Posts Tagged ‘Indie’

Listen: ‘Brothers at the Wheel’ by Caulbearers

Posted: 29 September 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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Manchester-based outfit Caulbearers return with ‘Brothers At The Wheel’, an urgent and uncompromising single that confronts the structures of power governing modern life, while ultimately offering solidarity and collective action as an alternative to despair. It’s is a rich and timely preview of their forthcoming album Come Back Home, out on October 30th via Single Cell Recordings.

‘Brothers At The Wheel’ traces a journey of political awakening – from a naïve plea for those in power to change course before disaster hits, to disillusionment at the resulting hollow words and empty promises that leave the status quo intact.

“If we truly consider humanity as a brotherhood and sisterhood of equals, it seems the ultimate betrayal of our family to exploit, to oppress and to victimise others whilst creating structures that concentrate wealth in the hands of an ever-smaller, unaccountable minority,” explains Damien Mahoney.

“The ‘wheel’ in the title is that system — a machine built to keep turning for profit and power, regardless of the cost to people, communities, or the planet.”

The song’s resolution isn’t despair but solidarity: a call for unity at the grassroots level, recognising that the same struggle echoes in other streets, other words, other languages. In resisting the forces intent on dividing us, the lyrics point to real power within the collective — like a seed that can grow into something more balanced, harmonious, and connected.
The song’s urgency isn’t just lyrical — it’s built into the music itself. ‘Brothers At The Wheel’ comes straight out of the traps with an unrelenting groove: strings, bass, and keys locked into a single insistent pattern, guitar answering in the gaps, percussion driving it forward, while the vocal melody cuts its own path in short, sharp phrases that swap between landing on and off the beat.

Past the tempo shift, the song opens into a second movement: a soaring, wordless lament from ethereal folk artist Ruth Blake — beautiful and mournful, yet defiant, a celebration of the human spirit. Underneath, the arrangement builds in waves — guitars layering, cello and violin rising, keys, bass and drums gathering weight — swelling to a crescendo before dissolving.

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A collective of musicians formed in 2007 and led by Damien Mahoney, Caulbearers are known for blending diverse musical styles, including soul, funk, hip-hop, dub, nu jazz, folk and post-punk influences. With contributors hailing from around the UK and Europe, their DIY ethic has coursed through every element of their releases, from design, production, videos and gigs to the recording process itself.

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Caulbearers

Watch: ‘Bubblegum Party’ by SICKY

Posted: 22 September 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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British alternative artist SICKY unveils his new single‘Bubblegum Party’, a playful, infectious slice of indie rock that pairs catchy pop sensibilities with his trademark off-kilter style.  Beneath the bubblegum facade lies a gloriously messy breakup party, served with a crooked grin as sweetness meets spite, chaos and a wicked sense of fun.

‘Bubblegum Party’ offers the first taste of his forthcoming full-length Redland album – his fourth to date. Full of mischief, attitude and a darker sense of humour, here SICKY delivers one of his most fun and irreverent songs to date. ‘Redland’ is an album about friends lost along the way. It’s a good bit darker than its predecessor Troubled Delight.

“Ultimately, ‘Bubblegum Party’ is a tale of sweet revenge. A public humiliation of someone who absolutely had it coming to them. It’s a work of fiction but has a large toe touching reality. We’ve all met the cocky arrogant lowlife type who tries to control someone they’re supposed to be close to. Well, in this song, he gets his comeuppance at our heroine’s birthday party,” says Mick Butler.

“The bubblegum reference is effectively a middle finger gesture by the metaphorical blowing of an exploding gum bubble in someone’s direction. It’s poppy, it’s silly and it’s just a bit of fun amongst some much darker moments on the Redland album”.

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SICKY is the solo project of Mick Butler, whose brand of melodic Britpop-infused indie rock spells good news for fans of Beck, Supergrass and early Blur. Originally from the Black Country region of England, he is now based in Shropshire. 

While Mick Butler has had his run of playing in bands, ranging from the brass soaked pop of Papa Mantra to the dirty stomp of SUMO, he now derives pleasure from banging out tunes and crafting new material. Literally everything you hear in his music is him squeezing noises out of anything that’ll sing.

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SICKY

Oort Clod / Chaffinch / BitchCraft / Llama Mollo – Fulfordgate Social Club, 19th September 2026

Posted: 20 September 2026 in Live, Reviews
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Christopher Nosnibor

Llama Mollo have a lot of family and friends. And they’ve brought them all down. It feels more like a second cousin’s birthday party than five minutes after doors open for a gig showcasing a disparate bunch of bands when I arrive. My first thought is of how the grannies will take to Bitchcraft. My second thought was ‘good for them’. They’ve bought tickets and made the effort, which is more than can be said for many on a lot occasions, and maybe they’ll even have a good time.

The acoustic indie duo have some tidy tunes with poetical lyrics and deft guitar lines, and if they’re nervous making their debut, they don’t show it beyond the occasional awkward-sounding laugh. The reverb-soaked guitar part for ‘Inconspicuous’ has hints of Chris Isaak’s ‘Wicked Game’, and the song sees them share vocal duties for the first time in their seven-song set. In an unexpected plot twist, Lawrence (guitar and vocals) switches to electric guitar and takes the lead on the vocals for the last song, and there’s a drum machine pumping from the PA. ‘Mr Blue Shoes’ is post-punky and makes for quite the shift in every way, and, seemingly from out of nowhere, tells us that this is an act who have a lot up their sleeve, and much potential to explore. A very promising first outing, and one to add to the watchlist for 2027.

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Llama Mollo

BitchCraft spent their uni years developing their skills, and recently relocated to London to further evolve and to see if they can progress. On the evidence of tonight’s hometown return – holy shit. Leaps and bounds, leaps and bounds. There have been some moves in their ranks. Their new singer, Lily, is the former drummer who would previously switch with singer Amelie to front a couple of songs, and stepping up to take the mic on a full-time basis she’s really come into her own. It’s not just the vocals – which are so, so powerful, and she’s got a proper grunge roar that sends shivers down the spine and sets the hairs on the back of your neck aquiver – but she is a commanding presence who dominates the stage, and the entire room. The new drummer is powerful and energetic, too. The result is a set that’s raw, grungy, and finds them playing better than ever. New song ‘Loser’ hints at a poppier direction, and has swing as well as crunch. And then they close with a cover of L7’s ‘Shitlist.’ They absolutely nail it. They’re pure quality, and deserve a bright future in the big smoke.

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BitchCraft

There’s a certain element of controlled chaos about Chaffinch set – and a certain element of chaos without the control. The jarring interplay of the twin guitars sees them trading shards of treble over thick, rolling basslines and stop-start drums. The song structures aren’t conventional or even necessarily obvious, and there are parts which are semi-improvised, and not for the first time, I’m reminded of Shellac in they combine math-rock and noise-rock, discord and angularity. There’s not a moment where all four of them are on the stage (which makes getting a shot of the whole band a challenge, and the guitars are more often than not played in front of the stage and there are trailing cables and instrument swaps… although at least on this outing there’s enough concrete in front of the bass drum to keep the kit in place instead of encroaching forward towards the edge of what is a particularly bijou stage. But herein lies the joy of a Chaffinch set: there’s a physicality, a kineticism, to the performance, and just as the songs are in a state of continual flux, so there is perpetual movement on (and in front of) the stage, making for a hyperstimulating and highly entertaining experience.

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Chaffinch

Due to a late reshuffling of the schedule, Manchester’s Oort Clod, who should have been the main support before BitchCraft, find themselves in the headline slot. No pressure, then. They do a decent job of it, too, encouraged by a supportive and welcoming crowd, a respectable number of who have stuck around from the start. This is one of the things which makes these Utterly Fuzzled nights what they are: people turn up and are open to hearing different stuff, accepting they won’t love all the acts equally but providing a warm and accommodating atmosphere. It’s a DIY microscene unto itself, in some ways resembling that which centred around CHUNK in Leeds a few years ago, and the likes of which is rare – but absolutely vital for showcasing new and up-and-coming and niche acts.

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Oort Clod

Oort Clod present a set of two distinct halves: during the first, they’re a fairly middling jangly indie band in the British tradition of the mid-80s to early 90s. They avoid being twee, but are good fun. And then there’s the second half, which sees them turn towards a style that’s more US indie / college rock of the mid- to late-nineties. It’s a bit looser, more Pavementy. The switch is occasioned by a poetry intermission, during which bassist Richie, whose last gig it is before he goes travelling and exploring a career in writing reads a couple of pieces from his chapbook. It’s a bold move, which some would probably consider a bit wanky, but they wear their arty and literary leanings well, and with an admirable confidence. He is, after all, wearing a brocade jacket and thoroughly beaten-up hat perched atop his head, and if the wild amp feedback mars the moment somewhat, the fact they style it out with humour reveals the character of the band – and it makes them a good fit for Fuzzled, where there are no divas, no dickheads, and everything runs to time. And it’s a 10pm finish. All the win.

Glasshouse Red Spider Mite / Speedreaders / Wolf Solent – The Fulford Arms, York, 16th September 2026

Posted: 17 September 2026 in Live, Reviews
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It’s a decent lineup and a pleasant evening. I’m down early doors and sitting with a pint of Vocation Heart & Soul listening to Slint and Drop Ninteens and Boris over the PA, and wondering where the fuck is everyone? It does seem to be a thing now, particularly at certain venues, where people will be outside the room until the band starts, and spend the time between acts outside, whether it be the bar or beer garden, as well. On a personal level, there are positives to this: it means I can make notes and sup in relative peace, and maintain a decent spot near the front, but it does seem a bit odd to see barely a handful of people around and a near-deserted bar, and with the number of people in the room barely touching double figures when the first act is due on, it feels like something’s amiss.

Still, Danny Barton’s a seasoned pro, and he’ll play to five people or five hundred without there being any difference in his performance. It seems like some time since he’s has been out as Wolf Solent, having been doing Sewage Farm stuff with Sam Forrest (Nine Black Alps) in recent months. They’re the kings of anti-promo, announcing the release of their new album by stating that they’re ‘deeply ashamed to announce that fuck it is our fifth and worst album yet. It’s out on 24 april as limited edition CD and all forms of digital garbage.’ For the record, Fuck It is brilliant. It’s still infinitely more promo than he gives Wolf Solent, and his solo work is a very different proposition from the roaring rock ‘n’ roll of Sewage Farm, which very much has all the hallmarks of a bedroom-based project – low-key, lo-fi slowcore with pedals, sequenced backing and drum machine. Switching his acoustic guitar for an electroacoustic 12-string, he conjures a swirling drone by way of a backdrop to his drawling vocals, delivered while hiding behind beard and hair.

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Wolf Solent

Speedreaders have often been represented by Dave Mudie performing solo on recent outings, meaning it’s been a while since I’ve caught a full-band set (my records indicate it was July last year, when they supported Needlework, and went on before Divorce Finance, who I’m still angry about. I know, I need to get over it, but fuck me. Anyway, Speedreaders. They’re consistent, they’re tight, they’re a quality act. There’s not much movement in terms of their set list, and no new material, but what they have is performed with assurance. They’re not a chatty band, and, on discovering Dave’s left his capo in the dressing room, there’s a protracted – and very quiet – pause. There’s considerable air between the notes during their slow, introspective, sad songs. They pick up the tempo for the final song, ‘Down Round’, which is a bit Wedding Present circa Bizarro, and ends abruptly and precisely on time.

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Speedreaders

Brighton’s Glasshouse Red Spider Mite are making their first trip to York, and they don’t seem too distraught to be playing to around twenty-five people: quite the opposite, in fact. They seem pretty chuffed that there is an audience, and an enthusiastic and supportive one at that, and for those still present (it has thinned rather after the local supports), they turn in a solid and dynamic set, delivered with energy and enthusiasm. It starts with a cacophonous samplefest, and there’s dialogue and narrative about spiders / mites spun between almost every song.

The liberal use of samples is reminiscent of Maybeshewill, although Glasshouse Red Spider Mite have vocals. Their overall sound straddles post-rock and shoegaze. Tonight’s set presents a band which has evolved significantly since their debut EP, and this could not be rendered with greater clarity than when they delve back to play ‘Everyone Loves You’ from What Do You Mean The Monster?… Hahaha… released in May of last year, and the new song which follows, which is a driving 90s-flavoured blast of energy that hints and Ride and Loop.

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Glasshouse Red Spider Mite

Comparing tonight’s performance with their recorded output to date suggests that Glasshouse Red Spider Mite are a band at a crossroads, and in the midst of a giant evolutionary leap. They sound absolutely fantastic, and seem like a band with a lot to give.

Time will tell, of course, but heading home in a heavy autumnal drizzle, it felt like this was one of those ‘I saw this band before they got big playing to barely any people’ moments. My mate always loves to tell me how we saw Editors at Fibbers in York play to three men and a dog before their debut album, and I saw The Young Gods play to barely more than that when touring Super Ready (and they were fucking incredible). Glasshouse Red Spider Mite have it all, and look and sound like they have the potential captivate a substantial crowd at The Brudenell. And if there’s any justice, in their next tour, they will.

Cor de Lux – Year of the Horse

Posted: 8 September 2026 in Albums, Reviews
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Ipecac Recordings – 18th September 2026

Christopher Nosnibor

Their bio tells us that ‘Cor de Lux didn’t come out of a content pipeline, a shared folder, or an algorithmic moment. They came out of a rehearsal room,’ and their Bandcamp page describes them as ‘4 friends in a Post Punk-Noise Rock band. Melodic hints and synth tones that trickle into a garage angst progressive fury.’ These two snippets give an insight into what kind of band they are, and how they operate, but don’t really give the measure of Year of the Horse, an album which goes beyond both post-punk and noise-rock or any permutational crossover of the two to render something that’s varied, embraces experimentalism, and at times is quite off the wall.

Single cut ‘The Cringe’ is exemplary, crashing in on a lolloping rhythm and blistering squall of guitar by way of a backing to a dispassionate but nevertheless urgent-sounding dual vocals from Tim Lusk and Dawn Moraga, before suddenly pulling up and following a short but meandering moment of ponderous desert rock, swerves off in a vaguely trippy prog direction, with a swirling synth and strolling synth. In contrast, ‘Ping Pong’ – not a cover of the Stereolab classic – is a slice – and at six minutes long, a very generous one – of quintessential dream-pop. A laid-back, balmy indie song with a hint of C86 whimsy, gently melodic and evocative of dappled sunlight in woodlands in early summer, it’s neither post-punk nor noise-rock, but it’s easy on the ear – until the switch that lands around the four-minute mark when it unexpectedly takes off like a rocket. And it’s here that it becomes apparent why Ipecac would be interested in them. They’re a band unconstrained by genre boundaries: not necessarily weird, but different.

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‘Cannibal’ takes the chiming guitar and driving bass of the UK goth sound circa 1984 and spin them with slightly spiky vocals and a mid-80s indie twist – nothing that’s immediately specific to a band, but then not entirely generic either.

‘The Western’ whips up a choppy frenzy and is perhaps one of the most overtly post-punk-meets-noise-rock songs on the album, and it drives pretty hard, before ‘Bread Bag’ serves up a slice of mathy post-rock… but that’s not quite it. But I can’t think long enough to capture my thread because there’s a sudden explosion over overdrive, and then it’s off somewhere else again. As the album progresses, the harder it becomes to situate it in a way that feels in any way meaningful – but that doesn’t mean that Year of the Horse is in any way incoherent. The more wide-ranging and eclectic the songs are, the more the sound of Cor de Lux is defined.

‘The Deli’ is simultaneously motorik and noodly: Pavement might be an obvious touchstone, but it’s more obscure acts like Moderate Rebels that come to mind, and Rosa Mota, too, and as fast as can process and much faster than I can type, we’re into another post-rock noise burst and then some more breezy, jaunty indie rock. One thing that does stand out is just how un-American they sound, at least to my ear. Year of the Horse is quirky. It’s not a common American trait. It’s nuanced, and wile it’s by no means a flippant, inconsequential work – it’s anything but – it’s threaded with a kind of knowingness, a twinkle in the eye which hints at a certain humour. But more than anything, Year of the Horse is a work of genius, in that it brings together myriad incongruous elements and doesn’t just make them gel, but amalgamates them in a way which feels entirely natural. How do they do it? Magic, alchemy, or something, I guess.

So many acts strive to make hybridity work, and so many fail, because it feels forced, self-conscious, the segments don’t flow or connect up, and it sounds awkward, jarring. Not so with Cor de Lux, and Year of the Horse keeps it succinct with just nine songs and a run time of thirty-eight minutes, the majority of the songs sitting in the three-and-a-bit-minute bracket. It’s a rare beast, this: an album that will blow your mind, but subtly. It’s crazy, but it’s packed with tunes. Truly inspired.

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Photo: Olivia Howe

Watch: ‘Anna O’ by Ecce Shnak

Posted: 29 August 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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NYC art-rockers Ecce Shnak is bombastically stoked to present ‘Anna O’, the third single from their much-anticipated full-length record Dandy Variances, slated for release on October 23rd via Records, Man Records. With its ferocious blend of art-rock swagger, grunge grit, and theatrical ambition, ‘Anna O’ offers a raucous first taste of the sonic unruliness in store on the album.

Recorded and produced by Jeff Lucci, this single was mixed by Grammy award-winning producer Mario McNulty (David Bowie, Prince, Nine Inch Nails, Julian Lennon) and mastered by multi-platinum engineer Kris Crummett.

Formed in 2011 and forged in NYC’s experimental scene, Ecce Shnak (pronounced Eh-kay sh-knock) is made up of David Roush (composer, bassist and baritone vocalist), Bella Komodromos (vocals), Chris Krasnow (guitar), Gannon Ferrell (guitar), and Henry Buchanan-Vaughn (drums).

‘Anna O’ is a jump-off-the-couch, roaring-the-hook anthem with big grunge energy. For the first time, Ecce Shnak’s composer-baritone-bassist defers his lyric-writing duties to someone else. His mother, Robin Kneubuhl, wrote a poem months before he and his producer, Jeff Lucci, cooked up a noisy instrumental in March 2019. Roush and Lucci tried the poem out as a lyric, and it fit just right.

Kneubuhl has described her poem as “a lament about tragic contradictions in contemporary feminist thought and practice”. While Kneubuhl wholeheartedly believes in feminism’s ideals, she is concerned that it is misused toward nefarious ends, to the detriment of women and others alike.

“The song’s tragic hero embodies both a noteworthy psychoanalytic patient of Freud’s protégé Josef Breuer and the real-life gun-slinging heroine Annie Oakley. Though Anna is beleaguered by the contradictions Kneubuhl observes in the poem’s story, she ultimately emerges triumphant in the fight against patriarchy by the song’s end,” explains David Roush. “Though we are in the process of firming up the specifics, we can’t wait to play this for the Shnakiverse and music lovers generally on tour this fall!”

The music video is a third collaboration between Ecce Shnak and LA-based film producer DJay Brawner, who also directed the videos for the album’s first two singles, ‘Vincent’ and ‘Eddie, Legalistic Homeslice’. Ecce Shnak’s soprano, Bella Komodromos, plays the role of Anna, who is deeply distressed in captivity, as she seems wrongfully entrapped in an asylum. However, through an act of heroic resistance, she overthrows her abusive doctor and his servile aide. She sets herself free while the mighty rock band Ecce Shnak plays her homage as loudly and wildly as they can.

While Ecce Shnak’s songs draw on a wide array of styles, fans of Nirvana, the Pixies, and the Jesus Lizard will likely latch onto ‘Anna O’ quite tenaciously. With a reputation for astounding performances, Ecce Shnak’s music a volatile yet meticulously crafted ecosystem, where technical precision meets inspired mayhem.

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Not My Wife – Best Friend

Posted: 27 August 2026 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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Blaggers Records – 13th August 2026

Christopher Nosnibnor

When I was in my teens and early twenties, I got quite hung up on an existential anguish that no two people perceived things in exactly the same way. It wasn’t completely unfounded: there’s empirical evidence that shows that there is no such thing as a reliable witness. Particularly in moments of heightened stress or panic, the brain will scramble to process what it sees, while at the same time juggling the options of fight or flight. As such, it will assemble a narrative from fragmentary snippets, and attempt to fill in the gaps. But even more fundamentally, no two people will perceive something as fundamental colour in the same way. I have a mug which I consider to be grey; the rest of my family tell me it’s blue. And while I concede it’s perhaps a gunmetal shade, I still consider it to be grey. And so it is that two parties engaged in conversation will simultaneously experience completely different conversations.

This is the premise of the third single from London-based, New Zealand-formed five-piece Not My Wife, which explores ‘the duality of relationships, and how two people can be living within the same reality, while experiencing it quite differently. The verses detail one person sitting in the bliss of new love, while the choruses expose the narrator’s realisation that their partner may not have been feeling the same way. The song explores the theme of memory, interpretation and how we can put another person at the centre of our world without wanting to see them clearly’.

Driven by a crunchy bassline, ‘Best Friend’ nags away nicely, managing to be both breezy and somehow claustrophobic, and to meld postpunk with a wistful indie sensibility. The guitar is stop / start, choppy, and there’s a subtly melancholic hue in Olivia Mercer’s vocals. There’s something about this single that’s quite touching, in ways that aren’t readily articulable, much in the same way a vague memory will linger on the edge of your recollection, and while you experience it as a sensation, somewhere in the gut, you simply can’t place it, chronologically, locationally, or any other way. It offers a sense of dappled shade and wistfulness, and also of a certain self-disconnect, wrapped in a hazy melody which reflects the fact that in ten years, this will all seem as a dream, or another life.

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Dragged Up – Rapunzel

Posted: 13 August 2026 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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Label Obscura (Canada) / Warped Tracks (Scotland) – 5th August 2026

Christopher Nosnibor

A couple of months ago (I’m putting it down to the successive heatwaves that the time seems to have simply evaporated this year), Dragged Up stopped off in York (on their way to Newcastle from Middlesbrough) to squeeze in a special set opening day two of a mini-festival. During their performance, we got a preview of what was then touted as being a future single in the form of ‘Rapunzel’.

And now, the world gets to hear the studio version, in all its five-minute glory, complete with some bold sax. While the accompanying video (a two-minute cut), courtesy of the band’s own Eva Gnatiuk (guitar and vocals) features a succession of folks dropping classic and influential albums and books like they’re nothing (I was particularly pained to see a copy of the Red Star issue of Suicide’s first album getting tossed, even though the cover looked a bit battered, rather less fussed about a Faces album getting the treatment, and wait! That’s Stuart Lee emerging from behind an Earl Scruggs LP!)

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Where was I? Oh yes. The music. ‘Rapunzel’ is a garage, punky romp of a tune, and the sax lends it a very (early) Psychedelic Furs / X-Ray Spex vibe (Germ-Free Adolescents also appears in the video). It may reference hair washing, but it’s bursting with lyrical tangents, and couldn’t be much further from the songs from Disney’s Tangled (a movie I’ve seen far too many time, on account of having celebration a daughter who was exactly the right age for Frozen and stuff when it was all the rage). But this ‘Rapunzel’ keeps on springing surprises: the ‘Dark Entries’ section that featured live remains intact around the three minute mark, and if the video seems to say ‘meh’ to influence, the music itself says otherwise, feeling like a n effervescent celebration of those predecessors, rather than a trashing. Regardless, the result is an uptempo, exuberant, scuzzy blast that’s bursting with energy and attitude. And it’s great.

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Watch: ‘Eddie, Legalistic Homeslice’ by Ecce Shnak

Posted: 29 July 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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NYC art-rockers Ecce Shnak present ‘Eddie, Legalistic Homeslice’, the second single from their full-length album Dandy Variances, anticipated later this year via Records, Man Records. Recorded and produced by Jeff Lucci, this single was mixed by Grammy award-winning producer Mario McNulty (David Bowie, Prince, Nine Inch Nails, Julian Lennon).

Formed in the mid-1990s and forged in NYC’s experimental scene, Ecce Shnak (pronounced Eh-kay sh-knock) is made up of David Roush (composer, bassist and baritone vocalist), Bella Komodromos (vocals), Chris Krasnow (guitar), Gannon Ferrell (guitar), and Henry Buchanan-Vaughn (drums).

An ode to camaraderie, ‘Eddie’ reaches its lyrical denouement with what may be the “oldest prayer of friendship", but sounds like a throwaway Rivers Cuomo line: “I pray you don’t be a rat in a rat-suit! Pray you don’t be a rat in a rat-costume!”

“Like ‘Larry, Sleepover Friend’ from our 2019 Joke Oso EP, our new song is a garage-rock homage to a beloved friend of mine. Like ‘Larry’, ‘Eddie’ explores big themes in great friendships: their gnarly ambivalences, their absurd misunderstandings, their inside-jokes, and their contradictory mix of irreverence with utmost care,” says David Roush.

“We are also overjoyed to feature two great friends as the co-stars of the music video, the preposterously funny and talented comedic duo Syd and Olivia! I was lucky to have met these two pugnaciously podcasting, thoughtfully Thespian, joke-slinging YouTube yokels on a fantastic journey to the Greek island of Crete two years ago, and the rest was thirst’ory.”

Bella Komodromos adds, “They absolutely kicked butt at their roles in this Wes-Anderson-hued buddy-comedy music video, directed and produced by DJay Brawner. It is our ardent hope that all fans of Ecce Shnak and Syd and Olivia alike can shart out with their hearts out to this badass collaboration!”

Apart from directing and editing the new video with Brooks Jones, Beth Narducci and David Roush, Brawner also worked on the video for the album’s lead track ‘Vincent’, an homage to superb music videos of yesteryear – for Meshuggah’s ‘Bleed’ and 311’s ‘Down’. Here, operatic trills collide with frantic rock energy in a high-decibel takedown of a formulaic antagonist through the power of one’s own voice.

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Soma Crew / How Buildings Fail / Speed Readers – The Golden Ball, York, 17 July 2026

Posted: 18 July 2026 in Live, Reviews
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Christopher Nosnibor

It’s been a while since I went to ‘bands in the bar’ kind of thing. Although the Horsemusic nights are essentially bands in a bar, it’s a large space and they play on a raised area at the far end of a rectangular room, meaning there’s a sense of separation (in addition to the handrail which runs across it). For many years, there would be acoustic soloists and duos – nearly always playing variations on the blues – in the corner of every other bar, and it was kinda fun for a while, but got a bit samey rather fast. Still, the point is that there’s something less formal about the ‘bands in a bar’ setting. The Golden Ball, consistently in the Good Beer Guide, is a community owned and run pub with multiple rooms (some more like nooks or snugs), where they host quizzes, spoken word and open mic nights and the like, plus decent size beer garden.

It might be Soma Crew lite tonight, paired down to minimal gear, with no cymbals and fewer pedals, but it’s still a lot of pedals, and by the time you’ve got a PA, amps and pedals for two guitarists and a bass, plus drum kit and another amp and mountain of electronic equipment for How Buildings Fail, plus a massive – and truly essential – thermostatically-controlled fan, seating, and space in general is very much at a premium. More than twenty people and it’s pretty cosy, to put it mildly.

David Mudie playing a solo Speedreaders set is the closest to truly stripped-back as it gets, with just him and a clean-sounding guitar and a couple of pedals. Played this way, it accentuates the sad, emotional nuisance of the downtempo slowcore songs, and he seems unusually relaxed and even borderline chatty by his standards.

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Speedreaders

It sets the tone for the night: the intimacy of the space is a great unifier, and the warmth of the atmosphere isn’t just heatwave and humidity.

Simon – aka How Buildings Fail – seems genuinely quite overwhelmed by the positive response to his performance, each song received with enthusiastic applause. He soaked the small room with low end feedback as he drawled monologues reminiscent of The Fall – the first track in particular seems to lean on ‘Smile’, and the more uptempo (house) pieces rattle along, propelled by a primitive drum machine. Electronica with live guitar, it’s gloriously ramshackle and old-school in every way, from the scratchy guitar to the, we, scratchy electronics. And people are amazed. This is telling: he runs the York EMOM (Electronic Music Open Mic) night – it’s part of a now (inter)national network of events which gives a safe space for all the nerds and oddballs to perform (I say this in the most positive sense as a regular myself), and the York one in particular seems to cultivate a culture of experimentalism, left-field, ambient, noisy, and downright weird shit, and it’s brilliant. But it is a bubble, and maybe not all of the EMOM participants have the same potential beyond the bubble. But How Buildings Fail balances quirky post-punk with just enough catchiness to appeal to a broader audience, and to see how he’s received out in the wild is a joy for me, and clearly, a revelation for those unfamiliar, which is a fair few of those in tonight.

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How Buildings Fail

Soma Crew might well be the band I’ve seen and covered the most since I started out with Aural Aggravation a decade ago, and I’d seen them a fair few times before that, too. They are, definitively, mainstays of the scene, and have landed some high-profile support slots for visiting bands (notably The Fall at Fibbers in 2016) can be depended on for three things: 1) a different lineup nearly every time 2) drummer Nick wearing his Sin City Rockers T-shirt 3) they’ll always play counterintuitively and start with the most hesitant-sounding, ploddiest song on the setlist. It’s like a test, but also a warm-up as they feel their way towards the groove. It’s only after the drawling crawl that they strike their motorik stride, and once they do, they’re mining gold all the way to the finish. Chugging rhythm guitar, strolling bass, soaring lead and thudding minimal drums all settle in nicely. And then from nowhere, the sound erupts a few songs in. It’s not devastatingly loud, but in this confined space, the sound feels huge. On ‘Westworld’ they hold a single note – not even a chord – for about five minutes. Then the drums kick in and they hold it another eternity. It’s glorious. The band are looking relaxed and right in there, and I find myself completely immersed for a spell.

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Soma Crew

And the thing is, it’s simply nice. It’s also more than that. There is a palpable sense of community here tonight, people stick around and chat afterwards, taking their time over pints purchased at last orders instead of the usual emptying minutes after the music finishes. Soma Crew probably rehearse in a bigger room than this, but it’s not about the numbers, it’s about the music, the vibe, the connection. None of the performers is new or up-and-coming, and won’t be offended by this observation. But there’s a further point here: so many of the up-and-comers find that life – work, mortgages, families – put paid to creative activity post-thirty. That all of tonight’s acts have remained artistically active is testament to a certain commitment to creativity. It may simply be stubbornness, but for that  stubbornness kudos is due, not only for keeping on, but keeping on doing good stuff. Better than good, in fact. Grassroots music events don’t come much more essential than this.

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