Melbourne band Bad Vision are about a month out from releasing their second album, Turn Out Your Sockets. Their most contemplative yet, the garage-y five piece continue to forge their own way with their revitalising brand of DIY rock, and their latest single is a testament to that.
Titled Fairweather, Bad Vision have today shared their brand new film clip with us. According to lyricist Jerome Rush, by “fairweather” they mean “the notion that some people, friends and/or partners, hang around for the good times, however when the challenging times come, they seem to disappear quick.”
Although that might sound like a rather dismal kind of theme to have a track about, and you’d be forgiven for expecting a song of similar sentiment, the band have actually created an upbeat, boppy tune that will almost relishes in the frustrations of such a relationship. The hook starting with the line, “You only like it when suits you” is a raucous one that packs a punch or ten. So, it only makes sense that the accompanying clip is seemingly upbeat and exhilarating as well.
Focussing on a love story, “It’s about a sun called Sunny who was desperately in love with a patch of ground by the name of Steve.” Temperamental, as patches of dirt are, “Steve seemed to change moods every 3 months; it was as if he had a quartered personality. In mixed minds, Sunny couldn’t decide weather (sic) he should stick around anymore. He also couldn’t help but be intrigued by Nadine the moon, who he only saw in a passing glance, during a lunar eclipse.”
Check the clip out for yourself below, and keep your eyes peeled for Turn Out Your Sockets, out May 6th via Adagio 830 Records. The band will also be playing at The Old Bar on June 3 with Camp Cope, Cable Ties and The Tropes.
It’s video roundup time! Once again, Howl And Echoes are coming in hot with the freshest, most eyeball stimulating music videos to be dropped by the artists you love and some of the artists you don’t know you love yet, of this week. We do all the dirty work and herd them all into one convenient web-based location for you to enjoy every Friday so that you don’t have to. Have yourself a good old gander at the latest offerings from:
Spring King – Rectifier
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yONyEewXraU
We’re starting out the gate with a bang this week, not being ones to be here to fuck spiders of course. It’s Rectifier, the new single from UK noisemakers Spring King. Punchy, heavy and, like all good garage rock, the amps turned up to 11 on everything., Rectifier is a track bristling with raw power and energy and will have you hooked as soon as you hear it.
The music video follows drummer and vocalist (boy do we have a whole lot of respect for those guys) Tarek Musa as he fleshes out the song in his basement before taking it to the jam room and eventually the stage playing to a huge sweaty crowd.
We’re hoping for a whole lot more outstanding stuff like this from Spring King in 2016.
Gideon Bensen – Talk Talk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqFbYI-M1dA
Also making some noise this week is Gideon Bensen, well-known for his duties on guitar and backing vocals for The Preatures but currently enjoying a stellar run as a solo artist. We loved his first track and its accompanying video last year and we had the chance for a great old chat with him earlier this year. This week he’s released his second single and music video for Talk Talk.
It’s a short and sharp smashing together of rock and roll with some deliciously new wave synth flavour, Bensen’s smoky baritone snaking its way around the track, showing a pretty remarkable vocal range as well. The video is lo-fi cool and features Bensen’s head replicated and warped in front of a travelling background, the bursts of red and blue complementing the bursts of different noise sparking off throughout the song.
The Kills – Doing It To Death
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=498zUzNGQxY
Hard rocking duo The Kills have put out a brand new single and music video this week in anticipation of their next album Ash And Ice that’s scheduled for release in June of this year. Doing It To Death is the title, the riffs gigantic, the rhythm deliberate and a definite touch of ice behind the vocals of frontwoman Alison Mosshart.
The music video wins the title of Best Funeral Procession ever. There’s rap squats atop hearse hoods, a parade of black clad pallbearers dabbing their way through a Los Angeles cemetery, Mosshart giving a eulogy with a durry in hand. It’s a song and video combination that kicks so much ass, do yourself a favour and watch it.
Ash And Ice is out June 3rd via Domino.
Bad Vision – Goons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DEBvHq9lgc
This next one comes from Melbourne rockers Bad Vision, who have this week released the first single from their upcoming album Turn Out Your Sockets. Titled Goons, it’s fantastically dance-y and jangly rock and roll with shouted choruses about looking for good times and verses about Miley Cyrus eating at shopping malls. Glorious.
The video is a nifty one-taker, so picture that scene in Goodfellas where Henry Hill takes Karen on a whirlwind tour through the back door of his nightclub, only replace gangsters with the titular ‘goons’ and the nightclub with a suburban share house and you’ve just about got it.
Turn Out Your Sockets is out May 2016 via Adagio 830 Records.
Boys Noize – Overthrow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQD_WpsYtiU&feature=youtu.be
The latest single from German producer Boys Noize is Overthrow. Dark and twisting and starkly industrial, pulsating rhythms building up before a confronting and harsh drop full of squealing synths mid-song.
The music video, directed by Lil Internet and Boys Noize himself, takes the industrial tones of the track and visualises them. Shot mainly in black and white, it focuses on street life in Los Angeles after dark and the intersecting of a pair of rival gangs. Apparently no actors were used in the video, upping the authenticity of the video entirely.
There’ll be more to come from Boys Noize this year.
Le Pie – Up All Night
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3rRe2D23us
Sydney singer-songwriter Le Pie goes full badass on her latest single and video for Up All Night. Combining punk rock with pop hooks while losing none of the edge of the former, the track is as catchy as the flu, full of clever lyrics too.
The video does it justice and then some, shot in beautiful black and white and opening with Le Pie tagging a brick wall before her and her gang of greaser girls legs it from ‘the fuzz’. From there they wander the streets looking like a more menacing version of the T-Birds, boozing it up, swinging baseball bats and golf clubs and raising general hell.
You can catch Le Pie and the Sha La Las on the Up All Night tour this weekend, where they’ll be rolling in to rough up the Lass O’Gowrie in Newcastle on Saturday night. Look out!
NxWorries – Link Up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsXaSRBO5kM&feature=youtu.be
If NxWorries is a name that’s still unfamiliar to you then it won’t be for long. It’s a super-duo made up of producer Knxwledge and vocalist Anderson .Paak. Link Up is their newest single, the second from their debut EP Link Up And Suede that capped off a massive 2015 for both men.
The song is funky as all hell, smooth vocals from Anderson .Paak layered masterfully over some lights out production from Knxwledge. The music video is fantastic, featuring a very disgruntled Eric Andre confronting Knxwledge the convenience store attendant and wondering aloud how he’s supposed to get fucked up on only three pinots (before being knocked the FUCK out).
The rest of the clip features an impossibly cool dance party hosted by .Paak and Knxwledge in the chilled section by aisle three, the duo turning all kinds of up. None other than Earl Sweatshirt shows up at one point (apparently he does sometimes like going outside) to buy a 40.
We need an album out of these two real soon.
DMA’s – Step Up The Morphine (Live Acoustic)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe9Tn9n50sg
The sky is presently the limit for DMA’s. They’re a week post the release of their debut album Hills End, which landed to rave reviews across the board. The band are going on tour both in Australia and internationally, with a guest spot on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert that promises to see their star rise even higher.
This week they’ve released a brand new video for one of the standout tracks on Hills End, the stunning Step Up The Morphine. They’ve reworked it into a stripped back acoustic version recorded live on a sunny afternoon in Kings Cross that will take your breath away. The steel guitar from Matt Mason adding some very welcome extra smoke to the song.
Catch DMA’s on their Hills End tour across Australia in May and June.
These are the best songs of the week, with new tracks from all over the globe. From Denmark with Kenton Slash Demon, to Brighton with Sea Bed, Philadelphia with Louis Futon, Melbourne with Bad Vision or Sydney’s Ribongia and everywhere else in between – if it’s a good track, you can rest assured it’s in this playlist. Trust us!
Fountaineer, Still Life
This song sounds like the song that would play during the opening credits of an 80’s teen drama, and I mean that in the best way. It’s racing guitars and thumping beat, as well as it’s almost crooner harmonies remind me of a mix between prom band and Arcade Fire and The War On Drugs – a combo I really enjoy. It’s rocking but danceable, and signifies a really big step up for Fountaineers. Bring on the next single!
Louis Futon, Wasted On You (Ft. ROZES)
Lous Futon is no stranger to remixes, having released reworks for Gallant, Future, G-Eazy, Mos Def, Wiz Khalifa and more in the past, but now he’s trying his hand at his own material. Titled Wasted On You, he has teamed up with vocalist ROZES for this one – an ODESZA inspired electro jam with glitchy flourishes, driving drums and a huge breakdown. It’s been released by ODESZA’s Foreign Family Collective, which is an impressive accomplishment on it’s own, and it certainly helps when the song is as good as it is. Louis Futon better get used to this original stuff, we definitely need to hear more!
Bad Vision, Goons
Taken from their forthcoming sophomore release, Turn Out Your Sockets, Goons is the first taste of a band that has grown up. Still keeping that same “youthful exuberance” that worked as their initial appeal back in 2013, they’ve taken the past couple of years to really hone their sound and figure out where they should go from here. By all accounts, they’ve stuck to their guns and chosen the right path, as Goons rules with it’s punky, DIY garage sounds and raucous attitude. Turn Out Your Sockets will be out in early May, and it’s certainly a release we will be looking forward to hearing!
Slowly Slowly, New York, Paris
Slowly Slowly are a new duo, formed only last year, but don’t let that fool you into thinking they’re amateurs. No, they’re capable of some pretty great tunes, and New York, Paris is a perfect example of that. Featuring an absolutely gorgeous voice and a stark but meticulous guitar, you can feel the frustrated restlessness they’re going through about being stuck in one place and needing to get out so badly. Then the track takes a turn and blooms into a fully functioning slow rock jam with a piercing drum beat and guitar. Really, really nice.
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Write Back
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever have been kicking around for a while now, but this single marks their first since signing to tastemaker label, Ivy League, and definitely one of their best. They only just released their debut EP in October last year, but already have garnered a huge following thanks to their rolling rock songs and upbeat, driving tunes. Write Back is infectious and fun, whilst showing off the band’s ever-improving musicality – not that they really needed it! We’re expecting even bigger things to come from these guys.
Ribongia, My Word Ft. Hancoq
Ribongia is quickly becoming one of my favourite producers, ever since he released Save The Children back in 2014. Since then, he’s taken some time to work on some new tracks and now it seems we are finally able to hear them. First came Journeys towards the end of last year, and now we have My Word. Teaming up with ESESE member Hancoq, the pair have created this jungle vibe hip-hop jam, with warm, tropical vibes and some really great lyrics from Hancoq. It’s so much fun, and will be an absolute banger live. It’s also got us really, really keen to hear what else he’s been working on. Let’s just hope we can hear more soon!
Sea Bed, Conquerer
This track wins best of all this week, hands down. The UK garage house beat; the blooming, soulful vocals; the blushing, bubbling synths; Sea Bed have absolutely nailed this one. A duo hailing from the UK, they said of that track that its “a song about overcoming fear. It’s about accepting the flaws in each other and realising that real strength is vulnerability, real strength is taking your barriers down to let people in.” It’s also just really fucking beautiful.
Gypsy & The Cat, Inside Your Mind
I’m really excited that Gypsy & The Cat are making more music. Their 2010 album, Gilgamesh, is one of my favourite Australian releases ever, and their new material is shaping up to be quite excellent as well. Inside Your Mind has only been out in the world for a few days and has already seen widespread critical acclaim and fan loving. Trademark Gypsy & The Cat sounds like the soaring vocals, driving guitar and dreamy synths are all at work here, showing that even though they’ve grown up a bit, they’re still sticking to their guns. Inside our minds will be this song for days on end.
The Invisible, Save You
Released via tastemakers Ninja Tune, The Invisible have released one of the funkiest tracks I’ve heard in a long time with Save You. It’s smooth, groovy, pretty sexy and really catchy. It’s dark and mysterious, you don’t quite know where it’s going but you enjoy it all the same. Taken from a forthcoming album out this year, here’s hoping we hear a lot more of this in the very near future!
Kenton Slash Demon, Dok
I was pretty late to the party with these guys, but I’m still glad I came. Danish duo Kenton Slash Demon make really intricate electronica in the form of sprawling, shuffling soundscapes and each song is its own experience. Their latest single, dropped only a few hours ago is titled Dok, and comes alongside the news of a 12″ being released in March via Australia’s own Future Classic. It’s just under 6 minutes of jumpy but smooth dance music that will have you grooving in no time, and is yet another example of the fine music these two are capable of making.