The Tumbledryer Babies, aka Southend-On-Sea based DIY recording artist Andrew Moore, have quietly amassed over forty releases across Bandcamp and streaming services dating back to 2008, as well as limited 7” singles and a currently out-of-print long playing best of.
A boundless multi-instrumentalist, Moore’s recorded work blends minimalist left-field electronics, earworm guitar riffs and Omnichord led pop, creating mini-symphonies bursting with beautifully restrained wit and wonder (as a read of his 2020 lyric book Making It Up As I Go will testify.) His stripped back live performances, often appearing solo with just bass accompaniment, capture the Tumbledryer Babies’ unique art at its starkest.
New album Sad Act arrives February 2nd, and latest cut Sadness Out serves as a gently affecting introduction to Moore’s world. Warm guitars and understated keys surround softly resigned vocals, whilst the lyrics lament the struggle to transcend the lows that can so easily swallow us up in these maddest of times. A fitting soundtrack as we stumble blindly into another new year, I’m thankful to have the Tumbledryer Babies here to help us find a route through.
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The Tumbledryer Babies – Court House Sessions
heavymetalkids.uk is currently raising funds for Medecins Sans Frontieres / Doctors Without Borders. More info here. Thank you.
22) Marvin Gaye – Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)
On Sunday 28th January I will be completing the London Winter Walk to raise money for the incredible Medecins Sans Frontieres / Doctors Without Borders (MSF). If you wish to support this most worthy of causes you can visit my JustGiving page here.
MSF truly are the very best of us, doing incredible work in the most desperate of circumstances, and sadly their presence has never been more necessary with all the horrors and atrocities happening at present.
Their recent, well documented efforts and heartbreaking losses in Gaza have frequently brought tears to my eyes these last few months. The bravery and strength of those who have given everything to help others cannot be overstated.
“MSF is an international humanitarian organisation providing medical care in more than 70 countries. Since 1971, we have been treating people caught in complex crises and chronic healthcare emergencies around the world.
From our paediatric nurses to our off-road drivers, we are experts at working in fast-moving and highly-insecure environments. So, whether it’s launching a rapid response or delivering community care, we go wherever we are needed most.
In 2022, we admitted more than 1.2 million people to our hospitals and held more than 16.2 million consultations, including at mobile clinics and in refugee camps.”
If you wish to help me support this incredibly worthy cause you can visit my JustGiving page here. Any contribution big or small would be greatly appreciated.
Baltimore based Linda Smith and Maine resident Nancy Andrews brought their lo-fi dreampop soundworlds to Cafe OTO for Upset The Rhythm’s twentieth birthday celebrations, and it was a true elevation of the DIY-indie spirit and the unique power that it holds.
Leaning heavily on this year’s release A Passing Cloud, which featured the two long time friends reviving and refining material first worked on almost thirty years ago, their set shone a light not only on the true strength of the songs in all their stripped back wonder, but also the warmth of connection between two truly gifted artists.
The ethereal beauty of the likes of Room 435 and It’s Everytown gave way to starkly moving renditions of highlights from Smith’s vast back catalogue of home recordings, of which the eternal I So Liked Spring was a stunning highlight, likewise a soaring run through the 1992 Slumberland Records cut In This.
Leaving the stage to rapturous applause after holding the audience in the palm of their hands with the warmth of their words and the pure magic of their melodies, Linda Smith and Nancy Andrews brought to London an abundance of everything that is good about music, togetherness and the collective spirit.
Jack Cooper first came to my attention when Ultimate Painting played my local record shop South back in 2015. I traced back from that bands beautiful post-VU indie to his earlier work with Mazes, and then let him guide me into whole new worlds of sound with the fluid line-ups and sonic shifts of his current project Modern Nature.
Following an ever more expansive route that began with the motorik-folk of 2019’s How To Live and evolved into the improvised jazz leanings of last years Island Of Noise, Modern Nature’s latest album No Fixed Point In Space stretches further still into previously uncharted levels of experimentation. Cooper has surrounded himself with a dedicated, exemplary cast of musicians to present his most complete musical statement to date.
Rooted in the mysteries and marvels of the natural world, pinning down No Fixed Point In Space is like trying to make sense of a dream. Its lack of conventional rhythmic pulse can at first appear unsettling, but soon becomes comforting, exhilarating even. The shock of the new gives way to a fresh means of experiencing sound and melody, unhurried, not bound by time or preconceived structure, free to unravel from its purest point of creation.
Using the albums title as its guide, the gentle power of the seven arrangements place no emphasis on any particular element, making for a deeply captivating listening experience. Best experienced as a whole, the soundscapes ebb and flow, with the intricate bass patterns of Tapestry or Cascade’s vibrant orchestration given just as much room to shine as the beautiful vocal interplay of the likes of Orange and the Julie Tippetts fronted closer Ensô.
Jack Cooper is one of those artists you just have to trust. He follows his heart and his art wherever it leads him, and commits fully to his vision, never standing still in the process. My musical pallet has grown massively these last few years and a big part of that has come from exploring his influences. His music, in all of its forms, continues to ask questions of me, comfort me, and keep me moving forward. What more could I ask.
Let me start by saying right off the bat that I’m not sure there’s a band out there right now as cool as San Francisco indie four-piece Seablite. It’s incredibly exciting when the songs, sound, vision and style all come together as they have in the lead up to their new album Lemon Lights.
Since their debut EP release back in 2017, Seablite have been in a constant state of progression. Developing and refining their sound across one full length album and subsequent single/EP releases has brought them to this point, a moment in time where their collective vision appears fully realised. Lemon Lights bursts with confidence and a truly infectious swagger.
After capturing hearts and minds with three pre-album singles complete with vivid and varied videos, the full release is awash with epic chord changes and minor sonic miracles. Drop Of Kerosene floats in on a cloud of dreampop purity that dissolves into a fiercely disorienting chorus, Hold My Kite’s irresistible vocal interplay provides a soaring late album highlight, whilst Faded’s hypnotic bass-line is pure, unadulterated Seabadelica.
Across its twelve tracks, Lemon Lights pulls off that rarest of feats of taking a sound that mattered so much then and making it matter now. Elements of the very best of nineties UK indie are shot through with vital 2023 California cool, creating the kind of glorious wash of sound that could lead our collective weary shuffles to the nearest sticky floored, dimly lit dance floor in a heartbeat.
Seablite operate as one propulsive whole formed by four creative minds working in total unity, and it’s that unique alchemy that serves as the bands biggest strength. Lemon Lights is a giddy, far-reaching triumph from a group steeped in togetherness and working in perfect harmony.
Available now via Mt.St.Mtn
seablite – Melancholy Molly
seablite – Pot Of Boiling Water
seablite – Hit The Wall
You can also check out a fully remastered edition of Seablite’s 2019 debut album Grass Stains And Novocaine via Dandy Boy Records here.
We are covering some serious distance at the blog this week, with a variety of sounds from a variety of places. First up, a true heavymetalkids.uk favourite from an undisclosed location somewhere in the UK…
Ironic Hill – Bad Stuff (self-released)
Following hot on the heels of the cathartic sigh of his self-titled debut album, the mysterious UK based DIY artist Ironic Hill returns with new single Bad Stuff. On this enchanting curio the Mode is set to Depeche, with a familiar lyrical refrain riding atop his trademark blend of violently beautiful feedback and earworm melodies. The B’side remix strips it all back to the noise, revealing the deeply experimental heart beating at the centre of this intriguing and inspiring project.
Charlène Darling – La Porte (Disciples)
Paris born, Brussels based multi-instrumentalist Charlotte Kouklia (aka Charlène Darling) returns with her second studio album La Porte for cult UK label Disciples, following on from 2019’s Iggy Pop-lauded debut Saint-Guidon. Experimental but eminently listenable, La Porte explores themes of misplaced desire and obsession via the medium of beautifully constructed leftfield soundworlds. Dancing artfully between post-punk and seductive avant-pop, the minimalist, playful arrangements cast just the right amount of light and shade on Kouklia’s ruminations on the trials of love and connection, making this album the perfect companion for the longest of Summer days and the coldest Winter nights.
Vanishing Muffins – Taste Of Cherry(Heavenpunks)
Jakarta, Indonesia based noise-pop trio Vanishing Muffins arrive on ferocious form with debut single Taste Of Cherry for Heavenpunks. The band blend a lyrical lightness of touch with a Black Tambourine-esque feedback driven guitar attack, whilst the detached cool of the vocals channels The Jesus And Mary Chain in full bloom. B’side To Be With Someone Who Shouldn’t Be With Me slows the pace and places the emphasis on the melodies, culminating in a chorus that rises above the sonic assault to truly take flight. The band have a new EP due very soon which I have been fortunate enough to hear in explosive demo form, leaving absolutely no doubt in my mind that this is a group on the cusp of something very special.
Sorry Snowman – House On Fire (Club Records)
The recently formed Ottawa based label Club Records, run by fanclubwallet’s Hannah Judge, brings forth the knife-edge tension of Sorry Snowman’s new single House On Fire, the first to be taken from their forthcoming EP And I Hated It Too. This release marks the indie-rock quartets first time in a recording studio and it’s a transition the band have seemingly made with ease, as whilst upping the fidelity, this new cut retains all of the passion and power of this years DIY mini-album Say When. Loaded with huge hooks and heavy emotional pull, House On Fire channels difficult thoughts and feelings into a safe space within which the listener can find solace and take refuge.
Thanks for reading. If you found anything you enjoyed, be sure to LISTEN/BUY/SHARE and help support these wonderful artists and labels. Much love.
After spending the last few years tirelessly championing the DIY scene with radio shows, music blogs and the Courtesy Desk indie store amongst various other pursuits, the incomparable Tracy Wilson (Positive No/Dahlia Seed) marks her return as a recording artist with new project Outer World, a retro-futuristic trip into the kosmische created in collaboration with her partner in both life and music, Kenneth Close.
The need to find a new way to communicate following the debilitating effects of Long Covid on Wilson’s trademark soaring vocals sent the pair on a synths and samples aided voyage into the unknown across the Summer of 2022, a voyage that seemingly led to the stars. With mini-album Who Does The Music Love? due March 2024 via HHBTM Records, lead single Forms Of Knowing is their first transmission and it’s a joy to behold.
Across two and a half vital minutes psychedelic freakbeat rhythms and post-punk guitars do battle with potent French proverbs, and the only winner is our collective ears. Wilson’s voice is the force that binds all of these differing elements, controlled and captivating with a new kind of power. A perfect introduction to the wild variety of styles and textures that await on its accompanying album, Forms Of Knowing is the awe-inspiring sound of hope and heart triumphing over adversity.
Pre-order Who Does The Music Love? via HHBTM Records here.
TOUR DATES:
November
17th – Charlottesville, VA @ Visible Records w/ Light Beams, New Boss, Taffy
18th – Silver Spring, MD @ Quarry House Tavern w/ Golden Apples
We are being truly spoiled at the moment, with wonderful new sounds appearing relentlessly from all angles. Here’s a few of my favourites…
Tara Clerkin Trio – On The Turning Ground (World Of Echo, out now)
Crafting the kind of beautifully skewed avant-pop soundscapes that could only come from the vibrantly creative city of Bristol, Tara Clerkin Trio follow up 2021’s In Spring with a new EP for World Of Echo. Across five compelling tracks the band create whole worlds for the listener to lose themselves in, with three vocal cuts loaded with intricate melodic flourishes bookended by two dub-infused instrumentals that dazzle with their shifting tones and textures. Measured and moving, On The Turning Ground is the perfect introduction to the Tara Clerkin Trio’s gently intoxicating and ever evolving blend of fractured folk and shimmering electronics.
The Smashing Times – This Sporting Life (K Records/Perennial, out now)
Baltimore based but with Children Maybe Later related links to the Bay Area underground, The Smashing Times are back with their third long player This Sporting Life, following on promptly from last years Bloom. A winning combination of classic pop melodicism and contemporary lo-fi weird, this album sounds like the favourite, dustiest corner of your record collection cut up and reassembled into a kaleidoscopic, psychedelic collage of freakbeat nowness. A perfect blend of the sublime and the surreal, This Sporting Life is a giddy, life-affirming trip.
The Laughing Chimes – A Promise To Keep (Slumberland Records, out now)
A few months on from the glistening pure pop best of7” that collected highlights from their 2021 debut album In This Town and subsequent Zoo Avenue EP, Southeast Ohio trio The Laughing Chimes return with a marked change of style and mood on new single A Promise To Keep. Riding in with a reverb-laden pulse that could haunt a thousand indie dancefloors, the distant howls of lonely feedback and subtle melodic shifts add new found space and depth to their songcraft. Channeling the Bunnymen-esque sound of the UK indie underground, this single is yet another irresistible step forward from one of the most exciting new bands out there doing it right now.
Dot Dash – 16 Again (Country Mile Records, out now)
Taking its title from the Buzzcocks song of the same name, 16 Again collates fifteen of Washington DC power-pop trio Dot Dash’s finest moments on this new compilation for Country Mile Records, with a stray Television Personalities cover (Jackanory Stories) making up the difference. A self-proclaimed ‘Greatest Hits by a band with no hits’, this release marks the bands first appearance on vinyl following seven albums for Canadian based label The Beautiful Music stretching back to 2011. Armed with relentless energy and a whole-hearted devotion to the thrill of the indie-rock chase, 16 Again is sure to introduce this fine band to a wider, enraptured audience.
Thanks for reading. If you found anything you enjoyed, be sure to LISTEN/BUY/SHARE and help support these wonderful artists and labels. Much love.
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