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White Spade Symphony. Derek Smith and the Cosmic Vultures
Why
write a symphony about a white spade? If only I had the answer. What I
can point you to is the fact that Boston's Derek Smith and the Cosmic
Vultures has released a great song. Two chords and the truth describes
it quite well. Add a minimally rewritten line by Bob Dylan starting with
"something is happening here" and you have a starting point on the
song. White Spade Symphony is a mildly rocking song, with two lead
guitarists who really go for it in the solo, with just a mild form of
psychedelia ingrained within it. In essence this is an extremely simple
song, made special by the variations in the vocal melody and the
musicality of the musicians. From beginning to end they have me as an
attentive listener. (And, do not forget to take a close look at the fabulous Dali like artwork!)
There
were already a few singles by Big Special that did not make it to the
blog. Big Dog / White Horse has. Despite that the bio describes the band
as an update of the in 2024 almost past postpunkers of 2018, what I hear here
comes closer to the restrained rock of The National than anything else.
Singer and songwriter Joe Hicklin starts with this dark voice over a
sombre song. One that progresses slowly, yet manages do draw the
listener in. Big Dog / White Horse has that magnetism that slowly brings
a listener in a trance. There's this ongoing bass riff over which drummer Callum Moloney
plays in the counter beat of the bass, setting a great background to the
sonorous singing. Slowly but surely Hicklin's voice moves towards a beautiful
vocal climax. It doesn't matter that is understated and modest, a climax it is. Now I'm curious for the band's album 'Postindustrial
Hometown Blues' any way, to be released on 10 May.
Here's
the third single by The Mysterines on this blog. Once again the band
manages to rock out in an alternative way with just a hint of
psychedelia, while the Britpop element is the main element. Suede and
Supergrass certainly are bands coming to mind listening to Sink Ya
Teeth. The U.K. band knows what came before. In that sense a listener
who has been around will not hear anything new. What he/she does hear is
a powerful song, with a strong beat that may get crowds jumping, as it
has just the right rhythm for that, without being obvious. What I like
extra is the super simple yet effective riff, lifted from a Garbage song
from a few decades back. Together it is all more than enthusiastic
enough to be good enough as well. The album, 'Afraid Of Tomorrows', is
there on 7 June.
And
now for something completely different. John Cleese could not have
phrased it better. With MRCY we move into soul music, a genre not often
encountered on this blog. So, let's have a soul outing for a change.
MRCY is producer Barney Lister and vocalist Kojo Degraft-Johnson. R.L.M.
is a single from their debut album 'Volume 1', that is to be released
on 10 May. R.L.M. sets me back circa 50 years when I was first exposed to
songs like 'Back Stabbers', 'Me And Mrs. Jones' and 'Walking In The Rain
With The One I Love'. Songs I did not really know how to place, as I
had just discovered (glam)rock in the form of Slade and Gary Glitter. The
recognition of the quality of these songs came with age. MRCY's music is still an
outlier in my collection, yet the warmth of the song immediately strikes
a chord. DeGraft-Johnson has that true soul voice while Lister knows
his classics. A nice and very suave song, with a bit confrontational video..
With
Motorway Goat Girl has released an enchanting new single. It might
become hard to make it have its own life apart from the super strange
and good video. What is it I am looking at?, I found myself asking a few times.
Lottie Pendlebury (she/her), Rosy Jones (they/them) and Holly
Mullineaux (she/her) are working towards the release of the new album,
'Below The Waste', on 7 June. "Drive" is the call for action Goat Girl
makes constantly. Now I opt for listening without getting into the car,
as this is more than good enough. The song is filled with keyboards and,
most likely, an electronic drums. In between a smooth sounding bass
weaves itself through the electronic sounds. It all results in a very
dreamy song, that I'd say prohibits driving, but ok. Motorway is very
relaxing and interesting. A song to float on as it were into dreamland.
Vancouver,
Washington's Night Court and Portland, Oregon's The Dumpies released a
split mini album containing four respectively five songs by each band. Shit Split Part Duh harbours what split singles usually do: punk(rock).
Both bands show what they are made of, where Night Court and The
Dumpies do not outdo each other. Both bands alternate between "true"
punk songs and slightly more melodic punkrock songs, including songs
that last just a few seconds. In fact, there's only one song, 'Cell
Phone', lasting more than 2 minutes, by one second exactly. What wins
out is the fun both bands obviously have in playing these songs. The fun
wins out on wanting to excel in playing. The fun is combined with a serious level of
skills though. Both Night Court and The Dumpies know what it is doing and why.
That is pleasing the listeners. Just listen to '1000000 millionth'
song. 0.53 seconds and all was said and done. As you can see, the album
may contain nine songs, whether it reaches 12 minutes in total may be an
interesting question. When all is said and done The Dumpies win out on
being the punkiest or better being angrier. Its 'Big' and 'Egg Timer' are great additions to my
punk collection. Like Night Courts The Dumpies vary in the approaches to
its punk. There are quite some differences I assure you. Still, Split
Shit Part Duh was a good idea to make.
On special request, order the album here: https://store.greennoiserecords.com/products/dumpies-night-court-7
A
good year after the release of her beautiful debut album 'Honeycomb
Shades', Robin Kester returns with a new single. Expect an even more
electronic track than her previous work. With Shape Memory she moves
deeper into dreampop. As always, Warpaint becomes my personal benchmark.
This single makes the grade. The dream is not just that. Do not expect Kester presentsing just a daydream of a tropical island with warm sand and water and
Bountys falling out of coconut trees. Do expect places somewhat darker
underneath the daydream. Not so much a nightmare but the suggestion of one
just around the corner. It is in the darker sounds, in the pulsing
synths that could turn into a nasty surprise, while the background oohs
and aahs could turn out to be sirens and not angels. In short, Shape
Memory is an intriguing song where nothing is what it seems. The
electronic drums and bass guitar even seem to turn into real ones in the
second half of the song.
Yes,
New Zealand was missing so far in this post. Time to go over there and review
the supercharged new single of Earth Tongue. Following the great 'Bodies
Dissolve Tonight' the duo takes its alternative rock to the next level.
Singer/guitarist Gussie Larkin (Mermaidens) and drummer/singer Ezra
Simons go for Brighton U.K.'s Blood Red Shoes' crown alright. With a
combinations of frantic drumming and a fuzzed guitar Earth Tongue has
the energy the U.K. band used to have, while not having lost it completely,
on its first albums. Grave Pressure is the kind of song that starts at full speed and from that moment onwards only starts to go faster and
faster, to paraphrase my superior in a distribution centre I worked in a
long, long time ago. Not so much literally. Earth Tongue doesn't let any
energy escape. Grave Pressure is great fun for those who love energised
duo rock bands. Album 'Great Hunting' is out on 14 June.
A
new single, released for the first time in 1958? Yes, so what's the
story? Singer Margo Guryan (1937-2021) is remembered through a three set record
containing her music recorded through the years. 'Margo Guryan’s Words
And Music' will release on 7 June. Moon Ride is a jazzy kind of pop song
and although I have never heard the song and of the singer before, to
the best of my knowledge, Moon Ride is a song that may have inspired
most of Nancy Sinatra's most famous songs, so in effect Lee Hazelwood.
But also, several artists from the same era like Sonny & Cher and
what came later as well. It is also a strange song. It starts out as a
two chords jazzy song and with its adventurous flute the song is quite
normal. It is the lyrics that become a bit weird and Guryan who starts
talking in a parlando style, that returns in one of Masters of Reality'
songs on 'Sunrise On The Suffer Bus'. (Sorry, I'm too time strapped to
find out which one.) Moon Ride has surprised me no little, as it is so
psychedelic in its lyric, Musically this could have been Doris Day
without a big orchestra behind her, lyrically it's totally out there. For 1958 it seems truly adventurous.
I'm sure curious to hear more on the album.
Only a few weeks ago The Gluts debuted on this blog with 'Cade Gìu'. Here's the next single, 'Fight'. Expect the band to truly rock out with a shredding guitar solo that is taking the volume in the studio to the max, right before the moment amps tend to blow up. With 'Bang!' the Milan based band is about to release its fifth album on 31 May. Fight does a few things right. Besides being turbocharged as a good rock song should be, it uses dynamics in all the right ways. It doesn't give everything away all at once. The intro really goes for it but once the first verse starts the band holds back, leaving only bass and drums, Claudia Cesana / Dario Bruno Bassi, with an electric guitar coming in like a flash of lightning. Slowly but surely the guitar doesn't go away any more. An instrumental interlude changes the tempo and time signature. When things go back to normal, the guitar escapes its leash and goes off into the stratosphere. The singer tries to take back control but fat chance. Marco Campana is in the lead and not planning to give it back to singer Nicolò J. Campana, after which Marko plays the song home. Ears ringing and mouth slowly dropping.
Wout de Natris
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