The editorial bit again again yet again, the introduction and the Five Music Things thing for whatever it is all about. 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, everything must go and 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) very very picky about what we actually post on these fractured pages or what gets played on the radio or what we 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 or words in general? Just facts and links then, here you go, grab your five, eat your greens, go eat some art, go eat some dirt, we’re still washing off the dust clouds after Nick Cave’s triumph in our local park, now that really was a gig, possibly one of the best ever…

1: Queasy Pieces has a new single ‘Been So Good To Me’ and a short film, Queasy Pieces is a new project from one-man-music-making-machine Andrew Anderson; dance music done wrong / perplexing punk / and art rock for the absurd. Imagine if you mixed all your favourite foods together, from ice cream to baked beans, and somehow it still tasted good. Today, Anderson is announcing his debut self-titled album via the sharing of new single ‘Been So Good To Me’ and as well as new short film, Instruction Manual For The End Of The World. Queasy Pieces is due out on November 18th via FatCat. And now we’re going to be singing “You’ve been so good to me” at everyone all day, how infectious is that? Like the art as well, the art that comes with a record is always important.

“A veteran of punk groups like Freak Genes, Hipshakes and Proto Idiot, Queasy Pieces sees Anderson use his DIY aesthetic on music that makes you move. Instead of power chords and fist pumping, this new project leans more on 808 bass hits and dance synths. 

“When I was 12 I wanted to be Fatboy Slim,” recalls Anderson. “Now, some 25 years later, the dream has finally come true – except I can’t afford to live in Brighton.” 

Queasy Pieces self-titled first release came together over the last year, with the songs slowly assembled from fragments of ideas. 

“For each song I’d try to write it around a single idea and keep things as simple as possible,” notes Anderson. “I’d come up with a song that only has one lyric, or that uses just one chord. Then I’d do whatever I could to make it sound like dance music. I didn’t know what I was doing, but luckily that didn’t matter.” 

It’s been a long road to this point for Anderson, who has played in punk bands since he was 15. His first group Hipshakes were signed to legendary US label Goner Records, and after a US tour he ended up staying in the US and working as a news reader for a local radio station. After returning to the UK he worked as a wedding photographer, aircraft engineer and classical music journalist while still playing DIY music on the side. 

These days he lives in Bulgaria in a socialist tower block where the neighbours don’t let him play loud music. 

“Since I can’t play guitars here without getting in trouble, everything is on drum machines and synths,” he explains. “The great thing about this is that it’s like learning music all over again: I had no idea how to play these instruments, so I just went with whatever felt like the most fun.” 

This less-is-best aesthetic comes across in new single ‘Been So Good To Me’, a song with just one lyric that twists and turns to a hypnotic disco beat. Featuring Kat Rackin from Holiday Ghosts on lead vocals, he originally came up with the idea during that aforementioned Fatboy Slim fanboy phase. 

“I came up with that idea in maths class after listening to ‘Right Here, Right Now’ on my Portable CD player, and it’s just stuck in my head ever since,” he says. “I thought probably it was time to turn it into a song before it sent me completely insane.”

As well as sharing ‘Been So Good To Me’, today, Queasy Pieces has also shared new short film Instruction Manual For The End Of The World. Of the film, Anderson says:

“The world is ending – that much is clear. You’re probably feeling pretty queasy about it. You may even be going to pieces. But fear not: Tony Tambourine is here to help. Fame, fortune and a future to live for? Yes, yes and thrice yes – Tony can give you all this and more. All you have to do is give him your soul. That’s fair…right? 

The film was created using tracks from Queasy Pieces’ forthcoming debut LP by Serbian film director Mihajlo Kocev and Andrew Anderson. 

Queasy Pieces is mixed by Phil Booth from Slumb Party and mastered by Australian garage rock legend Mikey Young. It features members of Holiday Ghosts and The Be Positives, as well as a clutch of Bulgarians that were convinced to take part”. 

2: De Lux drop their final single, They Call It Love, before the release of their upcoming album, Do You Need A Release? The single is out now via Innovative Leisure, Sean Guerin had this to say on it:

“As a lover of music and skateboarding, I thought They Call This Love would be a great song to mesh the two worlds. I’ve picked up skating again for the past 2 years and have met incredible people. Grabbed some of them for a session in downtown LA, as well as a bunch of high schools and notable spots.  Skateboarding is so community based that it felt good to just go out with everyone and have an adventure. The song is about love, the ups and downs, the good and bad, and the hard work it requires. Landing a trick after 40 tries in 90-degree heat only to have all your buds there to cheer you on, I think represents love in so many ways.” Sean Guerin of De Lux

Do You Need A Release? is De Lux at their poppiest, prettiest, danciest, and most abrasive. The record is built on an uncomfortable bed of tension which, when released, is immediately satisfying in unpredictable and surprising ways. The verses often pummel you with aggressive beats and grooves only to blossom into open, encouraging, and even angelic refrains. Or the other way around, like in first single New Summers, where the choruses don’t resolve and the drums are a never ending build up that disorients you—reminding you that summer will never be the same again.

Do You Need A Release? is filled with questions and not answers, but each riddle is its own answer as pseudo-philosophical as that can sound. While Sean Guerin’s lyrics are filled with uncertainty and affirmation, the irony is that the grooves are as solid as they’ve ever been. De Lux matters because they make music to dance to and be inspired by—they exist to ask us the questions we’re often too afraid to move our bodies to. That may sound hyperbolic but their ambitions are not an exaggeration. With no pun intended, Do You Need A Release? comes out this September 23rd via Innovative Leisure.

De Lux are Sean Guerin and Isaac Franco. Their live band joined them on the recording of this album. Find more about the album here or hear more via the Bandcamp page

3: The Lounge Society – The Lounge Society’s debut album “Tired Of Liberty” out today on Speedy Wunderground, watch the video for ‘Remains’ here, we haven’t heard the full album, but we do rather like the way The Lounge Society continue to flow, the way they talk to us, the singles that have been let loose kind of promise the album could be something rather good, to be continued….

4: The Party Dozen – “”A sonic partnering of saxophonist Kirsty Tickle and percussionist Jonathan Boulet, Party Dozen is a project loosely based around improvisation”. This album came out back in July, we mention it today simply bcause we’ve been listening to it rather a lot this week ahead of their appearance on the bill with Nick Cave this Sunday in our local park, that’s the final day of this year’s All Points East festival in Victoria Park here in East London. Fine the whole album via Bandcamp, just get with that stomp of the mutt called Macca

.

“Party Dozen are a duo from Sydney made up of Kirsty Tickle (saxophone) and Jonathan Boulet (percussion and sampler). Since forming in 2017, they have become renowned in Australia for their incendiary live shows, touring and playing with acts such as LIARS, Tropical Fuck Storm and Viagra Boys. Exactly what Party Dozen are is completely up to the listener. Doom. Jazz. Hardcore. Psychedelic. No-wave. Industrial. Although largely instrumental, their sets are punctuated by Kirsty’s unique “singing” style, screaming into the bell of her saxophone which itself goes through a bevy of effects pedals. Intensely independent in everything they do, the duo write, perform and record everything themselves. 2022 will see the return of Party Dozen, first in April with the 7” release, Fat Hans Gone Mad, for the Sub Pop Singles Club, and then in July with their third album, The Real Work, with a new label partner in New York’s Temporary Residence Ltd. The Real Work succeeds in exploring new directions but also features some familiar Party Dozen touches. Perhaps most notable is the first-ever appearance of a guest other than Kirsty or Jonathan on a Party Dozen track, with Nick Cave ad-libbing a very memorable contribution to the album’s second track, “Macca The Mutt.”

5: Seal Party – “Bay Area art-rock outfit SEAL PARTY offer the fine soul-infused sonic offering ‘Kaleka’, a stunning piano-based composition that brings together the best elements of David Bowie and Joe Cocker. The story behind this song relate to John Lennon and Yoko Ono, as well as the lesser-known Satwant Singh Kaleka, who died a hero’s death trying to save fellow Sikh temple worshipers”. And well, that works for me, there’s some soul in that song, yes, Joe Cocker and diced onions and clearly we should have been taking a little more notice of Oakland’s Seal Party, we’ll be back in a moment with this one. The album is here on Bandcamp and we’re just firing up Turpentine, we’ll be back later, sounds like we have a good one here….

And while we’re here, Zachery Detrick posted this on his social media feed – “what a fun piece. how come I had never heard of this composer before?” Boris Tishchen is a new name to us as well. Who’s Zachery Detrick? Well here you go – Zachary Detrick’s impressive Scorpion Ballet takes us down a rabbit hole that has Cardiacs at the bottom of it…