Ezra Furman appears to be in a constant state of escape. Her brand of soulful punk rock could be described as road music, with lyrics largely preoccupied with finding respite from a hostile world.
When the world was grappling with the anxiety and surreality of Covid in 2020, musician Ezra Furman also had to deal with being locked down with an openly transphobic landlord. “We did not conceal this at all, but he was like, ‘You didn’t tell me that you are trans’ and he was mad at us all the time and undermining,” Furman says solemnly over Zoom from Boston, wearing a pretty scooped-neck top, her hair cut in a bob. It didn’t help that the landlord lived upstairs. “It was just a horrible place to live.”
Never one known for her eagerness to submit to interviews, Kathleen Hanna was happy, she admitted on a recent afternoon, to be talking to anybody at all.
Ezra Furman: All of Us Flames • Julia Jacklin: Pre Pleasure • Muse: Will of the People • Regina Spektor: 11:11 • Stella Donnelly: Flood • William Orbit: The Painter
Why We’re Digging It: Australia has no shortage of great bands with outstanding songwriters, which explains why The Murlocs have and currently are touring with King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and have a solid following across the world. Ambrose Kenny-Smith, Cal Shortal, Cook Craig, Tim Karmouche, and Matt Blach are not the types to take shortcuts, choosing instead to use every second to entertain and provoke. With “Compos Mentis”, they deliver a slice of Americana, southern-rock made for road trips.
Inspired by Bob Dylan and the enduring girl groups of the 60s, Ezra Furman’s All of Us Flames is an Americana album for a country on the brink, and the people striving to make a better world out of the ashes.
Melbourne’s 60’s tinged psych-rock punks The Murlocs showcase their softer side with new “Compos Mentis” single & video. Speaking with FLOOD which debuted the track, frontman Ambrose Kenny-Smith explains: “After a long day of truck stop fights, hitchhiking and getting kicked off trains, our beloved rapscallion protagonist decides to spend the night in an abandoned junkyard. Finding peace within the garbage that surrounds him, he begins to question his purpose in life and whether or not he’s in control of his own mind.”
Today, Melbourne’s 60’s-tinged psych-rock punks The Murlocs (including members of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard) have shared “Compos Mentis,” the second single from their upcoming album Rapscallion, which is set to release on Sep 16 via ATO Records. The track, which was debuted by FLOOD Magazine this morning, shows the band’s softer side and plays into the introspective story-book feel of the record.
While Austin has long been keeping things weird with a healthy psych-rock scene, the Australian city of Melbourne has been creeping up as the psych capital of the world in recent years. Although The Murlocs came up at the same time as groups like The Black Angels and Night Beats, the band has consistently been winning over more listeners as they benefit from the wild success of groups like King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, with whom they have overlapping members.
Melbourne’s 60’s tinged psych-rock punks The Murlocs showcase their softer side with new “Compos Mentis” single & video.
Speaking with FLOOD which debuted the track, frontman Ambrose Kenny-Smith explains: “After a long day of truck stop fights, hitchhiking and getting kicked off trains, our beloved rapscallion protagonist decides to spend the night in an abandoned junkyard. Finding peace within the garbage that surrounds him, he begins to question his purpose in life and whether or not he’s in control of his own mind.”
“After a long day of truck stop fights, hitchhiking and getting kicked off trains, our beloved rapscallion protagonist decides to spend the night in an abandoned junkyard,” says Murlocs frontman Ambrose Kenny-Smith.
The Murlocs’ sixth album Rapscallion is slated for a September 16, 2022 release through ATO Records. Self-produced by the band during the early stages of the pandemic, Rapscallion‘s 12 songs were recorded in the home studios of the band’s Kenny-Smith, Shortal, Blach, Cook Craig and Karmouche. Conceived and written as a coming-of-age novel in album form, the album’s material is partly inspired by Kenny-Smith’s adolescence as a nomadic skate kid.
Some days are better than others. Today is so great it’s almost ridiculous. In fact, if you don’t fall in love with at least 20 of these new singles, videos, cover tunes, remixes and unburied classics, I seriously think there might be something wrong with you. As always, there are dozens of gems here you can’t dig up anywhere else. Your Tinnitist-approved tracks are tagged with
There is no artist out there making music quite like Ezra Furman is. Her latest single, “Poor Girl a Long Way From Heaven,” Furman takes her trademark unique blend of indie rock and pop and injects a little bit of gospel or spiritual music into it. Furman’s music combines a vibe that is hers and hers alone with sounds that are almost familiar.
In today’s music world there are interesting acts coming out. The artist who has our interests lately is Ezra Furman. The trans artist is flowing forward on her new release, and writing songs that extend across people of all types.
In a press release, Furman elaborates on the new single: “The spiritual life ain’t all pious platitudes. This song is about how weird it gets, when you’re in love with the Source of Being and She’s not texting you back. Ever since it hit me that I was never going to be loved and accepted on the scale of my pop star heroes, me and my bandmates have started to work on a different vision of pop, one more our own, one that gestures at the stranger truths of the human mind. Here we are in thrall to verbally adventurous nineties music like Bjork and Beck and the Silver Jews and them kinda non-linear geniuses.”
The latest single from Ezra Furman’s new album All of Us Flames is “Poor Girl A Long Way From Heaven.” “The spiritual life ain’t all pious platitudes,” Ezra says.
Ezra Furman has shared a new single/video, “Poor Girl A Long Way From Heaven,” off of her forthcoming album, All of Us Flames, out August 26th via ANTI-/Bella Union. On “Poor Girl A Long Way From Heaven,” Furman recounts a childhood encounter with God, a gesture of spiritual yearning that flows into the album’s biblical facets.
Ezra Furman présente un nouvel extrait de son album All of Us Flames prévu pour le 26 août prochain. Il s’agit du morceau Poor Girl A Long Way From Heaven.
Ezra Furman releases a new single/video, “Poor Girl A Long Way From Heaven,” off of her forthcoming album, All of Us Flames, out August 26th via ANTI- / Bella Union. On “Poor Girl A Long Way From Heaven,” Furman recounts a childhood encounter with God, a gesture of spiritual yearning that flows into the album’s biblical facets. Her voice resonates over building instrumentation, bolstered by layered vocals.
More notable August 26 releases: Blondie: Against The Odds 1974-1982, Bret McKenzie: Songs Without Jokes, Eyedress: FULL TIME LOVER, Ezra Furman: All of Us Flames, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith: Let’s Turn It Into Sound, Laufey: Everything I Know About Love, Marcus King: Young Blood, Muse: Will of the People, Pantha du Prince: Garden Gaia, Pianos Become the Teeth: Drift, Tedeschi Trucks Band: I Am The Moon: IV. Farewell, Valerie June: Under Cover
Ezra Furman poursuit sur sa lancée. L’artiste ne dérougit pas et continue de livrer avec une régularité impressionnante de nouvelles compositions. Et comme pour le reste, Lilac and Black respecte le standard de qualité.
As always, we feature new song releases from independent musicians and up-and-coming artists, as well as those widely revered in the underground and indie music scenes, with a couple big names or two.
New albums are getting announced and released constantly. It’s tough to stay on top of it all. So that’s where we come in. Pitchfork is tracking notable new music releases with our guide to upcoming albums. In the coming months, there will be big new releases from Arctic Monkeys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dry Cleaning, Built to Spill, Sudan Archives, the 1975, Brian Eno, Ezra Furman, Julia Jacklin, Shygirl, and plenty more artists.
Electro-shocked glam-rock walks bittersweet glitter-swept runways in triumphant comeuppance and bruised ruminations while introspective pep-talker and hindsighted night-stalker Furman turns messy confessions into redemptive adventures.
Keeping track of all the new albums coming out in a given month is a big job, but we’re up for it: Below is a comprehensive list of the major releases you can look forward to in August. If you’re not trying to potentially miss out on anything, it might be a good idea to keep reading.
These are the songs that have been getting us going over the past seven days or so:
The Murlocs, “Virgin Criminal” — The start of a life of crime is chronicled in The Murlocs’ ’60s-inspired psychedelic punk rock tune from their next album, Rapscallion, due Sept. 16. Frontman Ambrose Kenny-Smith describes the song as being about the protagonist breaking his first crime and getting off on the thrill of being an outlaw.
