Following a five-year absence, Ben Kweller has made a welcome return to music with slacker-pop anthem ‘Heart Attack Kid’. It will appear on forthcoming album ‘Circuit Boredom’. It has huge drums to open and fuzzed-up grungey hooks that are immensely appealing from the very first listen. There’s a defiant tone throughout the whole song as…
Scottish rock royalty Idlewild have announced details of new album ‘Interview Music’ (out on 5 April via Empty Words) and unveiled its opener ‘Dream Variations’ as their new single. The five-minute song opens with woozy guitar effects before the more traditional Idlewild riffs come in alongside perfectly pitched piano, gorgeous vocal harmonies and Roddy Woomble’s…
North London indie-rockers Daze have released ‘Big’ – a song inspired by the classic Tom Hanks film of the same age. Full of shoegaze guitars that bring to mind bands like Ride, The Maccabees and The Walkmen, the anthemic piece has fuzzy atmospherics and a tender tone as Sam Hong sings about all the ups…
Fontaines D.C. have shared the video for new single ‘Big’ ahead of the release of their debut album ‘Dogrel’ on Partisan Records on 12 April. It follows a tour supporting Shame and comes ahead of a sold-out headline tour and shows with label mates Idles before their own headline tour later in the year. The…
Dorking four-piece (and Boileroom regulars) Vinyl Staircase have released new single ‘On the Radio’ ahead of a UK tour. Premiered by John Kennedy on Radio X, the self-produced song follows support slots to the likes of Wolf Alice and Sunflower Bean and appearances at festivals including Truck and Boardmasters. The two-and-a-half minute song opens with…
Toronto indie rockers Only Yours have recently released their debut album ‘Overrun’ and ‘Surely I’ is the perfect introduction to their unashamedly anthemic and emotive sound. Lead by Lowell Sostomi, who has a Berninger-esque baritone voice, the bittersweet song is packed with pop hooks and self-examining lyrics that can’t fail to give you goosebumps: ‘Surely…
Los Angeles-based Hand Habits have announced details of their new album ‘placeholder’ (out via Saddle Creek on 1 March) and released a stunning video for the poignant lead single ‘can’t calm down’. An eerie folk song in the vein of Kevin Devine fronting The War On Drugs, ‘can’t calm down’ took around three years to…
Following years of lauded releases on Bandcamp, Field Medic (aka Kevin Sullivan) is set to release ‘Fade into the Dawn’, his first debut album proper via Run for Cover Records on 19 April. To whet the anticipation for the release, he has unveiled the melancholic single ‘Henna Tattoo’. A two-and-a-half-minute folk-tinged song ‘about being afraid…
The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn has announced details of his forthcoming fourth solo album (and third in a trilogy of inter-linked records) ‘I Need a New War’ and released new single ‘Blankets’. The record will be released via Partisan Records on 26 April. ‘Blankets’ offers the perfect introduction to the character studies that Craig offers…
Saddle Creek’s The Faint have released electronic-tinged banger ‘Alien Angel’ ahead of the release of eagerly awaited new album ‘Egowerk’ (out on 15 March). Opening with a rush of synths, the toe-tapping song captures the euphoric nature of The Rapture as it drives along but also makes space for wry observations akin to Cursive.
Spectral Nights - alternative music, indie music, music reviews, new music, music blog 