Sunday 17 December 2023

2023 week 50, 10 singles

From West-Flanders to Portland, Oregon and who knows what in between. This week you can find artists that far and wide apart, in a geographical and language sense. Also from a softer than soft, to wild rock and from a contemplative to wild abandon perspective on music. You will find it all in there this week, so enjoy!

De Zaden Van Morgen. Het Zesde Metaal

Met hun nieuwe single staat Het Zesde Metaal voor de tweede maal op dit blog. Het album 'Skepsels' dateert alweer van 2019 en inspireerde mij tot enkele mooie vergelijkingen. De Zaden Van Morgen voldoet volledig aan dezelfde, toen geschetste lijnen. Wannes Cappelle en band roepen opnieuw prachtige vergezichten op met de muziek die rustig lijkt weg te kabbelen. De stem trekt alle aandacht in eerste instantie. De West-Vlaamse tongval goed verstaanbaar, maar heel anders dan het Nederlands dat ik hier hoor. De muziek komt later. In wat inderdaad in eerste instantie een zacht, doch stevig geheel lijkt, is een vijver vol wervelende schrijvertjes, die kleine rimpelingen in het water creëren die zacht tegen elkaar aanbotsen, om samen een kleine golf te maken. Dit prachtige nummer heeft dat allemaal.

World Brand New. Mouth of Babes

When did I see Girlyman perform in Leiden with Ingrid Elizabeth present as driver and guest musician? That fatal tour that spelled the end of the combo? Looking it up, it was in the first months of this blog, May 2012. Since singer-guitarist Ty Greenstein forms a duo with Ingrid Elizabeth called Mouth of Babesm that makes its debut on WoNoBlog. This is exactly the kind of song I remember from the Girlyman show. A tremendously pleasant pop song with a folk influence graced by beautiful harmonies. Greenstein - Elizabeth sing together in a beautiful way. Greenstein lead and Elizabeth in all the places where an extra vocal creates instant power. The lyrics are about a situation we all desire after a day's hard work, a stable and loving home. The two obviously have it together. I'm happy to tell you that so have I and this song underscores it all.

Guilty Of That. Tony Marsico

Let's face it. Tony Marsico not only sounds like he was a members of The Searchers at the time of 'Needles And Pins', he looks it too. Add a The Byrds sounding Rickenbacker guitar and everyone listening to this song, and has some musical "education" when younger than 68 years old, is catapulted back to the golden pop era from before the summer of love, so 1964-1966. When The Beatles still held hands, The Byrds electrified Dylan and The Searchers scored a few hitsingles. Guilty Of That is not that good a song, sorry. What it is, is a very pleasant song, pulling so much together that it is as if I have known this song for decades already, instead of past few minutes. A modern and younger band like The Maureens does the same, but sounds modern as well. Tony Marsico goes for the authentic sound and succeeds as this could be a good outtake from the latter two mentioned bands. In other words, well done.

Water Underground. Real Estate

This review can only be started with the comment that Water Underground sounds so familiar that it is almost as if the song has always existed, in one form or another played by a host of bands from the past two decades. Whether they be called Beach Fossils, or Real Estate. Fact is, Water Underground is a beautiful song in the indie and dreampop segments of pop music. The sound is so soft, the guitars meander slowly like a brook through a dense forest. The water trickling everywhere from rocks and sticks, softly cascading towards the river downstream. There's absolutely no danger in this song, that adds a little R.E.M. along the way. It's just a simple song but one that puts a smile on anybody's face immediately.

The Frost. The Pineapple Thief

Somewhere in this song a symphonic rock band is hiding. I'm not a connoisseur of the genre but can recognise a Fish-era Marillion influence when I hear it. The Frost starts for me with the drumming of Gavin Harrison. His accents, double, triple bassdrum riffs and intricate hi-hat fills over all the "regular" drumming jump out to me. Without exerting power on his instrument, he's totally present, driving The Frost, while standing out immediately. Like Harrison is holding back, the band is for most of the time as well. Except in an instrumental piece that keeps returning, like a wordless second chorus, in which they all go full out, to return for a final time in the short outro. Over the very present drums, the bass plays short accents, underscoring the drums. The guitars and keyboards can provide the melodies, following the vocal melody. All together The Pineapple Thief presents a great, almost six minute long single, that keeps up the suspense for the whole of the time.

Divine Is The Illusion. The Devils

That the devil lives in Naples is not that strange. With a huge volcano at the doorstep and a very active volcanic field around the corner, fire and brimstone are available in abundance. For the devil the divine is nothing but an illusion provided by a mighty adversary. I don't believe in either. That devil is inside of us all. It is societal rules and the love for people close to one, that assist in containing it. The Devils have had enough of Humanity, it's video starts with proclaiming. I tend to disagree but listening to a song like Divine Is The Illusion is no punishment. The heavily distorted guitar and bass and the loud pounding on the drums spell rock and roll to me. The White Stripes variety of rock and roll is, when played right, exciting and The Devils play it. Singer and drummer Erika Switchblade has the voice to support this kind of rock and roll and guitarist Gianni Blacula's riffs to do the rest. The drums do the rest. In Erika Switchblade Meg White has a worthy successor.

A Small Universe. Melle Kromhout

And now for something completely different, to quote a famous tv show from over 50 years ago. Melle Kromhout has released his new album, 'Most of the Light Passes Through', this week. 'A Small Universe'  is one of the singles. The instrumental piece is not the easiest to get attached to, in the beginning. A rhythm that seemingly comes to the listener from the other side of the city opens the composition. A little, two-note melody is added before more comes in later moving around that melody. The sound of the lead instrument, my guess is a synth perhaps organ, gives the song a hint of Irish folk music and when the rhythm really comes in, that feeling is confirmed. By then I have been drawn into A Small Universe. Kromhout's single is intriguing because it is never fully clear what will happen next. Will there be another change? You can find out for yourself....

Ruined. Adrianne Lenker

When several years ago an album of Adriann Lenker, 'Abysskiss', laid in my mailbox, I had no idea who she was and had never heard of her band Big Thief. Today, it's the other way around, Adrianne Lenker releases a new solo album following huge successes with her band. Ruined is a bare song. Piano and atmospheric sounds are the basis of this song, with Lenker really taking the lead with her soft and meandering vocals. The result is impressive. The feeling she shares with all listening, "when you come around, I'm ruined", comes across more than double because of the mysterious sounds surrounding voice and piano. The video accompanying is the absolute antithesis of the song, despite the ambiguity. It shows the happiness of two people being together, but also a lot of loneliness, so there is some explaining to do as well. It doesn't take anything away from the intricate and delicate beauty of Ruined. Adrianne Lenker is in absolute top form here.

To Art Bell. Canyons and Locusts

In the late 90s Art Bell had, from what I'm reading from a quote here, a rather esoteric midnight show. The man is no longer alive, hence the title of this fresh-sounding rock song by Boston-Phoenix duo Canyons and Locusts. The song starts in a way that sets it apart from most others. It's like an old steam train getting into its stride before it gets into its rhythm. As it were, you can hear the pistons starting to churn in the first 30 seconds of this song, that clocks at only 134 of them. I love the way the rhythm changes from the stop-start to the seemingly ever faster rhythm before the singing starts. The rock song that unfolds fits in well with the legacy of Boston rock bands from the 1990s. The video is something to watch as well. It's a piece of art in its own right.

White Trucks. Lions of the Interstate

In a way White Trucks reminds me of 'Water Underground' by Real Estate, see above. Both songs have that soft voice singing. Lions of the Interstate is a lot less subtle when it comes to playing though and I might add, a tad more frivolous in the arrangement. While the song has that dreamy quality thanks to the singing, the band comes in quite soon to shake everyone awake to pay attention. Lions of the Interstate is a band that grew its members over a few years. It started in 2019 when two friends started a new band together and from there asked others to join, including two they played with in a The Smiths cover band. There is an album out, 'Strange Empires', and White Trucks is a great add for it. The mysterious radio or 27MC talking snippets, the trumpet that comes in at the end, the level of rock the band is able to conjure up, it is all spot on.

Wout de Natris

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