In our new feature, Little Indie sits one person in the guest reviewer's chair with a pair of headphones and five new tracks to swirl through their ears to give their opinion on each.
In the chair this week, Ade Riches.
Job: Director of Creative Sounds UK artist management, representing Al Moses, Glass Peaks, Salvation Jayne and others.
Musical hates: Bands who don't stick around to support other bands.
Musical loves: Promoters and bloggers who create a platform for guitar music to thrive.
On my personal player:
Buzzcocks - Another Music in a Different Kitchen (for having tracks like 'Moving Away From the Pulsebeat' which still sounds like nothing else ever recorded as well as being one of the most inventive honest and real albums)
Pixies - Where Is My Mind (for being thrilling unhinged music)
HANDS OFF GRETEL - FREAKS LIKE US
Yorkshire's grunge-punk rockers with the latest track from their new album 'I Want The World'. “‘Freaks Like Us’ is an anthem for the outcasts; for those that ever feel misunderstood and alone," states the quarter's Lauren Tate. "I really needed this song on my iPod when I was at school. The video takes me back to getting banned from performing at the school talent show, when I flipped the middle finger to the girls sat whispering and laughing at me in the audience. Writing this song for me was a way of saying ‘Just watch me’ embracing who I am and continuing to prove all that doubted me, wrong'." The band are in tour now.
A ballad that wouldn't sound out of place on a Billy Elliot soundtrack. An arm waver of a song of emancipation that is an interesting departure from the punkier power pop songs the group put out. It slowly builds with a nursery rhyme like refrain that builds into crashing crescendos - not unlike Pixies' 'Where Is My Mind', in fact. Perhaps a little predictable in its structure, but a well crafted tune nonetheless.
Star rating: ★★★★☆
SWIMMING GIRLS - I DON'T WANT TO GET TO HEAVEN
The dark pop four-piece precede their Glastonbury appearance with their ‘Existential Fears’ EP, released last week on Yucatan Records, which includes this track; sounding like the liberating letter of truth you wish you wrote to someone who messed you around.
On first listen, this electro-pop song has a sparkly production that owes much to 80s classics in the oeuvre of Belinda Carlisle. A liberating song about the letting go of a relationship. Catchy and danceable with all the makings of a pop hit.
Star rating: ★★★★☆
SOFT WALLS - COFFEE
The solo project of Dan Reeves, Brighton-based Cold Pumas member, and ex-proprietor of Faux Discx records. This track comes from his third album, 'Not as Bad as It Seems'.
The music builds slowly from the start with heavy distorted guitar, not unlike an early Velvets tune. The over-laden reverb on the harmony vocals and lo-fi production, although charming in its simplicity, unfortunately smothers the song. If stripped back just a little it would have revealed more of the song's structure and melody as there are some interesting parts, particularly what sounds like a xylophone during the middle-eight.
Star rating: ★★★☆☆
SCROUNGE - PURPOSE
South London post-punk grungers, Lucy and Luke, may be minimal in band numbers and kit - guitar, drums and mic - but they sure as hell make up for it on this new third single, released last week on Fierce Panda, the first to be taken from their debut EP, due later this year. Produced by Sam Miller (VANT), it "tackles themes of loss: the loss of faith in the supposedly stable and reliable pillars of family, politics and religion, the loss of purpose, and ultimately the creeping nihilism which takes hold when faced with this realisation.”
This has a similar vibe to Bow Wow Wow's 'c30 c60 c90'. A driving, pulsing rhythm that I am certain will translate well in a live situation, it's full of attitude and is refreshingly simple in its arrangement. The song reaches an early exciting crescendo delivering a thrillingly crazy noise. I love the stabbing guitar and short, to-the-point style in true punk fashion.
Star rating: ★★★★★
THANDII - TIDES
Margate-based duo Thandii released this new single last week: the final cut from their upcoming EP ‘Serious Town’, out on July 5. Following earlier singles ‘Company’ and ‘Honey’, Jess and Graham now explore themes of guilt and how people deal with it. A growing cluster of rhythmic sounds and shuffles, and an ever-present increasing bass line invoke the feeling of being relentlessly chased by guilt.
Excitingly different in its arrangement, Jess's haunting, smoky vocals accompanied by the hypnotic disco synth sound, make for an entrancing song about how someone steers through the changing tide of a relationship to make it work 'come hell or high water.' The track also pays tribute to the important work of Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, and her efforts to combat climate change. and uses it as a metaphor for regret. “There’s another heatwave on….” and “I can’t ignore you,” Jess sings. I enjoyed listening all the differing layers of the music and its melancholic sound is ideally suited to the introspective time of the evening when the sun sets and is both relaxing and easily listenable.
Star rating: ★★★★★
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