Posts
Brand New Me. Robert Ellis Orrall
Sometimes a song is released that while hearing them for the first time it seems that they have been around like forever. Brand New Me, a recent single by Robert Ellis Orrall is one of them. You could have fooled me into believing the song was released in the 1970s, 80s or 90s, but just never heard me by me at the time. In 2026 the song sounds just as fresh, as this artist pretends he is Heart, Gin Blossoms and Dan Baird in one. From the modest intro riff it's clear Robert Ellis Orrall brings us back to the time where folk, rock, indie and countryrock went into a blender and produced songs like 'Magic Man' and 'I Love You, Period'. Brand New Me can be added to these two examples and all others you can think of yourself while listening to this track. Brand New Me is a delightful song, Album 'Wonderland' is out since 27 February.
With second single Mary Anne of the upcoming album 'Realized' (24 April) Magic Castles makes to WoNoBlog for the first time. Mary Anne is a song that mixes pop, rock and a light touch of psychedelia with faint traces of the 1960s psych and pop era. The guitar solo presented here was totally unthinkable back in those days. The Minneapolis based band, that is around since the early 2000s, is not attracting your attention in a very obvious way. Mary Anne is the kind of song that comes to you slowly, like in waves, through all the well-thought out additions in the arrangement, while singer (and guitarist) Jason Edmonds sings with his soft voice lauding the woman 'whose mind he's trying to read'. In one of the waves this subtle yet very nice guitar solo sprouts forwards, topping the song off. Mary Anne is a song very much worth while getting to know.
One of Rotterdam's Mattan Records' latest signings is the band Fit. Today the band releases its first EP on Mattan, second in total, which does make it to this blog. Fit hooks up to that very long train called postpunk. In 2026 that means that it becomes important to be distinctive. So many Dutch bands have come and also gone in the past circa eight, nine years that I've started to develop an interest in the genre again, after the wave with Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys fizzled out. Fit consist of Ide Ploeg (voice, synths), Oscar van Cruchten and Maas van Rijsbergen (guitars), Roman van Rookhuizen (bass) and Mink Huurmans (drums). With that distinction you'll find the band is more than on the right side. From postpunk in general and more specifically 'Little Something', a track Maxïmo Park would be proud of, to more danceable tracks where a hint is given to Chefs' Special, you can find it all on Rewrite History. Fit is able to add more than enough energy and youthful exuberance to its mix, making the songs fully their own. Rewrite History is not an earth shattering experience. What it is, is a very good EP that I will want to play more often for certain, to get to know the five songs better. There is no reason to doubt why Fit should not be able to follow the route ex-labelmates The Vices have taken.
O.k., I'm convinced. Reincarnation exists. Elliot Smith has returned to earth and sort of starts again where he left off when his life tragically ended. No, just kidding. tofusmell is singer-songwriter Ray Chen from Winnipeg by way of Orlando, Florida. Anyone listening to Dreams I've Had will agree with me that, at least on his single, as I have not anything else by tofusmell yet, Elliot Smith's ghost is prominently present. The soft whispering, modest voice is there. The way the song transforms from an indiefolk/singer-songwriter song into an alternative folkrock song, including the addition of a dirty lead guitar. Ray Chen does it all in a very good way and in good taste. Nobody will ever write a better song in this genre than Elliot Smith's 'Pretty (Ugly Before)', but besides this point Dreams I've Had convinces me totally. Debut album 'All My Time' releases on 24 April.
The title song of Cape Crush's upcoming album (1 May) finds its way to this blog, making it the band's second entry. And again, The Beths entered my mind instantly. Despite that the differences between the two bands are obvious, it's there any way. It is in the way singer Ali Lipman frases here words, turns her vocal's chord changes and in the background vocals. The Beths is one of my absolute favourite bands of this decade, so being compared to them is not a bad thing in my book. Place Memory rocks in the way alternative bands do. Cape Crush adds a golden melody to its rock and combines it with endless vocal lines that are all over Place Memory. Layers of them, making the song stand out totally. Bring me more, Cape Crush!
Twenty years ago, I wrote about Joan Wasser's solo project Joan as Policewoman in the old magazine predating the blog by eleven years. 'Real Life' made Joan as Policewoman one of my favourite new artists at the time, just like she became for my then girlfriend, now wife. We saw her several times life in concert in Amsterdam and The Hague. And then, somehow, she slipped from my attention and her she is back announcing the 20 year anniversary version of 'Real Life' with the release of Anyone as a single and once again I'm immediately drawn into the jazzy tune. Anyone is the musical equivalent of a day where you do not have to do anything else but relax. Just lying around or reading a book. Anyone is the kind of song that I just want to listen to and not have to do anything else. It is beautiful and then some.
You will have to go back to the very first months of this blog to encounter The Menzingers. In April 2012 'On The Impossible Past' featured on the blog. I wrote about punk pop and a likeness to The Hold Steady. What the band produced in the past fourteen years, I don't know. Today I've encountered Nobody's Heroes and decided to write about it. The band, no longer young men, kicks the song off with an acoustic guitar and an organ, before the band kicks in. There's not much of punk to be found. There's certainly a hint of emo in the vocal delivery. The music is more alternative rock like they used to make around 2000 in the U.S. with just a lighter touch to the sound bringing the band closer to e.g. Gin Blossoms. The combination works well, because it makes singer (and guitarist) Greg Barnett's voice and vocal delivery stand out more. The music is serving, adequate and simply nice.
One more time machine on the blog. Seattle band Telehealth debuts on this blog with a song that is as odd as it is danceable and slightly infectious. A song like Talking Heads and many bands following it, like in the 00s Franz Ferdinand could have made. I'm not even going to mention the bands that sprouted this decade. For me the source is Talking Heads and let's stick there. Telehealth has all the things in place that allows for comparisons. The odd sounding rhythm, the guitar lines that are as weird as they are full of rhythm. The lyrics that seemingly are randomly generated and sang in a way that is somewhere between declaration and song. Did I mention that it works? It does and there is an album coming up. 'Green World Image' releases on 15 May. I've heard enough to want to hear more.
Dreamwave returns to the blog with a song that lands somewhere in the middle of alternative rock, alternative pop and psychedelic rock. Over You manages to hold a 1960s psych and garage rock vibe and mixes it with The Black Angels on a good day, something the Austin band seldom to never has and Green Day exuberance. The result is a tremendously upbeat song that invites to dance to and sing-along with. The guitar riff may be standard for the genre, it makes Over You come totally alive. The female voice supporting the singer, gives Over You a party feeling as well. The Bristol based band has released two EPs at once, 'Moon Dogs' and 'Drifter' on 20 March.
In 2004 I bought my first Social Distortion cd, 'Sex, Love And Rock & Roll'. The first four songs on that album are so fantastic. Then I found out that the band was around already for over 20 years. That makes over 40 today. And yes, Mike Ness' voice is definitely not one of a young man. The energy put into Born To Kill is phenomenal though and brings me in a good mood immediately. This song is one of a band on a mission but has nothing left to prove. Born To Kill is like a shot of adrenalin, immediately energising the senses and body into action. I would not recommend moshpits for the fans of the first hour but with a song like this the band ought pick up punk lovers of all ages. The song goes out with a banger of a guitar solo as well. Album 'Born To Kill' will be released on 8 May.
Wout de Natris - van der Borght
No comments:
Post a Comment