Browsing Tag

Art Rock

12 Below – Jetsam: Austere art-rock

Posted on 21 May 2021

South Florida’s most avant-garde art-rock artist 12 Below is back with his sophomore single, Jetsam, which pulls together as a dark and discordant mash of industrial, darkwave synth-pop and post-punk.

With an intro that shares reminiscence to Manchester post-punk outfit The Chameleons before the soundscape switches into a phantasmal feat of electro-rock that any fans of Dir En Grey or Celldweller will be familiar with, you’ll be hooked from the first haunted note to the last.

The ethereally ambient soundscape was constructed with effect-loaded guitars and glassy keys in downtempo progressions, for the visceral kick, 12 Below loaded caustic drums and a heavy serving of bass. I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to hear an artist similar to NIN, who also makes the dark electro sound their own.

Jetsam is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Fauxchisels do HG Wells proud with their 2021 noise rock album, ‘Education or Catastrophe’

Posted on 20 May 2021
Education or Catastrophe by Fauxchisels

In 1921, HG Wells observed that “human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe”. In 2021, Birmingham-based noise-rock artist Fauxchisels brought forth their artfully caustic album, Education or Catastrophe, demonstrating that little has changed in the presiding century aside from the widening of inequity.

Education or Catastrophe kicks off with the Fugazi-Esque fervent single, Get Over Yrself, before the despondent Northern roots start to really pull through in Badges and Ideals instrumentally and lyrically through lines such as “You bring the Daily Mail, I’ll bring the matches”; proving that Fauxchisels are just as adept at witty protestive soundbites as any of the contemporary punk-chart toppers.

Track five, Family Friendly, is a meditatively harrowing single that will feel familiar to any fans of Arab Strap as the imploring sermonic vocals act as a candid invitation into the dourness of the thankless domesticity we’ve all wrestled with during lockown.

Constant Ghost is one of those engorging aural oddities that reels you in hook, bassline and sinker, the tumultuous chaos of the breakdowns against the steady canter of the poetic lyrics is art-punk at its finest.

The album is far cheaper and probably far more effective in giving you a cathartic outlet for your rage than therapy. Fauxchisels went above the usual austere indignance in the 12-track release that never gives you the chance to feel comfortable or complacent with the versatility in styling, emotion and volatility.

Head over to Bandcamp to hear the album yourselves or purchase in physical format. Check out Fauxchisels’ on Facebook.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Yves Steady – Chamomile King: A Hazy Lo-Fi Indie Art-Rock Lullaby

Posted on 10 May 2021
Yves Steady - The Demos by YVES STEADY

For his latest release, East London-based solo artist Yves Steady curated his demos from the past four years and invited listeners on a journey of intimate aural exploration; the best introduction to his artfully psychedelic sound is Chamomile King. The semi-orchestral soundscape resonates like a garagey, drowsy take on Charlatans while feeding in the same stylish, evocative despondence of Dinosaur Jr.

The sweet and steady chords in the choral feat of new wave indie couldn’t possibly hold more catharsis when they are up against the vocals that sit perfectly in the mix without bleeding or dominating the track that will be a hit with indie, psych, art rock, and folk fans alike.

Chamomile King is now available to stream and purchase via Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Brandon Wade wants us all to ‘Dance Again’

Posted on 20 April 2021
Brandon Wade

Sometimes, the choice is between doing what’s easy, or doing what’s right. That’s the story behind Brandon Wade’s ‘Dance Again’, a gentle, uplifting acoustic ballad carried by Brandon’s sublime picked guitar parts and stunning vocal. There’s a touch of ‘The Bends’ era Radiohead about it, if Radiohead hadn’t started playing around with all the electronics, some Kevin Garrett, maybe a helping of James Bay, Michael Rosenberg/Passenger, or Hozier, too – think airy, space-filled contemporary acoustic guitar and a vocal delivery that flirts at times with falsetto, but never gives anything but exquisite delicacy.

Brandon Wade wants to write music that inspires people, and to be a ‘voice for those too afraid to speak or who think their words have little meaning’. With ‘Dance Again’, he’s produced a beautiful single about love, loss, and learning that really does have a voice all of its own.

You can check out Dance Again here.

Follow Brandon Wade on Instagram.

 

Review by Alex Holmes

Speak, Memory – Trails: an instrumental art-rock exploration of unrequited love

Posted on 7 April 2021
Speak, Memory

Oklahoma-residing alt-indie artist, Speak, Memory are set to release their highly-anticipated EP ‘Adirondack’, which allows the listener to see the beauty in shared experiences – no matter how harrowing they may be to endure on a personal level.

‘Trails’ is the first of three singles on the live-recorded EP to explore the torrid emotions surrounding unrequited love through instrumentals alone. After waves of spiritual reverb ease you into the soundscape, angular jangly indie-pop guitars start to cut through the accordance until the track builds up an all-consuming wall of guitars that could rival My Bloody Valentine’s sonic constructions.

It’s a track that you can’t help getting caught up in, making it impossible not to get excited about the future of this artfully astute outfit.

You’ll have to wait a little longer before you can check out Adirondack for yourselves. In the meantime, head over to their official website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Brian Perrone delivers artfully sonic shoegaze in their third single, ‘GOTTA GET AWAY’

Posted on 3 April 2021

After their last single, Be This Way, refused to stop haunting us after we’d heard it, we eagerly delve into Brian Perrone’s latest single GOTTA GET AWAY which captures the claustrophobia of a situation that will cage you if you don’t start to push against the bars.

By starting with reverb-soaked synths, an archetypal feat of pensive 80s pop is teased before choral shoegaze guitars creep into the mix and build momentum in the track that almost becomes theatrical behind the curtain of alchemic genre-melding.

If you can imagine what it would sound like if Freddie Mercury, The Smiths, Muse, Editors and My Bloody Valentine had a stunning lovechild, you’ll get an idea of what to expect when you hit play on GOTTA GET AWAY.

Experiencing any form of intensity is a pleasure in lockdown times, but the sonic smorgasbord of alternative culture is so much more than a reminder that you still have the capacity to feel. It is an affirmation that we have an exceptionally talented artist in our midst who deserves celebrating. The Detroit singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist is obsession-worthy.

GOTTA GET AWAY is now available to stream via SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Jacobi.e – Wake Me Up in My Dreams: Intimately Glitchy Electronic Indie

Posted on 14 March 2021
Jacobi.e

‘Wake Me Up in My Dreams’ is the latest intimately glitchy feat of electronic indie released by up and coming artist and producer, Jacobi.e. The distorted jangle-pop guitars that ease you into his experimentally affable style could only be described as melodic quicksand.

There are some fairly obvious nods to the styles of the Weeknd and the Midnight, but with the LA-based artist’s lo-fi bedroom pop production style and their affinity for art-rock artists such as Radiohead, they’re able to deliver an engaging signature style which allows you drift through their subconscious.

Wake Me Up in My Dreams was inspired by the concept of idealism and our inability to accept the gritty nature of reality. Ironically, it’s viscerally ardent tracks like this that leave me with unrealistic romantic expectations.

Wake Me Up in My Dreams was released on February 21st. You can check it out for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Seven Layer Piano Cakes gives melodic metalcore a classical touch with ‘Middlegame’

Posted on 3 March 2021
Seven Layer Piano Cakes

Last year, Seven Layer Piano Cakes appeared on our radar with their dreamy feat of indietronica ‘The Patriarch’, leaving us enamoured yet ridiculously underprepared for his latest release ‘Middlegame’.

The 00s emo kid in me can scarcely deal with the feisty alchemy which spills when a classically trained pianist tackles a melodic metalcore style which wouldn’t be out of place on an old school Bring Me the Horizon album.

With Seven Layer Piano Cakes’ neo-classic keys combined with the harsh snares which smack under sinister synth-lines, Middlegame is practically overwhelming – especially when the guitars start to slash the soundscape with angularly absorbing notes.

Listen to Seven Layer Piano Cakes on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

pb – Atlantis: progressively ambient art-rock

Posted on 2 March 2021

It’s always refreshing to hear a new approach to ambience, with their captivatingly cinematic production style, LA artist, pb, offered just that with his latest album, ‘In Parallels’.

Part progressive art-rock, part avant-garde electronica, part retro indie-pop, the first single, ‘Atlantis’ is the perfect introduction to the artist’s talent when it comes to blending textures to build what has never been constructed before. The best part? The catharsis contained in Atlantis is unhindered by pb’s tendency to let their experimentalism run rampant through their intricate grooves.

Evocatively, Atlantis is just as intense as Porcupine Tree’s acclaimed album ‘Fear of a Blank Planet’. Which feels strange to say about such a low-tempo mellifluous soundscape, but the sentiment still stands.

pb’s 2021 album is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Home Stretch made a seafaringly sweet debut with their album ‘Ocean Boy’

Posted on 1 March 2021

Discernibly, it isn’t just the artwork for The Home Stretch’s album ‘Ocean Boy’ which Neutral Milk Hotel inspired, the same lo-fi psych folk sound resounds right through the debut album from the Birmingham-based newcomers.

The seafaringly sweet album starts with the title-track which allows you to wade into The Home Stretch’s cathartically panoramic signature sound which will undoubtedly be a hit with any fans of Deerhunter.

There’s nothing ambient about the intricate art rock guitar progressions which pop with bluesy pronunciation, but you’ll feel serenity wash over you as you let this mellifluously stunning soundscape arrest your rhythmic pulses and offer indulgent aurally-derived escapism.

Ocean Boy is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast