Another episode of ’60 Minutes or less’ is in the bag! The new-ish podcast from Birthday Cake For Breakfast returns for episode 12 and with it, we turn to music hot-spot Lancaster for our egg-cellent guest, HollyRoss of The Lovely Eggs! Forgive me the pun, as you’ll soon hear, Holly is not fond of them!
Along with husband David Blackwell, Ross makes up the other half of The Lovely Eggs – a two-headed rock and roll monster that’s been ripping it for fifteen plus years, with a handful of records under their collective belts and collaborations over the years with Pigsx7 and living leg-end Iggy Pop.
Their new album ‘Eggsistentialism’ is out now via their very own Egg Records – a stormer to add to their varied collection, with a number of its singles even bothering the Official UK Charts top 10 in vinyl sales!
A flying visit for this episode as they were deep into the final promotional push, the interview schedule coinciding with their sending of a mammoth amount of records out to their loyal fanbase of egg-heads by hand. We were happy to catch Holly for half an hour over Zoom the week they released the album, to talk about Ivor Cutler, egg-based puns, DIY, soul-searching and their efforts to save The Lancaster Music Co-op.
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’60 Minutes or less’ – the new podcast from Birthday Cake For Breakfast – returns with one for the noise-heads, our eleventh episode featuring a particularly enjoyable chat with Matt Korvette, choice shouter in head-wreckers Pissed Jeans!
Notorious noise punks with almost twenty years in the game, Pissed Jeans first melted this particular brain over a decade ago with a kooky video for the insanely catchy ‘False Jesii Part 2’, a song that is weirdly a go-to shower song for yours truly.
From their second album ‘King of Jeans’, released in 2009, they’ve since followed it up with another four full length records, their latest – ‘Half Divorced’ – released in March 2024 via notable tastemakers SubPop. An invigorating ear-assault, there are songs about helicopter parenting, massive personal debt and finding the cons in every inch of the universe.
A month after releasing ‘Half Divorced’, we sat down with vocalist Matt Korvette ahead off a sold out show at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds to talk about their new album, sobriety, eating on the road and crossing the Canadian border when your band is called ‘Pissed Jeans’.
Tell your friends, tell your colleagues, piss your jeans – go nuts!
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They said it couldn’t be done – ’60 Minutes or less’, the new podcast from Birthday Cake For Breakfast, returns for our eighth episode! Off the back of our last episode with Steven Hodson of USA Nails, we continue on with noise-rock frontmen with a chat featuring Alex Edkins, guitarist and choice shouter in gnarly power trio METZ.
Formed in Ontario, Canada, METZ have been wrecking heads for fifteen plus years, with five studio albums now under their collective belts. Their latest, ‘Up On Gravity Hill’, was released just under a fortnight ago in April 2024 via Sub Pop Records. It’s a treat to have a new METZ record in our lives, particularly as we were so enamoured with their previous album, ‘Atlas Vending’ and – well – pretty much everything they put out there.
On top of killer records, the trio are killer merch-men and always have some swish clobber available to wear upon your person. On top of keeping an eye out for new releases from them, we’re always keen beans for whatever rad long sleeve they’ve got coming out. It’s something which we got into when I spoke with Alex over zoom in mid-April, a few days away from releasing their new record. It’s a big chat with a total dude – I think you’ll dig it.
If you like what you hear, rate us five stars, tell your loved ones and share ’60 Minutes or less’ on the internet. You could even print off transcripts and leave them lying about your local library. The choice is yours.
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Here we are then – the seventh episode of ’60 Minutes or less’, the new podcast from Birthday Cake For Breakfast. What a peach too – a bumper chat with Steven Hodson, guitarist and vocalist in gnarly quartet USA Nails.
Having formed around 2013, we’ve been following USA Nails for pretty much the life of Birthday Cake For Breakfast. I still fondly recall their appearance at ArcTanGent Festival almost a decade ago and a slot on the lineup early on in the day. Their raucous half hour set separated the strong from the weak willed and after a night on the pale ales and who knows what else the night before, some couldn’t hack their full-on noise rock and made a swift exit.
Following a blistering appearance at the festival, we’ve since had the pleasure of interviewing USA Nails a number of times over the years and have caught them live in the flesh whenever possible. Their appearance at the festival was around the time of releasing their second album ‘No Pleasure’ and in March 2024, USA Nails released their latest album ‘Feel Worse’ – their sixth full length release and their first for big boy new label One Little Independent Records, home to Bjork amongst others.
A decade into band-life, USA Nails have a combined rap sheet that includes histories with bands such as Kong, Oceansize, Death Pedals, SilentFront, WastedDeath, TheEurosuite and many, many more. Recorded over zoom, we went deep into the recording process of their new record, which I personally can’t get enough of – yet another winner in their solid back catalogue.
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I can’t quite Adam-and-beliEve-it that we’re already easing into spring. No, this isn’t an April Fools (particularly as that was a few days ago), but rather the year zooming ahead as per.
Alongside our bumper playlist for the year (cataloguing everything we’ve been loving from January through to now), the ‘Listening Post’ returns this month and it’s full of choice cuts, 20 of them – old and new!
It’s a crisp 60 minutes, so you can bosh this one out in snappy fashion – be sure to tell your friends / family / pets too!
Cooler than the other side of the pillow stuff here from NYC formed trio Patio. From their second album ‘Collection’, out September last year on tastemaker label Fire Talk, ‘Inheritance’ is as groovy as it is moody and calls to mind the brilliant Lithics. Love those machine-gun fire drum bursts.
On our radar ever since their 2017 EP ‘Health’, Aussie lot Parsnip return in 2024 with their forthcoming second album (on the way this month via Upset The Rhythm). Kicking things off with bright and breezy lead single ‘The Light’, it’s an offering that sounds like it’s been zapped forward in time from the swinging sixties.
From their 2019 album ‘Not The Past, Can’t Be The Future’, Melbourne’s Bench Press have a motto we can get behind – ‘don’t bore us, get to the chorus’. Mastered by Mikey Young, naturally, this is a snarling post-punk number that sinks its teeth in from the off.
It was a trip seeing Bingo Fury at hipster hotspot YES in Manchester recently, given that the cover photo for his new album ‘Bats Feet For A Widow’ captures the songwriter in the restaurant across the street, literally taken from the very same room we were stood. ‘Leather Sky’ is something else, a proper stop you in your tracks affair from the young crooner, one that’s drawn comparisons to songwriting greats like Scott Walker.
It’s fitting that we move into spring with this sun-soaked delight from London based singer-songwriter BeckyJones a.k.a. Saint Saviour (though it is pissing it down in Manchester as I write this…) From a new album out now – the aptly titled ‘Sunseeker’ – elsewhere on the record you’ll find a guest collaboration from Bill Ryder Jones.
Mega S/T ‘blue’ album Weezer vibes aplenty on the fist-pumping ‘Hurtful’, one of the big hitters from ‘Like Before’, the new record from queer Chinese-Vietnamese multi-instrumentalist Non La (whose name sounds like what a scouser might say when you’ve asked them for something they’ve just run out of…) Dig that fuzz!
Texan quartet Ting Tang Tina first started playing shows in 2017, but listening to the infectious ‘Hair’, you’d think they’d have been at it for decades. Hardly letting up across its near three minutes, this from their debut album ‘Honeybee’ sounds like it’d be sitting pretty on the soundtrack of any coming of age teen film.
Featuring ex-Sauna Youth bod Lindsay Corstorphine, London based duo Grazia put out a killer EP at the start of the year (another winning release from the team at Feel It Records). ‘Stupid Paradise’ is a total ear worm of the slacker variety.
I’ve been flirting with disaster of late, listening to loads of VR Sex on my work laptop (that name!), but I can’t help it – I’m hooked on their new record, ’Hard Copy’! Spearheaded by Noel Skum (a.k.a. AndrewClinco of Drab Majesty), ‘Real Doll Time’ is a mega infectious bit of moody post-punk from a record that well and truly has its hooks in us.
The Chico Hamilton Quintet – The Morning After (Chico Hamilton Quintet featuring Buddy Collette)
An absolutely delightful piece here from American jazz drummer and bandleader, Chico Hamilton, a completely cinematic jazz affair that would perfectly soundtrack any time of day (not just ‘The Morning After‘…)
Sometimes seeing a band live can really take their record to another level. Following an appearance in Manchester last month, I’ve been hammering the debut album from Londoners Folly Group. ‘East Flat Crows’ is a particularly cool number from the quartet, the dual vocal and hypnotising rhythm section taking hold.
A regular in The Orielles live band (as well as behind the counter of Manchester institution PiccadillyRecords), last year saw the release of a debut single from Scottish artist Modema, a slick pop number that doesn’t sound too dissimilar to the synth-pop stylings found on the latest Everything Everything record.
Local lot SLAP RASH put out their debut EP ‘Catherine Special’ at the tail end of last year and from it, ‘Photo Fit’ is a frantic post punk shoulder-shuffler of the Drahla variety. Thumping drums, killer bass and a captivating vocal attack that keeps you on your toes, this is solid!
The ever prolific Holiday Ghosts swiftly follow up their 2023 record ‘Absolute Reality’ with yet another slab of wax to be devoured. Latest single ‘Big Congratulations’ is a total pop treat – a joyous, breezy single to welcome in the brighter months of the year.
Starting off as a thumping, Nine Inch Nails type industrial assault, ‘Mood Ring’ switches gears dramatically and becomes such a pop bop. From a new record out this May, ‘Mood Ring’ is insanely catchy and a total heart-sweller from the Chicago trio.
You know we love a 90 second ripper at Birthday Cake For Breakfast, so we were stoked when we heard this on the latest Mannequin Pussy record. A hardcore rush that sounds like the gnarliness of early Turnstile, you’ll want to stick ‘Aching’ on again and again.
Very much in the vein of early Sleaford Mods – dog-dirt bass and engrossing, corner-you-in-the-pub stream of consciousness vocals (both a compliment, trust us) – ‘God’s Country’ is the latest attack from killer trio Lambrini Girls. Known for a notorious live show and with records to match, they can’t seem to put a foot wrong!
From a new record out last month via Merge Records, North Carolina’s Rosali conjures up a real vibe on title track ‘Bite Down’. Guided by the warmth of the vocals and the instrumentation, it’s the type of track you can completely lose yourself in, allowing your mind to float off along a lazy river.
From a new record out this year on Rocket Recordings and Feeding Tube Records, ‘The Letter Burning’ is a haunting, thought provoking piece from London based viola player / vocalist Alison Cotton. The record ‘Engelchen’ – meaning “little angel” in German – is a tribute to Ida & LouiseCook, two opera fans who rescued 29 Jewish people from Nazi-occupied Europe in the 30s.
A commemorative pen in the post for Leeds formed Cowtown, the trio now celebrating twenty years in the game! To mark the occasion, the trio have just announced a new album is on the way this May via Gringo Records – their first new album in eight years! New single ‘Thru Being Zuul’ is the Cowtown sound we’ve come to love, an energetic burst of DEVO styled synth-punk to get the body moving.
(Photo Credit: Vincent-Lee)
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Finally – a world class athlete on ’60 Minutes or less’, the new podcast from Birthday Cake For Breakfast! For our sixth episode, we welcome royalty – the only guest thus far with an OBE, former world number one in snooker, Steve Davis.
Amassing 71 major titles over his playing career, Davis remains one of the world’s best-known snooker players. Not content with such a glittering career though, Davis shifted gears dramatically when he retired, moving into the world of music, first as a DJ and radio host, then as one third of The Utopia Strong, trading in his snooker cue for a modular synth.
As you can imagine, Steve didn’t come on to talk snooker, nor did he come on to talk about his brief appearance on TV show ‘The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret‘, rather The Utopia Strong have just released a new record – ‘The BBC Sessions’. Capturing a live session the trio recorded at Maida Vale for Marc Riley’s BBC Radio 6 Music show in September 2022, the record – with its brilliant old school cover – is out now via tastemakers Rocket Recordings.
I first met Steve on a night out in Manchester with local lot Trojan Horse almost a decade ago, drinking beers of varying percentages. Not long after that night, I somehow soon appeared on his radio show, The Interesting Alternative Show. Regardless of his credentials, it really didn’t seem that big of a deal having him pop round to our flat in Whalley Range in his lovely motor to record the show, because Steve was so affable and down to earth. Something which I’m sure you’ll hear yourself from our most recent chat.
Just a heads up, we had a few audio issues with this one – not the fault of Steve, mind you. Nothing major, but there were some niggles. Such is the joy of recording over Zoom. Anyhoo, onto the podcast – enjoy!
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A North East musician of note, alongside brother David, Peter is the other half of the brilliant Field Music. He’s also released a solo record as The Week That Was (which recently celebrated a 15 year anniversary) and collaborative albums with Paul Smith and Sarah Hayes.
In October 2023, Peter released ‘Blowdry Colossus’ – a solo album of mostly-instrumental wonky synth-pop, influenced by the likes of Yellow Magic Orchestra. ‘Blowdry Colossus’ was the first solo outing from Peter since The Week That Was in 2008, though as with that album, brother David played on both records.
The recording of this actually took place back in late 2023 – ahead of a sold out show at The Castle Hotel in Manchester, I caught up with Peter in the glamorous backstage area (or should I say a tiny room above the stage stuffed with equipment…) If you had Peter discussing making a metal album on your podcast bingo card, you’ve won a prize!
As ever, if you like what you hear, give us a rating, tell your loved ones and share on the internet (or maybe even print off transcripts and hand them out in the street).
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As if it’s bloody March already?! Alongside our bumper playlist for the year (bringing together everything we’ve been loving from January through to now), the ‘Listening Post’ returns this month and it’s full of the good stuff!
Ease into spring with our March playlist – 20 tunes, old and new – featuring everything that’s been tickling our fancy of late. Be sure to tell your friends / family / pets too!
The hype for South-London-based sextet Tapir! hadn’t gone unnoticed here at Birthday Cake ForBreakfast HQ, and their brilliantly titled debut album ‘The Pilgrim, Their God and The King Of My Decrepit Mountain‘ is quite the triumph. With shades of BC:NR and Caroline in the mix, ‘My God’ is a heavenly heart-swelling piece that really hits one in the feels.
Having wooed us with their 2019 Sub Pop debut, ‘Junior‘, Montreal outfit Corridor reemerge in 2024 with a new album out next month (which rather cutely is named after the guitarist / vocalist’s cat). Whilst my Duolingo French hasn’t quite got me up to speed on the lyrics, the cinematic ‘Mourir Demain’ is a real slice of loveliness from the quartet where they ruminate on the march towards death.
How’s this for a speedy formation? Having met on a dating app in 2021, Aussie musicians Imogen Grist and Marcus Gordon not only tied the the knot in swift fashion, they also started a band too. Inspired by the likes of Nancy & Lee and Sonny & Cher, their latest single ‘Knife’ is a real hypnotic treat, like the track over the end credits of some bittersweet love story.
Having previously appeared on these very pages mid-Covid 19, around the release of ‘Lip Critic II’, New York electro-punks Lip Critic return off the back of signing to tastemakers Partisan Records with the head-spinner that is recent single ‘The Heart’. Rapid doesn’t cut it, this is one to get the heart rate up.
Four years on from the release of ‘I Am Moron’ (with collaborations with Iggy Pop and Pigsx7 in-between), two-headed Northern noise makers The Lovely Eggs return to 2024 with a new album ready to go! Lead single ‘My Mood Wave’ is properly lovely and calls to mind the fuzz-pop we loved so much from Leeds lot Menace Beach.
Wait a minute, you’re telling me Barry Hyde – him out of our favourite group The Futureheads – did an Ivor Cutler covers record?! Big Ivor Cutler fan. Massive Barry Hyde fan. What a match made in heaven. Whereas Cutler’s original was a quirky twee thing, Hyde really puts a lovely spin on it. Magic.
Now this – this is your kitchen dancing DEVO record, I reckon. Just the other evening I was cooking in the kitchen, breaking off to energetically dance with our Plummer Terrier to cuts from the incredibly 80s sounding ‘Shout’. ‘Puppet Boy’ is catchier than that 100 day cough that’s been doing the rounds.
Due to the haze of the pandemic, it feels like the last METZ record ‘Atlas Vending’ came out only a few months ago, rather than almost four years ago (!) Time playing tricks the way it does, METZ returned at the tail end of February to take our minds off it with not one, but TWO new singles from a forthcoming new album! ’99’ just clinches it for us, a raging return with a chorus heavy on the repetition that just won’t quit!
Upon hearing ‘Riding Cobbles’ for the first time, it came as no surprise to hear Cate Le Bon was involved in the making of A. Savage’s latest record, ‘Several Songs About Fire’. Full of quirks, this sounds very much like something you’d hear on a DRINKS record (the Le Bon collaboration with Tim Presley of White Fence), full of plink-plonk instrumentation and dreamy dual vocals.
I don’t know how it happened, but BBC Radio 3 is now a regular fixture in my weekday mornings and Saturday afternoons. Love that ‘J to Z’! ‘Grow’ was a recent discovery from it, a riveting jazz bopper from the team at Planet Q, the collaboration between players Kyoko Takenaka and Tomoki Sanders, two artists from the Japanese diaspora.
All this talk of artists not having released a record for three or four years – Liverpudlian lot Ex-Easter Island Head have not had a new album out since 2016! Last month saw the quartet release the title track from their forthcoming new album ‘Norther’ (out May via Rocket Recordings) and first impressions call to mind the type of instrumental wizardry that blew us away on that last Horse Lords record. Spellbinding bit of kit, this!
The Fall – No Bulbs 3 (Call For Escape Route)
Fell into a bit of a Mark E. Smith lyrics rabbit hole just the other day learning about ‘No Bulbs 3’. Is it about a junkie? Is it really about someone unable to find a belt to hold their trousers up in a messy flat? Whatever the case, it’s an infectious piece from one of my favourite lineup eras of the Northern leg-ends.
What a dream this is from British-Nigerian artist and composer TonyNjoku. From a new EP out this May (via the ever dependable PRAH Recordings), ‘La Ruée‘ is engrossing from note one, a classical piece that isn’t afraid to blur the lines with electronic and ambient leanings.
Part of the Sub Pop Singles Club to start off the year, it’s always a joy to hear new music from London based trio Vanishing Twin. ‘Life Drummer’ is a moody banger that hardly lets up, its abstract lyrics adapted from a chapter from ‘The Listening Book’ by W.A. Mathieu.
Following the release of their debut single ‘The Giant‘ in October 2023, Southern lot Pencil set phasers to stun with their delightful new single ‘The Window’. The first act from Moshi Moshi Records’ relaunched Singles Club, the new single reminds us of some of the loveliness encountered on Modern Nature records. Nice to see Cai Burns in the mix too, the ex-Kagoule guitarist / vocalist whom we’ll always have time for.
Hearing this for the first time the other week, I thought Ouija Psych Pop super group TheMoonlandingz had a new single out! Sadly not, but this is just as good – a trippy, psych adventure called ‘Moon Pale and Moon Gold’ from multi-instrumentalist Jennifer Baron and all her mates.
We loved William Doyle’s ‘Great Spans of Muddy Time’ record from 2021, so were chuffed up to hear the Londoner had a new album on the way this year. The snappy ‘Now In Motion’ is a cucumber cool burst of wonky art-pop that sounds like Field Music at their best.
Yeti Bones and theOGM, the New Jersey duo Ho99o9, explode into 2024 with the nails ‘A Machine Of’, a brutal blend of hardcore, industrial and hip-hop that makes one want to punch a hole in the sun on its heaviest moments. Ahead of its release, the pair’s socials suggested we “brace for impact” – too right!
It’s getting silly now with Leeds, isn’t it? For years now, all the new and super exciting outfits seem to have emerged from Leeds and we can’t get enough of them! On ‘R&B’, taken from their forthcoming debut album ‘This Could Be Texas’, band of the moment English Teacher explore ideas of imposter syndrome on a moody post-punk number that calls to mind fellow Leeds lot Drahla.
Yet another wonk-pop winner from the forthcoming Dana Gavanski album ‘LATE SLAP’. We’ve compared the London based artist to Cate Le Bon before (and to be honest, I can see us doing it again and again), but we can assure you that such a comparison is a huge compliment. Funnily enough though, it’s actually Talking Heads that provided the influence on this one, which is just as good!
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Excuse me for the back-patting, but I think we’ve smashed it with the first four episodes of the new Birthday Cake For Breakfast podcast, ‘60 Minutes or less‘. In case you missed it, to kick off 2024, we’ve added one more podcast to the giant podcast bin! Chuffed enough with our first three episodes featuring guests Joe Casey of Protomartyr, Paul Hanley of The Fall and Philip Frobos of Omni, we’re stoked to have our fourth feature a chat with Jonathan Higgs, vocalist, guitarist and more in Everything Everything.
Art-rockers with a knack for hitting you in the feels one minute and getting you up on your feet dancing the next, Everything Everything have been one of our favourite Northern institutions over the past decade or so, an outfit we’ve been lucky enough to catch live in venues both vast and intimate over the years and whose records we can never get enough of.
Over the course of fifteen plus years together, the band have had five albums reach the Top 10 in the UK charts. This week, Everything Everything release their seventh album, ‘Mountainhead’, featuring the single ‘Cold Reactor’, their biggest radio hit to date. Is a Top 10 position on the cards this time around? I have personally been hammering their new record, so I’d certainly think so.
A week before Everything Everything were due to launch ‘Mountainhead’ at Stockport Plaza (which we were lucky to be witness to), I caught up with Jonathan over Zoom to talk about the new record, utilising AI and bothering the charts with Taylor Swift. Full context – the entire chat was recorded whilst Jonathan was wearing a little chef hat emoji atop his head (more on that later). For now, enjoy this latest episode and get out and grab a copy of ‘Mountainhead’ this week!
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In case you missed it, to kick off 2024, Birthday Cake For Breakfast has entered the podcast game (better late than never, eh?) Following on from our first two episodes (featuring Joe Casey of Protomartyr and Paul Hanley of The Fall), it’s a delight to say that our guest for our third episode is Philip Frobos, bassist and vocalist in Atlanta, Georgia outfit Omni!
We first discovered Omni in early 2017 when they performed in Manchester with much missed local lot DUDS. A mild-obsession followed and still continues on to this day!
Mainly a writing partnership between Philip and guitarist Frankie Broyles, Omni have a knack for penning cucumber cool post-punk numbers that are super infectious. The band released their debut album ‘Deluxe’ in 2016, swiftly following it up with second album ‘Multi – Task’ in 2017 – both on Trouble In Mind Records – before signing with Sub Pop in 2019 for the release of their third album, ‘Networker’.
In February 2024, Omni will release ‘Souvenir’, their fourth album and second for Sub Pop. Ahead of its release, I caught up with Philip over zoom on a Friday – morning there, afternoon here – to discuss the record, as well as Nancy and Lee, Jonathan Richman, UK venue highlights and taking on drummer ChrisYonker full time. Keep an ear out for distractions from his cat and my dog, both animal companions eager to be included!
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Eagle-eyed readers might’ve spotted the lack of a ‘Listening Post’ at the start of the year. We’ve been a bit busy launching a podcast you see – ’60 Minutes or less’ – live now, featuring interesting chats with Joe Casey (Protomartyr) and Paul Hanley (The Fall)!
That doesn’t mean we’ve had our ears closed to new music, mind. Alongside our bumper playlist for the year (bringing together everything great throughout 2024), the ‘Listening Post’ returns this month and it’s full of good stuff!
Ease out of January and into February with 20 tunes, old and new – be sure to tell your friends / family / pets too!
With a name that roughly translates as “music from the garbage”, Ugandan outfit Fulu Miziki look like superheroes from an early 80s Troma film series, decked out in eye-boggling attire, playing a number of instruments that they themselves have upcycled. Latest single ‘Pieteron’ is a heart-racing mover-and-shaker to get your body bopping!
Off the back of releasing brutal standalone single ’No Convenient Apocalypse’ last year (one of our Top 50 songs of 2023!), Pennsylvania’s Pissed Jeans look to 2024 with the release of their sixth album, ’Half Divorced’. Lead single ‘Moving On’ treads a little lighter than the last single, but still thunders ahead in chest-pumping fashion, the chorus becoming an instant earworm after just one go.
Early contender for single of the year, ‘How To Feel Uncomfortable’ is a riveting, Cate Le Bon style wonk-pop affair that’s had us hooked since it was released early last month. There’s a hint of LUMP in the mix too, which makes sense given that the new album from Dana Gavanski was recorded with MikeLindsay at his studio in Margate.
Rejoice – a new year comes with news of a new record from BODEGA! The new Yorkers have dipped into their back catalogue, putting together a new record of material originally written almost a decade ago. Anthemic lead single ‘Tarkovski’ is a joy, capturing everything we love about the outfit in a sparkling four minute package. TAKE ME TO THE ZONE!
PUMP! PUMP! PUMP UP THE PYRAMID! Ahead of releasing their fourth full length later this month (via Sub Pop), Atlanta’s Omni return with possibly their catchiest single to date. Featuring the fitting coolness of guest vocalist Izzy Glaudini (a first for the trio), ‘Plastic Pyramid’ is a swish post-punk delight and yet another addictive addition to their oeuvre.
Sounding very much like a ‘Rated R’ b-side, Californian cool lad Ty Segall once again shines with a groove-tastic, fuzzy number about his canine companions, Fanny and Herman. As a dog owner, I sing to my own dog constantly throughout the day, so I feel a kinship with Ty and the gnarly ripper that is ‘MyBestFriend’.
Following the release of their debut album ‘Audio Drag For Ego Slobs’ in 2021, Brooklyn’s Gustaf return this spring with its follow up, ‘Package Pt. 2’. Groovy new single ‘Starting and Staring’ is a stone cold bop, capturing some of the energy and intensity that vocalist Lydia Gammill and the rest of the crew bring to their live shows.
I love how as soon as the chorus hits in this one, it’s like – oh that’s one of the Savage’s! Switching out drums for guitar and taking on shared vocal duties, Max Savage (ParquetCourts) fronts the aptly named Maxband. Latest single ‘Nothing’s Changed’, from their forthcoming debut album, is a swish indie-rock number with some bite.
Sounding not too dissimilar to ‘Blowdry Colossus’, the latest solo album from Peter Brewis of FieldMusic, ‘Behind the Moon’ is a brilliantly wonky pop piece of the ‘Mother Earth’s Plantasia’ variety. From a recently “unearthed” self-titled debut album recorded in Rio de Janeiro in 1976 from progressive Brazilian instrumental musician Marcos Resende.
We were filled with utter delight upon waking up one morning in January to discover The Minneapolis Uranium Club had not only resurfaced, but that there’d be a new album on the way – their first since ‘The Cosmo Cleaners’ back in 2019. New single ‘Small Grey Man’ is a total trip, their quirky DEVO vibes making for a welcome return.
Oh we do love rapid-fire synth-punk gnarliness on Birthday Cake For Breakfast. Dig this from Los Angles outfit Diode, a super catchy speed-run that packs in so much, but is somehow just over a minute long (just how we like It!)
From Birkenhead with love, amazingly it’s taken me 20 years to discover the brilliant ‘She’s In Broadstairs’, but there’s no looking back now. Piss-funny and invigorating all at once, a top turn from Half Man Half Biscuit.
Psych-pop funkiness on this infectious cut from Jane Weaver, ‘Perfect Storm’ being the opener from her forthcoming new album ‘Love In Constant Spectacle’, out this April. It’s more than easy to get lost in this proper hypnotic, cosmic jam.
As a massive fan of Savage’s 2017 solo debut, ‘Thawing Dawn’, I was chuffed up to see the ParquetCourts vocalist return once more in a solo capacity with the release of new album, ‘Several Songs About Fire’. Closer ‘Out Of Focus’ is a heart-swelling slice of loveliness that sounds like the perfect soundtrack to a sunny Sunday jaunt in a sleepy European village.
Off the back of a few knockout singles these past few years, Leeds / Wakefield collective Drahla finally follow up their 2019 debut album ‘Useless Coordinates’ with a full length, due out this spring. As they so often do, Drahla knock it out of the park instantly, new single ‘Default Parody’ being a jagged post-punk head-wrecker, elevated as ever by the cucumber cool vocal of Luciel Brown.
Making their label debut with One Little Independent Records next month, USA Nails kick off new album ‘Feel Worse’ with the gnarly, chaotic ’Cathartic Entertainment’, yet another blistering ear-ringer that has had us making that smell-the-shit face all month. What a way to open a record!
Sounding like the sort of thing David Earl would cook up for a jingle on Chatabix, Donny Benét’s ‘American Dream’ is a total nostalgic funk-fest. With an aesthetic not too dissimilar to fellow countryman / weirdo Alex Cameron, it’s taken a sixth album for us to discover Benét, but with ‘Infinite Desires’, we’re happy to be on board.
It feels very on brand for Group Listening to open up their newest single ‘Frogs’ with – you guessed it – 60 seconds worth of frogs chattering away. The ongoing musical collaboration between Paul Jones and Stephen Black (a.k.a. Sweet Baboo), their forthcoming album ‘Walks’ will be their first collection of completely original compositions. With a hint of an Italian cinema score to it, ‘Frogs’ is a luscious pool to swim in.
Love an oddball vocal, me! On top of a moody but inviting, keep-you-on-your-toes instrumental, vocalist Katie Healy captivates on ‘It’s The Squeeze‘ with an almost theatrical performance. Freshly signed to Fascination Street Records, one gets the feeling we’ll be hearing a lot more from Londoners Dog Race!
A decade on from the release of their self-titled debut album, Ibibio Sound Machine have just announced a new album is on the way – ‘Pull The Rope’ – the news arriving via show-stopping, sultry dance-a-thon lead single ‘Got To Be Who U Are’. London-born Nigerian vocalist Eno Williams graces the records cover once again and rightly so, having put on the usual powerhouse performance as expected!
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A fortnight on from unveiling the first episode of ’60 Minutes or less’, the new podcast from Birthday Cake For Breakfast (with our first guest, Joe Casey of Protomartyr), we’re pleased as punch to present our second guest: Paul Hanley, drummer extraordinaire and in recent years, the author of a number of award winning books.
Alongside brother Steve, Paul was the other famous Hanley that appeared in legendary northern outfit The Fall, one of the many drummers in the lineup over the years. His shift behind the kit took place during the fruitful early 80s, one half of the band’s classic two-drummer lineup, with appearances on such highly regarded records as ‘Hex Enduction Hour’ and ‘Grotesque(After the Gramme)’. More recently, Hanley has taken to the drums again as part of HOUSE Of ALL, a supergroup of ex-Fall members, featuring Si Wolstencroft, Pete Greenway, Martin Bramah and (of course), brother Steve.
Outside of drumming, Hanley has written a number of brilliant books – ‘Leave The Capital: A History of Manchester Music in 13 Recordings’ and ‘Have A Bleedin Guess: The Story of Hex Enduction Hour’. In April 2024, Route Publishing are set to release a new collection from Paul – ‘Sixteen Again: How Pete Shelley & Buzzcocks Changed Manchester Music (and me).’ It’s a book that looks to explore the appeal of Buzzcocks and the influence of Pete Shelley on Manchester music and beyond.
On a frosty morning in early December 2023, I visited Paul at home in Timperley to talk about the Buzzcocks and much more, starting – as all conversations should – on Timperley’s most famous son, Frank Sidebottom.
A handy Spotify player is embedded below, but you can find further ways to listen here.
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