Browsing Tag

90s Britpop

Versonic twisted the melons of 90s Britpop with Come On (Up for Air)

Posted on 19 February 2023
Come On (Up for Air) by VERSONIC

The acclaimed indie rock act, Versonic, has twisted the melons of early 90s Britpop yet again with the anthemic angular melodicism in their bitter-sweet latest single, Come On (Up for Air).

With a bassline that will make any Pixies fans palpitate over and the opening lyric, “how does it feel to be suffocating on your own again”, which grabs your attention by the throat, it’s safe to say Stephen Connor’s award-winning writing skills are as sharp as ever.

How he managed to pull the euphoria from “cos no one’s gonna save you, no one’s looking for you and no one’s gonna make it alright (for you)” was nothing short of genius. The painfully honest yet lyrically liberating nature of Come On is just one of the reasons to delve into the artful reinvention of the 90s Britpop wheel.

Come On (Up for Air) was officially released on February 17th. Hear it on Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Electro-chanson meets 00s Britpop in Laptop Singers’ single, Le Love featuring Judy St. Clarke

Posted on 11 October 2022

Here to perpetuate the myth that there’s something in Sweden’s waters that breeds pop legends is Gothenburg’s brother duo, Laptop Singers, with their latest single, Le Love, featuring the Nashville singer Judy St. Clarke.

Before Le Love swings you back to Paris in the 60s, it makes a brief pitstop in charted by Garbage and The Cardigans 90s Britpop territory, leaving ample room for modernity to reflect in the lyricism that makes no bones about getting to grips with the tantamount of the tribulation.

The era-mashing yet juxtaposingly timeless single comes with more than just a pinch of electro-pop panache. The endlessly inviting demure soul from Judy St. Clarke against the electrically reverberating keys, high-energy guitars, and absurdity-embracing lyrics makes the chaos of 2022 worth enduring.

Here’s what Laptop Singers had to say about their sticky-sweet escapist release:

“This song is inspired by listening to lots of French music, both old classics from the 60´s, like Francoise Hardy, and new French indie pop like Bon Entendeur and L’Impératrice. It´s an uptempo, guitar-based song about youthful energy, love, and confusion right in the middle of 2022!”

Le Love is now available to stream on Spotify.

Follow Laptop Singers on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The transatlantic duo Post Suitcase unpack heartbreak in their debut single, Under This Hood

Posted on 30 September 2022

The debut single, Under This Hood, from the British/American indie-rockers Post Suitcase, euphonically bridges the transatlantic sonic gap. With blisters of Britpop bursting between the American overtones in the post-breakup track, it’s impossible not to get entwined in the narrative, which explores the tendency of others to put the token effort in when it comes to consoling and checking in on the recently heartbroken.

We’ve all been there, although notably, we’re not all capable of forging lyrical gold, “I’ll walk where the grass still grows, where my friends still smile but they really don’t know that, under this hood, is a lot of dead wood.” With the momentum ebbing and crescendoing through the release, which comes with the meditatively artful ease of the trumpet glossing over the angular indie guitars, Under This Hood is as cathartic as it is heartbreaking.

Debut releases don’t get much more promising than this. We’re hoping that Post Suitcase has more emotional intimacy and intellect to unpack in future releases.

Under This Hood will officially release on September 30th; catch it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Seattle converges with Manchester in BLUEBOO’s latest smorgasbord of alt 90s aesthetic, Cherry Woman

Posted on 4 June 2022

With a touch of Oasis to the choral vocals to anchor the anthem in its melodicism, the alt-90s Seattle sound doesn’t asphyxiate any originality out of the revivalist nature of BLUEBOO’s latest single, Cherry Woman. It teases just the right amount of nostalgia for Screaming Trees, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam as your synapses fire to the tune of the Chicago-based artist’s off-kilter hook-filled sonic signature.

Notably, we aren’t the only ones finding addictive propensities in the effortlessly original sound of BLUEBOO. They’ve garnered acclaim from across the globe, especially on their strikingly ethereal seminal single, You Win Abigail, which has amassed over 260k streams on Spotify alone.

Cherry Woman is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Bryan Donoghue leaves us in a Summer Haze with his Britpop-rock hit.

Posted on 12 September 2021
Bryan Donoghue

Edinburgh-born, Ireland-based alt-rock solo artist Bryan Donoghue is set to release his debut album Nowhere Never, Somewhere Always, which features the standout single, Summer Haze.

If you hold the 90s as an era as dearly as you hold summer as a season, you couldn’t ask for a better playlist staple. Summer Haze comes swathed in summer pop rock tones and laced with lucid 90s Britpop nostalgia. The Manchester sound resounds in the psychedelically tinged instrumentals, while vocally, Donoghue will strike a chord with any James Dean Bradfield or Paul Draper fans.

His debut album will be available to stream and download on all major platforms in September 2021.

Checkout Bryan Donoghue on Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Folk meets Britpop in River Knight’s latest single, She Came Round, featuring Ralph Walling.

Posted on 5 July 2021
https://soundcloud.com/river-knight-613028707/she-came-round-1

Americana meets UK Britpop in River Night’s alt-folk single, She Came Round, featuring Ralph Walling. While instrumentally, the semi-orchestral folky instrumentals run in the same vein as Dylan’s did in the 70s, there’s a touch of Oasis and the Stone Roses to the vocals that contrast with the accordant tones of the acoustic guitar progressions.

She Came Round is just one of the authentically original singles from the Southampton-based duo’s lockdown-born album, Grow, which released on June 25th. With plenty of tour dates in their diary, 2021 could very well be the year of River Knight.

She Came Round is now available to stream via SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Leafs spliced classic rock with 90s Britpop in their latest single ‘Mr. Coffey’

Posted on 6 March 2021

Classic rock conservationists, The Leafs, dug up the roots of 70s rock and spliced them with elements of 90s Britpop in their latest single ‘Mr. Coffey’. With driving guitar tones as vintage as Keith Richards himself, the preservation of classic rock is safe in the deft hands of The Leafs – and so is the future of alt-rock.

With vocals which are sweet to the point of seduction, a psychedelic kick to the synthy euphoria-spilling instrumentals and tenderly romantic lyrics, you can expect your soul to be filled and your rhythmic pulses to be arrested while this earworm crawls in.

The Berlin-based artist may have only made their debut in 2020, but you’d be hard-pressed to find another 2021 release containing more commercial potential than Mr. Coffey. It’s an obsession-worthy track.

Mr. Coffey is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast