Newness Abounds

It is time for one or our irregular round-ups of new sounds sent to me by the good folks in Promo Land. There have been some goodies in recent weeks. Here are just five of them.

We will start with a new record from some old favourites. I enjoyed Jeanines' jangle-tastic last album "Don't Wait For A Sign" very much when it came out back in 2022. Their new album "How Long Can It Last" is a worthy successor. It will be released from captivity on 27 June and can is available for pre-order on Bandcamp.

Jeanines will be touring the UK in July. I have seem them before and can heartily recommend them. I'm hoping to make their London gig and they will also be playing Brighton, Exeter, Oxford, Coventry, Manchester and Glasgow. For some gigs they will be joined by their label mates Lightheaded who are also pretty nifty. But not London unfortunately.

One band I am definitely going to see are The Thing from fashionable Brooklyn who are playing at the Shacklewell Arms in London's equally fashionable Dalston tomorrow (their only other UK gig is Nottingham on Friday). You can find the new single below on Spotify and their previous releases on Bandcamp, but the upcoming self-titled album due out in August is currently nowhere to be seen.

The PR wiz that came up with the headline "Ugandan industrial hip-hop gone psychedelic" knows exactly how to press my buttons. That is the phrase they used to describe "Magada Biwuka", the new collaboration between Ugandan MC Swordman Kitala and UK-based producer Soft-Bodied Humans which comes out on 11 July. Once you have pre-ordered it make sure to pick up a copy of their previous effort "Kaiju Kitala" as well.

Stocking with the vaguely exotic, next up we have La Banda Chuska, who describe themselves as being "Brooklyn-based purveyors of cumbia and surf". I wonder if they hang out with The Thing? Their debut album "Basic Bichos" came out at the end of May and is just what you need to get in the mood for our forthcoming tour of the Americas.

Last but definitely not least is Montreal's own Common Holly whose new album "Anything Glass" is out this Friday. The selected track is described as "a cinematic and delicate piece of lyrical imagery that unfolds like an apocalyptic folklore tale, grappling with themes like the acceptance of finality and the relentless force of mother nature". So now you know.

You should consider buying all of these records.

"Wrong Direction" - Jeanines

"The Waltz" - The Thing

"Magada" - Swordman Kitala x Soft-Bodied Humans

"La Única Sana" - La Banda Chuska

"The Wood From The Sail" - Common Holly

Speaking of gigs as we were, last night I had the pleasure of seeing the Zawose Queens at the Curve Garden, yet another venue in London's fashionable Dalston. The Queens last appeared on these pages when the African Odyssey visited Tanzania. There was just the two of them and lots of percussion but they made a splendid sound.