Screaming Tree Out, Depeche Mode In - All Soulsavers

I thought I'd make a quick mention of this record The Light The Dead See, the newie by Soulsavers. See, it is very Soulsavers - very lush, maudlin, occasional flashes of dark menace - yet it isn't entirely my cup of tea. It isn't bad at all - I even really like some of the tracks - and I do like me a bit of Depeche Mode - but I can't get past the crooning of Gahan because IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE MARK LANEGAN! I know that he was a collaborator in the last two records, but he MADE those records (well, when you have Oldham/Goodwim/Patton/Pierce/Haynes as back-ups, that really adds impetus to a meteoric sound...). So the reason I'm writing this post, is to set you up. It comes out May 22 on Mute, so you have enough time to divorce yourself from the idea that it will be like Mark Lanegan's Soulsavers. This is a different beast altogether. Seeing as Gahan has struggled through so much torment and injury recently, it's a tour de force. BUT IT AIN'T LANEGAN.

Liars Get WIXIW WIXIW Wak

I love Liars. Really, truly love them. Sisterworld, their last album from 2010, killed, and took out our inaugural best of 2010 albums. So when the trio decide to get their freak on and pump out another record, you bet I'm rabid crazy about it. The single has just released the first taste off it, 'No. 1 Against The Rush', and goddamn if it isn't an addictive slice of pie! Slinky, ethereal, seductive, and oh so Liars. Who'da thunk it from when they first came to us that Angus Andrew could woo us with his dulcet tones... you can listen to it if you go to their Facebook page here.

More info on the record then. Titled WIXIW (pronounced “wish you”), the album is set for release on Mute on June 5th 2012. The title is explained by Angus Andrew,

“’wish you’ is a familiar and universal sentiment of longing and hope, but when misspelled becomes uniquely shrouded and difficult to interpret, which in many ways is representative of our music and the songs we wrote for this album”.

Watch what happens when human beings are confronted with WIXIW and see it manifest in unlikely places.

He continues, “The word being a palindrome offered us some comfort, and came from superstitious behavior that was the result of extreme uncertainty and doubt. The word and spelling struck us because it seemed to exude a special quality or power.”

“If we aren’t confusing people, it’s not us,” Andrew laughs. “If we aren’t confusing ourselves with what we do, then we’ve failed.”

WIXIW TRACKLISTING
The Exact Colour Of Doubt
Octagon
No.1 Against The Rush
A Ring On Every Finger
Ill Valley Prodigies
WIXIW
His And Mine Sensations
Flood To Flood
Who Is The Hunter
Brats
Annual Moon Words

SO FUCKING EXCITED! I have listened to this song forever today. Get it.

Burying Strangers Beyond The Wall

We, along with just about everybody, loves A Place To Bury Strangers' 2009 LP Exploding Head. Hell, I played the Dinosaur Hunt light gun arcade game with former bassplayer Jono at ATP the very night this blog came to be! But since then it has been kinda quiet. Now they have announced February's launch of EP Onwards to the Wall, their first release since leaving Mute Records for Dead Oceans. The incredible noisy shoegazers (complete with new bassist Dion, formerly of cool Ramones-obsessed Kiwi band The D4)have done everything behind the scenes in order to bring these new tracks to light, which pretty much ensures it will be loud as fuck and just as exhilarating.

A Place To Bury Strangers - So Far Away