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 Francisco, CA @ The Chapel Wed. Sept. 21 - San Jose, CA @ The Ritz Thu. Sept. 22 - Big Sur, CA @ Henry Miller Memorial Library Tue. Nov. 8 - Paris, FR @ Le Trabendo Wed. Nov. 9 - Cologne, DE @ Club Volta Fri. Nov. 11 - Utrecht, NL @ Le Guess Who? Festival Sat. Nov. 12 - Kortrijk, BE @ Sonic City Wed. Nov. 30 - Tokyo, JP @ Liquid Room Thu. Dec. 1 - Osaka, JP @ Club Quattro Tue. Dec. 6 - Auckland, NZ @ Tuning Fork Wed. Dec. 7 - Wellington, NZ @ San Fran Fri. Dec. 9 - Brisbane, AU @ The Brightside Sat. Dec. 10 - Meredith, AU @ Meredith Festival Mon. Dec. 12 - Melbourne, AU @ The Corner Hotel Tue. Dec. 13 - Melbourne, AU @ The Corner Hotel Wed. Dec. 14 - Sydney, AU @ Manning Bar Fri. Dec. 16 - Perth, AU @ Rosemount Hotel Tue. Jan. 10, 2023 - Montreal, QC @ La Tulipe Wed. Jan. 11, 2023 - Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Fri. Jan. 13, 2023 - Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall Sat. Jan 14, 2023 - Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Tue. Jan. 17, 2023 - Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Wed. Jan. 18, 2023 - Seattle, WA @ Neptune Thu. Jan. 19, 2023 - Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom Sat. Jan. 21, 2023 - San Francisco, CA @ August Hall Mon. Jan. 23, 2023 - Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom Tue. Jan. 24, 2023 - Tucson, AZ @ Congress Plaza Thu. Jan. 26, 2023 - Dallas, TX @ Texas Theatre Fri. Jan. 27, 2023 - Austin, TX @ Mohawk Sat. Jan. 28, 2023 - New Orleans, LA @ Toulouse Theatre Sun. Jan. 29, 2023 - Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West Tue. Jan. 31, 2023 - Washington, DC @ The Howard Theatre Wed. Feb. 1, 2023 - Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer Thu. Feb. 2, 2023 - Brooklyn, NY @ Pioneers Works Tue. Feb. 14, 2023 - Dublin, IE @ Vicar Street Wed. Feb. 15, 2023 - Belfast, UK @ Mandela Hall Fri. Feb. 17, 2023 - Glasgow, UK @ Barrowlands Sat. Feb. 18, 2023 - Leeds, UK @ O2 Academy Mon. Feb. 20, 2023 - Liverpool, UK @ Invisible Wind Factory Tue. Feb. 21, 2023 - Nottingham, UK @ Rock City Wed Feb. 22, 2023 - Sheffield, UK @ O2 Academy Fri. Feb. 24, 2023 - Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall Sat. Feb. 25, 2023 - Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institute Sun. Feb. 26, 2023 - Bristol, UK @ O2 Academy Tue. Feb. 28, 2023 - Cardiff, UK @ Tramshed Wed. March 1, 2023 - Brighton, UK @ Chalk Fri. March 3, 2023 - London, UK @ O2 Academy Brixton Mon. Mar. 13, 2023 - Copenhagen, DK @ VEGA Wed. Mar. 15, 2023 - Stockholm, SE @ Debaser Strand Thu. Mar. 16, 2023 - Oslo, NO @ Parkteatret Sat. Mar. 18, 2023 - Hamburg, DE @ Knust Sun. Mar. 19, 2023 - Groningen, NL @ Vera Mon. Mar. 20, 2023 - Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Tue. March 22, 2023 - Offenbach, DE @ Hafen2 Thu. Mar. 23, 2023 - Munich, DE @ Strom Fri. Mar. 24, 2023 - Vienna, AT @ Flex Fri. Mar. 25, 2023 - Prague, CZ @ Futurum Mon. Mar. 27, 2023 - Warsaw, PL @ Hybrydy Tue. Mar. 28, 2023 - Leipzig, DE @ UT Connewitz Wed. Mar. 29, 2023 - Berlin, DE @ Festsaal Kreuzberg Fri. Mar. 31, 2023 - Rotterdam, NL @ Maassilo Sat. Apr. 1, 2023 - Antwerp, BE @ Trix
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....
