de la canción ya que ellos hicieron una. Gracias.

Los planetas niegan la mayor.

Desde su Zona temporalmente autónoma propagaron ideas de libertad plena y venganza. En “La nueva normalidad” propusieron nuevos significados para los conceptos de libre mercado y propiedad privada. Ahora, frente al absurdo desorden de un sistema de natural viciado y tan dañado ya que solo sirve para causar daño, no ardiera, Los planetas regresan con “Negacionista”, música popular contra la propaganda, la incompetencia, el conformismo y la pereza, para decir no.

Al estúpido, no. Al malvado, no. Al Estado, no. A las corporaciones, no. A la incertidumbre, no. A la desinformación, no. Al ventajista, no. A la angustia, no. A la disidencia programada, no.

Insistiendo con ahínco en su propuesta de retribución proporcional al sistema, Los planetas se ofrecen a dar al César lo que es del César, a Dios lo que es de Dios, a la comunidad lo que es de la comunidad y al capitalismo, que es uno y trino, lo que es del capitalismo: la idea de un mundo plano, arrogancia, fiereza de ánimo y ausencia de compasión.

Y, aunque no se lo merezca, un poquito de humor.

“El negacionista” está disponible ya en plataformas digitales.

Portada: Javier Aramburu
Los planetas son: J, Florent, Eric, Banin y Julián
Escrita por: J
Producida por: Los Planetas
Grabado, mezclado y masterizado por Pablo Sánchez en El refugio antiaéreo y ESTUDIO DE GRABACIÓN PRODUCCIONES PELIGROSAS

Martin Gore released “Mandrill” in advance of his is new 5 song EP “The Third Chimpanzee” EP out January 29th, 2021.

The Third Chimpanzee EP’s cover art was painted by capuchin monkey Pockets Warhol

Gore said this about the release: “The first track I recorded had a sound that wasn’t human,”Martin explains. “It sounded primate-like. I decided to name it ‘Howler’, after a monkey. Then, when it came time to name the EP, I remembered reading the book ‘The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee’. It all made sense to call it that, as the EP was made by one of the third chimpanzees.”

This is Martin Gore’s first release since he issued the instrumental album MG back in 2015 and the one he made with Vince Clarke back in 2012. He has not released another “Counterfeit” covers album since the one he put out in 2003.

DARKSIDE, Nicolas Jaar and Dave Harrington, have announced the upcoming release for their 2nd album “Spiral” out in the Spring via Matador Records.

This album comes 8 years after their magnificent debut “Psychic”. They’ve now released their first single “Liberty Bell”.

As a sidenote/parentheses Nicolas Jaar did release 2 albums “Telas” and “Cenizas” last year. And Dave Harrington was busy with his group as well.

We were fortunate enough to see them live during their first tour at the Fonda Theatre back in 2014, and that show made it to the all-time highlights. Also, overstating the obvious, the album cover has a resemblance (tribute) to HAL-9000.

Puma Blue will release his debut full length album “In Praise Of Shadows” on February 5th, 2021 via Blue Flowers Music.

The tracklist is:

Sweet Dreams
Cherish (furs)
Velvet Leaves
Snowflower
Already Falling
Sheets
Olive / Letter To ATL
Oil Slick
Silk Print
Is It Because
Opiate
Sleeping
Bath House
Super Soft

He’s released 2 videos in anticipation for the release of his album. The first one was “Velvet Leaves” which was directed by Harvey Pearson:

The second one is for “Silk Print”, which “Jacob Allen said was his tribute to the inimitable Jeff Buckley:

We were lucky to see him at the Casbah in November of 2019, back when concerts were a thing. We hope that we get to see him alive again.

The documentary “A Dog Called Money” which was recorded during the recording of “The Hope Six Demolition Project” by PJ Harvey was finally released.

Seamus Murphy directed this living art installation where PJ Harvey sets up a recording studio made into an art studio that allows the audience to see her, almost like a two way mirror, recording process.

This is not the first time that Seamus Murphy and PJ Harvey have collaborated. Back in 2011 they worked together when Murphy 12 videos for all 12 songs for PJ’s album “Let England Shake. This time around Harvey and photographer/director Seamus Murphy traveled through Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Washington D.C. before landing back in London to record in an unprecedented and experimental way.