Right now I seem to be drawn to great pop songs and ‘Say You Want It (That Way)’ is a great pop song.

It’s kind of indie-pop but it also throws in hints of Talking Heads – especially at the start – all sorts of 80s’ pop-ish sounds, and those great VALA vocals. It continues that ‘VALA come at Frank in an unexpected way’ theme that the previous two releases have done. What they do is twist the concept of indie-pop into something that is very much of their own.

Given that I’m describing this as a great pop song you’d expect a tune that bores it’s way into your head, and this has that. You’d expect something that at the very least would get you jigging in your seat, and this does that, in fact it’ll have you up and dancing.

It also has the most unexpected guitar break in indie-pop I’ve ever heard – that isn’t an indie-pop guitar sound at all, I’ll leave it to you to discover this for yourself but I’ve decided to described it as sustained and tubular.

And most importantly it’s full of joy, and leaves you with a big big smile on your face. And that’s something we all need, especially now. Jump on it people.

The info

The band recorded the track entirely themselves in various kitchens, spare rooms and living rooms and it was mixed in that kitchen by the lovely indie-pop artist Sfven (Jamie Clarke). They then blew all their budget, which they’d saved by self producing, on sending the song to be mastered at Abbey Road Studios.

The song itself deals with feelings of not wanting to get much older, and struggling with the realisation that you might not always have a full, youthful head of hair.

A music video filmed by close friend of the band and collaborator Jack Grindrod will be available on the 27th March

Weirdly this is the second release called ‘Animal’ I’ve reviewed recently (the first was by Samh) but this is a completely different animal – sorry I couldn’t resist that.

Fuzz Lightyear do – as their name might suggest – fuzz ridden noise. In their case fuzzy noisy grunge. As you might have released I have a particular liking for noisy fuzzy bands and Fuzz Lightyear are going to be joining that list.

But while that description might give you some idea of what they do, it doesn’t indicate the rather subtle touches of sound this track has in places, or the heavy surf sounds, or the hints of psychedelic noise.I like a band who do that, and Fuzz Lightyear do that incredibly well. Pure fuzzy noisy rock is great but those touches are like salt and pepper on food, they season it, they make the noise better.

I should warn you that playing this at work, or at home while you’re working from home and on a conference call or video meeting isn’t to be recommended. Not just because the track might cause mass moshing, but because it contains ‘explicit lyrics’.

Warning over, back to the review. I realise that so far this has been a rather restrained review for a track as out there as this.

So, look my friends, this track fucking rocks. It builds into a whirling wall of noise that removes any possibility of logical thought, it throws you into a messy place that you want to stay in. It makes you want to throw yourself around a room recklessly and wildly. So turn it up as loud as you dare and let yourself go. Go listen, people.

The info

A band used to playing dingy basements and rooms filled with rowdy pits, Fuzz Lightyear emerges from the chaos of the Leeds punk scene bringing with them a torrent of horrific Noise-Grunge to satisfy your tinnitus.

https://www.facebook.com/FuzzLightyearOfficial/

‘Young and Foolish’ is a fine fine slab of rock’n’roll. It has hints of music from say Bruce Springteen – it has that pounding joyous big big sound, guitars rock out. The vocals soar. It just makes you happy – and don’t we all need that right now.

The first time I played this I thought 80s’ teen movie soundtrack, and this is meant as a compliment. It’s my guilty pleasure, I love the soundtracks of 80s’ teen movies even if I don’t particularly like the actual film. Lyrically it has that feel too, as the title might suggest. Look any song that includes the line ‘we put the pedal to the metal in my first car’ has to be good, doesn’t it.

I’ve mentioned the guitar already, and there is some fine guitar work on this track, it’s the sort of guitar that makes you want to dance like Kevin Bacon in Footloose – at least it does me.

If you want something to throw yourself around to while we’re ‘staying at home’ this, my friends, is it.

Go listen, play loud, and get wild.

The info

Formed late 2019 in Kingston Upon Hull The Dulvertons are a rock & roll band that have hit the ground running with the release of their debut single ‘Young and Foolish’ which has sparked an influx of followers.

Liam Fairless: drums
Shane Brigham: guitar
Robbie Robinson: bass/backing vocals
Shaun Ratcliffe: lead vocals/guitar.

I’ve been reviewing Sandra’s Wedding’s releases for a while now and I’ve never been disappointed. Indeed one of their songs ‘Titantic’ (from the EP ‘Good Morning, Bad Blood’ – read our review) has a spot in My All Time Favourite Songs list. What I love about the band is that they write songs with fantastic well thought-out lyrics and great tunes. Their songs tell stories, and I love a song that does that. So this album came with high expectations from me. Would I be disappointed?

And, by the way, I’m not going to review this album track by track but try and pick things that give you an idea of what it’s about. This isn’t me indicating that some of the songs are not up to par, far from it, they’re all good, really good.

With the album opener – ‘Can’t Look at You for Crying’ – I know I’m not going to be disappointed with the album. It has those great words and the tune to die for I expected, along with fantastic playing. And it has atmosphere and emotion. Despite the sometimes jaunty music it has a sadness about it.

‘If It’s Not One Thing’ has something of a country feel. This is another thing about Sandra’s Wedding, they write and play music in a variety of styles. But somehow they always sound like Sandra’s Wedding whatever style they are playing in. There is some positively riotous country electric guitar on this track. Fab stuff.

‘Penguin Joke’ – look I had to mention this song just because I have a thing about penguins – comes with a sting in the tail musically. You get hints of this through the track, there are stabs of out there guitar. But as the track progresses it goes all quiet and then leaps into screaming guitar. What this track is about I have yet to work out – the song mentions Grimsby at one point – but I like a song I have to work at getting.

‘Sarcastic Kiss’ is a gentle ballad with a female lead vocal. And what a vocal. This song is beautiful.

‘Were You Expecting a Love Song?’ is, at least to start with, a kind of musical joke. It starts with a lovely piano intro, the sort you get in love songs. But once it reaches the body of the song, it becomes something else entirely. It’s the story of a failing difficult relationship (at least as far as I can work out). It’s bittersweet.

‘ No Tools Left in This Van Overnight’ (this band do great song titles) is a song about a builder. But it comes with soul/RnB horns and screaming guitar, lyrics that’ll have you smiling.

Sandra’s Wedding do these big songs – ‘Titanic’ is one and ‘Cold, Wet Tuesday Night in Stoke’ is another. It’s a big ballad, keys and subtle guitar, voice. And while I love the emotion in this song, I am amazed that the phrase ‘cold, wet Tuesday night in Stoke’ can be used in such an emotional way, it sounds as though it shouldn’t work but it does.

So was I disappointed, no I wasn’t. This album delivers songs that are so well put together musically, and are lyrically brilliant. Sandra’s Wedding craft their songs. And those songs are rooted in real life, the stories they tell ring true because they are about everyday people and the situations they find themselves in, and the emotions they feel. These are songs that you can listen to again and again because the words reward repeated listening. The band’s songs don’t shout flashness, they just quietly tell us about real life and real people, and there’s a beauty in that.

The album can be obtained from various places by going to https://www.frameyourself.net

The info

The album comprises a series of vignettes of everyday life, a depressed builder, a drunk couple staggering home amidst yet another argument, wannabe football hooligans, someone hoping their other half has a car crash, all set to the powerful yet melodic jangle-pop the band have made their own

‘It Takes Time’ is a beguilingly dreamy track. I fell in love with it in seconds, it’s that good.

Now people tell me that they need to know what a song sounds like (something I don’t always do, I can be a bad music reviewer sometimes). So here goes, it’s dreamy alt-pop with hip-hop influences, or as I’ve come to call it alt-hip-hop. Inventive and clever sounds float through the track over a seductively slow hip-hop beat. Whilst fabulous vocals sing meaningful words.

Yes, this is a song about something, something important. Like most of the band’s material it delves into the topic of mental health and the familiar feeling of not being good enough for the people around you, and feeling like you have to give them up because you’re weighing them down. The song was co-written with the band’s hidden 4th member Davarious Jackson who sadly took his own life in 2018.

The music compliments the words to make something beautiful and emotional. It leaves you feeling moved. It also makes you wish it just went on and on, so drawn into the music and the song it makes you feel. This is a song you sink into, and the more you hear it, the deeper you sink.

And yes you could, if you so wish, just appreciate it as a great song with fantastic music, but I urge you to listen more closely to the words, to the music, it’s deeper and more beautiful than that.

The info

Luna Pines are a self produced Electronica trio from Leeds taking influence from acts like Bon Iver, The Japanese House & The 1975. They have been playing a range of exciting shows including a sold out headline in London in February and Sofar Sounds tours across the country, as well as shows supporting artists like Art School Girlfriend, METHYL ETHEL & 65daysofstatic.

They have recently found themselves on Spotify’s New Music Friday as well as on many of their prestigious editorial playlists such as Hot New Bands, Our Generation, Evening Indie & The Other List.

Back in February I reviewed the band’s previous release – ‘Fairground’ – and warned you that while the band might describe themselves as an indie rock band this wasn’t going to help you predict what that track sounded like. The same is true with ‘T.I.M.E’.

It sounds like one part stomping 70s’ hard rock track with a hint of Glam, with one part NWoBHM 80s style. Now I realise that may not mean much to you if you’re younger than me, but that’s what it sounds like to me.

So what this means in practice is that the first half is all stomping rock that starts with a pounding drum, then a heavy bass riff, chanted backing vocals, and at one point those classic Glam massed whispered backing vocals. And then it revs up, guitars roar and squeal, it does that classic metal slow down before it shifts into high gear to fade. Although it doesn’t fade, it reaches a climax (so to speak) and stops.

For me this is getting my musical memories going, as you might have worked out. But for those of you without that background, it’s a fucking great rock song with a beat that doesn’t stop, guitars that sound like rock guitar should, a song that’s going to get you revved up. Is this good, fuck yeah, it’s great.

It was with a sense of anticipation that I made my way to The Wardrobe. It seemed ages since I’d last seen Artio live, way too long. Yes, I’d had the ‘Backbone’ EP (read our review) to keep me going but Artio rock live. But first there were three support bands to get us revved up, let’s dive right in.

But before I do (not again – Ed) you should be warned that I’m kind of on the fence about two of the bands and that there will be gushing.

In the period since I last saw Backspace they’ve changed. They’ve got damn rocky and guitar to the max. Yet somehow their songs retain that pop sensibility. This band can write tunes that are catchy. If you’ve caught their last single release – ‘Letting Go’ – you’ll have got an indication of this rockier Backspace.

So this was a new Backspace I was seeing. There are some things that have stayed the same – great playing and great vocals. Rosie’s voice seems stronger now, she needs that with the band roaring away. The guitar is more upfront and there’s some great guitar breaks on show.

I really liked them the last time I saw them live, this time I liked them more. So rock are they now that moshing broke out at one point. I think Backspace are still developing, I’m looking forward to seeing them on their journey.

Ava in the Dark were new to me, apart from a small hint from somebody I knew that ‘their guitarist is crazy’, I had no idea what to expect. Basically they do what I’m going to call darkish alt-pop with a rock edge.

The person I knew was right, the guitar is totally insane, there are more effects than I’ve seen in a long time and there are all sorts of layers of sounds going on. The singer has a voice that could shatter windows.

About half way through their set I was kinda on the fence. Objectively I knew it was good but it wasn’t quite doing it for me. I found that individually the elements were great – the guitar was way cool, the singer was fantastic – but taken as a whole it just didn’t do it for me. There were bits where I really liked what I heard, but that was it. One of those bits was the second to last track which was a darker heavier thing.

This may have just been me, there are bands that I now love but positively hated the first time I saw them. I just may not have been in the mood for what they do. The small hints of things I liked have made me make a note to check them out again. As I said objectively I know that what they do is good. I’d recommend checking out their stuff online, and making up your own mind.

And now to Dakota Avenue. They do that indie-rock/alt-rock thing. You know big big soaring songs. They have great vocals and the playing is really good.

The problem for me is that I’ve just seen too many of these bands, I’ve got jaded and I’ve lost the ability to judge this sort of music.

Again objectively they have great tunes, every song’s an anthem. Visually they are fab. I get that, I really do but on the night they were just not for me. They had a lot of fans in the crowd, so I’m very much in the minority. Check them out, make up your own mind.

And now to Artio. I had planned to move from the photopit about three or four songs in but I couldn’t. I just sat, camera in hand, completely stunned. They were amazing, outstanding, brilliant, wonderful. You get the picture. Artio nailed it.

Touring seems to have made Hol’s voice stronger, there is not one moment where her voice let her down. And that’s important for what Artio do. The band is tighter than a tight thing.

And visually it’s a beautiful performance, the lighting complimented the music, Hol is all over the stage and the two ‘podiums’. The way the stage is set-up and lit makes Hol the centre of the performance – actually seeing Ieuan and Rob through the washes of coloured light was at times impossible – but she’s a great frontperson.

I am biased – i love this band – but picking out a favourite song from the set was virtually impossible. Look if you held a gun to my head and made me, I’d say ‘Arrow’, ‘Dancing In The Ashes’, ‘Fear Is Funny’ and ‘Blood Brother’ were the standouts for me, but only by a really really small amount.

Look I know the band play guitar and bass live but it’s largely synth and sequenced based music, Artio somehow make what they do sound organic. A lot of this is down to Hol’s voice but some is also down to the way they put their music together. What they do live is perform the songs rather than reproduce the recorded music. And the words of the songs and what they about comes through live – Artio tackle some big and important subjects in their songs.

Their set whizzed by, it seemed to be over way too soon, but that’s the thing sometimes with bands who are fabulous. I could easily have sat through them just doing the set all over again.

I don’t really care whether electronic alt-pop is your thing but Artio are a great live band, one you should see.

All photos on this page © Frank Roper Photography – see many more from the gig on his Facebook Page