Goodnight Summerland. Helena Deland

Helena Deland maakte drie jaar geleden indruk met haar debuutalbum en laat op het misschien nog wel mooiere en wat meer ingetogen en folky klinkende Goodnight Summerland horen dat dit geen toevalstreffer was.

Terwijl de herfst buiten zijn intrede doet in het land verwarmt de Canadese muzikante Helena Deland binnen de ruimte met haar nieuwe album Goodnight Summerland. Ze doet dit met een betrekkelijk sober ingekleurd, maar prachtig klinkend en fraai geproduceerd album. De akoestische gitaar domineert op het tweede album van Helena Deland en dit past prachtig bij haar mooie maar ook karakteristieke stem, die herinnert aan folkies uit het verleden, maar die ook behoort tot de mooiste stemmen uit de indiefolk van dit moment. Goodnight Summerland klinkt sober, maar zet de koptelefoon op en je hoort flink wat prachtige details. Prachtig album weer van deze Canadese muzikante.

Het blijft bijzonder hoe het weer en muziekvoorkeuren met elkaar samen kunnen hangen. De nazomer van een paar weken geleden wakkerde bij mij onmiddellijk het verlangen naar zonnige albums aan, maar nu de regen met bakken uit de hemel komt en de verwarming weer aan is gesprongen, heb ik vooral behoefte aan stemmige herfstalbums.

Gelukkig verschijnen die in grote aantallen, waarbij vooral de stemmige albums van vrouwelijke singer-songwriters opvallen. Met dit soort albums had ik de hele week kunnen vullen, maar ik moest kiezen. Het album dat ik zonder eerst te luisteren opschreef is het nieuwe album van de Canadese muzikante Helena Deland. De muzikante uit Montreal kleurde de herfst van 2020 immers prachtig in met haar debuutalbum Someone New.

Het is een album waar ik destijds heel enthousiast over was, maar dat pas maanden later uitgroeide tot een persoonlijke favoriet, die nog altijd met enige regelmaat terug komt. Helena Deland maakte in 2020 indruk met een fraaie mix van indiepop, indierock en indiefolk, met hier en daar een klein vleugje postpunk en verder vooral wat donkere klanken die prachtig contrasteerden met de mooie stem van de Canadese muzikante.

Haar nieuwe album Goodnight Summerland opent met een intro met stemmige pianoklanken, waarna we het in de tweede track moeten doen met de akoestische gitaar en de stem van Helena Deland, die in meerdere lagen is opgenomen. Het klinkt een stuk soberder en wat meer folky dan de songs op Someone New, maar wat is het mooi. De akoestische gitaar vult prachtig de ruimte en met haar stem betovert Helena Deland nog wat meer dan op haar debuutalbum. Het past allemaal prachtig bij de herfsttinten en temperaturen buiten, wat de kracht van de songs van Helena Deland versterkt.

Het bijzonder mooie geluid en de wijze waarop de muziek en de vocalen elkaar versterken verraden de hand van een gerenommeerde producer en dat klopt, want Helena Deland wist producer en muzikant Sam Evian te strikken voor haar nieuwe album. De Amerikaanse muzikant deed recent mooie dingen voor Johanna Samuels en Widowspeak, maar speelde ook een voorname rol op het briljante Loose Future van Courtney Marie Andrews.

Helena Deland heeft een aantal songs op haar nieuwe album net wat voller ingekleurd, maar op Goodnight Summerland domineren de wat meer ingetogen en behoorlijk sober ingekleurde songs. Het is een keuze die goed uitpakt, want de mooie, heldere en warme stem van de Canadese muzikante is haar sterkste wapen en past misschien nog wel beter bij het folky repertoire dan bij de songs op haar debuutalbum.

Ik ben zoals gezegd de afgelopen jaren zeer gehecht geraakt aan het debuutalbum van de muzikante uit Montreal en dat album gaat de komende tijd gezelschap krijgen van Goodnight Summerland, dat ik zeker niet minder vind. Met haar debuutalbum schaarde Helena Deland zich nog niet onmiddellijk onder de grote namen binnen de indiepop, indierock en indiefolk, maar met het net wat meer op folk gerichte nieuwe album kan ze in de laatste categorie absoluut met de besten mee. Goodnight Summerland van Helena Deland is vooralsnog mijn favoriete herfstsoundtrack van 2023, maar net als zijn voorganger is ook dit een album dat in alle seizoenen tot grootse daden in staat moet worden geacht.

Erwin Zijleman

Je kunt Goodnight Summerland hier luisteren en bestellen:

https://helenadeland.bandcamp.com/album/goodnight-summerland

A Living Commodity. Egyptian Blue

Yesterday, 'Exit Stategy', today A Living Commodity. The new band Egyptian Blue contains more energy in it than can be captures on tape. More than my stereo and speakers can handle. There is an enormous sense of urgency on this record and it rolls over me like the steamroller over Michael Palin in 'A Fish Called Wanda'. (We both lived to tell.)

Egyptian Blue is a new name to me. The foursome, Andy Buss, Leith Ambrose, Luke Phelps and Isaac Ide, are from Colchester in the U.K. They obviously have heard all bands from around 1980 until 2022, either directly or by way of those influenced by the their predecessors. They all jump out of my speakers as it were incarnated in this foursome of enthusiastic youngsters. Yes, this album could have been released anywhere in the past 43 years, were it not for the clever way in which the sound is updated to 2023.

Egyptian Blue is more on the alternative side of the alternative rock niche. The melodies are not out to please a pop audience. My impression is that only trained ears will catch on immediately. Ears that lay the connection to the past and appreciate the abundant energy flowing from the record. The band manages to capture its energy in the studio and share it with the world. It does so with a mix of songs that are influenced by everything starting with The Gang of Four and add a little of the more alternative Britpop bands, scrapping the superfluous party element of Franz Ferdinand while keeping the energy and fitting in nicely with all the newer bands having broke through since circa 2018.

Nothing new under the sun then? No, not really, I'll cede that point. Next I start pointing to the songs that are on A Living Commodity. All the ones that are up tempo convince with ease. The band makes its point, apparently with so much ease. The slower songs are a different matter to me, but you cannot always have it all.

A Living Commodity shows a band with promise for the future and I'd say the potential to grow. Just listen to 'To Be Felt' and tell me you don't like it. For a debut album this is more than enough.

Wout de Natris

Exit Strategy. The Clockworks

Three new alternative rock bands get a lot of positive attention recently and in three days we will present them all. Today it is The Clockworks. Exit Strategy is the band's debut album and it rings like a bell at Christmas time.

The Clockworks is a band from Ireland, Galway, but moved to London to pursue its career. Whether that has made a difference can never be ascertained. Fact is, that with Exit Strategy the band has provided itself with one. From a life of 9 to 5 jobs that is. The band fits in nicely with what came before and adds its own young-guys-going-for-it energy to the alternative rock cum newest wave music it presents. James McGregor, Sean Connelly, Damian Greaney and Tom Freeman moved to London in 2019 to make a career. The pandemic must have held things up in a desperate way, is my guess. Instead of playing and showcasing, nothing happened for some time at least. The foursome persevered though and is rewarded with an energetic album.

To me The Clockworks is a totally new name. You cannot come across them on this blog. There must have been singles before, I suppose, if there were I have missed them all. What you do not know, you cannot miss, not even in hindsight. Exit Strategy comes through loud and clear though and from a complete fresh and clean position without any expectations.

Photo: Jill Furmanovsky

Let me get back to the word energetic. There are many bands that qualified for that word in the past 20 odd years. Many have been long forgotten. The Clockworks add a component to the energy, cleverness. This sounds negative but not here. This band seems to be able to add an extra element to their songs. A near perfect balance between the rock, the alternative and pop. The songs nearly all have that alternative edge, while singing along is almost never an issue. The power of the songs is in the rock element. James McGregor's voice has that little edge to it and gets away with a slower song as well, not unlike Alex Turner's. I will not compare The Clockworks to Arctic Monkeys though, the new nor old version. There are hints at best. 'Hall Of Fame' turns out very nice after the four energetic songs opening Exit Strategy. Not only the song balances the album, it is a banger in its sort.

Where comparisons are concerned, I'm thinking of bands like The Automatic, The Maccabees and The Rifles. Although the band makes a different sort of pop-rock, Django Django comes to mind for another reason. Both bands do not need a gimmick to score. There's no predicting the future but The Clockworks ought to have one based on the quality of Exit Strategy, just like Django Django has.

The fact that the band was able to land Bernard Butler, once of Suede fame, as producer, attests to the potential. It results in a clear sound, open and with ringing tones, outshining the darker parts that often come with the newest new wave influenced bands. More importantly, the songs nearly all totally convince and that's enough for a debut album. The Clockworks is a band to watch.

Wout de Natris

Doing My Time. Gracie Lane

De Amerikaanse muzikante Gracie Lane debuteert met Doing My Time, dat opvalt door tijdloze songs, een fraai klinkende instrumentatie en vooral een uitstekende stem, die gemaakt is voor oorspronkelijk klinkende countrymuziek.

Doing My Time van Gracie Lane sneeuwde wat onder door een aantal grote of zelfs hele grote releases, maar gelukkig heeft de muzikante uit Asheville, North Carolina, maar heel weinig tijd nodig om indruk te maken. Die indruk maakt Gracie Lane met haar stem, die perfect past bij de countrymuziek die ze maakt. Het is een stem waar de emotie van af spat, waardoor Doing My Time onmiddellijk impact heeft. Het is ook nog eens een album dat prachtig is ingekleurd met een hoofdrol voor gitaren en de pedal steel en een album dat vol staat met aansprekende songs, die best decennia oud hadden kunnen zijn, maar ook in het heden makkelijk overtuigen.

Het zijn momenteel hele drukke weken wanneer het gaat om nieuwe releases en niet alle albums krijgen de aandacht die het nieuwe album van The Rolling Stones al sinds de aankondiging twee maanden geleden krijgt. Zeker de albums van muzikanten of bands waarvan de naam me weinig of zelfs niets zegt scan ik in deze drukke weken heel snel en probeer dan maar eens een onuitwisbare indruk te maken. De Amerikaanse muzikante Gracie Lane deed het deze week met haar debuutalbum Doing My Time, dat me echt onmiddellijk wist te overtuigen.

Dat het album opdook in de releaselijsten die ik raadpleeg is overigens al een klein wonder, want er is echt bijna niets te vinden over Gracie Lane en haar muziek. Ik weet inmiddels dat Gracie Lane via Louisiana en Arkansas in de Blue Ridge Mountains van North Carolina is terecht gekomen en nu Asheville in North Carolina als thuisbasis heeft. Ik weet verder dat het debuutalbum van de Amerikaanse muzikante al voor een deel in 2019 werd opgenomen en werd afgerond op het moment dat de coronapandemie het openbare leven en zeker het leven van een muzikant lam legde, waardoor het album een tijd op de plank bleef liggen.

Doing My Time bevat de songs die de Amerikaanse singer-songwriter het afgelopen decennium schreef en het zijn songs waarin het gebroken hart een regelmatig terugkerend thema is. Het is een thema dat uitstekend tot zijn recht komt in de muziek die Gracie Lane maakt, want de muzikante uit North Carolina maakt op haar album authentiek klinkende countrymuziek.

Het is muziek waarin de stem van Gracie Lane uitstekend gedijt en het is deze stem die me onmiddellijk wist te raken. Gracie Lane beschikt over een stem die is gemaakt voor de countrysongs die ze met veel gevoel en hier en daar met een lichte snik vertolkt. Die snik wordt in het genre wel eens overdreven, maar op Doing My Time is de zang vooral zeer smaakvol. Gracie Lane zingt bovendien als een gelouterde zangeres en dat is knap op een debuutalbum.

Ook in muzikaal opzicht klinkt het allemaal prachtig en op basis van de productie van en de instrumentatie op Doing My Time verwachte ik een aantal grote namen in de credits. Die zie ik niet terug, maar dat doet niets af aan de kwaliteit van de muziek op het debuutalbum van Gracie Lane. De Amerikaanse muzikante speelt zelf gitaar, maar heeft ook snarenwonder en producer John James Tourville binnengehaald voor bijdragen van elektrische gitaren, banjo en natuurlijk de pedal steel. Het levert in alle tracks een authentiek klinkend geluid op, maar Doing My Time klinkt ook verrassend gevarieerd.

Het doet vaak wat traditioneel aan, waardoor het debuutalbum van Gracie Lane ook een aantal decennia oud zou kunnen zijn, maar gedateerd klinkt het geen moment. Het is mede de verdienste van de songs, die stuk voor stuk aangenaam en tijdloos klinken. Je bent bij Gracie Lane aan het verkeerde adres voor muzikale vernieuwing, maar haar songs klinken zo puur en eerlijk dat ik blij ben dat dit een album is waarop de grenzen van de countrymuziek van weleer eens niet worden opgezocht. Ik ben dan ook blij dat ik dit uitstekende debuutalbum heb opgepikt en hoop dat Doing My Time van Gracie Lane in veel bredere kring de aandacht krijgt die dit aansprekende countryalbum verdient.

Erwin Zijleman

Je kunt Doing My Time hier luisteren en bestellen:

https://gracielane1.bandcamp.com/album/doing-my-time

2023 Week 47, 10 singles

This week you find hardly any true big names, excluding the new name under which two big names since the mid-90s are active in the 2020s, while the world awaits a new album from their lead vehicle. All bare one you will have encountered on this blog before though. Their new singles or EPs are of a level deserving attention and more, they deserve yours. So, enjoy exploring.

Seen It All Before. Jody and the Jerms

Jody and the Jerms return to the blog and with what else then an oh so nice pop gem where sweet and bitter meet to perfection. The upbeat tempo is full of positive vibes making the song a joy to listen to. The vocal (melody) tells another story. It is here where the two meet to perfection. And yet the vocals are full of pop as well. The jangly guitar gives the song an indie touch, a little R.E.M. even, while the lead guitar and rhythm section all rock out. Jody Jeger, who before this band never sang in a band before, is the star of the show though with her vocal melody. The Jerms do everything to make her shine and the clear production of Mark Gardener (of Ride fame) does the rest. Jody and the Jerms are on a roll here. Britpop in a modern jacket. Life could be a lot worse, I tell you. Even for people who've heard it all before.

Do I Have To Call. Bird's View

With the single 'Phoning' German rockers Bird's View debuted on this blog over a year ago. The album did not make it to these pages. This new single does. Again the band has listened to what worked well in the past and comes up with a blistering new rock song. Do I Have To Call is a dirty rock track, that makes good use of dynamics. Holding back and going (more than) full out. The tight and dry rhythm comes across in the verses, the guitars sore in the instrumental interludes and chorus. Apart from the very soft break with a soft voice and picked guitar Bird's View loves to go at it and it comes across superbly. Do I Have To Call is the kind of song that makes audiences go berserk and lets them make a soft landing in between. Bird's View has not only listened to the dozens of examples, it knows how to write its own success song as well.

Popcorn. Warhaus

Soul in 2023? Maarten Devoldere certainly seems to qualify with his new single. Released to support a fall tour, it will do just that. Devoldere's solo project turns super relaxed on Popcorn. A title that was taken since the synthesizer pop hit of 1972. Warhaus is claming it though. I do not see it climbing to the number 1 position on the charts. To compensate, the ghost of the late Marvin Gaye will be nodding contently over Devoldere's shoulder. The latter's former partner Sylvie Kreusch steals a part of the show on the single. Singing like a soul angel and impersonating the popping phase of corn. "Goodbye, my baby", Devoldere opens the song. Heartbreak once again leads to a beautiful song. The question that lingers who else is suffering from heartbreak in this song. Not Kreusch, I gather from listening to Popcorn. She's leading the pack, pop, pop, pop.

Little Hansi. The Mono Kids

Little Hansi in the title is far better off in 2023 than he would have been in 1923 and any year before. Horses in the street are not an everyday sight any more. The Mono Kids tells it all on the fear of little Hansi. They do so with a loudly rocking song that we have come to like so much from the duo, Roelof, drums and Michel, guitar and vocals. A noise intro followed by a short, effective riff and devilish break played by both the instruments , launches the song into the stratosphere, from where it refuses to return. Little Hansi rocks, loud with loads of energy, The Mono Kids have in abundance on this song. Just 2.29 and that includes the sound effects at the beginning and end. It's more than enough to leave all involved out of breath. In the meantime, I simply can't hear that break enough. Yes, it may have been done many times before but I just love it here.

Rather Be Alone EP. CIEL

This is the fourth time CIEL can be found on this blog, all in this year. The Brighton band falls really nice into the shoes left behind by Blood Red Shoes when the band left Brighton to conquer the world. Listening to CIEL's second EP of the year, it is ready to follow in the former band's footsteps. Rather Be Alone is exciting, fast paced, full of energy and great. This is exactly what a modern rock band should sound like. There's a hint of 80s and again I mention Kim Wilde this week. The sound her brother Ricky created for her in the early 80s is fused with rock guitars and even more pace. The combination works like a miracle in 2023. Singer Michelle Hindriks sings like a combination of Kim Wilde and Laura-May Carter. It's not surprising that the band was allowed to tour as a support act warming up audiences for the, at this point in time, real thing. If anything CIEL is the contender. The four songs on this EP all convince, with single 'Talk' as final powerhouse should anyone doubt the band's intentions. In fact, I'm sure opening song 'Circles' will have taken care of any doubts long before that. CIEL is one of the new bands to watch.

Like An Orchid EP. Merci, Mercy

More music from Down Under, Australia this time, Merci, Mercy is the name singer-songwriter Merceedes Thorne works under. The name is a reference to her nickname, Mercy, and the mispronunciation of her name Merceedes. She fits in with many popular singers of this day and age. When I like the music best, is when an alternative rock element is infused into the music. Opening song 'Shovel' is a great example of this. The pop music receives a great edge that makes the song very attractive to listen to. The acoustic guitar is tightly strummed and the bass gives the song a sprightly step. It results in a tremendously poppy chorus, where Merci, Mercy sings with an undercooled voice to pass her the shovel, creating the little distance she's asking for. Message understood. A nice, pleasantly shredding guitar solo does the rest. Points long scored  I have to admit that the rest of the EP is not for me. Don't let that stop you, as 1) there's one great song on the EP and 2) taste, remember?

Wall Of Eyes. The Smile

A new single by The Smile and the announcement of a new album and tour. Is the death knell rung for Radiohead, now the two leading musicians, Tom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood put more effort into their new band, with drummer Tom Skinner? (Nice name for a drummer, isn't it?) Wall Of Eyes is a strange song. It starts out like a very average kind of guitar song. A hint of Brazilian music in the guitar's rhythm. Bossa nova or some such. Yorke of course starts singing as if he is perennially remembering the next word at the moment before last. It's in the slurring way he sings, what it is. In the beginning he actually manages to keep up. Slowly but surely weirder elements creep into Wall Of Eyes. Finally leading to total estrangement. The result is a very intriguing song, where I keep wondering what possibly could happen next, without ever losing contact with the song. When all is said and done, Wall Of Sound is more a Radiohead song than anything else. It keeps me wondering why, to quote Steve Miller Band, The Smile exists? In the meantime, I've decided to enjoy it.

Love In Constant Spectacle. Jane Weaver

Jean Weaver returns to WoNoBlog with a mysterious song. The chord progression may sound familiar, the way they are painted over makes Love In Constant Spectacle a song to remain on alert. Over the music Jane Weaver sings a very nice song. I simply love the melody. It has a laidback feel, a little hippy like even. The music is totally psychedelic. The drums is the instrument grounding the song. The (synth?) bass drops huge holes in the rhythm, creating loads of spaces, as does the (I'm almost sure) guitar with its wobbly sound. There's a synth playing a few notes here and there. The whole leaves all the space in the world for Jane Weaver to sing her different parts in. Love In Constant Spectacle is one of the slowest dance songs imaginable. The rhythm is too slow to dance to, yet the song is totally funky in it's psych kind of way. The weird guitar solo ends the song adding to the mystery that is there from the start. Simply very well done.

Feel Me. Girl With a Hawk

The loss of Justine Covoult is unimaginable for someone living as far away from Boston's music scene like I do. Girl With a Hawk had signed to Covoult's Red on Red label late in 2022 and released only it's second single when she past away before the summer. The band found a new home with Rum Bar Records, where else?, and releases a new single in memory of Justine Covoult, before the band's EP is coming out on 8 December. Feel Me is a rocker with a lot of sadness in it. From the generalised "The world can't live without you" to the personal "Can I live without you"?, singer Linda S. Viens wonders. Although originally written with someone else in mind, Feel Me does express the loss the band's members felt. Having known each other since the 1980s and going through the same phases of life, both singers were rocking still or again, with life on the other side. Feel Me is a song that is well balanced, including a rough edge besides a 80s pop side in the keyboard. Kim Wilde on a rock guitar, something like that. It all ends with a guitar solo that simply sets the world ablaze for a short while. Feel Me deserves to be heard far and wide.

So It Goes. Johan

Looking at the video, I got the feeling to be looking at an outtake of Wim de Bie, instead of Johan's singer Jacco de Greeuw. And then the text "welcome player Jacobse" pops up. Coincidental? (Yes, I know De Bie played Tedje van Es, but still.) Johan's new single, again, is different than what came before. So It Goes has a rougher indie edge, once the near acoustic first part of the song is over. Like 'Cincinnati' it is Johan and it is not, except for the voice. I notice it takes me time to get it all in. I'm hearing a good song but my brain keeps warning me "this is different, watch out". Expectations are the enemy of every band with a legacy wanting to try something, even mildly, new. Johan obviously is going into a new direction and it takes getting used to. What I've heard so far, does make me curious for what else is coming. And for the tour that undoubtedly will follow.

Wout de Natris

 

Grin & Bear It. Brad Marino

Yesterday, I wrote in my review of 'An Otherwise Negative Situation', Geoff Palmer's new album: "I'm sure I've written it before, but just like his former band mate Brad Marino, it's like writing a good song does not take any effort. Most likely it is the opposite, that it takes a lot of effort to make it come out so nice. Whether pure talent or hard work, it shows on An Otherwise Negative Situation". Replace Palmer with Brad Marino and the album title for Grin & Bear It and you have the main message of this review.

With Grin & Bear It Brad Marino has delivered another great pop-rock album. Far more than his former colleague he plays a powerful version of pop music. Had he been born circa 1945, he would have been in the forefront of the U.S.' best pop bands of the 1960s or circa 1955 with the best of the powerpop or punkrock bands of the 1970s, competing with the best coming out of the U.K. at the time. He today is to, except that this music is no longer a top  priority for many people. This most certainly is their loss.

Grin & Bear It is an album that is filled with great songs, containing catchy melodies, clever riffs, short punchy solo's, beautiful harmonies, sweet keyboard melodies, in short, all that a great pop song needs to stick. There are many examples I could give but a song that really, really sticks out in my book is 'I'm Broke'. A modern rock and roll track, shuffle and all, just hurtles forward and forward. A warm organ hovers over the tight rhythm of guitar-bass-drums. Enter some great harmony singing and that punchy kind of guitar solo Brad Marino has a subscription to. With three and a half minute the song clocks in long for a Marino song, but I'm loving every 216 seconds of the song.

You can find the already mentioned Geoff Palmer on bass in a few songs and the Kurt Baker mentioned yesterday even delivers one song, 'Hung Up', and sings backing vocals in one more, 'I'm Broke'. You will also find a rendition of one of the more obscure songs from The Rolling Stones' 'Let It Bleed' album, 'Monkey Man' and the duet with Natalie Sweet, 'Over My Head', on the cd version. Two little extras that make Grin & Bear It even more attractive. This album is one of the finer modern rock and roll albums you will hear this year.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order Grin & Beat It here:

https://rumbarrecords.bandcamp.com/album/grin-and-bear-it

An Otherwise Negative Situation. Geoff Palmer

With 'Charts And Graphs' Geoff Palmer in my book hit an awesome high. The album is filled to the brim with fantastic powerpop hits that made me dance and sing through the my living room. With An Otherwise Negative Situation Palmer comes very close to this level of musicianship.

What gets me most when listening to Geoff Palmer's music is how upbeat it is. He presents the kind of music that makes me feel good and puts a smile on my face. Undeniably American rock music, he plays like The Beach Boys on speed, enter The Ramones. What do you get from that mix? 'Surfin' Nebraska of course.

The comparison is too easy because Palmer's trump card is the pop dose he infuses his songs with. They all have (t)his touch of pop that makes you want to sing along and makes the songs turn around and around in your head. I'm sure I've written it before, but just like his former band mate Brad Marino, it's like writing a good song does not take any effort. Most likely it is the opposite, that it takes a lot of effort to make it come out so nice. Whether pure talent or hard work, it shows on An Otherwise Negative Situation. Let me give you two examples.

Take 'Dark Thoughts'. The song starts like a Powerpop song. All pretty straightforward, after the melodic intro. Slowly but surely the song expands with a guitar overdub, and another and another one. More and more melody is let. There's even a place for a poppy bridge, culminating in a great and effective guitar solo. This is what Geoff Palmer is capable of.

'FOMO' starts with a drum rhythm and a few little musical exercises. Then a The Ramones style song kicks in. The tight punky rhythm tells you all. And then Palmer starts to throw his magic in the form of a chorus that no The Ramones song ever held. Just like the guitar solo comes from another musical universe. It's this playing with different aspects of rock music that make his music so rich and a pleasure to listen to.

With An Otherwise Negative Situation Geoff Palmer, again, created a very positive one for his fans. Rests for me to give an apology. It turns out that I was on the guestlist of a Kurt Baker show in Tokio last month. with Palmer on guitar, most likely with thanks to Geoff Palmer by way of his record label. My account was blocked and I only found out after being able to open it again once at home. To my regret, I did not show up because of this. I would have loved to be there and shake hands. Next time here in NL?

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order An Otherwise Negative Situation here:

https://geoffpalmer.bandcamp.com/album/an-otherwise-negative-situation

Laugh Track. The National

A few weeks ago, out of the blue The National dropped a second album this year. To get the album physically, we had to be patient for a few more weeks but on 17 November it was possible to buy it. I did, and to my delight.

No longer to my surprise but had you asked me a few years ago whether I would buy two albums of the band in one year, I would have asked you, what are you thinking? Somehow the band totally eluded me from the very start. I have no explanation. The only one I can give you is that reviews must not have attracted me in any way. Somewhere in the previous decade the band, to me, all of a sudden was presented as an important band to follow. I did not get the excitement listening to whatever album.

Somehow that changed, slowly, and mostly because singer Matt Berninger's solo album found its way into my home. So, the step to the previous The National album, 'First Two Pages Of Frankenstein', album was not that big anymore. And then I checked the blog and found a review of 'Trouble Will Find Me' from my hand. Recognising the cover, I checked some more and found I had a cd in my home, I had forgotten all about.

Something changed. In my review from 2013 I wrote that despite having listened many times to the album, "I do not know what to write about this new album of The National". That's happened to me for a few weeks now with Laugh Track. No longer, as the album has so much atmosphere and warmth. This is more than enough to convey to you. Like the track with Bon Iver, 'Weird Goodbyes'. (The first song actually I like by this singer!) Not much appears to be happening, yet it all falls into place.

The two songs in which one of the usually fairly anonymously operating Davendorf brothers goes berserk behind his drum kit, are as strange as they are fascinating. In 'Turn Off The House' a somewhat faster ballad, but aren't all The National songs ballads of some kind?, where the drums are all over the place while all else is subdued and atmospheric. It's almost estranging, but works so well. Slowly the song turns into a cooker with an electric guitar soaring in the background. One of the great tracks on Laugh Track this is.

In one of the reviews I read of Laugh Track, it was mentioned that the album did not compare to all albums from before 'Alligator' with the two loud endings as faint recollections. It is the sort of review I usually have some trouble with, as it is written by a reviewer who forgets that he has become older as well and does not allow "his" band to evolve. It is something that happens to most people I suppose, as it did to me over thirty years ago, until I found I did not have to look back exclusively to music. This was when the world opened, allowing me to discover albums like this, even if it is well into the career of The National.

I can't tell why I did not like 'High Violet', the album my 2013 review referred to. It's time I give these older albums a chance and see what happens. Laugh Track and "Frankenstein" are albums that certainly give rise to do so. Having listened to Laugh Track many times by now, I can say I like it even better than its predecessor. It looks like The National has a new fan.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order Laugh Track here:

https://thenational.bandcamp.com/album/laugh-track

Living With The Moon. Karamelien

Duo Karamelien, Léanie Kaleido and Mark Foster, presented its debut album last month and now finds it way to the pages of WoNoBlog. This may not surprise our avid readers, who will have encountered several singles in our weekly post on recent singles. For others this may be a completely new name.

The introduction is justified as Karamelien presents a delightful form of pop that will enthuse those who like their pop included with a more serious and grown up undertone. The music is a mix of influences spanning several decades, from 1960s to trip hop. The lyrics show a life lived with the highs and deeper lows and everything in between. From searching for rainbows, battling dark thoughts and come up again. Léanie Kaleido leads her listeners through it all. The music shares the moods, yet remains serious always.

Kaleido and Foster are lifelong friends who decided to make music together. Multi-instrumentalist Kaleido plays most instruments, with Fisher playing, mostly, guitar. There are a few guests playing bass or piano and Kaleido's late father's, Top Topham, guitar playing is sampled into 'Ascension Heights'. Except for most bass parts, Lee Pomeroy and Morris 'Mo' Pleasure in 'Ascension Heights', this is all played by the duo. The music shows their age in a very positive way. There's no pretending being something else and this is one of the graces of Living With The Moon.

The album starts with the title track and a previous single. The choice to start the album with this song is totally the correct one. 'Living With The Moon' has a great pop feel, an oh so nice chorus that everyone seeing a show by Karamelien will want to sing along to and that kind of bittersweet attraction that makes the song unavoidable. Almost a song that could have participated in the Eurovision Songcontest, once upon a time that is, and may have come a long way. At the same time you will notice that Karamelien was not content with the song working on one level. A counter vocal melody is there and then some more as well. This a beautiful and mature song.

Promo photo: Nick Thompson

The already mentioned 'Ascension Heights' comes next and is a Philly Soul track with trip hop influences worked in. Léonie Kaleido's voice works really well with this soul pop track, where the music is spread out like peanut butter on a slice of bread. Listen to that little guitar melody that keeps returning in combination with that synth sound to understand what I mean. The music is so smooth and sophisticated.

'Digital Imogen' tells the tale of social media, how a person cannot relate to reality anymore. "I don't believe the mirror...I'm going to smash the mirror". A topic that I cannot relate to. For me the two worlds are still totally separate. Not so for many young people today. Again, a so smooth flowing pop song.

This is the story of Living With The Moon. From here on I could only present you with a similar story to each of the six songs that follow. There's no need. Every single one has a special touch somewhere in them. Léonie Kaleido is a sophisticated songsmith who together with her musical partner Mark Foster has made a beautiful album.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order Living With The Moon here:

https://karamelien.bandcamp.com/album/living-with-the-moon-2

The Beatles 1962 - 1966, 1967 - 1970

50 years down the line, that is the rather confronting number of years staring me in the face. 50 Years since "the red" and "the blue" album were released, giving an overview of The Beatles' career. In 2023 the album get their first major re-release, polished up with the most modern digital tricks and expanded to three albums each. On top of it all there is a new single, and lets face it a fantastic new single, that closes it all, 61 years after the release of that first single, 'Love Me Do', the b-side of the, ridiculously priced, 7" single.

I am reviewing the new version of the albums. I do not have them and may never have. What I'm wondering is whether it really adds to the experience I've had a long time ago. What I'll do here, is try to explain what the two double albums mean to me.

In 1973 I got the red album with St. Nicolas and one month later the blue for my birthday. The two albums opened and deepened the band's music to me. I've written this before. For my age I was early where 1960s music is concerned. Thanks to two then teenage girls, Tineke and Yvonne, I heard all the singles they had as a very young boy. Although I knew there was something called an LP, I had no patience for them and did not know that songs, only the singles. Not long after, I discovered the pirate radio station Radio Veronica and got to know more and more songs and still well under 10 years of age. My first self-bought single was 'Hey Jude' in October 1968, still my favourite Beatles song.

'Abbey Road' was released not long before my parents moved, with me in protest. I remember that the elder brother of my friend downstairs announced that he would have the new Beatles album on a Friday. We younger kids all sat ready to listen to it when he would get home. I always see the album sleeve in my mind, but thinking about writing this post, I wonder if he played it from a tape recorder, a big one. 'Come Together' I knew from the radio, a song I remember not liking a lot at the time. That changed over time, in fact, I'm playing it myself with my band Sweetwood for years already. After 'Come Together' there were all songs we did not know and lost interest very soon and started playing.

We moved, The Beatles called it quits and fast forward to 1973. The albums were released and were something I really, really wanted to have. First came 1962-1966. For the first time I heard the first three singles and some early album tracks like 'All My Loving'. Then all the biggest hits that I, nearly, all did know from the singles. But then there were album tracks, which I all did not know. And this is what really was mindblowing when I listened to 1967 - 1970. A whole world opened there with songs like 'Back In The USSR' and 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'.

The red one always sold better than the blue. My take is that this one was bought by the girls, now ten years older, girls that had dropped away when the band became more experimental. The second category are the parents who liked a lot of the early songs anyway. The blue is the album for the boys and men. The first Beatles albums I bought myself when I started to have my own money were 'Abbey Road', 'Sgt. Peppers' and 'The Beatles'. The rest I all bought second hand a bit later. With the first one mentioned here as my absolute favourite.

The blue one expanded my musical universe. The red catered my little boy brain. In 2023 I like them both because the music is absolutely fantastic. To imagine these four young men from Liverpool created this huge body of music in just seven years, is something that can't be comprehended anymore.

I played the blue one last week. It took some polishing with a wet cloth but the sound was certainly good. Of course the blue, I'd might add. Again, I noticed how incredibly good the music is. Starting with one of the best double a-side singles ever released, 'Penny Lane' - 'Strawberry Fields Forever', the 'Sgt. Peppers' tracks and the great singles that follow it, not on an album, singles. A song that has become one of my absolute favourites, 'Magical Mystery Tour', an incredible song and on and on until it stops with 'The Long and Winding Road', not my favourite, but I can certainly listen to it now.

The blue album is a musical trip, not down memory lane. It's a lane containing the best pop music ever made by a combination of four men who called it quits before their 30th birthdays, to start more or less successful solo careers. Two are still alive and still playing. Paul to huge stadiums and Ringo at a lower level but still incredibly active.

Out of the blue there was 'Now And Then' two weeks ago. I've already written about it in the singles section. I have bought the cd version this week and have played it many times over the stereo. Yes, it is more a John Lennon song than a The Beatles song, I cede that. Yet, it is so beautiful and it works so well. The sound is The Beatles in a mix of then and now. There's a rhythm guitar part that did not exist in the 1960s, the strings did and the George style solo that Paul plays is phenomenally Beatles. Now And Then is a cherry on the cake. A cake that is more cherries than cake, yet is allowed to top it. It tells all, doesn't it?

It was 50 years ago today. Man, time flies when you're having fun. And this music certainly is a part of that fun!

Wout de Natris

No Ordinary Crown. Will Johnson

Will Johnson trekt helaas niet heel veel aandacht met zijn soloalbums, maar het onlangs verschenen No Ordinary Crown is een mooi en veelzijdig album, dat ik inmiddels best sensationeel goed durf te noemen.

Will Johnson, de voormalige voorman van onder andere Centro-Matic en South San Gabriel, maakte de afgelopen jaren al een aantal uitstekende soloalbums, maar hij overtreft ze moeiteloos met zijn nieuwe album No Ordinary Crown. Het is een album dat wat gevarieerder klinkt dan zijn voorgangers en dat ook wat voller en spannender is ingekleurd. Het is een album dat zowel invloeden uit de Amerikaanse rootsmuziek als uit de indierock verwerkt en beide genres vloeien op het album prachtig samen. Het klinkt allemaal prachtig en Will Johnson is goed bij stem, maar hij schreef voor No Ordinary Crown ook een aantal fantastische songs. Geweldig album!

No Ordinary Crown van Will Johnson verscheen jongstleden september bijna geruisloos en ontsnapte in eerste instantie daarom ook aan mijn aandacht, maar het is wederom een weergaloos album van de Amerikaanse muzikant. Dat komt zeker niet als een verrassing, want Will Johnson staat inmiddels al heel wat jaren garant voor uitstekende albums. Die maakte hij in de jaren 90 vooral met zijn band Centro-Matic en in de eerste jaren van dit millennium met South San Gabriel, maar sinds 2002 maakt de muzikant, die Denton, Texas, inmiddels heeft verruild voor het eveneens Texaanse Austin, ook soloalbums.

Het zijn albums die ik niet allemaal heb opgepikt en als ik ze wel oppikte deed ik dat vaak met enige vertraging en dat is dit keer niet anders, ondanks de hoge kwaliteit van de vorige twee soloalbums van Will Johnson, Wire Mountain uit 2019 en El Capitán uit 2021. Will Johnson trad eerder dit jaar toe tot The 400 Unit, de band van Jason Isbell, maar laat op No Ordinary Crown horen dat hij ook als solomuzikant met de allerbesten mee kan.

Will Johnson heeft sinds de begindagen van Centro-Matic wat meer ingetogen Amerikaanse rootsmuziek gecombineerd met richting indierock opschuivende klanken en dat doet hij ook weer op No Ordinary Crown. Toch is het nieuwe album van de Amerikaanse muzikant zeker niet meer van hetzelfde, want op No Ordinary Crown kiest Will Johnson in een aantal tracks voor nieuwe wegen. In de meeste tracks op het album kiest de muzikant uit Austin voor een wat voller geluid, waarin aan de ene kant ruimte is voor een wat steviger gitaargeluid en aan de andere kant wordt geëxperimenteerd met soundscape achtige klanken.

Wanneer de gitaren mogen uitpakken hoor je op No Ordinary Crown echo’s van de muziek van Neil Young en Crazy Horse en dat klinkt bijzonder lekker, zeker wanneer er een lekker gruizige gitaarsolo tegenaan wordt gegooid en Will Johnson met veel gevoel zingt. Je hoort het direct in de openingstrack, wat mij betreft een van de prijsnummers op het album, die goed laat horen waartoe Will Johnson in staat is.

Wanneer de gitaren nog wat ruwer klinken begeeft de Amerikaanse muzikant zich op het pad van de indierock, maar in veel tracks zoekt Will Johnson vooral de grenzen van de Amerikaanse rootsmuziek op. Dat doet hij op steeds wat andere wijze, waardoor No Ordinary Crown een lekker veelzijdig album is. Wat niet varieert is de kwaliteit van de songs, want die is zonder uitzondering hoog.

Omdat het ook nog eens songs zijn waarin Will Johnson zijn grenzen opzoekt, is het niet overdreven om te stellen dat hij op No Ordinary Crown dicht bij zijn beste werk in de buurt komt, of dit zelfs overtreft. Ik vond de vorige albums van Will Johnson vooral degelijk, maar zijn nieuwe album is meer dan eens verrassend spannend. Ondertussen strooit de Amerikaanse muzikant ook met bloedmooie songs, die opvallen door betoverend mooie klanken en verrassend goede zang.

De lekker ruwe songs gaan er in als koek, maar ook de met soundscapes verrijkte en fraai beeldende songs maken makkelijk indruk, zeker wanneer de pedal steel wolken met prachtige klanken laat overdrijven. Het is daarom doodzonde dat de muziek van Will Johnson zo weinig aandacht krijgt, want de mix van Amerikaanse rootsmuziek en een vleugje indierock doet niet onder voor het beste dat vooralsnog in 2023 is gemaakt in het genre. Laat je verrassen door het prachtige No Ordinary Crown. Grote kans dat je genadeloos voor de bijl gaat.

Erwin Zijleman

Je kunt No Ordinary Crown hier luisteren en bestellen:

https://willjohnson.bandcamp.com/album/no-ordinary-crown

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

 

Ahora. Melenas

Melenas leverde in 2020 een jaarlijstjesalbum af met Dias Raros en overtreft dit album met het fantastische Ahora, waarop de muziek van de band uit Pamplona een fascinerende elektronische injectie heeft gekregen.

Strakke drums, mooie gitaarloopjes, diepe bassen en prima zang en koortjes bepalen voor een deel het geluid van de Spaanse band Melenas, maar het zijn op Ahora vooral de impulsen van elektronica die de aandacht trekken. Een vleugje Kraftwerk voorziet het geluid van de Spaanse band van een zeer eigenzinnig tintje, maar het pakt fantastisch uit. Melenas was op haar vorige album al van jaarlijstjesniveau, maar de band uit Pamplona doet er op Ahora nog een schepje bovenop. Ahora heeft alles dat Dias Raros in 2020 zo onweerstaanbaar maakte, maar klinkt nog wat eigenzinniger en nog wat overtuigender. De Spaanse rockmuziek floreert de afgelopen jaren, maar deze band steekt er flink bovenuit.

De Spaanse band Melenas dook in de eerste maanden van de coronapandemie op met het geweldige Dias Raros, dat uiteindelijk zelfs de top 10 van mijn jaarlijstje over 2020 zou halen. De vier vrouwen uit Pamplona deden dit met een fascinerende mix van met name postpunk en new wave, die door het veelkleurige gitaarwerk, het bijzondere gebruik van elektronica en de Spaanstalige teksten flink anders klonk dan al het andere dat in het betreffende jaar verscheen.

Dankzij de albums van onder andere Hinds, Mourn en LISASINSON floreert de door vrouwen gemaakte Spaanse rockmuziek als nooit tevoren, maar Dias Raros van Melenas stak er tot dusver wel wat bovenuit. Het album krijgt vanaf deze week echter stevige concurrentie van Ahora, het nieuwe album van Melenas. Oihana, Leire, María en Lauri gaan op het nieuwe album van Melenas verder waar Dias Raros drieënhalf jaar geleden ophield, maar hebben hun geluid op fascinerende wijze verrijkt.

Ook op Ahora maakt de band uit Pamplona muziek die zich vooral heeft laten beïnvloeden door postpunk en new wave uit de late jaren 70 en vroege jaren 80, maar de vier vrouwen maken dit keer ook geen geheim voor hun bewondering van Kraftwerk. Vergeleken met het vorige album hebben de keyboards flink aan terrein gewonnen en het zijn keyboards die afwisselend klinken als de analoge synths van de pioniers van de elektronische popmuziek en het Farfisa orgel dat in de jaren 60 zo populair was in de garagerock en de psychedelische muziek.

De batterij keyboards wordt ook dit keer gecombineerd met strakke drums, diepe bassen en heerlijk gitaarwerk, dat vergeleken met het vorige album een stapje terug heeft moeten doen, maar zeker niet helemaal is verdreven uit het geluid van Melenas. De combinatie van invloeden uit de new wave en de postpunk en de hier en daar door Kraftwerk beïnvloede elektronica is een bijzondere combinatie, maar het pakt geweldig uit.

De songs van Melenas zijn nog wat aanstekelijker dan op het vorige album van de Spaanse band, maar ze klinken ook spannender, waardoor Ahora direct vanaf de eerste noten intrigeert. Hierna is de verleiding van het album al snel meedogenloos, wat nog eens wordt versterkt door de aangename zang en de mooie koortjes op het album. Door de bijzondere klanken en de Spaanstalige teksten klinkt het anders dan je gewend bent, maar ook als je geen woord verstaat van de songs van Melenas komen de songs van de vier vrouwen uit Pamplona makkelijk binnen.

Omdat Dias Raros in 2020 zo hoog scoorde in mijn jaarlijstje kwam het album ook de afgelopen drie jaar nog met enige regelmaat voorbij en is het een album dat me inmiddels zeer dierbaar is, maar desondanks vond ik Ahora vrijwel onmiddellijk beter. Melenas kreeg de afgelopen jaren in eigen land te maken met serieuze concurrentie, maar met Ahora kan de band de nationale en internationale concurrentie met gemak aan.

Alle songs op het nieuwe album van Melenas strelen intens het oor, maar ze prikkelen minstens net zo hevig de fantasie. Toetseniste María gaat flink los op haar keyboards, maar van overdaad is geen sprake, al is het maar omdat haar drie bandgenoten een stapje terug doen wanneer dat nodig is. Melenas is nog niet heel bekend helaas, maar Ahora is echt in alle opzichten een jaarlijstjesalbum en bovendien een van de meest aansprekende van het muziekjaar tot dusver.

Erwin Zijleman

Je kunt Ahora luisteren en bestellen op Bandcamp:

https://melenas.bandcamp.com/album/ahora

Mirrors. Linnea's Garden

With Mirrors, Linnea's Garden has thrown overboard all inhibitions, all pretending, all ways of trying to please. On Mirrors the world finally gets the real thing, without holding back. Singer, guitarist and songwriter Linnea Herzog has released her inner punkrocker and lays it at the feet of the listener and the world has become an incredibly better place because of it.

Linnea's Garden has featured regularly on this blog over the past few years. Her previous songs were nice and I've played them quite a bit. With Mirrors the band moves into another league. It is louder, tougher, rougher, and simply better. The trio, besides Herzog, bassist Hands and drummer Ray Clough, rocks the whole time, even when holding back a little, as in 'Seeds'.

The album opens with the single 'Pathological Liar'. I have already lauded that single recently, but nothing's keeping me from doing so again. Just listen to the way the song begins. It's a statement, a declaration of intent. As loud as 'In Utero' opens, just not as dissonant. 'Pathological Liar' is a great punkrock song, one of the best I've heard this year. Up there with the best of Iggy's latest record, with Rancid's single 'Tomorrow Never Comes'  and Green Day's new single, Look Ma, No Brains!'. The energy Linnea's Garden managed to capture in the New Alliance Audio studio! I can only imagine the smiles on the trio's faces when they were getting this together, let alone when hearing the end result.

No, this level of punkrock heaven is not matched again on Mirrors. Mind though, even if I would end my review here, buying Mirrors would still be recommended, as 'Pathological Liar' is a must have.

The rest of the album is very good. 'Big Mirrors' intro comes close and again the energy captured is phenomenal. Clough pounds away, while keeping the rhythm nice and tight. The dirty bass underneath gives the song a rawkish foundation. The two guitars, one dirty, one nice, do the rest. A Ronny Wood style solo from his The Faces time ends 'Big Mirrors' in a way it deserves.

'DB3', a David Bowie dancing party, is cleaner in sound. Again that energy comes across. The lyrics do not leave a lot to imagine about what the end of the party could be like. Go for it, Linnea! The song is tightness itself. There's no polishing, this is the real thing.

What I also like about Mirrors. I've got the impression that Linnea Herzog stopped trying to sing "pretty". We hear her natural voice on Mirrors and she sounds totally convincing because of it. I can name hundreds of singers who can sing better, but not on these songs. Again this is the real thing.

The five song mini album ends with another punkrocker called 'Comeback'. More in the style of New Zealand band The Beths, the song comes across as an urgent message to someone. A message we are all allowed to hear, luckily.

The album ends in a sonic storm of guitar noise but by then Linnea's Garden has made its point. Mirrors is an album of urgency shared with all who want to hear it and because of the quality on hand ought to become an album of importance as well. Yes, I've heard better over the years but not that much better and seldom matching quality with this level of urgency. By the way, 'Pathological Liar' should lead any punkrock chart around the world, says,

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order Mirrors here:

https://linneasgarden.bandcamp.com/album/mirrors

Not Your Cupid. Erny Belle

Baby, it's in the water", Erny Belle sings in the beginning of 'Unchained', one of the singles preceding Not Your Cupid. A single that made me so curious to hear her upcoming album. That is finally an option and since I've played it many, many times enjoying every minute of it.

The word water surfaced a few times in my posts over the years where music from New Zealand, and especially from its female artists, was concerned. Erny Belle brought it up herself, so perhaps she knows what it is in the water that makes herself and these artists write and record music at this high a level. New Zealand is, at a minimum percentage wise if not absolutely, outperforming other countries with ease.

Not Your Cupid has that same laidback kind of music that colleagues like Aldous Harding, Ebony Lamb and Reb Fountain play and are so successful with. Erny Belle manages to create this dreamy atmosphere in her songs through which she seems glide, not touching the ground, not held back by anything. She offers this atmosphere to her listeners, who can leave behind all sorrows, concerns and other negativity, to become one with Not Your Cupid.

Erny Belle, or Aimee Renata, debuted in 2022 with 'Venus Is Home'. The album was reviewed by Erwin Zijleman, who praised the Flying Nun record store newsletter in the totally right way. Because of it, we both have found our way to a number of beautiful records from New Zealand. As far as I know Not Your Cupid has not been released over here (yet?), so I would never have know about it.

Not Your Cupid is another highlight where music from New Zealand is concerned. Just listen to a song like 'Inertia'. A soft acoustic guitar is the backbone of the song. Behind it a softly played bass and brushed drums offer support. The intro is fully acoustic with a bass. When Aimee Renata starts singing, she opens the song like a flower reaching for the sun. In comes a violin and later a piano. First hesitantly playing a single note, before a cascade of slow notes, as it defying gravity, come in to accompany and expand the mood of 'Inertia'. The result is a undercooled form of beauty. Totally laidback, there isn't a hurry nor worry in the world of Erny Belle. The slowest day on the beach imaginable, not having to go anywhere else.

There is no need to expand any further. 'Inertia' captures the essence of Not Your Cupid. It is an album to fully relax with and leave the world behind for half an hour. What more can a person wish for every once in a while?

Wout de Natris

You can order and listen to Not Your Cupid here:

https://ernybelle.bandcamp.com/album/not-your-cupid