Browsing Tag

Pixies

Lia Juno exhibited the pain of raw rumination in her alt-indie tour de force, Sight

Posted on 30 October 2024
Lia Juno

Ethereal alt-indie pop vocals meet cavernous guitar lines in Lia Juno’s intimately melancholic single, ‘Sight’, which deconstructs familiar tonality, tearing it down to the aural rubble before rebuilding a sonic landscape where sanctuary for the disillusioned resides.

Since unveiling her debut single, Fevering, earlier this year, the LA-based independent artist has made all the right waves; with her latest single she puts herself in the same league as Wolf Alice and Big Thief with the cerebral thematic nature of the manifesto of mournful rumination.

Building up from Pixies-esque artfully dramatic motifs to a blisteringly grungy crescendo of distorted guitars clashing in oscillation with the rhythm section, Sight ensures that if you have any pent-up emotions when you hit play, they’ll be obliterated by the impact of the track’s climax which you’ll want to feel the force of time after time.

Sight will be available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify and SoundCloud, from October 30th.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Pain and beauty permeably interplay in djamesk13’s alt-rock single, Through All the Beautiful Storms

Posted on 4 August 2024

djamesk13 consistently finds new alt-rock intersections to explore, the latest emotionally-weighted release from the London-hailing solo artist, Through All the Beautiful Storms, is no exception.

The release finds myriads of ways to allude to how thin and permeable the line between pain and beauty is; without one, there is no other. Just as you can find harmony in the distorted, grungy discordance, djamesk13 ensures you find the blessing in grief, it’s the primal price we pay for love, and that bitter-sweet exchange is laid out right across the affecting no-wave-adjacent chords in Through All the Beautiful Storms, which stands as the artist’s most heart-wrenchingly relatable release to date.

Anyone who has ever loved and lost will know how much the single rings true as it reflects how emotions conflictingly conflate, turning the sweetest memories into haunting reminders.

The intimate, instrumentally visualised, vignette penned in the wake of his mum’s passing couldn’t have unfolded as a more heart-wrenching ode to the soul the world is clearly darker without.

Through All the Beautiful Storms was officially released on July 27th; stream it on SoundCloud now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Make Groovy Shirt Club’s ‘Ultra Violet’ the soft rock soundtrack to your emotional liberation

Posted on 1 August 2024

Groovy Shirt Club’s latest single, Ultra Violet, proves there’s more to their artistic identity than their audacious fashion choices. With echoes of Pixies drifting between the guitars and basslines in the mellowly iridescent progressions, which are heightened by inventive synth touches, the Deep Blue Something-reminiscent vocals have the perfect platform to soar from.

It’s almost impossible to allude to what this emotionally liberated single does to the soul when the emotion-driven earworm is bedding in and making itself home. The sublime melodies are enough to make even the most steadfast sway, attesting to the capacity of sound to transform your entire sensibility.

If you can’t remember the last time you didn’t feel weighed down, make today the day and immerse yourself in Ultra Violet, which pushes a panoramic vision of sun rays hitting ebbing waves. For any discerning rock fan, the first proverbial spin won’t be the last.

The self-professed ‘Champions of the Yacht Rock Revolution’, are quickly making a name for themselves with their ethos to embed real people, real instruments, real music and real lyrics about life into their infectiously cultivated soft rock staples. Ultra Violet captures this quintessence perfectly, blending their signature style with a fresh, emotionally resonant sound.

Ultra Violet is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Prepare for a post-punk power surge when LIINES unleashes their kinetic comeback track, Holding On

Posted on 5 June 2024
LIINES

The emotional underpinnings of longing in Holding On capture exactly how LIINES fans have felt while waiting for the new material to surface. It’s been almost three years since the last fix from Manchester’s post-punk revolutionists, now that it’s here, prepare to be overpowered by propulsively kinetic earworm.

From the first lashing of the seething with distortion guitar strings, you know you’ve hit play on a track capable of tearing your soul in two and stitching it back together with threads of adrenaline, desperation and hope. Intensity reaches every aural atom in the light-handed production that allows Zoe McVeigh (vox, guitar, bass) and Leila O’Sullivan to exhibit the raw magnetism of their creative synergy.

Charged with hauntingly emotional potency and driven by a frenetic rhythmic pulse, Holding On unravels with the same catchy lyrical reprises projected through the signature songwriting structure that has allowed LIINES to be a continuation of Manchester’s post-punk legacy, not just a mere mediocre facsimile.

Yet, notably, there’s a heightened sense of vulnerability within Zoe’s stridently pitched searing vocals, ensuring Holding On hits every feasible raw nerve before tearing you away from the articulated agony through the liberation within the exhilarant progressions.

From the release of their 2018 debut LP, LIINES has pushed post-punk into unchartered waters, With their renewed cultivated edge carved by the Sleater Kinney influence that reverberates through the single until the haunting Pixies-esque middle eight that allows the vox to drift from the basslines as they prowl under the optimism searching harmonies, their distinctive volition met freshly honed prowess.

Holding On will be available to stream on all major platforms from June 7th; pre-save the single here, and follow LIINES on Facebook to stay up to date with news of the upcoming EP, due for release in Autumn 2024.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Return to the alt-90s with Trailerfuss’ debut single O Rei da Solidão

Posted on 29 April 2024

Trailerfuss’ debut single, O Rei da Solidão, from their EP Roteiro Sem Final, revisits the 90s grunge era via a route never before taken.

By fusing the sludgy rhythmics of Dinosaur Jr and the fierce soul of Hole, Trailerfuss created a solid foundation to lay their innovative approach to evoking alt-90s nostalgia on. They didn’t stop at emanating two influential artists; you’ll hear everyone from Bob Dylan in the opening harmonica blows, Grandaddy in the lo-fi intimacy, the Beachboys in the surfy layered vocal harmonies, and nuances of Pavement and Pixies synthesised between.

The debut single is a visceral statement from the Rio de Janeiro-based band that is strong enough to carry their fans back to the rose-tinted sanctity of the alt-90s while also delivering potent punches of their own authenticity.

Stream O Rei da Solidão on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Neil Young meets Pixies in Ryanne + The Rumination’s seminal single, Waste

Posted on 21 February 2024

Indiana’s Ryanne + The Rumination hit the airwaves running with their stylistically expansive self-titled debut LP, which explores the spectrum of human emotions within the psychological ebbs and flows.

The standout single, Wasting, exhibits the duo at their most ethereally magnetic. Ryanne’s crystalline vocal lines cut right through the Pixies-esque atmosphere manifested through the guitar-driven production that exhibits the duo’s influence of Neil Young.

Intimate and profound in equal measure, the artfully immersive single evolves from a dreamy monochromatic release of pent-up emotions to a melancholically stirring alt-pop anthem that won’t fail to pull you into its raw oscillating core. If Ryanne + The Rumination’s is the future of pop, I’m here for it.

Ryanne clearly found her alchemic match in the multi-instrumentalist, Seth Wyatt. The way the single culminates in a post-punk decorated disquiet crescendo after a lament on the frustrations of stagnation is a stunningly affecting way to make an ever-lasting impression.

Waste was officially released on February 9th and is now available to stream with the band’s eponymous LP via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Duncan R Foley explores the spectrum of human emotion in his alt-rock odyssey, Colours

Posted on 30 September 2023

Anyone who keeps Pixies, Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins in their record collection will want to decorate their playlists with the latest single, Colours, by Duncan R Foley, which pays an ode to sonic stylings of the aforementioned iconic outfits while bringing in a new brand of vibrant melodicism.

To evade the assimilative alt-90s trap that all too many artists fall foul of the South African Belfast-residing songwriter and producer introduced the romanticism of post-punk, in the same vein as Echo and the Bunnymen, into the vibrant soundscape along with the cosmic glamour of Bowie.

Using ‘colours’ as a metaphor for the broad spectrum of emotions that are part and parcel of the human experience, Colours is an efficaciously consoling release, which serves the essential reminder that feeling lonely and grappling with melancholy doesn’t make you an outlier, it makes you human.

Colours will reach the airwaves on September 30th; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Fill your cup with the frenetic furore that spills from the punk rock veins of Lex Maria’s single, Plague or Pain

Posted on 15 July 2023

Nestle into a riotous plague-pain dichotomy with the standout single from Lex Maria’s sophomore EP, Ghosts. The clamorously cold post-punk single, Plague or Pain, from the Swedish purveyors of angst-fuelled alternative rock, is a messily discordant hit that fans of Melvins, Pixies, and Sonic Youth shouldn’t need to be asked to listen to it twice.

The heavy down-tuned guitars paired with the pervasive air of self-reported sexual frustration and the Marilyn Manson-esque effect-laden spoken word verses create a strong sonic tonic which won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but if cacophonous catharsis is your poison, fill your cup with the frenetic furore that spills from the punk rock veins of Plague or Pain.

Ghosts was officially released on June 30; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Mark Docherty rode the crux between new-wave and no-wave in ‘Reckless Abandon

Posted on 3 June 2023

Liverpool’s Mark Docherty created a brand-new wave somewhere between new-wave and no-wave in his latest defiantly distinctive single, Reckless Abandon, which is set for official release on June 3rd.

By bringing distortion-heavy buzzsaw riffs into the post-punk arena, the innovator, who will undoubtedly become renowned for the dualistic tendencies in his vocal performance, succeeded where very few artists of this era do; by drenching the airwaves in originality. From Nick Cave-ESQUE croons to raw rock magnetism, it all lingers in Docherty’s vocal arsenal.

Fans of Pixies and Depeche Mode alike will want to clamour all over Reckless Abandon, which is a sonic depiction of just what it says on the uninhibited tin.

Stream Reckless Abandon from the date of release via SoundCloud, and stay tuned for the debut LP, which is set to drop on June 16.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Boston Meets Britpop in djamesk13’s Alt-90s International Convergence, You Said.

Posted on 23 February 2023
https://soundcloud.com/djkemp13/you-said

London’s David Kemp has slid back under his djamesk13 moniker once again to release yet another feat of evocative lo-fi alternative alchemy by the grace of his 8-track recorder. You Said carries the raw lyricality of Disco 2000 while the instrumentals look far beyond 90s Britpop for their grit and sludge.

With no-wave-y motifs and crunchy guitars that bite in the same vein as Pixies, You Said is a riotous smorgasbord of Alt-90s nostalgia. Judging by the streaming stats on this release shortly after it grunged up the airwaves, clearly, plenty have an appetite for djamesk13’s seemingly effortless ingenuity.

You Said is now available to Stream on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast