UKNY for April 10
English Teacher (photo by Tatiana Pozuelo, PR)
Led by singer and guitarist Lily Fontaine, the Leeds quartet English Teacher is on the brink of releasing their debut EP, Polyawkward, on April 22 via Nice Swan Records. I was smitten with this band when I first heard them back in late 2020. As is the course of great bands, they've now reached a satisfying and much-deserved 2022 full-buzz status in Britain. English Teacher embark on a UK tour later this month, which includes an opening set for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at Manchester's O2 Apollo on June 5. Fontaine and her bandmates, who met at Leeds Conservatoire, have released another track from Polyawkward — a stew of anxiety and supermarkets — which I'll get to on tonight's "UKNY" at 11 p.m.
It's been rumored for a while that Elizabeth Fraser, ex of Cocteau Twins, would be returning with new music — and now she has as part of a duo, Sun's Signature. A collaboration with her partner Damon Reece (Massive Attack's longtime drummer), the pair will drop their self-titled, five-track EP on Record Store Day's ancillary release date of June 18, available widely in July. It's Fraser's first release in 13 years.
In additon to new Sun's Signature, songs from Totnes's Pale Blue Eyes, Stockport's Blossoms, Liverpool's Courting, Los Angeles's Automatic, and Mobara's Eiko Ishibashi — she has scored one of the most beautiful films released in 2021, the Oscar-winning Drive My Car.
Traveling through British and international releases on "UKNY," Sundays from 11 p.m.-midnight on 90.7 FM, streaming online, and available in the Weekend Archives after broadcast.
Songs played:
1. Ibibio Sound Machine, “17 18 19,” Electricity
2. Pale Blue Eyes, “Dr. Pong,” single
3. Blossoms, “The Sulking Poet,” Ribbon Around the Bomb
4. English Teacher, “Mental Maths,” Polyawkward EP
5. The Clash & Ranking Roger, “Rock the Casbah,” Rock the Casbah/Red Angel Dragnet EP
6. (Los Angeles, US) Automatic, “New Beginning,” Excess
7. Courting, “Tennis,” single
8. (Kyoto, JP) Otoboke Beaver, “Pardon?,” Super Champon
9. (Cologne, DE) SPARKLING, “C’est Ma Vie,” This is My Life/Das Ist Mein Leben/C’est Ma Vie EP
10. Talk Talk, “It’s My Life (US remix),” Electrospective: The Remixes
11. The Smile, “Pana-vision,” single
12. (Mobara, JP) Eiko Ishibashi, “Drive My Car (Hiroshima,” Drive My Car – Original Soundtrack
13. Sun’s Signature, “Golden Air,” Sun’s Signature EP
14. (Riyadh, SA-Brooklyn, US) Arooj Aftab, “Mohabbat (radio edit),” Vulture Prince
