2024. Week 8, 10 singles

There are quite some new names on this week's singles post. A good sign as far as I'm concerned. You will find a few familiar ones though, don't worry. Where last week contained a lot of ballads and softer songs, this week has a good mix that will keep you on your toes. Enjoy!

Love Goes Down The Drain. Canyons & Locusts

Before I had the chance to start writing, the song was already over. Well, almost. 1.45 minutes is all Canyons & Locusts needs to make its point after love went down the drain. Last week, this weekly post had nearly all softer songs in its 10 song roster. To make amends we start with the new outing of the Boston - Phoenix duo. Love Goes Down The Drain punk rocks and no little. The big and fat guitar plays as loud as it can over the drums that are pounded on relentlessly for the whole song. With all the punkrocking noise Justin Keane's voice comes as rough as the genre calls for but not without a melody that allows to singing along to in any environment. Another successful single in a short while. There is supposed to be an EP out soon, called 'The Red Angel'.

Heavy Dream Cycle EP. Otherworldly Things

Released last week, today Otherworldly Things from New York City makes its debut on this blog. Heavy Dream Cycle contains some tough rock songs that combine the best of the last decades of pop and rock. Opening with the song 'I'm Tired Of Monsters' the band makes an impression immediately. Starting with a tight, yet inventive drum intro on the back of which the whole band starts playing and plays from. Pop and rock fans will recognise a host of influences in the song, which is totally infectious in its own right. In the next song, 'No Use', things only get better. A great bass part compliments the again, supertight drumming. The guitars are more frivolous and the harmonies better. Jim Browne (guitar, lead and backing vocals, violin), Matt Revie (guitar, keyboards, glockenspiel), Jason Binnick (bass, backing vocals, keyboards, cello) and Travis Harrison (drums, percussion) know really well what they are doing here. In 'Work Out Right' the band tips its toes deeply into the well of 1960s pop music. Clearly an era Otherworldly Things really likes to listen to. The result is a strong set of originals from the NYC band, adding to what has come before. Otherworldly Things returns to the record front with the release of a very nice EP that leaves me with one complaint only, I wouldn't have minded a double dose.

I Idled. The Follies

The Follies is another band that tipped its toes into the already in the above mentioned well of 60s music. In I Idled the band combines The Beatles with The Byrds (oh, wait, that is the description of The Byrds itself, isn't it?) Added is a solid jolt of poprock from the late 70s and some 80s R.E.M. styled guitar work, and out comes I Idled. On the basis of this single, I'd say that this band is anything but a folly. Gloriously up tempo and catchy, with a lead guitar that is jumping hoops all of the time, with great, fast runs showing pure competence after years of practice. What remains to be mentioned is a punky attitude with which the whole is presented. This is far from a punkrock song, yet I'd venture that the band doesn't mind listening to the music and take from it what spices I Idled. I had never heard of The Follies before. This is the kind of introduction one needs to be wanting to hear more. With 'Permanent Present Tense' around the corner, the wait will not be long.

Burial Ground. The Decemberists (feat. James Mercer)

Only a few weeks back I wondered if I was ever going to be hearing new music by The Decemberists. Only a few days later I ran into this single. It is quite some years since I heard new music, perhaps my bad, but well pre-Covid, I'd say. The time was used to sound familiar and yet different. Colin Meloy's voice is Colin Meloy's voice. There's no changing this factor. It is in the music and melody that I discern the change. Despite the title Burial Ground has a lightness, something I do not associate with The Decemberists. There is always a sense of darkness around most of its music. This is like a 1960s The Kinks single, with Dave Davies' rawking guitar replaced by a light-sounding one. Add Beatlesleque harmony and backing vocals and a trumpet solo and the sun is shining bright over the burial ground Meloy is inviting someone to meet. What a nice return to the record front for The Decemberists.

One For The Road. Scott Clay

One for the road was the name of the bar on a ship called Mississippi Lloyd. After its last voyage, that I sailed on from Rotterdam to London in 1978, to New Orleans, where else, the sign was always in the window of my parents' home. As first officer, my father had brought it home with him. Scott Clay's is a song worthy to have been played there and sung along to. His slow countryrock ballad has two sides, the slow moving pace with the wide ranging instruments that all have a distinct place in the mix, and that dark, brooding electric guitar, that sounds like an announced thunderstorm on the horizon. It sets a mood of resignedness for the deluge coming. There's nothing that can save Scott Clay now. The warm Hammond tries to soothe him, a mandoline urges him to leave, but there's always that guitar, like the lights keeping the rabbit caught. There's only one thing left to do, to take one for the road. I have to say that I simply like the two sides contained within One For The Road.

Floating On A Moment. Beth Gibbons

I have to admit that I had almost clicked the song away for the next one on this list. The song simply did not seem to get started and in a way it does not. In another way it does. There's a wealth of little details to discover and it simply makes the song blossom. Floating On A Moment opens itself in a very baroque way. The tempo remains slow with Beth Gibbons whisper singing over it. Instruments and voices are added to what is already being opened. Any form of beats and hop elements are missing, it's the trip that is contained in Floating On A Moment. The music that is Beth Gibbons and not her former band members'. This single is like a dream come true. The kind of song that carries the listener. I am reminded of what Lou Doillon and Charlotte Gainsbourg are producing in France. That dreamy stuff and the soft singing that these modern French sigh girls use, is here in abundance. Listening to the song again, more and more little sounds and melodies spring up, as if I do not have enough ears to catch them all. This is one intriguing song.

Rice. Slomosa

With Rice by Slomosa we move into rock territory. The band shares some heavy riffing with the world but all in support of a song that has a great vocal melody. Singer Ben Berdous is not necessarily a hardrock singer. I'd even venture that he could replace Morten of Aha if necessary. He stands his ground in Rice, don't worry. Slomosa is also from Norway. Bergen to be precise and in May will release its second album. Based on this single I'd say that lovers of some good old fashioned headbanging will love the fierce riff in between the verses. Call it desert rock, stoner or even grunge, whatever you like, Slomosa rocks in all the right ways.

Punch. Jello Biafra with Motorpsycho / Patrik Fitzgerald

A curious combination on a double sided single where on one side Patrik Fitzgerald plays his song Punch and on the other Motorpsycho plays it with Dead Kennedy's Jello Biafra on vocals. The Norwegian procgrockers have left the prog part at home when they entered the studio for this song. This is a rock song of quite some proportions. Motorpsycho is a trio that is always able to make itself at least twice as big than it is. Here the sound becomes huge and extremely broad. Biafra sings a little like John Lydon here and there, with a nice sneer in his voice. The combination works on Punch that much is clear. The band lets it all go and really rocks beyond the well thought out improvisations it is also capable of.

Patrick Fitzgerald's original version could not be more different. His performance is (closer to) spoken word than singing. That riff is there though. All the rest is so different. Weird sounds are all over the place and yet this is fun. The song is from the 1980s my guess is. Thank you for the introduction.

Know Your Religion. Garlands

Garlands are near veterans of this blog. With its new single, it once again manages to sound urgent in 2024 while giving a strong nod as far back as The Kinks of the 1960s. In other words, Know Your Religion has that pop feel and great harmony vocals Ray and Dave Davies were capable of at the time. (With Ray's then then wife Raisa often somewhere in the background as well.) Know Your Religion starts with a good chord progression on the guitar that caught my ear immediately and then the band comes in with a punch telling me to listen should I have wavered for a second. What Garlands is good at, is keeping its songs at lengths that were fashionable on 45s of the 1960s, catching pure pop prowess on vinyl. This song doesn't have anything that is extra. Pop, power, a catchy melody and a little bordering on psychedelia ending. A nice surprise in my Friday inbox indeed.

My Desire Is Pure. Halo Maud

Let us end this week with the single of a modern style sigh girl, who uses synths and modern beats, called My Desire Is Pure. I have no reason to doubt Halo Maud is full of the you she singing about. What is more interesting that everything around that desire is different, at times weird and fascinating. Whoever Halo Maud is, a singer with band, a band, just a singer or a dance producer?, I just do not know. What I like, is that nothing is what it seems here and the listener is challenged the whole time to accept the next weird sound, the change between French and English, the jolts of sounds that are not there to immediately please. Halo Maud is not afraid of taking a left turn a few times, without ending where it started. Is this my kind of music? No, not really, but I like it none the same. There's a little Portishead in here but not enough to not be Halo Maud. My Desire Is Pure dares to take a few risks and that pays off.

Wout de Natris

In Times New Roman. Queens of the Stone Age

It's been six years since Queens of the Stone Age released a new record. In a way longer for me, as I had not bothered to check out the two previous records really. I had lost interest. Curiosity can be stimulated, as the enthusiastic reviews of In New Times Roman did. Yes, I wanted to know if they were correct.

True fans will not have been disappointed. QOTSA does what it is good at best, that is rock. Ask me, not a true fan, and I would tell you that most songs are very direct and focused. Most songs on the album are tighter and intense. And, yes, good. In Times New Roman certainly deserves that description as well.

There's nothing new under the sun, at first glance/listen. Neither at second. It all sounds familiar as QOTSA. Only when I started to get myself acquainted truly with In Times New Roman, nice title of course, when listening harder, it became clear to me that in its own way QOTSA is rocking harder, while appearing to rock less. A lot of the superfluous overdubbed guitars and sounds were left on the studio floor, resulting in that tight sound.

Life was in turmoil for Josh Homme in the past years, distracting him from his line of work: writing, recording en playing songs. It deprived the world most likely of an album. Arguably it led to the world receiving this one. The fans may be the ones who win out. I do not wish anyone to go through hardships, although at some part they are part of nearly everyone's lives, for artists it seems like oxygen. Almost no interview with young artists go by, without having to read about the emotional deprivations and other hardships. That aside, although I start to become less interested to read about new albums because of it, whatever the reason, in the case of Josh Homme it led to a very coherent album. Including the best chorus he has ever written, in my humble opinion: 'Emotion Sickness'. I have written about the song in the singles section recently. Hearing it on the album, it stands out once again. What a great song. It has just this little more melody than all the great songs of the band of the past.

What I also like and is worth mentioning, are the little experiments here and there. In times old 60s there's even a Beatlesque influence to be heard And, just listen how Josh Homme influenced Alex Turner with his style of singing. A direct link to the biggest band of the past and the best of this century so far.

It has been a long time since I last bought a QOTSA album. It may well be that this spell is over. In Times New Roman is worth while to have. The best conclusion for this post possible, not?

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and buy In Times New Roman here:

https://qotsa.bandcamp.com/album/in-times-new-roman

2023. Week 23, 10 singles

The first tropical days in NL are upon us. We have been basking in sunshine for weeks now but finally it's also getting warm. There has been no rain for weeks as well and the country is slowly drying up. Fear of wild fires is present in the whole country and not an end in sight yet of a change in the weather. In the meantime new music is being released and WoNoBlog presents you with another 10 singles this week. Starting with a true debut single but also several debuts on this blog. Enjoy!

Stinks 4 Lyfe. Nymphlord

Stinks 4 Life is a debut single, the first song singer-songwriter and producer Nymphlord has released. Tia Rabinowitz from northern California knows very well what she is doing to get a maximum effect and is not afraid of wearing her influences on the neck of her guitar. She wrote the song close after she heard Roe vs Wade being overturned by the Supreme Court after fifty years and to my surprise there's more wonder than anger in Stinks 4 Lyfe. What is surprising is the way the song plays out. It starts with an electric guitar strumming a chord progression, softly but with deliberation, and at the end of the intro I thought: Here we go!, but no we didn't. Not much later, again: Here we go!, again no. The song is slowly but surely expanded in sound, making it stand out. It never becomes the punkrock anthem that it could have been. Stinks 4 Life is an alternative rock song that near the end gets the Veruca Salt treatment. The innocent young woman voice detonating against and complimenting the loud rock of the final 30 or so seconds of the song. All the time doubting whether she is worth it. It's too early to tell but on the basis of Stinks 4 Life, I would say yes, dear girl.

Renegades. Kristóf Hajós

Kristóf Hajós is a Dutch - Hungarian singer living in Amsterdam. With Renegades he has released a 7" single of which only thirty were pressed, so an absolute collector's item. The good news is that it's also one that lovers of a dreamy kind of pop song would love to play regularly as well. Stefan Breuer, among many other things, is The World of Dust and label owner of Tiny Room Records. He wrote, recorded and produced the song for Kristóf Hajós. The first time he wrote a song for someone else. It is not surprising the song could have been part of a The World of Dust record. At the same time there are some slight differences, like e.g. the intro and the electronic rhythm of the dreampop ballad. Renegades is a song to dream away with. What a song for a daydream, to paraphrase Loving Spoonful's hitsingle, Renegades is.

Emotion Sickness. Queens of the Stone Age

The album 'In Times New Roman' is out this weekend but I haven't had the time to listen yet. In fact, I'm listening to one of the recent singles for the first time as I write. Emotion Sickness sounds familiar yet there is also an urgency I have been missing for over a decade in QOTSA's music. Next to the urgency there's something modern in the sound that I have a hard time putting my finger on, as it is not electronics. It is in the way the guitars are treated and in the dreamy way of singing of Josh Homme that reminds me of, perhaps even girl pop, bands that have little to do with QOTSA but also of Jack Bruce from around 1980. The longer the single last, the more I'm getting into it. After the short intro I had something like been there done that, sorry. That changed fast. Title Emotion Sickness is complimented by the music which is almost estranging. Simultaneously it shows the desperation causing the sickness. QOTSA's strange rhythms are all over the place, as it should, leading up to the most melodic chorus the band ever produced (as far as I'm aware). I think it's time to listen to the album soon.

Stoned. EUT

One more single by EUT, the Dutch indie rockband, not afraid of bringing in some pop and electronic elements to its music. With Stoned the band does, once again, what it is so good at. Producing a pop song that is credible enough to be alternative, has a rhythm that makes it danceable in an awkward way and pop enough to get into your head without too much of an effort. The keyboards and electronic rhythms are leading. The guitars play either a lick or sparse rhythm accent in the verses. The keys come on board from all sides in the chorus. Memories of Kim Wilde's heyday certainly enter my brain, without Stoned exploding like a 'Kids In America' does. Being stoned never led to massive partying and Stoned keeps things in check like the title suggest. And yet this is a pop single nonetheless that shows once again how nice a band EUT is.

Thank You. Night Beats

I dare anyone not to sing 'Sunny' to Thank You, I can't in any way. The similarity stops each time when the singing in Thank You does. After a few lines the song moves into a psychedelic rock instrumental that makes my head kind of twirl, just like the music twirls. It somehow sounds like a revolving door with the music's intensity turning with it. It makes Night Beats' new single an intriguing one. Danny Lee Blackwell again manages to surprise me with a single in a genre that in 2023 is all over the place. Despite doing nothing new, he somehow combines the disco of Boney M's cover of 'Sunny' with psychedelia without letting the song slip away from under him, something that easily could have happened in the instrumental parts. It doesn't. The solo guitar explores ever corner of the chord progression, the rhythm section keeps it nicely in check. 'Rajan' is the name of Night Beats upcoming album, out on 14 July.

Keep On Calling. Hot Breath

Rock from Sweden? Check. Hot Breath releases this nice rocker. I am not a horse rider but this is how I imagine how galloping on a horse feels like. It's in that chucha-chucka-chuck rhythm Hot Breath plays in parts of the song. You only have to listen to the intro to know what I mean. Hot Breath is a new band with one album to its name, that I've missed so far, called 'Rubbery Lips'. Jennifer Israelsson sings and plays guitar, Anton Frick Kallmin on bass
, Jimmy Karlsson on drums
 and Karl Edfeldt on guitar. At first I though Israelsson's voice too thin for the tough rock the band plays, but I stepped beyond that initial thought. She is exactly right here. She not only adds the melody to the music, she leads the way. Keep On Calling is a melodic rock song that immediately satisfies. The band has put in the time to make the song stand out. Kallmin's bass is all over the plays and almost a lead instrument, while the guitars have the nicest of melodies as well. Hot Breath knows very well what it is doing and deserves to be heard. From fans of Kiss and Jefferson Starship to ZZ Top, pay attention here.

The Romantic. Girl With A Hawk

My review of Girl With A Hawk's debut single 'Same Stars' was extremely positive. That does put some expectations on single number 2. People who have the same expectations thanks to listening to 'Same Stars' based on my review, rest assured. Girl With A Hawk provides the world with another nice rock song in The Pretenders and girl rock bands from around 1980 style. The Romantic has that tough sound while at the same time the title is reflected in the way of singing. Singer Linda Viens touches on the exactly right tone of voice. Chrissie Hynde, again, is not far away. Viens has a different tone but does sing in the same style. The strange thing for me is, that I never was a true The Pretenders fan. I never pull the albums, yes, I have three, out of the wall of records, ever. I do start to get the impression that this will be different with Girl With A Hawk's debut album, to arrive some day. This has all to do with Linda Viens' voice, I simply like it so much more. The band does the rest as they lend a little from here and there from over the past 40 something years. Another, very, nice single.

Exoskeleton. Pom

Amsterdam based Pom is a regular on this blog for three years now, and still I am waiting for the band's debut album. In the meantime I amuse myself with another nice single. Exoskeleton is somewhere in between pop and alternative rock. Just like EUT's, see some singles above here, Pom is a band with a female single and plays rock music without losing the fun of writing a great chorus. Exoskeleton has a killer one, like some of the much much more famous singers are able to come up with. Pink when truly rocking, while Phoebe Bridgers may not even dream one up in her wildest nightmare. Pom has and it works. Loud, tight, fun and an invitation to sing along with. From the very beginning the band drives the song forward through the tight rhythm, no matter that the song starts small, with instruments being added slowly but surely during the first verse, to explode in that glorious chorus. Dynamics at work in a successful way. It may well be that Exoskeleton is Pom's best song to date.

Happier (featuring Estrella del Sol). Holy Wave

Holy Wave is about to release its sixth record in August, I have missed everything until the release of Happier. We move back to psychedelia. The Texas based band certainly knows its classics in this field. Happier sounds like it escaped from a deep hole it was put in somewhere during the 1970s to escape in 2023. I am reminded of the only single I know and owe by a band called Fields, 'A Friend Of Mine'. A singer called star of the sun in Spanish, hovers ghostlike over the end sequence of Happier. A strange guitar riff, think David Gilmour's famous four note riff in 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond', is played over and over with a minor one variation every other time. The whole song is on repeat from there onwards until the end. The statement was made in the first half though. A little Midlake, like 'Roscoe', and a synth sound from the 70s does the rest. Mixed a little deeper in the sound is a hugely distorted guitar, upsetting the apple cart, while the rhythm goes on and on and on. Happier seems like a great announcement for album 'Five Of Cups', also the name of a tarot card.

Take Me Over. Pale Blue Eyes

Pale Blue Eyes is a dangerous name for a band, as it comes with a huge legacy, being one of my favourite The Velvet Underground songs from my nearly favourite album by that band, in strong competition with the "lost album" 'V.U.' from 1985. That year is a good one to reference, as the music of Pale Blue Eyes has one foot in the 1980s postpunk era. Listen to the synths and melody of Take Me Over and you'll understand why. But where is the other foot? 100% in Django Django. Pale Blue Eyes manages to make a post punk and post new wave song extremely danceable in a modern way. 'Blue Monday' on steroids as it were. This band has that sound down in an extremely good way. Take Me Over ought to make every venue and festival field explode with the energy it shares and the fun to dance thanks to that energy being released. Take Me Over indeed, I conclude. The use of that band name is, for now, excused.

Wout de Natris

 

2023 week 8, 10 singles

February's nearly over. Only a few weeks left till the start of spring. I have felt the first warm sun on my coat already about a week ago! and not because one of these songs makes the sun come out, as you will read. Time to present a few more of this winter's released singles. All relatively unknown names, which gives you all the opportunity to discover new music, although one single is 20 years old. Enjoy.

State O' Maine. Continental

Rock and roll!!! With State O' Maine Continental combines the best of the Stones around 'Exile On Main Street' or more modern Primal Scream's rendition of said album, 'Give Out But Don't Give Up', with some good old punkrock attitude. Front man Rick Barton rocked with Dropkick Murphies in his day as its founding guitarist. (To my surprise that band played the largest indoor venue of NL recently.) This single is dirty rock and roll to the max. Everything is kept so simple, i.e. deceptively simple, as it all fits so well together. "I'm so glad that you have gone" is the conclusion in the lyrics. Well, I'm glad Continental has kept on rocking and is releasing its album 'Hello' on Rum Bar Records soon. If it's as exciting as State O' Maine it's best to fasten our seatbelts and ride, ride, ride as fast as we can. Great single!

Tell That Girl To Shut Up. Tina and the Total Babes

20 Year anniversaries or less or more years. There's always a reason to formally re-release a record. She's So Tuff by Tina and the Total Babes get a 20 year one. A band I have never heard of before. In 2003 it never reached me. Surprising is, that the band's line up on this song has two names that have been on these pages quite recently, Miss Georgia Peach and Travis Ramin, while Holly Beth Vincent wrote this song and also released work on Rum Bar recently. Tell That Girl To Shut Up is 'She's So Tuff's single and is of the powerpop variety. The better Blondie singles and other female (fronted) bands from around 1980 come to mind but also the big powerpop bands of the late 70s. I just love the enthusiasm jumping out of my speakers. I don't know the girl in question but one can only agree on the basis of the song and in the meantime hope she never does. Who is going to sing this song for us then? I'm afraid that the lyrics are going to be censored by the Roald Dahl sensitivity society. They will turn it into something less offensive. (Would this work for music?) Let us in the meantime enjoy it for what it is: a great single.

Phil Ochs Is Dead. The No Ones

The No Ones had me there. With a title and band name like this I had braced myself for the loudest punk imaginable. Instead this extremely pleasant 60s tinged psychedelic pop song pops out of my speakers. An R.E.M. like lead guitar, double vocals and this lovely music spanning a few decades in the best The Byrds / McGuinn, Clark, Hillman tradition. Add a 60s organ and you're there. The No Ones is a new name to me. Guitarist and co-composer Peter Buck and co-band member Scott McCaughey are not. The combination with Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen and Frode Stromstad, unknown names to me, works really well. Phil Ochs Is Dead (and for quite some time, 1976) is an extremely pleasant song, pleasing my ears and mind. Nostalgia kicks in but not just that. It is a good song in its own right.

Angels' Share - Devil May Care. ATEM

After the utterly brilliant album 'Concrete Americana', see my list for 2022 to see how brilliant, ATEM returns with a double a-side single. Disrespectfully, expect more of the same. Respectfully listen to how Jan Korbach uses his acoustic guitar to recreate a genre from the past that has gone totally out of style and yet feels so fresh thanks to his approach. Korbach took the country out of (spaghetti) western movies soundtracks and breaths life into the genre. I will repeat again, everyone needing a replacement for Ennio Morricone should start looking here. Angel's Share and Devil May Care, two short, filmic, compositions are filled with atmosphere, conjuring up images of a huge desert with a small dust cloud, somewhere at the edge of the screen. The stagecoach with the protagonists or the first victims on route to their doom, one way or another. slowly comes into view. This single holds it all. Quentin Tarantino are you paying attention: ATEM!?

Broken Arrow. Pyramaze

Time for some rock. Danish band Pyramaze brings alive the 80s classic rock bands and adds a power layer to its music, creating a modern version of Europe and Whitesnake at the same time. The drums are all over this song. The double bass is in full use giving Broken Arrow a huge bottom end to fall back on. The rhythm guitar is in full metal mood, deep and dark, assisting the drum to create a thick carpet, the sound bounces off on. The keyboards, synths and piano, are the lead instruments. The solo notes can come from either. In the video there's no bass player. I think there is one in the song, but that could be a synth as well. It would be unique, a power rock-metal band without a bass player. The singer has all this genre needs. Is it enough for a song to rock in a great way? Sometimes it is, screaming singer and all.

Sands Of Gold. Craneium

Sands Of Gold, who wouldn't what to find some, is a dark rock single that explores the edges of rock music by adding some desert and space rock elements. Things that are hard to find in the band's home country Finland. Imagination guides people a long way beyond their daily lives and environments. Craneium has a lot of it. With Sands Of Gold it manages to entertain with ease. The song has a dark sound overall, a thick sound as well, like a supernova in the making, making it harder and harder to escape from. The guitar solo's have a tough job to truly stand out in this sound, besides being great and lifting the song one step up with each guitar. Fans of this dark style rock music better pay attention as Sands Of Gold is a stand alone single.

Lay Down. Bird's View

The song title Lay Down has been taken since 1970 by Melanie (Safka). Her number 1 single with the Edwin Hawkins Singers is one of the great singles of the decade. Young Germans Bird's View can be excused. Perhaps their parents were not even born at the time. With the new single, the band appears for the second time on these pages. Working towards the release of 'Red Light Habits', slated for 19 May, Bird's View delivers a nice visiting card with Lay Down. Easy to sing along to and to move our heads rhythmically back and forth. In the singing it matches Melanie's hit. The number one position will probably remain an illusion, unless the band manages to a Maniskin of some sort. Niko Huber has that edge to his voice making him a very convincing for a rock singer and the band profits from it. Behind him is a solid band that manages to combine power with melody. Lay Down works.

246 Tooothpicks. After Elmer

From the skyline to the harbour, After Elmer shows in its video's what it is all about in Rotterdam. The new clip was recorded right between hundreds of containers in one of the terminals. The new single 246 Toothpicks is a loud and tight affair. The young band shows to have learned from the best. This is not just punk music. The deep bottom end shows a love for metal as well. The mix delivers a song with the seriousness and toughness of metal or emo if you like and the pop element the best punkrock songs hold in them. The Ramones started out with speeding up the hits of the early to mid 60s and then started to write their own, is my guess. After Elmer has this part totally down and successfully brings with it a legacy of decades to its own new single that is chock-full of the right kind of energy to get noticed. 246 Toothpicks is a lot to pick up when spilled onto the floor. Within this song it's all clear, let's play it again.

Raven's Nest. Luka

Time for some modern pop music. Luka is releasing a new single on route to her next record. 'Director In The Dark' is an EP to be released on 7 April. Her debut album 'First Steps Of Letting Go', made these pages in 2020, showing that her kind of pop made enough of an impression on me. This is not a given, as most pop of the 20s goes into the one ear and straight out the other. With Raven's Nest Lisa Lukaszczyk and her producer and co-composer Wannes Salome go for atmosphere and almost a minimal layer of music. Electronic beats drive the song. The synth bass is the backbone of the melody. Singer Luka is the principal driver of melody in the song. The combination makes Raven's Nest a mysterious and intriguing song. What is going on here? The ghost like background vocals moving in and out of the mix. Raven's Nest is a song that achieves a maximum effect with a minimum of effects.

Started Something. Jody and the Jerms

Oh, sweet pop music. Jody and The Jerms know where Abraham got his mustard alright. There's nothing new in this song. It has all been done before, except for the way the chord progression is played and the melody filled in in Started Something. The result is a song anyone with a love for the better female fronted pop bands of the past should want to hear. Bands that, no doubt, Jody Jeger was a fan of herself at the time. Starting with an effective piano riff, the band takes us into soft rock songs territory. Started Something has a strong drive and rhythm, setting it apart from regular pop rock songs. Jody Jeger's voice has that girl like innocence coming with the territory, belying her age. Without sunshine in the song itself, Started Something magically makes the sun come out. It's that kind of song.

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

Live In The Mojave Desert Vol. 1 Earthless and Vol. 2 Nebula

Recently a set of five live albums reached me, all recorded live in the Mojave desert. Now desert music I associate with Queens of the Stone Age and Chris Goss, in short, a good dose of rock is to be expected. Melodic as well but certainly rock and at times extreme too.

On the three albums that were released this and last week, volumes 1, 2 and 5, these preconceptions were not disappointed. Rock out the three bands do alright. Recorded as livestream events from the desert, the Italian label Heavy Psych Sounds releases the shows as albums.

This week I focus on the first two issues by the bands Earthless and Nebula.

Vol. 1 Earthless

The album contains just three songs and boy does the band rip it up. Earthless is every guitarist's wet dream. Soloing around a few themes just about forever with a bass player and a drummer who love it to keep that powerhouse going for ever and ever. All three must have an internal metronome as tight as the atomic clock and as solid as an Medieval castle because they all fly off in all sorts of directions and always keep time no matter what. Earthless is around for 20 years and has released five studio albums, while this is the band's fifth live album as well. I can imagine that live the band's essence is captured best. Probably because each member on stage has just this little bit more freedom to explore the innermost workings of a composition. Drummer Mario Cubalcaba is able to show off more becoming just a little bit more inspired. Bass player Mike Eginton has to be even tighter as around him all fly off to their own planet. And the wet dream is consummated alright by guitarist Isaiah Mitchell. From the creation of soundscapes to fiery solos, it all comes by. Mitchell can probably play forever if asked. Thousands of hours spent training his fingers and brain have led to knowing his instrument and gear inside out and provided him the confidence to take on any challenge. Undoubtedly he is improvising whole sections of these songs, with main sections to start and end with. One look between the three is enough to make the transition to another theme within a composition. The result is music that one has to like to appreciate and much more so than the general comments made about taste. This music is instrumental and challenging. With 16, 21 and 39 minutes the three compositions seem near endless as well. Pass that post and a world will open, as this is high class instrumental rock. There may be many bands playing this kind of music, I am not familiar with them. My reference here is Jimi Hendrix going off in psychedelic outings like 'Voodoo Chile' or '1983 (A Mermaid I Should Be)' on 'Electric Ladyland'. (Jimi sings as well, I know.) Earthless goes beyond this reference and then some. Like Hendrix is rumoured to have been playing endlessly in studios not finding an exit in his own songs anymore in 1969 and 1970. Earthless has and kicked up a sandstorm in the Mojave.

Vol.2. Nebula

Nebula is a band that barring a seven year hiatus is around since 1997. Isaiah Mitchell of Earthless played bass in the band for a short while. Called a stoner rock band, I find that a lot sounds familiar on Vol. 2. Classic rock elements come by as well as familiar sounds from psychedelic rock. One word is 100% appropriate though: rock. Nebula rocks out on the deep end of its music all of the time. Bass player Tom Davies, a member since 2003, replacing Mitchell, is guarding the deep end almost ferociously. That allows drummer Mike Amster (2017) to play with his rhythms the whole of the time. There's always a moment to side step the basics here with a fill or two or three. Over this rock solid foundation guitarist/singer Eddie Glass, the only founding member left, sings his rather floating melodies and solos away as soon as the song allows him to do so. This results in heavy solos but also in experiments in sound as effect pedals are kicked in and sounds just go off in mysterious directions bouncing off against the different effects, looped or not, to change course once again. Vol. 2 may be a more traditional rock album than Earthless' Vol. 1, the dedication of Nebula to its music is just as great. Rock and roll this is.

Warning

The noise in the desert must have been gigantic. I can imagine the lives of the denizens of that desert must have been disturbed in significant ways. Where are the environmentalists to protect them from the serious sonic harm to their local environment? It is time somebody stands up. In the meantime, rock on brothers and sisters.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and buy Vol. 1 here:

https://heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/earthless-live-in-the-mojave-desert-volume-1

and Vol. 2 here:

https://heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/nebula-live-in-the-mojave-desert-volume-2

or listen to our Spotify Playlist to find out what we are writing about:

https://open.spotify.com/user/glazu53/playlist/6R9FgPd2btrMuMaIrYeCh6?si=KI6LzLaAS5K-wsez5oSO2g