No Frills Reviews

BIG SPECIAL BLACK DOG/WHITE HORSE – Acoustic Version

The highlight from the newly released deluxe edition of the Birmingham duo’s debut album; our no. 1 of 2024. While remixes from the likes of Sleaford Mods and Public Service Broadcasting take their tracks into new directions of electro ambience, this strips things down to basics. Allowing the powerhouse vocals of Joe Hicklin to shine on a brooding country ballad, which wouldn’t sound out of place on Johnny Cash’s American Recordings series.

The Bloody Beetroots + Bob Vylan KILLING PUNK

The veteran Italian producer teams up with the London duo as they lay waste to any doubts over their punk credentials. A blazing, warning siren of a track which sees them address the gatekeeping and racism behind questions over the autenticity of two black lads in the scene, as they deliver their own lesson in punk history.

Doechii Anxiety

Doechii is in the midst of an absolutely star-making run, and this only adds to her momentum. Anxiety has been ‘unofficially’ available for a number of years, taken from a self-released session, but finally gets an official release after going viral on TikTok. Sampling Gotye’s huge 2011 hit, Somebody That I Used To Know, the Florida rapper demonstrates what a force she is by turning it into a huge hit of her own, showcasing her persona-shifting versatility.

Fatboi Sharif & Driveby Battlestar Galactica

“A lot of cats be like, ‘if I haven’t heard it before, if it’s not recycled; it’s not dope.’ Because their minds are not trained to hear the ill shit.” This snippet that appears late on Battlestar Galactica is like a challenge for you to try to step into the world of Fatboi Sharif. The demonic poster boy for experimental rap invites you to experience the unknown and the unfamiliar. He previews his upcoming project with New Jersey producer, Driveby, in typically confounding fashion. The beat that opens the track morphs into a murky dirge, disembodied voices emerge from the ether, and Sharif delivers flashes of abstract imagery as you struggle to piece it all together; it’s disconcerting yet utterly compelling.

Goat + MC Yallah Nimerudi

The Swedish psych mavericks move into hip-hop territory as they team up with Kenyan rapper, MC Yallah. Her shape-shifting, multi-lingual flows are backed by old-school breakbeats and gloriously scuzzy guitars for this hypnotic groove.

Motorbike Currency

The first release from the Cincinnati punks since their excellent 2023 debut is a blazing flood of catharsis. The gnarled growl of frontman, Jamie Morrison, approaches Lemmy territory as he reaches breaking point over life’s many indignities – “I pissed the bed at the Airbnb”.

Rhys Langston (feat. Open Mike Eagle) Ate the Tuning Fork While I Taxied in the Crepuscular

The rap underground’s poet laureate returns with an ode to catching inspiration in transit. As ever, there’s beauty in the way that Langston elevates everyday mundanities into grand sagas with his silver-tongued rhetoric. And this is also his poppiest effort yet, with a bouncing dance beat that’s caught somewhere on an off road between Estelle’s American Boy and Macklemore’s Can’t Hold Us. An intriguing preview for his upcoming project, Pale Black Negative.

Televised Mind National Hero

The influence of Fontaines D.C. is evident in the name alone of Lincoln up-and-comers, Televised Mind. It’s also present in the deadpan drawl of frontman, Ste Walker; part Grian Chatten, part Mark E. Smith. But they set themselves apart from the crowd by living up to their predecessors on this blistering, bittersweet anthem. A brief opening of dreamy jangle-pop transforms into rapid-fire riffs and rhythms, reminiscent of Gang of Four via early Arctic Monkeys, before delivering some stark melancholia, which hints at New York greats, The Walkmen. Walker’s lyrics gradually revealing a wry tale of intertwining lost love and broken dreams. A band that could breathe new life into the played-out post-punk scene if they can continue to capture the excitement of their influences.

Twat Union Singer Of The Band

On their first single since signing to cult indie label, Alcopop! Records, the delightfully named South London six-piece, Twat Union, deliver a shot of righteous punk fury. A takedown of the casual and dismissive sexism that continues to face female musicians, backed by a stampeding garage rock rush that descends into a Funhouse-era Stooges freakout. Riot grrrl attitude with pop-punk sensibilities.