1. 'Sicko!' - Mandy, Indiana feat. billy woods
Both song and video deliver sensory overload. There's a lot to get your head round, and it's not one to tackle if you've got a hangover, but URGH crackles with energy, invention and bile.
2. 'Mata Zyklek - Angine de Poitrine
It seems as though one day Angine de Poitrine were on no one's radar, and the next everyone was raving about them. The reason? Footage of them performing for KEXP going viral. Musos may marvel at the microtonal guitar and looping, but I'm just in love with the audiovisual combo. The Quebecois duo have announced three UK dates, including one as close as Bristol, but they all sold out almost immediately.
A real highlight of Sparhawk's solo set, bristling with righteous anger and visions of vengeance, now recorded and released. A sign of what might be to come next, perhaps? (He's also put out the poignant 'No More Darkness', which closed last year's Green Man set.)
4. 'Better Than Good' - The Bug Club
More love for KEXP, this time for inviting Newport's finest The Bug Club to burn through a blistering studio set back in October 2024, introducing them to the wider world. 'Better Than Good' is perhaps the pick of the bunch, but you should really just watch the whole lot. Looking forward to forthcoming album Every Single Muscle - 'Watching The Omnibus' suggests it might veer closer to On The Intricate Inner Workings Of The System than last year's Very Human Features.
5. 'July' - Kowloon Walled City
No idea how I've only just come across this, given the combination of band and cover, and the fact it was released in 2012, but this is a fine Low cover. I should really go and see them in Bristol, shouldn't I? (The flipside - a 50-ton cover of Soundgarden's '4th Of July' by Thou - is also worth a listen.)
There really aren't many things better than Holy Fuck's rhythm section in groovy lockstep. They've been away for too long, but 'Evie' (and 'Elevate') bode well for Event Beat, out later this month.
7. 'Let's Just Get Married' - Aimee Fatale
Sweet, soft-focus, stylised 60s pop with echoes of Dusty Springfield, Shangri-Las, Isobel Campbell, Lana Del Rey, Howling Bells, Raveonettes, Cat's Eyes - all the good stuff, basically.
A splendid warped thumper from 2014's Mess. I've never been fully on board with Liars, but this album - recommended by JR Moores - has done the trick.
9. 'Guitar Trio' - Rhys Chatham
Reading appreciations/obituaries of Eliane Radigue induced me to get Harry Sword's marvellous tome Monolithic Undertow off the shelf, and I wound up poring over the passages about Rhys Chatham. I don't think I'd ever played 'Guitar Trio' in full before. The schoolboy concentration and delight on Thurston Moore's face is priceless.
10. 'The House Always Wins' - Matador
I don't listen to metal much in the house, but Elder's Innate Passage is an album I've found myself going back to repeatedly over the last few years. This is very much in the same vein: heavy, melodic, moderately proggy.
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