Band: STOVEPIPE Who: A little groovy rock’n’roll ghoulie, with slight exotic and
psychedelic character traits! Four experienced rawk ‘n’ roll
misfits having the time of their lives EP: BORN TO JIVE Released: 20 January 2020
Key phrase: ‘Keep on rockin’ in the free world’
Keywords: The Cramps, jiving junks, Graham Parker vox, born
to run, Link Wray on speed, psych-o-billy, surf punk, sultry 60s
organs, party havoc, black leather lads, garage nastiness
(Photo by Eleanor Hardwick / Styling by Harriet Byczok)
Since Brighton’s amplified dream-pop trio FEAR OF MEN released their highly
praised album Fall Foreverit seemed like they went into quarantine for four
years. But the band is back now with brand new single INTO STRANGENESS.
Frontwoman Jess Weiss wrote in a press statement “It’s been a strange and extremely charged 4 years since we last released music. It’s been overwhelming and painful, hopefully leading to tangible positive change. In contrast, this time has personally brought a lot of healing, shutting the door finally on elements that have been toxic and draining in my life for too long. This song is an assertion of a voice, a cry of independence. It’s a song about the role
of words in constructing the self. We create ourselves like books, and I’m ready to tell a different story.”
A steady repetitive drum beat, gloomy guitar lines, freaky jazzy saxophone fragments
and Weiss’ magnetic voice all come organically together. Into Strangeness is a piece of bewildering emotionality. Both curious and catching. Terrific comeback.
How far will you follow me into strangeness
How far will you follow me into strangeness
Let the demon live inside your pages
Let the demon know that you’re alone
You like it raw and rough, rip-roaring and rollicking? And without any fake
production tricks nor arty-farty bullshit? Look no further here’s from Glasgow
rumbling riff machine GOLDIE DAWN led by the bad-ass punkette Kate Rambo.
The band released their self-titled debut EP some weeks ago. A smashing 4-track
roller coaster containing all the best firework echoes from the best past decades of
Rawk ‘N’ Bloody Roll. Imagine 70s punk queens Runaways being a 90s Riot Grrrl turbo (Gone With The Wild), The Damned fronted by Courtney Love and Sex Pistol Steve Jones on guitar (Crime), today’s Aussie sensation Amyl And The Sniffers going bonkers (What’s Inside Never Dies) and a drunk Nancy Sinatra singing an amplified country lullaby (It’s Nothing To Me). Rip-roaring retro rock razzmatazz from start to finish! Hell Yeah!
Goldie Dawn has a license to thrill and that’s exactly what they do.
Stop drooling, press play, and test your speakers’ resilience right here…
Who: The multi-media project of John Rooney, the Derry-born, Berlin-based musician and illustrator who formally released music under the mantle Haüer via Future City Records. His debut album Photo Sensitive is an album of nine expansive futuristic songs which move away from Haüer’s instrumental hypnogogic-pop sound and into a darker, more foreboding cold-wave territory.
Track: YOU HAVE USED ME FOR LONG ENOUGH – “Lyrically the song is about picking up and leaving my life behind me in Dublin and venturing over to Berlin” – the first single from his upcoming debut album Photo Sensitive on 4 September
Score: Get ready to move and groove. ‘You Have Used Me For Long Enough’ is an elevating synth-pop humdinger with Rooney‘s arresting baritone voice bringing living legend Scott Walker instantly to mind. Moving from Dublin to Berlin, he wants to start again. Great vibe, great tune, great vox.
R&B icon BEYONCÉ shared a new song in honor of Juneteenth (June and nineteenth) celebrating the emancipation of those who had been enslaved in the United States. BLACK PARADE is a call to ‘show Black love‘.
All proceeds will go toward her BeyGOOD Black Business Impact Fund.
KETCH HARBOUR WOLVES is an emo power pop act from Toronto.
Their new full length AVALON will come out on 10th July.
Ahead of it here’s brand new single EXODUS. The low-spirited song is about Toronto, “a reflection on a city undergoing massive change: influxes and exoduses, appropriations and dispossessions, caused by intentions that range from the benevolent to the unkind. A love letter to a city that is becoming unrecognizable to itself, set against the promise and melancholy of spring” says songwriter Jonathan Tyrrell.
Exodus is a marvelous pop symphony. Heart-rending and emotion-charged. A majestic piece de resistance with the elevating flair of The Killers and the gripping sensitiveness of The National. Nostalgic splendor at its best with a stupendous orchestration, a captivating melodiousness, and a stirring tristesse. Topflight songwriting. Oh, yes, pretty special.
Swedish musician and songwriter Flyckt (real name Rasmus Flyckt) previously a
member of successful Swedish band Urban Cone, starts his solo journey with
debut single SPOTLIGHT.
Flyckt elucidates: “Spotlight was one of the first songs I wrote after I got out of a toxic relationship with my then-girlfriend. I remember thinking to myself why I let this go so far. Everyone is in the Spotlight in their lives, and maybe that can be counterproductive in some sense. Like, it’s harder to take action cause you’re afraid that everyone is gonna judge you. I believe this song was a message to myself saying that it’s gonna be fine. If you want change,
you have to take action.”
Spotlight has the same sonic sentiments as Billie Eilish mega-hit ‘Bad Guy‘. Enigmatic, puzzling, and tremendously groovy. A delicate and affecting electro tune, coming straight out of a film noir. Music for the twilight hours, while sitting in the dark in your bedroom, thinking about what went wrong in the past, looking for answers to secure your future.
Who: Formed in 2013 by a few high school kids looking to play Rush covers, Pacific Estate has evolved into one of the premier up and coming, Ontario indie-rock acts. Their unique brand of rock and roll features high powered vocals, intricate melodies, and an air tight rhythm section.
Track: SATURDAYS – an ode to good times with good friends.
Score: From the very moment a beer can is opened this powerful classic rock crackerjack will stick as first-class glue, with a blistering mid-tempo groove you can pump your fists to and scream-along while nodding your head drunkenly with a giant smile on your face. Passionate electricity all the way, high-powered vocals, Joe Walsh-like guitars, and a king-sized chorus. Saturday Night Beer Fever. Steamy six-pack rock for the boys.
All the way from Little Rock, Arkansas comes REBELSTÖKK
(read: rebel/stōke). An alternative rock endeavor by lyricist
and songwriter Tim Hill (a.k.a. Lord Cheddar Pepper).
Brand new single ‘THE JUDGE AND JURY’ is what you need to let some
steam off during these science-fiction-like isolation days. A powerhouse
blast to test your speakers’ resilience with. Imagine Black Sabbath fronted
by the late great Chris Cornell with Ritchie Blackmore taking care of the
crushing guitar solos. Heavy stuff for all you motherrockers out there.
Warning: Rebelstökk has answers but takes no questions.
Who:“Though they’ve been playing together since 2006, the members of
Toronto-based pop-rock quartet Jane’s Party – Devon Richardson, Tom Ionescu,
Jeff Giles, and Zach Sutton – feel like they’re just starting to gather steam.”
Track : CHANGE HER MIND – about “working through a relationship over
holding on to past ones or holding out for something better.”
Score: This is a guitar pop jingle you’ll whistle when you get up in the morning,
sing-along when driving your car to work, hum when drinking a pint in the pub
after work and dance to with your (new) lover when coming home. It’s called a
sickly sticky tune to keep you smiling all day long. Don’t worry be happy, summer
is just around the corner.
