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Love Is The First Law/There Are Worms In Your Circle. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy/Broeder Dieleman
A new duo single by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and Broeder Dieleman after the single 'Gloria' in 2015. With a beautiful sleeve made by Broeder Dieleman in the style of Jan de Prentenknipper, a 19th century Zeeland artisan artist travelling along all the byways selling his cut outs to the people in villages, hamlets and cities. Despite the first song being called Love Is The First Law, there's not much reminding me of the title song of Broeder Dieleman's 2020 album. It has become a full Bonnie 'Prince' Billy song with the, translated, same title. An extremely surprising song, as the middle piece suggest the second song has already started. The song totally changes after the mystifying interlude. The drumming is almost detached from the rest and so appears the keyboard when it joins. It is a miracle that the singing remains so fluent and beautiful due to what happens underneath.
For the second song Will Oldham gave Tonnie Dieleman one line, There Are Worms In Your Circle, to start working with. The result is a song that does right to both artists. The music is somewhat less esoteric than Broeder Dieleman's regular albums. All hold back it seems, leaving the stage to the vocals and vocal harmonies that come out really well.
It's not easy to
top that first split single but my first impression is the two artists
succeeded with flying colours. 1 + 1 can equal three sometimes.
Let the good times roll. Current Joys relives the best The Cure songs on Money Making machine. That typical Robert Smith style of guitar playing and his way of singing can all be found on this singe. Does that make it good by definition? No, of course not. I can't help liking the guitar part though. It just bounces inside of my head. Up and down, up and down. The lyrics are rather disturbing. I leave you to figure out the deeper psychic tribulations of the singer Nick Rattigan. I can't really relate to them. And the video is just horrendous as he takes his violent streak to his record collection. Aarrghhh!!! I can't look at it, :-). Despite the fact that Money Making Machine sounds overly familiar here and there, I can't help liking it. The song simply touches a few of the right buttons and sometimes that is simply enough.
Nylon
Four, well, the number of songs on Nylon Six for certain. This new duo
is a product of two people meeting online en deciding to make music
together on two continents, Europe and America. Somewhere last year I
saw my copy of The Mo's debut in the middle of my record collection and
played for the first time since the 1980s, I guess. It was quite alright
and the reason I mention this, is that the first song, 'We Are Smart',
brought The Mo to mind. 40 Years later, the sound is more modern but
only slightly. Lasashka from The Netherlands and David K. from the U.S.
have a thing for slick, early 80s electropop and more modern beats. It
results in songs that are pleasant to listen to, without becoming
outstanding. The kind of pop music that can be listened to under almost
all circumstances. Noteworthy is the fact that two songs are sung in
English and two in Dutch, fairly distributed between the two languages.
'Moving To Mars', the third song has a Steve Winwood 80s funky bass,
think 'Higher Love', while 'Meer' (more) has a deeper vibe in the drums
and distorted lead guitar. Nylon Six has more sides to it than one might
expect from the first two songs.
Jen
D'Angora has just come by on this blog as co-singer of The Shang Hi Los
and she's again with her regular band, The dents, sharing singing duties
with bass player Michelle Paulhuss. Homeless is a totally different
beast than released usually on Rum Bar. The Dents play a far darker
streak of rock music. Influences come from the darker new wave of the British
isles. The sound is deep and dark, the singing matching the music. The
two ladies sing in a lower register giving Homeless a despondent feel,
matching the title of the song. Homeless is by no means a new song. I
found a live video almost 3 and a half years old. The fact it got a
studio version is no less than justice for The Dents. This beast rocks!
Although The Dents hold back the whole time, no way this song is
letting itself be caged. D'Angora and Paulhuss sing together in a great
way, while the lead guitar work Craig Adams shares, is effective as it is
good. Six minutes of haunted music, a story about how everything went
wrong and the music does not give a single strand of hope that things
will come out alright. Like the quote I read today by Dutch writer Annie
M.G. Schmidt: "every story has a good ending if you stop it early
enough". As I said, a six minute single. There's no hope for us left.
For
a change another new song from New Zealand. Should you wonder where I
find all this music? I receive the newsletter of record store and record
label from Auckland in New Zealand and in it is all this music from
that country. From this distance it is as if everybody there is in a
band or a singer. And I'm not even writing about the quality yet. Loozer
is a dark song as well, different from Homeless, above, but just as
dark. Musically it is more modern with faint traces of shoegazing mixed
with dreampop. Soft Plastics is a trio from Wellington consisting of Sophie
Scott-Maunder, Jonathan Shirley, and Laura Robinson. Loozer is the kind
of song to dream away on. Lasting over five minutes as well, it manages
to keep my attention the whole of the time with ease. Making me curious
to hear more, instantly. I find there are, only, four songs all in all on
Bandcamp. If they are as good as Loozer, Soft Plastics is on a
roll towards its first album. Lay it on me when the time comes.
It's time for a lighter touch. Jeff Crosby hales from Boise, Idaho and plays some good old country music. The kind holding a laugh and tear, the way it should. His voice fits the music like a glove. It has a little edge to it making the music slightly rougher that you'd expect from the fiddle and the lap steel guitar doing their traditional thing. Runnin' Free is the kind of song thousands exist of already, rhyming here to flat beer. At the same time, everything is just right. The song holds what it should with this kind of music. The kind of artist I went to see on a monthly basis in the Q-Bus in Leiden. Jeff Crosby would be right at home there, were it not that the shows there are a thing of the past, I've been told. If you like these kind of songs, this it is for this month. Don't look any further and run free with Jeff Crosby.
A
trio from Belgium that makes its debut on this blog with the single
Anders (different). No drums, no bass. Three singers, guitar and
keyboards, with loads of synths producing everything else. Bazart plays
electropop with a soft beat, mildly danceable. On the one hand the song
is neither fish nor flesh, on the other it is hard to hold anything
against it. Anders is not far removed from the songs of Swedish electro
and dreampop trio ViVii. It is melodically that I do keep having doubts
about Anders, the song never really comes alive. Even in the chorus it
never gets loose. These days being the EuroVision Songcontest in
Rotterdam, I can imagine how the song could explode, pyro's and all,
like they do there. That would not have done right to the seriousness of
the song, the melancholy. These elements save the song in my ears.
What
a hesitant beginning before Possum finds its stride in Clarified
Budder. Thinking about how short attention spans of youths are nowadays,
I wonder how many are around to listen to what really is presented by
the Canadian rockers. Clarified Budder is an alternative rocksong that
does not take the easy way. The melody follows the rhythm in which every
beat counts. The psychedelic element is taken care of by the lead guitar
that uses a wah wah pedal every once in a while. The solo is much
cleaner and almost jazzy. As a whole Clarified Budder is experimental
without truly breaking boundaries, for that it is "to normal". What it
does, is making me curious for what Possum will present on its album
'Lunar Gardens' (2 July). For one song, a lot is going on. Possum
certainly did not stop thinking about the song when it had one idea for
it, let alone at two. No matter how different the voices, the vocal
style does remind me of Yes' Jon Anderson. And the music? With a little
imagination I hear symphonic rock, shelving the symphonic part mostly.
Intriguing, isn't it?
When is it enough to write: I just like this song? Every single instant of the day, is the answer. Except when reviewing a song. Neonfly is a melodic heavy metal band from the U.K., about to release its third album since it started in 2008. The band certainly plays metal but with the melody in the central spot the whole of the time. In Beating Hearts elements from The Scorpions and Guns 'N' Roses come together with a great sense of when whoa's can be put into a song successfully, allowing everyone from whatever language background to sing along. And they can with Beating Hearts. Add some great guitar works and dynamics and you have a single that attracts enough attention. Beating Hearts simply is a pop single, that makes a lot of noise. As long as it is not turned up too loud, it never hurt anyone to enjoy a loud song. BTW, Don't forget to look at the video, some great artwork is created there by the artist Noma (Noh Gyeong Hwan).
Oops, I had already decided not to pursue the song, when I really started listening and kept it on. Swiss alternative rock trio Velvet Two Stripes (plus drummer Ramon Wehrle) presents Fever, a relentless song, not showing any mercy. The three ladies sing harmonies providing a mystical element, like indigenous chanting, to a song that is close to punk. Bass, drums and a distorted electric guitar that joins regularly but is also shut out of the song when not necessary. Like the empty bass intro. Where is this going to?, I could not help wondering. Well into a rocking second intro, reminding me of something like 'Ram Jam's 'Black Betty'. Before it all drops away once again for the first verse. In short, almost more happens in Fever than I can keep up with writing. Hearing is believing in this case. 'Sugar Honey Iced Tea' isn't due until mid October. What an awfully long time before I can hear more. Oh, sweet anticipation.
Wout de Natris
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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