If It's Too Loud...

Photo by Ben Rayner London's Dry Cleaning continue their crusade to become your favorite post punk/jangle pop band with their latest single. "Gary Ashby" combines the downbeat sound of Gang of Four with the more shoegaze and dream pop sounds of bands like Lush and Belly. The resulting sound gives "Gary Ashby" a hypnotically foreboding quality. It's also the greatest post punk song ever about a missing tortoise. Dry Cleaning explains that the song is  “ ... a lament about a pet tortoise, escaped as a result of family chaos. We wrote it in December 2020, one of the first new songs after the  New Long Leg  session.” You can listen to "Gary Ashby" below. Stumpwork is due out October 21 on 4AD, and can be pre-ordered here . For more on Dry Cleaning, check out the band on Facebook and Instagram . Upcoming tour dates are below the song. Sat. Sept. 17 - Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up Sun. Sept. 18 - Los Angeles, US @ Primavera Sound LA Tue. Sept. 20 - San Fr...

Photo by Steve Gullick It's truly promising when a young band changes up their sound between albums while keeping it sounding like them. The latest single from Dry Cleaning sounds like Dry Cleaning, but changes it up just enough to keep it interesting. "Anna Calls from the Arctic" still has that spoken word/Velvet Underground meets noise rock feel to it, but the noise is restrained a bit. The new song has a 1960's groove to it with a retro cool feel. It's oddly hypnotic in a vaguely threatening way. What's truly interesting with "Anna Calls from the Arctic" is that it's a relatively laid back song but one of the most intense ones Dry Cleaning have ever released. The band says of their new single: “The lyrics were partly inspired by phone calls with a friend who was living and working in the Arctic. The song developed from a keyboard, bass and clarinet jam. This then took shape during our pre-recording sessions with John Parish and Joe Jones in Br...

Photo by Ben Rayner We were big fans of Dry Cleaning's New Long Leg last year. It was a post-rock masterpiece with spoken word over Sonic Youth and Velvet Underground style riffs that worked for us. Now the London band is back with a new single and a new upcoming album. "Don't Press Me" almost feels like Dry Cleaning decided to try to write a big mainstream hit in the vein of Wet Leg and failed spectacularly. First, there is some actual singing on "Don't Press Me." Plus, the song a certain groovy quality that is almost poppy and almost dance-friendly. But, this is still Dry Cleaning so it's the most oddball way of trying to make that kind of song possible. As always with these folks it won't be for everyone, but I think we all kind of like it that way. You can watch the video for "Don't Press Me" below. Stumpwork is due out October 21 via 4AD, and can be pre-ordered/pre-saved here . For more on Dry Cleaning, check out the band's...