Tag: BBC 6

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: London’s deep tan Shares a “Blair Witch Project”-Meets-“Island of Dr. Moreau”-like Visual For “rudy ya ya ya”

Through the release of a handful of singles and last year’s critically applauded creeping speedwells EP, London-based post punk trio deep tan — Wafah (vocals), Celeste (bass) and Lucy (drums) — quickly exploded into the national and international post punk scenes: The band was featured in outlets like NME, DIY, Clash, Loud and Quiet, The Quietus, So Young, Notion, Dork, BrooklynVegan, and countless others. 

Their music has been playlisted on BBC 6 Music and Amazing Radio while receiving airplay on Apple Music Beats 1, Radio X, SiriusXM, KEXP, BBC Wales and Amazing Radio USA. And along with that, Steve Lamacq named the band his BBC 6 Music Spotlight Artist last May. Adding to a momentous year, last year the rapidly rising post-punk trio supported their debut EP with extensive touring that included an opening slot for critically applauded post- punk outfit Yard Act and the British festival circuit with stops at Dot to Dot, Live at Leads, Wide Eyed Festival, and Manchester Psych Fest. They closed out the year with the Dan Carey-produced “tamu’s riffing refuge,” which was released through Speedy Wunderground. 

Their sophomore EP diamond horsetail was released earlier this year — with a digital release preceding the physical release. They also released an extremely limited “Dinked Edition,” which featured diamond horsetail and creeping speedwells pressed together on “piss kink yellow” vinyl. (And by extremely limited, I mean it was 400 — yep, 400! — copies.)

deep tan’s sophomore EP saw the members of the British post-punk outfit further establishing their unique take on post punk in which their stripped-back, minimalist approach serves as a vehicle for songs that focus on contemporary thematic concerns, including deepfake revenge porn, surreal meme pages, furry hedonism and others.

EP single “rudy ya ya ya” is a taut, sparse and uneasy song centered around a propulsive and angular bass line and wiry guitar blasts paired with Wafah’s sultry yet ironically detached vocals. At its core, is a vicious, occasionally veiled, occasionally obvious, satirical takedown of the entirely deserving Rudy Giulliani — and old, power hungry bastards like him. The song is also a reminder of how far — and how quickly — Giulliani has fallen, becoming one of the world’s most hated, most despicable people.

Directed by Stringer, the accompanying video for “rudy ya ya ya” is a glitchy, Blair Witch Project-like visual that follows the band on a journey to a nightmarish Island of Doctor Moreau with hideous and menacing monsters in business suits.

“’rudy ya ya’ allowed me to fully realize my Island of Dr.Mareau [sic] by way of the Blair Witch fantasy and was a perfect opportunity to flex my Digital Bolex’s muscles with manic handheld movements and gritty psychedelic textures,” Stringer explains. “The end product is a haunted fever dream of a video and It’s the most fun I’ve had in the middle of nowhere at night in a long time.”

“For our rudy video we enlisted the help of stringer to direct, who caught our eye online with their excellent creeped-out gorefest references, which led to a very entertaining 12hrs in Epping Forest,” the band adds.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Low Hummer Releases a Stylish and Sleek Visual for Angular “The People, This Place”

Rising Hull, UK-based post-punk act Low Hummer — Daniel, Aimee, Steph, Jack, John and Joe — can trace their origins through the individual members’ connections to their hometown’s DIY scene. After meeting and bonding over mutual interests, the sextet quickly established a regular rehearsal home at the DIY venue The New Adelphi Club, where they were able to develop and hone their own danceable take on post-punk that thematically focuses on their lives in East Yorkshire, their place in a consumerist world and bad news stories sold as gospel.

September 2019 saw the release of the their debut single “Don’t You Ever Sleep” through Leeds-based label Dance To The Radio. The members of Low Hummer quickly followed that up with their second single “I Choose Live News” that October. Both singles were released to praise from the likes of Clash, Dork, Gigwise and BBC 6 Music Recommends — with airplay on BBC 6. Building upon a rapidly growing national profile their subsequent singles “The Real Thing,” “Picture Bliss” and “Sometimes I Wish (I Was A Different Person) received praise from NME, Gigwise and Under The Radar Magazine and were championed by BBC Radio 1‘s Jack Saunders and Huw Stephens, BBC 6’s Steve Lamacq, Marc Riley, and Tom Robinson.

The Hull-based act’s highly-anticipated full-length debut Modern Tricks For Living is slated for a September release through Dance To The Radio, and the album’s first single “The People, This Place” is an angular post punk anthem that’s danceable yet full of seething disgust and frustration that makes the song a spiritual mix of The Clashand Wire— while voicing, the sort of frustration felt when you live in a dead-end town, with dead-end people and no real options or opportunities.

Directed by Luke Hallett, the incredibly stylish visual for “The People, This Place” features film noir-ish split screens between members of the band primping, preening, hanging out and being insouciant, the band playing in a rehearsal space. It’s part music video, part perfume commercial, part look into modern young people’s lives.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Up-and-Coming British Act Second Hand Poet Releases an Intimate and Playful Visual for “Honeycomb”

Jamie Tipson is a Surrey, UK-born singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and co-founder of Pretty Thing Records, a label and promotions company, specifically created to help other like-minded artists — and he’s also the creative mastermind behind the up-and-coming British indie rock project Second Hand Poet.

Last year, Tipson released his Second Hand Poet debut Songs for the Pyre, and he quickly followed that up with the January release of “I’ll Be Yours,” a track that received airplay from BBC Introducing, Amazing Radio and BBC 6, and was featured in the Unsigned Guides Spotlight and Richer Sounds Artist of the Month.  Building upon a growing national profile in his native UK, Tipson’s latests ingle “Honeycomb” is a hook-driven and  anthemic track that recalls 120 Minutes-era alt rock, The Silversun Pickups and others, as its centered around jangling power chords, a propulsive rhythm section and Tipson’s plaintive vocals. 

Interestingly, Tipson’s new Second Hand Poet is a decidedly upbeat track that finds him straying a bit from his self-described band of gloom folk. In fact, the track finds Tipson employing the use of a full band — and it required a much more collaborative creative process than much of his previously released work. “‘Honeycomb’ is a weird one,” Tipson explains in press notes. “It’s completely the opposite sound and style to my usual work but I just had to get it out in this way. I still play it acoustic when live but the intention was to almost sound as if I was singing over a Smashing Pumpkins’ track on the recorded version.” “The song itself is about people, about connecting material things with feelings or certain memories in time, soundtracking moments,” Tipson says of his latest single. “After all, that’s what music is isn’t it?” 

Edited by Alex Thomas, the recently released video for “Honeycomb” stars Tipson, his backing musicians for the song’s creation and a series of friends, loved ones and supporters from around the world. “I just wanted to create something a bit immersive, music is relatable regardless of taste and opinion and the idea of bringing people I care about in all senses of the word felt really special to me,” Tipson says of the video. “I’ve never met some of the people in the video, and some of them that are featured even helped fuel the need for me to create in the first place. ”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Introducing Belgian Quintet STUFF. and Their Funky, Hip-Hop Take on Jazz Fusion

STUFF. is a Belgian-based quintet who have received attention across their native Belgium and the European Union for a sound that possesses elements of hip-hop, jazz, jazz fusion and funk. And as a result of […]