Shall we write a new editorial? Oh the endless demand and who needs a damn editorial? 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, let me circle around one more time and give you the heads up on that one..

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 the North East of England…

1: Parastatic – A rather fine piece of music (and a rather good looking video or whatever we’re ment to call them these days, a video made by by Gareth Wood), a first taste of the new album Concrete Reborn out 21st February.

“An evolution of sound where post-rock and shoegaze congregate, Parastatic are back with their third album, and their first new music in ten years, since the release of their hightly acclaimed album, Recall Fade Return in 2015. 

Parastatic are three friends from the North East of England with a love for Krautrock, shoegaze and post-rock music. They first got together in 2010 and have sporadically released music that fuses motorik grooves with thumping synths and magical guitar sounds. Concrete Reborn features the addition of a spoken word performance from Valencia-born, Newcastle-based artist, Late Girl”.

Bandcamp has the single and the album details

2: Penelope Trappes and a rather dark rather rich rather warm taste of next year’s album A Requiem. An album that comes out April 4th next year, and seeing as she has just said on her Bluesky feed that she has signed with our one time friends One Little Independent. More over on Bandcamp where there is a second track from the album waiting to be heard along with more datails on said album. As for Bluesky, well Penelope’s link is up above, here’s the Organ Bluesky feed, it is basically Twiter without all the crap. previous Penelope on these pages

3: Waldo’s Gift are from Bristol, this video features a live version of their new single Malcolm’s Law. Recorded live at Trenchard Street Car Park, in the band’s home town. While Waldo’s Gift have been associated with the UK jazz explosion, mainly because of what we’re told is their focus on improvisation. They have an album on the way early next year that promises “unmistakable shades of post-rock, prog-metal, and the more intense ends of Squarepusher or Aphex Twin”. In their words, “We essentially Trojan-horse metal into jazz venues”. The single has just come out via via fellow Bristolian Ishmael Ensemble’s label Severn Songs although it looks like a “single” these days just means something to stream on Spotify or wherever so hit that link and find the single via our December playlist on there. The album details are on Bandcamp or find out more about gigs and such here. Actually, now we look there’s a bit of a back catalogue, seems we’re late to the party. More from us in the new year when we’ve heard more than just the two tracks on the new album, I expect.

4: Bonnie Trash – “Today Guelph, Ontario hell-raisers Bonnie Trash announce details of their new album, Mourning You, which is set for release on February 28th on Hand Drawn Dracula. Along with the announcement they have shared the first single and video from the album, entitled Veil of Greed. Lots more in a bit, well lots more at the start of next year, we’re still dealing with this year, Bonnie Trash have featured a few times this year on these pages, expect lots more next year… Album details on Bandcamp

5: NiCKY – an artist from London’s queer performance scene, shares new single, a beautifully melancholic cover of already rather melancholic Pink Pony Club by Chappell Roan. “An introspective rendition that reflects on finding queer joy in adversity, in London and beyond, featuring vintage electric organ, falsetto vocals & piano. Now we’re not going to claim to be hot to go with Chappell just to look cool with whoever we need to impress, we’ll leave all that kind of thing to The Quietus and the rest of them (we will point out those Charlie’s Angels records though, pink glitter covered pop songs? been there, done that). Can’t deny Pink Pony Girl is a fine throwaway fifteen minutes of fame kind of pop song and this is a rather beautiful version from Nicky,

“Pink Pony Club’ is about transformation and the spaces that allow us to be ourselves. Without fail, someone will request the song every week at my queer community event, SiNG with NiCKY, at the Retro Bar in London’s West End. I love how the opening piano chords make you think you’re listening to Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I Will Survive’, how its narrative unfolds and how undeniably catchy the chorus is. There’s a melancholy to my version and its video. Whilst queer joy can be experienced at the club, it’s subjected to noise complaints from the neighbours, and queer people have to get home without being attacked or harassed, occurrences that are on the increase in London. I incorporated melodies from an old electric organ alongside layered vocals and piano. The song retains my distinct style but moves away from the typical sole piano and vocal arrangements that have characterised my work. NiCKY 2.0 era beckons”

NiCKY

We have covered NiCKY before – ORGAN: Five music things – NYC’s Bodega return with a new single, NiCKY has more, Slift, Mega Cat are from Seattle, the beauty of Alvidrez and…

More Bonnie…