thegrindinghalt.com

We love us some The Raveonettes here at tgh.  Sharin Foo and Sune Rose Wagner have been missed in their musical duo capacity in the years since the release of 2017’s 2016 Atomized, a collection of monthly singles recorded by the band in the titular year.  The Raveonettes Presents: Rip it Off, released in 2023, and last year’s The Raveonettes Sing… – covers of and covers by the band, respectively – had some great moments, but we hankered for the new originals (don’t sue, Spinal Tap).  

Praise be, it has now come to pass, with bona fide new music from The Raveonettes, in the form of ‘Blackest’. The fairly meta title notwithstanding, ‘Blackest’ is a surging return. Riding the cresting wave of a lovely guitar intro, the track melds the group’s musical touchpoints – revved up 50s rock&roll&r&b, surf twang, shoegaze burn, flights of club-worthy rhythmic textures – into a finished article that had us simultaneously looking forward to the next and rabidly digging out our copy of Chain Gang of Love (and the rest).  

The blurb under the video for the track (find that below) sets expectations for not one but two new albums this year – Pa’ahi (which, presumably, will include ‘Blackest’), “released shortly,” and a second, unnamed album to follow “later in the year”.  Specific release dates, labels, etc., to be confirmed. All this, plus to be announced tour dates in the U.S., E.U., and Asia, and it all adds up to a very auspicious beginning to the weekend.

RAVE ON, indeed.

At the moment, there is one date on The Raveonettes calendar – May 21, on The Old Stage at The Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen:

tickets

Check the lyric video for ‘Blackest’: 

Follow The Raveonettes:

site

fbook

insta

spotify page 

Now are a San Francisco-based trio, featuring members of Cindy and Thunder Boys.  They’ve produced a series of ramshackle, jangled psych-pop showpieces since 2016, the latest of which was 2023’s fantastic And Blue Space is Burning Noon.

Fast forward, and Now have announced a new album – Now Does the Trick, due May 16 on perennial – as well as its lead single, the gorgeous ‘In Pathécolor’.  Vocalist William Smith (not that one, silly) layers a bit of Robyn Hitchcock glaze over an absolutely rapturous arrangement – guitars shimmering like heat waves in summer, a beautifully active bassline and playful drum fills.  Reminds a bit of bands like Cleaners from Venus, early The Clientele, The Mighty Lemon Drops – as (a portion of) the band’s own description sums it: “a DIY recording & performing pop group from the SF Bay Area with a predilection for 80s UK cassette culture.” Smashing.

Now Does the Trick was recorded, produced and mixed by the band between October 2023- August 2024, and was mastered by Amy Dragon.  “12 songs.  33 rpm.”  Out May 16 on perennial/K records and available for pre-order now:

https://nowww.bandcamp.com/album/now-does-the-trick

https://www.perennialdeath.com/discography/prnl58

https://krecs.com/products/now-does-the-trick-prnl058-klp303-lp

Check the video for ‘In Pathécolor’:  

Follow Now on instagram @nowfanclub.

We’ve done this previously, but never gets old:  make it a point to check out the rest of perennial’s amazeballs roster:  

https://www.perennialdeath.com

https://perennialdeath.bandcamp.com

The Null Club is a new project of Alan Duggan-Borges, guitarist for tgh absolute faves Gilla Band.  A debut EP is in the works and set for release April 4, which will see M. Duggan-Borges collaborate with the likes of singular rap artist E L U C I D and Farris Badwan of The Horrors.

Debut single, ‘Slip Angle’, releases today (February 19) and features the amazing Valentine Caulfield (of the mighty Mandy, Indiana) on vocals.  As you might expect from two artists whose ‘home’ bands are known for dense, at times abrasive, sonic resonances, the track finds Caulfield’s francophone lyrics shrouded in borderline paranoiac electronics, a techno-y thump attempting to pierce through. It’s an invigorating taster.

The Null Club EP is available for pre-order now (vinyl! download! merch bundles!) – – note that the physical release is limited to 500, hand-stamped, white label LPs:

https://thenullclub.limitedrun.com

The Null Club will also play out in Ireland and the UK this May, ticket links:

https://thenullclub.com/live

We admit, hat in hand, that we were a bit late to the Maria Somerville party.  Her debut, the icily beautiful All My People, was initially released in 2019, but we weren’t fortunate enough to happen upon it until last year’s repress (cheers to the boomkat folks for the hot tip).  Instantly hooked, September’s single return, the hushed, lived-in dreamscape of ’Projections’ – released on the iconic 4AD label – only served to further our interest.  

Now fully engaged admirers, a morning perusal of our inbox brings welcome news of a sophomore release – Luster, also arriving courtesy of 4AD on April 25, a new teaser track in the form of ‘Garden’, and tour dates.  ‘Garden’ adds a touch of grandeur in its production to Somerville’s normal quietude, but without sacrificing any intimacy in tone or feel, making it a nice compliment to ‘Projections’. It also ramps up our anticipation for the remainder of the album, which we can’t wait to hear.

From the press release accompanying the announcement:  “Where All My People conveyed memories and melancholic longing with misty slowcore balladry, these 12 tracks show us an artist who’s more assured in the path her life has taken, and the person she’s become in the process. As she sings in ‘Trip’ – “I can see more clearly than I could before. I know now wat’s true for me.””

Luster is due April 25, courtesy of 4AD, and available for pre-order now:

https://4ad.com/news/19/2/2025/4addebutlusterout25thaprilstreamnewsinglegarden (label announcement and links to purchase physical copies)

https://mariasomerville.bandcamp.com/album/luster (including Bandcamp-exclusive test press)

https://monorailmusic.com/product/luster/?mc_cid=aecfc3f306&mc_eid=7a6a8ffe60 (monorail music exclusive edition)

Check out the video for ‘Garden’: 

https://youtu.be/2sJyviKcJ0s?si=_vnkwE-JYJSPRYLP

Maria Somerville tour dates (unclear whether more will be added), dates and ticket links:

https://4ad.com/live#mariasomerville

Explore more of the vital 4AD records catalogue (both legacy and current):  

https://4ad.com

MIEN, an electro/psych powerhouse featuring Alex Maas (The Black Angels), Rishi Dhir (Elephant Stone), John-Mark Lapham (The Earlies) and Robb Kidd (Golden Dawn Arkestra), recently announced their first music since 2018.  The band’s sophomore release, MIIEN, arrives April 18 on Fuzz Club.

The excitement of the album announcement pairs well with the lysergic energy of lead single, ‘Evil People’.  The track finds Maas’ distinctive vocals enlisted in service of a quickstep, motorik tubeway army, briefly dissolving on an ambient drift, before reassembling for the final push.  It’s gloriously giddy – Clinic for the club, the lyrical mantra ‘you and I/we belong together/you and I/we go back and forth’ floating like lights in a fog. 

Sayeth the band:  “‘Evil People’ has its roots in a 2015 collaboration between Alex and awesome Danish musician Trentemøller. Fast forward to March 2022, when MIEN reunited in Austin for three intense days of recording during SXSW. Given how rare it is for all of us to be in the same room at the same time, the creative energy was electric—music and ideas flowed effortlessly, and ‘Evil People’ was born.”

MIIEN arrives April 18, courtesy of Fuzz Club, and is available for pre-order here:

(EU/UK) – https://fuzzclub.com/collections/mien/products/mien-miien

(US) – https://fuzzclub.us/collections/mien

[Catch a special, ‘Levitation Edition’, here:  https://levitation.fm/products/mein-meiin-levitation-edition?_kx=6axDALsZJOVRv-WW9z0G0YdP2hbZCjHtSuiXiEsEwos.XP2nn6 ]

(AUS) – https://sound-merch.com.au/collections/fuzz-club?sort_by=created-descending&syclid=cuh99821b5qs738vtitg

Check the appropriately dizzying vid for ‘Evil People’ here:  https://youtu.be/jjGfeLHQp2A?si=sr-y0E344lpkzh_X

MIEN play a show February 7 at The 13th Floor in Austin (tickets), and are then due to play gigs in EU/UK, nestled around an appearance at this year’s Fuzz Club Fest – dates and ticket links here:  

https://ffm.live/mien

While your at it, check out what else the good people at Fuzz Club have to offer, here:  

https://fuzzclub.com/ (EU/UK); https://fuzzclub.us/ (US); https://sound-merch.com.au/collections/fuzz-club?srsltid=AfmBOoojVRbLwKv-SBDplM58bPcL_7MBPBVBGuxgP2taVS2lY7VUsDSi (AUS)

Folllooowww MIEN… 

https://linktr.ee/mmmiiieeennn?fbclid=IwY2xjawIPdmdleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHczaZ5lGMU09GeXMULrVxVldt3zpmdguvRjxQMa34nM9JMkeepvpuVQbSA_aem_uqbNqSYGkl7blaOx3S0S6Q

Sharp Pins, the side project of Lifeguard vocalist/guitar dude Kai Slater, is set to reissue last year’s stunning Radio DDR as an expanded set, courtesy of Perennial and K Records.  The new version will include the original full-length, together with 3 new and unreleased tracks the first of which, ‘I Can’t Stop’, appeared in January.  Now, rejoice in the coming of a second new track, ‘Storma Lee’ – the video for which you can link to below.  

The track brings the jingle and the jangle, lo-fi in production yet lush in headspace.  Wistful turns of phrase abound (‘same old sickness/same old bed’ is a personal fave) – the cloud-parting harmonies around the 2:20 mark, alone, worth the price of admission.  The fact that this and ‘I Can’t Stop’ didn’t make the final cut for the original album is, well, scary.  

According to M. Slater, ‘Storma Lee’ was “written when I was 17 about Jack Lee from The Nerves, about his mysterious life and what could have been, so it has a tinge of sadness. I think of it as zombie beach boy daydream terror.”  [Kids, if this is your first time hearing of The Nerves/Jack Lee (or Peter Case, for that matter) – do some exploring.]

Radio DDR, reissued and extended, arrives March 21 from Perennial/K Records: 

https://www.perennialdeath.com/discography/prnl56

https://sharppins.bandcamp.com/album/radio-ddr

The video for ‘Storma Lee’ can be found here: https://youtu.be/liYmiNtai-E?si=4fGr-4kax_pKwHyC

Sharp Pins will tour in the US and Canada following the album release, including dates with The Hard Quartet(*):

February 7, Chicago, IL – Epiphany Center for the Arts

*March 21, Nashville, TN – Brooklyn Bowl Nashville

*March 22, Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse

*March 23, Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle

*March 25, Washington, DC – 9:30 Club

*March 26, Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer

*March 28, Brooklyn, NY – Warsaw

*March 29, Burlington, VT – Higher Ground

*March 30, Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club

*April 1, Toronto, ON – The Danforth Music Hall

*April 2, Detroit, MI – St. Andrew’s Hall

*April 3, Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall

*April 5, Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue

*April 25, Dallas, TX – Granda Theatre

*April 26, Austin, TX – Scoot Inn

Do yourself a favor and check out the entire Perennial Records discography (spoiler – it’s stacked), here:  https://www.perennialdeath.com/

Shrapnel, a Sydney/Gadigal Country-based quintet of drummers (or so sayeth the band’s bandcamp page, though I feel certain I can hear other, non-percussive instruments…) have released their latest long-player, Sedan Crater, courtesy of Tenth Court records.  

Each of the pre-released, tingly teaser tracks – ‘Turning the Kife’, ‘Bugged Anatomy’ and, the most recent, ‘Fountains of Ute’ – are fantastic, dosed power pop, ‘Fountains’ adding a creepy-crawly synth line that’s a bit Split Enz-y.  Time to dive in to the rest. 

Sedan Crater, out now on Tenth Court and available here:  https://shrapnelpog.bandcamp.com/album/sedan-crater.

Shrapnel has also announced the following tour dates:

Friday, Feb 14 –  Wurundjeri Country, Naarm Melbourne – Cactus Room w/ Program + P.P. Rebel

Saturday Feb 15 – Wurundjeri Country, Naarm Melbourne – Tramway Hotel (afternoon show) – w/ The Sprouts

Friday Feb 21 – Ngunnawal Country, Canberra – Dissent Cafe w/ Miners + Olivia’s World

Saturday Feb 22 – Dharawal Country, Wollongong –  La La Las w/ Miners + Frogurt + Sevilles

Saturday March 1 – Gadigal Country, Sydney – Gaelic Club w/ Dippers + Ex Colleague + Giant Hammer

Check the video for ‘Turning the Knife’:  https://youtu.be/yffwK5qFJXk?si=7V_WVSSr41KP9NPL.

Engage with more releases from the fine people at Tenth Court here and/or here.

Monde UFO, the LA-based duo of Ray Monde and Kris Chau, have been a firm favorite of ours since the release of their debut album, 7171, back in 2021.  Since then, the band signed with Fire Records – reissuing 7171 in an expanded format, followed by a Spacemen 3 cover for the label’s 40th anniversary, last April.  

Then, in November, a pre-holidays revelation in the form of a new album announcement. Monde UFO’s sophomore long-player, Flamingo Tower, is set for a March 7 release on Fire. Exciting news, to be sure, and the advance tracks –  last November’s ‘Samba 9’, and this month’s follow-up, ‘119’ – heighten the anticipation.  

Where both fit in well with Monde UFO’s existing lineup of vertiginous, yet oddly comforting, lo-fi freeform psych, there’s an added warmth and emphasis on propulsive rhythms and textures; more structured, perhaps, but without sacrificing adventurousness.  Monde’s stated interest in numerology (the release accompanying the album announcement quotes Monde as saying “I don’t really care for numerology, but at the same time, I’m obsessed with it”) comes through in the song titles (and the runtimes?  Samba 9 clocks in at 3:33 and 119, 3:44 – coincidence? Probably? Who knows).  

Flamingo Tower is due March 7, on Fire Records – pre-order vinyl and/or digital copies here: https://mondeufo.bandcamp.com/album/flamingo-tower.

Monde UFO will be on tour in the UK/EU this May – dates and ticket links here:  https://mondeufo.lnk.to/TourWE.

Check the brilliant video for ‘119’ here:  https://youtu.be/YkFWSTX_7Xw?si=51H2YkhQ3qKxPebH.

Check out more from Fire Records (an excellent label, so says we) here:  https://www.firerecords.com/.