Indie: Last News

Sparks performed an impromptu rendition of ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us’ at a public piano at Paris Gare du Nord yesterday (April 20) – you can watch a clip of the moment below.The Mael brothers, who won Best Music Film at this year’s BandLab NME Awards for The Sparks Brothers, are currently on their rescheduled UK and European tour, which visited the UK and Ireland earlier this month.The morning after their gig at Casino de Paris in the French capital on Tuesday (April 19), Sparks performed a short version of ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us’ at a public piano situated on the platforms at Paris’ Gare du Nord station.The duo are seen performing the song – with the help of one excitable fan who happens to be walking past – in a short clip that has since been shared on Sparks’ social media channels, which you can watch below.A post shared by S P A R K S (@sparks_official)Sparks’ European tour continues tonight (April 21) at the Paradiso in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.The band will reissue five of their albums from 2000-2009 – 2000’s ‘Balls’, 2002’s ‘Lil’ Beethoven’, 2006’s ‘Hello Young Lovers’, 2008’s ‘Exotic Creatures of the Deep’ and 2009’s ‘The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman’ – on vinyl later this month and into next month.

Phoebe Bridgers has suggested she may release more new music this year, saying that she always “tries to do things that are exciting”.Last week saw the Los Angeles singer-songwriter return with ‘Sidelines’, a standalone song that was recorded for the upcoming TV adaptation of Sally Rooney’s novel Conversations With Friends.Bridgers wrote the track with bandmate and collaborator Marshall Vore and Ruby Rain Henley. According to a press release, ‘Sidelines’ will be her only original new song of the year.During an interview with KROQ at last weekend’s Coachella, the musician was asked whether this was the case.“Who knows, actually,” Bridgers replied.

Bartees Strange has announced that his second album, ‘Farm To Table’, will arrive in June, sharing new single ‘Cosigns’ along with the news.Set to arrive on June 17, the follow-up to 2020 debut ‘Live Forever’ was previewed last month with lead single ‘Heavy Heart’. That song’s release came with the news that Strange had signed to his “dream label”, 4AD, who will release ‘Farm To Table’.‘Cosigns’ is a characteristically diverse cut from Strange, melding trappy, auto-tuned verses that shout out Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, Courtney Barnett and Justin Vernon, with blistering, anthemic alt-rock refrains.

Wet Leg have announced a string of 13 headline shows for cities in the US, Canada and Mexico, bridging the gap between a handful of festival sets and their trio of gigs supporting Florence + The Machine.Following their appearances as this year’s Lollapalooza, Mo Pop and Osheaga festivals, the Isle of Wight duo will take to the Phoenix Concert Centre in Toronto, Canada on Monday August 1. They’ll head to Vancouver next, playing the Commodore Ballroom that Thursday (August 4).After another handful of festival sets – including Outside Lands in San Francisco, as well as the Netherlands’ Lowlands – Wet Leg will return to theatres for gigs in San Antonio, New Orleans, Orlando, Atlanta, Louisville, St Louis, Kansas City, Abiquiu, Salt Lake City and Phoenix.

Kaytranada has announced that he’ll be heading to London this summer for a headline show at O2 Academy Brixton – get tickets here.The two-time Grammy-winning producer will head to Europe in June for a run of shows in Germany, Malta, Netherlands, France and Italy. The UK date takes place on June 19.The announcement follows the release of recent single ‘Iced Tea’ and last year’s ‘Intimidated’ EP, a three-track project that features guest appearances from H.E.R., Thundercat and Mach-Hommy.He also joined forces with IDK earlier this month for a new track called ‘Taco’, the first single to be released from the Maryland rapper’s upcoming new album ‘Simple’.See Kaytranada’s European tour announcement below; buy tickets for the London date here when they go on sale on Friday (April 22) at 10am.european tickets on sale friday 10AM GMT at https://t.co/VbJ8FbMPxa pic.twitter.com/WfsVd0ymf0— KAYTRA (@KAYTRANADA) April 20, 2022Kaytranada was recently announced as one of the openers for Swedish House Mafia’s upcoming tour.The Scandinavian dance trio – comprising Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso – released their long-awaited debut full-length ‘Paradise Again’ last week (April 15).The group will be heading out on a world tour this summer in support of the album, with Alesso, Zhu, Vintage Culture, Grimes, and Kaytranada confirmed as opening acts at various dates.

The Subways have shared a new B-side called ‘Oi You Boy Bands’ along with a video for recent single ‘You Kill My Cool’ – check them both out below.The band announced their return earlier this month with ‘You Kill My Cool’ and the news that their fifth studio album would be out later this year.Along with the new music news, the band also revealed that, following the departure of their founding member and drummer Josh Morgan, Camille Phillips of The Ramonas will be playing drums as a permanent addition to the band’s line-up.“‘You Kill My Cool’ was written at a time when I felt love so strongly that I wanted to be consumed by it, to give myself over to it entirely,” frontman Billy Lunn said of the single.Blake Claridge, director of the video – which you can watch below – added: “I’d always wanted to do something with a perpetual motion, and in the end it was a butchered slider, many clamps, sand bags, a piece of rope, a lot of heavy lifting, a crash mat, and throwing in a Roll Rig. I like to call it the ‘Drop-Cam’ but for insurance purposes I don’t think it would catch on.”Watch The Subways’ ‘You Kill My Cool’ video and hear new B-side ‘Oi You Boy Bands’ below.With a new record coming later this year, the band is set for a run of UK headline tour dates in September and October. Tickets will be available here now.The excursion features appearances at Truck Festival, Standon Calling, High Tide Festival, Gateways Festival and Southsea Victorious.

Florence + The Machine have shared a brand new single called ‘Free’ – watch its Bill Nighy-starring video below.Florence Welch and her band’s fifth album is set for release on May 13 via Polydor, and has been previewed so far by the singles ‘My Love’, ‘King’, and ‘Heaven Is Here’. Its full tracklist was then shared last week.As with the other videos in the ‘Dance Fever’ campaign so far, the new ‘Free’ video was directed by Autumn De Wilde.In it, Welch plays herself, while Nighy takes on the role of Florence’s anxiety.

Foals have announced the launch of their very own hot sauce, ‘Holy Fire Hot Honey’ – you can purchase the spicy condiment here.Released in collaboration with Sauce Shop, the limited edition hot honey drizzle is the brainchild of the Oxford band’s drummer Jack Bevan, who is a long-time hot sauce fan.Swapping the studio for the kitchen, Bevan devised a combination of sweet honey and habaneros before adding activated charcoal to make a unique dark elixir, “perfect for drizzling on pizzas, chicken wings, or anything else you fancy,” a press release reads.Speaking on his new sauce, the drummer said: “I’ve been a fan of Sauce Shop’s sauces for ages, so it only felt right to collaborate for Foals’ first-ever food launch. This is going to be a staple for me on our new tour and tastes amazing drizzled on anything!”The collaboration marks the band’s first foray into food products, with ‘Holy Fire Hot Honey’ set to be sold as part of the band’s official tour merchandise when Foals kick off their UK tour tonight (April 20) in Edinburgh.Run by Pam and James Digva, Sauce Shop is the UK-based creative condiment maker behind ‘Brussel Sprout Ketchup’ and ’12:51′ by Chef James Cochran’s Scotch Bonnet Chilli Jam.“We feel so lucky to collaborate with Jack on his hot sauce, we are huge Foals fans and are excited to see Holy Fire Hot Honey as part of the official band merchandise,” Pam said of their collaboration with Foals.

Sharon Van Etten has told NME of her deep connection with collaborator and tourmate Angel Olsen. “[She’s] one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever met,” Van Etten said.Van Etten was speaking in a new Big Read cover feature ahead of the release of her sixth studio album ‘We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong’, due out on May 6.Discussing Olsen, who she collaborated with on 2021 single ‘Like I Used To’ and will tour North America with alongside Julien Baker this summer, Van Etten said: “Angel is one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever met, and our friendship is still growing.”Of the potential of future collaborations, she added: “Our schedules are pretty crazy coming up, but I feel like this is just the beginning of working together.”Elsewhere in the Big Read cover feature, Van Etten discussed her experience filming The OA, saying she felt like an “imposter” on set.The singer-songwriter played Rachel DeGrasso in the Netflix series created by Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij.

The Smile have announced their debut album, ‘A Light For Attracting Attention’, alongside the release of a brand new track called ‘Free In The Knowledge’.The band – comprising Thom Yorke, his Radiohead bandmate Jonny Greenwood and Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner – formed last year and have been sharing sporadic teasers of a debut album since.They’ve so far released ‘You Will Never Work In Television Again’, ‘The Smoke’,  ‘Skrting On The Surface’, and earlier this month they shared ‘Pana-vision’, a track taken from the Peaky Blinders soundtrack.Today (April 20), The Smile have confirmed the release of their much anticipated debut LP, ‘A Light For Attracting Attention’, which will arrive May 13 via XL Recordings.Produced and mixed by Nigel Godrich and mastered by Bob Ludwig, the 13-track album will feature strings by the London Contemporary Orchestra and a full brass section of contemporary UK jazz players including Byron Wallen, Theon and Nathaniel Cross, Chelsea Carmichael, Robert Stillman and Jason Yarde.The trio have also shared the latest preview of the album, ‘Free In The Knowledge’. The song was first previewed by Yorke as part of the Letters Live Royal Albert Hall event he performed at back in December.Watch the Leo Leigh-directed video for ‘Free In The Knowledge’ below:Last week, Yorke spoke on the process of writing the album.

Editors have shared their new single ‘Heart Attack’ and confirmed the addition of composer and producer Blanck Mass to their line-up as a full member.Blanck Mass, real name Benjamin John Power (also of Fuck Buttons), previously worked with the band on their sixth album ‘Violence’, which arrived in March 2018.“Having worked with the band for coming up to five years now, joining Editors seemed more like a natural progression than a decision that had to be made,” Power said in a statement. “We know that we work well together, are on a similar page creatively, and are all very close friends.“Being part of a ‘creative conglomerate’ is something that I haven’t experienced for a while now so to be part of something that works in that way again is both liberating and exciting in equal measures.”Editors have also shared their first new music since 2019 with the song ‘Heart Attack’, which frontman Tom Smith has described as “a song of obsession, about losing yourself in someone, a love song, a morbid love song”.The video for ‘Heart Attack’, which you can see above, was made by the director and visual artist Felix Geen.

Pete Doherty has announced that he’ll publish a memoir called A Likely Lad this summer – get all the details below.The Libertines frontman worked with Simon Spence on the book, which is set to come out on June 16 via Little Brown.A synopsis of the book promises “Doherty’s version of the story – the genuine man behind the fame and infamy. This is a rock memoir like no other.”It adds: “In A Likely Lad, Doherty explores his darkest moments.

Soccer Mommy has shared her new single ‘Unholy Affliction’ – you can listen to the track below.The song is the latest to be taken from Sophie Allison’s upcoming new album ‘Sometimes, Forever’, which is set for release on June 24 via Loma Vista and is the follow-up to 2020’s ‘Color Theory’.The latest preview of the new record, which has been produced by Daniel Lopatin, aka Oneohtrix Point Never, has been released today (April 20) in the form of ‘Unholy Affliction’.You can hear Soccer Mommy’s new track ‘Unholy Affliction’ below.The track follows on from ‘Sometimes, Forever”s lead single ‘Shotgun’, which arrived last month.“‘Shotgun’ is all about the joys of losing yourself in love,” Allison said in a statement at the time. “I wanted it to capture the little moments in a relationship that stick with you.”Soccer Mommy will embark on a UK and European tour in August and September in support of ‘Sometimes, Forever’.

Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall have teamed up to form the new project The WAEVE – announcing details of their first track and an intimate London launch show. Check out all the details exclusively on NME first below.On May 5, the former Blur guitarist-turned-solo star and the former Pipettes member-turned-Mark Ronson collaborator and singer-songwriter will share first taste of their material ‘Something Pretty’ via Transgressive Records.Ahead of that, they’ll be playing a special launch show at The Lexington in London on May 4.

Benefits have announced details of their first ever 7″ single, to be released via Yard Act‘s Zen F.C. label.The new release will land on June 3, the day of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, and feature recent singles ‘Empire’ and ‘Flag’.To celebrate the announcement of the new 7″ single, Benefits – aka Teesside-based artist Kingsley Hall – has shared a new video for ‘Flag’, which sees him taking a dip in the North Sea.Discussing the link-up with Yard Act, Benefits said: “In late 2020 we released a song called Traitors and I got a message from Yard Act saying they liked the song, in particular the line ‘we get the future you deserve‘.

Andrew Bird has announced details of his new album ‘Inside Problems’ – you can listen to his new single ‘Underlands’ below.The US singer/songwriter will follow up his 2020 solo album ‘Hark!’ with the new record, which is set for release on June 3 via Loma Vista / Concord.Speaking about ‘Inside Problems’, which was produced by Mike Viola and recorded live by Bird and his four-piece band, Bird said: “I have so much fun taking my ideas apart before they really have defined themselves as distinct songs, when they’re still in that amoeba-like state.“I love the feeling of chasing ideas and having them split off and go hang out with another idea and then butting them up against each other to see if they talk to each other.”Bird has previewed ‘Inside Problems’ this week with the single ‘Underlands’, which you can hear above.“You just don’t know what’s under the surface, be it the land, the sea, our skin,” Bird explained in a press release about the track. “You could be whistling away, projecting contentedness, when really there’s a swirling twisted mess underneath.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have shared ‘Kepler-22b’, another new single from forthcoming album ‘Omnium Gatherum’ ahead of its arrival this Friday (April 22).The blissed out, kaleidoscopic new song samples Barney McAll’s ‘Yemaya One’, a track from the Australian jazz pianist and composer’s 2005 album ‘Mother of Dreams and Secrets’.“I actually found Barney’s record at a store in New York,” the band’s Cook Craig commented in a statement. “I hadn’t heard any of his stuff before, but remember putting it on and being blown away straight up.

Wilco have announced a series of 20th anniversary reissues for their fourth album, ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’ – pre-order them here.Seven special editions of the landmark album will be released via Nonesuch on September 16, including a Super Deluxe version made up of eleven vinyls and a CD.The aforementioned version includes demos, drafts, and instrumentals, charting the making of ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’, plus a live 2002 concert recording and a September 2001 radio performance and interview.The set also includes 82 previously unreleased music tracks as well as a new book featuring an interview with frontman Jeff Tweedy, drummer Glenn Kotche, and Jim O’Rourke, who mixed the acclaimed 2002 album; an in-depth essay by author Bob Mehr; and previously unseen photos of the band making the album in their Chicago studio, The Loft.For the Yankee Hotel Foxtrotrecording, Wilco was Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Leroy Bach, Glenn Kotche, and Jay Bennett with Craig Christiansen, Ken Coomer, Jessy Greene, Fred Lonberg-Holm, and Jim O’Rourke.A live rendition of ‘Reservations’ taken from ‘Snoozin’ At The Pageant – Live 7/23/02 At The Pageant, St. Louis, MO’ – a recording that is part of the Super Deluxe LP and CD sets as well as the Deluxe LP and digital sets – has been shared as a preview of the 20th anniversary reissue.

Fontaines D.C. have added further dates to their upcoming 2022 UK and Ireland tour – you can see the full list of dates below and buy tickets here.The Irish band’s tour – which is in support of their forthcoming new album ‘Skinty Fia’ – is set to kick off at Hull Bonus Arena on November 7, with dates also lined up in Manchester, London, Glasgow and Dublin.After last month adding an extra three dates to the schedule in Manchester, London and Dublin, Fontaines D.C.

Easy Life have dropped a surprise new single and video entitled ‘BEESWAX’.The clip, which you can view below, sees the Leicester band hopping on motorbikes before donning beekeeper outfits. At one point frontman Murray Matravers gets attacked by a swarm of bees.“BEESWAX’ is essentially about people being nosy,” Matravers said of the track.

Fontaines D.C. have shared a brand new single called ‘Roman Holiday’ – listen to the track below.The song is the fourth to be lifted from the Irish band’s upcoming new album, ‘Skinty Fia’, which is set for release on Friday (April 22) via Partisan Records, following previous singles ‘I Love You’, ‘Jackie Down The Line’ and the album’s title track.‘Roman Holiday’ hears frontman Grian Chatten reflect on his experiences of moving to London and what it was like embracing the city as an Irish person.“‘Roman Holiday’ makes me think of the wide streets of North London in the summer and the urge to discover them at night time,” Chatten said of the song.