Human Worth are proud to present the immense new album It Gets Worse from Norwich based two-piece Kulk, with a portion of proceeds donated to charity. Kulk’s latest album It Gets Worse comes two and a half years after the release of their thunderous and experimental sophomore album ‘We Spare Nothing’ which saw them further define their unique and monolithic brand of heavy doom and sludge and sees the band mature massively in sound as well as cementing their place as the future of UK heavy music. Jade Ashleigh (drums) and Thom Longdin (vocals and guitar) have defined their sound massively across this release, focusing on louder and more aggressive cuts throughout this 8 track album.
The first half of It Gets Worse gleefully drags us backwards through the sonic doom scape of the Kulk that we’re familiar with through wizzing saw noises, primal gurgles and chugging riffs. ‘Mammoth’ hits a new stride for the band and sticks to its name well, elevating their sound into something unstoppable and stomping with much faster and aggressive passages than previous tracks. The lead single ‘Beyond Gone’ turns a bleak and intoxicating stumble into a seriously cutting track and a good summary of the depth and heaviness across the rest of the release. ‘Life Will Wait’ features Adam Sykes of Pigsx7 who approached the band about lending some guest guitar to the album which was captured in an exciting on the road recording shredding session and summated in the moments of respite and versatility in songwriting.Their infamous live shows and voracious touring schedule have garnered a tight cult of fans including genre traditionalists and complete outsiders alike due to their captivating displays of aggression and prowess in artistic performance. If you haven’t heard of Kulk yet then it’s definitely time to start listening.
The record has been announced to coincide with a new single ‘Beyond Gone’ – an uncompromising first taste that turns a bleak and intoxicating stumble into a seriously cutting track; a summary of the depth and heaviness across the rest of the release.
It Gets Worse was recorded at Bear Bites Horse by Wayne Adams in East London. A domineering record in every sense; a display of a band growing into the vast sound they’ve crafted, this time more realised than ever in tow with more aggression and immediacy.
Jade and Thom reflect on the album –
“This album is about the universal suffocating weight of hoping for more while navigating a climate where the apparatus for seeking it is being consistently undermined. What it feels like to not only struggle keeping your head above water but to try jumping out from the deep end without losing your trunks. It is selfish guilt and misplaced woe, desire is a distraction from the world at our feet.”
The band have already charged into 2024 with a spot playing Desertfest at Dingwalls on Sunday May 19th as well the 10th edition of ArcTanGent on Thursday June 15th. They’ve also just played a support slot for Crowbar in their hometown.
Kulk appeared on R*E*P*E*A*T”s pandemic powered 2020 flexi release ‘They Want Us to Die.
Pink Milk is a dark wave/post-punk band drenched in reverb, making occult music inspired by the 80s. The duo started out releasing music in 2015, quickly growing a reputation for their gloomy glittering sound and enslaving melodies, being praised by DIY, Wonderland, Kerrang! and Virgin Radio amongst others.
Their debut “Purple” was given the highest rating in Swedish music magazine GAFFA who called it “a dazzling display of alternative rock music” while CLASH called it “A remarkable, striking work”. Pink Milk was also nominated for best rock/metal act of the year in the Swedish National Radio Award P3 Gold, Album of the Year, and Breakthrough of the Year in the GAFFA Prize.
Their second album Ultraviolet (released in 2021) displayed the same dark atmospheric reverb-filled sound that Pink Milk have been known for, but with a new side to it in an ever-evolving sound. The Line of Best Fit gave the album 7 out of 10 and stated that “Ultraviolet is a strong record that enshrouds you with its atmospheric goth-rock charm from the very beginning”.
This time we hear a euphoric combination of cathedral-sized soundscapes and dreamy, angelic vocals, embracing a darker doomsday-inspired aesthetic.
“Too loud, to the point of no return, burrowed beneath the sheer incessant noise is an almighty, fucked-up pop song” – DIY
“A devilish congregation of swirling shoegaze guitars, beats that shake the foundation of time” – The Line Of Best Fit
“It sounds absolutely incredible!” – Kerrang! Radio
“If this wasn’t recorded in an aircraft hangar then we’ll be amazed” – Shortlist
“A fluid, loose, almost drunken drawl that you can imagine playing in the background of one of those misty bar scenes in Twin Peaks” – Wonderland
“Their gothic darkness becomes your new guiding light” – GAFFA (4/6)
“Ultra-great and hits right in the heart” – HYMN (8/10)
“Purple is the best album released in many years” – GAFFA (6/6)
Swedish dark-wave, gothic shoegazers Pink Milk make their highly anticipated return sharing their third album Night On Earth which was released on the 15th of March via Black Hair Records. With the announcement of the album, Pink Milk also shared the single “You Will Follow Me To Hell (Night On Earth)” a heavenly introduction to the album that draws you into its euphoric combination of cathedral-sized soundscapes and dreamy, angelic vocals. Speaking on the single, the band say it “serves as the gateway to an exploration of the soul.”
This announcement follows the band’s celebrated single “Andromeda” and their critically acclaimed album Ultraviolet, earning them plaudits from Sweden’s largest music publication GAFFA as well as attention further from home gaining the support of CLASH, DIY, Wonderland and The Line of Best Fit.
Inspired by science fiction and “the end of the world”, Night On Earth marks the start of a new era for Pink Milk, embracing a darker aesthetic. Throughout Night On Earth the band has explored a more electronic sound in the studio, combining ethereal soul-inflected instrumentation, ghostly vocals, blurred chords and heavy rhythms in a cosmic sonic landscape. The band continue the doomsday theme of the album while taking on an phantasmal interpretation of country classic, Skeeter Davis’ “End Of The World”.
“You Will Follow Me To Hell (Night On Earth)” offers a first taste of Pink Milk’s musical evolution. Elsewhere, “Andromeda” is a poetic Swedish language love-song leaning heavily into the eighties arrangement, cautiously mapping out the atmosphere before breaking into euphoric dreampop. While the album closer “Boy Tears” soundtracks an un-answered phone call – a missed connection, an eerie voicemail invitation from an estranged party that is never replied to, a cliff-hanger that leaves you wanting answers for something that will never come.
The band also embarked on two dates across their home country of Sweden to commemorate the release of their Night On Earth.
PAPA JUPE’S T.C. attack toxic alpha-male influencers on new single ‘High Value Male’
Released 22nd March 2024
“I loved everything about this band when I saw this.” – Amy Lamé, BBC Radio 6 Music
“If you wanted to know what it would sound like if The B-52s were to mate with Fat White Family and have children that they just left to play in primeval sludge of illegal substances then that might well be the outcome.” – Adam Walton, BBC Radio Wales
“A brilliant song, with an important message, from a very exciting band – really innovative track.” – Charlie Ashcroft, Amazing Radio
“That track… just WOW! That is one of the best; it’s just too good! I think you’re gonna be hearing an awful lot of this band from everyone. Coming out of Wales – Welsh music scene, once again, amazing.” – Mark McNally, Cumbernauld FM
“A band with social conscience.” – Mike James, Rock Rage Radio
“Lots of exciting stuff on the horizon for Papa Jupe’s T.C.” – Bethan Elfyn, BBC Radio Wales
FFO: Fat White Family, Viagra Boys, Warmduscher, Yard Act, Gilla Band, Fat Dog
PAPA JUPE’S T.C. announce the release of their new single “High Value Male” which will be available on all digital streaming platforms on 22nd March 2024. The song is a sleazy disco track that delves into the mind of a man who has fallen down the rabbit hole of of idolising misogynistic online influencers.
Speaking about the track, frontman Harry Willicombe comments: “There’s an epidemic of young impressionable boys being influenced by narcissistic figures on social media. We decided to approach this issue with satire so wrote the song in the first-person, from the perspective of a “High Value Male”. We recite the type of nonsense they often come out with, and then let Gem come in with a rejection before the final chorus.” “We based the takedown on actual quotes by the worst one of the bunch. We don’t want to say his name, but I think we all know who he is”, Nashville-born co-vocalist Gemini Anderson adds. “It felt right using his own words against his cause.”
Bassist Alex Miller wrote, produced and mixed the song in Jupe HQ, the band’s DIY studio. The Cardiff band will be performing the new single at their hometown headline show in Clwb Ifor Bach on 4th April 2024, along with songs from their “Wetmarket EP”, which has amassed over 60,000 streams since it was released with sold-out headline release-party gig at Porter’s, Cardiff in June 2023.
PAPA JUPE’S T.C. were founded in Cardiff in 2017 by frontman and lyricist Harry Willicombe and multi- instrumentalist Sam Butcher. Together, the pair undertake the majority of songwriting duties in a partnership dating back to 2013 with indie-rockers “Mirror Gorillas”. Bassist, Alex Miller, joined the fold shortly after and has since played an important role in the production and mixing of the band’s music, allowing the band to keep all of their production in-house.
Ash Smith’s drumming, Tom Emlyn’s synth work, Lucian Ellicott’s trumpet playing, and Nashville-import Gemini Anderson’s joyous vocals have helped cement PAPA JUPE’S T.C. as a unique voice in the burgeoning Cardiff music scene.
PAPA JUPE’S T.C.’s music combines sleazy surf rock and post-punk influences with disco beats and crescendoing gospel organs. Their dark-humoured and introspective lyricism lampoons masculinity, politics, and power.
This February, the band were recipients of BBC Horizon/Gorwelion’s Launchpad funding and were also supported by the PRS and Arts Council Wales-backed Forté Project. The band have earned a reputation for their wild live performances and theatrical stage presence. They have played sold out headline shows at Cardiff indie staples, Tiny Rebel and Porter’s, and have supported the likes of English Teacher on their UK Tour. In 2023, the band were shortlisted in the Green Man Rising Competition.
‘High Value Male’ was written by Alex Miller, Sam Butcher and Harry Willicombe, produced by Alex Miller & Sam Butcher at Jupe HQ, mixed by Alex Miller, and mastered by Steve Kitch. Harry Willcombe, vocals; Sam Butcher, guitar; Alex Miller, bass; Ash Smith, drums; Tom Emlyn, synth; Lucian Ellicott, trumpet; and Gemini Anderson, vocals.
AIRPLAY: Amy Lamé, BBC Radio 6 Music; Huw Stephens, BBC Radio Wales; Adam Walton, BBC Introducing Wales; Bethan Elfyn, BBC Radio Wales; Playlisting: Amazing Radio; Mark McNally, Cumbernauld FM, Prospect Radio.
Dates 30/03/24 – Birmingham, Sunflower Lounge 04/04/24 – Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach 04/05/24 – Glastonbury, All Roads Festival 10/05/24 – Swansea, Elysium 11/05/24 – The Waiting Room, London 25/05/24 – Chepstow, Devauden Festival 26/07/24 – Cardiff, Chapter Arts
Today, Perth misfit Peter Bibby announces his new albumDrama King, to be released May 31 via Spinning Top Records.Drama Kingwas produced by first-time collaborator Dan Luscombe, whose work with fellow Aussie breakouts The Drones and Amyl and the Sniffers convinced Bibby he’d be in safe hands. Bibby later travelled to Los Angeles to mix the album with White Denim’s Josh Block, a frequent collaborator with Leon Bridges.
Today, Peter Bibby also shares lead single “The Arsehole” and announces theDrama KingAustralian tour. Peter Bibby’s Big Horse band will saddle up for a 4-night residency at the Buffalo Club in Fremantle, Australia and then onto shows in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. Full tour details below.
While the material on Drama King may have come together without major incident, its lyrics reflect Bibby’s evolution from hard-partying prankster to a more enlightened, responsible human who now knows when enough is really enough. Those sentiments are at the forefront of the aforementioned opener “The Arsehole”.
Bibby shares “The arsehole is the grand finale on the digestive rollercoaster of most living creatures, it is also the name of my brand-new song, The Arsehole. Featuring drums, guitars, human vocals and keyboards, the song works its way around two chords, quickly touching on a third towards the end to keep you, the listener, intrigued. The words are at times self-reflective, at other times accusatory, but all the time really good and hinting at the fact that maybe we’re all just a pack of arseholes. I trust you will enjoy my new music, The Arsehole.
No one seems to want to talk to me / ‘cuz I’m the arsehole, probably.”
Indeed, that lovable ambivalence is at the heart of Drama King, Bibby’s fourth studio album. “It was the first time I’d worked with a producer, and I prepared for it knowing that my songs were going to get chopped up and shortened,” Bibby recalls. “I’m glad I did, because for the most part, Dan was like, oh, you’ve already solved every problem I had with these. He was completely underselling himself, because he shaped and sculpted every song on the record into a far more beautiful and articulate thing than I could have on my own.”
Drama King is out 10th May via Spinning Top– pre-order HERE
DRAMA KING TRACKLISTING:
1. The Arsehole 2. Fun Guy 3. Bin Boy 4. The One 5. Bruno 6. Baby Squid 7. Terracotta Brick 8. Turtle in the Sand 9. Feels 10. The Pricks 11. Old DC 12. Companion Pony
FREO RESIDENCY DATES Thu 09 May – Buffalo Club – Fremantle, WA Thu 16 May – Buffalo Club – Fremantle, WA Thu 23 May – Buffalo Club – Fremantle, WA Thu 30 May – Buffalo Club – Fremantle, WA
SPINNING TOP AND SELECT MUSIC PRESENTS PETER BIBBY – DRAMA KING AUSTRALIAN TOUR Thu 20 Jun – The Valley Loft – Brisbane, QLD Fri 21 Jun – Mary’s Underground – Sydney, NSW Sat 22 Jun – Howler, Melbourne – VIC Sat 29 Jun – Jive – Adelaide, SA.
Angharad releases brand new single ‘Hormone Called Love’ and announces ‘Motherland’, the debut album via LIbertino available to stream and on pink vinyl and CD here https://thisisangharad.bandcamp.com/album/motherland
The latest single to be taken from ANGHARAD’s debut album, ‘Motherland’ (out on March 1st) is the joyous and unstoppable ‘Hormone Called Love’
“If there was ever a song to sum up my recent journey into songwriting and motherhood, it would be this. This is a feel-good song about music and love. It’s about all those gorgeous, juicy hormones we need to bond with one another, make love and… give birth! Oxytocin is often referred to as the love hormone. Along with endorphins and adrenaline, the body creates quite a potent concoction of chemicals during labour.
I practised for birth like I would practise for a gig. In stead of scales and arpeggios, I’d be doing my breathing exercises, my visualisations, my meditations. I took my labour as serious as my music. And it paid off. I had the most wonderful, un-assisted home births – twice – all through the power of hypnobirthing.
I soon realised in the first few days and weeks of my daughter’s life, that the only way to communicate with a newborn baby is to sing to them. Singing became a way not only to soothe and entertain my baby, but myself too. This is one of those songs that popped out postpartum, when reflecting on birth and motherhood.
Without oxytocin, the world would be a love-less place. Cwtsh up to your loved ones, and make music people!” – Angharad
Motherland – Angharad
I am mother . These are the first words we hear after hitting play on Swansea-based [genre: e.g. pop-folk storyteller] Angharad’s debut album Motherland, and this affirmation resounds across the twelve tracks that follow, revealing the gravity of what initially appears to be a simple statement but is in fact an assertion weighted by the story of mothers and motherhood across the ages. I am strong. I am gentle. I am mountainwoman. I am nourisher . I am life-giver . I am all you need right now. I am the moon and the stars. I am everything to you. I am your world.
It’s said that early motherhood is simultaneously the happiest and hardest period of time a mother can experience, and this is reflected by the juxtaposition of the dreamlike spoken-word jazzscape of title track ‘Motherland’ and the bass-driven midnight-feed nightmare of ‘Postpartum’. In ‘Motherland’ we listen as the tidal pull of the moon ushers new life in – “nocturnal and luminous” – while in the album’s first single ‘Postpartum’ both music and mother unravel in an unapologetic cacophony of fatigue and repetition: “I’m exhausted and I’m broken, exhausted and I’m broken, I’m exhausted and I’m broken…get off my tits.”
As the songs that open the album, these two compositions couldn’t be more different, but as Angharad points out “…this is exactly what motherhood is like. It’s the joys and horrors.
Elation and despair . I put those songs next to each other because that’s how it is in real life – you can feel both emotions simultaneously .”
Although Angharad is an experienced musician, perhaps best-known as part of revivalist Welsh folk band Calan, Motherland represents her first foray into songwriting – something which has long been an ambition. “I’ve always felt like I had a lot to say , but I presumed that someone else somewhere would be saying the same things. It took me so long to realise nobody else can tell my story .” However , it was the double isolation of experiencing early motherhood during Covid lockdowns that finally made her pull on this songwriting thread. “I’ve always collaborated with others when it comes to music, but lockdown forced me to work alone. I’ve written melodies in the past, but never lyrics. I began with making up songs to get my daughter Tanwen to sleep, and then I’d find myself fine-tuning them during daily walks with her in the pram, or making up new ones. I’d never sung before but, after becoming a mother , finding my voice was both a necessity and a gift.”
Being out in nature during those spring lockdown walks became a strong influence on the writing of the songs, reflecting how parenthood can promote a realignment with the natural world. But, in ‘Hey , There’s Always the Night’, there is also the acknowledgement that first child can squeeze a creative life – the whirlwind of the day’s activities forcing the artist to snatch inspired moments out of hours. Angharad invites us into this quiet exhale at the end of a day by imagining “when the baby’s asleep, I will write,” but over the course of the song there’s a realisation that mothers never clock off – who else “is keeping us clean and fed and dressed?” – and so the Muse will have to wait her turn.
If nature provided inspiration, then so too did the fact that these songwriting walks were plotted across her hometown Swansea and, when restrictions eased, the wider map of Wales. Angharad’s geographical motherland provides the setting for this album which, even though it covers universal themes, is unashamedly and defiantly Welsh. Angharad admits she has her parents to thank for this desire to tell the stories of ‘here’ rather than ‘there’. Her mother is the Celtic harpist Delyth Jenkins, who Angharad plays violin alongside in folk duo DnA, and her father is the late poet Nigel Jenkins. His long poem ‘Advice to a Young Poet’ is often cited as a ‘go-to’ for writers seeking inspiration and direction – counting last year ’s Forward Prize winner Kim Moore amongst its disciples – and Angharad says it’s a piece she’s revisited a lot while writing the album, having never really put pen to paper before.
In the poem, Nigel writes that “[it] may sometimes be there, but here is rarely too small a place.” Entering parenthood after losing a parent yourself often sees raw grief resurface, and so it was a poignant moment to have early listeners pick out the influence of John Cale and Patti Smith on the sound of Motherland, two big musicians from Angharad’s childhood: “I remember my parents driving us to the leisure centre when we were young and Mum telling Dad to stop playing Patti Smith’s Horses because of the swearing. That cassette was on constant rotation in the car , along with Paris 1919 by John Cale. I wasn’t conscious of their effect on my own music, so it was very moving to have people hear their influence on Motherland. It took me right back to listening to them in the car with my dad.”
Though she has dabbled with her mother ’s instrument the Celtic harp, the violin has always been Angharad’s main love, taking it up alongside the piano when she was a child. In the foot-tapping funk-inspired ‘Hormone Called Love’, she reveals that when she was growing up she wanted to be both a musician and a mother . But with adulthood came the realisation that women have long been told to choose either children or career: “Having children had a huge effect on my mother ’s career as a musician while she raised us. It was only after my sister and I became young adults that she returned to music properly . Even before I was ready to have children, this question was always something that was on my mind: how can you be both a musician and a mother?” This question is explored across the groove riffs of ‘Hormone Called Love’ and, elsewhere on the album, ‘Because I Am a Woman’ (released as a Double A single alongside ‘Postpartum’) attacks deep-rooted misogyny with a disco upbeat. Angharad wants Motherland to change the narrative, proving that you can make music and be a mother at the same time. These things are not mutually exclusive.
With the exception of playing as part of the album’s string quartet, the recording of Motherland saw Angharad put down her instruments and focus solely on singing and composition. All of the songs on the album (as well as a few that didn’t make it) were written during a prolific period of creativity in 2021, and recorded in the autumn of that year in producer friend Aeddan Williams’ attic studio while Angharad was expecting her second child. Surrounded by vintage Welsh tourist board posters, the two friends were joined by musicians from the Royal Welsh College and managed to record the whole album in a weekend. “Albums usually take a lot longer than that to write and record,” says Angharad, “but once I started writing it was like opening a rusty tap and all the songs appeared within six months. Sleep deprivation helped in a way , giving me more hours in the day to write!”
Luckily the recording of Motherland was wrapped up before Angharad’s second child Idris made an appearance in March 2022, but once again maternity leave has been accompanied by a visit from the Muse: “It’s not sustainable to have a baby each time you need to write a new album, but baby number two was quickly followed by album number two – at least in terms of lyrics and melodies. It seems like my creative process is greatly aided by my time being squeezed.”
As an album of songs Motherland takes a trip across many genres, but with a story that unifies its diverse parts. And this is a story only Angharad can tell – from the soaring power of the string-lush anthem ‘Don’t Burn Bridges’ to the gentle, tragic beauty of ‘Little Baby Embryo’. The second Double A single, ‘I Don’t Know How / Time, Time Again’, will pair two of Motherland’s explorations of time passing – something that is always brought into sharp focus when you become a parent, but seemed sharper again when that happened for Angharad during a global pandemic.
‘Time, Time Again’ was born out of existential questions rising to the surface during lockdown, while she calls ‘I Don’t Know How’ her “anti-botox song…because there is so much to love about getting older .” The album intentionally contains multitudes because that is what motherhood is like. It’s a brightly layered celebration of parenthood, but it also includes a seam of grief for an old life that has been lost forever – a discordant phenomenon that many parents will recognise.
The album closes with a trilogy of love songs for Angharad’s daughter Tanwen. The tender and intimate ‘Every Inch of You’, which feels like the outpouring of a full heart, is followed by the quiet lullaby of ‘Hwiangerdd Tanwen’. Although Angharad predominantly works in the Welsh language for her other musical projects, ‘Hwiangerdd Tanwen’ is the first time we hear Cymraeg on her debut album, drawing upon her work with the charity Live Music Now to help new parents write songs for their children. And so it is time to leave Motherland, the final track ‘Babi Ni’ acting as an ear-worm outro to the record – a foot-stomping slice of fireside folk. Eventually the riotous communal singing falls away to reveal only baby Tanwen, her sweet singing voice closing an album where her mother proves that she has very much found her own. As Tanwen finishes singing, Angharad asks “Eto?” – the Welsh for “Again?” Yes, let’s hit that play button once more, and hear Motherland’s resounding affirmation: I am mother .
Boston’s The Promised End (Members of Landmines, Tied To A Bear, The Effort, Choke Up and SkyTigers) Announce Debut Release “For The Buried And The Broken” Out February 2, 2024 (Digital/Vinyl) via Sound Investment Records (North America) and Gunner Records (Europe).
First Single “Smash and Grab” Now Streaming.
The Promised End from Boston, MA might be described as misery soaked melodic hardcore. The music is aggressive with intent and melodic with purpose. It is urgently paced while deliberately shaped, retaining the jagged edges that define the hardcore/punk genre but molded by the hands of an experienced band. The sound is a love letter to the band’s inspirations, an homage to 80’s Thrash, Early American Hardcore and Youth Crew. Expressions of personal grief, political frustration and a search for community in an age of isolation populate the vocals. Lyrical themes including criticisms of a modern disposable culture, our appetite for misinformation and the ignorance fueled fear of others are woven between the personal recountings of estranged relationships and loved ones lost or struggling to survive addiction. At times there is a glimpse of light that breaks through the gloom. The offer of hope through mutual aid, direct action and self improvement through adversity deliver a reprieve from the darker tone to mirror the nuances of our shared reality.
Comprised of members of Landmines (Paper+Plastick/ Gunner Records), The Effort (Words Of War/ Panic Records) and Sky Tigers (Sound Investment Records) The Promised End will be releasing their debut full length album “For The Buried And The Broken” February 2nd 2024 on Sound Investment Records (Boston, MA) and Gunner Records (Germany) with a mainland European tour in September 2024 to support the overseas release. The Promised End Links: https://thepromisedend.bandcamp.com www.instagram.com/the.promised.end
R*E*P*E*A*T Fanzine- Fighting the Power Since 1994 