2024. Week 39, 10 singles 2

Still catching up, here's another batch of recent singles and EPs for you. We are going around the globe alright once again. You will find a few countries of origin that are quite exceptional on this blog. Curious? Go on and enjoy the selection.

Doggerland EP. Office Dog

New Zealand is at the other end of the world from me. I feel privileged to have heard so many good records coming out of the country in the past years. All thanks to that record shop cum record label, Flying Nun. Recently the roster was expanded with the band Office Dog. After two singles, reviewed in 2023 and 2024, the band returns with its EP Doggerland. It turns out that the name refers to what is now called the Doggerbank in the North Sea, a place where fishermen at times bring up the bones of mammoths and other extinct animals that lived there, when the North Sea's waterlevel was far lower and Britain was attached to the mainland of Europe. Most likely how it got populated in the first place. So much for the history lesson.

Office Dog is Kane Strang, already on the blog in 2016, with drummer Mitchell Innes and bassist Rassani Tolovaa. The trio releases an EP somewhere between alternative pop and dreampop with a fuzzy edge here and there, making the songs just this little rougher than what the two descriptions merit. The songs were produced by De Stevens (Marlin’s Dreaming), which makes sense listening to Doggerland, as Marlin's Dreaming is another band walking the thin line between those types of music. The song with the biggest inner contrast is 'Dump No Waste, Floats To The Sea'. The soft, dreamy opening stands in sharp contrast with the sound explosion near the end. It's the kind of inner anger I feel when a minister says we need another commission to investigate how bad pollution really is, in the meanwhile kicking the can down the road some more, making things worse. Office Dog captured that feeling quite well. With seven songs, I'd say Doggerland is more a mini album than an EP, but who cares. Its place in this post is well deserved either way.

Sooner Or Later. Soft Skies Inc

By the time I started to wonder whether I was listening to an instrumental track, the singer kicks in, with a double tracked, husky vocal. The rock song has a strong foundation but with recognisable pop overtones. There's an 80s vibe that has me singing 'Love Will Tear Me Apart' in Paul Young's version in my mind. That synth plays a nice variation on the melody for the whole of the song. Ryan and Martin Rex played together in the band Lockgroove in the 90s and make a comeback under the name Soft Skies Inc. The combination of dreamy singing and that stark groove works quite well. That rhythm just goes on and on, with no rest for the listener. No, Sooner Or Later is not an earth-shattering experience but fans of this music at the time will find a nice addition to their private discotheque or, to put it in a more modern way, playlist.

Bad Xerox. Cheap Cassettes

Beware, people. Listening to Bad Xerox means listening to some good old-fashioned rock like they used to play it a long time ago. Looking at a picture of Cheap Cassettes they were around at the time of cassettes and old-fashioned rock when it was very new. Bad Xerox is the kind of song that starts to rock in second 1 and only stops in the final second, at 2 minutes and 27 seconds in this particular case. Drums, bass, two guitars and two lead vocals do the trick. The vocal melody is golden and instantly singable. The guitar solo to the point and so nice. The Seattle band does everything right in Bad Xerox. That copy must really have been bad to inspire such a good song. Rock and roll!

Mistakes Become You. Night Court

Do coincidences exist or is it fate? Fact is that Cheap Cassettes and Night Court figured in a singles post together before, on 21 April 2022 with 'Malnutrition' and 'Titanic'. The Vancouver band returns with the single Mistakes Become You. Emilor (drums and vocals), Dave-O (guitar/vocals) and Jiffy (bass/vocals) return to the blog with a pop oriented alternative rock song. The band really focused on the melodies, without dropping the punk attitude in its approach. It is not afraid to bring some volume, while at the same time putting effort into the arrangement of Mistakes Become You. I'm reminded of The Beths a few times, while Night Court keeps its own fully. There's a nice keyboard entering the mix here and there, adding an extra sound and layer to the song. This is the first of seventeen songs to be released later this year under the title $hit Machine.

Knots E.P. W.Y. Huang

In April 2012, during the first months of this blog, I reviewed a mini album called 'Mannequins' by the band Monstercat from Singapore. The mini album made a great impression on me. An album followed but after that silence and Monstercat receded into memories. Until I received a message from Bandcamp. The website has an everlasting memory it seems, as 12 years later it alerted me to an album by W.Y. Huang. Who? W.Y. Huang is one of Monstercat's former members, who released an EP called Knots. Of course I gave it a listen and here we are in 2024. Gone is the rock, revealing the dreamy ballads that were caught within Monstercat's music as well. The album opens with a few soft piano chords, followed by multitracked oohs. W.Y. Huang shows himself from a very vulnerable position, changing to a gospel choir responding him in the very short, introductory song 'No Answers'. It does set the mood for Knots in the right way. 'Life Just Lately' has this great laidback feeling. The kind of song that can put everybody at rest for a short while. With his soft voice Huang sings in a whispery way. All the instruments honour his voice. If you like 'Life Just Lately', this mini album is right for you alright.

Lessons. David Luning

What stands out most on Lessons for me are two things: David Luning's rough voice and a great harmonica solo played by bassist Ben Dubin. With a whole bathroom of reverb on it, the instrument sounds so nice on Luning's single, that announced his already released same titled album. The song falls into a singer-songwriter and country rock combination category. The electric guitar plays a supportive role with a nice riff that is played over all chords. I believe that's called ostinato. David Luning and band set a great mood in the song. It has a hint of darkness and desolation. I can hear the wind sweeping through some isolated desert town where usually things do not turn out well. With that lone harmonica coming from somewhere in the town. Lessons is a strong song by a singer with a great voice for this genre.

Marisol. John Surge & The Haymakers

Listening to Marisol a few little hatches in my brain opened. Where had I heard this sound before? It has been a while, that much was for sure. The first thing coming to mind was Flaco Jimenez' accordion playing, but there was more. In the rhythm it was when a song title came to me 'Mendocino' and then Sir Douglas Quintet. One of two hits the band had here in NL. Then I recognised the organ, that's Augie Myers style of course. Reading the bio on Marisol it was all explained. While recording the song John Surge & the Haymakers kept asking themselves "what would Doug Sahm have done"? Well, recording Marisol like this, may well have been the right answer. Marisol plays Sahm's Tex-Mex style music to a t. It is so positive in sound and rocks in all the right places, with that Mexican vibe for the whole of the way. I had nearly forgotten about this kind of music, so thank you for putting it back in my mind.

Playboy. The Roamers

With Playboy we remain in country rock territory. A little tougher and more direct than both previous songs. The Roamers are rocking with the country element more in the style of singing than in the way the music is presented. The Roamers are a new band filled with veterans of the L.A. music scene. Singer and bassist Matt Rice had written Playboy a decade ago but only now had the right circumstance to record it. The guitars around him are nice and dirty in one. They are everywhere. There's at least two rhythm parts and one soloing. Brian Whelan plays them all and all other instruments you're hearing on Playboy, with the exception of the drums, played by Luke Adams and bass. The self-titled album is out since 20 September, so if you like this kind of music, I'd check it out.

Mystery Of Love. Soap & Skin

Soap & Skin is Austrian artist Anja Plaschg. Her forthcoming album 'Torso' is her fourth with a host of EPs and singles on the side. Yet, you will not find her on this blog, except in a review of a David Bowie tribute review from 2018. With Mystery Of  Love her place here is well deserved. Soap & Skin has released a beautiful and slightly sad ballad. Anja Plaschg plays the piano and sings with a lot of space on her voice. The clear piano notes find their way to my heart quite fast. In the first chorus strings come in, a cello and violin, in a short instrumental interlude following it there are even horns to be heard. Slowly but surely an intricate arrangement unfolds itself. Agnes Obel may be a reference for this music, but I have the impression Soap & Skin reaches far deeper. There's a lot going on here but mainly below the surface. The mystery of the title is caught in the music as well. The ending of Mystery Of Love is as refined as it is clear. Sheer beauty it is.

Burned To The Ground. Tides From Nebula

Set the clock to rock, hard. Tides From Nebula is a Polish post rock band that is on route to release its new and self-produced album, 'Instant Rewards', on 8 November. As this is a new band for this blog, some extra information is justified. The band formed in 2008 in Warsaw and consists of Maciej Karbowski (guitar and keyboards), Przemek Węgłowski (bass and keyboards) and Tomasz Stołowski (drums). 'Instant Rewards' is the first self-produced album and recorded in the bands own studio. The result is a monumental single of over seven minutes. The song has two faces. One a softer and electronic side, led by keyboards. It is quite dreamy in the intro. Slowly Tides From Nebula lets electronic pulses come in that play the same sequence, over and over, over the lead melody. When the band comes in, it is pounding, as if battering the gates of a Medieval castle. The lead guitar shreds everything to pieces. The sound is huge but there's still room for a melody in all the onslaught of rock. This sequence is departed for another softer part, repeating the atmosphere of the start but in a far more nervous way. The wolves are lurking around the battered gate it seems. I am usually not one for instrumental tracks but Burned To The Ground is monumental, as I already wrote. What a song!

Wout de Natris - van der Borght