SUNBENDR from San Diego are what might be called a super group with Chris Cote (Kut U UP) on bass and vocals, Brandon Parkhurst (Kut U UP and Yovee) on guitar and Frank Dixon (Nancy and Sister Juanita) on drums. The trio are augmented on this track with backing vocals from George Perks (Mogwai and Doves) and Benjamin Ward. Just to add to the stellar cast layers of dynamic cinematic synth are applied by Tom DeLonge. The song was recorded at DeLonge’s home studio in March of this year.
Sonically it rocks and rolls like a song that has been in your head all your life. The drumming is huge and the riffs hit you hard. Vocally I was reminded of Billy Corgan and also Jordan Bell (Avalanche Party). The tune is laden with great hooks and deserves to be a huge hit. The hooray for the B-sides lyric hook is pop rock perfection.
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Imagine, if you will, a mad professors laboratory in the Stygian darkness of deepest Transylvania. Then imagine that someone has captured the creative brilliance of Talking Heads, added the essence of My Chemical Romance and sprinkled that with some Mark E Smith. Are you picturing it yet? You are? Well good, but now you no longer have to use the window of your imagination. Out of that laboratory has emerged the stunning new single from Erotic Secrets Of Pompeii, “Bring Me Back From The Black Beyond”. It is their best yet and it gets better with every listen. In their own words the Erotic Secrets of Pompeii are an apocalyptic art rock band from Bristol. Frankly I think they have injected their songs with a tiny dose of the apocalypse in the name of art.
The song is underpinned by a dark disturbing synth riff and Thomas Hawtin’s vocals are on the verge of madness, but seemed to be reigned in for now. Lyrically I believe it describes a journey into some kind of purgatory and a desire to be able to bring someone back from that bad place. There are so many great lines, I particularly love “Life holds no meaning here in the realm of death. As love holds no meaning in the realm of hate”. The video, directed by Saul Knight, is a wonderfully weird fun fest and I love it! I was going to add that this is a band made for the 21st century, but fuck that, this is a band made for the 22nd century! Inject the Erotic Secrets Of Pompeii into your veins right now!
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Kindelan has a new single, called “Cigarettes” and it is once again her best yet! It is a dark tale of break up and maybe being spurned. There is anger in Laura’s strong R & B style vocals which skim wonderfully over a funky, jazzy sound with some great folk injections. The lyrics are deep and buzz with an otherworldly electricity fuelled by a solid and powerful fury. Lines like “I’m a ball that’s been thrown You picked me up then let go. How can you blame where gravity makes me fall?” sum up those feelings of loss, passion, pain and revenge. This song is first class and if there was any justice in the world would be all over the airwaves.
The video sums up the mood of the song perfectly and is simply darkly glorious. The track is available alongside a song called “Wish I Wrote A Love Song” which is a ‘before’ to “Cigarettes” ‘after’ theme on a 7 inch vinyl release called ‘After Before’. I have ordered my copy, why don’t you do yourself a favour and order one for yourself. You will not regret it! Just click here and buy it via Bandcamp.
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Delilah Bon is back after locking herself away in her Princess Castle and now she is out she is fucking angry. This time mostly with those misogynistic arseholes. Those kind of men really won’t like her when she is angry because Delilah becomes the She-Hulk of brat metal rap and fights the fight for fairness and equality for all. Well except for a few stupid men who will always consider themselves superior and who constantly prove themselves to be pathetic human specimens. “Princeless Princess” is up there with the best of Delilah’s extraordinarily great canon of work.
It opens with an echo of “Stand And Deliver by Adam And The Ants. After that it is pure, unadulterated Delilah. It has anger, passion, venom, care and intellect she hits misogynists not just with a double barreled attack but with a whole infantry of heavy gunners. The riffs on this track are huge as is the driving bass. Delilah sings “I don’t need no Prince to save me” and she is right, but the world needs Delilah Bon to help save it! She sings in a wonderfully venomous style that she is a “motherfucking Princeless Princess” and actually she probably is, but I reckon she ranks higher than that, Delilah is the motherfucking Queen! The song is a taster of her forthcoming EP and on the strength of this song that EP will blow the balls off every misogynist that comes close to it!
She has a European Tour coming in October, but before that, in August, she will be unleashing the power of Delilah on the USA. Hopefully the Mango Mussolini won’t have destroyed it by then!
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The wonderful and super talented singer songwriter that is Molly Rymer has a new release. It features a couple of different versions of “Say The Same” which was originally included on her ‘All You Can Eat’ EP from October last year. The first is a spacious and stripped back acoustic version in which every emotion is palpable. The lyrics deal with toxic relationships and karma and those deep dark words suit the pared down instrumentation perfectly. This is a live recorded version which was created with the help of the mightily talented Fin Vallance.
The second take was recorded live at Mollie’s inaugural headline show at Oporto in Leeds last year. Sadly I was unable to make that gig. At its very essence “Say The Same” is a beautifully constructed pop song with some delicious folk overtones. This was Molly with a full band made up of Angus Bates on drums, Joe Wilkes on double bass, Luca Vitale on cello Sam Cooper and Gabbie Clarke supplying backing vocals. Overlaying it all is Molly’s ethereal, soulful vocal performance. While the song seems dark from a lyrical perspective Molly really seems to be enjoying performing it. The Tasting Menu collection is rounded of with the track in the form of its original release from last years EP. Get this collection into your life, it really is a bewitching and wonderful collection of takes of a beautiful track.
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Sleuth Gang are a fucking awesome live band and with every release they prove that they are fucking awesome in the studio too. New single “Safe Bet” is their best yet, it deserves some live festival exposure. Reading/ Leeds are you listening? It has their signature three pronged vocal attack and an incessant heavy groove with riffs that could power a Saturn V rocket. I bloody love this track!
The video is superb. It has the band introduced to a sparse, bored and almost silent crowd at a Working Men’s Club by a wonderfully camp drag queen before they go on to perform “Safe Bet”. So many videos these days are dull and generic, this one is neither dull nor generic!
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York’s Drop Dead McPhee are back with a delightful new single. It reminded me of a classy acoustic style indie band spliced with the Byrds. Vocally it is their best yet and shows that they have an ability to move in any style or genre. There is a bonus B Side too, “Opposite Day” which has a great early 70s McGuiness Flint style vibe. These boys certainly know how to write a decent hook!
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From it’s sparse but powerful bass driven opening chords “Worst Trimester” grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let you go until the song is over. This is the single that LA/ Brighton duo peach|melba released last month. I played it on repeat so much I still have the marks on my neck, but trust me the pain was worth it. This is a fucking awesome track. Much of the instrumentation is lo-fi but the bass has other ideas , like pummeling you into submission for one. The song is about the politics of pregnancy and is a shout out to downtrodden women, LGBTQ+ and other minorities across the globe. The lyrics are spot on and carry weight, passion, anger, frustration and a degree of humour. My favourite line is “Queer people struggle to adopt, struggle to fund IVF, struggle at the school-gates, struggle with the legal rules. We’ve been put in concentration camps, we’ve been sterilised, and still our kids achieve more at school“. That sounds more than legit to me! The song also features on the iconic queer NETFLIX minidoc ‘Sperm Donors Wanted’.
This is 21st Century Riot Grrrl and I reckon that Kathleen Hanna would love this. peach|melba told me in an email a few weeks ago that if you’re a fan of the Lambrini Girls (I am) you need to check out peach|melba, and that is definitely true! They write, record and mix everything themselves and the video that accompanies the song was shot in one take on a bus. These two are not just talented, they are mega talented! The band have said “We swear on your mother’s life to release a new song every six weeks until world peace has been fully achieved“. My 89 year old Mum might not like the music (she doesn’t, I checked) but she wants world peace too. The next scheduled peach|melba releases are;
“Fell In Love With Godx” June 9th, “Dykes” July 21st, “Have A Latte” September 1st and “Sound Of Violence” October 13th. I have heard next months release, “Fell In Love With Godx (She Was Really Fit)” and it is damned good! I know that peach|melba will feature here again, watch this space!
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I have been lucky enough to see young York music funsters the Unnamed Band a couple of times and each time they showed a lot of promise. Their delivery of some great classic rock cover versions were ace and their self penned songs were good but needed a bit of polish. Well they have had the polish out and “Don’t You Know” is so well buffed that it screams to be heard! If you love a hard driving funky rock song then look no further. If the Unnamed Band ever need a name, on the strength of this release, I would name them the Fucking Good Band!
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One of York’s finest bands, Lost Trends, don’t release new stuff very often. But when they do it is always fucking good! New single “Takedown” is no exception it explodes into action from the first note. At times it sounds like the Killer’s with a harder edge. Rusty’s voice is better than it has ever been weaving from Brandon Flowers to David Byrne via John Lydon. Pete’s guitar screams like a banshee newly released from its chains. Drum and bass rumble like the after shock of an atom bomb. You need to play “Takedown” loud on repeat until you convince the neighbours to play it too.
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