Browsing Tag

00s Rock

Silent Disco brought the future of rock to Tennessee with their debut indie-pop-rock about a girl single, Rocks

Pop-punk collided with alt-indie in the debut synth-scored euphoric hit, Rocks, by the up-and-coming powerhouse Silent Disco, which may be the sweetest about a girl single we’ve ever heard. The stellar slice of alt-rock affirms that we’ve moved past the Girl All the Bad Guys Want tropes by celebrating the magic and mystique of spiritual girls.

It’s as hooky as any of Fall Out Boy’s iconic releases, but Rocks does far more than just teasing a little early 00s emo nostalgia; it is also well and truly ahead of the curve of artists clamouring over themselves to do the 1975 better than the 1975. It may not be the average sound that spills out of Nashville, but Silent Disco is definitively bringing the future of rock to Tennessee.

Rocks will officially release on April 1st, 2022. You can check it out for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

TROUBLESHOOT lets us into his meta introspection with his latest single, ‘Inside My Head’.

TROUBLESHOOT

TROUBLESHOOT is set to release their visceral pop-punk anthem, Inside My Head; the York-based solo artist sells himself as the upbeat Lewis Capaldi and undersells his lyrical ingenuity in the process.

Taking influence from classic 00s pop-punk, TROUBLESHOOT allows his over-driven guitar tones to ring with apathy in the verses, when the chorus hits, you’ll get that sweet euphoric release as the track finds a clever way to remind you that you’re jealous of people whose lives are just as mundane as everyone else’s.

We are all drinking the Pepsi or Coke version of suffering, the answer? TROUBLESHOOT prescribes escaping into your head and creating metaphysic realities where the constraints of the physical world don’t carry on dragging you down.

Any fans of Jimmy Eat World, Blink 182 or All Time Low won’t want to miss out on this provokingly cathartic single.

You can check out TROUBLESHOOT via SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Just Pathetic are wondering just what happened ‘Since College’

Describing themselves as ‘a band specialising in substandard music and haphazard melodies’, Just Pathetic’s ‘Since College’ is a poppy-punk number, with elements of Bowling For Soup, The Police, Sum-41, and Journey all mixed up with a Blink 182 tongue-in-cheek bouncy, upbeat ode to time since…well, you guessed it, since college.

There’s a nice little break-down mid-song, a nice flanged-and-octaved guitar-line throughout, and lyrically there’s some not-too-serious digs at teen entitlement, angst, and ‘emo-days’ mixed up with underage drinking and ‘interesting’ cigarettes. It’s fun, it’s vaguely silly, and it’s catchy, energetic, and exuberant mixed in with laid-back ‘stoner’ vocals (there’s a tiny hint at ‘Superfuzz’-era Mudhoney to the delivery), with the fuzziest guitar tone we’ve heard in a long time. It’s the age-old question: ‘Where have the days gone since college?’

You can hear ‘Since College’ on YouTube; check out Just Pathetic here.

Review by Alex Holmes

Our senses are heightened ‘When It Rains’

‘When It Rains’ – the fourth single from L.A.-based power-trio senses – is a wash of urgent, driving drums, dark synths, and grinding, overdriven guitars all capped off by vocalist Madison Taylor’s stunning, folk-tinged voice. It’s kind of cheap and easy to draw ‘female-fronted rock-band’ comparisons, but ‘When It Rains’ is an absolute belter of an alt-rock track with some definite favourable Paramore comparisons due to Taylor’s uber-powerful vocal performance riding the crest of Josh Bissell’s crashing, distorted guitar onslaught and Nick Sampson’s pounding backbeat, maybe a touch of Tonight Alive, and a little of Amy Lee mixed in for good measure, sitting alongside some classic ‘Comfort In Sound’-era Feeder or Bush.

There’s a lot more to come from this understated trio, but for now check out the video for ‘When It Rains’ on YouTube, and follow Senses on Facebook and Instagram.

Cxldface – Better Off Alone: The infectiously anthemic pop punk soundtrack to your solidarity

‘Better Off Alone’ is the latest feat of pop punk from Las Vegas artist, Cxldface, which will throw you right back to the 00s era of alt-rock while implanting a viscerally modernistic perennial earworm which ensures that there’s little chance of forgetting the infectiously hyped melodies.

Considering we’re all spending a little more time alone than usual, it’s easy to see how Better Off Alone could be a sanity-saving playlist staple for many. With reminders that there’s plenty of worse things than solidarity, euphorically sonic synth lines and the punchy hook-laden guitars, Better Off Alone practically spoon feeds serotonin.

At just 18 years old, Cxldface, is able to boast a maturity to his sound and a potent enough amount of distinction through his tendency to meld elements of electronica, hip hop and indie into his empoweringly scathing anthems. Get him on your radar.

Better Off Alone is now available to stream via Spotify

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Did I Hear Dare? – timeless alt-rock with ‘I Can Feel (You And I)’

Hailing from Columbus, Ohio, Did I Hear Dare? smash out that brand of mid-Western alt-rock that seems timeless and at the same time bang up to date. ‘I Can Feel (You and I)’ could just as easily be from 2001 as the first month of 2021, and that’s no bad thing at all. Think Killers, Kings of Leon, and maybe a little Arcade Fire for good measure. There’s a definite Brandon Flowers touch to the vocal, a cracker of a bouncy lead guitar line, and a perfect pop-indie-rock lift coming into the chorus, itself an absolute earworm of a radio-friendly-unit-shifter.

The follow-up to their 2020 EP ‘The Ghost Stories’, ‘I Can Feel (You And I)’ is a perfect prelude to 2021 for Did I Hear Dare?.

You can check it out on Spotify now, and follow on Facebook.

Review by Alex Holmes

Antalai has dropped their riotously dynamic Alt-Rock debut ‘Spilling My Guts’

If alt-rock fans take a chance on any debut single in 2021, they should make it Antalai’s euphorically-charged unapologetically feisty track ‘Spilling My Guts’.

There is a real sense that there was no pretence for Antalai to hide behind in her debut. Her authentic voice resounds as her visceral poetic rage rips through high-octane hit which will leave you rhythmically arrested by the end of the first verse.

Through the addition of the punchy pop-rock chorus which puts a modernist twist on 00s Pop Punk, Spilling My Guts became a riotously anthemic hit which you would be lucky to hear if you wandered to the front of a crowd at a festival.

You can check out Antalai’s single for yourselves by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Glitched has dropped their alchemically anthemic Alt-Rock hit “Laissez Tout Brûler”

Laissez Tout Brûler is the lead track from the Alt-Rock powerhouse Glitched’s latest EP “Chaos World, Pt. 1 (An Apparition Emerges)”, if you’re aurally sensitive, prepare to feel a little bruised.

Right from the first verse, there’s a magnetically direct invitation to immerse yourself in the soundscape. The steadiness of the preceding verses makes the alchemy in the successive ones even more exhilarating. Think along the lines of Dinosaur Jr’s Feel the Pain.

When the momentum builds in the choruses, so does Glitched’s playful energy which tears through the melancholy which was laid out in the former verses. After hearing Laissez Tout Brûler, I have no doubt that Glitched could give Foo Fighters a run for their money live, their sound is just as capable of filling a stadium. Plus there’s the extra added bonus of Laissez Tout Brûler being a uniquely unpredictable track which experimentally unravels while sweeping across the full tonal palette.

You can check out Glitched’s single for yourselves via Spotify or YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

At Face Value – Lotr: Scathingly Sticky-Sweet Alt Pop Punk

If At Face Value has evaded your radar so far, it’s our pleasure to introduce you to the US artist’s rapturously colossal sound. The perfect introduction to their distinctive brand of Alt-Rock is their standout track ‘Lotr.

Whatever else is going on in your life, hit play and your consciousness will be consumed by the gorgeously evocative pull of the soundscape which pays ode to the 00s Pop Punk sound while drawing on their own signature sonic flair. Stylistically, Lotr is familiar while the sincerity and potency of the emotion are on another level.

More than anything, what I admire is At Face Value’s admission that their songs deal with common trials and tribulations. They don’t make their suffering the essence of their tracks. Instead, they use the recognition that listeners will find resonance in the tracks which are laced with punchy catchy melodies which are orchestrated to instil optimism.

It is bands like At Face Value which remind me how important music actually is. Not just as a part of our culture or personality or as a way to entertain ourselves. But for the beautiful fact that some artists are trying to make our lives which are often full of chaos and heartbreak a little easier.

You can check out Lotr along with the rest of At Face Value’s tracks by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast