2023, week 46.2, 10 singles

Foreign trips lead to backlogs and catching up is so hard to do with new albums and singles arriving every day as well. Here I'm trying to make amends to several of the singles released recently. You will find some very familiar names for those following the blog and subscribers to the once magazine, as two bands precede that as well. You will also find new names, some with even their very first single. A nice mix, if I say so. Hopefully you will check them all out. Enjoy!

Cincinnati. Johan

Yes, it did not take more than a decade before a new Johan album is announced. In the fall of 2018 'Pull Up' was released and here is the first single from an album slated for January 2024. Johan fans of old are in for a surprise though. Cincinnatti is not a song I've expected to hear from the band. It is dark and somewhat flat where the emotions and Johan's melancholy pop feel are concerned. Listening to the intro and first verse, I get a U2 feel, without the stadium antics of The Edge's guitar effects. The classic Johan vibe comes in later on, but again the pure pop feel many of the band's choruses have, is missing. Let me call it the joy of playing is missing. What remains is beauty. Just listen to that mellotron sound coming in, followed by a beautiful guitar solo. This may be a new Johan but the essence still remains. After five albums, in 21 years, it is time from something new. No matter how incredible it sounds, it is 27 years since that debut album and first show, I saw. We have all become so much older, it is hard to grasp where all that time has gone. Yet, here is Cincinnatti for us all, perhaps to digest and, to enjoy, with more coming soon. Do give it a try or three. It's worth it.

Telephone. Cape Sleep

Kim Janssen decided to stop working under his own name, at least for now, and releases a single under the name Cape Sleep. He worked with Moss frontman Marien Dorleijn and that is clear from several angles. That typical Moss plopping bass is all over Telephone, as is the dreamy atmosphere that comes with many Moss songs. Cape Sleep has already scored on two levels. I like the drive the song has. It goes ever forward because of that rhythm that simply doesn't let go. Just like the young woman on her skates in the video goes on and on until the songs comes to an end. Telephone finds a great balance between dream and deed. The singing and atmosphere suggest a dreamy environment, sometimes underscored by interludes where the rhythm drops away for a short while. The rhythm and especially that bass guitar makes the song very real. Has Kim Janssen reinvented himself? It's too early to tell but Telephone certainly points into that direction.

Hiding. Haze

Hiding is the first single from an upcoming album by Belgian band/project Haze with principal member Mirabelle van der Put. The music is a convincing mix of analogue and digital music. My first impression is Portishead. This song has that dreamy, triphop way in which the song is presented. The style of singing is not unlike Beth Gibbons'. The bass however is very real, as are the guitars and especially that rawkish lead guitar that plays only a few notes but enough to come across like a beast. Mirabelle van de Put sings over it all with some effect on her voice, making her sound a little like a female robot impersonating a French sigh girl. The outcome is an alive version of Air's 'Moon Safari'. In other words, the best of quite a few worlds come together in Hiding. Haze's second album, 'Out Of Sight' is slated for 24 Januari. I'm game!

I Can't Get Over You. The Dogmatics

Something like 40 years ago The Dogmatics tried to conquer the world and when that failed went on to do what other people do, settle down and get a job. Since a few years the band is back at what it's good at, write, record and play good old rock and roll songs. I Can't Get You Over You is one such. Two minutes and it's all over, everything said and done. Nothing more but certainly nothing less. Jerry Lehane and band mates do what they are good at. With a chorus that begs singing along to, an effective guitar solo and some nice harmony singing, I Can't Get Over You holds it all. No more words needed.

See You Through. Ella Raphael

More dreamy sounds and a bass that reminds me a little of Air's on 'Moon Safari', which has it from many a Serge Gainsbourg production. It does go to show how influential the sound is. Ella Raphael (or Ellarae, that is not fully clear to me) is a new signee to Fire Records and this is the first single or so I understand. Her voice has a dreamy quality. Far from having a fantastic voice, she delivers See You Through just right, harmonies and all. Again today, I am reminded of French sigh girls from a long time ago. The production is almost bare. Acoustic guitar, bass, drums is all there is, except for a piano (or is it, later in the song, voices treated in a strange way?) and some kind of synth sound joining for a sparse note her and there. Less is certainly more on See You Through. Ella Raphael plays with mystery on her single. Drums start it, the bass ends it. In between this new artist shows an intriguing side of herself, not unique but certainly with her own voice and sound.

Roadrunner Vs. Your Mother. The Magic City

A new band from Boston? What's new?! I can almost hear you sigh, but wait, this single is very much worth your while. The Magic City is a new band from the city, with a sound that goes way back. More aiming for pop than rock, the band touches on early 70s Bowie and pop from the U.K. from the 60s as well as the 90s. With a clean sound The Magic City sets itself apart from almost all other bands I have gotten to know in the past years from Boston. Roadrunner Vs. Your Mother even starts a little dull at first encounter but I dare you to be patient. The Magic City does deliver. The band slowly but surely builds the song up, without a million decibels or instruments added. The song simply gets a body, while sticking to that sweet angle it has as well. Just a little emphases in the singing and a good guitar solo do it all. "Come get it" the band sings and that is exactly my advice to you: go and get it!

Drive. Other Brother Darryl

And now it's time for some nice good old fashioned country rock. Boston's Other Brother Darryl releases its second single, following 'Until I Do' from 2022. Fans of the genre will recognise everything from the Eagles to CSN(&Y) in Drive. The laidback rhythm almost conceals a great song that has that slow rock in it. Another description is a tougher version of the beautiful ballad by The Connells, '74/75'. Acoustic guitars playing around each other, strumming, some lead notes sprinkled in between. A warm Hammond adds to the fun already enjoyed. Next, the vocals set in with some great harmonising in a style that moves between the two already mentioned examples. The singers in Brother Darryl know the power and joy of singing together. I had never heard of this band but this is a tip for everyone who likes this kind of music.

I Don't Want You Anymore. Cindy Lawson

No, no Boston, Cindy Lawson is from Minneapolis but releases her records these days on Boston's Run Bar Records. Cindy Lawson was a member of The Clams in the 1980s and returned on the scene last year, also re-releasing The Clams' songs in the process. I Don't Want You Anymore, her new single, is a dirty rocker underscoring the message of the song in a perfect way. Lawson and her bandmates Jerry Lefkowitz, guitar, background vocals, Dave Randall, bass, background vocals and Mark Devaraj, drums, background vocals, helped by Steve Price here and there, play a very effective game in bringing music from a long time ago back to life. The staccato rhythm of punk rock is there in the intro, the pop and powerrock of the late 70s and early 80s is mixed into the whole and out comes the fun in abundance. Don't expect absolute brilliance nor excellent originality but do expect everything that makes the mix of punk and poprock so much fun.

Look Ma, No Brains! Green Day

Time flies, as I've already concluded somewhere above in this post. 'Basket Case' was my introduction to Green Day and that is more moons ago than I care to remember. Ever since it has been up and down with Green Day. Good records were alternated with average ones. Never write off a good band though, as The Rolling Stones proved last month. Look Ma, No Brains! is a return to form that was announced almost on Green Day's previous album, 'Father Of All Motherfuckers', released in 2020. The new single has all the energy and fun the best Green Day singles and songs have in them. Tight, the smart chord changes and a great bass part, as Mike Dirnt is the real unsung hero of Green Day. What is a good sign also, is that the band tells it all in 2.10 minutes, like a classic rock and roll and pop hit. Moving towards their fifties and the bandmember's faces show it, the band is as good as ever. Like Rancid earlier this year Green Day is in great form. "Don't panic", as Mike Dirnt sings in the background, as Look Ma, No Brains! is the real Green Day thing.

Marie De Hautefort Wants To Wear Bikinis Like The Girls In Italy (In A Major). Smudged

And here I was thinking Lana del Ray would the win the-longest-single-title-of-2023 competition. I haven't counted the letters but here's a serious competitor and from Rotterdam no less. Smudged can go out as support act to Tramhaus' first major headlining tour. There certainly is a kindred spirit here. Alternative rock, steeped in new wave and other alternative stuff from long ago, mixed with what is extremely popular these days among young musicians. Smudged catches a few moods on Marie De Hautefort Wants To Wear Bikinis Like The Girls In Italy (In A Major). Besides moving through the dark new wave period of the early 1980s, the band works with pop vocals as well and is not afraid to experiment a little with its sound along the way. Slowly but surely the single works in a little Personal Trainer influence as well, while the song starts soaring. Marie De Hautefort Wants To Wear Bikinis Like The Girls In Italy (In A Major) is not the easiest song to digest but certainly does a lot of things right. The energy level keeps rising and rising until the song can't go wrong anymore and doesn't. A nice introduction this is.

Wout de Natris