New music review with singles from Home Counties 'Roundabout' and Y 'Skipper'

Our weekly fix of the best new music as Julia Mason (aka The Decibel Decoder) brings us her new music review with singles from Home Counties Roundabout and Y Skipper

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Artist: Home Counties

Track: Roundabout

Credit Luca Bailey

Home Counties release new single Roundabout, the final taste of the band's second album Humdrum out this 24 October via Submarine Cat Records and produced by Al Doyle (of Hot Chip, LCD Soundsystem). Built on clipped guitars, elastic basslines and a nervy sense of momentum, Roundabout finds Home Counties at their most playful and immediate, musing on social fatigue amidst a small-talk spiral.

On the release of Roundabout singer Will Harrison said: “This song is about desperately trying to escape a conversation with someone at a party who won’t stop talking about themselves. It is definitely one of the most light-hearted moments of the new album. To capture the atmosphere of the subject matter, we ended up recording our friends talking shit in the pub garden of our local in Homerton, which you can hear during the bridge. I think you can hear Bill talking about HS2 at one point. It might not be the deepest moment of the album, but it might be the most fun!"

On working with Al Doyle, Will continued: "We recorded Humdrum over two weeks in Al's studio just off Brick Lane, and it was a blast. Al is a hero of ours, with LCD and Hot Chip being two of our biggest influences, so it meant a lot that he wanted to work with us. A lot of the songs came into the studio nearly fully formed, in classic Home Counties maximalist style. Al was great at making us pull things back to serve the song and enforce the groove, as well as helping us shape arrangements more dynamically over the longer dancier cuts (e.g. When In Rome and Meet Me In The Flat Roof ). We were also able to use Al’s extensive collection of synths and drum machines, expanding the electronic palette to create some of the wackiest and lushest sounds we’ve ever used. Now just comes the challenge of trying to recreate one-hundred-thousand pound tones on our beat up MS-20s…"

Home Counties Live Dates

October

26 - Jacaranda, Liverpool (In-store)

27 - Truck, Oxford (In-store)

28 - Banquet, Kingston (In-store)

29 - Pie & Vinyl, Southsea (In-store)

29 - Vinilo, Southampton (In-store)

November

22 - Rough Trade, Bristol

23 - Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff

24 - Green Door Store, Brighton

27 - Bodega, Nottingham

28 - Flying Duck, Glasgow

29 - Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds

30 - YES Pink Room, Manchester

December

01 - Hallamshire Hotel, Sheffield

02 - Scala, London

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Artist: Y

Track: Skipper

Credit James Barrett

London collective Y release new single Skipper via SO Recordings (Enter Shikari, Deadletter, Big Special) & Hideous Mink Records (Alien Chicks, Opus Kink) following the BBC 6 Music Steve Lamacq premiere.

Emerging from the capital’s ever-fertile underground, Y have quickly carved out a reputation as one of the UK’s most fearless new bands, cutting their teeth at The Windmill (a rite of passage for South London’s most adventurous acts) and ticking off supports alongside the likes Fat Dog, KEG and Warmduscher in the process. Y have a London show at Third Man Records, Soho lined up for 30 October to celebrate their new single.

Speaking on on the track, Y shared: “Skipper was an obvious choice for our next single, as we’ve always had a strong reaction from audiences, when playing it live. With this track we wanted to push the sound we’ve become known for, restless and relentless. Lyrically the track addresses class divide and hierarchy in which the rich skip through a world they feel they own. It is written like an acid trip, full of word play. Sonically, Skipper aggresses against the outdated; It takes influences from the best of the past, whilst being firmly set in the now but with an eye on the future.”

Y Live Dates

October

30 - The Blue Basement, Third Man Records, London

November

4 - Omeara, London

7 - O2 Academy Islington, London (w/ CUD)

7 - Mutations Festival, Brighton

8 - Simple Things Festival, Bristol

11 - The Waterfront, Norwich (w/ Warmduscher)

27 - Concorde, Brighton (w/ Warmduscher)

January

2 - Rockaway Beach Festival, Bognor Regis

February

7 - Supersonic, Paris

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