What We've Been Listening To This Week...Osees, Guru, The Pleasure Dome, Dribbler, White Manna

By Jon Milton

The hardest working men in rock and roll Oh Sees (or Osees as they are now) returned this week with the lead track from their new album ‘Protean Threat’, which is due to be released in September. ‘Dreary Nonsense’ at just over a minute and a half is a short sharp blast of everything you’ve come to expect and enjoy from John Dwyer and co, indicative of a more succinct selection of songs than the last album ‘Face Stabber’ with the longest track coming at less than 5 minutes.   

Just to get us in the mood, Rough Trade in their weekly mail out said of Protean Threat ‘It’s easy to think that its yet another album from this crew but believe us when we tell you - this one’s a fucking belter’. The band also have another album ‘Metamorphosed’ planned for release later this year, comprised of tracks taken from last years ‘Face Stabber’ sessions. Listen to Dreary Nonsense here.

Garage punk with a side order of slacker rock and grunge sir? If that sounds like your bag, have a read of our review of the debut EP from Dribbler, which packs a hell of a punch over its 5 tracks. We hadn’t heard of them before until their record company sent us a message on Friday to coincide with the release, and if you’re similarly unfamiliar make sure you check them out here.

Last but not least on the singles front for this week are the new singles from The Pleasure Dome and Guru. The Pleasure Dome’s ‘This Room Is For Gold And There Is No Use For It’ actually came out at the start of the month, but better late than never. The Guru's Roses is their first this year, following on from a strong of singles in 2019. Both singles are chunky bass-driven post punkers, so naturally get our thumbs up. 

Switching attention to albums, we’ve been listening A LOT to the new album by White Manna which comes out at the end of the month on Cardinal Fuzz / Centripetal Force. The album fuses psych rock, electronica, krautrock, psychedelic jazz and it’s a wonderful journey from start to finish. You can read about it and listen to one of the tracks ​here.