What We've Been Listening To This Week...On Video, Alex Rave and the Sceptical, Sit Down, Gaylips, Lip, Cowboy Flying Saucer, Protomartyr and Anorak Patch

By Jon Milton and Mark Glenister

Links to music and stuff in Blue.

This week has felt like the flow of exciting new music has ebbed a little. You’d kind of expect this to happen, given that many artists are delaying the release of their albums and the ability for them to get into a studio with a producer is pretty much zilch, although thankfully new music is still coming out, just in dribs and drabs.

On Video feel like a bit of a guilty pleasure to me. Pretty much all of their output to date has been unashamedly poppy, commercial and bursting with energy, and their new single Bete Noir, out last Monday very much continues in that vein. Anyway, Bete Noir fizzes along nicely, its title repeatedly shouted throughout the track, just to make sure you remember it. If you’re new to the band and like what you hear, you can read about their debut EP Clap Trap, released last year here.
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We featured the debut single by Alex Rave and the Sceptical ‘Itch’ last month, and the band have followed up that track with a new release on Friday. ‘Reasons’ is a bittersweet, melancholic post punk love song, that juxtaposes love and obsession, and its rather good. You can listen to it here.

It’s been a while since I’ve heard a EP where each song sounds so different, yet they all contain the same DNA and energy! Brighton two-piece Sit Down have produced such an EP with their latest release ‘Nice One’. Four tracks of pure garage rock, with a hybrid of 80s synth goth rock and acid-tongued lyrics thrown in for good measure. It is an intoxicating mix, that leads from the 1st track ‘Told u So’ with its middle eastern intro, through the pulsating drums and synth to a vocal duel between drumming frontwoman Katie Oldham and Guitarist Greg Burns, it’s a mesmerising start to the EP. The other 3 tracks ‘Banana Split’ ‘Promiseland’ and ‘Feel it’ all follow perfectly, blistering guitar and drums pull you along on this rollercoaster ride that you don’t want to stop by the end of the 4th track, simply remedied by going back to track one and starting all over again. Once gigs become part of our normal life again, go see ‘Sit Down’ you will not be disappointed, their live shows are fun, frenetic and always memorable. Like all good double acts, they never fail to deliver the goods and leave you wanting more. Can’t wait to see what they do next! You can here the EP here.

Gaylips are another band that we featured recently (Friday in fact!) and they returned last week with a new single Generic Rock for the Mass's. It’s another uncompromising punk pop onslaught from the two piece and it follows on from their debut album, released late last year, which you can read about here. We also came across an interesting track by Lip this week, Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down. Its only available on their Soundcloud or on the Independent Music News compilation ‘Don’t Panic’. It has a big chunky bassline, scything guitar and deranged vocals, all of which should be enough encouragement for you to check it out, which you can do here. Also slightly deranged is the new tune by Cowboy Flying Saucer I Become Lilliputian, which continues to channel the lockdown through their music, a theme that started with their previous track ‘A Message for the Telepaths’. Imagine listening to the Doctor Who theme in an altered state of consciousness and you should start to get the gist.

Protomartyr released the second track from their forthcoming album last week, Worm in Heaven. It’s a wistful, reflective little number that reminds us of Nick Cave and Nick Drake, and follows on from Processed by the Boys’. You can listen to it here. ​One tune that we’ve come late to the party on but heard and liked this week is 6 Week Party by Anorak Patch, who describe themselves as ‘young, fresh, spikey, angular, surprising, future’ and who are we to argue? 6 Week Party reminds us of Supergrass, Radiohead and Nirvana with female vocals and its great.