News that two former members of Vukovar had started something new came as a surprise, basically because I had no idea that Dan and Buddy had left Vukovar.

Naming themselves, and I may be guilty of reading way too much into this, after ABC’s second harder more guitar orientated album, may or may not say something about what they do. I may of course be totally wrong about identifying the fact that there is any connection between their name and the name of ABC’s second album, it’s just that this is how my head works.

I was also, of course, intrigued to know whether there were any elements of their sound that had any kind of hint of Vukovar.

The lead track ‘O Eden’ snaps every thing into focus, for it’s a lush piece of synth music that has echoes of all sorts of 80s’ classic synth bands – Human League (the pre-’Dare’ period, Heaven 17, Soft Cell – and yes, hints of lush period ABC. And yes, there are some elements of that in some of Vukovar’s music.

Now usually I would almost immediately be labelling this as Classic Pop – that 80s’ hugely and slickly produced pop music with depth. But I hesitate to do this with ‘O Eden’, for this is a track with some high degree of depth, and it has these little touches that stop me from doing that. This is a beautiful track that is huge and epic. It’s not just huge soundwise but in length for this is almost 5 ½ minutes long. Something that gives you time to immerse yourself fully in the beauty.

‘Clothes’ is a different thing, a sinister creeping thing that has me thinking of Sisters of Mercy. For it has that Gothic clanging, guitar stabbing thing. It pounds away, getting deep under your skin. And it has the strangest lyrics, I’ll leave you to discover those yourself. It is really dance-y, in that post-punk kind of way.

And suddenly we are in mutant surf territory, ‘Need You Around’ is a slow dreamy song with those surf-y guitars. It’s lovely, that’s all you need to know. It’s moving and strangely emotional. And it has one of the nicest synth sounds I’ve heard in a long time – it sounds like a small church organ.

This is loveliest collection of beautiful songs I’ve heard in a long time. I love that there’s variety, I love that Beauty Stab have clearly spent time crafting the songs and how they sound. I’m looking forward to their next release.

The info

Beauty Stab are a sleaze-clad duo from the bleak industrial towns of North-West, England. Formed in 2018 by the former Vukovar angels Dan Shea & Buddy Preston, the two merged their ideas and talents together to form an Italo-disco, Glam and Northern Soul nirvana.

The duo’s first single ‘O Eden’ came out on the Hong Kong/Australian label Metal Postcard Records early 2019, prepared with two B-sides – ‘Clothes’ and ‘Need you Around’.

‘O Eden’ is the first release by Beauty Stab before their planned EP coming in Spring/Summer.

Armed with machines and obsolete devices, Buddy & Dan aim to take stages in electronic translation across the North West for faces, acquaintances old and new.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beautystabbb
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/beautystab_

It felt like a special night at The Parish, there was buzz in the crowded room, for two local bands are co-headlining. Courtyards I had caught before at Oxfam Huddersfield – playing what I now know to be a very subdued set – an age ago but I’ve only heard about Mahatma Raindrop from various people who basically said ‘see them Frank, they’re fantastic’. Be forewarned this review contains gushing.

I failed – for various reasons way too complicated to go into here – to follow ‘Frank’s first rule’ of gig reviewing and missed the first band on the bill. This is bad, sorry guys.

So first up for me was St Buryan. My notes – scribbled as always during their set – say ‘It’s kind of a big joyous indie thing, something I have have recently come to appreciate (OK so this is late in the day, but that’s how it is). It’s on the poppier side with tunes to die for’. Writing this review a couple of days after the gig, I haven’t changed my mind on that.

The crucial thing, I guess, is whether St Buryan bring something I haven’t heard before from bands you could lump together in that indie pop genre. So there are the tunes I’ve mentioned before but there are ‘soaring harmonies’, the striking use of guitar in ‘sounds more like a keyboard’ mode and a rather fab lead vocal.

I’m trying to be objective here, you understand that? I can get that it’s good, it’s better than good but by the third song, I wasn’t that grabbed. The fourth song changed that – it’s, as my notes say, ‘a tuneful thing, a dancey poppy indie thing that just drives along, that has my feet tapping’. Maybe my earlier opinion was just waiting to be changed. This track ends with some glorious interweaving vocals. From this point on my mind was changing, I was getting grabbed.

Their next track is a rockier thing with great guitar and kinda funkier sections. It was with the next song that I was grabbed completely. This is a slow starting number with some subtle clever guitar that builds into this poppy toe-tapping, foot stamping thing, and explodes into something way funky.

As is so often the case, I wish that I could have rewound their set and listen to it again having got an appreciation of what they do. If you’re into indie-pop then catch St Buryan if they play near you.

As Courtyards got ready to play, the venue got fuller, it got way fuller, it felt like something special was about to happen. The Parish is filled with people who know the songs, it’s a party people.

As I said in my review of their latest single – Colours’ – ‘indie does really come in a huge range of flavours. Courtyards’ take is mostly bloody loud, it’s bloody raucous and dirty. It kinda edges into garage, it’s that raw’. The live experience is louder and more raucous.

Courtyards’ music is huge, bloody huge, it feels like they’re playing some gigantic venue, not the intimate surrounds of The Parish. It felt like they were playing to the whole of the centre of Huddersfield that night.

The playing – let’s get that out of the way – is fantastic, this is a band who know what they’re doing. And it’s a show, visually this band are compelling, you just can’t take your eyes off them. And every song is a big big soaring thing that just takes your full attention, fills you with a joy, a joy that you’re here to see and hear them.

At some point in their set, look I was basically transfixed, the crowd was way too dense to take detailed notes, they cover ‘Firestarter’. Covers are risky, even when you bill it as a tribute, but it’s banging people. The latest single – ‘Colours’ – is louder, more raw than the recorded version and it’s a joy.

Towards the end Matt – their singer – plunges into the crowd. This is something I sometimes find ‘a bit contrived’ but that night it felt right, an acknowledgement that without the crowd their set wouldn’t have been that good.

I see a lot of live music, very seldom do I see a band or artist play that makes me want to stop reviewing and be part of the gig. Reviewing takes some detachment. I lost that detachment with Courtyards that night. The songs, the playing, the visuals are bloody incredible. See Courtyards, see Courtyards even if you say you don’t like indie rock, it’s an experience people.

The crowd kinda changes, different people filter to the front, it is to be honest somewhat less crowded than for Courtyards. This is a pity, come on people stick around for all the bands.

So the problem is how do you follow a set like that from Courtyards? Mahatma Raindrop do that by playing louder, way louder at least for their opener. Their second song is a lighter more indie rock thing with some hints of the Arctic Monkeys.

Coming down from Courtyards’ set this left me somewhat slightly confused. The band’s thing is alternative rock with an indie edge or indie with an alternative rock edge. It does that alt-rock quiet loud thing but with the quieter sections sounding indie. It sounds rather strange to go from this groove-y thing into something loud and raucous. It took me some time to get this, it may sound like it doesn’t work, but you’d be wrong, you’d be way wrong.

But not everything they do is like this, sometimes it’s really straight indie rock. OK so it’s on the loud side and has what I described as ‘screechy guitar solos’, but there’s nothing wrong with that at all.

Mahatma Raindrop play covers – they cover ‘Does Your Mother Know’, yes really! And ‘Gotta Get Through This’. And make them their own. It’s kinda inspired, and way fun.

It took me some time but I gradually got into what they do, by the end I was fully engaged. Mahatma Raindrop are a band I’d like to see again.

All photos © Frank Roper Photography

Since I reviewed the Hypnosister EP some time ago I’ve been itching to see him live (OK so this might be slightly complicated Hypnosister is Damian Hughes, it’s not a band, I’m going to sticking with him for this review). For various reasons I’ve been unable to see him play before, so news that he was playing a venue local to me was joyful news.

The Parish midweek is a bit of a lottery, sometimes it’s full, sometimes not. Unfortunately that night was one of those where people came and went supporting whoever on the bill they liked. Along with ‘always turn up to see support bands’, ‘once you’re there, stay for all of the acts’ is a hard and fast rule for me whether I’m reviewing or not. After all you might get to see and hear something new and great. Rant over.

Opening the night Vallance started off sounding more like an ‘on the heavy side’ alternative rock band rather than the ‘indie rock band’ they describe themselves as. The opening track is heavy on the bass and bloody loud. The guitar is, as my notes say, ‘pretty screechy’, which is cool I like a screechy guitar.

Their second song ‘Contingency’ was the first indication that Vallance are no one sound pony. It’s basically a groovy funky indie rock thing. It was at this point I really sat up and took notice. Vallance were shaping up to be good thing. Third track in, and more variety, they hit us with a slower melodic track about the importance of sleep. This really stood out for me – the music really matched the subject, the guitar was just sleepy sounding. My notes say ‘epic’ and yep I’m not changing my mind on that.

Vallance are a local band so I’m hoping they’re going to be playing near-ish again soon, I was really impressed. It’s the variety in their songs, the quality of the playing. Well worth catching if they’re down your way.

Orca, my notes say ‘sound like a cross between Radiohead and some sort of mutant surf’, granted I was scrabbling for a way of describing them in the first two tracks they played. This may sound rather strange but the result is moody and emotional. My notes also say ‘they are kinda jangly, slightly psychy in a psychedelic sort of way, with hints of Spirit’. I think I meant that they do slow and wandering – it’s sometimes quiet and sparse with builds to noisy. Whether this helps you understand what they sound like I’m not too sure. The band themselves describe their sound as ‘moody rock’.

They opened with an instrumental called ‘Intro’. Now starting with an instrumental is a slightly risky thing to be honest but in this case it was compelling, Intricate guitar lines weave, melodies catch your attention, and the build is lovely.

The first song proper is a creeping sounding thing with points where it just explodes into something huge. Already captivated by the opening track, this was a wonderful thing. The thing about this track was the freakout-ness with seemingly random basslines, lovely. So cool.

At this point during their set I did ‘the bad reviewer thing’ and just let their set wash over me, and let it take me. Orca are way way cool people. If you like your music moody, inventive and immersive check them out.

I was, if I’m honest, slightly worried that Hypnosister live would be a strange thing. The recorded material is incredibly dense and layered. I needn’t have worried. With the aid of what I’m going to call magic Damian produces something close or basically the same live as on the recorded stuff, it’s impressive. What the magic doesn’t do is make the songs rigid, it all sounds organic.

It was an impressive performance, Damian just belts out wonderful song after wonderful song, to what was unfortunately a small crowd. With that – as my notes rather poetically say – stun-gun guitar of his thrilling our ears.

The thing about his songs is that there are tunes, tunes that are oh-so earwormy. The fact that he balances the space-rocky elements with the tunes is so cool. I found myself singing the songs – hopefully to myself – as he played.

There were moments where – and it’s no secret that he’s a fan of Cardiacs – I just broke out in the biggest grin as I heard the vocal influences of a certain Mr Tim Smith in Damian’s voice and that certain Cardiacs’ thing in some of the arrangements. It’s not a copy but it’s there if you know, OK.

The biggest surprise was a song that he played with just his guitar – a plaintive thing about ‘his mother’s new boyfriend’. This has the biggest twist in the tale. It’s incredibly sad and moving.

It’s all fantastically captivating and compelling. My first live experience of Hypnosister will not be my last.

All photos © Frank Roper Photography

It’s been a while since FloodHounds’ last release, so an email from the band asking whether we could review the new single led to an immediate ‘yep course we could’.

‘Stepping Stone’ is a stomping thing, that trademark bluesy thing that FloodHounds do is still there but there’s something else. Something that took me listening to it a few times before I was able to put my finger on it. There’s more of an indie thing – an old-style indie thing – going on with ‘Stepping Stone’. It’s in Jack’s vocals and the song structure, it’s not in that stomping bluesy riff. There’s other stuff but it’s in the feel, it’s not something I can say ‘well, it’s that and then that’.

This may sound like something that isn’t going to work but it does, it does because FloodHounds know how to write and put together a song, because they can play incredibly well, because they just can, and because I say so.

And once you’ve got past that – and that may take you a couple of listens, it didn’t for me but your mileage may vary – the track rocks, there are hints of a swampy blues-rock thing going on in there as well. In fact the start had me thinking ‘oh boy, FloodHounds have gone all old style blues rock’, that doesn’t last but somehow the contrast between the heavier bits and the lighter bits just makes this song. That and the fantastic drop out section with gentle guitar that gradually revs back up to something huge.

I’m going to have to resort to that reviewer cliché – FloodHounds do it again. This a joyful thing that will you shaking your thang in seconds.

News of a new DENSE single filled me with a huge amount of happiness, I love what they do, that – and please forgive me – dense and fuzzy thing. ‘Displaced Face’ doesn’t disappoint, it’s full of lovely lovely strange sounds and fuzz to the max with a rhythm that is so fast it almost falls apart, it doesn’t but that risk that it could is part of the thrill…

Add to that those wonderfully distorted vocals they do, and those bits where it all subsides before it revs back up to max, and you’re shaking with excitement by the time the track is barely 30 seconds in.

But, and I implore you to do this, listen more closely and you’ll find there’s an order in the chaos. The way the layers of sound work together. The changes in riff, the changes in guitar sounds, those wonderfully strange sounds that punctuate the track, the space in the more subdued sections. When that all comes together it’s a fuzzy raucous garage-y thing but the elements are really carefully put together.

‘Displaced Face’ reaches out and gradually draws you in the opening, and then once you are fully immersed it explodes people, and it keeps building. Those drums pound away, the guitars blast your ears, those vocals take to some strange place where monsters lurk, where danger is around every corner.

This is a beautiful thing, a fucking beautiful thing. A track that inhabits your head way past the point it finishes, and quietly, or not so quietly, sits there going ‘play me again, play me again much much much louder’, and you just can’t resist that.

The info

Psych-garage 3-piece DENSE have spent the last few months making their way around the North of England, bringing with them the thickest fuzz, intricate riffs and melodies and a raucous and chaotic live show to match.

The band very much ooze the essence of DIY, further evident through the peculiar recording process the group undertook. Each instrument was recorded in a different location, from a small drum studio to a dark and dingy basement in the bottom of a student home, and the tracks surround you in this atmosphere from the first to last second of the record.

DENSE have been very active in recent months, throwing their heavy bag of fuzz in the boot and heading around the country, onto every and any stage possible. Having performed with the likes of UK champions Avalanche Party, LA wizards Prettiest Eyes and French space-heads Slift in various venues across and cities, these young aspiring rockers show no signs of slowing down as they put their foot down, aiming head on into the global garage and psych scenes.

DENSE are

Charlie Fossick – Guitar/Vocals
Dylan Metcalf – Bass
Sam Heffer – Drums

Upcoming dates

25th April – Mabgate Bleach, Leeds