Starting 2015 as meaningfully as they've thundered through the past 18 months, bruisingly noirish indie quartet DESPERATE JOURNALIST hurled themselves into the new year with the physical release of their coruscating self-titled debut album on January 26th and a fizzingly sold out show at the Lexington four days earlier. Now preparing for the springtime release of their next single, 'Hesitate', Desperate Journalist play Reading Oakford Social Club on February 5th and then head to Dalston for this very special show here:

fierce panda presents Label Mates III
DESPERATE JOURNALIST
+ Special Guests
TUESDAY MARCH 10TH 2015 LONDON DALSTON SHACKLEWELL ARMS
(71 Shacklewell Lane, London E8 2EB)
Advance Tickets £6.00 via
www.wegottickets.com/event/307081

Label Mates III is the third gathering of some of the feistiest independent labels around, wherein between March 6th and March 15th the Shacklewell Arms hands over the keys to its smashing venue to the crash-bang-walloping record company likes of Burger, Fortuna Pop!, Cardinal Fuzz, Odd Box, Trashmouth, Bad Vibrations, Fuzz Club, Faux Discx, Heavenly and little old us to flaunt their wares.
We're delighted to say that DESPERATE JOURNALIST are headlining fierce panda's big night out, not least because the terrifically terse quartet encapsulate so much that is right and righteous about the spirit, the punchiness and the attitude which has driven independent music forward for the past 38 years. But don't take our word for it, take these desperate journalists' thoughts on 'Desperate Journalist' by Desperate Journalist here...

"Indie hymnals, just at home in the murk of a basement club and the strobe lit concert hall, as the solitary bedroom. Walls diffused with posters of bands, a silent audience that reflects your wanton heart."

- drownedinsound

“There’s a burning sense of anger bubbling beneath the surface, a passion and intensity that has been sorely lacking in much of what passes for indie over the last few years.”

– The Von Pop Musical Express

“Desperate Journalist play powerful guitar pop that hits like The Smiths amped up to Savages’ intensity levels...A ceaseless onslaught of riffs, rhythms and Jo Bevan’s commanding microphone presence.”

- Stereogum

"What this record does possess is a joie de vivre and a humanity absent from so much of what passes for indie these days. It's not a lost cause, the world just needs more records that make you swoon, like this one."

- The Quietus

A wrecking ball of a fierce panda one sheet
The Act: DESPERATE JOURNALIST
The Release: 'DESPERATE JOURNALIST'
The Formats: VINYL / CD / DIGITAL ALBUM
The Label: fierce panda records
The Release Dates: DIGITAL NOVEMBER 3RD 2014 / PHYSICAL JANUARY 26TH 2015
The Tracklisting: 1 'Control'; 2 'O'; 3 'Cristina'; 4 'Hesitate'; 5 'Remainder'; 6 'Distance'; 7 'Nothing'; 8 'Happening'; 9 'Eulogy'; 10 'Heartbeats'; 11 'Cement'

They started their journey at the local Negative Creep grunge club night in Finsbury Park on February 23rd 2013. Since those heady, dark days Desperate Journalist have released one EP and two heroically independent singles and played every other shadowy basement in London Town, displaying a bold musical vigour and an admirably chaotic sense of coherence along the way.

Now comes the heroically independent debut album, ‘Desperate Journalist’ by Desperate Journalist, which was recorded almost entirely live in Soho’s Dean Street Studios, jointly produced alongside Keith TOTP and mixed by the band itself. If that wasn’t organic enough Desperate Journalist designed their own artwork, get heavily involved in their videos and generally hark back to a time when an authentic DIY spirit pervaded, like a perfect indierock storm brewing on the horizon.

Strung out together the eleven album tracks prove that there is something terrifically passionate and uncontrived about Desperate Journalist: as previous singles 'Cristina', 'Organ' and ‘Happening’ suggested there is towering, glowering joy to be found in the combination of Rob Hardy’s 12-string guitar sparklings and Jo Bevan’s strident vocals, and they revealed a leftfield band not afraid of giving their punchy blend of melody and melodrama a great big gothic grapple.

For ‘Desperate Journalist’ is a merciful release wherein brooding basslines and bruised melodies underpin songs of vehemence and menace, played by a band who happily appeared live on the fringes of the Whitby Goth Weekender. “We have in a way a gothic sensibility when it comes to writing songs in that we try to be as evocative and exciting as possible,” they muse. “But we’re more in tune with the directness of the punk / indie side of it all (Southern Death Cult, The Sound, Siouxsie, The Cure), rather than the full on velvet and lace of, say Nephilim.”

This much is true: you may well have observed that all the ‘Desperate Journalist’ songs have one word – and in the extremely minimal case of ‘O’, one letter - titles. It matches the compositions themselves, which are snappy. Sharp. Sassy. Sussed. And these are the kinds of things which set Desperate Journalist apart from the maddening masses, because this music is made by people who intelligently channel the essence of their influences rather than simply wear their t-shirts.

www.facebook.com/desperatejournalist