Words by Steve Stevens
Hideous Mink's weekly recommendations - 10 new artists we've found this week.
DARIO ACOSTA TEICH - 'Perro Con Dos Colas'
'Perro Con Dos Colas' (Dog With Two Tails) is taken from Dario Acosta Teich's latest album 'Folklore'. A poem of the same name set to music - by Argentine poet Bernardo Palombo - 'Perro...' is a delightful, lilting piece that call's to mind Acosta Teich's own homeland of Argentina as well as the streets of his adopted home, New York City. Acosta Teich's earthy voice and feather-light playing channel the poem's sweetness, and the cherry plonked atop the track is a solo by veteran jazz gutarist Mike Stern (Miles Davis' band). New York grit and Argentine classicism combined.
TIDAL WAVES - 'Sunbleached'
Toronto-based art-rock group Tidal Waves have shared new track 'Sunbleached', a title that fits the sound like a snug pair of budgie-smugglers on the first day of summer. The 7-piece meticulously layer their diverse insturmentation and rich textures, creating a wall-of-soundscape situation that tugs at your teats.
“This represents that feeling when you’ve been too emotionally invested in something happening in your life, and at a certain point you’re worn out from wearing your heart on your sleeve and feeling everything so deeply that there simply isn’t anything left to feel,” says Connor Young, lead vocalist and songwriter. “And in that moment, you feel like it's wrong to not be as broken up as you should be, but the physical truth is that you can’t anymore because you’re so disconnected from it.”
EDINA - 'Ones You'd Like'
Edina describe themselves a band making 'music from across the globe'. Merging the influences of Arizona style indie-pop and Aussie surf-rock, 'Ones You'd Like' is a driving, sunlit track, at home cruising down both the highways of the American Southwest and the East coast roads of Australia. Tight, catchy harmonies and powerful drums holding the song down create an excellent foundation for the twists
SPRINGWORKS - 'Pocket Theory'
Canadian duo Springworks have shared 'Pocket Theory', the first release from upcoming album 'Chapter Thieves'.
It's a baggy-inspired infusion of hazy sunshine, the lax yet persistent breakbeat and verb-drenched vocals calling to mind The Charlatans, Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and the rest of the best of that certain Northern explosion. The track bobs and flows in the manner that makes this style so enduring and cries out to be blasted out over a summer mid-city park with a long day of no responsibilities stretching before thee.
Of their history the duo write: "David Beaman and Ryan Rollinson have been playing together and creating songs for as long as they have known one another - in fact they met for the first time on a shared piano and have been a musical duo ever since."
J.J. SUMMER - 'Chains'
Portsmouth-based duo J.J. Summer have released new single 'Chains' with their latest EP 'CONSTRUCTS', self released and out now on digital platforms. Jim Harding and Summer Sprake's vocals weave and buck about each other and build alongside the multitude of layers to create an effect not unlike that of The XX's early material. Pop sensibility and an attitude 'heavily shaped by its surroundings, exuding both the dirty underbelly and seaside vitality that defines their home' combine fruitfully. The group say "'Chains' is a heart-on-sleeve account of the burden of self doubt and the failure to meet expectations."
HIS LORDSHIP - 'All Cranked Up'
His Lordship, the new project from guitarist James Walbourne (The Pretenders, The Pogues, The Rails) and Kristoffer Sonne (Chrissie Hynde, Willie Nelson) release their second single 'All Cranked Up', the first to be taken form their debut EP. Already having made an indelible mark on London’s live scene, His Lordship is the sound of Walbourne unleashed as a frontman - a furious riot of guitar and perverted drums from another dimension.
The track is an intense blast of unhinged rock'n'roll, the sentiment of the refrain ricocheting around the under-two-minute framework and making its raging point - strutting, fretting, balls to the wall.
THE BERGAMOT - 'Medusa'
The Bergamot's latest track 'Medusa' is taken from ‘State of the Unity', an award winning feature-length film making the rounds of the film festival circuit. 'State of the Unity' premiered at the Sedona International Film Festival where it won the “Excellence in Filmmaking Award” - the band will also be premiering the film and the score this June at the Richmond International Film Festival.
The Bergamot's are a duo from Brooklyn, self-confessed high-school sweethearts and filmmakers as well as musicians - their new sonic output 'Medusa' is an indie-rock shoutalong featuring a pop stomper of a chorus and the pounding drums of a summer screamer.
MARRY CHERRY - 'Smashed To Pieces'
'Smashed To Pieces' is the debut single from Austin, TX psych-rock outfit Marry Cherry, released ahead of an album of the same name due out in late May.
'Smashed To Pieces' utilises low-fi psychedelic grit to put an enticing spin on Marry Cherry's no-messing approach to good, old fashioned rock and roll. With hints of the Jesus And Mary Chain, The Brian Jonestown Massacre and a rowdy, sneering vocal delivery (and face-melter solo) that isn't a million miles away from Oasis' heavier output, 'Smashed To Pieces' celebrates its influences whilst giving them a kick in the teeth for good measure.
An equally low-fi and satisfyingly classique music video for the track is out now on YouTube.
DUSKNOTE - 'Vendor Of Your Dreams'
Dusknote's latest single 'Vendor Of Your Dreams' is a shapeshifting assault of indie-rock and psychedelic influences. Deft changes in tempo and well-spun dynamics abound, and the guitar hook is an enviable earworm.
Of the track the artist writes: "It's about how our bodies are vessels that carry whatever we are. It acknowledges that whatever we are is perfect and deeply flawed and unique. It is in perpetual exchange with our surroundings and is transactional by nature. In this vessel we are the vendors, and in our constant striving to give our lives meaning we offer up what we most want to cultivate. We are the vendors of our dreams."