Wet Leg feels like a band that would have absolutely dominated that teen blog/ tumblr period of 2007-2012.
Maybe it’s because I was at the peak of my awkward teen powers in that period, but having listened through the self-titled debut album from The Isle of Wight act a couple of times now, their sound has thrown me back more than a decade to a time where trying to being cool and unique in an online space was a lot more time consuming than it should have been (please keep in mind I wasn’t allowed social media or anything of the like while at school, so this is all purely anecdotal from friends who did).
With a sound wedged in that mysterious and chaotic vibe somewhere between Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Le Tigre, Gossip and Metric, there’s been an incredible buzz surrounding the English group for the past 12 months that could (and honestly probably will) transcend and connect to generations past, present and future.
After bursting out with the inescapable “Chaise Longue” in the middle of 2021, Wet Leg has continued to release a flurry of catchy, hook laden and slightly sardonic hits over the past six months or so, all of which have managed to make it onto their debut.
While it makes sense to lead into your debut album having released a couple of songs, Wet Leg has gone one step further and by the time of release, they have already released half of the songs on the album.
Some may interpret this as showing their cards too early. I’m here to say, yes they have shown their cards, but luckily for the band, it’s just about a royal flush.
The post-pandemic creative bubble continues to burst and expand outwards (think big bang theory) as a sleuth of excellent new video singles flows non-stop into its own tributary, along with the best 2022 indie albums; audio singles, and special compilations.
In This Installment:
Wet Leg – Isle of Wright, England – “Angelica” PUP – Toronto, Ontario – “Matilda” Sadurn – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – “Golden Arm” Magdalena Bay – Miami, Florida – “Dreamcatching” Denzel Curry Ft. Slowthai – Miami, Florida – “Zatoichi”
Wet Leg – “Angelica” 5
It’s hard not to like Wet Leg. There is something about their dedication to indie rock and to not taking themselves too seriously which has caught on in the ‘wider-realm’ (if you will). This recent video for “Angelica” has racked up more than a half million views on this official YouTube version alone in just two weeks. And that’s because it’s dope. The band’s self-titled album is set to drop April 8th on Domino Records.
Last month Philadelphia indie rock band Sadurn announced their debut album, Radiator, set to drop in May via Run For Cover.
The new band, led by Genevieve DeGroot, shared a lead single, “Snake,” followed up with this chill wavy track, “Golden Arm.”
DeGroot says about the song and the accompanying video:
“I wrote this song at the same time as ‘snake’ while doing a work exchange on a homestead in North Carolina. It kind of all came out at once, which feels like this lucky occasion when you’re writing songs. I didn’t think much of it in its initial form, it felt like more of a poem than a story.”
“But playing it with the band for the first time, and then later adding the synth and the slide guitar and coming up with the harmonies when we made the recordings, all those layers really brought it into a different special realm. The video came about very serendipitously when Amelia and I were on a road trip back in the Fall with another friend. We found this amazing camping spot and decided to shoot a video on Amelia’s camcorder – the landscape there really felt like it fit with the song.
Radiator drops May 6th via Run For Cover.
Cover/feature photo above by Kevin PG Perry
PUP – “Matilda” 4
Indie veterans PUP have unveiled a new music flick for the track “Matilda” off of The Unravelling of PupTheBand.
Jeff Cubbison puts it best; calling the video “crafted in a more old school vein, tracing the touching journey of a cool-ass guitar through multiple owners. It’s a heart-on-your-sleeve story from a kick-ass, heart-on-your-sleeve kinda band. The director credit goes to Jefferson Dutton.
Magdalena Bay – “Dreamcatching”
The DIY video gods aren’t so DIY anymore which will allow Magdalena Bay to increase their artistic approach like on the latest video clip, “Dreamcatching,” “a spectacular, eye-popping animated odyssey that needs to be seen to be believed. If there’s any justice, then this should have the VMA for Video of the Year in the bag,” writes Impose.
Denzel Curry Ft. Slowthai – “Zatoichi”
Denzel Curry has dropped yet another music video single from the upcoming album Melt My Eyes See Your Future . The previously-dropped “Walkin” was a grandiose experiment in the sub-sub-genre space western style, while “Zatoichi” stands as “an ode to old-school samurai flicks.”
“The kaleidoscopic, psychedelic unraveling during Slowthai’s amen break-filled verse is the stuff of cinematic magic,” writes Jeff Cubbison for Impose magazine.
