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Family Time. Tessel
Utrecht based band Tessel
signed a record deal and releases its first single after signing. Yes,
another alternatively rocking rock band from the Netherlands. And again
one that taps from a totally different source. The sound is far more
clear than most. The atmosphere as a whole may have a darker edge, the
guitars sound very clear and the singing is even moving in the Chefs'
Special territory. From a personal perspective I'm quite content with
the lighter sound. I already have a Canshaker Pi, Slow Worries, Dakota
or Price. Tessel adds nicely to this. Of course the band has its
influences. In the bio announcing the band/song, all sorts of U.S. bands are mentioned,
that I personally find boring to listen to, so can't really compare. No,
for me there are a few Belgian bands that come to mind that are or were
far more interesting to listen to. Tessel manages to combine a poppy
vibe with a darker background resulting in an interesting introduction.
Let me hear more soon.
Middle
Kids? Yes, I was certain I had written on the band before and looking
it up I noticed that three years have past. Where does time go? The
positive side is that when time flies, one isn't bored in general.
Questions is the first single of Middle Kids' upcoming second album
'Today We're The Greatest'. The song is a good mix of electronics, folk
and pop. Faint traces of new-folkies from around 2010, whose names have
slowly faded from consciousness sound trough the song. The build up is
done capably. The first verse is almost bare with hands clapping the
rhythm. Slowly but surely the song branches out, with horns moving in,
reminding me of that one hit of Of Monsters and Men. There's a lot going
on in Questions and it's all over under the three minutes. Well done,
Middle Kids.
What
do you need after eating too many Psychedelic Porn Crumpets? A puke box,
that seems an obvious answer. This is the second single that comes by
from the album 'SHYGA! The Sunlight Mount' coming by on this blog.
Again, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets manages to rock out with a eastern,
psychedelic vibe. Kula Shaker without the Indian instruments and
rhythms, so more direct. The rest is all intact. So I hear a very firm
rhythm section that is not afraid of putting its stamp on Puke Box. The
lead guitar lines are allowed all over the place once released and the
singer can sing in a mix of dreamy vibes and direct diction. The result
is a slightly psychedelic rock song that is more than enough in my face
but with a musical stroboscopic effect here and there. As if Puke
Box can't decide whether to enter my left or my right ear. If Puke Box
proves anything then it is that the album may be worth my while to get
acquainted with. Two weeks to go.
Ah,
the deep end. Deep, deep guitars enter my ear. So different from the
two previous songs. The cover art of I'm Staying Home is very promising. Hieronymous Bosch style apocalyptic visions of Judgement Day stare me
in the face of the kind that makes me glad that I'm not religiously
inclined. When I'm gone, I'm gone after the last memory of me has died
as well. Does the music match this view? Only in the fact that it's
dark, as the people descending towards hell will experience before the
fiery pit opens itself for them. Monolord plays on the dark mood with
their dark sound. The voice of the singer isn't that deep though, more
in the range of classic rock singers of the 70s. The vocal melody
matches this idea. Melodically the song is fairly monotonous but that
adds to the mood of the song. I'm Staying Home is a leftover from the
band's 2019 album 'No Comfort' and the right song to release in these
Corona days. "Stay the fuck home" as the bio reads. The Swedish band
re-recorded the lyrics to suit the times and succeeded, as some scenes
on the news these days are somewhat apocalyptic, aren't they?
Flying
Nun Records re-releases a single from 1980 stemming from the
Christchurch punk scene. Listening to Future Shock I hear an almost
dated song by a band that has just learned to play its instruments, but
manages to combine a few tremendously good influences into a song that
is basking in energy. Had I ever heard of Christchurch in 1980? Chances
are no and certainly not of The Gordons and their single Future Shock.
That would not have changed had it not been for this re-release. The
Gordons manage to combine a The Velvet Underground rhythm to a The Cure
lead guitar sound, U.K. punk rhythm guitar and bass playing and Johnny
Rotten style singing without the overdone accent. The result is a wild
cocktail of energy and abandon. Is Future Song an extremely good song?
No, but that isn't the point. It's the energy, a little anger and
madness that allows for dancing, sorry, pogoing in wild abandon and
leaving everything behind for a short while, while counting your bruises
afterwards.
The
name to watch seems to be Black Country, New Roads. The band's name has
been going around for some time and now I'm listening to its latest
single on route to the debut album. I had expected a lot but not the
moody, bare song that I'm hearing. More like some more Shame of
Fontaines D.C. Track X is a song that isn't a band song at all. There's a
guitar or two, play a motif over and over. A singer sings with a dark
voice, slowly, with held-back emotions. In one speaker there are
violins in the other a saxophone. Female backing vocals do "ooh" for a
short while. There's nothing that invites to sing along to, this is
listening territory and I'm not convinced that Track X is the kind of
song that invites many sessions over time. This is far from bad, don't
get me wrong, but the music is so subtle that it appears monotonous.
Listen closely and you'll hear more than you might have the first time.
Still, I'm not convinced; yet?
EUT returns with another single on the brink of alternative rock and pop. Cool is the kind of song that has an edge and still fits in an ear quite easily. The opening of the song is so relaxed. The electronic sounding rhythm detonates with the slow singing of Megan de Klerk. It is a kind of mix that grabbed me immediately, it made me want to listen. And that paid off. Cool is like a song by Bettie Serveert without Peter Visser. The result is a song that breathes. A song to enjoy. Where I doubted EUT at the time of the first album, I have already heard a few songs now that seem to point towards the growth the band has gone through since its first record. It shows in the two faces the song has. After the empty intro the song is flashed out and becomes more poppy without losing its alternative edge. If radio stations today of this weren't so one-sided, this is the kind of song that deserves massive airplay and becoming better known under the youth of The Netherlands and not on my radar, as this music, no matter how nice, should not be made with me in mind. And EUT, nice, funny ending Cool has!
Animal is
one of the singles from upcoming album 'Choices'. Lucy Spraggan is a new
name for me, but in the U.K. she has already made a name for herself,
e.g. through participation in a TV show like 'X Factor'. Animal is a pop
single with a modern sound but at the same time with enough features to
make it timeless up to a point. The singing is like I hear a lot in
music of the past circa 10 years in new folk bands. Animal comes close
to that genre without ever transgressing into it. For that the rhythms are
to electronic, but the way guitars and keyboards are used makes Animal a
nice hybrid song. Lucy Spraggan has made a song that moves on these
three faultlines where her music is concerned without ever losing the
pop element out of here sight. "I'm an animal" is a chorus so easy
sing along to, so that is taken care of as well. A catchphrase making it
hard to forget the song as well.
Jillette
Johnson releases new singles almost like clockwork. With Forgive Her
she adds a dreamy song to her oeuvre. A song that seems to slowly
meander from start to finish, but listen more carefully and you will
find murkier parts underneath the soft singing of Ms. Johnson and the
soft playing guitar(s). The electronic rhythm is all but so clear and
straightforward. Yes, it is the same but a little strange, isn't it? The
same goes for the little "te-di-dis" you can hear in one of the corners
of the mix. It adds a little mystery to the song. If anything, as an
influence I would mention Stevie Nicks songs from Fleetwood Mac. Forgive
Her holds the kind of mystery 'Rhiannon' or 'Sara' have. The sound is
very different, the mood is not. That is what surprises me while
listening to the song a few times in a row. More and more comes forward,
even the singing of Jillette Johnson seems to get a little edge to it
that I did not hear the first two times. She may forgive someone,
but...?, that is the question I'm stuck with after listening a final
time.
Big Baby's third single is another nice hybrid of modern pop with some hints at musical times long gone. The result is a song that is simply pleasant to listen to. With the drums laying a sound, dry foundation in the verses, the song gets a great pace. Together with the bass, the song does not need more than the (harmony) vocals to keep the verses going. Big Baby dares to keep its song bare to the bone, fully confident that the melody will carry it across. It does. It's not everyday that the verse is even stronger than the chorus. Here it comes as a nice addition, not necessarly the highlight of the song. After the intro, which is the instrumental version of the chorus, the band throws out the guitar only to return in the chorus. The multi harmonies here are extremely nice of course. Three singles in, the band does 2 out of 3 for me. An album has not been announced yet, but I can deal with a fourth single soon.
Wo.
Listen to our Spotify Playlist to find out what we are writing about:
https://open.spotify.com/user/glazu53/playlist/6R9FgPd2btrMuMaIrYeCh6?si=KI6LzLaAS5K-wsez5oSO2g
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