Posts Tagged ‘L7’

Pythies – Disillusion

Posted: 15 September 2024 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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20th September 2024

Christopher Nosnibor

2024 is the year of Pythies, the musical project of Parisienne grunge fan Lise.L. While the Internet age has enabled countless acts to leap from bedroom conception to releases in a matter of weeks, she’s been rather more measured in her approach, and having decided at the end of 2022 ‘to form a new musical project lead only by women, which included influences of the grunge culture of the 90s (L7, 7 Year Bitch, Babes in Toyland, Hole) and her taste for witchcraft’, debuting with an EP in May 2023, 2024 has seen the emergence of a couple of singles ahead of this EP release.

I will admit that I’m still coming to terms with this new model. In the 80s, 90s, and even 00s, you would either release a single or an EP. But digital has changed everything. Historically, whether it was a single or an EP, there would be physical formats, and a single or EP would both receive a release on 7” or 12” and a CD. Now, making a track available on Bandcamp ahead of the full EP’s release counts as a ‘single’, as does putting out a video for a song on YouTube.

Disillusion lands firmly on a personal level, then, because it’s hard not to feel disillusioned with the state of the industry, and, often, the state of music, period, and this EP’s five tracks articulate the sentiment with precision. But… acts like Pythies do bring hope, not to mention a real alternative to the mediocre, mass-produced, autotuned slop which dominates not only the charts but mainstream culture as a while.

There’s something wonderfully raw and exciting about this EP, blasting off with ‘Blondinette’, fast-fingered bassline that boasts some nifty runs racing hither and thither beneath a driving, gritty guitar, which does nothing fancy, but crunches hard, propelled by some energetic drumming and a fuckload of attitude.

The punning ‘I Pithie You’ is gentler and more melodic in the verses, but exploits the classic grunge quiet / loud dynamic with a ripping chorus. And did I mention attitude? Yeah, I know, but it needs emphasising: Pythies distils a blend of anger and nonchalance, while sonically they encapsulate the spirit of ’78 as much as ’92, and the title track positively roars.

Closing off with goth-punk tinged single cut ‘Toy’, Disillusion leaves you feeling exhilarated, excited: there’s nothing better than hearing a band channelling all the frustration, all the rage, all the angst into tight bursts of guitar-driven energy, and Pythies do it so, so well.

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Pythies cover EP crédits Orane Auvray

Pythies – Eclipse

Posted: 17 March 2024 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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Christopher Nosnibor

Their bio tells us that ‘Pythies is a witchy grunge band from Paris (France), created by Lise.L.’ it was late in 2022 that Lise began to evolve the concept for a new, all-female musical project, in the vein of (L7, 7 year bitch, Babes in Toyland, Hole), the twistr being that it would incorporate her taste for witchcraft. You’d think this was pretty niche, but proving the theory expounded in Warren Ellis’ novel Crooked Little Vein – a brilliant book by an author who’s since turned out to be just another white male shithead and therefore probably best sidestepped, although he’s at least disappeared from the public eye following his exposure – if it exists it’s on the Internet, and sure enough, withing a few months, Lise had joined forces with guitar player Thérèse La Garce and drummer Anna B. Void, and lo, Pythies was born.

Thank fuck for the internet and social media. They may be a cesspit of angry people shouting the worst insults and a truly horrible place at times, but let it be remembered it can often be a conduit for good.

‘Eclipse’ is proof positive.

It’s a strong, guitar-driven grunge-orientated song with a darkly seductive gothy tinge to it, calling to mind Gitane Demone era Christian Death.

Amidst images of cards and tarot and esoteric mysticism, there are more direct lines which are very much more of the flesh:

Something

Is swelling

My hands

Are sweating

The vocal delivery is simultaneously sultry and dangerous, hinting at desire but also darkness, as Lise delivers the hook of ‘IwantitIwantitIwantitIwantit….’

What is it she wants? Probably nothing you’ve got to offer, fuckface. The video abounds with lollipop sucking and lascivious woman-on-woman rubbing, boozing, and BDSM, which will no doubt get a lot of blokes in a lather, but make no mistake, this is about female power and self-possession – and it’s absolutely killer.

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Pythies image 2

Pythies Artwork

MuddiBrooke – You Don’t Own Me

Posted: 13 June 2022 in Singles and EPs
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Christopher Nosnibor

Somehow, despite being in the business almost literally forever, and having played live and supported artists such as The Beautiful South, Scouting For Girls, Luka Bloom and Dr and The Medics, MuddiBrooke has bypassed me. Perhaps it’s because of playing with the aforementioned artists.

Anyway: ‘You Don’t Own Me’, written by Philadelphia songwriters John Madara and David White and recorded by Lesley Gore in 1963, has become established as something of a classic, and it’s a good fit for Derby’s all-female alternative rockers, who know how to use a distortion pedal to optimal effect.

It’s a thumping riff-driven blast that explodes in under two and a half minutes and it perfect. To be fair, some songs are pretty much impossible to fail with – you simply can’t go wrong with some songs, and this is one of them. It’s a strong signature of female empowerment, and MuddiBrooke absolutely run with the sentiment and crank the amps up full-tilt to slam the point home in a fuck-you, taking-no-shit fashion that’s on a par with L7, Hole, and The Nymphs. Big lungs, big sass, big guitars… Yes.

Brooke, Anna and Mary may all be in their mid-twenties, but know how to channel that grunge vibe, and how not to take any shit. It may be a cover, but it feels like a manifesto.

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Muddi

Yur Mum – Ellipsis EP

Posted: 31 December 2019 in Singles and EPs
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December 2019

Christopher Nosnibor

Having recently ben reduced to a two-piece, you might be forgiven for expecting Yur Mum to have gone quiet, but hell no. Having only released their debut single, ‘Road Rage’ in April 2018, they’ve packed in over 200 shows since their inception and won Tom Robinson’s backing with ‘Sweatshop’, the lead single from this self-released five-tracker.

They’re a band on the up in every sense, drawing reams of positive attention and for all the right reasons: they first came to my attention in their original triangular configuration while touring ‘Road Rage’ and supporting Svetlanas, and no two ways about it, they were outstanding and more than held their own even in the company of the ferocious firestorm of the Russian headliners.

This EP doesn’t disappoint, and is the sound of an act firing on all cylinders, and it blasts off in riffy style with ‘What Do You Want?’, which tears from the speakers with all the overdrive and locks into a hefty grunging groove. There’s grit and swagger and the incendiary guitar blisters and peels while Anelise Kunz delivers a full-throated roar and thunderous bass runs.

Aforementioned single ‘Sweatshop’ starts with a churning bass reminiscent of Shellac, and then the drums drive in and they pound at it, hard, for a hard-hutting two-minutes and twenty. This is grungy punk rock at its most exhilarating.

There’s no let-up with the title track, either, and if there’s a metal-edged 90s alt-rock tinge to it, then it’s al to the good: it’s les about originality and more about delivery, and Yur Mum showcase a knack for a strong delivery. Make no mistake: they’re pretty sodding heavy, and there isn’t a second where they sacrifice weight for melody, and ‘Rotten’ goes full L7/In Utero era Nirvana with roaring angst.

‘Closure’ does finally display a softer side, and there’s a pop aspect to it – in the same way Hole’s Live Through This had a pop aspect to it, blending dynamic range and a clear sense of tune with a gut-punching rhythm section and a raw edge.

Fuck it, for my last review of the year, and of the decade, I’ll put it out there: 2020 is going to be Yur Mum’s year. And if it isn’t, then I give up.

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MamaSkull

Watch: ‘Pig Man’ by Black Moth

Posted: 6 August 2018 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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Following their storming performance at Desertfest, a run of European shows with L7, plus a one-off appearance with stoner rock legends Sleep, Black Moth show no signs of stopping in 2018 as they share a new video for ‘Pig Man’ ahead of their UK tour with Corrosion of Conformity, Orange Goblin and Fireball Ministry.

Directed by Ged Murphy/Rob Hoey and filmed by Louis Caulfield, vocalist Harriet Hyde comments on the meaning behind the track:-

‘In my endless fascination with human sexuality, I came across a brilliant book called Perv by Jesse Bering which celebrates how we’re all sexual deviants in our own unique and colourful ways. In reading it, however, one particular story stood out for its horror and absurdity…

‘Most people know of the atrocities committed towards women in 17th century New England in the Salem Witch Hunts. Deranged rumours circulated that they cut off men’s penises, bewitched them and kept them as pets! To this day, women are ‘slut-shamed’ and outcast for possessing their own innate power and sexuality.

‘A lesser known story is that of the ‘Pig Man’ hunts that obsessed the congregations of New Haven. The poor dears in their infinite repression managed to convince themselves that certain men were secretly in league with the Devil to impregnate barnyard animals. The offspring would be Satan’s children walking the earth, wreaking destruction in their orderly Christian society. It seems the arrival of a deformed pig foetus was enough to incriminate the farmhand for ‘buggery’ and lead to his brutal execution. In a sick, paranoid society, no-one is safe.’

Watch ‘Pig Man’ here:

Tour dates with Corrosion of Conformity / Orange Goblin / Fireball Ministry

Oct. 26 – Engine Rooms – Southampton 
Oct. 27 – The Institute – Birmingham 
Oct. 28 – Rock City – Nottingham 
Oct. 30 – The Ritz – Manchester

Nov. 01 – Garage – Glasgow 
Nov. 02 – The Plug – Sheffield 
Nov. 03 – Cardiff University Great Hall – Cardiff 
Nov. 04 – The Forum – London

Black Moth Trees

Watch: ‘Bad Man’ by The Kut

Posted: 4 July 2016 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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Aural Aggro favourites, female grunge trio The Kut, are supporting the release of their new single ‘Bad Man’ with their most extensive tour to date, taking in a whopping 37 dates. Yes, that’s ovr month of shows. And they’ve unveiled a video to accompany the single release. Watch it here. Go see them.