Violens // He Got the Girl (Marine Girls cover) by Stayloose
Have a listen to “He Got The Girl” from US indie outfit Violens. The band are supporting The Drums at Northumbria Uni on December 3.
Toby Rogers is a freelance writer, blogger and copywriter. His work has appeared in Artrocker, Dazed & Confused, Drowned In Sound, FACT, Paste, R2 and Skyscraper (among others). Follow him on Twitter @toonwaves.
TOBY TOONWAVES
Longevity’s a rare thing these days. In an industry dominated by next big things, bands are lucky to last past that difficult second album, let alone survive to make their seventh. In the last fifteen years Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy has gone from being ditched by his label Reprise to hanging out with Barack Obama, having releasing a slew of sublime long-players in the process.
From the bittersweet alt-country of their 1995 debut A.M. to the awe-inspiring avant-folk of 2005’s Grammy Award-winning A Ghost Is Born, the Chicago-based outfit have remained consistently impressive despite their ever-shifting line-up.
Catch them live at The O2 Academy in Newcastle on September 15.
Footage from last weekend’s Transmission: The NEw Wave at The Discovery Museum.
Video for “Chunk,” the third single to be lifted from Archie Bronson Outfit’s Tim Goldsworthy-produced album Coconut. It gets a digital release via Domino on October 18.
SWAHILI BLONDE- Dr. Teeth by manimal vinyl
Have a listen to “Dr Teeth” by Swahili Blonde. Busy reviewing their debut LP for Skyscraper. It’s a cracker.
Get a load of this cool little tune from Chelmsford soul rebels The Milk.
Video for Little Comets’ brand new single “Isles.” It’s released on October 18.
The resurrection of The New York Dolls has been nothing short of extraordinary. Having lit the touchpaper for punk in the early seventies with their seminal garage-glam, the East Village outfit imploded at the end of the decade amid collective drug habits, infighting and an ill-fated association with Malcolm McLaren.
As their shambolic proto-punk went on to shape the sound of The Sex Pistols, Blondie and The Strokes (among others), singer David Johansen ditched his renegade swagger for soul and acting roles while guitarist Johnny Thunders slipped slowly into obscurity before his drug-related death in New Orleans in 1992. It would take Manchester indie icon Morrissey, himself a die-hard New York Dolls fan, to convince the band’s surviving members to reform in 2004.
Not just trading on former glories, The New York Dolls remain a fearsome live outfit. They may have lost the heroin-glam genius of Thunders, but frontman Johansen has cemented his position among rock ‘n’ roll’s most influential vocalists.
Catch them live at The Cluny on September 4, 5 and 6.
Split Festival
Here’s all the details for this year’s Split Festival. Thanks NME.
