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What's Fair. Blondshell
Blondshell
returns with a single that brings back memories of rock bands from the
90s. Lyrically she could have fooled me though. From listening to
Blondshell's lyrics I could have sworn she was dealing with a bad
boyfriend and all that comes after breaking up. It isn't. It is all
about a person that is impossible to break up with for her, her mother.
There obviously are a lot of issues here, that won't go away easily. "I
did not chose you, you chose me", she sings. Musically, the song is
confrontational as well. Mostly a two chord progression that is repeated
all through the song. It works because of the emotions Sabrina
Teitelbaum releases, although I could add that she still holds back a
lot. The guitar solo is most telling. It rips things apart, including
itself. Just listen to know what I mean. A good song? Yes, What's Fair
is. A great song? No, for that it sounds too familiar. It's good enough.
Meadowlake
returns to this blog. The Groningen band can be found in 2018
('Meadowlake') and 2020 ('Wait For Me'). The group consisted of five
people but on the latest band photo and in the video I only find three.
Singer Jarno Olijve obviously is still there. Listening to him sing, the
first thing that sprang to mind was Marcel Hulst, as happened to me
twice before I've found. Musically Meadowlake is closer to his work as
Mountaineer and partly Maggie Brown as well. At least on rivers. This
slow and beautifully crafted song is extremely intense in a very modest
way. There's a very big role for a guitar, that is the most prominent.
With a bass and drums behind it. Olijve sings as a whisper, drawing the
listener towards him as it were. There are some beautiful harmonies as
well. The band was able to record in Buck Meek's (Big Thief's guitarist)
studio in L.A. Looking at the video the band was able to do a little
road trip as well, visiting several of the beautiful sights in the
U.S.'s south west. Album number three is released on 19 September. It's
called 'where the mountain meets the sea’.
It's
two years ago when Seb Zukini debuted on this blog, while this spring a
new single was reviewed, 'Honesty'. The song opens the band's new EP.
Listening once again, it's quite clear why I singled it out. It has this
darkish mood, without forgetting a golden melody. From there the five
song EP diversifies. It always rocks but with a different kind of band
in mind. Seb Zukini obviously is not afraid to show us its musical
heroes and make them part of its own music. You can hear post grunge
bands from around 2000 but also Oasis, to name two examples. The
variation makes for an EP that I like listening to better with each
spin. "Give me a break, I got to change the mood" singer Sebastiaan
Kusters sings in 'Teddy'. Seb Zukini does just that to great effect.
From 'Teddy' to 'None Of It Will Last' is a giant leap. The pace of the
latter song is fantastic, "hit the gas" indeed. Seb Zukini is rocking no
little here. It combines the fast and tight pace with a golden vocal
melody. 'None Of It Will Last' is the kind of song that I would love to
sing along to in a live situation. Kusters has the flair of Liam
Gallagher while the band is Creed at his best, i.e. the best songs from
that band's debut album. With 'Monkey See' Seb Zukini brings a little of
that darkness back. 2000 Post grunge but with better melodies than most
bands could muster at the time. The title track closes the EP and
brings the pace back into the whole. Summing up, Seb Sukini seems ready
to convince more people that this obscure reviewer. Double Down is some
EP.
Reviewing
a single by Godspeed You! Black Emperor is like ... Yes, like what? The
post rock or rock symphony orchestra, what you prefer, plays long spun
out instrumental songs, that I could not listen to until not too long
ago. A single is like having one small piece of chocolate while the bar is
in front of you. Something like that. Grey Rubble - Green Shoots is a
huge piece of post rock that is extremely listenable. A violin comes
through the massive sound, riding rhis huge wave all the way to the
shore. From there the whole tones down, just like symphonies do. The
Canadians really play with the mood of their listeners. The band tones
it all down to little segments of music with held notes that are allowed
to fade out before the next chord is struck. A guitar comes in to play a
modest lead melody, as does the violin. Grey Rubble is the loud part
and Green Shoots the soft part. Two songs in one go as it were.
Where
previous single 'Michigan' "certainly rocks in its own way", Love's
Changing is a slow song, very atmospheric and hinting at bossa nova. I
can imagine someone like Bebel Gilberto singing Love's Changing. Until
the middle section that is, when Tasha takes the song into a very
different direction before the slow swing returns. Tasha is working
towards her debut album that is released on 20 September and is called
'All This and So Much More'. The album is about loss so Tasha lets us know,
but also that this single was the last song she wrote. It reflects being
on the other side of loss and it shows. The mood may be melancholy, the
slow mood reflects more a lazy, yet contented sunny day in the park or a
place like it. I really like the way the piano manoeuvres through the
song and how the rhythm sort of drags its feet, allowing for that lazy
feeling. 'Michigan' got the benefit of the doubt. Love's Changing is a
winner.
The title for the new Recitals EP. 'I Got Gold!' comes from the single Champion Runner. As an alternative rock band from New Zealand should, with Champion Runner Recitals does not present a straightforward song. It combines some great pop elements with alternative rock and a little weirdness. Especially in the way the lyrics are sung, with the longest pauzes possible and even beyond that. Champion Runner holds elements of all in equal portions. The sum of the parts is a song that deserves to be heard across the world. Recitals is a seven piece band, Tharushi, Carla, Sam, Olivia, Christian, Josh and Xanthe. With its album 'Orbit 1' it made it to the 18th spot on my list of albums for 2022. The distinctive trumpet is still there, although only noticeable at the end. Champion Runner is a driven song. It keeps propelling itself forward. "Ive got gold. I'm not trying", is sung over and over. I don't believe it. Recitals has worked this song out quite well, so yes, it goes for gold and is doing all it can to make the best impression. And rightly so, as the proceeds of the EP go the the Palestine's Children Relieve Fund. 'I Got Gold!', the EP is released on 27 September. The vinyl version for November.
Tramhaus is a young band but can be called a WoNoBlog veteran by now. The Rotterdam post punkers have made quite an impression on yours truly. With Ffleur Hari it shows itself at its most uncompromising. The band is rocking and on a roll here. There's nothing pretty about this single. It is almost industrial in the way the band pounds all the instruments. Singer Lukas Jansen is closer to (hysteric) shouting than singing, the drums are relentless in a The Velvet Underground style, supported by the staccato bass. And the two guitars? Live it will be painstaking the way they are played. Above it all Tramhaus shines. It is getting closer and closer to a sound the band has been working on from the very first single. Rotterdam's finest is carving out its own place in the world and the world has started to notice. The album will be here very soon.
Nieuwe
Gezichten zijn minder nieuw dan de bandnaam doet vermoeden. Het is een
samenwerkingsverband van Michiel van de Weerd en Arthur van Vliet die
met anderen vier van hun nooit afgemaakte liedjes hebben afgemaakt. Ter
Aarde is er daar een van. Zanger Joost Steltenpool (De Koorts) en
zangeres Adura Silaiman (Future Husbands) zijn degenen die op de
voorgrond treden in deze enorm jachtige track, die een mix lijkt tussen
Moss (vooral die bas) en Spinvis on coke. AM Sam, Bo Menning (Aestrid),
Lisa Jonker (Sophie Straat L.A.J.), Joep van Osch (Robin Kester) zijn de
muzikanten. Probeer maar eens stil te blijven staan bij dit enorm up
tempo nummer. (Ik ben enorm blij niet de bassist te zijn!) Het contrast
tussen de dromerige zang en de muziek waar na het intro geen seconde
rust meer in zit is enorm en de reden dat het nummer werkt. Te zijner
tijd komt er dus een EP aan. Ik ben zeker benieuwd.
Texture Freq is a band from South Minneapolis and punk as punk comes. All noise, little song. There's no rest for the wicked here. Single Golden Pavilion is no way reminds me of the famous pavilion in Kyoto, oh, wait, the song's already over.
Shake sounds just like the bio coming with the single makes one hope it would sound. At least, I did. Liz Borden used to play in Lizzie Borden & The Axes, one of the first all girls band in new wave and punk in the 80s. Totally unknown to me, as their work never reached me in NL. Lizzie became Liz and is 40 years older like I am today. Shake is a song that holds all the drive songs of this kind had in the 1980s and includes that little extra that the decades have added to the genre. Kim Wilde may have sung about the kids in America, Lizzie Borden was one. That can still be heard in Shake. There's something of the kid in the song. Borden still gets away with her voice in this Blondiesque song. I would not have had a problem at the time hearing Debbie Harry singing Shake. The song has that blend of punk and pop, of toughness and sweetness. In fact Shake has the exact right mix of both. Nice single.
Wout de Natris - van der Borght
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