musomusofm on the radar playlist #56 - Mother Vulture, NOSO, Mush, The Meat Sweaters, L.A Salami and more....
With May coming to a close, it’ll very soon be festival season, wet, muddy fields, mud, camping, overpriced gassy lager and all the other delights. You can obviously look forward to seeing and hearing some incredible bands performing throughout the weekends that you decide to trust the gods to supply good weather and no wind but maybe that’s all part of the fun?!
So as Summer officially begins, I wanted to showcase 9 acts that really demand your attention. There are some absolute cracking bands in this playlist and you can find out more from the featured artist information below the playlist.
See you on the other side.
Mother Vulture
Mother Vulture are the name on every live music fan’s lips at the moment after a blistering few months of non stop touring. Shows with Reef, A, Bokassa and Michael Monroe as well as festival slots at Leopalooza, Burn It Down, Riffolution and 80Trees have been turning heads left and right towards a band that simply refuses to slow down.
May will be a similarly hectic month which sees the band release a new single “Honey” as well as embark on a UK tour to support it. Despite their growing reputation as masters of the live performance, it is in the studio that the band spent the first quarter of this year and “Honey” is the first taste of what the band have to offer in 2022.
Honey is Mother Vulture’s catchiest and grooviest earworm yet, proving they are just as at home on the radio as on stage at Bloodstock or ArcTanGent. The song is a pulsing and sassy cry for independence in a world that always seeks to put people into boxes.
It is rock and roll in its purest form, a reminder of what we all know and love about the genre.
Mother Vulture are THE best band in the entire universe, go check them out, say I sent you, thank me later!
Socials
NOSO
LA-based, non-binary Korean-American guitarist - NoSo (real name Abby Hwong) - has shared the opening track from their upcoming debut LP ‘Stay Proud Of Me,’ out July 8th.
“Parasites” was written in the wake of NoSo's recovery from top surgery as a message to their younger self, celebrating their newfound physical + emotional freedom: “The parasites, removed from your skin / And so lovely to meet you again / So lovely to be born again.” The song is accompanied by a moving self-directed music video, marking Hwong’s directorial debut.
More on the inspiration behind the song, from NoSo: “I made the instrumental and it sat in my DAW (digital audio workspace) for a long time, but I didn’t know what I wanted to write about. I didn’t have any romantic interests or typical gay pining going on, so I felt stuck. I shelved it for months, then had top surgery on Jan 8, 2020, which prohibited me from playing music for six weeks.
After I healed, I revisited the song and grappled with what I wanted to say. The instrumental felt dreamy and romantic, but I didn’t want to keep writing romantic songs about other people; I just had a significant procedure that brought repressed memories to the surface, and I needed to express it somehow.
I decided to speak to my younger self in 'Parasites'. The opening verses describe me waking up post surgery (where I was loopy and left alone for a moment so I sang ‘On My Own’ from Les Miserables), being wheeled to the car, and my earliest childhood memories with gender confusion. Through the song, I assure younger Abby that there’s hope in the future, and to stick around to experience it.”
NoSo just wrapped up two runs of East Coast tour dates supporting Yumi Zouma and Molly Burch. July 8 they will perform at Gold Digger’s in LA for a headline release day performance. Later this summer, NoSo will head to the UK for their first-ever overseas performances, before returning to the US to open for Lucy Dacus on a pair of August dates. For more information, head to the socials below.
Socials
Mush
The Leeds, UK-based art-rock group, Mush share their new single, "Northern Safari" which arrives as the second preview of their forthcoming third album, Down Tools which is out July 8 through Memphis Industries.
The new record marks Mush's third full-length in as many years following 2020’s debut LP, 3D Routine and 2021's acclaimed Lines Redacted, which found support at BBC 6 Music (inc Album of the Day), Pitchfork, Quietus, Sunday Times, Brooklyn Vegan, Line of Best Fit, Dork and DIY and, as Uncut wrote, saw them become “kindred spirits to Wand and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, two other bands prolifically honing their sound and approach, steadily developing their voice."
"Northern Safari" – which arrives packed with fidgety guitar riffs and signposts some of the band's most accessible slacker-punk sounds to date – arrives as a song about the way the North of England has been portrayed in the media and is used as a mirror to reflect some of the nastier elements of what’s going on in society. Speaking about the single, Hyndman of the band says: "It’s about the time we all went to the tropical world together to see the meerkats. Down Tools out soon, thanks for all your support so far!"
Mush formed in 2015, its first iteration being as a five-piece noise band with three guitars. Mush’s MO and sound have changed a lot since then as the band continues to grow and hone their sound. On 3D Routine the sound centered around the interweaving of dueling guitars of Steven Tyson and Hyndman. Since Tyson’s death, Hyndman has contributed all of the guitars for Lines Redacted and Down Tools. Recent recruit, Myles Kirk is now on second guitar duties ushering another new era for the band, joining Dan plus Nick Grant (bass/vox) and Phil Porter (drums).
Catch the band on tour;
UK tour dates
Jul 08 | Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
Jul 09 | London, UK @ Rough Trade East
Jul 10 | Nottingham, UK @ Rough Trade East
Sep 30 | Sunderland, UK @ Pop Recs
Oct 01 | Glasgow, UK @ The Hug & Pint
Oct 02 | Manchester, UK @ YES (Basement)
Oct 03 | London, UK @ The Lexington
Oct 04 | Brighton, UK @ The Hope & Ruin
Oct 05 | Sheffield, UK @ Record Junkie
Socials
The Meat Sweaters
Hailing from Brighton and London, via Stockholm, Sweden, The Meat Sweaters are tangled-up trio (Wahoo Samuels, Pete Fraser and Jon Palmer), who are set to embark on a thrillingly bizarre synth-punk journey with their debut four-track EP ‘Paranoid and Sweaty’. Released July 22nd via Hype Music (a sub label of Extreme Music), today sees the unveiling of the first sweet taste of the EP in new single ‘I Got The Shakes’ – two minutes of contorted, high-energy, decidedly odd art-punk that wastes little time embedding itself under your skin.
“You know you’re making a bad decision by yourself, but do you continue even if you know you’re making the wrong decision at the time?” states Wahoo Samuels. “Everyone feels sick.”
PARANOID AND SWEATY EP is released on July 22nd via Hype Music HPE198 (Hype music is a sub label of Extreme Music)
Tracklist
Body Yoghurt
Got Me Into It
I Got The Shakes
I’m A Success
Socials
L.A Salami
‘Desperate Times, Mediocre Measures’ is the new single and video from L.A Salami. The first taste of new music from the Londoner since 2020’s album ‘The Cause of Doubt and Reason to Have Faith’, it arrives alongside the announcement of L.A Salami’s fourth album ‘Ottoline’, set for release on 30th September, via Sunday Best Recordings.
The single and its brilliant video tackle the “cyclical and corrosive nature of power structures across our societies” and the inevitable impact that has on our day to day lives and decision-making processes. Ultimately, the song encourages people to build change from a place of love and positivity, rather than out of fear. This inquisitive, intellectual approach is evident throughout Ottoline, an album that finds an artist at the top of his game, forgoing all genre-based boundaries whilst looking at, documenting and evaluating the world around him from a truly unique creative perspective.
L.A Salami’s journey of self-discovery is one that extends far beyond music. Born Lookman Adekunle Salami in Peckham, to a Nigerian mother and absent father, various circumstances meant he spent the first few years of his childhood in a foster home. This feeling of being an outsider permeates his creative output, whether that’s music or the prints he produces alongside.
Working with a vastly expanded sonic palette, Ottoline finds Lookman looking to some of the modern titans of rap for inspiration, Kanye West, Drake and Kendrick Lamar. Whereas previous releases have leant towards a more folk-lead sound, Ottoline is brimming with boundless creativity and experimentation and is certain to cement L.A Salami as one of the UK’s most fascinating independent artists.
Socials
SO there you have it folks, another 9 awesome tracks for you to get your ears around. If you liked any of them, please hit them up on the socials and tell them, mention that you heard them on the musomusofm on the radar playlist and they might even buy me a cookie if our paths ever cross!
Please take a moment to spread the word on social media, it’s on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, just head to musomusouk on either platform and give it a LIKE, SHARE, THUMBS UP or whatever you can!
Until next time…..