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  1. Radiohead – ‘Burn The Witch’

Ding- dong! Burn the Witch!

After disappearing from the digital world, sending out cryptic leaflets to their fans and generally creating a craze over the last few days, they finally gave us a first taste of their forthcoming, highly anticipated ninth album, the follow-up to the ‘The King of Limbs. The song is called ‘Burn the Witch’ and has a long history. Phrases related to ‘Burn the Witch’ were first seen in the cover art to 2002’s ‘Hail to the Thief’ and, since then, it has had many references made to it through the years.

The song is dense with references some of which we are briefly going to discuss here. Thom Yorke sings: “Stay in the shadows/ Cheer at the gallows/ This is a round up”. Does it remind you of Plato’s Cave Allegory? The voice in the song is an overlord giving orders to his subjects. They should stay in the shadow, suppressed, refrain from enlightenment— easy to manipulate. The themes of suppression and (dis-)obedience are quite evident here.

The allusion to the concept of witch-hunt, not just the historical but also a modern one —the susceptibility of a society, its tendency towards superstition and insane prejudice against all that differs from the norm— is also a very strong theme in the song.

Finally, the stop-motion claymation video accompanying ‘Burn the Witch’, directed by Chris Hopewell, is a work of art: equally complex to the song, referencing “The Wicker Man” and “Trumpton”, but mind you, it is not suitable for children; it can give you goosebumps.

Both the song and video are a colourful and sweetness-glazed reason to make us stop, listen and think: where is this society going? How more awful are we going to become? Are the people born to hate? Are they merely sheep impossible to outrage, unable to revolt and change their own destiny?

Debbie Maliotaki

 

  1. Facit – ‘Dans Le Pacifique’

A nice, atmospheric, erotic blend from Facit, the project of Joakim Karlsson. See the name? If you want to go to France, you lose! He is from Gothenburg, Sweden!

Oui, mes amis!

John Pallas

 

  1. Everything Fades – ‘Here’s To A New Tomorrow’

 It’s not always the case that the three ingredients of a given recipe will produce a great dish; the secret is to find the perfect balance.  And this is exactly what happened here:  post-punk (darkness) , psychedelia (trance) and shoegaze (reverb) were perfectly blended together to achieve such an impressive and beautiful alchemy.

Hailing from Austin, Texas, the 3-piece band Everything Fades are releasing their debut double EP ‘Here’s to a New Tomorrow/Moving Mountains’ via the Dutch indie label Geertruida.

Fabrizio Lusso

 

  1. Blink-182 – ‘Bored To Death’

With their new single ‘Bored To Death’, Blink-182 announce their new album, ‘California’, coming up on July 1st… Save your breath!

Vasiliki Koulouri

 

  1. Braids – ‘Companion’

Companion’ is the title track from the forthcoming 4-track ep (Arbutus/ Flemish Eye, 20th May), by Canadian indie-shoegaze ensemble Braids. In two words: Stunningly beautiful!

Christos Doukakis

 

Compiled by Debbie Maliotaki, John Pallas, Fabrizio Lusso, Vasiliki Koulouri & Christos Doukakis