Browsing Tag

Motion City Soundtrack

Midnite Special Evoked an Emo Renaissance in ‘Santiago’s’

The ache of the emo-dominated era of alt-rock endures through the solo project of South Wales hailing guitarist and vocalist, Liam Shevill. His latest venture, Midnite Special, is a visceral vessel to pay originated tribute to the sounds which shaped his multi-faceted talents and led to performances in seven countries alongside the likes of GBH, The Shell Corporation, and H20.

His debut album, Home-Made, kicks off with the electro-rock prelude in the seminal single, Santiago’s before the overdriven riffs rile rancour through the intimacy of the grungy lo-fi production that echoes the unfiltered intensity of Modern Baseball and Modern City Soundtrack. The pulsating rhythm section within the raw-with-angst release drives swathes of earworm appeal into the anthem of disillusion that oozes infectious authenticity.

After the release of the debut LP, featuring the Pavement-y Valentine’s Day single penned for his dog, plenty of people with an appetite for cultivated songwriting and discordant expressions of emotion will be ordering the Midnite Special.

Home-Made was officially released on June 19th; stream the album on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Colors In Mind Reach Music Peaks

If you draw a Venn diagram of exploratory music, where the intersection between technical metal, progressive and post-rock occurs you won’t find a whole lot of bands, but you will find Colors in Mind. With their latest release, Yugen Peaks they build their sound on a wonderfully fluid post-rock template, one that eschews the 4/4 signature and rigid verse-chorus ethic of traditional rock and instead wanders its own musical journey, often lingering in one lush musical landscape before flitting through more minimal territory, languishing in gentle, bucolic beauty and then climbing dramatic peaks.

It isn’t hard to see this approach as a modern day progressive classical music, the instruments may have been updated from the traditional format but the symphonic nature of the music is obvious to all. And l it tells its story as much through symphonic sound as it does the lyrics, it maybe be a less obvious, less direct method, but it is no less heart tugging, emotive and effective. It is music of the heart and soul, requiring total immersion. Whilst most music contains its own user manual amongst its beats and notes, one that tells the listener exactly how to interpret the message, this is more about osmosis, a vibe to be soaked up and ingested.