Introducing: Mammoth Penguins - http://www.drunkenwerewolf.com/blog/introducing-mammoth-penguins/

over-rated relaxing

“Dream of Bees” is the first single from Lilies on Mars’ full-length Dot to Dot, to be given worldwide release early next year on Saint Marie Records. Previous recordings by the London-based, Sardinian multi-instrumentalists Lisa Masia and Marina Cristofalo have established the duo, formed in 2009, as purveyors of  poignant, otherworldly “retro-futurist” dreampop.

“Dream of Bees” opens with a hovering organ chord that’s quickly overtaken by an instrumental preview of a chorus that always pulls the listener aloft on a softly turning but slightly dizzying carousel of sound, an image bolstered by a vertiginously calliope-like keyboard line. With the first verse commences a high, distant vocal that soars gently through the rest of the track. Nimble drum work contributed by Valentina Magaletti ensures that the proceedings never quite touch the Ground.

The first remix included with the single comes by way of San Francisco’s ethereal pop team Silver Swans, whose sparer, more synthetic approach to the song brings the vocal line to the fore and uses programmed drums to pull the track’s rhythmic emphasis inside out. A remix by Vancouver-born, New York-based cellist Julia Kent startlingly recasts “Dream of Bees” in purely instrumental terms with an exquisite string arrangement.

Lilies On Mars - Dream Of Bees

Hailing from Pity Me near Durham, vegan straight-edge pop group MARTHA have just signed to Fortuna POP! and will be releasing their new album ‘Courting Strong’ at the end of May. Providing energetic, impassioned pop punk, Martha are informed by 90s indie rock and Scandinavian anarcho noir. The album, produced by MJ from Hookworms, is laden with harmonies and interchangeable vocals whilst still retaining the energy and excitement of the band’s live shows. 

Formed in 2011 by siblings Naomi (bass, vocals) and Nathan Griffin (drums, vocals) with J. Cairns (guitar, vocals) and Daniel Ellis (guitar, vocals), Martha have fast become a staple of the UK DIY pop scene. There are many competing stories as to the origin of their band name but it’s a fact that the very last passenger pigeon on earth was called Martha. When she died, the whole species became extinct.

Decamping from the North East to record the album at Suburban Home Studios, Leeds, the band enjoyed the freedom of being in the studio and experimenting with MJ’s equipment to produce unexpected sounds. The process saw them opening up to new ideas and, feeling more confident in their own abilities, allowing a wider range of dynamics.

Taken from a line in the song Gin and Listerine, the album title “Courting Strong” is an expression that was used to describe couples who were getting really serious. There’s the old cliché that when you’re young you think you’re invincible and that everything will last forever - the album is about looking back and reflecting on past moments in your life, past friendships and relationships, accepting the uncertainty and fragility of those things and moving forward positively.

The overarching theme of the album is ‘growing up weird’. It’s a semi-autobiographical story about growing up in a small town, with a sense of not fitting in but on the way finding people who share that feeling and forming really strong bonds. It’s about clinging to a sense of belonging and about being proud of who you are and where you are from, as well as the community of which you are a part. It’s an album for the people who stayed in their hometown, and for the people who still go back and visit.

Martha’s melodic punk pop celebrates being an outsider whilst being part of a community. The album touches on uncertainty, fear and loneliness whilst exuding an effervescent sense of excitement and joy. There’s darkness beneath the pop surface - but there are also songs about teenage antics, drinking, courting and having your heart broken – everything a good indie record should have.

 “Martha have mastered that neat Buzzcocks trick of riding those gloriously glowing guitars with sweet, comfortingly-fey voices singing in irresistible harmony. In short, they’re pretty darn great” Clash Magazine 

“Top notch buzzsaw indiepop with enough melodic punk in their DNA to make them stand out. Definitely worth keeping an eye on” Narc Magazine

Martha - 1997, Passing In The Hallway

It's Nothing To Me- The Abigails

Prog-influenced Nottingham quintet The Chemistry Experiment are set to release their second album, the intriguingly titled “Gongs Played By Voice”, through Fortuna POP! in January, some ten years after the release of their debut album “The Melancholy Death Of…”.  Housed in beautiful artwork by the Bulgarian artist Gyukov, a set designer in communist Bulgaria, the new album sees the band conclude the transition from their indie roots with nine beautifully arranged and recorded songs that encompass such influences as Will Oldham / Bonnie Prince Billy, Tindersticks, King Crimson and Soft Machine.

You can listen to standout track “Channel Light Vessel” here, which songwriter Steven J. Kirk describes as the best song he ever wrote and says, “This is about the sea, and sailors, and a boy I read about on BBC news who impaled himself on a fence trying to pick conkers."

The Chemistry Experiment - Channel Light Vessel

It's A Drag

It's A Drag - H Hawkline

"When I Was Your Age" is the first single to be taken from "Hide and Seek", the debut album from Mammoth Penguins, the new band fronted by Emma Kupa (formerly of Standard Fare). The song is gloriously messy and loud, about feeling inadequate about one’s achievements. As Emma explains, "It started off with a birthday card from my granddad saying that he was married with kids at 28 and then I started thinking about what my parents, grandparents and family members had achieved by the time they were my age".

"Hide and Seek" is the debut album from Mammoth Penguins, the new band fronted by Emma Kupa, formerly of BBC 6 Music favourites Standard Fare. Due out on 6 July via Fortuna POP!, the album is an exhilarating collection of indie anthems, with Emma's candid songwriting and heartfelt vocals at the fore. Chugging away like the greatest Weezer record you’ve never heard, the songs are bold, loud and outrageously catchy, with lyrics that hit just the right chord, exploring the burgeoning responsibilities of being in your late 20s/early 30s.

Mammoth Penguins - When I Was Your Age

"Propped Up" is the first single to be taken from the debut album Hide and Seek from Mammoth Penguins, the new band fronted by Emma Kupa, formerly of BBC 6 Music favourites Standard Fare.  With a stirring chorus that makes you want to pump your fist and a call-and-response section that begs you to join in (“regrets, mistakes,…”), the rip roaring “Propped Up” talks about how we're all dependent on others to distract us from negative thoughts.
 
The album Hide and Seek is due out on 10 July via Fortuna POP!, the album is an exhilarating collection of indie anthems, with Emma's candid songwriting and heartfelt vocals at the fore. Chugging away like a great lost Weezer record, the songs are bold, loud and outrageously catchy, with lyrics that hit just the right chord, exploring the burgeoning responsibilities of being in your late 20s/early 30s.
 
When the much-loved Standard Fare called it a day after nine years and two albums, Emma Kupa upped sticks and moved from Sheffield to Cambridge, where she recruited Mark Boxall (bass) and Tom Barden (drums). Previously the bassist and lead singer in Standard Fare, Emma relished the switch to guitar in Mammoth Penguins, allowing her the space to deliver her trademark soaring vocals and to indulge in the occasional mean guitar solo. With Tom’s driving energy and Mark’s bouncy pop bass they quickly developed their riff-tastic powerpop sound.

Recorded at Sickroom Studios in Norfolk by producer Owen Turner (Magoo, Factory Floor), Hide and Seek captures the band at the age they're at right now, reflecting on different aspects of being in their late twenties. With Hide and Seek, Mammoth Penguins have produced a wonderfully varied record, each song a story, nuggets of joy, despair and hope. Already onto her second great band, feeling inadequate isn't something that Emma Kupa needs to do.

Mammoth Penguins - Propped Up

"recorded in March 2015 by Kyle Mullarky at the Pumphouse in Topanga CA. Performed by Kyle Field, Neal Casal, Kyle Mullarky. Mixed June 2015. Dedicated to the music industry and all of the heroes and villains therein. Originally performed by Madonna."

LITTLE WINGS - Live To Tell

The full EP released many years after it was recorded, back in 2019.

Eris D

Cardiff noise pop group Joanna Gruesome will be touring the UK in support of their recently released second album Peanut Butter, out now on Fortuna POP! (UK) and Slumberland (US).

The upcoming tour marks the first outing of the band's new lineup, which features Kate of feminist/queer punks Pennycress on melodic vocals/shouting/screaming and Roxy of Two White Cranes, Grubs, Trust Fund and TOWEL on melodic vocals/keyboard.

Speaking confidentially, an official has confirmed that the single "I Don't Wanna Relax" is “Yet another hook-filled smash hit.”
 
UK TOUR DATES:

18 Sep - Islington Mill, Manchester UK
19 Sep - Head Of Steam, Newcastle UK
20 Sep - Brudenell Social Club, Leeds UK
22 Sep - Scala, London UK
23 Sep - Summerhall, Edinburgh UK
24 Sep - Glad Cafe, Glasgow UK
25 Sep - Trades Club, Hebden Bridge UK
26 Sep - Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff UK 
29 Sep - The Haunt, Brighton UK

Joanna Gruesome - I Don't Wanna Relax

Jack Madness - Eaves

07 Sic Bay Surprise

Download this from http://chaptermusic.bandcamp.com/album/beaches-she-beats

From second album She Beats, out on Chapter Music 3 May 2013.

www.facebook.com/beachesband
www.twitter.com/beachesband
www.chaptermusic.com.au
Itunes Link: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/distance/id610715433?i=610715933&uo=4

Beaches - Distance

from Cerulean Salt 
Don Giovanni Records

Waxahatchee - Brother Bryan

Out now limited 12” and download on Mark's own Shape Records label.

'Triangulation Station' comes from our forthcoming album 'Released By The Movement', due for release in the autumn.

The single will come with with three additional exclusive tracks. Inlet is a new track we recorded at the Rhombus Rooms using a lot of synths, a drum machine and none at all of shouting. Plus a woozy drone remix of Triangulation Station by Welsh musician/producer R. Seiliog and our remix of I Chi by the awesome Danish band Pinkunoizu.

Pre-orders of the 12" come with immediate download of this track.  The vinyl includes a colour riso printed sleeve and a poster issue of The Isness, a zine made by ourselves.

Recorded and mixed in Wales by Stephen Black. All artwork by Islet.

http://www.shaperecords.co.uk
http://isletislet.com

Mammoth Penguins - When I Was Your Age

Fortuna POP!

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