Howl Blog #1 // August 2024
Y Not, Fontaines DC, Black Midi
Welcome to the Howl-blog!
This is a brand new, semi-regular news and nonsense feature, brought to you by the best brains in the music press. We’ll have contributions from our writers, editors, photographers and more. The blog will encompass what we’ve been up to, the best new releases, old favourites, gig updates, some of the hottest musical takes you’ve ever seen, and an accompanying playlist.
It’s been a busy couple of weeks at Howl Towers, with two-thirds of the team taking on Y Not Festival in Derbyshire. It was a scorcher of a weekend, packed with fantastic bands and a few interviews with some of the exciting breakthrough acts on the bill. Editor and Photographer Tom spent an unholy amount of the weekend holed up in the press tent, while at the same time, I (Writer and Editor, Charlie), embraced the festival in a gonzo-journalism-esque orgy of premium lager, mosh pits and the best vegetarian food Y Not had to offer.
My festival outlook is to become the story and embrace a Thursday-Sunday Hunter S Thompson-style hedonistic, no-holds-barred exploration of all the festival has to offer. Except fucking Snow Patrol - I have some standards. Our write-up will be live soon, but it was a cracker of a weekend, especially the time we spent chatting to Overpass, Floodhounds and April Tapes. Our chats with these bands are up on Instagram, and they’ll be embedded in the big ole write-up. There were some sensational bands on offer, with a few real standout sets: Yard Act were monumental, Bob Vylan set the place alight, and SOFT PLAY were unimaginably brilliant, with some of the most brutal and boisterous moshing I’ve ever had the pleasure of being involved in.
While these pits were no doubt intense, people relish the chance to kick the shit out of each other, it was ultimately an environment of love and solidarity. Anyone who hit the deck was immediately lifted back to their feet by strangers, people formed rings of protection around anyone tying a shoelacelace or scrabbling for dropped possessions, and lost phones and glasses were held aloft to be reunited with their erstwhile owners. This is the real beauty of the pit, and reflects the SOFT PLAY ethos quite nicely: growling ferocity overwhelmed by love and support. Gorgeous.
Outside of the fields, the music in my ears and soundtrack to more or less everything I’ve done has been Fontaines DC’s new record, Romance. The few and far-between perks of unpaid journalism include getting records early, and trust me, Romance is quite something. One of our lovely team is writing the review for Howl, so keep ‘em peeled for that, but goodness me what an album. I first caught FDC in 2019 and knew right away they had the chops to go to the top, but I didn’t expect anything like Romance. It’s dark and broody, grungy and simply put, their best work to date. I won’t spoil any more, just make sure you catch our review.
The other news story that has piqued my interest is the untimely demise of Black Midi (terrible news for the most annoying person you know: me). The breakup had been an unkept, unspoken non-secret for a few weeks, but in a characteristically bizarre Instagram live the other evening, Geordie Greep confirmed the split.
With three fantastic records and a reputation as one of the best live acts going, Black Midi built a fierce cult following from the Speedy Wunderground / Windmill scene out of South London along with Squid and Black Country, New Road. They had a penchant for merging post-punk, prog, post-rock and avant-jazz into their work, and it is clear for all to see that Black Midi are some of the most talented musicians out there (especially their drummer, Morgan Simpson), but supposedly they don’t get along these days, hence the split. They were a ‘Marmine’ band for sure, with some mega fans and some mega haters, but their impact on the burgeoning ‘post-brexit-post-punk-landfill’ scene from 2019 can’t be understated.
To round off the debut blog, here is the first of our playlists!
I’ve made it up out of some banging new releases, Y Not faves and bits touched on in the blog. Some of the standout new cuts include:
- Antony Szmierek, Rafters
- Gurriers, Top of The Bill
- Dog Race, The Leader
We also have a few tunes added by the rest of the team, so make sure to get your ears around Howling: 1. Furthermore, our editor team have each curated a playlist of our essentials, made up of new, old and more, so give Howl a follow on Spotify to ensure you don’t miss a thing.