November Dispatch: Music on Repeat vol. 5
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- Candi Carpenter – ‘Seasonal Depression’
- The Rolling Stones – ‘Angry’
- Sea Girls – ‘Weekends and Workdays’
- Cannons – ‘Heartbeat Highway’
- Olivia Rodrigo – ‘all-american bitch’
- Rachel Chinouriri – ‘The Hills’
- cumgirl8 – ‘Cursed Angel’
- Feeder – ‘Elf’
- Poppy – ‘Linger’
- Cartographer – ‘Colorblind’
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs – ‘Wolf’
- Foo Fighters – ‘My Hero’
- Lauran Hibberd – ‘I Suck At Grieving’
- blink-182 – One More Time
- Harker – ‘Out The Window’
The last three months have been busy in terms of new music – demand completely overwhelmed supply. Candi Carpenter, Sea Girls, The Rolling Stones, Lauran Hibberd, Harker, Poppy, and many more. Busy is an understatement but we love living music so it’s been a wonderful time so far.
We’ve had to prioritise a lot more than usual and haven’t complained one bit. Bands have been busy flooding our ears with awesomeness and we’ve been trying to keep up.
Let’s not dilly-dally any longer, here’s music I talked about with the team.
Candi Carpenter – ‘Seasonal Depression’
There are three things certain in the life of a human being – death, taxes, and Candi Carpenter being the real wrecking ball taking you on an emotional journey every time you listen to their music.
‘Seasonal Depression’ doesn’t hit you with anything special in particular at first; it slowly shaves off one layer of your skin after another, a petal at a time. You’ll not notice how much flesh you’ve lost until it’s too late. What a treat!
Christmas time can truly be horrible. Candi is not I’m not a fan of it and I’ve been meeting more and more people who’d prefer to skip it altogether. Too much waste, too much consumerism, too many missed opportunities to help.
Before, on, and after the day, you’ll find me figuring out how to help people, where to make monthly donations, and donating goats via People In Need but I digress.
If you’ve been wondering if Demonology Part I is going to be followed by Part II, you’re in luck. It is.
Let’s get ready for more brutal honesty.
Watch Candi Carpenter – ‘Seasonal Depression’ (Official Video).
The Rolling Stones – ‘Angry’
It would not be a good Dispatch without mentioning The Rolling Stones‘ new album, Hackney Diamonds.
If I skip the whole “I wasn’t sure I wanted to play the album even once but when I did, I realised XYZ and felt silly” part, I can only talk about the album in superlatives – from the very first track, it’s good old Stones who still know how to rock ‘n’ roll. ROCK ’N’ ROLL!
I fell in love with it after the first listen. That’s a lie, the first tunes of ‘Angry’ were the love trigger.
It’s difficult to write about Hackney Diamonds because The Stones are the very core of what we understand as rock and roll music.
Read the above-linked review, it’s a great piece of writing confirming the album belongs to the 2023’s top ten.
Moving on.
Watch The Rolling Stones – Angry (Official Music Video).
Sea Girls – ‘Weekends and Workdays’
There’s all different kinds of fucked up fun, but ‘Weekends and Workdays’ should be number one… Okay, these are not the original lyrics, but an anthem this good really should catapult a band into the spotlight.
The follow-up, ‘Young Strangers’, was brilliant, too.
Sea Girls are one of the bands to seek out at festivals, but while we wait for the weather conditions to make that possible in the northern hemisphere, their recent singles on repeat will do.
Watch Sea Girls – ‘Weekends and Workdays’.
Cannons – ‘Heartbeat Highway’
I have a thing for Cannons. It’s an indie pop band from Los Angeles, formed in 2013, who made their breakthrough during the pandemic because their song was on a Netflix show. The stuff you make films about.
They released a new album a few weeks ago, ‘Heartbeat Highway’ instantly caught my ear because it’s about living in the moment, not giving a shit, and just enjoying your life. There are many bangers on the album though, if you start with ‘Metal Hearts’, you’ll not make a mistake.
Pop isn’t dead bad!
Watch Cannons – ‘Heartbeat Highway’.
Olivia Rodrigo – ‘all-american bitch’
You won’t read a review of Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts on Phonotonal because you’ve already read it elsewhere.
The album still deserves a shout at least in this Dispatch volume.
I heard about Rodrigo at some point in the last five (🤷♂️) years but never paid attention until I heard people talking about Guts on a podcast covering politics.
The album? You’ll get everything from storytelling much more experienced songwriters could envy, multiple music genres, great lyrics, humour, and nothing that will leave the pop taste in your mouth.
Listen to ‘all-american bitch’, open your favourite music streaming service app, type in “Olivia”, and thank me later.
Oh, and the song? Pop-punk.
Another top ten album of 2023.
Notice the number of women in the music video… <3
Watch Olivia Rodrigo – ‘all-american bitch’ (live from rehearsal).
Rachel Chinouriri – ‘The Hills’
The homesick vibe of ‘The Hills’, delivered with Rachel’s incredible vocal, makes this song such an easy choice for a playlist with some feels. This is an indie / Brit rock whomper with a perfect video.
We’ve been following Rachel Chinouriri for a while and her songwriting skills are nothing short of stunning.
Watch Rachel Chinouriri – ‘The Hills’.
cumgirl8 – ‘Cursed Angel’
Post-punk storm.
Every single song on their EP Phantasea Pharm is a gem.
I’m in love with the collective.
It’s like that sometimes.
Watch CG8 – ‘cursed angel’ (Official Video).
Oh, wait, there’s also ‘picture party’.
Watch CG8 – ‘picture party’ (feat. Christeene).
Gemz!
Feeder – ‘Elf’
We’ve already covered two singles so it shouldn’t come as a surprise we expect Feeder’s 2024 album to be brilliant. After all, we love both ‘Elf’ and ‘Playing With Fire’ and the new singles, ‘The Knock’ and ‘Soldiers of Love’, aren’t bad at all.
One of the reasons for why – myself – have had to mention ‘Elf’ here is the music video. It’s amazing. I don’t know anything about dancing, so won’t bother you with impressions. I only know it’s not just a person dancing, there’s more to it, there’s meaning behind everything they do.
The band are touring the UK next year! See you in Portsmouth?
Poppy – ‘Linger’
While the original intention was to talk about the triple review of ‘Church Outfit’, ‘Knockoff’, and ‘Motorbike’, because the songs are great, I’m taking the opportunity to say the new Poppy album is definitely in the top ten of the year – alongside Hackney Diamonds, Guts, and a few others.
You don’t have to be a dark pop fan. I’m not either. You don’t even have to know any of the big names in the pop music industry. But if you’re a fan of good music? You should give the album a try.
‘Linger’ is a reason why you should.
Cartographer – ‘Colorblind’
A string of singles from Cartographer has shown them to be a rather amazing melodic djent band with unusual singles. There’s something about the lyrical fit that keeps me hooked.
The song that keeps popping into my head at random moments is ‘Colorblind’, though hot on its heels is the latest single, ‘Rewind’… what a guitar line!
This band is seriously good and you have to check them out.
Watch Cartographer – ‘Colorblind’.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – ‘Wolf’
Cool It Down still keeps going strong and we hold ‘Wolf’ very dear. (We also love dogs and cats but that’s a story for another day.)
It’s no wonder, we recently, meaning late, discovered that Yeah Yeah Yeahs released a video clip for the song and, no big surprise, it’s brilliant.
It’s so good it’s made us start conversations about whether or not we should introduce a new article category that’d be focused on music videos.
Let’s get back to the basics.
Watch Yeah Yeah Yeahs – ‘Wolf’ (Official Video).
Foo Fighters – ‘My Hero’
Speaking of music videos… there are bands loving their music and bands loving music.
Here’s a music video I came across a few days ago. It features Foo Fighters with a Hawkins on the drums. Sadly (and not sadly at all), it’s not Taylor but his son Shawn.
Foo Fighters (ft. Shane Hawkins) Perform ‘My Hero’.
Apart from being a nice gesture, it clearly shows that drumming skill runs strong in the family. I’m hoping we get to see Shawn again.
Just an FYI, this isn’t the first time Foos did this…
Watch Foo Fighters – ‘Under Pressure’.
Lauran Hibberd – ‘I Suck At Grieving’
This is one of the singles of the year. It’s genuinely a stunner – a song that hurts just the right way. Yes, ‘I Suck At Grieving’ still gives my eyeballs an allergic reaction to life.
Lauran Hibberd is working on album number two, with ‘Mary’ confirming it’s going to be an essential listen.
As they always say, the best time to give Hibberd a listen was thirty years ago. The second best time is today.
Watch Lauran Hibberd – ‘I Suck At Grieving’.
blink-182 – One More Time
There’s no choosing a single song from the One More Time album. It’s not just about the songs – it’s the whole flow of the record.
This is the kind of release that the”auto-return arm” feature on turntables was invented for. Just as the needle hits the centre of the vinyl, up it lifts and over it goes to the outside edge… bffft… and it starts again.
blink-182 are firing on all cylinders (and, as a bonus, Matt Skiba can return to Alkaline Trio to release even more great songs).
Watch blink-182 – ‘One More Time’.
Harker – ‘Out The Window’
We got several amazing releases from Harker this year, but the one I sing to myself when I forget people can hear me is ‘Out The Window’.
The song showcases not only Harker’s different musical elements but how slick they are when transitioning between them.
If you’re demanding more after listening to this track, head straight over to ‘Lights Go Out’.
Watch Harker – ‘Out The Window’.
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