vrijdag 26 maart 2021

10 Singles 2021/12

And another week gone. No lift off of corona sanctions in sight. So we will just have to be a little more patient. To help you in that department, we have collected another bunch of recently released singles. Some older, some new, one as far as I'm aware not even released at this point in time, but should be as fast as possible, as it is so incredibly good. We start with a song that is released as an introduction to two "best off" cassette tapes to be released soon to be followed by songs from bands from the Balkan peninsula, all the way south to New Zealand, before moving to the U.S. and back to The Netherlands at the end. Enough suspense, click on the link below. Sit back and relax while you listen to this new set of singles.

We Are Fucked. Spilt Milk

There were days that The Avonden front man Marc van der Holst sang in English. His music was recorded as lo-fi as possible. I have the impression I can hear him switch on the recorder and walk back to the spot where the mike is standing or hanging. The result is a small song. One man, one acoustic guitar and a female voice, slowly changing into a small choir. Listening again, I think I can hear an organ as well in the background or is it my brain adding it? I have mentioned Norwegian singer St. Thomas several times over the past years. The whole concept and choice of music of St. Thoams is recognisable in We Are Fucked.

Musically the music may be more bare than The Avonden's, the hand of Van der Holst is undeniably there. We Are Fucked may be a weird title for a song, at the same time it is a small, very sympathetic song. Having been released on cassette only somewhere around 2010, Spilt Milk's repertoire is to be re-released on cassette soon. We Are Fucked is an extremely nice introduction to the two albums to come. The video is just as sympathetic as the song is. In my book the only one fucked here is the person not taking a listen to a small, beautiful song with a bit strange title. Knowing The Avonden and now We Are Fucked, I'm getting more and more convinced that Rivella must be Marc van der Holst favourite drink.

Bell-Like E A R. The Puzzle Is Cast

Early each month The Puzzle Is Cast, a duo from Athens, Greece, drops another song, on its way towards an album. Two of the songs have come by already and no, it is not the easiest music to digest. Bell-Like E A R starts out like a meditation, new age kind of music. The bells with different but dark tones set the mood. Had it stayed this way, I would have refrained from writing. Slowly but surely moods are added, sound hovering or crawling like a snake over the sand, in twisting and turning muscle retractions, are added to the deep bells that play the same sequence over and over. An acoustic guitar joins in with a long flourish of notes. A bass joins and that point it is possible to imagine a drummer to join, to change the whole direction of the song into prog rock territory. It doesn't, lending Bell-Like E A R it's unique character. It's like listening to a soft interlude on the 'Tubular Bells' album, with a distinctive eastern flavour. Interesting and certainly a candidate for .No's radio show Kairos.

Control. Hooverii

From mysterious instrumentals to psych rock is a smaller step than one might imagine. The key word is mysterious. This element is always a part of the best psychedelic rock music. And Control has this quality. Not that Hooverii, an L.A. band, is unique but at least in Control it offers all that a band like this should. Besides having enough of mind-expanding sounds in its music, it has that old organ sound that is allowed to step forward into the spotlight regularly, giving Control a great melodic injection in all the right moments. It defines the sound of Control. The guitar is distorted beyond recognition every once in a while, but mixed nicely into the mid-level of the mix, so it does not get dominant. My final comment is on the melody of the vocals. Nice and sweet the changes are. Like in most psych bands the singing is a part of the mix, but not as rigid. This is a front man singing and not a band member as in several psychrock bands. Most likely because he's a good singer. The melodies deserve this spot as well and then again comes that descending progression of the organ. What more can I write then Control is one of the nicer singles in this genre I've heard over the past months and make me look forward to the album 'Water For The Frogs'.

Amateur. Current Joys

The label Secretly Canadian announced a new signing recently, Current Joys. An album was announced and introduced with this single. Nick Rattigan the man behind Current Joys has been active for some time already but for the first time crosses my ears. Amateur may describe Nick Rattigan adequately, but not what happens on Amateur. Despite the fact that the heart of the  song is repeated over and over, listen to the piano and the matching singing, the song becomes more complex by the 10 seconds. How many themes can be found over the same note progression? So whoever arranged Amateur, is all but. There are so many musical motives to follow that having two ears only is not enough to follow all what is going on at the same time. A new variation invariably draws my attention away what from went on before, except for that prominent piano. I knew nothing of Current Joys until today. The introduction is quite nice though. In May 'Voyager' will be released.

Black And Chrome. Khirki

More music from Greece today, but the music could not be more different. The sleeve picture on Spotify shows a Guns 'N' Roses like art, the music is even a tat tighter. Khirki plays metal in style of Therapy?. A drummer who punishes the skins of his drumkit instead of playing them. The bass fills in all the holes so that the guitar is free to fulfil all other duties. A  tight rhythm, dark power chords and lead lines. Yes, there a bunch of overdubs in the song. The singing is rough as it should be without overdoing it. Not being a metal fan, there's no denying there, there are songs that I do like and Black And Chrome is one of them. Clocking in at 6.30 minutes, with a long, long intro. The band gives the impression to be an instrumental band, without me wanting to turn the music off. And yes, I've heard this all before and so will you, and yes, Black And Chrome is worthwhile to get to know.

Noyalain (Burn). Lisa Gerrard and Jules Maxwell

Lisa Gerrard has a long career with the band Dead Can Dance behind her, but somehow that all passed me by. This single has attracted my attention. It starts off as a song from the African steppes translated into a modern cadence. Slowly but surely the song grows and grows, until it becomes a symphonic rock song Pink Floyd in its hey day would not have been ashamed of playing. The way this transition is played out in the four minutes the song takes is simply fantastic. There's a lot of power in the synths and drums that become a part of the sound, sending the song in a different direction. In my mind's eye I can see this song being played in a movie playing in Africa, with shots of a setting sun growing ever larger shadows on the ground, colours flying around in the short African twilight. Noyalain is that beautiful alright.

Gimme The Shakes. The Dogmatics

From the majestic sounds of Lisa Gerrard and Jules Maxwell we move to early 80s punkrock of The Dogmatics. Gimme The Shakes is an up tempo (of course), light-hearted fun song. The music is steeped in early garage rock like The Kingsmen, proto punk of The Stooges and the great pop singles of the 60s. This single contains so much pop that  I would not be surprised if it simply popped in front of my ears from sheer pop overload. The chorus is so nice and so easy to sing along to. Believe it or not all band members get a solo in the 2.21 minutes the songs lasts. Guitar, bass, drums and sax all come by. Sitting still is not an option with this The Dogmatics classic. Yes, it sounds like it's old. It is and was influenced by even older music. But this is a hit song if I ever heard one. Let's party and dance, folks. Even it is in our minds or living room these days.

Hawks & Doves (Tali Remix). Reb Fountain

'Reb Fountain' was one of my great discoveries last year. The album made an immediate impression. So far lasting as well. A new single is released from the album. Usually I pass those by if I already wrote about the album. This is the exception to the rule as Hawks & Doves is released in a remix version by Tali. The result is an even better song. There's no other word for it. 'Hawks & Doves' opens 'Reb Fountain' setting the tone of the album with its serious intention and execution. Of course that part is still there, but Tali manages to add a few layers, including mystery and depth. The result is a different song that highlights all that was good about it in the first place and adds to it, making Reb Fountain shine even more as a singer. Usually I'm not a fan of remixes, but here's the exception to the rule. A remix made in heaven it seems Hawks & Doves is.

Heathens. Manntra

Time for a little melodic metal. Manntra mixes the Teutonic sound of Rammstein with the Armenian metal of System of a Down. The Balkan band knows how to rock out and how to hold back, resulting in a single that has the right mix of the light and the shade as Black Sabbath's Tommy Iommi calls it. Manntra holds its own as well. Heathens may be a tight metal song for 75%, it is 100% melodic and tight riffed in the right spots. The result is a song and not noise, as many metal bands result to and find me dropping away. The lyrics are of war, fear and no surrender. Perhaps looking back at times long gone and of wars of ancestors of centuries ago. They might have run away hard, should they have heard this sort of music on the battlefield where nowadays a metal festival is organised. Just a thought coming to my mind listening to Heathens. Music of the devil it is then.

I Feel Love. Colin Benders feat. Cato van Dyck and Sven Hammond Big Band

For nine weeks I'm watching Matthijs van Nieuwkerk's new tv show and could, perhaps should have written about it weeks ago. It is not all about music but music plays a huge role. Not in the least because of that fine band standing underneath and on the scaffolding  behind Matthijs' table. This Saturday he invited Colin Benders, better known as Kyteman. Benders was rumoured to have emersed himself in synthesizers and boy is that true. On the stage was a huge contraption filled with knobs, cords, plugs and one tiny keyboard on top of it all. It reminded me of the Pink Floyd film, 'Live in Pompeii' where in between you can see Roger Waters opening a box and throughout in between the movie's live sequences, twiddle with the knobs of his new synthesizers in what is to become one of the songs on 'Dark Side of the Moon', 'Any Colour You Like'.

Benders does something like that here. He recreates the pulsing beats of Georgio Moroder's production for Donna Summer's number 1 hit 'I Feel Love'. Summer's part is taken over by My Baby's Caro van Dyck. I can only presume that many of the sounds were pre-programmed and Benders can call them up by twiddling the knobs of his synths all tied together by the cords.

It already sounded great, not to forget huge and then the big band, of which some of the members played in Kyteman's Orchestra, joins the electronic pulses. The real drums are added to the synth drums. The bass to the synth bass. The strings come in and the sound gets so incredibly solid. Donna Summer's version is a disco classic. It may have been the first song getting the moniker disco (and not soul). This version is the step into the 21st century for the song. If I were Benders I'd release it today as this is a number one hit if I ever heard one. It has everything. What a version. What power.

Wo.

Listen to our Spotify Playlist to find out what we are writing about:

https://open.spotify.com/user/glazu53/playlist/6R9FgPd2btrMuMaIrYeCh6?si=KI6LzLaAS5K-wsez5oSO2g

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