The Über Rock Singles Club – February’s Femmes Fatales (Part One)

Curated by Monk

Well, it’s Valentines weekend and we could think of no better occasion to share our love and appreciation of the many highly talented, individual and distinct female talents who bring light into the darkest recesses of the otherwise (sadly) male-dominated rock ‘n’ roll Überverse with the first in this special two-part feature which focuses on just a very small part of the massive contribution our femmes fatales make to the music that we all love…

Anika ‘Hearsay’ (Sacred Bones Records)

The British-born Berlin-based musician Annika Henderson delivers a powerful Krautrock-influenced alt-pop indictment of big media on this dark electrowave lead track from her new album, which will see her taking us into her particular ‘Abyss‘ at the beginning of April:

Arc Dakota ‘Breathe’ (Self-Released)

These Belfast alt-punks made their first impression with me last month with a revelatory performance at the first heat of the local Bloodstock Metal 2 The Masses competition, deservedly earning a slot in the semi-finals:

Arch Enemy ‘Paper Tiger’ (Century Media)

When it comes to defiantly distinctive and individual voices in extreme metal, it is almost impossible to look past Alissa White-Gluz, who has perhaps done more to take the definition of “extreme female vocals” to their very boundary and beyond over the past decade and is once again set to prove why she is one of the genre’s most powerful vocalists with the impending release of AE’s new ‘Blood Dominion‘ album:

Bam Fatale ‘Pretty Little Me’ (Self-Released)

The music created by this genre-bending “moshpit shawty” is difficult to categorize, blending alt-metal, punk and hip-hop with her Afro-Indigenous Choctaw heritage. This third single from her upcoming debut EP is a defiant recollection of her isolation while being raised as a Jehovah’s Witness and how she found her own voice:

Bex ‘crybaby’ (SCUM)

Co-written with Sam Matlock of Wargasm and Sam Cramer of Future Humans, the punk rebel’s first new music of the year sees her adding a fun twist to the subject of female oppression in her own inimitable style of using tongue-in-cheek sarcasm to highlight serious issues:

Bonnie Trash ‘Haunt Me (What Have You Become)’ (Hand Drawn Dracula)

The Canadian quartet continue their exploration of death in all its aspects, including the impact it has on those left behind, on this final advance taster of their new album, released at the end of this month:

Bria Salmena ‘Stretch The Struggle’ (Sub Pop)

The former frontwoman of Canadian post-punk outfit FRIGS will be unleashing a ‘Big Dog’ when she releases her debut solo album at the end of March, which she will follow with a tour, including a trio of dates in the ÜK in May.

Calva Louise ‘WTF’ (Mascot Records)

About to head back out on the road supporting bhangra metallers Bloodywood on their epic European trek, this Brighton-based multi-national trio deliver another powerful and incisive slight of electro-core:

Chokehold ‘Don’t Wanna Rockstar’ (Self-Released)

This is a project put together by guitarist/producer Kane Roberts as a defiant middle finger to what he sees as the corrupt and broken music business model, and this is the first taster of the result:

Erja Lyytinen ‘Smell The Roses’ (Self-Released)

The title track off the latest album by one of the large group of female blues-rock guitarists who have been really shaking up the genre and the scene in recent years and no doubt will continue to do so for quite some time to come:

Esther Rose ‘New Band’ (New West Records)

We really ‘Want‘ to hear the upcoming second album from this Nashville songstress in its entirety, but as we have to wait until the beginning of May we’ll have to settle for this very tasty morsel:

Face Yourself ‘Sideration’ (Sumerian Records)

After three self-released EPs, the multi-national deathcore unit have signed their first record deal, from which this is the first reward:

Frantic Amber ‘Jolly Jane’ (ROAR)

The Swedish melodeath quartet offer up the first gruesome sample from their upcoming third album, which takes female serial killers as its theme – quite appropriate really given the murderous intent this displays:

Hanabie ‘Tasty Survivor’ (Self-Released)

The Harajuku-core/J-Metal supababes (sic) have wasted no time following up their recent ‘Bucchigiri Tokyo’ EP with this standalone offering, which is the theme tuned to the new anime series Momentary Lily’:

Hartlight ‘The Triumph Of Metal’ (Self-Released)

The French progressive symphonic metallers return with the alchemical title track of their upcoming second album, due for release at the end of the month:

Jinjer ‘Duél’ (Napalm Records)

Undoubtedly one of modern metal’s most talked-about artists, the Ukrainian progressive groove metal icons have just released their potent fifth album, of which this is the declarative title track:

Joanne Shaw Taylor ‘Hell Of A Good Time’ (Journeyman Records)

A change in mood again for our final selection of today’s first instalment, as the blues-rock powerhouse, one of the most phenomenal genre guitarists we have come across in many a long year, continues the build up to the release of her new album, due in June, with this anthem to the power of self-destruction:

Well, that’s it for the first half of our special feature. Check back again tomorrow when we’ll be profiling more of the most singular, powerful and influential female voices in the genre. In the meantime,, don’t forget: keep ‘er lit, keep ‘er between the hedges and keep on Über Rockin’ in the free world \m/