If Circa
Waves' Get Away
(Dec’13) was a one hit wonder… no fucks given. Not even wristy’s. You could die
happy after making a song like this. The riff in the intro calls to mind the
Sex Pistols Anarchy
In The UK and that's never a bad thing. While the band bring the
fury the singer is letting slip a heartfelt, proper, love song.
There’s pop,
rock, punk, garage and indie in this song so nobodies been left out.
Comparisons are moot, analysis pointless. It’s the dog’s bollocks, guitar rock
at its best. As she said last night, it
doesn’t come better than this.
Circa Waves
are banged up in Liverpool and have been ducking and diving since 2013. Get Away flew the coop as
a stand-alone single and they have one EP, Young
Chasers (June’14) to their credit.
Circa Waves would
blag a copy of John Lennon, The Replacements, The Strokes and The Damned.
The
juxtaposition of The Griswolds’ ‘let’s all join the parade’ carnival music and
the lyrics… “She
used to suck the fun out of me”, “Now you’re fucking crazy” and “…you better leave that prick alone” is
what makes this song so special.
Beware
The Dog
(May’14) isa
potpourri of led by the choir vocals and some noodley guitar lines and keys.
The vocals are the big thing here and they’ll take you to a higher place.
Although ironically the song is about losing a friend to drug addiction! Get it
in you, you wuse.
The
Griswolds come sloping out Sydney, Australia. They have been on the foil since
2012. They’ve sucked up the one big player Be
Impressive(Aug’14) of which Beware
The Dog is the stand out track. The
Griswolds give homage to Faith No More, Nirvana, Kanye, Vampire Weekend, MGMT,
Of Montreal and The Beach Boy and on and on ad infinitum. Can’t
get enough of that sunshine and bounce indie pop? Then steal a march on the
oppo and get some of Down and
Out, Mississippi
and Heart Of A Lion.
Need another hit? No wuckin forries
fellah. Have a ride on the Brissy band Violent Soho and Covered In Chrome (2013)
because the tune is one the Grissies mentioned loving and they are right to.
It's pissing blood the next morning good.
CRUISR have
been touring with The 1975 and it’s not hard to see why. They are reading from
a similar script without any danger of CRUISR out shining the other.
All Over (Aug’14)
prances along without a care in the world in the verses but has more dash in
the choruses. Positively noisy in the choruses in fact. It’s new indie pop rock
standard but being as how it’s their first bite of the apple they throw crisp
punches.
CRUISR are
from Philadelphia and began creating happy vibes in 2012. All Over springs
off their second E.P. of the same name (Sept’14).
What tunes keep the
guys so upbeat? I don’t fucking know. I’m thinking they might not hate some of
what The 1975, Young Rising Suns, Cage The Elephant or Walk The Moon have to
offer but that’s pure speculation me old mucker.
Looking to
keep cruising? Try these bubbles of joy Kidnap Me or Go For
It.
Silly seconds goes to Len and Steal My Sunshine (1999)
just cos listening to CRUISR’s big bubbly joy put me in mind of it…
Cloud Nothings I’m Not Part Of Me(April’14) is a nut cracking punk tune. A bit like the Orwells or The Strokes. Fuck those silver spooned punters have a lot to answer for. Or choose your old timey punk band it will do. Just nut punchingly honest punk rock. Back to the roots stuff. None of your sickly sweet pop punk here, this is drunk with your mates in a dank basement rehearsal space, drinking beer and doing whizz and you’ve run out of smokes and the corner shop is at least two kilometres away and it’s snowing outside.
About the
song? Not the point chappy. It motors along. Farts in the bed honest lyrics, a
snappy delivery, packed full of awesome. End of story.
“I’m
learning how to be here and nowhere else”
Cloud
Nothings have been hard moshing since 2009 and pogo out of Cleveland, Ohio. I’m Not Part Of Me is the
first gob smacker off their fourth mouthful Here
And Nowhere Else (April’14). Cloud
Nothings have expressed an affinity for Black Sabbath, Nina Hagen, Thin Lizzy
and lots of other obscure shit too.
Lacing up
your boots? Then unleash the force with Didn’t
You, Fall In
and Now Hear In.
The lo-fi approach reminded me of an old hometown
favourite The Clean from Dunedin, New Zealand. The most influential Flying Nun
band and foundation of The Dunedin Sound, they started playing together in 1978
and are still at it today. This fucking rare ska rock gem is Thumbs Off (1981), track
two off Boodle Boodle Boodle and it still
sounds as fresh as a daisy. Legends and national treasures. Nice blokes too.
“She said son you’ll have to go, you know it’s just too much to keep ya
The day was wet as he walked down the road,
You know his head was full of sorrow,
Little did he know that he’d never see his own home again"
Bahamas is
blues, roots, folk, soul or something like that. But on Stronger Than That (July’14) there is an all-in indie chorus and
piano like on Lean On Me. So actually
it’s like quite like an indie track. Stronger Than That is a laid back
chilling track that minds me of Ben Harper. The chorus is where it’s at and
there’s some pretty tight guitar playing too.
Bahamas is
Afie Jurvanen a great guitar player and songwriter from Toronto, Canada. He’s
been lamenting his lot since least 2009.
Stronger Than Thatis
the second plaint from the long player Bahamas
Is Afie (Aug’14). Afie has mad admiration for Willie Nelson, Van Morrison
and Neil Young. Fucking weirdo.
Well if you dig lo-fi
whinging and great song writing then ya could do worse than give All The Time and Lost In Light a fair shake of the stick.
Tickety-boo. Now for the follow-up let’s go with some Ben
Harper and Steal My Kisses (1999).
OK Go I Won’t Let You Down (Oct’14) is funky
like an alleyway sleeping hobos cheesy foreskin. Jackson 5I Want You Back type funky. Or white funky
really like Maroon 5 This
Love. A quick intro and straight into the chorus and Turkey
necks are contagious.
Any which
ways it’s got a spritely rhythm and lashings of synths and pianer too. Tip top
track all said, give it a crack and you'll be as happy as a pig in shit, this
is world class. And the video, even by OK Go's high standards, is pretty
fucking good.
“And
she's got no tricks to try,
And
she don't seem that much to mind”
That groove
is the second single off the Chicago bands fourth album and fourth round of sweetness Hungry
Ghosts (Oct’14). These cats have been trucking since 1998.
Shit you need to know: OK Go’s
latest album dug the vibes of 80’s pop like Prince, New Order and INXS. Some critics
find their albums a bit eclectic and hit or miss. Still
swingin? Then get on down to The
Writings On TheWall, This
Too Shall Pass or Here
It Goes Again.
And talking about swinging here’s Michael Hutchence and INXS with Need You Tonight (1987).
Tove Styrke's If I’m Loud It Doesn’t Mean I’m
Talking To You(May ’14) wins the gold for song title obviously but
also sounds like a catchy jump rope song backed by Prince in his Alphabet St days. And the
jump rope keeps getting faster.
Electronic,
voice driven and with light guitar. Tove Stryke has something to say about self
obsessed men and guitar bands and says it with a punk attitude. If I'm Loud It Doesn't Mean I'm
Talking To You is a head nodder, a toe tapper, a shoulder shrugger,
an arse wriggler and one of the best indie songs of 2014.
“I think
you're stuck in that me myself and I romance,
But that's too wild for you man to understand”
Tove Styrke
is an indie pop singer slash songwriter from Sweden. She has been strutting her
stuff since 2009 and has one flash of genius in the wardrobe Tove Styrke (2010). If I’m Loud It Doesn’t Mean I’m Talking To
You is from Tove Styrke’s other extravaganza the E.P. Borderline (Nov’14).
Tove Styrke gets her trends from Bikini Kill, Patti Smith and Bjork.
Miss Styrke also has some love for Grimes and Beyonce. Blown away
by Tove Styrke's brilliance? You can find more to fit with Borderline, Million Pieces and Call My Name.
You Tube comments made the comparison between If I'm Loud... and The Ting Ting's That's Not My Name (2008). It's a good comparison so let's roll with it.
Hard to pick a favourite off the new Kasabian album but Bumblebee (July'14) wins due to the immediacy and fervency of it’s chorus coupled with the slower shit kicking verses.
A dark, noisy, dance rock number with a cunt punting chorus for contrast.
Kasabian come rollin outta Leicester, England. They been banging
tunes out since 1997. They have big five diamonds on their necklace, this off their
fifth 48:13 (June’14).
Rage Against The Machine, Kanye West, Nivana and The
Beastie Boys have been cited as part of the recipe for this album.
Strand of
Oaks Goshen’97 (Apr’14) is insistent,
raw and emotive. Wailing guitars provide the intro and then it's more guitar
galore, more rock than indie and more
story-telling than big chorus indie pop. Think The Hold Steady, The Gaslight
Anthem or The Airborne Toxic Event and The Boss most obviously.
Music for
the top six inches not the six between your legs.
Strand of
Oaks are singer/songwriter Timothy Showalter’s project. He plays out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and
has four albums under his belt.
This missive is from the fourth album HEAL (June’14).
Showalter declares
himself “so into U2” and but there are a lot of folk influences in there too.
Other tunes worth a
crack are Shut In and Same Emotions.
The Airborne Toxic Event are an indie rock band from Los Angeles, California. They started in 2006. Their main influences are Bruce Springsteen, U2 and The National. They have been compared to Arcade Fire and The National. Numb (2011) is from their second album All At Once (2011) and is a song Spin called "a gorgeously wailing new wave soundtrack."
There’s a yearning quality to Crystalized (Dec'13). Crystalized
feels earnest with lyrics like, “This is where I come
from, this is where I belong”. It’s chill, sweet and melodic but there’s a
stirring of passions in the air. They are influenced by
Young The Giant have been belting tunes out since 2004
and are from Irvine, California. Crystalized is the second single off Young The Giant’s
second opus Mind Over Matter (Jan'14). Sputnik Music thought crystalized is " by far the catchiest song Young The Giant have released so far."
Young The Giant get their passion from listening to Radiohead, David Bowie, U2, and The Strokes.
Young The Giant are similar to New Politics, Walk The Moon, and Youngblood Hawke. Morrisey is a big
fan of the band.
Still up for more Young The Giant? Try My Body or It's About Time.
Danish heavy rock band The Volbeat covered Young The Giant’s My Body on their fifth album Outlaw Gentlemen and Shady Ladies (2013). Volbeat are somewhat similar to Disturbed or Godsmack. They are influenced by Metallica, AC/DC and Elvis Presley.
Volbeat are great, full fucking stop. They give My Body the balls it was missing.
But enough prattling, the eagle has landed.
Death from Above 1979's Trainwreck 1979 (July'14) takes the cake for
both band and song names. The song is a quirky dance punk number vaguely
reminiscent of Indie Brit bands of Cool Britannia vintage but more of a
headbanger than any of those butt bandits.
“I was born on the highway in a
trainwreck
With a heart that was beating outta my chest”
Death from
Above 1979 are a Canadian duo from Toronto who have been creating whiteriots since 2001. Trainwreck 1979 comes hard
swinging off their second long player The
Physical World. 1979 refers to the singer slash drummer’s birthday.
The tune is
a little bit dance and a lot bit punk and it's no surprise the band have
expressed admiration for a variety of musical influences like Mastodon, Diana
Ross, Daft Punk, ACDC, Deep Purple and Michael Jackson.
Here is a
picture of Death From Above 1979 in their grots, because that's the way they
roll.
The double dip is Tweeter
and the Monkey Man by The Headstones simply because they are
Canadian too and it's a punk rocking tune.
“Tweeter
and the Monkey Man Were
hard up for cash They
stayed up all night Selling
cocaine and hash”
Pure poetry. Do not go near the Travelling
Wilbury’s version. It's shit.
If Indie
tunes were smack Got To My Head (Feb’14)is a hot shot. Whimsical,
melodic, killer chorus and wham-bam, just like your man, done inside three
minutes. Bliss. This should be preserved in amber as a perfect specimen of indie pop in case scientists thousands of years from now need to extract the DNA to recreate the sound of people having orgasmic fun while we burning up all the oil and extinguishing life on land and in the oceans.
From a San
Francisco band, Port O’Brien, Van Pierszalowski is the driving force behind
this band, active since 2011.
Got To My Head is off WATERS second
pop of the weasel, the album It All Might
Be OK (Oct'14).
Van Pierszalowski has a woody for Weezer but who doesn't?
Another WATERS
song that is bloody good is I
Feel Everything. The drummer of Grouplove,
Ryan Rabin, produced WATERS new
album It All Might Be OK.
Here’s the
Californian indie rock band Grouplove Ways
To Go (2013). Ways To Go was the
lead single off Grouplove’s second album
Spreading Rumours (2013) that was released to widespread critical and
public acclaim.
Fuck it’s
awesome.
“I didn’t ask for that,
You give me heart attack,
I didn’t want to care”
Oh yeah! Yeah ya do! Spoon comes along with a turn it up
laid back rocker Rent I Pay (June'14). Like the Rolling Stone's Honky Tonk Women or The Kinks You Really Got Me this songs rolls hard. Porn star, money shot, hard.
For all the arse shakers this will propel you onto the dancefloor.
Fighting out of Austin, Texas, indie rock band Spoon have been around for more than twenty years and this is off their eighth album They Want My Soul (2014).
They give a shout out in joy to The Ramones, The Bee Gees and The Pixies for inspiration.
Ready to go again? Give Inside Out or They Want My Soul a roll in the sack.
Another song with a killer guitar riff. That Petrol Emotion were an indie rock band from Northern Ireland described by Rolling Stone magazine as like The Clash mixed with Creedence Clearwater Revival. Big Decision (1987) was an almost hit. Choosing whether to buy six beers or half a dozen is my guess.
