The more I hear Yard Act the more I enjoy them. The Leeds, UK band re-imagine Parklife-era Blur as a post punk band instead of Brit pop. So far their vocals have been much more along the lines of spoken word or ranting than actual singing. Their latest single, "Rich," has this blistering building intensity that goes in stark contrast to the cheerfulness at the beginning of the song. Very slowly the song gets angrier and drips with more and more attitude the further you get into the song. "Rich" starts off as an almost accessible song and then devolves into a much noisier and discordant one towards the end. A+.
Frontman James Smith says of the new song:
“‘Rich’ is the natural successor to ‘Payday’. That’s the end of the story right? Success! Status! Security! Except, there’s always more money to be made, and you’re deemed a failure if your life starts to head back in the direction it came from. It’s about being so lost you’re sure you know exactly where you are and how you got there. I also wrote it because I thought it would be quite funny if Yard Act made a shit ton of money after I’d written an anti-capitalist concept album. It’ll be funny if I’m singing this song on stage when I’ve made my mint.
"At worst it makes no sense, at best it comes off as pretentious, but that’s the point I'm trying to make when I write anything really. Things only really make sense if you exclude the bits that don’t back up the point you’re trying to make. I’m a hypocrite just like everyone else. I don’t have the answers and I’m just trying to do the best I can. It’ll never be good enough though. Enjoy the ride, life is short and you never know what’s round the corner.”
You can watch the video for "Rich" below. The Overload is due out on January 21 via Island Records/Zen F.C., and can be pre-ordered/pre-saved here. For more on Yard Act, check out the band's Facebook and Twitter. Upcoming tour dates are below the video.
21 Jan | Rough Trade East, London, UK 12pm 21 Jan | Rough Trade East, London, UK 6p– SOLD OUT 22 Jan | Sister Ray / 100 Club Outstore 1pm 22 Jan | Pryzm, Kingston-Upon-Thames, UK 9pm 23 Jan | Pie and Vinyl Instore, Southsea, UK 1pm 23 Jan | Resident Music Instore, Brighton, UK 6pm – SOLD OUT 24 Jan | Truck Music Store, Oxford, UK 1pm 23 Jan | Rough Trade, Bristol, UK, 6:30PM – SOLD OUT 27 Jan | Rough Trade, Nottingham, UK – SOLD OUT
2 Feb | L’Aéronef, Lille, FR 3 Feb | Trix, Borgorhaut, BE 4 Feb | Paradiso Kleine Zaal, Amsterdam, NL – SOLD OUT 5 Feb | Molotow, Hamburg, DE 6 Feb | Stengade, Copenhagen, DK 7 Feb | Plan B, Malmö, SE 9 Feb | Badehaus, Berlin, DE 10 Feb | Blue Shell, Cologne, DE 11 Feb | Rotondes, Luxembourg, LU 12 Feb | La Boule Noire, Paris, FR 17 Feb | Village Underground, London, UK – SOLD OUT 18 Feb | Patterns, Brighton, UK – SOLD OUT 19 Feb | The Joiners, Southampton, UK – SOLD OUT 21 Feb | Exchange, Bristol, UK – SOLD OUT 22 Feb | Clwb Ifor Bach, UK Cardiff – SOLD OUT 23 Feb | Bodega Social, Nottingham, UK – SOLD OUT 24 Feb | The White Hotel, Salford, UK – SOLD OUT 25 Feb | The Trades Club, Hebden Bridge, UK – SOLD OUT 26 Feb | Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, UK – SOLD OUT
1 Mar | The Cluny, Newcastle, UK – SOLD OUT 2 Mar | The Caves, Edinburgh – SOLD OUT 3 Mar | Mono, Glasgow, UK – SOLD OUT 4 Mar | Whelans, Dublin, IE
14 Mar – 20 Mar | SXSW, Austin, US
22 Mar | Union Pool, Brooklyn, US 23 Mar | Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, US 24 Mar | TV Eye, Queens, US 25 Mar | The Sinclair, Boston, US 27 Mar | The Garrison, Toronto, CA 29 Mar | Sleeping Village, Chicago, US
5 Apr | Earth, London, UK 15 Apr | The Casbah, San Diego, US 18 Apr | The Crocodile, Seattle, US 19 Apr | Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, US 21 Apr | Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco, US 30 Apr | Liverpool Sound City, UK
11 May | Trinity, Bristol, UK 18 May | Rescue Rooms, Nottingham – SOLD OUT 19 May | Zanzibar, Liverpool – SOLD OUT 20 May | Irish Centre, Leeds, UK – SOLD OUT 21 May | Band on the Wall, Manchester, UK – SOLD OUT 22 May | The Foundry, Sheffield – SOLD OUT 26 May | O2 Academy, Leicester, UK 27 May | Arts Centre, Norwich – SOLD OUT 28 May | Wide Awake Festival, London
22 Jul | Truck Festival, Oxford, UK 24 Jul | Tramlines, Sheffield, UK 29 Jul | Deer Shed, Thirsk UK 30 Jul | Ynot Festival, Derbyshire, UK
5-7 Aug | Off Festival, Katowice, PL
9-13 Aug | Oya Festival, Oslo, NO
24 Nov | O2 Academy, Leeds 25 Nov | O2 Ritz, Manchester
Our favorite classic garage rockers from Worcester, MA are back with a new song. In a world where most garage rock is about rocking, "21st Century Failure" gets much more political than most other bands in the genre. It's a psychedelic blast that mocks a lot of the tropes of modern living. It also includes the line "Get a new disease when you hear a sneeze" which is either great or terrible timing. Regardless, "21st Century Failure" is a killer psychedelic vintage garage rocker, and I think we could all use some straight up rock these days. You can watch the video for "21st Century Failure" below. The song is available now on The Prefab Messiahs's Bandcamp . For more on The Prefab Messiahs, check them out on Facebook and Twitter .
Photo by Alexa Viscius This may be Liam Kazar's debut single, but the Chicago based musician already has an impressive resume, having worked with Jeff Tweedy, Chance the Rapper, Steve Gunn, Daniel Johnston, and others. "Shoes Too Tight" features childhood friend Spencer Tweedy on drums, Lane Beckstrom on bass, and Ohmme on vocals. It's an absurdly fun and groovy little song that is a party waiting to happen. What he gives us here is a timeless song that could truly have been released any time since the 1960's (ok... maybe not the 80's...) There are elements of classic rock, 60's crooners and R&B, indie rock, modern Americana... it's really just packed with everything in a cohesive song that maintains the vibe the entire way through. You can watch the video for "Shoes Too Tight" below. For more on Liam Kazar, check him out on Instagram and Twitter . He's also raising money on his Bandcamp for Constellation and The Hungry Brain. ...
The latest single from Holiday Ghosts hearkens back to when pop music was weird. "Slipstream" will remind you of classic early alternative artists like Talking Heads, The Modern Lovers, and Violent Femmes, but it also has the 90's slacker vibe of Pavement and Beck. It turns into a crazily fun and just offbeat enough indie rock/pop song. You can watch the video for "Slipstream" below. West Bay Playroom , the new album from Holiday Ghosts, will be released February 15 on PNKSLM Recordings. The album was recorded in band member Sam Stacpoole's childhood home, specifically his old playroom. You can pre-order the album here . For more on Holiday Ghosts, check out their Facebook .
