Category: Track reviews
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Track review: Faithful Johannes – It’s OK to Be Alone (This Christmas) [feat. Benjamin Amos]
Everybody knows there are only three ways to make a Christmas song: A: Play it dead straight, somehow navigating the cliché and schmaltz-ridden wasteland on your way to creating something as timeless as It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year. B: Have shitloads of fun, not take anything too seriously, and somehow end up…
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Track review: Dust In The Sunlight – Hard To Explain
After a successful year which has seen them release their self-titled debut EP, followed soon after by another release composed entirely of five remixes of its title track, London duo Dust In The Sunlight return to see out 2020 with a surprisingly tender cover of the Strokes’ classic 2001 single, Hard to Explain. Looking at…
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Track review: Diving Station – June Damp
June Damp is the third and final track to be released by Manchester four-piece Diving Station in the last couple of months, and – alongside the equally magnificent Joanna and Fruit Flies – it completes one of the most exciting releases I’ve heard this year. As with the two previous singles, it’s another rich offering…
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Track review: Almost Sex – Charmer
Almost Sex are Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist Nick Louis and the mysteriously named HW LaSota; an intriguing combo that describe themselves as ‘a folky alternative post-punk rock indie pop duo’. Their bio talks of ‘a chance online encounter, several months of remote collaboration, and one freakin’ epic meeting’, all of which has lead to their first two…
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Track review: Rowan – You’re Not The One
You’re Not The One is the closing track from up and coming Irish indie-folk band Rowan’s debut EP – which was released into the wild last week, on November 20th. It’s a pity I don’t have a huge amount of time at the moment to write about everything I get sent in, because I’m sure…
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Track review: Neon Islands – Moon
Taking influence from bands such as Interpol, Maximo Park, Sonic Youth, Foals, and Bloc Party, Neon Islands’ Facebook page bills them as “a cry for hope in the middle of a dejected culture“. With a built-for-radio sound based heavily around huge, shimmering synth lines, muscular guitars, and anthemic choruses, it’s an apt description. I should…
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Track review: Diving Station – Fruit Flies
I knew nothing of Manchester four-piece, Diving Station, until I heard their previous single – the mysterious, imaginative, and plainly magnificent Joanna. In my guise as a contributor to (the great) Sounds Good, I’d originally picked it for review based on the strength of the artwork – which is one of the best sleeves I’ve…
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Track review: Peter Cat – ASMR
Taken from his forthcoming debut album, The Saccharine Underground, Peter Cat’s ASMR is a ludicrous blast of glam pop that sounds like a six-way pile-up between Franz Ferdinand, Neil Hannon, Primal Scream, Sparks, Pulp, and Lodger-era Bowie. Bursting out of the starting blocks at full throttle, with pounding drums, bouncing bass, strings, and brass, it’s…
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Track review: Native Son – Domme Kinderen
Taken from his forthcoming EP, Metro Dread, New York’s Native Son delivers a masterful mix of hip-hop, jazz, pop, punk, and soul on Domme Kinderen. Arriving hot on the heels of his debut, Brown Water – released last month, Domme Kinderen is a sleek, shape-shifting track that refuses to be pigeonholed. Whereas its predecessor was…
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Track review: Mehalah Ray – Nevermind
Mehalah Ray is the pseudonym of twenty-two-year-old songwriter and musician Rachel Clark, based in Cambridge. A performer in and around her hometown from the age of fourteen, with several releases under her belt, Ray’s new single Nevermind is a beautifully-realised song that captures the universal feeling of having to let go of something/someone in order…
I stood up & I said yeah 