Burning Neighbours. Neighbours Burning Neighbours

The band with one of the unpleasantest names in rock history, Neighbours Burning Neighbours, returns to this blog with its debut album. The Rotterdam based band is by now known for its post punk, noise rock, and close to city and label mates Tramhaus. They both belong to the same scene, sure, but Neighbours Burning Neighbours takes its music even further left of dial. And yet, I found that the band surprised me several times on Burning Neighbours. (Concerning the band name, it doesn't have to do with the horrible associations my mind conjures up, but comes from the novel 'From Here To Eternity' by Caitlin Doughty on death rituals. So, take the title literally in that way.)

The surprise starts in the very first song. 'Trans Youth' is a song that goes through a host of moods. After a guitar only intro, an almost dissonant bass joins, after which the whole band kicks in. When the singing starts the band plays at its most ugly, fiery but ugly it is. And then the rollercoaster ride of emotions starts. If Neighbours Burning Neighbours ever played delicately it is the lead guitar in the interludes. Be ready to receive some more surprises as the band totally winds down next. Sure, it is a postpunk riff that is played, but it can be called beautiful nonetheless. Just like the solo guitar that comes in next. With a bass that joins in in full support. 'Trans Youth' is a complex song in a few ways but a great opener to Burning Neighbours.

The band consists of guitarists and singers Alicia Breton Ferrer and Daanie van den IJssel, bassist Kat Kalkman and Drummer Aram Scheeve. The band debuted on this blog with a self-titled 7" single in 2020. Breton Ferrer can be found in several other guises, going back to 2019 with The Sweet Release of Death. All involve noise and more noise over more noise. There's enough on Burning Neighbours to underscore this, but it's only half the story. Neighbours Burning Neighbours also seeks other musical forms to express itself. I do not expect anyone not able to stand noise to be won over by the songs. For all others it makes listening to the record a far more interesting experience. It allows for being surprised and to enjoy the full eruptions better.

Most of the songs therefore are totally left on the pop dial. The chords and notes in nothing resemble pop hits, of any point in time. They're noisy, sometimes pure ugly and weird. And yet. The band manages to get some pop elements into these post punk, alternative rock/noise songs. This makes for interesting listening. Something for everyday? No, but regularly? Certainly. Burning Neighbours contains the kind of music that is ideal for the variation a persons needs. Just like a punk record of some sort every once in a while.

'Neil Young' has an interesting lyric. "Neil Young is killing me". Now I literally do not know one woman personally who is a Neil Young fan. "I can't listen to him". (Usually Bob Dylan follows in the same sentence: "I love several of his songs, as long as he doesn't sing them"!) I wonder if this lyric comes from this distaste of  Young's voice? Musically the song has nothing to do with Dinosaur Sr. music. The song is another example of how Neighbours Burning Neighbours plays with dynamics on the album.

To be sure a dystopic wall of noise is unleashed on the listener in the next song. Not for nothing it is called 'Catharsis'. The scream that is the only vocal contribution, is like exorcism. The music is only there to accompany that scream. "Shout, shout let it all out" translated into a scream. Who needs words, when the message is understood? Part of its music is Arthur Janov's (primal scream) therapy set to music. To give a little context on the left side of that scream dial, there is Porridge Radio and SPRINTS, both bands of which the singer emotionally unloads herself. Next, there's nothing for quite some time and then comes this album. Musically the others are, no matter how good, child's play.

You understand by now that I can't call Burning Neighbours an easy album, as it is not. Neighbours Burning Neighbours is a talented band and it presents itself exactly that way on Burning Neighbours. Relentless, without an inch of empathy for the listeners' ears, it gives us its all. Like in the great rock song 'Cotton Brain'. And that is a lot. No matter how alternative and far out there, the band is among the best and not afraid to show different sides to itself. In the meantime raising the game for itself as well. It also means the band can diversify in the future. People will come to expect surprises. That is the future. In the meantime let's enjoy Burning Neighbours.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

You can listen to and order Burning Neighbours here:

https://neighboursburningneighbours.bandcamp.com/album/burning-neighbours

Moon Mirror. Nada Surf

Nada Surf may have come into my life, most likely like everyone else living through the 90s, with its novelty hit 'Popular'. I did not start taking to the band beyond 'Popular' until the 10s. The last three albums went down really well with me, starting with the superb 'The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy' and especially the band's previous effort 'Never Not Together'. To my surprise it's already eight years ago since I saw the band live in Haarlem. Men, how time flies, with that gaping hole exactly in between.

Fans tell me that these albums are far from the band's best. I still have to find out. Running a blog makes it hard to discover other music on the side I can tell you. On the other hand, I would probably not have discovered Nada Surf in 2012 without the blog.

So, Moon Mirror finding its way into my cd tray is not surprising. The album starts so strong. It is a huge mystery how someone after circa thirty years is still able to write such fresh sounding songs based on the same few chords (progressions). Matthew Caws does though. 'Second Skin' and 'In Front Of Me Now' do not only open the album, they open me up as well. The two songs simply slide into my brain like a knife through butter.

Nada Surf for all its days consists of the same three guys, Matthew Caws, Daniel Lorca, and Ira Elliot. If you hear a keyboard, at times even prominently, it is played by their friend of ages Louie Lino. For decades the men play alternative rock of the bittersweet kind. There's always that fear of losing something before it is lost it seems. They always deliver in making perfect blends of rock and pop, in search of perfection and not afraid to find it. Even when punk comes in like in 'Intel And Dreams' and the tempo goes up as if the band members are still 20 somethings, that perfection can still be heard. There's simply no mistaking it.

Promo photo

Listening to Caws' voice, it is clear he no longer is a 20 something. It makes the songs more convincing. After all he doesn't present lyrics about the challenges of old but the ones of today with the wisdom of the past decades worked in. This leads to a contemplative mid-tempo rock song like 'New Propeller'. "Don't be afraid you'll be replaced", Caws sings, underscoring that not everything is greener on the other side of the fence. The song can almost be called sentimental but open yourself to it and you'll hear nothing but beauty and wishing someone well.

It's four and a half years since 'Never Not Together'. That is a long time. Enough to almost forget about a band. What Moon Mirror shows, is that in that period of time a band can return with another great album. I'm not afraid to write after a few listen sessions that this is an album I will want to play for quite some time like its predecessor and 'Stars'. The album feels so much alive, so full of positive energy, something that I want to hear regularly. From a sort of ballad, like the title song, to the charged alternative rockers, including 'Open Seas', and everything in between, Moon Mirror is the real Nada Surf.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

You can listen to and order Moon Mirror here:

https://nadasurf.bandcamp.com/album/moon-mirror

Happy pt 2. Douglas Firs

Three Douglas First albums can be found here but after 2017 things became quiet. At least here. With Happy pt2 Gertjan van Hellemont returns, older (39), wiser and more mellow than I remember and all the influences and resemblances still can be heard today. With 'Shimmer & Glow' I already wrote that Douglas Firs looked firmly into the rearview mirror musically. On the new album that happens even more, as if Van Hellemont in part was inspired also by the music his (grand)parents listened to when they were young.

What Happy pt 2 foremost is, is an album that allows itself to be listened to in an extremely smooth way. An album that is everything but dangerous, o.k. it has one or two moments,without becoming too sweet or mellow. The strings could be transposed to a Doris Day or Debbie Reynolds single from the 1950s with ease, the drums and bass cannot. The strings make the album sound familiar to my generation, having heard these kind of songs when our parents played their old singles and albums, but a younger generation? I doubt it. The combination Douglas Firs creates here is a delicate one, because usually I would discard an album like it. I do when I'm in the mood for something tougher, some Amyl and The Sniffers when I was cooking tonight. When eating though Happy pt 2 certainly is a good choice.

Luckily Van Hellemont is not afraid to jump the gun. Just listen how the guitar jumps overboard in 'Back To That Day', suggesting that going back has become impossible with all the pain and anguish coming from that. Is it therefore that the next song is called 'I Miss You'? He sings about his son to his mother who is no longer there. About the questions you never even thought of asking when it was still possible. The song touches on the exact right sentiment, with longing horns and a quizzical, searching piano moving through the melody. The song becomes a little jazzy, with the sax taking the mood and sound from Sonny Rollins' solo in The Rolling Stones' 'Waiting On A Friend'.

Promo photo: Francis Vanhee

Things do get tougher on Happy pt 2. Douglas Firs plays its own form of alternative rock in 'Start Again', showing the above mentioned guitar solo was no accident. The song ends in swath of strings though, changing the mood totally. In between we can his son babbling away in the song.

With the folk ballad 'It Isn't Me' pedal steel guitar and all, Douglas Firs shows its enormous diversity on the album. Each song brings a new surprise. The musicality is striking though. 'Just To Get It Right' is another ballad but so different. Beauty exists in music and this song is proving it does. The atmospherics change my world a little when listening to it. The horns hover over the song, as do the pedal steel and the electric guitar's sparse notes. The way everything is mixed is very decisive for the mood of this song.

By then Douglas Firs has totally convinced me. More so than on albums two and three. (I've missed number four.) By moving through genres and decades the band not only shows diversity but also grasping the essence of it all. This is what shows foremost on Happy pt 2 and makes for extremely pleasant listening. And then the Stonesy country gospel of 'Magazine' still has to come, as do three more songs. Let me leave you alone with the album to find out for yourself.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

You can order Happy pt 2 here:

https://excelsior-recordings.com/products/douglas-firs-happy-pt-2

2024, week 37. 10 singles

With a regular 10 singles feature, things are slowly going back to normal. It all starts with a reference to the last single of the previous Wednesday post, which was a debut on this blog and that mostly continues to be the case. No truly old hands in this post. Go out and discover but above all enjoy.

The Shot. The Giraffes

"When he heard the shot, he caressed, you did your best", singer Aaron Lazar of The Giraffes sings in The Shot. Where the conclusion of this line is concerned, I'm convinced the band did just that. Everyone listening to the song will conclude like me that The Giraffes took over where Mark Lanegan left off with The Screaming Trees' last album. They add a little 60s The Kinks vibes in the la, la and aah, aah sequence and some dominant alternative rock in the second half of The Shot. The result is a song loaded with tension, but unlike Lovina Falls' 'Ellery Way', which usually would have been right on top of this review (see previous Wednesday), The Giraffes allows the tension a full release. The Shot is far from an easy song. For that the structure, tempo and notes used are to irregular. All together it is quite an impressive song though. Brooklyn's The Giraffes is around since 1996 and working towards the release of its upcoming album 'Cigarette'. 27 September is the date.

Anesthetic Analgesic. Platonick Dive

Anesthetic Analgesic? Now what can that possibly mean? It is not explained in the song, as it is an instrumental. Yes, it's a rock song, but at the same time it is absolutely relaxed. It comes across to me as a mix of Asaf Avidan with Marillion and little bits and pieces of other famous bands of the past five decades. Platonick Dive is band from Livorno in Italy. It started in 2010 and still consists of Gabriele Centelli, Marco Figliè and Jonathan Nelli. Together they play guitar, bass and drums, with lots of overdubs. It does seem like someone plays some keyboards as well, as all the holes left by the other instruments are filled up here and there with some nice synth sounds. Platonick Dive manages to find the extra melodies in its composition regularly, before taking the song to its grand finale, making it towards the post rock monicker instead of symphonic rock. Take a Deep Breath is the album and will be released on 13 September.

Spinning. Pom Pom Squad

From POM to Pom Pom Squad is a smaller step than one might think. Both bands play alternative rock with a modern pop flavour. One from Amsterdam the latter from Brooklyn, which allows for more attention usually. Pom Pom Squad made its debut on this blog a little over three years ago with its debut album 'Death Of A Cheerleader'. I'll admit to having forgotten all about the band in the meantime. Spinning is a great reminder though. The alternative rock laced with modern synth sounds gives singer Mia Berrin the opportunity to be both sweet, sensitive and tough. And here she matches POM singer Liza van As. Fans of both bands should be listening to each other, the similarity in names may be coincidental, there's always a deeper meaning in the cosmos, isn't there? Spinning's stop start rhythms give the song a different kind of energy than most songs have. The tough drums hold it all together for Pom Pom Squad in the choruses. Mirror Starts Moving Without Me is released on 25 October.

Sick Of The Blues. Porridge Radio

Sick Of The Blues has Dana Margolin shouting to the world that she's "in love with my life again". No matter how small the song starts, just Margolin's voice and electric guitar, the song does follow the structure of the songs created by The Police and Nirvana, to name two bands. Porridge Radio certainly knows its way in the small - huge or light - shade kind of songs. The single announces the release of an album with an impossibly long name, 'Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me' (18 October). Having the privilege of being able to listen to it already, I can only share that Sick Of The Blues is the bellwether to a great new album. That Dana Margolin is in love again, does not mean that the all's well in the world. From the outside, I remain deeply concerned for her well-being. On the other hand, if it brings songs this intense and good, something beautiful comes from it all. The trumpet at the end comes as a huge surprise, a very nice and smooth ending to a very intense song.

Passage Way. Nap Eyes

Nap Eyes is a name you have not come across yet on this blog, until today. With Passage Way the band has released a single that has an endless lyric and plays the same chords over and over, but slowly but surely the band raises its commitment to Passage Way, before things are allowed to wind down near the end, when singer-guitarist Nigel Chapman is left to fend for his own in the final line. Nap Eyes is a Canadian band on route to the release of its fifth album, 'The Neon Gate' on 18 October. Together with Brad Loughead (guitars, bass, synths, drum programming), Josh Salter (bass, guitars, synths) and Seamus Dalton (drums, guitars, synth) Chapman manages to make a song that in its essence is very elementary, yet sounds extremely interesting. One name comes to mind, Wilco, without the musical madness as in a Nels Cline solo. Just like that band Nap Eyes is able to tell a long story and make people listen.

Pay Phone. Artificial Go

Enter the debut single of Artificial Go, a band from Cincinnati, Ohio. Fans from anything from The B-52s to Gruppo Sportivo will heave a collective sigh for things that once were and things that are now. Artificial Go manages to grasp both bands' vibe but not their vibrancy. It comes close though. Just like the arty-new wave-punkers Pay Phone contains a few musical curve balls, musical enthusiasm barely matches competence, yet, in the meantime the song is filled with enthusiasm and musicality. Pay Phone is no 'Private Idaho' nor 'Hey Girl', it is Pay Phone and brings this kind of music into the third decade of the 21st century. It needs more bands like Artificial Go as we have enough of the louder post-punk bands already. Album 'Hopscotch Fever' was released last Friday.

Van Goes. Being Dead

Goes is a city in the Dutch province Zeeland. Whether Being Dead names its single after the town, I strongly doubt but then who knows? Referring to the above single 'Pay Phone', I notice that Van Goes also has a neurotic The B-52's rhythm and a man-female vocal. On top of that, it has a feeling of weirdness that brings me back to the first Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention albums. In other words, Van Goes may be from 2024, its influences go back close to sixty years. Just as confusing is the bio mentioning a duo and the photo showing a trio. All that aside, Van Goes is an energetic single full of weirdness and surprises, the kind that is unpredictable. There's no way of telling what comes next. Being Dead is not afraid to do anything. What this means for an album? We will have to be patient until 'EELS' is released on 27 September.

Tombstone Junction. JC Miller

JC Miller made his debut on this blog in the early summer. Now it's fall and he returns with another oh so fine country rock or American roots song. There's no need to do something new or revolutionary when you are able to write and record a song like Tombstone Junction. This single is a decent song with the kind of rough edge that makes it shine. Everything about this song is neat and aimed at pleasing fans of songs like it. At the same time it contains it all. A strong drum part, a supporting bass, some modestly dirty sounding guitars, a slide in the background and in the solo, a warm Hammond coming through it all, a piano note here and there, and finally some soft sounding strings (or synths), all in support of that voice that comes with a nice edge to it. JC Miller knows exactly what he's doing and presents it proudly. Tombstone Junction, not a "farewell" as Miller sings, but a see you again soon, is my guess.

Waiting For The Catch. Shed Seven

Shed Seven is around for 30 years according to the bio send with the upcoming album, 'Liquid Gold' (27-09). 30 Years and I can't remember ever having heard of Shed Seven. Based on Waiting For The Catch, that might have been a shame. This single is a great mix between pop and rock. It has a smoothness Tears for Fears once had (perhaps still, I don't know) and brings in a far directer rock sound, while smoothing things over at every chance with large swaths of synths. The singing is another plus. Shed Seven's singer Rick Witter shares duties with Issy Ferris of the UK folk/rock/Americana duo Ferris & Sylvester. They sing a full duet of an undercooled quality where the flames lick at when they sing the title of the single, "waiting for the catch". The sound of the New York band is chockfull. There are instruments to be heard everywhere. The whole span of the mix is filled with one. Until the guitar is allowed to jump in front with a pointed solo. This is the kind of song that deserves to become a hit.

I Don't Care. The Mono Kids

In my mind The Mono Kids can be found on this blog for years already and yet the first time it featured is only 2023. The Eindhoven duo returns with a punkrocker that has little, better, no consideration for the more sensitive ears. The only thing the people attached to these ears can be happy about is that it is all over at 1 minute and 19 seconds. With I Don't Care The Mono Kids honour classic punk bands but also the garage rock bands of the 60s. When they repeat the "I don't care" lyric a host of bands spring up in my mind from a very long time ago, when Dutch "pop groups" scored hits and obscure U.S. bands recorded singles that can be found on 'Nuggets' or the 'Psychedelic States' series. The song is over before you know but by then The Mono Kids have more than made its point. What an energy and what fun!

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

hummingbird. Carly Pearce

Het was een lange weg voor Carly Pearce, maar inmiddels behoort ze tot de smaakmakers van de countrypop, wat ze nog eens bevestigt met het meer tegen authentieke Amerikaanse rootsmuziek aanleunende hummingbird.

Iedereen die op basis van haar eerste twee albums twijfelde over de talenten van Carly Pearce werd over de streep getrokken door het indrukwekkende breakup album 29: Written In Stone, waarmee ze zich schaarde onder de beteren binnen de Nashville countrypop. Met het deze week verschenen hummingbird laat Carly Pearce horen dat ze binnen de countrypop nog altijd met de besten mee kan, maar hummingbird is een album dat ook liefhebbers van wat authentieker klinkende Amerikaanse rootsmuziek aan moet kunnen spreken. Invloeden uit de pop hebben een flinke stap terug gedaan op een album dat zowel in muzikaal als in vocaal opzicht makkelijk overtuigt.

Carly Pearce wist al op hele jonge leeftijd dat haar hart bij de muziek lag. Ze speelde op haar elfde in een bluegrass band in Kentucky en liet op haar zestiende de schoolbanken achter zich om aan de slag te gaan als zangeres in het pretpark Dollywood. Op haar negentiende vertrok ze naar Nashville, waar het leven in eerste instantie zwaar was, maar vanaf 2016 begon het harde werken te lonen.

Haar door Busbee geproduceerde debuutalbum Every Little Thing werd in 2017 goed ontvangen in Nashville en ook het in 2020 verschenen titelloze album, tevens het laatste werk van producer Busbee voor zijn dood, deed het uitstekend in de Amerikaanse country kringen. Ik had destijds nog geen groot zwak voor countrypop, wat anders waren de albums destijds niet aan mijn aandacht ontsnapt. Carly Pearce maakte immers ook op haar eerste twee albums in kwalitatief opzicht uitstekende countrypop en het is countrypop waarin de balans niet doorslaat richting aalgladde Nashville pop.

Carly Pearce trok aan het begin van 2021 voor het eerst mijn aandacht met het door haar echtscheiding geïnspireerde mini-album 29, dat later dat jaar werd uitgebreid tot een volwaardig breakup album, 29: Written In Stone. Op het album was het aandeel van authentiek klinkende Amerikaanse rootsmuziek gegroeid, maar er zat ook nog altijd flink wat pop in de muziek van de singer-songwriter uit Nashville.

Vorig jaar verscheen nog een live-album met de tracks van 29, maar deze week duikt Carly Pearce op met een nieuw album. Het is een album waar ik met hoge verwachtingen aan begon, want vorig jaar ben ik definitief gevallen voor de charmes van de betere countrypop uit Nashville en in dit genre behoort Carly Pearce sinds 29: Written In Stone tot de smaakmakers.

Op hummingbird werkt de muzikante uit Nashville, net als op 29: Written In Stone, samen met producers Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne. Het nieuwe album ligt ook in het verlengde van zijn voorganger, al hebben invloeden uit de traditionele countrymuziek flink aan terrein gewonnen. Carly Pearce maakt nog altijd muziek die past in het hokje countrypop, maar de verhouding tussen country en pop is opgeschoven richting de wat authentieker klinkende Amerikaanse rootsmuziek.

De producers van het album hebben het album voorzien van een lekker vol geluid vol gitaren, mandoline, banjo, dobro, pedal steel, viool, orgels en keyboards en een strak spelende ritmesectie als basis. Met name door de belangrijke rol voor de viool klinkt hummingbird in muzikaal opzicht met grote regelmaat als een wat traditioneler klinkend countryalbum, maar de songs op het album neigen qua structuur misschien net wat meer richting de Nashville countrypop.

Rootspuristen hoeven zich echter zeker niet af te laten schrikken door het dunne laagje pop op het nieuwe album van Carly Pearce. In muzikaal opzicht klinkt het allemaal fantastisch en ook de songs op het album zijn stuk voor stuk zeer aansprekend. Het wordt allemaal nog wat overtuigender door de zang van Carly Pearce, die beschikt over de gedroomde stem van een country(pop)zangeres. Ik heb het afgelopen jaar zoals gezegd een enorm zwak voor countrypop en dan vooral voor countrypop met veel meer country dan pop. Met hummingbird heb ik er een favoriet album in deze categorie bij.

Erwin Zijleman