‘Talkboy’ is the new single from London based (but previously northern based) LOCALS, the first since signing to Clue Records & Disorder Recordings.

This thing rushes along in a pretty raging sort of way. It’s all lo-fi and slightly punky. I say lo-fi but somehow it manges to be fabulously produced and musically sophisticated as well, that is a great trick to pull off. And it has a tune to die for, a tune that stays with you. A tune that you find yourself singing along to. But, and this is the key, this is a great ‘let’s just go wild and rage’ tune people. It’s hugely danceable people.

The song is about ‘social anxiety and lacking confidence’ although without working your way through the lyrics that’s not going to be that obvious. I’m lucky I have the words, us reviewers are lucky like that. And yeah I get it, the words are good.

Being honest, it took me a couple of listens to really get into this. Not too sure why, that’s just how it is. But once I was into it, it’s stayed in heavy rotation here at LSF Towers. Your experience may be different but if you don’t click with it immediately give it another try, yeah.

I can’t wait for the EP, this is cool, way cool. It’s a good time tune with meaning, that’s a beautiful thing.

Everywhere Else: http://smarturl.it/LOCALS-TALKBOY

The info

LOCALS is the child of singer and songwriter Peech Panko. After moving to London from the north of England Peech started recruiting band members to bring his huge collection of songs to life. LOCALS don’t take anything too seriously, as Peech explains “I formed LOCALS with the intention of creating music that didn’t require too much brain power to listen to. Just happy, fun, cool, slack, easy, melodic singalong tracks to throw your shoes in the lake to”

After the success of early singles Swing & White Socks, which received love from KEXP, LOCALS are hoping to expand on this by releasing an EP later in the year. At the moment Peech is the only member of the band but he plans on expanding this to a full line up “I wanted to self release a couple of songs before recruiting members so I could be like “this is what we sound like, if ya dig it then join”.

The track was overseen by producer Sam Harper at Miloco Studios in South London.

https://www.facebook.com/localslol/

It’s been a while since I reviewed something from VALA (‘Mirror’ over a year ago). And that was firmly in indie rock/pop territory so ‘Summer Air’ came as something as a huge surprise – actually I very nearly fell off my chair when I first played it.

For what ‘Summer Air’ is a delicately huge (if such a thing can exist, I say it can) ballad-y thing, that puts you in mind of classic big pop ballads of the early sixties. The band say Everly Brothers and yes it has that hugeness, those soaring vocals, those twangy guitars. And yes, it has something that says indie pop, that’s very definitely there.

It does that thing that big sixties pop ballads must do if they are any good, and that is that when it swells it tugs at your heart (and in my case actually made me slightly weepy). And it has that other thing that they must have, which is those swells to a ‘wall of sound and big big vocals’ and boy it has that, it has those in huge quantities. It also has the loveliest arrangement – it starts off all sparse with strummed guitar, and then it just starts to build and build.

And the words are so so good, they are firmly in that big ballad thing. They tell a story, it’s not a happy one. But they are heartfelt.

The thing is that VALA only contacted us yesterday, but when I heard it, I just had to get this review out as fast as I could. It deserved that sort of effort. It’s fantastically well written and played. It surprised me, and I like that, I like that a lot. This, dear readers, is a beautiful song. Go listen now, and that’s an order.

The info

VALA hail from Manchester although they are frequent visitors to Yorkshire and their drummer is from Leeds.

VALA are:

Joe Knowles – Lead Vocals, Guitar
Jebose Radcliffe – Bass, Backing Vocals
Jesus – Guitar, Synthesiser
Matt Hill – Drums, Backing Vocals

http://www.valaband.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/ValaManchester/
https://www.instagram.com/valamanchester/?hl=en

My taste in music is a constantly evolving thing and recently I’ve been quite surprised by the tracks I like that only a short time ago I would have dismissed – probably even before actually listening to them. Leeds’ band Victors’ ‘Big City’ is a case in point.

Victors describe themselves as a pop/electronica band and this is certainly true, ‘Big City’ is an unashamed pop track but it has a slight edge of indie-pop which kinda grabbed my attention. The other thing is a slight dreaminess to the music, it’s not at all out dream pop thing but it has that in it.

Given that Victors are a synth based band you might be expecting layer upon layer of sound but actually it’s quite simple in the arrangement, this is unexpected and rather lovely. What is right up front is the vocals and these are rather wonderful, it’s simply sung but there are some glorious harmonies in there.

The other thing is that on repeated listening and focusing in on the track, you find yes it’s a big synth based pop track but it’s full of space, it’s not sparse but it has a huge sense of space. It was that finally made me decide to do a review.

But when it comes down to it, the thing that makes this song work, that makes it good (if you will) is that this thing has a tune to die for, a tune that after you’ve listened to it only once it will sit there in your head. The other thing is that is while it starts off sounding all a bit – and I’m sure the band aren’t going to thank me for this – like a Take That track, it’s that it builds, layers of sound are added, drums come in. It has something quite epic to it.

And for those of you dismissing this as pop music, there’s nothing wrong with good pop music and this is great pop.

A little while ago in a review of Artio’s ‘Blood Brother’ I said that I’d heard two things I’d surprised myself in loving, ‘Burn’ is the other song I hinted at.

While on the surface ‘Burn’ may sound like a synth driven big slowish in places pop song, this is only half (or even less than half) the story. For this has a lot more going for it that just being a – albeit alternative – pop track. This thing is just huge, it has big big sounding sections and then these almost theatrical, and certainly dramatic, sections. It’s weirdly ambient in places. It’s quirky and strange. It sounds almost retro but not retro and way up to date, all at the same time.

And I’m going to devote a whole paragraph to the vocals, for the vocals are the thing that drew me to this. They soar in places in this huge way, sometimes full of drama and then they can be almost conversational. And yes, you hear hints of Florence and The Machine in those vocals but I also caught hints of Kate Bush. And also they remind me of weird strange European alternative music that I’ve heard in the past. They have a power that is compelling.

And these fantastically wonderful vocals sing a story. Leonie Sloots (Vocalist + guitar) says “Burn is almost an anniversary track, commemorating the end of a friendship and the emotional ups and downs this brings. It’s my side of a story that used to have 2 people involved, then 3, then only 1”. And this story is conveyed brilliantly not only by the vocals, but the music. This starts simply and ambiently while Leonie sings, and then it bursts into soaring pulsing life, only to drop down into something quiet, and then into something huge, only to slow down again. It’s a journey, an emotional journey. And, yes, there are synths but there are guitars, actually quite lovely guitar. There are drums (that sound like real drums, but who knows) that drive those big pulsing huge sections.

To describe this a pop seems to be inadequate, because it’s so well written and arranged, but perhaps it could be described as pop, new classic pop, where pop is lavished with care and attention. And while when I think of classic pop I think of bands from my ‘youth’ like ABC, this has that level of care and craft, so perhaps it’s classic pop of today. However you choose to describe it, to try and put it into one of those all so ‘useful’ niches, this is one wonderful powerful song.

The info

Netherlands-born, Sheffield-based LIO has taken the stage supporting acts such as Estrons, Stevie Parker, Skinny Pelembe, Slow Club, Our Girl, Orchards and While She Sleeps. In May 2018 LIO launched as a full band, further building their eclectic sound compared to the likes of Florence and the Machine and Daughter. They have quickly gathered momentum through multiple festival appearances (Outlines, Tramlines, Y Not Festival), radio play (Amazing Radio, BBC Introducing Sheffield, Sheffield Live, Jelli Records Music Show) and their O2 Academy Sheffield debut supporting King No-One.

LIO’s music has been championed by a rapidly growing list of music industry professionals including BBC Introducing Sheffield, Higher Rhythm, PRS Foundation and The Unsigned Guide. Combined with winning free studio-time at Steel City Studio to record their debut EP and a number of shows to be announced, 2019 is set to be an exciting year for this 4-piece.

https://www.facebook.com/liomusicofficial/
https://www.liomusicofficial.com

Northern Quarter was already packed as I made my way into the venue. For a Tuesday, and a Tuesday after a Bank Holiday, this is amazing. Jack (of Persian Rug Sale) greeted me virtually at the door, and was clearly somewhat slightly amazed and completely stoked by the turnout. The buzz, the vibe in the room was incredible.

After reviewing Persian Rug Sale’s debut single ‘Left Behind’ I was looking forward to seeing them play. And incidentally seeing, and reviewing releases from, Jack’s previous band Dead Fairy.

Word to the wise, there will be gushing, there will be frankly over the top words, but first to the support bands.

Two Pound – who I know virtually nothing about beyond the fact that given the support they got they must be locally based – opened with two kinda languid blusey songs that were vaguely plaintive. This was good, in fact it was more than good. The thing is that the third song didn’t sound like that at all. My notes say ‘ And then quite what the fuck, it’s this Brel-ish thing – it’s all kind of vaguely Sensational Alex Harvey Band and it is fantastic. All off-kilter with an audience participation wail at the end’.

This threw me completely in a very good way. I think I’d got that they just do stuff they like and the hell with any sort of fixed genre by then, so the next song in a punky riotous way about not having change for homeless people didn’t throw me at all. The fact that it was shorter than the time it took me to write the notes about it, did!

The thing about a band like Two Pound is that while the playing is fantastic, this approach – ‘we’re just going to write songs in any damn style we want to’ – could be taken as somewhat of a novelty, and this left me – with my reviewer head on – somewhat confused. The music fan head just said ‘get a grip Frank, this is a riot of a set, it’s brilliantly played and it makes me smile, do you need anything more’. My music fan head is right.

It’s the second time I’ve caught Halifax’s Calina – the first was as one of the supports to Smokey Brights at The Parish some time back. I was impressed then but they seem to have progressed. It may be that the sound in Northern Quarter was better (and the sound in Northern Quarter is so so good) or that the band are just better, or very probably both.

Seeing a band again gives you the opportunity to really focus in, and my impressions from the first time I saw them were confirmed. They rock, they rock in an alt-rock way big time but their songs have tunes to die for. The dual guitars intertwine in the most wonderful way and the drums and bass are just right. But the thing that makes the songs is the vocals, the vocals are huge people.

In fact everything about them seems bigger, the guitars are rawer and more rocky, the bass is just huge. The songs have that epic anthemic thing going for them.

The other thing is that their set has changed, some songs have been dropped and new songs introduced – notably their single ‘Expectations’, and a song so new it’s the first time they’ve performed it. Their cover of ‘Feeling Good’ is shifted to the first half of their set. This to be honest somewhat confused me, it’s a bloody huge thing, but this becomes clear because they end their set with a cover of Kasabian’s ‘Fire’. The place went wild.

If Calina are playing round your way, do go and see them, I think they could get big.

And now to Persian Rug Sale. I can think of no other way to describe this than to reproduce my notes.

‘Oh bloody fucking hell this is crazy, crazy to the point of Fudge-ness (I shall explain) and this is in the small space of NQ. Jack is possessed, completely possessed. He rants, he jumps, he twists.

And the words, the words are completely fucking fantastic, while the band just roars and the crowd go ape-shit’

And this dear reader is just the opening two songs.

Fudge-ness by the way is a term I have used (mainly to myself, this is the first time I’ve used it in a review) to describe those gigs that are way more than just gigs, that are an experience, a shared experience between the band and the crowd. Where the crowd are up to go for it, and the band say ‘let’s do this thing together, let’s lose our shit’, and they both do right from the start.

Persian Rug Sale do, in a broad sense for each song has very much an individual identity, either punky fast songs or rather slower songs that sound – and I’m not sure that Jack is going to like this but it was hot and hectic in NQ that night and my notes got a little wild – songs that sound like a rawer punky Streets. Jack does this thing, this kinda punky spitting rap.

The songs cover relationships, people who need to take it slow, and the far right, all in Jack’s rather unique way. His words are witty, they are laugh out loud funny, and they can rather moving in a strange way.

The crowd got wilder and wilder, there was stage diving, there were people on other people’s shoulders. And Jack got wilder, he struck dramatic poses, he stretched out into the crowd, and boy did the crowd reach out out to him. At times he seemed somewhat slightly overwhelmed by the crowd’s reactions but Jack is a performer, a totally compelling performer, and he just carried on. The crowd were just fixed on him.

This is something I noticed the first time I ever saw him play with Dead Fairy at an almost empty Parish kicking off Oxjam. I said to myself ‘that guy is going to be huge some day soon’. He played bass then as well as singing, in Persian Rug Sale he’s just doing vocals and if anything as a front-person he’s better, way better.

I really liked Dead Fairy but I love Persian Rug Sale, I love what they do, I love the songs, I love the playing which is just so so so good, I loved the experience of seeing them live. And now, people, is the time to get into them, so you can say ‘oh I’ve been going to see those guys for ages, where have you been’. This is a band who ought to be playing bigger venues, what they do is big enough for that, it’s more than big enough for that. And the more people the wilder it’s going to be. Go see this band people, see them as soon as you can.

All photos on this page © Frank Roper Photography