Weekly Roundup: November 18th
Featuring fallingwithscissors, R.U.B, Superheaven, and more.
ERRONEOUS BOTCH:
With their return Down Under just weeks away, as part of 2024’s incredibly stacked Good Things Festival lineup (Dec 6th-8th), Mastodon guitarist Bill Kelliher joined the TPD Pod from the comfort of his basement studio to catch us up to date on the band’s busy schedule.
We discuss their recent “Ashes of the Leviathan” tour run with Lamb of God, celebrating seminal records in their respective catalogues, while also collaborating on a new single. Bill reflects on the release of 2021’s Hushed and Grim double LP, dissects his creative process, and reveals his not-so-secret vault of dormant riffs. You can check out our chat below:
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Now, on with the words…
SIDE A:
A curated selection of cool shit for you to listen to.
Superheaven – “Long Gone”
Having been a fan since they were initially known as Daylight and featured on Run For Cover Records samplers, I find it incredibly cool to see Superheaven ride their TikTok-assisted virality train to a fully-fledged return. The preeminent grunge revivalists have signed to Blue Grape Music (home to Gel, Spiritual Cramp, Code Orange, and more) and released their first song in nine years.
“Long Gone” follows 2015’s Ours Is Chrome LP and will be paired with another new single, “Numb To What Is Real,” out on December 10th. Both tracks were recorded by the band and mixed by Rich Costey (Foo Fighters, Deftones). Watch the video for “Long Gone” below:
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Detroit
Geordie noise rockers Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs are back with another amplifier-melting skull-crusher. “Detroit” is the quintet’s first original cut since 2023’s Land of the Sleeper LP and sports one hell of a droning riff refrain. As chief bellower Matt Baty puts it:
“‘Detroit’ is a massive slab of striking noise rock about a hideous man with even worse behaviours… Detroit reflects on the worst manifestations of male jealousy and resentment and the ways in which the deliberate avoidance of accountability can lead to deflecting responsibility in exchange for blaming external forces like fate or God for perceived injustice.”
Stream the track here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Kills Birds – “Behind”
Let it not be said that the YouTube algorithm cannot unearth hidden gold. I’d never heard of Los Angeles-based outfit Kills Birds until the clip for “Behind” was thumbed directly into my feed last week, but damn, what a stone-cold banger. The track is out now via Lucky Number Music Ltd., and it’s their first new material since 2021’s Married LP. As the band states:
“Always late, even when you’re early. Out of time but the clock hasn’t started. An invite to the party but the party blows.”
Listen to “Behind” here.
R.U.B – GOOD BLOKE
If you’ve been following this newsletter for some time, then you know that I’ve been gassing up Naarm/Melbourne punks R.U.B since the very start. And, well, I’m not about to stop now.
After a brief hiatus and line-up retool, the gang are back with a newly pissed-off rager taken from their upcoming split 7-inch with Eora/Sydney outfit Backhand. “GOOD BLOKE” finds R.U.B “laying waste to the toxic culture that we see in so-called Australia around men’s violence.” Stream the track here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
fallingwithscissors – “openyoureyes”
For reasons I can’t quite explain, this is my first time talking about Minnesota heavy hitters fallingwithscissors. This fact is remarkable, especially given that the quartet dropped one of my favourite return listen EPs of 2024, the death and birth of an angel, back in January.
On their latest standalone track, the glitched-out “openyoureyes,” the band rip through digitised metalcore and shotgun-blasted cyber-grind, sounding chopped and screwed and heavily distorted by design. It’s intense and provocative, and it totally rips. Full-length album soon, please. Listen to “openyoureyes” here.
SIDE B:
More tracks for you. Deep cuts for the real heads. Still cool.
Koyo – Mile A Minute
Long Island crew Koyo recently wrapped up their debut Australian tour run, ripping through tracks from their phenomenal Would You Miss It? LP (also my favourite album of 2023).
Capping off a busy 2024, the melodic hardcore/emo flagbearers have also dropped a new EP featuring two reimagined album tracks and one standalone single in the form of the EP’s highly infectious title track. Fans of Silent Majority, The Movielife, and early Taking Back Sunday should get around this ASAP. Stream the EP in full here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Agnes Manners – “Ratbag”
Agnes Manners is the solo project of ARIA-award & J-award nominated singer/songwriter Matt Gravolin (formerly of Hellions). The project’s latest single, “Ratbag,” is a gorgeous and delicate slice of indie-pop that comes packaged with a 1920s German expressionist visual treatment, including a sneaky cameo feature from F.O.T.S. Yasmine de Laine of Postheaven.
Gravolin previously released the Peace And Why I Didn’t Think I Deserved It Or Really Needed It Anyway LP in 2023, and appears to be gearing up for a new album cycle. Listen to ‘Ratbag” below:
The OBGMs – Sorry, It's Over
I wasn’t at this year’s recent SXSW Sydney showcase, but I do have it on good authority that Toronto punks, The OBGMs, absolutely tore shit up multiple nights in a row. The quartet recently released their SORRY, IT’S OVER LP as a follow-up to 2020’s critically acclaimed The Ends.
They’ve built a cult following in their native Canada over the past four years, with high-profile support slots for acts like PUP, Death From Above 1979, and Frank Turner. According to frontman Densil McFarlane: “We’ve always been a band about raw energy, but this time we wanted to share our soul.” Stream SORRY, IT’S OVER here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
FEATURE ALBUM(S):
A closer, more in-depth look at new record(s) that tick my boxes.
The Arrival Note – …Home Is So Far From Here
Hey, remember this?
If your answer is an unequivocal ‘YEAH DAWG,’ then you must listen to the debut full-length album, …Home Is So Far From Here, from Tampa’s The Arrival Note.
However, if your answer is instead a ‘HARD NAH,’ but you still have a casual interest in Texas Is The Reason, Hum, or Revelation Records samplers from the mid-90s, please see the above.
Stream here: Bandcamp | Spotify