Posts Tagged ‘Post Punk’

OUGHT – ” Sun Coming Down ” Best Albums Of 2015

Posted: November 12, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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“If post-punk speaks the language of disaffection, then don’t call Ought a post-punk band. It’s easy to listen to Tim Darcy’s wry vocal inflection and find cynicism in it, but Ought’s music swallows angst and spits it back out in the form of life-affirming songs. They seek to inspire with “Sun Coming Down” its an impulsive, interpretive ode to existence that, on particularly bad days, reminds me of all that I have left under this big, beautiful, blue sky

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Ought Known the value of a song’s lyrics, David Byrne once said, “In a certain way, it’s the sound of the words—the inflection and the way it’s sung and the way it fits the melody and the way the syllables are on the tongue—that has as much of the meaning as the actual, literal words.” It seems Ought’s Tim Darcy takes a cue from this emphasis on lyrical delivery over lyrical content in the Montreal-based, post-punk band’s newest single “Men for Miles”. It’s the second track off their sophomore LP Sun Coming Down on Constellation Records

As you listen to the song’s frantic energy unfurl, you get a sense that Darcy is someone who lives in his own head most of the time. He proposes anarchy (“bringing this whole fucker down”) only to follow it up with clinical logic and rationality (“It came with instructions / It’s neither here nor there”). Over a heaping layer of rhythmic guitars and drums, he asks with a combination of paranoia and distrust, “What did you see? / What did I see?” In “Men For Miles”, the mental cage breaks open and unleashes an anxiety-ridden stream of consciousness that makes more sense and feels more potent in listening to the idiosyncratic tone in  voice than it ever would on paper.

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CHERRY GLAZERR – ” Had Ten Dollarz “

Posted: September 16, 2016 in MUSIC
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Scuzzy pop-punk outfit Cherry Glazerr , soon to jet off on a tour with Sky Ferreira, are streaming their new single “Had Ten Dollaz “ online. You can buy it now through Suicide Squad Records – it’s backed with a B-side brilliantly titled “Nurse Ratched”. Fusing Lana Del Rey-y pop vox with the jagged grit of Post Punk Pixes axes and Hole-esque hurricanes, Cherry Glazerr neatly proffer a stunning slab of rock. There’s a lo-fi air to it, but the youthful troupe still sound like they have a fully-formed chemistry.

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SHOPPING – ” Straight Lines “

Posted: July 28, 2016 in MUSIC
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It’s one thing to play post-punk. It’s another thing to play post-punk with all the nervous, jittery, excited energy that made the late-’70s and early-’80s originators of the genre resonate so deeply. It’s hard to talk about this trio without mentioning the Raincoats or the Slits or the Delta 5, and while that might not say great things about their originality, it’s a great thing regardless. On their big-leap sophomore album Why Choose, Shopping play with a raw urgency that the past few generations of revivalists have mostly lacked, and their mocking hopscotch melodies just sing

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DILLY DALLY – ” Desire “

Posted: January 4, 2016 in MUSIC
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Toronto’s Dilly Dally put out a fantastic LP with Sore, featuring incomparable vocals by the dusty voiced Katie Monks, who shreds tracks apart by use of her voice and blaring guitar. This is evident on songs like “The Touch,” where driving drums pummel over echoing guitar fuzz, and Katie rasps over the song’s ending with multiple “oh whoa whoa oh”s that seem too natural for someone who sounds like they’re ripping their voice apart. “Witch Man” has Monks singing interesting melodics and breaking into a haunting howl that works all too well. This entire album is meticulously planned out and tastefully composed, loud and thunderous.

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WAAX – ” Holy Sick ” EP

Posted: December 25, 2015 in MUSIC
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I always seem to have a huge amount of bands “on my radar and must see” – bands that have caught my attention from a small sample size of music.  One of the acts I’ve been following this year is from Brisbane, Australia known as WAAX with a brand new EP at  Christmas.

This brand spanking new four-song EP titled “Holy Sick”, is a perfect slice of ferocious post-punk. Vocalist Maria DeVita wails and growls over a sonic assault of guitars and crashing drums with a superb bass line.

Brisbane has a very proud history of producing brilliant rock acts, with the garage sound pretty much perfected in the sunshine state’s capital. With WAAX, we have something a bit wilder, with a dangerous edge that draws your attention in a totally captivating way. They’ve turned the standard Brisbane rock sound on its head in 2015 and we’ve loved every minute of it. Debut EP, Holy Sick, is a riotous affair  and my introduction to the four-piece

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Marie Devita’s opening scream of, “I’m just a girl,” will leave you with little doubt in your mind that she’s a lot of things, none of which consist of her being ‘just’ anything. She’s a force of nature throughout ‘I For An Eye’ and the EP’s title track ‘Holy Sick’, before showing she and the band are far from a one note act on my favourite EP cut, ‘CC Thugs’. That last one is rock perfection and enough for me to believe that there is a very bright future ahead for Brisbane’s new face of rock.

OUGHT – ” Beautiful Blue Sky “

Posted: December 7, 2015 in MUSIC
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Ought’s full-length debut, “More Than Any Other Day” was one of 2014’s best albums, and now the Montreal band has announced its sophomore effort, “Sun Coming Down”. The new, eight-song effort will see its release on September 18th on Constellation Records. The band has shared “Beautiful Blue Sky” as a preview to the album.

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Drop a word like “existentialism” into a music review and you automatically seem pretentious . Perpetually optimistic, Montreal’s Ought always manage to lean into the void without falling, and this song could be skewed as a contemporary re-rendering of Camus’ seminal essay The Myth Of Sisyphus. On “Beautiful Blue Sky,” the exchange of pleasantries repeat like mantras and drizzle out of Tim Darcy’s mouth in a just-barely-understandable slur: “How’s your family? How’s your health been? How’s the church? How’s the job? Fancy seeing you here!” But the list of exchanges hiccups and flatlines when Darcy declares: “That’s all we have in the big, beautiful sky/ And I’m no longer afraid to die.” But his admission isn’t dejected; it’s liberating. Instead of worrying about what’s going to happen tomorrow, or the day after, this song finds comfort in the beautiful weather, the familiar site of condos, new developments hitting that big blue skyline and the reminder that spontaneity is always an apt challenge to the mundane. “I’m no longer afraid to dance tonight, because that’s all that I have left.” If you believe in something on-high capable of filling the void, that’s ideal.

DOWNTOWN BOYS – ” Wave Of History ” and ” Monstro “

Posted: July 9, 2015 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Downtown Boys' debut album, 'Full Communism,' is out May 4.

Punk has always had the capacity to speak the uncomfortable truths. loud, aggressive music that can provide a platform for expressing frustrations and anger: Some bands focus on the micro level, channelling and working through personal pain; others work by addressing larger social issues, corrupt institutions, or political disenfranchisement. Downtown Boys specializes in the latter, writing combustible and challenging songs that forcefully face difficult subjects head-on.

The provocative title of Downtown Boys’ record, Full Communism says it all: this is a band enraged and calling out injustices and a broken status quo — from the ever-widening gaps in economic class and the prison industrial complex to racism, homophobia and gender inequality. And as the album’s incisive opener, “Wave Of History,” states, the Providence, Rhode Island group both asserts itself as part of a younger group of similarly socially-active bands — like Priests, Pinkwash, or Perfect Pussy — and empowers a new movement to unite and create change. “Wave Of History” begins with sharp, militaristic snare hits and simple twin saxophone fanfare — which adds a rhythmic jazz-infused skronk counterpoint to the blistering fast guitar downstrokes. Then, vocalists Joey DeFrancesco and Victoria Ruiz kick the door wide open as they trade their explosively-charged call-and-response chants: “Riding in on a wave, a wave of history!… Not one step back, on the wave of history!…” And later, in unison, they declare “We are the surge!” — a line that will surely get a crowd riled up.

As a frontwoman, Ruiz, is especially charismatic; she’s a force of nature capable of toggling seamlessly between English and Spanish in many of her songs — sometimes from line-to-line, as if giving voice to those who may not be in a position to be heard. When she willfully shouts and spits “Necessity!” amid that unrelenting fury, you can feel the desperation in her voice with increasing urgency. Even in just under two unrelenting minutes, and without many words, Downtown Boys manages to say a lot.

 

WHITE REAPER – ” White Reaper Does it Again “

Posted: July 3, 2015 in MUSIC
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White Reaper from Louisville, Kentucky announced the release of their debut full-length album, which is titled White Reaper Does It Again. Along with that announcement comes the release of a new track from the new album. Their latest single, “Make Me Wanna Die,” is currently streaming on the band’s SoundCloud as well as on NPR.

Delightfully fuzzy, there’s an oddly authentic feeling to the tune. With hypnotizing keyboards, fast drums and aggressive guitars, along with some deceptively catchy lyrics, “Make Me Wanna Die” is a song that’ll likely get stuck in your head before you even know it.

Comprised of guitarist/singer Tony Esposito, keyboardist Ryan Hater, bassist Sam Wilkerson, and drummer Nick Wilkerson, White Reaper is post-punk band with no frills of any sort. Their sound is bizarre, but enjoyable, and if “Make Me Wanna Die” is any indication of what is to come from this quartet, White Reaper will be making a name for themselves in 2015.

White Reaper Does It Again arrives digitally, as well as on vinyl, CD, cassette tape on July 17 through Polyvinyl Records. You can pre-order it here. To stay up to date with White Reaper, follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

White Reaper Does It Again Tracklisting:

1. Make Me Wanna Die
2. I Don’t Think She Cares
3. Pills
4. On Your Mind
5. Last 4th of July
6. Alone Tonight
7. Candy
8. Sheila
9. Friday the 13th
10. Wolf Trap Hotel
11. Don’t You Think I Know
12. B.T.K.

FEHM – ” Eyes Full “

Posted: June 11, 2015 in MUSIC
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Fehm from Leeds, well, what can I say? They, like an intoxicating elixir after a shit day, went down an absolute fuckin’ treat at Live at Leeds this year , Frontman Paul Riddle (a perfect surname for the gothic menace emitted in their set) and his troupe offered the most fitting prelude; with Riddle, wielding the mic rather than holding it, pacing the stage like a man possessed occasionally returning to a solitary synth to spew out sounds I can only liken to Transylvanian myth. Baring that in mind, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if FEHM draw a lot of influence from ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ architects Bauhaus.’

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This Leeds four piece FEHM are fronted by a pacing madman and are the best thing I’ve seen in so long. Sickly sharp lyrics sting like a slap and are paired with 1950s sic-fi style synth, a soothing compliment to the pounding baselines that string together this kaleidoscopic masterpiece. ‘Macrocosm’ is a menacing three minutes of prickly post punk, an un-ignorable offering to the ever flourishing local music scene and one of many more to come I’m sure. Towards the end of their set a girl faints, the reason is unknown, but for the sake of keeping things interesting we’ll say it is because the band were just that good.

The THONS – ” Hot Fun “

Posted: May 10, 2015 in MUSIC
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In 2014, a little band called The Thons released their second full-length album, “Thirty Foot Snake”. It was a raw slab of rock and roll that simultaneously recalled both the punk rock coming out of New York in the late 1970s, and also the early 80s response from UK bands such as The Fall and Gang of Four. It was ferocious and intimate at the same time, decidedly punk rock—but the playing indicated that there was something more going on, too.

On “Hot Fun”, the Chicago trio is digging a little deeper and showing the world what was bubbling underneath the surface. And it’s a little bit psychedelic.

The album opens with “Wooo,” a track so soaked in reverb that you can practically hear the springs bouncing. A surf/Dick Dale influence that there was no trace of on the band’s previous records takes front and center. It’s an opener that makes a very clear, very loud statement: the band’s sonic palate has been expanded.

“Lose Control” follows with an arrangement that frames Graham Onak’s half-spoken Mark E. Smith-like vocalizing with some great, angular guitar parts. Onak, a lefty, is an outstanding player with a southpaw’s skewed sensibilities. Here his instrument punctuates his vocal ejaculations with squeals of pain. Or is it pleasure? Maybe both. The surf sound of the first song has been twisted around on itself to resemble something like Television playing with Sonic Youth, under the spell of Syd Barrett.

“Being Me” introduces the record’s first real vocal melody, and it’s a good one. Here Onak belts out (ironically?) that “It still feels good to be me” with a ton of attitude. But, despite the apparent irony, it actually sounds like it does feel good to be him. It’s pure rock n’ roll joy that comes and goes in less than 2:00 as drummer Greg Bry channels Tommy Ramone, pounding out the beat with blistering speed while still somehow managing to groove.

And from there, the album keeps whizzing by: “Looking Out, Looking In” straddles the line between psych and punk more than any other song on the record, with Bry doing his best Keith Moon. “Feeling Alive” finds bass player Frank Thom’s fingers crawling all over the neck of his instrument, pumping out eighth notes and slipping them in to the spaces between the guitar and drums. Off-kilter and grooving all at once.

Comes the time to wrap the whole thing up, The Thons give us their most intimate offering. “He Lives” is reminiscent of Sonic Youth’s more-tender moments on Daydream Nation. It’s a lovely way to end the album, as gentle guitar figures, McCartney-esque bass playing, and a surprisingly touching lyric pull the listener in close to say goodnight.

The entire album flies by in less than 23 minutes: all punk rock energy, colored with a psychedelic flair. And while there are some excellent guitar solos, there is no hint of the blues in them; these songs leave no room for extended psychedelic jams. This record is lean and mean, with incredible playing turned in by all parties. And it’s all crisply recorded, with a haze of reverb blanketing the songs.

Or, to use a different analogy: on their previous albums, the band served up a plate of meat-and-potatoes punk rock. This time, it’s meat and potatoes with gravy—mushroom gravy. “Hot Fun” strays from The Thons previous work in its more polished, longer recording process. “Hot Fun” blends garage, surf and post-punk into a washy, emotionally raw journey inter-cut with spacey feedback that is best listened to seamlessly all the way through.

released 31st January 2015

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