With some good old pop cum rock and roll on my earphones from one of the records below, WoNoBlog is back with a bunch of singles after having missed last Sunday. Too much going on and too beautiful weather. There is more in life than music. This week you find a very old name and a whole lot of debutants below, so more than enough to explore. Enjoy!The Sky Isn't Falling. Strawberry Alarm Clock
About
sixty years after releasing the songs that led them to be a part of the
legendary 'Nuggets' box, Strawberry Alarm Clock is back and finds itself
for the second time on this blog this year. The Sky Isn't Falling (but if it did, on a clear day, we'd all have a blue hat) is a very much alive
poprock single in the best tradition of a band like Moody Blues, to
name an example. What is perhaps striking, is that all five original
members are present, not a normal thing for a 1960s psychedelic rock
band. I like, again, the way the band lets the guitars go out of their
pens but also the enthusiastic vocal melodies make The Sky Isn't Falling
feel very much alive. There's an album in the making for later this
year. Based on the three preceding singles, it's going to be special.
The Ghost Of Roky Erickson! EP Muck and the MiresWhat
are the chances that two artists are joined together by the order of
chance, being the moment an email reaches my inbox announcing a new
single or EP? In general close to 90% is my guess, but what if both artists are found on the
'Nuggets' box set released in the late 1990s and the LPS in 1972? Especially, as the artists are (from) bands from the second half of the 60s? In this case
Strawberry Alarm Clock and The Eleventh Floor Elevators, the band of
Roky Erickson (1947-2019). That chance must be extremely small. Muck and the
Mires return to this blog with an EP called The Ghost Of Roky Erickson.
Muck encounters his ghost after the elevator stops on the 13th floor. As
always Muck and the Mires rock with the 1960s well in mind. Riffs fly
around, fun is had by all, band and listeners. Of course, the band is
part pastiche, as it successfully milks things that were successful
once. This comes with a big but. Muck c.s. is a very good band, tight,
bright and totally alive. On top there is often a layer of sheer fun.
The title song attest to that best, with its extremely good riff and a touch of the
madness that accumulated in Roky Erickson's head over the years, both caught
in lyrics and the music. The other three songs are 60s rock, 60s pop and
60s poprock. It's instantly recognisable and yet fresh and new, exactly
how I have come to love the music of Muck and the Mires over the past decade.
Editors
is a band I love and hate. Twenty years ago, I sort of liked it but also
found the bombastic sound often too much of a not so good thin and the deep, pumped up voice of Tom Smith often too much to bear for long. Then some great singles came along anyway and somewhere in the mid 10s I even bought two
records and then not with 'EBM', Editors' previous album. Four years
later there's Call It In. The song is very up tempo, the sound is tough
yet modest for Editors and Tom Smith's voice is different. Where is that
deep resonance? There's also less of an effect put on it, as it sounds
very natural. All bands of the age Editors have reached, can't escape
from comparisons to all things that passed. Yes, Call It In reminds me
of previous singles, but certainly has a right to exist. The tempo and
urgency, the nice and smooth synth sound really works in the right
spots. A strong single showing the right form.
Finally Arrived. Wooden OvercoatListening
to Finally Arrived one song pops up in my head, The Everly Brothers'
'All I Have To Do Is Dream'. That is the state of mind the Portland, Oregon
band the Wooden Overcoat brings in. Finally Arrived is the right title for
this song, as it is slow. Don't get me wrong though, the song has an
extremely slow psychedelic vibe to it that does bring me into an
alterative reality. One where I'm totally relaxed and move with the
softly lapping waves of Finally Arrived's instrumentation. Band leader
Brant Hajek takes his time and so are bandmates Dillon Glusker (bass),
Mac (guitar), and Brian Levin (drums and backing vocals). Listen deeper
to the song and you will notice far more is happening than you thought after the
first dose(ing off). This is a gem of slow psychedelia if I ever heard
one. EP 'Hello Sunbeam' was released on 29 May. (And, a wooden overcoat
is a euphemism for a coffin, so I've learned.)
Punching The Flowers. Death Cab For CutieThis
band is about to release its 11th album on 5 June, 'I Built You A
Tower. I'm sure I have one from maybe 20 years ago, but do not have a
strong recollection of it I'm afraid. So, I'm listening with a near open
mind to Punching The Flowers. This is a strong alternative rock single.
The pace is near relentless, while the drummer has found an original
pattern that he is ramming home for the whole of the way. The song may be soft or hard,
he's hitting dry and hard. The song reminds me of The Hold Steady and a little
of R.E.M. Especially the former is a band that I cannot listen to for more
than a few songs at a time. The singer's voice is the cause of that and
my guess is, it will be the same for 'I Built You A Tower'. In the
meantime, I'm enjoying Punching The Flowers.
We Need Some Love Today. The GrooveBuzz A
new band, a first single. The band is active since 2023 and is a
collective of seven singers and musicians. Drummer and producer Leon
Klaase alerted me to the song and it is a very rich and swinging affair.
In fact it sounds more like a ten piece band to me with voices and
copper everywhere once the song has left its somewhat hesitant start.
That is, compared to what follows. After the piano led intro, the strong
and deep voice of Mieke de Jongh takes over, accompanied by Annabel
Romijn and Fran Genis. The accompaniment changes towards a funky kind of soul
music with a percussive guitar assisting the solid drumming of Klaase
and the supportive bass played by Marcel van de Bas. The multilayered
saxophones of Peter Romijn do the rest. The band is working on the
release of its first album, 'Hit In The Heart', a line taken from this
single.
Scattered Like Dust. CharlotThe band
Charlot, Lotte Mulder, Hilde Luytjes, Boaz van Willegenburg and Alex
Haak, makes its debut on this blog as well, with its third single from
its upcoming second album, to be released in September. All that came
before passed me by. Not Scattered By Dust, a pleasant mid-tempo dream-
and synthpop song that has more than enough hooks in it to stick to my brain
with ease. Lotte Mulder sings with a highish voice, close to breathy.
The synths sound like a friendly pop version of the synth sound Gary
Newman made famous with his Tubeway Army hit 'Are Friends Electric?'
from 1979. The sound Pet Shop Boys turned that into a hit machine. Charlot
uses it to make a song that crosses the bridges of decades and comes up
with a song that fits nicely in 2026, with a great guitar part for those
liking one.
5 Year Plan. BERTHAJU
5
Year Plan? I remember from my history lessons that they tend to fail
after a while because the goal becomes more important than the
result. The best example is the bridge that was built parallel to a
river because the building specs showed it that way and no one dared to
call higher up and ask questions. Dutch-German band Berthaju is not
bothered by the hesitation of lessons history can bring and signed to
Rotterdam label Shai Records after a successful stint during the
Popronde 2025. 5 Year Plan is the first sign of this collaboration and
listening to the single that was a good decision. Bethaju plays music
that is somewhere between postpunk, alternative rock and Wet Leg, but
most of all very alive and energetic. There will be an EP in September. Keep up the good work and Bethaju's 5 year plan will lead to great results.
Grenadine. Sorcha RichardsonAfter
all the poing-poing energy of the previous bands, it's time for some
introspection and that is exactly what Grenadine brings. Sorcha
Richardson may sing "I push the peddle" and something with metal at the start of the chorus,
musically she certainly does not. The song sets a slow chugging pace
with minor accents in the guitar progression she plays over and over.
With her style of music she fits in nicely with the likes of Aldous
Harding. Listen more closely and you will notice that just this little
more is happening in the background, making Grenadine more exciting that
you'd think at first listen. Sorcha Richardson, another first timer on
this blog, is from Northern Ireland. An album is underway somewhere in
the future.
The Head Tree feat. The New Eves. Opus KinkWhat
to make of The Head Tree? My first thought is De Kift on acid singing
in English. It isn't though but there is quite some likenesses in the way the
horns come in upending a song totally and partly the way of singing. But also a song like 'Pappa's
Got A Brand New Pigbag' comes to mind, as well as totally freaked out
psychedelia. In other words, what is not happening in The Head Tree? Opus
Kink is a collective from Brighton in the U.K. that collaborates here with
The New Eves, a British folk punk band from Brighton with clothing like
The Last Dinner Party. The start of the first verse made me think of
circa 1970 folk like Fairport Convention but after that all anchors are
away setting Opus Kink adrift wherever a musical whim takes it and
believe you me, the song is full of them. Believe it or not, it works, just
like De Kift works. Check that band out Opus Kink fans! and I promise to
keep my ears open for more coming out of this Brighton collective.
Wout de Natris - van der Borght
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