TLV033 – Calories//William – Split 7″
A1: Calories – “Mortal Boys”
A2: Calories – “Drink The Potion”
B1: William – “Dilettante”
B2: William – “Lustreless”
7″ white vinyl
+ exclusive fanzine/poster
Limited to 500 hand-numbered copies
The latest release in the Tough Love split 7″ series brings together Birmingham natives Calories and south-London power trio William. Aesthetically, this record makes a lot of sense to us, both bands charged on the same post-punk/post-hardcore records and coming out of leftfield with a lot of pop structure suss.
Artwork (below) is provided by man-machine and human ink-pad Gordon Armstrong . He’s also the man responsible for the free fanzine/poster inserted into the record sleeve, and the various illustrations and videos that have adorned Vilest Thug Loop. Speaking of which, over the coming weeks, all of the tracks will be streaming on VTL.
The record is now available for pre-order from our Shop here. All orders will be shipped two weeks prior to official release (Monday 15th February) and we’ll also send you a code to download all of the songs for free. Launch parties in respective hometowns have already been announced (see here and here), but that you already know.
<< BUY NOW >>
I’m pre-conditioned to love Sicamore, being that it’s the name given to the side-project of William frontman, Gavin Housley. I’ve been listening to his bathroom/bedroom solo recordings in some form for some time now, once even honoured to have him give a rare performance in our garden. He covered Jayhawks songs, while The Sequins/Honeytrap drummer bled all over his guitar.
But on “Why Must We” there’s a giant step taken, not so much forward, as outwards. Even if you’re a huge fan of William, it’s likely that you’re unaware of Housley’s solo work, because he’s kept it hidden away, so at odds is it with the triumphant force of the band. But listening closer, the clues are there – that guitar, those sometimes cryptic sometimes direct lyrical allusions, and then that voice. That voice.
“Why Must We” comes almost fully formed too, not just a guitar and voice, but fleshed out to suggest a kind of yearning to communicate on a wider scale, lyrics even wrapped around these same concerns, of trying not to say the same old thing, the same old way. Words creep out rather than exorcised by sheer aggression, but there’s the same intent present that defines his vocals in William, whispered into ears now, but still softly blistering like slow summer sun. You may have to lean in a little harder to hear, but “Why Must We” is Sicamore leaning back, meeting you halfway, for the first time.
Sicamore – “Why Must We”
(Photo: Andrei Mitroshin)
V I L E S T T H U G L O O P - T R A C K 2.
William – “Lustreless”
The second track from TLV033 is streaming at VTL now.
Listen here now.
Pre-order TLV033 here now.
(Photo: Gordon Armstrong)
It feels like a billion years ago now, but in 2007 we released a 7″ single by Disco Drive. Shortly after, the band released their second album through Unhip, but since then have been rather quiet. But they’ve not been doing nothing.
Guitarist and lead singer, Alessio moved to London and kickstarted his one-man-and-a-laptop project Banjo or Freakout, slaying blogs with a series of inspired covers, a xmas album and the most dreamy dreamwave video ever made ever. If you do a search on Hype Machine you can find about a million good songs (particularly loving the Burial cover)
Alessio is just about to shoot off to NYC to record the Banjo or Freakout debut album, but he had just enough time to put together a 10 song mixtape for us, the song selection reflecting the BoF aesthetic pretty much spot on – a heady mix of chill jams, blissed out euphoria and a little spastic magic (that’ll be Swing Kids).
You can download it below and if you’re so inclined, go to Half Machine and buy BoF’s new record (which also comes with a free Becoming Real remix).
Tracklisting:
1. Tones on Tail – “Lions”
2.Hard-Ons – “There Was A Time”
3. Joe Meek and the Bluemen – “The Bublight”
4. Black Eyes – “A Pack of Wolves”
5. Bridget St. John – “Back To Stay”
6. Moondog – “Viking I”
7. Workshop – “Fur Wen?”
8. Wolfgang Voight – “Zither und Horn”
9. Swing Kids – “Situation On Mars”
10. Palms – “New Moon”
Banjo or Freakout – Mixtape for Tough Love
(Photo: Dark†Youth)
I thought I had Gentle Friendly sussed. And then “Lovers Rock” hit me in the head like, well, a big fucking rock. A rock made of velvet and engine oil and not a little German soul. The softest rock ever dropped.
There’s still that analog drone, the wheeze and creak of haunted technology being wrongly pushed, stretched and pressed until it folds in on itself. But instead of screech over the top like they’re jabbing sparking wires into android fuckholes (and that’s great too, sometimes), they barefoot slow-waltz; two k-hole fuckheads pouring light on lazy eyes and into open wounds, suddenly healing. A red-eyed lullaby for the stopped-working class.
“Lovers Rock” is taken from the album Ride Slow, which you can (and should) buy from Upset The Rhythm
Gentle Friendly – “Lovers Rock”
(Photo: Gordon Armstrong)
V I L E S T T H U G L O O P - T R A C K 1.
Calories - “Mortal Boys”
The first track from TLV033 is streaming at VTL now
Listen here now
Pre-order TLV033 here now
Now
This isn’t the same PS I Love You that wanted to know where on Earth Kevin Shields was. And this has nothing to do with the film of the same name either, not that I can tell (not that I want to hear).
But that doesn’t make “Facelove” singular or defined. It’s loose, frayed, wobbling through the last ten years of North American music with magpie eyes and sticky fingers, grasping at what it needs, forgetting and dropping and kicking off what it doesn’t want anymore, a petulant Buckaroo. Because PS I Love You show neither allegiance or loyalty. They’re one band, then another, and mainly a lot of other bands all at the same time.
Their kind of deliberate Babelism is logical not only to them being of a 21st Century Canadian indie lineage (and they do at least sound Canadian; yknow, Wolf Parade, not Celine Dion), but also because they’re part of music now, in which there’s everything all of the time always. It seems churlish to pretend that the last 60 years of music can be ignored anyway, let alone the last ten. The art is in what’s chosen, what’s left to rot.
Given the way they borrow like they’ve never heard of a CCJ, you could say “Facelove” is an apt title; all surface, no feeling. But only in music would this kind of expertise be considered insincere. PS I Love You do an admirable job of trotting through Pitchfork -Best-New-Music history like a more on-it VH1, and like their name, it’s in the footnotes where the real story resides.
PS I Love You – “Facelove”
(Photo: Asia Olar)
V I L E S T T H U G L O O P
L A U N C H P A R T Y
L O N D O N
Tough Love Records presents….
Vilest Thug Loop @ Jamboree, London
Saturday 13th February
WILLIAM
CALORIES
NOT COOL
Tough Love Records DJ’s
Zineswap DJs
19:00 til late
Zineswap zine workshop from 19:00 – 21:00, with projections, skillz workshop and zine archive.
£2 advance tickets, available here
Location info:
Jamboree, 566 Cable St, Limehouse
Nearest transport: Limehouse DLR (about 2 mins walk from the station)
The first song from the forthcoming record is also streaming on Vilest Thug Loop now
<< JOIN THE PARTY >>
Tough Love Records presents…
OLD MONEY @The Stag’s Head, Dalston
Saturday 16th January
Bitches - 22:30
Please - 21:45
The Human Race - 21:00
Tough Love DJs
Home.Under.Ground DJs
FREE entry
20:00-01:30
Thanks (for about the billionth time this week) to Ralph Wilson for the poster.
Summer feels like a dream right now, and camping a fucking nightmare. London has skies the colour of German cars and Facebook is full of S.A.D. depressives asking “where’s your global warming now, dickhead?” like the sun aint going to shine anymore.
But it will and it’s going to turn our skin vermillion and make the pallid more desirable than Queen Victoria. So enjoy the subzero while it lasts, for the oceans are soon to turn to Roman baths and the air a stillborn hairdryer.
Summer Camp know this, their name alone a middle finger in the face of winter, their music a sauna in the snow that may or may not be a clue to just who they are and where they’re from. “Was It Worth It?” is a little more ice-y than past efforts, but they still sweat desire and longing like a brokenhearted volcano.
Here, they’re a Wonder Years Debbie Harry with lust-hot loins and not a little sweet love desperation. That’s the best kind of Debbie Harry. It’s going to be a long, hot summer. Keep saying it. Keep believing it.
Summer Camp – “Was It Worth It”
(Photo: Gordon Armstrong)
