Earlier this year I was lucky enough to see shame and it might have been one of the best shows I've seen in years. I'm thrilled we already have new music from the South London band, and especially since it's such a sonic shift for them. "Fingers of Steel" is much more melodic than anything off 2021's Drunk Tank Pink while still sounding like what we love about shame. It's a new style of post punk that's less aggressive and more sonically pleasing although it's also more discordant than they typically get. Everything about "Fingers of Steel" seems just slightly off and out of tune, but that's kind of what makes the song great. It's so close to being a mainstream straight up modern rock song, but shame just could never quite do that so you get another wonderfully unique song like this one.
You can watch the video for "Fingers of Steel" below. Food for Worms is due out February 24 on Dead Oceans, which can be pre-ordered here. For more on shame, check out the band on Facebook and Twitter. Upcoming tour dates are below the video.
Wed. Mar. 1 - Dublin, IE @ Button Factory Fri. Mar. 3 - Glasgow, UK @ SWG3 Sat. Mar. 4 - Newcastle, UK @ Boiler Shop Sun. Mar. 5 - Leeds, UK @ Stylus Tue. Mar. 7 - Sheffield, UK @ Leadmill Wed. Mar. 8 - Liverpool, UK @ Invisible Wind Factory Thu. Mar. 9 - Bristol, UK @ SWX Sat. Mar. 11 - Manchester, UK @ New Century Hall Sun. Mar. 12 - Cardiff, UK @ Tramshed Tue. Mar. 14 - Nantes, FR @ Stereolux Wed. Mar. 15 - Paris, FR @ Cabaret Sauvage Thu. Mar. 16 - Bordeaux, FR @ Rock School Barbey Sat. Mar. 18 - Lisbon, PT @ LAV Sun. Mar. 19 - Madrid, ES @ Nazca Mon. Mar. 20 - Barcelona, ES @ La 2 de Apolo Wed. Mar. 22 - Nimes, FR @ Paloma Thu. Mar. 23 - Milan, IT @ Magnolia Fri. Mar. 24 - Zurich, CH @ Plaza Sun. Mar. 26 - Munich, DE @ Technikum Mon. Mar. 27 - Berlin, DE @ Astra Tue. Mar. 28 - Hamburg, DE @ Markthalle Thu. Mar. 30 - Oslo, NO @ Vulkan Fri. Mar. 31 - Stockholm, SE @ Debaser Sat. Apr. 1 - Copenhagen, DK @ VEGA Mon. Apr. 3 - Brussels, BE @ AB Tue. Apr. 4 - Cologne, DE @ Floria Thu. Apr. 6 - Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg Fri. Apr. 28 - London, UK @ Brixton Academy Wed. May 10 - Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall Fri. May 12 - Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar Sat. May 13 - Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer Sun. May 14 - Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw Tue. May 16 - Boston, MA @ The Sinclair Thu. May 18 - Montréal, QC @ Foufounes Électriques Fri. May 19 - Ottawa, ON @ Club SAW Sat. May 20 - Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace Mon. May 22 - Kalamazoo, MI @ Bell’s Eccentric Cafe Wed. May 24 - Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall Fri. May 26 - St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway Sat. May 27 - Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck Sun. May 28 - Fayetteville, AR @ George’s Majestic Lounge Tue. May 30 - Dallas,TX @ Granada Theater Fri. Jun. 2 - Austin, TX @ The Scoot Inn Sat. Jun. 3 - Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall Sun. Jun. 4 - New Orleans, LA @ Toulouse Theatre
Photo by Rachel Cassels The Cairo Gang is mostly Emmett Kelly, who recorded most of their upcoming album, Goes Missing, on his own while travelling. "Be What You Are" is pure pop gold, reminiscent of British invasion bands like The Kinks and The Zombies. It features jangly guitars and some of the most infectious layered vocals you've heard in years. Luckily the beauty of this style of music is that it never quite sounds dated. It might sound like it's from a certain era that happened 50 years ago, but everything you've ever listened to since then borrows so heavily from it that it always sounds current. It's the kind of music you wish you hadn't missed, only now you haven't. Goes Missing is due out June 23rd on God? Records. You can pre-order the album now, and be sure to check out The Cairo Gang's Facebook . Listen to "Be What You Are" below, and below that are tour dates, many opening for Mikal Cronin. Sat. Sept. 5 - Portlan...
Photo by Hanna Katrina I never thought we'd be covering a band that formed after a karaoke party doing a song about Meghan Markle, but 2019 is weird. Also, Dry Cleaning are a shockingly great band. Only forming two years ago, the band is set to release their debut EP next month. "Magic of Meghan" is obviously about Meghan Markle, but it might be the only post punk and new wave influenced song about the Duchess of Sussex. As the band says about the song: “ The song acknowledges that following the lives of those in the public eye can provide people with an escape; an outlet for difficult emotions, and subsequently help them to cope with hard times in their lives, ” says Florence Shaw. “ The song is, in part, intended to serve as a thank you to Meghan for this service (‘You got engaged on the day that I moved out. It’s ok. She’s a smasher, perfectly suited to the role’). The song also aims to highlight how the news media dissect her decisions (‘Never has one outfit bee...
Photo by Ebru Yildiz Somehow TORRES keeps surprising us with her music. The musical project of Mackenzie Scott has released a new single that features her vocals and acoustic guitar that would feel at home in a neo-folk song over a pre-programmed drum beat with sounds that at times are either a light squall of guitar feedback and electronic noises. The song has this haunting and unsettling feeling to it, despite sounding like it's trying to be upbeat. I'd say art doesn't always have to be a pleasant experience, but "I got the fear" can be a pleasant listening experience, except for the times it's not. Mackenzie Scott says of her latest single: “A collective dread has been mounting. Everyone I know is having a brawl with the universe, with themselves…wars, climate catastrophe, a pandemic, the worldwide regression on human rights, the political hellscape — it affects everybody, and I know we’re all feeling it in waves of varying degree all the time. I think it’s...
