Low Cut High Tops - Typical

1.    Who?

Low Cut High Tops is David Burns, a multi-instrumentalist who records and produces his own grunge-pop music. From Seattle, he has one album to his name, the brilliant Eh, Whatever (2016). Typical (April'18) is a stand alone single.

2. What?

Typical is a Nirvana-esque banger with heartfelt lyrics. The chorus takes flight light a jet fighter flyover. Done and dusted in two minutes.

3. Who do Low Cut High Tops sound like?

The Breeders, Nirvana, and Pixies.

4. What have the press said about Typical? 

“Unwashed garage rock” – Steemit.

“Would have been huge on 90’s college radio” – We Are The Guard.

“One of those artists that can amaze you if you let allow them to” – xKira Music.

5. Which bands influenced Low Cut High Tops?

Nirvana, Weezer, John Cougar Mellencamp and Buddy Holly.


6. Why should I give the tune a go?

Typical is the sound of a contradiction. Music made with no fucks given by someone who clearly cares a lot. The results are explosive and compelling listening.


7. Does he have any more bangers?

Oh yes. Raise Hell and Lonely and Cold just for starters.


8. Any more words?

David Burns quit a record deal at 17 over artistic differences then dropped out of art school to make music. 

“Pick up the phone I know it’s right next to you,

Are you with some other dude? You know I always stay true

”

The Crispies are a garage rock band from Vienna, Austria. They sound like The Orwells or PARTYBABY. Easy (Oct'17) is the first single from their second album Fake Leather (March'18). Fake Leather sees the band melding their hip hop influences and original garage rock into a more mainstream sound. Easy hews closer too the old rock sound and while it hasn't taken the world by storm but it's not too shit though.

“Why are my friends always high?”

Lonely The Brave - Black Mire

1.    Who are these giggling gerties?

Lonely The Brave are an alternative rock band from Cambridge, England. Started in 2009 the band have two long players and  Black Mire (Jan’16) is the first single from the second album Things Will Matter (May’16).


2. What kind of tune is Black Mire?

Black Mire is a massive, brooding, despairing, hard rocker that chugs along on a sea of sound.


3. Who do Lonely The Brave sound like?

Shihad. Black Mire was compared to Muse and Nothng But Thieves by One On One Music.


4. What illumination can the press shine on the matter of Black Mire?

“An explosive return” – Clash Music.


“A twisted, jagged hulk” – Upset Magazine.

“A heavily-filtered stadium-ready rock anthem” – One On One Music.

 
5. Who puts the black in Lonely The Brave’s mire?

Lonely The Brave are influenced by The National and Pearl Jam.


6. Why should I let Black Mire near my glistening aural orbs?

Black Mire is a slow burner that will add some punch to your playlist and prove quietly addictive.


7. Do Lonely The Brave have any more bangers?

Backroads is alright.


8. Any more good words?

Things Will Matter is produced by Ross Orton who has gone to work for The Arctic Monkeys, Drenge and M.I.A.

Lonely The Brave have supported Bruce Springsteen, Deftones and Neil Young.

“Black hearts,

Fuck em”

Slippery seconds is from Nai Harvest a slacker punk band from Sheffield, England. The band have two long players in the vault and Ocean Of Madness is a single from the second album Hairball (2015) and Stereogum called it, “a carefully orchestrated indie pop song.” Ocean Of Madness is Nai Harvest's best and a low-key indie-pop gem.

“Don’t let me swim in an ocean of madness”

The Best Indie Songs of 2015 - St Vincent

St Vincent’s Bad Believer is a belter and starts like Mike Tyson in his nasty prime, swinging big fucking knockout punches. Witness the machine gun drum intro and it’s straight into the chorus. Not even time to drop your pants and it’s wham bam thank you ma’am. Witness that fuzzy as fuck glam rock guitar givin a sniff of in Birth In Reverse and minding of Spirit In The Sky and T.Rex.

There are pauses. A repeat of the chorus whispered with a drum accompaniment. A bridge with organs. Organs just to belt you with the point the tune is about a lassie finding release in eschewing the miserable religious indoctrination of her youth. A barn burner with enough lead in its pencil to get heads rocking and bodies knocking. Bad Believer is one of the best indie songs of 2015.

“Momma held me up through the rapture
Dragged me through the eyes and the whispers
Lost the spirit out the car window”

St Vincent is Annie Clark from Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has been making music with her own band since 2006. Bad Believer was released as an extra on the deluxe version of her self-titled fourth album St Vincent (Feb’15).

Shit you need to know:

Annie Clark has described her song Bad Believer as having a “rollerskate, Gary Glitter paedophile party beat”.

She has said that playing with The Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens before forming her own band was "more like an apprenticeship than anything".

Annie Clark was really OCD about listening to Pearl Jam’s 10 as a youngster.

She has some hard rock influences. She was big into Metallica, Panterra and Slayer in the past. She still has a wide-o for the late Dimebag Darrel of Pantera her guitar hero.

Miss Clark fronted Nirvana when they played Lithium at their 2014 induction in to the Rock’N’Roll Hall Of Fame.

Annie get's her juice on to Twilight movies, even making a tune for one of them.

St Vincent is way popular with the folks who like to be heard. St Vincent's album was voted the best of 2014 by Guardian and NME, second best by Time and fourth best by Rollingstone, those bastions of all that is precious in the music world, holding the lonely lamp in the dead of the pitch black darkness on the frontier and defending all inside from the tasteless barbarian hordes who lurk waiting to pounce.

About making music Annie Clark has said, “People complain like, 'Oh this is so tiring.' Fuck you! Get out of the fucking game if you’re fucking tired. Go be a coal miner like most of the world, most of the world shovels shit for a living. Do something else, but don’t complain about this shit.” That is some righteous shit right there people. The lady deserves a lot of respect. She can keep the St.

Miss Clark's other goodies are Birth In Reverse, Cruel and Digital Witness.

 

Stirring the custard belongs to a boogie rock band from Canada, The Sheepdogs, and their groovy, fuzzy rocker Feeling Good (2012) on account of the guitar in Bad Believer reminds of this inconceivably good track.

 

 

The Best Indie Songs of 2014 - Bleachers

Bleachers’ I Wanna Get Better (Feb ’14) sounds like a Fun. song. We Are Young perhaps. But on the highway instead of taking the back roads. And ironically more fun.

A pop rock song with vocals that sound like they are coming out of a loud hailer. The song steams like a city road after a summer rain.

 

 



Bleachers were formed by the lead guitarist of Fun. Jack Antonoff in 2013. Their home field is in NYC. Bleacher’s have one victory to their name Strange Desire (July’14).

Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana and Pearl Jam are some of Jack’s favourite players but big 80’s soundtrack pop was directing the plays in this game. Wanna take it into overtime? Go long with Rollercoaster, Shadow or Wild Heart.

 

 

 


Big 80’s soundtrack pop? OMD definitely. But not If You Leave, no no, nothing so trite. This is heaps fucking better, Sailing On The Seven Seas (1991).