Browsing Tag

post-punk

Post-punk goes guitar pop in Furrowed Brow’s latest feat of sonic theatre, I Threw The Bathwater Out

Posted on 25 May 2022

We ‘witnessed’ a Furrowed Brow gig in Manchester the other week, and we say ‘witnessed’ because we felt like an accessory to some kind of strange event, like sneaking into an ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ type cult affair without the correct passwords.

These Manchester typ(k)es saw us slightly affronted by the spectacle of a ‘Drummer in a Kaftan’ (sung to the tune of ‘Vicar in a Tutu’?) who smashed the tom and snare (no kick drum) like he was Bobby Gillespie circa 1985 in JAMC. All fronted by a snarky/sarcy singer that reminded us of Richey Manic snogging the Divine David and three awesome artists (guitar, bass, keys) that frankly held that shit together like their lives depended on it.

Think Earl Brutus meets Felt in a Britpop toilet cubicle whilst Jarvis Cocker takes bad coke with Morrissey in the next cubby.  I think you get the drift.

The new single ‘I Threw The Bathwater Out’ is classic c86 style guitar pop echoes, sort of David Gedge fronting ‘Fire’ era Pulp. But it’s really just the tip of the iceberg that sunk the Titanic because the live show is a must-see riotous affair with early Fall style energy mixing wit and irony with the ultimate broadside of a spot-on cover of Johnathan Richman’s 50-year-old Modern Lovers’ classic ‘I’m Straight’.

Not only was it funnier than the original, but it suddenly makes more sense in these gender-fluid times. Instead of singing about ‘Hippy Johnny’ and his stoned antics, the narrator’s declaration of ‘I’m Straight’ now has much more meaningful cultural resonance with ‘Hipster Johnny’ and his ‘paedophile moustache’ completely trumping the original antagonists’ comparatively lame crimes of basically liking to smoke weed.

I guess what we’re saying is, buy the single and go to the next live show. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT.

Artist Links: Facebook, Spotify, YouTube, Bandcamp, Instagram.

Review by James Cook

The Prods struck a satrical pose in their punk-meets-Britpop hit, Catalogue Model

Posted on 20 May 2022

White-hot frenetic punk guitars meet Sleaford Mods-Esque satirical animosity in The Prods’ latest single, Catalogue Model. With a bite of Blur in the Britpop nuances, Catalogue Model throws texture from all across the alt-spectrum to originally outscore every playfully scathing hit to precede it.

I just wish I could have been in the room while the concept of a track around the swagger of a 1980s catalogue model was born. The London-hailing outfit is clearly a cut above the rest when creating ridiculously immersive pop-hooked punk hits.

Catalogue Model officially released on May 20th; you can check it out for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Palais Ideal put the rancour back into post-punk with their existential manifesto ‘Negative Space’

Posted on 8 May 2022

It is a bitter-sweet time for post-punk with most modern outfits becoming a parody of the pioneers by fixating on assimilating sonic texture over bringing the same substance that made us fall in love with the genre in the first place. Palais Ideal, consisting of John Edwards and Richard van Kruysdijk, who have previously collaborated with members of Wire, Bauhaus, Christian Death, Coil, Legendary Pink Dots and Swans, are the refreshingly existential antithesis.

The Netherlands-hailing duo’s seminal 2021 album, Negative Space, is an existential howl into the void where the façade of common sense, decency, and dignity existed. Every high-octane hook that draws you deeper into this manifesto of an LP resonates as an act of resistance.

With its Kessler-Esque guitars cutting through the caustic overflow of the vintage synths, the harbinger of an opening single, The Overseer, makes a meal out of your rhythmic pulses as the lyrics and vocals affirm that not every sane mind has been cowed into radio silence.

Results is a riotously electric post-punk indie earworm with enough anthemic power to minuscule the production on your dust scattered records paired with an intuitive mix of light and dark aural ephemera, the kind of balance that allowed the Smiths to reign indie supreme. Metaphorically, this maturation of the Sweet and Tender Hooligan has picked up plenty of vitriol since he declared that in the midst of life, we are in death, and rightly so. There is no abyss deep enough to absolve the sins committed through our collective lack of self-awareness.

With a Richey Edwards-style lyrical opener, “self-obsessed is so indulgent, why live in oblivion?”, Reject the Anaesthetic instantly became a paradoxically enlivening highlight. In contradiction to the demands of the title, the even-kilter guitars, melodic basslines and percussion that is tighter than the government’s welfare budget start to deliver the psych-tinged soporific aural medicine to prove just how easy it is to pacify people into suggestibility.

The Voice of Reason is so beautifully just that. Just when you think you have Palais Ideal pegged, the compassion starts to pour, coming from a well of unequivocal understanding for ultimate sucker-punching consolation.

Anything for a Thrill is a frenetic continuation of Reject the Anaesthetic, which strips the glamour right off the back of the libertine. It is gorgeously bold in its unapologeticness when holding people accountable for chasing highs after their dreams have disintegrated around their own self-destruction.

Concluding with the moody industrial post-punk Posthuman cry, Age of Intransigence, Negative Space fades to a final close and leaves you wondering how you are going to contribute to society beyond passivity, ego, insecurity and pedestrianism (on a good day). If Palais Ideal started a cult, I’d be the first in line with goat blood on my hands.

Check out Negative Space on Spotify & Bandcamp.

Follow Palais Ideal via Facebook & Instagram.

Secret Agent – Moros En La Costa: The Psy Spy Who Surfed Me

Posted on 6 May 2022
MOROS EN LA COSTA - EP by SECRET AGENT

After branching out from being the gorilla glue of the Manchester music scene, Golden Believers Records International couldn’t have chosen a better inaugural outfit to advocate on our Brexit-blighted shores than the Mexican ‘psyspyinstrosurf’ originators, Secret Agent.

Their latest mostly instrumental EP, Moros En La Costa, is the kind of cinematically immersive feat of authenticity the average CD-buyer laments about not existing anymore. The conceptual album focuses on the espionage practices used from the cold war to the present day. While that sounds like a serotonin sucker, there’s nothing but escapist reverie here.

With no lyrics to get in the way in the majority of the tracks, you’re left with enough space to metaphysically make yourself the main protagonist in the Spy-Spaghetti Western while the warm shimmering psych surf rock elements amplify the chill of the colder post-punk tones that are always lingering to bring the overarching sense of trepidation.

If Twin Peaks’ Agent Cooper found himself across the border, I’m fairly certain the title single would be reflective of his sonic-inner monologue. The sense of intrepid espionage heightens with track two, Man in the Middle, which picks up the pace, a fair amount of sun-bleached spacey intrigue, and an almost Whovian sense of aural alchemy.

Loaded Gun, featuring vocals from Daniel Gutiérrez, is the surfy, psychy equivalent to Charles Bukowski’s infamous “love is a dog from hell” proclamation. With the hooky lyric “I need a loaded gun because I’m falling in love”, the riotous track finds a succinct way of alluding to the snake pits we throw ourselves into in the name of affection, and our proclivity to do it anyway because there is nothing like that particular poison.

Following Loaded Gun, Stasi Romeo is the calm after the visceral storm. Kompromat serves as the final standoff, and Moros En La Costa (Reprise) is the final psychedelic farewell with synths so phantasmal that they will probably need an exorcism when they next get serviced.

Honestly, I scarcely had an autonomous thought in the entire duration of the EP. And these days, accolades don’t get much better than that.

Check out Secret Agent on Bandcamp, Spotify & Facebook.

Moros En La Costa will be released via Golden Believers Records International on May 13th; pre-order & grab a copy here.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Welsh band Revolution Rabbit Deluxe return with a message to the entitledness which is destroying the world on, ‘POUT’

Posted on 1 May 2022
POUT by Revolution Rabbit Deluxe

Born deep in the chilly trenches of the hard-working South Wales valleys, Revolution Rabbit Deluxe are in pinnacle-conquering form with their entertaining new single that sends shade to those who think they are too cool for everything on, ‘POUT‘.

Revolution Rabbit Deluxe is a Swansea, UK-based indie three-piece post-punk band that has constructed one of the catchiest songs so far in 2022.

”The song came after a jam session early in 2020. During the instrumental, I sang, “DO THE POUT!” The remaining lyrics fell into place after that.” So what is the POUT? “I think it’s the feeling we all have had as children and can still have as adults. A child crying over not getting ice cream, and grown men and women who feel entitled to have the world revolve around them like they’re the hero in their own movie.” ~ Ben from Revolution Rabbit Deluxe

Shaking their tails and causing us to smile and beam all at the same time, Revolution Rabbit Deluxe have that cheeky style that makes you think that they would actually take the time to have a chat with you after the show. There is so much goodness here in a song so likeable, you might tell your neighbour about it while you are both out in the garden.

‘POUT‘ from Swansea, UK-based indie three-piece post-punk band Revolution Rabbit Deluxe is a track that will have you tapping your feet and clapping in admiration, for an outfit who are totally themselves. There are zero fake braggadocios elements here, only realness and an honest vibe that is made with that fantastic Welsh charm. This is a track to play loud and plentiful, as we are naturally intertwined with such glorious genuineness that is probably creatively contagious.

Listen up to this awesome new single on Bandcamp and see more via their IG page.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

Birmingham’s Cage Park navigate life through those comforting cartoons on ‘Hand Me Downs’

Posted on 9 April 2022

Blessing us with the lead track from their brand new EP which dropped on the 8th of April, Cage Park knows that they need to move into adulthood but aren’t quite ready just yet on their epic new single, ‘Hand Me Downs‘.

Formally known to the world as FLARES, Cage Park is a fantastically raw Birmingham, UK post-punk 4-piece band who met while at school and their friendship has only gotten stronger since.

With a new name due to a pesky copyright dispute, Cage Park roar like hungry Lions and show us that they are here to stay. ‘Hand Me Downs‘ is a simply excellent single that will have you dusting off your guitar, to get into the mood as you are inspired by these young artists who seem to have that extra edge that is so easy to hear. They pulsate to perfect effect here, as you close your eyes and imagine them on the biggest stages of them all.

‘Hand Me Downs‘ from Birmingham, UK post-punk 4-piece band Cage Park is one of the best underground tracks you might hear today. They have such a gritty style that is properly likeable – with two vocalists who combine superbly together – as we hear a gripping style delightfully mixing into our awaiting ears. They might not be ready for some things in life (which are dull anyway) but are certainly ready for the big time.

UK’s next huge band could be right here amongst us already if they want it enough.

Listen up to a band you won’t be able to forget on Spotify and see more on IG.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

Dr Void & The Skinjobs launched a darkwave post-punk attack on ‘Generation Snowflake’

Posted on 9 April 2022
When Did The Boy's Decide This Was Fun? by Dr Void & The Skinjob's

The Glasgow-hailing post-punk outfit Dr Void & the Skinjobs is fresh from the release of their atmospheric socially dissecting darkwave single, Generation Snowflake.

Even as someone that constantly gets referred to as a snowflake for having actual human emotions from their boomer father, Generation Snowflake still hit the dark and moody spot. There is plenty worth protesting in 2022; mass social media psychosis is decidedly one of them. The droning keys and spacey synths create the perfect platform for the hostility in the vocals, which are enough to make Peter Murphy sound tame.

Check out Generation Snowflake for yourselves by heading over to Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Virginmarys is on scathing form in their tenaciously tempestuous latest release, The Meds

Posted on 7 April 2022

The endlessly accoladed prodigal sons of UK punk, The Virginmarys, are back on tempestuous form with their latest single, The Meds.

The vehemently filthy guitars reflect the disjointed dispositions that we’ve all adopted recently, while the tenacity of the lyricism and the sheer maniacal conviction in the vocals is all the evidence you need that The Meds unequivocally stemmed from the same frustration that we all try to escape from in one way or another.

Hype and talent don’t always fit hand in glove, but The Virginmarys are notably the riotously prodigal exception. Their commitment to taking one of the saddest facets of this existence, our need for numbness, and transforming it into a bruisingly euphonic sludged up punk hit is nothing less than stunning. Late-stage capitalism should be shaking in its boots.

You can pick up your meds via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Oliver Marson reached the epitome of aural satire with his darkwave post-punk music video, Manipulator.

Posted on 29 March 2022

Taking the most frustrating threads of our social fabric and weaving a hypnotically euphonic darkwave post-punk earworm with them is no easy feat; by bringing his best Patrick Bateman energy to his sinisterly shot video for Manipulator, London’s Oliver Marson succeeded. The late-stage capitalist state of 2022 couldn’t ask for a better aural satirist.

Though visually, he makes a convincing sociopath that thrives on the stupidity of the prolifically dull minds and their emotion-driven tendencies. There’s no hiding his affable soul that always contrasts his dark textures and themes in his consistently addictive and eccentric tracks.

While the angular guitars reminded me why I fell in love with Interpol (Turn on the Bright Lights, obviously), the Editors-ESQUE anthemically crooned post-punk vocals drive up the hooky energy around the drone of the 80s vintage synths and the beats that are always snapping the lyrical heels of lines such as “there’s nothing left besides what you hate”.

It’s almost been three years since Oliver Marson appeared on our radar with the ultimate hedonist’s love song, Cocaine Romance. We never know what to expect, aside from resistance to conformity and unapologetic theatrical flair. As ever, we can’t wait to hear what follows.

The official music video for Manipulator premiered on March 29th. It is now available to stream on YouTube or add to your Spotify playlists.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Prepare Your Playlists for the Phantasmal Candour in The Ninth Configuration’s Latest Single, Ghosts Around My Bed

Posted on 25 March 2022

Fans of Depeche Mode won’t want to let the latest single, Ghosts Around My Bed, from The Ninth Configuration pass them by. The monochromatic synth lines teasingly flirt with the post-punk and darkwave while the beats infuse the melancholic candour-swathed single with danceability.

With the pensive sting of the Verve’s earlier material and the no holds barred lyricism that cuts to the same core of fraught emotional disillusionment that we are all susceptible to during our lives, Ghosts Around My Bed is as unifying as it is darkly destitute. In the best possible way. The Ninth Configuration simply projected the sense of cold claustrophobic harrow that surrounds us in the wake of lost pieces of our lives.

The official music video premiered on March 9th. You can check it out for yourselves via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast