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New indie music review with Cable Ties and Egyptian Blue

Julia Mason has our weekly lowdown on the best new indie music and brings us her reviews.

 
Logo for Blowtorch Records blog series Cool Sounds From The Underground

Artist: Cable Ties new indie music review one

Track: Change


Australian punk band Cable Ties
Photo Kalindy Williams

Music can be a unifying force. Australian garage rock trio Cable Ties have shared their new single Change, the third to be taken from their forthcoming album All Her Plans, set for release on 23 June via Merge Records. Its theme is that of the trauma created by patriarchal violence. It’s an appropriately raw track driven by Nick Brown’s insistent bass line and Jenny McKechnie’s impressive vocal acrobatics.



Change is a deeply personal track, reflecting on the conversations Jenny has had with people who understand the experiences described. The spat out repetition of “Allegedly, allegedly” expresses the disdain felt in the supposed support structures. Drummer Shauna Boyle’s kraut-inflected grooves pulse reliably behind the post-punk jag of Jenny McKechnie’s guitar.


“[Change] contrasts the traumatisation of victim/survivors by the so-called justice system with the solidarity and hope I have found talking to mothers, friends and strangers who have connected with the songs I’ve screamed into the abyss,” says McKechnie.


“The lyrics for this song reflect a collection of experiences I've had over the last decade, particularly relating to being a woman who plays loud angry, feminist music. Playing this type of music has allowed me to have deeply moving conversations with people who connect to the experiences I describe. I treasure these conversations. They are the thing that keeps me going when I feel like there's no point to my silly little songs in my silly little band. I recorded the vocal take for this song very shortly after Roe v Wade was overturned, so I was extremely fired up and dejected, but wanted to remind myself why we keep going.”


There’ll be an opportunity to see Cable Ties live in Scotland in the summer as they do a couple of dates supporting Amyl and the Sniffers before a night in Bordeaux. For full details please see below.

Cable Ties tour dates Aug 22nd | Dundee, UK - Fat Sams* Aug 23rd | Edinburgh, UK - O2 Academy* Aug 29th | Bordeaux, FR - Rock School Barbey* Sep 8th | Richmond, VA - Richmond Music Hall # Sep 9th | Baltimore, MD - Ottobar # Sep 10th | Ardmore, PA - Ardmore Music Hall # Sep 12th | South Burlington, VT - Higher Ground # Sep 13th | Portland, ME - SPACE Gallery # Sep 14th | Hamden, CT - Space Ballroom # Sep 15th | Woodstock, NY - Colony # Sep 16th | New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom # # = w/ Superchunk * = w/ Amyl & the Sniffers




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Artist: Egyptian Blue new indie music review two

Track: Matador


Band shot of Egyptian Blue with new single Matador
Photo Steve Gullick

Egyptian Blue share new single Matador and announce a mammoth UK/EU tour for this November (dates below) including the 100 Club in London which will be their biggest London headline show to date. Matador opens with a quiet clanging industrial soundscape, dark and brooding before the guitars wind up and add to the tension. Egyptian Blue are a guitar band, and that is not a derogatory comment, far from it.


They have a raw edge to their sound and this new track is no exception. Fast and fierce, it does however have a couple of unexpected moments within the track. The tight delivery emphasises the tension and intensity and indeed seems to finish too quickly at three minutes and you have to hit repeat. Returning after the challenges of lockdown their new music demonstrates a different dimension as they gear up toward their debut album.


On the new single, frontman Andy Buss offers: “Matador is a remark on the unwanted perils of keeping toxic relationships at an arms length, yet being unwillingly compliant and searching for the exit. I seem to recall the song coming together in a sole session after a 20 minute jam. With some songs, you walk out of the practice room feeling excited and strangely liberated. I think that feeling was really captured at the time."

Egyptian Blue Tour Dates November 2nd - Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds, UK

November 3rd - The Shipping Forecast, Liverpool, UK

November 4th - McChuills, Glasgow, UK

November 5th - YES Basement, Manchester, UK

November 7th - Patterns, Brighton, UK

November 8th - Hare & Hounds 2, Birmingham, UK

November 9th - 100 Club, London, UK

November 10th - Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, UK

November 11th - The Louisiana, Bristol, UK

November 12th - Heartbreakers, Southampton, UK

November 28th - La Boule Noir, Paris, France

November 29th - La Rodia, Besancon, France

November 30th - , L'Astrolabe, Orleans, France

December 1st - Rock School Barbey, Bordeaux, France

December 2nd - Le Temps Machine, Tours

December 3rd - L'Aeronef - Lille - France



 

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