Shall we write a new editorial? Oh the endless demand and who needs a damn editorial? We were busy with Frieze Week fallout, that and the catch up and, no time for editorials, 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 lemons 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, we have a bad attitude here apparently, no respect for those who work in the music industry, well no poop Sherlock, have you only just worked that one out? We’ve been showing (and getting) zero respect since the last century, zero flips given…

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 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, skip this bit, 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 what’s Wordsworth? Just the basic facts and links and those sounds (and visuals), that’s surely all you need from us?

Here we go, five more slices of music that have recently come our way, this time we start somewhere in South London

1: Lobby – now this is a rather gorgeous new single from rather delicate South London slowcore supergroup Lobby (consisting of members of Goat Girl and leather.head), The fine piece of music is from their debut EP nightdriving (out November 1st). 

Do like the way that lead song doesn’t want to give up at the end there, it is a rather beautiful song, an adventurous end and it a fine lead into the rest of the very rewarding five track up that’s alive with delicious interplay. When I said delicate, I meant that as a strength, there’s a confidence here, a warmth, all fine of these songs, these pieces, all five of them are rather beautiful. Five gentle, crafted, warm inviting and really rather beautiful pieces of music, something rather special, something rather refreshing, nice little musical twists and side step and it sound just be that today is a rather sunny Autumn morning but that is what they sound like right now

“True to their DIY aesthetic, Lobby’s self-released debut EP will feature artwork and visualisers by the band’s own Toby Evans-Jesra (Goat Girl, Lou Terry, Horse Jumper of Love) and will be released on the 1st of November, followed by a limited cassette run courtesy of Fatigue Records. They’ll also be performing a series of live shows in support of the release, including a support tour with fellow emo-leaning outfit Horse Jumper of Love. Full dates and details of their EP launch show below”.  I guess they’ll put the tracks on Bandcamp soon, they don’t seem big on links or online anything much right now. Here’s their Instagram.

Live:
23/10 – The Windmill, London(w/ Horse Jumper of Love) – SOLD OUT26/10 – Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff (w/ Horse Jumper of Love)28/10 – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds (w/ Horse Jumper of Love)
2/11 – Lewisham Arthouse, London (EP Release Show)

2: The Unthanks – announce new album In Winter and share lead single
Dear Companions. In Winter arrives November 29th via RabbleRouser

Released today, Dear Companions is the new single from The Unthanks, taken from forthcoming double album In Winter, which is set for release on November 29th via RabbleRouser. A parting song that instantly feels like it has always been with us, written by Becky Unthank to the old American folk tune of Nettleton, Dear Companions crescendos towards its end with the voices of 60 devotees, recorded on one of the band’s infamous singing residentials.

“Saying goodbye can often be hard,” says Becky Unthank, who wrote the song at home in Northumberland with her partner, the BAFTA award winning animator Ainslie Henderson. “In its bittersweetness we struggle sometimes to find a satisfying way to part, which is why I’ve always loved the function of a parting song.”

‘Dear Companions’ is the closing track on the mammoth forthcoming double album, In Winter – a dream-like winter fantasia, embracing both the dark and the light in the most ritualistic of seasons. Moving in and out of focus, like a memory, it promises to be a bittersweet hymnal to the winter experience, and a future classic of the Christmas genre.

“This parting song is inspired by our singing weekends, which we dearly love and cherish” continues Becky. “We are overjoyed that we’ve managed to capture some singing weekenders at the end of this track. In the lyrics, there’s also a reference to our Unthank family camping get-togethers in the garden. Yes, my sister really does make lanterns and yes, my brother really does play the violin!”

3: Michael, nothing to see here but hey, watch it anyway, it might just do you some good. Mike has a new album out, this is off it, we haven’t encountered tem since that time in the pub lover the road – Michael at Helgi’s, Hackney, East London – Michael play with you, they want to take you the distance, they spar with you, they jab, they call you on, they’re not there to administer the knockout blow and end things early, they want to take you all the way, go all twelve rounds…

4: Young Hunter – Skulls of Our Leaders, great film, a little more than just a video. Soemthing from the Portland, Oregon band’s forthcoming five track whatever it is, mini album? Full album? Whatever it is here it is on Bandcamp

5: Milkweed have just announced a show at London’s Cafe Oto – “What do we know of Milkweed? On the face of it their musical concerns are transatlantic – they follow the rich creative line that runs between British traditional music and the songs and tunes of the eastern United States. In reality their scope is global, and rooted in deep time, with influences from prehistory bleeding into a troubled and troubling anthropocene. As a result their music doesn’t sit easily anywhere, but ricochets between bewitching Appalachian folk music and disconcerting hauntological experimentation…. read more on the Oto website, the date announced is 25th January, I’m really not ready to be thinking about gigs happening next year yet. That is a perfect name for what they’re doing, d othey get lots of Monarch butterflies coming to their shows? Says on their Bandcamp page they have a London show on November 22nd as well, at the Horse Hospital…

Meanwhile, it will, by the time 7pm this evening comes around, have been open for two weeks, have you had a look yet? – Cultivate presents Mixtape No.8 – an online art exhibition…