Our weekly deep dive for mind-boggling new releases returns.
The unstoppable charge of invigorating and important new music has acted as a crutch in 2020, a guiding light and a spark for change. Artists, the grassroots music industry and music fans have had to adapt, innovate and come together this year to help save what they love. So much has been done to maintain our music communities and brick and mortar venues, while many also rallied for a more equal society, a greener planet and spoke out against systemic racism. 2021 will I’m sure be no different. We’ve completed our last new music deep dive of the year in the form of our Firsts feature, sink into the tracks that caught our ears this week. Follow our Hard Of Hearing Top Tips playlist here.
Ex en Provence
Counting Down The Suns
Five years after setting up a studio – packed to the rafters with synthesizes – in a former gym beneath a Stoke Newington snookerhall, Ex en Provence found the glue which cemented the musical collaboration between Samuel Deschamps and Jan Blumentrath. The pair met through previous projects La Shark and Intergalatic Republic of Kongo/ Eloit Sumner, the bond forged has resulted in a sonic exploration of nostalgia. Armed with shimmering synths, angular guitars and fluid melodies, Ex en Provence create a sound which marches happily into the modern day abyss with memory as it’s greatest weapon. Find the band on Spotify here.
Whisper Dish
They Don’t Know
Hailing from Auckland, New Zealand are Whisper Dish. Their debut single They Don’t Know is part pent up psychedelic mudslide and part hypnotic krautrock rhythm. Arriving via Table Talk Records They Don’t Know embarks on a journey of enlightenment, vocally subtle in it’s approach yet instrumentally unstoppable, Whisper Dish’s sound reflects both the calming visual nature of the ocean and the dangerous momentum beneath. It reminds of Chichester masters TRAAMS. Find the band on Spotify here.
Ed The Dog
Untitled.crashed.crashed.crashed
Cut from Ed The Dog’s new LP Untitled.crashed.crashed.crashed arrives the title track itself, a glitchy and melodic garage rock edit that kicks like the now sadly defunct Manchester outfit Spring King. Lyrically wearing it’s heart on it’s sleeve and sonically force-feeding all that’s good about indie pop through a clapped out Windows 98 operating system, Ed The Dog emerges victorious with a reminder of what pop music should sound like. Find the band on Spotify here.
Off Judy
Tie My Shoes
Australian duo Off Judy formed this year – another band destined for an unfortunate false start – and released their debut single Black and White in October followed by Tie My Shoes this month. The latter finds the Byron Bay-based but New Zealand-raised band floating down a lazy river of lyrically intimate and ever so touching Americana. With grit in it’s teeth and a knack for a chorus, Tie My Shoes is a self-depreciating hit. Taking cues from the very early works of Southern rock sons Kings Of Leon (yes, their early albums were good), Off Judy are a blast. Find the band on Spotify here.
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