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, Johnny Quinn.
Job: Lead singer with Liverpool indie pop band SPINN.
Musical hates: Sting and The Police ripping off dub/reggae and making it a palatable shite pill of despair for the British middle classes to consume. Amy Winehouse: the melodies give me a headache and I hate the harmonies; in fact, I hate it all. No, I’m not sorry about this: music is subjective isn’t it?Musical loves: Lyrics that fit loads of syllables into a melody, that stuff is impressive. Alex Turner.
On my personal player:
Enjoy Right Now, Today - Tyler The Creator (I’m terrified of flying and this track really helped me relax when travelling via aeroplane recently so that’s why it qualified)
A Plea For Tenderness - The Modern Lovers (My girlfriend never showed me a song she liked for so long it’s unbelievable, this was the first song she ever showed me and it broke my heart because of how beautiful it is.
So it’s always on my playlist forever)
DELIGHTS - SOMETIMES, LATELY
Following the recent 'Daydream' from April, the new single, released June 21, from the Manchester indie pop four-piece has a jangly, laid back melodic vibe, merging a dreampop essence with a touch of psych. Catch live at Manchester AATMA on June 28.
I really like this track. The instrumentals remind me of bands like Plums, and Horsebeach. It's really luscious, and the bass player has had a blinder on this track. Unlike Plums, Delights aren’t quite as lo-fi with the vocals, but there’s nothing wrong with adding a poppy take to a lo-fi style! It says on my press pack here that these guys take influence from Peace, you can hear that influence, but this easily competes with anything of Peace’s last album, so take from that what you will. Manchester coming up good again, well done guys.
Star rating: ★★★★☆
DEAD NATURE - IN MY HEART
Co-produced with Joe Wills, former Spring King drummer/vocalist Tarek Musa makes his debut here with new solo project Dead Nature. The first cut from his upcoming EP ‘Taking My Shadow’ (out July 26), it's a weighty, four-minute excursion, and a taste of what is to come. “I’ve been facing a lot of my past on this record,” he says. “The process has been similar to that of my younger years where I was writing songs quite quickly, using instincts and gut feelings to propel the creative process. These songs explore ideas of loneliness and breaking away from your past, whilst challenging the notion of pride and the line between self-respect and egotism.”
This song is fabulous. The production is top, and the drums sound like they were recorded in a mountain ravine, they made my brain rattle round my skull. This track is giving off some major Arcade Fire vibes, and that is ALWAYS a good thing. That sounds all well and good, Johnny, but does it merges into 2019’s answer to 'All These Things' by The Killers? You may ask. And the answer is Yes. Yes it does. Great stuff. I for one am very excited for Dead Nature’s EP, which as chance would have it, is coming out very soon.
Star rating: ★★★★★
NOVA TWINS - DEVIL'S FACE
Georgia South, bassist, and singer and guitarist Amy Love, are the duo making what they call "the NOVA sound": “This is a 21st century take on rock." Energetic, future-punk-rock, wrapped in a raucous 2m42.
You can see what Nova Twins were trying to do here, and in parts the track is really good, but the whole thing just comes across as overproduced, and when combined with the flashy music video and stylized image it just seems a bit tacky. Underneath that there’s a decent enough tune.
Star rating: ★★☆☆☆
GAFFA TAPE SANDY - SO DRY
Released June 21 via Alcopop! Records ahead of the Brighton-via-Bury St Edmunds trio's new EP, ‘Family Mammal’, out August 9. The slow-paced, punchy track is, they say, an expression of inner feelings. “Generally as a band we try to keep spitefulness and vehemence out of our songwriting, but sometimes it seeps through and ‘So Dry’ is a result of that leak. We don’t really like arguing as a whole, but expressing yourself is very important, so we like to think of this song as us raising our voices anonymously at the people who make us mad as hell.”
On first listen I had mixed feeling towards this track. Generally speaking, I’m massively against pop-punk, and this track clearly has some heavy pop-punk sympathies - it was almost too much for me to deal with. But listening again, the melodies and lyrics really started to get my Spidey senses tingling. It’s kind of like if The Magic Gang tried to write 'Welcome To The Black Parade', it doesn’t make sense until you listen to it, and then you’re kind of hooked, so go and listen to it and get kind of hooked. It’s a good little track this one.
Star rating: ★★★☆☆
GENDER ROLES - YOU LOOK LIKE DEATH
Taken from the Brighton punks' debut album 'PRANG' out August 30 via Big Scary Monsters Records. Explosive and infectious, it marries jangly guitars and dual vocals as it roars across a noisy four minutes.
Right from the start of this track I knew I’d like it. The second the backing vocals come in it opens up a lovely little world that accompanies the music video perfectly. I can almost guarantee that this track would absolutely go off at a gig (limbs and pints in the air for Gender Roles, please). This is the type of band you see at a festival not really knowing them, and come away loving. The whole song builds up and up, and the release you get when the guitars finally let loose is something else entirely. Gender Roles have an album coming out soon. Give it a listen, because if 'You Look Like Death' is anything to go by, it's going to be marvellous.
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