Getintothis’ Deep Cuts
As festival season finally draws to a close, Getintothis contributors bring you a baker’s dozen of new tracks to give you your new music fix.
There’s one troubling music trend that we could name off the top of our heads at the moment, and we’d love to see it die a quick and painless death.
Nobody would mourn it, at least nobody with a love of music like you and us, dear reader.
Regurgitation is a massive problem at the moment, and one that’s strangling new music from really making a break for it.
It’s not a new occurrence; ever since there has been a music business, record companies have sought to eke every penny out of what existing material. There are no original stories any more, and this is certainly no exception.
During the 1973 oil crisis, the recording industry sought cheaper ways to turn a profit when the price of vinyl shot up. So we see an uncanny reflection of this in recent years; the vinyl resurgence we’re currently experiencing years has coincided with a surge in the number of reissues.
October Deep Cuts Buyers Club line up revealed featuring VEYU and four rising acts
Don’t get us wrong, a reissue done well can be a glorious thing. But you need only look at this week’s vinyl repressing of Yeah Yeah Yeahs‘ Fever To Tell, the deluxe edition of which will set you back a cool $300, to become suspicious of some profiteering going on here.
Which brings us on to our main point. It’s not with reissues where our beef lies. It’s anniversary tours.
You know the drill. A ‘classic’ album, performed in full, followed by a short greatest hits set. A chance for the act and the audience alike to relive past glories.
Again, done well it can be a wonderful thing, and it’s a trend that doubtlessly began life as a rarity. A cash cow certainly. But a rarity, absolutely. You only have to think back to the Led Zeppelin O2 reunion which started life as a concert, before spawning a live album and a DVD. All released separately, obviously. But diehards lapped it up.
Once the template had been created however, blood had coloured the water, and the sharks sniffed a profit. So over the past year or so we’ve seen 10th anniversary tours from every indie landfill band you couldn’t name.
Air Traffic, The Enemy, The Twang, The Pigeon Detectives, The Fratellis; all ‘celebrated’ the blindingly redundant 10th anniversaries of briefly popular albums. You could go and pay actual money to see Scouting For Girls perform She’s So Lovely and other… erm… hits, from… whatever their first album was called.
We just don’t get it. Why do gig goers continue to buy tickets to hear albums we’d rather forget performed by bands we barely remember?
A one off gig perhaps is acceptable, but there’s money to be made here, so a whole tour was only a logical step onward. If there was a line graph of exclusivity vs excitement, there would definitely be a downward parabolic arc. That curve reaches all the way down to those less desirable acts we just named, whose real estate barely constitutes a footnote let alone an anniversary.
It all seems a bit unnecessary, and obviously serves those acts with a flaky back catalogue better than those with greatest hits at their disposal. It’s certainly a way for these musicians to make ends meet, but come on. Have a little dignity.
Labels can’t exactly complain about dropping revenues when these cash-in tours seem to be so readily peddled these days. Acts can’t exactly crow about not being taken seriously when they cast away credibility for a pay cheque in return for a night of ‘the early stuff’ (and it’s nearly inevitably exactly that).
Audiences however? Well, we can’t very well complain that every act sounds the same, or that a new album retreads old material when we so richly reward that exact thing by lapping up tickets for these things.
So what’s the solution? Sorry if you were expecting a long, effusive conclusion, but it’s simply this. Stop buying tickets for this bullshit. Go and see a new band play their new material.
With all that being said, we can’t wait for that Hell Is For Heroes The Neon Handshake 15th anniversary tour next year.
That was originally meant as a joke but it’s actually fucking happening, people. – David Hall
Pink Kink
Pink Kink – Bubblebutt
It feels as if we’ve been waiting for recorded music by Pink Kink to be released forever now. They’ve been kicking up a storm on Merseyside for around two years, but the rabble-rousing five piece have kept us on the edge of our seats waiting for that first proper single release.
Well, it’s finally here. And my God, it was worth the wait. Bubblebutt has arrived, released on September 27 via Big Score Records.
Sometimes it’s hard for bands with a ferocious live reputation to capture that energy on record, but Pink Kink have managed it seemingly with ease. It’s bouncy, menacing and packed with swagger, but most importantly captures what Pink Kink‘s live show is all about – it’s loads of fun.
- Adam Lowerson
Samurai Kip
Samurai Kip – Ode to Moonlight
A long-awaited single by Samurai Kip has finally graced our Spotify and Soundcloud accounts. Ode to Moonlight starts with a peacefully uplifting melody, contrasted by Aidan McGuire’s deep and assertive vocals. The pace picks up, momentarily, around two minutes in, but soon returns to its previous dreamy state.
The second half almost sounds like an entirely different song. Once again, the tempo quickens, allowing an opportunity for Michael Lindberg’s crisp drumming to shine. The atmospheric sounds dotted through the track sound like they are straight off Pond’s masterpiece of an album, known as Man It Feels Like Space Again.
The Scouse trio are playing this Sunday along with Holiday Ghosts, SPILT and Mandoll , so for more funk infused alternative rock get yourselves down to Sound Food and Drink.
- Lily Corke-Butters
Display Homes
Display Homes – Climate Change
With a chugging bass riff, distinctly post-punk guitar work that’s redolent of early Gang of Four and drums that sound like more like biscuit tins being given a bit of a belting than anything else, you can’t help but love this track by Australian three-piece, Display Homes.
With a clear debt to the great female post-punk bands such as Delta 5, The Au Pairs, Kleenex and Liliput, vocalist Steph does not shy away from wearing her influences on her sleeve and indeed, why should she? They were all top bands and something we’ve been lacking for too long.
Display Homes seem to be a band that have something to say and an interesting way of saying it.
Bet they’re good live as well. Let’s hope they book a trip to these shores soon.
- Rick Leach
Itchy Teeth
Itchy Teeth – Brian Wilson Is Still Alive
There’s absolutely no doubt that Brian Wilson is still alive, we even saw him in Liverpool the other week. Itchy Teeth however feel the need to shout the fact via a rather funky track here.
It’s a good thing too as it’s a great track, a bit changeable moving through folky soul, to unashamed poppy choruses and dreamy interludes that almost mimic the harmonies of The Beach Boys. The last half of the song gets even dreamier in a “man of your dreams” mantra that dares to enter the realms of hippiedom with shameless abandon.
It’s a fun song that plays with multiple genres in just five short minutes and manages to somehow still stay cohesive. God only knows how. Pun intended. Opening line “He fed his brain and baked his head” won me over immediately.
- Del Pike
Lilium
Lilium – Clearly Me
Lilium follow up their Disappear single with this superior slice of modern rock. The band seem suddenly all grown up and ready to take on the big league with Clearly Me. Words like ‘professional’ and ‘polished’ spring to mind, along with visions of Clearly Me making a significant impact on the nation’s psyche.
On the strength of this, it is easy to guess Lilium are setting their sights not on being a big fish in the small pond of local bands, but on sold out arenas and festival headline slots.
Singer Andrew’s excellent vocals glide on top of an Athlete-like modern rock track and suddenly Lilium seem like genuine contenders. Epic!
- Banjo
Gilroy Mere
Gilroy Mere – The Green Line
Clay Pipe Music is the kind of personal project you can’t help fall in love with. A record label formed by illustrator Frances Castle.
She releases music of profoundly intriguing, leftfield composition which are often rooted in pop but also have an otherworldly quality – and latest release by Gilroy Mere is emblematic of such an approach.
Mere aka Oliver Cherer‘s new project, The Green Line is a collection of largely instrumental tracks conceptually formed around buses that once linked central London to country towns. Between 1957-60 these striking green double-deckers made 36 million journeys – by 1986 and with the onset of privatization the buses had disappeared.
If you’re not a fan of buses, or quirky English history, we’re still convinced you could become a fan of Gilroy Mere – for here is a record packed full of hooks, delicate orchestration and a subtle narrative (not unlike The Magnetic North‘s exquisite The Prospect of Skelmersdale) which is all the more alluring the deeper you listen.
Try opener Dunroamin with it’s lilting strings, warm harmonies and meandering melody and we’re sure you’ll be in for the full ride.
- Peter Guy
Xam Volo
XamVolo – Feels Good
The now Liverpool based XamVolo has gone from the LIMF Academy in 2014 to releasing his Binary in Blue EP and now working on his debut album.
His latest single Feels Good is the perfect uplifting track infused with jazz samples from Thelonious Monk’s recording, Thelonious. This paired with XamVolo’s powerful vocals adds great depth to the track.
The energy that exudes from the track from the perfect combination of melody and vocals layered over each other creates a harmony which makes the track embody a spirit which comes alive through the raw joy and passion embodied through jazz and music as a whole.
This track is a sign of incredible things to come from XamVolo.
- Jess Borden
Ennio the Little Brother
Ennio the Little Brother – Bunk Beds
Soulful stripped back hip hop probably isn’t the first kind of music you’d associate with North Wales, yet the sounds of their rising talented songwriter and producer Ennio the Little Brother could be about to change that.
Having released a limited run of singles Bunk Beds and Cacophony on September 9, on heavyweight vinyl limited to 300 copies, Ennio has grabbed our attention with his intimate, mellow sounds.
Combing soulful acoustic pop with a hip hop rhythm and vocal, the track would make for a perfectly chilled lazy afternoon soundtrack. It’s gorgeous stuff.
- Adam Lowerson
Superorganism
Superorganism – Something For Your M.I.N.D.
London based Superorganism briefly grabbed the music blogosphere’s attention earlier this year when they released Something For Your M.I.N.D. before quickly taking it down again. However, it was enough to whet our appetites, and having released a handful of other tracks over the past couple of months, that first track is back, re-released and here to stay.
Something For Your M.I.N.D is a brilliantly languid, slacker pop tune which has garnered enough praise that it’s seen the band be snapped up by Domino Records.
The early signs from Superorganism are really positive and we can’t wait to hear what they come up with next.
- Adam Lowerson
Palm Springsteen by Delilah Jesinkey (Taken from artist’s Facebook)
Palm Springsteen – Sister Sister
Get ready for Palm Springsteen to be your new favourite band. The LA newcomers have got the best tunes and without a doubt the best name, and it’s only a matter of time before they really take off.
Having recently toured with Foster the People (Yep, apparently they’re still around), the band are set to release their debut LP Trouble in Paradise, and their latest single Sister Sister has got us massively excited for it.
The track is an electro pop belter and feels tailor made for the festival stage, with an infectiously catchy chorus and bouncing rhythm throughout.
- Adam Lowerson
WWWater
WWWater – My Hands
Belgian singer Charlotte Adigéry is best known for her collaborations with dance icons Soulwax, and although she has released music under her own name in the past, we’ve recently been treated to the first taster of her new project WWWater.
Her debut EP, La Falaise, which was released earlier this month will be a big hit with fans of the likes of FKA Twigs, with a minimalistic, spacious electronic sound.
The latest track to be taken from the EP, My Hands, is an absolutely stunning slow burner, building around a beat and repetition of the track title. Adigéry‘s vocal is stunning and is layered brilliantly over the electronics, making for a gorgeously textured sound. WWWater is seriously one to watch.
- Adam Lowerson
Hidden Places
Hidden Places – buh bye
Columbus, Ohio based trio Hidden Places arrive with this blistering dose of, in their own words, ‘post-post-punk‘ charged with a jarring cacophony of chords and rapid fire hi-hat chokes. It’s a largely nostalgic sound, recalling both the sickly-sweet American pop-punk scene and British mid-Noughties revival bands such as Tyneside’s finest, Maximo Park.
- Matthew Wood
James Organ
James Organ – With You In Mind
When it comes to dance music, Liverpool is a city that is in no shortage of top class DJs and pioneers of the genre. If you’re a regular on the club scene or at Circus nights, James Organ will no doubt be a name familiar to you, yet he feels on the brink of something a whole lot bigger.
Having played at some of the country’s biggest festivals over the summer, including Creamfields, V Festival, Leeds and Reading and many more, Organ also has a huge show pencilled in at Manchester’s Warehouse project in November. He’ll also be DJing alongside Yousef and Carl Cox at Circus‘ 15th birthday celebrations at Camp and Furnace on September 30.
With an instantly danceable sound, and two new EPs on the horizon, he’s sure to be one of the biggest DJs on the house scene in no time.
- Adam Lowerson
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