Don’t Miss A Beat is here to recommend five tracks a week. Rather than being a standard ‘five new tracks you must hear’ it will comprise a selection of music that fall into five categories.
There will be a new track and older track in some way related to the new track, a track from a recently released album, a track somewhat related to the week just past, and a track by an artist playing in Manchester in the coming week.
New track: Field Music – The Noisy Days Are Over
The Sunderland based Brewis brothers have been making technically brilliant albums together as Field Music for over ten years now. They earned a Mercury nomination in 2012 with their fourth LP Plumb.
This track is the lead single from their forthcoming sixth album Commontime, which follows documentary soundtrack Music for Drifters, which came out earlier this year.
It features what has come to be expected of Field Music: funk-tinged rhythms with staccato guitars and vocal harmonies layered over the top.
As an extra bonus, there’s even a sax solo towards the end. The album is due to be released by Memphis Industries on February 5 2016.
Old track: Slug – Shake Your Loose Teeth
Another Sunderland-based artist, ex-Field Music bassist and Memphis Industries label-mate Ian Black struck out on his own to release Slug’s debut LP Ripe in the first half of 2015.
Saying that, the Brewis brothers still perform with him, continuing the tradition in that city of artists all contributing to and performing on one another’s work.
Ripe is an eccentric and brilliant album, with unusual instrumentation and unexpected arrangements all over the place.
Shake Your Loose Teeth is a great example. Listen out for the use of glass bottles to create the atonal riff that defines the song.
Track from an album out this week: Fuzz – Rat Race
One of Ty Segall’s many projects, Fuzz released their second record, II, on October 23 on record label in The Red.
It’s as heavy as you’d want it to be from Segall and co., drawing comparisons to Black Sabbath from the critics who have praised it.
Rat Race is the second track from the album, which follows the Californian band’s eponymous debut album which came out in 2013.
Track relevant to this week: The Phantom Band – Everybody Knows It’s True
Depressingly, Glasgow’s The Phantom Band had all of their gear stolen from their van in Lille on the night of October 20. They’ve had to cancel all shows for the foreseeable future.
Fans have made an effort to raise money to help the band replace some of the stolen equipment and the band have posted a list of what was stolen so people can keep an eye out for it if they see any of it being flogged.
In order to convince you that this is a good cause, here’s a particularly good video which accompanies a particularly good track of theirs.
Everybody Knows It’s True is from their second LP The Wants, which came out on Chemikal Underground records in 2011, following 2010’s amazing debut Checkmate Savage.
Since then two more have been released: Strange Friend in 2014 and Fears Trending earlier this year. All are worth your time.
Links to the list and the fundraiser are here:
http://www.phantomband.co.uk/hello/2015/10/21/stolen-phantom-gear-please-keep-a-look-out/
https://www.generosity.com/fundraisers/get-the-phantos-their-stuff-back
Gig to see: Mike Krol – Neighbourhood Watch
Los Angeles-based musician and designer Mike Krol released his third record Turkey on Merge at the end of August this year.
Neighbourhood Watch is the second track on the album and is about Krol getting his bike stolen. It’s a great, scrappy piece of garage music with a sense of humour.
The slightly-distorted vocals and the noisiness of it all bring to mind Menace Beach at times. Mike Krol and band play at The Eagle Inn in Salford on October 28.
Tickets here: https://www.gigantic.com/mike-krol-the-eagle-inn-2015-10-28-19-00
