Rat Fancy - Swirlies - Simone & Girlfunkle
Rat Fancy - I Cant Dance To The Smiths Anymore.Background - Rat Fancy (ex-Sweater Girls) debut new track "I Can't Dance to the Smiths Anymore" and announce new album "Suck A Lemon" released May 26th on HHBTM Records. Dreaming of a world where reruns of The Adventures Of Pete And Pete are on every channel and kids are free to be as weird as they want to be, Rat Fancy emerges with their fiercely different brand of indie pop. Hailing from Los Angeles, CA—where despite all that sunshine you might choke on the smog and ambition all around you—Rat Fancy is ex Sweater Girl Diana Barraza (vocals/guitar), Gregory Johnson (guitar / keyboard) and Gavin Glidewell (drums).
It’s a six-song EP about saying goodbye to all that, one kiss-off after another, possibly the sweetest collection of ‘fuck you’s ever committed to vinyl. Every track is a killer. Every track is a keeper. It’s the sound of being fd up on pollen and sugar, skidding through a dizzy blissful spring of laughter and loss.
The title track appears in two versions, a fast one and a slow one (just like Yo La Tengo used to do!) and they’re both capable of moving you to tears, because despite the sourness of the EP’s title, this music is almost impossibly sweet.
Subject matter veers from the ultra-personal to the paranormal. ‘I Can’t Dance To The Smiths Anymore’ isn’t about the Smiths, it’s about growing up. ‘Five Fingers’ is, quite literally, a slap in the face. Its synth-line stays in your head for days. ‘About You’ is a killer rant against small-mindedness, a manifesto for non-conformity that blends the Pixies and bubblegum into something altogether amazing.
Indiepop is in tatters and the ashes are all around us, and yet, and yet, a record this vital and brave, a record this alive, gives us hope for the future. Suck A Lemon succeeds by being smarter, sharper, and realer than its contemporaries. And if you don’t like it, I think you know by now what you can go do. Website here, Facebook here.
A fabulous song title such as 'I Cant Dance To The Smiths Anymore' deserves a fine tune to go with it. Thankfully Rat Fancy dish up a beautiful indie pop/rock track, that coming in at just over two minutes, requires an immediate replay at the very least.
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Background - This August, 90s shoegaze veterans Swirlies will play their first west coast dates in 14 years, on the heels of the vinyl reissue of their Blonder Tongue Audio Baton LP (1993), which recently reached #11 on Pitchfork’s list of the 50 best shoegaze albums of all time.
Swirlies' last US appearances were in the eastern US and Canada in 2015. The lineup will include founding members Damon Tutunjian (guitar/vocals) and Andy Bernick (bass/keyboards), Adam Pierce (Mice Parade) on drums, Deb Warfield (Gold Muse) on guitar/keyboards/vocals, and Elliott Malvas (You're Jovian) on guitar and keyboards.
In January 2016, Swirlies were included on Cherry Red's definitive box-set of the early shoegaze movement: Still in a Dream. In July 2016, Swirlies released a new song ("Fantastic Trumpets Forever") exclusive to the Joyful Noise Recordings’ 2016 Flexi Disc Series. A remixed version will be released digitally in summer 2017. In October 2016, the Swirlies' 1993 classic Blonder Tongue Audio Baton LP was finally repressed on vinyl. It is currently available for purchase online and in local record stores. Copies will also be available for direct purchase from the band during the tour.
The band's members have collaborated with a number of noteworthy artists. Damon Tutunjian produced Mew's first LP, co-wrote a number of their songs, and has performed (guitar, bass, vocals, and keyboards) on all of their recordings to date. Adam Pierce has played with Mice Parade, HiM, Philistines Jr. and múm. Rob Laakso has played bass, guitar, and keyboards for Kurt Vile and the Violators since 2011. Facebook here, live dates on Beehive Candy's tour page.
As shoegaze goes 'Vigilant Always' is no wall of sound, the power can and does occasionally explode, however there is plenty of clarity and at times an alt rock feel, that just adds more passion to the track.
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Simone & Girlfunkle - Fight On.Background - Beloved WA six-piece Simone & Girlfunkle are pleased to announce their new effervescent single Fight On, a delightfully arranged slice of indie-pop featuring the group’s signature three-part female harmonies.
Produced and engineered by Dave Parkin (Tired Lion, Bob Evans) and mastered by William Bowden (Gotye, Emma Louise), Fight On revels in upbeat, lush, wall-of-sound Belle and Sebastian style smarts while exploring themes of heartache, conflict and loss. It’s a balance the band strike effortlessly, holding space for joy and despair - offering a weight and substance to their dreamy pop spirit.
Simone & Girlfunkle were born on one of North Perth's hazy, sun-drenched afternoons and quickly issued a self-titled EP followed by the full-length ‘Hurry, Harry’ which X-Press hailed as “A debut that has no weak points”. Their music has been heard all over TV in programs like Winners & Losers, MTV's Awkward, ABC's Giggle and Hoot and Packed to the Rafters, while diverse support from radio has been very welcoming from many at community radio, Triple J, Radio National and commercial stations Triple M and Mix FM.
As warm and captivating on stage as they are on record, Simone & Girlfunkle have appeared alongside some of Australia’s finest - Gurrumul, Holly Throsby, Wendy Matthews, Owl Eyes and more - while notching up performances at Southbound, St. Kilda Festival, State of the Art, Channel Nine's The Weekend Today Show, Nannup Music Festival and Fairbridge Folk Festival, where The Music wrote "the girls' flawless harmonies were a force to be reckoned with”.
Combining a solid artistic vision with an antipodean sense of humour, these best mates have been busily writing, recording and sprinkling harmonic joy all over their upcoming sophomore album, due for release this year. Facebook here.
'Fight On' mixes rich and well produced music with vivacious and sparkling vocals. Production is top class allowing this indie pop song to ooze with quality and good feeling.
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