Ritmo Lento. Leatherette

Over the past years, I've made this comment before. Italian bands have somehow made it into my span of attention. When this blog started, nearly 14 years ago, there wasn't a single one. Today, there are several, for the simple reason that people present them to me. Leatherette is a new name. You will find a single from this album recently, but that is it.

So let's start and introduce the band. The members are called Michele Battaglioli (vocals, guitar), Francesco Bonora (drums), Jacopo Finelli (saxophone), Andrea Gerardi (guitar) and, Marco Jespersen (bass), The band is based in Bologna. Ritmo Lento ('Slow Rhythm') is the band's third album. They started out as a punk band but as you will hear on this album, the band diversified into, let's call it post punk, but there's alternative rock as well and bits and pieces aimed at going against the grain of mainstream listeners.

The album opens with 'Magic Things'. The rhythm grips me immediately. The dirty sound of the rhythm guitar makes the song truly dirty, while sounding great at the same time. The lead guitar seems to be doing what it feels like and then a saxophone joins with a scream that could also have been delivered by a female punk singer. The mood of Ritmo Lento has been set and Leatherette is like a fish in water.

'Lovers Drifters Foreigners' starts as if it is a dark 1967 psychedelic song. Then it explodes into a punk song's chorus. Next is a far slower interlude where the sax comes in. The second verse is alternative rock that makes Personal Trainer seem like neat schoolboys. The song goes from mood to mood. Leatherette is doing things very right. It may seem like a hotchpot of styles, it comes together as a great whole. If a name comes to mind, it is The Libertines. With one main difference, that band often irritated the hell out of me after a few songs. Not Leatherette.

Promo photo

The way the sax is played by Finelli, reminds of the saxophone on David Bowie's 'Blackstar'. The songs it features in don't for one second. It just has the same tone, which is different from the way saxophones sound in e.g. classic soul tracks.

On Ritmo Lento Leatherette works somewhere between the genres I've just described. So, there is no need to pull out more individual examples for you. What makes the album so attractive is just that. Add to that the element of surprise that the band manages to throw into every single song and you have an album that is up there way above the average album. I am not familiar with Leatherette's previous work but if the change in its music brought Leatherette to this level of musicianship, the change was well worth pursuing.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to and order Ritmo Lento here: 

https://leatherette111.bandcamp.com/album/ritmo-lento 

The Uncanny Extravaganza. New Candys

New Candys is a band from Venice, Italy. Until fairly recently, I was not familiar with rock bands from Italy. Lately there has been an upsurge of bands of which New Candys is one example. The band plays alternative rock music with a strong psychedelic component. The focus lies on the rock side mostly, as presented in a great way in one of the previous singles 'Regicide', that also opens The Uncanny Extravaganza.

New Candys do not try to hide their influences a lot. Bands like The Black Angels shine through with ease, while the way the singing is recorded makes me think of Pink Floyd before the band found its voice, i.e. 'Dark Side Of The Moon', but also Alex Maas of The Black Angels. There's no hesitation whatsoever though in the singer's voice. He knows exactly what effect he wants to achieve and is not in search of his voice or hesitant in letting us hear it.

On The Uncanny Extravaganza core members Fernando Nuti (vocals, guitar, synth, programming) and Dario Lucchesi (bass, synth, programming) are joined by Emanuele Zanardo (guitar, backing vocals) and Francesco Giacomin (drums, percussion, sampler), the new line up since the release of 'Vyvyd' and the following tour in 2021. As the latest album is my introduction to the band, I cannot compare the previous iteration of the band to today's. Where the singing is concerned, much will have stayed the same.

What I like foremost on The Uncanny Extravaganza is the mix of (psychedelic) rock with an amount of pop that makes for very pleasant listening. The band knows very well when to add a nice extra melody, augmenting songs no little. It offers choruses that stick in my head like glue, making my head give a little jolt each time I hear one come by.

Photo: Riccardo Melato

At the same time, the music is psychedelic enough to make a difference. It sets the songs on The Uncanny Extravaganza apart from regular rock bands, while the songs never become like floating in space: There's a vast space but nowhere to go to. This album takes its listeners from point a to b in each song, allowing you to some free floating before delivering you back where you belong.

Like all good psychedelic rock bands New Candys has influences going all the way back to the time the music originated, from 1966 to 1969. You will find them here and there on the album. All through the decades since new bands have sprung up emulating and growing the genre. For over a decade now, bands have built careers in this niche in rock music. New Candys have done so successfully also and will tour Europe extensively in May and June, to next go Down Under in July. Based on what I hear on The Uncanny Extravaganza, it will become a success.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to and order The Uncanny Extravaganza here:

https://newcandys.bandcamp.com/album/the-uncanny-extravaganza-2

Tender Superpower. Marta Arpini

De Italiaanse zangeres Marta Arpini is tot dusver vooral bekend als jazzzangeres, maar op Tender Superpower laat ze horen dat ze ook wanneer ze folky popsongs maakt tot ongekende hoogten kan stijgen.

Ik word niet heel vaak verrast door een nieuw album zoals ik werd verrast door Tender Superpower van Marta Arpini. De Italiaanse zangeres, die in Amsterdam woont, beschikt over een stem die je eindeloos wilt koesteren en die behoort tot de mooiste stemmen die ik in tijden heb gehoord. Ook in muzikaal opzicht is het derde album van de Italiaanse zangeres van een bijzondere schoonheid. De folky popsongs van Marta Arpini klinken anders dan gebruikelijk in het genre, maar alles aan de songs op Tender Superpower is even mooi. Ik had nog nooit van Marta Arpini gehoord, maar ben echt diep onder indruk van haar in alle opzichten wonderschone nieuwe album.

Marta Arpini is een in Italië geboren zangeres, die na een muziekopleiding in Milaan uiteindelijk op het Amsterdamse conservatorium terecht kwam. Ze woont inmiddels een aantal jaren in Amsterdam en slaagde er na haar opleiding in om een voet aan de grond te krijgen in de Nederlandse jazzscene.

Zowel met haar debuutalbum Forest Light uit 2019 als opvolger I Am A Gem uit 2022 sleept de Italiaanse zangeres een prestigieuze Edison nominatie in de categorie jazz in de wacht. Die Edison haalde ze uiteindelijk niet binnen, maar haar naam was, zeker in jazzkringen, gevestigd.

Het jazzalbum Forest Light is wat verstopt op de streaming media platforms, maar is vooral een vocaal jazzalbum. I Am A Gem is een anders klinkend en bijzonder album, waarop Marta Arpini invloeden uit de jazz vermengt met invloeden uit de folk en de pop. Die laatste twee invloeden nemen een nog prominentere plek in op het deze week verschenen Tender Superpower.

Het is een album waarop de invloeden uit de jazz voor een belangrijk deel zijn verdwenen en Marta Arpini vooral kiest voor folky popsongs. Ik ben geen groot jazzliefhebber en had daarom zelf nog nooit van de Italiaanse zangeres gehoord, maar Tender Superpower had maar een kleine minuut nodig om een onuitwisbare indruk te maken.

Openingstrack Soft Calamity maakt die onuitwisbare indruk in meerdere opzichten. Wat direct opvalt is dat Marta Arpini beschikt over een bijzonder mooie stem. Het is een zijdezachte en zuivere stem, die mij onmiddellijk wist te betoveren en die alleen maar mooier lijkt te worden. Het is zo’n stem die de ruimte vult met warme klanken waarin je je eindeloos wilt onderdompelen.

De stem van de Italiaanse zangeres is op het hele album echt betoverend mooi, waardoor Tender Superpower qua zang de competitie met alle albums die de laatste tijd zijn verschenen makkelijk aan kan. Het album kan dat ook nog eens in muzikaal opzicht, want ook de muziek is prachtig.

Invloeden uit de jazz spelen op het nieuwe album van Marta Arpini een veel minder grote rol dan op de vorige albums, maar ze zijn zeker niet helemaal verdwenen. Zeker de blazers en de drums op het album klinken behoorlijk jazzy, maar worden gecombineerd met sprookjesachtige elektronica, die het warme karakter van de muziek van de Italiaanse zangeres nog wat verder versterkt.

Tender Superpower is in muzikaal opzicht een mooi en verzorgd album, maar de muziek op het album is ook absoluut spannend, zeker wanneer wat zweverige passages worden afgewisseld met muzikale hoogstandjes en klassiek aandoende passages. Maar ook als Marta Arpini kiest voor een ingetogen en sober ingekleurde folksong klinkt alles even mooi.

De songs op Tender Superpower hebben vooral een tijdloos karakter, maar het zijn ook songs waarin alles klopt en waarin heel veel te ontdekken valt. Er is eigenlijk maar één ding jammer aan het derde album van Marta Arpini en dat is dat er maar acht songs op het album staan. Na bijna een half uur muziek zit Tender Superpower er op en wil je vooral heel veel meer.

Marta Arpini heeft liefhebbers van jazz de afgelopen jaren al overtuigd van haar kwaliteiten, maar met haar derde album moeten ook liefhebbers van folky popsongs als een blok gaan vallen voor de muzikale charmes van de Italiaanse zangeres uit Amsterdam. Tender Superpower is een album dat nog niet op heel veel plekken opduikt, maar het is in alle opzichten een album van een ongekende schoonheid. Poets die Edison maar alvast op voor Marta Arpini. Het zou niet meer dan verdiend zijn.

Erwin Zijleman

Devil's Got It. The Devils

"Brace yourselves, dear readers. We are going all the way with the new The Devils album, 'Let The World Burn Down"', I wrote 13 months ago on this blog. I might as well repeat it today, as The Devils do it again and I would say a little bit better than before to.

The Devils is an alternative rock/garage rock duo from Napels in Italy. Gianni Blacula plays the guitar and sings here and there. Erika Switchblade plays the drums and is the principle singer. She got that devil on my tail kind of voice. Without becoming hysterical, she is the kind of woman who dared to go to that famous crossroad somewhere in the deep south of the U.S. Her voice has a tough edge that allows her to yell and scream in a deep, convincing way.

The music is pure modern style rock and roll, influenced from anyone between Link Wray, T. Rex and Jack White. There are dozens of duos active in this context and in 2024 The Devils was another nice addition. With Devil's Got It the band moves to the front runners. The Black Keys, no matter how much I like the band, may wish to be as alive as The Devils today. This band has the groove, the dirty sound, the rock and the roll, in other words this is pure musical sex.

Photo: Nathalie Rei

Devil's Got It becomes even stronger because of the moments that The Devils tone down, like in the field holler inspired song cum acoustic blues ballad like 'You Got to Take Sick and Die Some of These Days' and in the final song, Everyone Loves A Winner', when all the steam and pressure has been released and the duo can show another side of itself. 

Napels is a town sitting next to a volcano and volcanic fields and could erupt any moment. Humans are fantastic in just living their lives and pushing clear and present danger from their minds, unless it's acute. The Devils show it, as some of its songs either simply erupt or rumble fiercely and threaten the listener with what not. Danger is always present in this music, yet the duo remains where it is. It's Devil's Got It's great attraction for me. This album is more than just alive, it's on fire.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to and order Devil's Got It here:

https://thedevilsduo.bandcamp.com/album/devils-got-it

Another Place To Stay. The Hornets

It's time to rock and roll and The Hornets deliver big time. Its album 'Heavier Than A Stone' can be found on these pages in 2021. The Modena, Italy band returns with a new album called Another Place To Stay and its very much worthwhile a listen.

The Hornets were formed in 2016 and consists of Stefano Francia, guitar and vocals, Alberto Francia, bass and vocals, Alex Tosi, guitar and Andrea Rovituso, drums and they are more than ready to release their new album. What I particularly like about the music is how straightforward it is. The Hornets do not beat around the bush or try to hide anything. Its music is rocking and the musicians have a lot of fun playing it. It is so obvious from all the songs that this is what they love to do.

Things start in Intro. The band presents the listener its calling card, only to grab you by the hand, arm and then waste. It does not let go until the very last second of Another Place To Stay. Not that everything is as wild as the intro and following song 'Lost Steps'. You will encounter a little The Rolling Stones style country rock that goes down just as well. The slide guitar comes by a few times on the album. The Hornets are not afraid to show its influences from both sides of the pond. It only adds to the charms of Another Place To Stay.

Promo photo

Even when just listening superficially you may hear Aerosmith, ZZ Top, The Who, The Stones and a whole lot more. In my opinion it has become impossible to be original in this line of business of rock and roll. In 2024 it  is all about how good you can play and write and how much energy you bring to the record.

The Hornets' members can not only play very well, they are able to write and arrange their songs in such a way that you will want to hear them again. They also bring a shot of energy to your living room that adds to the fun the band is. Rock guitars, a deep bass and a driving drummer, there are days I do not need a lot more and today is one of those days.

If you are ready for a shot of rock and roll 2024 style, do not look any further. Another Place To Stay is your album for today.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

Cosmic Room 99. Cosmic Room 99

Over the past months Cosmic Room 99 debuted on this blog with its singles 'E-Corp' and 'Plastic Venus'. Now it's time for the band's eponymous album. The bio coming with the album mentions psych rockers. It is quite easy to state: yes, true for 100%. On Cosmic Room 99 the band explores several forms of psychedelic rock.

Cosmic Room 99 is a band from Italy releasing its debut album. It consists of Antonio Angeli (vocals/drums) and Matteo Scarpa (vocals/bass), both members of Kill Your Boyfriend, and Diego Menegaldo (vocals/guitar), a former guitarist of New Candys. The band mostly recorded in its own studio in Treviso, a town a little north of Venice. The inspiration comes from a documentary on the discovery by a NATO employee of a plan to "eredicate a part of the world's population to maintain Earth's sustainability", called 'The Cosmic Room'. That sounds rather Dan Brown to me, so let's focus on the music.

The Italians have listened to a lot that has been going on in psych rock over the past decades. To my ears, things start with those typical The Velvet Underground rhythms. From there the band that comes to mind most to me is The Black Angels. Cosmic Room 99 brings the same mix of directness and mystery to its music. Listen to 'Red Lights'. The band combines that pounding on the skins, making the song rock hard, with an electric guitar that does everything from shredding to playing a stark rhythm and mysterious wafts of tones. The voice is somewhere between real and treated. It makes for a very direct and yet mysterious song.

It is perhaps a decade ago that I wondered whether the world needed one more psychedelic band. Since then dozens have reached me and the answer must be mostly yes. There certainly is room for Cosmic Room 99. Especially because the band is not afraid to rock. It brings a lot of energy to its music. In combination with the quality of the songs, the band wins out easily. The fact that it has three singers, makes for more variety as they sound very different.

A good example of how the mystery ends on the higher level, is the aptly called song 'Atmosphere'. The tempo goes down, the bass receives a fuzz oomph (or something like it) and there are whole swaths of sounds smeared out over the song. Together with the way of singing, it gives 'Atmosphere' a dreamy quality. Underneath is a huge rhythm section, above it a host of melodies are presented in an early Pink Floyd style, from before that band really broke big. Whether Cosmic Room 99 will ever get there is uncertain but certainly something it may want to strive for.

Cosmic Room 99 successfully manages to manoeuvre itself between these two sounds. It makes band and album a welcome addition to my psych rock collection.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

You can listen to and order Cosmic Room 99 here:

https://cosmicroom99.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-room-99

Bang! The Gluts

Milan based garage rockers The Gluts released its fifth studio album about six weeks ago. To my surprise I found two older albums in my digital collection, probably swamped in the host of records released each week. Not so Bang!. Thanks to the singles 'Fight' and 'Cade Giù' The Gluts made it to the blog's single section and from there to an album post.

The Gluts is Marco Campana (guitarist), Nicolò J. Campana (singer), Claudia Cesana (bassist) and Dario Bruno Bassi (drummer). Together they operate somewhere in between alternative, garage and psych rock. In other words, a forceful, driving bass, a pounding drummer that never stops herding the rest forward and a guitar that excels in all sort of effects, from fuzz to shredding and back. Over it all Campana sings with a voice that has been on the road more than enough so to say. Together they sound tough, a little rough, yet likeable.

Just listen to how the album starts. A loud and tough intro tells the listener everything (s)he is about to receive. The Gluts is going to rock you, without providing a dozen overdubs to expand its sound. What you hear is exactly what you will get. I do not want to know how loud the guitar sounds in the studio/rehearsal room, on record it is more than impressive enough. It growls in the solos, as if it is about to eat a whole herd all at once.

The title song, is more subtle, in the verses that is. 'Bang!' shows how alternative rock bands in Europe are entwined. This could be a song by Tramhaus from Rotterdam. It may sound a little different, the intent of both bands is clear. Mixing alternative notes, e.g. the riff in the verses, with a great melody in the chorus. While rocking the whole time, including an invitation to dance as well. They both do not just follow the obvious, which sets them apart.

Single 'Fight' shows how good The Gluts is. Superb dynamics, showing the strength of the rhythm section, the guitar that goes from zero to a hundred in one second. This song shows how good this band really is. The sound is simply huge and yet only drums, bass, guitar.

Bang! is not all about shredding with a load of effects on the guitar. Anyone listening, and does not mind a bit of noise here and there, will find that guitarist Marco Campana was able to find a lot of riffs and melodies that adorn The Gluts' songs. With a little The Edge here and there, subtle riffs and a wall of guitar sound, Campana really varies in his sound, but when he goes he goes. There's no subtlety left in the final stages of his playing. At some point he just goes. It is in the more subtle passages that the rhythm section comes forward at its strongest. Just listen to 'Vampire, A Walk At Midnight' as a great example.

Bang! continuous beyond this song for five more songs, including the second and strong single 'Cade Giù'. The quality level of songs is simply constant ('Marble Cats'!), so you know enough. Bang! is a fine album and with The Gluts my list of Italian bands is getting longer and longer.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

You can listen to and order Bang! here:

https://thegluts.bandcamp.com/album/bang

Flying On Instruments. Vanessa Peters

Vanessa Peters maakte de afgelopen twintig jaar een serie fantastische albums en ook het deze week verschenen Flying On Instruments staat weer vol met songs die je na een keer horen eindeloos wilt koesteren.

De naam Vanessa Peters zal niet bij iedereen een belletje doen rinkelen, maar de afwisselend vanuit de Verenigde Staten en Italië opererende singer-songwriter heeft inmiddels minstens een handvol geweldige albums op haar naam staan. Ook het deze week verschenen Flying On Instruments is er weer een. Het is een wat voller klinkend album waarop folksongs worden omgetoverd in perfecte popsongs. Het is deels de verdienste van de warme klanken op het album en de fraaie wijze waarop piano en gitaren elkaar versterken, maar ook de stem van Vanessa Peters slaat zich weer als een warme deken om je heen. Flying On Instruments is het volgende prachtalbum van deze helaas nog altijd wat onbekende muzikante.

De Amerikaanse singer-songwriter Vanessa Peters debuteerde eenentwintig jaar geleden met het fraaie Sparkler, dat makkelijk overtuigt met folky songs, hier en daar een ruw randje en een mooie en aangename stem. Het zou vervolgens nog twaalf jaar duren voordat ik de muziek van Vanessa Peters ontdekte, want mijn eerste kennismaking met haar muziek stamt uit 2015, toen het prachtige With The Sentimentals verscheen. Sindsdien heb ik een enorm zwak voor de muziek van Vanessa Peters, die afwisselend in het Italiaanse Lucca en in de Verenigde Staten in Dallas, Texas, verblijft.

Op With The Sentimentals verpakte Vanessa Peters haar rootsmuziek in bijzonder lekker in het gehoor liggende popsongs en dat is ze sindsdien blijven doen. Het heeft sinds 2015 een stapeltje albums opgeleverd dat ik koester, want na With The Sentimentals werden de albums van de Amerikaanse muzikante alleen maar beter, wat prachtalbums als The Burden Of Unshakeable Proof (2016), Foxhole Prayers (2018) en Modern Age (2021) opleverde, maar ook het met covers gevulde tussendoortje Mixtape (2020) is me zeer dierbaar.

De opvolger van het inmiddels al weer bijna drie jaar oude Modern Age heb ik al een tijdje in mijn bezit en ook Flying On Instruments is weer uitgegroeid tot een album dat ik intens lief heb. Voor haar nieuwe album toog Vanessa Peters met haar Italiaanse muzikanten en echtgenoot Rip Rowan naar een studio in Dallas, waar de songs voor het nieuwe album zoveel mogelijk live werden opgenomen. Flying On Instruments heeft hierdoor een lekker vol bandgeluid, dat nog wat werd aangevuld met strijkers en dat fraai is geproduceerd door Rip Rowan.

Het nieuwe album van Vanessa Peters heeft niet alleen een mooi vol geluid, maar heeft ook een heerlijke flow. Centraal in het geluid staan de piano en de keyboards van Matteo Patrone, die in de meeste songs de lijnen uit zet. Het wordt prachtig aangevuld met de akoestische gitaar van Vanessa Peters en de elektrische gitaar van Federico Ciancabilla, die er af en toe heerlijk stekelige gitaarakkoorden tussendoor gooit.

Door de belangrijke rol voor de piano en de fraaie wijze waarop piano en gitaren blenden klinkt Flying On Instruments weer net wat anders dan zijn voorgangers, maar Vanessa Peters verleidt nog altijd meedogenloos met haar folky songs die zijn verpakt in nagenoeg perfecte popsongs. Die verleiding komt niet alleen van de mooie klanken en de melodieuze songs, maar ook van de zang van Vanessa Peters, die beschikt over een van de meest aangename stemmen in het genre en die alleen maar mooier gaat zingen.

Vanaf de eerste noten van Flying On Instruments had ik overigens associaties met de muziek die 10,000 Maniacs maakte in de jaren met Natalie Merchant, vooral vanwege het door de piano gedomineerde geluid, maar zeker ook door de zang op het album en door het snarenwerk. Flying On Instruments is echter ook weer een typisch Vanessa Peters album en het is een album dat de hoge kwaliteit van zijn voorgangers makkelijk weet vast te houden.

Ik heb het album zoals gezegd inmiddels al een tijdje en er staat geen song op het album die ik niet goed vind. Ook Flying On Instruments is weer een album waar ik heel vrolijk van word, maar het album bevat ook een aantal wat melancholischere tracks, die weer andere gevoelens raken. Vanessa Peters blijft helaas redelijk onbekend, maar ontdek haar nu en je krijgt niet alleen een nieuwe prachtplaat, maar ook een werkelijk fantastisch oeuvre cadeau.

Erwin Zijleman

Je kunt Flying On Instruments hier luisteren en bestellen:

https://vanessapeters.bandcamp.com/album/flying-on-instruments

Apocalypse Is God's Spoiler. JuJu

Big Rhythms are heard at the start of Apocalypse Is God's Spoiler. As if 'Tusk' needed resurrecting. Should anyone ever have wondered how Cari Cari would sound in a full band setting, here's JuJu. 'Dead At 25' is your answer. I'm glad to state that I've lived passed 25. Otherwise this blog would have been extremely empty. So, let's make the best of this opportunity.

JuJu is one of several projects that Sicilian musician and producer Gioele Valenti is involved in. Apocalypse Is God's Spoiler is the fifth name under the JuJu moniker following 'La Que Sabe'. On this blog you can find a review of 'Maps And Territory' from 2019. Together with his band mates Vincenzo Schillaci and Andrea Chentrens he is responsible for the whole. For his new album he invited ex-Nirvana Chad Channing, who played drums on 'Bleach' and Luca Giovanardi from Italian psych combo Julie’s Haircut for guest stints.

Listening to Apocalypse Is God's Spoiler, the first thing that caught my ear is those African rhythms. Oh, sure, the overall feel of the album is psychedelic rock. There's simply no denying there. Just listening and closing my eyes is enough to go off on a trip. No substance of any kind are needed to go there. The whole sound seems as if a huge bottle of acid sweets were poured over it. The guitars, the drumming, the singing, the way of playing all is totally wavy gravy.

And yet, those drums. JuJu presents a huge drums sound in several of the songs, purely influenced by tribal pounding on drums of whatever kind. The African connection is caught in the band name. Wikipedia tells me that Juju is a musical genre in Nigeria of the Yoruba tribe and a religion from Africa where objects can be used for sorcery. For good and evil. I remember a show from long ago on 'Rockpalast' decades ago by King Sunny Adé and his African Beat that played ju ju music.

This JuJu has not much to do with King Sunny Adé as I remember it though. The Italian JuJu is very much a rock-based band that in some of its songs integrates this big drum sound. While mother nature recordings can be an integral part of an intro that slowly changes to a pumping bass rhythm. This provides Apocalypse Is God's Rhythm with surprising moments but also with variation.

As a whole this album is not only aimed at the head but also at the feet. Expect to move. Whether in your chair, living room or concert venue. JuJu will get you moving, even if it is only within your head.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order Apocalypse Is God's Spoiler here:

https://herself1.bandcamp.com/album/juju-apocalypse-is-gods-spoiler

Let The World Burn Down. The Devils

Brace yourselves, dear readers. We are going all the way with the new The Devils album, Let The World Burn Down. Not from an environmental point of view, where the most pessimistic voices predict this outcomes for humanity and the globe as a whole. No, were talking rock and roll of the dirtiest kind.

Only yesterday I posted on an album that needed very little words. Today I offer another. Again an album that just goes and goes and as you'll find out listening to it then some more, with drummer and singer Erika Switchblade begging, screaming, pulling and raving for that little extra.

The words energy and enthusiasm should suffice where Let The World Burn Down is concerned. Because brevity does not help informing the reader, I will elaborate a little. The Devils is an alternative rock band with elements from punk and garage rock. Dirt and sleaze certainly play an important part as well. Neapolitan duo, also Gianni Blacula, The Devils knows where the best in this genre comes from and extrapolates that into the best on offer with a little help from musician Alain Johannes (QOTSA).

Photo: Jessica Calvo

The Black Keys, The White Stripes, big city electric blues, you will all find it in here but most of all this is The Devils. In 'Roar II' the duo, really, really lets it rip. The interlude is only logical. No one can keep up. Players, listeners, audience. It is far from over though when silence descends. You'll find out. 'Shake 'em' only starts then. This garage-surf rocker at least has the same level of energy. Man, this is some ugly shit. But once again, so extremely good.

In some songs the reference to better known acts shimmer through a bit too obvious. I don't care at all. This is too good to object to. Cari Cari from Vienna (and wherever the duo decides to reside for a while) has this vibe as well, but is child's play compared to The Devils. By this time steam is coming out of my ears from brain overload. The Devils rock and no little, but I guess you've gathered that already.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order Let The World Burn Down here:

https://thedevilsduo.bandcamp.com/album/let-the-world-burn-down

Is It Time To Fly? Diplomatics

Fans of Swedish bands like The Hives, The Plan and other punky rock bands with a European sauce over them can run to the (digital) record shops. Italian band Diplomatics delivers the goods here. Rock and roll indeed.

I was attracted to Diplomatics because of the single 'Jungle'. The album's opening track is fairly different from the rest of Is It Time To Fly? The Brazilian and all other influences, see the singles section of Week 1, are totally not present in the other songs, although Eduardo Brunello returns on saxophone at the end of the album, to give a The Rolling Stones like ending to 'Dancing All Alone' like you can find on e.g. 'Sticky Fingers'; on steroids that is.

'Jungle' is an amazing song. It is like riding a rollercoaster in the dark. Anything can happen and nothing is warning you for any of it. Hearing is believing in this case.

Promo photo: Matteo Leonardi

Is It Time To Fly? is a full-fledged punkrock album of the kind that often comes out of Sweden. The music is unpolished and rough at the edges. With a singer with a nice rasp on his voice, duo guitar duties spicing up the sound, all with a rock solid rhythm section. The feature standing out most is the harmonica played by singer Danny. He's totally on fire alright. The contrast with his contribution on 'Jungle' couldn't be more different. The rocking version of Talking Heads explores all sorts of directions, where the rest of the album is far more uniform. Highly danceable, rocking and punking. For this reason a harmonica is not the instrument I came to expect to hear. It is a very strong feature of Is It Time To Fly?.

Next to that, the fact that the album may be more uniform is irrelevant for another reason as well. Diplomatics manages to capture all the energy it must have when playing live on its third album. There's no doubt about the motivation and intention of why Diplomatics is in music. The songs show it all, in abundance. Is It Time To Fly? has it all. And, Diplomatics is so much better than The Hives ever was.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order Is It Time To Fly? here:

https://godownrecords.bandcamp.com/album/is-it-time-to-fly

A Closer Distance. Bruno Bavota & Chantal Acda

Chantal Acda maakt niet alleen prachtige soloalbums, maar imponeert ook met uiteenlopende samenwerkingsverbanden, zoals nu op het wonderschone A Closer Distance met de Italiaanse muzikant Bruno Bavota.

Er zijn goede zangeressen, er zijn hele goede zangeressen en er is Chantal Acda. De stem van Chantal Acda behoort al jaren tot de mooiste stemmen in de popmuziek en ook op A Closer Distance laat de Nederlandse muzikante weer horen waarom dat zo is. Op A Closer Distance werkt ze samen met de Italiaanse muzikant Bruno Bavota, die het album heeft voorzien van een subtiel maar betoverend mooi neoklassiek klankentapijt. Chantal Acda zingt zoals gewoonlijk de sterren van de hemel, waardoor het half uur muziek op A Closer Distance goed is voor een half uur kippenvel. Zeker in de kleine uurtjes doet dit album wonderen en het wordt vooralsnog alleen maar mooier.

Chantal Acda woont weliswaar al flink wat jaren in België, maar de van oorsprong Nederlandse muzikante behoort in vocaal opzicht wat mij betreft tot het allerbeste dat ons land op het moment te bieden heeft. De prachtige stem van Chantal Acda viel me een jaar of tien geleden voor het eerst op bij beluistering van een album van de Vlaamse band Isbells, maar sindsdien was haar stem ook te horen op een aantal uitstekende soloalbums en op albums van meerdere samenwerkingsverbanden, waaronder het geweldige project Distance, Light & Sky met Chris Eckman van The Walkabouts en jazzmuzikant Eric Thielemans.

Chantal Acda zoekt op haar soloalbums, maar zeker met de samenwerkingsverbanden die ze is aangegaan, in muzikaal opzicht met grote regelmaat de grenzen op. Ik moet eerlijk toegeven dat ik, ondanks de prachtige stem van de Nederlandse muzikante, zeker niet alles goed vind, maar de meeste albums in haar inmiddels heel behoorlijke oeuvre kan ik zeer waarderen. Het bijzondere PŪWAWAU uit 2019, waar ik in eerste instantie maar heel weinig mee kon, heb ik leren waarderen.

Deze week verscheen een nieuw album waarop de bijzondere stem van Chantal Acda te horen is en het is wederom een samenwerkingsverband. Op A Closer Distance werkt Chantal Acda samen met de Italiaanse componist en multi-instrumentalist Bruno Bavota. De Italiaanse muzikant heeft een aantal albums op zijn naam staan en het zijn albums die vooral in het hokje neoklassiek worden geduwd.

De neoklassieke klanken op A Closer Distance combineren opvallend mooi met de stem van Chantal Acda, die met het album met Bruno Bavota weer een bijzondere wending toevoegt aan haar bijzondere oeuvre. Chantal Acda en Bruno Bavota kennen elkaar al langer, maar A Closer Distance is hun eerste gezamenlijke album. Het is een album met negen songs en bijna een half uur muziek. Dat is voor een album aan de korte kant, maar het kleine half uur muziek dat de twee muzikanten gemaakt hebben is van een bijzondere schoonheid.

Bruno Bavota tekent op A Closer Distance voor akoestische gitaar, synthesizers en andere elektronica, maar in de meeste tracks op het album hoor je toch vooral het pianospel van de Italiaanse muzikant. Het is zacht en subtiel pianospel, maar de muzikale basis van Bruno Bavota is ook bijzonder mooi. Zeker in de kleine uurtjes strelen de pianoklanken op het album bijzonder subtiel maar ook zeer trefzeker het oor. Het is bovendien beeldend pianospel, dat steeds weer goed is voor fraaie beelden op het netvlies.

Het is een relatief sobere basis, die prachtig wordt gecombineerd met de eveneens zachte en subtiele vocalen van Chantal Acda. De Nederlands/Belgische muzikante beschikt zoals gezegd over een van de mooiste stemmen van het moment en ook de zang op A Closer Distance is weer van een unieke schoonheid. Hier en daar komen de vocalen in meerdere lagen uit de speakers, maar in de meeste tracks op het album draaien het sobere pianospel van Bruno Bavota en de zachte zang van Chantal Acda prachtig om elkaar heen. A Closer Distance is een behoorlijk sober album, maar het is ook een warm en intiem album dat zich steeds genadelozer opdringt. Een volgend hoogtepunt in het unieke oeuvre van Chantal Acda.

Erwin Zijleman

Je kunt A Closer Distance hier luisteren en bestellen:

https://chantalacda.bandcamp.com/album/bruno-bavota-chantal-acda-a-closer-distance

Three EPs: Seb Zukini, Little Quirks and Fernandhell

Another week with three EPs, well, more mini albums. Three acts from all over the world are presented to you, all with their own take on popular music. Enjoy!

The Devil You Know. Seb Zukini

Seb Zukini released two singles this year and now is ready to release its first EP. The promise made by the singles is totally fulfilled. The Devil You Know is filled with energetic rock songs that translate themselves easily and comfortably in songs that please the ears. The band members have obviously listened closely to a lot of rock music from the past. This legacy is taken forward with five songs on the EP. Singer Sebastiaan Kusters has this nice rough edge to his voice, just like the best grunge bands' singers had. He makes the songs sound tougher. In one song making the song sound rougher with his voice (e.g. 'Mirror'), in another matching it perfectly ('Reap What You Sow').

The band from Emmen ("I want to see the seaside .... we don't have that where I'm from") plays together since 2021. That year was well used. The five songs show a lot of promise. Seb Zukini not only rocks. It pays a lot of attention to the melody and arrangements. The fact that one of the guitarists, Herman Klompmakers, also plays keyboards certainly helps here, as it widens the scope of the band's music.

Where influences are concerned a band like Creed comes to mind, mixed with Britpop flair of the Oasis kind. The result is a hybrid album combining the U.S. with the U.K. with the former winning on points. This is mostly the result of Kusters' voice.

There are five songs on The Devil You Know. At the end I would have loved to have the chance to hear more. In short, this EP does a lot of things right.

Call To Unknowns. Little Quirks

From Emmen to the central coast of New South Wales is almost as far as one can go on this globe. Little Quirks is a trio from Australia, releasing its mini album Call To Unknowns. The sisters Abbey and Amy Toole and their cousin Jaymi started singing and playing together from a very young age and slowly but surely it went from fun to a career (and hopefully still a lot of fun).

Musically Little Quirks can be found in the Mumford and Sons or Of Monsters And Men folk segment. In other words songs with a lot of positive energy, pop mixed with folk and a high singalong factor.

The clear voices of the three singers are the first feature that stands out. They blend well but also sound extremely positive and above all pleasant. The harmonies are an important feature of Little Quirks' sound.

The music is to a certain extent formalistic. Each song starts subdued with not much more than one or more voices. At some point the full band kicks in, lifting the song up to another level. Little Quirks manages to do just that in each song, without creating a negative effect to its music. In other words, the band knows exactly what it is doing and where its strengths lie.

The production and mix give Call To Unknowns a clear sound. The voices are number one. They are mixed upfront and very clearly heard. Behind the voices the instruments can all be clearly heard as well. The mix is spacious in that sense. Each instrument has the room it needs to be heard and distinguish itself from the others. Just listen to 'Someone To Hold' and you will hear it perfectly.

No, this is a not a unique mini album. Many have been made in this style over the past decades. A huge difference is that I did not really like a lot of them (in their entirety). Call To Unknowns agrees with me from beginning to end. Little Quirks may be a band to keep a tab on.

And The Gatten Army. Fernandhell

A new name, an old hand. Livio Montarese played in The Peawees for a long time. In the pandemic he found himself at home in La Spezia with his cats and his guitar. On this five song album the world hears the result of this period of isolation. The album is filled with a solid form of rock. Like Rum Bar Records artists like Nat Freedberg and J. Prosac he gives it everything he's got, as if his career is just starting, with a voice belying that impression immediately. The love for playing music, against all odds, is what shines through. The EP would fit Rum Bar's bill easily.

Fernandhell played all the instruments himself. With one exception. The lead guitar is played by Paul (no last name) and P. Billygoat on 'Mardi Gras'. Montarese obviously gets his way around each instrument.

Of the three mini albums here And The Gatten Army is the most straightforward. Fernandhell is not beating around the bush for one second. His songs go forward without hesitation. Like Medieval armies going into battle, making as much noise as possible to drown out the fear when they charge each other. In other words, there's not much room for subtleties and niceties. All five songs speak for themselves and don't need anything else to work. And The Gatten Army rocks and that's enough.

Wout de Natris

Three albums, 06-07-2022

Here are some records that might have gotten away if I had not compiled them here. Some weird stuff among it. Mind, Magella's album is not out until 15 July.

Magella. Quiet Confusion

QOTSA, that is the easy way out, listening to Quiet Confusion's new album. The Italian trio certainly knows where Abraham found his mustard where stoner rock is concerned. So, expect a powerful album filled with a combination of rock, melody, stone solid riffs and great solos. Quiet Confusion does not make a song more difficult than strictly necessary, heightening the listening experience considerably.

Quiet Confusion started out in Verona, Italy, in 2009 and releases records since 2010. In the past decade the original band members left one after the other, leaving only guitarist and singer Antonio Cortina as original member. Together with bass player Roberto Panarotto and drummer Giovanni Franceschini Cortina sets out for a new era with the band, with the album Magella. The music is diverse, and ranges in intensity as well as in pop sensitivity. With the addition of a little psychedelia, some bluesrock and some desert rock into the different songs, the album is enriched because of the different points of musical view the band presents to its listeners. Magella is, within the confines of stoner rock, an album full of surprises.

Zwei. Flying Moon in Space

There are eclectic albums and there's Zwei, Flying Moon in Space's second album. The Leipzig, Germany based band, truly plays with all kinds of musical and music induced emotions. Zwei is all over the place and I have the hardest of times following the band at times. I can say many things of albums but seldom that an album brings me from heaven to hell and back a few times, all within the space of eight songs. The opening track is fantastic with a mix of punk singing, that female shouting kind of singing, with a kind of twisted dance rhythm that has a Teutonic feel to it. At the same time 'Traum Für Alle is super tight and messy. This style returns on Zwei, like in 'The Day The Sun Was Made', but Flying Moon in Space has no issue with going into other directions, including psychedelic, electronic dance tracks and some Kraftwerk hidden underneath the electronic beats. An imaginary stroboscope makes me close my eyes. Although the sound of 'Optimist' is hidden inside 'Traum Für Alle', the change is totally unexpected and even a little strange. The singing, brings the former song back a little, but does not save it. When all is said and done Zwei is more an, experimental, granted, dance album than a punkrock one. Having listened to the album several times now I am more confused than convinced, but have listened repeatedly. Unfortunately I still do not know what that tells me.

My Other People. TV Priest

Oh, irony. There's a review I wrote a few weeks ago and then found out the album was postponed into August. There's something on TV Priest in the review, no, I will not change it. And then I received the physical version of My Other People in my mailbox. Being the nice person I am, I give everything a chance and to my surprise got in the rhythm of the album. This was far from bad, far from irritating and even the singer started to go down real well. Does it matter so much to listen to a real album over the stereo? Apparently the answer is yes. TV Priest is an exciting band. The song are nearly all highly energetic affairs, where the band truly gives it its whole. With lead guitars like a chainsaw, a rhythm section like a chugging, extremely long freight train scaling the Rockies. Things are happening on this album. What I can't get my head around is, where did the all of a sudden change of appreciation come from? Fact is My Other People has not left my cd player often for over a week. This alternative rock band from the UK has it sort of all.

Wout de Natris

 

You can order and listen to the albums here:

https://godownrecords.bandcamp.com/

https://fuzzclub.bandcamp.com/album/zwei

https://tvpriest.bandcamp.com/album/my-other-people

I Will Be Found. BBF

Not so long ago Bongley Dead, what has become of them since 2017?, was the only Italian rock band found on this blog. Over the past year or so several have found their way and now BBF is added to this roster.

With I Will Be Found the trio shows a few side to its rocking self. In the first song, 'Freedom', BBF allows itself just that: freedom. The CSNY sound of the acoustic guitar in combination with a bluesy solo on another acoustic, makes the album have a start where The Rolling Stones meet CSNY. Before the song turns electric and gets a totally different feel, that is. The band kicks in full force. The song at heart may be the same, as in having the same vocal melody, the two parts could not be further apart. A blistering guitar solo pokes up the fire some more. Freedom indeed.

BBF released two albums before Covid upset all touring plans and the concept of making it big in Europe. Instead the band returns with a six song mini album. The time the band was given to create new music. it used to fully explore several musical directions and forms. To search for and find attractive intro's. Like in the single 'Cosmic Surgery' that found its way to the single section a few weeks back. The bass plays a great part in the song. Its part allows the guitarist to go all over the place with sounds and soundscapes. The drummer keeps all around together with ease. His firm hits on the skins, lay down the pattern all others only need to follow in order to be wild at heart.

Promo photo

BBF is Pietro Brunetti (electric bass, synth, vocals), Claudio Banelli (electric and acoustic guitar, vocals) and Carlo Forgiarini (drums and percussions), BBF. They formed the band in 2016. Together they have a clear love for the psychedelic side of rock. The trippy 'Rise', the third song, is of the kind that hovers through my room. It sounds like the music is leaving my speakers only hesitatingly. Constant stops make the song sound as if the musicians changed their minds half way and want to reel the notes and rhythms back in. Only until the end of the song. All of a sudden 'Rise' explodes and one overdub after the other is released, filling my room, ears and head completely. As if only then the band had found the form it wanted 'Rise' to have.

To compensate 'T-rex' burst loose as if Jimi Hendrix came back to release a final killer riff to the earth. While 'Wake Up' shows to the world what sounds can be conjured up when a musician starts to fiddle with the knobs on his effect pedals. (From experience I can tell that at some point there's no need for the musician, as soon as the loop starts working. Pure magic remains.) Things remain under control though. 'Wake Up' is the song with the closest The Beatles connection on I Will Be Found. Again BBF plays with dynamics to make 'Wake Up' more exciting. This band is able to find a balance between psychedelia and rock that works and with ease it seems.

The sixth and final song is another one that starts with an acoustic guitar. A dark vibe with a high, sleepy vocal giving 'Supernova' a mysterious start. Also the sixth song stands out from the very beginning, with leaving me wondering when the change is going to come or is the surprise it doesn't? I will leave you, to find out for yourself.

Wout de Natris

You can order I Will Be Found on the website of Argonauta Records:

https://www.argonautarecords.com/shop/cd/596-bbf-i-will-be-found-cd.html