All the striving and the doing it, on we go, the Five music things thing yet again for whatever it still might be worth. Five? There’s something rather compelling about five, cross-pollination? Five more? Do we need to do the editorial bit again? Is there another way? A cure for pulling cats out of hats? 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, we do it so you don’t have to, we are very (very) picky about what we actually post on these pages or play on the radio or hang in a gallery. Cut to the chase, never mind the editorial 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: Rubber Oh – Nothing, another slice taken from the forthcoming solo album from Sam Grant – best known as guitarist and producer of Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs. Strange Craft (Launch251) will be out on Rocket Recordings on June 3rd, that seems a long long way away, here’s the details, details matter.

“Inspiration can strike anyone at any time, and more often than not from somewhat peculiar quarters. Rarely more so than when Sam Grant – best known as guitarist and producer of Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – finally set about work on a solo project that had been pursuing him for some years. “It’s easier to describe it materialistically than by any other way.” he reasons “I want people to imagine that feeling of rubber – its physical memory, the unnatural vibe of it. It’s so tactile but alien, but also difficult not to know. It’s an odd analogy, but that’s what this music is for me.”
 
Today, Grant shares the second single from his debut, “Nothing” and explains, “Ultimately, ’Nothing’ is a song about the weight of thought, and the freedom in letting go. But the lyrics are meant to sit in a space that’s both optimistic and hopeful, and equally readable as pessimistic and futile – playing with the ideas of dualism and Nihilism.” He goes on to say, “There’s an alluring sense of the Optimistic Nihilist in the track – that prospect of knowing your own inconsequence could be liberating. But it’s always tethered to the paradoxes that creates.” 

The single arrives with a surreal lyric video made by Teeth of the Sea’s Mike Bourne.

2: TV Priest – “In the video for TV Priest’s “One Easy Thing”, the group’s new single, singer Charlie Drinkwater plays a beleaguered 15th century knight on his return home from battle – soon after, a solo danse macabre ensues”, here’s the video, have they go all Magnum or maybe Robin George, nah, no one could make a video as good as Robin’s. she changed her number mate, of course you won’t be calling again! T.V Priest meanwhile continue to evolve and expand in terms of their musical personality, thier own finger print is starting to emerge now, their own take on the now of things, does a silly video help them?

“The darkly comic (so it says here) “One Easy Thing” video was helmed by previous band collaborator Joe Wheatley (“Decoration”, “Press Gang”) and shot on 16mm black and white stock by director of photography Kristof Brandl. The song is available from Sub Pop, we say use Bandcamp and not Spotify.

Charlie says of the single: “Writing ‘One Easy Thing’ was key to unlocking a more direct and personal approach to our songwriting. It’s about dealing with the small things of everyday life; the anxiety, pressures, and battles inside your own headspace – and not being afraid to show this in our songs.”

“One Easy Thing” further ushers in a new direction for the band and will appear on TV Priest’s forthcoming new album, due out on Sub Pop later this year. It follows the recent “Lifesize” b/w ”All Thing” single (their contribution to volume 6 of the Sub Pop Singles Club), and “Uppers”, the band’s acclaimed, full-length debut, both released in 2021.

The band will follow the winter’s UK headline tour with new dates set to be announced alongside further details of album two in the near future”.

3: We Used to Cut the Grass – “A genuinely fun-loving experimental ensemble from New Jersey” And they do sounds liek they’re having lots of fun, not that they fallen into the annoyingly wacky Zappa trap or anything like that, this is powerdyl drivming progressive jazz-tinged forward moving rock. All compositions are written and arranged by Cody McCorry, there;s dozens of musicians playing, they sound like they’d be a blast live, they sound pretty pretty good on this album that just came out. Devo Variations gives you a healthy clue, Bandcamp will once again tell you more, when all their wind gets going, this is excellent, check out Shep’s Lounge, glorious big band sound…

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4: Guerilla Toss have shared ‘Famously Alive’, the title track from their forthcoming LP that’s out March 25 via Sub Pop. This follows the letting loose ‘Cannibal Capital’ earlier this year (before Meal Loaf checked out) – ORGAN THING: A first taste of the new Guerilla Toss album and that time they ripped up Bat Out of Hell and then crashed from the sky and…, this second track comes with an accompanying video directed by Jonny Kosomo. Check it out below.

According to frontwoman and lyricist Kassie Carlson, ‘Famously Alive’ is about “living with purpose and excitement whether you’re famous or not, accepting your strangeness and thriving even if your successes look different than other people’s.”

“To me, ‘Famously Alive’ means flipping the notion of dying famously to living famously,” multi-instrumentalist Peter Negroponte added. “I also like to think of it as a way to describe living through something traumatic and coming out of it a stronger, wiser person.”

Thats the ever rewarding Guerilla Toss from their upcoming album ‘Famously Alive‘, then, are they still as rewarding as they once were? I guess we’ll wait and see what the whole album has ot offer, they’re certainly sounding a little more mainstrea mand poppy, there is still something in there though, from where we’re sitting on this fence here, they’re still tempting us….

5: Screamfeader – “So happy that Screamfeeder have a new album coming out. One of Australia’s most underrated bands. Here is their latest single. Enjoy” said Bailey Cursor. Bailey has fine taste, The Cursors play on Organ bills several times back there, “The first single from our eighth album FIVE ROOMS, out May 6th 2022” say the band, “30 years of Noisy Pop and they are still going strong” said Bailey, andI must admit, never heard of them until Bailey said something today on her social media feed. Just good pop, crafted pop, feels good, we need to explore more…. Here’s the Bandcamp page with their back catalogue that clearly needs exploring,,,

We need to explore more, not today though, today we’re working on Book, Book will open at 7pm on Tuesday 22nd February, an on-line art show brought to you by Cultivate and hosted here on these Organ pages. Another carefully curated art exhibition, part of an ongoing series of on-line art shows.

And while we’re here…

A cover of a Hawkwind classic.