Ultimate Painting - "(I've Got the) Sanctioned Blues"

The latest single from the UK's Ultimate Painting presents this bizarre dichotomy. It's pure indie pop with sunny, jangly guitars, but all it makes me think of is folk and Pavement at the same time. To make it even more fun, the song is uptempo and light sounding  while in reality it's about the government taking away the unemployed's jobseeker allowance for minor infractions. The entire song is a great bridge between 90s Brit-pop and the current neo-folk movement going on right now.

Ultimate Painting's upcoming album, Green Lanes, is due out on August 7 on Trouble in Mind. You can pre-order the album here, and check out Ultimate Painting on Tumblr. Listen to "(I've Got the) Sanctioned Blues" below, and below that are the band's current tour dates.

Sat. July 25 - Sheffield, UK @ Tramlines Festival
Wed. Aug. 5 - Southsea, UK @ Pie & Vinyl (In-store)
Fri. Aug. 7 - Oxford, UK @ Truck Records (In-store)
Fri. Aug. 14 - London, UK @ Power Lunches
Sat. Aug. 15 - London, UK @ Power Lunches
Sun. Aug. 23 - Brecon, UK @ Green Man Festival
Fri. Sept. 5 - Lancaster, UK @ The Library
Sat. Sept. 6 - Wiltshire, UK @ End Of The Road Festival
Tue. Sept. 15 - Toronto, ON @ Adelaide Hall
Fri. Sept. 18 - Brooklyn, NY @ Rough Trade
Sat. Sept. 19 - Cambridge, MA @ Middle East (Upstairs)
Sun. Sept. 20 - Bearsville, NY @ Bearsville Theatre (w/ Mikal Cronin)
Sat. Sept. 26 - Memphis, TN @ Gonerfest
Sun. Sept. 27 - Dallas, TX @ Double Wide
Sat. Oct. 3 - San Francisco, CA @ Hemlock Tavern
Sat. Oct. 10 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Diabolical Records
Sat. Oct. 24 - Oviedo, ES @ Lata de Zinc
Tue. Oct. 27 - Madrid, ES @ Sala Sol
Fri. Oct. 30 - St. Gallen, CH @ Kilbi dankt Allen
Wed. Nov. 4 - Sheffield, UK @ Bungalow & Bears
Thu. Nov. 5 - Manchester, UK @ Soup Kitchen
Fri. Nov. 6 - Glasgow, UK @ Old Hairdressers
Sat. Nov. 7 - Leeds, UK @ Beacons Metro Festival
Sun. Nov. 8 - Cardiff, UK @ SWN Festival
Thu. Nov. 12 - Bristol, UK @ Start The Bus
Sat. Nov. 14 - Paris, FR @ La Maroquinerie
Tue. Nov. 17 - Leipzig, DE @ Ilses Erika
Wed. Nov. 18 - Berlin, DE @ Acud
Thu. Nov. 19 - Hamburg, DE @ Wildmax
Sun. Nov. 22 - Eindhoven, NL @ Alstadt
Mon. Nov. 23 - Rotterdam, NL @ V11