Post punk is typically a fast and aggressive genre of music, but Porridge Radio change that on their latest single. "End of Last Year" is filled with synths and is a more gentle take on their style. It's a lovely song, even as the intensity gets ramped up. And this is a song that's intense, despite how laid back it starts out. Dana Margolin's vocals propel this song and completely drive the emotion, with backing vocals and instruments merely following Margolin's lead. This one reminds me of a current version of Yeah Yeah Yeah's now immortal "Maps." Plus, with a title like "End of Last Year," this is perfect to suggest to the graduating seniors in your life.
Dana Margolin says of the new song:
"'End Of Last Year' is a love song for my bandmates and for myself. It’s about not trusting my intuition, not trusting my body to heal itself, not trusting the people closest to me, but it is also an ode to all those people, and to difficult platonic love. It came out of a particularly painful period of communication breakdown and high pressure that hurt a lot, but ended in reconciliation and understanding."
You can watch the video for "End of Last Year" below. Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky is due out May 20 on Secretly Canadian, and can be pre-ordered here. For more on Porridge Radio, check out the band's Facebook and Twitter. Upcoming tour dates are below the video, and let's hope they squeeze in a Boston date between Chicago and New York.
Fri. May 20 - Manchester, UK @ Piccadilly Records Sat. May 21 - Edinburgh, UK @ The Great Eastern Sun. May 22 - Leeds, UK @ Crash Records Tue. May 24 - London, UK @ Rough Trade East Wed. May 25 - Brighton, UK @ Resident Music Thu. May 26 - Bristol, UK @ Rough Trade Records Thu. May 26 - Sun. May 29 - Walton-on-trent, UK @ Bearded Theory’s Spring Gathering Fri. May 27 - Totnes, UK @ Sea Change Festival Sat. Jun. 4 - Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound Weekend 1 Wed. Jun. 8 - London, UK @ O2 Academy Brixton Sat. Jun. 11 - Hilvarenbeek, NE @ Best Kept Secret Festival Wed. Jun. 29 - Sat. Jul. 2 - Ydynia, PL @ Open’er Festival Fri. Jul. 8 - Soliera, IT @ Arti Vive Sat. Jul. 9 - Siena, IT @ LARS ROCK FEST Thu. Jul. 14 - Sat. Jul. 16 - Budapest, HU @ Reflektor Festival Fri. Jul. 15 - Stirling, UK @ Doune the Rabbit Hole Festival Fri. Jul. 22 - Southwold, UK @ Latitude Festival Sat. Jul. 23 - Macclesfield, UK @ Bluedot Festival Tue. Aug. 9 - Stockholm, SE @ Hus 7 Thu. Aug. 11 - Oslo, NO @ Øyaestivalen Sun. Aug. 14 - Kiewit-Hasselt, BE @ HEAR HEARI Mon. Aug. 15 - Wubterthur, CH @ 47. Winterthurer Musikfestwochen Tue. Aug. 16 - Sat. Aug. 20 - Paredes de Coura, PT @ Paredes de Coura Festival Thu. Sep. 1 - Sun. Sep. 4 - Sixpenny Handley, UK @ End of the Road Festival Tue. Sept. 6 - San Diego, CA @ Casbah Wed. Sept. 7 - Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room Fri. Sept. 9 - San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop Mon. Sept. 12 - Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Tue. Sept. 13 - Seattle, WA @ Barboza Thu. Sept. 15 - Boise, ID @ Neurolux Fri. Sept. 16 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court Sat. Sept. 17 - Denver, CO @ Lost Lake Mon. Sept. 19 - Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry Tue. Sept. 20 - Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle Fri. Sept. 23 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom Sat. Sept. 24 - Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s Sun. Sept. 25 - Washington, DC @ DC9 Tue. Sept. 27 - Atlanta, GA @ Earl Wed. Sept. 28 - Nashville, TN @ Basement East Fri. Sept. 30 - Dallas, TX @ Three Links Sat. Oct. 1 - Austin, TX @ Parish Sat. Oct. 15 - Digbeth, UK @ The Crossing Digbeth Thu. Oct. 20 - Sheffield, UK @ Southampton 1865 Sat. Oct. 22 - Exeter, UK @ Exeter Phoenix Arts Centre Mon. Oct. 24 - Nottingham, UK @ Metronome Tue. Oct. 25 - Bristol, UK @ Trinity Centre Wed. Oct. 26 - Cambridge, UK @ Cambridge Junction Fri. Oct. 28 - Glasgow, UK @ Saint Luke’s Sat. Oct. 29 - Manchester, UL @ Manchester Academy 2 Sun. Oct. 30 - Leeds, UK @ Leeds Irish Centre Tue. Nov. 1 - Hove, UK @ The Old Market Wed. Nov. 2 - Hove, UK @ The Old Market Thu. Nov. 3 - London, UL @ 02 Shepherds Bush Empire Fri. Nov. 11 - Amsterdam, NE @ Melkweg OZ Sat. Nov. 12 - Maastricht, NE @ Muziekgieterij Sun. Nov. 13 - Cologne, DE @ Club Volta Wed. Nov. 16 - Lyon, FR @ Le Sonic Thu. Nov. 17 - Milan, IT @ Biko Sat. Nov. 19 - Bologna, IT @ Covo Club Sun. Nov. 20 - Annecy, FR @ Le Brise Glace Tue. Nov. 22 - Barcelona, ES @ La 2 de Apolo Thu. Nov. 24 - Vigo, ES @ Radar Estudios Fri. Nov. 25 - Guimaraes, PT @ Centro Cultural Vila Flor (CCVF) Mon. Nov. 28 - Madrid, ES @ Independance Club Tue. Nov. 29 - San Sebastián, ES @ Dabadaba Thu. Dec. 1 - Bordeaux, FR @ Rock School Barbey Fri. Dec. 2 - La Rochelle, FR @ La Siréne Sun. Dec. 4 - Bruges, BE @ Cactus Club Mon. Dec. 5 - Luxembourg, LU @ Rotondes Wed. Dec. 7 - Zürich, CH @ Bogen F Thu. Dec. 8 - Munich, DE @ Kranhalle, Feierwerk Sat. Dec. 10 - Vienna, AT @ Flex Sun. Dec. 11 - Prague, CZ @ Café V Lese Mon. Dec. 12 - Berlin, DE @ Festsaal Kreuzberg Fri. Dec. 16 - Hamburg, DE @ Hafenklang Sat. Dec. 17 - Copenhagen, DK @ Lille Vega, VEGA
Somehow Peter Prescott of Mission of Burma and Volcano Suns has another band that I never knew about. Minibeast already released an album that I completely missed back in 2012, and they are currently at work on the follow up, Free Will. Based on a track from the upcoming album, "High Sea," Minibeast shares some common sonic ground with Mission of Burma, but with an added emphasis on the groovy side of things. It's basically the noise and dissonance of Burma but heard through a 60s surf groove, as if Frankie and Annette were punks. You can listen to "High Sea" below. Minibeast currently have a Kickstarter to help fund the final production of Free Will. You can get more information on that here . It should be out sometime in June.
Earlier this week I was expressing sympathy for Limp Bizkit. Limp Bizkit just don't seem to be riding that surge of 90s nostalgia that all sorts of other terrible bands from that era are. Sure, they're terrible. But are they really that much worse than Filter, Alien Ant Farm, and other bands on those 90s nostalgia packages. And then this video is released. The first lyrics to the song are literally "Go fuck yourself." It then features Fred Durst sitting on a toilet, bikini clad chicks pretending to fellate garden hoses and leaf blowers, and Fred Durst talking about fucking bitches, all while wearing a hoodie and a backwards red baseball hat. Then Lil Wayne comes out. Please keep in mind Fred Durst is a 42 year old man.
Photo by Annabel Kean For their latest single, New Zealand's The Beths have released "Mother, Pray for Me." This is a heartbreaking ballad consisting of Elizabeth Stokes' vocals and guitar with just the slightest hint of organ. It's a deeply personal song for Stokes, made obvious with how intimately the song comes across. It truly feels almost confessional, and it's quite simply beautiful. The Beths are most known for huge little indie rock gems perfect for bopping along to, but "Mother, Pray for Me" is quite the opposite. Stokes' vocals and lyrics are right up front on this one, and I can't imagine it any other way. Elizabeth Stokes says of her latest single: “I cried the whole time writing it. It's not really about my mother, it's about me — what I hope our relationship is, what I think it is, what it maybe actually is, and what I can or can't expect out of it. “My mother is a first gen Indonesian immigrant, and very Catholic....
