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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When I saw this show advertised some while ago I had know idea what it would be like. But as a lifelong Bowie fan I was intrigued. Bowie’s music in a cathedral? I’ll have some of that please! This is one of a series of concerts promoted by Concerts By Candlelight across the UK’s cathedrals and similar venues. This show was presented at the magnificent Ripon Cathedral in Yorkshire. Mostly it is with some great tribute acts, including this one. The music for this show was provided by David Live, arguably the best Bowie tribute act on the circuit. I would put them at the top, closely followed by Absolute Bowie and the Bowie Contingent. Charlie Fowler is a great front man and while he has a slight resemblance to Bowie, his mannerisms, movement and voice are close to spot on. His between song conversational banter sounds like Bowie too. The band, who I believe have played together for more than ten years are supremely talented. Spencer James on keys plays with the style of Mike Garson when he needs to. The rest of the band are brothers JM Sutcliffe (guitar), JP Sutcliffe (Drums) and Raphael Sutcliffe (bass). They were all on top form, but for me Raphael shone just a little more brightly, especially when his rumbling 5 string bass guitar kicked in
The evening was split into two halves. The first set saw what might have been a show from the 1976 Thin White Duke Isolar 1 tour. Charlie wore the monochrome combo from that tour and he was on splendid form. After a brief rest where those of us in need to empty bladders had to leave the building to use a toilet (who knew Ripon Cathedral has no toilets) the band came back to another rapturous reception. This time Charlie was decked out in the striking blue suit like that worn on the ‘Reality’ tour in 2003/ 2004. The band coped with problems smoothly and easily with Charlie breaking his guitar strap and a backing track failure. There were so many highlights from the performance. The best for me were probably “Changes”, “Starman”, “Oh You Pretty Things”, “Fame”, “Space Oddity”, “All The Young Dudes”, “Ashes To Ashes”, “Little Wonder”, “Absolute Beginners” and a towering take on “Stay” from the ‘Station To Station album. the latter opened the whole show in spectacular style. But just pipping all of those were a gorgeous and emotional version of “Wild Is The Wind” and a powerful show closer with a magnificent “Heroes”. We all sang along and so many of the crowd danced throughout the whole show. Even if you don’t like tribute bands, I am not a huge fan of them, but when they are as good as David Live they deserve to be seen!
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The Apocalypse Disco just released their debut EP ‘Welcome To The Disco’. If you need something to soundtrack the impending apocalypse (thanks America), then this is it! The EP kicks off with “Revelation”. It has biblical levels of keys from Ian and an end of world impassioned vocal from Robin. Believe me, if you follow my advice you will be dancing when the world ends. The second song is the title track of the EP. The band’s bio claims that they make Apocalyptic Discotechno and based on this track that is 100% true. It features superbly crisp production. Neil Mclellan, who has worked on some great albums, produced this track. He was the engineer on the Prodigy’s ‘Fat Of The Land’. This track is the perfect tune to lead us into a pre-armageddon party and it will definitely feature on my end of the world playlist. If this is the last track you ever hear, then trust me, you have left this mortal coil on a good note! But there are more fine tracks on the EP. Next it is previous single “Alive” which has a highly hopeful chorus which is impossible not to sing along to. “Alive” is simply a joyous slice of electro and it makes me want to stay alive. The line “God loves a sinner, thank fuck for that” is a perfect line in such a great dance track. Dance to it and tell the four horsemen of the apocalypse to fuck right off!
“Army” has an excellent marching beat with what sounds like foot soldiers marching at the start. The last time that sound was heard in a great tune was probably back in 1977 when the Sex Pistols released “Holidays In The Sun”. This is another Prodigy style dance workout, but this one leans toward the border with the Land of Chill. But the dark undertones and zombieish lyrics take it up a few hundred notches. Right now “Thunder” is my favourite track on the EP, but that might be different tomorrow. Imagine the Prodigy joining forces with the Chemical Brothers and going in a kind of glam rock direction and utilising David Bowie’s “secret” band from the ‘Earthling’ tour, the Tao Jones Index, well that is what “Thunder” sounds like to me. But it is not just homage and definitely not a facsimile, it is banging, beat-laden, and bloody bonkers. Right up my street, in fact. Play this track (or in fact anything on the EP and you will have no choice but to shake your booty and dance like nobody is watching! The streaming version of the EP closes with “The Bridge” which gives a stylish nod to Erasure in its sublime hook. The way the keys build up the hopeful but explosive tension is a joy to experience.
I am the lucky owner of the CD version of the ‘Welcome To The Disco’ EP and that means I have an extra secret track. It is a cover of a song called “Art Of Dying” which was written and originally recorded by a little know scouse musician who was in a beat group in the 60s. I think his name was Hari Georgeson! If the second reign of Trump is the herald of the apocalypse, then bow to your inner illegal rave soul, grab your glowsticks, and smash it until the end of the world with the ‘Welcome To The Disco’ EP as your soundtrack!
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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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For my second gig of 2025 I was back at the Fulford Arms in York. This time with my good mate Baz. This was a charity gig with proceeds going to the York Food Bank and like everyone there I was more than happy to contribute. York’s purveyors of gargantuan metal sounds, Theseus, kicked off proceedings. This was the fourth time I have seen them. They made it to the final of last years Battle of the Bands contest at this very venue. I suspect that had the Vikings remained in York hundreds of years ago then this is the kind of music they would have produced. I don’t know if they are descendants of Vikings, but Theseus came, they saw and they fucking conquered! Their energy levels were off the scale. The set was full on, albeit short. But it was classy metal banger after classy metal banger. Highlights for me were “Allergy” and Consume”. What a barnstorming set! The headbanging and moshing was magnificent. I think I had a high degree of hair envy.
Next up it was Manchester pop punk rapscallions Stay Safe. They readily admitted that they were a little scared to be following Theseus on stage. I think I would feel the same! However Stay Safe do have a tiny injection of metal in some of their songs. They have some great tunes, particularly “Crash And Burn” and “Bombshell”. The crowd loved them. Their cover of Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated” was ace. My only criticism is that it sounded like the drums were a little too loud and occasionally drowned out the rest of the band.
Finally York pop punksters On The Ropes arrived on stage. They have been around a while, they formed in 2012. They broke up in 2019 and after a hiatus they reformed in 2023. The between song banter was supremely good dry, laconic Yorkshire wit. They have some great songs in their canon. There is even one about going on holiday in Wales, which was rather spiffing! But the highlight for me was “The Machinist”. Johnny and the boys were on fire and the crowd loved them. They are not copyists of old school pop punk they take the sound to new levels. Overall this was a great night and on reflection I reckon Theseus just about took the points. But more importantly money was raised for a great cause, the York Food Bank! If you have any spare money and can afford to donate even a little bit click here.
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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” 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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Before he became a mega successful front man for Duran Duran, Simon Le Bon was a child actor. He appeared in a Persil TV advert in the UK. Maybe the band should have cashed in on that and changed some of their song titles. How about “Persil Earth”, “Is There Something I Should Wash”, “Hungry Like The Wash”, “The Wash Boys”, “A Wash To A Kill” or “Ordinary Wash”.
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On January 15th 1972 Led Zeppelin’s “Black Dog” made its debut on the US singles chart. It was released in December 1971 and eventually reached number 15. The band famously never released singles, certainly not in the UK anyway. Not including promotional singles this was the band’s fourth single. The song’s title refers to a nameless, black Labrador retriever. This dog wandered around the Headley Grange studios during recording. The previous singles were “Good Times, Bad Times” and “Whole Lotta Love” both released in 1969. The latter reached number 4 in the US singles chart. This was their highest placing in the US singles chart. It made it to the top of the pile in Australia, Denmark and Germany. Then came “Immigrant Song” in 1970. All of these releases made it into the lower reaches of the UK chart on import sales.
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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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