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The Veer Union – Bitter End review + new album out 26th March!
The Veer Union’s brand new single Bitter End is hitting all the right notes and chords with their fans and with the release of their new album Divide The Blackended Sky Out 26th March, the band are sure to become a force to be reckoned with this year.
The lead single, Bitter End, has received critical acclaim from fans and it’s just a small teaser of what their new album will be like. The verses in Bitter End act as a calm before the storm, with the true power of the song coming out in full force in the chorus. If Bitter End is anything to go by, The Veer Union will soon be a name on everybody’s lips by the end of this year. A real turning point for a band who are just one of 2012′s many rising talents.
Frozen Rope – I Can’t Hide single review
Whether you like it or not, for better or worse, grunge pioneers Pearl Jam released arguably one of the best grunge albums (or just flat out rock albums) ever in 1991 with their debut Ten. Yes, over 20 years ago way back in 1991 and believe it or not it’s almost the 20th anniversary of Grunge’s forefather Kurt Cobain’s death. The legacy lives on and bands like Soundgarden and Pearl Jam are still going strong, though many would have you believe the grunge scene is dead.
But it’s not. While many people think of Seattle as the home of grunge, for newbies Frozen Rope they reside in Middlesborough. Their single I Can’t Hide is a fantastic piece of music and if one thinks grunge is dead, then Frozen Rope are it’s unkillable zombie corpse. Pete McGrory is the driving force behind the band, his vocal style easily compareable to that of Eddie Vedder’s. Of course, grunge may have had it’s time 20 years ago but Frozen Rope show there’s still some life in a genre that many only have as a memory.
Lazlo – I’m The Man/Venus EP review
Dubbed as the punk intellectual who talks to the animals, Lazlo aka Dr. Dooalot is a self-proclaimed farmyard punk singer. From his base at his own zoo outside Budapest, it’s hard to find anyone with the same style or etiquette as Lazlo.
With his deep voice, opening song and title track I’m The Man sounds like Till Lindemann of Rammstein having a jolly sing and dance. Infact, it sounds like a drunk Till Lindemann telling everyone to get fucked up. It’s true, Lazlo’s lyrics are very silly at times but it’s what makes him so great – there’s no need for seriousness when you sing songs such as Rabbit Not A Man. There doesn’t seem to be any hidden meaning in these songs. This isn’t Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, no…it is literally a song about a rabbit. But what’s the problem there? Answer: there isn’t one. Why can’t all music be like this? It’s eccentric, it’s fun, it’s interesting but above all it’s fucking great.
There hasn’t been a good song about a female with the male genitalia since Goldie Lookin’ Chain’s smash hit Your Mother Has a Penis (infact, has there even been any other songs about chicks with dicks?) but Venus is just that. An acoustic folk song about Venus, Lazlo’s girl with a penis. To a lot of people, music is seen as an art form and should that be true, Lazlo is the Banksy of music – tongue in cheek while sticking his middle finger up to society. And again, there’s no problem with that. If anything, there’s a problem with there being not enough Lazlo’s in the world.
Lazlo is comical, but his songs do actually deal with serious subjects – I Will Eat tackles capitalism and Venus deals with homophobia. These are big issues in the world today, it’s hard to disagree with that but Lazlo sings and plays these songs in such a way it’s hard not to listen with a smile on the face. Lazlo might be practically unknown in the UK, but that doesn’t make him any less important – infact, his music has a lot more place in the UK than any of the dire bullshit that the X-Factor churns out every year. Godspeed, Lazlo, Godspeed!
Baby Blue – Earthquake (single) review
Hailing from Italy, it’s quite clear that there’s no shortage off riffage in Baby Blue’s repertoire. Their stunning new single Earthquake is a foot stomping, head banging rock hit which is shows just why they have been taking over Italy by appearing high up on some of Italy’s most prestigious music festivals.
Earthquake comes raging out of its cage with some heavy southern sounding riffs big enough to knock over the Burj Khalifa. Although Italy may not be synonymous with rock music (their most successful band being Lacuna Coil), Baby Blue could soon sail out of Italy and conquer the rest of Europe with songs like Earthquake. Big riffs and harmonic vocals backed by a superb band…what’s not to love?
Earthquake is the band’s debut UK single having been released in their home country in 2010.
Skint & Demoralised – This Sporting Life review
If Morrissey ever smiled or sung happy songs in the days of The Smiths, then he probably would have written something similar to Skint & Demoralised’s This Sporting Life. He didn’t though and if you ever see Morrissey with a smile on his face, it’s probably not actually Morrissey.
Thankfully though, Skint & Demoralised can smile and they play joyful indie songs to brighten your day right up. From opener Hogmanay Heroes, the band’s Englishness shines through. Clearly proud of their home country, it’d be harder to find a band more English unless your band consisted of two blokes with the last name Gallagher. Skint & Demoralised are to England what The Proclaimers are to Scotland – except not embarrassingly shit. Maria, Full of Grace has a little bit of a ska feeling to it – it’s like Jamie T fronting an indie band. Take Jamie T’s ability to write great songs and mix him with Johnny Foreigner’s sound and you’d get Skint & Demoralised. Maria, Full of Grace is upbeat, catchy and yet harmonic.
The Lonely Hearts of England proves how English the band really are, they sound it, they sing of it but the best thing about them is that they do it with such grace and finesse. This Sporting Life is the high point (so far!) of the band’s career – with each year of existence, Skint & Demoralised have grown and grown and in 2012, they are bigger than ever. Did It All Go To Plan? is more stripped down than the rest of the album but it doesn’t do any harm whatsoever, infact it adds to the band’s credibility. It shows diversity and although every track on the album has something to love about it, Did It All Go To Plan? stands out for being so unique.
As Lowlife brings This Sporting Life to it’s climatic end, one thing is left on the mind: where do Skint & Demoralised go from here? Of course, Yazz sang that the only was was up but how do they top this record? They’ve managed to top their last record but how do they do it again? Can they do it again? It’s probably best not to worry for the time being and just enjoy the chirpy goodness that This Sporting Life will bring to everyone’s lives.
For fans of: Jamie T x Johnny Foreigner, The Smiths.
Maker – Mirrors review
Coming straight from the same punk scene as bands like A Loss For Words and Such Gold, it’s no surprise that Maker’s latest offering, Mirrors, is a fantastic record. Mixing their punk with the 90s emo sound, Maker do just about everything they could possibly do right on this record. It’s raw, gritty and it’s honest – something that is becoming extremely difficult to find in music these days. Sure, we have bands like Basement and The Wonder Years but the more the merrier.
Kicking off with the fantastic Mirrors, Maker prove that they are head and shoulders above the rest. The band’s sound is something old, something new and something borrowed yet with a unique twist and they really do make Mirrors something special. Tsunamis is a stand out track that has passion and emotion packed tight in to it but this is what makes band like Maker so spectacular. They’re not afraid to write what’s really on their mind or how they’re feeling and this is what music lacks. Bands have no drive – they sit down, jam, write a song and come back with something to be lost in time – but not Maker. Even if Maker’s musical journey stops soon, Mirrors could easily become a cult classic punk album.
The heavier, fast paced For Every Mistake I’ve Ever Made is easily one of the best songs on the record, it’s quick punk riffs and brilliant lyrics make it a straight up punk rock tune with no bullshit. Just how punk should be done. The instrumental 1989 gives way for the sublime What’s In Your Head, which sounds relatively similar to Basement’s Earl Grey but with a more American feel – that’s not a bad thing though, if anything it gives the song it’s own extra special feel to it. What Maker are able to do on Mirrors is what most bands fail to do these days and that’s simply make and produce fantastic songs. Without a bunch of great songs, a band might as well not be a band – what’s the point in writing music if it’s not any good? Thankfully for Maker, there is a point as writing fantastic songs is a speciality of theirs.
A Postcard I Never Sent To You solidifies the fact that Maker are a great band. The song is a stripped down acoustic track and is almost the calm before the storm for the epic 14 which knocks down everything in it’s way. Basement Song has the same feel to it as early Alkaline Trio – simple punk rock played with hearts on their sleeves and feet firmly on the ground, while …I’ve Been Wondering closes out the album in the best way possible.
Instead of making ripples of noise, Maker have made waves of them. Mirrors is an achievement. Maker have made a record that most bands only dream of making and they make it look easy. Maker are pop punk’s great white hope – not that it needed one, but if pop punk ever goes down the shitter then Maker will be their to pick things right back up. Thanks lads.
For fans of: Basement, Alkaline Trio.
Sea Is For Sailors – Forward Forewarn review
Solo records. Some are just downright piss poor. Some people have the talent to play everything themselves and some just don’t – it’s not exactly an easy feat, let’s face it. For the sake of all things fucking brilliant, Sammy Mitchell (or better known as Sea Is For Sailors) can play every instrument on the record used perfectly but not only that his voice is perfect when singing or just tearing shit up.
The opening to Forward Forewarn is Forward (Foreward) and it’s a brutal onslaught of what’s to come. It’s like someone took Every Time I Die, The Dillinger Escape Plan and even Jamey Jasta from Hatebreed, mixed them in a blender and called it Sea Is For Sailors. The follow up to the opening track is Shark Bait – a riffaholic monster of a mosh anthem. There’s no better way to describe it. It’s heavy, it’s brutal, it destroys anything in its path but the most amazing thing is that it’s just one bloke. Maybe this proves that the tension in bands can often be too much and doing EVERYTHING (right down to the production) on a record yourself is much better than spending years or months reconcilling and writing a new (shit) album.
Smokestack sounds like something straight off of Calculating Infinity – imitation is often referred to as the most sincere form of flattery and if Ben Weinman heard Sea Is For Sailors, he’d probably be pretty happy. Everything on Forward Forewarn is perfect. Not a single strum of a guitar, a single beat of a drum or a single note or word sung is out of tune or out of place. Trail Dragger sounds like a cross between Clutch and Cancer Bats – although listing a tonne of reputable bands does not do Sammy Mitchell justice in anyway possible.
The record comes to an almighty close with the epic Forewarn, if Sammy Mitchell could clone himself a few times and go on tour with Sea Is For Sailors then he would easily be the next big thing in the rock scene. This music couldn’t physically be made with anyone but Mitchell. Nobody has this amount of passion for music, it’s unbelievable. To sit down, write a record this good and not be doing big tours is insanely odd. Sammy Mitchell AKA Sea Is For Sailors has possibly written one of the finest EPs of 2012 and it WILL stay that way, despite there still being over 300 days left of this year.
For fans of: Cancer Bats, Every Time I Die, The Dillinger Escape Plan.
Archers and Arrows – S/T review
When one mentions Switzerland, the alps are usually what comes to mind. Not punk. Building a fanbase in the worldwide punk scene when you hail from a place like Switzerland isn’t easy however slowly but surely, it’s inevitable that Archers and Arrows time will come.
They’re straight up, no holds barred punk rock is reminiscent is The Get Up Kids with a modern twist – it’s Latterman with an old school punk feel to it. Opening song It’s So Cool, We Will Die All Together couldn’t introduce Archers and Arrows better – it’s a stunning punk song pulled right out of the bag. It’s surprising to hear something as fresh as this, punk isn’t the easiest genre to perfect but Archers and Arrows have truly made it their own on this record.
The Support is just as good – sounding like a European version of Off With Their Heads, they continue to dominate throughout the EP with Swan Song followed by the fantastic Truncated Humanism which sounds like Such Gold with accents. Of course, being from Switzerland it’s obvious that the band will have accents, but that’s what makes “foreign” bands so great – they have their own sound and own feel to them, they don’t sound the same and they push the boundaries.
The Young Carpetbaggers has a massive Rancid feel to it – there’s no better feeling than turning on a punk record and being pleasantly surprised with what you hear. This was the case with Archers and Arrows, the feel of a band totally catching the listener off guard is how music should be. The audience crave originality and in 2012 it’s not easy – sure, there’s inspiration but when you twist it and turn that inspiration to become your own, it becomes something quite special. Archers and Arrows self titled EP is what will hopefully put Switzerland on map for punk rock and hopefully the band will spread across the world like wildfire. Whoever said punk was dead?
For fans of: The Get Up Kids, Rancid, Have Nots.
Archers and Arrows on Facebook. You can also find links to download the bands music for free on their Facebook page!
The Super Happy Fun Club release free Valentine’s single!
To coincide with Valentine’s Day, The Super Happy Fun Club are releasing their new single Way Back (The Conflict) for absolutely nothing! So, if you’re not part of the super happy fun club who’ll be spending Valentine’s Day with their other half, spend it with The Super Happy Fun Club!
Following a hugely successful UK tour last year that included a supporting stint with Madina Lake, the band felt they’d received so much love from UK audiences, that it was time to give some back so head over to either of the following links to get yourself the free new track from the band!
Download link number 1!
Download link number 2!
“Happy Valentine’s Day UK! We are really excited to release our new single WAY BACK as a free release! Everyone in the UK has been so great to us, we wanted to take this opportunity to give back and say Thanks for the all of the love and support! Send it to your significant other, send it to your grandma, send it to your neighbor, send it to everyone! This message has been approved by the Super Happy Fun Club.”
The band are currently recorded the follow up to Go Fun Yourself and will be touring the UK later this year!
Early Morning Rebel – Life Boat single review
Dubbed fashion’s new IT band by Cosmopolitan and having their music featured in Grey’s Anatomy is no small feat at all, so up and coming Early Morning Rebel are obviously not short of attention at the moment.
The Los Angelos indies new single Life Boat is something quite special – it contains real emotion and passion within the single itself and the band’s music is perfect. It’s hard to find music with such grace and finesse in 2012 but Early Morning Rebel prove that it does still exist on their new single and with appearances in London during London’s Fashion Week this month, the band will soon be making more noise than before.
Early Morning Rebel on Facebook
The band will be making appearances at the following dates:
Feb 16th ON/OFF LONDON @ Rook and Raven Gallery Rathbone Place
http://www.onoff.tv/feb12/
Feb 17th Sex and London City Party @ Kensington Roof Gardens
http://sexandlondoncity.com/
Feb 19th Shoreditch house
http://www.shoreditchhouse.com/
Feb 19th Felicities Presents at Somerset House
http://www.felicities.co.uk/
