Nah, on with the music and never mind what we said last time or last year, you’ve read all this already, never mind the editorial, never mind the biscuits just jump down past this editorial, who needs an editorial? Jump past and let the actual music do the actual walking and the talking. Exact same thing again, another five (or so) slices of musical things that have passed our way recently and however you like to slice it and of course it was the price of apples and here comes the intro, Don’t be flippant she said, how could it ever be flippant?

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 rabbits 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 damn 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 fresh music and don’t forget whatever it was we said last time…

Here we go again, same as last time, in no particular order, starting here in London…

1: USA Nails have a new single, are these things ever really singles, can I buy it in Woolies on green vinyl for 99p on the week of release then flip it over after a few plays and find that the b-side is even better? Nah, thought not, the ever excellent USA Nails have let loose a new track on various platforms like the infuriating Spotify, the long may it live thing that is Bandcamp and the very questionable You Tube, another taste of the London band’s soon to be released, well March, but hey, we’re not far off March now, a track of the band’s new album, Feel Worse out March 22nd via One Little Independent Records and with no further messing, here it is…   

Here comes the press release and all the details (hey I havent’ got time ot do it myself these days, those art reviewstake up all my time, that and al lthe throwing of paint at canvas and bits of wood and all the rest…)

“London noise-rock quartet USA Nails announced their upcoming album ‘Feel Worse’, out March 22nd 2024. It’s the first album on their new label One Little Independent Records (home to anarcho-punk bands both old and new; Crass, Bad Breeding and more). The band have forged a considerable reputation since their formation in 2013 from their South London base, comprising of members of Kong, Future Of The Left, Blacklisters, Death Pedals and Silent Front.

‘Feel Worse’ explores schadenfreude; the pleasure derived from another person’s misfortune. With this, they use new material to attack austerity and UK authoritarianism, consumer culture (particularly the consumption of quick fix reality TV and hyper-capitalist agendas), youth culture and bullying, and more. They do so with their intense and unmistakable brand of abrasive, chaotic post-hardcore. There’s a raw and uncompromising energy to USA Nails, and ‘Feel Worse’ is their most powerful and vital album to date.

New single ‘Cathartic Entertainment’ is about the vulnerability and shame profited from by television studios, and the irresistible temptation we as viewers have to feel better about our own lives through the embarrassment of those on screen. “That’s what An Audience of Love refers to” says co-frontman Steve Hodson, “Audiences loving the unease of others. It becomes an uneasy comedy in itself, and almost a cycle of parody. Infidelity and abuse normalised through public shaming almost.”

The tracks on ‘Feel Worse’ are critical and unrelenting, conveying their message amidst an auditory assault of crushing distortion, that adds a palpable weight to the material. The LP represents anger as a great motivator, there’s a purging within the fury of its delivery. USA Nails astutely scold the culture of divisive, toxic political rhetoric, and working people being turned on each other as a distraction tactic.

Early USA Nails releases were put out by labels like Smalltown America, a DIY label based in Northern Ireland. Later they would work with legendary Midwest experimental rock label SKiN GRAFT Records, champions of Melt Banana, Shellac, Dazzling Killmen, Koenjihyakkei, Brise-Glace, Cheer-Accident, US Maple, Denison/Kimball Trio and more. They’ve contributed to the Too Pure Singles Club, alongside DZ Deathrays, JOHN, Drahla, Paul Draper, and infinitely more. In 2022 they released a split with Psychic Graveyard (ex-Doomsday Student/Chinese Stars) on SKiN GRAFT and Box Records (the label started by Matt Baty, frontman of PigsX7).

The band have toured with Sub-Pop’s Metz and UK noise-rock legends Mclusky. They have completed numerous US and European headline stints, as well as supporting the likes of Future Of The Left, Mission Of Burma, No Age, Cocaine Piss, Viagra Boys, Hey Colossus and Unsane.

Over the years, out of necessity more than anything, USA Nails honed their skills off-stage as well as on. Like many jobbing musicians they learned design, videography, screenprinting and more to keep costs down while promoting their DIY releases. As such, what they’ve mastered on the go has become part of their daily lives. Drummer Tom Brewins has gone on to create music videos for the likes of JOHN, Goat, PETBRICK (ex-Sepultura and Big Lad) and more. Gareth Thomas did the same for the likes of Enablers, as well as appearing as a session guitarist for their friends Los Bitchos. Dan Holloway creates artwork and merch for a number of bands including Pile and Big Lad among others. Matt Reid, the drummer on their first three albums, continues to design all the artwork for the band. All this and more has become as much a part of the creative process for them as making the music”. 

more off the new album….

2: Chastity Belt have just announced a new album for March 2024, Live Laugh Love –  ”Chastity Belt are tried-and-true legends of the Seattle scene” so reads the press release cheat sheet thing that just landed here with their latest release, a rather bright, rather warm, rather glowing song that invites you to just go along with it just as long as you don’t wanna hear the things she has to say. I can’t remember the first time we covered them, I guess it was about ten years ago now, they’ve just kind of been there making good music, a the press release points out, for more than a decade… 

“…for more than a decade the band has created scrappy, clever noise pop, frequently laced with homages to the Pacific Northwest. The act’s latest single, I-90 Bridge, presents reflective lyrics about growing older amidst local change rest atop a nostalgic, dreamy instrumental. The song is outwardly breezy, but underlined by pensive sincerity—quintessential Chastity Belt. It’s accompanied by a hazy video shot on drummer Gretchen Grimm’s camcorder, captured as they biked around Seattle at dusk. I-90 Bridge arrives ahead of the album Live Laugh Love, which is out March 29, 2024 via Suicide Squeeze Records. The band are also set to tour the UK later this year with shows in Brighton, Leeds, Glasgow, Manchester, Bristol & London”.

On the new video, guitarist and vocalist Lydia Lund said “‘I-90 Bridge’ is the fictionalised account of real times in Seattle. When I wrote the chords and melody, the song felt like a classic chastity belt song which deserved classic chastity belt lyrics addressing growing pains and self reflection in Seattle. Gretch took an old camcorder out on her bike one recent winter evening to document the summer night ride referred to in the song – capturing flashing headlights and reflective waves.”

Right now you ca nhear a second track from the album via Bandcamp (don’t think much of that album cover)

3: Sleepytime Gorilla Museum are back, reborn, reformed, they’ve just released their third single – Hush, Hush – from their 4th studio album and thier first in years and years, Museum Of The Last Human which in turn is due to be released in February 2024. Let it build now, the piece take all the time needed to reveal itselfand get somewhere near where you want the experimental properly progressive band to be… here’s the Linktree

4: Cold in Berlin have something new out around about now, kind of lost touch with the London band, we covered them quite a bit until they signed to their current label New Heavy Sounds and the lines of communication closed (we’re not cool enough for some labels). They’re sounding as dramaric as ever as colourfully dark as ever, as full bodied, dasncing slowly, like this is the last time,as epic as ever – “The Body is the Wound’ EP is the first new material from the band since the lauded 2019 album Rituals of Surrender. While Rituals ‘crushing doom laden riffs…” – don’t ask us how this stacks up against their recent releases mate, they used the deck of our aircraft carrier to kick off from long long ago, always did like them though, or at least we did back there. They’re still sounding big, the’re sounding lush, they’re sounding damn good, when did we see them last? Were they holding that photograph? The lyrical themes still very much dance around sex, murder, broken dreams, broken windows, pain getting louder every day, gardening over the bodies and painting most things black. Someone said soemthing about dancing on rooftopes and things brought together in loose storytelling that allows listeners to add their own experiences and bring personal meaning to the standing in line for the ticket, those flowers in her left hand, are you still reading this? Surely you’ve cut the chaise and the msuic by now? They’re sounding dramatically big, a big as ever, maybe more so, when do we last see her? I wrote this at 3am, Found Out is Brilliant, all four slices are rather good

Bandcamp

5: The Lunar Effect – That sounds like half a Budgie riff (that’s a compliment), London’s The Lunar effect know how to deal out a big riff or a darrk moody atmosphere or two, they’ve just released a new track via Bandcamp ahead of a promise that “The Lunar Effect lift up cosmic spirits with Sounds of Green & Blue album, out in April via Svart Records”. This first taste bodes well, they’ve always been good though, always been a little bit more to their slightly psychedelic proper old school heavy rock goodness…  

And while we’re here an old b-side from back in the day, it was a demo, recorded pretty much live, the sound quality here isn’t the best but it just came into my head, some of those ORG Rleases were rather good…