2024. Week 5, 10 singles

And so 2024 has moved into its second month already. The number of releases is growing fast and impossible to keep up with. Nevertheless I found ten new singles that are certainly of interest. One of them left me speechless, as you will find. Most artists are (almost) new to me, making this set surprising and refreshing. Enjoy!

Haunted World. Real Estate

The video of Haunted World shows what fun it is to be the drummer in a band. In the studio the drummer is totally isolated from the band, sitting in another room with, okay, a window to look through. Remember that live the drummer usually sees the back end of colleagues. That observation behind us, Haunted World is an extremely pleasant, alternative pop song. The song has this lightness that belies the mood in it and voice of the singer. The clear sound of the acoustic guitar, bass, drums and electric piano gives the impression I can look through the music. And in a way I can. The song sonically is totally transparent. The voice is totally upfront and behind and beside it are all the instruments. They all have a very clear spot in the mix. This makes Haunted World extremely pleasant to listen to. A second nice song by Real Estate in a short period of time.

Stayed 2017.  Lonely Leesa & the Lost Cowboys

Sometimes words are not enough. I will just point you to the video, to learn, recognise, support:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKa0prSlLVE&ab_channel=LonelyLeesa%26theLostCowboys

 

Distant Dawn. Corker

Looking at the promo photo, I'd expected Corker to have re-released a single from 1981 or 82. This is old school alright, but no, Distant Dawn is the first single from Corker since its debut album from 2023, 'Falser Truths'. This is what the singer from Dutch postpunk band Tramhaus looks like as well. Distant Dawn is like a fireball. All energy, all consuming, totally out of control. Corker really goes for it and succeeds in a huge way. Don't expect subtlety in the singing. The singer sings with a death like voice. In the harmonies some life can be discerned. The band starts with the foot all the way to the metal and does let go of the pedal until the very last second. The 181st to be exact. There's something resembling a solo but as deranged as can be imagined and this needs more imagination to recognise it as such than most people can be credited for. And off Corker goes again with its magic main riff, played at neck breaking speed. Distant Dawn is a winner.

Killer's Kiss. The Devils

Gianni Blacula and Erika Switchblade who make up The Devils were on this blog once before with a previous single. Now the duo returns with a deliciously dark single called Killer's Kiss. We are a week away from the album 'Let The World Burn Down' and if the two singles are a dead giveaway, all fans of duo's like The White Stripes can start their walk to the local record store (or online of course). So don't expect anything new here. A heavily pounded drums and distorted and ever more distorted guitars. All set to the darkest mode possible. The two sing over it with a nice ah-ah-ah chorus, making it a darker and deeper version of Austrian duo Cari Cari. Bad ass music Killer's Kiss is.

Beautiful Chaos. Lovelorn Dolls

Another duo but making its debut on this blog is Lovelorn Dolls and from Italy we focus on Belgium. Kristell Lowagie (lyrics, vocals, arrangements) and Bernard Daubresse (music, programming, guitars, production) make the kind of music that usually is made by a whole band like Within Temptation or Nightwish. Goth with Viking elements in the presentation. Kristell Lowagie has that typical voice for the genre and Daubresse is able to create the sound of a whole band all by himself. Beautiful Chaos is a huge song in sound, in production and presentation. Once passed the soft intro Lovelorn Dolls does not hold back. The metal guitars take over, but like many goth bands, the melodies creep into the music. Beautiful Chaos is released as an EP with five remixes added. If you like the song, I invite you to explore the other versions and allow me to proceed to the next single.

Don't Get Stuck. Onceweresixty

Don't Get Stuck is an as international alternative pop song as it can get. Onceweresixty followed the book and passed its exams in a successful way. Expect the band to have absorbed influences from the 80s right up to the 20s. R.E.M., Magnapop, Dinosaur Jr., Buffalo Tom, etc., etc. they can all be found in the way Onceweresixty sounds and plays. In other words, lovers of this kind of indie sounding songs should prick up their ears and take a listen. Onceweresixty is an Italian band working in the Venetian hills. Founding members Marco Lorenzoni (guitars, vocals and keyboards) and Luca Sella (drums, guitar and vocals) were part of a band called MR60 some 20 years ago but were forced to take on "real" jobs. In 2018, after 10 years, the two got back together to from Onceweresixty. Soon its second album 'Loco Sunset Boulevard / Ghetto Blast Noise Machine' will be released. This single jingle-jangles like Bob Dylan's morning and surely wetted my appetite for more.

Mourir Demain. Corridor

The single may start jingle-jangle laying a link to Onceweresixty beyond both releasing an eight song album soon, 'Mimi' in Corridor's case, Mourir Demain turns tight and psychedelic before I twisted my ears. Singer and guitarist Jonathan Robert's voice floats over the music, almost ethereal, otherworldly. In the mix a tough sounding electric guitar is played as if completely into the background, even as if coming from far away. How subtle this sounded in the studio is another question. My introduction to Corridor, a band from Montreal in Canada, is quite nice actually. The drums do not leave a lot to imagination, played in 4/4 beat. That is, Julien Bakvis (does he know what bakvis means in Dutch?) has two parts in the song. Throughout the start of the song, he has all these nice fills and whatnot. When the song changes its mood, it is the rest of the band that walks on the far and wild side. The bass plays a melodic line, harmonies sprinkle through the vocals and the guitar and keys go sort of off to anywhere they like. It's the drums that keeps it all nicely together now, bam-bam-bam-bam. Well done.

Default Parody. Drahla

Leeds based Drahla sets the clock back to 1980. Post punk rules and songs are not created to amuse (at first hear). There are so many bands inspired by the early 80s postpunk scene nowadays but not many come as close as Drahla does. The Gang of Four rhythms, what I call square music are at the foreground most. The rhythms are tough and the guitars scrape more than strum, all playing alternately creating that square sound of stop-starting the whole time, projecting an extreme form of nervousness. The saxophone "solo" is a tremendous surprise halfway down the song. If any band can be credited for starting this kind of music, it's Talking Heads. I hated it at the time, that changed a little over the years. The U.K. form of doomladen postpunk never did get on my good side. Not until Franz Ferdinand that is. Default Parody is somewhere in between. A whole album (angletape, 5 April), I truly don't know yet if I can handle that, but Default Parody certainly triggers a host of pleasant and unpleasant musical memories alike.

We Looked Like Giants. Car Seat Headrest / Brand New Colony The Beths, Pickle Darling 

A duo single, with three artists. All have found their way to this blog at some time. The first band in 2016 and 17. The Beths for some years  now and Pickle Darling fairly recently. One from the U.S., two from New Zealand. A rather strange combination. The first two certainly have a musical kinship. They could even tour together quite comfortably. The latter artist is a bedroom laptop project and musically quite unrelated. So how does this work out?

We Looked Like Giants is the kind of alternative rocksong I expect to hear. Car Seat Headrest rocks out in a very comfortable way. The song has power, melody and guts. I feel attracted to the way it uses dynamics immediately. Nothing new under the sun perhaps but so well done. How come I've lost sight of this band completely since 2017, I wonder?

Brand New Colony starts with the sound of child's toy piano, a little like the little bells we had in kindergarden. So, fully Pickle Darling. It is Elizabeth Stokes who starts singing the first verse and when the drums come in the song gets an oomphs that is usually missing in Pickle Darling's music. To all appearances the two acts have created a hybrid song with the sound of Lukas Mayo (Pickle Darling) "winning". Both stepped out of their comfort zone successfully. This is a single really worth having, but it having to travel the whole globe and the cost involved certainly stops me here.

Back Where You Belong. BEECH

Back Where You Belong is a title that could seriously hint at nostalgia. A desire to be where you are not or can't even get back to or actually having arrived. BEECH sings "go back where you belong", a strong advise to a person, himself, someone else?. The music certainly is drenched in nostalgia for music that was popular (a little over) thirty years ago. Think Teenage Fanclub and other bands from Britain those days. With a slightly more prominent lead guitar added for toughness. Kristof Souvagie from Aalst in Belgium knows where to find the mustard and puts it on display on his new BEECH single. Back Where You Belong has a perfect balance between eternal pop and rock. Towards the end, first in the solo, the U.S. side of this song comes through more with a Dinosaur Jr style lead guitar changing the mood. Two sides come forward quite nicely here. Nostalgia in music is always in reach, luckily for all fans of this music. Old and new.

Wout de Natris