The New Cue #580 March 27: Lime Garden, Fruit Bats, Headsend, Bedouine, Courtney Barnett, Jim Legxacy, Chartreuse, Julia Cumming
"AI can’t get BO."
Good morning,
Before we get going, a brief apology to anybody who ordered Boomerang Process by Roy from TNC Books. A small printing snafu means the first run has been delayed by a couple of weeks. We should have them in for delivery first week of April, which means in time for this event in Liverpool at Suono on Thursday April 30, where Roy will read and in be conversation with the great Terri White. Tickets are £5 and on sale from Saturday here.
On with today’s edition, another solid gold round of Recommender action. Very decent picks, although we would say that as we’re the ones who picked them.
Maybe we should outsource the rest of this intro in the name of neutrality. Let’s see how Google Gemini gets on with this, I’ve asked it to “write me an intro to a music Substack where we recommend new music and also remind our very sexy readers that this edition is for paying subscribers only, which people can do for £5 a month”:
Welcome back to the sonic inner circle. If you’re here, it’s because you have impeccable taste, a discerning ear, and—let’s be honest—you look fantastic today.
We’ve spent the last week digging through the digital crates to find the tracks that actually matter. From glitchy basement synth-pop to that one jazz-fusion record that will make you feel like you’re starring in a 70s neo-noir, we’ve got the goods. This week’s curation is all about the texture: music that feels as good as it sounds.
🗝️ A Quick Note for the Elite
Before we drop the needle on this week’s selections, a gentle reminder for our beautiful community: this edition is for our paying subscribers only.
Our goal is to keep this space independent, ad-free, and focused entirely on the art. To unlock this week’s full list of recommendations, deep-dive interviews, and our exclusive “Saturday Night” playlist, you can join the club for just £5 a month.
That’s less than the price of a mediocre cocktail, and it sounds significantly better.
Ready to hear the future? > [Upgrade to Paid]
Oh God Gemini, I’m afraid to tell you that you haven’t got the job. You’ve actually made me feel a bit sick. No AI can imitate our broken brains, we are bespoken for! You also forgot to mention the playlist you knob:
And here it is for the Apple Music crew.
But Gemini is right about one thing: to, like, keep us, like, focused entirely on the art, maaan, you can become a paying subscriber here:
I promise never to use that prick Gemini to write the intro again. Gave me something to take the piss out of though and that’s the main thing.
Enjoy the edition,
Ted and Niall
Recommender
Ted Kessler
Have not had nearly enough time with Courtney Barnett’s elegant and mature fourth album of new wave-style rock, Creature of Habit, mainly because the PR didn’t send it in time – but that can be remedied today as it’s across all streaming services. She’s moved from Australia to Los Angeles, which seems to be the crux of the lyrical angst, but it’s news that possibly also informs a slightly meatier, more polished swing to her softly-rocking song writing. Good spring afternoon music, please remain sunny.
The Landfill by Fruit Bats is also good sunny spring music: wide horizon country rock in a big country. Gonna struggle a touch with an artist called Fruit Bats, personally, but Eric D. Johnson – for he is Fruit Bats – writes lovely honest broker emotional songs. Reminds me a bit of a Midwestern Pale Fountains, which would no doubt surprise Mick Head. Taken from the album of the same name, out in June.
Every few years, I’m taken aback by the latest Bedouine record, how Azniv Korkejian taps into a classic seam of songwriting that sounds wired in a direct ‘70s chamber-pop lineage that runs through other masters such as Carole King, Randy Newman, Karen Carpenter and travels through to other modern-day practitioners such as Weyes Blood, without having any of their fame. Seems baffling that she is not regularly on TV, sitting on a sofa having mimed her latest heartbreaker, laughing along with Graham Norton and some smitten Hollywood hunk. Long Way to Fall is her smooth first cut from Neon Summer Skin, which is out on June 5th.
