The Nite Songs Singles Bar May 2022 (part 2)

 

It's been a while since we last did a two-part Singles Bar and, to be honest, I was going to hold a few of the releases on the second part of this effort over until June. But eventually I decided sod it, there's some good stuff on here, let's get the word out! Anyway, enjoy...

Some proper big hitters to start us off with as Killing Joke have a new EP out in the form of Lord of Chaos (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗) and it sounds just as intimidating as you'd hope/expect with Geordie Walker's apocalyptic grinding riff, Jaz Coleman's "shaman of doom" vocals and Youth and Paul Ferguson's rock solid rhythm combining to create something pretty awesome. B-side Total is similarly ferocious while the EP is rounded off by a couple of mixes including a Youth dub one. It's good to have them back.

It's always a pleasure to have some new music from Miles Hunt to listen to here at the Singles Bar and Things Can Change (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗) featuring Laura Kidd aka Penfriend is a great comeback from the guy - a bright and breezy ode to the darkness of lockdown which simultaneously looks forward to a brighter future now it's over. Genuinely one of the most uplifting songs I've heard in this month's Singles Bar and highly recommended. Bandcamp Link (download only)

Cut from a similarly gentle cloth are Simon & The Astronauts with their new single Lost In London (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑), a gentle piano ballad. It would be very easy for something like this to come across as cloying but there's a genuinely heartfelt pathos to it - a gentle lament mourning the passing of time which sounds like a less annoyingly twee Belle & Sebastian. If you're into the more melodic end of the stuff that we cover here on Nite Songs then you could do a lot worse than give this a listen.

Montreal natives Brand New Lungs are currently gearing up for their second album and Stand Alone (🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑) is the lead-off single from it. There's a bit of a folk-punk feel to this and it's solid enough but in a field where we've had some absolutely storming albums in recent months from the likes of Ferocious Dog and Star Botherers, this isn't quite in the same league. Solid in other words but there's better examples of this sort of music out there.

Another new name to the Singles Bar is one-woman punk operation Bex who releases her debut single Tiptoe (🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑) this month. A righteously discordant blast of feminist anger, this is definitely pretty worthy but somehow it lacks the sort of killer finishing touch that groups like Idestroy or Dream Nails seem to pack so effortlessly. Promising but there's a bit of work still needed here I feel.

Nashville native Gyasi styles himself as the future of glam rock and on the evidence of Sword Fight (🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑), I think it's safe to say he may have definitely listened to a few Brett Smiley and Jobriath albums during his musical development. Gloriously camp with its falsetto vocals and strutting riff, this isn't quite a knockout effort but it's definitely made me intrigued to check out his album when it lands later this year. Bandcamp Link

It's always good to see something from R*E*P*E*A*T* records in our review pile and Flex And Drugs And Rock 'n' Roll (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) is a four track EP and no doubt the main item of interest here will be S*C*U*M (Rob and Ed from long time Nite Songs favourites S*M*A*S*H*) with Priti Patel (Straight To Hell) which comes across like a 21st century rewrite of their classic I Wanna Kill Somebody and while it might be in a more restrained form than its 1994 equivalent still packs the fury and anger that defined them at their best. Elsewhere, Patrick Jones (Nicky Wire's poet brother) weighs in with the heartfelt spoken word of Windwords/Geiriaugwynt, Cambridge's Idealistics chip in with the angular post-punk of Shattered Moonlight and South Wales' Primitive Soul (who we've featured in this column before many moons ago) chip in with the rough-around-the-edges but definitely packing a punch punk energy of Zero. Another good multi-band release from this label which reaffirms their reputation as purveyors of good music. Bandcamp Link

And as if you thought Ms Patel hadn't taken enough of a lyrical battering already this month (mind you, if there's anyone who deserves it...) along come Those Fucking Snowflakes with another diatribe against in the form of That's Pretty Shitty, Priti (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑). Sadly this is to be the band's final release as they're calling it a day after three years but it's exactly the right mix of post-punk fury and righteous anger that brought them to our attention a year ago and is a good note for them to go out on. We'll miss ya lads. Bandcamp Link

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Two parts down and one to go then. We'll be back with the third and final part of our Singles Bar odyssey for May later this morning.