10 Singles, week 36

We start with the first single from a much anticipated album and from there slowly work our way down into several great releases, including one that totally stunned the writer. See if you can determine which one. This set of singles is once again very varied. The quality, mostly, quite consistent. Have fun exploring.

There'd Better Be A Mirrorball. Arctic Monkeys

A new single by Arctic Monkeys? That is always a moment to look forward to. With 'The Car' announced for 21 October the first single saw the light of day a day later. Anyone hoping for a return to form, as in anything 2006 - 2013, is going to be disappointed. There'd Better Be A Mirrorball is a lounge settee affair and not a dancefloor one. I even have the impression that the guitars are expulsed from the band. Having that of my heart, it is time to listen to the new track. Alex Turner obviously is moving back decades in time. He could have written the song for the great singers of the 1940s and 50s. What would Frank Sinatra have made of this song? We can never find out, but it is on this level There'd Better Be A Mirrorball is to be placed. And the band gets away with it fantastically. Is this where I'd hoped the band to be in 2022, counting back to 2013's 'AM? No, that it is not, but with the previous album in mind, this may be the ideal outcome as the "doing as difficult as possible" mode has been shook off. The result is a pop song from a very different era. How this is going to come across live, I have no way of telling, but there seem to be two Arctic Monkeys more and more and that will not go down with all fans. That much is certain. They want to hear the 19, 20 year old Alex Turner and not the 30 something. We have all gotten older and have, hopefully, grown in the meantime as well. The best things is to go with Arctic Monkeys' flow and let ourselves be surprised.

The Drop. Sports Team

A new single by the U.K.'s Sports Team and it is a mix between alternative pop and rock. It contains both in abundance. The Drop is simply contagious. Hear it once and your sold. At least, I was. The enthusiasm the band unleashes on its new single is immense. The foundation the drums and bass lay with the rhythm guitar makes the song move ever forward. There's no stopping them. The rest of the band, including a bunch of great horns, only has to lay down a great party track to finish the feel off and does just that. Decades of great U.K. pop songs are balled into a couple of minutes, painted over with a Sports Team special sauce. How many songs are so full of a party feeling starting with the line "Katy died, just waiting for the right time to retire"? Not since Skippy died in that great and funny, tragic novel by Paul Murray, have I come across this combination in such a glorious way. Sports Team certainly made the right sort of advertisement for its upcoming album 'Gulp!'. (And those Arctic Monkeys fans, who, hopefully, kept on reading, were disappointed? You've found your new band right here.)

Too Much To Do. Laura Jean

The Flying Nun newsletter announced the upcoming album 'Amateur' from Australian singer-songwriter Laura Jean that caught my attention immediately. I found two songs from 2022 (and two older albums, 2014 and 18). Too Much To Do is a song that impresses immediately and comes with a huge surprise along the line. The music sounds so strict. A staccato played piano leads the way, over which Laura Jean sings with her very pleasant voice. Somewhere between dreaming about another place and knowing exactly what she wants in the here and now. A small string section sets in and gives the song a totally different flavour. In the next verse the band kicks in, so tight and right, that it makes the song and my head explode. Writing about changing moods of flavours! The strings remain up front as you will notice, making Too Much To Do a song that totally stands out. In the end the song becomes a modern disco song, and an alternative rock and pop song in one. You tell me what it is, because it's simply all in there. If this is the standard Laura Jean sets for 'Amateur', the world is in for a treat. Be patient though, 4 November is the date set for the release.

I Don't Need You No More. Andrea Gillis

Andrea Gillis is at it again and rock and roll it does. She covers a J. Geils Band song, maybe the only band that can state to have played an as good if not better, we will never admit it of course, show as support act to The Rolling Stones (in Rotterdam 1982). In the intro Gillis takes on 50% of all rock songs of the past 50 years. The piano is the instrument standing out most. Had he still been alive, she would have hired Ian Stewart to boogie away on her new track. With 2.22 minutes the song has a 1960s hitsingle's length and in that little time everything that needs saying is said and done. I Don't Need You No More is one tough rock and roll rendition of an already rock song. Simply, well done. Whoever Ms. Gillis is singing this to, I think her message is clear.

Burning. Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Yeah Yeah Yeahs is a band whose name I've heard through the years but never heard music by or it did not leave an impression on me. With a new single out, announcing the new album, 'Cool It Down', I decided to have a listen. Burning is a hybrid affair, I found. It has a modern dance streak, as it has modern rhythms, accompanied by an extremely distorted guitar. Loud, in your face and very, very present. At the same time Burning has an old streak. The piano riff is lent from a The Four Seasons track called 'Begging'. With the (synth?) strings it calls on a mood from long ago. The two parts work really well. The lyrics were inspired by a fire set by a candle singer Karen O left burning when she left her NYC room a long time ago and the LA fires that raged around the city in 2020. The music works but hasn't fully convinced me yet. On the dancefloor, not that I encounter many these days, three fourths of the single will work really well.

Second Time. Natalie Sweet and Brad Marino

Two Rum Bar Records artists have found each other and collaborate on this oh so sweet, what's in a name, single. Natalie Sweet's rough rock voice stands out and Brad Marino lends his great rocking guitar work and strong hooks to the music. Second Time is powerpop in optima forma. The guitar is all over the place, muted, full out and everything in between. The bass is allowed to play some great melodic runs and a warm organ tops it all off as the ideal icing on the cake Second Time is. As usual Brad Marino throws in a short but oh so effective guitar solo. He always manages to play it all in just a few seconds. Second Time hopefully is not the only collaboration between the two artists, as their collaboration is all one should be, 1 + 1 = 3.

Emergency. Geoff Palmer

Marino's former(?) band mate also has a prolific output. With his previous, fantastic single 'Many More Drugs' fresh in mind, I'm listening to his new one called Emergency. If I understand it correctly, besides Brad Marino, playing on his upcoming record, I'm listening to a cover, part of a fully covered album. 'Standing In The Spotlight' is a rap album by Dee Dee Ramone/King from 1989. On Emergency Geoff Palmer is calling Dee Dee as if there's some emergency going on. Emergency is a song containing both the enormous energy that is always an ingredient of his music, together with a pince of humour and loads of enthusiasm. Geoff Palmer is someone who always reaches for the mount where the perfect poprock song lives. Tirelessly he travels up to find it there and often comes back with the ingredients to construe perfection. Emergency is covered lovingly, listening to the original now, where Geoff Palmer being the far better singer. Where Palmer wins is that he found the little extras in the composition making it a better powerpop song than it was. A whole album? Lay it on me, folks.

Key Of Ego. Personal Trainer

Personal Trainer is about to release its first album and to whet our appetites released two singles. The other is 'The Lazer'. Willem Smit is in his third band, after Paleo Superspeed Donkey and Canshaker Pi, besides playing in other bands, often with some of the people in Personal Trainer. Key Of Ego is an eclectic affair. A lot of energy is shared with the listener and all of the positive kind. Musically the alternative rock track brings together a lot of different influences. Talking Heads, disco, rap, all the alternative rock going on in the world/The Netherlands right now and some slacker rock to top things off. And it all miraculously works together. In the bio Willem Smit is called a conductor and cheerleader. Although it is hard to imagine him cheerleading, I am able to see the cheerleaders from Beck's famous video in my mind's eye dancing to Key Of Ego. That it all fits together will have to do with leading part in cheerleading the rest onwards and conducting them. 'Big Love Blanket' is out on 4 November. Wasn't that Lauren Jean's release date as well? A busy day that's going to be.

Nooit, Misschien EP. De Toegift

De Toegift heeft zijn tweede EP uitgebracht, een plaat met drie singles waarvan er twee, ''De Woonwijk' en 'Soms', al eerder op dit blog besproken zijn. Dat laat het nummer 'Meer dan Ooit' over. In dit nummer zingt zanger Maxim Ventulé meer dan ooit als Frank Boeijen, maar misschien vreemd genoeg, ook als The Avonden's Mark van der Holst. De band als geheel is ook meer aanwezig dan ooit. De bas van Jorie Slagmolen is bijzonder prominent, maar dat geldt ook voor de drums van Tim van den Hoven en de effecten die Tom Gudde uit zijn gitaar en effectpedalen tovert. 'Meer dan Ooit' is een grootse song, die De Toegift meeslepend speelt. De muziek, de noten wordt net iets langer uitgerekt dan ik zou verwachten. Dat maakt dat het nummer nog grootser klinkt. De galm op de gitaar zit ook in het eerste nummer van de EP, 'De Woonwijk'. Toch is dat nummer elementairder. Met 'Meer dan Ooit' groeit De Toegift uit zijn jasje. Het topmummer van deze EP.

Baby Does Your Heart Sink. Martha

In the video a very disheartening panel votes the band out but any pop punk rocking loving music fan would do a big thumb up after listening to Martha's new single. Baby Does Your Heart Sink makes your heart singing out loud, I promise you. A few chords and the musical truth packed into a few minutes. That, at times, is all it takes and the Durham band does just that. Including a great guitar solo that sings out as well. It is impossible to say why I like this song. Baby Does Your Heart Sink simply speaks to me in volumes. The song does everything right and floats effortlessly it seems. All the little parts fit so well together and the energy and enthusiasm do the rest. I simply love the song and that's all that matters, really.

Wout de Natris

Regenerator. King Buffalo

King Buffalo is a band that is on my radar now for a few years, but never really caught on. This changed with its recently released album Regenerator. Not so much because of the band doing something different, no, more that the previous live album sort of paved the way for my brain to adapt. And it has.

The trio from Rochester in up state New York releases all its records at home in the U.S. itself, here in Europe through the German Stickman label. The new release comes with a prolific list of tour dates, so you have every chance to see King Buffalo in your neighbourhood.

Musically the band can be placed in the hardrock segment with clear influences from symphonic rock, metal and some psychedelia. Always on the verge of shredding the song apart, to presenting beautiful melodic sequences. Lyrics are not a necessity but always there as a part of a long composition. With a song called 'Interlude' clocking in at nearly three minutes, it gives you an idea of the length of songs. Two of over nine minutes! That is not Motorpsycho length but the comparison with the Norwegians' work(ethic) is allowed to be made.

King Buffalo is a trio with two members doubling on synths, singer, guitarist Sean McVay and bassist Dan Reynolds, and finally drummer Scott Donaldson. Naturally the singer and guitarist draws the most attention, as he gets to play all the earcatching specialities. In a trio setting there is however a huger role than ever for the other two, as there is no hiding for McVay and nothing behind him without Reynolds and Donaldson. And all songs make that abundantly clear. This is a backing in the best of the power trio's of old tradition.

While the synths and organs, not to mention the many overdubs of guitars, pump up the sound to at time huge proportions, King Buffalo creates a huge challenge: how to play all this live as a trio? Not, the band's live album proved to be a trance invoking experience. Thus it will be for the songs on Regenerator.

The song I really want to put the spotlight on is 'Mammoth'. It reminds me of Uriah Heep of old, because of the organ mostly. This is a song that starts as a mid-tempo rock song but slowly but surely expands to other levels. Not once, but continuously. The organ joins and guitar upon guitar adding another solo and sound. Because of this the song stands out on the album, as it is different. The upscaling is achieved by melody and not brutal force.

Regenerator starts almost as a classic symphony, to be interrupted by a pumping guitar riff followed by a tight drumbeat. The first solo is the lead guitar with something like a phaser and wah wah effect colouring the whole, while the beat forever continues. After another verse, McVay goes off exploring the title song's inner and outer crevices. This is what I would call classic King Buffalo.

If you like this combination of a tight rhythm section and an exploring guitarist setting the song on fire, dousing it only to set it alight once again, King Buffalo is your band. Myself, I certainly like to step along the route for quite awhile.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order Regenerator here:

https://kingbuffalo.bandcamp.com/

Let There Be No Despair. Jess Jocoy

De Amerikaanse muzikante Jess Jocoy maakt op Let There Be No Despair nog net wat meer indruk dan op haar debuutalbum en kan binnen de Amerikaanse rootsmuziek van het moment met de allerbesten mee.

Ik was net iets meer dan twee jaar geleden diep onder de indruk van het debuutalbum van Jess Jocoy uit Nashville. Such A Long Way deed niet onder voor de beste rootsalbums van dat moment en imponeerde met een prachtig rootsgeluid, overtuigende songs en een geweldige stem vol gevoel. Jess Jocoy keert deze week terug met Let There Be No Despair. Het is een album dat wat stemmiger en wat meer ingetogen klinkt dan zijn voorganger, maar het geluid is ook dit keer zeer fraai. Nog mooier is de fantastische stem van Jess Jocoy, die nog wat meer indruk maakt dan op haar debuut en alle songs van het album tot enorme hoogten optilt. Absoluut een van de beste rootsalbums van 2022, dat is zeker.

De Amerikaanse muzikante Jess Jocoy bracht net iets meer dan twee jaar geleden haar debuutalbum Such A Long Way uit. Het album verscheen net nadat het coronavirus de wereld in haar greep had gekregen, waardoor nogal wat albums werden uitgesteld, maar het eerste album van Jess Jocoy gelukkig niet. Het zorgde er voor dat het debuut van de muzikante uit Nashville niet ondersneeuwde door een enorme stapel albums van bekendere muzikanten en daar ben ik tot op de dag van vandaag heel erg blij mee. 

Such A Long Way van Jess Jocoy liet zich immers niet alleen beluisteren als een volstrekt tijdloos singer-songwriter album in het rootssegment, maar het bleek bovendien al heel snel een singer-songwriter album waarop Jess Jocoy werkelijk alles goed deed. Such A Long Way was prachtig geproduceerd, viel op door een even fraai als tijdloos rootsgeluid, bevatte bijdragen van topmuzikanten als meestergitarist Will Kimbrough, stond vol met aansprekende songs en liet ook nog eens een werkelijk geweldige zangeres horen. 

Such A Long Way van Jess Jocoy dwong dan ook met heel veel overtuiging een plekje in mijn jaarlijstje af en schaarde de Amerikaanse muzikante bovendien onmiddellijk onder mijn persoonlijke favorieten binnen de Amerikaanse rootsmuziek van het moment, waarna het album me alleen maar dierbaarder werd. 

Net iets meer dan twee jaar na het geweldige Such A Long Way is deze week opvolger Let There Be No Despair verschenen. Het album volgt op de vorig jaar verschenen EP Brighter Eyes, die wat mij betreft een stuk minder mooi klonk dan Such A Long Way. Let There Be No Despair klinkt gelukkig weer net zo mooi en indrukwekkend als het debuutalbum van Jess Jocoy en misschien nog wel mooier. 

De muzikante uit Nashville deed voor de productie van haar nieuwe album een beroep op producer Brandon Bell, die eerder werkte met onder andere Brandi Carlile en Miranda Lambert. Vergeleken met het debuutalbum van Jess Jocoy klinkt Let There Be No Despair wat meer ingetogen en ook wat soberder. Het geweldige gitaarwerk van Will Kimbrough is vervangen door het over het wat minder stevige maar ook zeer fraai snarenwerk van multi-instrumentalist Ethan Ballinger, terwijl hiernaast de viool van Lydia Luce een zeer prominente rol heeft gekregen in het geluid van Jess Jocoy. 

De Amerikaanse muzikante tekent zelf voor een serie geweldige songs en imponeert met haar stem, die sinds haar debuut alleen maar mooier is geworden. Net als op haar debuutalbum slaagt Jess Jocoy er op Let There Be No Despair in om haar songs met heel veel gevoel en doorleving te vertolken. De zang op het album heeft een nog wat prominentere plek in de mix gekregen en is, in ieder geval bij mij, tien songs en 41 minuten lang goed voor kippenvel. 

Jess Jocoy schaarde zich met haar debuutalbum onder mijn favoriete zangeressen en songwriters in het genre en met het wonderschone Let There Be No Despair versterkt ze haar positie alleen maar. Ik was zeer gecharmeerd van de instrumentatie en productie op haar debuutalbum, maar ook het tweede album van Jess Jocoy klinkt fantastisch, terwijl de songs en de teksten alleen maar aan kwaliteit hebben gewonnen. 

Het grote publiek en de grote platenmaatschappijen hebben het talent van Jess Jocoy vreemd genoeg nog niet ontdekt, maar dat kan alleen maar een kwestie van tijd zijn. Ook Let There Be No Despair is immers een weergaloos album, dat ik alvast opschrijf voor mijn jaarlijstje.

Erwin Zijleman

 

Je kunt Let There Be No Despair hier luisteren en bestellen:

https://jessjocoy.bandcamp.com/

 

Three albums, 02-09-2022

Three more album getting the smaller spotlight. One that is out for a few months now, others that would have fallen off the roster otherwise but deserve a space in our opinion. With two famous names behind a new name that we start off with.

A Light For Attracting Attention. The Smile

Out for a few months now, has me catching up on this important release in 2022. Having listened to the album once, did make me go to the record shop and buy it. Just like every other Radiohead release of the past three decades. Oops, you are right. This is not a Radiohead release. Having listened to the album multiple times now, I can't help but wonder why A Light For Attracting Attention is not the new Radiohead album. Nobody would have given it a second thought if it had been. True? Yes, true.

Whether this bodes well for the band or not, I have no way of telling. Fact is Greenwood - Yorke must have wanted to work with drummer Tom Skinner very badly, to ignore their other three band mates. Perhaps the long drum intro would not have been there in 'The Opposite' e.g. and the song part starting sooner. For the rest A Light For Attracting Attention fits the Radiohead mould in my opinion. In other words, it's an album that makes the standard set by the band for experimental, alternative rock music. On the one hand, I'm always a bit flustered listening to it, while on the other, I nearly always, sorry 'Kid A', recognise the beauty and the quality of the work. It makes for a love-hate relationship with the band, that usually falls to the love side. The same is true for A Light For Attracting Attention. There are extremely difficult pieces of music on the album, that somehow come together and melt into songs. The duo Greenwood - Yorke is even moving to great heights, so perhaps that was the role of Skinner, who pushed them to the limit with his propulsive drumming. A perfect mix of dreaming and power is aimed for and often reached. A Light For Attracting Attention may prove to be a more important album than an in between "solo/duo" album after all. It should have been a Radiohead album though.

Lucky Me. Phoebe Green

Can an album be too modern in sound for me? Yes, easily of course. The new pop stars sound too slick for me most of the time, while a new artist like Beabadoobee plays around with themes like these and explores every side and by road possible turning her music into alternative powerhouses, while seldom leaving the pop feel too far by the wayside. Enter Phoebe Green with her album Lucky Me. She aims for sort of the same feel but does she succeed?

You may have noticed her in the weekly single section before the summer holidays. Recently she released her debut album 'Lucky Me'. On it she plays with pop, a little Fleetwood Mac of the 'Tango In The Night' era, some alternative edges. Playing with the autotune software, is the first thing I notice in the opening song, 'Break Your Heart' and leaves me wondering why. She has a good singing voice and the melody, a bare sort of 'Everywhere' is fine as it is. Listening further into the album, I hear that Lucky Me is lovingly made, with people who obviously wanted her to succeed. Faced with a writer's block, literally blocking her progress and career, she brought in others to work with her, which led to a new sound and other songs then she worked on in her teens. The result is a synth laden album, with almost no guitars but rhythms inspired by hip hop. On the other hand, 'Crying In The Club' sounds like a Wet Leg song on synths. It can be that simple.

Taking it all in Lucky Me is an album that is not for me, despite the fact that I can listen to it and half of the time enjoy it some. So, yes, an album can be too pop for me.

1080. The Anaesthetics

In May I wrote on the single 'TV Personality': "I have the feeling of having been put into a time machine with the dial plus/minus on 1980. The dark electronic wave music coming out of my speakers hold everything from Tubeway Army to China Crisis. Like many song from the day, the sounds all come from synths, the melody, the bass pulses, the drums." These words are more or less enough to describe the album, that was not released in May, as I wrote at the time but in late August.

The Anaesthetics from Horst aan de Maas, has a love for music from decades ago. Most likely by way of a band like White Lies and perhaps even Editors. This makes the band not having a face of its own, which is okay when starting out in a career. The way it lets in a pop element in 'Space Between Your Lines', shows The Anaesthetics dares to look beyond darkness, without saying goodbye to that nice Tubeway Army synth sound. The band describes its music as "modern new wave", but in my ears only because it is released in 2022. I stand by my comparison with China Crisis for example. What if that band had released 1080 as its comeback album in 2022? It goes to show that The Anaesthetics did a fine job writing and working on its debut album.

The physical release, cd and lp, is on 16 September.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order the albums here:

https://thesmile.bandcamp.com/album/a-light-for-attracting-attention

https://phoebegreenmusic.bandcamp.com/album/lucky-me

https://www.gentlemenrecordings.com/product/the-anaesthetics-1080-digital-cd-vinyl/

Week 35, 10 singles

Yes, it's that time of the week again, that WoNoBlog looks at 10 recent singles. You will find a very varied lot. Youngsters taking on the world, "oldtimers" returning to the game and everything in between. There's even a better known name among the lot. Find out more, so off you go.

Superspreader. Ber

Superspreader is the kind of word that I do not want to hear at any time in the coming decades. It would mean that we have left the pandemic behind us. Although I fear there will be another Covid fall and winter coming up, I deeply hope to be surprised. And here comes singer Ber with her new single titled Superspreader. No, thank you, Ber, despite friends calling you that. The music sounds extremely familiar. Superspreader is a song that has been made many times before in the past few years. E.g. by Dutch singer Judy Blank. At the same time it is nice to listen to. Especially when the vocal harmonies and counter melodies come in and the music is being pushed to another level. All in all Superspeader is a song that I've heard too many times recently, one too many it seems. Nice, certainly, but not more than that.

Dentures Out. The Proclaimers

My guess is just about the whole world knows one song by The Proclaimers. Twins Craig and Charley Reid sing their upbeat song, 'Letter from America', with a thick Scottish accent. Is there a day that goes by without the song on the radio somewhere? Probably not. Now I have never heard another song by the duo and here it is 2022 and Dentures Out is delivered on my digital doorstep. And to my big surprise, The Proclaimers' new single is also a very upbeat affair. Could they imagine in 1987 to ever sing a song about dentures, let alone having them out? A topic that was as far away from most youth as disease and death. Dentures Out is also the title of the upcoming 12th album. Its title song is such pleasant song to listen to. A country flavour to the guitar playing, a warm organ and uptempo and beat for the whole of the trip. A nice re-introduction 35 years later.

Thank You. The Vacant Lots

Listening to the intro of Thank You and anyone my age is back instantly into the 1980s. That mix of doom and disco, Giorgio Moroder beats and pulses, are instant ticklers of memories from long ago. The funny thing is of course that this mix at the time hardly existed. You would wind up with Blondie's 'Call Me' to find something similar and strangely enough Donna Summer's 'I Feel Love' which is even from the 1970s. It is the deadness of Joy Division, the early Simple Minds, The Cure, Comsat Angels and the like the comes through in the singing and the darker synth sounds with the disco(side) of The Human League, Depeche Mode and when all is said and done Giorgio Moroder. The Vacant Lots, a duo, is from Brooklyn and totally from 2022 where the lyrics are concerned. No trace of a life being fucked up because of (fill in your doom laden worldwide issue here) but something which happened to the singer "this evening". "Thank you for wasting my time", he sings with a rather deadly sounding voice, In other words, totally self-centred. As a single the song totally works though. In 1981 it would have been totally exciting and probably "totally out of time", to quote singer Jared Artaud a final time. No matter from what date you look at Thank You, this is danceable stuff alright.

Life Got In The Way. The Young Hasselhoffs

It must have been a shock to punk purists when over the decades something like punkpop became a reality and extremely popular as well. Sort of blending with what used to be called powerpop. The first great result, to my ears, was 'What I Like About You', The Romantics' big hit, but perfected by the likes of Green Day and The Offspring. Bands that still tour today. Enter The Young Hasselhoffs from Omaha, Nebraska in the U.S.A. With the title song of its upcoming LP the band makes no qualms about loving music from long ago, while at the same time perfecting the genre with a 100% pop gem. If the perfect powerpop-punkpop single exists, The Young Hasselhoffs are in close reach of that holy grail. For that final step the bridge should have been better, for the rest, boy, what a nice song. Life Got In The Way rocks alright, while the band obviously sidesteps that old truth the title holds. It's never too late for second chances. The hard thing is to recognise them and even harder, to act on them. With this song the choice made by The (not so) Young (anymore) Hasselhoffs is very obvious and Rum Bar is just the label to assist a little here. Go for it!

Merry Go Round. Carissa Johnson

More punkrock but this time of a more bittersweet nature. Carissa Johnson is turning around in circles and wants to get out of that situation. She sees the future but still has to say goodbye to a situation that must have been good once. She catches the past, present and future in her song in a way that resonates immediately. Every person has been in a situation like that at least once, so can relate. The music Carissa Johnson shares with the world in this single, is of a true richness. In that sense Merry Go Round is far from a punkrock song. It is richly layered with a keen ear for detail and melody. The effect is as much in the pace and attack of the song as in the melodies that are keenly worked out. It results in a song that can be partied on and seriously listened to. Her voice fits her song like a glove, sharing with us all the emotions that come with the described situation. If the person sung to, still does not get the message, nothing will. "Een plaat voor de kop" we call that in Dutch. Translate at will. A fine song Merry Go Round is and a great teaser for album Blue Hour, also out.

Smile Through The Dark. Starry Skies

There's no starry something in a title which does not trigger  'Vincent' starting to play inside of my head. I read recently someone quoting Don McLean on what the song 'American Pie' meant to him. He was said to have answered: "It means I never have to work again". He most likely could have answered that for 'Vincent' as well. Whether Smile Through The Dark will have this result for Starry Skies, I strongly doubt. People who like 'Vincent', should take notice though of this single. It is one of these silent little pearls where the voice totally carries the song and accompanying instruments are exactly that. Warren McIntyre is the owner of that voice. His band Starry Skies is around since 2014 and has already released four albums. Little did I know. Smile Through The Dark certainly invites me to get to know more music by the band. The single was written in honour of a woman who repaired Spitfires in the Second World War and taught children after. It does so in a modest way, melancholy but with a strong, determined voice. The song instantly convinces.

Skyline. After Elmer

A young Rotterdam punk band releases a single and video, co-starring the Rotterdam skyline. Had I not visited the city regularly, I can assure you I would not have recognised the city I grew up in as a child. These four youngsters live in the new Rotterdam and play their music with the self-assuredness that comes with being Manhattan on the Maas. Skyline celebrates being young and alive. Although life is life it is important to have fun and that comes across, even when "waking up sober". Skyline may sound familiar in the sense that it follows well-worn paths of punkrock's past, the enthusiasm After Elmer shares comes across and won me over, as it will any punkrock fan. Skyline holds clever little elements that make it possible for the song to set its hooks into your brain and making you not only easily remember it, but will want you to play it once again.

The Pilgrim. ATEM

How to play tough on the acoustic guitar? Well, listen to The Pilgrim by new German artist ATEM (breath). This instrumental rock track shows how a six string, steel snared acoustic guitar can be integrated successfully in a hardrocking environment. Not by playing loud but by playing confident, strong notes, by making each one stand out for itself. ATEM is the solo project of Jan Korbach and The Pilgtim his first release towards an album in November, 'Concrete America'. The Americana is not faraway in the song. The start is of the kind that could take the song in any direction. When the band kicks in, more becomes clear, slowly but surely. The drums make the song tougher straight away, the rest comes in slower but surely, building the song out further. The organ is slowly replaced by "aahhs" and an accompanying electric guitar, reminding me a little of Mike Oldfield's 'Tubular Bells' rocking sequence. Korbach has found an interesting melody to start from and successfully builds up to what is The Pilgrim. Exquisitely done.

Animal. More Kicks

With a riff in a kind way reminding me of the central riff of 'My Sharona', a band can attract my attention easily. That does come with a truckload of expectations though. No, they're not all being fulfilled in Animal, More Kicks' first single from its upcoming album 'Punch Drunk'. Enough are, otherwise you would not be reading this. More Kicks does so by taking the song in another direction, with its own dynamics and being far closer to British (punk)rock. Coming out of London, that's not so strange an outcome. From The Undertones right up to Oasis, you can find it all in Animal. The song derails nicely in the guitar solo and fuzzed up bass guitar. The drummer keeps it all together for us. The bass player manages to escape the confines of the first part of the album where he plays the same two note riff over and over. Later on he can play one nice bass rum after another, totally livelying the song up to great heights. This is fun alright and, as I said, a truly different direction from the fantastic, but rigid 'My Sharona'.

Charley Bronson. Black Honey

Charles Bronson, how long ago is it that people wanted to see a movie with the hard-fisted hero in a starring role? Indeed, he was born in 1921 and is dead for 19 years in 2022. So, were does the title of this U.K. band come from? The song is as tough as Bronson was in his movies though. "I'll take you down with me", only if need be, Bronson wanted to win. Black Honey may be on the same track with the song, as it is without compromise. The fuzzed guitars are hard and loud, aggressive as a boxer. Black Honey on the other hand is a master in restraint, as you will notice the use of dynamics in Charley Branson. Although I'm reminded of Blood Red Shoes and a little on the loud side of Wolf Alice, Black Honey has enough to stand out on its own. But let me warn you, this is not a band to approach without gloves on. It dances like a butterfly and stings like a bee.

Wout de Natris