Further Listening:

5. You’ve Got To Take A Look At The Last Whole Earth Catalog

Recent performers at our monthly gig night, The Last Whole Earth Catalog is the solo recording moniker of multi-instrumentalist Daniel HCW Parr. Releasing music since 2012, The Last Whole Earth Catalog have gone through something of a subtle evolution from the original lo-fi anti-folk into something a little more consciously ambitious, as showcased on last year’s Do You Face the Brutal Reality? 2024 has been a year of stand-alone releases for Daniel so far, which he continued this week with the release of his latest single, Look At Me.

If you’re looking for evidence of the evolution of The Last Whole Earth Catalog, then Look At Me might just be the starting place, there’s ambition written all over the track, from the opening with its shuffling rhythm and layered harmonies, reminiscent of Bamnan and Silvercork-era Midlake through to the more urgent outro with its driving, skittering drums and call-and-response guitar lines. With the promise of a new album coming into existence soon, The Last Whole Earth Catalog has never sounded more worthy of a browse.

Look At Me is out now via The Modern Banana Production Industry. For more information on The Last Whole Earth Catalog visit https://linktr.ee/lwec.

4. Friends Friends Have That Month End Feel

Formed in 2023, Friends Friends are an Oregon-based quintet, who in their own words, “bring a Midwest sensibility to the perennial Portland DIY music scene”. Fronted by Mack John with the help of Nate Anderson, Matt Rossi, and Pat Tabrum, the band are set to release their debut album Nobody’s Sorry later this month, and recently shared their rather excellent debut single, February 28.

Although released somewhat unseasonally, Friends Friends describe February 28 as, “a song for a late winter walk”, drawing romanticised influences from, “hummingbirds longing for flowers” and “the light show that happens after you rub your eyes”. The track seems to deal with a pining for Spring’s arrival, as Mack sleeps her way through January’s chilly beauty, and counts down February’s long nights, “I’m pushing through all your days only twenty-eight but I know impatience flowers fake, so I search for something sweet”. A song writ large with nature’s beauty, February 28 is fittingly also a rather beautiful listen, Mack’s swooping vocal commanding much of the attention even as it’s accompanied by a rich backing. The initially gentle guitars give way to a cacophonous swirl of bouncing drums, splashy cymbals and latterly some wonderfully swooping horns that wouldn’t sound of place on a Broken Social Scene record. It’s an enticing and intriguing debut and one that suggests Friends Friends are a band well worth keeping your ears open for, whatever the season.

Nobody’s Sorry is out June 21st via Riley Rose Records. For more information on Friends Friends visit https://www.friendsfriendsband.com/.

3. Don’t Sleep On Honeyglaze

Bursting onto the scene back in 2022 with their excellent self-titled debut, Honeyglaze are a London-based trio fronted by Anouska Sokolow. Although publicly the band have been fairly quiet since then, behind the scenes they’ve seemingly been very busy, as shown this week with the announcement of their signing to Fat Possum, as well as detailing their second record, Real Deal, out in September and produced by Grammy-nominated producer Claudius Mittendorfer. Alongside this announcement, the band also shared the first single from the record, Don’t.

As Anouska explains, the song was inspired by her favourite Destiny’s Child song, Bills, Bills, Bills, in her words, “also a song about being done with waste men“. Don’t marks a step into a more personal and straight-talking songwriting style, with the track, “written after the end of a particularly bad relationship and I had this anger at every man I felt had ever wronged me or spoken down to me“. The track finds Anouska in full sing-speak mode, like a more snarling Self Esteem as she brutally unleashes her anger at those who’ve wronged her, “don’t raise your voice and interrupt me when I’m speaking, I’m a person too you know, I’ve got things to say, I’ve got fucking feelings”. Accompanied by a backing of lurching bass, squalling distorted guitars and crashing, almost jazzy percussion, the song really bites in the moments of self-doubt, as she sings, “don’t take advantage, you know how easily I’m overwhelmed”, internalising the blame for the actions of others. An exciting return that suggests Honeyglaze’s new album might be the real deal, and I’m not just talking about the title.

Real Deal is out September 20th via Fat Possum. For more information on Honeyglaze visit https://linktr.ee/honeyglazemusic.

2. Pina Palau Is Bang Up To Date

Hailing from Zürich, Pina Palau has been active since 2021, catching the ear with her debut album, Illusion before returning in March this year with her second long-player Get A Dog, a record, “driven by a desire to understand unvarnished humanity”. Wasting no time in getting back to it, Pina this week shared her new stand-alone single, Modern Home, a song, “initially conceived as a joke”, which went on to become one of Pina’s favourite tracks.

The track was written in the aftermath of a house move, Pina leaving, “the charming chaos of an old apartment share” behind, for the, “uninspired environment” of “a freshly renovated flat”. While it might deal with the polished, soulless sheen of freshly built bricks-and-mortar, Modern Home is thankfully a more rustic affair, Pina taking the eerie silence of her new accommodation and spinning it into something else entirely. While it’s built around a simple premise, “two chords and one single take”, the track still seems to bristle with a sense of liveliness, whether it’s the distorted fizz of the guitar or the contrast between Pina’s poised vocal and the surprising clattering quality of the drums. Perhaps ultimately this is a song about adaptation, of knowing that what is new won’t always last forever, as Pina sings, “in these empty rooms, where nothing ever withers, can nothing ever bloom?” It’s like a plea for imperfection to arrive, a request for some cracks to show and some creative light to shine in, like everything Pina Palau does it celebrates the beauty in flaws, even ones that haven’t shown themselves yet.

Modern Home is out now via Mouthwatering Records. For more information on Pina Palau visit https://www.instagram.com/pinapalau.

1. Rubblebucket Are Real Growers

Active since the early 2010s, Rubblebucket formed out of a friendship between Kalmia Traver and Alex Toth when the pair were jazz students at the University of Vermont. The subsequent decade and a half have seen the band dabble with a huge variety of styles and genres, most recently on 2022’s “celebration of togetherness, environmental curiosity, and the pleasure of doing what you love”, Earth Worship. With new material in the pipeline, this week the duo shared their new single and “love song to a plant”, Stella The Begonia.

The titular Stella, and its parent plant, Edgar, have been with members of Rubblebucket nearly as long as the band has existed, and both have inspired something in their human companions, “watching it turn to face the sun, holding the light in the mornings, bending and striving to keep living has inspired a heightening of my own desire to be alive and helped me through times of loneliness”. This connection is explored here in a joyous explosion of sound, utterly beautiful in its undeniable simplicity, as the motorik drive of the rhythm is adorned with luxuriant horns and pulsing bassy rumbles. Atop it all Kalmia is a twirling force of nature, whether it’s the 60s girl-group-like spoken word section, or the yelping, energetic howl of a chorus, “when I see the way you’re leaning into living, it makes me want to lean towards living too”. The song closes with a full-on brassy, stomping, head-banging flurry, so thrilling it’ll have you bounding to the garden centre hoping to find a plant that makes you feel this good – Begonia sales might just be about to go through the roof.

Stella The Begonia is out now via Egghunt Records. For more information on Rubblebucket visit https://www.rubblebucket.com/

Header photo is Rubblebucket by Patrick Anderson