North Carolina’s most psychedelic retro surf outfit, Snatch the Snail, is set to release their warped and wavy alt-rock track, Sunk. Instead of sending you under as the track title suggests, the Avant-Garde nuances in the colourfully mellow track feed the dopamine with the same generosity of Pavement’s album, Brighten the Corners.
While the bent to the point of distortion guitar notes ring through plenty of wobbly echo and delay, the deadpan vocals sweeten the track that has all the hallmarks of a vibe-out playlist staple. With the experimentalism of Mike Patton and the punk surf vibes of Fidlar, it doesn’t take a genius why Snatch the Snail are thriving in their niche.
Lunarcode gave classic rock an infectiously catchy pop edge in their latest release. Cuttin’ the Cord. While the swaggering basslines ooze sex appeal and reminiscence to Arctic Monkeys, the guitars earn Cuttin’ the Cord its rock n roll stripes.
Only a vocalist as dynamic as Vincenzo Carubia could pull the endlessly progressive track together so tightly. From the laceratingly sharp pop vocal hooks to pedal to the metal raucous rock passion, he delivered it all with a devilishly magnetic attitude that makes getting hyped about this powerhouse outfit non-optional.
They may have only been around since the summer of 2020, but they’re already proving that if anyone’s set to take the rock scene by storm in 2022, it is them.
Cuttin’ the Cord is now available to stream on Spotify.
Lewis Shepperd showed us the true extent of his versatility with the release of his latest single, Take My Hand, which obliterates the boundaries between indie, pop, rock and hip hop. The breaking artist hasn’t idled since we heard his last single, Follow You, which delivered a Kings of Leon style of cool and proved that his soulfully resonant talent should be as revered as Winehouse’s. Since then, he’s performed at the Isle of Wight Festival in 2021, received plenty of BBC airplay and garnered critical acclaim from across the board.
With rap bars mixed with his energised indie-rock vocals atop the instrumentals that continually shift through melodic grooves, tension-fraught build-ups and pop-punk style breaks, Take My Hand is a gift that keeps on giving.
As the garagey distorted rock licks towards the outro prove the value in the perpetual solidarity by depicting the chaotic state of the world, the lyrics remind you how sweet it is to have stunning souls around you. If that doesn’t hit the spot, you may want to check if you’ve still got a pulse.
Take My Hand is now available to stream on Spotify.
After getting hooked on his unforgettably sweet single, Lemon Sunshine,the UK-based solo artist, James Sebastian, has shown us a harsher 70s rock n roll edge in his latest single, Shipwrecked Soul.
While the vintage garagey tones feed the frenzy in the instrumentals, James Sebastian’s raconteur vocal timbre ensures that apathy isn’t an option when you hit play on this unapologetically feel-good hit. The up and coming singer-songwriter found the perfect way to influence his listeners to take their melancholy in their rock n roll stride. In a time when authority and answers are hard to find, it is beyond refreshing to hear an artist with the ability to vindicate our jetsam-like misery so viscerally. That’s before we even move on to his talent at pulling authenticity of vintage rock. So many artists have left us questioning if that was even possible. Notably, James Sebastian is a diamond in the rough.
New Jersey’s most promising alt-indie rock outfit, Rabbit Dream, have released their debut album, The Golden Gone, which pulls in nuances of grunge, indie, art rock, garage rock and unravels as the ultimate alt 90s fan’s aural wet dream.
The standout single, Stander, is the perfect introduction to Rabbit Dream’s indulgently distorted tones, massive stadium-filling guitars that are just as robust as the licks in the National’s most anthemic tracks and the vocals that embed authenticity in the progressive single. Before the first instrumental buildup, the vocals are honeyed and sweet; after, they start to gather reminiscence to Julian Casablancas as the guitars dial up the frenetic energy. It isn’t your average indie rock earworm, but you’ll be more than inclined to return to it and give it repeat attention. Rabbit Dream is definitively one to watch; for your own sake as much as theirs.
Stander is now available to stream along with the rest of Rabbit Dream’s debut album via Spotify.
If you thought you’d heard it all when it comes to post-punk revivals, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the latest EP, ep3: The English Way, from the Rec. Syd Barrett aside, rock-inclined textures are rarely as hypnotically arcane as the transcendental tones in the EP, especially in the lead single, nettles and dock leaves.
In 1981, the Shropshire-based founders of the Rec pioneered their original band, the Assassins, who got a taste of fame and found John Peel’s favour before calling it quits. 30 years later, the duo is split between London and LA, but their transatlantic distance didn’t dilute the chemistry between their melodies. With their freshly formed sound, sonic snapshots of the past tie into the present while colliding with Britishly bleak musical landscapes. It’s so much more than a personal nostalgia-fest. It’s an indulgent time capsule to an era that will be forever revered in musical history.
nettles and dock leaves is now available to stream on Spotify.
Grunge, sunset sleaze and 90s Britpop viscerally converge in the latest single, Let’s Ride, from the indie nostalgia raconteurs, The Elegant Chasers. The anthemically-layered fuzzed up indie reincarnation is robust enough to shove the most iconic tracks from the 90s into the shoegaze category. The scuzzy guitars distortedly create a platform for the high-energy vocals that fall somewhere between Axl Rose and Ian Brown.
If you’re looking for a full-frontal trip back to the most iconic era of indie, Let’s Ride is your fastest mode of transport.
Let’s Ride is due for release on November 26th; you can check it out for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud.
Ballin’ Jacks debut single ‘Success’ has been independently released by the London based indie outfit. Following on from their biggest and most successful shows over the summer, including Latitude Festival, the five piece are gearing up to release their debut album, due for release in summer 2022.
‘Success’ is quintessential British indie to it’s very core. With anthemic, sing along choruses that are hand crafted to be chanted from muddy fields during festival season and upbeat positivity throughout. While the vocals are heavily inspired by indie contemporaries such as Sam Fender, the instrumentation leans on inspiration from yesteryear, more specifically in the production of the track. The 60s style production lifts the single to a higher level, creating interesting wall-of-sound-esque dynamics, making the single much more powerful.
Although the song is intrinsically joyous, upbeat and full of hooks, the subject matter is more concerned with dry, sarcastic wit. This again lends itself to the British indie scene of the early 21st century, as this witty takedown of show business highlights their perceived flaws of the industry.
By using familiar chord progressions and warm production, every aspect of ‘Success’ demands that you smile and dance. While this can come across disingenuous in other examples, Ballin’ Jacks recorded the track in such a way that encapsulates their energy, you can feel how real this is to them.
With this hooky, sing along track cookie cut for the festival season, it will be no surprise to find Ballin’ Jacks on many a line up come the summer and if ‘Success’ is anything to go by, their debut album has the potential to be the sound of the summer.
Staying true to their moniker, Dead Writers delivered poetry that scarcely feels of this century in their latest single, Among Spirits. If Oscar Wilde himself resurrected to write post-punk lyrics, they wouldn’t be as up to scratch as the arresting lexicon in this cutting track.
Right from the intro, the cavernous guitar notes hook you into the emotionally layered single that alchemically fuses melancholy with defiant bursts of energy that emulates the kind of euphoria that only those who have fought for it can truly understand.
When the chorus hits, Dead Writers prove that they have the rare ability to make morosity anthemic, and things get even sweeter in the instrumental interlude. Against the bitter-sweet piano melody, the guitars start to blazon the track with virtuosic rock n roll licks that feed Manic Street Preachers-Esque nuances into the mix.
Paradoxically, the vocals contain their suave indie-rock poise throughout the switch-ups between the evocative dark timbre that will be a hit with any fans of the Cure and the strident rock vocals that could easily fill a stadium. By all accounts, the London-based debonair powerhouse delivered an instant post-punk classic with Among Spirits.
The official video will premiere on October 29th; you can check it out for yourselves via YouTube.
UK alt-rock act Mouth Culture takes no prisoners in their scathingly high vibe hit Nobody Wants You. The sniping lyricism, crunchy indie-rock guitars, indie-pop with a hint of emo vocals and jazzy nuances pull together to offer a potent shot of indie nostalgia. Yet, there is plenty more to Mouth Culture’s scintillating sound than assimilation.
Their determination to become one of the hottest bands in the UK in 2022 is by no means a pipe dream with over 1 million streams on Spotify and radio play from BBC Introducing, Total Rock, Kerrang and Radio 1. Since their inception in 2019, they’ve been honing in on their songwriting which shines through in Nobody Wants You with their ability to turn deep-seated hate into a catchy radio-ready hit that rivals Frank Carter’s I Hate You.
Check out the official video for Nobody Wants You on YouTube.
