Dig ‘in: Black Country, New Road, Frank Turner, Nicfit
Check out what the No Wristbands team is listening to and what’s in our show calendars this month on our latest Dig ‘in.
INCOMING
Black Country, New Road - Ant From Up There (Ninja Tune Records LP)
Black Country, New Road returns with their second album, and once again it is led off with a strong dissonant instrumental track to prepare you for what lies ahead. BC,NR hails from London and falls in with the new wave of experimental/post-rock/post-punk British bands like Black Midi and Squid. Expanding on last year's For the First Time, Ants From Up There continues the group's exploration of anthemic, expansive, melodic songs. Half of the album features songs six minutes or longer, you definitely get the opportunity to live in these songs, as they shift in unexpected directions. Early album highlight "Concorde" starts as a more traditional indie song before reaching its climax featuring band member Lewis Evans' sax accompanied instrumental breakdown. Lead singer Isaac Wood announced he was leaving the band less than a week prior to this release, adding another layer to what was already an album of yearning and loss. As bombastic as they can sound at various points across the album, they still have the ability to produce somber moments such as "Haldern" and "Mark's Theme,” Definitely looking forward to seeing how they progress after the departure of Wood. -Mark Joyner
Frank Turner - FTHC (Xtra Mile Recordings LP)
Full disclosure here—I’m a member of the cult of Frank Turner. I love seeing him play live and I thoroughly enjoyed his last two records—Be More Kind and No Man’s Land. But his newest release, FTHC, is a bit of a return to “vintage" Frank Turner and I think it’s going to make a lot of people happy. It’s his 9th LP—and the first to make it to number 1 on the U.K. charts. Kicking things off with the hardcore “Non Serviam” certainly signals Frank’s intention for this record. “The Gathering” and “Haven’t Been Doing So Well” follow and they are the type of audience participation songs that he does so well. But he’s also spent the last two years taking a closer look at some of his deep personal issues and songs like “Untainted Love” and “Fatherless” deal with those topics. On “Miranda” Frank is forced to address his long-standing resentment of his father when the two meet and Miranda is now a transgender woman. And “A Wave Across A Bay” is a heartbreaking tribute to his friend Scott Hutchison from the great band Frightened Rabbit. All in all, this is a helluva record and I can’t wait to see Frank and the Sleeping Souls playing these songs on stage. -Tom Novak
Nicfit - Fuse (Upset the Rhythm LP)
In punk rock circles, loud and fast typically rules the day. Japan’s Nicfit deviate from the formula with songs that aren’t always linear and more often than not veer closer to three minutes and up than ninety seconds screeds. Additionally, Fuse represents the band’s debut LP, arriving about twelve years after the group initially formed when their guitarist Charlie moved from San Diego to Nagoya and partnered with fellow punk enthusiasts Hiromi (vocals), KenKen (bass) and Kuwayama (drums). A demo tape and a couple of singles surfaced in the intervening years and while the album is well considered in execution, it doesn’t come across as belabored, instead retaining a rawness and authenticity characteristic to the genre. Their cover of the Urinals’ “Ack Ack Ack” closes the record and seamlessly connects an aesthetic that still resonates across continents and cultures. -Bruce Novak
UPCOMING
Wet Leg
Where: Thalia Hall / Directions
When: March 4, 8:00 PM
On the basis of five released tracks in their nascent career, Wet Leg cultivated enough viral cachet to bump up from an Empty Bottle debut performance to selling out the much more expansive Thalia Hall. The thing of it is, Hester Chambers and Rhian Teasdale, who first met while attending Isle of Wight College, remain refreshingly ambivalent about their notoriety. Roughly three years had elapsed from when they started making music together until a band manager took it upon himself to send off their demo to Domino Records. Inspired by what they heard, the label was anxious to come meet the Chambers and Teasdale, but it would be months later before the duo took them up on the offer. That union will see the release of Wet Leg’s twelve track self-titled debut on April 8. If the band’s penchant for sly observations and unadulterated pop culture parodies remains intact over the course of the remaining tracks, it’ll truly be a piss-take of the highest order. -Bruce Novak
Owney
Where: Empty Bottle / Directions
When: March 7, 8:30 PM
Owen Misterovich has fond memories of his father blasting Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in the car when he and his brother were beginning to discover a wealth of musical treasures. His own release from last summer, Are You Ready For the Birds?? reflects the textural richness that he found so inspiring in YHF. Misterovich has an ear for song construction with compositions that are layered and unfold in leisurely fashion. He also fronts the band Paddlefish, who originated in Springfield, Missouri in 2015 before he relocated to Chicago in recent years. Owney appears to be a more suitable outlet for Misterovich’s experimental tendencies. He certainly knows his way around a studio, so it’ll be intriguing to find out how his creations translate to the stage. -Bruce Novak
Deafheaven
Where: Thalia Hall / Directions
When: March 14, 7:30 PM (show is 17+)
I first witnessed Oakland’s black metal powerhouse Deafheaven at Pitchfork Festival in 2014. Incorporating loud soft dynamics indicated an appreciation for shoegaze and atmospherics, that, in the years since, have become increasingly prevalent in doom and black metal. What had remained constant throughout four albums was singer George Clarke’s remarkable instrument of a voice, an otherworldly howl of pain and sharp edges that for many of my indie rock friends, was just a bridge too far. I happened to find it exhilarating in the way that I find hardcore exciting—as a 110% visceral embodiment of personal truth and commitment. With 2021’s Infinite Granite, Deafheaven and Clarke have fully embraced the stylings of shoegaze, with Clarke revealing a melodic and yup, lovely voice to match the music. Pitchfork’s backhanded and complimentary review of the album claimed the stylistic move ‘predictable’ but I hear it as a natural progression towards new horizons. Fitfully, the band sounds as tight and dialed in as ever, and the setlist they bring to Thalia should be fascinating to behold, especially when they dip into the old catalogue alongside the new material. -Wade Iverson
UNCOVERED
Urinals - Negative Capability…Check It Out! (Amphetamine Reptile compilation)
Because of the fury and discontent that spawned punk rock, one aspect that tends to be overlooked is the humor that many of its early practitioners brought to the table. There was more than one way to skewer constrictive society. When they emerged from UCLA’s campus in 1978, the Urinals were already indoctrinated in marxist philosophy and dadaist absurdity. Their crude, minimalist take on punk was reflected in two chord compositions, typically well short of the two minute mark, conceived by minds saturated in b-budget horror movies, Mad Magazine degenerative laughs and sci-fi outlandishness. Their original run consisted of three 7” records covering ten songs that they self-distributed on their Happy Squid label. Those songs comprise the first third of Negative Capability, with the middle consisting of outtakes and compilation tracks, before closing out with archived live material. The Urinals DIY aesthetic was influential in emergence of the Minutemen, and their irreverence filtered down into the likes of Descendents, Flipper, Butthole Surfers, Scratch Acid and U-Men. Original members Kjehl Johansen, Kevin Barrett and John Talley-Jones morphed into 100 Flowers, producing an eclectic catalog in their own regard. Later on Barrett and Jones unexpectedly resurrected Happy Squid Records and partnered to produce What is Real and What Is Not in 2003 and Next Year At Mairenbad in 2015 under the Urinals umbrella, refining the execution but keeping a bit of their spirit intact. -Bruce Novak
We recommend listening along over at our Spotify page. Here’s this week’s content: