March 14, 2013

Today's Hotness: Her Parents, Johnny Foreigner

Her Parents

>> Oxford, England-based little-label-that-can Alcopop! Records -- home to Clicky Clicky favorites Johnny Foreigner and Screaming Maldini, among others -- triumphantly announced Wednesday the signing of outstanding London-based punk unit Her Parents. The quartet, which we first wrote about here last August upon the release of its debut Physical Product, is comprised of former members of the late, great Dananananaykroyd, Internet Forever and Stairs To Korea. Her Parents' chosen medium is deliriously irreverent and raw punk, which is rather unsurprising considering the band's pedigree. As part of the Alcopop! deal, the label will issue May 13 Her Parents' sophomore set Happy Birthday. The collection is so short that a planned 12" vinyl release only fills a single side, so the flip side will contain the whole of the foursome's thrilling Physical Product. Each album was recorded in a single session with zero instrumental overdubs. To tease the release, Her Parents and Alcopop! have issued the 85-second gem "Why Don't You Just Fuck Off?" as a free download as well as a spray-painted, handmade, two-track single in a limited edition of 50 pieces priced at 1 pence each that sold out pretty much immediately, because duh. There is also a delightful and life-affirming a video in which a lot of things suddenly turn into sandwiches and a guy wears a t-shirt with a bear on it, which you can enjoy right here. The song is built off a crunching, three-chord frame that echoes the chorus of perhaps one of the greatest songs ever written, McLusky's sublime "Light Sabre Cock Sucking Blues," so needless to say if you like that jam, you will certainly like this one. That's called a RIYL, in industry parlance, kids. Her Parents -- whose motto is "good guys putting in the fucking hours" -- are plotting a tour in May to further promote Happy Birthday, a tour that will include what will in all likelihood be anarchic performances at the festivals The Great Escape and Carefully Planned Festival. Full dates have yet to be announced, and pre-orders for Happy Birthday are not yet being taken, but all in due time. For now, stream or download "Why Don't You Just Fuck Off?" via the Soundcloud embed below.



>> Speaking of the aforementioned Johnny Foreigner, the foursome late Wednesday revealed additional details about its upcoming, self-released mini-album along with a newly reworked version of its song "(Don't) Show Us Your Fangs" cheekily titled "(Don't) Throw Us Your Slang." As the newly posted song suggests, the mini-album the Birmingham, England-based noise-pop titans first tipped last week (see this) will feature "a bunch of weird re-recordings of songs and a new old song and half a new new song," according to the text posted with the refurbished tune at this Soundcloud page. There is as yet no title or release date given for the short set, but it seems as if it could appear at the band's Big Cartel site at any moment, particularly now that the mixes have been finalized (again, according to the Soundcloud page). As for "(Don't) Throw Us Your Slang," this version of the highlight from Johnny Foreigner's titanic third full-length Johnny Foreigner vs. Everything is slowed down and lighter; it relies more heavily on acoustic guitar and is both more spare and more heartbroken than the original. If anything the kicker lyric "here's to giving in" is even more powerful in this setting. "(Don't) Throw Us Your Slang" was available as a downloadable .WAV file for about 40 minutes Wednesday night, which was the amount of time it took for the file to reach its maximum of 100 free downloads. But you can stream the tune and the original via the embeds below, and of course we highly recommend that you do.





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