HOLIDAY GHOST – ” West Bay Playroom “

Posted: December 24, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Holiday Ghosts are back with their second LP “West Bay Playroom”, the follow-up to their acclaimed self-titled debut album from 2017. Originally starting out as a solo project from Sam Stacpoole the band evolved into a partnership with Katja Rackin, before turning into a full band with the debut album – showcasing a primitive rock ’n’ roll sound that’s been compared to The Modern Lovers and The Velvet Underground alongside current garage rock acts, and praised by the likes of The FADER, Stereogum, BrooklynVegan and KEXP. For West Bay Playroom the band’s refined their sound, with Stacpoole and Rackin being joined by Ryan Cleave on bass and Charlie Fairbairnon on guitar, offering a cleaner and more focused set of songs while breaking new ground and experimenting with influences from country, blues, spaghetti western soundtracks and more.
released February 15th, 2019

FRANKIE and the WITCH FINGERS – ” Zam ” Best Albums Of 2019

Posted: December 24, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The California band returns with a fifth album also with a sound that navigates between the garage and the psychedelia, which will transport you to a B movie on a disc full of speed and distortion.

Frankie and the Witch Fingers’ latest LP, “ZAM”, bleeds beyond borders and boundaries. Its opening preternatural sounds bubble up out of the primordial soup, spilling into our world, invading the inner recesses of the listener’s mind. Like a two-headed snake wrapped around the skull, the album pendulates between winding instrumentals and dancey riffs that pop like supernovas out of the black void. Just when a song goes one way, it propels another through long stretches of a cosmic inferno.

Bringing glimmers of krautrock and funk, its eleven tracks unleash a versatile and tenacious weight, slithering between the sexy, the aggressive, the vivacious, and the disorienting—until the living invasion is felt—ZAM—a supernatural entity summoned by four madmen obsessed with tearing open a gateway to dark space. After being pulled apart atom-by-atom, the listener is reconfigured on the other side, born unto starry wasteland. Where head is separated from body. Where music is seen and apocalyptic soundscapes flow to revelation. A funhouse undercurrent pulses through the album’s epoch, reflecting a carnival mosaic shrewdly lulling and doggedly brutal. As one track bleeds into the next, that hour of running time becomes wormhole travel, until the listener returns earthbound, transmuted, craving more odyssey.

ZAM is out now via NYC’s Greenway Records

TALLIES – ” Tallies “

Posted: December 24, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The late 80’s and early 90’s were a huge influence for many new artists. But when they cite sounds from great artists like Johnny Marr, Cocteau Twins, The Cure, and the Beach Boys, you know they are on track to something great. Combining up-beat drum beats, melodic bass riffs, jingly guitar leads, and fluttery lighter-than-air vocals, Tallies gives out a soft, yet bouncy ray of sunshine not unlike The Sundays’ debut album Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic. Tallies bridges that long lost sound with yet a new and youthful take on something all their own.

Coming out of Toronto, this indie pop band recently formed this year by lead singer and guitarist Sarah Cogan and guitarist Dylan Franklin. With Cian O’Neill on drums and Stephen Pitman on bass they release their debut album via Kanine Records and Fear of Missing Out.

Jingly, jangly, and memorable, Tallies hit the mark and leave a lasting impression with their debut album.

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Band Members
Guitar/Vocals: Sarah Cogan
Guitar: Dylan Frankland
Bass: Patrick McCormack
Drums: Cian O’Neill
debut album from Toronto, Canada’s Indie pop. Memphis Industries Records.
released January 11, 2019

WESTKUST – ” Westkust ” Best Albums Of 2019

Posted: December 23, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Sometimes you need an amazingly crafted Swedegaze pop album, and sometimes that album will kick in your door, shower you with kisses, then proceed to back its time capsule steamroller over your face. The band’s debut album “Last Forever” from 2015 was a surprise to many, not just because of its shoegaze influences but because of the depth and maturity of the songwriting. Unlike many Swedish bands Westkust didn’t fit the framework of the indie rock or the indie pop that have engulfed the guitar based music scene in Sweden . Instead they walked down their own road and followed the same path like shoegaze guitar heroes such as The Jesus and Mary Chain and that kind of patented quiet-loud dynamic that have inspired many bands.

Four years after they released their debut album Westkust are back with their sophomore self-titled record, but it’s a band that experience transitional times. First, original members Gustav and Hugo left the band to focus on other projects, but with the new line-up entailing Brian Cukrowski and Pär Carlsson added to Julia Bjernelind and Philip Söderlind, there’s greater focus on Westkust; second on Luxury Records,

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released March 1st, 2019

52 HERTZ WHALE – ” Thin Skin “

Posted: December 23, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Some of the most exciting music we’ve heard recently has emerged from mainland Europe. One of those acts responsible are 52 Hertz Whale, a five-piece hailing from the Slovakian capital of Bratislava. They describe their music as “post everything” which wouldn’t be a bad descriptive were they not as relevantly present as it gets. Led by the inimitable talent that is Dominik Prok, a forceful presence that’s equal parts Mark Lanegan (vocally) and Cedric Bixler (performance-wise). Musically there are elements of grunge, punk, shoegaze and even metal which makes their repertoire a brutal yet potent concoction of styles and ideas.

Recent single “Thin Skin” came out earlier this month and represents arguably their most visceral statement of intent to date. With more new music on the way shortly and live shows about to be confirmed beyond their native motherland, 2020 could be the year these guys become household names in your neck of the woods.

DRY CLEANING – ” Magic of Meghan “

Posted: December 23, 2019 in MUSIC
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South London has a history in producing some of the UK’s most innovative bands in recent years. The latest are Dry Cleaning, a four-piece who combine wiry post punk with intelligent, observational lyrics that reference Meghan Markle, sexual encounters in Travelodge hotels and Vikings amongst other things. One review compared them to “Phoebe Waller-Bridge fronting The Fall”, and while that probably sounds a little too unpalatable to contemplate, it’s actually quite plausible. They’ve put out two EPs this year which stand shoulder to shoulder gracefully alongside anything else released in 2019 while their live shows have already become the stuff of legend.

With an album scheduled for release in the coming months and several festival slots already in the bag, it’s probably fair to say you’re going to hear a lot more from Dry Cleaning in 2020.

Dry Cleaning – “Magic of Meghan” Taken from the ‘Sweet Princess EP‘, out now.

BAILEN – ” Thrilled To Be Here “

Posted: December 23, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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This New York City trio is made up of three siblings: twin brothers Daniel and David Bailen and their little sister, Julia Raised in New York by their classically trained parents, . Their acoustic sound feels like it came from a dusty, ’70s rock LP, giving us the occasional Fleetwood Mac vibe and some of the best sibling harmonies we’ve heard since the Beach Boys. Their debut LP, “Thrilled to Be Here”, was released in 2019, but while the singles have gotten heavy play from local tastemakers WFUV, the band’s yet to really break out beyond the city in a huge way. That should hopefully change in 2020: the kids have the chops to at least be the next HAIM. Try out their heartfelt track “Something Tells Me,” or the moody “I Was Wrong.”

“I Was Wrong” is off the debut album from Bailen “Thrilled To Be Here” available everywhere April 26th, 2019.

More recent releases include a cover of BRMC’s “Salvation,’ and for some holiday fun, their own take on “Christmas is All Around” from Love Actually.

Band Members
David, Daniel and Julia

LALA LALA – ” Lamb ” Best Albums Of 2019

Posted: December 22, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The spectre of violence pushed Lillie West towards something life-affirming. Threats loom around every corner on The Lamb, her sophomore record as Lala Lala: burglars, car crashes, one too many drinks. Inspired by the aftermath of a home invasion West experienced as well as her newfound sobriety, The Lamb is a dark, impressionistic vignette of someone trying to find control in a life marred by chaos that traces a bracing emotional arc from fear through to hope. Simultaneously battered and dreamy, The Lamb has one of the more distinct sonic palettes to be found in 2019 indie rock, recalling the cathartic heat of Car Seat Headrest and Molly Nilsson’s romantic, twinkling reveries in equal measure.

The Lamb’s tearstained, post-midnight sheen also recalls Sky Ferreira’s Night Time, My Time — another album about reclaiming your life in the wake of alienation. But unlike that album’s discomfiting open end, The Lamb closes with West reciting a mantra to live by: “Turn the lights off, keep the bills low / Keep my friends safe, keep my friends close.”

“Copycat” from Lala Lala’s 2018 album The Lamb

KAREN And The SORROWS – ” Guaranteed Broken Heart “

Posted: December 22, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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On her third album, queer country artist and anti-white supremacist activist Karen Pittelman and her band The Sorrows tackle one of country music’s age-old demons: What do you do when you build a life with someone only to realize they just aren’t as much as you needed? How do you set up boundaries with people who, through years of familiarity, could take it personally when you even suggest the need for it? The record is chock full of sad songs that offer you a shoulder to cry on and a pat on the back, but that refuse to coddle you.

Have you been looking for a song about broken hearts and longings that linger while also getting a charming honky tonk vibe and some of the sweetest vocals to hit the radio this year? Look no further than this tune from the Queen of Brooklyn’s Queer Country scene. Karen & the Sorrows took the internet by storm in 2019 and this doozy of a song had plenty to do with it.

From the new album “Guaranteed Broken Heart”,

CAROLINE POLACHEK – ” Pang “

Posted: December 22, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Caroline Polachek has occupied many spaces during her decade as a musician. From fronting an indie band making sync-friendly earworms and contributing to Beyoncé albums to stints making experimental music under other aliases, she’s proved as malleable as she has been consistent, so the high quality of her debut solo LP “Pang” is unsurprising. Created alongside producer Danny L Harle, the album leans into the PC Music aesthetic, a sideways take on sugary pop melodies and electronic production. Unlike other artists on that roster, however, Polachek isn’t afraid to fully commit to her feelings; written after a painful break-up, Pang covers indecision (“Door”), lust (“So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings”), and self-doubt (“Caroline Shut Up”) in heart-swelling fashion.

Great albums often act as a key to how an artist moves forward, and Pang is proof that you’d back Polachek to go anywhere.

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