‘Never Sever’ is the third single from Norwegian band Mayflower Madame’s eagerly awaited album Insight, set to release on November 1st.
While their previous singles, ‘A Foretold Ecstasy’ and ‘Paint It All in Blue’ refined their signature blend of post-punk, shoegaze and psychedelia, this new track reveals the band’s more direct and energetic side. Their sound is still spun with alluring dark textures but is now profoundly interwoven with rays of light and a bittersweet melancholy.
Additionally, the track introduces a touch of rock‘n’roll swagger in the verses seamlessly merging with dream-pop elements in the choruses, making ‘Never Sever’ one of their most accessible songs to date. Lyrically, the song captures a nostalgic feeling of being unable to reclaim—or unwilling to let go of—a haunting past.
Watch the video for ‘Never Sever’ here:
AA
Mayflower Madame have announced they will be returning to the UK and Europe for a tour this Autumn.
FULL DATES (with ticket links):
Sat 5 October – Return To The Batcave Festival – Wroclaw, Poland – Tickets
The ever-enigmatic Godspeed You! Black Emperor have announced their new album in suitably oblique form – only, their message is loud and clear here. There’s no press hype for the album in their accompanying statement, but no explanation is required when it comes to the their focus: the album’s title alone speaks for itself. NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD. This is, of course, the number of Gazan casualties since 7th October 2023. That number now stands at in excess of 41,000.
The final track on the album, ‘GREY RUBBLE – GREEN SHOOTS’ is an expansive seven-minute piece which balances darkness and hope.
The accompanying statement reads as follows, and you can hear the track below:
THE PLAIN TRUTH== we drifted through it, arguing. every day a new war crime, every day a flower bloom. we sat down together and wrote it in one room, and then sat down in a different room, recording. NO TITLE= what gestures make sense while tiny bodies fall? what context? what broken melody? and then a tally and a date to mark a point on the line, the negative process, the growing pile. the sun setting above beds of ash while we sat together, arguing. the old world order barely pretended to care. this new century will be crueler still. war is coming. don’t give up. pick a side. hang on. love. GY!BE
29 Sep 2024 • London UK • Troxy 30 Sep 2024 • Glasgow, UK • Barrowlands 01 Oct 2024 • Manchester UK • Ritz 02 Oct 2024 • Bristol UK • Marble Factory 03 Oct 2024 • Coventry UK • The Empire 04 Oct 2024 • Tourcoing FR • Le Grand Mix 05 Oct 2024 • Esch-Alzette LU • Kufa 06 Oct 2024 • Paris FR • Le Trianon 08 Oct 2024 • Nantes FR • Stereolux 09 Oct 2024 • Nancy FR • L’Autre Canal (Jazz Pulsation Festival) 10 Oct 2024 • Zürich CH • Volkshaus 11 Oct 2024 • Lausanne CH • Les Docks 12 Oct 2024 • Frankfurt DE • Zoom 14 Oct 2024 • Berlin DE • Huxleys 15 Oct 2024 • Amsterdam NE • Paradiso 16 Oct 2024 • Brussels BE • AB 18 Oct 2024 • Athens GR • Floyd
NORTH AMERICA NOV 2024 04 Nov 2024 • Hamilton ON • Bridgeworks 05 Nov 2024 • Toronto ON • History 06 Nov 2024 • London ON • London Music Hall 07 Nov 2024 • Grand Rapids MI • Elevation 08 Nov 2024 • Chicago IL • The Salt Shed 09 Nov 2024 • St Paul MN • Palace Theater 11 Nov 2024 • Lawrence KS • Liberty Hall 12 Nov 2024 • Fayetteville AR • George’s Majestic Lounge 13 Nov 2024 • Nashville TN • The Basement East 14 Nov 2024 • Knoxville TN • Bijou Theater 15 Nov 2024 • Atlanta GA • The Masquerade 16 Nov 2024 • Charleston SC • The Music Farm 17 Nov 2024 • Saxapahaw NC • Haw River Ballroom 19 Nov 2024 • Washington DC • 9:30 Club 21 Nov 2024 • Brooklyn NY • Pioneerworks 22 Nov 2024 • Norwalk CT • District Music Hall 23 Nov 2024 • Boston MA • Roadrunner 24 Nov 2024 • Philadelphia PA • Union Transfer 25 Nov 2024 • Montréal, QC • MTELUS
NORTH AMERICA APR/MAY 2025 25 April 2025 • Austin, TX • TBA 26 April 2025 • Dallas, TX • Granada Theater 28 April 2025 • Denver, CO • Ogden Theater 30 April 2025 • Los Angeles, CA • The Bellweather 01 May 2025 • Santa Ana, CA • The Observatory OC 02 May 2025 • Tijuana, B.C., Mexico • Cine Bujazán 03 May 2025 • Ventura, CA • Ventura Music Hall 04 May 2025 • San Francisco, CA • Curran Theater 06 May 2025 • Portland, OR • Wonder Ballroom 07 May 2025 • Portland, OR • Wonder Ballroom 08 May 2025 • Seattle, WA • The Neptune 09 May 2025 • Seattle, WA • The Neptune 10 May 2025 • Vancouver, BC • Vogue Theatre 12 May 2025 • Kelowna, BC • Revelry 13 May 2025 • Calgary, AB • Palace Theatre 14 May 2025 • Edmonton, AB • Midway
PNKSLM Recordings proudly presents Stockholm garage punk quintet Kerosene Kream and their PNKSLM debut EP Buying Time, which is due out on August 30th on limited edition vinyl and digitally. Today the band is sharing live favourite "Psychedelic Ranger", a long time stable of the band’s raucous live sets, which follows lead single ‘Mindkiller’ which was released in June as the band was opening for the legendary The Gories.
Having shared the stage with the likes of Dungen, Illuminati Hotties, Holograms and Powerplant, Kerosene Kream is the latest group to step out from the Stockholm underground that gave birth to the likes of Viagra Boys and Holograms and the band have grown a reputation as a ferious live acts with shows around northern Europe.
Following the new EP the band is set to head out on dates including an appearance at the Left of the Dial Festival in Rotterdam, Netherlands as well as making their UK live debut in September at PNKSLM’s The Slime Ball at The Shacklewell Arms in London alongside Scandinavian shows.
Listen to ‘Psychedelic Ranger’ here:
AA
Live
August 28 – Stockholm, Sweden – AG29 w/ Erik Nervous + Citric Dummies
September 7 – London, UK – PNKSLM’s The Slime Ball @ The Shacklewell Arms
October 17-19 – Rotterdam, Netherlands – Left of the Dial Festival
Beak> surprise released their first album in six years, aptly titled >>>> out on all formats via Invada and Temporary Residence Ltd from 28th May, and received a massive thumbs up from us here at Aural Aggravation. They’ve now shared the music video for ‘The Seal’, directed by Tom Geens.
"I fell in love with the house when I first laid eyes on it. It was falling apart but in a really beautiful way. It was begging for something to be shot there, but as it was going to get demolished soon, I had to act fast. The last time I worked with Beak> was about 10 years ago on the exquisite soundtrack for my film COUPLE IN A HOLE and I felt their sound and the house were somehow a great match.” – Tom Geens
Watch it here:
Beak> on tour:
Wed 30 October – UK Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach Fri 01 November – UK London, The O2 Forum Kentish Town Sat 02 November – UK Brighton, Concorde 2 Wed 06 November – UK Manchester, New Century Hall Thu 07 November – UK Glasgow, Saint Luke’s Fri 08 November – UK Leeds, Brudenell Social Club Mon 11 November – FR Lorient, L’Hydrophone Wed 13 November – FR Paris, Élysée Montmartre Fri 15 November – FR Lyon, L’Epicerie Moderne Sat 16 November – FR Nantes, Le Lieu Unique Sun 17 November – FR Tourcoing, Le Grand Mix Tue 19 November – BE Brussels, Orangerie, Botanique Wed 20 November – NL Amsterdam, Melkweg – Oude Zaal Thu 21 November – NL Nijmegen, Doornroosje Sat 23 November – CH Winterthur, Salzhaus Mon 25 November – DE Munich, Hansa 39 Wed 27 November – DE Berlin, Gretchen Fri 29 November – DK Copenhagen, Pumpehuset Thu 12 December – IE Dublin, The Button Factory Sat 14 December – UK Bristol, SWX
the Jesus Lizard, undeniably one of the most iconic and influential bands to emerge in the late 20th century, return with Rack, their first new album since 1998’s Blue, on Sept. 13 via Ipecac Recordings.
A preview of the 11-song album arrives today with the release of ‘Hide & Seek,’ a track David Yow describes as “a perky ditty about a witch who can’t behave, and it’s got nearly as many hooks as a Mike Tyson fight.” An accompanying video captures the foursome of Duane Denison, Mac McNeilly, David Wm. Sims, and Yow as they recorded the “ditty” with Producer Paul Allen at Nashville’s Audio Eagle Studio.
Check ‘Hide & Seek’ here:
“There are definitely some references to the past,” Denison says, in reference to the album, adding, “but it’s more as a point of departure: We don’t stay there.”
the Jesus Lizard reconvened in 2009 for a finite number of shows, and have spent the intervening years as both friends in close contact with one another, and touring bandmates. “We literally only made the record because we thought it would be fun to make the record,” Sims shares. With McNeilly highlighting the strong relationship amongst the musicians: “We are bonded by the music we make, and also by the respect we have for each other.”
The band has also announced tour dates, stretching well in to 2025, with more performances to come:
June 6 Nashville, TN Third Man Records SOLD OUT
June 8 Pomona, CA No Values
June 9 Garden Grove, CA Garden Amp
September 7 Raleigh, NC Hopscotch Music Festival
October 13 Las Vegas, NV Best Friends Forever Music Festival
Anglo-Finnish progressive metallers Wheel recently announced the release of their much-anticipated third studio album Charismatic Leaders on the 3rd May 2024 (InsideOutMusic). The album was meticulously crafted to meet Wheel’s ever-heightening benchmarks and recording with engineers/co-producers Daniel Bergstrand and Fredrik Thordendal (Meshuggah) stretched from August to December 2023. The end result, mixed by Forrester Savell, has consolidated all the gains of what came before: singer/guitarist James Lascelles, lead guitarist Jussi Turunen and drummer Santeri Saksala’s third album represents their heaviest and most conscious music to date.
Today they launch the albums third single, ‘Disciple’, and you can listen now here:
The band will be celebrating the release of their new album with their first ever shows in Australia (supporting label-mates Caligula’s Horse) as well as their first ever North American headline shows. Later in the year the band will return to Europe for further headline dates, and you can find the full list below:
31st October – Olympia, Tampere, Finland
1st November – Sawohouse UG, Kuopio, Finland
2nd November – On The Rocks, Helsinki, Finland
7th November – Lutakko, Jyväskylä, Finland
8th November – Finlandia-Klubi, Lahti, Finland
9th November – 45 Special, Oulu, Finland
15th November – Logo, Hamburg, Germany
16th November – Melkweg Up, Amsterdam, Netherlands
17th November – 013, Tilburg, Netherlands
19th November – Rebellion, Manchester, UK
20th November – Cathouse, Glasgow, UK
21st November – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham, UK
22nd November – 1865, Southampton, UK
23rd November – Underworld, London, UK
24th November – Thekla, Bristol, UK
26th November – Kavka, Antwerp, Belgium
27th November – Luxor, Cologne, Germany
28th November – Colos Saal, Aschaffenburg, Germany
30th November – Backstage, Paris, France
2nd December – Komplex, Zurich, Switzerland
3rd December – Legend, Milan, Italy
4th December – Backstage Halle, Munich, Germany
5th December – Analog Music Hall, Budapest, Hungary
"They’ve called us anarchists, criminals, foreign meddlers, lunatics, dispossessed, relativists, utilitarians, egoists, passion maximizers, ascetics, negators of everything. Clearly, the "Thou" experiment is never going to appeal to audiences who demand that art rigorously enforce a coherent and righteous worldview. And yet, are we not ourselves constrained by our own rigid morality? In those quiet moments of deep contemplation, when the bargains and concessions are thoroughly examined, when we yield before the Judging Eye–what is the summation of our choices? If the unspoiled self beyond the immensity of time were given voice, what pronouncements would be made? What would such an internal audit yield? What undeniable character would be revealed?
This record is for the radicals, the crackpots, the exiles who have escaped the wasteland of capitulation. This record is for the militants and zealots refusing to surrender to comforts, to practicalities, to thirty pieces of silver. And this record is most especially for the weaklings and malingerers, burdened by capricious indulgence, hunched by the deep wounds of compromise, shuffling in limp approximation, desperately reaching back towards integrity and conviction." – Thou
Thou has always been a force of raw energy and unapologetic dissent, defying easy categorisation and challenging listeners to confront the complexities of existence. Their forthcoming album, Umbilical, is their firmest nod to the raw intensity of obscure ’90s DIY hardcore punk. It’s a record filled with mosh-ready riffs, heavy breakdowns and scathing vocals. The band’s aesthetic and political impulses have always been punk and like anyone embroiled in the subculture Thou have been exploring what it means to exist within and without a rigid morality. That exploration takes thematic centre on Umbilical and their self-assessment is as harsh as that of the world around them.
Today Thou share their seething lead single and album centrepiece, “I Feel Nothing When You Cry” of which the band tell is “A throwaway mantra scraped from the necrotic skin of syndicated television. A lugubrious nod to our favourite commode-crooning diva, one of her most diabolically terse lines. With the sweet, sultry whispers of a legendary New Orleans faerie. This might be as close as we’ll get to a positive, youth crew anthem. ‘This song has nothing original or of value. It’s a steady beat for dancing feet. You got what you wanted, now say the words…’”
Listen to “I Feel Nothing When You Cry” here:
Thou Live Dates:
Apr 13: New Orleans, LA – Palestine Benefit at Fred Hampton Free Store May 04: Providence, RI – AS220 Jul 28: New Orleans, LA – The Broadside (w/ The Body + Dis Fig and Nail Club) Sep 13-15: Richmond, VA – Persistent Vision Fest Aug 14: The Zoo – Brisbane, AU * Aug 15: Mary’s Underground – Sydney, AU * Aug 16: The Baso – Canberra, AU * Aug 17: Stay Gold – Melbourne, AU * Aug 18: Crown & Anchor – Adelaide, AU * Aug 23: Rolling Stone – Christchurch, NZ * Aug 24: Meow – Wellington, NZ * Aug 25: Galatos – Auckland, NZ *
The Melvins’ latest opus, Tarantula Heart (April 19, Ipecac Recordings), is quite possibly the band’s most unconventional, catchiest and imaginative work yet, continuing a legacy celebrated for its eccentric and extraordinary output.
A preview of the five-song, 39-minute collection arrives with the release of ‘Working The Ditch,’ and the accompanying Jesse Nieminen-created video. Nieminen previously directed the band’s short film, ‘A Walk With Love and Death.’
Watch the video here:
AA
“The way we approached Tarantula Heart was different than any other Melvins’ album,” explains Buzz Osborne. “I had Dale and Roy Mayorga come in and play along with Steven and I to some riffs, then I took those sessions and figured out what parts would work and wrote new music to fit. This isn’t a studio approach we’ve ever taken. Usually we have the songs written BEFORE we start recording!”
“The majority of Tarantula Heart has dual drum parts,” adds long-time Melvins drummer Dale Crover. “Roy is an amazing drummer. We would discuss what we would do pattern wise, then we’d just go for it. Improvising riffs and trading off on drum fills.”
In actuality nothing appeared out of thin air. Buzz spent hours and hours with the drum tracks by himself writing songs to what he was hearing drum wise. “When the rest of the band heard these songs I’d created from the sessions, they were blown away,” Buzz shares. “These were fully developed new songs that they’d never heard before that had seemingly appeared out of thin air. Presto!”
Recorded, mixed and co-produced by longtime Melvins’ collaborator Toshi Kasai, the album also features We Are The Asteroid guitar player Gary Chester. Gary and the Melvins’ history goes back to their days on Boner Records, with the guitar player formerly having been a part of the legendary band, Ed Hall.
Next month sees the Melvins head overseas, playing in Japan for the first time since 2019 following a stint where they join current labelmates, Mr. Bungle, for a trek across Australia and New Zealand. Buzz and Bungle bass player Trevor Dunn team up later this year for the “King Dunn Tour,” a 45-date excursion that sees the pair play songs from the King Buzzo releases: This Machine Kills Artists and Gift of Sacrifice. The full list of dates can be found via Ipecac.com/tours.
Leeds based militant dance-punk duo Polevaulter dropped their debut album ‘Hang Wave’ on Friday to widespread acclaim.
If you haven’t heard it yet, it’s a superb sonic assault of seismically sharp bass and loin-grinding beats, and we wrote about it at length recently.
Now following the album release and ahead of their UK / EU tour starting this week, Polevaulter have unveiled a brand-new video for the album’s latest single ‘Pissed In The Baths’, which you can watch here:
The sonic assault the two create is almost arrogant, fathered from the marriage of seismically sharp bass and loin-grinding beats. The words are quipped and brayed atop the aural landscape. They are boastful, accusing, repellent and inviting, they question and skewer the veins of masculinity, sexuality, the order of things, the music industry and the miserable reality of the North. Polevaulter have toured with JOHN, shared a stage with Thank, Mandy Indiana, Pink Turns Blue, Bambara, A Place To Bury Strangers, VR Sex, and others.
Now, following the album release and ahead of their UK / EU tour starting this week, Polevaulter have unveiled a brand new video for the album’s latest single ‘Pissed In The Baths’.
On writing the track, Polevaulter’s Jon Franz explains; “Pissed In The Baths came about from Dan’s chorus riff which he just pulled out of thin air, we made the verses more straight and got it to swing with my delay. I wrote the lyrics pretty quickly on a bus to the doctors, lyrically it’s about manifesting strength and about us setting sail, I tied the chorus into it as those lines came from a while ago about warming oceans and rising sea levels, it all got glued together.”
The result is a cacophonous injection of climate change activism, brimming with hypnotic beats and thick fuzzy bass and glossed in a coat of sharp unnerving darkness. Chaotic and smashing you in the face with its tidal wave of full-on noise and addictive shouted refrains, Polevaulter are not holding any punches with ‘Pissed In The Baths’ as they continue on their bulldozer-like mission to tear up boundaries.
Debut Polevaulter album ‘Hang Wave’, is a hard-hitting dark and fiercely off-kilter slab of awesome sickly noise alongside baritone-led lyricism acerbic, vitriolic and intense throughout, raising eyebrows and dropping jaws. The album features recent hits like ‘Trend’ and newly released single ‘Violently Ill’ which Polevaulter’s Jon Franz explains- “has more sparse vocals than most of our tracks, gives our music a chance to shine. Its maybe my favourite song on the album.” Other tracks like ‘Pissed In The Baths’, ‘Mint Condition’ and ‘Mia Goth Made Me Do It’ all stand out in what is essentially an absolute mind melting juggernaut of a punk electro dance record for 2024, which lays down the gauntlet from a studio perspective alongside Polevaulter’s diligent process to earnestly take the title of ‘hardest working band in showbusiness’.
Polevaulter weren’t always a duo though as Jon Franz recalls, “We were steaming along as a post-punk band with various noise elements and then lost some members over covid, but me and Dan wanted to keep going. We thought about starting a new band, but we felt that this still had legs. Ultimately, it’s not that different, me and Dan did most of the composition, and we’ve got a clear vision on what we want to do. After touring last year as a two-piece, figuring out whether we could even do it, we realised there’s definitely no reason to stop – and it’s definitely getting better every time we have a round of gigs. I like not carrying instruments around – that’s quite nice. Although, having said that, we’re a duo now and we have more amps, which is weird. Dan has three amps now, and I have two.”
The album was co-produced by longtime friend and artist Shaene Hunter which straddles confidently atop several themes, to which Jon Franz says, “This being our first album or our maiden voyage, I dunno why, but I like a lot of nautical terminology and see that kind of visual imagery when this album was being made. I also write a lot of lyrics about things that directly affect me, like my masculinity, my mind, about being tough and overly arrogant to sell the image of us we’ve created. We have a lot of reference points that I work in, and since we’ve become a two piece, I think there is a lot more depth to everything we do now. We’ve made ‘Hang Wave’ because it’s about time we made this kind of a statement about who we are, what we want to do and what we sound like after multiple line-up changes and situations slowed the progress me and Dan were desperate to make. Since we’ve been a two piece, we’ve got far more done, and we both feel really proud of this album, and we feel strongly that it will do what we need it to do.”
Polevaulter recently performed their debut album on repeat for 8 hours straight via a livestream to raise funds for the Gaza Sunbirds, a para cycling team based in the Gaza Strip. The team is currently providing emergency food parcels and aid to families sheltering around the Gaza Strip. Watch the livestream back here:
Welsh disco-punkers Stickman announce their debut album Cyanide Smile. Due to release this Autumn, the record shares the flamboyant fruits of their summer touring & studio sessions.
Described as ‘disco punk with a touch of mid-life crisis’ their sound is unmistakable. Essentially anthemic alt.punk, their craft effortlessly switches up genres, complete with soaring choruses and dynamic melodies.
Lead-off single ‘My Genome’ is the first offering from the eagerly anticipated record, releasing alongside their geometric music video, shot in 6:4. Watch the vid here:
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The debut album ‘Cyanide Smile’ is due to release 20th October via Criminal Records.
For Fans Of: The Darkness, Lawnmower Deth, Mr Bungle, Electric Six, Massive Wagons, Royal Republic
UPCOMING DATES
26th Aug – Carmarthen Music Festival, CWRW (Headliner) 2nd Sept – Frog and fiddle, Cheltenham w/BrokenJaw 9th Sept – Hangar 18 w/Stop Stop 20th October – EJ’s Llanelli (Headliner) 17th November – EJ’s Llanelli (Stickman’s Christmas bash) 26th May – Breaking Bands Festival (Headliner)
Aural Aggravation 