Posted on Friday 14th February 2020 at 16:10
What better way to spend Valentine's Day than by falling in love with a load of brand new music? Nathaniel Rateliff is back with new LP, And It's Still Alright, Levellers tease what to expect from Peace with Food Roof Family and indie icon Tim Burgess has revealed new single, Empathy For The Devil.
Nathaniel Rateliff – And It’s Still Alright
Described by the Independent as “an intriguing proposition,” Nathaniel Rateliff returns with And It’s Still Alright – a record “marrying laidback folk, rock, and rhythm and blues.”
Across ten tracks the Colorado singer-songwriter follows on brilliantly from 2018’s Tearing At The Seams (where he performed alongside The Night Sweats). One of the highlights is the brilliantly executed Expecting To Lose, which focuses on the blues aspect of Rateliff’s sound that he’s constantly developing.
Buy your Nathaniel Rateliff tickets here.
Levellers – Food Roof Family
Alongside the reveal of new record, Peace (out 14th August), folk icons Levellers have released new single Food Roof Family. As one of the frontrunners of the folk/punk scene in the 1980s, the band’s latest single “blazes with anger and urgency and its lyrical concerns are unvarnished and unambigious” (xs noise). Classic Levellers.
Buy your Levellers tickets here.
Tim Burgess – Empathy For The Devil
The Charlatans frontman, record label owner, author and all round indie icon Tim Burgess is back with confirmation of a new record, I Love the New Sky (out 22nd May). Presenting the first single in the form of Empathy For The Devil, Burgess took himself to the middle of the Norfolk countryside, pulled out an acoustic guitar and allowed the melody and lyrics to complement one another beautifully.
Buy your Tim Burgess tickets here.
Ash – Teenage Wildlife (25 Years of Ash)
When Northern Ireland rock band Ash burst onto the scene with debut full length ‘1977’ back in 1996, their sound always appeared ahead of its time. Now, celebrating 25 years as a band, they have released a compilation featuring some of the biggest and most loved tracks from the past two and a half decades – including Goldfinger, Girl From Mars and Shining Light.
Buy your Ash tickets here.
Sam Fender – Hold Out
Man of the moment Sam Fender returned this week with brand new single Hold Out. Just 4 months after the release of number one album, Hypersonic Missiles, Hold Out is, in Fender’s words: “about going out on the lash back home” and escapism. More ballad-y than the record, this new chapter is certainly one to be excited by.
Buy your Sam Fender tickets here.
Boniface – Boniface
Featuring “their most formative coming-of-age experiences,” Winnipeg creative Boniface has dropped their magnificent debut record via Trangressive (Foals, Blaenavon, Two Door Cinema Club). Exploring soundscapes – for example “piano ballads with touches of strings” in opener Waking Up in Suburbia and the synth soaked crunches in Oh My God – it is a record that showcases Micah Visser’s poetic brilliance after years of drip feeding singles that made fans desperate for more.
Buy your Boniface tickets here.
Larkins – Hit and Run
On the cusp of selling out the 2,800 capacity Manchester Academy, Larkins have had a phenomenal rise over the past year. Adored by critics and fans alike, the Glossop outfit have already impressed crowds with their relatable and infectious indie rock sound – now, with Hit and Run, they have an arsenal ready to light up venues nationwide with.
Buy your Larkins tickets here.
Mystery Jets – A Billion Heartbeats
Indie favourites Mystery Jets have revealed the title track from their forthcoming LP, A Billion Heartbeats (out 3rd April). Described by DIY as “anthemic” and vocalist Blaine Harrison sid “it’s much more direct, much more hard-hitting – we wanted to make something that sounded like it was slamming against your ear drums.”
Buy your Mystery Jets tickets here.
LYR – Never Good With Horses
Newly appointed ‘Poet Laureate’ Simon Armitage has released the first track from his forthcoming record, Call In Crash Team, in the form on Never Good With Horses. The atmospheric, post-rock spoken word piece sees Armitage team up with multi-instrumentalists Richard Walters and Patrick Pearson in what will be one of the most interesting musical releases of 2020.
Buy your LYR tickets here.
Check out all of this week's new releases in our New Music Friday playlist on Spotify:
