Tracks Of The Week, 19.03.18 - GigslutzGigslutz

Sharing the first taste of his forthcoming debut album, Daniel Blumberg (Yuck, Oupa and Hebronix) has released title track ‘Minus.’

Combining raw, emotional song-writing with an improvisational, free-music ethos, ‘Minus’ is taken from an album which was recorded live in just five days, amidst a debilitating break up, and an ongoing struggle with mental illness. The result is possibly the most open and honest, and simultaneously heart-wrenchingly beautiful, piece of music I’ve come across for a while. It was tough, no doubt, but if ‘Minus’ is anything to go by, the album marks an impossibly exciting new era for Blumberg.

Minus is out on 4 May. See Daniel Blumberg live:

May
4 – Rough Trade East, London – Tickets
17 – St George’s Church @ Brighton Festival, Brighton – Tickets
June
01 – Café Oto, London – Tickets
July
09 – Café Oto, London – Tickets
August
25 – Sea Change Festival, Totnes – Tickets

The new project from Hooton Tennis Club’s James Madden and Ryan Murphy, Seatbelts are have shared their first single ‘Hey, Hey Tiger!’

With the band name coined during an intoxicated phone call about what ‘The Beatles’ would spell about backwards, seemingly fitting “the sense of feeling restricted to a screen and strapped into a life that has become pretty automated” ‘Hey, Hey Tiger!’ sees Seatbelts burst out of any such mundanity.

Reminiscent of Blur, with nods to Courtney Barnett, ‘Hey, Hey Tiger!’ is a perfect introduction to Seatbelts – catchy melodies, social awareness, and an overriding sense that Madden and Murphy were made to work together.

The EP Songs For Vonnegut is due out in May 2018.

Leading the way for the release of their forthcoming EP The Legend of Banjo Billy, FLING have shared ‘Banjo Billy’ – a 3-minute glam-pop masterpiece.

With the EP chronicling the different characters/experiences FLING have encountered in their hometown of Bradford, ‘Banjo Billy’ could be any one of the musos found in the city’s gigs and open mic nights. The perfect example of their self-proclaimed ‘wonky pop’ sound, ‘Billy Banjo’ is a woozy, off-kilter, but most importantly incredibly fun taste of what FLING have to offer.

The Legend of Banjo Billy is out on 13 April. See FLING live:

March
31 – Stockton Calling, Stockton-On-Tees
April
24 – Hug and Pint – Glasgow
25 – The Castle, Manchester
27 – Thousand Island – London
May
5 – Live At Leeds, Leeds

Liverpool-based collective Sunstack Jones are fighting off any remnants of winter with their sunny debut offering, ‘Without Being Told.’

Defined as a loose-knit collective of “always two sometimes three, but mostly four, maybe five, musicians,” ‘Without Being Told’ is a taste of the sun-drenched psych-tinged dream pop Sunstack Jones are bringing to the table. Rife with jangly guitars and hazy vocals, it transports you – for three-and-a-half minutes at least – to somewhere warmer, calmer and much, much better.

‘Without Being Told’ is out now