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Posts Tagged ‘Argonaut’
Watch: ‘This means something, this is important’ by Argonaut
Posted: 26 December 2024 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPsTags: Argonaut, DIY, Indie, Lo-Fi, Single, this is important, This means something, video stream
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Listen: ‘I’ll be your doctor’ by Argonaut
Posted: 18 May 2024 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPsTags: alternative, Argonaut, DIY, electro, I'll be your doctor, Indie, Post-Punk, single stream
The thing about Argonaut is that they’re continually evolving, continually pushing themselves, striving to do something different, and to create something new, constantly. No sooner had they completed their track-a-month ‘open-ended album’ project, Songs from the Black Hat, which saw them try out a range of styles, than they’re back to banging out new tunes at a remarkable rate.
Having deadlines or other set parameters doesn’t work for a lot of artists, but Argonaut seem to thrive on targets and goals, and ‘I’ll be your doctor’ is testament to that.
They describe it as ‘A song for the companions and for everyone courted and wooed with promises of excitement and adventure. A reminder to those making such vows to continuously reinvent, strive for greatness and never grow complacent. Musical nods to Depeche Mode, Nine inch Nails and Pink Floyd, lyrically inspired by Dr Who and the Velvet Underground. Delivering on our promise.’
It certainly incorporates an array of elements in its four and a half minutes, with some dark, stark post-punk electro vibes paired with some driving chords and some exploratory guitar work, all brought together with, of course, a strong hook.
Listen here:
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Argonaut – As Cool as Fightmilk
Posted: 31 March 2024 in Reviews, Singles and EPsTags: Argonaut, As Cool as Fightmilk, hooks, Indie, Lo-Fi, punchy, punky, Single Review
24th March 2024
Christopher Nosnibor
Ironically, it’ll take more time to upload this review of the latest single by lo-fi indie / alt act Argonaut than it will take to play it, let alone write about it.
For a band who really pushed themselves in 2023, releasing a track a month to evolve their ‘open ended’ album, Songs from the Black Hat, which wound up featuring thirteen tracks, and who may have been expected to ease the pace a bit while they took stock and began to assimilate the practicalities of a new lineup, they’ve really surpassed themselves so far this year.
The video is pretty slick in relative terms, but the song itself is a classic and quintessentially Argonaut lo-fi cut with big, thick, buzzing bass and guitar, and the dual vocals which really do define the band’s sound – Laura’s hyper-bubbly pop tones contrast with Nathan’s monotone drawl, and here they really do exploit the quiet/loud dynamic form over the course of an explosive and thrilling minute and a half. Yes, a minute and a half: sneeze and you’ll miss it. But in that time, they still pack in a strong, hooky chorus, and I’m assuming the song is a reference to It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia rather than the band, Fightmilk – and while they may never be as cool as the former, they’ve got a clear edge over the latter. So that makes them pretty cool, really.
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Argonaut – Trying to do Nothing
Posted: 1 March 2024 in Reviews, Singles and EPsTags: alternative, Argonaut, Drone, Mellow, restful, restless, Single Review, tranquil, Trying to do Nothing
24th February 2024
Christopher Nosnibor
A change is as good as a rest, so the saying goes. I don’t know if I’m entirely convinced, but as I seem incapable of resting – there’s always something to do, and if there’s nothing that needs doing in any given moment, there’s all the stuff I want to do but don’t have enough time for the majority of the time. The trouble is, oftentimes, when I do get a window, I find I’m unable to focus, and simply jump and jitter and remember that I need to put another load of laundry on or tidy something or other or add something to the shopping list, and before I know it, I’ve not even stopped for a second. It makes reading books and watching TV incredibly difficult. I’m by no means alone: the vast majority of people I speak to – admittedly, mostly by text as we all seem to be too busy to take time out to meet in person – all make the same complaint, that there simply isn’t enough time in the day, and when you’re stuck in a perpetual cyclone of life activity, it’s nigh on impossible to stop and to unwind. And then, of course, there’s not only physical rest, but mental rest, and it can often feel as if your brain is your enemy, or certainly not your friend.
They say of the song that it ‘reaches for a fleeting February feeling before it thaws and fades’, and the lyrics are brimming with briefly sketched but evocative visual lyrics
I open the window
Breathe in the morning air
But ideas are like sunlight
They’re everywhere
And yet, despite the theme of restlessness which runs through the song, the images themselves are soothing, as is the mellow musical accompaniment, which they describe as ‘Seven spiritual minutes of ethereal melody and synthesised drone for deep and peaceful nothingness.’ It’s certainly quite a change from their trademark fizzy punky poppy tunes or the guitar-orientated lo-fi post punk stylings, with the final three minutes simply being a long, slow-turning drone solo, which is calming indeed.
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Argonaut – The Hole
Posted: 28 January 2024 in Reviews, Singles and EPsTags: ambienbtk ssynths, Argonaut, buzz, Calm, DIY, Drone, Dry January, m mood, melolow, Post-Punk, Single Review, The Hole
26th January 2024
Christopher Nosnibor
New year, new lineup, new project… having wrapped up their ‘open-ended’ album project Songs from the Black Hat and been whittled down to a three-piece, the prodigiously productive Argonaut herald the arrival of 2024 with a song for Dry January. They describe ‘The Hole’ as ‘A ten minute hymn to sobriety, hibernation and transcending the January blues. A lullaby of heartfelt harmonies trailing into ambient drone to aid deep, meditative alcohol free sleep…’
Lyrically, it’s sparse, and self-explanatory:
People say it’s hard
Because there’s a hole
A gap in your heart
A space in your soul
But I say it’s easy
Because the hole is a bin
To throw the self destructive thoughts
And all the alcohol in
I’m not one for dry January myself, although I certainly respect anyone who does, and I certainly get it. A lot of people do very much overdo it in December, stretching festivities out over the entire month. There are work dos, friends and family to catch up with, and more often than not, doing so involves feed and drink. It’s no wonder people feel like shit and feel the need to quit booze, go on a diet, do Veganuary, and take out a gym membership while making a new year’s resolution to lose the stone or so they gained the previous month.
Perhaps what’s every bit as hard as demonstrating brutal discipline in January – the darkest, bleakest month of the year – is maintaining moderation the whole year round. Such asceticism isn’t easy in such grim times: people naturally seek comfort in food and whatever else makes them feel better – and it’s alright if it makes you feel better, to lift a line from Shellac’s ‘Song of the Minerals’.
I digress: ‘The Hole’ does mark a significant shift for Argonaut, who have pushed forth strongly pursuing a trajectory of snappy to the point songs best defined as choppy lo-fi indie / post-punk crossover with lots of fuzz and reverb. This is a dreamy, drifty dronezer, dominated by thick reverb-soaked synths which surge and swell, ebb and flow. It very much does transport s back to the early 90s on so many levels. It’s not quite The Orb, but it is a very spacey effort which is predominantly instrumental and built around the repetitio of a synth wave and looped bass – or xylophone, or something – sequence of a handful of notes. And so it goes (and yes, I’m referencing Vonnegut there). And it goes… and it goes. It is every bit as meditative and ambient as they suggest, and I can feel my blood pressure dropping as the track progresses.
Counterpart release / nominal B-side, the ‘ambient mix’ runs for some twenty-two minutes, and it’s a thrumming buzz, a piece which stings like a swarm of bees frustrated at their confinement. It’s more of a track to let drift over your, rather than one to listen to intently. But this ‘Post-industrial ambience for urban meditation’ is far from soothing, even by candlelight. The tones are serrated around the edges, and possess a certain edge of aggression. Perhaps I need another whisky. Make it a double.
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Watch: ‘Christmas No. 1’ by Argonaut
Posted: 18 December 2023 in Recommended Streams and VideosTags: Argonaut, Christmas No 1, DIY, Lo-Fi, London, Video
It’s been quite the year for Argonaut, as they land the final instalment for 2023 for their ‘open-ended’ album project Songs from the Black Hat, they started back in October of 2022, and which has seen them release a single a month this year, and despite being reduced to a three-piece due to geographical disparities, they’ve maintained their momentum.
One major benefit of doing everything DIY is having no constraints or dictations, and an open-ended album doesn’t have to conform to any rules of cohesion or length, and ‘Christmas No. 1’ is a bit different from the rest of the album to date – namely it’s an overtly Christmas song, replete with a soft-focus, shimmery, tinsel-draped video.
‘Musically channelling all the classic Christmas songs (6/8 timing, jingle bells, key change, anthemic coda singalong!) and lyrically tracing Lorna, Nathan and Deb’s first London Christmas to our last. Please download for free, play alongside Wham Shaky and Macca and have a number one Christmas and a punk rock new year!’
Watch the video here – best enjoyed with a glass of port, or maybe Bailey’s if that’s your thing:
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Argonaut – The Vulnerables
Posted: 24 November 2023 in Singles and EPsTags: alternative, Argonaut, Criminal Records, DIY, Indie, Lo-Fi, Pop, Popes of Chillitown, sensitivity, Single Review, The Kut, The Vulnerables, vulnerable
Criminal Records – 24th November 2023
Christopher Nosnibor
Regular readers – and fans of Argonaut – will have probably observed that we’ve been pretty consistent in plugging their open-ended album-in-progress Songs from the Black Hat, which has seen the li-fi DIY indie act self-release a song a month via BandCamp. But October’s tune is today getting an official release on a real label – namely Criminal Records, home of The Kut, with whom they’ve released two previous albums.
Nathan explains the band’s methodology for the album’s continual evolution this: “At band practices we each write song titles on slips of paper & put them in the hat. One is then picked at random. We jam around that title & see what alchemy occurs. Most times the magic flows & the combined band chemistry creates something we are really pleased with.”
With two previous albums on Criminal Records, Argonaut’s newest release is produced by Jack Ashley of Popes Of Chillitown, and mastered by The Kut who was drummer/producer on Argonaut’s self-titled debut.
I still can’t hear the world ‘vulnerable’ without thinking of Nathan Barley and an image of David Bowie pissing into a Dualit toaster, but perhaps, particularly since the pandemic and our government’s shameful treatment of the poor and the disabled, I’ve become significantly more sensitive to the way in which vulnerability can be life-shaping, and rarely in a positive way.
Whereas perhaps even in the not so distant past, vulnerability was perceived as being synonymous with weakness, a great many of us understand that it is a fundamental facet of the human condition, and recognise that almost everyone is vulnerable in some way at some time or another. This may not be true of the right-wing tossers who scoff at showing vulnerability – or sensitivity to it – as being ‘soft’ and ‘woke’, but anyone who is a reasonable human being can empathise with how circumstance and life events can place strain on an individual, and just as we’re getting to a place where we can talk about mental health without being stigmatised, so we appreciate that to show vulnerability in fact requires strength in a way we didn’t not so long ago.
The fact that ‘we’ are the vulnerables – all of us – is the crux of the song’s lyrics, along with the painful truth that others will exploit vulnerability for their own ends:.
We are the vulnerables
And we are being used
We are the vulnerables
Me and you and you and me and you
Because it’s Argonaut, it’s a natty tune in the classic indie / alternative style: Lorna’s vocals are sweet and ultra-poppy and there’s both jangle and bounce to the instrumentation – but Nathan can’t resist bringing blasts of fizzy, fuzzy distorted guitar. It all stacks up to a superbly catchy indie pop tune from a band who have quite a catalogue to catchy indie pop tunes to their credit, and no doubt plenty more to come.
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Listen: ‘The Vulnerables’ by Argonaut
Posted: 1 October 2023 in Recommended Streams and VideosTags: Argonaut, DIY, glam, Songs from the Black Hat, The Vulnerables, track stream
It wouldn’t be the first of the month without a new instalment of the open-ended album Songs From the Black Hat by Argonaut.
They describe ‘The Vulnerables’ as ‘a glorious glam tinged celebration of the sensitive souls who refuse to stay silent’.
Listen here:
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Listen: ‘Not Motivational’ by Argonaut
Posted: 5 September 2023 in Recommended Streams and VideosTags: Argonaut, DIY, influencers, Lo-Fi, Not Motivational, punk pop, single stream, Songs from the Black Hat
Keeping up with their schedule of a single released on the first of each month, Argonaut have pulled ‘Not Motivational’ from the Black Hat.
So when they write ‘September’s single is not motivational,’ they mean it most literally, going on to outline the song as being ‘punk pop protest with a dual vocal assault high on energy and attitude. A catchy diatribe against bad influencers and motivational speakers who aren’t.’
We’ve all seen and heard from these leeches.
Listen to ‘Not Motivational’ here:
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Watch: ‘When I close my eyes you disappear’ by Argonaut
Posted: 4 August 2023 in Recommended Streams and VideosTags: Argonaut, DIY, Indie, Lo-Fi, no-fi, open-ended album, Songs from the Black Hat, video stream, When I close my eyes you disappear
Argonaut are keeping them coming at a rate of a song a month for their open-ended album, Songs from the Black Hat.
We’re fans of this, not least of all because you never know quite what they’re going to bring next.
Keeping it DIY and no-budget, Nathan and Lorna’s sixteen-year old has, for the second month, made the video to accompany the track. Simple, but effective, it’s very much in keeping with the Argonaut ethos.
Check it here:
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Aural Aggravation 