There are times when I get a release submitted for review when I am completely enchanted by it in seconds. This release from Dirty Freud did that. All the more surprising is that it has a sound that I’m not that keen on generally; a sound I like to call atmospheric organic electronica.

‘Fly Girl’ is atmospheric because the sounds are not about driving a beat but about the making of a soundscape in which the song is performed. There are delicate layers of synth that float in a vast space, a sparse beat track. And then there are layer upon layer of vocals that mesmerise. The sound is somehow primaeval with hints of African and Asian sounds and beats. And it’s organic because although the music is made electronically, it has the sound of a group of musicians.

And over, in between and in this soundscape lies a vocal that is eerie, beguiling and mysterious. A voice that is not just singing; this is a performance of the sound. It sounds, if I am forced to say, a little like Kate Bush.

This is utterly beautiful. It’s musical food for the soul.

The info

‘Fly Girl’ is taken from the forthcoming EP ‘Meet Me In The Real’; out 20th May via KEEP IT DIRTY & Manchester Jazz Festival.

Dirty Freud is the pseudonym of ambitious electronic live & recording artist Danni Skerritt, who has forged his own way with his trademark, uncompromising brand of Electronica and Jazz. Hailing from London, the DJ has found success since relocating to the North of England, collaborating with musicians across the country involving a revolving cast of characters and collaborators into the world of Dirty Freud. Having steadily built a reputation on the live scene through a string of energetic performances across the UK, Danni has taken to the stage at Glastonbury, All Points East, Citadel, Boomtown, Beatherder, with shows globally in Germany, Croatia, France and more.

The thing I really like about Cliché Cult is that you never quite know what you’re going to hear when you click play. And they’ve done it again.

‘Plastic World’ kinda fits an Indie thing, even a big indie rock thing. You know what I’m talking about here; big soaring choruses, big tunes and urgent guitars. But wait there’s something else going on; a big huge dose of Britpop. Yep they’ve gone and made their own unique mix of Indie and the Britpop-tastic sound of Suede. It’s there in the lead vocals, it’s there in the ringing guitars in the sonic spaces.

The playing on this track is great, different feels and textures flow through this song seemingly without effort. Lead and backing vocals are faultless.

And let me tell you, it’s a bloody joy, it’s huge. This is a track that soars. It’s emotionally engaging. It’s both a ‘throw yourself around the room with wild abandon’ track and a track that you can sit and appreciate the subtleties with equal enjoyment.

Bloody hell, Cliché Cult have gone and done it again with ‘Plastic World’. This is fantastic.

Klammer are a post-punk band. Before you make all sorts of assumptions about what a West Yorkshire post-punk band will sound like, because you probably will be wrong, I’ll give you an idea of what they sound like.

So yes they can sound like you might have assumed; that’s old style swirling Goth. But when I say post-punk I mean everything that came after punk – angular funk, rich classic pop, electronica (although they don’t have a synth player). And their sound comes with what I’m going to call a pop sensibility; their songs have catchy tunes, a sense of arch style.

To put things into context, because there’s an arc that travels through this album, the band say “Maybe things were better on ‘The Day Before Yesterday’ or maybe worse? Are we allowed to be looking backwards or do we have to follow the trend and only live in the now?”. This, to my mind, mirrors the contradictory Britain we live in; on the one hand we are all rushing to keep up with the new, but on the other harking back to the supposedly ‘better’ past.

Opening track ‘Pass The Test’ in the band’s words ‘Betterment through application. Globalisation. Intellectual appropriation. Maybe it’s about China or maybe it’s people plotting in Weimar Germany? Some of the song is in black and white and some is in grainy technicolour but not in hi-definition’. Is at the same time dark but has this edge of brightness. It sounds a bit like the Cult in full on whirling swirling sound mode. Lyrically it’s dark, very dark, but hey, fuck it, let’s dance our arses off before it’s all late.

‘I Really Really Want To Believe’ addresses something we know and live with in a political sense ‘Tell the truth, don’t tell lies just to make things seem OK and things will be better! It’s a difficult thing to do but, in the long run, it really is the best way. Sitting on a pile of lies can only be a short term solution and the higher the pile then the harder the fall’. Theses that sense of desperation to twist your world view as lie upon lie piles up. But this can be interpreted in an ‘our lives’ kind of way; you can take your choice. Musically it takes that post-punk sound angular. There’s an anxious edge to the sound of this.

‘Progress (Or The Lack Of)’ – ‘When will we EVER learn? It’s a song about the need to change our ways and face the facts. It’s a time for running away if we don’t. It’s a time to be angry with our leaders’. An overtly political song that has universal and timeless meaning. It’s angry sounding; punk, that angular post-punk nagging guitar. In a word, powerful

Next up is ‘Broken Dreams (In A Crashing Car)’ takes the sound of those angry guitars and the feel of electronica. A bass pulse that drives. And while rooted in rock, it mixes the two forms to make something beautiful and haunting. What’s it about ‘The recurring dream turns to a nightmare that always wakes you with a jolt! It’s all about anxiety, it’s all about frustration and longing. It’s about wanting to do better and the fear of failing. It’s about wanting to be in charge of your own destiny’. The sound of anxiety runs through this track. Form follows function.

Oh my word ‘While You Sleep’ is absolutely magnificent. The sounds of post-punk, classic pop and classical are melded into something huge. And over this the vocal is sung as a declaration, a speech.

The subject of ‘the Blind Leading The Blind’ – ‘Don’t believe everything that you’re told in the modern world! Modern media in a modern world. It leaves some people behind and can lead some people into a deep dark hole’. Is a dark warning, told in words that are venomous. Although thi song has the power of a big post-punk track, it comes with punk power and feel and a rather earwormy tune.

Whether it is meant as a brief respite from the darkness ‘the Insider’ – ‘A quick history of the rise and fall of a Glam Rocker’ – is a riot, 3½ minutes of dance yourself into the ground post-punk rock.

The album takes a turn to the big classic 80s’ pop with the intro of ‘a New Direction’
The story of an artistic type seeking a life change and a new love but frustrated by an inability to express feelings, until the catalyst is found and the new direction is found and followed with glorious optimism. It does the quiet/loud thing; glorious melodic sections followed by revved up pure angular shards of glass guitar. And yes, it’s guitar music but the feel of post-punk electronica runs this.

‘Oblivion’ is about ‘An immortal who, for millennia, has ruthlessly destroyed lives and influenced history for his own gain’. Surprisingly this song has a kind of high energy alt-rock feel. This is HEAVY, you get me.

‘I Wish I Could Bring You Back’ is heavy in a different way, an emotional way. A sense of loss, grief, desperate need is written hard into this song. It tears at your soul, it reaches in and grabs your heart. The power, the emotion, is in the vocal. Incredible.

Pain is writ large in ‘Heartworm’; a song about ‘The death and termination of a soured relationship. Disease has infiltrated the system and is wrecking havoc, causing misery and anger. It’s destroyed the love and needs to be removed by any means!’. Wonderful words, wonderful music.

A creeping, crawling and menacing track ‘Limbic Pastime’ – ‘A description of a life lived in pain with no real hope of improvement. Illness can be mentally a real killer’. Sonically it’s a big sky sound; the space in this track is fantastic. Guitars stab, guitars rumble

Closing song ‘Alone’ is ‘the story of two brothers. The first brother stays in the countryside where they were born while his sibling insists on taking his chance in the Big City. The brother in the countryside sees his sibling return as a broken man, devastated and broken by city life and the unfriendly ways of city people’. This might be described as a big Goth song; big choruses, dark verses. This really has to be heard.

Klammer are a band who are always progressing; adding new sonic twists to their songs, while at the same time being rooted in the original post-punk sounds. Not for them is the slavish adherence to ‘the rules of post-punk songwriting’. And great playing and vocals are guaranteed. I have a particular thing about Klammer’s singer as he brings a particular and unique archness to his vocals.

This is an album that melds the general with the personal. It really is ‘a game of two halves’. The first is taking a worldview, the second feels intensely personal. Using words, that deserve your close attention, the songs travel from the worries of the world we live in to the worries, anxiety and pain of the personal.

Somehow with the songs on this album Klammer have managed to make the dark and moody sounds, the dark lyrics into something surprisingly catchy and uplifting. Many of the songs are the very epitome of post-punk floorfillers, and others have an extreme and mesmerising beauty. This album is astounding.

The info

Hailing from Leeds, Klammer draws from the members’ shared love for all things angular, dark, loud and melodic. Previously described as the love child of XTC and Gang Of Four, Klammer offer an enticing contemporary twist on the post-punk attitude, blending elements of goth rock, punk rock and dark wave, all with dark pop sensibilities. You’ll find plenty of hooks and a dark and edgy broodiness coursing through their sound.

Formed by UK Producer Steve Whitfield (The Cure/The Mission/Jane Weaver) in 2014, they have already released 3 albums to great critical acclaim, with last years ‘You Have Been Processed’ receiving fantastic reviews across the board. The singles ‘Modern God’ and ‘Spiral Girl’ both from the album, received airplay on 6 Music.

POSS (Vocals/Guitar)
STEVE WHITFIELD (Guitars/Vocals)
MIKE ADDY (Bass)
BRUNO DE ALMEIDA (Drums)

https://www.klammer.co.uk

Well, this is unexpected, so unexpected I needed to check I was actually listening to the right thing. Supermarket Police, as you may or not know, do raucous punk-tinged indie. This isn’t that. What it is is either a big indie, slightly punk-ish ballad or a raw gargey version of alt-rock. It does the quiet loud thing. Maybe I’ll mix those up and describe it as punky alt/indie rock.

At first it comes across a bit like a punk pathetique slow number – all loose guitar and a vocal that kinda delightfully crawls out of your speakers. But then it revs up the guitars to 11. And because it does the quiet loud thing repeat until the final build.

This sounds like I’m a bit on the fence about this track and I’m not, it’s fantastically fabulous. From the throbbing bass pulse intro to the squealing guitar end. And it has great words that speak of real life, and have a particularly Leeds’ charm about them.

It sounds, and this is important, like it’s been recorded as an end of rehearsal demo; it’s not been cleaned up or over-produced; it’s real. Yet still things shine through; the rather wonderful vocals, the lead guitar. It sounds a bit like a rawer Arctic Monkeys’ slow song.

And because of the great words, the vocal delivery and the raw sound there’s a real emotional feel to the track that grabs you, it charms you completely. This is one of my favourite releases this year; make it yours.

As you might know I love a song with a great tune and is played by a band who know what they’re doing. And here we have a whole album of songs that fit that description from York’s One Iota.

Album opener ‘Your Arm In Mine’ sets out One Iota’s stall (so to speak). It’s a toe tapping 60s’ pop song with a Mersey Beat feel. I say toe tapping but it’s a danceable thing to be sure. But hey listen a little closer and there’s some great guitar work going on here.

Up next is ‘Summer Daze’ which I reviewed when it was released as a single. Here’s the lowdown. I’d be the first to admit that this is nothing cutting edge, It’s not going to test out your ears in weird ways; it’s a fab slice of 60s/70s influenced pop. But there isn’t anything wrong with that, great pop is hard to do. And examine it a little closer and you’ll hear some fine vocals, a fantastically tasteful 70s pop guitar break. And you can hear and feel the sunny days; the hope of Summer.

‘Raise A Glass’ shifts the gears. You still get that ‘great song played really well’ feel but it’s more of now. I’m not saying there’s not a retro influence there but it’s set in an of now approach. You get a great acoustic start, lyrics that immediately say ‘singalong right now’, a great big chorus. Lovely stuff.

We’re back to that pop with a Merseybeat feel with ‘One Thing Is Certain’. This is all about the vocals; lead and backing. Oh and the huge chorus and guitar break.

Given what’s come before ‘Stories’ sees the band take a sharp left. It’s a kind of country influenced Rock’n’Roll number. The sort of thing I seem to recall from the 70s’ Rock’n’Roll revival thing. There’s some sharp guitar here, a driving rhythm and a lyric that supplies smiles aplenty.

I’d like to describe ‘One In A Million’ as sounding a bit like a 70s’ Country influenced pop song. Yep, let’s stick with that. Catchy tune and words. ‘If I Were You’ is a Merseybeat slow number.

‘Another Day’ surprises. This late 60s’ pop, slightly psychedelic with a rock edge. Big on harmonies, some heavy spiky guitar. Glorious stuff. We seem to be in a section of surprises ‘’Never Let A Fool Kiss You’ is a one of those rock arty take-offs of 20s’ music. Think ‘Seaside Rendezvous’ or ‘Good Company’ from Queen’s ‘Night At The Opera’;

‘In Spite Of It All’ is a big piano ballad number. Somehow this managed to worm it’s way into my head as I heard it for the first time. It is a lovely song played with feeling, great vocals. And a guitar break that amazes.

Boy is this band versatile, ‘Harlequin’ kinda has the feel of a Crosby, Stills and Nash song. It’s all about the vocal harmonies, the sparse instrumentation. Very definitely an album highlight for me.

How to describe ‘Tidal Waves’, perhaps a late 60s’ psychedelic pop song. That sitar like guitar, great harmonies, a suitable mystic lyric. Throw in the sonic effects, and we have a song that shows those other bands who try and do this how it should be done.

A great return to that slow Mersybeat feel with ‘The Other Side’. Closing the album. ‘Be The One’ is clever. It features a drum that is way up front adding something special. It’s a great timeless song.

This is, for me at least, an album of ups and small downs. There are some great songs with truly inventive musical ideas done brilliantly, and some songs that sit in the musical genre of retro revival. I’m not saying these aren’t done really well, they are, but they don’t catch my attention as much as the others. And being honest some of those more retro songs I love and adore.

Overall it’s more an album from a band who are making brilliantly put together, fabulously played and written songs. The songs come with a retro feel but that’s neither a good or bad thing given the musical skills on show, and that the retro influences are used in really wonderful ways mixing them with influences of now.

You can buy the CD here: https://oneiota.uk/shop/more-than-you-take-cd-album/ And it’ll be available on streaming services soon