Loud And Quiet

On the last Wednesday of each month, from 8pm until 9pm, a couple of the Loud And Quiet team live broadcast a radio show on ResonanceFM, rounding up the previous 30 days of new music.

That Wednesday was yesterday, and in case you had better things to do, here’s the whole show.

Here’s what we played, but the conversation between the song – the bit that makes so many other radio shows completely unlistenable – is also incredibly interesting.

Ariel Pink – Another Weekend
JOHN – Ghost Painter
Kali Uchis ft. Jorja Smith – Tyrant
Peter Perrett – How The West Was Won
Molly Nilsson – About Somebody
Gentle Friendly – RIP Static
Jen Cloher – Forgot Myself
Jack Cooper – North of Anywhere
Technology + Teamwork – K+B

Considering Princess Nokia has been touring the world off of the back of three self-released albums made available on Soundcloud and YouTube, it’s kinda surprising that she’s signed a record deal at all. That that deal is with Rough Trade, on the face of it, seems even more out there – but it really isn’t.

RT – the daddy of UK indies – has a couple of killer reps: as the label of The Smiths and the original wave of indie artists, and as a label revitalised (and revitalising) by The Strokes and The Libertines. “Rough Trade,” you might say. “They do the bands I like.” In recent years though, they’ve made some brilliant and progressive signings that might go amiss as theirs, away from their guitar roots – acts like Anohni, Dean Blunt, Pantha Du Prince, Micachu & The Shapes and, most recently, Sleaford Mods.

New York rapper Princess Nokia fits in much more with that bunch than she does Belle & Sebastian and Adam Green, and today she’s posted this first song from her new deal.

‘G.O.A.T.’ is the debut track of hers to be made available on mayor streaming sites, and considering everything she’s achieved so far without label help, this could be the start of something big for Princess Nokia.

I’m just speculating here, but I imagine, label or no label, her next album will simply fall out of the sky at some point between now and, say, December 31st. Keep an eye out.

Snapped Ankles have made an appearance on The Listening Post before, when they shared their excellent track ‘I Want My Minutes Back’ in the spring.

They’re a collection of forest-dwelling individuals who come together to play live shows in the city dressed as a trees. Their Topophobia performance nights are a bit legendary, too.

The nature lovers aren’t adverse to technology, but well, they say their output is “what dance music will sounds like when computers finally fail us.”

Today’s an important day. They’re announcing the release of their debut album, it’s called ‘Come Play The Trees’ and aptly it’ll be released by The Leaf Label on 29 September.

Before that though, later this week (30 June) their ‘The Best Light Is The Last Light’ EP comes out.

AND, finally, there’s a new video for their recently released track ‘Jonny Guitar Calling Gosta Berlin’. Where a bloke – one of the band we think – tapes two bricks together and chucks them in a washing machine. Not sure what all the spaghetti and milk is about in this Sol Haim directed video, but still, it’s entertaining.

Snapped Ankles are playing a launch show for that EP at the Total Refreshment Centre in London on 13 July.

If Moses Sumney’s ‘Lamentations EP’ gave you slip last last year, it’s worth returning to, especially its highlight ‘Lonely World’.

Since he played a pair of sold-out shows at London’s Old St Pancras Church in the autumn of 2016 things have been building quite nicely. Now, he’s announced that after this year’s End of the Road festival he’s going on a short UK tour. It’s not really a tour, it’s two shows, one in Brighton at Komedia on 30 October and one in London at Islington Assembly Halls (on Halloween).

The L.A.-based musician has also signed to Jagjaguwar who’ll release his debut album at a later date. The complete this trio of news, he’s shared a brand new track: ‘Doomed’. Just a heads up: it will leave you feeling very sad.

Benjamin Clementine makes his position clear on the announcement of his forthcoming second album, ‘I Tell A Fly’.

“I have written my second piece called ‘I Tell A Fly’. In little words – it’s a story about two wandering flies finding fleet. I am neither a politician nor prophet but an artist who creates to only entertain is no better than a con. I hope this album fulfils its purpose as the continuation from ‘At Least For Now’.

So just in case his Mercury Prize winning debut album and, more recently, his collaboration with Gorillaz ‘Hallelujah Money’ wasn’t clear enough: he’s not not just here to entertain, here’s here to say something.

From this new album, he’s already shared ‘Phantom of Aleppoville’ – a song that ditches any kind of conventional song structure but still somehow rewards repeat listens.

‘God Save The Jungle’ is his latest track – is a song about the refugee camp in northern France disassembled last autumn…

‘I Tell A Fly’ will be released on 15 September. He plays London’s Brixton Academy on 5 December.

Keep it simple. That’s no doubt what the members of Crystal Palace duo JOHN, both called John, said to each other when coming up with a title for their project a couple of years back.

Anyway, for two people they make an impressive din, and have played with the likes of IDLES and USA Nails in the past. Their 2015 EP ‘Validation’ is well worth a listen.

Now, they’ve got a new album, ‘God Speed In The National Limit’, coming out in October. ‘Ghost Printer’ is the first track from it.

“The track presents the story of a man haunted by his own technology offering a darkly comic view of the common routines we find ourselves coerced into,” they comment.

For the video, presumably one of the Johns, performs the track from three behind three dark peep holes. It’s warped, and brilliant.

JOHN will also play an album launch show at London’s Old Blue Last on 18 October. ‘Ghost Printer’ is out today (23 June) via Till Deaf Do Us Party.

“His book and life resonated with me to such a degree that I felt a need to dedicate my latest record to him,” says Arial Pink introducing his new LP, ‘Dedicated To Bobby Jameson’.

Bobby Jameson was the L.A musician absent from the public eye for 35 years before he reappeared online 10 years ago to write about his tragic life in an autobiography and series of YouTube stories. He passed away in 2015.

His story got into Arial Pink’s head so much his new album isn’t just inspired by him but a total homage.

The follow-up to 2014’s ‘pom pom’, it’ll come out on 15 September via Mexican Summer. In the meantime, he’s shared the beautiful lead track from it ‘Another Weekend’.

For people who’ve followed Glasgow’s evergreen DIY scene, Breakfast Muff remain one of the most exciting torchbearers.

The trio, who’ve already released two LPs since forming in 2014, are made up of Cal Donnelly from Spinning Coin and Rapid Tan, alongside Eilidh McMillan from Joanna Gruesome and Simone Wilson (Hairband, Mary Column).

Their debut album, ‘The Feels’ was made in two days. The second, ‘Rainbow Yawn’, three, and this new one, ‘Eurgh!’ – as sequence dictates – four. It was made at The Big Shed Community Centre in the Highlands during May of last year.

They don’t mess about. It’ll be out via Amour Foo on 7 July. Here’s new track ‘Feast’.

They’re playing in Glasgow at Stereo on 10 July, along with Joyce Manor and Martha.

Photo: Paul Burt

Chances are, if you’re off to Glastonbury this year you’ve already slept the night in the car park and you’re currently lugging a inept B&Q trolley overflowing with Strongbow and bog roll up the hill sweating your arse off.

But, on the off chance you’re reading this instead of trying to pitch your tent close enough to the Portaloos to make it during the night but far enough away not to constantly smell them, then here’s a tip for the weekend…

‘The Bomb’ an immersive multimedia installation about nuclear weapons will be making it’s UK debut down on Worthy Farm. The Acid have written the score and will be performing it live at in Shangri-La at 11pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The 55-minute documentary will be projected on The Gas Tower, will house massive 360 degree screens that surround the audience. Stanley Donwood, known for designing Radiohead’s artwork and now the yearly Glastonbury poster, is the creative director of the film, which was created by Smriti Keshari, Eric Schlosser and Kevin Ford.

A bit about it: “The audience will experience the sights and sound of nuclear tests, accidents, planning as well as the technological and cultural influence of nuclear weapons.”

Sounds more interesting than watching Foo Fighters.

In anticipation they’ve just shared this new track from the score, ‘Modern Propaganda’.

It’s only been performed at Tribeca and Berlin Film festival so far, and here’s a taste: