3 songs... signalling incoming new albums

 

The Last Dinner Party have not long finished their sold out headline tour with labelmates Picture Parlour. I was lucky enough to attend and review the Manchester gig, and as such can attest to what an electrifying live presence they are. Latest single 'My Lady of Mercy' was released about a week before the Manchester show, and - as with previous singles 'Nothing Matters' and 'Sinner' - it shows the eclectic influences and styles that the band are drawing on. It's very different to their two previous singles, and yet it doesn't sound out of place when placed next to them somehow. Their debut album, Prelude to Ecstasy, will be released in February 2024.

Sleater-Kinney will release their 11th album Little Rope on January 19th. Calling card 'Hell' is a searing and powerful whiplash of a song, with a video starring Miranda July that screams of claustrophobia, self loathing and the hangover of the plague years. It's a strong indicator of what is to come I think. The video is directed by Ashley Connor.

Allie X has released a self directed video to coincide with the release of 'Black Eye', her first material in nearly four years. As with the criminally underrated Cape God album of 2020, she's tapping into a darker sound than has been the case previously. There will be more soon apparently... 

Sleater-Kinney - Worry With You (Official Video)

I just really love the idea that Sleater-Kinney have reached a point in their career where they can basically do whatever they want now. That ease and confidence is all over this initial single from the Path of Wellness album, and it is all the better for it. 

Sleater-Kinney - Broken (live)

An untypically subdued piece from Sleater-Kinney, 'Broken' is taken from 2019's The Center Won't Hold album. You can watch the full set the band did for The Current as part of the The Center Won't Hold tour back in 2019 here.

Fantasy Festival number 7: The lineup

Becca Mancari: Understated US folk musician Becca Mancari has just released her second album, The Greatest Part. She's also a member of the supergroup Bermuda Triangle. You can find out more about Becca here.

Lauran Hibberd: Isle of Wight 'slacker pop' star Lauran Hibberd should have been in the middle of a summer of gigs right now but, even though that's on hold, she continues to get radio support, particularly across the BBC. Good things are expected, and rightly so. You can access her Soundcloud here.

Gazel: London based composer, songwriter and producer Gazel Algan draws on her Turkish roots to create mesmerising soundscapes fuelled by dance music and traditional instrumentation. Gazel's Book Of Souls was one of the most underrated albums of 2019. You can find out more about Gazel here.

Zola Jesus: Nika Roza Danilova, aka Zola Jesus, has been creating brooding, sometimes bleak, industrial soundscapes since 2009. Most recent album Okovi was a hard but necessary listen, and probably her strongest release yet. You can find out more about Zola Jesus here.

Jehnny Beth: Former Savages front woman, now rising solo star, Jehnny Beth was one of the stars of the 6Music festival just prior to the UK lockdown. Her solo album, To Love Is to Live, is out now. You can find out more here.

Sleater-Kinney: After more than twenty years (and, it's got to be said, partly due to that ten year hiatus in the middle...) Sleater-Kinney are finally being appreciated for what they always were: A thumping great rock band. You can find out more here.

Anna Calvi: Four albums in to her career (this years Hunted being a re-working of last years critically acclaimed and Mercury nominated Hunter), Anna Calvi has most definitely arrived. With a commanding stage presence, voice and excellent guitar skills, she is a woman more than ready to be given a festival headline slot. You can find out more here.

Sleater-Kinney - The Center Won't Hold (Official Lyric Video)

I've written about Sleater-Kinney a couple of times over the past few months. Now is an interesting time to write about them because 2019's The Center Won't Hold album seems to have split people a bit. Produced by Annie Clark (aka St Vincent), it shows a slight change of direction for the band, which hasn't sat well with all the fans but which seems to have gone down fantastically well with critics. Janet Weiss' decision to leave the band shortly after the album's release hasn't helped with these conflicted feelings, with some fans treating it as vindication for their own doubts about the album.

Whatever your feelings about the album, Sleater-Kinney's recent UK tour was well attended and the band were received well by their loyal fanbase.

I've written a little bit about Sleater-Kinney fans recently in Sticks'N'Strings (you can subscribe here if you like) and I also reviewed the Manchester date of the Center Won't Hold tour for Louder Than War. Sleater-Kinney fans are incredibly loyal and, in previous years, extremely excitable to the point of being quite shove-y in the crowd. The first time I saw the band live was at Manchester Roadhouse, where I got shoved over the stage by a surge forward from the crowd. The second time, again at the Roadhouse, the venue let too many people in and we had to leave and miss the show after one of the girls I was with came very close to passing out from the heat.

A trip to see the band in 2005 on The Woods tour saw a subdued Sleater-Kinney playing at the Academy 2 on Oxford Road, supported by the Pipettes. It wasn't long after that that the band announced they would be taking a sabbatical. Having since read Carrie Brownstein's memoir, Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl, it's easy to see now why this happened, but I don't think any of the band expected that sabbatical to go on so long.

In a way, it was the smartest move they ever made.

If they hadn't gone on sabbatical I think they would have burned out and split up, but also, they wouldn't have received the recognition and respect that they now have. Their continued presence would instead have ensured that they continued to be taken for granted by fans and by critics. In retreating, they ensured that they would be missed. And because they were (so, so very) missed, it ensured that their return in 2015 was met with the attention and anticipation they deserved. They were always a good band, but in 2015 people began to realise just how great they are.

The 2020 tour cemented this reputation for greatness for me, and I'm glad about that.

Sleater-Kinney - Turn It On LIVE HD (2015) Hollywood Palladium

This is Sleater-Kinney performing 'Turn it On' live at the Hollywood Palladium in 2015. You can watch Sleater-Kinney's full live concert for NPR from 2015 online. 

Fantasy Festival #7: The Fiercely Futuristic Festival - Lineup

Noga Erez: Noga Erez is a 27 year old new artist from Tel Aviv. She makes sometimes playful, sometimes dark, always danceable to electro pop in the inventive and glitchy vein. Erez has been compared to both MIA and FKA Twigs and her debut album, Off The Radar, is out now. She will be touring the UK in October and will also be playing the Pitchfork Avant Garde Festival in Paris at the end of October.  

Natasha Kmeto: Natasha Kmeto is a producer and vocalist who composes electronic music in Portland, Oregan. Often epic in her emotional scope, she creates shimmering dance music and pared down brooding electro soul. She will be appearing at Le Guess Who? in Utrecht in November. 

Honeyblood: Honeyblood are a guitar rock duo from Glasgow who create frantically catchy songs that seem destined to be teenage anthems. They released their second album, Babes Never Die, back in May, but are not currently touring.

Courtney Barnett: Courtney Barnett is a singer/songwriter from Melbourne. Her 2015 album Sometimes I sit and think, and sometimes I just sit, included the indie fave 'No one really cares if you don't go to the party', and continued to excite critics and music lovers already inspired by the laid back quirky guitar rock of the single 'History Eraser'. She will be touring the US in the autumn. 

Zola Jesus: Zola Jesus is the stage name of Nika Roza Danilova, an industrial/electronic artist from Madison, Wisconsin. Trained as an opera singer, she was inspired to create her own music by artists such as Throbbing Gristle, Dead Kennedys and Diamonda Galas. She has released five albums, and her sixth album, Okovi, will be released in September. She is currently touring the US and Canada, but will be touring Europe, including the UK, in October and November.

Sleater-Kinney: Corin Tucker. Carrie Brownstein. Janet Weiss. Sleater-Kinney formed in the mid 1990s in Olympia, Washington, became the standard bearers for the later waves of Riot Grrrl, and then went on to became a very good, very credible rock band. After eleven years of writing, recording and touring, they went on a ten year hiatus before returning with the critically acclaimed and fan adored No Cities To Love album in 2015. Their live album, Live in Paris was released in January. They will be playing the Music Tastes Good Festival in Long Beach, California, in September. 

Grimes: Grimes is a Canadian producer, composer, singer and engineer of astonishing and ethereal electronic music. She grew up in Vancouver and her second album, Visions (2012), and third album, Art Angels (2015), were both critically acclaimed. She is not currently touring.

Beth Ditto: Arkansas singer Beth Ditto, formerly of electro punk band Gossip, is now a solo act. Her bluesy, punk rock Etta James voice has been heard recently on the anthemic and brooding southern rock blues single 'Fire', and her debut solo album, Fake Sugar, is out now. She is touring Europe, including the UK, throughout September and October.