Rick Larson – I recently ran across a newish (February) song, ‘Pursuit’, by an Irish punk/post-punk band call Mhaol. It has propulsive repetition, accented by the drummer’s cross-sticking, building to a dramatic and sudden end. I dug it and sought out more. ‘Asking for It’ from last year’s debut LP has a similar Stereolab on the skids sound and uncompromised lyrics of bellicose feminism. I’ll be keeping this band on my radar.
Meanwhile, the music world lost musician/producer/gadfly Steve Albini. Like many others, I put on Pixies’ Surfer Rosa, the 1988 revolutionary LP engineered by Albini. It still sounds incredible—that’s how you freaking record and mix drums!– killer song after killer song by a band and producer unaware that they were tipping a genre askew and that it would wobble on its axis forevermore.
James Spearing – Well it’s been quite the month for new music. First up, my personal highlight from a brilliant day out at Sounds From the Other City festival in Salford was sea-obsessed electro duo Jellyskin.
One of my favourite new emerging artists this year is Kaeto and she’s released yet another stunning single ‘HERO’.
I was super excited to hear new tunes from Nilüfer Yanya (‘Like I Say (I runaway)’) and, after what seems like a long wait for new solo music, Rosie Lowe (‘Mood To Make Love’).
And finally I really enjoyed new EP Mahal from Glass Beams which was a perfect soundtrack for our one week of summer weather in north west England.
Joe Hoare -Forget flavour of the month, even year, post-punk has probably been flavour of the decade. Band after band have come crashing along, making a racket with vaguely poetic, shouty vocals. So why are BIG SPECIAL any different?
Well firstly, they are unapologetically Brummie and their vocals celebrate the Black Country throughout, giving the album a definite sense of place. Secondly, the lyrics on POSTINDUSTRIAL HOMETOWN BLUES are captivating: hilarious at points, profound at others, but all capturing the realities of British life as seen by the lead Joe Hicklin, who drifts from singing and shouting into spoken word at various points. Finally, they make catchy tunes. After a couple of listens through, I am already gleefully shouting “Shithouse!” or singing “Black dog atop a white horse” with the band.
If post-punk is flavour of the decade, this album is one to savour.
Fran Slater – This May, I have been lucky enough to see the artists behind my 3 favourite albums of 2024 so far on stage. I’ve reviewed Big Special and English Teacher on the site, so won’t bang on about them too much again here. Suffice to say they were two blistering shows with bags of energy and both added to my quickly growing love for the bands.
The other show was a gentler affair, but Hurray for the Riff Raff were no less enthralling. Playing most of their new album meant it was a fresh set compared to the last few times I’ve seen them, and the new songs sounded as good live as they do on record. But closer ‘P’alante’ is still their classic song, and the version they played at Manchester’s Deaf Institute might be the best yet.
Tom Burrows – Jessica Pratt’s latest album, Here in the Pitch, has a couple of moments towards its end which fully justify the hype. ‘Empires Never Know’ and closing song ‘The Last Year’ pull you in close and hypnotise with Pratt’s otherworldly delivery and barely-there instrumentation. I’ve heard glimpses of her music before, but these tracks have made me dig further into the Jessica Pratt back catalogue.
Otherwise in May I just added to my own backlog of intriguing new stuff to listen to – but I did belatedly get my ears around Schoolboy Q’s March release, Blue Lips. It’s a chaotic listen, with individual tracks sliding all over the place production-wise, but it’s to the album’s credit that this feels intentional and engaging. ‘Blueslides’ and ‘Cooties’ highlight the lyrical dexterity that I have overlooked in his music in the past.
And staying on the hip hop theme, I caught Danny Brown live for the first time at Manchester’s O2 Ritz towards the end of the month. It’s more than a decade since Q and Brown collaborated on 2013’s Old, and even longer since I became a fan of Brown’s eccentric delivery and frankly ridiculous versatility on the mic. He delivered an impeccable and varied set, performing cuts as far back as ‘Monopoly’ from 2011’s XXX, right up to JPEGMAFIA collab ‘Orange Juice Jones’ from last year’s Scaring The Hoes. As he bade farewell, his hair evenly dyed red and green, his platform wellington boots departing the stage, I reflected that this is one of the greats of our time. And it was a pleasure to catch him still firing on all fronts.
Sam Atkins – There’s no album that affected me as much this month as Billie Eilish’s HIT ME HARD AND SOFT. Some may think I went overboard last month, claiming that Lucy Rose had released the best album of the year so far (I think I was accurate), but a month later I’m claiming Billie Eilish has done the same. The attention to detail on every moment of this album is stunning and these songs are some of the most interesting, exciting and dynamic that Billie and Finneas have ever created together. The run of the catchiest pop song of Billie’s career, ‘BIRDS OF A FEATHER’, into her best vocal yet, ‘WILDFLOWER’ and then into ‘THE GREATEST’ which feels like her career reaching a new peak. I am in awe on every listen, emotionally overwhelmed by this album and how good it is. I’m not writing a full review on a site called Picky Bastards because I will be labelled a traitor to our fine name. But HIT ME HARD AND SOFT is a 10/10.
That’s all for this month. Enjoyed these recommendations? Why not buy us a coffee at ko-fi.com/pickybastards?
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