What We've Been Listening To This Week...Yard Act, Mush, Courting, Human Pet, Perspex, Cross Wires, White Flowers

By Jon Milton

What a great week for new music! There’s been some absolutely immense tunes out this week. Leading the pack is ‘Peanuts’ the new single by Yard Act. A song about a woman killing her imaginary nut allergenic husband by sprinkling peanut dust on his food ‘It takes real guts to fake being nuts, and it takes real nuts to break fake guts’. The clever wordplay and unique subject matter of Peanuts, alongside its prime musical backing show just why Yard Act are one of the most exciting new bands out there at the moment, with the music press regularly gushing and a host of top DJ’s like Steve Lamacq and Jack Saunders singing their praises.

Another band fast becoming everyone’s favourite are Courting, who’ve just released Popshop! Taken from their debut EP Grand National released in April next year (why so long chaps?) it’s their third single this year after the excellent David Byrne's Badside and Football, Last year’s Not Yr Man’s not too shabby a song either. Popshop! has a bit of a Velvet Underground feel about it, very upbeat and very good from the Liverpudlian teenagers who are always on twitter.

Also with an impressive back catalogue of singles is Perspex, who’ve also released just released the excellent Soft. Its backed by the sixties psychedelic tinged Double Recovery ‘a lockdown gift from the plastic band’ by all accounts, which we’ve gratefully received. 

Earlier this year when gigs were a thing you could do, we got to see White Flowers support TOY at Bedford Esquires, just after they released their debut single Portra. This week sees a new single ‘Within a Dream’ taken from their forthcoming EP of the same name out on Tough Love Records. Its another track that kind of sounds like the Cocteau Twins but with subtle elements of electronic music entwined to give it its own identity. We like. 

Just over a year ago Cross Wires released their debut ‘A Life Extinct’, with a subsequent flow of singles released from the album including stand out Distraction Technique. Their new single Hall of Mirrors is another good tune that has a bit of Hard Fi feel about it, and shades of the Jam from their early stages. Hall of Mirrors was written and recorded in the space of a day at The Control Room, and it’s the first in a series of tracks from an EP likely to be released next year. 

Mush released their Great Artisanal Formats 7 inch a few months ago for Record Store Day 2020 and gave us the full digital release on Friday. The EP has 5 tracks in total including Dead Beat and Fear Index and they’re all excellent. There’s still some vinyl available (just) if you’re quick. Here's the link.

Last but by no means least this week is S.F.U., the new single by Human Pet. It is a belter, pure and simple. It’s the sound of a band that are clearly confident in their ability and know who how to put a song together. Each component part complements each other perfectly, with tight drumming, incisive guitar, driving bass and dueling vocals colliding to make sweet post-punk music. Read about it here.