Les Ailes – How To Greet A Praying Mantis

Loaded with the kind of liquid chord changes that make all distractions turn to dust, Portland based artist Les Ailes (Rylie DeGarmo) creates subtle jazz-infused folk soundscapes in which less is always more, and where every melodic twist and turn hits with devastating clarity.

Seattle born DeGarmo began her recording career working with her musician father to create 2015 EP The Rue. Traversing the southern United States throughout her twenties, she would eventually settle in Oregon and record the 2021 full length Les Ailes debut Tennessee along with a number of follow up EPs, before heading to a small studio in Northern Ireland to record this latest collection, How To Greet A Praying Mantis.

Bathed in a warmly nostalgic glow, the irresistible melodic shifts of Comedown are an obvious highlight on initial listens, but repeated plays reap even deeper rewards across the EPs five tracks. A gently cathartic sigh from start to finish, the sheer beauty and rare power of Mantis’ stark arrangements and spellbinding vocals pull us slowly but inevitably into Les Ailes’ orbit.

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heavymetalkids.uk is currently raising funds for Medecins Sans Frontieres / Doctors Without Borders. More info here. Thank you.

Dancer – Passionate Sunday

Glasgow four-piece Dancer spent last year gradually building momentum via their rapturously recieved live shows and two introductory EPs for local label GoldMold Records. For their debut album 10 Songs I Hate About You, the band have linked up with esteemed Madrid based label Meritorio Records, and by leaning fully into their pop sensibilities, lead single Passionate Sunday provides both a perfect introduction for the uninitiated and yet further proof of their prowess and progression for those already in the know.

For me, Dancer’s unique power lies in their ability to both evoke and then dismantle the post-punk fundamentals right before our very ears. Andrew Doig’s taut basslines dissolving into pure melody in a heartbeat, Chris Taylor’s guitars as prone to giddy electronic wizardry as they are jangling and jarring whilst Gavin Murdoch’s precision rhythms are at once powerful yet invitingly playful. Binding all of these elements together are the peerless vocals and lyrics of Gemma Fleet, her impassioned, captivating delivery determined to find every inch of empowerment and beauty amid an increasingly brutal world.

10 Songs I Hate About You arrives March 15th, you can pre-order via the link below.

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heavymetalkids.uk is currently raising funds for Medecins Sans Frontieres / Doctors Without Borders. More info here. Thank you.

Orchard – ‘Til You Fall Down

North Yorkshire based garage-indie duo Orchard, comprising Rosie and Joel formerly of London bands including Baaneex, Magic Mist, Giant Burger, Night Pain and Melge, arrive on Cruel Nature Records with debut album ‘Til You Fall Down.

Recorded without amplifiers utilising as few takes as possible, this collection has drawn comparisons with the hallowed C86 scene, and whilst it only takes one breathless blast through its ten tracks to understand that shared energy, there is clearly a lot more going on besides. Be it the righteous power-pop of album highlight Freedom or the 90s US alternative rock channeling Burning People To Keep Castles Warm, there is a unifying heart and spirit that makes this music unmistakably Orchard’s own.

The contrast between Rosie’s primal punk snarl and Joel’s soaring grit and melody provides a unique vocal dynamic, at once comforting, confronting and utterly compelling. The album’s three instrumentals offer no let up on the intensity, carrying with them an emotional weight matched by few and guitar hooks for days. Fizzing with righteous fury and loaded with some truly great songs, ‘Til You Fall Down is a lo-fi triumph of art and expression at its most visceral. Essential.

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heavymetalkids.uk is currently raising funds for Medecins Sans Frontieres / Doctors Without Borders. More info here. Thank you.

The Tumbledryer Babies – Sadness Out

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.

Ship Full Of Bombs ep.8

My latest radio show is now available for streaming/download via Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Mixcloud, Google Podcasts, Deezer and other leading podcast apps.

Alternatively, you can visit http://www.sfob.co.uk and scroll down to the widget at the bottom of the page.

Playlist: Monday 1st January

1) Tara Clerkin Trio – Marble Walls

https://taraclerkintrio.bandcamp.com/album/on-the-turning-ground

2) Rat Columns – Bees Make Honey

https://ratcolumnsband.bandcamp.com/album/babydoll

3) Empty Country – Dustine 

https://emptycountry.bandcamp.com/album/empty-country-ii-2

4) Red Pants – Broken Movies

https://paisleyshirtrecords.bandcamp.com/album/when-we-were-dancing

5) Arthur Russell – Habit Of You

https://arthurrussell.bandcamp.com/album/love-is-overtaking-me

6) Cindy – A Trumpet On The Hillside (demo)

https://slothmate.bandcamp.com/album/cindy-standard-candle

7) Violent Change – Whipping Boy

https://slothmate.bandcamp.com/album/starcastle

8) Love – The Red Telephone

9) Massive Attack – Paradise Circus

https://fontainesdc-massiveattack-youngfathers.bandcamp.com/album/ceasefire

10) Alice Coltrane – Blue Nile

11) Portishead – The Rip

12) The Verve – Bittersweet Symphony (James Lavelle remix)

13) DJ Shadow – Six Days

14) Sea Fever – Le Coup

https://seafeverband.com

15) Alex G – So

https://sandy.bandcamp.com/album/trick

16) Seablite – Drop Of Kerosene

https://mtstmtn.bandcamp.com/album/lemon-lights

17) Blades Of Joy – Let The People Ride

https://bladesofjoy.bandcamp.com/album/s-t

18) Peel Dream Magazine – Art Today

https://slumberlandrecs.bandcamp.com/album/modern-meta-physic

19) The Tumbledryer Babies – Sadness Out

https://thetumbledryerbabies.com/track/sadness-out

20) Ghost Music – Strange Love

Ghost Music – I Was Hoping You'd Pass By Here

21) Plantman – Lunaria 

https://plantman1.bandcamp.com/album/whispering-trees

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.

Thanks all.

London Winter Walk

On Sunday 28th January, heavymetalkids.uk will be completing the London Winter Walk in support of Medecins Sans Frontieres / Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

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.

Thank you all.

Linda Smith & Nancy Andrews

Cafe OTO, Dalston, London 09/12/23

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.

Ship Full Of Bombs ep.7

My latest radio show is now available for streaming/download via Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Mixcloud, Google Podcasts, Deezer and other leading podcast apps.

Alternatively, you can visit http://www.sfob.co.uk and scroll down to the widget at the bottom of the page.

Playlist: Monday 4th December

1) The Reds, Pinks & Purples – We Won’t Come Home At Christmas Time 

https://theredspinksandpurples.bandcamp.com/album/they-only-wanted-your-soul

2) Outer World – Forms Of Knowing

https://hhbtm.bandcamp.com/album/who-does-the-music-love

3) Seablite – Melancholy Molly 

https://mtstmtn.bandcamp.com/album/lemon-lights

4) Whitney’s Playland – Rain Song

https://paisleyshirtrecords.bandcamp.com/album/sunset-sea-breeze

5) Red Pants – Rockwell Kent

https://redred.bandcamp.com/album/not-quite-there-yet

6) Ironic Hill – Bad Stuff

https://ironichill.bandcamp.com/album/b-s

7) The Terminal Buildings – Cruel World

https://terminalbuildings.bandcamp.com/album/coming-to-terms-with-the-terminal-buildings-best-ones-2021-2023

8) Tara Clerkin Trio – The Turning Ground

https://taraclerkintrio.bandcamp.com/album/on-the-turning-ground

9) The Orielles – Tableau 002

https://theorielles.bandcamp.com/album/the-goyt-method

10) Dragged Up – The Jiangshi

https://draggedup.bandcamp.com/album/d-u

11) Peter Tosh – Equal Rights

12) Primal Scream – Star

13) Images – Calgary Rose

https://imagesbandwi.bandcamp.com/album/images-ep-2

14) Linda Smith – Wandering You Know

https://lindasmith2.bandcamp.com/album/put-it-in-writing

15) Cindy – A Trumpet On The Hillside

https://cindytheband.bandcamp.com/album/why-not-now

16) En Attendant Ana – Wonder

https://enattendantana.bandcamp.com/album/principia

17) Charlène Darling – Disparais 

https://charlenedarling.bandcamp.com/album/la-porte

18) Lightheaded – Mercury Girl

https://areyoufeelinglightheaded.bandcamp.com/album/good-good-great

19) The Gabys – Theresa 

https://fruitsandflowers.bandcamp.com/album/the-gabys

20) Tony Jay – The Switch For The Light

https://tonyjay.bandcamp.com/album/perfect-worlds

21) Modern Nature – Cascade

https://modernnature.bandcamp.com/album/no-fixed-point-in-space

22) Eddie Chacon – Far Away

https://eddiechaconofficial.bandcamp.com/album/sundown

23) Marxist Love Disco Ensemble – Hues Of Red

https://marxistlovediscoensemble.bandcamp.com/album/mlde

24) Apostille – Feel Good (You Can Make Me)

https://apostille.bandcamp.com/album/prisoners-of-love-and-hate

25) Vince Guaraldi Trio – O Tannenbaum

Modern Nature – No Fixed Point In Space

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.

Out now via Bella Union, buy here.

Seablite – Lemon Lights

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.