With their third single Tulpa is trying to get in your head

By Henry Lipput

Is someone said to you "You're so sad and I don't know why" a number of times would you start to wonder if you really were sad? Or is someone just trying to mess with your head?

On the dreamy, hypnotic  "PSYOPs," Tulup's third single before the release of their terrific debut album Monster of the Week (Skep Wax Records) on Friday, singer Josie Kirk repeats these words in the song. If it wasn't for her gentle vocal the song would be extremely menacing. (Just imagine these lyrics being sung by Lou Reed -- never mind I've already done it and I might not be able to sleep for the rest of the week.)

There's also another mantra-like phrase "You're in love and I don't know why" repeated but at the end of the song Kirk sings "Feel so sad and I don't know why." Has she been projecting the whole time?

Enjoy the video:

New Single and Video From Scotland's The Cords

 By Henry Lipput

Unless my ears have betrayed me "The Fabulist," the new single by the excellent indie pop band The Cords, is just as good as the hype.

The Cords are from Scotland and comprised of sisters Eva (guitars) and Grace (drums) Tedeschi. After releasing a cassette and a flexi-disc their self-titled debut album will be out on September 26th as a co-release from Skep Wax in the UK and Europe and Slumberland Records in America.

"The Fabulist" is the album's lead-off track and its first single. The band's take-no prisoners sound and the lyric's take-no-crap from boyfriends recalls the '90s work of Juliana Hatfield with Blake Babies and her solo work (especially Sunburn and Hey Babe). 

And there's a video!!

Poetry and Pop

By Henry Lipput

Being a writer can be a lonely business. Whether you sit at a desk in a fancy side room in a house or with a pad on your lap in a garret, you’re by yourself as you work to find the right words.

Brian Bilston may have started out in one of those situations but he’s now one of the most popular poets in England with half a million followers on social media, a bunch of best-selling books, and sold-out live shows.

But for all his success he’s never fronted a pop band. Until now. Word reached Rob Pursey and Amelia Fletcher of The Catenary Wires band (who also run the Skep Wax label) that Bilston had been seen wearing a Heavenly (also a Skep Wax band) T- shirt and they got in touch.

The result is Sounds Made By Humans (Skep Wax), a unique collaboration between the poet’s own voice and the pop sounds of a band to produce an album of “song-poems.” Pursey selected thirteen of Bilston’s poems and created melodies and arrangements.

Some of the songs are performed by The Catenary Wires, sung by Pursey or Fletcher and joined by Ian Button and Fay Hallam of the band.

Some of the tracks are spoken by Bilston.

And sometimes both things happen together and become songs by humans in perfect alignment, poetry and pop in a perfect collaboration.

A cool pop ode to an LGBTQ+ icon

By Henry Lipput

The London band Sassyhiya sounds as if the NYC band Television had a female lead singer and a sense of humor (with some very early Go-Betweens riffs thrown in for good measure).

Sassyhiya (the name works both as a greeting and a personal mission statement) is led by the both real-life and musical partners Kathy Wright and Helen Skinner (“now with added Neil and Pablo” as their Bandcamp page puts it). Of their latest single “Kristen Stewart” (Skep Wax) Helen, a long-time fan of the lesbian icon/pin up, says “I wanted to do a song about her because I think she’s ace and makes great choices when it comes to roles.”

The result is the very cool pop ode and the video not only chronicles a near real-life encounter between Helen and the actress but also celebrates Stewart’s bold fashion choices.

Sassyhiya’s album Take You Somewhere will be released by Skep Wax on November 8^th.

Panic Pocket wants to be honest with you

By Henry Lipput

The arrangements for the songs on Panic Pocket’s debut album Mad Half Hour (Skep Wax Records) alternate between 60’s girl groups and Liz Phair’s 90’s girl and a guitar. But unlike the girl groups, Phair’s songs were much more honest in their depiction of the relationship between the sexes while Panic Pocket’s songs by this London-based four piece have issues with both sexes.

“Still The Bad Guy” is an updating of the Emperor’s New Clothes with the idea that changing your mental outlook (if only on the surface) doesn’t make you a different or a better person. Its retro sound is a contrast to the song’s accusations: “Think you’ve made amends?/Truly believe you’re born again?/You’re no ally/You’re still the bad guy.” It’s like the guy who suddenly decides to throw in some lines about supporting women’s rights as a way to get a date.

In “Boyfriend” a hoped-for girl’s night out turns sour when an old friend brings along her significant other. “Booked a table for two/I was only expecting you.” Turning the tables on how a man refers to a woman, the boyfriend is called “the ball and chain.” But the friend doesn’t get it: “They say three’s a crowd/Do I have to say it out loud?”

“Say You’re Sorry” is another song about an evening’s honest conversation. With its Ronettes-style vocals and arrangement, a woman starts out the evening by letting her date know how worthless she’s been made to feel: “I’m gonna make you feel the same way.” And she’s going do this by making him feel sorry for even showing up: “I wanna see you with your head in your hands/I wanna make you wish you’d made other plans.”

The opening track, “Get Me,” has the strongest Exile in Guyville vibe with its crunchy lead guitar and angry vocal. It’s not clear if she’s talking to a friend or if she’s having a conversation with herself (which is my take) about having taken a wrong turn: “Just hold that smile/We’re not on trial/That way’s the door/When I count to four.”