Where were we? Asked that the time before last time, enough of that and on with the music and the going off and things (and how good was it) and what we said last time or last week or last year, you’ve read all this already, never mind the damn editorial, cut to the chase and never mind the biscuits or the dogfish, just jump down past this bit, who needs an editorial? Jump past and let the actual music do the actual walking and the actual 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? I can’t remember why she said that now, in one ear, out the other….

Five? There’s something rather compelling about five. Cross-pollination? Five more? 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, five slices of music that have recently come our way, in no particular order, starting somewhere out there in New York City this time

1: Mahogany – Today, well not today obviously, last Friday but we were busy going off and things in the Pond, last Friday NYC-based band Mahogany said they were “excited to announce the release of their new 12” single “A Scaffold” b/w “Polyvalence” out this Friday (Bandcamp). The release is a glimpse into the sonic landscape of Mahogany’s upcoming EP, Cumulative Power, out this fall. Both tracks centre on the sylph-like vocals of singer-guitarist Jaclyn Slimm, with bass, drums, electronics, and rhythmic, layered 12-string work architected by founder Andrew Prinz. Both sides are sound rather good to these ears, although Polyvalence is the pick of the two so far…

2: Cardiacs Family, is that what we are calling the beautiful thing that has evovled out of those Sing To Tim celebrations that happened in Leeds and London last weekend? Seems everyone thought the whole experience was wonderful and well why not do it again? Here’s our take on things from the first London show last Friday – ORGAN THING: Singing Cardiacs songs for him, the Sing For Tim celebration at the Garage, London, of course it was wonderful, of course it was… New dates have just been announced. Here’s some handheld phone footage of Spratleys and a most beautiful version of Oh

3: HHY & The Macumbas – now this works on a dull Thursday morning after the night before. After fifteen years of working together, Portuguese ensemble HHY & The Macumbas are chasing their own void. The band’s fourth album ‘Bom Sangue Mau’ (good bad blood, in English), is set to be released on the 31^st May via Horror Vector. Here’s the track, we’ll leave it with you…

“To record the album, the band set up their gear in an empty theatre, using a full sound-system, lighting rig and smoke machines, to bottle the raw, unpredictable energy of their kinetic live performances. And with polymath Jonathan Uliel Saldanha at the mixing desk, and Brendan Hemsworth, Filipe Silva, Frankão, João Pais Filipe on percussion, André Rocha on horns and Francisco Antão providing additional electronics, the band set about puncturing a wormhole in the cosmos. Venturing into unique soundtracks and boundary-pushing dub experiments, they immersed the stage in a deep red glow, using crumpled rhythms, eerie synthesisers, wild-eyed horn sounds and serious bass pressure to build a place of dread and ascension.

Sculpting a sonic landscape that’s drenched in blood and draped with confetti, ‘Bom Sangue Mau’ is an album of tension; a game tightly controlled by a set of players who have developed their own meta-language, collaborating intuitively rather than following rigid formats. Prismatic, psychedelic, and unpredictable, it’s another bold step forward into the present in all its suffocating radiance”.

Here’s the album details via Bandcamp (as always)

“‘Bom Sangue Mau’, the forthcoming album from Portuguese ensemble HHY & The Macumbas, is the first release on the newly established Horror Vector label exploring percussion work developed in parallel with projects like HHY & The Macumbas and HHY & The Kampala Unit to choir pieces in resonant spaces, electric Dubs and soundtracks for neo-animist lithium themed dance pieces. A stream of consciousness emerging from the studio Skull Cave Studio in the city of Porto, and cross collaborating with musicians, dancers and artists from around the spectrum.”


4: Fcukers – for once, that is not one of our typos, the much hyped NYC outfit Fcukers have a new track that will hook you after two listens, don’t say you weren’t warned. “The band ushering in New York City’s latest wave of party music”  so we’re told.

The press release tells us flippers that “for a band who have released just a handful of tracks to date, Fcukers — the trio made up of Shanny Wise (vocals), Ben Scharf (drums) and Jackson Walker Lewis (bass, keys, production) — have already carved out a fierce and growing reputation as one of the most exciting acts operating out of NYC today.

Released alongside news of their signing to Ninja Tune imprint Technicolor is their brand new and highly anticipated single “Bon Bon”, plus details of  two new headline shows: first on May 9th at a secret location in Manhattan; and on May 21st at Pickle Factory (London), which will cap a run of shows across the UK including The Great Escape (Brighton), and stops in Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield; ahead of a performance at NYC’s Governors Ball in June.” 

Here’s the links you need, here’s the Bandcamp and here’s that excellent version of Devils Cut that originally hooked these ears

5: Quivers – Today, Merge Records have announced the signing of Quivers, the Melbourne, Australia–based “purveyors of jangle-damaged guitar pop”. Here’s an owl flavoured taste of the album, more details here on Bandcamp or here. The Merge debut, Oyster Cuts is beng released on 9th August 2024. “To celebrate the occasion, they’re sharing a shot-on-VHS clip for lead single Apparition.

And while we’re here, even we can’t be on top of every single band ever, here’s one we missed, until today that is. This is a track from the 2019 Microwaves album, their latest album appears to have come out in 2022. They’re from Pittsburgh, out on Three.One.G a label we covered lots at one point, until they lost interest in communicating, a shame but it does happen, more Microwaves soon we hope… Actually we did play quite a bit of early Microwaves material on the Organ Other Rock Show, didn’t know they were still doing things…

Meanwhile, sill playlist building….