Browsing Tag

00s Rock

Our senses are heightened ‘When It Rains’

Posted on 4 March 2021

‘When It Rains’ – the fourth single from L.A.-based power-trio senses – is a wash of urgent, driving drums, dark synths, and grinding, overdriven guitars all capped off by vocalist Madison Taylor’s stunning, folk-tinged voice. It’s kind of cheap and easy to draw ‘female-fronted rock-band’ comparisons, but ‘When It Rains’ is an absolute belter of an alt-rock track with some definite favourable Paramore comparisons due to Taylor’s uber-powerful vocal performance riding the crest of Josh Bissell’s crashing, distorted guitar onslaught and Nick Sampson’s pounding backbeat, maybe a touch of Tonight Alive, and a little of Amy Lee mixed in for good measure, sitting alongside some classic ‘Comfort In Sound’-era Feeder or Bush.

There’s a lot more to come from this understated trio, but for now check out the video for ‘When It Rains’ on YouTube, and follow Senses on Facebook and Instagram.

Cxldface – Better Off Alone: The infectiously anthemic pop punk soundtrack to your solidarity

Posted on 18 February 2021

‘Better Off Alone’ is the latest feat of pop punk from Las Vegas artist, Cxldface, which will throw you right back to the 00s era of alt-rock while implanting a viscerally modernistic perennial earworm which ensures that there’s little chance of forgetting the infectiously hyped melodies.

Considering we’re all spending a little more time alone than usual, it’s easy to see how Better Off Alone could be a sanity-saving playlist staple for many. With reminders that there’s plenty of worse things than solidarity, euphorically sonic synth lines and the punchy hook-laden guitars, Better Off Alone practically spoon feeds serotonin.

At just 18 years old, Cxldface, is able to boast a maturity to his sound and a potent enough amount of distinction through his tendency to meld elements of electronica, hip hop and indie into his empoweringly scathing anthems. Get him on your radar.

Better Off Alone is now available to stream via Spotify

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Did I Hear Dare? – timeless alt-rock with ‘I Can Feel (You And I)’

Posted on 7 February 2021

Hailing from Columbus, Ohio, Did I Hear Dare? smash out that brand of mid-Western alt-rock that seems timeless and at the same time bang up to date. ‘I Can Feel (You and I)’ could just as easily be from 2001 as the first month of 2021, and that’s no bad thing at all. Think Killers, Kings of Leon, and maybe a little Arcade Fire for good measure. There’s a definite Brandon Flowers touch to the vocal, a cracker of a bouncy lead guitar line, and a perfect pop-indie-rock lift coming into the chorus, itself an absolute earworm of a radio-friendly-unit-shifter.

The follow-up to their 2020 EP ‘The Ghost Stories’, ‘I Can Feel (You And I)’ is a perfect prelude to 2021 for Did I Hear Dare?.

You can check it out on Spotify now, and follow on Facebook.

Review by Alex Holmes

Antalai has dropped their riotously dynamic Alt-Rock debut ‘Spilling My Guts’

Posted on 30 January 2021

If alt-rock fans take a chance on any debut single in 2021, they should make it Antalai’s euphorically-charged unapologetically feisty track ‘Spilling My Guts’.

There is a real sense that there was no pretence for Antalai to hide behind in her debut. Her authentic voice resounds as her visceral poetic rage rips through high-octane hit which will leave you rhythmically arrested by the end of the first verse.

Through the addition of the punchy pop-rock chorus which puts a modernist twist on 00s Pop Punk, Spilling My Guts became a riotously anthemic hit which you would be lucky to hear if you wandered to the front of a crowd at a festival.

You can check out Antalai’s single for yourselves by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Glitched has dropped their alchemically anthemic Alt-Rock hit “Laissez Tout Brûler”

Posted on 28 October 2020

Laissez Tout Brûler is the lead track from the Alt-Rock powerhouse Glitched’s latest EP “Chaos World, Pt. 1 (An Apparition Emerges)”, if you’re aurally sensitive, prepare to feel a little bruised.

Right from the first verse, there’s a magnetically direct invitation to immerse yourself in the soundscape. The steadiness of the preceding verses makes the alchemy in the successive ones even more exhilarating. Think along the lines of Dinosaur Jr’s Feel the Pain.

When the momentum builds in the choruses, so does Glitched’s playful energy which tears through the melancholy which was laid out in the former verses. After hearing Laissez Tout Brûler, I have no doubt that Glitched could give Foo Fighters a run for their money live, their sound is just as capable of filling a stadium. Plus there’s the extra added bonus of Laissez Tout Brûler being a uniquely unpredictable track which experimentally unravels while sweeping across the full tonal palette.

You can check out Glitched’s single for yourselves via Spotify or YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

At Face Value – Lotr: Scathingly Sticky-Sweet Alt Pop Punk

Posted on 25 October 2020

If At Face Value has evaded your radar so far, it’s our pleasure to introduce you to the US artist’s rapturously colossal sound. The perfect introduction to their distinctive brand of Alt-Rock is their standout track ‘Lotr’.

Whatever else is going on in your life, hit play and your consciousness will be consumed by the gorgeously evocative pull of the soundscape which pays ode to the 00s Pop Punk sound while drawing on their own signature sonic flair. Stylistically, Lotr is familiar while the sincerity and potency of the emotion are on another level.

More than anything, what I admire is At Face Value’s admission that their songs deal with common trials and tribulations. They don’t make their suffering the essence of their tracks. Instead, they use the recognition that listeners will find resonance in the tracks which are laced with punchy catchy melodies which are orchestrated to instil optimism.

It is bands like At Face Value which remind me how important music actually is. Not just as a part of our culture or personality or as a way to entertain ourselves. But for the beautiful fact that some artists are trying to make our lives which are often full of chaos and heartbreak a little easier.

You can check out Lotr along with the rest of At Face Value’s tracks by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast