“Cinderhaze” the new track from ambient genius Stumbleine is a taster for his new studio album, his 8th, ‘Deleted Scene’. It is scheduled for release on 14th June via Monotreme Records. The song bathes you in a gorgeous mix of sound and sonic swirls that swim around your head before taking up residence in your mind. It is emotional, reflecting all sides of the spectrum from happy to sad and back again and again. The vocals and bass synth riff are as close to perfect as it is possible to get. One of the most beautiful tracks I have heard this year so far!
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The new single from Everything After Midnight opens like a more upbeat Cocteau Twins track and then at around 40 seconds in it expands its musical scope into something so much bigger. The guitar chops are as funky as fuck and Steph’s voice is ethereal and soars heavenward with immaculate ease. The band have spoken about the song and said that it “is about the bittersweet feeling of sharing intimacy one last time before parting. The lyrics “dial and comply, recite the cliché, if this is goodbye then that is okay” encapsulates the clichés of break ups, post break up sex, relief, sadness, love, and acceptance.” This tune is a sign of a band being more complete with each release and each gig! Click here to stream “Little Hints” on Spotify.
I am looking forward to hearing “Little Hints” live at the Crescent in York tomorrow, Friday,
April 19th 🙂
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It is official, I have now seen Avalanche Party more than any other act. Frank Turner is a close second with David Bowie just behind him! I haven’t been to gigs at Oporto very often, the last one was an acoustic set from the Murder Capital back in 2022. But before I tell you about the mighty Avalanche Party I need to fill you in about the two support bands that played in this intimate, sweaty Leeds venue on Friday. First up was another band with party in their name, Freeparty. They play souped-up, dark indie pop with a smattering of punky overtones that reminded me at times (no pun intended) of the Undertones. Some of their songs were like shoegaze on speed and I do mean that in a good way. The song that they closed with was epic. Almost Pink Floydish with a pinch of Libertines added to spice it up. This bunch is very good!
Next, it was the turn of Bansley’s Everglades to take to the stage. This music is drone-driven, slow, moody 21st-century stoner blues. Musically Everglades were in perfect form. The moment where the frontman kneeled in front of the bass player was a very Bowie Ronson moment, although they didn’t go for the full-on guitar fellatio money shot. This band has some hugely talented musicians. I want to give a thunderous shout to the guitarist and co-vocalist whose playing was stupendous and made me think of Earl Slick!
Finally, it was time for Avalanche Party, this was the 15th time that I had seen them live. Let’s face it, there ain’t no party like an Avalanche party, right? Their blend of psychedelia, garage, punk, glam, indie and so much more is unparalleled among their peers. I believe that they are the finest British band of their generation and that they will continue to get better with each gig and every release. This was yet another classic Avalanche Party set. The new stuff sounds incredible and bodes well for the sophomore album which will hit the streets later this year. The band was on fire tonight and generated more heat than the core of a star, so around 100 billion degrees Celsius! If a band can thrill the crowd so much in a tiny venue like Oporto, then they can probably do the same for arena or academy crowds too. Let’s hope that they get the opportunity to do that! Kane’s drumming was louder than and more powerful than the big-bang and Joe’s bass might have registered on the Richter scale. Glen’s work on the keys tonight was magical as was Jared’s guitar riffs and fills. But high praise goes to a frontman who performs like he was made for the job, Jordan. His thousand-yard stare oozes that perfect rock god attitude and style and his voice and axe playing was sublime. There were many highlights in this set. The two biggest for me were “Solid Gold” and a magical, magnificent “Rebel Forever”. This band deserves to be huge, let’s make it so! There are a few more gigs on this tour, get along to one of them if you can.
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Carol Hodge’s new single has a magnificent heavy and dark feel with some incredible and relentless guitar riffs that are impossible to ignore and I believe made by Dave Draper. I love the way she uses the organ sound briefly at times during the song. Her voice oozes passion, and anger in equal amounts. Is there some sarcasm in there too? I was reminded of Toyah, Siousxe, and Amy Lee (Evanescence) Carol has a fine canon of songs and this sits up there with some of her best, I bloody love it! The video was filmed and edited by Rob Heilig and made on location at Nathans Cottages, Huddersfield. It is delightfully dark and disturbing. This is the first single from Carol’s next album, ‘EffortLess InSecurity’ which is planned for September 2024.
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From the fly buzzing sound that introduces this song to the weird horror vibe of the music to the deeply personal and inspirational lyrics, “Finally See Me” is Delilah Bon at her best. The song deals with Delilah/ Lauren being bullied at school and appears to be a paen of her triumphing over those who bullied her by becoming the incredibly talented artist that she now is. She passionately stands up for the bullied, the misfits, and the outcasts and she deserves huge respect for that. With this latest release, another precursor to her forthcoming album things bode incredibly well for the continued rise of Delilah Bon. Musically she is starting to cipher as well, if not better than, Eminem. Meanwhile, this track has a feel of Jonathan Davis, Korn frontman about it. In my opinion, Delilah Bon is now one of the most talented and passionate musical artists on the planet.
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The original line-up for this gig included Fully Arms favourites I Tell Lies, sadly they had to pull out. What was their replacement like? They might be a late addition to the bill, but what a fucking magnificent band Safe Harbour is! Heavy, passionate, emotional songs and they didn’t just play, this was a proper show. They played an explosive set, with intensity dialed up to 11, and gave it everything. The singer is totally captivating and has an awesome, soaring voice. There were many highlights but for me, the biggest were “Let Me Breathe” and “Sedated”. I hope I got the title of the second one right! This is a band that I think can become huge!
Next up it was one of Mayhem’s favourite bands Hærtstrings, winners of last year’s Fulford Arms Battle Of The Bands contest. It is hard to believe that this band played their first gig around seven months ago. They get better every gig and I think I have now seen them four or five times. They clearly watched Safe Harbour and rose to the challenge of “how the fuck do you follow that” with a great performance. KJ’s face makeup gave him an ethereal look under the lights, although I think he suffered for that by sweating white makeup into his eyes. His voice was great, he channels his passion and anger perfectly, and he is shaping up to be a great frontman. The whole band were in top form, but I will mention guitarist Archie, who, despite a cut finger, played like a guitar god. I have always loved a band or artist that it is not easy or impossible to put into a genre box and Hærtstrings are one of those!
Finally, it was time for headliners the Apocalypse Disco. They have one of the best band names ever and were on fire tonight. If the apocalypse was truly happening then this gig would have been the one to end the world with! Ian and Robin make far more sound than you would expect from two people and what a sound it is. banging tunes that arise from the ashes of the Prodigy with an added punk attitude. Their music compels you to dance and if you were standing still during this set, what is wrong with you? “Welcome To The Disco” is a post-apocalyptic party anthem and “Alive”, which we were treated to twice, is an electro singalong like no other. I don’t believe that anyone was quiet during that song. And are there many better opening lines than “God loves a sinner, thank fuck for that”, I think not! They gave a lovely shout-out to Kurt Cobain and played an incredible cover of George Harrison’s “Art Of Dying”. Following Safe Harbour and Hærtstrings was a huge challenge, but the Apocalypse Disco did it with a performance which registered on the Richter Scale!
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There is not enough anger at the world in so much music these days but Millie Manders is a very welcome exception to that. Millie Manders and the Shutup has just released a new double A-side single which includes two songs in which Millie pours out her rage with unparalleled fury. The ire and outrage switches are set higher than they have ever been. On the classy and punky “Can I Get Off” Millie takes aim at how the mainstream media and so many people in the world have stood by while the Israel Defence Force commits acts against the Palestinian people that are tantamount to genocide. But she doesn’t direct her venomous and righteous rancour only at what is going on in Gaza she talks of Chad, Ethiopia, Congo, China, Sudan, and the refugees that risk their lives to cross the channel. It riles me that so many people have fallen for the “you can’t criticise the Israeli government because it is anti-semitic” line. It is not, I despise what the Israeli government is doing, but I don’t hate Jewish people. In exactly the same way I despise everything about Hamas, but not all Palestinians are Hamas. This conflict has been around for years and did not just begin when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th last year. Millie takes on the “if you are against Israel you must support Hamas” line head-on in the lyric “Am I siding with Hamas? Are you gonna ask that one again?” I am 100% behind her on this. Millie talks of white fragility and our need to side with aggressors because there is money in weapons, oil, and gold. The UK government is complicit with so much of the world’s oppression and killing, it needs to stop.
In the song’s coda she calls on the “boys in bands” to speak out, rather than be quiet and worry about losing followers. If your followers (and I include mine in that) are too cowardly to say anything while people are being murdered then we don’t fucking need them! Shouting “Fuck The Tories” at gigs is fine, but it isn’t enough. Most people that follow bands probably hate the Tories but are uninformed or scared when it comes to other conflicts in the world. Millie says this of the song, “The western world is privileged because it has pillaged resources from everyone else in the world. We need to unlearn what we know and recognise the suffering people are going through as a result of our greed. “Can I Get Off? is an outpouring of my frustrations about that and, ultimately, the reason we are fundraising for Mercy Without Limits.” The non-profit organisation Mercy Without Limits mission is “To educate and empower women and children by enabling them to have an effective and positive role in constructing a better society.” They began by working in Syria but now work in many areas of conflict in the middle- east, including Gaza. Listen to this song NOW and fucking learn from it! While you’re at it make a donation to Mercy Without Limits if you can.
The second song is closer in style to Millie Manders and the Shutup’s root ska punk sound and is called “Angry Side” and Millie spoke about it as “I guess, a letter from my teenage self, apologising for being so angry and wanting to burn down the world. I had a lot going on back then and I hid behind bravado a lot. I suppose it’s also me telling my younger self that it’s OK to have been that angry when I went through a bunch of trauma that I couldn’t process well enough to deal with it all. I was a kid.” This is Millie once again in purposeful and passionate flow and reaching out to forgive her younger self. Maybe we all need to look inside ourselves in that way. I have two main rules in life, 1. Don’t be a dick and 2. Be more kind. Now I have a third rule, Be more Millie Manders!
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This was a gig to kick off the launch of the new Soma Crew album ‘Confused OK’ which we reviewed here at Mayhem Towers a few days ago, click here to read it. But before I tell you about Soma Crew I have to speak about the two support acts. The first to take the stage was Pascallion. His guitar style was like Chet Atkins on a Hendrix trip with some Jeff Buckley thrown in. As for his songs, wow, imagine if a Thom Yorke demon had possessed Bob Dylan, that is how it sounded to me. Obviously, this just proves that sometimes demonic possession can be good, right? When Pascallion used prerecorded backing tracks (or were they samples) it was like Groove Armada attempting acoustic folk. This guy is very good!
Sewage Farm was next, they sounded like early Nirvana but leaned more towards garage than punk. There were some great hooks and melodies on display and some of these were quite Beatlesesque at times. There were occasions where they reminded me of ‘Monster’ period R.E.M. This band are three great musicians but I want to give a huge shout-out to the drummer he was stunning on the night. So based on this set, I can confirm that, at least musically, don’t stink! They probably don’t stink from a personal hygiene perspective either, but I didn’t get close enough to confirm.
Finally, it was time for the monumental, magnificent, magical, mesmerising, mighty musical powerhouse that is Soma Crew. This bunch is clearly one of the best bands to arise in York and their new album is, for me, possibly their best yet. Soma Crew is always a great live band and tonight was no exception. The new songs are superb on record but in a live setting, they blow up and rip the multiverse apart with more power than Thanos held in the Infinity Gauntlet. Frontman Si Micklethwaite tried to add another dimension to the show with white sheets and his white suit upon which some psychedelic, surreal, and epilepsy-inducing projections were played. Is this similar to those 1960s Pink Floyd Happenings? Incidentally, those projections worked perfectly on Si’s suit for most of the night. There were many highlights in this relatively long set, particularly from the new album. For me, the best moments were”Mirage” and “This Illusion” but the one that blew everything else out of the water was “Propaganda Now”. That really summoned up the spirit of Hawkwind. This has been one of the best gigs I have been to this year so far!
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Mike Walsh has a gorgeous new tune out. It is called “Take Time” and is introspective, emotional, haunting, ethereal, and has a gossamer sheen of beauty. The lyrics address that we need to be in the moment but also take time out sometimes to help ourselves to more balance, perhaps self-love. Mike is London-based but arrived via Madrid. This song is worth giving a spin, particularly if you love emotional music, I do!
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Past Life Romeo is the new solo project of Camila Djadja, a singer-songwriter who was formerly in the rock group Sugar Pills. She has also composed film soundtracks. The track “Drew A Heart <3” is the second single from her EP, ‘You Look Just Like Me’, scheduled for release in May. It is a haunting electronic song with some light Drum ‘n’ Bass touches. This tune wears its pop hat proudly and has an array of infectious hooks. Is it a song about unrequited love? Maybe, that is certainly my take on the song. But what a gorgeous single this is, from the music, to the voice, to the production, and some great lyrics. I particularly love “I get high while you come down listening to My Bloody Valentine“. You need this song, even if you don’t know you need it!
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