Today's Hotness: Football, Etc., Diocese, Goodly Thousands

>> Houston emo veterans Football, Etc. have been a known quality around Clicky Clicky HQ for quite some time, and yet here we are just now finally devoting some virtual column inches to them. Over the course of a six-year history, the trio has issued a series of well-received 7" singles and LPs on respectable labels Texas Is Funny and, more recently, the un-eff-withable Count Your Lucky Stars. Across those releases the group chased and most often found a familiar and comfortable sound, one that draws equally from late '90s emo stars like Rainer Maria and the precise brilliance of The Spinanes' early output. And along the way Football, Etc. has proven itself one of the most consistent acts, and as a result its profile continued to rise as those emo revival trend pieces start to pile up. Count Your Lucky Stars this week released Football, Etc.'s latest effort (at least digitally, read on), a very potent EP titled Disappear EP. The four-song 7" contains the three-pieces' strongest work to date, although it doesn't attempt to recreate the wheel. What Disappear delivers is four urgently melodic numbers that glide along fronter Lindsay Minton's clean Telecaster tones despite the persistent unease in her lyrics. Ms. Minton's voice is devastatingly poignant on the opening cut "Sunday," a tune in which she imagines erasing herself to feel better. Everything seems to fall into place on Disappear, which was recorded with the legendary J. Robbins. Stream the entire EP via the Soundcloud embed below, and order it from CYLS right here. The 7" -- which is available pressed to classic black or milky-clear-with-orange-and-blue-splatter media -- was slated for release this week. However, according to the label, pressing plant delays related to the bothersome Record Store Day glut has pushed back the shipping date about a month, which means the band will likely have already been overseas for its short Japanese tour and back before the 7" records ship domestically. In the meantime, fans who made the trek to Austin for the annual South By Southwest branding confabulation had a few chances to catch the band, and Football, Etc. is planning additional U.S. tour dates for the summer. -- Dillon Riley



>> In reviewing its debut LP Detergent Hymns here in January, we noted that Swings are a prolific bunch. This was even more true than we realized at the time, as it turns out that two of the Swings cohort, fronter Jamie Finucane and drummer Dan Howard, log time with another act based out of Oberlin College. The act is presently called BBC America, and we hesitate to call it a Swings side-project as the aforementioned dudes make up the act's rhythm section. Notably, an older and very short-lived iteration of BBC America art-rocked most steadfastly under the name Diocese; was fronted by a woman named Mia Rosenberg; and recorded a self-titled debut that has been making the rounds among the indiescenti of late. Ms. Rosenberg and her singular, elastic voice has migrated west to pursue more pastoral pastimes, a precipitating factor for the name change, but what Diocese left behind after a scant four months shuffling off this mortal coil is a strong eight-song document that relies on some of the same slow-burn intensity and loose instrumental interplay fans have discovered on Detergent Hymns. The sonic freak-out that punctuates the coda on the stunning second track "Matthew Walker" pulls off seething rage in a way few bands that play, moody atmospheric rock such as this can. Stand-out tune "Spoken To" deconstructs before your very ears, but is practically on fire when riding a charged 5/4 meter whose ol' push-and-pull drops off a cliff at the tune's sudden end. Diocese's electric and meandering self-titled effort is being issued posthumously by micro-indie Como Tapes in a limited edition of 75 hand-dubbed, teal cassettes (ask your moms how they work yo) and digital download; order the former here or get the latter for zero American dollars here. And while you can no longer experience the wonder of seeing Diocese live, BBC America (remember them, from the beginning of this paragraph?) are alive and kicking, with guitarist Mike Stenovic up front singing in place of Rosenberg. The act kicks off a short tour tomorrow alongside the also aforementioned Swings. There are two college shows in the Boston-ish area at the end of March (approaching!), so you oldsters start applying your Just For Men now. Inspect all of the tour dates below, and hit the stream of Diocese below that. -- Dillon Riley and Jay Breitling

3.20 -- Gambier, OH -- Kenyon College w/ Sports, Sidebitch
3.21 -- Pittsburgh, PA -- w/ Sidebitch, Glowworms, Blod Maud
3.22 -- Harrisonburg, VA -- Crayola House
3.23 -- Washington DC -- w/ Two Inch Astronaut, Rye Pines, Something Sneaky
3.25 -- Montclair, NJ -- House Show w/ CAVE WETA (NO SWINGS)
3.26 -- Brooklyn, NY -- Aviv w/ BIG UPS, Kissing Fractures
3.27 -- Somerville, MA -- Tufts University w/ Vundabar
3.28 -- Worcester, MA -- Clark University w/ Amanda X



>> The glistening sound of '80s UK guitar pop is alive and well, well, just across the Irish Sea. Dublin trio Goodly Thousands, which formed five years ago in Dundrum, Ireland, exhibits a persistently bright jangle on an EP set for release later this month. The four-song collection is titled Sunshine Hair and its title track is just as its name suggests: breezy and beautiful. The tune succeeds in a big way on the strength of restless and sparkling 12-string guitar picking, crisp drumming and fronter Colm Dawson's emotive tenor. Along with "Sunshine Hair," the EP offers the tunes "Walking Home," "Kiss Me Upside-Down" and "Ponytail." Shelflife will release the Sunshine Hair EP March 24 in a limited edition of 300 vinyl 7" records and as a digital download, and you can pre-order a copy right here. Goodly Thousands' debut single "Honest" b/w "I Wish" was issued by Shelflife in 2013, and is nearly sold out at this point (although different versions of those two tunes and two others are available for free download at Goodly Thousands' Bandcamp right here). Stream the irresistible "Sunshine Hair" via the Soundcloud embed below.

Show Us Yours 20: Seeds Of Doubt

We've missed the Show Us Yours feature, and we hope you feel the same way, especially seeing as we've gone to the trouble to bring you this, its TWENTIETH installment. So today we look across the ocean -- for the first time in five years -- to the UK, where in London upstart indie pop four Seeds Of Doubt are honing a guitar-pop sound that embraces aspects of vintage U.S. surf and relatively contemporary Pacific Northwest garage. We first encountered Seeds Of Doubt early this year, when it released its fetching DCP EP on Italian Beach Babes (we've since learned what the acronym stands for: De Crespigny Park). The act features Chris Hopkins on guitar and lead vocals; Ed Shellard on lead guitar; Ashley Hassell on bass; and Max Hart on drums. Seeds Of Doubt practices and cuts demos in a flat shared by Hopkins and Mr. Shellard, and you can click through shots of the space above. Since the release of DCP, the quartet has been writing for a new EP and planning summer live dates, and it also released a short, nifty collection of outtakes from DCP as well. During recent recording sessions, Seeds Of Doubt tracked a new version of the older cut "Spout Control," a scritchy, uptempo rocker that recalls the tremendous Seattle act The Fall-Outs; that tune will feature on a planned comp from Italian Beach Babes, and you can stream it at the foot of this feature. With so much going on, we thought it would be a good time to check in with Seeds Of Doubt to learn about where it makes its magic, the influence of Australian indie acts on its evolving sound, and what the apparently fashionable drug of choice is in rural England. Mr Hopkins reveals all of that and more, and we are grateful for his gracious responses to our questions, which are below.

Clicky Clicky: So why do you use this practice space?

Chris Hopkins: Because we are little paupers and have no money.

CC: Is there an idiosyncrasy or quirk of the space that has affected the sound of one of your songs, or even Seeds Of Doubts' overall sound?

CH: When I'm recording demos I try and play the drums quite quietly because I'm always worrying about the neighbours... luckily they haven't complained yet, though.

CC: You walk into your space. What's the first thing that you smell?

CH: Haha, probably smoked fish. Its so damp in the house, the food smells linger for days.

CC: Switching focus to the music, the gentle vibe and distinct lead guitar lines in "There You Go" and now "Running" makes us think of early '60s U.S. surf music, and that made us wonder whether there is a tradition of that musical style in the UK at all, or if it is a distinctly American thing? Maybe it's not fair to test your music history with such a specific question... and obviously there are more dimensions to your music ("Enough Is Enough" and "Green Triangle" portray more traditionally post-punk sounds, for example), but that odd little slice of it interested me.

CH: Ed came up with those leads bits, pretty sure he's never listen to early '60s surf music, though. I think those kinds of guitar parts mostly filter through to us from a lot of the current Australian rock scene, Scott and Charlene's Wedding, The Twerps, Dick Diver, etc. I'm not aware of any exclusively surf stuff from the early '60s in the UK, there were a lot of garage vibes going on, though. The Kinks and Ray Davies are a huge influence on me.

CC: You've recently begun recording a new EP, so I'll assume the writing is pretty well done. Do you see the work you are doing now with the new material as trying to accomplish something different musically than the stuff released on DCP early this year? Seeds Of Doubt doesn't strike me as a band that is going to suddenly start making jungle or ska records or whatever, but can you can see your releases as particularly distinct, whether because of influences, subject matter, or increased chops?

CH: We've been using a proper studio called Sound Savers in East London, so I think we've moved away from any nostalgia-heavy stuff a bit. We re-recorded an old song ("Spout") whilst doing the sessions for the new stuff, and it just sounded a bit like dad rock radio or something, because the overly nostalgic tape feel had been taken away. I think we've just got a bit better as a band and are able to write more complex songs now, and people will be able to hear that. Fundamentally though, it is still just rock music.

CC: Your aim is to tour once the planned EP is in the can. Have you played many shows outside London, or will the dates largely be new markets for Seeds Of Doubt?

CH: We played this show in Stroud, Glostershire, because our drummer is from there, it is pretty funny, proper farmer country. It was in a pub owned by this really nice sort of ex-rocker guy, he was super cool and the show was really busy. We got paid for the show and the money smelt really strongly of this nasty drug called mephadrone that is really big down there, people had obviously been hoofing it up in the toilet all night in-between paying for their beers. The tour should be hilarious, no one will know us but our music is pretty accessible, so hopefully it will be ok.

CC: Thanks for taking the time to speak with us!

CH: No problem, great to have some overseas attention! Cheers!

Seeds Of Doubt: Bandcamp | Facebook | Soundcloud

Previous Show Us Yours episodes:
Shapes And Sizes | Dirty On Purpose | Relay | Mobius Band | Frightened Rabbit | Assembly Now | Meneguar | Okay Paddy | Charmparticles | Calories | Sun Airway | It Hugs Back | Lubec | A Giant Dog | Bent Shapes | Krill | Golden Gurls | Earthquake Party! | Hallelujah The Hills