Browsing Tag

Experimental Rock

51st Avenue invites you to own your experiences of rejection with their alt-rock hit, ‘Don’t Want Me’.

Posted on 29 May 2021

With their latest single, Don’t Want Me, the Sydney-based 4-piece alt-rock pioneers 51st Avenue contend with heavy emotion through even heavier instrumentals. Their sound carries familiar elements of electronic pop, trap and post-rock, but 51st Avenue delivers them in a distinctive enough way that their sheer authenticity will blow you away just as much as the sound itself.

Soft and succinct verses with delicate female pop vocals are followed with tumultuously thrashing breakdowns that carry the same sense of chaos as you’ll find in Bring Me the Horizon’s sound. With the progressive structure of the single, you can’t help delving in over and over again. With every listen, the boldness of the lyrics becomes even more striking. No one likes to admit rejection, but 51st Avenue owns it in Don’t Want Me; the track allows you to consider that sometimes walking away from you is the best thing a person can do for you.

It comes as no surprise that 51st Avenue has already supported Start Your Own Cult, Cambridge, Young Lions and Hands Like Houses on tour. Although based on Don’t Want Me, it won’t be long until bands can boast about opening for 51st Avenue.

Don’t Want Me is available to stream on Spotify, or you can check out the music video via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Do Not Adjust Your Radios – ET Just Phoned Home: Seedy – ‘Seedy Sunday 3’

Posted on 30 March 2021

When the aliens land, they’ll be sending us a warning or two on their way – Seedy Sunday 3 might be the first of those cautionary broadcasts from outer space, kicking off with nothing more than siren blasts before the ‘we interrupt this broadcast’ monotone voiceover warns us of imminent danger. Namechecking burning churches, apocalyptic visions, and that Nigerian prince who keeps trying to send us money all in one verse, ‘Seedy Sundy 3’ is a sparse, tongue-in-cheek blast of eerie sci-fi electronica that’s maybe reminiscent of a mash-up of Devo, Sparks, Flash Gordon, Flesh Tetris, a touch of Electric Six, and just a smattering of Doctor Who, Hitchikers Guide, and C Beebies.

It’s a welcome change from a world weighed down by yet another foppish indie band or wannabe Fifty Cent; fun, quirky, amused and amusing, this is just shy of six minutes of original space jam entertainment. If fifties B-movies had a sound of their own, as opposed to a soundtrack, this might just be it. It’s not quite the end of the world as we know it, but it’s perhaps the precursor to it. Just remember to keep checking the skies for those aliens.

You can hear Seedy Sunday 3 on Spotify (try saying that quickly); check out seedy here.

Review by Alex Holmes

The Shining Tongues have put a piously conceptual avant-garde spin on drone rock with ‘Belly of the Town’

Posted on 26 January 2021
The Prayer - EP by The Shining Tongues

The Shining Tongues added another facet to the realm of experimental rock with the release of their single ‘Belly of the Town’, just one of the singles found on their ethereally avant-garde 2021 EP ‘The Prayer’.

The standout single pays ode to the sanctity of non-romantic love, it perfectly captures the hollowing drudgery which connection can raise us from. With choral backing vocals coalescing with the despondence in the main narrative, The Belly of the Town is a conceptually ingenious release which proves that absolving celestial tones have a place in dark alt-rock too.

If Peter Murphy picked up indie rock sensibilities, his music would hold a fair amount of reminiscence to this darkly hypnotic lullaby.

You can hear the EP for yourselves from January 21st via bandcamp. Or, head over to the artist’s official website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

heyiloveyou has dropped their conceptually narrative Post Rock EP ‘Everybody’s Got 2 Sides’

Posted on 9 January 2021
https://heyiloveyou.bandcamp.com/album/everybodys-got-2-sides-ep-2020

If prizes were handed out for the most conceptually evocative release of 2020, it would go to Croatian Experimental Post Rock artist, heyiloveyou, for their 2-track EP ‘Everybody’s Got 2 Sides’.

It’s a nuanced nod to the multi-faceted nature of our personalities with Side One a depiction of melancholy-tinged contemplation and side two an experimental electronic rock traversing of intensely urgent despair. When I say ‘experimental’, I mean Fantomas-level experimental with caustic noise replacing lyrics but saying all that there is to say all the same.

With Okay, the artist paid ode to the agony of being told that you no longer matter through silence instead of words. The experimentally ambient track drives you through the sweaty shaky trepidation of realising that the love which held you together is being withdrawn to the tune of voicemail answering messages.

Needless to say, we’re all too excited to hear what kind of subversive alchemy heyiloveyou serves up next.

You can check out the latest release from heyiloveyou by heading over to Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Explore the human condition with Red Barnett’s stunningly composed single “Astronaut”

Posted on 30 October 2020

After Reykjavik-based artist Red Barnett scooped up the Icelandic Music Award for Best Alternative Album with their debut release ‘Shine’ in 2015, we couldn’t help but be excited by the release of their sophomore album Astronauts.

The perfect introduction to Red Barnett’s viscerally vibrant style is undoubtedly ‘Astronaut’. It’s chilling through the dystopic comfort it offers. It perfectly coalesces with contemporary anxiety and uncertainty, but with the warm and exuberant tones in this finely crafted release, it’s impossible to let existentialism creep in.

With sonic synths around neo-classic keys along with elements of Rock and Electro Pop, the singer-songwriter, composer and arranger offers an intoxicatingly fresh taste of retro-futurism. It’s easy to see why so many find solace in their unapologetically expressive yet accessibly immersive sound.

You can check out Astronaut for yourselves by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Amenazar smash through Rock archetypes with their dynamically provocative single “Lie to Me”

Posted on 27 October 2020

US Rock artist Amenazar saw their inception almost three decades ago but judging by the magnetism found in their latest single “Lie to Me” they’re just as valuable to the airwaves as they were when they made their debut.

The mark of any good artist is their ability to make you feel instead of listen. And my God, if any Rock artist had the capacity to tear my soul in two with the provocativeness of their sound, it’s Amenazar.

With Lie to Me, they found the perfect balance of sticky-sweet romantic sincerity and rock n roll intensity. But where they truly set themselves apart is through their ability to smash through classic rock archetypes. As great as Guns n Roses and Aerosmith are, we don’t need another act assimilating them. There was definitely no danger of Lie to Me resonating as assimilative with Amenazar’s tendency to pull influence from a wide array of influences, from Alt 90s, to Industrial Grunge to Classic Southern Rock, it’s all in there.

You can check out Lie to Me for yourselves by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Lucas Penner has taken Post Punk to a seriously slick new stratosphere with “So Well”

Posted on 27 October 2020
Lucas Penner

You’d be hard-pressed to find old-school crooning alongside cold Post Punk tones and slick Setzer-style rock n roll grooves anywhere other than Toronto-based artist Lucas Penner’s standout single ‘So Well’.

So, you may as well hit play on the beguilingly masterful release which puts a neo twist on baroque. The styling may be on the archaic side, but you can expect a retro-futuristic earworm to crawl in your ear from the outset.

Any fans of Nick Cave, Tom Waits or Fable Cry will definitely appreciate the insidious air to the murder folk-style lyricism which will allow you to feel like you’re being aurally dragged into a hellish stratosphere.

You can check out So Well for yourselves from October 27th via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Shining Tongues – Make Us Eat: Experimentally Phantasmal Alt Rock

Posted on 30 September 2020

London-based newcomers The Shining Tongues cooked up a darkly entrancing progressive Alt-Rock hit with their latest single “Make Us Eat”.

It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is an indulgent shot of absinthe for any Peter Murphy fans. The reminiscences may be there, but there is no disputing that The Shining Tongues cooked up their own authentic gothic aural alchemy with Make Us Eat.

Make Us Eat kicks off with doom-laden melodicism before seamlessly meandering into an Avant-Garde feat of psychedelically beguiling Alt Rock.

After a cathartically serpentine start, choral tones start to creep in, allowing Make Us Eat to boast light and optimism-grappling allure before the soundscape descends into phantasmal experimentalism.

You can check out Make Us Eat which was released on September 24th for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

London’s The Lightness Of Being shred through the speakers with ”Red Summer”

Posted on 10 June 2020

With hard-hitting lyrics plus a raw and distorted sound with experimental riffs- this is London Hard Rockers The Lightness Of Being time to shine. They have just released their moody single, the ominous ”Red Summer” and it’s a song to play with the volume up very high to capture the band at their best.

With a song that could be the theme track out of a Hollywood action movie, they remind us the perils of the current dark days we are in.

With a frenetic start, ”Red Summer” wakes you up and puts you into a strange kind of mood. You are a bit paranoid and the haunting background noises of doom sparks up your imagination to a dark and lonely place. The Lightness Of Being have been a rock band since 2009 and their experience shows. The band are easily able to toy with our souls, grabbing our attention, before exploding into a fury of high impact rock that is sure to light up any stage. A quality band with a ferocious sound that doesn’t get too much, ”Red Summer” is launched into our ears with devastatingly effective results.

Stream this experimental London band’s new track on SoundCloud and check out the whole collection.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

Echoes Of Her looks inward with latest single ‘Reflections’

Posted on 6 June 2020

Solo rock artist Echoes of Her has released new track Reflections: a sombre, haunting dark and abrasive rock track. 

The sense of loneliness and despair is apparent with ‘Reflections’, and with vocal drawls drawing comparisons to the like of Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder – Echoes of Her takes listeners on a dark, loud and grinding road. Not like many other releases on our calendar, it’s perhaps that melancholic guitar dread would be a suitable sub-genre for this style of emotional and highly affective rock.

If you’re into experimental rock with lots of howls, guitars and drama – Echoes of Her are well worth looking into with this latest release. Just don’t stand in the mirror too long. 

You can listen to ‘Reflections’ on Echoes of Her’s Spotify page here.