Cheap Gunslingers. Cheap Gunslingers

Musically Boston - Florida is for Rum Bar Records like turning the corner of the street. Cheap Gunslingers fit the bar perfectly. It's like Iggy Pop's younger brother kicks of the album to be replaced by four younger Ramones cousins, while a song or two later they all play together with the son of Stuart Morrison, Lou Reed's neighbour and the daughter of 'Mo' Tucker joining on drums.

Anyone listening to 'Three Chords' for the first time might just believe it. Cheap Gunslingers plays with history when writing and recording its songs. 'Run Girl' even brings in the early 60s. Traces of Dion and Del Shannon mix with the punk ethics that run through 'Cheap Gunslingers' foremost.

The three members obviously know their personal classics. Excitement comes first. Energy is jumping out of the whatevers of my MP3s. The pounding drums and driving bass goad the selection of songs ever forward. The rhythm guitar is deliciously murky or plain dirty. The singing is slightly distorted and sneeringly thrown into the microphone. Edo McGrady has the voice to match the music. Dirty, rough, without compromise, that's the way he shares his lyrics with the world. It's a tough world out there just so we know it.

If I have to compare Cheap Gunslingers to another act, I find that it is label mate Nat Freedberg I'm thinking of first, were it not that Cheap Gunslingers is far more rough and with almost no compromises. Of course, there're melodies. Abundantly even. What happens around these melodies is what makes this album so much fun to listen to. The pounding drums of Greg 'Johnny Zoom' Kazek keeps everyone's attention without any doubt. The rhythm just goes on and on, making sure there's no letting down for a single second. With full support of Todd "Killings" Johnson's bass. All McGrady has to do is play some nice guitar parts and sing to make Cheap Gunslingers happening and that is just what he delivers.

No 1, 2, 3, 4, for Cheap Gunslingers. 5 and 6 are added, just to show a little extra is given, like cranking the amp up to 11. The dirt of 'Record Store' spews out of my speakers. To all intend and purposes 'Record Store' makes a statement that is not wavered from for a second. There may be two ballads on 'Cheap Gunslingers', they are Cheap Gunslingers ballads. So don't expect roses and summer wine.

'Cheap Gunslingers' is an album for everybody who likes 60s pop infused with a jolt of garage rock and 70s melodic punk. In that category the album is a true winner and in several others easily as well. A great new album in the oeuvre of Rum Bar Records.

Wo.

This album comes with a p.s. In 2017 one band member went missing. Melissa DuCasse is missing since. If anyone has information the band asks to contact them.

You can buy Cheap Gunslingers here:

https://rumbarrecords.bandcamp.com/album/cheap-gunslingers


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

Mateo. Lian Ray

A single by a new artist introduced in The Netherlands by Snowstar Records. If anything Mateo makes me extremely curious to hear more by Lian Ray. I am almost certain that the last name is not a coincidence. Listening to Lian's Mateo I am reminded immediately of Lana del. (Never mind that one letter difference.) This is not the end of the story. Lian Ray may have the same kind of mood and inherent darkness hanging over this song and a deep voice as well, there is also a kind of playfulness in her song that is not always present in Lana's'. So yes, this is serious business, but let's not forget that it's entertainment as well.

And then the surprise sets in. I start reading the bio of Lian Ray and find out that he is from France and moved to Amsterdam after living in Berlin for 10 years. So Lian Ray is male. You could have fooled me! Just listening to the song I was convinced otherwise. But okay, this doesn't change anything that I am trying to convey to you here.

Mateo is a nice if not beautiful song that meanders on the sound of the keyboard, like a slow but deliberately streaming river ever going onwards. Nothing is stopping it, nothing stops Mateo. The ménage-a-trois the song is about seems to end in a bad way for the singer. Rose loves Mateo more unfortunately. This tragic fact is sung with a mix of sadness and resignation that makes the song extremely intriguing to listen to. The meandering keyboard underscores this mood in a perfect way.

If Mateo is the standard of what is to follow, the waiting is going to be very much worth our while.

Wo.

You can buy Mateo here:

http://www.snowstar.nl/release/mateo-single/


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

Real Farmer. Real Farmer

A real farmer? Why not? We have programs on farmers looking for wives/husbands/partners. There's a website called "bewust boeren" (conscious farming). Ever since reading that sign somewhere past the road, we are consciously farming away in our home as "boeren" also means belching in Dutch. So there's room in my life for a band called Real Farmer, especially when they are playing the enthusiastic kind of punkrock like this band does.

There seems to be no limit to the level of enthusiasm Real Farmer endows on its listeners. It all certainly sounds familiar. Yes, this has been done before and then enter Real Farmer.

Anyone with a taste for late 70s punk, 80s new wave, alternative rock with a touch of doom has found his or her new band to follow. On 'Real Farmer' a collection of five songs is unleashed on an unsuspecting world that picks it up by the ears and shakes it around severely before letting go just as unexpectedly. With ears still red from the touch, I come back for a second helping.

Just listen how 'Nostalgia' opens. Like a pub crowd having to shout along in drunken abandon the song is sung. The double tracked vocals and harmonies suggest that singing along is the only option given to those listening. Of course things are "messed up", but the ramshackle rhythm and playing are so contagious. This is fun, messed up or not. The Clash is just a starting point here. There's a host of U.K. punk bands of 40 years back who would have loved to have songs of this quality. Here they seem to gel together, where then it was often just second hand noise and enthusiasm mistaken for quality.

In 'My Island' everything goes into overdrive. A moshpit is probably an understatement of what could happen in the 1.00 minute the song last. Longer would cause a health hazard. If anything 'My Island' is a statement. This is who we are and this is what we do. And we, Real Farmer, do it loud, fast but always in control.

Real Farmer is a band consisting of members of other bands, like Korfbal, Yuko Yuko and OOO, based in Groningen and a proud member of the local punk scene. And Groningen and its punk scene have a member to be proud of. It is easy to make a lot of noise, it is a lot less easy to make that noise shine. To stay on the farm, 'Real Farmer' is the proverbial pearl in the dung heap, discarded by the swine, embraced by

Wo.

You can buy Real Farmer here:

https://subroutinerecords.bigcartel.com/product/real-farmer-real-farmer-7


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

Miss Universe. Nilüfer Yanya

Nilüfer Yanya oogst momenteel veel lof met haar veelkleurige debuut Miss Universe en daar valt echt helemaal niets op af te dingen.

De BBC dacht dat ze vorig jaar al zou doorbreken, maar het is net wat later geworden. De vanuit Londen opererende Nilüfer Yanya krijgt uiteenlopende labels opgeplakt, maar op haar debuut laat ze horen dat ze echt met geen mogelijkheid in een hokje is te duwen. Miss Universe staat vol met even lekker in het gehoor liggende als avontuurlijke popsongs, maar het zijn popsongs die alle kanten op schieten. Van loom en jazzy tot elektronisch en onderkoeld tot rauw en stekelig. Het ene moment doet ze je denken aan PJ Harvey, het volgende moment aan Sade, het volgende moment weer aan totaal iets anders. En het is echt allemaal even lekker. Knap debuut.

De BBC voorspelt aan het eind van ieder jaar welke muzikanten volgens de Britse staatsomroep in het nieuwe jaar hoge ogen gaan gooien.
 
Het heeft in het verleden een aantal zeer trefzekere voorspellingen opgeleverd (zo voorspelde de BBC een mooie toekomst voor onder andere Adele, Sam Smith, Ellie Goulding en HAIM), maar aan het eind van 2017 leek de glazen bol van de BBC niet helemaal goed gekalibreerd.
 
In de lijst met de “Sound for 2018” staan namen als Sigrid, Billie Eilish en Jade Bird en dat zijn allemaal jonge vrouwelijke muzikanten die pas aan het begin van 2019 hun debuut uitbrengen. Hetzelfde geldt voor Nilüfer Yanya, die ook op de lijst van de BBC voor 2018 stond en deze week debuteert met Miss Universe.
 
Nilüfer Yanya is een singer-songwriter uit Londen met onder andere Turkse roots. Daarvan is niets te horen in haar muziek, maar verder legt de jonge singer-songwriter zichzelf weinig beperkingen op. Miss Universe opent met een computerstem, die in meerdere intermezzo’s op het album terugkeert, maar laat hierna de gitaren ronken in een stevige rocksong. Het is een verrassende start van een album dat vooral in het hokje pop/R&B wordt geduwd.
 
Bij beluistering van Miss Universe wordt snel duidelijk dat Nilüfer Yanya zich niet in een hokje laat duwen. In de openingstrack klinkt de singer-songwriter nog als een jonge PJ Harvey, die een poging heeft gedaan om een hit te schrijven, maar Miss Universe schiet vervolgens meerdere kanten op. Na de stevige openingstrack kies de Britse singer-songwriter voor een wat meer pop-georiënteerd geluid met invloeden uit de pop, R&B en jazz, maar ook in deze tracks duiken zo nu en dan stevige gitaarriffs op, of flirt Nilüfer Yanya met invloeden uit de postpunk en de new wave.
 
Miss Universe van Nilüfer Yanya is een vat vol tegenstrijdigheden, maar het is wel een buitengewoon aangenaam vat vol tegenstrijdigheden. Nilüfer Yanya slaagt er op haar debuut in om buitengewoon lekker in het gehoor liggende popliedjes te combineren met allerlei verrassende wendingen.
 
Het vaak wat gruizige gitaarwerk op het debuut van Nilüfer Yanya is dik in orde, net als de elektronische accenten en de bijzondere ritmes. Het kleurt allemaal prachtig bij de stem van Nilüfer Yanya die ruw kan uithalen, maar ook ingetogen of soulvol klinken. Dat laatste doet ze vooral in de lome en wat jazzy aandoende tracks, die net als de stevigere tracks op een aangename manier buiten de lijntjes kleuren.
 
Het maakt van Miss Universe een even mooie als bijzondere plaat, die net zo goed aan PJ Harvey als aan Sade doet denken en die de balans weet te vinden tussen Prince en de Pixies. Hier kan ik nog talloze namen aan toevoegen, maar het noemen van namen doet de muziek van Nilüfer Yanya geen recht. Nilüfer Yanya klinkt uiteindelijk immers vooral als zichzelf.

De BBC voorspelde haar meer dan een jaar geleden al een hele mooie toekomst en die voorspelling kan wat mij betreft alleen maar uitkomen. Nilüfer Yanya heeft met Miss Universe niet alleen een plaat gemaakt met een bijzonder eigen geluid, maar het is er bovendien een die zeer doet uitzien naar alles wat deze bijzondere muzikante nog in haar mars heeft. “Hilariously talented” noemt The Guardian haar en dat is precies zoals het is.

Erwin Zijleman

Je kunt Miss Universe hier kopen:

https://niluferyanya.bandcamp.com/album/miss-universe


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

Help Us Stranger. The Raconteurs

The Raconteurs return to the front after an hiatus of more than a decade. The return comes with a musical storm and accolades galore. The Raconteurs are back and the world should know it.

In the meantime Jack White has released albums under his own name and in other guises. Brendan Benson released several solo records as well. Less conspicuous in the public eye, but some certainly very much worthwhile listening to, as you can find on this blog.

The Raconteurs, wasn't that the band with a great, great single, but an average album and that great album, without a hit single? Yes, in my mind the band divided its two previous album this way. 'Steady As She Goes' is one of my absolute favourite songs of the 00s, while 'Consolers Of The Lonely' is a very good album.

So how does Help Us Stranger fare? If there still was such a thing as singles in the alternative rock world, Help Us Stranger would contain several, while as an album the ranking is far above average. It simply is one of the better albums of 2019. Easily, two fingers in the nose, as they say of cyclists racing up a mountain without any, seemingly, effort.

The Raconteurs presents the world several great rock songs and a few fantastic alternative ballads. All seems to come together on its new album. In the experimenting with sounds and some, almost weird, dynamics. In 'Don't Bother Me', things go to the edge of irking my ears extremely, were it not that the song is so extremely tight.

A band The Raconteurs has listened to very closely is Led Zeppelin. The break and solo in 'Don't Bother Me' is classic Led Zep. Just like the folk influence in the final song 'Thoughts And Prayers' presents us every lick and stroke Jimmy Page presented the world with when he played an acoustic guitar. Showing influences is great as long as the song that contains them are great. And that is the case on Help us Stranger.

Apparently The Raconteurs tried to write a new album in 2013, but nothing came from the sessions. Listening to this album six years later one can only wonder what happened six years ago. The interaction between the individual members and the fact they, especially Benson and White of course, provide each other the spot to shine, shows that the band has found a comfortable position to work in. The solid rhythm section certainly deserves a mention as it provides the bed on which all else happens.

The only negative comment to make would be that some melodies of the songs remind me of other, older songs. Not in a major way, so The Raconteurs will be alright in that department. It is also the only one I can make. Help Us Stranger so perhaps is not perfect. Thanks to the different moods the band takes the listener through without losing an inch of attention, shows how good this album is. I did not buy the album deaf, but should/could have.

Wo.

You can buy Help Us Stranger here:

https://theraconteurs.bandcamp.com/


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