Browsing Tag

70s Rock

When life gives you lemons, drink James Sebastian’s 70s rock-infused lemonade in Life’s Tasting Good

Posted on 17 June 2023

Proving that there are few things sweeter than sun-kissed optimism and soundscapes which kaleidoscopically pop with the raw energy of 70s rock and soul of 60s pop, James Sebastian put love in the air with his latest single, Life’s Tasting Good.

The wild with zeal vocal lines that will arrest you with the same cuffs of Robert Plant fused with psychedelic pop hues, which paint with the same tonal palette as The Beatles, this horn-infused rock revival revels in the future as rock as much as the past.

It isn’t the first time the UK-based singer-songwriter has appeared on our radar. We weren’t quick to forget his seminal hit, Love is Only Love; Life’s Tasting Good has just as much staying power from the first time it snakes between your synapses with the slickly sensational melodies. It’s far from your average archetypal summer single, but anyone with a soft spot for the eras rock n roll reigned supreme will undoubtedly want to make a staple of it.

Life’s Tasting Good was officially released on the second of June; hear it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

THE PALE HORSES rolled with the punches in their soulfully heavy progressive blues single, Shallow Dive

Posted on 28 April 2023

THE PALE HORSES raucously reimagined blues with their latest feat of heavy progressive blues, Shallow Dive. The shimmering tones spilling from the Hammond organ remain definitively bluesy, as do the harmonised backing vocals, but everything else in the innovated hit came straight from the Toronto-hailing artist’s very own heavy rock n roll drawing board.

Even if you can take or leave blues and heavy progressive rock, there’s enough exhilarant substance in the release to affirm THE PALE HORSES are one of the most original acts on any scene. The jazz-inspired drums and vocal lines from Dane Hartsell transform this ode to 70s vintage tones into a riot of rock renovation, which may make traditionalists itch, but anyone who appreciates experimentalism will want to bask in the heat of this scorching sonically salacious release.

Shallow Dive is now available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Denim Dan created a capsule of 70s folk-pop-rock nostalgia in their sixth studio album, This Way, That Way, The Other Way

Posted on 26 April 2023

NYC’s Denim Dan fortified the folk-pop-rock realm once again with their sixth studio album, This Way, That Way, The Other Way, which will ricochet you back to the 70s via an aural time capsule you have never experienced the like of before. Under the heart-on-sleeve influence of Tom Petty & The HeartBreakers, Lou Reed & Leonard Cohen, you will also be able to reminisce on the slightly zanier production styles of Zappa and the Legendary Pink Dots in this warm vignette of fond memories forged in an era of personal freedom and revelation.

There are few things as sonically sweet as coming-of-age tales after decades of retrospect. The kaleidoscopically honeyed soundscapes in This Way, That Way, The Other Way allows you to cruise right back to the 70s while allowing your perceptions to shift around the pearls of wanderlust wisdom.

“This Way, That Way, The Other Way is our sixth studio album. A non-fiction coming-of-age narration of loosely factual true events from my time in New Mexico in the mid 1970s. The title track and first four songs were written in Florence, Italy during the pandemic when I felt inspired to write about my experiences of four decades earlier. The next eight songs – also written about that period – including Let Your Love Fall Down On Me [too] were recorded in 2001 right after 911 in Boulder, Colorado. They were forgotten…but my son, Marcello, found them in an old computer.”

Stream This Way, That Way, The Other Way on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

AXiS got elemental for their latest razor-sharp slice of reinvented 70s rock, Firewater

Posted on 21 April 2023

The Serbian/Romanian power trio, AXiS, ensured the 70s rock n roll era made a monolithic return to the airwaves in 2023 with their elementally overdriven reinvention, Firewater.

Taking the iconic sounds from Black Sabbath, Hendrix, and Led Zeppelin and channelling a modern twist into the high gain guitars, the rock-reverent originators slathered Firewater with swagger and burning hot riffs that will turn your speakers into smoke machines.

After forming in 2012, the trio has shared its fair share of success as a touring band and in the studio. After their sophomore album left them pigeonholed as a blues rock band, they’ve proven with Firewater that their raw live sound is a million miles away from those roots. It’s straight-up sleazenik rock n roll that you will want to line up and drink warm beer for.

Firewater was officially released on April 1st. Stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The 60s and 70s have swung back with riotous force in At the Arcade’s scuzzed-up slice of garagey alt-rock, With You

Posted on 3 April 2023

At the Arcade served up a sleazily scuzzed slice of garagey alt-rock for their latest single, With You, which puts the emotion into as much overdrive as the riffs. Somewhere between the 60s and the 80s, the riotously eclectic outfit finds its distinctive-by-design prodigal edge that will leave you ricocheting between past eras while affirming that THIS is the sound of the future.

Ensuring that the bouncy and brashy chorus guitars are just as infectious as the salaciously sweet vocals, With You is a track you definitely won’t mind tattooed across your temporal lobe. The Rotherham indie rock aficionados have been revered for their superlatively high-energy shows since 2017. It is about time the airwaves got a taste of their harmony-heavy fervour.

With You was officially released on March 24th. Check it out on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Turncoat Billy looked through a ‘Kaleidoscope’ in their psychedelically vintage debut single

Posted on 18 March 2023

Indie nostalgia peddlers may have created a massive stink pile of indie landfill on the oversaturated airwaves after realising they can string a few chords together in a way that references the Strokes or Oasis; with their debut, Turncoat Billy is the refreshing soul-stirring antithesis. Familiar yet awash with endearing autonomy, anyone that wants to enliven their playlists with contemporary ingenuity can get a jump start from Turncoat Billy.

With their influence range casting a net over everyone from Big Thief to Chas n Dave to T.Rex to Warren Zevon, the outfit, born in a brewery in Tottenham, will pull you into vivid vintage colour with their debut single release, Kaleidoscope.

Their ruggedly sweet indie rock flavour is addictive from the first taste; with the 60s psychedelic kicks paired with the 70s renegade rock swagger and hints of the Maccabees, there’s no sweeter way to evade the malaise of modernity.

Kaleidoscope is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Denim Dan has released his blissfully bitter-sweet folky pop-rock serenade, 3AM (I Call You Up)

Posted on 15 January 2023

Denim Dan is fresh from the release of his fourth studio LP, 3AM; the 70s folky pop-rock album is one you will want to while away the small hours with to keep at bay the nefarious thoughts your mind summons when it hits the pillow.

The dreamy, spacey sincerity of the title single, which proves die-hard romanticism will never go out of trend, takes a break from the trippy colourful psych tones to serenade with an ardent rock riff that stands as a testament to the creative power and talent poured into the blissfully bitter-sweet serenade.

For any Bob Dylan fans, Denim Dan has also recently debuted his cover album, Denim Dan Meets Dylan… A Tribute. No matter how much you think you know Dylan, you’ve never met him quite like this before. Denim Dan’s quintessentially affable vocal command and his swanky yet innocently sweet instrumental style are cutely visionary.

Hear both albums via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Swing back to the late 60s with Sarah Streitz’s dusky groove-led rock hit, Time Passes

Posted on 23 November 2022

Ahead of the release of her 2022 album, Different Space, we got stuck into the retro grooves of Santa Fe and Minneapolis singer-songwriter Sarah Streitz’s single Time Passes. While there’s no arguing with the titular statement, clearly, Streitz doesn’t conform to the linear passing of time if the tonal nostalgia that the dusky rock record spills is anything to go by. With just a few licks of the bass and her effortlessly cool vocal performance, you’re doused in late 60s synaesthesia.

After leaving Americana and country (mostly) behind her, Streitz teamed up with the Grammy-winning sound engineer Marc Whitmore to deliver soundscapes that would make Tarantino’s head spin. Evidently, Whitmore poured the same magic into Time Passes as he did with The Black Keys records – there’s something infinitely intoxicating about her demurely vintage vocal timbre colliding with the bass lines that roll around the shimmering organs and spacey sonic effects that bring a touch of modernism to the trippy swing of the single.

Time Passes is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Feel the electric intimacy with James Sebastian’s new wave rock n roll single, Bedsheets

Posted on 14 November 2022
James Sebastian

James Sebastian served a stellar slice of salacious new wave rock n roll with his latest single, Bedsheets, taken from his forthcoming debut EP. Capturing the electric intimacy of the early stages of a relationship, Bedsheets is a raucously seductive revival of the 70s sound and lustful aptitude, which lets rough rock vocals crawl across Led Zeppelin-reminiscent instrumentals.

The UK artist has the nostalgic tones and sensibilities down to a T while ensuring that his unholy rock n roll reverence comes with its own sting. After hearing the record, I can almost taste the energy of his live performances, which he has taken across the UK as a headline act in iconic venues, such as the Exeter Cavern, the Golden Lion and the Stags Head.

Bedsheets will officially release across all major streaming platforms on November 11th. Check it out via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Nick Cody & The Heartache tackled profound uncertainty with their latest single, Maybe, featuring Towse.

Posted on 15 September 2022

Uncertainty seems to be around every corner as of late; one of the only consolations is the latest single, ‘Maybe’, from Nick Cody & The Heartache featuring Towse.

The melodiously mournful single is the third one to be released from the forthcoming album, all is fine ‘til the world goes pop, due for release on September 30th via Green Eyed Records. Instead of sugar-coating future possibilities, the aptly glib lyrics pose possibilities of suffering in silence or hiding in the dark, giving up thinking or ceasing to put up a fight.

As the poignantly melancholic keys coalesce around the warm and gentle guitar chords, grief-stricken alchemy breathes between Nick Cody’s crooned folk pessimism and Towse’s haunted vocal timbre which carries an ethereal chill not all too dissimilar to Angel Olsen’s. They’re a match made in aural heaven. As for this timely single, consider it essential for your alt-folk-rock playlists.

The official music video for Maybe premiered on August 25th. Check it out on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast