Rising LA-based quartet, Kills Birds, will be releasing their debut self-titled LP on September 19th, 2019 through KRO Records. The band's early live performances caught the attention of producer Justin Raisen (Marissa Nadler, John Cale, Ariel Pink) with whom they recorded their debut album in only eight hours back in 2018. The result led to a few remarkable singles the first of which were praised by the great Kim Gordon.

Jesus Did is the Kills Birds' latest single, a brief and frantic noise rocker which exhibits the band's penchant for a rousing delivery, and the charming grit of their strong and nervy sound. It is the kind of intrinsic, guitar-heavy punk rock that never gets old.

"Jesus Did is a song about my frustrations with the LA scene," vocalist Nina Ljeti reveals. "When I moved here I felt very alone. I was constantly surrounded by people who were difficult to connect with. Individuals who had the luxury of never having to fight for anything, who were born with all the privilege in the world. They all walk around the clubs and bars like gods with nothing to preach. But though I struggle to connect with them, I also wish I could be exactly like them. I think things would be easier."

The song comes with a video directed by Nina Ljeti herself. The rest of the band's roster is comprised of Jacob Loeb (guitar), Fielder Thomas (bass) and Bosh Rothman (drums).






Kills Birds Facebook | Twitter | Instagram


krorecords.com




ZR

Manchester trio, The C33s, are coming through with all their might, making the most of their vigorous punk rock sound. The band has thus far shared stages with acts like Cabbage and King Tuts, and keep impressing with both their dynamic live presence and their well crafted studio work.

Following their debut EP, 48 Hours at Neon Palms, from last year, and their previous, well received single, Manic Depression, the band emerge with a piece of addictive, sharply executed and robust garage rock 'n' roll that is their new single, Big Winner, recorded with Gavin Monaghan at his Magic Garden Studios. With a distinct take no prisoners attitude, the new track is a solid roundup of the bright and favorable band's fresh take on punk, all gritty, intense, appreciative of its influences and palpably superheated.

Big Winner is out July 19th, 2019 on These Bloody Thieves Records.







The C33s live:

JULY
19th - Tramlines Fringe Festival, Sheffield
21st - Blackthorn Music Festival, Stockport, 42's Records Stage
AUGUST
9-11 - Celebration Days Festival, France
17th - August Cotton Clouds Festival, Oldham
OCTOBER
12th - Neighbourhood Festival
16th - The Cookie, Leicester w/ Catholic Action
17th - 60 Million Postcards, Bournemouth w/ Catholic Action
18th - Dark Horse Moseley, Birmingham w/ Catholic Action
20th - Heartbreakers Bar/ Venue, Southampton w/ Catholic Action
22nd - Purple Turtle, Reading w/ Catholic Action
23rd - Moles, Bath w/ Catholic Action
24th - Bedford Esquires, Bedford w/ Catholic Action
25th - Surfcafe Tynemouth, Tynemouth w/ Catholic Action



The C33s Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram


thesebloodythievesrecords.com



ZR

After the triumph of modern rock perfection that was 2016's Post Pop Depression, Iggy is back with his new album, Free, set to come out September 6th, 2019 via Loma Vista.

Taking a different direction from his previous LP's rock symmetry and balance, Free, finds the veteran artist on a more meditative and exploratory path which suits his somber delivery quite well. A solid and frequent collaborator with many diverse artists, Iggy Pop enlisted jazz trumpeter and composer Leron Thomas and Noveller for this one, hence the atmospheric horns and trumpet in the album's brief title track.

"This is an album in which other artists speak for me, but I lend my voice…" Iggy states and continues.

"By the end of the tours following Post Pop Depression, I felt sure that I had rid myself of the problem of chronic insecurity that had dogged my life and career for too long.

"But I also felt drained. And I felt like I wanted to put on shades, turn my back, and walk away. I wanted to be free. I know that’s an illusion, and that freedom is only something you feel, but I have lived my life thus far in the belief that that feeling is all that is worth pursuing; all that you need – not happiness or love necessarily, but the feeling of being free.

"So this album just kind of happened to me, and I let it happen."




Pre-order


Iggy Pop Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram


lomavistarecordings.com




ZR

LA-based electronica/experimental artist, Diamondstein, will be following his collaborative albums with Sangam with his forthcoming record, Reflections on a Dying Man, coming out October 6th, 2019 on Doom Trip Records. Still exploratory, moody and cinematic, but more esoteric than ever, the new album was inspired by the coping with the loss of the artist's father to Lou Gehrig's disease in 2016.

About the driving and full of atmosphere and character ambient techno track, Someday You'll Have This Too, Diamonstein comments: "This song is based on something my mom said to me once about my dad’s depression. She was going to pick up medicine for him at our local pharmacy, and when I asked her why, she said 'Oh, it’s his depression. Don’t worry, someday you’ll have it too,' very matter-of-factly. This is something that has always stuck with me, particularly in the context of my experience home - seeing an area in atrophy and with a person on their deathbed. I think about this a lot in terms of the irreversibility of diseases, depression, and also things like the disillusionment of faith, etc."

He continues, letting us more into the new album's purpose. "Reflecting on a Dying Man isn’t about death so much as the emotional and intellectual experience of witnessing it. Each song represents a moment of clarity in the experience—lucid realizations that you become susceptible to when the man you know better than anyone is steadily fading away on the floor below. Some dark and driving, some thoughtful and saccharine, and some overwhelmingly moving because each is what death feels like when you have the time think about it."

Dreamily nocturnal and very much appropriate for late light or very early morning listening sessions, Diamonstein's upcoming album is shaping up to be an eclectic display of excellent, sharp electronica, propulsive, exciting and notably elegant.



Spotify





Diamondstein Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram





ZR

After the very much fine debut that was Symbol/Signal from last year, Melbourne's Lost Talk did not lose a minute, and quickly returned with their sophomore LP, Tenterhooks, coming out July 19th, 2019 through Spooky Records. The band declared their new album their final one, and they are about to celebrate it with their last show, happening at the Cactus Room in Melbourne, on the same date as the album's release.

Bringing their hot-blooded fusion of classic punk, noise rock and post punk to full fruition, Tenterhooks sounds belligerent and vital from one end to the other, presenting an able band more confident than ever, raring to give shapely form to their delirious sound and vision. On their brief passage as a band, Lost Talk managed to leave behind nothing but great and lively music, and Tenterhooks is more than a solid epilogue.

An intense three-minute piece of punk slyness, Igloo, a highlight on the album and characteristic of Lost Talk's strong sway and feverish delivery, comes with an equally deranged clip.







Lost Talk Facebook

spookyrecords.com



ZR

Seminal electronic music composer, Photek, has been a steady force and an apt contributor to many film, TV and video game soundtracks over the years on account of both his prominent (and often Grammy nominated) remixes and his original compositions, including his score for How to Get Away with Murder.

The feature-length documentary, Mosul, directed by Daniel Gabriel, centers on the battle to reclaim the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State (Isis) from 2016 to 2017; a story told from the perspective an Iraqi journalist embedded with Iraqi forces. Photek aka Rupert Parkes provides the film's forceful score, bringing together avant-garde textures with traditional instrumentation, originating something very much engaging and compatible with the film's tension.

"When it came to compiling the soundtrack album, I realized the music was woven so tightly to the dialog and background sound, that it in many cases the music felt incomplete when listened to separately," says Photek. "As a result, I opted to include voices and atmosphere into the album tracks.  I think this also enhances the listening experience, maintaining the original context taking the listener back to the film experience.

"I’m very proud of the music I created for this film and I think that fans of early Photek material will hear some of that original mood and texture coming through in this score."

Heading to Work is an absolutely ominous and suspenseful, percussion-driven piece of film score excellence which makes a magnetically dark backdrop to the documentary, and streams for the first time ever right below.

The original soundtrack for Mosul comes out digitally on July 19th, 2019 through Lakeshore Records.



Photo by Faria Raji


Pre-order


Photek Facebook | Twitter | Instagram


mosul-film.com

lakeshorerecords.com





ZR