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Technodrone. The Ugly Kings
Listening to Technodrone, the single from Melbourne band The Ugly Kings' upcoming album 'Strange, Strange Times', brings me back decades to my first, and only, Nazareth album, 'Loud 'N' Proud'. Songs like 'Not Faking It' and 'Teenage Nervous Breakdown', without my realising it, introduced me to hardrock. Technodrone is the 2021 version of hardrock. The slowly proceeding time has brought dozens of other bands that made variations to that emulation of hardrock Nazareth made at the time. Anyone hearing The Ugly Kings play the song can fill in a few of their own favourites. It all results in a song that rocks with influences from the new wave darkness of the mid 80s, some post grunge from around 2000, ending with some desert rock from the south-western U.S.A. It's all in this song, that pushes all the right rock buttons.
Linnea's
Garden has featured a few times in this spot before. With the whole EP
available it is time to focus on the output of Linnea Herzog once again.
'Non-Dramatic Breakup Song' sounds as uncomplicated as the title is
hopeful. A nice alternative pop song that pushes all the right buttons.
'Friday Night' continues this mood perfectly. Linnea's Garden masters
the challenge to successfully combine the up with the somewhere in between, so the mood never gets to the down. Musically that is an extremely attractive position to be in as
both can be stressed within seconds within a song. Match a minor chord
with jubilant singing and everybody is jumping on the roof instead of jumping off. 'Friday
Night' has this beautiful melody, while really hitting the instruments
hard, past the point that is seemly in a studio, creating a thick layer
of feedback here and there. 'Replacement' is a, all in perspective,
softer song that I could imagine to have found a spot on a late 70s
Blondie album. Debbie Harry's band would have nothing to be ashamed of
had it been able to cover it at the time. 'Glitter' really goes for the throat,
with the lead guitar barely in control, so heavily distorted it is. The
two singles promised a nice EP, Linnea's Garden fully delivers and more than just nicely as well.
It
is over two and a half years Hilary Scott, yes, only one l, found her
way to this blog with her album 'Don't Call Me Angel'. Last week an EP
saw the light of day and it kicks off in a great way. 'Just A Shame' is
the kind of tight singer-songwriter country rocking song that I just
love to hear every once in a while. The pick up of the drums sets that
tight expectation within the second it plays out. A nice intro follows
before Hilary Scott starts singing in a dreamy fashion, where the band
moves between tight and loud and dreamy and accommodating. Scott voice
is harmonising with herself, creating a wall of vocal sounds. 'Almost
Home' is slower, but again that powerful drumming is what catches my ear
first. The song is one of dozens of not hundreds of the kind, true. But
listen to Hilary Scott singing and chances are you'll be sold. With a
voice between soft and loud, deep and high, she touches me. The lead
guitar explodes a little in the chorus and shines a light on it. If I
have to name someone else it is Alanis Morissette at the time of 'Jacked
Little Pill', with a few years extra on her. 'Too Much Is Not Enough'
underscores this idea. Hilary Scott could double as Alanis' twin sister
here, with great result. This is a great song. 'And Just' moves more
into pop territory and doesn't reach me in the way the first three songs
do. It never truly comes alive for me. The beginning of the final song, 'Free
Country', moves into R&B territory and is not for me. With three and
a half out of five Kaleidoscope does not score bad, I'd say.
Lunar
Vacation, why not?, is a band from Atlanta and releases a single to
announce its debut album to be released in the fall. The song's writer tells us
through the song's lyrics about the way she broke free from conventions
after going through a process of realising not fitting in them. She has
set the serious theme to an indie rock song, that contains a little
light and some shade. The song also falls into two halves. Where the
beginning is hesitant, the second half shows the breakthrough, or
so I can imagine after reading the bio. Grace Repasky has a nice voice
that shares the mood of the song in all the right ways. Bass, drums and
rhythm guitar together are tight enough, to allow the lead guitar to
sound a little wobbly in the main riff, until the song truly takes off,
with some great bass parts running around. Shrug certainly is the kind
of introduction to a new band I like. It makes me want to hear that
debut album now!
With a bandname like Leprous I had expected to hear a lot of noise and metal of some kind. It may well be that this is the usual musical environment of the Swedish band. I do not know, as this song is my introduction. I could not be more surprised to hear a delicate song with a singer reaching for the higher registers of his vocal range. True, the song becomes louder slowly by the minute it lasts, but metal, no.
Like almost all other musicians Leprous was put on hold because of the
pandemic and started working on an album that perhaps never would have
been without it. Again the positive within the extremely negative. The
album 'Aphelion' sees the light of day late August. Castaway Angles is
an impressive introduction. Leprous manages to contain the delicate and
the forceful within one song, without going overboard on either. The
vocal performance of Einar Solberg is an important part of this
achievement.
Looking back where I
found the name Vera Ellen and I run into two recent emails. One of the
duo Girl Friday and one on a new Flying Nun Records signing. You! is the
debut single of Vera Ellen on Flying Nun announcing the album 'It's
Your Birthday' for some time later this year. I should have recognised
the stamp in Vera Ellen's music immediately of course. The accent in her
singing and the music have the feel of The Beths' brilliant 2020 album
'Jump Rope Gazers'. You! is slightly more alternative and punky. It has a
slightly rough edge, mainly because of the sound of her voice. You! is
deliciously up tempo. The kind of alternative rocking song that is
direct and in your face. A kick in the butt to start moving to the
rhythm. "I only wanted you", as Vera Ellen sings, may be a bit
overstated, but there's no doubt I like what I'm hearing and can't wait
to hear more.
Time
for some hardrock bordering on metal. I'm reminded immediately of metal
bands from Scandinavia somewhere in the 90s. The deep end is closely
guarded. All is dark and resonating the lower registers of the guitars
and bass, match by forcefully played drums. The skin and cymbals are
pounded on, not played. 'Monster Truck', release 17 September, will be
Goatfather's second album. The French band really lays it on, showcasing
what they are capable of. The singing is forceful, loud screams are
thrown in for dramatic effect. I'm glad I do not have to imitate it.
Listening to it is fine, as Goatfather finds the melody within its
stonerrock with ease. Somewhere halfway the song a guitar solo is allowed to
escape the deep end adding immediately to the whole. As I wrote,
forceful stuff, In Your Face is.
And
here's single number three by Kloothommel on this blog. Ravenala is the
antithesis of what I've just heard. The song starts with a jazzy rhythm
and jazzy sounding guitar. Kloothommel presents itself in laidback mood
on Ravenala. High clear sounding guitars meander of the relaxed rhythm
the bass and drums lay down. The singing matches the mood totally. As
the song plays out a guitar overdub here and there can be heard. Large
sections of Ravenala are instrumental by the way, where the band plays
out the little motives its created in the relaxed way the whole song is
constructed. The Ravenala is a Madagascan tree, "the traveller's tree",
and the traveller's mood is reflected in the song. The kind where all's
fine and nothing needs to be done. With only a week left before
Kloothommel releases 'Portonovo', Ravenala provides a nice incentive to
start listening to the album, once again.
In January Utrecht based band Tessel debuted with its first single and on this blog. With Boulevard a second single is released. Boulevard is a light-hearted alternative pop single that manages to lay the right kind of accents in the rhythm of the song, giving it a sprightly character. Listening closer I realise that Tessel within the context of modern Dutch alternative rock could best be compared to Roberto Jacketti and the Scooters than to The Scene. The pop element in its two songs are of the kind that could appeal to a larger audience than current bands as Slow Worries or Price most likely will. At the same time Tessel operates fairly close in the same fishpond, most likely the one directly next to the other pond. Boulevard is the kind of song that settles into the mind just this little easier, like nowadays The Vices do. That's not bad company to be close to.
Lorde is no
longer a teenage girl but a young woman. Having sprung on the world with
a global hit out of nothing, 'Royals'. That is getting close to a
decade ago. For me, things went quiet where Lorde was concerned. That
has more to do with me, most likely, as her music was not in my range,
really. With Solar Power she attracted my attention once again. This
single is an extremely powerful song. Lorde more or less does the same
as with 'Royals', but with less electronics. An acoustic guitar drives
the song onwards into a modern rhythm, with a traditional instrument.
The surprise comes with the chorus, when Solar Power becomes a stripped
down version of a Primal Scream hit like e.g. 'Loaded'. Lorde overdubbed
her voices several times, making the song more mysterious. For me it
comes as a big surprise, as, unlike 'Royals', Solar Power works directly
for me. Where 'Royals' took its time conquering me, Solar Power has no hesitation. The song holds several elements that make it extremely
attractive. Yes, there's a little Lana del Rey in there, but a lot more
Lorde. Simply well done.
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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