2026, week 38. 10 singles

'Summer's Almost Gone', Jim Morrison sang on The Doors' 'Waiting For The Sun' album (that does not contain the single of that name). I notice it when I go outside. Spiderwebs span the back alley, everything is more humid. Fierce rain alternates with bright light from a lower hanging, thus more blinding, sun. Summer may be on the way out, music is on the way in, as the autumn releases pour in abundantly. Again, here's a wide variety of music. So. enjoy!

Magic 8Ball. Integra Pink

We start this week with Integra Park, a Southern Californian band with a very dreamy rock sound. Singer Leo Mendez has that soft voice that makes you listen to him. Behind him the bass and drums lay down a strict pace, while around him melodic guitar parts are swirling around. A swath of synth sounds come in and out of the song like mist on an early morning. It reminds me of bands like Marjorie Fair, Constant Smiles and Marlin's Dreaming. All bands that lay/laid down a very specific and relaxing atmosphere while hitting the nail on the head in the meantime. Integra Pink is a totally new name to me, so I have nothing to compare Magic 8Ball to as far as this band is concerned. What I'm hearing is certainly to my liking. Knuckles (Right) will be released on 14 November. By that date we'll all know more.

Lungs. Lydia Saint George

Integra Park's single Magic8Ball is dreamy and so is Lydia Saint George's Lungs. Which song came first to me 'Harry's Theme' of 'Orinoco Flow'? It is irrelevant, as Lungs fits into that category. Mystic sounds that I associate with the mist rolling over the Irish landscape. The smell of peat in my nose and the possibility of running into a leprechaun. I do not know whether peat can be smelled in North Carolina where Lydia Saint George now lives, she has caught the Celtic folk atmosphere spot on and gives it a hint of the modern in the right places, as the recording technique allows easily for that. The double tracked vocals add a little extra to the mystique, as it suggest a ghost track running behind the original vocal recording. An intriguing track Lungs is.

Green Light. Part Time Signals

With a third dreamy single, it is already the theme of week 38's singles post. The dreamy part sits mostly in the vocals. The music is of a delicious laziness that suggests a long drawn out Sunday morning somewhere between sleeping and waking. Green Light just sort of rolls over me like a slow wave of lukewarm water. Three songs in today, three first timers on this blog. Part Time Signals is a band from Wales working towards its second album 'Ducks Back, Baby', to be released on 6 November. The four members all have a history in other bands, all names totally unknown to me. Green Light is a soft track, filled with subtle sounds and soft accents. The accents are there though all over the intro and verses and it makes a difference. It prevents you from drifting away. I'm not sure whether a whole album filled with Green Lights would be palatable to me, one Green Light certainly is. For references on this song/music, look at 'Magic 8Ball' above.

Are You… After Elmer 

Beware, before listening (and not just because the dreamy part of this post is over). Before I was able to type anything the song was already over. 34 seconds! It must the shortest song reviewed here. The good news first. Rotterdam punk band After Elmer released a new song, with more to come in the fall. The bad news is that this will be the last we hear from After Elmer, as the band is calling it quits, like so many other contemporary bands do. You wouldn't think so from just listening to Are You... After Elmer puts the pedal to the metal from the very start. Little melodies come from the lead guitar, there's a beautiful harmony in what could have been a chorus in a one minute 8 seconds long song. Alas, it ends with a nice discord chord at the end, with a deep metal guitar sound. Yes, a band can impress in just 34 seconds.

Swarm. Tramhaus

'Plovdiv' was the first single released from the upcoming album 'Blister' (9 October). With Swarm Tramhaus has caught a trendy word for its new single. A swarm of drones, a swarm of AI agents, all coming with a negative connotation. Not Swarm. Tramhaus shows more or less a new side to itself. Gone is the postpunk, enter alternative rock and a very extreme light and shade plays out in the music. Swarm is a song I instantly like. The two guitars play an interesting game together. Lucas Jansen and Nadya van Osnabrugge alternate the lead vocals. Jansen is his self, but the angelicly sung question "can you believe it?" with music and intensity out of the studio, makes the song very interesting to listen to. Julia Vroegh's bass gets the outro. Deep and slowed down. Swarm is a great new single for Tramhaus. Only three weeks left to go for 'Blister'.

Quiz On The Radio. Plastic Family

More music from The Netherlands, though Rotterdam 2, Amsterdam 1. Plastic Family returns to this blog with a great pop single that brings together pop from the 60s with indie vigour. 'Love & Heartbreak In High School' was the debut single and reading my review it fits nicely with Quiz On The Radio. If anything it brings to mind Gruppo Sportivo from the 'Ten Mistakes' album. An upbeat sound around a sad/teenage drama themed lyric. The only thing missing is the organ. Plastic Family is able to present an upbeat mood leading to the quiz show on the radio. The Beatles are referenced in a small sequence, 'On My Radio' is quoted for a few seconds. Of course, the quiz goes wrong, again, and the girl friend decides she has to go. Tragedy all over, except in the music. In November the single is released on 7". For now it is available digitally.

Compulsion. Black Doldrums

Black Doldrums' previous single was called 'Repetition'. The word comes by regularly on its new single Compulsion, but then doesn't compulsion lead to repetition of something. The goth side of the London based band comes forward in the strongest of ways. All is black, like in the heyday of darkness in the early 1980s. Joy Division and follow up New Order to name two bands. The darkest The Cure of 'Faith' and 'Pornography' another. Black Doldroms obviously is a fan. Singer Kevin Gibbard shows the darkest side of his voice and the music matches perfectly. Compulsion has the drive to underscore the title. The beat goes on and on. The lead guitar melodies bring the faintest of lights. In the intro a synth sound flies around like bats in utter darkness. They do not touch you but you can feel the flutter of their wings on your cheeks. The mood of Compulsion is superb. The album 'Repulsion Compulsion' will be released on 13 November.

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. U2

Through the years covers by U2 made it to b-sides of cd singles and to the 'Rattle And Hum' album, the surprise album from 1988 and one of my first cds. And that for a band that in an early review as I recall said that they were bad at playing covers, so decided early on to write their own material. Come 2026 and U2 is part of a project honouring Shane McGowan and thus The Pogues. The album '20th Century Paddy - The Songs of Shane MacGowan' is set for release on 13 November. U2's contribution is not spectacular, but it is nice to hear how the band turns the song into a pop song and not a U2 song. It is the lightest kind of song I ever heard the band play. And that is something to hear. The lead instrument is a marimba? I'm just guessing here. Besides a guitar solo of course. With two EPs and this song the U2 fan is serviced quite well in 2026, yeah! (Just as long as you don't let yourself be fooled by the title of this single. This song has nothing of the yeah, yeah, etc,, at the end of 'Vertigo'. My favourite U2 single ever.)

Ancient Steel. Skyjoggers

It's almost one and a half year go Skyjoggers made their debut on this blog with single 'Tessæil'. Today the band from Tampere in Finland returns with another relentless single. Can it be louder? I do not think it makes any sense to do so. There are some tempo changes and quieter parts. For the most part it's distorted guitars and a drummer who must be the grandson of The Muppets' Animal. Ancient Steel is an instrumental track divided into "akts", where the musical theme or the tempo changes. The heart of the song is strong riffing of guitar and bass over a loud background. If you are into spacerock metal, Skyjoggers is the band to check out.

The Mirror. Burntmill Ghosts

To think we started out so dreamy this week. Boy, did that change. Therefore we end with a punkband from New Jersey. Do not expect smooth punkrock on The Mirror. Burntmill Ghosts pulls several tricks into this song, that make it a far less straightforward song. The trio doesn't just play with a little light and shade. No, it plays with the format of the song by changing the tempo, several times. The pace of the song is altered by playing differently. Fluent chord changes are altered with stop start moments and fast played chords interchanged with long held chords. Just a few examples of what happens throughout. It all ends with a totally different form of song altogether. In other words, an interesting song Burntmill Ghosts' The Mirror is. An album is not due till somewhere next year.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght 

Blizzard. Dove Ellis

Blizzard van de Ierse muzikant Dove Ellis staat door een wat onhandig getimede release (december, WdN) nog in geen enkel jaarlijstje, maar daar hoort het in muzikaal maar vooral in vocaal opzicht opzienbarende album zeker in thuis.

Zonder een bijzonder lovende recensie van The Guardian zou het debuutalbum van de Ierse muzikant Dove Ellis waarschijnlijk aan mijn aandacht zijn ontsnapt. Voor nu dan, want Blizzard moet bedolven gaan worden onder de jubelrecensies. Dove Ellis maakt op zijn debuutalbum muziek die varieert van ingetogen folk tot rock en het is muziek die fraai is ingekleurd met invloeden die met zevenmijlslaarzen door de tijd stappen. Het album wordt vervolgens mijlenver opgetild door de opzienbarende stem van de Ierse muzikant. Het is een stem die allerlei associaties oproept en al deze associaties vervolgens combineert in een geluid dat je compleet van je sokken blaast.

Ik was de naam Dove Ellis nog niet eerder tegen gekomen, maar er doken de afgelopen dagen een aantal bijzonder positieve recensies op van zijn debuutalbum Blizzard. In deze recensies wordt de muziek van de Ierse muzikant onder andere vergeleken met die van Tim Buckley, Jeff Buckley, Nick Drake, Van Morrison, Thom Yorke en Rufus Wainwright. Het maakte me absoluut nieuwsgierig naar het eerste album van Dove Ellis en die nieuwsgierigheid werd verder aangewakkerd door een vijfsterren recensie van de Britse kwaliteitskrant The Guardian, die Blizzard een glorieus debuut noemt. 

Ik had niet veel tijd nodig om tot dezelfde conclusie te komen als de Britse krant, want Blizzard van Dove Ellis is in meerdere opzichten een fascinerend album. Zeker wanneer je het album voor het eerst hoort gaat alle aandacht uit naar de unieke stem van de Ierse singer-songwriter. De stem van Dove Ellis doet in eerste instantie vooral denken aan die van Jeff Buckley, maar ook Tim Buckley, Rufus Wainwright en Thom Yorke zijn nooit ver weg. 

De stem van de Ierse muzikant treedt nadrukkelijk op de voorgrond en voorziet zijn songs van het nodige drama. Het zorgt voor een sfeer die af en toe wel wat doet denken aan die op Jeff Buckley’s meesterwerk Grace, maar Dove Ellis heeft ook een duidelijk eigen geluid. In een aantal van de wat zwaarder aangezette koortjes heb ik voorzichtige associaties met Queen, maar de wat meer ingetogen songs hebben ook wel wat van Nick Drake, wat iets zegt over de veelzijdigheid van de zang.

Ik vind de zang van Dove Ellis hier en daar op het randje, zeker wanneer ik naar mijn smaak net wat teveel pathos en bombast hoor, maar de Ierse muzikant beschikt absoluut over een geweldige stem, die het grootste deel van de 34 minuten die Blizzard bijzonder makkelijk overtuigt. 

Het is de zang die het eerst in het oor springt bij beluistering van het debuutalbum van Dove Ellis, maar ook in muzikaal opzicht heeft de Ierse muzikant een bijzonder intrigerend album afgeleverd. Blizzard grijpt in flink wat songs terug op invloeden uit de jaren 70, maar slaat ook makkelijk een brug naar de jaren 90, waarbij hij makkelijk schakelt tussen Jeff Buckley, Radiohead en Rufus Wainwright. 

Dove Ellis kan overweg met ingetogen folk, maar gaat ook moeiteloos aan de haal met invloeden uit de Keltische muziek (wat de vergelijking met Van Morrison oplevert), tijdloze singer-songwriter muziek of indierock. Blizzard is voorzien van een redelijk vol geluid, waarin de nodige instrumenten voorbij komen. Het is een geluid dat is voorzien van veel bijzondere wendingen en steeds weer iets nieuws laat horen. 

Het is een geluid dat vaak tijdloos klinkt, tot de waanzinnige stem van Dove Ellis zijn debuutalbum voorziet van een unieke handtekening. Het levert wat mij betreft terecht een aantal jubelrecensies, maar het is ook nog veel te stil rond een album dat inderdaad en glorieus debuutalbum moet worden genoemd. 

De timing van Blizzard is natuurlijk zeer ongelukkig. De jaarlijstjes domineren momenteel de muziekmedia, waardoor er weinig aandacht is voor nieuwe albums. Hopelijk wordt het debuutalbum van Dove Ellis de komende maanden nog wel opgepikt, want Blizzard zou de start kunnen zijn van een prachtige carrière, wanneer deze niet al in de knop wordt gebroken. Ik heb mijn jaarlijstje gelukkig nog niet gemaakt.

Erwin Zijleman

 

Je kunt Blizzard hier luisteren en bestellen:

https://doveellis.bandcamp.com/album/blizzard 

2025, week 16. 10 singles

Easter weekend. I made a typo typing eater weekend. It can be called that of course. A few days with the family, food, drinks, Easter eggs and most likely less time to read a blog or listen to new music. Here are ten new songs anyway, so enjoy! And, Happy Easter!

Throw A Fist. The Northern Line

Just listen how Throw A Fist starts. The Northern Line lays down an irresistible groove. I won't say it's like The Stone Roses but the concept certainly is. Drums and at least two percussive instruments play for 10 seconds, bar two short bursts on a Hammond organ. Then the bass joins in and  the organ starts playing a melody. Guitar one joins the rhythm and then guitar two starts playing the main riff over that strong groove. Only at 40 seconds the singer joins with "I never felt so low". That may be, by after that 40 seconds I'm in high spirits. What a great groove and what an upbeat song Throw A Fist is. The Massachusetts band relive the Britpop days of the mid 90s, with a band like The Charlatans in mind, think its album 'Up To Here' e.g. It seems like I did not judge so positively on The Northern Line's debut single 'Lightning Strikes', as you cannot find it on this blog. Throw A Fist is and rightly so. What a groove!

Nothing. Sex Scenes

Nothing starts with a groove as well, but here we are in punk territory immediately. Sex Scenes is from Milwaukee and is the kind of band that does not hold back. Not in its music nor in its artwork. The blood vomiting skull on its album's sleeve is somewhere between a joke and serious. The music is all seriousness though. In just 2.14 minutes Sex Scenes tells and plays all. Nothing is the band's first single from the first album 'Everything Makes Me Sick', and it comes with a bang. Sex Scenes is around since 2016 but it's singer, Sarah Turbo, joined in 2021. She sounds like Amy Taylor of Amyl and The Sniffers in an angry mood. Behind her the band rages with a distorted bass guitar and guitars that play a great hook or two during the song. Nothing is quite the introduction to the upcoming album, to be released on 8 May.

Wonder. Benét

Unwinding, the big slow down comes with Wonder by singer Benét. The song starts as a sort of 'Let Love Rule', but next reminds me more of G. Love & Special Sauce where its rhythm is concerned. Wonder slowly evolves into a dreamy song, where friends of Benét wonder about a topic that concerns them, sampled into the song. This makes Wonder a song that sets itself apart, as it is not entirely the singer's song. Musically, Wonder is a basic song. Drums, a bass guitar is enough to kick it off. Surely but slowly the song flashes out with more instruments and in the vocal arrangement. It becomes an intricate weaving of instruments and voices, that makes for interesting listening. And then other voices take over, where the melody keeps Wonder going. It all ends abruptly, with an acoustic guitar providing a short coda. Album 'Make 'm Laugh' is expected on 6 June.

Scars. After Elmer

With Scars Rotterdam band After Elmer turns the clock back for a few decades. Around the year 2000 there were bands like Creed that started to play songs like these, post grunge. But there's also some emo in Scars. After Elmer builds up the song in an excellent way. An empty beginning with strong accents from guitar and drums. Next up is the release in the chorus, where the band goes full out. It's the kind of chorus that deserves a moshpit. An audience that goes apeshit as one. No matter how forceful the chorus is, the band has taken care of a strong vocal melody. That is just one part of the song though. The dynamics work really well and the band is an ace in getting the accents in all the right moments. After Elmer may have hit its jackpot with Scars.

Low Hanging Fruit. Matt Tecu + Fernando Perdomo

An instrumental is not your every day on this blog, but we have another one with Low Hanging Fruit. I have no clue who Matt Tecu + Fernando Perdomo are. The names are totally new to me, but this single rocks in a very old-fashioned way. Low Hanging Fruit rocks to hard to be from a cheesy circa 1970 movie soundtrack but the song contains the concept of it. That organ does the trick alright. It provides this psychedelic feel to the whole. The lead guitar is somewhere between surf and rock, while the drums definitely make it a rock song. The bass on the other hand is in Serge Gainsbourg territory. It gives you an impression how diverse Low Hanging Fruit sounds. It's from an album called 'Getting Warmer' which is out already.

Before The Fall EP.  Kier Byrnes & The Kettle Burners

On Before The Fall Kier Byrnes & The Kettle Burners defy genre and time with an all-time mix of folk, Irish folk, punk and what not. Of course, rightly so you will think of The Pogues, Gogol Bordello, and even Dropkick Murphys. It's all in the opening song 'White Russians', right up to the mock Iwan Rebrow background singing. The instruments and approach are more traditional than the last two mentioned bands. That makes Kier Byrnes & The Kettle Burners a more traditional band. This shows in the songs that follow, as the punk tempo goes out of the songs. 'When The Money's All gone' even  moves into country territory. The accordeon gives the song even a French Mediterranean flavour. The lead guitar adds a Chris Isaak kind of rock and roll. 'Train's Off The Rails' moves into The Paladins style rock and roll. In the following two songs you will be surprised once again by the music on offer. Kier Byrnes & The Kettle Burners may have a hard time choosing what kind of band it wants to be, in each song the band convinces. Before The Fall is an EP that deserves attention. Party time, is another good description.

Call Out Your Name ft. Pete Townsend. Inge Lamboo

A Dutch singer working with The Who legend Pete Townsend? The answer is yes, as you can see. The result is an indie rock track with some real fiery guitar work by Townsend. What is more important, is that the track caught my attention from the very start. Call Out Your Name hovers somewhere between indie rock and a Fleetwood Mac kind of pop. Lamboo has a voice that can compete with every female singer coming out of the U.S. in indie rock/pop. Whether Alanis or Katy Perry, she's right up there. The music itself is fairly basic. She let's her voice do the talking. And then there's that lead guitar that throws "some mud against the wall in that old sixties style" as Townsend called his contribution. At 79 he has followed Inge Lamboo online and was especially caught by her mash up of Arctic Monkeys with Fleetwood Mac. The result is a nice single and a trip to London for Lamboo to see The Who and present the single to Townsend. Her second album, 'This Is How The Future Sounds' will be released on 30 May. 

The Experiment EP. Replaced By Robots

Replaced By Robots only rang a bell because of books on the fourth industrial revolution, not because of a band. That changed with the release of this five song mini album which the band released recently. The trio consists of Goolkasian, Heather Joy Morgan and Adam Wade. Morgan has a background in painting, the others have played in various bands over the past two decades. For The Experiment they worked with producer Paul Q. Kolderie. It resulted in a mini album that combines upbeat alternative rock, with some glam rock and synth things. Replaced By Robots manages to combine several decades of music in a successful way. Heather Joy Morgan even does a Nico, one who is not on the verge of moving to the other side. What gets to me, is the upbeat music that The Experiment offers. It allows for both serious listening and dancing all in one. Replaced By Robots delivers it all in one go.

SS-100-X. The Speed Of Sound

What the story is, I still have to get into. Fact is, The Speed of Sound has released three albums under the name 'A Cornucopia', with partly the same track names. One of the singles from an album titled additionally 'Minerva' is SS-100-X, I suppose a soviet Union type missile that was aimed at us in the 1970 or 80s. This song is 'I'm Waiting For My Man' by the Velvet Underground during day time. Without any trouble I'm able to sing "standing on a corner ..." over the intro. The vocal melody is it's own, making it a different song. The song has a chorus as well. SS 100 eggs, I hear, influenced by Easter? The lyrics are not on scoring heroine but on the Kennedy assassination and conspiracy theories around it. SS-100-X was the code name of the car the Kennedys were in on that fateful day in 1963. The combination of the lyrics and the music make it an interesting song to listen to. In fact it's good.

He Seems To Think That He's A King. Garret Vandermolen

Do protest songs still exist? Many people argue that they do not any more. Garret Vandermolen has decided that this has to end this situation and wrote a song against the would be (soon actually?) dictator in The White House, his oligarch friends and sycophants bowing to his every whim. The title to the song tells it all. It is not the kind of king my country has or the U.K., no a king that reigns at will, like Louis XIV, who went to war in the summer, held court in the winter and kept his potential enemies as close as possible. Raised taxes for his own whims, including hobby wars, lavish luxury, etc. It's that kind of king Vandermoolen is singing about. The song is the right mix between mocking, an upbeat beat and melancholy singing. Say Tom Petty style. The sad thing is, that everything I and many others fear, may well be reality very soon. He Seems To Think That He's A King is the kind of song that may get Garret Vandermolen into serious trouble any day soon. Hopefully, the day will come that these "mighty will fall". It will take more than this song though. Let's call it a good start and make it the anthem of resistance.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

2024, Week 40. 10 singles

Weeks fly by and ever faster it seems. Never a dull day, or not that I notice. What I do notice, is a world that is more in flames by the day it seems, while we live our lives. For the first time I can imagine that people somewhere between my grandparents and parents age where sitting outside on a surprisingly warm May evening and out of the blue heard air planes flying over and hearing explosions in the distance. NL was at war in the early morning of 10 May 1940 and I can only imagine who truly saw that coming. Where are we today with wars raging extremely close by? There's also a sense that there is nothing individuals can do to stop it. So, what else can a poor boy do but to play in a rock and roll band? Or listen to songs produced by artists and formulate an opinion on them? Within 24 hours I happened to have done both. So, enjoy the selection.

The Girl That I Call Home. Tears For Fears

When was it, 1983?, that Frits Spits played 'Change' in his 'Avondspits' show as his record of the week? Not much later followed by an even better song, 'Pale Shelter'. From there we went to ever greater achievements by Tears for Fears in the 1980s. And from there, things went quiet as far as I was concerned. Come 2024 and there is an announcement of a new Tears for Fears single, announcing a double live album. The single holds a lot of familiar elements from those glorious 80s days. Fans of old and those who latched on through their parents or other forms in which older music is heard will recognise these elements easily. The Girl That I Call Home, Roland Orzabal's love song for his wife of many years, is a song that may not be able to compete with the best songs of the duo. What it does, is make me feel good and love the music the band makes here. This single simply is good. It has that great flow and dreamy atmosphere. so typical for the band's best songs. The lyrics describe a situation where things are totally okay, where a look is enough. Daily life and routines of decades, may never have been set to music better. "You are the girl that I call home".

Verteere Heel. De Mannen Broeders

De Mannen Broeders, Colin van Eeckhout en Tonnie Dieleman, hebben een tweede single gepresenteerd aan de wereld. Op de dag van schrijven duurt het nog tien dagen voordat de plaat uitkomt op 11 oktober. Opgenomen in een paar dagen in een kerk in Middelburg. De video is dit maal opgenomen in een kerk in Gent. Verteere Heel is een lang, bijna zeven en een halve minuut, en intens nummer. Van Eeckhout zingt, indringend en bijna gepijnigd, met een minimale begeleiding. Een bas drum of floor tom en de banjo van Dieleman. Wel komt op een gegeven moment het kerkorgel erbij. Dit maakt het nummer direct anders en toch niet omdat het zo intens blijft. Verwacht geen spannende wendingen, maar hypnotische bezweringen, omdat veel hetzelfde blijft. Niet monotoon, maar wel veel herhaling. Dat is juist de kracht van Verteere Heel.

Audacious. Franz Ferdinand

It took about 20 years, but for the first time in all these years, I'm listening to a Franz Ferdinand song that does not excite me at first listen. I have doubted whether I should write about the song and even pushed Audacious back in the line after the first listen session, something I never do. Your in or out in the singles section of WoNoBlog. One week later I find that Audacious is not a bad song. I hear what the bands tries for. Franz Ferdinand is easing away from its erratic past and goes for a pop song and succeeds, I'd say. Audacious is a pop song with a surprising twist into the chorus. The guitars are far less prominent and that gives the song a totally different feel. I am even inclined to conclude that the band has listened to The Beatles for the first time. Most likely it allows to be heard that they are familiar with the Fab Four.. This song has Beatles written all over it and in that way the single works as well. It is just not exciting. There seems to be a new Franz Ferdinand that does not want to take us out but sit in our chairs and listen to how clever the new song is - and it is, so let's get on with it

Nytår. Aursjoen

Nytår is New Year in Danish. Aursjoen is Ria Aursjoen, a singer of Danish descent living in San Francisco. She plays in the band Octavian Winters. Nytår is her debut solo single. So now, you know the facts around the release. What you do not know yet, is the almost new age atmosphere of her single. What comes closest in my mind is Enya's number 1 single (in NL) from 1988, 'Orinoco Flow' and the songs from the accompanying album. Obviously, that music was called Celtic. The music in Nytår is just as mysterious. As if it is coming to me through the mist hanging over the landscape and time. Together with producer David Kruschke she created music that you can lie down on to be carried away ever so slowly into a dreamworld of angels and who knows what else. Everything is slow and relaxed but also somewhere between Scandinavian coolness and the warmth near the hearth in a Viking hall. Aursjoen presents music that could never have been made in the Middle Ages but sounds like as if it were played in dark, candle lit churches of old. Mysterious and almost otherworldly.

Il Manzo EP. BEEF

An American, Cincinnati, band on an Italian label? Why not? It is 2024 and globalisation is only just over its highest point ever. In the four songs on Il Manzo (the beef in Italian) can be called garage rock with an alternative rock twist, played with a punk attitude. There you have it all. Because of the staccato way of playing I'll let you opt for postpunk as well if you prefer. What stands out a lot, is the organ in BEEF's music. That little old fashioned style organ, probably a Farfisa organ, gives the whole a sixties vibe. BEEF keeps up the tempo for the whole time. In all four songs the band goes for it, making sure that lovers of the (sub)genres have a good time. BEEF lets attitude go before cleanliness. The music is a big wall of sound, in which the individual instruments stand out but almost as if it is not a conscious choice. More like a live experience where a wall of sound is blasted from the speakers. BEEF obviously aimed to capture its stage sound and energy. It's not hard to be convinced. No rest for the wicked here.

Never Looked So Good To Me Before. Kate McLeod's Mind The Gap

Time to wind down completely with Kate MacLeod and the three men who accompany her on this single under the name Mind The Gap, Paul Hammerton, John Bryant, and Matthew Metz. MacLeod can be found on this blog since 2022. Solo, including interpretations of Jean Ritchie songs. Here she is in the total relax mode. She starts with an intro on her acoustic country guitar before the accompanying musicians join in. With her high voice she moves the song somewhere between U.K. folk from around 1970 and country music of old. I would venture she delivers a perfect match between the two on Never Looked So Good To Me Before. The accompaniment on piano, bass, banjo and harmony vocals is modest, yet totally right as it makes Kate MacLeod's voice shine. She is the star of this single and rightly so.

Electric Cars. The Shitdels

It still exists, a band that sounds like it recorded its song with one microphone and just a tape or cassette recorder. The Shitdels go for energy and effect and not a clean multi-tracked recording. Electric Cars sounds even more mono than the garage bands from the 1960s that recorded one single before folding, only to make it to the 'Nuggets' or 'Psychedelic States' series decades later. The Shitdels is a band from Memphis (I think, as there are so many towns mentioned in the bio). Jordan Wayne started it all as a bedroom project, included his wife and later joined by Mike Bibbs and Carlos Ortiz. You can expect exactly what is described in the introduction. The Shitdells present garage rock with a punk attitude. Drums, bass and gitar pound away. On top is a nice farfisa organ with its high, thin notes providing some solo notes here and  there. The vocals are treated in such a way that the whole gets a psychedelic undercurrent but above all this is rock and roll for modern times. Even if its basis lies deep into the 1960s. A real fun track Electric Cars is.

Busy. Rachèl Louise

From garage rock punk to a pure pop track is but a small step in the WoNoBlog singles post. Dutch-American singer-songwriter Rachèl Louise has released the first single of her upcoming second EP (Feb 25). Busy is a very nice uptempo song that hovers successfully between upbeat and the slightly sad atmosphere of the topic of the lyrics. "Whatever happened to living in the moment"?, she mourns, wishing not to be busy and to do things she would like to do but doesn't. The music reflects this feeling perfectly. The tempo just goes on and on, without a single moment of introspection. The tempo in combination with the fleeting sounds over the rhythm is exactly what makes Busy work so well. Rachèl Louise sings over it all with a part longing, part resigned voice but also gives it a little edge in the chorus. In that little edge lies the answer in how to break free into that living in the moment. That place where she would like to be every once in a while. In her music she succeeded. Yes, I like this pop gem of a song.

Hold You. Isbells

Isbells is the band of Flemish singer-songwriter Gaëtan Vandewoude. One of its members is chanteuse Chantal Acda, who can be found on this blog in numerous guises. Vandewoude asked Acda to produce the new Isbells album, giving up control for the first time. Now, I am not an Isbells connaisseur but have heard many of Chantal Acda's albums of the past years. This first single definitely is a Chantal Acda kind of song. The slow tempo and the instruments used around the minimal band setting of an acoustic bass and a few sparse piano notes. From there a trumpet and strings come in regularly. Vandewoude sings with Acda on backing vocals for most of the song. The result is a song so vulnerable, that even just listening puts me in fear of breaking it. "Let me hold you" the two sing together, but to do so would shatter everything into smithereens. The effect Hold You has on me though, is one of being impressed. Hold You is truly beautiful.

Private Pyle. Nothingheads

Ah, all recommendations for Nothingheads' upcoming album 'The Art Of The Sod' (8 November) come with a Public Image Limited (PIL) reference. Unfortunately, I never was a PIL fan, so I can't tell. What I do hear is that Johnny Lydon (as Rotten is known since starting PIL) sneer in the voice of singer-guitarist Rob Fairey. On Private Pyle, he sneers as if in disdain of the whole world. The band supports Fairey by playing in a very direct way. There's a wall of sound and a stark riff stutting the whole fabric of the song. At heart a two note riff, that gets a little expansion towards the end of the vocal line. Matt Holt (Bass / synths), Ed Simpson (Guitar) and Chanter Whitehurst (drums) deserve all the credits here. When the vocals stop for a while, the band slips into another mood, a little more relaxed, allowing for a bit of a breather. Then that riff returns and we are back to square one right until that very abrupt ending. Postpunk? No, I opt for the real thing here.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

Singles, week 15

Week 15, we are looking Easter in the face already. The year is moving on rapidly. Time flies when you're having fun and listening to a bunch of recently released singles can certainly be fun. Some of the preselected ones you will not find in this list, as they were not made for me. Most of the ones below were, so let me share my thoughts with you.

We Shall Overcome. Dropkick Murphies

Talking about a nearly forgotten band. In the 00s I've watched several shows with my, then young son, on the balcony of Paradiso overlooking the wild crowd, spotting a few men who were only out there to hurt others. Looking from above the pattern was easy to discern. The music was one big Celtic punkrock party. Last year the band released a new record, that totally passed me by. Recently I noticed a single release, I've decided to put on the long list. We Shall Overcome is the traditional, spiritual song I thought of immediately. It used to be called negro spiritual when I was young. Can I still call it that today? I don't know. Dropkick Murphies in the video make a clear statement against all violence. Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King news clips are interspersed with Dropkick Murphies members playing and singing. The band proves it can celtipunkfy every song successfully. It is all there and still extremely nice to hear. In 2022 the band's treatment of traditionals is still great fun to listen to, despite having forgotten to do so for over a decade now.

Hey Hey Rise Up (feat. Andriy Khlyvnyuk of Boombox). Pink Floyd

8 April, circa 07.20 hours. My girlfriend turns on her radio and with a half ear I hear a huge guitar solo and then someone singing in a Slavic language. The guitar told me, Gary Moore from his 'Still Got The Blues' days. So what was it? Pink Floyd?! With a new track?! Led by a Ukrainian singer, the two remaining Pink Floyd members play a new song to support the refugee crisis, all thanks to Putin's War. So not Gary Moore but David Gilmour. A little less smooth in sound than he has sounded for years on end. Yes, I like the track. It's a bit weird of course, due to the language and voice. We have learned two Ukrainian words by now: "Slava Ukraina". They come by abundantly in Hey Hey Rise Up. Starting with the typical slow drumming of Nick Mason, the song sounds good immediately. Without hitting hard, he always gets this huge sound. The melody is better than anything I've heard by Pink Floyd since 'The Wall'. The guitar solo is, of course, impeccable. Gilmour can play, at 30 or 75, it doesn't seem to matter a lot. The question is, has the duo trumped up the song just for this occasion or is more underway? Iinteresting question. If it is as good as this, I can take another Pink Floyd album, with or without Roger Waters. Too bad that they can't even see eye to eye for making music together for a crisis like this.

Move On. Death Star Discotheque

Another dark, rocking track by Death Star Discotheque on the blog. The 80s are all over the song. It is easy to imagine Move On played by a synth pop band from the 80s, guitars changed for synths. Drums for a dry, lifeless drum computer. Death Star Discotheque lived through the grunge days as well and incorporated the two influences into one dark rocking track. The sound is dark and muddy, without losing grip on the whole. The opening riff is convincing, the band together setting the pace of Move On. The drumming is tight and in a hurry. The band certainly had to catch the last bus here. Within that tempo there's more than enough room for dynamics, making the song come alive. It all results into a calmer sounding middle section before the song is raced "till the end now", as Death Star Discotheque sings repeatedly. Another nice rock song as a notch on the guitar.

Beyond Your Eyes. Ghost Woman

For some reason Beyond Your Eyes playing started in the middle of the song. For a second I thought to have been listening to the debut album of Jefferson Airplane, 'Takes Off'. The guitar playing is straight out of the Kaukonen-Kantner book or The Byrds if you're more L.A. oriented. Ghost Woman is not making music for 2022 has to be the conclusion. Listening to Beyond Your Eyes gives me the impression that Evan John Uschenko, who is Ghost Woman, was born several decades too late. At the same time he fits in nicely with the likes of Amber Arcades e.g. and all those other artists and bands who have found their inspiration in 1960s psychedelia. Ghost Woman manages to sound extremely authentic, but is Beyond Your Eyes good? On the face of it, Beyond Your Eyes is a nice song. It appeals immediately to my 60s psychedelia liking. However, it is not better than what I already know and have in the home. Given the choice I would always go for 'Takes Off'. That album is a must have. It could be that upcoming album 'Ghost Woman' falls under that category too, I can't tell yet. The single is nice to have, not more but certainly no less so.

Xenarthran. Shearwater

'Jet Plane And Oxbow' lies six years behind us. Despite having the LP, I can't remember when I played it last. Years ago, I'm afraid. After all this silence, a new album is announced for June, 'The Great Awakening'. Xenarthran is the first single. What a slow and atmospheric delight it is. Jonathan Maiburg certainly has not lost his touch. Fans of a band like Midlake will certainly be able to find their way with Xenarthran (isolated mammals, that are hard to connect to other species, like ones living in Latin America and, I suppose, Australia). The single is a song, because there is a main melody. This may seem like an odd comment. The reason I'm mentioning it, that it would not take that much to make this what I call a non song. Swaths of music and sounds that come by, creating moods and atmospherics. Xenarthran has elements like it. Sounds that come and go like the wind. The rhythm section keeps it all together. It results in a wide-ranging song setting a melancholy mood, with a lot of inner beauty coming through. A nice return to form Shearwater shows with its new single.

I Will Let You Know (feat. Greg Hawkes). Abbie Barrett

Yes, let's rock out some. Although I Will Let You Know is a bit like a time machine, the single is oh so nice. With former The Cars member Greg Hawkes on keyboards, the song holds some very nice authentic sounding organs. The choice to have Hawkes on board is not such a strange one, as The Cars as I got to now them in the late 70s are not far away on Barrett's debut single on the Rum Bar label. I Will Let You Know holds that post punk new wave vibe combined with the 1960s influences the bands from the late 70s brought with them. Like that Farfisa organ Hawkes plays. As thin as a reed in sound, yet so prominent among the tight, punky guitars it fights with for center place in the song and winning. The vocal melody of the song is sheer fun. The duh-duh-di-duh-duh vocals only adding to the fun. It was my turn to let you know about this single. If the quality of it is anything to go by, the EP coming in May is something to look out for.

Talk. Beabadoobee

With Talk Beabadoobee releases a second single of her upcoming album 'Beatopia'. The song combines quite a few different elements. First there is the innocent girl way of singing Beabadoobee presents here. This gives Talk a certain mood. The innocence is belied by the punky choruses. Not to speak of the solo guitar that really talks dirty to us. There's no innocence involved there. This guitar has seen it all. The same goes for the bass guitar. It plays all these wisecrack little runs all through the song. In the verses it is much more than a rhythm element of Talk. The bass is leading where the rest follows it. Until the lead guitar goes full out that is and even then listen to what that bass player does. The combination of these elements make that Talk stands out, as singles should. If Talk shows anything, it is that innocent girls can go a long way musically too. Of course, I'm sure you have heard it all before in the past 30 years, but can you deny Talk is an extremely nice addition to what is already out there?

Your Love. Ry X

Your Love is the total opposite of Talk. Ry X presents total introspection. Two Canadian artists came to mind immediately City and Color and Patrick Watson. The three can each present a song that is, from the moment that you put it on, there's nothing else in this world left to do but listen. To the highish voice, to the slow music, to the music that comes in pauses only. Your Love has a beat, but so slow, it's almost impossible to count to it. Trying to count makes me lose everything else the song contains. Which would be a great shame. Ry X is called Ry Cuming in daily life and is from Australia. He releases records since 2010. Your Love is my first one, although I faintly remember a single from a while back, that did not make it to these pages. Your Love is and the reason to me is clear. Ry X falls into that line of singers that, for me, started with 'Grace', Jeff Buckley's famous album. Every once in a while a singer is added to this line of singers, despite Buckley's shoes being impossible to fill. No one has made an album like 'Grace' since. I doubt Jeff Buckley would have, to be honest. Your Love exhumes a beautiful, melancholic mood. Ry X captured it in an almost modern classical way. There's too much going on musically to call the song bare. The fact that I'm inclined to call it that, tells you how full of good taste Ry X worked here. Beautifully done.

Great Art. Maxïmo Park

Maxïmo Park returns to WoNoBlog with a new single called Great Art. No, whatever the band does, it will never get over the first song I got to know by the band. 'Apply Some Pressure', remains the best postpunk song, perhaps ever. With that out of the way, let's focus on Great Art, as it is not in this weekly line up for nothing. The, now, trio presents a nice punky-Britpop single. The dynamics are at work in the way this band is so good at. Holding back and present the audience with the release, allowing them to erupt. The guitar is seriously present, with some strong chord pounding. Melodically the song is strong as well. Paul Smith swings while singing and when he is able to do that, a better Maxïmo Park song is always the result. Great Art holds it all and shows to me that Maxïmo Park is indeed in a better form than in most of the 2010s. Great Art has power, underscoring the "banging on my door" Smith sings about, and melody. Together they are unbeatable.

Tragic Endings. Tamar Berk

'Start At The End' is the title of Tamar Berk's upcoming new album. The reason why 'Tragic Endings' may be the title of the album's first single. Personally I disagree. It's best if I do not know the ending and rather be unprepared. The single however is most welcome. Tamar Berk presents a single that sounds like a long lost track from the 1990s. It rocks in exactly that nice kind of way. 2022?, well, only as release date. Musically it could not be further removed. The chord progression, the sound, the vocal melodies all come from 25 to 30 years ago. The nice thing to Tragic Endings is that it is up with the best of the songs from the era. The release in 2022 could not be more deserved. The more I listen to the song, the more details come forward. A piano, an organ, another harmony. Tragic Endings is an incredibly rich song, that ought to be played on many a radio station. It is that good and pleasant to listen to. Among the alternative rock a great pop melody is hidden making Tragic Ending an extremely good song. The tragic ending of Tragic Endings should spell hit, huge, in my book.

Wout de Natris

 

Dancing Or Dying? The Celtic Social Club

The Celtic Social Club returns to this blog, with a new album that is worth paying attention to. Dancing Or Dying? opens with a sprightly up-tempo song that brings me back four decades to the moment I heard 'Liars A To E' by Dexys Midnight Runners for the first time. Am I hearing violins?, I thought. Where are the horns? All but one had been kicked out by Kevin Rowland and enter a set of violin and banjo players. And world domination for a very short period of time. In 'For Real' the whole 'Too-Rye-Ay' vibe is recreated, with very much its own twitst.

Not for long though as 'The Edge Of The World' is 1980s as well, but more of the alternative rock bands of the age. At the same time, The Celtic Social Club manages to give both songs a pop vibe that makes them far less one dimensional and thus interesting, as a lot is going on at the same time. Hear the violin come in in 'The Edge Of The World' for the solo. It totally changes the song and challenges the listener to pay more attention. To move from the huge Big Country or Simple Minds guitar and bass parts to the folk side of music. No, I have not forgotten about the bass, as it's huge and very decisively present for the atmosphere of the song.

The inception of The Celtic Social Club was a festival where some musicians played together. That was seven years ago. In the meantime a seven piece band grew from the collaboration, with musicians from France and Ireland, with singer Dan Donnelly, who you can also find as a solo artist on the blog, as front man. Around him more than enough is played to make sure he is only the singer of a real band.

Listening to Dancing Or Dying? I find that the band incorporates a lot of influences into its songs. Pop, rock, folk, you'll find all woven into each song, with then the one and then the other more dominating, but never for 100 percent. A true pop gem like 'Time's Up' gets a folk injection through the violin solo and a harmonica one as well.

Press photo

What stands out also, is the good taste in which the songs are arranged. More purist inclined folkies may undoubtedly complain that the music was dusted off too much but I disagree. The doom bass in the second song changes the mood, as does the gospel-like choir in 'This Spell'. The Celtic Social Club plays with the mood of its listeners by changing the approach to a song continuously. The result is an, on average, softer but certainly varied album. The Celtic/Irish vibe most songs know brings a pub on The Irish west coast on music night to mind, with a pint of Guinness in front of me. The big rock brings stadium or arena shows to mind by far better known huge bands. There certainly are worse associations with a song possible. The Celtic Social Club holds it all within it.

Admittedly, Dancing Or Dying? does not keep my attention for the whole album. I tend to cut it in half each listening session and then I'm fine with literally all the songs. Dancing Or Dying? is the kind of album that hovers between elation and melancholy, changing its mood depending on your own, depending of the elements I pick out on a specific day. How many albums exist, that are able to follow your mood? Not that much is my experience. Dancing Or Dying? is one of them.

Wout de Natris

Dive. Ilsha

For the second time this year Tiny Room Records releases a folkish singer-songwriter album by a Dutch singer. One living in London, Geri van Essen and this week Rotterdam based Ilsha. Dive is an album with an extremely pleasant, dreamy quality. Celtic references are just as easy to conjure up as a tell-tale world filled with faries and elves.

Ilse Hamelink, as Ilsha's name is in the rest of her life, touches upon her own emotions while writing her songs and plays with the emotions of her listeners, as she manages to get her emotions across and thus influence the mood of myself as listener.

Dive seen form a purely musical point of view is a small album, in sense of the sound, the way the instruments are played and production. Seen from the effect the singer and her accomponiment manage to reach for and attain, the impact is much larger. In the second song, 'Mountains' the words "in the mountains" is repeated over and over and over in the second half of the song. Repetition has only two potential outcomes, either one gets bored and learns nothing or one gets under the influence, under a spell, to come out the wiser. The outcome, for me, in this case, certainly is the second option. While the sentence is repeated, almost like minimal music, the music oh so slowly shifts, creating a different palet of sound on offer. The song from the outset has an almost otherworldly quality, as if I'm allowed a peak view into another world where tranquility is the standard and not the daily life of endless impulses that is 2021. Ilsha is totally herself here, although at the beginning of 'Mountain' Elenne May's best songs come to mind quite easily, She reached for the stars and sailed there with ease it seems.

The music on offer on Dive is of a quality that it is almost begging me to write that I'm thinking of Enya, to name a well-known example from the past, but this would sell Ilsha short by a mile or two. For the simple reason that I an truly mesmerised by the music on Dive and bored after three songs on an average Enya, or Clannad, album. (Full disclosure, I have only one album with 'Orinoco Flow on it.). Dive fully escapes this world, like a hot air balloon, with only one certainty, at some point we, Ilsha, musicians, I, will all have to come down. Just what happens in the final song. Dive allows the listener to escape for twenty minutes or so and leave it all behind. No worry in the world is left when listening to Dive. The fact that the mini album keeps me spell-bound for the whole length tells it all.

With Dive Ilsha offers, relaxation, escape, contemplation, warm love and a soft coming down, as the final song, 'Black Hands', is the most wordly sounding song on Dive, without losing any of that quality the whole album has. Could one ask for more?

Wout de Natris