Let the music do the walking, never mind the editorial bit at the top, same thing, different week. Another five slices of music things and however you slice it and of course it was fishy and here comes the introduction that heralds the latest Five Music Things feature thing. 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 better way? A cure for pulling flying pigs out of the clouds? Is there a rhyme? Is there a reason? Was there ever a reason? What do reasons make? Five more? Snake oil? Everything must go and same as last time (and the time before that) 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 why we started this thing 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 really try to 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 about what gets played on the radio or indeed 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 it, who needs an editorial or words or worms in general? What’s Wordsworth? Just facts and links and sounds then. Here you go, play the music, grab your five, eat your greens, go eat some art, go eat some dirt and don’t forget whatever it was we said last time…

1: Lambrini Girls – Lot of talk about Lambrini Girls at the moment, they’ve got a new track, White Van, it is’t quite as good as Help Me I’m Gay, but that really was something and White Van, as the next thing we hear from them, is still rather excellent, Find it on Bandcamp, really hope that’s not the artwork fro the dorthcoming album, that really is a big steming pile of no you can’t be having that as the cover of your debut album, you’ve got to live with that forever! Hang on, they have an EP coming up, not an album, stll an awful cover though, I guess it is tongue in cheek but they’re so much better than that

Lambrini Girls share new single ‘White Van’ as well as announcing debut EP You’re Welcome out 19th May 2023 (pre-order here), plus announce a UK headline tour for the start of summer with tickets on-sale now here.

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“Based in Brighton, Phoebe Lunny (Vocals/Guitar – she/they), Lilly Macieira (Bass – she/they) and Catt Jack (Drums – N/A) have a strong artistic bond over their creative common ground – hot button societal issues combined with a biting, tongue in cheek lyrical style all their own”.

“White Van is a message to street harassers, with its seething vocals and blistering soundtrack”.

“A satirical take on catcalling, the story of being followed around in a white van. We’re taught, systemically, that it’s our sole responsibility to prevent our harassment. ‘What were you wearing?’ or ‘You shouldn’t have walked home by yourself’, implies your body in a public place is considered public property. If you do not modify your behavior in everyday life to protect yourself, then it’s your fault entirely. Instead of blaming us, maybe we should point the finger at Terry with his dick out behind the wheel and the system that has enabled his behavior for years.”

The three-piece announce their debut EP You’re Welcome that’ll be released 19th May 2023 –  a collection of songs to empower those who have ever made to feel invalidated and overlooked.

Containing previous single ‘Help Me I’m Gay’ which Phoebe used to come out to her mum, as well as ‘White Van’, other tracks include ‘Boys In The Band’ that’s about calling out abusers in the scene, and ‘Terf Wars’ which is pretty simple – Transphobia has no place in feminism. ‘Mr Lovebomb’ looks at altering behaviour in relationships, and ‘Lads lads lads’ is about toxic masculinity.

Never ones to take themselves too seriously, Lambrini Girls had this to say about the forthcoming release,  “Ghost written by Matt Hancock, ‘You’re Welcome’ was considered to be one of the worst EPs ever released and declared a biohazard. Rediscovered by Lambrini Girls whilst bathing in their swamp, the EP can now be exchanged for discounted massage coupons and a selection of cured meats.”

They add, “Medical waste aside, if someone out there has made you feel like a flaming pile of shit, then we hope this EP empowers you to absolutely fucking send

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2: Kid koala – Now there’s a name that hasn’t been on our horizon for some time. Rather like that new track and the excellent video, we can go with that. Here’s the hype from the label or whoever sent it in.

“Three decades into an unparalleled career, Kid Koala continues to grow his immersive this-dimensional real-life cartoon musical universe with each orbit around the sun. The world renowned DJ, composer, and lifelong visual storyteller also known as Eric San recently announced his newest foray into the depths of “creating things to joyfully connect people” – an original double album soundtrack with built-in board game entitled Creatures Of The Late Afternoon. Centered around a cast of creatures who band together through the power of music to save their habitat from destruction, the album and the game together bear Kid Koala’s singular ability to bring to life the interactive worlds of his multifaceted multimedia imagination.

Today, Kid Koala shares a new single and video from the project, “Things Are Gonna Change,” featuring rising Los Angeles art pop artist Lealani on guest lead vocals. The socially conscious party anthem is accompanied by a music video using stop-motion graphics of exploding vinyl records and studio circuitry brought to life by Montreal production company See Creature. The video or whatever we call these things these days is just up there…

“This song is a distorted turntable jump up punk track featuring the inimitable Lealani on vocals. I recorded the drums, bass and guitars, cut them to vinyl using my record lathe, and then reassembled the track by scratching all the parts together with the turntables plugged into stacks of tube amplifiers,” Koala says. “I had already written the lyrics but was searching for someone who could perform the vocals and cut through the mix. I was introduced to Lealani’s work through a mutual friend. Right away, I knew she had the perfect voice and energy for the track. I was able to get to LA to record with her and she slayed it!”

3: Gift – the Brooklyn-based psych-rock quintet will be touring the UK and Europe in March. Their debut album Momentary Presence is out nowon Dedstrange. The European dates start on March 1st, they hit the UK with a Brighton date on March 12th and are here until the 19th before heading back to mainland Europe, we assume the list of dates on the band’s website are up-to-date, that clean cut rather dry guitar sound on Gumball Garden really does hit the sopt in jsut the right way don’t you think….

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“Composed of TJ Freda and his bandmates Jessica Gurewitz, Kallan Campbell, Justin Hrabovsky, and Cooper Naess, GIFT have a knack for conjuring soundscapes that are simultaneously turbulent and gorgeous. Together, they share the quest for perfect sound, harmony during times of trouble, and radical openness. 

The remarkable thing about Freda is how much personality he’s able to inscribe in the tracks of Momentary Presence. He’s entertaining us with gorgeous, spectrum-saturating sound — a fascinating sound that draws from the best of shoegaze, dream pop, noise rock and post-punk.  Like all of us, Freda has been through plenty over the last few years; relocation, heartbreak, and crises in the lives of those close to him. Momentary Presence is a meditation on working through the anxiety and self doubt that we all, at one point, carry. 

GIFT have crafted a live experience that extends the spell that the album casts, and pushes the songs in wildly improvisatory directions. They’ve been selling out shows in Brooklyn for a while now.  It’s only a matter of time before the rest of the world catches on”.  

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4: Quiz Show – “Big news for the New Jersey music scene. Montclair-based Magic Door record ;abel has announced that indie rock trio QUIZ SHOW, a band that involves members of DC alternative rock bands SHUDDER TO THINK, GUIDED BY VOICES and THE DAMBUILDERS, will release their debut album in March” so shouted the press release. It feels like a Chris Matthews led thng to us from over here, Matthews being the original guitarist between 1986 and ’92, the Dischord years.

“Quiz Show is a continuation. After a quarter-century break, Chris Matthews, a founding member of legendary DC hardcore band Shudder To Think, picked-up his guitar and began to write songs again. Luckily he lives in the same town as Guided By Voices drummer Kevin March, who agreed to jam and write with Chris. Uniquely, Kevin had also been a member of Shudder To Think, so the pair had lots of influences in common. Husker Du, Pixies, Ramones, Firehose, Joy Division, Fugazi, Sonic Youth, Jawbox, and Girls Against Boys all spring to mind. Quiz Show’s debut long-player brings together a collection of singles the band recorded with producer Ray Ketchem between 2017 and 2020 at his Magic Door studio in Montclair NJ. Ketchem re-mastered the tracks for this release on the Magic Door Record Label”.

The tracks we’ve heard, there’s a couple of tastes of the album on their Bandcamp, do sound typically alt.rock 90’s, that’s no bad thing of course, they’re doing that thing we’ve heard many time before, a dime a dozen you might say. No great musical revelution here but it is about the songs and this brace bode well for the rest of the album. What If has a massive hook, things feel hopeful here… The album is out on March 17th. Find Quiz Show on our February Spotify playlist, which will of course lead you t oquite a few of the tracks that will collected together for this album…

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5: Hidden Mother – “Hello, Brèagha here. I just put out a new song from my solo project Hidden Mother. It has been described as ‘lofi scuzzy garage’ so if that’s your kind of thing then check it out! It’s up on YouTube and Bandcamp as usual” Brèagha is from Bratakus of course

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And while we’re here…

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