The New Cue #285 May 19: Sarabeth Tucek, Blur, Bar Italia, Laura Groves, Art School Girlfriend, Róísín Murphy, ANOHNI, Julie Byrne

"Robert Smith ended up throwing up on my shoes..."

Hullo!

Urgh, that was horrible wasn’t it. I wanted to mix up the greeting a bit but hullo is not the one. I actually feel a bit sick. Sorry everyone. If you know anyone who writes hullo instead of hello, unfriend them now, they cannot be trusted.

Welcome to this week’s Recommender edition, where your favourite fellas with the initials TNC tell you all about the music they’re digging in the hopes you’ll dig it too and then we can all dig together. Digging is quite hard isn’t it?

We’ve also got mind-blower selections from Benefits frontman Kingsley Hall and singer-songwriter Dan Croll. Today’s edition is for paid subscribers only so if you want in, click Subscribe Now. It costs £5 a month and you get your own special Friday edition. For everyone else, the adventure stops now. Laters losers! Here’s this week’s playlist:

Enjoy the edition,

Ted, Niall and Chris

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An Album To Blow Your Mind #1

As chosen by British singer-songwriter Dan Croll, ol’ blue eyes’ 1970 concept album.

Staffordshire lad Dan Croll first emerged a decade ago with a selection of jubilant synth-pop tunes but he has reinvented his sound over the past few years. A relocation to Los Angeles inspired a move into lush Laurel Canyon-inspired folk-pop and sonic dynamo Matthew E. White helps to add some new sonic shades on Croll’s new record Fools, out today:

Here, Dan explains why Frank Sinatra’s 1970 record Watertown is a personal favourite:

Frank Sinatra
Watertown (1970)

“I’ve always been a sucker for a crooner, and maybe it's from being raised on musicals but I love a storyline/concept album. Despite knowing so much of Sinatra’s work, this whole album completely slipped by me until a friend showed it to me last year. Whilst it’s got all the classic signature Sinatra moments like the strings, the horns, and the grand finales, I think what makes this album so special for me is when I hear the subtleties of Bob Gaudio and Frankie Valli (co-producers and co-writers) in it.  There’s this extra feel of pop and soul that I never usually get from Sinatra, and I think despite it getting panned at the time, now gives it a uniqueness. I also believe this is the only album Frank Sinatra ever over-dubbed his vocals for, fun fact."

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Recommender

Niall Doherty

I really liked the doleful electro-pop of Art School Girlfriend’s 2021 debut Is It Light Where You Are and everything the dance producer and singer-songwriter has released so far from her forthcoming second record suggests it’s going to be even better. It’s all clubbier and darker and more incessant, a vibe very much continued by the compressed beats and restless bass groove of new single Heaven Hanging Low, Polly Mackey’s contemplative vocals the calm centre of the storm. It’s got an excellent outro too, breakbeats sliding all over the place: