XS. Celeste Corsano
Celeste Corsano returns to the blog with her latest single XS. It took me two spins before the song started to land a little with me. Now bio's often describe a lot and I usually take them with a pinch of salt, meaning no disrespect, as quite often I just do not hear what is written in them. Here though I wholeheartedly agree. If anything, I do hear The Cars in the choppy guitars and Kate Bush in Ms. Corsano's voice. That does not mean XS is an easy song to digest. Just like Kate Bush's songs are not exactly ones that went down in one go. Some still haven't really. Celeste Corsano makes the most of this single though. Where the guitar grounds us, the keyboard exults the euphoria she is singing about. The combination makes the listener work for his/her pleasure and that is often a gratifying experience.
For whatever reason, Japanese cd buyers get a song or more extra that the rest of the world does not. Itsumo is that song on Mei Semones's debut album 'Animaru', reviewed earlier this year on this blog. It is the first song she ever recorded. Besides showing her virtuoso playing on an acoustic, nylon-stringed guitar, she shows the two sides to her music in abundance. She switches between her two main languages, Japanese and English, between bossa nova with classical music influences and grunge rock and finally between acoustic and electric. The contrast in the music in Itsumo is more black and white than on some of the songs on 'Animaru', where the differences at times are blended in such a way that my ears at times struggle to keep up. But whatever else they tell me, dazzling is one of the words.
A true point of rest in what is often a busy affair this weekly blogpost on recent singles. Dirt Buyer is Joe Sutkowski from Brooklyn, New York. In Betchu Won't he is in an ultra relaxed mode and manages to say everything in a time frame that even the best mid-60s pop hits struggled to manage, 2.06 minutes. This song is a singer-songwriter song in the hey-ho or ho-hey folk way, with not allowing the famous words of the previous decade into his song. Two acoustic guitars, a soft bass and drums and Sutkowski harmonising with himself is all you will hear. Just a man, anticipating that "we'll get it right", musing on how to achieve that. Soft and modest beauty is what describes Betchu Won't best.
Things down stay quiet for long, as Running Down Pylons is the next song presenting itself this week. And if you think 2.06 minutes is short, listen to this single. It clocks in at 1.26 minutes. Yes, I go with the description of garage punk. Running Down Pylons is an energetic affair without overdoing it. N.E. Vains, which stands either for New England or North Eastern, depending on which band member you ask, American of Canadian, is not in an extreme hurry to run over the pylons. It's more like it is savouring the moments of running them down. Celebrating each single moment. Don't worry, the band has the speed. The lead guitar rages throughout the song. The singer announcing each single pylon hit. It's just that the band has control over the song. Running Down Pylons is not running amok with it. Just a great, very short song.
On 10 april this year I wrote on Momma's album 'Welcome To My Blue Sky'. Believe it or not, the band is already close to releasing a Deluxe Edition. What will be left for that 10 and 50 year edition, if the goods are already delivered? The current release is announced by the new single Cross Your Heart, one of the five new songs that the band will release as deluxe. The song itself has that grungy sound mixed with a good wallop of pop thanks to the lead guitar that has a near synth quality. Over it, Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten sing with their pleasant, innocent sounding voices. Yes, I get that 'Eight Arms To Hold You' vibe and bring out the measuring tape that comes with it. Cross Your Heart does really well on that tape. It rocks, it grunges, it pops and all in the right measures, Sometimes I just have to be grateful for not having to wait for 10 or more years to hear a song.
Ohmme, Finom, that were the names that popped into my head listening to the singing on Dozer, but also in that tight sort of music that duo produces. Plantoid is a new name on this blog though. Although it has released one album before, 'Terrapath, to me it is a new name. On 30 January the band's second album will be released, 'FLARE'. Dozer is a six minute long introduction, that takes the listener on a musical adventure where anything seems to go. It may consist for a larger part of the music, and the way Chloe Spence sings, that reminds me of Ohmme and Finom, two names for the same duo, that is only the starting point of Dozer. The best thing that I can point you to is the song itself. Just put it on and let all the elements wash over you. It will be more than worth your while.
If songs are as nice as Why, another uptempo punkrock song this week, it does not matter that the previous single was on here just three weeks ago. The song is so short it is already over before I could finish this sentence. Why is to the point and as catchy as the place where the horned and cloven-footed one dwells for a living. It may have taken Radioactivity a decade to write and record its new album 'Time Won't Bring Me down', you cannot tell from the urgency of this latest single. Like a 100 meter sprinter Why takes of and holds its breath until the finish line. Yes, Why sounds like a million songs that preceded it, believe you me, it does not matter. For that it is simply too good. Damn, it's over again already.
Just under a year ago Tombstone In Their Eyes debuted on this blog with its album 'Asylum Harbour' and already a new album is announced for early December. Under Dark Skies is the single announcing it and it is a delicious piece of psychedelic rock. It contains an exact right mix of 1960s psych and what has been happening in the past two decades. For years I'm asking myself the question does the world need another psych (rock) band? and the answer quite often is yes. To its credit Tombstones In Their Eyes is around far longer than I know. I caught on a bit late but not without enthusiasm for what I'm hearing. Under Dark Skies makes me feel like wading through dark muck in a swamp is the most pleasant activity on earth. The sound of this song is like a thick soup with a delicious taste. What more can a person ask for from a psych rock band?
Three singles into his recently released album, 'Still Moving Parts' and Eric Barlow still holds a prefect score. Winding is a lively, uptempo rocker, that injects a 1960s psychedelic dose into the song not unlike the Small Faces were able to do. There all comparisons stop, as Winding rocks and then some. Based around a strong riff in the verses, the song simply rushes on. There's no stopping it. Eric Barlow has no patience for resting today. Winding holds so much energy that it's near impossible to keep up with it. Like sprinting a marathon. Add a blistering guitar solo and Winding has the point on its i that almost blots the letter out. Wow, is the word that could have sufficed but would not have done the song right. "Round and around and around" it goes and goes. What power!
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The name Sekushi did not ring a bell, but lucky for me the blog has a search function and so I found the singles "Moan' and 'Beef' from 2023. The name Lara Chedraoui did ring a bell, but where has Drive Like Maria gone. It's drummer since even played for U2 in Las Vegas (and returned to Krezip before that)..With Hot Hot Belgian band Sekushi is ready for a new round of music and with a two word song no less. Of course the song rocks but clearly aims for the dance floor as well. The tempo and rhythm invite dancing no little. The singing reminds me a little of the way Tramhaus sings, except this song is far more alternatively rocking. Far removed from postpunk. There's a compromise here between the alternative and a pop feel that works really well. Hot Hot is a fun/party song and so good to listen to as well.
Wout de Natris - van der Borght
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