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Foxtrot Delta Tango. Garret Vandermolen
Foxtrot Delta Tango, that is military language to spell the F, the D and the T. The lyrics do not leave a single spat of doubt who this song is about and who to say Foxtrot to. In fact, with a Dutch/Flemish name like Van der Molen, Garret Vandermolen better carry his India Delta around just to be certain should India Charlie Echo come to call. You never know with a petty, vindictive person who is the topic of this song. Musically, Foxtrot Delta Tango is a gem. The kind of song every pop radio station should play the whole day and make it go to number 1 in no time. You can sing along to it, enjoy the melody, warm yourself to the Hammond organ and dance to the rest of the tune. And finally, when you've finished dancing, you will find yourself on the right side of history. Like the Chinese say that they wish their adversaries no dull days. If you don't mind, I could do with a few of those by now, just for a change. Foxtrot Delta Tango will even work on such a day.
Search and you will find that Mitski found her way to this blog with one album, reviewed by Erwin Zijleman in 2023 and by me when she collaborated with Katie Gavin for As Good As It Gets in 2024 and with Tamino for his single, 'Sanctuary' in February last year. Here she is solo by me for the first time. Where's My Phone? is, besides being a very existential question AD 2026, a quite dark affair. The single has an upbeat rhythm. Slow it down just a little and the drums can be placed in a Dutch carnaval song from the 1970s. Designed to make loads of people move to the rhythm. It is Mitski who takes care of that darker side and yet she isn't, at least not for the whole of Where Is My Phone?. Is it the layers and layers of music that simply do not let any light through? The further the song progresses, the more layers seem to appear. All together, I like what I'm hearing. Album 'Nothing's About To Happen To Me' will be released on 27 February.
With Lucy Kitchen we have a new name on the blog. Ms Kitchen is an English singer-songwriter who steps onto a well-worn path of singer-songwriters who mix folk with a little country and roots music, while the chorus of The Boatman contains that sprinkling of pop that makes singing along to it so easy and pleasant. In the first seconds of The Boatman I noticed I was caught. The song is still small. An acoustic guitar and a Hammond organ. Over it Lucy Kitchen sings. She has an extremely pleasant voice. It is a mix of youth with a little edge that makes sure that she doesn't sound like a nice young innocent woman singing. While the song is slowly fleshed out, with that Hammond becoming ever more present, I am more and more impressed. Lucy Kitchen has caught me in a way that Karen Jonas often has in the past 15 years. With only one song, it is hard to tell whether there is more to my liking. Be sure I'm interested in the album, also to be released on 27 February. It's called 'In The Low Light'.
In Showdog Sander van Munster plays guitar and Gijs Kerkhoven bass. In their new duo incarnation In Loom they changed roles. The music is completely different. This is a very slow song with gloomy elements. It sort of drags its feet for the whole of the song. The guitar is the obvious lead instrument. Behind it there are all sorts of atmospheric sounds, that could have been captured from somewhere deep in the universe. At some point a violin is added, that Kerkhoven also plays, e.g. in a live setting of No Ninja Am I. The two sing together for the whole song. Once Upon A Time is the kind of song that helps you unwind totally, so you can really start listening to it, the moment it starts sharing its deeper layers. In Loom plays a short live set at De Nieuwe Anita in Amsterdam on Tuesday 17 February.
Deadletter clearly stood out in the post-postpunk revival bands of the mid 2020s. Its use of a saxophone gives the band a totally different vibe than guitar driven bands. On It Comes Creeping Deadletter takes things a little further once again. The rhythm may be recognisable, the way the saxophone contributes takes the song into uncharted territory, for postpunk that is and makes all the difference. It is closer to free jazz the way the sax honks in the intro. Together it makes It Comes Creeping an exciting song. The pulse of the song is strong and just keeps moving forward making me want to dance, while the mood changes with the use of the sax. Album 'Existence Is Bliss' will be out on 27 Februari. One month later Deadletter plays two shows over here. The 27th is going to be a very busy day for a reviewer.
deary is a new name on the blog. With Seabird the British trio announces its debut album, 'Birding' (11 April). If Seabird is anything to go by, expect a dreamy album with layers of guitar in a shoegaze fashion. This gives the single an 80s vibe, where The Cure is not far away. With 'A Forest' I heard a song like this for the first time, I would say. deary is not a The Cure clone though (based on this single). For that the music is too compact and dreamlike. Singer Dottie Cockram's voice matches the atmosphere completely. Her soft voice meanders with the stream the band creates. Not conquering the stream but moving with it and not afraid to move with it from under the surface, becoming a whole with it. Seabird is an interesting introduction. There apparently are several EPs out already. They have all passed me by.
EP 'Let's Jet' is about 14 months old today. Things haven't changed very much since November 2024. Gene Champagne released a new single and is still rocking like it's 1973 and Sweet is topping the charts. All Gene Champagne does is leave the face paint and glam suits and boots where they belong today, in the dustbin of history. The song is originally from 80s band The Barracudas, covered in 1986 by Teenage Head and here we are in 2026 with a third version. Champagne has recorded all the instruments and sings as well. In daily life he's a drummer in Teenage Head (yes), The Killjoys, and Black Halos. Here he's everything and how. The likes of Brad Marino and Geoff Palmer will listen a little jealous of what Gene Champagne brings here to the (turn)table. This is garagepunk par excellence.
Type in Snail Mail into the search space on top of this blog and you will encounter two albums and several references to Lyndsey Jordan, as Snail Mail is known to her family and friends, written by Erwin Zijleman. Today it's my turn. I am listening to an indie rock track like there have been made hundreds if not thousands before. Dean End falls into a nice line here. It is hard to tell you why this track stands out, as it does not, really. It is easy to write why I like the song. Dead End has that bittersweet balance between gladness and sad. It has the right guitar sound. I could even lay it somewhere down my 'Eight Arms To Hold You' score line and would certainly score a 7 out of 10 there. If you like this kind of indie rock, Dead End is an easy song to like. There's an album along the way. 'Ricochet' will be released on 27 March.
In mid-December The Legal Matters found itself on this blog for the first time with its single 'Everybody Knows'. Now in early February a little under three weeks before the release of album 'Lost At Sea', here the band is again with its latest single The Message. This single is pure nostalgic pop with a rock edge to it. Chris Richards, Keith Klingensmith and Andy Reed from the U.S.state of Michigan, know their classics and are able to create their own pearls with what came before, in combination with their own skills. The result is a song that shines. The pure pop of the vocal melody is ensconced in the far more solid background of the song. The Legal Matters know how to rock in a very decent way. The reins are never let go of but rock the band does. Guitars are everywhere and bass and drums give The Message its oomph. On top of that all is the singing. I already lauded it in my review of 'Everybody Knows' but I just have to point to it again. The Legal Matters is really, really good in its vocal harmonies.
What happened to me and The New Pornographers? I don't know but somewhere I lost track. I loved the band in the second half of the 00s. Saw them play a great show in Amsterdam or Utrecht? And then somewhere I lost them from my sight. Here it is 2026, we are all older and greyer and I'm listening to A.C. Newman's voice as if it's yesterday. Votive is a great song, that has that typical The New Pornographers' drive and joy of listening to great music. The song is built up so subtly. With its keyboard intro and A.C. Newman answered by Kathryn Calder for the first verse. From there the song slowly but surely expands. Where the singing is concerned e.g. by two Calder's. Later the band comes in and sounds simply so good that I simply can't wait for more new music by the band and to pull my old albums out of their hiding place. It is always such a pleasure when an old favourite delivers once again. 'The Former Side Of' will be out on 27 March. This is going to be another very busy day where new albums are concerned.
Wout de Natris - van der Borght
