Browsing Tag

Proto Punk

New Wave Indie Came Crashing in Through the 80s Cinematic Atmosphere in LUXTHEREAL’s Latest Single, She Said

Posted on 6 February 2023

The unforgettable Phoenix, Arizona alt-rock outfit, LUXTHEREAL, is on cuttingly sharp new wave form once again with their latest single, She Said. Any fans of Psychedelic Furs and Echo and the Bunnymen will undoubtedly want to add the nostalgic-for-the-80s amalgam of new wave, power pop and art-rock to their playlists.

The soaring vocals add an ardent edge to the sample-driven music universe orchestrated by LUXTHEREAL to abstract us from our own existence defined by our mortal coil and existential dread. With guitars as atmospheric as the ones that ring across Lips Like Sugar between the riffs and guitar hooks that carry as much emotion as the strident vocal lines, She Said is aural escapism at its finest.

She Said was officially released on January 27th. Hear it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The alt-rock originator, djamesk13, struck again with his grungy proto-punk single, And That’s Where It Ends, And So It All Begun

Posted on 26 November 2022
https://soundcloud.com/djkemp13/and-thats-where-it-ends-and-so-it-all-begun

“And That’s Where It Ends, And So It All Begun” is the latest tonally sublime single released by the London-based alt-rock originator djamesk13 (David Kemp).

If Dinosaur Jr veered away from grunge and towards proto-punk and made a pit stop at 90s Britpop to pick up a bit of extra guitar swagger, the sonic result would be in a similar vein to this nostalgically produced hit.

The distortedly and poetically orchestrated single provides a definitive discourse on the nature of our lives which runs through like pre-determined chapters of destiny. Lament it or live it to the max, but that’s the nature of being, captured in the lyrical hooks in this epitomisingly sludgy earworm.

And That’s Where It Ends, And So It All Begun was officially released on November 19th. Catch it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Siggy are harbingers of future in their proto-punk comeback album, 25th Century

Posted on 2 November 2022

Featuring a cover of Echo and the Bunnymen’s Lips Like Sugar which contains all of the salacious murky atmosphere of the original, it is safe to say that Siggy’s comeback album, 25th Century, arrived with a proto-punk bang.

After making their debut in 1999 with the album, Harlow’s Girl, which carried a Crampsy sense of killer off-kilter volition, 25th Century had a lot to live up to, but the rhythmic pulse is strong across the 10 singles which traverse the themes of hope, fury, and the rank psychic pathology of the 21st century.

The gothy Echo and the Bunnymen vibes carry across more than just the cover, along with hints of Television and bites of Splitter-Esque punk. But for me, the highlight had to be the title single, which truly embraces the stifled with strange nature of the 21st century while throwing back to the time when guitarists knew how to lick right into your soul. “If there’s going to be a 25th century there has to be 21st century morality” is a lyric I will never forget.

25th Century is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast
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60s garage rock rides surf rock waves in The MindRide’s latest single, Delta Alpha

Posted on 24 August 2022
The MindRide

Even at half the length of your average pop track, the nostalgia-driven duo, The MindRide created the ultimate LA proto punk bop with their latest single, Delta Alpha, which grooves with nuances of skate punk and surf-rock and comes together as the ultimate genre-fluid earworm.

With The Walkmen-Esque percussion falling slightly below the warm and crunchy overdriven guitar tones and the relentless momentum in the vocals, getting caught up in the punky euphoria of Delta Alpha is non-optional. Especially for fans of The Kinks, The Strokes, and The Sonics. With their 5th album in the pipeline, The MindRide deserve a spot on your radar.

Check out The MindRide on their official website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

downers took us down ‘twenty thousand streets’ in their feat of power pop perfection

Posted on 27 July 2022

After launching their debut single, Messages, earlier this year, downers have released another feat of power pop perfection in the form of their EP, twenty thousand streets. The title single carries the same infectiously melodic punch as Placebo while simultaneously throwing nuances of post-punk and proto-punk down your ears; the earworm will undoubtedly linger.

The UK-based outfit didn’t break the wheel with twenty thousand streets; they perceptibly milked out of it an exhilarated sonic signature that won’t fail to get the adrenaline coursing to the tune of their punk nostalgia rousing energy.

I knew the chances of my jaded soul gelling with an artist under the moniker downers was high. What I failed to anticipate was the sticky sweet vocal affability as the witty lyrics are made larger than life around the rhythms, which any fans of The Buzzcocks will undoubtedly get a buzz from.

twenty thousand streets is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

LUXTHEREAL has unleashed the alt-rock soundtrack to our destruction, Humanity’s Fall

Posted on 26 June 2022

The latest single, Humanity’s Fall, from the Phoenix Arizona hailing artist LUXTHEREAL, sonically resonates like a sombre-breakup track but the only thing that has departed is the promise of an empire that will stand the test of our destruction. The concept is stunning; the execution of the atmospherically hooky harbinger is equally sublime.

With a touch of proto-punk, garage rock and post-punk, there is a protestive vein running right through the intrinsically melodic body of the single, which forces you to contemplate our failures. And sure, it’s nice to dissociate and shop for your favourite nerd items on Amazon while the anthropocene raises the temperature and the parasites with shoes, otherwise known as our world leaders, carve out a new ring of hell on this side of the earth’s crust, but we can only hide our heads in the sand for so long before they boil in there. Kudos to LUXTHEREAL for being true to their moniker and delivering raw realism.

Humanity’s Fall Remastered by LUXTHEREAL is available on SPOTIFY & ALL major streaming services, you can view the video here!

Review by Amelia Vandergast

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

Weimar started an art-rock riot in their off-kilter ode to the glamour of the American Dream in ‘The Girls of LA’

Posted on 27 March 2022

Manchester’s most Avant-Garde art-rock collective, Weimar, came in with all glamorous guns blazing in their latest single, The Girls of LA, which increased the anticipation of the things to come in their eagerly awaited debut album, Dancing on a Volcano.

With a shift from their usual baroque post-punk style, The Girls of LA is a departure from what the airwaves acquiesced to before but Weimar knew exactly what they were doing by bringing this riotous bop-worthy track to the aural table in turbulent times. Sonic escapism doesn’t come much sweeter than when its off the back of the sunset strip.

The energy parallels that of the most enlivening tracks by the Ramones but with their signature artful gravitas, its proto-punk as you’ve never known it before. As the lyrics reflect on the high-class American dream, the endlessly off-kilter instruments drive up the discord into infectious heights. It has all the makings of an alt-rock earworm paired with the finesse of a muso’s Achilles heel.

Girls of LA will officially release on March 25th; you can check it out by heading to SoundCloud and Weimar’s official website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Schoolboys have released their very 2022 new-wave-meets-proto-punk love song, Think About It

Posted on 2 March 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjps0bKXZZ0

So many of the greatest songs have been written on hard and fast infatuation. The Schoolboys evaded all the usual tropes that have long since been outdated in their latest new-wave-meets-proto-punk single, Think About It.

If I told you the track itself was as sweet as the lyrics, “Isn’t this just what you asked for? I see you give up too fast, you should never walk away when there’s still something you want” would you even believe me?

The Schoolboys originally formed in 2021 as an alt-rock band in Reading, England, under the influence of the Strokes and the Smiths. Based on Think About It, the nostalgically-minded outfit had no trouble finding their own warmly overdriven sonic signature. Any fans of the Violent Femmes, Joy Division and Modest Mouse will undoubtedly want to pay attention.

Think About It is now available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Proto-punk bites back in Underdog’s seminal punch-drunk alt-rock track, Over and Over

Posted on 10 January 2022

Over and Over (Northern Lights) is the seminal proto-punk track from Boston’s most boisterous alt-rock powerhouse, Underdog. It may be harder for new artists to register as obsession-worthy from the first hit, but the college radio rock vibes mixed with the lo-fi scuzz and energy that stems from the frustration that resounds around monotony makes a riotously magnetic track out of Over and Over.

Thankfully, the band that has been charting as the top alternative band in Boston since establishing in 2013 didn’t allow their creativity to buckle during the quarantine. Their album, Trans Global Amnesia, is due for release in the Spring of 2022. Any fans of the New York Dolls, The Heartbreakers and the Ramones will want Underdog on their radars – it is only a matter of time before their moniker becomes unfitting.

Over and Over is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast