Matt White & The Emulsions ‘Acid House’
After seizing our attention with their brilliant, swaggering debut single ‘Lovechild’, Matt White & The Emulsions are back with a follow-up that shows they’re not a band content to repeat themselves. ‘Acid House’ is an entirely different creature – slower to reveal itself, more restless, and all the more rewarding for it. It opens with a studied quiet – a ruminative lead vocal turning something over as the track gradually unfolds across its five minutes. The arrangement gathers weight and texture, building to what feels like a person’s internal monologue. Lyrics conjure strange, slightly disorienting lyrics, and the music matches that feeling – there’s an unease woven through the quieter passages that keeps you slightly on edge, never quite sure where the ground is. It’s ambitious storytelling that finally erupts around the four-minute mark – guitars squall, synths swell and rise, vocal harmonies come in and what had been a slow-burning inner dialogue breaks into something visceral and cathartic.
With only two singles to their name, Matt White & The Emulsions are already proving themselves a cut above. ‘Acid House’ is the sound of a band thinking big – and we look forward to their next step.
KuLeeAngee ‘Daisies’
Kuleeangee is the tequila-influenced brainchild of Glasgow-born Keshav Kanabar and Edinburgh’s Duncan Grant who met in the queue for Dalston Superstore. And after inviting us into their colourful, hedonistic world on last year’s ‘Is It Awryt’ EP, full of insatiable grooves, acid house highs and catchy melodies, they have another one on the way called ‘Love & Affection’. We’ve already heard the likes of ‘You’re Fine, You’re High’ and ‘Pretty Love’, and the duo sound more potent than ever before. New song ‘Daisies’ is more bittersweet in theme, exploring the need for human connection over a throbbing digital pulse.
They say: “You worry and wonder who cares about you, or if anyone even remembers you exist. You could be talking to people, online or in person, but somehow you don’t come away with that sense of real connection.”
DOSS ‘BIGFELLAFUNK’
Scottish electronic/post-punk outfit DOSS have announce their self-titled ‘DOSS’ EP, set for release May 29th via Alcopop! Records. They’ve also shared raucous new single ‘BIGFELLAFUNK’, a brilliantly deranged track that rails against the rich and those in power. All absurd imagery, unnerving pink, eerie saxophone solos and eruptions of hardcore, it’s a brilliant return.
The Glasgow outfit revealed: “Deranged funk. Slick, polished, and smooth on the surface, but cracking underneath. A portrait of yuppies, lawmakers, and deal-makers who appear in control while quietly imploding. The higher up the food chain, the darker the skeletons. American Psycho meets Bad Lieutenant.”
Plasticine ‘Falling’
Glasgow’s Plasticine strip things back on their new track ‘Falling’, showing a more vulnerable side to their sound. Usually known for their grungy, gritty alt-rock, the band embrace vulnerability and raw honesty on the single – exploring the difficulty of choosing yourself and walking away from a relationship. Imbued with melancholy and personal reflection, Summer Skye delivers a strong, emotive vocal.
They say: “Falling” is about that moment you realise you’re getting pulled in way deeper than you ever meant to go. It’s that tipping point where one more night feels like it could trap you for life, and you start to lose yourself just to keep someone else happy. It’s a soft rebellion against being used instead of loved, and a nod to how hard it actually is to walk away when you’re already halfway down.”
Snout ‘Swings and Roundabouts’
Cumbernauld DIY psych-rock outfit Snout have shared Strings & Roundabouts’, the latest single to be taken from their new LP Dog Days out 22nd May. The album’s first track confidently sets the tone for what’s to come, welcoming the listener in with woozy, layered guitars swirling around Kieran Thomas’s sleepy vocal, before a mellotron hook comes in to transport to the song somewhere else, the Kinks writing about dystopia. There’s a tension in the lyrics, a depiction of a human race quick to jump to judgement, of sick inner worlds that are ‘slick with grease and fat with plastic’, and of folks in conversation with television sets. ‘Strings & Roundabouts’ is an ode to the importance of independent thought, a weird anthem that rejects binary answers to complex questions
James Emmanuel ‘Good Man’
Continuing his run of emotive, timeless soul singles, James Emmanuel’s new single ‘Good Man’ is a celebration of fatherhood, looking back at the example set by his late father, a preacher back home in Nigeria – who also graces the single artwork – and forward as he raises his own young family in Edinburgh.
“I was very close with my Dad,” says James. “We never had much money and there were ways he could have made more if he’d bent the rules a little bit. But he used to say ‘if you bend the rules even one percent you’ll wake up one day and you’ve gone to ten percent and you won’t recognise yourself.’ He made me join a choir when I was 11, I didn’t know I could sing, but here we are today. I want to celebrate the unsung positive male role models and give my father the flowers he never got in his lifetime.”
‘Good Man’ recognises the men who quietly show up as a positive presence in the lives of their families and beyond. “There are so many men who carry that weight my father carried without being recognised for it,” says James. “I want to highlight them as positive examples of how we can be as men. Many people I know have great fathers, like I did, and they should be celebrated.”
Vanderlye ‘Step Back’
Vanderlye have shared another track from their upcoming EP ‘Dystopia Calling’, out in August. Following on from the political and provocative ‘Blackout Sky’, which confronted the human cost of war and displacement during the ongoing crisis in Gaza, the band continue to tackle vital issues head on, in this case shifting their focus toward the systems, media narratives and messaging that shape public perception. Driven by crunching guitars and soaring, anthemic vocals, ‘Step Back’ pairs raw energy with a message that cuts through modern media saturation.
Frontman Sean McGarvey says: “The song came out of my PhD research into the stigma around Govanhill, but that’s really a microcosm of something much bigger. It looks at how media narratives flatten complex issues and how that feeds into scapegoating, fear and the wider rise of far-right rhetoric. We wanted the sound to reflect that tension, and the track feels very direct and unfiltered”.
The Rooks ‘Nothing To Lose’
Glaswegian five-piece The Rooks are looking to build on the momentum of last year’s Noise & Confusion’ EP with new track ‘Nothing To Lose’. Led by Ross Gardiner’s signature vocals, it’s an emphatic rallying cry and an ambitious statement of intent that shows exactly where they want to head. The band have said of the single release, “Nothing To Lose is a rally cry to ourselves and our fans. We come from places where we’re constantly told to stay in line and accept a life of mediocrity. This is our way out. We’ve got nothing to lose and no reason to stop until we become the UK’s next great rock band. We’re gonna make music for a generation and bring people together. That’s the attitude people will take on when listening to the track. It’s a soundtrack for fans on their own mission to prove people wrong – when everything suggests they can’t.”
Jawdropped ‘Monday’
Hailing from Los Angeles, Jawdropped have just signed to Transgressive Records / Canvasback and they’ve also dropped a new single called ‘Monday’. A huge power pop anthem, it’s a hugely infectious track full of sugary energy and bright vocal harmonies. “Monday is about treading the waters of anticipation, but deciding to face your feelings head on,” says the band. “The truth will set you free, even if it’s just the Sunday scaries.”
Iceage ‘The Weak’
After blowing us away with the brilliant ‘Stars’ a few weeks ago, Iceage have dropped a new barn-stormer called ‘The Weak’. The band’s new album ’For Love of Grave & The Hereafter’ comes out on 29th May – and ‘The Weak’ is one of its high-octane moments with driving jangly guitars and a blur of melodies.
jo from school ‘Chicken’
The latest signing to Chess Club Records, jo from school has shared her debut single ”Chicken’. Produced by Hugo M. Hardy, the track is about the emotional fallout of a relationship – a deft balance of vulnerability and striking honesty that marks her out as an intriguing new voice. With deft melodic hooks throughout, she says of the song: ‘Chicken’ represents fear, shame and embarrassment. It’s about leaving a person and a time behind. ‘Chickening’ is about cowardice, but is also a reference to the beautiful & cheap ‘chicken’ wine my friends and I love dearly. The lyrics of ‘Chicken’ sound themselves quickly. Usually I’m more meticulous on my choices and phrasings but this time the process was to let me say whatever I needed to get out.”
