Review: Yr Poetry | Rocket Season EP

We are dogged by an apparently false (or at least presently unconfirmed) recollection of a use of the term "rocket summer" beyond its obvious references within popular fiction and execrable emo. What we recall is a piece of dialogue dubbing "rocket summer" a season in which the lives of a group of young people begin to take off -- you know, like rockets. We thought we'd find the verbiage in the crucial '90s indie-scene film "Half Cocked," whose story features a crash pad called Rocket House, but a repeat screening last week proved fruitless. Instead of continuing to cast about for support for our possibly dreamed-up memory, we're just going to get to these (long-suffering) points: Yr Poetry released last week a thrilling new six-song EP of taut, melodious indie anthems called Rocket Season, and -- as a result -- it is hard not to feel like the project has taken off (slightly adjusted title or no).

Longtime readers will not need the history lesson and can scroll ahead, but neophytes take heed: Yr Poetry is Alexei Berrow and Junior Elvis Washington Laidley of invincible Birmingham, England fight-pop four Johnny Foreigner, although the project is doubly once-removed from that concern via each gentlemen's respective solo endeavor (guitarist Berrow's Yr Friends, f/k/a Yr Dead Friends, and drummer Laidley's Fridge Poetry). Rocket Season, Yr Poetry's second EP, opens on a high with the thunderous basher "Don't Call Me Shirley," a song that tells of a powerful infatuation whose shuddering energy and vivid, desperate vocals echo the electrifying jolt of new, seemingly inescapable love. Given he is endlessly clever, its easy to believe Berrow uses the tune's closing words ("...that boy, still gets you...") as a nod to "Still Got It," the final track of the pair's titanic 2014 debut mini-album No Tribes. Or at least it is easier to believe that than it is to believe that Berrow named a song after a running gag from one of the greatest comedies ever filmed. Either way, the onion-skin layers of yearning and poignancy embedded in the crashing chords and cymbals of "Don't Call Me Shirley" are terrifically affecting.

The EP's 15 minutes transpire rapidly, never presenting a chance to sag, and the tone is generally raw and aggressive: think Johnny Foreigner's thrashing "Who Needs Comment Boxes When You've Got Knives," from the act's triumphant 2010 EP You Thought You Saw A Shooting Star But Yr Eyes Were Blurred With Tears And That Lighthouse Can Be Pretty Deceiving With The Sky So Clear And Sea So Calm [review], and you'll have an idea of Berrow's headspace when writing this short collection. The mid-set charmer "We Are Not The Champions" stands out. The tune condenses the sardonic conceit of Built To Spill's majestic "You Were Right" into a similarly sharp-witted but elegantly architected rocker. It is worth remarking that there seems to be something in the zeitgeist with the sentiment "We Are Not The Champions," as LA's DTCV uses virtually the same title for a completely different rocker on its dazzling LP Confusion Moderne, due next month.

Berrow told Goldflake Paint recently that Yr Poetry is "super proud how [Rocket Season] turned out and vaguely side-eye confident that it stands as a rad piece of music without being propped up by a *side project of.. tag... so who knows, maybe this is our mainstream breakout project." He is an avid reader of sci-fi, so it is very likely the title of the EP was carefully selected, for both its similarity to, and differences from, Ray Bradbury's epochal classic "The Martian Chronicles," whose first chapter is titled "Rocket Summer." Yr Poetry's chosen title if anything is stronger, as it suggests an ability to adapt, and -- importantly -- to return. It underscores the momentum of the project. although that momentum will likely be knocked sidewise with the release of the aforementioned Johnny Foreigner's hotly anticipated next full-length, which may very well street before 2016 burns out.

Rocket Season was recorded over a weekend in Johnny Foreigner's rehearsal space by James and Josh from Mutes; the set was mixed by music-recording-guy extraordinaire Dom James. Yr Poetry self-released Rocket Season as a CD and digital download March 24, and a special pre-order bundle was on offer the week prior to release right here.The bundle included a handmade, numbered and signed CD, an A4 poster, lyric sheet and black t-shirt with a yellow-printed rendering of the collection's ace cover image, but it appears orders are no longer being taken. For those who missed the offer of physical merch, the set should be on Bandcamp soon. For now, stream the entirety of Rocket Season via the embed below.

Yr Poetry: Bandcamp | Soundcloud



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Today's Hotness: Parakeet, The Shalfonts

>> Yuck's 2013 sophomore album Glow And Behold signaled the '90s revivalists would be fine, thank you very much, in the wake of the shock departure of founding fronter Daniel Blumberg. But well before that release Yuck bassist Mariko Doi was busy staking out her own place in the proverbial indie rock sun with her sparkling dream-pop project Parakeet, which we first wrote about here in April 2012. The band, a collaboration with The History Of Apple Pie drummer James Llewellyn Thomas, debuted with a single that month, and then issued the very enjoyable Shonen Hearts EP at the end of 2012, which we wrote about right here. After apparently devoting her time to Glow And Behold during 2013, Ms. Doi has returned in a big way with Parakeet's best slate of songs to date on a new EP titled Pink Noise. The short set, which was released June 26 via Marshall Teller Records, never lets up, offering quick, lush and snappy dreamers that accentuate Doi's clear pipes and guitarist Jon Jackson's compelling, delay-heavy moves. The expansive, colorful opener "Paper Town" echoes the reverberated heartache of the first Best Coast album, while also carrying in its chording and composition elements of Best Coast's second, more country-inflected set. Doi's singing is strong throughout, such that one might be tempted to argue that her voice has been sorely under-used in Yuck; she typically enters a verse more subtly and then goes for a full-throated falsetto in the chorus. This is best employed on "Running and Running," which contrasts brightly strummed acoustic guitars with thick drumming. The highlight of the four-song collection is "Pink Noise," a commanding title track offering fluorescent, neon flourishes and power-pop guitar leads, along with even more great acoustic strum. Buy the Pink Noise EP here. A full-length Parakeet release is contemplated for release in 2015, and we are expecting great things given the increasingly compelling music coming from the band. -- Edward Charlton



>> We were surprised to learn earlier this month that the dizzying constellation of Distophia-associated bands is slightly larger than we had previously thought. As it happens, Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam drummer Ralph Morton is also party to a long-running but heretofore-unknown-to-us act called The Shalfonts (you'll recall from our overlong explanation here that Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam includes former Distophia guy Pete Dixon). The Shalfonts are primarily a virtual band/recording project centered around the songwriting duo of Mr. Morton and Bryn Bowen, with as many as seven contributors based in either Birmingham, England or Bergen, Norway collaborating on tracks shared through the Internet. The group has crafted a steady stream of digital releases, including a couple full-lengths and various EPs and singles, and its most recent set Grant Mansions was released to the wilds of the Internerds earlier this month. The shambling new collection touts a number of solid, acoustic-led rockers that echo a particular early '90s, Sebadoh-adjacent freak-folk sound. Indeed, there is a strange vintage Western Mass. flavor across the entire set, despite the decades and thousands of miles betwixt. The highlight of Grant Mansions may well be the relatively up-tempo strummer "A Long Straight Cue," which materializes at the tail-end of the set. The song rises up over a clattering rhythm with a light, ascending melody sprung from layered acoustic guitars, and a burbling stream of lyrics bouys the song to its odd, but not-quite-jarring final exclamation: "my curls all fall out." Other notable tunes include the relatively tense and swirling preview single "Netman + Bird" and the patient, pastoral rumination "MudHeart." Grant Mansions was released as a compact disc or digital download by the awesomely monikered label Giant Manilow July 7; the CD is available in a limited edition of 100 with packaging designed by The Shalfonts' own Lloyd Bowen. Listen to the entire set via the Bandcamp embed below, and click through to purchase the CD or download.

Today's Hotness: Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam, Goodbye Childhood, R.M. Hendrix

>> For those of you who didn't see us trumpet its existence over on the Fakebooks yesterday, the video above is for the lead track from a tremendous new EP from Birmingham, England-based noise-pop luminaries Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam. We introduced you to the then-trio last fall, when it self-released a cracking self-titled full-length debut. Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam is comprised by former Calories and Distophia guy Peter Dixon, and chaps named Andrew Bullock, Ralph Morton and, more recently, David Bentall. The new EP, which as far as we can tell carries no title and no hard release date, touts five characteristically concise, desperate and tuneful rockers and picks up right where Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam left off. That's not the most insightful analysis, but when a band -- or really, a cohort of men that configures itself in ever-increasing combinations (more on that below) -- does so many things right so consistently, the work needn't always be labored over. "Auto," the song featured in the video above, is briskly paced, urgent and repetitive ("auto" is short for "automation," after all), bludgeoning the refrain "in auto" repeatedly at the end of the second minute just prior to a tearing lead guitar line. The tune presents an electrifying amalgamation of punk bombast confronting Teutonic minimalism and efficiency, and there is perhaps a larger point to be made about its mechanistic rhythm, the themes of alienation and boredom in the video, and how that relates to Marx's ideas about how industrial machinery alienates the worker (see, for example, something like "As a result of machinery, displaced workers are not so quickly compensated by employment in other industries but are forced into an expanding labor-market at a disadvantage and available for greater capitalist exploitation without the ability to procure the means of subsistence for survival.") But it also just rocks, as does the blazing, 106-second follow-up "Castles And Kings." Indeed, there is nary a loose thread or dropped stitch in any of the EP's five songs. The EP is available for pre-order here in two bundles. The first is limited to 50 orders, and includes 7" vinyl, CD, A3 poster, t-shirt and instant download for £10; the second offers only the 7" and CD for £6. We suspect the former iteration is already sold out, but try your luck, what the hell, right? Like sound but hate pictures? You can stream "Auto" via the Soundcloud embed below.



>> If you clicked the second hyperlink above and revisited our initial coverage of Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam, you are familiar with our being overwhelmed by the many projects that have descended from the late, great Distophia and its most successful offspring, Calories. Fortunately, and not surprisingly, all of these related acts make excellent music. Yet one more new project was revealed last month, when Burning Alms/Calories doods Andrew Bullock and Thomas Mark Whitfield unveiled Goodbye Childhood. The duo bowed the project with a self-titled, downloadable EP in late April. The music is reserved and spare, lacing together canned beats, acoustic guitars, murmured vocals and atmospheric synths,into a curious yet enticing product that at least superficially calls to mind Elliot Smith and The Notwist. The delicate and waltz-timed meditation "Lock Up Your Son" may be the most affecting of the short set, with gentle lyrics and pretty acoustic guitar meandering first into a stiffening drone, then a crackling rhythm track. A new band and EP were not what we had been expecting from Mssrs. Bullock and Whitfield. The pair's Burning Alms has had a full-length titled In Sequence waiting in the wings to be unveiled for about six months, we reported here and here in February and December respectively. Is that LP still in the offing, or has it been subsumed within the catalogue/repertoire of Goodbye Childhood? We really have no idea. But confusion is certainly nothing new when it comes to the supernumerous spawn of Distophia. We can only wait and see, and while you do so, take a listen to the entire Goodbye Childhood EP via the embed below.



>> Wade in deep with us, indie rock fans, deep into the new collection from Boston-based graphic designer and music DIY-er R.M. Hendrix. Mr. Hendrix's new full-length Urban Turks Country Jerks carries 11 tunes and captures in its broad embrace classic shoegaze and Britpop sounds. Heretofore, the cuts "Wasted Summer" and "In This Daydream" from the collection have been designated as singles from same, and there are very nice video clips for them here and here respectively. But it is at the far end of the collection where we find two tunes that, in our humble opinion, cry out for single treatment; hear us out. Were we to don our A&R cap -- which we do enjoy doing now and again -- we'd advise releasing a vinyl 7" with the terrific, buoyant strummer "Those Were Dark Days" on the A-side, and the instrospective coldwave dreamer "Frost Heaves" on the flip. The former song is a very pleasant reminder of the late-career classic "Stormy Weather" from Echo And The Bunnymen, and succeeds on the strength of Hendrix's even vocal, big guitars in the chorus and a bouncing beat. The latter tune is a perfect foil, desolate and icy, the cool side of our proposed aural McDLT. Fortunately all of Urban Turks Country Jerks is available to stream on Soundcloud, and so you can weigh the merits of our imaginary single via the embeds below, or click this link to hear the whole shooting match. Urban Turks Country Jerks was released April 28 by Dallas-based Moon Sounds Records on CD or as a digital download. We previously wrote about Hendrix's Pink Skin EP here in 2012. Hendrix, formerly of indie rockers Flannery, has been producing music for almost two decades at this point -- at least one song at his web site dates back to 1996. Peruse his entire catalog right here.

Today's Hotness: The Cherry Wave, Calories

>> It will rapidly become a distant fading memory to some, but there was an entire universe of excellent contemporary shoegaze happening prior to last night's shock midnight release of My Bloody Valentine's mbv. Indeed, notable Glaswegian noise-pop upstarts The Cherry Wave returned Jan. 24 with its second EP of uncompromising shoegaze chaos. The quintet's new, four-song set is titled Blush, and it is both more focused (somewhat ironically, given the quote you are about to read) and more punishing than its formidable predecessor. The band recently told GlasGoWest "[w]e wanted it to sound like what it feels like when you've been up for 24 hours and you think you're hearing things and seeing things, but you’re not really sure whether you have or whether it's the comedown and lack of sleep. We wanted to it to sound like an audio version of that feeling, 6am, sun rising, fuzzy headed, heavy eyelids." The highlight of the EP is the closer "Cave/Wave," a tune driven by crushed drums and spectral vocals that somehow is able to steadily ratchet up the cacaphony straight across the song's nearly four minutes. It's the sort of song that makes you wonder whether the band is ever able to play more than one song live, as its beauty and mayhem suggest an aural self-immolation. The Cherry Wave's self-titled debut EP was released last summer and our own Edward Charlton reviewed it right here. In the intervening months The Cherry Wave was released on cassette and the band added a third guitarist to help fatten its already considerable auditory morass; the band's final show as a four-piece is Feb. 15. Blush is available as a pay-what-you-like download via Bandcamp; you can stream the entire thing below.



>> Well, there was some delay, but it was definitely worth the wait: Birmingham, England-based indie-punk heroes Calories last week issued its eagerly anticipated EP DMT, which we first wrote about here in November. The surprisingly textured, catchy-as-hell lead track is one with which you should all be familiar by now; perhaps you've even seen Calories' skewed but entertaining video for the tune as well. Well, on the EP "DMT" is joined by three additional numbers: the weightier, fuzzed-up chant "Every Day Is A School Day," the nervous and cinematic instrumental "Flickers From The Ochre House" and the hypnotic ballad "Fragments Of Cities (Acoustic)." Brevity, energy and a cracking melodic sense continue to be hallmarks of the Calories sound, but the band is still able to build admirable exposition into the songs. The final minute of "Every Day Is A School Day" features a menacing build-up of buzz-saw guitars that blow past the rhythm section and hang in space for a number of seconds. The final haunting track, "Fragments Of Cities (Acoustic)," is perhaps the strongest of the lot, wherein the band deftly arranges gentle acoustic guitar and organ and voice. We remain quite hopeful about Calories' planned third full-length. When the band issued the freebie "Summer's Not" in October it was billed as a non-album track to whet the whistles for the next record from the quartet, which now counts among its number renowned engineer and former Sunset Cinema Club chap Dominique James. Since then, of course, no long-player has emerged. Fortunately, a Facebook post from the band last week states "the album will 100% come out on vinyl," a good sign that indeed an album is still in the offing. We recently wrote about two relatively new Calories side projects, Burning Alms and Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam, right here, and we'll try to keep tabs on all the action as we can keep up with it. For now, stream the excellent DMT below; if cassettes are your thing, word is that Stourbridge-based Carnage Club Collective will be doing a limited cassette run at some future date. Calories play London Feb. 10.

Today's Hotness: Calories, Hospitality, Fashoda Crisis, Soccer Mom

>> Birmingham, England-based indie punk heroes Calories resurfaced last week with the blistering tune "Summer's Not," a non-album freebie and precursor to the act's planned third full-length. No release date or title for the forthcoming long-player have been revealed as of yet. Interestingly, the band's Facebook page (which lists Calories' interests as "swimming | minimalism") states that Dominique James -- formerly of Sunset Cinema Club and most recently best known as the engineer/producer of a number of Johnny Foreigner recordings -- is now a member of Calories, swelling its personnel to four members for what we believe to be the first time. "Summer's Not" is the first we've heard from Calories since the release of the band's terrific, best-of-2010 release Basic Nature [review], which was issued by Tough Love. The song is no departure from the band's characteristic blend of power, brevity and anthemic melodies. The production eschews gloss in favor of grit and buzzsaw fuzz, feedback flares through the crevices between beats, and chunky bass smacks up against the face of the stereo field. It's a wonderful little number. That "Summer's Not" is not included on the next record would seem a portentous fact: if the band didn't think this song made the cut, how friggin' awesome is this record going to be? We can't wait to hear it. Stream "Summer's Not" below.



>> After spending the majority of 2012 touring behind this year's delightful self-titled full-length, Clicky Clicky faves Hospitality return with a new 7" on Merge, "The Drift" b/w "Monkey," due Oct. 30th. The label has shared the b-side, which we've embedded below, and it's certainly strong enough to have been a lead cut. The tune is a smash, much more like the music from the band's live set we wrote about here last spring than the jazzy acoustics of the band's self-titled debut [review]. Almost certainly energized from their time on the road, Brooklyn-based Hospitality sounds lean and confident, with upfront bass and vocals that are evocative and precise. Fronter Amber Papini's singing twists and questions, while a clean electric guitar stair-steps through the mix, beckoning the listener with fevered New Wave visions. Pitchfork lazily referred to this one as "proggy," and man, is that a shame. To set the record straight, "Monkey" is a tightly coiled bit of brainy pop, unafraid to tread new ground in song structure without sacrificing anything in catchiness or relevance. Like XTC, The Go-Betweens, and this writer's beloved Lilys and The Mabuses, Hospitality are beginning to enter the realm of the chord-geniuses; compositional miscreants too damned smart and playful for their own good, and now apparently the sort of band whose music is tragically confused with that of Genesis or Yes. Prog? Please. Class? You better believe it. Buy the single from Merge right here. -- Edward Charlton



>> On the virtual A-side to its new digital single, "Horatio," notable Southend, UK-based howlers Fashoda Crisis have dialed back (slightly) its characteristic vitriol and raw power to pitch a bizarre tale of demented human/equine co-dependence. It's the same sort of odd, mildly psychedelic narrative that fueled those early, Syd Barrett-penned Floyd singles, although here it is contextualized by a martial stomp. Fashoda Crisis fronter Sim Ralph is easily able to pull it off, as his stentorian declamations are equally as compelling when alternated with spooked whispering and superficially curious ranting ("...education, Education, EDUCATION!"). "Horatio" and its fiery digital flipside "He's Got Gills" feature on the band's planned Jowls Of Justice EP, which will be released on vinyl and as a download by Cognitive Dissonance Records next month; pre-orders will begin shortly, according to the band. In the meantime, stream "Horatio" below. We wrote about "He's Got Gills" here in August.



>> Boston-based noise-rock titans Soccer Mom announced this week the quartet will release a digital single, "Brides" b/w "Canoe," the first new music from the band in more than a year. The tunes will be issued by 100m Records Nov. 6. The band supports shoegazers Young Prism at Great Scott in Boston the prior night, and promised to have CDs of the single available at the show. Both songs have featured in recent live sets from Soccer Mom (indeed, "Canoe" was in the band's set March 30), so fans lucky enough to have seen the band's dominating performances recently will have passing familiarity with them. 100m is already offering pre-orders for "Brides" b/w "Canoe" right here. Get into it. We previously wrote about Soccer Mom's amazing 10" You Are Not Going To Heaven here in July 2011.

Johnny Foreigner News Bomb: Names EP Due Oct. 27, New U.S. Label, U.S. Tour Dates Revealed

While neither the tour dates nor the EP were a surprise to social media stalkers, today's vast and detailed announcement of Johnny Foreigner's new release, new U.S. label and North American tour dates was still entirely exciting. The Birmingham, England-based noise-pop titans will release a new digital EP titled Names Oct. 27 via longtime label Alcopop! Records in the U.K. as well as the band's new U.S. label home, Swerp. Chicago-based Swerp, incidentally, is run by the fellow who made the wonderful video for "Harriet, By Proxy," from Johnny Foreigner's *last* EP, Certain Songs Are Cursed. The new, four-song (sort of) collection was recorded last week with usual collaborating engineery-producery dude Dom James; it is the first set of music to include recently ensconced second guitarist Lewes Herriot, who fans have long known as the creator of the now-quartet's visual brand.

Names is available as a digital download packaged in the UK with a badge set and in the U.S. with a hand-colored t-shirt. Each label will have one of the four recorded songs exclusively, meaning each release only actually has three songs, capisce? But fear not, the song not included in the package you buy (assuming you don't buy both, because, you know, money) will be for sale as a one-off digital file as well. Another of the four songs will be available as a free download in the coming days. So then there's the business of the U.S. tour, yeh? It is dubbed Johnny Foreigner vs. The Atlantic, and it kicks off in Wilmington, NC Oct. 30 with veteran act Hammer No More The Fingers, with whom Johnny Foreigner will tour up to Baltimore. The Brummies play Philly with Clicky Clicky faves Hop Along Nov. 4, then proceed up to Boston by way of New York in time for the huge Community Benefits benefit show we're hosting at Great Scott Nov. 7 [Facebook invite]. From here Johnny Foreigner heads west to Chicago on a string of dates with Swerp labelmates Nervous Passenger that winds down Nov. 17. That said, Johnny Foreigner expects to announce certain Canadian dates next week that will enlarge the band's stay in North America an unknown length of time. Plans had been explored for Johnny Foreigner to proceed to the west coast of the U.S., but today's announcement stated that, at least for now, that's a bridge too far. For now, of course, Johnny Foreigner are on the road in the U.K. and you can scope the complete dates for that jaunt right here.

Just catching up on this Johnny Foreigner thing? Well, courtesy of Swerp, below are streams comprising the entirety of the trio's best-album-of-2011 full-length Johnny Foreigner vs. Everything. We recommend starting at the beginning, listening through to the end, and then starting over.

Johnny Foreigner's Johnny Foreigner vs. Everything Due Nov. 7, Sticker-Single "(Don't) Show Us Your Fangs" Out Sept. 12

Birmingham, England-based noise pop titans Johnny Foreigner have at long last announced the release of the trio's hotly anticipated third full-length. As first reported here, the self-produced collection -- the band's first full-length since joining Alcopop! Records -- is indeed titled Johnny Foreigner vs. Everything, it is a stunning 18 songs long, and it will be released Nov. 7. The new set was recorded over the course of five months with long-time recording-of-things guy Dom James (as we wrote here in March), he of the erstwhile Brum act Sunset Cinema Club with whom JoFo released a split single some 10,000 years ago in the year 2007.

Johnny Foreigner vs. Everything, according to this fresh blog post from guitarist and singer Alexei Berrow, "sounds like a huge expansive sprawling ambitious and personal version of us." According to the same blog post, the image above is not the official album art, but rather there will be two versions of the final sleeve; an explanation is promised later (we assume by, you know, Nov. 7). Lex also said this: "We made this in Birmingham, in a warehouse under the arches and Dom's parents' spare room. we've never had this much control over recording, or been able to take so long, or had a producer that grew up with us buying the same records at the same time and whose mother constantly fed us square and balanced meals."

The album -- perhaps double album? -- is preceded Sept. 12 by the digital-plus single "(Don't) Show Us Your Fangs" b/w "The Hand That Slaps You Back;" streams embedded below, download "Fangs" here! In typically ingenious fashion, Alcopop! is releasing the single in a limited edition of 500 via a "dual skateboard sticker pack" for the super-cheap price of 1 pound 50, including worldwide shipping. The sticker-single -- nay, STINGLE! -- comes in a set of two stickers with URLs printed on the back where the songs can be downloaded. The band is offering a contest in connection with the stickers: slap them up somewhere clever and email a photo of same to the band's Hotmail address, and at least one winner will receive "some signed exclusive awesome art prints and a super deluxe album pack to give away (it's too early for details, but trust us, they're going to be amazing and sell out)." If you can't wait for the stickers to arrive in your mail, apparently you can include any URL to an image of some fantastic animal with your order and Alcopop! honcho Jack Pop will email you the files. Service!

But BUT AND AND AND. There is also finally a brand new band web site right here, and a new YouTube outpost a little more official than MovingAlexei (or even this, thanks Nettwurkzzzzz, way to go!) where there is also the first of many promised weird visual missives from our heroes. Johnny Foreigner will be celebrating the album and single by headlining the Alcopop! stage at Southsea Fest Sept. 17, and the trio intends to announce more shows soon. We've already seen news that Johnny Foreigner will return to France with brilliant Alcopop! labelmates Screaming Maldini in November. Dear Supreme Being That May Not Exist But For The Sake Of Argument Yadda Yadda, send these jokers to America forthwith.

Let us step back for a moment and think about what a top fucking achievement it is that the new record will include 18 songs. While this is the band's first full-length since the mind-blowing Grace And The Bigger Picture in 2009, in the intervening two years Johnny Foreigner has released some 21 new songs, depending on how you count, and we're sure we're counting wrong, but still -- let's ballpark it at 40 songs in two years' time including the new record and single, yeah? Stunning achievement. Stunning. We couldn't cheer harder for these guys if we tried. Oh, right, the single, it's below, start streaming!

(don't) show us your fangs by johnny foreigner

the hand that slaps you back by johnny foreigner

Johnny Foreigner Third Record Underway, Plotting Single, Tour, Chicanery

We haven't had adequate time to keep readers apprised of the goings-on of our top-serious favorite band since publishing a review of their excellent but exhaustingly titled EP here in November. Sure there was the Stagecoach split single, and various YouTuberies. But what has Johnny Foreigner been up to the last several months? The big news is the Birmingham, England-based noise-pop titans are in the midst of recording its third full-length, according to this post at Formspring. Johnny Foreigner are producing the as-yet-untilted set themselves, which we in indie rock call "doing the Fugazi." Another Formspring post states that the band will issue the first single from the pending collection in mid-April; as there has been no other announcement or plan for pre-orders, we're guessing this will be a digital single.

Record No. 3 is being created with the help (we presume of the engineering variety) of Sunset Cinema Club fronter Dom James, who has recorded a number of JoFo b-sides over the years. Off the top of our heads we know that Mr. James recorded the two songs released in the .zip file titled Johnny Foreigner Is Aces released in Feb. 2009, but we think he may have also recorded the tracks for the fabled Johnny Foreigner/Sunset Cinema Club split single released on Laundrette Recording Company in 2007 with the 3-D sleeve art. According to Twitter the band recently "re-amped" the guitars for a Deftones-styled guitar attack, which apparently is going to be polarizing? There will likely be grand piano, and as of early February drums had already been tracked on five songs.

Based on a lengthy blog post from February in which fronter Alexei Berrow disclosed the plan for the next record's album art, there are at least 15 songs being considered for the new collection, or at least the new collection and its attendant b-sides. Considering the band sorta cleared the decks of unofficial releases in February with the release of the digital EP There When You Need It, we wonder whether that is going to be 15 all-new tracks. That would be sort of amazing, but not unlike our heroes, who have churned out an abundance of songs during the last five years, more songs than most bands probably ever write ever. Right?

In the time-honored manner of How Things Art Done, Johnny Foreigner have plotted a tour of the UK in April, which you'll notice is right around the time we are supposed to be seeing the new single. Makes you excited, right? Remember during the last album cycle when you tore yourself away from listening to the Projekt A-ko record long enough to dig on "Feels Like Summer?" We're sure Johnny Foreigner has one like that sitting up their sleeves. The dour, soulful and largely unamplified tracks of recent months are wonderful, but we feel a rock song coming on. We feel it. Tour dates are below, as are embeds and buy links for the tunes on There When You Need It. Act accordingly.



APRIL TOUR WHAT HAS NO NAME YET

04/02 -- Edinburgh -- Haddowfest
04/03 -- Edinburgh -- Haddowfest
04/18 -- Wakefield -- The Hop
04/19 -- Aberdeen -- Cafe Drummonds
04/20 -- Glasgow -- Nice n Sleazy
04/22 -- Nottingham -- Bodega Social
04/23 -- Preston -- Mad Ferret
04/24 -- Milton Keynes -- Sno Bar
04/26 -- Birmingham -- Hare & Hounds
04/27 -- Liverpool -- The Shipping Forecast
04/28 -- Manchester -- Night & Day
04/29 -- Stoke -- Underground

Johnny Foreigner Is Aces -- New Demos Online For A Limited Time

Well, fans, your favorite Birmingham, England-based noise pop trio this evening put online for two weeks only something called Johnny Foreigner Is Aces (a sentiment we certainly won't argue). Johnny Foreigner Is Aces is not a proper release, but rather a .zip file with two tracks (pure .wav files! awesome!) and two desktop wallpaper images that the band is offering, as we said, for a limited time only. The first track is "Ghost The Festivals," which the band has been playing live for months and months. We think we prefer the live version (we're thinking of the one from New Slang last Nov., or the performance for Manchester's Channel M, specifically), but even so it is really solid -- the chorus in the demo is orchestrated slightly differently, but we expect it will grow on us. The more exciting cut is the second, "Ohai, Sentinels," which is apparently another of the band's catchy rants against the development and gentrification of their beloved hometown.

The two tunes were recorded and mixed by Sunset Cinema Club's Dom James at Bridge Studios Annex 2 and in Dom's new bedroom last month. According to the liners that came in the .zip the tunes are on a tour-only CD-R Johnny Foreigner will be selling at its shows for the foreseeable future, that apparently also contains three additional tracks "taken from our bootleg archive." Which brings us to a request -- if you get to a show on the band's upcoming tours with Sky Larkin and 100 Reasons and are flush with enough cash, please Please PLEASE buy two extra copies and then email us at the address in the sidebar. We've a mate in the UK who will receive shipment of same on our behalf, we'll totally pay you back, and we'll potentially set you up with some exclusive stuff in return related to a new super secret (for another week or so, anyway) Johnny Foreigner-related endeavor we've undertaken. Make it worth your while, yeh? Tour dates here.

Johnny Foreigner -- Johnny Foreigner Is Aces [zip file]
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Johnny Foreigner's 13 Point Plan To Destroy Etc. And So On

[Another week, another update about Johnny Foreigner... it's getting to the point where we are half-considering setting up a separate blog just to cover them, with a wacky name like "A+ No. 1 Super Fun Time Johnny Foreigner Fan Club USA Blog." But on to the news... -- Ed.]

There's almost imperceptible buzz around the Internets that superhuman Birmingham, UK-based noise pop trio Johnny Foreigner is considering at least one record deal. Not much of a surprise, really. We'll let you know how that shakes out. In the meantime, you should really click this link and wade through some hipster ranting on the part of a well-meaning host to get at a mind-bending live clip of Johnny Foreigner performing for the Road To V competition we've written about previously here. The band blitzes through a version of "SofaCore," dangles it a bit in the middle for some skull-mopping, and then brings the tune to its merry conclusion. We wish there was more high-quality live video such as this of the band to be had, but if this label deal thing happens we expect there will be plenty. Anyway, the funniest part of the pre-show interview bit is when the host asks the band why they should win the contest and bass player Kelly blurts out "we shouldn't." Brilliant.

We'd be remiss if we didn't mention that scads of Johnny Foreigner demos (many of which the band has been giving away at its web site for some time) have been packaged up as a 15-song, digital collection of sorts entitled I Like You Mostly Later At Never. You can download it here. For those of you keeping score at home: missing from the collection, based on our thorough record-keeping, is the great (if a little sketchily recorded) track "KickKickKick," but included are two tunes of which we were not previously familiar, "Champagne Girls We Used To Know" and "This End. As A Beginning." Also, the versions of "Yes! You Talk Too Fast," "Balance Comma Girl" and "Ninky vs. Dingle" sound like different mixes (in the case of the first two) or a different edit (in the case of the last one, a Sunset Cinema Club cover). Finally, because we are in a giving mood, here is our current JoFo fave, "All Mosely Gardens," as well as the aforementioned "KickKickKick."

Johnny Foreigner -- "All Mosely Gardens" -- I Like You Mostly Late At Never (Demos)
Johnny Foreigner -- "KickKickKick" -- Demo
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Johnny Foreigner: InterWeb | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

Various Good Reasons To Write About Johnny Foreigner Yet Again

[UPDATED] If we lived in the UK we would have seen earlier tonight (likely in person, because the band had scads of guest passes) criminally underknown Birmingham-based noise pop heavyweights Johnny Foreigner performing for the Channel 4 teevee cameras at London's Carling Academy Islington. The appearance was part of the band's bid for a slot at this summer's V Festival. At this point, because of the time change, the TV appearance has already transpired, but we're not seeing anything on the YouTubes yet [there was just a MySpace bulletin from the band, which surely must never sleep at night, as it is basically the middle of the night in the UK right now. Anyway, word is their performance doesn't actually air until June 20. Oh well]. For now we wait. Anyway, it did actually take us burning all of our Johnny Foreigner tracks to a CD and playing them incessantly in the car (as recommended in a sidelong way by the band in a MySpace bulletin last month) to unlock the secrets of the band's most recent tracks (which we first raved about here).

The obvious charms are, as always, the manic, holler-along verses and choruses and disheveled, melodic slam of the tunes. But after a bunch of listens the tricky stuff announces itself. "Our Bipolar Friends" opens with bassist Kelly's intro invoking the stealth of a ninja before stumbling into a hot rock song. A little twist jumped out at us as we sat in Mother's Day traffic -- the tune has an asymmetrical bridge. It is comprised of two four-beat chunks sandwiched by a five-beat chunk and a three-beat chunk. Even cooler, perhaps, is the breakdown in "Suicide Pact Yeh." At about 1:00 in singer and guitarist Alexei goes a capella and the drums get all squashy, as if the engineer closed down all the mics on the drum kit save for a distant room mic. In a broom closet. Down the hall. It is a very cool effect. Anyway, we've raved about the tracks before, but we didn't post to them then. Tonight, we're posting them. And a note for those in the U.K. -- on May 21 Laundrette Recording Co. will issue Johnny Foreigner's second release, a split single with Sunset Cinema Club (details here at the excellent Index 7 site and also here). You can already stream the typically exuberant track at JoFo's MySpace dojo here.

Johnny Foreigner -- "Our Bipolar Friends" -- MySpace download
Johnny Foreigner -- "Suicide Pact Yeh" -- MySpace download

Johnny Foreigner: InterWeb | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

Clicky Clicky Parade Of MySpace Stars vol. 2 -- Updates

There's news in the world of two acts we previously profiled here in Clicky Clicky Parade Of MySpace Stars vol. 2. Read on.

>> Birmingham, England-based noise pop heroes Johnny Foreigner have been voted into the final round of a competition in the U.K. called The Road To V. The contest bestows upon the victor a slot performing on a certain stage at an event called V Festival, which occurs in mid-August and is sponsored by the mobile phone service prong of Sir Richard Branson's decentralized Virgin empire. The next step of the competition to determine the lucky V Fest performer has Johnny Foreigner and 13 other finalists performing live on the teevee in the UK for a panel of judges -- hopefully that video ends up on YouTube. In the meantime, the act's second proper release, a split single with Sunset Cinema Club on Laundrette Recording Company, will be released May 21. The record features each band playing one of their own ("Yes You Talk Too Fast" and "Down On The Farm" respectively) and one of the other band's tunes, much like the excellent 1994 Archers Of Loaf/Treepeople split on Sonic Bubblegum we mentioned previously here. You can already stream the cuts at Laundrette's MySpace shed here, and they are flipping brilliant. And did we mention the art for the Johnny Foreigner/Sunset Cinema Club split is 3-D and the single comes with 3-D glasses? Nutty. The release is limited to 500 copies, so start limbering up those ordering fingers when May rolls around. In the meantime, Johnny Foreigner offers a few downloads at its MySpace hut, a couple of which we've pulled down and put back up for you at the links below.

Johnny Foreigner -- "Sometimes In The Bullring"
Johnny Foreigner -- "SofaCore"
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>> Indie rock quartet Darling Nerves, which we saw play a hot set in early February, has parted ways with drummer Caryn Havlik. Ms. Havlik will reportedly be devoting her full attention to pursuing her passion for dog racing (as the owner of a retired greyhound, we can say this is a passion we don't share). The remaining members of the Brooklyn-based combo, which features former Phantom Tollbooth guy Gerard Smith on bass guitar, is auditioning drummers. Hit up their MySpace pad here if you think you've got the skin-slamming skills or if you want to bask in the glory of their indie fuzz.
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