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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.
What 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.
Listening 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.)
This 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.
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.
The 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.
After 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.
What 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
