With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

Music reviews, gig reviews, fun trivia and extra added random stuff!

“Safe & Sound” – Pip Lewis January 24, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 8:19 pm
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Pip Lewis is a 22 year old British singer-songwriter based in San Diego, California. She has just dropped a great single from her forthcoming album ‘Growing Pains’. Pip sees some of her key influences coming from Phoebe Bridgers and Maggie Rogers. The song has a heavenly indie pop sound with a beautifully crystal clear vocal. The flowing and sometimes stuttering musical accompaniment gives the track a soulful dreamy feel. Interwoven in this film-like sound is an occasional funky acoustic guitar riff. Pip said this of “Safe & Sound”: “This song is inspired by the idea that one can feel alone in a room full of people. It’s a cry for help into the crowd and a love letter to those who answer it.” The video gets across the image of being lonely in a crowd perfectly. I think that this gorgeous song will stay with me for a long while. I love it!

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“Angie’s Wedding” – Antony Szmierek January 22, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 8:57 pm
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Antony Szmierek, Manchester based poet, producer, rather ace music maker and all round good guy has a new album out at the end of next month. It is called ‘Service Station At The End Of The Universe’. His new single, “Angie’s Wedding” will be the final track on the album. It brings together many of the album’s characters in a fictional wedding of the century setting. Szmierek’s rhythmic, soft spoken rap is ideal for this track. It oozes hope. Now I am even more excited for the album. Did Angie make it? Like Antony I hope she did too.

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“Vice” – Rizzle Kicks

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 8:30 pm
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British hip hop duo Rizzle Kicks are Jordan “Rizzle” Stephens and Harley “Sylvester” Alexander-Sule. They first broke big back in 2011 with the rather excellent single “Down With The Trumpets”. They had a few more hits and split up for a while. Last year they announced their return. They released a few classy singles last year in advance of their forthcoming comeback album ‘Competition Is For Losers’. The album is due out in February. Their first single in 2025 is “Vice” and man is it a good ‘un. It is funky, bright, overloaded with great hooks and is full of happy vibes. This song makes me smile and dance with zero persuasion, it is an instant party. I love the mention of hip hop royalty in the lyric, “Now, I don’t pause when I say love, I feel it right in my De La Soul“. Even Sporty Spice gets a name check! The video filmed in a bowling alley with the Rizzle Kicks playing around and having a ton of fun. I loved “Down With The Trumpets” all those years ago, but this new one is even better!

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“Run Rabbit” – ALT BLK ERA January 20, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 8:04 pm
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Can ALT BLK ERA get any better than they already are? On the basis of their new single “Run Rabbit” they just did. The quality of their recent singles suggests that the debut album will by vying for a strong position in many album of the year lists for 2025. The track is driven by a persistent and incessant electro riff overlaid with Nyrobi and Chaya’s urgent vocals. Lyrically it feels deliciously dark. This has the makings of a huge club banger, we need an extended remix! The video is rather spiffing too and features ALT BLK ERA running around in the dark. These girls can go from pop to punk to electro to dance. They can also combine all of these as well. ALT BLK ERA remain one of my favourite bands and 2025 better watch out because they are not just knocking on the door they are ready to smash it down!

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“Manhattan” – Pennine Suite January 18, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 8:17 pm
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Photo by Tom Sunderland

The last time I saw the magnificent Pennine Suite play live was in June last year at the Fulford Arms. They played some new tracks that night and one of those was “Manhattan”. A song from a York band that was inspired by New York. What I said about it then was “The new track “Manhattan” is thunderously good and needs to be a single, RIGHT NOW! Harry’s guitar was magnificent on this track and the power and drive from the mighty rhythm section of Moses and Louis is a close to perfect as you could get!” Well whether they listened to me or not I really don’t know. But the song was released as a single towards the end of 2024. (Yes I am a bit late with it, but the song is too good to ignore!) It has a wonderfully crisp production with Nick’s voice oozing emotion and sounding very fresh. This is indeed a great live banger but it sure works as a great single too. The rhythm section is at beast levels, Harry’s guitar lines intertwine with some fine keys from Louise. The harmonies, hooks and riffs work with each other like a well serviced formula 1 engine. The result is a near perfect slab of first class pop rock from a band that have the potential to enter the music world’s equivalent of Formula 1 competitions and join the big league.

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“Drowning The Killer” – Kindelan

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 5:21 pm
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Whenever Kindelan releases something new it automatically goes to the top of my listening pile. That is exactly where Laura’s new song “Drowning The Killer” has been for the past two weeks. I have listened to it a lot and once again Kindelan continues the getting better with each release run. This is, on the surface, a chilled piece of perfect modern jazz/ R & B. But beneath the surface lurks and obsidian darkness. This takes it from chilled to chilling but whichever angle you listen to it with it is a stunningly beautiful song. It evokes the ghost of Jeff Buckley and would sit perfectly alongside some of the best songs from the Howl and the Hum.

Picture by Mon Levčenkovaitė

The track was self-produced by Laura Kindelan and co-written with her longtime friend Olivia Greenlees. It was mixed by close collaborator Ed Allen and mastered by Natalie Bibby (AIR Studios). Meanwhile
the accompanying artwork, was captured by Mon Levčenkovaitė, with lettering by Elettr. Kindelan said this of the song “This song began with the enticing, yet ominous chord progression, which then became the backdrop for our story that unfolded line by line. We ended up writing a tale of two people, who
are just as bad for one another—so bad, in fact, that they’re perfect for each other.” What a great way to start the year. This is already a contender for my best songs of the year list. I am definitely up for more of this!

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“Too Much Ain’t Enough” – Travoltas January 16, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 10:49 pm
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“Too Much Ain’t Enough” is the new release from Travoltas and it is a towering mix of mountainous riffs, punk rock energy, eighties hair rock guitars and melodies and harmonies that Brian Wilson might kill for! This bunch are from the Netherlands and have been around since 1990. Since 19-fucking-90, how the fuck have I not heard of them until now? I will be spending the weekend listening to their vast back catalogue! The new track was produced and mixed by frontman Perry Leenhouts at Point Break Sound in San Diego and recorded both there and at Mick’s (Michel Meeuwissen guitarist) Basement in the Netherlands. This is such a fun song and one I will probably playing again and again throughout 2025. And you gotta love that action movie style picture on the cover, right?

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“Come With Me On A Spaceship” – Dead Rat Society January 14, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 10:49 pm
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I have not heard of this band before but fuck this new single is wonderfully out there. There are some influences from the likes of Soft Play. Aside from those influences, this bunch are out on their own. I think we should all get on their spaceship and zoom to Planet Dead Rat! Lyrically it is pertinent and amusing. I particularly love “Have you tried looking outside?..everything is really Fucked“. This is electro punk garage hiphop and that is just for starters. They also incorporate some wonderful voice samples. Well they may not be samples, but either way they work. Ed from the band said this of the track “The song is mainly about inviting someone to let loose, pull away from the drudgery of modern life and relax for a bit. Away from all the lame shit. Escapism through and through by any means necessary!” You are an absolute dipshit if you listen to this and don’t rush onto Dead Rat Society’s spaceship. If you don’t then you are a brainless fuckwit or most probably you are Trump’s first lady, Elonia Muskrat!

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“IT Girl” – Jade January 12, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 7:48 pm
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This is an unusual one to feature for me, but I have to say that I love “IT Girl”. It is the new single from Jade, former member of Little Mix. This is her third solo single since leaving the group with which she had five UK chart toppers. “IT Girl” tells the story of how extremely misogynistic the music industry still is. It has some very dark emotions: anger, frustration and perhaps hope too. The track starts of relatively subdued for a very short while then kicks into a glorious electronic dance psych out. Jade gives a great performance in the video too. Lyrically it is wonderfully venomous. I particularly like “Kitty got fangs and kitty got claws. Clause in the contract, contract gone. Gone is the girl that you could con“. This is a co-write from Jade and I suspect that this is a deeply autobiographical song from her. Maybe I am becoming more accepting of pop in my old age. I love Harry Styles. I am growing to appreciate Robbie Williams. Now, I absolutely adore the new song from a former member of Little Mix. Become less of a music snob (I am trying), accept the inevitable, songs like “IT Girl” paint the future brightly! If this does not top the charts everywhere then the world is even more broken than I thought!

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“Blood Curse” – FangSlinger

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 7:05 pm
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I was sent the first FangSlinger’s single, “The Lost Souls Saloon”, for review back in October. Sadly I never got around to it. Which is a pity because it was a truly colossal track! I believe that the first single began a tale which may run for some time. The blurb for single number one was “In the heart of Death Valley, an ancient evil roams. FangSlinger, once a man seeking fortune during the California Gold Rush, now leads a band of outlaws terrorising the West. The band’s lore is rich and immersive, drawing fans into a world where reality and myth blur.” This story deserves a graphic novel! Apparently each member of FangSlinger has their own dark story. They each have a reason for joining the quest. This makes their performances more than just music. It becomes a theatrical experience. FangSlinger, the lead vocalist, Hangman Frost on guitar and backing vox are joined by on backing vocals, keys and percussion by BloodRose.

I am pleased to announce that I have heard their second single “Blood Curse.” It was released a few days ago and is phenomenal. It carries the story along really well. It rocks like a beast from hell, hard enough to wake the undead! Apparently it is about a deal struck by FangSlinger with an ancient evil which led to their condemnation to eternal life and a debt of 100,000 souls to the Devil. It has metal, melody, grunge and riffs and hooks to die for. It reminded me at times of Led Zeppelin, Pearl Jam, Alice Cooper and Evanescence to name just a few. It has some great spaghetti western horror vibes going on. If the vampire TV series ‘True Blood’ ever returns, FangSlinger should provide the soundtrack. They should at least write the theme tune. The video for “Blood Curse” directed by O. D. Collins is rather good too. I am truly hooked on this band and the ever unfolding tale. I am proper excited for the next single!

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