Metz, II
These mild-looking Canadians revive the golden age of early Nirvana and ’90s grunge with 10 walloping noise-rockers—but there are surprising hooks amid all the Sturm und Drang. The sludgy, tinnitus-inducing sound of the ’90s’ Seattle Sound lives on with this Toronto trio. From the thumping bass lines of album opener “Acetate” to the deafening wall of distortion of closer “Kicking a Can of Worms,” II is ten rounds of pummeling noise-rock that never lets up
Acid washed fuzz funk? Is that even a genre? Probably not, but if it was to ever be invented it would be to describe this tune from the enigmatic Artificial Pleasure. Chock-filled with 80s musical tropes (gated reverb on the snares, glam-scuzz sounds, powerful from-the belly vocals, and Echo. On. Everything.) ‘Bolt From the Blue‘ is certainly the cheese to the chalk of the new music regularly served up these days.
Having picked up lofty comparisons to Bowie and Peter Gabriel already, who am I to to lower the sights? Let’s throw a slight reminiscence to Prince into the ring, alongside the stadium space-pop-rock pretensions of Muse. Ultimately though, it was a bit of a blind-siding experience first hearing this, with quite how far away it is from either the mainstream or the substream of the day. This however can definitely be seen as a good thing. Hooks are hooks, and ‘Bolt From the Blue‘ has it’s fair share, as well as opening up a retro-modern stylistic can of worms. One to take notice of for sure.
On their third full-length album, the Barr Brothers (featuring core members and actual brothers Brad and Andrew Barr, and Sarah Pagé) retain their set-up of bluesy, wild, fuzzed-out guitars, percussion derived from just about anything than makes a sound when hit, and amplified harp. Whereas their self-titled debut fell more in an amplified folk tradition, and 2014’s Sleeping Operator dabbled in hypnoses, Queens of the Breakers looks inward, featuring some of the best personal and reflective lyrics Brad Barr has ever written. It’s an exciting evolution from a band whose sonic curiosity never ceases to amaze me. The Barr Brothers performing “Queens Of The Breakers” live at Breakglass Studios during POP Montreal 2017. Recorded September 16th, 2017.
Songs: You Would Have To Lose Your Mind, Kompromat, Queens Of The Breakers, Song That I Heard It Came To Me
The Barr Brothers performing “You Would Have To Lose Your Mind” live at Breakglass Studios during POP Montreal 2017. Recorded September 16th, 2017.
The Barr Brothers performing “It Came To Me” live at Breakglass Studios during POP Montreal 2017. Recorded September 16th, 2017.
The Barr Brothers performing “Kompromat” live at Breakglass Studios during POP Montreal 2017. Recorded September 16th, 2017.
Rayna Gellert is probably best known as an Appalachian fiddler , but hopefully this album lets the world know that she’s also a great songwriter with a straightforward, deeply affecting voice. The songs borrow heavily from traditional music and they have the kind of deep, pulsing groove that only an old-time musician could create. The band (Gellert, Kai Welch, Jamie Dick, and co-producer Kieran Kane) is so tight, it’s difficult to hear where each instrument ends and the next one begins. The songs are wistful and meditative, but they’ve got a healthy dose of grit and movement, too. Earthy, warm, and addictively groovy, this album stood up to my repeated listening, usually with a cup of coffee on a chilly morning.
There’s a crystalline beauty to the songs on this album — every one celebrates the pleasures of loving deeply, yet acknowledges the hard edges of living. “Belief,” with Joe Overton’s wall of steel and Joshua Vana’s shimmering leads, channels Jackson Browne’s “Late for the Sky,” and the galloping “Grass” would be right at home on the Outlaws’ eponymous first album. The Party Line — the “Band Family” of one of the songs — plays a tight groove here, but it’s Struthers’ lyrics that gaze, clear-eyed, at the joyous possibilities lying latent in this tired old world. It’s past time now for a major label to sign Struthers; there’s not a better-written roster of songs out there this year.
Sam Beam’s return to veteran indie label Sub Pop after five years with major label Nonesuch seems significant. When Beam introduced himself as Iron & Wine on the lo-fi-recorded folk pluck-alongs of 2002’s The Creek Drank The Cradle, he proved that all you need to make a great song is a few good chords and a warmly melodic voice. Yet with albums like 2013’s Ghost On Ghost, Beam strayed far from that stripped-down approach by adding strings, ’70s soft-rock production and a lushness that sounded dramatically different, even if the songs at their core were just as warm and nourishing.
Beast Epic, Beam’s fourth for Sub Pop and sixth overall, is a happy midpoint between his starkest, simplest recordings and his more indulgent ones. Beam keeps to simpler arrangements on Beast Epic. The days of him simply finger-picking an acoustic guitar alone are well behind him, but a track like “Thomas County Law” only features slightly more instrumentation: light taps of percussion, a sparse bassline and gentle piano accompaniment. It’s the most intimate he’s sounded in years.
The album’s relative spaciousness is neither shocking nor unexpected. Beam wears this comfortable, lived-in approach well, delivering songs that maintain the prettiness and emotional impact of past records while offering the illusion of sitting in on a loose session between veteran session players. “Call It Dreaming” is just such an example, a big-hearted hymn about making the most of our short-term flesh-and-bone rentals. There’s a knowing sense of hurt, yet he delivers it with a smile.
Everything about Beast Epic feels true to Iron & Wine. Beam neither abandons his greater ambitions nor overindulges. He’s making a return trip to his roots, offering a gentle reminder of his early records’ simple beauty while allowing himself the freedom to build.
MC Taylor, the brains and imagination behind Hiss Golden Messenger, has been slowly simmering his particular blend of folk and more mainstream musical styles just below the national radar for years. With this year’s Hallelujah Anyhow, he delivered a collection of songs that sheds light in dark places, encouraging the listener to be grateful for even the hard times. With his warm, comfy vocals, deeply insightful songcraft, and the deft contributions of the exquisitely talented brother team of Brad and Phil Cook — plus some backup from famous friends Tift Merritt and John Paul White — Hiss Golden Messenger unlocked a new level of artistic achievement.
Hiss Golden Messenger perform “Gulfport You’ve Been On My Mind” from their 2017 album, “Hallelujah Anyhow,” live in The Current studio.
Beach Riot unveiled their debut single ‘B.A.D’. The mysterious London four-piece surfaced just some weeks ago with their first single, keeping their band members and future plans under wrap. These East Londoners Beach Riot are so new January 2017 formed – that you won’t find a lot about them online and with just their first track out, there’s a so far limited repertoire. But on the basis of ‘B.A.D’ alone, they have already been signed up to play their maiden gig next month, and caught the attention of This Feeling promoter Mike Jonns who is also liking what he’s heard.
“We we put it [‘B.A.D’] online a couple of weeks ago, after recording with Steve Ansell in Brighton,” frontman Rory O’Connor “We’ll have more tunes ready to go and will be putting them out over the next weeks. We hope to make plenty more noise and get people jumping around in the coming months!”
Speaking of their debut track, the band explained: “B.A.D is a song about an apathetic girl and a disillusioned guy who can’t figure out why she isn’t interested in him anymore after he missed his chance with her. The cliche story of everyone’s failed relationship life…”
Beach Riot are: Rory O’Connor – vocals/guitar, Cami Menditeguy – guitar/vocals, Jimi Suza – bass/vocals, Jonny Ross – drums.
Avalanche Party always leave us in awe of their live performances and often exclaiming why are they not the biggest band in the world. Their abundance of energy coupled with their reverb drenched garage tracks are always a highlight, They are “ones to watch” .
The London electro-pop outfit caused all manner of excitement in 2017 with singles like ‘Wound Up Tight’ and December EP release. Sounding like a Franz Ferdinand and WHITE mash-up, with killer beats and 80s grooves
Artificial Pleasure are coming through with the sort of infectious and glam-soaked pop that has us on our feet, throwing our arms all over the shop.
After the opening crescendo of debut EP ‘Like Never Before’ – they’re back with another bonafide statement of intent with their ‘Wound Up Tight’ EP . Three tracks, sizzling with the big leagues, it’s an absolute scorcher.
To find out more, we got the chaps to run through each track on the EP – giving an inside scoop to their world.
Wound Up Tight
This one is about the feeling of constantly being on edge. I think that worrying is now just our normal state of mind. I feel so overwhelmed sometimes it feels like my head is about to fucking explode. If you watch the video for this song it probably sums it up better, I look like I’ve got a part as an old boxer who’s let himself go. We recorded the track in my Uncle’s basement. The room was so small that I had to wait outside the back door listening in whilst Lee was doing takes.
Better Than Nothing
At the time of writing that track I was listening to Todd Rundgren’s album A Wizard, A True Star and I loved the way that loads of the songs went into each other. When you listen to Never Never Land and that final note resolves and takes you into Tic Tic Tic It Wears Off it makes that second song so much more exciting. So I’d already written the second half of the song and challenged myself to write an introductory piece of music so that the second part of the song would be given that lift. Lyrically it’s about how some relationships are ill suited but they’d rather be in something than have nothing.
Stay With Me Tonight
This one was inspired by the death of a friend a few years ago. The song is from the perspective of the partner that was left behind, how they had planned their life together and the struggle to move on. This track started as just me and an acoustic guitar but felt too emotionally raw so it gradually evolved into the most electronic track we have. I’m rarely one to express honest emotions, particularly in our music, hence why I used the vocoder for my vocals. The vocoder allowed me to distance myself from the emotion.
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