Burly Wood - Side By Side

 

1. Who are Burly Wood? 

Burly Wood are an alternative rock band with elements of punk and grunge from Montreal, Canada. A band made from accomplished musicians from other bands they have been making music since 2016 and Side By Side (August, 2024) is from their second E.P. Horror Vacui (2024). 

2. What kind of song is Side By Side? 

Side By Side has an earnest pop punk sound like The Ataris or PUP but with all the polish you would expect from well established musicians. 

3. Who do Burly Wood sound like?

PUP, The Ataris, Dinosaur Jr, and Weezer. 

4. Which bands have influenced Burly Wood?

I don't know. One of them is rocking a Rise Against T and I'm thinking they wouldn't hate bands like Weezer, Modern Baseball, and The Wonder Years. You'll have to ask them though.

5. What have people said about Burly Wood's music?

"A refreshing sound" - Pitch Perfect.

"Music that resonates on a deeper level" - Tunepical. 

"An explosive brand of alternative rock" - Bombshell Radio.

"I should have spent more time with me when I was young,

I wouldn't feel unsafe with everything I do"

Crack Cloud - The Medium

 

1. Who are Crack Cloud? 

Crack Cloud are an art-rock band (or collective) from Calgary, Canada. Formed by singer and drummer Zach Choy in 2015, The Medium (June, 2024) is the second single from their third album Red Mile (July, 2024).  

2. What kind of tune is The Medium? 

The Medium is a pretty pop song that meanders along punctuated by guitars reminiscent of Big Audio Dynamite and some snarky vocals about the essential contradiction of loving punk music while those who fucked nuns later become the church. 

3. Who do Crack Cloud sound like? 

Comparisons have been made to Talking Heads, Gang of Four, and Wire. I was reminded of Superorganism (Everybody Wants to Be Famous).

4. Which bands have influenced Crack Cloud?

They have mentioned some love for Talking Heads, Sum 41 (and pop punk of that ilk), and Gang of Four. 

5. What have the cut and paste bandits said about The Medium? 

"A giddy take on old-school Clash-style punk rock" - Stereogum. 

"Johnny Rotten-esque punk snarls" - Flood Magazine.

"Part punk and part squelchy new wave" - Culture Fiend.

"Anger on display,

And someone smells a profit"

Tokyo Police Club - DLTFWYH

1. Who are they? 

Tokyo Police Club are a popular indie rock band from New Market, Ontario, Canada. They started playing together in 2005. 


2. What?

DLTFWYH (Don’t Let Them Fuck With Your Heart) (July’18) is a single from their fourth album TPC (Oct’18). 


3. Who are Tokyo Police Club similar to? 

Arkells, Ra Ra Riot, and Said The Whale. 


4. What have the press said about DLTFWYH?

“Anticipatory verses and a crashing chorus” – Paste. 

“Essentially one long buildup to a boisterous explosion of guitars” – Consequence Of Sound. 

“A bit of alternative twang” – All Things Go Music. 

5. Which bands are Tokyo Police Club's influences? 

The Strokes, Weezer, Plastic Ono Band, Led Zeppelin, and Royal Headache. 

6. Why should I give DLTFWYH a listen? 

DLTFWYH has a structure that builds tension and releases it better than expensive Thai pussy. The influence of Led Zeppelin is evident in the song structure and the tune eschews the lighter pop of some of their previous efforts. DLTFWYH sounds like Tokyo Police Club got a new lease of life. It sounds electric. It sounds vital.

7. What are Tokyo Police Club's best songs? 

The House, Hot Tonight, and Toy Guns.

8. Anything else? 

TPC was produced by Rob Schnapf (The Vines, FIDLAR, Saves The Day).

Mother Mother - Get Up

Mother Mother are a popular indie rock band from Vancouver, Canada. Get Up (Sept'18) is the first single from their seventh album Dance Cry (Nov'18). Mother Mother have a radio-friendly indie pop/rock sound similar to Grouplove and WATERS. Mother Mother's influences are The Pixies and Dirty Projectors. Get Up is a fierce, seize-the-day song, that walks a perfect line between their pop sensibilities, indie quirkiness, and rock rage. Another vital installment from a band that brought us classics like Love Stuck and Get Out Of The Way.

Dan Mangan - Troubled Mind

Dan Mangan is an indie rock/folk musician from Vancouver, Canada. His music is similar to Great Lake Swimmers, Arkells, and Wintersleep. Dan Mangan's main influences are Nick Drake, Van Morrison and The Beatles. Troubled Mind (June'18) is the second single from an as yet unannounced fifth album. He said that Trouble Mind might be his most upbeat and danceable song yet. Trouble Mind is fast-paced, but melancholic; a synth-led, indie pop song about struggling to deal with the 24/7 bombardment of news. It was produced by Simone Felice (Bat For Lashes, The Lumineers).

“Are we the beautiful future?

I can’t figure it out”

Single Mothers - Leash

1.    Who?

Single Mothers are a punk/hardcore band from London, Ontario. They have had a revolving door of members (at least 16 since 2008 with many rotating in and out) and have recorded two long players. Leash (Sept'17) is from their second album Our Pleasure (2017). 

2. What?

Leash is hardcore goes mellow. Slow and melodic, taking on aspects of 90's grunge (the vocal delivery reminds of Britpop of that time too), the dark atmospheric verses crawl their way into a slow head thudding chorus.

3. Who do Single Mothers sound like?

Suede, Bush, and Japandroids.

4. What have the press said about Leash?

“Anthemic, singalong, but you’ll be in the pit shoving people around to it” – Punk News.

“A softer side that works quite well” – Exclaim.

“A nostalgic stand out” – Pure Grain.

5. Which bands influenced Single Mothers?

The singer mentioned some love for The Rock Steady, The Streets, and The Replacements.

6. Why should I listen to this shite?

Because you like a hardcore ballad.

7. Do Single Mothers have any more bangers?

Christian Girls brings the pain.

8. Anything else?

The singer makes fat stacks prospecting for gold in Swastika, Ontario, (no really) when he is broke.

“This faith comes too easy,

It makes you feel special and sexy and sleazy”

Unlikely Friends are an indie rock super group (of sorts). They all play in other bands. Hailing from Seattle, they have been compared to Superchunk. Fifteen Rounds is the first track from their second album Crooked Numbers (Jan'18) and is simple and fun, 90's influenced, indie rock.

“I never felt my face hit the floor,

It was a sneak attack”

Bad Pop - Same House

1.    Who are Bad Pop?

Bad Pop are an indie rock band from Vancouver, Canada. They used to be known as Hot Panda. They have recorded three albums. Same House is a double A side with Masculism (April’17). 

2. What kind of tune is Same House? 

A playful, wistful and original indie art rock song. 

3. Who do Bad Pop sound like?

Los Camposinos!, The New Pornographers, and Air Traffic Controller. 

4. What is the word from the cut and paste jackals? 

“Intoxicates the mind as assuredly as smoking a crack pipe” – Emerging Indie Bands.

“Stomping alt-pop anthem” – Killing Moon.

“Bad Pop revel incandescently on ‘Same House’” – The Line Of Best Fit.

5. Which bands influenced Bad Pop? 

Bad Pop are influenced by Iggy Pop, Talking Heads, The Strokes, The New Pornographers and Supergrass. 


6. Why should I give Same House a listen?

Because it's as indie as fuck. Because it's an infectious tune. Because your friends haven't.


7. What are Bad Pop's best songs?

Bad Pop is a song so good they renamed their band after it. 


8. Any more words?

No. 

“It’s easy just to not commit or give a shit,

To anybody”

Los Camposinos! are an indie pop rock band from Cardiff, Wales. They have been playing together since 2006 and have recorded six albums. Los Campesinos! are sound like Japandroids meets Belle & Sebastian. They are influenced by bands like Modest Mouse, Broken Social Scene, and The Magnetic Fields. 5 Flucloxacillin is the second single from their sixth album Sick Scenes (2017). Some of the frustrations the band have experienced in the last four years come through in the music and add a vital desperation to the a song with a sunny indie pop exterior. 

“Doctor said, "Don't drink on antibiotics"

Reply, "It doesn't matter, hangover's always chronic anyway"

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”

PUP - Sleep In The Heat

1.    Who are these lords of rock'n'roll? 

PUP are a popular punk rock band from Toronto, Canada. They have been tearing shit up since 2013 and Sleep In The Heat is from their second critically acclaimed album The Dream Is Over (Aug'16). 

2. What's the tune like?

Sleep In The Heat is a mid-tempo, abrasive punk song with gang vocals and a warm gooey centre. It doesn't over stay it's welcome.

3. Who do PUP sound like?

Weezer (early), Cloud Nothings and The Bronx. 

4. What have the prats in the press said about the album The Dream Is Over?

“Nothing but glorious redlining guitars and pile-on group chants” – Pitchfork. 

“One of the best records you’ll hear this year” – Punk News.

“PUP have levels of on-record energy that I’m just not used to hearing in 2016” – Stereogum.

5. Which bands have inspired PUP's brand of mayhem? 

Their main influences are Built To Spill, The Bronx,Queens Of The Stone Age, Dillinger and Mastodon.

6. Why should I give Sleep In The Heat a spin?

Because it's no fat on the bone, raw, punk rock with a singalong. PUP are for real. 


7. Do PUP have any more of these beauties? 

Go no further than the party rock anthem DVP, the best song PUP have made. 


8. Any more words? 

PUP do a stonking cover of The Buzzcocks' Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've) 

“And I’ve said so many goodbyes,

In the 25 years that I’ve been alive”

Schmutzki are a punk pop band from Germany. They started kicking arse and taking names in 2011. Schmutzki sound similar to Blink-182, Brings and Offspring. Their major influences are The Clash, The Misfits and Die Toten Hosen. Sauflied is a track off their second album Spackos Forever (Aug'16) and is the finest fucking punk song this cunt heard all year.

“German shit”

Mother Mother - Love Stuck

1.    Who are they? 

Mother Mother are a popular indie rock band from Vancouver, Canada. They have been serving up the red hot tunes since 2005. Love Stuck (Nov'16) is the second single from their sixth album No Culture (Feb'17). 

2. What's the song like?

A marching beat, a chant-along catchy chorus and upbeat bounce. Standard issue, radio friendly, indie rock.

3. Who do Mother Mother sound like?

Grouplove, WATERS and Tokyo Police Club.

4. What have the mutts in the press said about Love Stuck?

“Bright and charged” – U Music. 

“Music underpinned by the belief that love wins” – Skope Mag.

“This is so optimistic” – YouTube Comments.

 

5. Which bands have influenced Mother Mother? 

Their main influences are The Beatles and The Pixies. They have mentioned some love for The Dirty Projectors and Little Dragon. 

6. Why should I listen to Love Stuck? 

Love Stuck is innocuous indie pop. 

7. Do Mother Mother have any other good songs? 

Get Out Of The Way rocks harder and is all the better for it and so does Bit By Bit. Monkey Tree has a more expansive melancholy synth-pop groove.

8. Any more words? 

Nah. 

“I’ve got my love stuck in my thoughts, in my thoughts”

Saint Motel are a popular dreamy indie pop band from Los Angeles, California. They have been playing together since 2009 and Move (Aug'16) is the lead single from their second album saintmotelevision (Oct'16). Saint Motel sound similar to Walk The Moon, Young The Giant and Local Natives. They are influenced by bands like M83, Cage The Elephant, Animal Collective and The Kinks. Move marries 70's soul and disco elements to an indie pop song and is the kind of inspirational song you put on your jogging playlist.

“Gotta get up, I gotta get up,

Move”