One Beat

Last month, ESYA - the new project from Ayşe Hassan of Savages, Kite Base and 180db - released debut album Chasing Desire via AOK Records. Best known for her incredible bass playing, Chasing Desire saw Hassan sing for the first time on record, and merge her silky yet forceful bass playing with synths, electronics and programmed beats. These immersive soundscapes sonically explore the human condition and Hassan’s own experience of a turbulent period, and were accompanied by ‘Chasing Desire’ exhibitions in London and Glasgow. At these exhibitions visitors were encouraged to explore the components of the record, experimenting with the equipment Hassan used to build her sound; a process to help demystify the often alienating world of synthesis - something Hassan herself confronted and overcame when approaching the creation of this work. Chasing Desire gained high praise & support from press, inc @mojo4music @electronicsoundmag @godisinthetvzine @clashmagazine @loudandquietmag @bandcamp @the_arts_desk @undertheradarmag @thelineofbestfit @rockerilla @getinherears plus features on @bbcnews and @talkhouse . @ayse__esya #esya #chasingdesire #aokrecords #aysehassan

The Hobknobs - the new project from Lewsberg’s Arie van Vliet, and Yaël Dekker of The Klittens - announce their first album, Helmets Off, coming 26th June via the duo direct (& @12xurecs in the US). Helmets Off can be described as an honest attempt at honesty. Although all options are open at the moment of conception, the end result often remains bare. Instruments come in when they are needed, but the songs apparently don’t need that much at all. Every word and every strum sounds like it’s placed in exactly the right moment. Perhaps it is this bareness of the songs that makes it feel as if The Hobknobs are speaking to the listener directly. It is clear that they don’t want anything to cloud this human interaction. Today, they also share lead single “Easier Listening”, streaming now. Arie says of it: “Easier Listening is about people who consciously choose to be less intelligent, in order to be able to understand so much more” Yaël adds: “It’s the most poppy song of ‘Helmets Off’, I never thought we had it in us to write something like that.” Catch them on tour in the US now! 📷 Katja Kahana #thehobknobs #lewsberg @lewsberg_gigs @theklittens

@clashmagazine ’s @mischapearlman gives the new @middle_____man record 9/10! Out now via Evil Speaker Records. “Raucously unhinged yet simultaneously full of catchy hooks... ‘Following The Ghost’ is a visceral and important reminder that all we have is the present moment – and we’re fools if we don’t at least try to seize it. A stunning debut from a band who have an incredibly bright future.” Upcoming live dates... 11th April - George Tavern - London 16th April - The Lexington - London (supporting Lathe of Heaven) 18th April - Old Blue Last - London (Flashback Records for RSD) 23rd May - Dot to Dot Festival - Bristol 24th May - Dot to Dot Festival - Nottingham Touring with Superchunk: 23rd June - Strange Brew - Bristol 24th June - ICA - London 25th June - Hare and Hounds - Birmingham 26th June - Room 2 - Glasgow 28th June - The Brudenell Social Club - Leeds 29th June - YES (Pink Room) - Manchester 19th September - Oslo - London (supporting Frog) #middlemanband #superchunk

Read an exclusive interview with Guttersnipe’s Uroceras Gigas and Tipula Confusa on @thequietus , discussing new album Extinction Burst! (coming 8th May via @night_school ). Thanks to Natalie Marlin for the feature! Guttersnipe Live Dates: Wednesday 22nd April - Leeds - Wharf Chambers Saturday 25th April - Shrewsbury - English Bridge Studios Sunday 26th April - Birmingham - @supersonic_fest @gutsnips #guttersnipe #nightschoolrecords #thequietus

London DIY four-piece Middleman (@middle_____man ) released their highly anticipated debut album Following The Ghost last month via Evil Speaker Records, picking up praise from @thelineofbestfit @mojo4music @uncut_magazine @nmemagazine @faroutmagazine @loudandquietmag @soyoungmagazine @godisinthetvzine @sun13music @ifitstooloud @rosyoverdrive @stereoboard @brooklynvegan @birthdaycakeforandy @joyzineuk @northerntransmissions & many more. Made up of Noah Alves, Harper Maury, Rory White and Ted Foster, Middleman’s sound recalls the taut, wiry assault of Mission of Burma; the raspy yet melodic charge of The Replacements, and the pioneering punk of Wipers, fleshed out via the more restrained and tender moments of Big Star or Neil Young. But despite sonic echoes of previous eras, their songs feel fresh and current, mirroring the album’s lyrical exploration of how being chained to the past can hinder your forward momentum into the future. Catch Middleman live at London’s Dash The Henge record shop on 27th March at 7pm. #middlemanband #followingtheghost

New Scottish dream pop group Radhika (@radh__1ka__ ), led by Radhika Meera Dade, have announced their debut album Cine-Pop due 22nd May via @glassmodernrecs . Cine-Pop is a collection of songs that flow gently and easily in and out of each other - a suite, a short film, everything an album should be. The record spans generations and continents, and features appearances from a number of Radhika’s family, friends and esteemed Glasgow musicians, including Mitch Mitchell (The Pastels), Gerard Love (Lightships/ ex-Teenage Fanclub), and Tracyanne Campbell (Camera Obscura). Cine-Pop is the world through the eyes of a dazzling young Indo-Scottish woman, blissfully pairing Radhika’s soaring voice with her love of all kinds of music from Bollywood to Goth Pop to The Glasgow School. Watch the video for new single “Feline Bandits” online now, directed by Glasgow-based filmmaker Laura Meek. Radhika Live: 21st March - Edinburgh, Leith Cricket Club with Former Champ 5th April - Cardiff, Wales Goes Pop at The Gate 15th April - Glasgow, Glad Cafe with ⁠Bhajan Boy 15th May – Dumbarton Football Club, Byrne’s Night (A Tribute to David Byrne & Talking Heads) 30th May - Glasgow, Glad Cafe with the Would Be Goods 13th June - Coventry, Just Dropped In with Stone Anthem 14th June - London - Rough Trade In-store (Denmark St) 3pm 14th June - London - Betsy Trotwood with Stone Anthem 29th August - Sussex, The Wake Festival with Badly Drawn Boy, The Tubs & more 📷 Press shot - Eilidh McQuiggan

Ben Auld (@bwauld ) announces his new album, Loserdom, due 1st May via @safesuburbanhome (and US label Repeating Cloud). The record represents a big departure from Auld’s earlier twee-folk sound, and is a louder and more ambitious shift toward blown-out power-pop. Loserdom was written during a time of personal upheaval for Auld, and marks “a celebration of the relief that comes when you accept your losses”. Each song squeezes itself under the three minute mark with unhinged feedback, ripping “Bach-inspired” solos and a refreshing degree of unpredictability. Catch Ben and his band live: Friday 8th May - The Peer Hat, Manchester* Saturday 9th May - Just Dropped In, Coventry* Sunday 10th May - Sidney & Matilda, Sheffield (headline) Tuesday 12th May - The Grove, Nottingham (headline) Wednesday 13th May - Oporto, Leeds (headline) Thursday 14th May - Smokehouse, Ipswich^ Friday 15th May - The Holloway, Norwich* Saturday 16th May - The Old England, Bristol* *with @rural_france + Sumos ^ supporting Styrofoam Winos Listen to lead single “Red Bandana” online now. 📷 Credit Liv Nichol

Extinction Burst! is the new invocation in album-form by Guttersnipe (@gutsnips ), Leeds’ premier and pre-eminent XFCER (XFCER: Xenofeminist crisis-energy rock)* duo, ft members of Tristwch Y Fenywod, Nape Neck, Petronn Sphene, and Yexxen. Slamming at full speed to multi-dimensional oblivion, Extinction Burst! is the most full, hi-definition lurid dream-mare yet spewed out by Uroceras Gigas & Tipula Confusa. Extinction Burst! is the long-awaited follow-up to 2018’s My Mother The Vent, which garnered universal critical adoration. Nevertheless, this new offering is more extreme: it is wildness beyond reason, splitting new tears in the reality gauze, ultimate hallucination through sound ecstasy. There is nothing on this cursed earth like Guttersnipe. Coming 8th May via @night_school , listen to album cut “Keep Honking! We’re Stuck in a Memetic Bottleneck” online now. Live: UK Live Dates: Wednesday 22nd April - Leeds - Wharf Chambers Saturday 25th April - Shrewsbury - English Bridge Studios Sunday 26th April - Birmingham - Supersonic Festival 📷 Shakeeb Abu Hamdan “Guttersnipe are one of the most exciting live acts in the UK underground, if not the entire world.” - The Quietus “Dynamic Leeds duo Guttersnipe have been through metal-morphosis to subvert the machismo of noise and rock with ecstatic atonal attack” - The Wire

Hannah Lew (@hannahlew_ ) leads today’s Add To Playlist feature in the @guardian ! With her debut self-titled album due 10th April via @night_school , The Guardian calls the Cold Beat/Grass Widow member’s music “a new obsession.. one of those albums that could easily be a greatest hits, with nine irresistible, single-worthy tracks all saturated with neon-lit heartbreak.” “Lew excels at wringing maximum emotion from familiar sounds. She deftly moves between sub-genres and styles, from the minimal wave of Distance of the Moon to the New Order-esque Siloed.. Across all these modes, Lew’s earnest vocal tone recalls the light touch of Chromatics’ Ruth Radelet – a refreshingly low-key and human centre to her maximalist musical world.” Read the whole piece online now 👁️ 📷 Sean Hewitt

Rural France (@rural_france ) announce new album SLOTHS - their jangliest, most baroque and thoughtful album yet - due 8th May via @safesuburbanhome (and @meritoriorec ) in EU/N. America). While their first three albums were unapologetically lo-fi in the truest GbV sense, SLOTHS is a slightly different beast. For one, it’s been mixed by a professional – Rob Slater (Westside Cowboy, Yard Act, Thank) – giving the guitars and drums room to breathe. It’s easily their most high-fidelity record to date, yet still retains the buzzes, hums and little freak-outs that stick to the duo’s original “Pavement playing Teenage Fanclub” mission statement. The songs celebrate (and rail against) the absurdities of getting older, forming a band in your thirties, and the strange phenomenon of time passing. They’ve also shared the horn-embossed loser anthem “Lonely Heart Pyramid Scheme” single, listen online now. UK Live Dates: Friday 8th May - The Peer Hat, Manchester Saturday 9th May - Just Dropped In, Coventry Friday 15th May - The Holloway, Norwich Saturday 16th May - The Old England, Bristol All dates with Ben Auld + Sumos

After working on Music City’s debut 7” single way back in 2018, it was a dream to be reunited for the band’s long-awaited full-length, released last month on @redundantspan ! Featuring guest appearances from the likes of Sheer Mag, Gilla Band and Dick Diver members, the band’s dazzling debut ‘Welcome to Music City’ blends Irish songwriter Conor Lumsden’s wry storytelling with chiming guitars and stacked harmonies. It’s an instant classic, and quite rightly got tons of praise from @nprmusic @mojo4music @thelineofbestfit @shaunkeaveny_ @bbcradio2 @bbc6music @see_saw.fun @godisinthetvzine @addtowantlist @rosyoverdrive @thegoodublin @nialler9 @bandcamp @thequietus & more. Also one of the best live bands in the biz, keep an ear out for more tour news soon! @music.city.conor #musiccityband #thenumberones

The Claypool Lennon Delirium (@cldelirium ) will return this spring with their third and most outlandish album yet: The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy, due May 1st via @atorecords . Reuniting after several years of intergalactic solo missions and sonic side quests, Les Claypool and Sean Ono Lennon once again combine their mutant minds to deliver an elaborate, 14-song concept record reflecting on morality, mortality, and the warnings of A.I., with a story-world that doubles as a cautionary tale about sustainability and the slippery slope of optimization without empathy. The physical edition expands the album’s mythology into a true companion piece: a 2-LP set in a tip-on gatefold jacket paired with a 24 page comic book, with each song mapped to its own illustrated chapter. What began as an ambitious idea for a feature-length animated film ultimately became a fully realised graphic narrative - one that now defines the album’s identity as much as the music itself. Out today alongside the album announcement is “The Golden Egg of Empathy (feat. WILLOW).” A key moment in the album’s narrative arc, the track introduces WILLOW’s lead vocal as Claypool and Lennon tilt the Delirium’s technicolor theatrics toward something strangely tender, surreal, and human. In the song’s language, the modern world’s glowing conveniences start to look “insignificant,” “devoid of love,” and the search for empathy becomes its own kind of destiny. The video serves as a first glimpse into the album’s elaborate visual universe. 📷 Jay Blakesburg #theclaypoollennondelirium #thegoldeneggofempathy #atorecords @willowsmith