Dig ‘in: PET NEEDS, Ducks Ltd., Mary Timony
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
PET NEEDS - Intermittent Fast Living (Xtra Recordings Ltd LP)
Intermittent Fast Living is the third long-player from PET NEEDS and this one has exploded out of the gate. The Colchester, UK quartet has been touring the world the last two years and has built a loyal following—enough so that this release opened at number 17 in the UK charts. Led by brothers Johnny (vocals) and George Marriott (guitar), PET NEEDS have filled this 34 minute, 11 song record with energetic, guitar-driven punk rock. The album starts with “How Are You?“, a mainly-spoken-word rant by Johnny which really sets the stage for the record. Launching directly into “Separation Anxiety” (a chaotic/frenetic love song to Johnny’s wife), we get a string of fast & loud punk rockers (“Fingernails,” “The Age That You Were” & “Self-Restraint”—a nod to Johnny’s dog Eddie). Brother George gets to show off his chops on a few guitar solos along the way and the band (including Jack on drums and new bassist Ryan) even launch into a bit of Black Sabbath punk-metal on “The Optimist” and arena rock on “Trip.” With this new album, PET NEEDS have added a bunch of songs that are going to take their already fantastic live show to another level. -Tom Novak
Ducks Ltd. - Harm’s Way (Carpark Records LP)
Beneath their buoyant arrangements, Ducks Ltd. unveil a more downcast sentiment. On the album’s opener, “Hollowed Out,” Tom McGreevy despairs: “All we ever do is leave / A slow retreat / Through same old scene forever / Darker at the city’s seams / Collapse the street / A world unseen whatever.” As society becomes more polarized and futures hang precipitously in the balance, the anxiety ratchets up and lines are drawn between fight and flight, leaving others in limbo. “Living like a middle reliever / Innings eater on a losing team / Showing up and doing what I get paid for / Yeah, we’re all just playing out the string,” observes McGreevy on “The Main Thing.”
Previously McGreevy and co-songwriter Evan Lewis retreated to their Toronto basement studio to create and record, but being on the road constantly last year exposed them to new connections and ideas. Developing an affinity with a number of Chicago artists led them to venture down to Public House Sound Recordings in Pilsen to track this new record with Dave Vettraino, bolstered by contributions from a host of Chicago indie scene notables, such as Ratboys’ Marcus Nuccio and Julie Steiner, Dehd’s Jason Balla and Finom’s Macie Stewart. The results are exhilarating; after an initial listening don’t be surprised if your find yourself repeating the cycle—these are songs that are likely to reside in your head and heart permanently. Clocking in at 28 minutes over 9 tracks, the pace is brisk, conveying an urgency akin to The Feelies or The Wedding Present. “Knowing that we’re moving, but feeling like a passenger / There are places that we went to / But I’m not sure that we meant to,” comes a revelation on the record’s title track. With no predetermined destination, all one can do is strap in and appreciate the journey, bumps and all. -Bruce Novak
Mary Timony - Untame the Tiger (Merge Records LP)
I first encountered Mary Timony’s music when I heard her band Helium’s The Magic City in 1997. I was instantly charmed by the way she integrated bits of prog rock and old English folk music into the indie rock template of the day. Her 2002 solo album The Golden Dove was equally alluring, but I lost track of Timony’s music after that. Well, I’m happy to say that the track “No Thirds,” which opens her strong new album Untame the Tiger, shows that Timony remains in wonderfully fine form. Winding stream-like above a propulsive groove and a beguiling electric guitar figure, Timony’s lilting vocal line weaves melodic magic before giving way to a wordless, string-drenched chorus. It’s instantly captivating and close to a perfect track. The prog-y elements that filigreed Timony’s earlier work aren’t in evidence much on Untame the Tiger. But tunes like “Dominoes,” where a sinewy bass line in the verses leads beautifully into a bold, brightly strummed chorus, or the more acoustic and folkie “Looking for the Sun,” prove that Timony still knows how to craft a gorgeous hook. (By the way, the British folk aspect of the record is bolstered by the appearance of none other than renowned Fairport Convention drummer Dave Mattacks on five of the tracks. Wow!) The tunes “Summer” and “Don’t Disappear” both take a more straightforward rock approach but still pay ample dividends with cool main riffs and crunchy, highly catchy choruses. Timony’s deft touch with a hook fades just a bit on the album’s last couple tracks, but this is an emotionally powerful effort from a gifted, distinctive talent. -Rick Reger
UPCOMING
Glitterer
Where: Beat Kitchen / Directions
When: March 3, 7:00 PM
Fresh off their opening slot on the ten year anniversary tours of The Hotelier’s Home, Like Noplace Is There and Foxing’s The Albatross, Glitterer will be playing Beat Kitchen on Sunday, March 3. This is an exciting time for the band as they released their first proper band album, Rationale, on February 23. Glitterer started in 2017 as a solo project of Title Fight’s Ned Russin, and has morphed into a well oiled 4-piece featuring Nicole Dao on keys, Jonah Farah on drums, Connor Morin on guitar, with Ned playing bass and singing. What Glitterer does well is crafting hooky, post-hardcore indie rock songs that don’t overstay their welcome, routinely clocking in at under two minutes. Their creative process involves laying down the basic song structure, and then letting Dao, Russin’s former boss, layer keys on top of what had already been created. The blend is quite striking, and it will be great to hear how it sounds in a live setting. These songs are quite propulsive and full of energy—a perfect match for Beat Kitchen’s no-frills space. -Mark Joyner
Wombo
Where: Lincoln Hall / Directions
When: March 9, 7:00 PM
The Louisville trio Wombo has transformed considerably from their loosely-structured, theatrically-inclined origins dating back to 2017. The turning point occurred on their 2021 EP release, Keesh Mountain. Their arrangements tightened and a palatable groove emerged from the syncopation between bassist Sydney Chadwick and drummer Joel Taylor. That allows Cameron Lowe to pick and choose his spots judiciously for a varied array of guitar spurts and spasms. A sense of discord carries the day, but Chadwick’s dreamy voice is capable of steering some numbers towards the pop realm, as evidenced on “Dreamsickle” and “In Situ.” There’s an ever-present wanderlust in Wombo’s music that leads to some unforeseen destinations that are somewhat familiar yet slightly disorienting. -Bruce Novak
Mclusky
Where: Vic Theatre / Directions
When: March 15, 6:30 PM
Welsh band Mclusky returned to North America in 2022 for the first time in 18 years and was slated to play Metro that December before the band had to cancel the second leg of the tour due to Andy Falkous’ ear maladies. That tour was timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of their Mclusky Do Dallas record, the second of three studio albums they put out in the early aughts. In order to foot the return trip this year, Mclusky put up four new digital tracks for sale on their Bandcamp site last fall, which will eventually be part of a forthcoming fourth album. Their aggro assault appears unwavering with an arsenal of songs that explore the underbelly of society. With all the invective and snark, it’s evident that Mclusky suffer no fools an will take no prisoners along the way. After recording their second and third albums at Electrical Audio with Steve Albini, the return trip to Chicago might find the band in their comfort zone, but I suspect the audience won’t share the same cushy feeling. -Bruce Novak
UNCOVERED
Helium: The Dirt of Luck (Matador Records LP)
Mary Timony stands out as one most inventive guitarists in indie circles, exercising her talents both as a solo artist and in such influential outfits as Autoclave, Helium, Wild Flag and Ex Hex. In a 2017 interview with AV Club discussing the reissue of Helium’s catalog, Timony proclaimed: “I was trying to get away from the classical guitar that I studied and approaching the guitar in this simple but destructive way. I was basically trying to unlearn things.” On Helium’s first full length album (originally released in 1995), The Dirt of Luck, her instincts are spot on. Progressing from the rawness of their Private Prude EP, the compositions on The Dirt of Luck are well planned and executed. Her coupling with bassist Ash Bowie, the former Polvo guitarist, spurred new avenues to song construction and experimentation. Key to their execution was to overload her voice and all the instrumentation in distortion to create a dynamic contrast between a range of frequencies. It’s an aesthetic that proves out over the entirety of the record.
“Pat’s Trick” sets thing off, lumbering at the start before picking up steam and spiking into red by mid song with Timony’s vocals alternating between soothing and harsh. “Baby’s Going Underground” is a tour de force; shifting between Shawn Devlin’s rolling toms and Timony’s xylophone inserts before being enveloped by her circular shoegaze guitar pattern in dizzying fashion like a dog chasing its tail. Incorporating a woozy organ riff in “Superball” makes the listener do a double take to make sure the record is still playing at the proper speed. Towards the end, “Honeycomb” seemingly comes in as a warm embrace wrapped in a lulling slide guitar, but when the gist of the song becomes apparent about an unrepentant streetwalker, things again get turned on its head. Down through the years, Helium and Timony’s other music endeavors have been inspirational to a new generation of musicians. Her desire to pay things forward has resulted in her becoming a guitar teacher in her native Washington, D.C. home and one of her past pupils was Lindsey Jordan, just then emerging with her band Snail Mail! Now, how cool is that? -Bruce Novak
We recommend listening along over at our Spotify page. Here’s this week’s content: