Slowyear: ST/EP
Posted by jamie on Oct 30, 2011
Slowyear
ST/EP – Self-released, 2011
28th October 2011
Jamie
There’s something about Slowyear that’s tricky to put your finger on. They’re not reclusive people, but it took them a long time to play their first show, and then, when it happened, it was in their bassist’s house. They don’t make a fuss about much, but their songs fairly drip with heartfelt emotional sincerity.
I try my best not to jump to conclusions like this, but it’s tough not remember the wilfully self-deprecating manner of Hassan’s old band, Four Letter Cure, who took great pride in telling anyone who’d listen that they couldn’t play, didn’t care, and weren’t bothered about being on this stupid stage thank-you-very-much, but gave lie to it all by slaying shows with polished, confident, emotional punk rock, and doing it with speed and precision.
Curiosity having got the better of me, I downloaded Slowyear (from here), found that, while there are a few similarities in the way they approach their music, for the most part that’s where those similarities end.
Slowyear fairly shines: it’s polished enough to show off the quality off the songs and the guile that’s gone in to the arrangements, and yet raw enough to leave all the power in the riffs and the emotional immediacy in the vocals. The lyrics are immediately relatable and, like the arrangements, are strikingly mature, and delivered with sincerity and a punch.
Imagine My Vitriol having a nasty break-up argument with Atwood, and then rebounding messily with The Early November, and you’re most of the way there. Just crank the power chords up a bit.
It’s excellent, and impressively emotionally articulate and musically really mature. It’s easy to forget that these guys are a relatively new band and that this is the first record they’ve made together. It’s dark in places, and moodily atmospheric throughout. The solo in Doors and the wall of sound outro, which sounds enormous for a four-piece band, on Dice stand out even on a disc of this quality. That outro to Dice gradually becomes a group vocal, repeating its single refrain “just share this broken bed with me” as the instruments fade and eventually disappear, to be replaced by the bigger, more powerful intro to the final track Baby Arms, arguably the finest on the EP. Again the guitars here are excellent: impressively versatile and bigger, more powerful than should really be possible.
By incorporating the size and the complexity of progressive, epic rock and the power and emotional intensity of the best melodic punk and post-punk, Slowyear have created something strikingly unique, that’s immediately enjoyable and engaging and ultimately ever so fulfilling. Despite being a new and different sound, this deserves to, and almost certainly will, bring them a lot hype and attention. They won’t be playing house shows for long, and this, their first EP, won’t be a free download forever. Do yourself a favour and get a piece of them now.
Sonic Boom Six: win London tickets!
Posted by jamie on Oct 25, 2011
THIS COMPETITION HAS NOW CLOSED.
Thank you for your interest. Winners will be contacted shortly.
Manchester five-piece Sonic Boom Six play Camden Underworld at the end of October as part of Big Cheese’s birthday celebrations.
To celebrate, we’ve got two pairs of tickets to give away. To be in with a chance, post your answer to our little teaser as a comment on this post.
We’ll need your full name for the venue and an email address to contact you, so check your details twice.
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Competition closes at 12:00 tomorrow (Thursday 27th October)
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Winners will be drawn at random from correct answers submitted
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Winners will be contacted by email. We regret we cannot respond to unsuccessful entries
Question:
Sonic Boom Six’s UK tour is named after their current single. But what’s it called?
A. For the Kids of the Multiculture
B. For the Kids of the Multiplex
C. How You Remind Me
View the video here.
Thank you to Kililive for providing these tickets.
Skints: cheeky new album update
Posted by jamie on Oct 12, 2011
Go on, then. We’ve been cheeky with this one. Latest estimate we had was 2012..
Billy Bragg / King Blues on tour
Posted by jamie on Oct 12, 2011
The King Blues support Billy Bragg on (most) of his Left Field in Motion tour. We’re huge fans of both, and it promises to be well worth a look.
You can get tickets here.
13/11/2011 Edinburgh - Scotland, EH8 9JG
15/11/2011 Sheffield - Sheffield, S1 4SE
16/11/2011 Teesside - Middlesbrough, TS1 3BA
17/11/2011 Leeds - Leeds, LS2 9JT
19/11/2011 Cambridge - Cambridge, CB1 7GX
20/11/2011 Keele - Stoke-on-Trent, ST5 5BG
21/11/2011 Oxford - Oxford, OX4 1UE
22/11/2011 London - London, NW5 1JY
24/11/2011 Leicester - Leicester, LE1 7RH
25/11/2011 Liverpool - Liverpool, L1 0BW
26/11/2011 Liverpool - Liverpool, L1 0BW
28/11/2011 Bristol - Bristol, BS8 1LN
Failure By Design: Call This a Demo, Punk?
Posted by jamie on Oct 10, 2011
Failure By Design
Call this a demo, Punk? – Self-released, 2011
11th October 2011
Jamie
“It was recorded by our friend Barclay Brennan in his room, using only one mic” Miz, out of Failure by Design, types enthusiastically, submitting their demo, “so were really pleased with the outcome..” .
Call this a demo, Punk? is, of course, a little bit raw in places, but at no point does that detract from how enjoyable this little disc is. In fact, such is the energy that’s packed in to these short, spiky little pop-punk tunes, that the minimal levels of production just add a boisterous, peppy sort of charm to it. It’s pleasingly melodic, too, in a similar way to some of the more emotional pop-punk that was around in the 1990s before it became emo. And I mean that in a very good way: when pop-punk still had balls, but all of a sudden had bigger emotions to struggle with, the very best of it managed to channel those frustrations back in to the music and deliver startlingly clear emotional messages with angst and immediacy and then hammer them home with a killer melody. That’s exactly what Failure By Design have achieved here.
Yes, it’s only a demo, but it’s not that short and it’s ever so sweet: the hooks dropping in just the right places and the songs embellished in just the right places by any combination from the three vocals and two guitars used in making this record. It’s stripped down just enough to really showcase the excellent quality of the songs, but they’ve got enough behind them to really hit you from the first listen. They’re great fun, too: catchy, but with real substance: the melodies will keep you coming back, and the songs have enough in them for you to discover something new each time you do. It’s a winning combination, and makes for an excellent little record. A demo not just of promise, but of genuine quality.
Enjoy Failure By Design here, on facebook here, and get the demo from here.
SB6: For the Kids of the Multiculture
Posted by jamie on Oct 5, 2011
As promised:
Sonic Boom Six have announced details of their new single For the Kids of the Multiculture on their own Rebel Alliance Recordings imprint .
For The Kids Of The Multiculture will be available from Monday 10th October 2011 as a digital download and exclusive CD bundle from the band’s website. It’s a characteristically upbeat take on contemporary cultural issues in the UK and is the first single to be taken from the long-awaited fourth SB6 album.
The CD single comes complete with brand new track ‘Five Minutes With You’ as the B-Side as well as tracks culled from The Boom’s triumphant headline set on the Rock Sound / Macbeth stage at Hevy Festival across the formats.
1) For The Kids Of The Multiculture
2) Five Minutes With You
3) Sunny Side of the Street (Live at Hevy Fest)
‘For The Kids Of The Multiculture’ is available on Digital Download format from all the usual digital vendors on October 10th 2011 and alternately features ‘New Style Rocka’ (Live at Hevy Fest) as track 3.
GET IT HERE.
[spunge] / My Third Leg: London show
Posted by jamie on Oct 4, 2011
Gravesend ska-punk nut-jobs My Third Leg will support [spunge] at Camden Barfly on 14th October. To celebrate they have tickets for sale at just £5. Contact them here to get involved and to get yourself in for a fiver.
See it on facebook here.
Smokey Bastard: Yuppie Dracula released
Posted by jamie on Oct 4, 2011
We’ve got Yuppie Dracula, the new single from Smokey Bastard, which wass finally released yesterday.
The album Tales From The Wasteland will be reviewed in full here next week.
In the mean time, watch the video for Yuppie Dracula here.
