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Long Line. Soft Bait
More New Zealand today. Soft Bait is a newby on this blog, so let's do a short introduction. The four piece is from Tamaki Makaurau, as Auckland is know in the Maori language. The band consists of Joshua Hunter (vocals, guitar), Patrick Hickley (guitar), Keria Paterson (bass), and Cameron Mackintosh (drums) and has released its second album, 'Life Advice' late last month when I was enjoying a nice holiday. Soft Bait certainly can be put into the postpunk side of music. In fact I would advise the fans of Soft Bait to listen to Rotterdam band Tramhaus and vice versa. I'm sure you will both find something you like. "I come from a long line of bad backs", what an opening like for a song. Energy is shared all over the song, in the right kind of doses, as you will find. The rhythm section never relents. The guitars do hold back and make the more of an impression when they do go for it. The end is almost apocalyptic. Soft Bait, check the album out.
I'm going to be very straightforward here, as I seriously asked myself the question how it is possible that I responded so positively to a song that is one big musical cliché? Before I go into the answer, let me introduce Mannifesto, as Humankind is the first release of the band. It consists of singer/saxophonist Patsy Gamble, guitarist Manny Manninen, bassist Martin Engelien and drummer Manni Von Bohr, with Pete Feenstra as lyricist. All have a truckload of experience in (classic) rock music for decades and can be called veterans. They formed a band fairly recently and here is the first result. Now to answer the question. Despite the music sounding very familiar, the band lays down a great groove, Gamble a solid vocal and guitarist Manninen plays his riffs like there is no tomorrow and a great solo to finish things off. The result is a powerful song that deserves being heard, clichés or not. This band knows full well what it is doing and what it wants to achieve.
From raving at a wall to burning things down is but a small step for Eric Barlow. With the former single he debuted on this blog and that introduction today is continued with a single that quite nicely sits somewhere between pop and rock like they used to make, as they say. Burn has it all, from a nice guitar intro, to a well strummed verse and a chorus that pricks up my ears. Again, I hear sounds from the 60s permeate into Barlow's song, with the sting of 1990s indie rock. It is as if I'm hearing a song that I ought to remember but just doesn't come from the depths of my brain. We all recognise a moment like that. A vocal melody that just does not finish itself or the next vocal line that doesn't follow where it should. A snippet of a melody that goes around and around but never connects to what will tell the name of the song and artist. Eric Barlow created a song that reminds me of such moments while providing an excellent start and an oh so pleasant follow up. Bring on more, please.
Near the end of my review of 'Lonely Mission', Jake Nicholl's 2024 album, I wrote: "In the bio it says, Jake Nicholl approaches each album differently". Well, listening to Free Space, the single to his new album 'Saturn Return', released on 1 August, it looks like he really delivered on his promise. Where I placed 'Lonely Mission' in the period of time where Tim Hardin and Leonard Cohen broke through, Free Space is an electronic affair and should be placed in a line with lo-fi electronic bedroom pioneers like Pickle Darling, Carol Cleveland Sings and Moon Moon Moon. Free Space is an electronic, slow song, with digital rhythms that sound like they were created on synthesizers from the 1970s, while Nicholl sings with a slightly or somewhat more treated voice. At the same time it is a song and one that it is nice to listen to. The album was released during my holiday, but I will try to give it a chance in the coming few weeks. Free Space is the kind of song that invites further listening.
Over three years ago a fungus' debut album 'It Already Does That' made it to this blog with a favourable post. The band is still active in the postpunk/alternative rock niche of music. At the same time things have changed. Gone are the huge guitars, enter electronic rhythms supporting the drums and a sound that is postpunk yet far from noisy. As if a fungus has understood that the competition with bands like Tramhaus, Marathon or Personal Trainer cannot be won and looked at what the band is good at itself. The result is a single that shows another side of the band, while remaining interesting. 3x3 is a bare affair. The band keeps things small, while presenting riffs that are not your everyday's over a rhythm which is just as exceptional and all without blowing my ears inside. Yes, a fungus made curious to learn more. Whether its new album is smaller in sound as well we'll know on 29 August, when 'Field Relief' is released.
Wow. That was the word that came to mind when listening to I'm Not Sad for the first time. It is a dreamy, yet uptempo song that captured me within a few seconds. Sure, it sounds very familiar, as it is in a format that has been released now for over thirty years. A good addition is a welcome addition and that is what The Cords present. Imagine, the song was over before I had time to collect my first thoughts! At one minute and forty seconds it's all over. I'm Not Sad is the second single taken from the band's upcoming debut album 'The Cords'. The duo of sisters Eva and Grace Tedeschi from Glasgow, who obviously have a love for music from a long time ago. I'm thinking Teenage Fanclub and the dreamy side of The Stone Roses. When I'm Not Sad not only reminds me of bands like that, but clearly competes with them, something nice may be brewing. By 26 September we will know more.
With Garlands we remain in Glasgow. Except that Garlands is on this blog for quite a few years now. Once again Gordon Harrow (vocals and guitar), Darren Mackay (bass) and Stef Blair (drums) have produced a nice sounding single that has one foot firmly in the past and one in the present. The Golden Arc has a The Beatles vibe, a 90s indie sound and the firmness to be from the 2020s. The song starts off fairly quiet and relaxed. The guitar part may continue into the song, when played alone it comes across as slow and soothing. The song has a 'Rain' connotation here, without the psychedelic effects The Beatles introduced in the 1966 song. When the band kicks in, the same guitar part gets a totally different context and becomes a driving force. The guitar overdubs do the rest and there's more you may want to discover. There are quite some nice details in The Golden Arc. There are so many recent Garlands singles now. When can we expect them as an album?
"Hi, it's Tamar" it reads in an email and then I know new music will be arriving soon. For four years Tamar Berk is a regular on this blog and her fifth album in as many years will most likely get the same treatment. Stay Close By is out for some weeks now. I'm still catching up with new music by friends of the blog. Stay Close By is a mid tempo song. If something like an alternative rock ballad exists, I'd say the song qualifies. Tamar Berk sings with a dreamy, soft voice, that hovers over the song and sails through the cracks in the mix of the instruments, making her voice extremely present, despite singing softly. It adds tremendous quality to the song which already is so good. From a modest start, one electric guitar with a slightly dirty sound, the song is built bigger and bigger. Huge drums enter and several guitars with big and extremely small parts. All together they make for a single that delivers a big promise for the upcoming album, 'OCD' is released on 5 September.
And more dreamy music today. WILDES is Ella Walker, who is about to release her second album, 'All We Do Is Feel' on 12th September. At the start of the song, I had the impression to be listening to a Wolf Alice clone, but WILDES plots a totally different course. All I Get seems to be bursting at the seems for wanting to present big, fat rhythms. Electronic pulses are all over the place but always restrained and on a leash. Like a dog at the entrance of a campsite wanting to jump in front of my car before being restrained. The Wolf Alice idea comes from the way Walker harmonises with herself during the song. The approach makes sure that the tension is always building up and makes you want to listen as you want to know how it ends. I gave some away but not all, so you will have to find out for yourself. I'm not sure whether I can cope with a whole album filled with music like this, but I will listen first as All I Get is a good song and interesting to listen to at that.
Ash? I think I have the band's debut album. '1977'? There's also a ten year old review of an album called 'Kablammo!' that I have absolutely no recollection of listening to unfortunately. The band still exists in 2025, so is around for circa 30 years I'd say. For a band with members in their 50s Give Me Back My World has a fresh, even young sounding atmosphere. This is a fun, poppy song. It's all nostalgia for things that have come and gone musically long ago. But as most music today brings back the best of the past, Ash's new single fits right in. The band found some nice adornments that make Give Me Back My World fun to listen to. In fact they are all over the song. This fits in with Nada Surf's best and that is meant as a big compliment. By far I've missed most of Ash's output but this is a song that makes me want to hear more. That more is called 'Ad Astra' and will be released on 3 October.
Wout de Natris - van der Borght
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