Aussie Bands Grunge Psychedelic Grind and Some Serious Slap
Icon The Great is Back For More with Tripper Remix
Female Fronted Rock Queens, High Grass Smashing New Single, Tonight
Emerging partly as a lifeline for one of the band’s members as he climbed out of a dark place, Sotu’s debut album is a reflection of the joy of rediscovering music coupled with the intense journey of recovery and thriving in life after bouncing back from the brink of despair.
The dynamic album explores a range of themes with Eddie Vedder like lead vocals and anthemic guitar lines.
The Australian five piece was initially formed in the 90s, and reformed in 2016 with a new drummer, new name, and a new drive for making music. Drawing influence from SoundGarden and Foo Fighters, they describe their sound as groovy eclectic rock and cruise style with a Grungy Psychedelic grind, occasional slappy bass and lightly sprinkled silliness with the odd mellow floaty ballad.
Sotu produces a charged youthful sound that is tempered by the maturity of the musicians and songwriters.
Aussie Bands Grunge Psychedelic Grind and Some Serious Slap
Progressive Grunge band Underwing shows diversity in their latest release
Progressive Grunge Band Underwing Shows Diversity In Their Latest Release
The band released “Progressive” on the 5th of November which showcase exactly where their self-claimed genre “Progressive Grunge”.
Underwing released their second EP “Spirals” on the 1st of June this year, followed by an extensive tour from June-August to promote the new release. After playing the final show on their “Spirals Tour”, the band has been hitting the studio regularly to write and record new music.
2019 has been a great year for Underwing, they’ve been touring a lot, multiple tracks has surpassed respectively 200k and 100k streams on Spotify – and they’re finally getting some international buzz. Now they are back with yet another release to keep things interesting.
The song in question is a slightly different version of the title track from their latest EP “Spirals”. This version of the song “Spirals” is toned a bit down instrumentally, giving more room for the introspective nature of the lyrics.
It’s name, “Spirals (Underswing Sessions)” hails from an idea the band had back in 2018 about a band with the same members and same songs as Underwing, but packed into a more mellow mix of genres that the individual band members like, such as funk, ambient music, swing and eastern music. The alter-ego band is called Underswing, and the idea of the whole concept was inspired by The Beatles and their Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club band.
The band puts it like this: Underswing is Underwing’s happy go-lucky little brother who likes to dance.
The release features a music video recorded in a mine from old industrial times in their home town of Arendal, on the southern coast of Norway. The cave was also presumably used as a trench during the war.
Kristin Hersh Tours in support of ‘Possible Dust Clouds’ LP
Kristin Hersh Tours in support of ‘Possible Dust Clouds’ LP
Indie music heroineKristin Hersh has a series of livedates coming up, including six dates with thePixies, 3 UK dates, and an intimate‘An Evening with Kristin Hersh’ solo show in Tucson, Arizona. Just a few weeks ago, she wrapped up her West Coast / Midwest tour with her hard-hitting electric trio, which also includesFred Abong, Throwing Muses’ bassist during the ‘Real Ramona’ period, and Rob Ahlers, who is drummer in Hersh’s other band 50FOOTWAVE.
On September 27, Hersh released her remastered seminal album‘Crooked’. Best known for her influential art-punk band Throwing Muses and power trio50FOOTWAVE, this tour sees her performing in support of that release, as well as her latest highly acclaimed album‘Possible Dust Clouds’. Hersh also plays other material spanning her rich career.
Throwing Muses gained traction in the early ‘80s, playing with bands like the Pixies and Dinosaur Jr. They also just played four exclusive shows, including thePasadena Daydream Festival, curated by Robert Smith.
Kristin Hersh’s solo career spun off in 1994 with the widely acclaimed ‘Hips and Makers’, featuring‘Your Ghost’, a duet with R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe. Kristin has since released a steady stream of distinct solo albums with 2010’s‘Crooked’ the first release in the inventive book/CD format she is now known for.
In addition to a series of intense mini-albums with 50FOOTWAVE, Kristin’s writing has also flourished with the highly acclaimed‘Rat Girl’ (‘Paradoxical Undressing’ in the UK) and the award winning‘Don’t Suck, Don’t Die’on her long friendship with the late Vic Chesnutt.
Kristin Hersh’s astounding career has crowned her queen of the alternative release. Her tenth studio album ‘Possible Dust Clouds’ is a highly personalized sociopathic gem delivered as a futuristic rewriting of how music works – a melodious breeze with a tail wind of venomous din.
A turbulent cracker with riot grrl swagger, this album is Hersh’s first new material since 2016, when she released her critically-acclaimed double album-book combo‘Wyatt at the Coyote Palace’. In contrast to that LP, which saw Hersh record over several years, playing all the instruments on these songs over many years, this album involves numerous friends.
Enveloping the juxtaposition of the concept ‘dark sunshine’, she created this brooding solo, expanding her off-kilter sonic vision. Produced by Hersh herself, this album was mixed and mastered by Steve Rizzowith contributions byFred Abongon bass, Chris Brady (Pond) on vocals and bass, and drums by Throwing Muses’David Narcizo, Rob Ahlersand Kristin’s son, Wyatt True. The result is a squally and heady mix of discordant beauty.
About this album, Hersh says,
“I wanted a chaotic sound, one that mimicked the feel of live shows. Live recordings are usually just recordings that suck, so you have to parse the elements of a show: group high and loud noise plus movement, in order to bring that about. I invited a few friends whose playing is very muscular so that I could warp timing and tuning in the high and low overdubs around our performances. Weak playing would sound ineffective with this treatment but here it sounds noisy and fluid”.
Touring allows listeners an experience that the BBC calls Hersh’s “dark and dizzy world”. Fred Abongalso opens each show with an acoustic set in support of his latest ‘Pulsing’ EP, alternately described as “ragged Replacements” and “Elliott Smith with balls”.
TRACK LIST 1. LAX 2. No Shade In Shadow 3. Half Way Home 4. Fox Point 5. Lethe 6. Loud Mouth 7. Gin 8. Tulum 9. Breathe In 10. Lady Godiva
TOUR DATES
Nov 08 Leek, UK – Foxlowe Arts Centre Nov 10 London, UK – The Jazz Cafe Nov 12 Hebden Bridge, UK –The Trades Club Dec. 02 West Hollywood CA – Troubadour (sold out) Dec. 03 West Hollywood CA – Troubadour (sold out) Dec. 05 San Francisco CA – August Hall (sold out) Dec. 09 New York NY – Webster Hall (sold out) Dec. 11 Boston MA – Big Night Live (sold out) Dec. 12 Toronto ON Canada – Phoenix Concert Theatre
The release of ‘Back Burner’ will be followed with an East Coast and Ontario radio tour in Canada and shows in Australia in early 2020, including Tamworth Country Music Festival.
