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The Thaw. VEUVE
There
were days that I hardly knew any music coming out of Italy, well rock
music that is. Since getting acquainted first with trio Bongley Dead and then
thanks to the people at All Noir to a whole host of bands. Today we have
stoner rockers Veuve from Pordenone for the first time on the blog. The
band formed in 2013 and consists of Riccardo Quattrin, bass, vocals,
Andrea Carlin, drums and Stefano Crovato, guitars. The Thaw is the
single of album 'Pole' that was released on 15 November. The Thaw is a
rock song to love easily. It starts with a great guitar chord progression, double
tracked and thunderous. At the end of the progression the drums lay
down a heavy accent. Later the bass joins with a playful bass line,
spiking the song and nailing it tight. One of the names mentioned as an
influence is Motorpsycho and I can only agree. Less expected, is that
Quattrin's voice moves towards George Kooijmans' of the Golden Earring
when his voice goes up. On the basis of this single, I can only conclude
'Pole' is an album to check out, which I will certainly do.
20/20?
There's a faint bell ringing. Don't I have an album of the band from
circa 30 years ago and not played close to that? It could be as the
principal songwriters of 20/20 Ron Flynt and Steve Allen have reunited
and will release a new album in 2025 with the title 'Back To
California'. Like Librarians with Hickeys, soon on the blog with its new album, 20/20 relies
on the Rickenbacker for the jangly sound in the title song and single.
Musically there is a difference between 60s and 90s in the principle
sound of the songs. The basis is the same though, that jangle that in pop
music starts with The Byrds and nothing else. The fact that 20/20
sings about "flowers in your hair" says something as well of course.
Back To California is an extremely pleasant sounding song. It flows as
easily as the 'Friends' title tune and has even better solos. The world
could have done a lot worse without 20/20 coming back together. Even if
only this single is this good. (Sorry, the album I have is by 54 40.)
Aerolinea
is Argentinian singer and bassist Victoria Real and guitarist and
singer Eric Weissinger, one half of I Am A Rocketship. The duo has
released its album 'All We Need' recently. With What Moves You it
released a mysterious single in which the delay pedal plays a
substantial role to create that mysterious effect. The basis of the song
is very straightforward, percussion and bass over which the two sing,
separate and in harmony. The electric guitar tops the music off with a
rhythm part and solo (notes). What I like most about What Moves You is
the atmosphere Aerolinea has put into the song. The rhythm is classic
The Cure I would venture, from there Aerolinea is its own band. It does
put the sound in the 80s which is o.k., as it defines the music and band.
The singing comes with the memory a far modern band, The xx. Together Aerolinea
lays a nice tie to two centuries that musically are still very much
connected.
Nieve
Ella Pickering is a 21 year old singer from Albrighton in the U.K.
Sweet Nothings is a single from her third EP in under two years. I like
the story about her being kicked out of a school due to the quality of
her guitar playing, see Wikipedia. Sweet Nothings is an indie pop/rock
song that sounds simply very nice. Nieve Ella's voice hovers somewhere
between slacker disinterest and a confident power singer. The music is
built up from a tight rhythm of drums, bass and rhythm guitar. It allows
her to show a lot of aspects of her voice that is, at least, double
tracked and a host of oohs and aahs in the background. Extra guitars and
keyboards do the rest to make this a remarkable song. A little Alanis,
sure but more than enough Nieve Ella to convince me.
In the year that The Beatles and The Rolling Stones both received a Grammy nomination for new work, with a chance of winning in my opinion, former The Beatles drummer Ringo Starr releases a new single. It is a pure country song, with a wailing pedal steel guitar steeling the show. What surprises me most is that had someone put on the song without a notification, I would not have recognised Ringo's voice. The nasal, Liverpudlian drawl in his voice is gone. At 84 he is singing better than ever. Whenever I see him, I am surprised how young he looks as well. New music, on tour in the U.S., Ringo is doing it all at an age most men are sitting behind the geraniums or looking at them from the wrong side. Time On My Hands is a, let's face it, country song like there are a 1000 or more of, and yet I like it. This is a fun single to listen to and Ringo sings it with the right tone of voice. His baby left him and life's not treating him to well and he all this time on his hands. Well done and time well spent, Mr. Starkey.
Decades
ago Michael Hiscock played in a band called The Field Mice. Some people
may remember it but for me it's a new name. Nevertheless Hiscock finds
himself on this blog with the first single of his new band, The Gentle Spring. If Sugartown is anything to go by, The Field
Mice may have been closely connected to a band like Deacon Blue, famous
for its 'Raintown' single. Sugartown is far more subdued though. It is
a soft song, with an acoustic guitar at its heart, with a soft bass and
percussion. A keyboard and a female backing vocalist do the rest to
bring the right mood to this nice song. Do not expect to have to do
anything else than close your eyes and listen to the two pleasant voices
and the soft music.
Album
'We Were Girls Together' made it to the top 10 of my favourite albums
last year, with ease and the live show in Rotown proved that the album
was no coincidence. Today POM is on its way to release a new EP in 2025
with the release of A Craving. Singer Liza van As and band show
themselves from their rocking side, without forgetting the pop element.
It's caught just fine in the chorus of A Craving. On the one hand the
new single sounds familiar, the POM sound is already there. On the other
hand the song rocks quite loud in the right moments. The contrast is
even bigger because POM makes use of dynamics in the extreme. Just bass,
drums and atmosphere in the verse and then go for it and in some spots
even a little bit more. A Craving lands nicely in between my favourite
POM songs to date. A good sign for the future. Let that EP come, POM!
Jon
Allen is the U.K.'s Robert Cray. Yes, it's blues oriented music but so
smooth that it is in fear of becoming the blues equivalent of adult
oriented rock. Yet, it can't be denied that The Shadow is a strong
single, where the smooth blues, think also B.B. King's 'The Thrill Is
Gone' with all these smooth strings/synths, receives the edges it needs to sound convincing.
Allen's rough voice makes up here, as does the edge to his guitar playing.
The Shadow is a song from his upcoming 'Seven Dials' album that looks
back on 18th century London's Covent Garden and the harsh life ordinary
people lived there. Somewhere between dirt(y jobs), extreme poverty and
criminality. It is not released before early May next year though. With The
Shadow Jon Allen certainly gives away a good example of what the world
can expect.
Sorry
debuted on this blog with its first album '925' in the second month of
the lockdown. The worst time of all to release your (first) album, as
everything was stopped in its tracks and forgotten by the time we were
released at a minimal level, before going back in once again. The band
released a second album that did not resonate with me at all. Come 2024
and here is Waxwing, the first single from a third album. I find I'm
somewhere in between '925' and that second album. I love the mood Sorry
creates at the start, the mystery, the 60s movie soundtrack, or early
70s 'The Persuaders' soundtrack by John Barry. The force that comes in
at some point, is as subtle as it is very, very well done. The rhythm that
comes next is pure doom, singer Asha Lorenz accompanies this but her
voice is also present in all sort of distorted cut ups. All together it
is a track that crosses several musical borders and can be called
exciting, even if the track is mid-tempo at best.
Patrick
Watson returns to the blog with a typical etherial track that sounds as
if coming to us from the ghost realm. Some parts sound so light that
one can imagine them not coming from Earth. Other parts are solid and
the two become a mix. On Silencio Patrick Watson welcomes singer
November Ultra, Nova to her friends, for a duet. She fits very well in
Watson's universe of soft, delicate music, that is more like the stuff
fairytales are made of than anything else. Once again Watson manages to
allow his listeners to tune out and just flow on the soft currents of
his music. Just close your eyes and allow him to take you with him to
where he wants to go. I assure you that at the end he'll deliver you
back where you are with a totally tranquil mind, ready to take on the
rest of the day. To think this is the story of a singer who sings about having lost his voice and still be so tranquil of mind is almost mind boggling.
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