Vienna. Bird's View
Vienna?
Does Bird's View write songs based on famous number 1 hits of the past?
After 'Lay Down' (2023), here's Vienna. The songs themselves are
totally unrelated. Vienna is a powerful rock song of the kind that has
nice dynamics between the verses and the chorus, where the effect pedals
are kicked in and the melody invites to singalong for the whole of the
way. The young German rockers are not afraid to show their influences
but also are far from afraid to rock. Lending a little from punk rock
and grunge, they mix it with a little Foo Fighters style rock. The mix is
poignant and powerful. Two singles into the upcoming release of album
number two, 'House Of Commandos' (20 September), it's clear the world
can expect a good rocking record.
It
is quite easy to view Muck and the Mires as a pastiche band. Making
nice music but not to be taken seriously. That would be a mistake, as
the band may look like it's living between 60 and 55 years ago and the
music may sound like it, the songs themselves are strong. Take Zoom
Breakup, the title song of the band's latest EP. It is an incredibly
strong powerpop rock song. The lead guitar looks like a fantasy guitar (see video)
that could have been played by Brian Jones around 1965 but at the same
time has this great Rickenbacker sound. (Muck plays one in the video,
but does not play the leads. Pedro Mire does.) The sound is extremely
authentic though, while the song rocks as no 60s garage rock
band was capable of doing at the time. Muck and the Mires
most likely are the better musicians and can record on better gear. Add the great harmonies and you have a perfect pop-rock
song. EP Zoom Breakup is out already.
'The
Importance Of Being Earnest' for 2024? Marlin's Dreaming I discovered
through Erwin Zijleman's review of 'Quotidian' (2020). The album still comes by regularly in this home. Erny Belle does as well and now
they can be heard in one song! Earnestly is the dreampop kind of song
that I associate with Marlin's Dreaming and Erny Belle's voice fits the
song like a glove. Semisi Maiai and Erny Belle's voices simply belong
together it seems. Musically it is the slide guitar that captures my
attention throughout the song. As a lead and accompanying guitar at
that. The bass guitar softly plops along, as if the strings are tuned
down a note or three. With the soft drumming behind it all, it makes
Earnestly a perfect laidback ballad. This song is the purest form of
musical unhasting possible.
Many
years after Daryll-Ann's reunion tour new music is under way. Well into
their fifties, the tandem Paulusma - Soldaat is back in business. With a
lot of urgency as well. A Note About Time is a song with an urgent
rhythm that brings in music that is old and new at the same time. The
vocals have Beatlesesque changes, the music brings in 90s rock and
everything it developed into since. It makes A Note About Time far more
than a reunion single, twenty odd years down the line. This sounds like
a band with a hellhound on its tail. In this case "a clock that keep
ticking and time that keeps slipping". A case of now or never? If so,
this song is a choice well made. Daryll Ann still has something to say
and in 2025 anyone who wants to can go and listen when the band goes out
on tour again.
bar
italia debuted on the blog through Erwin Zijleman who reviewed 'Tracy
Denim'. I took over for 'The Twits' and enter The Tw*ts EP with three
songs the band wrote and recorded soon after releasing 'The Twits' in
the fall of 2023. From intended b-sides they were promoted to an EP with
the intended single, 'sounds like you had to be there', relegated to the final
spot on the EP. bar italia is part of the latest generation alternative
rockers coming out of the U.K./Ireland that also features bands like Egyptian
Blue and The Clockworks. There's no way of telling yet which one will be
here for the longer haul. bar italia presents itself from the darker
side on The Tw*ts EP. Going back a long time in rock history. I
definitely hear The Velvet Underground in here and from there to the
darker side of The Cure. The poppy side however comes through in the
jumpy opening song, 'The Only Conscious Being In The Universe'. All
three members, Nina Cristante (vocals), Sam Fenton (vocals, guitar), and
Jezmi Tarik Fehmi (vocals, guitar), sing as you can see. It makes bar
italia sound even more varied than the music itself is. One of the men
can even put that Robert Smith tear in his voice. This song is the
best of the four and could have graced an album instantly. The rest has
that darker The Cure vibe, luckily not the darkest. I couldn't listen to
'Pornography' for one. 'Sarcoustica' is a bright pop song by
comparison. Nice and slow, with again the alternated lead vocals that
really work well. Add some mysterious guitar sounds and you have a song
that intrigues. 'Drumstart' is an alternative rock song with a muddy
sound. Summing up, 'The Tw*ts is a welcome interlude to a band with a
prolific output in one and a half year.
Four
men of 70 something and one who only recently seems to have shaved off
his mohawk are shown in the video of Deep Purple's new single. Filmed
together as if in a rehearsal room playing so they can all see each
other. Let's face it, Pictures Of You is a routine kind of song. And
yet, it sounds so good. Deep Purple mark 2 point something knows how to write a
good song, and how to make it sound good and convincing. It starts with
the great drum rolls and fills played by Ian Paice. He really still
nails it. Simon McBride, Deep Purple's fourth lead guitarist, plays some
real interesting lines, giving Pictures Of You something extra. In the
larger scheme of things this single is not in the top of the band's best
songs, as a single in 2024 it is more than alright.
After
premiering on the blog in week 18, Marcel Wave returns with a second
single of its now released album 'Something Looming'. Who remembers Peg
Entwistle? I do not for one. She was an actress in Hollywood, who
through herself of the letter H in 1932 at the age of 24. The London
band remembers her in Peg and keeps the mood as it should in such a
song. It never comes totally alive, while at the same time it rocks in
its own modest way. The organ intro gives it a sense of floating, what
Peg should have done instead of dropping to her end. Listen more closely
and you hear how tough the rhythm guitar is. Together with the bass and
drums it makes for a tight song, over which Maike Hale Jones' voice
floats as well, in a dispassionate, distanced way. The contrast is
striking and makes Peg an intriguing song. What I can't help wondering,
why Peg?, and how has Marcel Wave learned about her?
A
very dreamy single, Monks of Lindisfarne is. A song somewhere between
analogue and digital, between dream and reality. It is also a song in
which a lot more happens than I expected it to at the beginning of the
song. For one the name The National popped up quite soon. Arlington
knows that band's tricks quite well and makes them its own. I was
triggered first though by the name Lindisfarne. I have a faint
recollection of a band from the U.K.(?) from the 70s(?) with that name.
Looking it up I ran into an island of England's north east coast first,
where monks lived that were most likely all killed by a Viking conquest.
Arliston is around since 2017 and working towards the release of a new
album 'Disappointment Machine'. Monks of Lindisfarne intrigues. The
sprawling soundscapes mix well with the guitar and drums and other
instruments mixed in. And then the voice changes from (sort of) natural to
a digitally treated one and the song becomes tougher in sound. As I
wrote already, far more happens in Monks of Lindisfarne than I could
even dream up. (And the band Lindisfarne? It's still around!)
2021,
that is how long this blog and Ramkot go back. The band has moved up in
the world since then. It signed a record deal and was able to record
its upcoming album (and video to the single) in Joshua Tree with
producer Alain Johannes. That album is still four months away. If
Zeppelin is anything to go by, Ramkot has set the next step in its
development. It not only recorded in Joshua Tree, it has mastered the
sound of a band like Masters of Reality and a little QOTSA as well. The
trio, Tim and Tom Leyman and Hannes Cuyvers from Ghent, rocks no little
here. Tim's guitar rages in the solos and Tom and Hans keep a huge pace to prod Tim on.
The more surprising is the slow, repetitive interlude. The drums
announce a return to form, that is slowly but surely built up before the
band explodes again. Yet, it becomes far more psychedelic. It is a fair
question to ask whether this part is necessary in the single format of Zeppelin,
but not for me to do so. Ramkot shows to be eager to set its next step.
The near future will undoubtedly tell what more is in store for us.
I can't deny that Maxïmo Park, for me, has never released a better one than the one which introduced the band to me, 'Apply Some Pressure'. Since the band has lost original members, released several records of which I liked some better than others. Enter Your Own Worst Enemy. It has that Maxïmo Park vibe that I truly like. Alternative rock, Britpop, postpunk, whatever you like to call it, the single has a little of it all. Paul Smith's slightly nasal voice is recognisable from thousands but so is the band's sound. Despite that the keyboards are no longer in a prominent position, the way the band writes its hooks and changes, it all points to Maxïmo Park. Where a band like Kaiser Chiefs has completely lost its way, Maxïmo Park stands tall and comes up with another great song within its own compartiment of rock. "Stream Of Life" is released on 27 September.
Wout de Natris - van der Borght
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