All the striving and the doing it, on we go, the Five music things thing yet again for whatever it still might be some kind of worth. Five? There’s something rather compelling about five, cross-pollination? Five more? Do we need to do it again? Is there another way? A cure for pulling cats out of hats? A new editorial yet maybe? Is there a rhyme? Is there a reason? Was there ever? What do reasons make?. Five more, same as last time (and the time before) five, 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? We do listen to everything that comes in so you don’t have to, we are very picky about what we actually post. Cut to the chase, 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 cut slash and cut to the damn chase, who needs an editorial? Here’s your five for today.

1: Tomberlin has shared a rather strong, rather delicate, rather beautiful new single titled “idkwntht,” featuring guest vocals from Told Slant’s Felix Walworth. The track, we are told, is the first new music Tomberlin has shared since 2020’s acclaimed Alex G-produced EP, Projections.

Of the track, Sarah Beth Tomberlin says: “‘idkwntht’ is a sonic altar of sorts. It’s about taking a moment for remembrance, clarity, and setting an intention for what is to come. Kind of like a song version of writing out your intentions on a full moon. Holding onto feelings, words, and past versions of ourselves and our behaviour only helps when we can examine experiences once we are outside of them. Then we have to let it out, let it go, and try again.”

2: Boo Hiss – We’ve only hear one rather fine slice of the new Boo Hiss album Sike Jaz so far, however, on the strength of what we’ve heard and what we already know, we’ll take the Death word for it, we can always trust Death, Deathbomb Arc are one of the more reliable wreckord labels out there – “The follow up to the Boo Hiss’ debut ‘Sike Roc’ doesn’t simply go deeper down the rabbit hole, it finds holes side channels and hidden caverns to explore. Continuing Todd Drootin’s (aka Books on Tape) methodology of fighting instinct in order to create beyond the limitations of bias, Boo Hiss sounds at once alien and familiar – a result of both chance and the subconscious – tempered by decades of skill and experience to keep everything in place. True explorers of digital realms, be ready”.

You can now find that track and details of the the rest of the album via Bandcamp or via Deathbomb

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3: W!zard – With an exclamation in the middle and not a hint of Roy Wood, this W!zard are from Bordeaux, France and we must admit it was a glorious flyer for a gig with the excellent gig that has already happened featuring !Gerald! (they like to exclaim as well”) that made us want to find out more about who they might be (that artwork does matter, good artwork is so so often an indicator or a good band and who doesn;t love seahorse racing?). We were really just wondering where !Gerald! had got to? Back in March 2021 we said – ORGAN THING: Hang on, holy merd (yet again), GeRald! Fire in a Madhouse, The Attack of the Giant what?! This just in from France… – nothing new since then so it seems, we await.

So who are W!zard? A rather fine noise rock band who more than live up to the promise of the flyer and that seahorse. Seems they put out a rather inspiringly titled five track EP by the name of Definitely Unfinished back in the summer of last year. Brilliantly awkward noise rock, barbed, edgy, big and black, Big Black and all those dangerously glorious notions, proper noise rock, oh and what a great video –

So, yes, W!zard, released last year but what are you gonna do about our tardly lateness here?! Say thank you I should think, well if you don’t know about these French noise makers already – admit it, you didn’t. Here’s the Bandcamp thing, and great cover art work for the release as well, nakedness, heels and noise rock make for a good combination, There is a good album from 2018 as well, you can go find it all on Bandcamp.

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And here, while we’re here, have some !Gerald! that we originally posted last year, we do keep checking to see if they’ve done anything new…

4: Jimi Jules – “Taking full creative control of every piece of instrumentation, lyric and performance, Jimi delivers the captivating lead vocals in ‘Burning’ himself. His full musical ability and charming uniqueness to 360-degree production combined with his tender voice he proves once again why Dixon and Âme have fallen in love with his sound. “Burning“ is a personal life story about communication, equality, compassion and a homage to a free spiritual soul. Better Together Forever”. More details or buy it via Bandcamp. The Artwork concept is by Trevor Jackson, that does demand a mention

5: And So I Watch You From Afar – “IV In Air” is from And So I Watch You From Afar’s upcoming album, ”Jettison,’ available February 18th. More details of the the album here. Lots more details down there, it is a rather impress first taste of things to come, have thet got something extra this time? have they challenged themselves?

The official hype, the details, the words that cane with the announcement…

“Today, legendary Belfast, Ireland based instrumental outfit And So I Watch You From Afar has shared “IV In Air”, the fourth single from their ambitious upcoming multimedia album “Jettison“.

The latest offering from the group will be available on 18th February 2022 via Equal Vision Records in partnership with Velocity Records. Through 40 minutes of sonic exploration spread across nine distinct parts and a visual accompaniment by artist Sam Wiehl, “Jettison” traverses the various shades of ASIWYFA’s euphoric instrumental output. The Arco String Quartet adds moments of ethereal elegance, juxtaposed against cryptic dialogue by Emma Ruth Rundle and Neil Fallon throughout the album.

On the scope of their upcoming album, the band had this to say:

“Nothing in our repertoire comes close to the ambition of this latest project—the multimedia piece “Jettison”. The album is a memorable experience that transports the listener away from the tumultuous times and into a blissful musical utopia.”

More info on “Jettison“:
“Over the last 16 years, Northern Ireland’s instrumental rock quartet And So I Watch You From Afar has defied the layman’s definition of post-rock by absorbing new ideas and pushing the boundaries of their intricate and ecstatic guitar-based compositions. Crashing out of the gate with the big-riff worship and arena-level melodic heroics of their eponymous debut, ASIWYFA have continuously introduced new spins on their original sound while simultaneously expanding their sonic palette with every new album, taking in and repurposing everything from African highlife to Irish trad to the weirdo math-rock of the late ‘90s / early ‘00s. But nothing in their repertoire comes close to the ambition and scale of their latest project—the multimedia piece “Jettison”. Conceived by And So I Watch You From Afar’s guitarist Rory Friers and brought to life by the band, orchestrator Connor O’Boyle, the Arco String Quartet, and visual artist Sam Wiehl, “Jettison” is a fusion of ASIWYFA’s life-affirming musical acrobatics, the sweeping grandeur of film scores, and the surreal and sublime capabilities of moving pictures.

The initial motivation behind “Jettison” was simple. “Making a longer piece of music was something I’d wanted to do for a long time,” Friers says. “I always liked albums and pieces of music that gave you a bigger space to get lost in.” He and his bandmate, guitarist Niall Kennedy, had recently composed the score for The Cured (2017), which whetted their appetite for orchestrating string parts and working on a scale that involved recurring melodic themes and long-arc musical developments. “I loved the idea of reverse engineering a score, flipping it on its head, and having Sam create the visual narrative to the music,” Friers says of his initial vision. As he set to work in early 2018, Friers hoped this ambitious new project would ultimately serve as a counterweight to the tense social climate—a way to “jettison” the anger and strife of the times. It also proved to be a malleable piece, one that evolved and reacted to both personal developments and global events, first with the loss of a dear friend of the band shortly before the record’s live debut and again after subsequent performances were canceled due to the onset of the pandemic in early 2020. Though it was always intended to serve as a life-affirming work full of rapturous energy, these tragedies and hardships brought occasional dashes of melancholy to “Jettison”, bringing the overall sense of triumph and wonder into greater relief.

The “Jettison” stage is set with the peaceful opening piano chords and orchestral stirrings of “Dive Pt1” before the lift-off commences on “Dive Pt2,” where Friers and Kennedy are joined by their compatriots Chris Wee on drums and Johnny Adger on bass. From there, the 40-minute, nine-part journey of “Jettison” traverses the various shades of ASIWYFA’s euphoric instrumentals imbued by the ethereal elegance of the Arco String Quartet. Brief snippets of cryptic dialogue by Emma Ruth Rundle and Neil Fallon are sprinkled throughout the album, nudging the listener along the path like guideposts, hinting at a larger storyline and further coloring the experience while still allowing an overall sense of mystery to surround the composition. Whether it’s the staccato guitars and pedalboard manipulations of “Lung,” the dubby bass and sparse folk melodies of “In Air,” the anthemic spirit of “Emerge,” or the perfect symbiosis of classic ASIWYFA electric jubilance and the Arco String Quartet’s delicate grace, the various chapters of “Jettison” retain the spirit and timbre of ASIWYFA while expanding the possibilities of their sound and hyper-saturating the senses through supplementary instrumentation.

“Jettison” is by no means a normal ASIWYFA album. Rather, it is a very deliberate departure as opposed to an evolutionary step to increasingly ambitious, complex, and conceptual work. The full “Jettison” experience, replete with Wiehl’s visuals and the string accompaniments, will only happen occasionally, such as the full-house October 2021 performance at The Queen Elizabeth Hall at London’s Southbank Centre. Yet even in the album format, “Jettison” is a special experience, one that transports the listener away from the tumultuous times and into a blissful musical utopia. Equal Vision Records is proud to present this document of the aural component of “Jettison” to the world on CD, LP, and digital platforms on 18th February 2022″.

More details here, you can also find details of the Spring tour via the link.

And here, more W!zard, have some more, a live session…

And while we’re here, the 1977 debut single by UK teen punk sensations, The Cortinas

More of this in a day or two…