Desecrate The Cathedral. Pavid Vermin
A
new name on the blog, Pavid Vermin. The single starts with a
tremendously poppy sound. When the singer starts singing Sir Douglas Quintet
comes to mind, while in the chorus its pure girl pop from the 60s and
that's just the start of my associations. In Desecrate The Cathedral
everything in 60s pop seems to come together. It's like listening to a
discovered "nugget". The male voice is somewhere between Chuck Prophet
and Geoff Palmer and is replaced by a female voice for the chorus, making
the fun even bigger. The song is obviously good fun. Dumb title though.
Now why would you want to do that for?
J
Prosac returns to the blog with a great punk rock single. Taken from
his upcoming album 'Obsession" (14 June) he is really going for it.
Listening to a song like Problems I wonder how it is still possible to
come up with such a strong song in this genre. It all sounds familiar
and still it is totally unique, combining toughness with energy and a
melody that is instantly unforgettable. There's no beating about the
bush. Prosac arrives at the chorus before you know it. Behind the chorus
is this great whoa whoa singing, one of the strongest features in any
punkrock song. Throw in is an extremely short and strong guitar solo
followed by fantastic tight ensemble playing. By then J Prosac has floored
me, problems and all. This is a great single, period.
Local Drags have been on this blog for a few years now and returns with its first single of the upcoming album 'City In A Room' out since 17 May. It is a song that brings back memories from indie rock music of the 1980s. Bands like R.E.M. and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, to name two. Expect jangly guitars, melodies that are almost smooth pop, all support by a strong rhythm section. Left In The Sun brings exactly that. Lanny Durbin, who is Local Drags, has found that pop feel within himself once again, while sounding different from before. He is reinventing himself by the album, while always sounding interesting to listen to. Based on this song, it can't be the new album is not a very strong one.
The
second album of James Sullivan of More Kicks. That band name rang a
bell and indeed the band's single 'Animal' can be found on this blog in
September 2022. Now Day Late Dollar Short is here. Sullivan is in
alternative rocking mode. The rock disguises the pop feel the single
has. Sullivan presents a fine pop song, with a strong melody that I want
to hear again and again. Listening deeper into the song there are
several nice melodies to discover. Sullivan knows how to write a good
pop song and from their how to build it up into a rocking beast, making some
noise along the way. The long outro attests to that. 'Vital Signs', the
album, is already out for a month. High time to put attention to this
single, as it very much worth getting to know.
The
title may bring some David Lynch associations with it. I wish I had a
memory for movies like I have for music. I saw it but what it was about? I simply have
no clue. Diablogato however rocks on this tune like there's no
tomorrow. The intro maybe could have been in 'Twin Peaks' episode x, the
rest is loud, loud rock. The Boston band sounds like a rock band from
the 70s and comes extremely close to the real thing. The first band I
think of is Deep Purple in the energy and the breaks in the music. The
speed of 'Speed King' or 'Fireball' is what Diablogato goes for. The
sound on Lost Highway is huge. The music comes out like a flood wave out
of my speakers. If 'Lost Highway' was the movie with Nine Inch Nails in
it, then this Lost Highway has a chance to making it into the
director's cut.
Everything
about The Peawees spells a nostalgic feeling for things past and
pastiche. Just look how they present themselves in the video to The
Wolf. The clothes were all found in a thrift shop after someone's
parents decided to empty their clothing trunks with unworn clothes,
while the music sounds just as dated. That would be all nice and good,
had not The Wolf been such an urgent song. It rocks tightly has this
nice stuttering riff. The Italian band does a lot of things right in its
new song. And yes, it has this old fashioned organ sound in the
background. Boston's Muck and the Mires could be good friends of The
Peawees, except that the Italians rock a bit harder. Singer Hervè
Peroncini has a great rough voice. The Peawees from La Spezia are around
since 1995, so they are allowed to dress like its 1974? I can't help
thinking of The Rubettes with the caps and all. The music has nothing to
do with 'Sugar Baby Love' fortunately. This is no pastiche, but very much a real thing. Rock on!
Two
years ago Wunderhorse had made it to this blog with single
'Butterflies'. With Midas Jacob Slater, who is Wunderhorse, sets a first
step towards his new album. This song is an alternative rocker of some
big proportions. It's chorus just sings "Midas" and some "la la la". It
has to suffice. On the basis of the strong rock laid out underneath it,
it does. In a minimum of time as well, just 2 minutes 17 seconds. In
that few minutes Wunderhorse swirls through my room like a tornado. Who
to compare the song with? Grunge?, sure. The Jam?, yes, I can go with
that. The kind of song that should appeal to a wider rock loving
audience. Midas has the energy, the power, the melody and the shine to
do so. Let's see what happens next. Album 'Cub' did not convince me
sufficiently to make it to a review. Midas may lead the next album
towards one. This is a strong single.
A
new Fontaines D.C. single is an event by now. The band has set steps
beyond the post punk moniker as is developing in several directions it
seems. The song starts with a beat rhythm, think an unsophisticated The
Stone Roses. The result is a song that seems more a loop than a live
band. Grian Chatten raps-sings through the verses. When the song
progresses, it does get beyond rhythm-interesting. Strange noises are a
part of the music, but the band comes in in several ways as well. The
guitars, keyboards, they all come by. The song is far more interesting
than I would have guessed from the listening to the first minute for the
first time. To all appearances Fontaines D.C. has set another major step
in its development towards being its own and not youngsters inspired by
what happened well before their time. Something I never would have expected
after listening to the first album, that is not on this blog. Starbuster is extremely
intriguing, with a very weird video.
Garlands has a subscription to this blog, as those following it will have noticed by now. Ever since Gordon Harrow sent me his second solo EP well before the pandemic, the relationship remained stable. For Looking At You things are no different. Expect a great rock pop song to come your way if you decide to play the song on You Tube, Bandcamp or Spotify while reading this post. Looking At You is Garlands at its most Supergrass. That is the best description. Just like the (former?) Britpoppers the trio manages to rock superbly while not forgetting the pop element that can make a rocking song so good. Over a tight rhythm of drums, bass and guitar, several overdubs of guitars come in and get off, setting off little sparks in the song. The same with the vocals. Be on the look out for all these little harmonies and background vocals. They make Looking At You an extremely rich Britpop song for the third decade of the 21st century. Actually, this song is one of Garlands' best songs to date.
It's
six years since Lionlimb debuted with its album 'Tape Recorder'. There
was a later album that did not make. With Hurricane the band comes right
back into my musical consciousness. Hurricane is everything but that.
The drums is the only thing reminding me vaguely of strong winds and
lashing, torrential rain. The rest of the song is deliciously dreamy. Stuart
Bronaugh's soft voice takes precedence here but do not forget the
female voice backing him up. Over the drum and underneath the voice is
where things really become lovely and great to listen to. A lot of
attention has gone into the details of this song. At first there's
atmospherics, like a faint piano sound, all muffled and longheld notes, before
that oh so nice bass comes in. And from there everything is possible and
is. Lionlimb is in a great form on Hurricane, there's no other word for it.
Wout de Natris
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