10 songs we love this week

1.

CMAT

‘California’ / ‘Rent’

Happy CMAT day to all who celebrate.

There’s a big Dublin outdoor show to look forward to.

I couldn’t pick between these two new CMAT tracks from the Irish songwriter’s second album Crazy, Mad For Me out today. Like the debut album opener ‘Nashville’, ‘California’ continues the trope of naming her first song from the album about a mythical American place.

Where ‘Nashville’ was an escapist metaphor for ending it all, ‘California’ is CMAT escaping a relationship and its deluded crescendo where CMAT imagines a life story on celluloid as the strings and chorus rise is truly a heavenly music moment of 2023.

California, oh-woah (I’m writing up a book about us)
California, oh-woah (They’re gonna make a movie of it)
California, oh-woah (They’re gonna cast Jake Gyllenhaal)
California, oh-woah (And I’m Kristen Schaal)
California, oh-woah (They’re gonna do it with a Coen brother)
California, oh-woah (Set it in Wicklow with your mother)
California, oh-woah (Oh no, it won a Razzie)
California, oh-woah (It’s all for nothing, should’ve just tried being happy)

‘California’ is the big album setter, but ‘Rent’ is the quiet country devastation within, a wrought heart of a protagonist before she leaves the relationship – gaslit and in love with a version of someone who doesn’t exist.

“I found lashes on the DVD case, you said they were mine, said they were mine Never my style, but I didn’t wanna get on your wrong side.”

2.

The Mary Wallopers

Rich Man and The Poor Man

Irish Rock n Roll is the second album from the Dundalk trad seven-piece The Mary Wallopers, and it’s a delight to hear the bodhrán-lead tale of self-entitlement and live favourite ‘Rich Man And The Poor Man’ get committed to record.

“The moral of the story, the rich are fucking cuntiums.”

A tale as old as time.

Irish Rock N Roll was preceded by the ballad ‘Wexford’, ‘The Blarney Stone’ and live favourite ‘The Holy Ground’ and ‘The Idler’.. 

Irish headline show.

3.

The Last Dinner Party

Lady of Mercy

After announcing Dublin dates as part of their time in Ireland supporting Hozier, The Last Dinner Party released their excellent third single.

‘My Lady of Mercy’ is the band’s third single, and cements the band’s guitar pop sound informed by the histrionics of ABBA and classic pop music.

That’s three for three – after the equally excellent singles ‘Sinner’ and ‘Nothing Matters’ previously.

‘My Lady of Mercy’ is great, in that has a slightly ridiculous quality, with production from James Ford.

“My Lady of Mercy is about being a girl. A girl looking up at a painting of Joan of Arc for the first time and thinking that she looks so brave and so beautiful that she wants to kiss her. And maybe she also wants to kiss the girl who stands next to her in the school choir.

We are expanding the world of The Last Dinner Party to encompass a darker, heavier atmosphere. The lyrics explore the anguish of a teenage crush that can only be described through the bloody, carnal language of religious experience, as the soundworld takes cues from Nine Inch Nails, PJ Harvey and Roxy Music.”

First featured here.

4.

Jaako Eino Kalevi

Drifting Away

Stying in the non-complicated subject matter zone, Finnish alt-songwriter Jaakko Eino Kalevi is just wiling away his time at sea with the new Yacht rock-electronic song from Chaos Magic, due for release on November 17th via Weird World – “a double-album of elemental pop and baroque electronics.”

Hear also ‘I Forget’ and ‘Palace In My Head’

7.

Eyedress, Mac DeMarco

My Simple Jeep

Eyedress and Mac DeMarco collaborated recently on ‘The Dark Prince’, while DeMarco released a song with Italo legend Ryan Paris last week.

‘My Simple Jeep’ is a simple song written with Zach Fogarty about a vehicle and isn’t that all we need sometimes?

BEEP BEEP.

8.

Master Peace, Georgia

I Might Be Fake

Master Peace is on tour with The Streets which makes sense as this has some of that Mike Skinner energy on ‘I Might Be Fake’ which boasts a big chorus hook from Georgia, and is very indie sleaze in its indie electro vibe.

Master Peace is releasing a debut album called How To Make A Master Peace, on March 1st via PMR. Along with supporting The Streets, he plays The Workman’s Club on March 12th 2024.

i thought I was big and clever noticing the indie sleaze style but the artist confirmed it himself.

“From a musical standpoint, I drew influences from Indie Sleaze & Indie Dance acts such as Friendly Fires, Justice, LCD Soundsystem and early Calvin Harris. But beyond this, I also found inspiration in the soundtracks to some of my favourite shows: Skins, Misfits & even Waterloo Road. All of these shows touch on adolescence, love, regret, friendship, culture and character building; which also happen to be the main themes of the album. Even though I’ve nodded to these topics before, I’ve never approached them in such depth and with so much vulnerability. For this project, I wanted to create a soundscape to soundtrack nightlife and partying – for me, these can be youthful yet transformational spaces. In terms of my creative process, I didn’t use any old demos on the project – I started each track from scratch.”

10.

Effy

Highest Level

There’s a palpable classic rave feel to the opening track from Blackpool/London-based Effy’s new EP on Steel City Discs. ‘Highest Level’ is dedicated to her grandfather, as seen in the artwork.

Bandcamp.