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Endless Night. Clementine Valentine
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from New Zealand, although the sisters Nixon, who were formally working
under the name Purple Pilgrims, descend from a family of travelling
musicians. Endless Night does not give a clue to that, as the song is a
top heavy production with close to a whole orchestra playing for the
sisters. It results in a song as if a deep dream, Wearing heavy on the
sleeper, while certainly pleasant and in parts even soothing. With a
prominent drums Endless Nights certainly can still be categorised as a
form of rock music, not unlike Kate Bush was capable of over 40 years
ago. Listen close enough and you'll discover more instruments associated
with pop and rock. It is the more classical ones that run off with the
trophy here. In front of everything else it is the voice of Clementine
and Valentine Nixon that steal the centre spot, as they should. In the
finale the orchestra runs off, with the sisters singing oohs and aahs over
it. Impressive without overdoing it is the conclusion.
A ballad from the album 'Tomorrow Will Be Without Us', released in November 2022. So long ago, I do not mind drawing some attention to it. Also because Tears To Share is a nice song. 20 something years ago, this could have been an Anouk song. Singer Marcella di Troia really goes for it and has just a little more depth in her voice, making her sound just this little more convincing. Tears To Share is that kind of rock ballad that truly offers the best of both worlds. There's no sticky goo in sight, not near, not far. Black Mirrors is obviously ready to rock at any minute, and does. The chorus goes off and so does the song. In the verse the drums and bass make sure that the song rocks, all the time. What happens next, is that singer Marcella can take the song over fully, completely, until near the end guitarist Pierre Lateur, captures the song and plays it home with a fiery solo, like they used to do in the old days. No matter what happens after, the point has been made.
What's
in a name? I'm not certain in this case. It sounds terribly
over-ambitions if not a bit ridiculous. The music does not match it
though, the latter that is. Musically, Sorry is very ambitious. Not much
is left to chance. THE MYSTICAL HOT CHOCOLATE ENDEAVORS is a band from
San Francisco around singer-guitarist Craig Harley Schmuhl, whose soft
voice is mixed up front and takes centre stage. Sorry is a progrock
style song, so, takes seven minutes plus and has a few faces. The soft
face opens the song, the rock part takes over making the song explode.
The sound becomes huge, not unlike the Norwegian progrockers Soup are
capable of as well (and many other bands of course). The two sides of
Sorry make the song interesting to listen to and curious about the album
'A Clock Without A Craftsman', to be released on 11 August.
Chance
meetings can result in beautiful things. Singer-songwriter Rebecca Joy
had gone on maternity leave, now five years ago and overheard, by
chance, a guitar track of Justin Myer. She almost on the spot wrote the
melody and lyrics to it and the rest is history like they say. Fast
forward to 2023 and Achings is about to release its debut album, 'All
These Days', in mid July. The duo combines the dreamy vocals of Rebecca
Joy, who could be the singer of Amsterdam band Loupe, and the rocking
style of playing of Justin Myer. It results in a song in which the two
sides are battling it out as it were. Pushing each other to greater
heights. Both not giving in but stepping aside when the song calls for
it, until Myer can't restrain himself and goes for the huge finale with
guitars like resounding thunder and crackling lighting play the song
home.
Alert! A real
debut single on the blog. The poppy rocking Light The Fuse makes it to
this blog, more because of the enthusiasm of the song than because of
its originality. Produced by Stijn van Rijsbergen, it is not a big
surprise that the name Lucas Hamming (of several years ago) surfaces.
Light The Fuse has that same sort of bubbly pop that Hamming played on
his debut album. Simpleton, a project of Chris Berendsen, will release
several singles in the coming months leading up to a debut EP. With
Light The Fuse the start is promising. The song has a nice signature
riff and the energy a good pop-rock song needs. At the same time the
chorus is memorable and fine to sing along to. What more can one want
from a debut single? Not a lot.
Yes, I have several albums by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy but how old the last one I own is, I can't tell. The newest may well be the two duo singles with broeder Dieleman. So, Bananas may be the first song in a decade I'm hearing by Will Oldham, as he hides behind the Bonnie moniker. The song sounds immediately recognisable. A slow ballad, an acoustic guitar, Oldham's typical voice and a female vocal accompanying him, as a Nancy to a Lee. Without paying due respect, it is easy to state that many of Oldham's song are interchangeable. In paying it, the difference is in how good an individual song is. And Bananas is just that. Why? What makes that difference? I simply can't tell you. It's good, while sounding totally familiar. Not more than a few simple chords are used and yet, it has it all. You will have to find out for yourself, as this is all I can make of it. Bananas is a very nice song in the Bonnie 'Prince' Billy style with a befitting ending.
Swedish rockers Dictator Ship releases its first single of the upcoming, same-titled album. The song has this nice forward moving rhythm. Like a steam train that simply keeps chugging, with a guitar solo like the steam flute announcing the train's approach for all wanting to cross the track. Yes, I have heard better songs in the past decades in this genre but there's no denying the fun and enthusiasm going into this single. The band released its first album in 2020, so in a way 'Electic Jihad' is the band's real start, as in 2020 the world stopped in its tracks and so will have Dictator Ship. The band didn't fall apart in utter misery from the forced inertia. All the energy went into a song like Electric Jihad instead. There's absolutely no holding back here. The extra time available may even have led to the fun interludes, there was time enough to experiment.
I first heard of Pip Blom and heard Pip Blom when they played a support for Franz Ferdinand in Groningen, a birthday present. Pip Blom did not have a record contract yet, I think, and FraFer was touring after 'Always Ascending', its last studio album to date. The circle is round with the release of this single, announcing the third album of Pip Blom. FraFer singer Alex Kapranos sings with Pip Blom and directed the accompanying video. Is This Love? is a nice song, no doubt there, yet it is also a Franz Ferdinand light. The rhythm and melody is all Franz Ferdinand without having the power of that band. So it does make me think why? As an entree it should certainly work but a Dutch band being announced in the newsletter of a New Zealand record shop (and label), that was a first to me, so Pip Blom may not need an entree like this any more. Taking the song at face value, it's fun and that can be enough.
Buck
Meek is a member of the biggest, sort of underground band there is today, Big Thief, but
plays second guitar, after Adrien Lenker. Apparently he has already
released several solo records. I'm catching up with this single called
Haunted Mountain. In the substack of music called country rock the
single does extremely well. If anything there's life in the genre yet.
The song does not bring you anything new, you've heard it all before and
yet it is totally irresistible. Buck Meek builds up the song slowly but
surely moving ever more from country towards rock by adding instruments
or making them more prominent. All in all it's a fairly big band that
is playing in the video. It also true that I've heard better singers in
my life but also here Buck Meek's voice fits the song like a glove. A
little tear here and there adds to the atmosphere, underscored by the
pedal steel guitar. Come to think if it, this is a song The Rolling
Stones could have recorded in their finest days and perhaps ought to
cover in 2023. Now that's a thought.
I have no idea how I ran into The Mysterines but I'm glad I did. Begin Again is great alternative rock song that actually speaks volumes through its mix of directness and mystery. The former through the tight drums and the elementary way the bass kicks in. The latter in the way singer Lia Metcalfe's voice was recorded. It's as if she's somehow in another room yet very present. Listening to Begin Again I am catapulted back a long time ago when alternative rock songs like this were something new. Don't dismiss Begin Again as retro. For that The Mysterines play far too direct. The song is totally in my face from the very start. The acoustic guitar may seem like a falls start, in fact it's the right stepping stone. Again, listen to the way that bass enters to then take off and recede again. The band already has an album out, 'Reeling'. Whether Begin Again is on it, I don't know and too lazy to look it up. The weekend is about to start. Great song and I love the energy in it.
Wout de Natris
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