New music review with singles from Fierce Shook, LIPWORMS and PROJECTOR
- Julia Mason aka The Decibel Decoder
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Our weekly fix of the best new music as Julia Mason (aka The Decibel Decoder) brings us her new music review with singles from Fierce Shook Up and Down, LIPWORMS Teeth and PROJECTOR It Surely Has Been Hell
Artist: Fierce Shook
Track: Up and Down
Up and Down is the latest single from Irish band Fierce Shook. The song is a melodic and plaintive alternative rock tune, reminiscent of classic Dinosaur Jr. and Neil Young, and is taken from the band’s upcoming 6 track mini-album, Sons of Dis, which is being released by Camellia Sinensis Records this August (cassette available here). The single shows off the echoey mesmerising guitar work which takes centre stage, leading the vocal which sits as a layer just underneath the instrumentation. It demonstrates a different, more nuanced sound from the trio.
Fierce Shook are an experimental punk band from a town called Tullamore in Ireland. They are Rob Moore, Austin and Owen Holmes. They’ve been releasing music since 2021 with their most recent releases being the Something Sophisticated EP (October 2024) and the Fierce Weng single (March 2025).
As with the debut EP, Sons of Dis was recorded, mixed and mastered by Shaun Cadogan (Chewie, Burning Realm, Primordial) at Last Light Recording, Dublin. All 6 tracks were recorded in 1 day, capturing the energy and intensity of the band’s live shows. The new mini-album combines punk, surf-rock, unexpected experimentation (think Fugazi and Bad Religion combined with Deerhoof and Suburban Lawns) with some incredible song writing that will stay with you long after it’s finished playing.
* * *
Artist: LIPWORMS
Track: Teeth
Returning with their first single in 2025, Portsmouth-based techno-psych fuzz merchants LIPWORMS share new single Teeth via Strong Island Recordings (Ugly, Los Bitchos, Ugly Ozo).
Intriguingly the band looked to channel the sprawling cataclysms of their loud and immersive gigs. They took an early improvised live recording of Teeth into their home studio and proceeded to mutilate, distort, and sample multiple guitar, synth, bass and vocal takes to generate new rhythmic ideas. The track transformed into an hypnotic beast, captivating yet raw with the immediacies of rocket-fuelled psychedelic rock but also throbbing with club-ready beats.
Offering more on the track, the band note: “Three separate machine states soldered together with noise, sweat, and system errors. Expect blown-out drum machines, scream-laced static, and acid lines that trip over themselves. Jagged vocals echo through a distorted void, like corrupted voice memos from a stolen synth. Every sound is either too loud, too broken, or too fast - and that’s exactly the point.”
LIPWORMS Live Dates
July
16 - London, Sebright Arms w/ashnymph and Restless Taxis
17 - Portsmouth, Edge of The Wedge
September
10 - London, The George Tavern
October
8 - Reading, The Purple Turtle
* * *
Artist: PROJECTOR
Track: It Surely Has Been Hell
Brighton trio PROJECTOR release the lead single It Surely Has Been Hell from their newly announced second album Contempt which will be released on 3 October via new label home Alcopop! Records. It's a blisteringly raw observation on finding some meaning within the tumultuous times in which we currently live.
Commenting on the new single, guitarist Edward said: “O, it is a very hateful song. It makes me slightly uncomfortable to listen to. It’s quite lonely as well, I think. It’s a song about feeling sad and feeling a bit alienated, not knowing my place in the world, while at the same time saying "everything’s shit, I don’t want to be involved anyway." The former possibly informing the latter. As usual for us, the everyday ennui is couched in apocalyptic language, because we’re grandiose twats. The lyrics draw on the Dadaist idea that if the world is incomprehensible, then the only way to respond is with the absurd. Hence, lines about laying my eggs in the sand, football references (again) and quoting Yeats.”
Recorded and produced by Ben Hampson (DITZ, Lambrini Girls) and mastered by Katie Tavini, the new album follows on from their 2024 debut NOW WHEN WE TALK IT’S VIOLENCE (Venn Records).
Bassist and vocalist Lucy shares: “In some ways, Contempt is us consolidating and accepting what we are: aggressive and stupid and weird, as well as carefully devoted to melody and harmony. We’ve always been aware of the dissonance in us and our music. Probably like most cynical musicians we love beautiful things but can’t really enjoy them without tearing them apart.”
The band are announcing a short run of August 2025 festival appearances, with a run of previously-revealed UK/France October 2025 headline tour dates also on sale now.
Projector Live Dates
August
2 - Multitude Fest - Milton Keynes (UK)
16 - Dedfest - Lewes (UK)
21 - Bordeaux (w/ DITZ) (FR)
29 - Mirabilis Festival (FR)
30 - Guinguette Sonore Festival (FR)
October
8 – Reims // La Cartonnerie (FR)
9 – Rennes // L’Antipode (FR)
10 – Paris // Point Éphémère (FR)
11 – Lille // L’Aeronef (FR)
13 – Birmingham // Sunflower Lounge (UK)
14 – Sheffield // Hallamshire Hotel (UK)
15 – Manchester // 33 Oldham St (UK)
16 – Bristol // The Louisiana (UK)
17 – London // The Lower Third (UK)
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