Obligatory Martha Post for Every Day the Hope Gets Harder

I only say obligatory as I’m a Martha superfan, but bummed I got beat to the punch by my arch-enemy of blogs. Still, Please Don’t Take Me Back is still a month or two away, so I’ve got to get my fill of the band’s furious rock n’ roll sounds. The drums on this tune pound furiously as the guitars race to play catch up, waiting for the vocals to enter the fray. Once they jump in, the melodic hooks from the band are undeniable, even as they’re lamenting the decline in hope…which I think sums up the last two years pretty perfectly. Specialist Subject and Dirtnap will drop the record at the end of October.

Fresh Announce Raise Hell LP

If you haven’t been listening to UK punks Fresh, then what have you been doing? I was stoked today to wake up and see that the band had just announced their brand new Raise Hell LP with a rocking new single. Kathryn Woods dominates the track, giving this powerful performance linked to the feeling of having a “mind that’s both under-stimulated and over-stimulated at the same time.” I love the way the bouncing keyboard sets up the huge drop in of heavy riffs to match up with the melodic delivery of Woods in the chorus. I can tell this one’s going to rip. Raise Hell will be out in July via Specialist Subject/Get Better Records.