Browsing Tag

grunge

JW Paris Leave It Alone Video Premiere

Posted on 30 June 2023

Teaming up with the video director and director of photography, Alex Estrella, the prodigal spawn of alt-indie, JW Paris, visually captured the same superlative swagger of their distorted to-the-nines sound in their latest single and music video, Leave It Alone.

JW Paris was hardly painting at the kids’ table with their former releases. But the exhibition of a freshly honed sound in Leave It Alone, ahead of the release of their upcoming sophomore EP, marks a fierce new frontier for the powerhouse who never lyrically play with their cards close to their chest.

With Glasvegas-esque choruses that raise the roof so high they leave the brickwork on another plateau, Leave It Alone is metaphysically mind-melting in its ability to balance anthemic transcendence with hauntingly grunged up rancour that adds oceanic depth to the melodies.

Lyrically, Leave It Alone peers into the human proclivity to question reality and look for redemption for past mistakes. In JW Paris’ own words:

“Leave It Alone is a deeply personal song that reflects our own inner journey of self-discovery and acceptance. It invites the listeners on an introspective exploration of identity and longing for inner peace. It is a heartfelt track that encapsulates the struggles and triumphs of self-discovery, reminding us to embrace our imperfections and find solace within ourselves.”

Splicing two facets of the iconic 90s epoch has seen the London-based three-piece comprising Gemma Clarke, Daniel Collins, and Aaron Forde establish themselves as a peerless outfit you will want to try out for size and never take off.

Their two seminal 2022 singles, Electric Candle Light and Runaway received extensive airplay from BBC Radio 1, BBC Introducing, Absolute Radio, and Amazing Radio. JW Paris also deservedly worked their way into the main playlist on Radio X, and numerous curated indie playlists.

Leave It Alone will be released via Blaggers Records on the 30th of June after being recorded at Buffalo Studios, produced by JB Pilon and mastered by the 2023 award-winning engineer at Air Studios, Cicely Balston.

Stream it on Spotify or watch the official music video on YouTube. 

Follow JW Paris on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

BlueMelt grunged up classic rock in his latest single, Fading

Posted on 27 June 2023

‘Fading (Surrounded by Stars)’ is the latest riff-charged rock reinvention from the London-based multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Vito Tardia’s one-man project, BlueMelt. After honing his talent in progressive rock and power metal bands, Tardia moved to the front of the stage with his monolithic talent and found his rightful place.

His bluesy rock guitar work against his grungy vocals, which carry a touch of Alice in Chains in their evocative dynamism, created a bold fusion that reinvented the rock revival wheel. Since making his debut as a solo artist in 2020, Tardia has received strong support from local, international and independent press. Seemingly, we’re not the only ones taken with his utilisation of his technical ability in his emotion-driven hits that tease you with nostalgia before tantalising you with innovation.

Stream Fading on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Call To The Void rampaged the UK rock scene with their eclectically experimental debut single, Uncontrollable

Posted on 25 June 2023

For their scuzzy garage rock debut, Uncontrollable, the Southeast, UK-hailing prodigal sons, Call To The Void, pierced protestive proto-punk energy with a gothy 80s atmosphere that will beguile any fans of Bauhaus.

Doused in Nirvana’s Bleach with a touch of the New York Dolls’ rancorous attitude and fleeting Pantera-esque guttural vocals, the eclecticism of Uncontrollable is an achievement in itself. With each member bringing their own sonic penchants to the table to blend into the same soundscape, their heavy, raw, and haunting alchemy was always an inevitability.

After operating as a duo under the moniker, DENY ALL, the brother duo enlisted the boundless dynamic vocal prowess of the frontman, Jack Osborne. His ability to switch between post-punk crooning in the same vein as Echo and the Bunnymen, PIL-reminiscent snarls and Kurt Cobain on a vehement day is a gift that will undoubtedly see Call To The Void go far.

Uncontrollable is now available to stream on Spotify.

Follow Call to the Void on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

We Will Fight for What is Right: Bitchin’ Hour roar us all into life on the battlefield with Tooth and Nail

Posted on 24 June 2023

After piercing our ears with no need to go to a shop to get them done via their scintillating Cargo Sessions live experience to play on full volume, the fearless Bitchin’ Hour are the courageous leaders we all needed to witness in this time of uncertainty with Tooth and Nail.

Bitchin’ Hour is a 4-piece Guildford, Surrey, UK-based Grunge-punk/rock band who have a bite in their step which will wake up the nosy neighbours next door.

You haven’t heard of Bitchin’ Hour? You have now. Turn this up and put the mobile down for a few minutes. This is better than your average kinda track. It’s been made with proper intensity you see, which will get the blood flow rocketing into a much better place.

Tooth and Nail from Guildford, Surrey, UK-based Grunge-punk/rock band Bitchin’ Hour is the kind of song which could inspire the youth to take up music. There is a fire in droves here which the fire department might need to extinguish..after the show of course. This is raw to the core.

Strong and dominant and never letting go for a second, we are thrilled by an underground band who knows how to shake the cobwebs off the kitchen floor.

Listen up on Spotify.

Find out more on their website.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

The Yellow Wallpaper – Tell Me to Beg: A Post-Grunge Antithetic Love Song

Posted on 18 June 2023

With a similar grungy kick to Kyuss, the atmospherically angst-charged debut single, Tell Me to Beg, from the up-and-coming luminary five-piece, The Yellow Wallpaper, is the ultimate anthem to your ennui.

Starting with clean vocals that ring as sweetly as Hozier’s harmonies, the hit quickly descends into sludgy virtuosity, with each instrumental breakdown and crescendo amplifying the ferocious scorn. Clearly, hell hath no fury like someone pre-empting the inevitable end of a turbulent relationship and the uncertainty and loneliness that will follow.

In reality, there is little sex appeal in heartbreak; in Tell Me to Beg, the masochism of the messaging through the frontman and songwriter Troy Rapscallion Benson’s hopeless clutching of faded love subversively switched the narrative. In the process, Tell Me to Beg became the antithetic love song that will undoubtedly pave the way towards a bright future for The Yellow Wallpaper.

Tell Me to Beg was officially released on June 9th. Stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

BONNE took rock to new emotional depths with their LP, execute

Posted on 16 June 2023
BONNE

With the vocal lines resonating as a tour de force through the stylish rock reinvention, the standout single, Problems, from BONNE’s hotly anticipated LP, execute, the track is a hair-raising adrenaline shot to the heart. With as much reverence to rock as Joan Jett with beguiling Janis Joplin and Alanis Morrissette’s soul-driven vox, the monolithic melting pot is a soulfully pioneering juggenautical triumph.

Discovering a new sound is always an exhilarant experience, but when there is so much substance injected into the sonics, the experience becomes all the more gratifying. And there is no denying that the duo possesses an emotional depth that delves deeper than what the rock mould typically permits; by smashing through it with their authentic vulnerability, BONNE stepped away from the fray and veered towards unapologetic authenticity. With notes of Pixies, Muse, and Slowdive, within the virtuosic instrumentals, each new progression is a galvanising revelation.

By pouring the raw energy of 90s grunge and the catchy hooks of 80s rock into a future-proof production, the Iowa-hailing duo orchestrated an all-consuming aural experience that will grip you with its fiercely innovative gravitas.

Check out BONNE via their official website and Facebook.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Sabres sold sludged-up punk sanctuary in their latest single, Moronic

Posted on 29 May 2023

Now the 2006 sci-fi comedy film, Idiocracy, has become a contemporary documentary, the intelligent amongst us are left picking up the pieces of dissonance; Sabres’ latest sludged-up punk track, Moronic, is the ultimate antidote to the frustration and futility that comes as a consequence of living in the 21st century.

After noting how fans at live shows got into the groove of the dystopia-reflecting release, the Portsmouth-hailing duo shared the primal fury of their latest single that bares teeth at the right-wing press with the airwaves to extend further catharsis to the disenfranchised by association with their common sense. The incorporation of a heavily distorted reading from Nineteen Eighty-Four was a vindicating touch to the flawlessly tension-contorted release.

You will have plenty of chances to catch Moronic live as Sabres have filled their 2023 gig calendar with slots supporting Mondo Generator in addition to festival billings and dates with the support act, Hot Juice.

Moronic was released via Mayfield Records on May 19; get it in your ears by heading to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Cry For Help: Sadcult opens the curtains on the terrifying modern day spine-shaker, Night Terrors

Posted on 20 May 2023

Tearing through the walls and feeling tied up by the power of the demons within, Sadcult shocks even the bravest amongst us with a scintillatingly intoxicating performance made for underground festivals of substance with Night Terrors.

Sadcult is a UK-based alt-grunge band who loves to find the edges of their imagination to make music so powerfully intertwined into our distracted minds awaiting new heroes.

”They write from a place we all know: a sharp-edged nostalgia filled with memories and angst.” ~ Sadcult

Wondering if this is a dream or a fragment of the tempting illusion, Sadcult sends our emotions into a dizzy dream which is hiding beyond even the wildest memory. This is raw and real, enlightening all who have never felt a stingray-like shock to the toes.

Night Terrors from UK-based alt-grunge band Sadcult is a razor-sharp performance made from the heart and has such a bounce to it, which is surely perfect for those authentic music venues where you can take your shirt off inside.

Listen up in the dark on YouTube.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

Insomniacs unite around Layla Bina’s grunged-up feat of indie rock, Hypomania (I’m Awake)

Posted on 5 May 2023
https://soundcloud.com/laylabina/sets/hypomania-im-awake-single/s-5cBYpqwFspO?si=d43cf8c6c04a46c99ca9641be3231862&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

For her latest single, Hypomania (I’m Awake), the up-and-coming one-woman powerhouse, Layla Bina grunged up indie rock to send a few postcards to the 90s Seattle sound and Riot Grrrl era while raucously bringing in the future of aural insomniac angst.

The SoCal-born and raised Iranian-American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist doesn’t let her classical vocal training get in the way of delivering rip-roaring vindicating vocal lines that would make her a better match for Kurt Cobain than Courtney. There are plenty of Nirvana nuances to chew on in the catchy chord progressions that will leave you rolling with the punches of her insightful lyricism.

Just as Kathleen Hanna brought feminist theory out of the academic sphere and into the public domain as she created the third wave of feminism, Layla uses her UCLA psychology education to spill insight onto the airwaves and spark conversations around mental health that get pushed under the rug in mainstream discourses. If any alt-rock act deserves to be iconic, it is Layla Bina, who is currently tucked away in the studio recording her debut album with the Grammy Award-winning producer, Josh Monroy.

Stream Hypomania (I’m Awake) from May 5th on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

snailosaur unveiled grungy indie-rock poetry via their single, Fake Cobblestone Alleys

Posted on 24 April 2023
snailosaur by snailosaur

The Brooklyn, NY brother duo snailosaur showed us exactly how they came about their moniker with the scuzzy Dinosaur Jr. tones and verbiage in their latest indie-rock evocative ride, Fake Cobblestone Alleys.

Reminiscences aside, the spoken word sermonics of the single bleed poetry into exhilarant guitars punctuated by the driving drum fills. Every aspect of the track was superlatively stitched together to become the sum of all its melodically fuzzy parts.

It is worth being part of the disenfranchised down-and-out masses just to tear the honey from this apathetically sweet projection of everyman blues. Snailosaur’s mark has been definitively left on the landscape of grunge via Fake Cobblestone Alleys; it’s a nihilist’s dream come to sonic fruition.

Stream & purchase Fake Cobblestone Alleys on Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast