Posts Tagged ‘alternative’

Listen: ‘Auto-Da-Fé’ by Heddlu

Posted: 23 July 2022 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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Heddlu is the new musical project by Rhodri Daniel. The Ceredigion native was a founding member of renowned Welsh band Estrons who had a major impact on the industry having gained rave reviews from the likes of NME, Vice, DIY and Clash to BBC Radio, Radio X, Ultimate Guitar, The Guardian and Independent.

After finishing the band in 2019, Rhodri became aware that his hearing was severely damaged. Years of touring the live circuit had taken their toll, Rhodri ultimately being diagnosed with hearing loss, tinnitus and severe sensitivity to noise. The effects were so acute, Rhodri was unable to be in the same room as other people, leave the house or play music for almost a year.

A chance encounter with a retired record producer, who’s old forgotten studio on the slopes of the Cambrian Mountains was filled with antique synthesisers, inspired Rhodri to consider music once more. Advised to get outdoors to aid recovery, he embarked on a three-month hike spanning 900 miles of the entire Welsh coastline, where he conceived the new project and was inspired to write the music in his head, to be recorded upon his return. Serendipity led Rhodri back to music, and Heddlu was born. Meaning ‘Police’ in Welsh, from the words ‘peace-force’, Heddlu’s music has been true to its name, offering a force of peace to the songwriter.

‘Auto-Da-Fé’, Heddlu’s 3rd single, (meaning ‘Act of faith’ in the Spanish language), is named after the trial that heretics and apostates faced during the Spanish inquisition, before being condemned. Sung from the dual perspectives of a judgemental inquisitor, and the artist himself, the song conveys a sorrowful and tumultuous scene, echoing how we continually put ourselves on trial for the things that we have done.

Listen here:

cowman – crunch ep

Posted: 20 July 2022 in Singles and EPs
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27th July 2022

Christopher Nosnibor

The multi-talented, multi-discipline and perhaps, sometimes, not-so-disciplined Benjamin Heal returns in his Cowman guise, under which he’s been operating since 2005 with a new EP, his first in a decade, after previous creative detours with Coaxial and various other projects.

Over the course of a sporadic and low-key career, li-fi, slackerist Cowman has – impressively, whether by fluke or by design – appeared on bills with a slew of cred cult acts, including Ack Ack Ack, Gum Takes Tooth, Cove, Pifco, and John Parish. These notable highlights are well-deserved, but it’s a pleasure to witness cowman making a comeback, instead of simply revelling over former achievements.

Crunch is a magnificently loose knockabout and if Pavement comparisons may seem lazy shortcuts, they’re also entirely justified. But then… then… there’s a whole lot more. The first track, ‘Concrete Eyes # Turpentine’ , with its inexplicable punctuation, starts out a fairly straightforward, if angular indie kicker in the vein of Slanted era Pavement, with wonky, off-kilter guitars that sound vaguely out of key, but then spins off into an epic swirling expanse of psychedelic post-rock. The whole thing is almost ten minutes long, drifting into a long, sluggish drone in the final minutes.

There’s an easygoing picked guitar line that contrasts with jittery drums on ‘Concrete pink Dots’ before the distortion kicks in, and it does so hard, creating a dense whorl of noise that almost buries the drums, until they surrender to the barrage of din, and we find ourselves drifting in a cloud of hazy shoegaze guitar. It’s mellow, but it’s loud, and that’s where the hypnotic ‘Bloody Diffuser’ picks up as it embarks on another ten-minute sonic journey, a slow-smouldering soundscape heavy on delay and reverb. Switching through a succession of segments, where the transitions are jolting, flicking changes rather than seamless transitions, it’s by turns doom drone and psychedelic drone, but ultimately, it’s all the drone – and that’s a good thing.

Ordinarily, two versions of one song on the same release feels a bit lazy, but then again, I spent the 90s buying singles on three formats in order to obtain all the versions and B—sides, and I have a hunch that Benjamin is also well-versed in the maxi-single and the like, and it so happens that the cropped version of ‘Tobacco Eyes’ that rounds it off actually feels like a single that had it been released circa 92 would have been lauded in the press as being in the vein of Pavement and Truman’s Water. And in fairness, that’s just as true in 2022.

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Berries – How We Function

Posted: 4 July 2022 in Albums
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Xtra Mile Recordings – 8th July 2022

Christopher Nosnibor

She sang it! She sang it! Yes, the hook to the album’s opening song, ‘We are Machines’ is ‘We are machines / it’s how we function’. Simple pleasures and all that. But there are many pleasures packed into this album’s forty minutes.

Having been showcasing BERRIES tunes since the time of their second EP back in 2017, the arrival of their full-length debut is a cause of excitement. And the anticipation is justified, with a tight set of songs that don’t disappoint.

What’s promised is an album ‘rammed with taut, angular guitar lines and packing a gritty, garage-grunge punch’, and that’s what’s delivered. None of the songs are over four minutes in duration, but they each contain so much action, so much traction, so much movement, each takes time to unravel the tightly-woven, knotted, intermingled noodly jumbles of guitar lines. There’s a lot of taut, tense jangling and angling going on here, as they cut across the mathy aspects of the guitar lines and the spiky post-punk chop of Gang of Four, and they marry it all together with strong melodic vocals.

The tension is appropriate for an album that tackles themes of mental health, feeling overlooked and sexism ‘with a searing honesty and intensity’ to present, as the put it, a collection of songs about “growth, strength and rising above all of the negativity and noise”.

There isn’t a duff track to be found here. Yes, the singles are obvious choices and standouts, not least of all the gutsy ‘Haze’, which is more or less representative of the album as a whole with its bold , grungy guitars and dynamic construction, exploding into the chorus after an understated verse, but then ‘Discreetly’ really pushes things hard, and rocks more overtly than much of the album with a monster chorus and driving riff – and frenzied guitar solo – and packs it all into two and a half minutes. ‘Fabricate’ calls to mind Kenny Loggins’ ‘Dangerzone’, and is propelled by a thick, gritty bass, while the guitars stop and start and stutter, and ‘Basic Tables’ starts with some tightly interweaving, stop/spart guitar work before breaking into a breezy chorus.

What BERRIES achieve is a perfect balance of passion and personal honesty, with sass and a pop sensibility. That means that How We Function feels sincere, as it is, but isn’t lecturesome or lugubrious. It doesn’t sugar-coat difficult emotional matters, but isn’t whiney or woeful. How We Function is an album of empowerment, of determination. The songs are both instant grabs and growers, and with this much energy, it’s exciting, not just the first time, but again and again.

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Watch: ‘As I Leave’ by O.R.k.

Posted: 23 June 2022 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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O.R.k., comprising of celebrated Italian vocalist, producer, and award-winning film score composer Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari a.k.a LEF (lead vocals), King Crimson’s Pat Mastelotto (drums), ex-Porcupine Tree’s Colin Edwin (bass) and Marta Sui Tubi’s Carmelo Pipitone (guitars) have premiered the video for their new single “As I Leave”, their first new music since the release of the acclaimed 2019 album Ramagehead.

The new single “As I Leave” is the first foray into the band’s new album (the second on Kscope) which will be released later this year. It is accompanied by an otherworldly and dreamlike video from 3D-VR artist Chiara Orsi who has managed to match the song’s expressive intensity in a highly imaginative visual display. Watch the video here:

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“As I Leave”, was an obvious choice for a new first single/calling card for the band, containing all the sonic elements that make up O.R.k’s unique and inviting world. Lef’s powerful vocals, Carmelo Pipitone’s energetic riffing, Pat Mastelotto’s inventive rhythmic accompaniment and Colin Edwin’s distinctive bass tones all infuse the sound with a refreshed intensity and a new luminosity.

O.R.k bassist Colin Edwin states that “Lyrically, ‘As I Leave’ is an ambiguous contemplation on the inexplicable reasons for close personal bonds and human connections. It’s a song for anyone who ever desired deeper connections with another, but in some puzzling way, just couldn’t make it work. The profoundest differences are rarely geographical, as most of us have discovered over the last few years.  There’s often an unknowable reason under the surface, did your blow your chance? …or did your dreams just get old?”

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Ivory Skies – Bring Me Up

Posted: 22 June 2022 in Singles and EPs
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17th June 2022

Christopher Nosnibor

Blackpool isn’t exactly a roaring flame on the musical map, hanging in the shadow of Manchester and being more geared toward tourism than seemingly existing as a place to live in its own right. Sure, Jethro Tull originated in Blackpool, along with – although some time apart – The Membranes, and Alfie Boe – but it’s hardly indicative of a cultural melting pot with a thriving scene to represent it.

Ivory Skies may – or may not – change that. Formed in 2019, they’ve released a couple of singles already, and scored support slots with Kyle Falconer from The View, and The K’s, which puts them on the fringes of the bigger leagues.

Perhaps it’s a coastal town thing: ‘Bring Me Up’ calls to mind the uptempo punk / indie crossover sound of Southend-on-Sea’s Asylums, and it’s buoyant, energetic – inoffensive, but certainly not lacking in a bit of bite, yielding four minutes of melodic, guitar-driven joy with a dash of realism.

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Ivory Skies - Artwork

Nathan & Lorna – Johnny

Posted: 21 June 2022 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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19th June 2022

Christopher Nosnibor

Having put their lockdown Argonaut side-project Videostore to bed with a one-off live show, Nathan and Lorna Argonaut have resurfaced under a new guise. It’s similar to the Videostore format – simple, lo-fi indie, and if there was ever any question over their no-budget ‘bedroom’ credentials, then the video for this first offering – which is as much Toyah and Robert as anything else – is all the evidence you could want.

It’s neat, simple, catchy, and as usual exploits the contrasting dual vocals over fizzy guitars and aa primitive drum machine. The lack of pretence is disarming, and it’s a solid tune – and clocking in at under a minute and a half, it really is as no-frills as 3p beans and 19p loaves of bread back in ‘95.

Percy – Monorail

Posted: 18 June 2022 in Albums
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June 2022 – Ten Foot Records

Christopher Nosnibor

Most bands start out splurging output and slow down over the course of their career. Percy aren’t most bands, and over the last decade have accelerated their output. And also, contrary to the common trajectory, instead of mellowing, they’ve got angrier, gutsier, ragier. Monorail really does find them at the top of their game, bursting with zeal and brimming with vitriol, kicking arse like never before.

‘Chunks’, premiered at their recent York show supporting Percy slams in hard and angular, landing between Grotesque era Fall and Truman’s Water. Jagged, jarring, it’s a full-throttle it’s an instant headache. ‘We’re all just chunks in gravy’, Colin Howard snarls and sneers, and it’s punchy – a very different kind of throbbing gristle. There’s no let up as they pile into the scorching ‘I.C.U.’ and it’s immediately clear that Percy have hit a new level.

They haven’t changed fundamentally: they’ve always been sociopolitical, and they’ve always cranked out driving riffs with a choppy, discordant edge, accentuated by Howard’s Mark E Smith influenced slightly nasal sprechgesang, and there’s a clear continuity that’s run from their self-released 2013 debut album, A Selection of Salted Snacks, through their debut album proper, Sleepers Wake on the esteemed Mook label and 2020’s Seaside Donkeys, which featured the Brexit demolition anthem, ‘Will of the People’.

Monorial isn’t so much about evolution or progression as it is about hitting that sweet spot – which really isn’t so sweet. In other words, their two years out from gigging during a tumultuous time socially and politically has seen them really hone their frustrations into their most attacking material yet. Same style, same form, just harder, faster, more pissed off. It’s not only their best work to date, but it’s absolutely essential listening, especially for those who still reminisce about John Peel and the golden age of indie, because these guys are everything you could want and Monorail has future cult classic written all over it.

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Sirens Of Light – Revolver

Posted: 16 June 2022 in Singles and EPs
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Christopher Nosnibor

I feel like I should keep a tally of the number of cover of Mission of Burma’s 1981 song ‘That’s When I Reach for My Revolver’. For an obscure band whose back catalogue is impossible to find, this song seems to exist in the ether, performed live on recent tours by The Sisters of Mercy, as well as Graham Coxon, as well as being subject to a truly blistering rendition courtesy of Moby during his 90s grunge phase on Animal Rights – and I have to say, that version is hard to beat. And no, not like Hard-Fi, who blow. Funnily enough, pretty much all of the covers have been better than the original, which is something of an inversion of the norm. I’m of the opinion that when it comes to a great tune you a) can’t beat the original b) can’t go wrong with a cover. So what is it with this track? Unfulfilled potential in the execution of the original? Perhaps.

Sirens Of Light slow it down and goth it up, hard – to the point that the verses are barely recognisable and the choruses are dark and grinding. It’s once of those covers where you don’t even recognise the song until it reaches the chorus. What have they done?  They’ve certainly taken ownership (note the title change, too), stamped their mark, and all that cal. In terms of execution, it’s taut, dense, bleak, brooding. It sneers and it’s imbued with a lip-curling sneer.

While it works presentationally and sonically, it feels like they’ve stripped the guts and angst out of the song. That doesn’t mean it’s bad, and it’s all a question of intent. The chorus is well-executed, and hits hard… but seems a shade lacking somehow.  Blown away? Maybe not, but it’s still got a fair bite.

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Michael Haggerty – Into The Glow

Posted: 9 June 2022 in Singles and EPs
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Machine Man Records – 27th May 2022

Christopher Nosnibor

‘Into the Glow’ is the second single from Michael Haggerty’s upcoming album, Fire Behind The Paper Trees, and his second official release under his real name having previously recorded as Krebs. Perhaps stepping out and being himself is in some way liberating, but whatever the motivation or rationale, it’s fair to say that the results are thus far positive.

There’s something somewhat uncomfortable when critics speak of ‘craft’ in their critiques. Perhaps it’s because ‘craft’ connotes something one works at, and improves, honing to a point whereby a level of quality can be achieved consistently, day in, day out, up at the crack of dawn and chiselling away until sundown, manufacturing… which there is a certain sense to, and it’s valid to a point, but this is to diminish the flare of creativity, the sparks of emotional channelling, the way in which elements of chance and happenstance all combine to make art. Because music isn’t furniture.

‘Into The Glow’ is probably as close to perfect songwriting as you can get. It is crafted: the dynamic shift between the 80s-style electronic verses and more guitar-driven choruses is precise, and balances subtlety with impact. The tempo change is sweet and shifts from reflective to driven, and the production is vast – also crisp, cold, mechanical. Bleak, brooding, but shining with optimism, ‘Into The Glow’ packs so much range into its concise three-and-a-half minutes, it’s a glorious thing.

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Listen: ‘Haze’ by Berries

Posted: 8 June 2022 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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BERRIES have unleashed a third cut from their debut album ‘How We Function’ (out 8 July 2022).

Rhythmic and rambunctious in equal measure, meticulous new track “Haze” seesaws between infectious and antsy in a beat — and evokes how unexpected the onset of intrusive thoughts and mental hurdles can be.

Just as biting as earlier tracks “We Are Machines” and “Wall of Noise”, albeit with a more measured edge, the new track showcases the band’s tight musicianship and ability to find optimism — and craft an arresting melody — in a tough time.

Of the new release, Berries explain: “”Haze” represents the barriers we often put up and how scary but also uplifting it can be when they break down. The “Haze” descends when least expected and is hard to fight through, but it’s important to recognise the strength it takes to open up and fight past the intrusive thoughts and be the best version of yourself.”

Listen here:

BERRIES – UK DATES

July

8 – 2000Trees Festival

31 – Kendal Calling

September

17th – Lost Evenings V Festival in Berlin

October (Headline)

19 – Nottingham, Bodega

20 – Bristol, Mr Wolf’s

21 – Hull, The Adelphi

22 – Leeds, Santiago Bar

25 – Manchester, Gulliver’s

26 – London, Oslo

November

9 – Newcastle, Cluny *

10 – Glasgow, Drygate *

11 – Sheffield, Leadmill *

12 – Manchester, Gorilla *

23 – Oxford, O2 Academy 2 *

24 – Birmingham, O2 Academy 2 *

25 – Bournemouth, Old Fire Station *

26 – London, Islington Assembly Hall *

Berries

Credit: Caetano Candal Sato

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