What? It’s Friday you say?! That's great news! And with the weekend comes a whole host of fantastic new tracks and albums. Gigantic is ready with the #NewMusicFriday playlist, your essential soundtrack taking you through the weekend with all the most exciting newly released music.
And that's not all, we take a closer look at the truly awesome acts plus offer you tickets to see them play live. Keep scrolling to have a read!
EP
Nothing But Thieves – ‘What Did You Think When You Made Me This Way?’
Having nearly topped the charts with their second album ‘Broken Machine’ last year after their self-titled debut album was certified Silver, Southend-on-Sea’s finest rockers Nothing But Thieves are back with their brand-new EP ‘What Did You Think When You Made Me This Way?’
The band’s passion for music sees them combine such varied influences as hard rock, R&B, indie and even pop across four tracks which sees them bare their soul on this impressive EP.
We expect that the songs from ‘What Did You Think When You Made Me This Way?’ will be performed live at their upcoming gigs at Cardiff, London and Birmingham next month.
Nothing But Thieves tickets are currently available.
Singles
HAKEN – ‘A Cell Divides’
Taken from their new album ‘Vector’ as the closing track, ‘A Cell Divides’ is the latest single from progressive metallers HAKEN. Drummer Raymond Hearne explains that the new song is a good indication of the album a whole;
"Spawned from some hotel room writing sessions last year, Vector's album closer was a fresh approach to concise song writing, for which we are not typically known. While the lyrics in A Cell Divides unlock more clues to the narrative of Vector, the video, filmed mostly in slow motion, contradicts the frantic pace of the song and delves into the beauty of flawed and warped imagery."
HAKEN tickets are currently available.
Albums
Cloud Nothings – ‘Last Building Burning’
Cloud Nothings are back with their killer fifth studio album ‘Last Building Burning’. Capturing the sheer power of their live shows, the album is a nonstop joyride which feels like it has all the excitable energy of a band recording for the first time. Something which singer and guitarist Dylan Baldi was keen to capture;
“I’m always trying to like refine that energy, I think, to where it’s sort of just one long stream, from beginning of record to the of record, where there is no real strong break. You sit down, start at one place, end up somewhere different, and there is no obvious change necessarily as you listen to the whole thing. But by the end, you’re in a different zone, and you’re like, ‘Oh, how’d that happen?’ Kind of like how I really like certain ambient records. I like longform music because of that effect. I’m always aiming to kind of perfect that with our records.”
Cloud Nothings tickets are currently available.
Greta Van Fleet – ‘Anthem Of The Peaceful Army’
Greta Van Fleet are the self-appointed vanguard of the blues rock revival, or as guitarist Jake Kiszka puts it; “You’ve got to look backwards to go forward. It’s not a resurgence of rock’n’roll. It’s more like a renaissance. We want to take rock into the future.”
Formed in 2012 and coming out of Michigan, the rockers draw influences heavily from the sound of the 70’s and take the likes of Led Zepplin and The Kinks as their role models which has earned them some serious fans, including Elton John who is said to have declared them the best rock band he’s heard in quarter of a century.
Their unabashed love of all things Zep shines through on their debut album ‘Anthem Of The Peaceful Army’ as they bring the big riffs and raw throated cries to songs that explore the psychedelic wilderness.
Greta Van Fleet tickets are currently available.
Neneh Cherry – ‘Broken Politics’
Swedish singer Neneh Cherry is one of the undisputed leading voices in trip hop and one of the pioneers of the movement. Her latest release is fifth studio album ‘Broken Politics’ which saw her reunite for production with Four Tet to record her rebuttal to a world which sees a demagogue like Trump in the Whitehouse at the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, New York.
“It’s a quite dark time. It’s hard to not draw from the things that are happening, but even though I feel anger, sorrow, and sadness, I’m also compelled to have some positivity. It’s important to react back in the other direction. There has to be change, and I have to have hope, otherwise I can’t get up. The songs then have to come back to a personal place. Hopefully, the songs don’t come across as pompous or even reaching a place of solution. They’re stories to me that are of the climate that is around us.”
‘Broken Politics’ features the singles ‘Kong’ and ‘Shot Gun Shack’ and is a record which sees Cherry explore the chaotic post-truth world sliding towards greater inequalities, rising racial tension and a failure to meet the demands of gender equality with a confident swagger of big beats, flawless flow and chilled vibes. The absolutely indispensable album of right now.
Neneh Cherry tickets are currently available.