Dirtnap US Vinyl & CDs

Review: Before the release of their highly anticipated new full-length, 'Please Don't Take Me Back'; set to drop this October, Durham City's favourite emo/pop-punk outfit, Martha, offer a taster of what's to come with this 7" single, featuring the upcoming LP's opening cut, 'Beat, Perpetual'. While a sonically light-hearted yet earnest ode to the road and world of touring, the lyrics weigh up the isolated nature of the past two years that completely changed the core members working dynamic and livelihoods, while the b-side boasts a rapturous cover of 'Dreaming Out Loud', by Wisconsin indie group Tenement. A short sweet single to wet beaks and fan anticipation before the real deal arrives come autumn.

Review: Birthed from a chance encounter between Irish-born Count Vaseline/The Mighty Stef songwriter Stef Murphy and Stiff Little Fingers guitar tech Jamie Mechan in Nashville, Tennessee; the pair would quickly strike up a creative partnership that would ultimately culminate in The Sleeveens (Irish for "trickster"). Enlisting Ryan Sweeney (Cheap Time) and Eli Steele (Sweet Knives) to round out the line-up, the newfound old school punk outfit are set to kick off 2024 in the most retrospective manner possible with 11 cuts breathing with the classic style popularised by labels such as Chiswick, New Rose and Stiff Records almost a half-century ago. Energetic, angst-riddled, fuzzed-out mayhem emboldened by earworm hooks and intelligent, witty and immensely endearing penmanship.