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GKO. iedereen
No,
this is not a Dutch band. Surprisingly iedereen is from Germany.
Iedereen means jeder or everyone in Dutch. That aside, iedereen is
punkrocking with the best of them. It does take some taking used to but
over the past years, it seems I have. Where BAP's 'Kristallnach' was an
outlier 40 years ago, GKO fits in nicely with many bands that come by
and often through Hamburg's Glitterhouse Records. GKO, if I understand
correctly Geht K.O., is a totally guitar driven song. Yes, huge drums
and bass are a part of the song, it's the guitars that make sure this is
a punkrock song. The dynamics within it allow for audiences to
explode in wild abandon. The softer parts allowing for the necessary
breather in between. Nice introduction to iedereen GKO is.
Cloud
Café returns to the blog with a nice alternative ballad. Honey is in
the mid-tempo with bursts of musical violence in all the right places.
Tara Wilts' voice is almost muffled into the mix, as if she's singing
through a pillow, clearly influenced by a singer that I can't get my
head around. Most likely from New Zealand on the Flying Nun label. It
will come to me when this is published most likely. The way of recording
the singing gives the song an alienating atmosphere. Like there is a
screen between me and the recording. This does not stop me from liking
the song. The heart of this band is in the right rock place. Honey is
the kind of alternative ballad that is able to explode and turned into a
rock song. Which it does, while in the middle Honey is reduced to
Wilts' voice and an acoustic guitar - and that screen. The first song
after the band's debut EP of earlier this year, makes me want to hear
more.
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The
video of Don't Cry has exactly one response on You Tube. A
mikenorris5378 writes: "absolute banger". Listening to Dirty Blonde's
single, I can only agree. I have no clue how I ran into the song. It's
not important. The two blondes and three men behind them absolutely
rock. The number of influences to mention are simply too long. Dirty
Blonde does all the right things with these inspirations and comes up
with a melodic rocker of fairly big proportions. A huge solo brings it
to a high. Dirty Blonde fits into the Wet Leg category, except the band
is more serious and rocks in a more determined way. The tongue-in-cheek
is missing. If the band can come up with more songs like this, I'll
become a fan alright.
Like
the title suggests, Letting Go is all about freedom. Being liberated
from all that keeps a person back. "I must've been lying six months on my living
room floor", Angie McMahon starts her song, suggesting there's quite some
room for liberation or how hard it is to reach that state, to be able to get up. "The trick
was simply to surrender", she shares later. "It's o.k. to make
mistakes", the lesson learned. The music underscores the process to
positivity. Letting Go is a powerful song, full of energy, vibrant, with a hint of U2's drive of decades ago. The
kind that shouts it from the rooftops. Literally it seems when the song
reaches its end. McMahon recorded most of her upcoming album in Durham,
North Carolina with producer Brad Cook. 'Light, Dark, Light Again' is
scheduled for release on 27 October. On the basis of Letting Go it is an
album to be on the look out for. The song is so powerful that it really
gets to me. Impressive alright.
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More
music from Australia. (Angie McMahon is also.) Now from Perth.
My introduction to PPC is from a few years back already. Alakazam is
less psychedelic and more rock. It does have its moments though.
Especially in the "I'm sorry, Mrs. Robinson" section. Check it out to
hear the rest of lyric. PPC rocks in a 1990s way. A band like EMF comes
to mind, as does Dog Eat Dog's one hit the band had. PPC would not be
what it is, if it wouldn't throw in a few curveballs. The intro is
utterly weird and returns later. The band rocks hard while managing to
throw in a few pop aahsss in there over the loudly soloing guitars. Just like
one can never know what happens when a wizard says alakazam, PPC does
what it likes to do. The result is a weird song, full of imagination
but, most importantly, provides a rocking good time.
Trout
is the nom de plume of Iranian-British singer-songwriter Cesca. They
release their debut EP filled with alternative/indie rock songs. The six
songs show two side of Trout. The singing is soft and almost modest.
The music can be very direct, with stabs like a left hook on the chin.
The guitar(s) sound dirty without a lot of embellishments. Trout's music
is to be taken for what it is. It's not there to please at first hear.
Either someone opens him/her/themselves to it or, it will be switched off
quite fast. Listening does pay off though. You will find that Trout is a
new branch on an attractive tree. 'sad sad sad sad sad' (she beats The
Rolling Stones here with two sads!) is a price song. I simply love how
the song moves into the chorus. Although things may sound sad, the music
is uplifting. It has the quality to lift one's mind and that is a big achievement and compliment in one.
Cesca do not appear as the happiest person in the world, they have their
songs. They seem to come from a well of treasure where the artist can dip into and a fountain of joy
for all who get to listen to the songs that have come out of that well.
Colourpicker shows that there will be more to come and to treasure.
You
rent a place to write new songs and record. It turns out to be in a gated community and
to come with alligators in the central pond. Double lock in, I guess. ON was
inspired to write a great rock song based on these facts. The band has
its origins in the 1990s and that can be heard quite easily. Nirvana,
Hole, Smashing Pumpkins, in a way its all there. We are 30 years down
the grunge line and ON does exactly what it is good at, play a dirty
rock song with enthusiasm and zest. Gator rocks in a way that makes one
on the one hand hanker after the years long past, while on the other
making one feel totally alive today. We all travelled the long route and
are here to tell and rock. Lucy Di Santo with drummer Dan Cornelius and
guitarist Steve Fall have travelled from their past band Acid Test to
today's ON. They lived to tell in a surefire way. Gator rocks, but I
already told you that.
U.K.
based artist Thala is in a hurry. Her debut EP is only a few months
behind us, her new one announced a few weeks back. I Know When You Care
is the single that precedes it. In "the old days" the two EPs would have
been released as one album. Nowadays the album format seems a less
normal way for a debut album. You Tube and Spotify, et al, may be the
cause. People play songs more and more and not albums. I Know
That You Care is Thala's new song. As such it is a song that brings to
mind rock music of the past 30 and a little years. Light, shade, dirty
guitars, girl like vocals, it all sounds familiar. Thala makes the most
of it though as the song rocks. I Know When You Care is more
consolidating than expanding but certainly has the quality to give Thala
more than the benefit of the doubt here.
Sprints
returns to the blog with another great punkrock song. Up And Comer has
the energy and gritty atmosphere to convince with ease. The build up is
great, slowly but surely the listener is pushed to the edge of
delightful anticipation. Band and listener jump of the cliff together
and start a great flight on the basis of the huge chorus. Singer Karla
Chubb really lets it all out. She shouts like Courtney Love in her great
days and like Dana Margolin can nowadays. There's nothing playful on
Sprints' music, this is all work, exorcising despair. Chubb and guitarist Colm O'Reilly,
drummer Jack Callan and bassist Sam McCann create a huge wall of sound
together, with a guitar solo that all but explodes my speakers. They are on fire though. You will
even find a Wet Leg like interlude in the song, no pun or fun to be found, it's the
devil himself who comes knocking here. The world has to wait till 5
January to learn more but on the basis of this single and the two
preceding it, 'Letter To Self' holds the promise to be the first great release of
2024.
We
end this week as we started, with a German song released on the
Glitterhouse label. The contrast is huge though. All Diese Gewalt presents a
ballad. A slow song, soft voice, soft music, although there is a bite
further on in the song, like a siren mixed into the whole. All Diese Gewalt
is singer-composer Max Rieger. His new song, from the upcoming album
with the same title (10 November), is so well composed and arranged. It
starts with just a piano, but before the voice comes in the first hint
of what is coming can already be heard. More instruments come in, almost 'Tubular Bells' style, in fact they can be heard, slowly changing the
mood of the song and sound. Alles ist nur übergang indeed. Despite that the
composition does not have any inner changes, the song as a whole does
change and that is exactly what intrigues me profoundly. Alles Ist Nur
Übergang is a beautiful song. The only question I am left with is, how is it possible that this song reminds me of punkrock band Die Nerven?, also on Glitterhouse.
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