Ah February. The month where we feel like winter will never end and the worst holiday of the year, Valentines Day, happens. It’s okay though because through all that doom and gloom (and unseasonable warmth for some staff members) there was great music to keep us all going. Here are this month’s staff picks.
Matt Wixson’s Flying Circus – ‘FIGJAM’
We streamed this song by Matt Wixon earlier in February but it’s so good that we had to pick it again this month. This is a great posi vibes song about dealing with life, getting through the hard slog of it all with a beat that makes you want to get up off your feet. We find ourselves shouting “I COULD GET USED TO ANYTHING” all the time now when things get tough. [Maryam Hassan]
Bad Sign – ‘Rebuild’
This London-based trio have always held a no-frills attitude to their music and offer up tracks that are loud, outspoken, and brash, standing out from the ‘norm’ of most scenes. Latest track ‘Rebuild’ is no exception; visceral, raw riffs explode from the moment they start, with a heavy yet chaotic force driving force. From start to end, this is a potent track and it’s no wonder that Basick Records snapped them up. Things can only go up from here for Bad Sign. [Jess Tagliani]
Warrior Tribes – ‘No Face’
If you’re into angular and dissonant punk bands, you know that there are a lot of folks in the genre who aren’t looking to do something different. Sometimes, they are seen as narrow purists who are unwilling to compromise, working against growth and progress musically. However, Warrior Tribes use that mentality to their advantage. They are no frills to the fullest of definition and ‘No Face’ is everything it should be: loud, fast, moody, and unforgiving. [Mike Petruccelli]
Pipedream – ‘Imbalance’
February delivered a few strong record of the year contenders, but none were more repeatedly played by myself than Pipedream’s debut LP ‘Secret Beach’. The album sheds away the early Jawbreaker-esque tones of their EPs into a shimmering indie classic. It is chocked full of bangers, yet my favourite would have to be ‘Imbalance’. The intro rides along dazzling notes and humble bass before breaking into a late 80s/early 90s woeful dreamscape. These sounds go perfectly hand in hand with the retrospective themes surrounding the trio’s lyrics. Like me, if you become encompassed by what ‘Imbalance’ offers, then you would probably become touchingly enamoured by ‘Secret Beach’ overall. [Aaron Lohan]
Turnover – ‘Humblest Pleasures’
Turnover blew everyone away with 2015’s ‘Peripheral Vision’ and they’re back with ‘Humblest Pleasures’. Continuing where they left off, they deliver another dreamy classic featuring guitars dripping in reverb and Austin Getz vocals floating through the music. ‘Humblest Pleasures’ is just a taste of what Turnover can do, and hopefully this sets us up for a whole lot of new music from these guys in 2016. [Conor Mackie]
Meet Me In Montauk – ‘Please Don’t, It’ll Only Make Things Worse’
Meet Me In Montauk followed up their stunning ‘Where The Grass Meets The Pavement’ with ‘Dork Soul’, a subtle shift in tone towards a punchier, heavier sound. ‘Please Don’t, It’ll Only Make Things Worse’ represents the style perfectly, switching the math-pop of their debut for a slurred bite and concise melody. The track, along with the full album, further cements Meet Me In Montauk’s status as a hidden gem, hopefully soon to explode out of the underground with assured force. [Ben Tipple]
Nothing – ‘Vertigo Flowers’
After a tumultuous year for Nothing vocalist Domenic Palermo, the Philadelphia-based alt-rock band are set to return with their highly-anticipated new album ‘Tired Of Tomorrow’. Scandalous label issues, vicious beatings, and family tragedies have been poured into it, and if their glorious new track ‘Vertigo Flowers’ is anything to go by, it will have been worth the wait. The infectiously catchy track tells of Palermo’s anxiety issues, soundtracked with bright, fuzz-drenched, major-key harmonies; fading out with blissful reverb at its cadence. Nothing have a lot to live up to after their stunning 2014 debut ‘Guilty Of Everything’, but they have already raised the bar with ‘Vertigo Flowers’. [Glen Bushell]
Across All Oceans – ‘Permanence’
Earlier this month the Middlesbrough five-piece released ‘Homegrown’, and like all the other songs on the EP, ‘Permanence’ is bursting with so much effortless creativity and natural talent that you would be fooled into thinking Across All Oceans were old hands and had spent years honing their sound. Perfectly straddling the line between emo, post-hardcore, and pop-punk, it combines the best parts of each genre and mixes them up into an exciting melodic and cathartic anthem that deserves to be heard. [Chris Hilson]
Mind Spiders – ‘Prothesis’
Mind Spiders is what happens when you mix Denton, Texas garage punk with 80s synth punk and Krautrock. The title track for their new LP features lo-fi dissonance, dark modality, and unbalanced intervals, creating a musical tension that’s very compelling. Minimalist repetitive lines, dark buzzy synths, guitars as percussion, and angularity aplenty unleash a resurgence of the exciting creativity of underground music in the 80s. [Paul Silver]
The Dirty Nil – ‘Zombie Eyed’
‘Higher Power’s second track ‘Zombie Eyed’ caught me off guard with its energy. After that, with each subsequent track on the record, the trio was able to blown my mind again and again and again. With the explosiveness of their fellow countrymen PUP, the occasional frantic energy of Hot Snakes mixed with infectious hooks laden with distorted sounds reminiscent of Archers of Loaf, The Dirty Nil craft punk rock songs that will energize your heart and get stuck in your brain. The tunes on ‘Higher Power’ did for me, and I don’t want it any other way. This record will definitely be a favorite of 2016 by many and I for one can’t stop listening to it. [Jeff Tacaks]
Self Defense Family – ‘The Climate Of The Room’
Another season, another Self Defense Family record shows up. This one slots perfectly in with the end of winter in tone and sound. Superior is about failure. Loosely about the concept of a failed state made out of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, it’s about failed relationships in the same sense. ‘The Climate Of The Room’ is a lamentation on common themes and has a slight uplift at the end. This record showed up at my house and the next morning, someone on my street had a brick thrown into their windshield. That’s what this song feels like. [Jay Papandreas]
Frightened Rabbit – ‘Death Dreams’
‘Death Dreams’ is possibly one of Frightened Rabbit’s most gloomy songs to date, not that that’s a bad thing. The lyrics suggest in detail exactly the title, its about dreaming of dying. Yet, the entire single is musically appealing, due in part to the piano, subtle instrumentals, and singer Scott Hutchinson’s vocal range. It was said that the band’s new release ‘Painting Of A Panic Attack’ is an album of letting go and this song seems to fit quite well as the opening track. [Daniella Heminghaus]
Once Upon a Dead Man – ‘The Canopy’
Charlie Simpson just didn’t have enough going on in his life. Amidst supporting the recent Fightstar album, a Busted reunion and the small matter of a new born baby to look after, he’s somehow found the time to launch another project with brothers Ed and Will, and long-time friend Simon Britcliffe. ‘The Canopy’ is their tantalising first dip in the pool of electronic pop and shows Simpson at his melodic best, with its beautiful, uplifting melodies and synthetic waves of up-tempo drums. The formula of excellent vocal tones and ambient electronics has worked wonders for acts such as PVRIS and it looks set for further success again here when the band’s debut EP ‘Concepts and Phenomena’ drops on April 1st. [Mark Johnson]
Creeper – ‘Valentine’
Remember back when you first heard Alkaline Trio and it blew your mind? Equal parts fast and catchy and slow and moody, ‘Valentine’ brings back those same feelings, and you can’t help but scream your lungs out and sing along. We’ve been friends with the guys in Creeper for years now and we firmly believe they are on the verge of greatness. So what are you waiting for? Come join us in the Creeper Cult. [Mark Gadong]
The Starting Line – ‘Luck’
Four years since The Starting Line released tracks and they come back stronger than ever. ‘Luck’ made the New Music Friday playlist on Spotify, representing the three-song EP, ‘Anyways,’ released mid-February. The tracks are tight, produced with clean tones and clarity, and the songwriting is unarguably more mature than we’ve ever heard from The Starting Line. Some might have assumed they were fading away but this EP is surely a sign of good things to come from our old friends. Maybe ‘Anyways’ is a title chosen somewhat in the sense of, “anyways, here’s what we’ve been up to and and here’s what we have left to say.” [Tori Pisco]
PVRIS – ‘You & I’
It’s fair to say that fans have been craving new music from PVRIS for the past six months, and after releasing the final three music videos for the tracks on their debut album ‘White Noise’, we were graced with ‘You & I’. It sees the band mellow things out slightly, but not in a boring way. In a beautifully haunting, can’t-take-off-repeat way. Lynn Gunn’s vocals range from subtle and airy to gritty and powerful as it flows over the shivering synths and low drum beat. Many didn’t think it would be possible to do better than their debut, but ‘You & I’ proves that there is so much left for PVRIS to give. [Tamsyn Wilce]
Northcote – ‘Your Rock And Roll’
Matthew Daniel Goud’s songwriting pays homage to Bruce Springsteen, just like his contemporaries Brian Fallon and Dave Hause, while also evoking Chuck Ragan’s gruffer voice and the pop of artists like Bryan Adams. The last track on ‘Hope Is Made of Steel’, Northcote’s 2015 release and a favorite of mine, is an acoustic number titled ‘Your Rock and Roll’. It’s a good track, but it constantly threatens to break into a full-band catharsis that never comes. Imagine my delight, then, when I found out Goud had released a full-band version as a single (with a cover of Springsteen’s ‘Radio Nowhere’ on the b-side). The song gains new life here, energized by a galloping beat and exploding into a wonderful harmonica solo in the bridge. [Jason Swearingen]