Kerrang! – June 28, 2019

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KERRANG! 15

NOW HEAR

THIS

KNOCKED

LOOSE fend

off Sleeping

With Sirens

to stay at

the top for a

second week!

1 KNOCKED LOOSE ...AND STILL I WANDER SOUTH ↔

2 SLEEPING WITH SIRENS LEAVE IT ALL BEHIND NEW

3 BARONESS THROW ME AN ANCHOR ↔

4 NORTHLANE TALKING HEADS ↔

5 BATUSHKA WIECZERNIA NEW

6 CURSE THESE METAL HANDS HIGH SPIRITS ▲

7 BOKASSA MOUTHBREATHERS INC. ▲

8 RAMMSTEIN AUSLÄNDER ▼

9 SUM 41 NEVER THERE NEW

10 BABYMETAL ELEVATOR GIRL ▼

11 SLIPKNOT UNSAINTED ▼

12 BEARTOOTH AFTERALL ▼

13 CURSED EARTH TYRANNY FOREVER ▼

14 TENNIS SYSTEM SHELF LIFE ▲

15 BOSTON MANOR LIQUID ▼

16 BLINK-182 BLAME IT ON MY YOUTH ▲

17 YONAKA DON’T WAIT ’TIL TOMORROW ▼

18 CHELSEA WOLFE THE MOTHER ROAD NEW

19 WATERPARKS TURBULENT ▼

20 MOTIONLESS IN WHITE THOUGHTS & PRAYERS ▼

ARTIST TITLE

F

estival season is go, the
weather’s suddenly got shitty
again, and so the cycle continues.
Download’s already got us
primed for a few months of standing
in mud and getting rained on then
sunburnt, and here’s a few things worth
looking into while you’re at it...
First up are Cultdreams, the band
formerly known as Kamikaze Girls. It’s a
name change that will do the two-piece
‘sad lo-fi punks’ well, I think. We Never
Rest is the first single from their upcoming
new album, Things That Hurt, and it
features David Bello and Katie Dvorak
from emo-dream-pop
faves The World Is A
Beautiful Place And I
Am No Longer Afraid
To Die. It’s like fusing
the soaring moments
of shoegazeto the
abrasive angst of alt-
punk and getting the
unsteady balance of
both of those poles just
right. The album’s out
on Big Scary Monsters
in mid-August.
Loads of bands are
made up of musicians
that have played in
other bands. It’s just
the way it is. But as
soon as a bunch of
people get together
to make something
and all have been in
bands of some note,
the term ‘supergroup’
gets wheeled out and
instantly puts some
kind of attachment and
raised expectation on to
the whole thing, which
will always make it feel
like it has more to live
up to than any other
new band. It happened
with Giraffe Tongue
Orchestra, Killer Be
Killed, Gone Is Gone...
So, with that set aside,
if you listen to Night
Letters as a new
band who just
happen to have
members that have
played in Defeater,

More Than Life, Dead Swans and

Landscapes, then you’ll appreciate their

debut album Witness To The Love a

bunch. Fans of Basement and Nothing

will get it straight away. It’s a group of

people who cut their teeth playing emotive

hardcore slowing down a little and playing

out their love for ‘90s British bands like

Swervedriver and Catherine Wheel, with a

touch of U.S. grunge.

If you’re a normal human, you probably

spend a fair amount of time on social

media and the internet in general. In

that time, you are more than likely to

have encountered Poppy – a YouTube

phenomenon that

exudes an otherworldly

presence that sits

somewhere between

faux-AI detachment and

polished creepiness.

All of which I find

super interesting. So

far the music has been

fairlyleftfield pop, and

has seen collabs with

Grimes and Diplo.

There were a couple

of tracks on last year’s

Am I A Girl? album

that wandered into

darker sonic territory,

particularly with the

aforementioned track

with Grimes, Play

Destroy. Newest single

Scary Mask follows on

from these and sees

Poppy and cohort

Titanic Sinclair teaming

up with FEVER 333 for

a jam that oozes with

uncanny atmospheric

pop and crushing riffs. It

all comes off sounding

like BABYMETAL being

fed into the MK-Ultra

conspiracy network

side of the web and

producing a beautiful

monster. Keep an eye

out – there’s more to

come from this one.

HEAR DANIEL P.

CARTER HOST THE

RADIO 1 ROCK SHOW

EVERY SUNDAY NIGHT

FROM 9PM

Night Letters: ”Right,

who’s got the guitars?”

Cultdreams: The Blair

Witch remake was great

Poppy: Properly dressed

for festival season

“POPPY EXUDES

AN OTHERWORLDLY

PRESENCE...”

DANIEL P. CARTER

DANIEL P. CARTER

from the RADIO 1

ROCK SHOW

on the new music you

need to hear now...

KNOCKED LOOSE:

still number one