Ezra Furman - Love You So Bad

1.    Who’s the dude?

Ezra Furman is an indie rock musician from Chicago, Illinois. He has been making music since 2006. Love You So Bad (Nov'17) is the lead single from his seventh album Transangelic Exodus (Feb'18).

2. What's the tune about?

Love You So Bad is alternative Americana. Slightly quirky, orchestral, homeland rock.

3. Who does Ezra Furman sound like?

Lou Reed/Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan, and John 'Cougar' Mellencamp.

4. What have the sycophants in the press said?

“Just a good song” – Spin.

“Retro” – AV Club.

“An upbeat song of unrequited love” – Homework Horse.

5. Which bands float Ezra's boat?

The big influences are Green Day, The Sex Pistols, Bob Dylan, Randy Newman, and The Strokes.

6. Why should I give Love You So Bad a listen?

Ezra Furman's star is in the ascendency and this song is part of the reason why.

7. Does he have any more bangers?

Suck The Blood From My Wound is another great one from the latest album.

8. Any more words?

No.

“Sneaking cigarettes under the football bleachers baby, so bad”

Andrew W.K. is famous for (quietly intelligent) hard rocking party music. He is a classically trained musician and has worked as a motivational speaker and as an advice columnist. I Don't Know Anything (March'18) is from his fifth studio album and Punk News thought it sounded like Europe's Final Countdown meets Bruce Springsteen.

“I don’t know the truth, I don’t know the way”

Curse Of Lono - Pick Up The Pieces

1.    Who are these cunts? 

Curse Of Lono are an indie Americana rock band from London. Pick Up The Pieces (Feb’17) is the lead single from their debut album Severed (April’17). 

2. What kind of tune is Pick Up The Pieces?

Pick Up The Pieces is a bare bones song with a southern rock vibe. Tusk size drums with a miniature, background, Spirit In The Sky-esque riff. Pick Up The Pieces is the sound of the wretched on the home stretch to redemption.

3. Who do Curse Of Lono sound like? 

Paul Simon, Wilco and The The. 

4. What have the press said about Pick Up The Pieces?

“A rollicking folk rocker” – Innocent Words.

“Perky” – Music Glue.

“Full of devil may care vocals and guitar” – Impose.

5. Which bands influenced Curse Of Lono?

The Doors, Steve Earle, Guy Clark, Nick Cave and The Velvet Underground. 


6. Why should I give Pick Up The Pieces a spin? 

Because you like southern rock.


7. What are Curse Of Lono's best songs? 

Pick Up The Pieces is the one you need.


8. Any more words muppet?

Severed is produced by Oli Bayston (Boxed In, The Bohicas).

“I’ve been drinking,

My way back to you”

Oli Bayston is the singer/songwriter and producer of Boxed In. They are an indie electronic pop band from London and have recorded two albums. Boxed In are similar to Holy Ghost! Hot Chip and STRFKR. They are influenced by Radiohead, House and Krautrock from the 70's. Mystery is the lead track from Boxed In's debut album Boxed In (2015). Mystery is a piano-led, funky piece of indie electronica that has a sick, ass-shaking, groove.

“Back to the place where we went slow”

Wintersleep - Spirit

1. Who are Wintersleep? 

Wintersleep are an indie rock band from Halifax, Canada. The band started in 2001 and Spirit (July'16) is the second single from their sixth album The Great Detachment (March'16). 

2. What kind of song is Spirit? 

Spirit is instantly contagious, radio friendly, mainstream indie rock with a big, ebullient, all in chorus and a touch of indie folk/rock crossover to the tune. A lovely little bass hook bubbles underneath this chest-pounding crowd pleaser. 

3. Who do Wintersleep sound like? 

Arkells, Frightened Rabbit, and The Strumbellas. 

4. What have the press said about Spirit? 

“Raw energy and intensity” – Dusty Organ. 

“Americana rock” – Hear And Now Media.

“A liberating feel-good anthem” – Montreal Rocks.

5. Which bands have influenced Wintersleep?

Their main influences are Neil Young, Fugazi, Dinosaur Jr, Radiohead and Black Mountain. 


6. Why should I give Spirit a listen? 

Because you love chest-thumping mainstream indie with an all-together chorus. 


7. What are Wintersleep's best songs? 

Amerika is head and shoulders above the rest and once Orca warms up it rocks harder than a jail house rapist's erection. 


8. Any more blather?

The Great Detachment is produced by Tony Doogan (Belle & Sebastian, Mogwai and Super Furry Animals).

“Caught in the spirit of our time”

The Super Furry Animals are a psychedelic Britpop band from Cardiff, Wales. They started making music in 1993 and are still going strong. They were contempories of bands like Stereophonics, Catatonia, Primal Scream and Teenage Fanclub. (Drawing) Rings Around The World was the title track from Super Furry Animals' fifth album Rings Around The World (2001). Rings Around The World was the bands most successful album, critically and commercially, and made it to number 3 on the U.K. album charts. Drowned In Sound called it, “Dreamy. Experimental. Schizophrenic. Bizarre.”

“You expose the film in me”

Marble Sounds - The First Try

1.   Who are these hirsute hipsters?

Marble Sounds are a popular indie pop band from Belgium. The First Try (Jan’16) is the second single from Marble Sounds third album Tautou (Jan’16).

2. What kind of tune are Marble Sounds touting?

The First Try is a mellow, not slow, number with it's arms held wide open. The piano adds a little bounce until Gianni Marzo's unintrusive meloldic guitar lines takeover and strings lend loft to the chorus. Quiet middle of the road indie pop.

3. So who do Marble Sounds sound like?

The First Try vividly calls to mind Great Lake Swimmers' Zero In The City.

3 Voor 12 Tilburg compare Marble Sounds to Belle & Sebastian, Boy & Bear and a less commercial variation of Snow Patrol. Band singer Pieter Van Diesel said the band are most often compared to Sigur Rios and The Notwist.

4. So what is the good word from the press?

Not a dilly as far as The First Try goes. The reviews are out.

The new album Tautou has received a host of 3 out of 4 or 4 out of 5 star reviews. “Euphoric melancholy” say Enola, and “more epic climaxes in some stunning little songs that can fill a gap on Sunday.” De Morgen call Marble Sounds, “purveyors of super soft melacnholy pop” and Focus Knack thought the new long player has “elegant variations  of melancholy indie pop.” My Sound Escape were more loquacious, “folk and electro influences blend together with an indie-pop matrix, creating uplifting songs to accompany your travels, your readings, as well as and your afternoon’s naps.”

 5. So who are Marble Sounds influences?

The bands that give Marble Sounds their roll are Pinback, Eels and The Notwist say Song 365. Pieter Van Diesel said in an interview with Soft Concrete the band are influenced by Wheat, Pinback, Wilco, Death Cab For Cutie and Sigur Rios. In an interview with a Turkish blog he said Sufjan Stevens, Mina Tindle and Eefj De Visser are the sounds he is rocking right now.

6. Why should I give The First Try a first try?

The First Try is a slow burner that makes a break in the playlist from the overwhelmingly upbeat feel of so many indie tunes out there. Immediately likable but imminently lovable over time.

7. Do Marble Sounds have any more good un's?

The Time To Sleep is the most popular and has a more rock edge.

8. Any more good gossip to share about Marble Sounds?

The new album Tautou is named after French actress Audrey Tautou who western audiences will know from the movie Amelie.

The main music maker Pieter Van Diesel said he sought to create “music centered on a more cinematic atmosphere,”on the the album Tautou.

Pieter's favorite food is Thai, favorite color is green and the first movie he thought of was Back To The Future.

 “Here’s to another try
To move on to a different start
Ready for the rise
Ready for the second part”

Today’s double dip is from Delta Spirit and indie rock band from San Diego, California. From their fourth, and most successful to date, album Into The Wide (2014) is this song, Language of The Dead. Described as “a modern-day tent revival anthem” it is Americana indie rock gem with a classic drum and vocal breakdown.

“Fads of the 60's and the 19th century.
Leo Tolstoy and Robert E. Lee.
We got a war on in our duplicity,
suburban white blasphemy”