Browsing Tag

Kasabian

Those Heavy Souls opened the doorway to the Britpop pantheon with How High’s Too High?

Posted on 14 September 2024

With plenty of stylistic and introspective substance to put behind their indie rock swagger, Those Heavy Souls hit the ground (trail)blazing single, How High’s Too High. Orbits above indie landfill, this indie dance rock hit, which takes the infectious rhythms of Kasabian and Led Zeppelin and gives them a gritty 90s Britpop edge, won’t know when it’s time to stop reverberating around your mind after the outro.

With red-hot wailing guitars searing across the frenetic pace of the single which is punctuated by strobing synths, electronic breakbeats and bass drums big enough to kick you in the chest, the single asserts itself as a definitive indie anthem.

If you’ve ever come close to slipping into hedonistic oblivion to escape the fray of a torn material reality, How High’s Too High will hit hard enough to bruise. After news of the Oasis reunion has swept up the UK in a fever of indie nostalgia, How High’s Too High is the perfect track to remind indie fans that there are plenty of contemporary acts worthy of the Gallaghers’ iconic status.

How High’s Too High? dropped on August 23rd; stream the single on all major platforms, including Spotify.

To stay up to date with news of the debut LP, Without Our History We’ve Got No Future, follow Those Heavy Souls on Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Columbia’s Craig Lewis Opened a New Chapter with His Debut Single, Everything’s Changing’ in His Sonic Rebirth Solo Project

Posted on 3 May 2024
Those Heavy Souls

The disbanding of Columbia was a bitter pill to swallow in 2022, but if anything can sugar it, it is the debut single from frontman Craig Lewis, who has lost none of his strength as a one-man powerhouse in his new project, Those Heavy Souls.

“Everything’s Changing” is a far more lyrically intimate exhibition of Lewis’ artistic edge, whereas the alt-90s and 00s indie aesthetic, inspired by Kasabian, The Stone Roses, and Doves, remains just as infectiously robust. As you mourn the pace at which our society is disintegrating from recognition, you’re caught up in the kinetically tight, flawlessly produced mourning of what we’ve lost in recent years. Everything’s Change is the ultimate salve for the socialist soul looking for a semblance of sanity and sanctuary.

Lewis’ ability to take a deeply lamentable subject and augment it into a rhythmically compelling hit is a sure-fire testament to the fact that Columbia may have never reached the stadiums that they were well equipped for, but that hasn’t got in the way of Lewis delivering euphoric swagger infused with a quintessentially British sense of ennui.

We already can’t wait to hear what is lingering in the pipeline from the artist who knows exactly how to hark back to the nostalgia of the Britpop era without assimilating. He isn’t just merely exploring intersections; he’s pushing boundaries to the point of deconstructing the framework of nostalgia.

Everything’s Changing will be available to stream on all major platforms from May 3rd. Find your preferred way to listen via Those Heavy Souls’ official website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

South London’s One-Eyed Disco are curious as to what others are saying on ‘Man On The Moon’

Posted on 25 March 2022

With a look down to Earth as they are flying high above to find a better world for us all, One-Eyed Disco returns with an awesome track that will be stuck in your head for ages with ‘Man On The Moon‘.

One-Eyed Disco is a South London, UK-based indie-punk 4-piece band that have ravishingly likeable energy that might have you feeling a bit sweaty after a few listens.

”With lyrics that perfectly capture the darker side of modern society, and the joys that can still be found therein.” ~ One-Eyed Disco

Displaying a sound that has you edging up the volume and pestering the neighbours with a speaker-shaking track that is meant to uplift us to greater heights, One-Eyed Disco is quite fantastic with a new single that is up there with the best releases of 2022 so far.

”Their sound has been described as the love child of original Arctic Monkeys and Kasabian, with lyrics that perfectly capture the darker side of modern society and the joys that can still be found therein.” ~ One-Eyed Disco

‘Man On The Moon‘ from the South London-based 4-piece band One-Eyed Disco, is a proper catchy breeze-filled track that will have you in awe of their tremendously fired-up sound that reminds you of some of the great UK bands. They seem to have found a winning formula here and with this being the first release from their new EP, you might have found your new favourite British band to fall in love with.

Check out this new single on Soundcloud and see more via IG.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

WE ARE MONROE – BABY LOVE: euphorically dark indie post-punk. 

Posted on 2 June 2021
‘BABY LOVE’ is just one of the three tracks that feature on the latest EP, ‘MOVEMENTS’, from WE ARE MONROE, a Canadian-based alt-rock powerhouse making waves by showing the softer, more affable side to post-punk.
With Kessler-style cuttingly angular guitar notes over danceable beats and shimmering synths, BABY LOVE is an enliveningly authentic track that proves why WE ARE MONROE hasn’t failed to gain plenty of momentum with their euphorically dark indie sound. With Gus Van Go (Arkells) on production, it comes as no surprise that BABY LOVE boasts an anthemically absorbing feel that you’ll want to delve into time and time again. BABY LOVE will undoubtedly be a hit with any fans of Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, Spector, Bloc Party and Kasabian.
BABY LOVE is now available to stream via SoundCloud.
Review by Amelia Vandergast

Leogang – Chance In Hell: A Moody, Rocky Fusion of Alt-Pop and Punk

Posted on 19 September 2020

Leogang are an up and coming indie five-piece from North East London. ‘Chance In Hell’ is a moody, rocky fusion of alt-pop and punk, the verses bass-heavy with a rolling picked guitar part behind the vocals before the chorus kicks in, all angry distortion and power chords.

‘Is There A Chance’ comes from the forthcoming (self-produced and self-released) ‘Shots Are Coming’ EP and given their pre-lockdown gig calendar there’s no surprise that this sounds like a band playing live, hungry, energetic, the bass a funky, rolling number before the ‘Is there a chance’ breakdown at 2’09”; there’s a Kasabian feel to parts, but it sounds original, comfortable, and fresh all at once. It grooves, it rocks, and it’s got a great earworm hook on that mid-song breakdown before the band rock through to a slow final fade out.

‘Shots Are Coming’ is out now on all major streaming platforms, or you can find Leogang on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

Moonlighter Break Even Against All Odds

Posted on 18 November 2017

Bandy around the term pop-rock and the mind initially goes to some sort of middle of the road, fashion-driven dross that neither delivers the immediacy of the former nor the integrity of the later. But what if there was a way of taking the instant hook and inherent melody of a pop approach and weld it onto a driving, urgent and robust rock vehicle. Surely anyone who could do that would be carried head high through the streets, would be called saviours, the rainmakers of this current music drought, would be regarded as heroes and brave cross-genre gene splicers of the modern musical age. Or if you are looking for a more modest title you could just call them Moonlighter.

And it is this balancing act which sets them apart. As popists and rockists wage pointless pitched battle, moonlighter adhere to the cult of the song, preferring to take the role of tunesmiths who exalt composition over flash and muscle. If this retrospective is the perfect rallying point for those who have long understood that this middle way has always sported brilliant acts — pop acts muscled up by a dash of rock, rock acts whose bluster is tempered by indie details and indie acts happy to explore pop immediacy — why can’t more bands understand this simple equation.