2026 PLAYLIST - No 25 - The Definitive Map by Getdown Services

The Definitive Map by Getdown Services

Their second album, Massive Champion, felt a slightly disappointing mix of the truly brilliant and the likeable but nonetheless retreading of its own old tropes. But this one track The Definitive Map, I think is ( Radiator aside ) the highpoint of it, and really is them at their finest musically. Lyrically it's all a tad oblique. But appears to be about some sort of boundary dispute, that gets out of hand and spills over into their workplace. That appears to be an abattoir !

I'm playing potluck in pigsties with an overactive thyroid
Four times a week, getting jumped on by a big lad
Always overdo it with the harsh interrogation
Wanting full names and pictures of my friends and their locations
Tell your mum it's a public right of way, look it up
I don't care if the path goes through your house
I'll wipe my feet on your dad's back

Trespass
Trespass
Trespass
Just trespass

And now I'm in the battery farm with all the chickens
And we're all fucking sick of it
Bob Dylan went electric, you went fucking shit
Get your livestock out my face
Get your livestock out my face
Get your livestock out my face
Get your livestock out my face

Trespass
Trespass
Trespass
Just trespass
Trespass
Trespass
Trespass
Just trespass

And now I'm in the battery farm with all the chickens
And we're all fucking sick of it
Bob Dylan went electric, you went fucking shit
You fucking bastard

You fucking bastard, huh
You fucking bastard
You fucking bastard
You fucking bastard, twat
You fucking bastard
Your sister's crying (Ah)
You fucking bastard*

* Lyrics by Joshua Law/Ben Sadler 

2026 PLAYLIST - No 24 - The Ribbon Factory by Madra Salach

Later...The Ribbon Factory by Madra Salach

Now, anyone who watches Jules Holland's Later... will know it can be a mixed bag of familiar old codgers and new bands, both the interesting and the mediocre. When a band truly nails their colours firmly to the mast live on TV, it does stand out as rather special. Getdown Services did this earlier in the year. This week it was the Irish band Madra Salach performing their song The Ribbon Factory. Their mix of folk with an indie punk sensibility is impressively punchy and definitely striking. It has instantly catapulted this track to the top of my daily playlist. Having since listened to other stuff by them on the internet, it's clear the band is on an upward curve both creatively and in popularity. With an album due out in the early weeks of 2027. Can't wait to hear it.

2026 PLAYLIST - No 23 - I Get Noise by Arab Strap

 

I Get Noise by Arab Strap

This track fair rattles the cages as it roisters along, opening up their recent album Half Told Tales ( reviewed here ). It has all its instrumentation set on blaring, whether that be sax brass or battle drum guitars. It also has Aidan Moffat writing at his most cantankerous, which is always worth paying attention to. I just love all of it's three minutes twenty three. It leaves me wanting for more.

'Picture if you will me on my knees
With hands to sky
I need something real and true
A word from up on high

But you pervade my air
You're in my head, my hair
My dreams, my thoughts, my prayers
You overshare and overbear

I want a barely furnished head and heart
With a steadfast front door bolted shut
I want solitude and silence, but
I get noise

Make me feel and fall and flake and flop
Walk me in overnight in a comic shop
I want toil and tears and time to stop
I get noise

POV, you're a forensic expert
POV, you're no beggar, but
POV, you've broken your silence
POV, you're just asking questions

But you pollute my air
You're in my head, my hair
My dreams, my thoughts, my prayers
You overshare and overbear
Now listen

I want to slip away from the congregation
Be king of a kingdom of isolation
And mute your stupid conversation
I get noise

I want to float above and fly away
From this frightful, fateful, fucked up day
I want liars, frauds, and thieves to pay
I get noise
I get noise

You've been doing it wrong this whole time' **


** Lyrics by Aidan Moffat - I Get Noise by Moffat/Middleton
     Album Half Told Tales available on Rock Action Records.

PLAYLIST 2026 - No 22 - Interior Life by Arto Lindsay

Interior Life by Arto Lindsay

Discovering this man's music from thirty years ago, has definitely been the sound of the year for me. The one I've found myself returning to time and again, as I discover yet more lost beauties. Most of his albums from the nineties do not exist on the market as downloads, but you can still find, ever so slightly pricey CD versions. There is a very good compilation Encyclopedia of Arto, which was my basic introduction to this man's art and electro inflected bossa nova. 

I recently obtained the original CD version of the album Prize, an album from 1999. And nestled penultimately is this track Interior Life, slightly more grundgy around the edges than is usual, it grinds along on a rougher cut chugging rhythm section, with sax breaks and spacey segues, and one bit that sounds like a vocal line fed through a malfunctioning amp. Plus, of course, his usual laid back choppy phrased lyrics that are an Arto feature. It starts off sounding quite pared back but slowly builds up its rhythmic complexity throughout the song, until it is fair rollicking along by the end. Oh, this music is just bliss for me.

2026 PLAYLIST - No 21 - The Moon & Stars by Radie Peat

The Moon & Stars by Radie Peat

Whilst Lankum have been in a bit of a hiatus since the world wide success of False Lankum in 2023. Radie Peat has since become the totemic folk voice of her generation, and together with John 'Spud'Murphy partnered up on the dark majesty of the  OXYN album and are together again here on a pre- release track from her upcoming solo album No Human Tongue Can Tell.

'For your favours like a feather that's blown on every wind.
 You promised me the moon and stars.
 Just to leave me now behind.'

The Moon and Stars, fully embraces all that is good and slightly unsettling in the raw soft keening tone of her vocals.  The atmospheric music, the doom- ladened military drum rat tat tatting in the background, draw out of the folk tradition, to combine it with an apocalyptic drone of dread and mournful portent. Over which we have Radie's torn uneasy vocal, with it's final lyrical lament of resignation at being abandoned:- 

' the moon and stars were screeching, roaring in the sky.
  I laid my head upon a stone and then I closed my eyes.'

Absolutely terrific stuff.

LISTENING TO - Half-Told Tales by Arab Strap

With fourteen tracks and a running time of fifty six minutes, this is a substantial slice of music to release onto an unsuspecting world. And in a first casual listen what strikes you is it's episodic character and changeable musical tone. Aidan Moffat's lyric writing is, if anything, conjuring poetic lines more magnificent and vivid here. With perhaps a stronger autobiographical leaning, often bemoaning the awareness of his bodily discomfort and increasing decrepitude. Prompting in Glamour Magic, a grissly foreboding story of a face lift that 'takes years off me' that ends up in a quite macabre way in the accompanying video.

Glamour Magic by Arab Strap

And it is this style of song that makes you realise the albums title Half-Told Tales is informing you why the album has this episodic nature. Each short song is like a briefly sketched vignette, of a personal memory, early romantic relationships, bizzare darkly gothic tales, ruminations on what it takes to be a man these days, the compromises involved in making and promoting your own music. The subject matter is as varied as the musical approaches it takes, sometimes they exist half way between being songs and a dry caustic monologue. Now some reviewers have found this album irritating in the extreme. Once I clocked what they were doing, I appreciated the album for what it is - a lyrical montage of comments and snap shot perceptions of modern life. Imbued as these are with Moffat's pet obsessions, bete noir's, the things that make him concerned, angry, melancholic, even sentimental over the pace and passage of time. Both musically and lyrically this album crackles with inventiveness and energy.

I Get Noise by Arab Strap

The album opens with huge propulsive intent with the track I Get Noise. This is very strongly drum led, the percussive sound and brassy quality is hard, with a pronounced flat thwack to it. And for a good deal of the album, its the drums that are central and to the fore in the defining of each tracks mood. I Get Noise is about the impossibility sometimes to escape other people's noise, Moffat ends up wanting - 

'to mute your stupid conversation, I get noise, I want to float above and fly away'. 

And the album does race out of the blocks at this unrelenting pace, with five punchy memorable songs galloping in one after the other. Then with Gape they slow down this hectic pace for a couple of tracks. These are quieter, more ruminative, reflective pieces. And whilst there continue to be rockier abrasive songs subsequently, the character of this middle section of the album displays how strongly lyric driven this album is, with words upfront in the mix. This album is Moffat at his most literary and expressive, positioned as a cranky oracle storyteller, the weaver of some odd old tales. From the track Ampersand onwards we return to the distinct straightforward style of the albums opening. 

Fragments by Arab Strap

The penultimate track Fragments does in its own a way explain the ethos for the entire album -

' death and life are in the power of the tongue, 

  but now everyone is leaving so young, 

  the plugs are pulled before the swan song is sung, 

  leaving fragments, sketches, half told tales.' 

Beats Per Minute by Arab Strap

The last track Beats Per Minute, is an elegaic momento to the impermanence of life, and leaves us with the choral lyric of -

'We only have this moment and it's already gone.'

This album is a mixture of tracks you like instantly, and slower growing revelations. I expect I'll keep finding little lyrical phrases and pockets of illumination, that suddenly have their impact upon me.  I suspect that given time and sufficient replays of my attention, I'll like this album a great deal more in a month's time than I do now. My current pick of its best lines are as follows :-

Under Offer by Arab Strap

From the track Under Offer, which is about returning to a house that was once your home but finding it greatly altered, ends on the criticism - 

' With respect it's like they've sanded away it's soul.'

My current top favourite lines are from the end of I Get Noise - 

'And tonight when you touch yourself 

Remember all the angels are watching

So put on a good show.'

CARROT REVIEW - 6/8

 

LISTENING TO - Massive Champion by Getdown Services

Getdown Services presence in our music universe, appears to have a stronger public profile with every year. Their debut album Crisps, was a portfolio of whiplash wit and droll eccentric observations about the male way of being men in 2023. Featuring a wild mix of styles from dance to indie, drawing on 80'sand 90's tropes, and giving them a distinct twist that was all their own. Since then Joshua Law and Ben Sadler have been literally working their arses off performing in small local venues across the country, to some acclaim. They are, according to reviews, a two man communication of wonder and enthusiasm, and something to be sought out as an experience. Between Crisps and their second album Massive Champion, their have been an albums worth of tracks that didn't make the debut album and EP's galore. This output I'd say was of mixed value, some real gems, others variations on familiar Getdown Services themes. More does not necessarily mean better. I began to think they were putting out far too much.  One might be forgiven for thinking they released anything that moved, with little vetting for quality. So, Massive Champion arrives presenting challenges as most second albums do.

I Can't Die Like That - Getdown Services

It opens with a bit of an oddity. Poor Bannister, is a folk tinged song about watching an old woman asleep on a bus, while some random drunk guy pukes up on his trousers, but tries to pretend nothing is wrong. This is certainly an novel way to open an album. With the next song we are returned to rather more standard GS territory I Can't Die Like That, where they wonder about "Maybe my neck wont snap, if I fill it with snacks'  should he ' Kiss the floor like the Pope' and ' I wonder if I'll ever stop thinking about killing Baby Oleg, I hope not'. But like many tracks on Massive Champion, I Can't Die like That, has a more reflective and sombre feeling to it, about mortality and purpose. The whole album is flecked with regret. About childhood experiences, growing up, and why he is choosing to live his life in this way. Joshua Law, as the primary songwriter, has developed a vein of sadness and poignancy in his songwriting, alongside the strongly scabrous swearing, and sarky humour. Probiotic begins with a dialogue where he is asked why he won't eat probiotic food. The answer - 'because it's got bits in it'.

Cha Cha Slide - Getdown Services

Social anxiety appeared in their first album on the track 'I wish it didn't bother me', here it's 'Cha Cha Slide ' as a six year old Josh goes to his first party and feels a bit out of it and clueless, he wants to be like his friend Dennis, but finds I hard. This is a gently touching song, that channels the embarrassment and self consciousness of a young child's experience. Then we hit two really quintessential songs, which are the summation of what Getdown Services currently are. Radiator, probably needs no introduction. It paints a picture of two guys living in a room they can't turn the heating down in. The sweaty semi-squalor of a bachelor existence is painted so well. 

The Definitive Map

The Definitive Map that follows appears to be channelling mid 80's The Fall, in the way they collectively chant 'Trespass', it is by far the best of their rock numbers on the album. After this peak the album did feel to me to become more a meandering through moods, with its brief monologues and love songs. So far Getdown Services USP has been them being two unpretentious blokes who are best mates having a bit of a laugh together on stage. This album appears to be reaching for a bit more than that, but has not yet found a way of confidently standing in that world yet.

If you could sum up Massive Champion I'd say it is certainly more reflective than it's predecessor, the highpoints are when they are on their most well trodden ground. This album has been out for a while now, and though I've listened too it through quite a few times, it doesn't feel a must have purchased. Whilst it has definitely got highlights that show off their brilliance, their is something about it that feels under developed as the next stage in their career. It's not quite resolved enough, to know what they were aiming for here. Maybe the next album will nail this to the mast more securely. 

CARROT REVIEW - 6/8

2026 PLAYLIST - No 20 - Edge of Saturday Night by The Blessed Madonna & Kyle Minogue

Edge of Saturday Night by The Blessed Madonna & Kylie Minogue

Well, it seems The Blessed Madonna can call upon some pretty big names to bring their talents to the service of her dancefloor. Here it's Kylie,who is no stranger to this sort of electro woofer busting disco banger. Here she is slumming it with this very noticeably mock sleazy looking gay crowd, whilst Kylie is trying to look a bit more bedraggled, wrecked and edgy than is usual in her own videos. 

Goodness knows what this song is about, making everyday a Saturday and getting plastered perhaps.  I mean this woman is 58 and can't possibly do late night clubbing anymore, she needs her beauty sleep. Otherwise liposuction and the porcelain doll like tragedy of Madonna's pension years beckons. This has some very uplifting beats, providing a more than pleasing way to spend three minutes and thirty one seconds with this enduring legend.

2026 PLAYLIST - No 19 - Mercy by The Blessed Madonna Ft Jacob Lusk

Mercy - The Blessed Madonna Ft Jaccob Lusk

In the seemingly long hiatus between the Gabriel's first album and its follow up, Jacob Lusk has been appearing to find time to do quite a bit of feature vocalist spots, mainly with Moby, but also here with the DJ The Blessed Madonna. This is a disco music at its most classic, and Lusk's voice gives it all the diva gloss you could hope for. I mean, if you had the opportunity to have that voice 'do your little ole song' you'd grab it with both hands wouldn't you. And The Blessed Madonna does not fail to fully embellish it with glitter..

2026 PLAYLIST - No 18 - Crisps by Getdown Services

Crisps by Getdown Services

This track from their first album Crisps, is still on my morning shower playlist. Getdown Services music, is hewn with authenticity, which largely comes from Josh Law, the main songwriter and production ideas man. Though the ethos of this junk food obsessed band, is a collective one, shared between Law and his best mate Ben Sadler. As friends from childhood, there is sense for the in joke, boyish foolishness and what larks they get up to, about them still, even though they in their thirties. They don't remotely mind they're overweight and will happily perform with their shirts off. Crisps, is one of those songs that you can't quite pin down what it's about, there is a certain scattergun quality in its lyrical direction and wit, but the well turned phrase is one of their distinguishing qualities - 

It's a good job it's not a competition mate, or I swear you'd fuckin lose it - I'm having a party and your not invited, I'm building a castle and your not getting in, it's Mott and Bailey - Your not the enemy, your somewhere in-between a childhood dream and a pyramid scheme - I'm thick as shit, I'm not, but I look it, I got apps, I got a phone and I know how to use it, I got audio books.

They musically draw from quite a wide pool of styles, anything 80's or 90's rock or electro. There are times when the elliptical nature of their lyrics and delivery evokes the stridency of Mark E Smith & The Fall.  Law, increasingly has this air of world weary pathos about him, and looks like he's been on one too many benders lately, whilst Ben Sadler appears to just love the larking about. Considering the gig schedule they keep up it's no wonder they've got bags under the eyes and look tired.

2026 PLAYLIST - No17 - Tone by Arto Lyndsay

Tone by Arto Lindsay

This summer it has definitely been the season for Arto Lyndsay. Exploring the 'bossa nova period' in his back catalogue has been quite a constant.  And with every week the algorithm on You Tube throws me some new musical morsels to try and chew on and ravenously gorge. Hence how I hit upon this sparky gem called Tone, from his 1999 album Prize. The parameters stay pretty much the same, his quiet almost whispered top vocals, effortless laid back and cool, with an unruffable ease, tripping over it's deceptively simple, yet artfully, constructed gently Latin rhythm. Tone has moments of when the soft soothness of this, dramatically breaks away from lilting, into a harder edged flat drum sound, half high hat, half phased, accompanied by the fluttering twitter of a synth drone.  I just find this totally addictive. And currently it's the source for making everything all right in the world.

2026 PLAYLIST No 16 - Alviverde by Jun Miyake & Arto Lindsay

Alviverde by Jun Miyake & Arto Lindsay

If you have seen the film Pina about the work of the choreographer and performer Pina Bauch, you will instantly be familiar with this tune. I , however, re-encountered it recently through my rooting about in Arto Lindsay's back catalogue, and You tube's algorithm did the rest. It is such an addictive tune, underpinned by that spritely double bass riff and the scattering percussive rhythm that dances around it propelling the music onwards. Over the top of this Arto Lindsay does his usual laid back oh so effortlessly cool singing. It is currently on repeat play on my daily music list. 

2026 PLAYLIST No 15 - Simply Are by Arto Lindsay

Simply Are - Arto Lindsay

Currently excitedly rattling through the back catalogue of Arto Lindsay's music. I first encountered Lindsay in his 1980's New York No Wave phase as the extremely freeform noise guitarist in DNA and Lounge Lizards. That sophisticated type of angular noise and art jazz that Lounge Lizards personified, has since led him to bossa nova and samba rhythms and a style of gently expressive jazz singing remeniscent of 1960's Brazil. Born and brought up in Brazil, Lindsay does have an instinctive feel for the form, which enables him to push the musical envelope a bit further than you might expect, And what's more make it work. Music reviewers struggle to place him, so basically compose a list of rag bag terms some of which might fit -art pop , bossa nova, tropicalia, jazz pop, experimental rock. Undoubtedly he brings all his art rock noise baggage with him, so it takes a few delightfully surprising turns. There is a sonic adventurousness here, unique to this style of easy on the ear Latin inflected jazz. And I am becoming quite deeply obsessed with it. Simply Are, is probably the most accessible song from this period of Arto Lindsay, taken from his third solo album Noon Chill released in 1997. I love his style of smoothly dead pan low key singing, it is so laid back and chilled.

2026 PLAYLIST - No 14 - Cursive by Mandy, Indiana

Cursive - Mandy,Indiana

Based in Manchester or Berlin, Mandy,Indiana have this stance that they appear to be coming from another world entirely. Their music is pretty uncatagorisable. There is definitely a debt of inheritance from the whole Manchester scenes of old. I'd say post punk more generally, in its melding of different genres into a cohesive whole. A commitment to pushing at boundaries that reminded me of early Faust, and it is that seventies German experimental rock/electro/Stockhausen/improv vibe I largely settle on. This performance of Cursive on Later...with Jools Holland, has the customary vocals in French from Valentine Caulfield. Not speaking French, I can't tell you what she's singing about, a lot of it sounds as if it might be nonsense lists of associative word play. But it moves along a great propulsive groove. That breaks at the end into guitar playing that sounds like he's scratching nails down a sheet if metal. Very Test Department like. I think I love them.

2026 PLAYLIST No 13 - You You You by Arab Strap

You You You - Arab Strap

Just when you think Arab Strap's career Renaissance might have peaked, up turns this new track. An album Half Told Tales is to follow on 4th September. So we will have a while yet to bask in the glow of this caustic little gem. The music rumbles along in the background in a deceptive electro disco until a menacing guitar like a travelling express train breaks the dissociated cool with unsettling ease, then a descending trills of notes, and ends with a series of monumental crangs. Meanwhile Aidan Moffat intones his mordant word smithery, bemoaning the hole in his shoe, but as the song progresses grumbles increasingly about his state of bodily deterioration in explicit detail. Until he lets his rage off the leash, it's not just at what he's become, but what the world has become, with protesters being treated as terrorists, the false faith in AI as the saviour of no one. And as part of a music business now completely beholden to the internet, how can any of us escape becoming hypocritical simply by association? So this is punchy stuff. Not afraid to broach some of the controversies and conundrums of our age. It's utterly brilliant.

I've got a hole in my shoe that lets in rain

And another new lump in another vein

I've got pills for breakfast every day

To keep my pains and fears at bay

I've got a portly paunch I just can't shift

I feel undesired, dismissed, adrift

My get-up-and-go is long gone

And the days keep dragging on.

I've got a hole in my head that can’t be filled

Time is never spent, it's only killed

I'm always bored, it seems nothing excites me

My own limbic system fights me

I've got watchlists I'll never watch

And pruritus scroti in my crotch

I've got a seething sadness in my soul

That might just swallow me whole

As the tyrannised unite and fight

There’s a fiery frog in my throat now

From all that singing: Bella ciao!

I've got my day in court that can't be missed

'Cause the government claims I'm a terrorist;

I fear for my son, I fear for my daughter

But in this world of slaughter

And if you're streaming this song on Spotify

Then we both fund weapons-grade AI

But if it wasn't here, then how would you hear it?

We're over a barrel, but we don't have to cheer it

I don't know what the fuck to do

When hypocrisy reigns and nothing is true

And nobody pays for abhorrent behaviour

Fuck these demagogues cosplaying saviours

Lyrics Arab Strap 2026

2026 PLAYLIST No 12 - Go Fuck Yourself by Fat Dog

Fat Dog - Go Fuck Yourself

One of my favourite tracks of last year was Fat Dog's, All The Same. With no signs yet of a new album, Go Fuck Yourself is a stand alone single, for now at least. The album Woof was a bit of a patchy affair. But Go Fuck Yourself with it's Euro disco backing track is a delight. No way a track with that title is ever going to get the airplay it deserves, but it is really a beauty. One gets the impression Joe Love the lead singer could be a bit of a miserable git, his songs do seem to have a studied hostility and stroppy indifference at the core of them. Not a hint of humour or self deprecation. Fat Dog appear to have a high turn over of band members, losing bassists and drummers with some frequency. The rock- klezmer- techno of the first album, has morphed now into something which remains addictive, but has perhaps less original things to say musically. Love also appears, like Getdown Services,to be not afraid of flaunting his Lad Bod.

2026 PLAYLIST No 11 - Radiator by Getdown Services

Getdown Services - Radiator

This duo from Minehead, have been ploughing a very particular furrow for a few years now. The rapport between them is similar to a comedy double act. They've been friends since childhood, and there is a mutual affinity and love here for making affectionately barbed music together. With this song Radiator, and a storming appearance on Later with Jools Holland, I think they are about to step up another notch in their visibility and popularity. 

Getdown Services, aka Ben and Josh, are authentically who they are, nothing about them feels manufactured, squeaky or clean. These are Lad Bods, with spare tires and a bouncy over intoxicated energy.  Radiator is an idiosyncratic song about being caught in a cramped room where you can't turn down the radiator. Their songs are often about such small insignificant details of ordinary life and the culture that surrounds them.  The lyrics are witty, acutely observed, pointedly satirical and frequently profane. Meanwhile the dance groove of Radiator infectiously grinds on with great gusto, and finishes with Josh playing a truly demonic cacophony on his guitar. This was the moment I fell in love with these guys. 

Though they have echoes of the langerous and laconic qualities of John Cooper Clarke and Alex Turner, they are very much their own thing. It could be easy to dismiss them as a novelty act, but that would be doing them a real disservice.  Don't take their lack of seriousness for shallowness, there is a lot of depth here if you look for it. What they are producing is enjoyable music, that possesses a great life affirming verve, which also keeps a keen eye on what can be lovingly lampooned. They are also clever wordsmiths to boot. Currently my band of the moment.

2026 PLAYLIST No 10 - Focu 'Ranni by Rosalia

Rosalia is currently touring the world with her performance of LUX. To coincide with this, three tracks previously only available on the CD/Vinyl version have been added to the digitally available download. LUX - The Complete Album, is of course purely a marketing device. But putting that to one side, the three tracks Focu 'Ranni, Jeane, and Novia Robot are welcome additions. 

Rosalia - Focu 'Ranni

I can see why they might not make the grade for the first edition of the album. There are similar themes, some are great, some not quite great enough. After all LUX is a long album already, stuffed with 15 tracks clocking in at nearly 50 minutes. Could it bare three more tracks, making it over an hour in length, without overstaying it's welcome?  However. I have become rather obsessed with the track Focu 'Ranni, it's just such a beautiful melodic ride she takes you on, into which the startling exultation of a choir of treated vocals give you this unexpectedly invigorating chorus. 

Rosalia's voice is her weapon, that she pierces your heart with. It's such a joy to hear it being employed with all the soft delicacy and subtle nuance she is capable of, on Focu 'Ranni. I've had moments of being enraptured by it, her voice erupts from such depths of feeling into expressiveness. Focus Rani appears to concern the all consuming fire of love, and this can be interpreted either as a terrestrial or a spiritual love affair, which she's debating whether to entirely surrender herself to it. Continuing the religiously inflected intensity that runs through out LUX. It's a marvel.

CARROT REVIEW - 7/8

LISTENING TO - Getting Killed by Geese

The production on Getting Killed is one major factor in this albums apparent cohesiveness. It has, overall, a rather clean sounding acoustic, as though this were recorded live to give it a punch, with little further unnecessary embellishment required. It's shorn of showy bombast or overly studio based effects, everything originates with the dynamics of a tight band of folk playing together. So whenever it does get raucously worked up, as it does on the album opener Trinidad, or later in Bow Down, the acoustic cacophony and mess is all the more to be relished. As though this trickster demon has taken over the band and is set on causing destructive mayhem. But all this is a carefully created acoustic deception, put down on this recording. They sound like this small local indie band, that's putting in its application early to make stadium grade.

Cobra - Geese

Camaron Winter's vocals are noticeably never allowed to be subsumed under anything that is going on around them. Because so much of the feverish energy present erupts from out of his larynx. There are many touchstones stylistically that are referenced here. Winter's vocal style here at times is reminiscent of Rufus Wainwright or the Violent Femmes. Lyrically he has moments when he conjures with the spirit of unease present in early Nick Cave,  bellowing about 'there's a bomb in my car' on Trinidad or in the phrasing and emphasis of 'bow down down down to Maria's dead bones' on Bow Down. 

Half Real - Geese

It is one of the minor miracles of this album that even when the sound touches on such influences or established styles like blues for instance, it uses them simply as jumping off points to transcend or abruptly take them somewhere totally unexpected and original. There is frequently something delightfully fiddly and percussive going on, flamenco hand claps or a guitar loosely jangling like a bell, that gives the sound an improvisatory, yet still with a propulsive edge.

Bow Down - Geese

Getting Killed is not a sound nor an album that reveals all its treasures in one listen. My appreciation for how good this album could be, has only grown with each repeated listen. Because you do have to give yourself time just to tune in to the vibe of where it's coming from. But once reached, there is much to be gorged upon.

Long Island City Here I Come - Geese

CARROT REVIEW - 7/8

2026 PLAYLIST No 9 - Trinidad by Geese

Geese - Trinidad

The opening track of Geese's Getting Killed, Trinidad, is a barbed wire infested cacophony that is up their with the early work of The Birthday Party for something scary heading your way. It starts off innocent enough with a gently voiced blues fired admission that ' I try ', sung repeatedly, but then the car crash begins. Cranging guitars angle grind through some metal, and Cameron Winter starts loudly declamining like someone demented that 'There's a bomb in my car'.Yeah, this is not your average bit of easy on the ear indie, this has nerves of steel, and the brawn of devils. As he admits to murdering his family and then driving away. I love this, mostly because they dared to open their album with this, which makes the rest of it seem a beautiful stroll in a park, by comparison.