I’ve reviewed a couple of releases from Bad Love and I’ve been converted to their brand of indie-pop. This is no mean feat, indie-pop can leave me cold, for me to really like it, it needs to be something special, and Bad Love do that.
‘Cashmere Tears’ comes with Bad Love’s usual ear for a great tune. I said in a previous review that you could strip the song down to voice and guitar or simple keyboards; and this song has that. On top of this wonderful tune we get some deceptively complex layering of sounds – I say deceptively because it’s layers of simple sounds. Keyboards, vocals, the rhythm track. All you have to do is to check out those seamless breakdowns.
And on top of that, and sometimes within it, we get a simple clear soaring vocal singing good words. Words that have something of a sadness to them, just an edge but it’s there. An edge of sadness that’s audible in the music.
What this adds up to – and while I feel kind of forced to break it down, you probably don’t do that, you just listen to the song – is a great pop song. A song – and I’ve said this before about Bad Love – that crosses over from indie-pop to synth pop and back again. So let’s just call it pop OK? It’s a great pop song and we all need a great pop song. A song you can dance to, or just sit and listen, it does both of those and that’s a cool thing.
This album was made during lockdown, that much is obvious from the title. But what won’t be obvious, unless you’ve been listening to his regular livestreams, is that each song was written in the week between livestream performances. With the song being debuted during a livestream.
For this album Tensheds has returned to his piano, in contrast to last album I reviewed ‘Deathrow Disco’ which featured organ. And yes there are other instruments, other sounds there, but they serve to help highlight the piano.
The opening track – ‘Ticking Clocks’ – has something of Bruce Springsteen about it. It’s a big big ballad with those big swells and dropouts. He sings of waiting for time to pass, of waiting for tomorrow. Something we can all relate to. And it has the feel of something that has always existed, hearing the song for the first time is like greeting an old musical friend. That feel and to a certain extent the topic is heard again in ‘The Bridge Song’ a sparse song musically but just as effective at tugging on your emotions.
‘Mirrors’ shifts between twinkling sounds and a huge chorus. His vocals go from whispering to huge and full of raw emotion. The beauty in its simple music and the vocals, the words is almost too much to bear. And look this changes – at times there is just quiet piano, and only that. The addition of simple synth just serves to emphasise quite how good a piano is at providing all a song needs. ‘Cotton Wool World’ as well as being a wonderful song is also an object lesson in how just by varying the volume of a piano you can create a whole world of emotion.
And now for a change of style; Hell Is In The Water’ is a more uptempo song built around a halting piano figure. In some ways it reminds me of Tom Waits – early Tom Waits that is. And then Tensheds breaks into jazz, and it’s a bloody joy.
It’s at this point that I’ve realised that the rest of the review will probably descend into a repetitive ‘this is beautiful’ and ‘this is wonderful’. And this is entirely true, the songs on this album are beautiful and wonderful.
And he continues to vary the style and feel ‘Into The Light’ has me somewhat in mind of Jim Steinmen, ‘The English Way’ has hints of country and strangely The Bonzo Dog Band.
‘Girl I’m Sorry’ has a richer feel musically – there is something I could swear is guitar. Look I appear to have drifted to a full track-by-track here but the thing is I love this song, and I’ve loved it since the first time I heard it. If ever there was a song deserves to be placed alongside some classic Meatloaf songs, this is it.
The problem with this album, and it’s a good problem, is that there isn’t one song that feels like filler. Every song has received his songwriting and musical skill and craft. Every song is musically absolutely brilliant. Tensheds’ vocals are just the right side of cracked – think Tom Waits, think Bruce Springsteen at his most emotional.
Every song tells a story or encapsulates an emotion; listening to the whole album is to go on an emotional journey, a journey full of beauty and wonder. Each song reminds us that the piano is such an effective and versatile instrument.
This album is a must, it’s something you must listen to. It’s an album to be cherished as a classic.
It’s March 22nd and Tensheds is performing his first ever live stream, having just cancelled a 42 date UK tour, when a fan challenges him to “write a new song and play it next week”. It was this moment that the acorn for this album was planted, and a series of weekly live streams was born.
One week later, and never one to shy away from a challenge, Tensheds performs the new song. He then wowed his online audience by announcing he’ll write and perform a new song every week throughout lockdown, and that these songs will form a brand new acoustic album called ‘The Days Of My Confinement’
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Fast forward ten weeks and Tensheds is premiering the entire album, as well as sharing his
birthday with his final live stream – which had know become affectionately known as the Punk Palace Sessions.
Talking about the album,
“Behind the large black studded Victorian door that separated me from the eerily empty streets, I immersed myself his this body of work. It became my whole world. Writing, performing and recording the songs all at the same time was intense. The challenge of creating a body of work that would reflect this historic moment in our lives, yet still be relevant beyond it was immense. ‘The Days Of My Confinement’ isn’t my story at all, it was never going to be. These songs were written during incredibly sad and difficult times and I want people to be able find themselves in this music”
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Recording the album in lockdown meant the multi-instrumentalist was isolated in his makeshift home studio, playing all the instruments as well as taking on the roll of producer and engineer – never have the words ‘solo album’ been more apt. It was only natural then, that such an album would become ‘A Celebration of the Piano’.
Drawing on his classical training gained from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music, Tensheds constructs intricate and elaborate Rachmaninoff inspired arrangements that showcase his virtuosic musical prowess. He builds layers of pianos to create thick luscious textures on tracks such as Ticking Clocks which then contract amazingly to the unnervingly bare songs like Cotton Wool World. There is nowhere to hide on this record, not that Tensheds needs to when you sit him behind a piano.
What adds to the uniqueness of this album is the fact that Tensheds shared the entire journey directly with his fans. From writing the songs through to recording, he opened the doors to the whole process; “I’ve always been quite private about everything, especially art in its un-polished form, and to be honest I wasn’t into the whole online vibe. However, once I embraced this and the ability to share everything directly with my fans, it was incredible. I was genuinely heartbroken when it all stopped”.
Once recorded, Tensheds handed over mixing duties to Jez Leather at the Dynamite Jet Saloon, going through the process of mixing via email and phone calls due to lockdown restrictions. Jez absolutely compliments Tensheds vision and brings this unique record to completion.
The Light Show describe themselves as an indie-punk band; I kinda get that but this reminds me more of that fast paced no-nonsense punk. Look it has something of a Buzzcocks thing going on; slightly more flash guitar, but that feel, you get?
It’s hard riffing, has vocals that do the basics in a really great way, great chanted backing vocals, moves at a speed that’ll have you throwing yourself around the room. But it has a tune that drills its way into your head and just won’t budge. It’s also the appropriate length lasting just over 2 minutes, but it packs so much fucking energy into that short period it’s a riot..
And yes, if you listen really really hard, there is a kind of indie rock thing there but it’s buried under that raging riff, that raw raucous guitar. It’s way more punk than indie.
This is just the ticket when you need that madness, that release, that riot of noise. Oh yeah, and it sounds way better the louder you turn it up..
The Light Show are an indie-punk band from Leeds. Their influences include bands like Jet, The Hives, The Strokes and The Subways, but their sound is uniquely their own. Their tunes tend to be energetic and riff-driven with relatable lyrics and catchy melodies.
I love Kath and The Kicks, they play kick-ass rock. Sometimes it’s kind of alt-rock, sometimes with a hint of blues, sometimes garage-y, sometimes metally, and sometimes grungy. ’Underground’ is kinda grungy at least at first. There is more, much more.
The thing about this track is that it builds downwards and then upwards, yep you read that correctly. It starts with a deep fuzzy pulse. The vocals come in, and they are great vocals, really great vocals. Look, the vocals on this rock. It then kinda gets post-punk in that Goth way. An Eastern rhythm develops. It’s all swirly, I can think of no other way to describe it. And then, oh boy, there’s another change; it goes softer rock, and then starts to build. Layers of sounds – vocals, guitar. Given that it’s an epic 5 minutes long this ending section could be described as a coda.
So that’s the description but this doesn’t tell you that this track takes you on a journey – from that grungy doomy start to the explosion into the light. And the words tell that story. And these are great words, Kath and The Kicks have great words in their songs.
And it doesn’t describe the feelings I had the first time I played it; I instantly became addicted to it, I fell for it hard.
The playing on this is so so cool – you’d expect that, the three of them are great musicians but this is something else. The guitar on this goes through so many changes – from hard riffing to oh-so gentle plucked strings to huge and soaring – and it’s all perfect. Rock solid drumming, a bass that just won’t give up.
It’s heavy, it’s grungy but it’s sophisticated and complex. It’s in the way it changes, it’s in the way the vocals sometimes weave around each other. It’s in the layers of guitar where there is always something new to hear. And for all that heaviness there is a tune. There is light and shade..
If you’ve never heard anything by the band – and you’ve been missing out if you haven’t – play this now. It’s just wonderful.
crush are one of those bands I’m rather happy I discovered while doing LSF. Their music makes me happy and leaves me with a smile or a grin on my face. And that is a good thing. They made dream poppy music with great guitar and wonderfully sweet as vocals. Read on to know why I said ‘made’ there.
So this is a cover of the Simple Minds song. A song that for me is forever connected to a night back in the mid 80s at Royal Holloway College. That night I went down there to see Tom Robinson play, and I may have overdone it (say no more). They played this song during the ‘disco’ (and they called it that) after his set, I may have gone a bit wild to it. There is much more, but let’s leave it there before I blush.
A good cover for me is when a band or artist takes the song, and does it their own way. As long as that way brings something new to the song. And in this case crush have done that. But they’ve also done something that has a new sound for them. So this is all good.
What the band have done is to play the song with a sound that kind of crosses what they do – there is still a hint of dreaminess there – with The Jesus and Mary Chain. Big fuzzy reverbed guitars, guitars that wobble (you know what I mean), sparse lo-fi drums, and topped off by Amber’s sweet vocals. The vocals are all echoey and have that mixed back thing going on. It’s darker and louder than their previous releases. And this sound is a hint of where the band are going – so something to look forward to there.
The great thing is that the original was huge and big sounding, and this is too, just in a different way. And you can still do that swaying dance to it that we used to back in the day to the original.
This track was recorded during lockdown with all the band recording their bits in their own bedrooms. Take a listen to it and tell me that you don’t believe it, I didn’t. Once you’ve experienced the song go back and take a closer listen. What you’ll hear is some rather fab playing – I have something of a thing about the bass, it underpins all of those layered guitars.
This is bloody fantastic. It’s totally addictive. It’s music that’s full of joy, music that you can dance to madly, music to lose your shit to. This, my friends, is how a cover should be done.
The info
Manchester based shoegaze 4 piece ‘crush’ latest offering is a reworking of 80s classic by Simple Minds ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’. It hints at an expansion into a darker territory musically for the band, a departure from the jangly dream pop they have been known for. The bright synths and sharp percussion of the original are here replaced by an overwhelming riot of screaming reverb drenched guitars and lo-fi drums. The track, while noisy and dark, remains faithful to those heavenly new wave vocal melodies, with lead vocalist Amber Warren cutting through the doom delivering the sweet vocal hooks that have become synonymous with the pop music of the 80s.
The band say: ‘this whole idea came about back in April at the height of lockdown, when we were absolutely fed up of not being able to make music together. We needed a way of retaining our musical sanity and thought a cover would be an interesting thing to play around with and the best way to make a song together while we were apart. Taking a tune everyone will know and be able to sing along to but completely changing the sonics and the dynamic and kicking it up a gear. We kept it nice and DIY, with all the instruments just being recorded in our respective bedrooms, and mixed it ourselves, with our go to wizard Jonny Hooker at Young Thugs then mastering. Lots of new crush songs have been written and demod as well, but with a massively different sound to our previous releases. We weren’t sure what to do with this cover but it ended up as a really nice pointer to where our sound is heading, so releasing it is like a nice little musical hint at what you can expect from us next.
Soup Review are Chris Delamere and Mario D’Agostino who are based in Sheffield. They play folk/ant-folk/alt-folk sounding songs with sometimes a touch of laugh out loudness, that are sometimes wry, and sometimes set out to tell stories of everyday folk. What they are not, and I’m going to take ownership of this opinion, is a comedy folk/anti-folk/alt-folk duo.
I’m going to admit that it took some time to come to the decision to review this album. I wasn’t at all sure about it at first, and it took going back several days later to change my mind. I’m guessing I just wasn’t in the mood for it at first. My helpful friend is still oscillating between ‘this is so so good’ and ‘I’m just not sure it works all the time’. But that’s OK there’s no compulsion to like an artist or even a release from an artist you generally like.
That said, let’s dive in.
The opening song ‘Hello World’ is about the loneliness of space and Twitter. It obviously owes something to Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ both lyrically and musically. When I say musically I don’t mean that it takes sounds from it but there is a rather distorted Stylophone sounding ‘break’. It appears to add in the existence of Twitter to the story of Major Tom who is obviously not as distanced or lonely as a result. I think I would describe this as both gently humorous and a comment on society. Musically it stills somewhere between folk, the acoustic songs of The Beatles and a slower acoustic version of early REM (a sound that reappears at times on the album).
‘Grauniad Angel’ is a rather jaunty song. The problem is that for the life of me I can’t work quite what the bloody thing is about. It’s obviously about something, it’s not just a random collection of words. Look I have two theories, one the song is about the subject of the song meeting a Guardian reader and having a relationship, or two that his empty life was made better by reading Guardian. Or it could not be either of those. Still it’s fun listening to it, over and over, trying to figure out the words.
A more mainstream folk sounding song ‘Intoxication Pact’ is about two brothers trying to get through a dreaded family dinner and more broadly on the topic of friends. And yes, while the words will have you smiling, there is a deeper message there, something more heartfelt and meaningful.
While the premise of ‘Gazza’ may be at first sound rather superficial; it’s about a father telling a son that Gazza won’t be going to the World Cup, it takes that as a starting point to explore deeper issues – the inability of men to show real emotion for one, only showing it over things that they may not consider to be that important. This makes it rather poignant. Musically it’s folk influenced but a richer more sophisticated sound. There’s great guitar. An album highlight for me.
And now we come to the song that I first heard from Soup Review – ‘Stars In Their Eyes on SSRIs’. I think this may be something that caused the uncertainty about whether I should review the album as a whole. This is what the band say the song is about – ‘Mental health battles are confronted fearlessly and with a humour only gained through experience. This track sees Soup Review present a mental health manifesto that combines pop star escapism with cognitive
behavioural therapy’.
This is quite a big thing to tackle in a song that actually is quite humorous And I’m wasn’t sure that humour was the way to do it. And before I go on I should let you know that I have a mental health problem; that colours my opinion of the song obviously. The thing is I’ve changed my mind; not completely on my own, I did ask a few people what they thought. The thing is that humour is a way to approach mental health issues. The idea of presenting CBT as a person on Stars In Their Eyes is not quite as ridiculous as it may seem.
There are two tracks – ‘Uncle Armando’ and ‘‘Wikipedia Grandad’ – where the duo ponder the lives of their immigrant forefathers from Italy and Ireland, and the long-reaching effect of ancestral identity. These are – obviously – deeply personal and emotional songs that are about their families but at the same time tell a universal, and important, story. And they are both lyrically and musically beautiful.
‘Ballache Hotel’ has something of, as you might have guessed, ‘Chelsea Hotel’. Although it’s clearly, or perhaps not, about the condition of rented properties and their landlords. It is wryly humorous but also hard-hitting. One might almost describe it as a protest song.
A story song ‘Orion’s Elasticated Waistband’ describes a wandering journey home after a night out, taking in kebabs, laughter and awkward goodbyes. Musically it sits in an almost country/folk rock space. It’s lovely, simple as that.
The album’s closing track – ‘Jellyfish Population’ – is a somewhat complex song. On one level it could be taken as a song about jellyfish and the sea but on the other it can, and probably should be, be taken as a song about being afraid of the outside world and the people in it. I have to admit it took several listens to come to that. The thing is that as I began to realise what the song was about I firstly personally related to it, and then had a deeply emotional reaction to the song. It’s simple, just voices and guitar and all the more effective for that. I didn’t expect a song this emotional, this beautiful.
The album is a lovely collection of sometimes humorous, sometimes poignant, songs. And, being honest, at times the song titles may not reflect that. The songs are fantastically put together, musically great, and the duo have wonderful voices..It’s not the first release this year that has surprised me with how much I have grown to like it, but it is the most surprising.
Listen to this. Listen to it with an open mind. You won’t regret it.
It comes in a locally printed cover made from recycled materials with a printed inner sleeve, a hand-drawn inlay by Mario, a CD and a Download voucher. This edition will be strictly limited to 300 copies!
The info
Soup Review are what happens when South Yorkshire meets South Coast, when folk tradition meets anti-folk downbeat self-deprecation.
Chris Delamere is the son of a morris dancer. Mario D’Agostino arrived in Sheffield from Weymouth, via art college, with a love of DIY culture, anti folk music and a collection of recipes from his family restaurant. Together they write songs that masquerade as comic, but on closer listening reveal themselves to be a deep and poignant exploration of the human condition.
The 2018 debut album, ‘From The Bed To The Settee (and Back Again)’ was the cornerstone to their distinctive songwriting and music making style. Soup Review live gigs have included freshly prepared soup as part of the ticket price, with an audience review conducted during the show!
Beneath the Big White Moon is a continuation of their distinctive approach to a life lived through music. This collection of songs continues to tell their stories in a way that is both hilarious and heartbreaking. The combination of wit, wordplay and narrative draws us into their world and we find ourselves at home there.
The music is quirky and even whimsical as they celebrate and elevate the everyday and the banal through their music and lyrics, sharing their world and their preoccupations and anxieties in a way that we can all recognise and appreciate.
You can’t help but be moved emotionally too, as they negotiate their way through awkward family occasions, drunken nights out, father and son relationships, family history and dodgy landlords. This collection of songs are an attempt to ‘make the funny parts funnier and the sad parts sadder’.
By using an array of guest musicians they are able to bring a range of influences to this recording. You will hear Lo-Fi and Anti-Folk, traditional folk, Indie Rock, Pop and Country.
Singer songwriter friend Rhiannon Scutt, Ben Hall of Mr Ben and the Bens, BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards winner Rowan Rheingans, Francis P. Brady and former Reverend & The Makers guitarist Tom Jarvis are part of the musical lineup. Chris’s uncle Andy Delamere, fourteen year old Flynn Hudson-Dean and Royal College of Music scholar James Burton take turns on the drums.
I feel like I came late to The Calls, first catching ‘Fall Inside’ – on this very EP – in September this year. And this was after several musically trusted friends had said ‘Frank, you gotta get to hear The Calls’. Still, better late than never, yeah?
The EP opens with – the very nearly title track – ‘Fall Inside’. As I said I reviewed that song back in September and I’m sticking with what I said then ‘the music is psychy, psychedelic dream pop with a hint of post-punk at times, with a dose of indie in there. It’s a personal thing but I think there’s a whole load of difference between psych and psychedelic, while obviously there’s a crossover over point between dream pop and psychedelia. This single sits somewhere in the middle of all of those. But musically it’s quite quite beautiful, the sound of this thing is beautiful, the way it’s put together is absolutely fab.
‘I have developed a thing for the vocals. The vocals drift between that dream pop thing and something that has an edge of Syd Barrett. And you can hear the words, this my friends is a good thing, because the words are good.
‘The song explores the difficulties of a person wanting to change their ways but being unable to; of trying to do things differently but, ultimately, falling back into the same habits. Far from being a judgmental criticism, however, it is a more thoughtful observation, crucially ending on a note of optimism that the narrator believes, as difficult as it might be, that people can and do still change.’
Well, I’m almost sticking to what I said. The thing is that listening to the song in the context of the EP as a whole I’m going to add that this is undoubtedly rock music, rock music with a great tune. This is something you can say about The Calls in general, they have great tunes.
‘Tell Me Why’ takes that sound and adds in a whole dose of that ‘Manchester Sound’. This song has a bassline to die for people. It’s all pulsing and psychedelic in the verses until the chorus burst forth in a big indie way.
The thing that has me punching repeat is that bassline that starts the song – a bassline that has these ethereal sounds under it – and the oh so bloody fantastic guitar. The guitar on this track is addictive. It does piercing ring tones, it does fuzzed up on the bleeding edge of distortion, and it does frankly out there acid psychedelica.
It takes me back, back to those bits of the ‘Manchester Sound’ I really liked, back to The Dukes of the Stratosphere (go Google it), back to Here & Now – it’s that bassline – the dub thing, back to the classics of psychedelic pop. And it does all of that without losing sight of the fact that this is a song with a tune, a tune that’s so damn earwormy.
And now for something slightly different, ‘I Just Thought I’d Say’ is a simple song that’s driven by an acoustic. The vocal up-front. Subtle and lovely touches of sound in the background. And then it builds into something fuller, richer. Call it dream-pop, call it 60s’ influenced classic pop. Call it anything you want as long as you call it beautiful and compelling; because it is.
And it is dreamy, it takes you to a wonderful calm place, into the clouds, into your mind to your safe place. It’s like a musical hug. A hug that you feel to your soul, your heart.
So simple yes, but no. It’s incredibly well written and fantastically put together. Take a step back and listen, and the craft of it shines out, but don’t stay back too long. Just listen, let it drift into you, drift away on those wonderful sounds.
‘.I Should’ve Known’ comes as something of a shock after that, a good shock.. It has, at least to me, hints of World Party. It starts with a deep pulsing throb, guitars ring out but gradually, slowly, it builds into a big dreamy psychy indie thing. This short comment on this song isn’t because it’s less good than the others but because it’s bloody great, and that’s all there to it.
The EP closes with ‘A Change Is Gonna Come Around Here’. A 6 minute epic of a track. Originally dropped in 2019 this is a dubby, trippy piece of psychedelic rock – with hints of Here & Now, Hawkwind, alt-rock, acid rock. It’s out there, far out, mind bending, mood changing. It’s a trip, a journey. It’s so fucking good. Best heard the louder the better.
I’ve listened to this EP many many times, I’ve gone back and listened to a song time after time, and every time I love it more. I love that each song has a different feel, this band is no one trick pony. I love that they have taken the music they so obviously love, and made it into something that is theirs, their sound. A sound that is atmospheric, layered and at the same time having space; a sound that you can immerse yourself in.
I love that the more I listen to it the more I’m impressed with the playing – it’s all so bloody fab.. And the vocals are so good. Look what else can I say? Oh there is something, and that is that over and above the fantastic playing, the great vocals, these songs have great words, words that are worth taking the time to listen to.
Music this good, beyond good, is something special. This EP leaves you blissed out and in a beautiful place. And do we really need anything more?
The info
Speaking about the EP, vocalist and songwriter Tom Fuller says: “The EP marks a point in the band’s progression. There are more soundscapes going on than in our previous The Night the World Stood Still EP; the DNA of singable hooks, jangly guitars and rhythms are all still there, but there’s a distinct atmosphere to these tracks which is a clear movement towards the sound that we envision. There are more diverse influences coming in too, with reggae, dub and trip hop, particularly on A Change Is Gonna Come and Tell Me Why, and a shoegaze element to I Should’ve Known. It adds to the mix of our sound and, in the end, we’ve got an EP which we think doesn’t sound like anyone else.”
This versatile, chameleon-like sound is one of the band’s biggest strengths, moving through dark, psychedelic dub-rock to soaring rhythms to bold and inventive percussion; embellished by lyrics often dystopian in their outlook, often reflective and always deeply personal. As Tom rightly notes, they really don’t sound like anyone else.
Emerging from the thriving hotbed of Leeds, THE CALLS remain a proudly defiant DIY band who write, record and rehearse their music in a converted barn and travel in an old window cleaner’s van. The trio are driven by the unconventional songwriting of Tom Fuller, who puts an introspective slant on social observations through cryptic wordplay and metaphor; lead guitarist Will Johnson, a film maker and visual artist whose unrestrained and often highly unusual sound is due to the fact that, remarkably, he had never picked up a guitar before joining; and bassist Marcell Haslewood, a lifeguard finding his way through life via a combination of ambience and dub and a unique approach to playing that invariably subverts expectations.
I don’t usually go a bundle on poppy punk songs but ‘Love Like Elvis’ has kinda grabbed me and won’t let go. After much thought, this is for two reasons. Firstly because it’s more punky, and for that matter, more garage rock, than most US style pop-punk. And secondly because it comes with humour, look this thing leaves you smiling, fuck no, grinning.
This is because I miss that punk back in the day often came with a cheeky slice of British humour. I’m thinking of say Peter and The Test Tube Babies, whose songs while often not very PC or for that matter suitable for your parents, were filled with laughs. Do check out ‘All About Love’, ‘Louise Wouldn’t Like It’ where they subvert post-punk, or ‘Elvis Is Dead’ most appropriately. Sorry I got a bit carried away there. But the point is made.
And yes, while I say it’s more punky and has more than a dash of garage rock, it comes with a tune that’s so damn earwormy, that’s what gives it the pop thing. It also comes with guitar to die for, drums that just thrash, and riotous vocals. So all is good. In fact all is fantastic.
This rocks, people. It’s a blast of pure unadulterated fun.
The info
Soft Jocks are Joel, Edd and Tom.
Combining British humour with Californian style, Soft Jocks are honing an experimental and charming brand of punk rock which is bound to make you want to dig out those old Tony Hawks soundtracks, grab your skateboard and shotgun some Bud Light.
Formed in 2020, friends Joel, Edd and Tom are from very different parts of the world – London, Leeds, and San Diego – but were drawn together by a mutual love of bands like Pavement, the Descendents, and The Ramones. They don’t take themselves seriously and peddle well-crafted songs that are fun, lively and loud, enhanced by witty lyricism, top musicianship, and a close bond that shines through the tracks.
With radio plays on BBC Introducing and a place on the latest Independent Music News compilation already under their belt, they are now the flagship signings on Sheffield’s Elephant Arch Records.
Soft Jocks released their debut EP, Socking Dinners, in April, 2020. ‘Love Like Elvis’ is the second single from Soft Jocks Upcoming EP ‘Sinking Dingers’, out on Elephant Arch Records
Vukovar, oh Vukovar, bless you for existing, bless you for subverting the very concept of music, bless you for not being afraid to scare, to twist the listener’s mind, for taking us on magickal journeys. And bless you for the sheer delight of what you make, craft, compose and play.
I am, if you’ve been keeping up, something of a fan of Vukovar – you understand I am understating my feelings about the band here, I am apt to get carried away and gush. It’s hard being a fan of the band; they’re not afraid to change, to move on, to leave what they’ve done behind. This leaves you wondering whether you are going to like their new material. Usually I do but there’s always that chance that I may not.
‘The Colossalist’ is the first album in what they describe as a ‘triptych’. The use of the word triptych is interesting because it’s more usually applied to the visual arts rather than music, but it’s appropriate because there is something visual in their music. It’s cinematic. It provokes visions.
They are describing the ‘new’ Vukovar as the NeuPopAct. And yes, there is somewhat of a pop feel – albeit not conventionally pop – to some of the music. It’s more accessible than some of their previous releases; you note I say more accessible and I say that in comparison to some of the material already released. This isn’t pop in the usually accepted style. But some of the tracks have tunes – great tunes – and vocals that are sweet as.
And while it may be the first of three, don’t for one moment assume that the next, and the next after that, will sound the same. Assumptions with Vukovar are just not a sensible thing.
On this album there are songs, or what broadly fall into the concept of songs, and there are things that are not songs. These could be described as soundpieces or musically based atmospheric pieces. This is what the band do, you should expect that..
The album opens with ‘There Must Be More To Heaven Than This’. Out of kilter, discordant piano over sounds of people. And then the sound of a fuzzed something – that may be a bass, it may be a guitar, it could be a keyboard; who knows or cares really – sparse but insistent drums. Voices from the depths, the piano reappears It’s hypnotic, compelling and mesmirising.
‘Here Are Lions’ is an electronica pop song. Think early Human League, think Heaven 17, think, even, OMD. Distinctly retro synths, the heavenly sound of female backing vocals. But, and it’s a big but, this isn’t retro, it’s just what Vukovar do, it’s their present sound. Look you can dance to this, I did.
This is followed by a short interlude, a sound piece – ‘The Higher Law’. And now for something different. ‘End of Life Delirium’ sounds like the bastard child of Nick Cave, Tom Waits and some sort of experimental post-punk electronica band. Words are spoken, words are half sang. Keyboards threaten, but never quite do, to fall into distortion. That piano reappears, closer to the edge. It is quite quite brilliant.
‘A Danse Macabre’ is a song and then not a song. A frankly scary keyboard sequence that leaves you on edge. The feel of a manic puppet dance. Deep deep sounds behind it. Vocals that have you straining to hear them. It is strangely beautiful, it may leave you feeling anxious, but there’s a beauty there.
‘Vukovar (The Double Cross)’ follows. Now I understand that this is the last track on side one of the album. This is important because Vukovar albums have structure, they put the albums together in a way that takes you on a journey. If you are streaming the album you’re just going to have to imagine that.
This is a song, a rich, many layered electronica song. A song that reminds me of Depeche Mode – that’s dark Depeche Mode, Heaven 17. And then it subverts that, it mutates into some sort of mutated psychedelic pop song – distorted organ. In all of it’s 5 ½ minutes it’s a joy.
The opening track to side two – ‘The Dark Backward And Abysm Of Time’ is another soundpiece, a layering of sounds. Sounds that pierce, sounds that oscillate. A voice that is full of something, it’s hard to say what but it’s not good.
It’s at this point that I am reminded of something that these soundpieces sometimes remind me of; and that is the spoken word pieces on ‘It Crawled into My Hand, Honest’ by The Fugs (released in 1968, and well worth a listen if you can get your hands on it). Not in sound, as Vukovar’s are electronica, but in feel. It’s the use of the voices as another layer of sound.
There are some luscious lead vocals in ‘Dark Envoy’ but this is subverted by a deeply dark and discordant musical backing, backing vocals that jar. It’s electronica pop, but warped, got at, electronica. And this takes it to another level, a different place. And as the track goes on the darked warped sounds take over. This is just wonderful.
‘In A Year of 13 Moons’ sounds, of all things, like an organ driven hypnotic psychedelic pop song, as does the title to be honest. A halting drum rhythm, sounds that sound like a cello. Eastern sounding. The piano makes a return. In the time I’ve been listening to the album this has become something of a favourite. One because it just isn’t what you expect to hear, and two because you can dance to it.
‘I’m Becoming Yourself’ is led by a piano on the edge of distortion, a mutated toy piano. Sounds sweep at you, across you. Sounds leap out at you. It continues that eatern sound but taken to another place, a swirling dream.
Closing out side two is ‘Hearing Voices’ (written by Galaxie 500 and rewritten by the band) is a song, or something like a song, you can treat it like a song. As the title might suggest there are voices, layers of voices talking over each other, while a frankly jaunty martial sounding keyboard and rhythm sound out. And as it progresses there are sung words. Words that are sung to a beautiful tune that isn’t quite all there.
And it builds and then it falls apart, and then builds again with more layers of sound added, it’s more insistent. But always in the background there’s a voice. And after 6 minutes 40 seconds it ends after fading out. This is a beautiful ending to an album.
But it’s also a kind of tribute to Simon Morris, the member of the band who died some time ago, for the spoken words featured in the track are his, taken from interviews and archive material. I may be reading too much into it but the song’s structure may reflect the feelings of the band, the way Simon’s death affected them – the broken sound, the way it builds and falls. The use of his voice reflects that, and this is something I can relate to, you may hear the voice of somebody important to you who has passed away.
Taken as a whole – and this is something I urge you to do, Vukovar albums are meant to be taken as a whole and in the order the band have put the tracks in – this is yet another incredibly impressive album. Yes, it’s a development of sounds, moods and feels that you can hear on previous releases. And I’d thought I’d miss the scariness, the audible disturbing darkness of previous albums but I don’t. It has a darkness but it’s subtle and hidden within the richness of the music. Some of the songs could be described as pop but Vukovar never do anything straight. They mutate, they warp..When they play it straight, like ‘Here Are Lions’, that’s a surprise, a great surprise.
What hasn’t changed is the way the band put their music together. It’s rich, it’s layered, there’s always something new every time you listen. The music takes unexpected directions; you think you’ve got what a track is doing and where it’s going but then it swerves off somewhere else. There are new things that you suddenly notice the more you listen to the album – like an influence of minimal music, the odd dose of psychedelic pop, a hint of soul in the vocals, something that reminds me of an album made by The Cocteau Twins and Harold Budd (‘The Moon and the Melodies’ released in 1986). Vukovar’s music does that to you, it’s a swirling mixture of sounds, of influences.
As I said right at the top this is an accessible album, it takes less of a commitment to listen to than their previous albums. It still has that ‘Vukovar’ approach – the warped and mutated sounds, the discordant and jarring sounds – but they are fitted into a music that is more obviously beautiful.
This for me is the album I can recommend as an entry point to the band to my friends who don’t get quite why I like the band so much. And, it points the way for their sound in future releases, (or may not, who knows); and it’s a great sound, a great feel. A sound that has a beauty of its own.
I can’t recommend this highly enough, just go bloody listen to it OK.
“Following the death of one of Theirselves, various failures and ever deepening reliances, VUKOVAR have finally emerged once more. With the disintegration of the old group, a new, stable line up – the NeuPopAct – have collided and colluded to here present ‘THE COLOSSALIST’, their 8th LP and part one of the Eternity Ends Here triptych; the most ambitious thing attempted by the group and the most wrapped in turmoil.
“VUKOVAR have reunited with OTHER VOICES RECORDS, a label to match the group’s ambition, to bring out this first CD in a planned series of releases in collaboration with world renowned artist Andrzej Klimowski.
“VUKOVAR formed in a crumbling placefiller of a town in 2014. They were always dying and reorganized after cease to exist in 2019. Effete artists pretending to be northern hardcases pretending to be uniform fetishists in iconoclast drag. “Do not trust us; we are fragile stars.”
For Simon Morris; His Name Means First And Last.
All songs written and recorded by the 5/5 of Vukovar (except Hearing Voices written by Galaxie 500 and rewritten by Vukovar). Engineered and produced by The Brutalist House And The Ghosts In Their Machine. Mastered by Phil Reynolds.
Hearing Voices features Simon Morris taken from various interviews and archive material.
The info
The info
The info
