Week 35 – Aug 29:// things are hotting up out here… it’s the week for female soloists while the return of some certain Swedes are shaking up the foundations.
The Hives Forever The Hives
The Hives
With aim in sights for a right blockbuster larger-than-life rock arena album – Rolling Stones eat your heart out – The Hives Forever The Hives clocks in a classic Hives numeration. We’re whizzed through exasperated Enough is Enough, anthemic thunder-ball Paint a Picture, spacious and funky-layered remark of Legalise Living brings in something afresh while the rapturous self-titled is a heavy-duty wall of frenetic guitars, so loud we can barely hear ourselves think – just how we like it.
You can read the full artist spotlight feature here.
Man’s Best Friend
Sabrina Carpenter
A year on from a record-shattering Summer with Short n Sweet, Sabrina’s next chapter is a sharpened country-inflected dose of more quick wit and provocative tongue-in-cheek that is so perfectly on brand. Seemingly not missing a beat, Man’s Best Friend picks off where Espresso left Sabrina has one of the biggest pop stars on the planet. Now, this seventh just cements Sabrina as being more than pop’s fleeting thought of fame and its 15 minutes.
Raunchy disco pop flaunts throughout the whole record, while glossy cowgirl-country escapades ruffle a few taut tassels – perhaps casting a glimpse into future Sabrina sounds. Satirical heartbreak is on the menu as My Man on Willpower and We Almost Broke Up Again Last Night come and go. This is before we indulge into the visceral mischief where you can’t help but grin from ear-to-ear – House Tour is an gleeful innuendo-fest and I’m here for it. There are the unavoidable lulls present of course, but doesn’t stick around for too long.
Man’s Best Friend is just everything we’ve come to understand already from Sabrina: unapologetically, uncensored fun, all for the magic of pop music. You can say what you want about Sabrina and whether or not she’s setting women back twenty years or so but you can’t deny that the girlie is just having fun with it. Seems folks just need to get out more.
Heat Warps
Modern Nature
Lucid pop maestros of Modern Nature return with a more grounded fourth possessing fixed grooves and structured synergies. Following on from their critically-acclaimed record of No Fixed Point in Space circa 2023, they bring it to the forecourt with Heat Warps – their most collective songs to date. Leading the pack is Pharaoh; a restless working-out of guitar string trinkets and instrumental wonderment. The flip of the coin is 5-minute beauty Radio; a knock-out of rich harmonies and Western country tinged inflections. This record is the perfect accompaniment for the start of Autumnal season.
EURO-COUNTRY
CMAT
A visionary of indie strings and wistful vocals, the female Irish singer-songwriter of CMAT has been making this a Summer of hers with expertly crafted nuggets of indie sun delights. Woven with delicate strings atop a smorgasbord of wistful Kate Bush-esque vocals, CMAT’s latest venture is a bold statement of intent. A true connoisseur of relatable indie-pop, CMAT’S EURO-COUNTRY re-stakes her claim to the industry’s most prized awards that have passed her by thus far. It’s a record that is so resolutely bold and fresh from an artist who is equally ready for it.
Straight Line Was A Lie
The Beths
Fast phonetics and whizzing inflections are the name of the game for the group in Auckland. The time between finishing their topping 2022 record, Expert in a Dying Field to now has not come easy for The Beths. Fraught family dynamics and mental health issues have been frequent roadblocks during the bands’ writing process for their fourth. But despite the inevitable, the fourth has emerged as a soaring indie-rock contemplation of acceptance and frustration. Waded in by the blitz of sure-fire anthem No Joy and the Cranberries-like monologue of Metal, Straight Line Was A Lie is an appealing ten-track brood that maybe making new music isn’t always as straightforward as it looks.
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