The Five music thing yet again for whatever it still might be worth. Five? Five more? Maybe Six? Do we need a new editorial yet? Is there a rhyme? Is there an reason Was there ever? What do reasons make? Again and again and again (and again). Five more, same as last time (and the time before) five (or six or maybe seven) more musical things and yeah, we did say all this last week and the weeks before and blah blah blah while the whole world window and no, we never do and the proof of the pudding is in that proof reading. When we started this thing, oh never mind, it doesn’t matter and like we asked last time, does anyone bother reading the editorial? Does anyone ever actually look down the rabbit hole or is it all just method acting? Cut to the chase, we could just cut ‘n paste the editorial from the last time, there’s loads of music further down the page, well five or so pieces of music that have come our way in the last few days and cut to the damn chase, who needs an editorial? Anyone see my contact lens?  Who needs any of this? Who needs it, who needs it, Cynical who? Same what every day? Here’s your five for today

Five (or maybe six) musical things then, just how good are Sky Creature

1: Dianas – ” Born in a dingy share house in Perth, from a heady combination of stolen gear, cheap red wine, heartbreak and small-town malaise, Dianas is a drunken conversation between friends that never ended”. They’re from Australia rather than Scotland, they’re delightfully clever, if it is a drunken conversation, then they’re rather eloquently drunk. They co-ordinate it all so so well, there’s a delight in the refreshing way it all fits together, a tingle. The album, Little Glimmer just came out last week, here’s their Bandcamp, you don’t need our words, go explore for yourself and then drop us a thank you note. This is the third album from Dianas, seems we’ve got some catching up to do…

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2: Quinquis – Mute have announced the newest signing to their label – Quinquis (aka Émilie Tiersen) – and at the same time have shared the first taste of what to expect from the multidisciplinary Breton artist

“Over two albums and several years Émilie recorded and released under the name Tiny Feet but the recent name change, which pays homage to her personal and family history by referencing her maiden name, represents a fresh start musically”.

The first track released on Mute, ‘Adkrog’ – which aptly translates as ‘Start Again’ -showcases QUINQUIS’ soothing yet unpredictable pulsations, feeling as though a new world is awakening and working out its newfound surroundings. “It’s about finding the energy in environment and nature,” she explains. “When I was feeling desperate, I sat outside and I prayed for nature to give me some answers. This song is about that – if you just let go then nature gives you an answer.”

She goes on to explain, “Murat’s video is the counterpoint to the track. When the mind is stuck indoors, it starts looking for an answer from the outdoors”

With new material planned for release in 2022 – a collaboration with producer and artist Gareth Jones (Sunroof, Liars, Depeche Mode and Apparat) –  QUINQUIS [pronounced kɛ̃kis] kicks off 2022 with a performance at Eurosonic Festival in Groningen on 21 January before embarking on a tour with collaborator, husband and labelmate Yann Tiersen. A headline dates has been announced at St Pancras Old Church, London on 16 February, and a European tour with Algiers follows in May. 

More details

3: Sky Creature – “Hey, folks! Just checking in again with news about the single, No One, by Matt Walsh (of The Forms). You recently covered The Forms (Matt Walsh & Alex Tween) for The Organ. I’m writing you from a label Matt started during the plague (Covid) called Open Ocean. We released The Forms’ single Southern Ocean on vinyl”. And yes indeed, we did cover The Forms, here’s what we said a few weeks back – ORGAN THING: The Forms release All Souls Day on All Souls Day, something rather special from the New York band… That All Souls Day piece was something rather special, rather like this track No One aswell, made me think on No One for a moment, the frist thing we ever released back when ORG was just a tape label, a band called No One and a slice of punk rock on a cassette called “No One Will be Bigger Than Jesus Christ”, you don’t need to know all that ancient history though, none of it has anything to do with going to the flipping fair and all that Welsh Madness. Sky Creaturem like The Forms, are from New York, I really like The Forms, we really like this as well, Matt Walsh’s other band, are first track, great video. The Email said something about Thankgiving and hoping we had a good one, this isn’t quite America yet, nice ot be asked though. The e.mail said it was a Matt Walsh release but I’m reading it as a two piece band featuring Matt and the e.mail writer Majel (thanks Majel). Apparently they’re just getting ready to record a debut album with Steve Albini, we look forward to lots more. this sounds like a seven inch you’d want to put on repeat…

3: SMEs-21 – Now what is happening here? “All guitars, drums, rhythms, sitars, basses, booms, field recordings, words edits, mixes, remixes, re-remixes developed somewhere in the intersection of Mr Snakes and Mr Sterile”. Mr Sterile as in New Zealand’s Mr Sterile Assembly of course, very obvious when you have a listen, and as it is with pretty much everything Mr Sterile is involved in, challenging, interesting, awkwardly good, rhythmically other, predictably unpredictable, check it and them and Mt Snake out via Bandcamp

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4: Kee Avil – Now this first taste of the debut album for Constellation is rather fascinating, there was a press release with all the details around here somewhere but damn me if I can’t find it now. Here’s a taste, we’ll follow it up soon I expect….

5: Rubber Oh – Straight from the fertile imagination of Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs guitarist Sam Grant, comes the debut single from Rubber Oh – a place where an irreverent magpie spirit has its way with the eternal psych-pop continuum. “Little Demon” is the first sample of a fresh foray – a bass-driven, fuzzy, blissed out mantra that sets out its stall where the travails of the everyday fade into the astral plane.

“Little Demon” will  be released as a limited edition coloured vinyl 7″, exclusively available via Bandcamp only. The 7″ goes on sale this Friday, the 3rd December on Rocket Recordings as part of the last Bandcamp Friday.

Is that five yet?

5: Arny Margret – has a rather beguiling debut single ‘intertwined’ out now via One Little Independent Records. The Icelandic singer-songwriter, having spent the last few years “honing her graceful, emotive acoustics and a lyricism and delivery that defy her age, she appears amongst no small amount of local buzz, fresh from playing Iceland Airwaves ‘Live from Reykjavík’ event alongside the likes of John Grant, Ásgeir and more” is making her first rather impressive moves for her new label

Let’s quote a little more from the press release where they talk of “vivid imagery colours deeply personal writing on ‘intertwined’. Arny recalls sitting in a small dorm-room in Denmark, staring out of its single window overlooking the scenic landscape, and how memories both good and bad flooded over her amidst the solitude. She tells us; “Past experiences kept coming back to me while I was living in Denmark, everything around me was different. It took some time to get used to. The weather somehow always makes a way into my songs, I use my dreams and my memories, words or phrases. And one day I came up with the lyric ‘our pasts are intertwined’ as if you’re connected to someone you don’t want to be connected to”.

Through continuous writing and revaluating, the song developed naturally over a number of weeks. Arny prefers to allow her songs to evolve themselves, intrinsically linked as they are to their surroundings. “It was winter by the time I was adding the final touches, I was back home when I recorded the harmonies, and it came together, music is weird like that”.

Arny Margret is from the Westfjords, a sparsely populated and confined peninsula in north-western Iceland. Born and raised in a small town called Ísafjörður, she attended music school from the age of 6 learning to play the piano and gradually taught herself guitar. Through the few pieces she’s shared, a feeling of isolation resonates, seeping through her dulcet tones and delicate strumming, conjuring images of mountain tops blocking the winter sun and clear, cool ocean stretches.

She cites influence from the likes of Adrianne Lenker, Aldous Harding and fellow Icelander Ásgeir. She’s currently recording her debut album at studio Hljóðriti in Hafnarfjörður and beginning to make her mark globally this year and next with her intimate and affecting live performances”.

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iwas 35 years ago this coming weekend that the first ever ehand printed spray painted dition of Organ was launched out the back of an ex-artmy ambulance outside a Hawkwind gig