Author Archives: Adam Cleverly

This week’s AOTW is Scottish alternative rock band Schnarff Schnarff who marry sounds from a wide range of different influences producing their own unmistakable and memorable hybrid.

The Glasgow based rock quintet have recorded their first full-length album with renowned Scottish producer Paul Savage (Mogwai, The Twilight Sad, We Were Promised Jetpacks) which melds a variety of styles ranging from metal to pop-punk, grunge to emo. The band’s new single “Cadavers” is a prime example of how Schnarff Schnarff have adapted genres to create their own unique sound.

BBC Radio Scotland’s Vic Galloway described the band as “staccato grunge pop” as tracks “Flip The Cross” and “This Is How We Get Some” are delivered with the impetus and snarl of bands like Biffy Clyro, Saves The Day, and Taking Back Sunday. However, as becomes apparent, the band’s music has a deeper complexity to it with the grunge-heavy leanings of Nirvana inviting a dissonance and grit (especially on “Cadavers”) while on “Mario 1-2” they pull on the post-hardcore offerings of Bluetip.

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Finland’s Lessons have released their debut EP “Tempest,” out now via Sinnbus. The EP touches upon near death experiences, addiction, and oppressive regimes via the eyes of an imagined, fictional character.

The trio have created their own electro-gloomgaze sound, channeling the synth pop of Devo and Suicide with a hint of ’90s shoegaze akin to the Cocteau Twins. They join an array of darker electro artists like SOHN and James Blake who have added an intimacy and reflective shade to the genre. However, Lessons display their own intensity that’s both seductive and intriguing.

The “Tempest” EP kicks off with the title-track, setting the standard with stunning synth tones, a delicate vocal, and a bass line that just won’t quit. “Laughter in the Dark” and “Double or Nothing” are strong pop songs, whilst “Glory” and “Secret Knowledge” are more emotive, displaying Lessons’ signature sounds.

Lessons’ “Tempest” EP is in stores now via Sinnbus.

Today’s popular music takes many different forms and shapes, and the free flowing melodies and apt song structures from Tel-Aviv indie power-pop band Tetish are nothing short of commercial brilliance. With their self titled debut album set to be released, the only way is up for the pop duo.

Tetish—Etan Salomon and Itai Shitrit—have been active members of the local Tel-Aviv indie music scene for a number years, both having released material while working in different projects. It wasn’t until the long-time friends started to play around with a few ideas toward the end of 2014 when they discovered they were able to take each other’s music to the next level.

It’s been a great start for the band as their demos made heir way to some of the biggest local radio stations as well as being picked up for CMW in Toronto, CMJ in New York, as well as gaining support from the likes of Clash, The Revue, and Little Indie Blogs. This week, Tetish release their debut self-titled album.

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Singer-songwriters are finding it harder and harder to locate their voice in today’s market with the amount of talent being thrust upon listeners by major labels. However, Ireland born Maria Kelly could potentially break into the world of the Ed Sheerans and James Bays if she keeps producing flavourful tracks like new single “Black & Blue.”

“Black & Blue” captures Maria’s talent for bittersweet storytelling. Remaining vulnerable throughout, she still manages to convey almost foolish optimism with undertones of heartbreak as presented in the video for the single where she acts out with a dramatically joyful performance. The track begins with a quaint vocal harmony creating a delicate atmosphere that breaks off into a fantasy driven verse, taking the song in a whole new direction filled with whimsical melodies.

“‘Black and Blue’ is about foolish optimism; waiting around for something that’s never going to come,” Maria explains. “I wrote it as a kind of ‘see ya later!’ to a certain time in my teenage years. I spent so long waiting for something that was clearly not on the way and this song attempts to look at that situation, accept it, laugh at it, and move on.”

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Welsh singer-songwriter Jack Ellis has released his heartrending single “The Storm” and it certainly doesn’t lack any lustre as Ellis seems to wear his heart on his sleeve at all times.

After playing in bands for several years, Jack took the decision to go solo in 2014 in order to focus on his songwriting and develop his own distinctive sound. The opportunity to play bass, guitar, piano, and sing has allowed Jack to stretch his creative muscles and, with the success of previous singles “Pocket of Lint” and “Stepping Stones,” it is clear that Jack’s music is making an impact.

Held together beautifully by Jack’s wonderful guitar playing and emotive vocals, “The Storm” tackles themes of love and loss as snapshots of our life strip us bare and afraid to love again. Jack was influenced by Jeff Buckley and REM and has absorbed their unerring ability to write and produce relatable yet emotional music.

“The Storm” is out now via District South Records.

We’ve reached a period in time when music is changing consumers’ perceptions, and it’s due not just to the messages behind the music, but often the audio itself is quite unlike anything we’ve heard before. Law Holt’s own distinctive sound delivered via her new track “Spit” is but one of the many reasons she’s our Artist of The Week.

Holt’s music transcends genres, eras, and sounds—there’s no music quite as beautifully twisted at this very moment. With a sequence of gritty synths and continuous beats accompanying her vibrato and culminating with a sudden and unexpected halt, Holt seems to have created her own new sub-genre. She describes her music as “Law themed” and she’s spot on—you can look, but there’s no one quite like Law.

As word of Law began to spread back in 2013, the world began to take notice—the Guardian, Time Out, Clash, The Line of Best Fit, and The Skinny amongst others singing her praises. Unfortunately Law suffered an attack that forced her to take time out and whilst in hospital she underwent several operations that managed to save her sight. Now she’s back, determined, and stronger than ever—and Law is starting to impress the press once again with her relentless vocal style.

Law Holt’s debut album City is out on 26th August 2016 via Soulpunk.

Over the past 20 years emo’s been trying to find its voice while evolving into a vast array of sub genres that could easily appear on the same compilation album. Emotional punk, post hardcore, and metal music still thrive in today’s alternative market and Scottish trio Twin Heart bring their own unique creativity to the mix.

Twin Heart’s debut EP, “Progress: Decline” focuses closely on the band’s setbacks and successes in the time they’ve been performing together. Taking influences from artists such as Brand New, Alexisonfire, and Saves The Day while incorporating the raw power of Marmozets with the expressive sensibilities of Paramore at their very best, the threesome have created subtle and emotional lyrical content set against high octane alt-rock producing a hybrid they can call their own.

“Suffocating,” the official single due to be released from the EP, captures Twin Heart’s energy and passion in four strong minutes. Dawn Baxter’s voice is powerful yet fragilile, conveying the song’s message of being smothered by the weight of the world. Opening tracks “Ghosts” and “Young Eyes” create a relentless first half of the EP. “Progress,” an instrumental, breaks up the intensity brilliantly allowing the band to showcase a deftness of touch while illustrating a command of their respective instruments before the calm is blown away via epic closer “Speak To Me,” the music fading until the vocals are affectively isolated.

“Progress: Decline” is out now via Rip It Up Records.

“Pop-rock” is a much maligned genre. Personally, I think it’s due to the common tendency to use the term as a label for bands who we’re uncertain about. Something catchy played with distortion—pop-rock. Shiny harmonies and they dress like rockstars—pop-rock. A rock band with a keyboard player—pop-rock. Well, POLSKY are all of those things and this is exactly the space they own.

Drawing from bands like Maximo Park, The Cure, Duran Duran, and Orange Juice, POLSKY has carved out a space where they marry some skronking guitar riffs and witty lyrics to some beautifully delicate moments and soaring pop choruses. Their new album My Own Company, which seems to have had its release delayed more times than Chinese Democracy, ranges from the barnstorming indie-single “Switchboard Operator,” to borderline disco track “Halcyon Daze,” to the unashamed ballad “Song for The Silver Surfer,” and all the way back again.

Chris Warren, Ben Warn, Alex Robertson, and Chris Norman display a certain musical maturity on the album. While perhaps not as edgy as Maximo Park’s A Certain Trigger or early material from The Cure, there is a great deal of confidence displayed from POLSKY as the climax of the Pink Floyd influenced “Nimbus Cumulus” builds to a euphoric release, the music rising to a tipping point before washing over the listener with its warm harmonies and reverb guitar.

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Outblinker’s “The Remains of Walter Peck” EP is an abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music recorded and co-written with Ben Power of Blanck Mass and Fuck Buttons. It’s a project with confident fuck you attitude and style.

Quoting from the press release, “Fame is just so fucking futile. That’s the thing about being an outsider. You accept your fate. You know that 50 years from now a bank won’t be butchering your work to flog mortgages to suckers. You make your noise and you watch it echo for a bit then dissipate. Like our protagonist, Walter Peck, your ashes are gradually diluted by a planet of dirt and your music even more rapidly subsumed by the white noise of the world…”

First track “Walter Peck” is an up tempo, industrial banger full of anguish, mystery, and volatility where dark synth tones are the focus. The second track, “Farrokh Bulsara,” generates its ambience with a more soothing approach, and the third, “Ernest Becker,” is the most sinister of the EP’s three songs—developing ominous tones throughout the intro, building with harmonies, and growing at its own pace toward an 11 minute crescendo.

“The Remains of Water Peck” EP is in stores now via Stabbed In The Back Records.

Our artist of the week is Swedish alternative electro-pop duo Newtimers whose sensual pop melodies flow with ease and whose hooks perhaps even Justin Timberlake might struggle to compose.

Now, we may have been a little hasty comparing Newtimers to the likes of JT, but the boys aren’t too far off, creating hits that could easily be in Billboard’s Top 200. In fact a remix of their single “Best Of Me” featured on their EP entitled “EP One” was curated by the talented Monsieur Adi, known for creating official remixes for Ellie Goulding as well as Beyonce, Bastille, Lana Del Rey, and The Kooks.

The tracks featured on “EP One” were written during a time when both songwriters were suffering from broken hearts. “It’s full of who, what, wheres, and whys—seeing past, present, and future,” say the band. Although the songs were written under upsetting circumstances, there’s more hope here than melancholy.

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Twin sisters Hannah and Chloe Van Thompson started writing songs at the young age of 17, decided to put a band together shortly thereafter, and despite the group still being in its infancy, The Van T’s have already played at major festivals across the UK showcasing their new single “Blood Orange,” as premiered on BBC Radio 1 with Huw Stephens.

The single demonstrates The Van T’s characteristics perfectly as electrifying guitar howls echo from the speakers, bridged beautifully by the twin sisters’ duel vocals, all neatly harnessed by the simple yet effective interplay between drums and bass—while the main hook in the chorus wedges itself into your memory.

Premiering on Noisey, the video sees the band go full ’90s inspired MTV2 with grainy, filtered visuals edited sharply befitting the high-octane nature of the song. “Blood Orange” is a contemporary, scuzz filled record that screams influences from the likes of The Smashing Pumpkins, the B-52’s, and Le Butcherettes.

“Blood Orange” by The Van T’s is in stores now via Bloc+Music.

The ’90s sound is definitely experiencing a successful revival among today’s alternative rock scene. In this case, it’s Danish rockers Captain Casanova and their new single “Futures,” which incorporates grunge filled scuzz, demonstrating similar characteristics to that of its predecessors in Nirvana, Pavement, and Dinosaur Jr.

The Aarhus based three-piece channel grunge-infused garage rock on their latest offering and whilst the chorus feels bright and uplifting, the message behind the song takes on a more sombre note. “The song is written as an explanation and a goodbye to the son of my former girlfriend,” explains guitarist and singer Rasmus Bredvig. “It’s also a song about the frustration of loosing and not wanting to loose that naïve point of view where you think something will last forever.”

The band’s new single “Futures” contains video footage taken from Rasmus’ childhood days, which are deliberately more uplifting than the message of the song itself. It’s a nostalgic look back into Rasmus’ past—keeping the feeling and those days vivid and alive in his memory.

“Futures” is in stores now via Tapetown Records.

La Boum Fatale’s debut album Holygram takes you on an electronic journey for all moods, be it a Friday night rave or a 5am come down.

The record is an alternative take on modern electro house. Fusing trance with deep house and elements of indie electronica, Berlin based producer Antonio de Spirt is a master manipulator of beats and melodies.

Lead album track “Nille” is a captivating start setting the scene with ambient soundscapes, whilst “Johnny Blitz” is energetic and dark, brimming with pumping beats and hooks that wouldn’t go amiss in a festival setting.

The aforementioned “Ghost” and tracks “No Tongue In Cheek” and “He Just Might” showcase Antonio’s “pop” side. “No Tongue In Cheek” features Danish pop kid Asbjørn and is one of the album’s stand out tracks, evident from the recent EP release featuring an array of strong remixes via collaborators like Liam Back and NGHT DRPS.

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When a PR company works with a band they will generally send out a press release to announce the forthcoming single/ album/ whatever. Most of these are fairly standard… Band A is releasing Song A, Song A sounds a bit like Band B and Band C, Band A have been supported by Major Blog A, Major Blog B, and Website C, etc. This is fine, I’m not complaining, these releases are about getting information out clearly, entertainment is secondary. The press release for Outblinker’s new release, “The Remains of Walter Peck,” is not like that.

Instead, it reads like a stream of consciousness about art, its place in modern society, and a rejection of fame and all its trappings (done, I would hope, with all the intended irony one would expect from writing this as a press release).

It was an incredibly entertaining read, and while it told me very little about the release or band themselves, it did I suppose do its job and get me to go listen to the EP. So with all of this in mind, here’s what I thought of the band’s latest free track “Farrokh Bulsara.”

Right from the get go there is a building intensity to the music. An ominous drone backdrops guitars (or maybe they’re synths) which teeter just on the edge of exploding into feedback. The remains of a vocal line flickers, drenched in echo, like something from a movie dream sequence.

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Running your band like a corporation sounds like the dreadful wet dream of some major label executive. Songs are not art—they’re products, gigs are not a collective musical experience—they’re a marketing opportunity, and festivals aren’t a social and cultural event—they’re a trade convention. If this sarcastic comparison hits a little too close to the bone, then you’re tapping into the emotion POLSKY are conveying.

With their tongue stuck firmly in their cheek they announce themselves as “…a musical corporate entity for the modern-day.” Their band members aren’t bassists, keyboardists, or drummers, but “Low Frequency Systems Analyst” Chris Norman, “Senior Synth Architect” Ben Warren, and a “Rhythm Logistics Engineer” Alex Robertson. But underneath the humorous overtones there is a rejection of—through the cynical over-egging of—the blurred lines between art and business.

Playing a lively style of indie-pop which takes influences from post-punk and electro along the way, their first offering “Switchboard Operator” reminds me strongly of early Maximo Park, especially in regard to the vocals of “CEO” Chris Warren which sound very Paul Smith-esque in their delivery.

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