There were a host of great new releases throughout August, and we’ve covered plenty of them but as usual there are a few that managed to slip through the net, so here’s our guide to some of the best releases that you may have missed.
First up is ‘Paranoid Core’, the first taste of Mudhoney‘s 10th studio album Digital Garbage, which finds the Seattle grunge legends in typically abrasive form. A flat-out assault on political fear mongering complete with the fuzz-laden guitars and pounding drums that have made us love them since the late 80s.
Mudhoney will be over in the UK in November, make sure you catch them at one of the following dates:
Nov. 28 – Brighton, UK – Concorde 2 with Masonics and Thee Hypnotics
Nov. 29 – London, UK – Electric Ballroom with Masonics and Thee Hypnotics
Nov. 30 – Leeds, UK – Leeds Beckett University with Wildebeests and Thee Hypnotics
Dec. 1St – Glasgow, UK – Lukes Church with Wildebeests and Thee Hypnotics
At the other end of the scale, we’re waiting for news of a debut album from London rockers Saint Agnes with baited breath. In the meantime they’ve unleashed another slice of wonderful psych-tinged riffage in the form of ‘Diablo, Take Me Home’, an anthem to abandoning yourself to the pleasure of the moment, which provides the perfect opportunity to do so for three minutes and two seconds.
Further opportunities can be found on their UK tour in October, which takes in the following venues:
20th October – Firebug – Leicester, UK
Italia 90 (great name by the way) were completely unknown to us when their single ‘Tourist Estate’ dropped into the Joyzine inbox, but it’s quickly become a firm favourite. Its repeated mantra of “brutalism” captures the mood perfectly, spat out over a nerve-shredding drone-punk scramble and loping bass as it seemingly berates poverty tourism and the fetishisation of 60s social housing blocks.
The incomprehensible lyrics of the month award goes without question to The Vega Bodegas and the surrealist punk of ‘A Complete History of Witchcraft’. That frontman Jimmy Watkins was once a member of Future of the Left comes as no surprise as he howls “St. Christopher take that Jesus off your back. This is Easyjet, they’ll put him in the rack,” over driving bass and guitars with their needles way into the red. It’s the first track to be unveiled from the band’s debut LP, also titled A Complete History of Witchcraft, which promises to be a baffling delight.
If you’re named Roisin and have spent your life bemoaning the scarcity of pop songs containing your name (unlike all the lucky Marys and Johnnys out there, who according to some research by Slate.com have the most), then your wait is over thanks to multi-instrumentalist, actor and one time member of the Joyzine football team Darling BOY, whose latest single ‘Oh Roisin!’ is a rose-tinted, guitar jangling treat.
Reviews by Paul Maps