Browsing Tag

Arcade Fire

San Ílios delivered retro-indie nostalgia as you’ve never known it before in ‘Wanderlust’

For their sophomore single, the up-and-coming alt-indie duo San Ílios explored a phenomenon that everyone can relate to; Wanderlust unfurls with sonic visualisations of freedom flowing throughout the indie-folk-pop production which cuts through various avenues of retro-indie nostalgia. Imagine an evocative synthesis of Radiohead, Modest Mouse and Coldplay, and you’ll get an idea of what kind of soundscape you will escape into when you hit play.

The vocal harmonies are as light and airy as the instrumentals that meld strident horn stabs with the steady ring of acoustic guitar strings, piano pop melodies and scintillatingly artful effects that allow Wanderlust to veer into art rock territory. By drawing influence from Keane, Arcade Fire, and U2, the UK-residing up-and-coming outfit gave their growing fanbase a taste of the familiar before feeding them swathes of ingenuity that will undoubtedly see them go far after the launch of their debut album.

Wanderlust was officially released on February 4th; stream the single on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Spheres packed their alt indie synth-pop debut, The City of Lights, with evocative kryptonite

If it’s been a while since a debut single has left you utterly obsessed, delve into The Spheres’ alternatively inclined amalgam of 80s synth pop, indie-rock, and dance, The City of Lights. From the suburbs of Toronto, the duo lit up the airwaves with their infectiously hook-rife account of the frontman’s complicated relationship with his city of birth, Karachi, Pakistan. “In the city of lights, you die just for dreaming”, is cuttingly efficacious in alluding to the toll it took on the singer-songwriter and producer Reza Habib.

With the vibrato in the vocals spilling evocative kryptonite across the catchy synth-pop melodies, The City of Lights will blind you with its luminous soul before the solid riffs and punchier vocals conclude the track on a raucous high that will leave you itching for more. Thankfully, that itch will be scratched as more singles from the debut album will drop before its full release in Spring 2023.

Stick The City of Lights to your synapses by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Conor Latcham gets into the insidious underbelly of manipulationships with his self-deprecating disco track, Running

The Cardiff-based luminary, Conor Latcham has crooned his way back onto the airwaves with his latest spacey, synthy indie-disco pop track, RUNNING. The single was remotely recorded during lockdown with Marc Hughes (Lewis Capaldi, Tom Odell) on drums and Barry Grint (Beatles, Madonna, Prince) behind the mastering desk.

With the surfy angular guitar motifs around the mash of cosmic pop 80s nostalgia paired with Conor Latcham’s cooler than Alex Cameron vibe and the Arcade Fire-style catchy hooks, Running is infectious from the first hit. Despite the euphoria that effortlessly bleeds from Running, the essence of the single is far darker as it delves into the insidious underbelly of one-sided relationships. It is a masterclass in how to use your wit for closure. Grab a notepad and hit play.

You can feel the self-deprecating disco love for yourselves by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Ger Lane indoctrinates us in ‘The New Revolution in Love’ in his stadium-worthy alt-rock track

Irish-born, London-based Avant Rock artist Ger Lane’s seminal single, The New Revolution in Love, carries enough soul to remind you that you’ve got one of your very own. While the lyrics prise affection, the instrumentals submerge you in a sonorous pool of psych-tinged, shoegazey alt-rock.

The sultry psychotropic track is an obsession-worthy nostalgia trip that will instantly transfix any alt 90s fans. Right from the intro, Zane Scott’s drums arrest your rhythmic pulses with the caustic hits that create visceral friction against the effect-laden angular guitars. With vocals as captivating in their stridency as Chris Cornell’s, abject apathy isn’t an option once you hit play, which may sound hyperbolic in our age of ennui, but if anyone can deliver aural salvation; it is Ger Lane.

As for Tim Bazell’s production, Kevin Shields couldn’t have pulled The New Revolution in Love together better. It should be a paradox for a single soundscape to unravel as visceral and hypnotic simultaneously, but the stadium-ready hit did just that and plenty more. It is enough to make Arcade Fire sound flat and pedestrian.

Check out The New Revolution in Love, featuring the London Brazilian Choir for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Divisions vent their ‘Quiet Frustrations’ on post-truth politics and social division

Divisions by Divisions

If UK alt-rock five-piece Divisions had scripted 2020, they still couldn’t have come up with a more appropriate time to release their eponymous second album (due out March 12th). In preparation, they lead in with this, the opening single from the ten-track album, available via Bandcamp and with an accompanying ‘lockdown-special’ video on YouTube.

‘Quiet Frustrations’ is a powerful track, a statement around social division, post-truth politics, the frustrations of pandemic-stricken Britain, and that horrible over-arching ennui and exhaustion that’s seemed to blanket us all for the last couple of years. It’s a great song, potent, intelligent, thoughtful, and unusual yet with enough commercial nous to appeal to a wider audience; think Thirty Seconds To Mars with a little more introspection and inner-city tower-block feel, and you’re pretty much on the money.

See the lock-down video for ‘Quiet Frustrations’ on YouTube. Buy ‘Quiet Frustrations’, and pre-order ‘Divisions’, from Bandcamp.

Litters has unleashed the ultimate Indie feel-good hit with the sonically ensnaring single ‘Diamond Eyes’

Brisbane-based singer-songwriter, Litters, has unleashed their fiery New Wave Indie track ‘Diamond Eyes’. If you could imagine what it would sound like if Arcade Fire and Jack Johnson collaborated, you’ll get an idea of how Litters pulled off the perfect balance of sonic energy and tender intricacy.

With an enticing rhythmic command complete with angularly hypnotic guitar, a smorgasbord of influences stylistically banded together and a significant serving of authentic aural ingenuity, Diamond Eyes is about as efficacious as a blackhole when it comes to pulling you in.

Diamond Eyes isn’t just radio-ready, it should be topping the Indie charts.

You can check out Diamond Eyes for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Headphone release speaker-knocking new track ‘Something Like A Love Song’

San Diego based indie-rockers Headphone have released new single ‘Something Like A Love Song’. 

The alternative three-piece’s latest track is a fun, powerful and poppy ride. A sparkly, keyed intro sets a hopeful pace and tone for frontman Morgan McRae to hook you in with a chorus that doesn’t seem too overwritten or overdrone in its enjoyability. The track’s self-awareness takes you to a fun place and shows a lot of the hallmarks of what this kind of indie-anthem needs to really grab a listener, and It does it well.

‘Something Like A Love Song’ shows the band’s strong sensibilities in writing upbeat, danceable pop that feels contemporary but without any dragging pretense. There’s little to not like here for fans of, and it’s well worth checking out if danceable indie pop – with a splash of 80s style melancholia – is your thing, 

You can listen to Headphone’s ‘Something Like A Love Song’ on their Spotiffy page here.

Flight Brigade – Housefire: Paced to Perfection

The notes throughout Flight Brigade’s latest track Housefire flow with the sweetest resonance, each melody, each verse pulls you in to the discord. The immersive progression of the band is no doubt a reaction from the chemistry orchestrated by each of the 7 band members that make up the talented collective of Flight Brigade. For me, the real stand out instrumentalist had to be the inexplicably gifted guitarist who pertained with an upbeat jangle, throwing in the occasional awe-inspiring riff to create the ultimate anthem with this track.

The bands narrative tracks unwind and unfurl into gripping stories in which they don’t have to tell you the story, you feel it through their enigmatic lustre. I can only imagine how powerful a live performance from the Flight Brigade would be with their hauntingly orchestral melody, infringed by the roaring jangle of the guitar. Of course, the mixed sex band have been compared to the likes of Arcade Fire & Of Monsters & Men, but that comparison doesn’t encapsulate the raw power that Flight Brigade have created through this track.

Check out the mesmerising official music video to Housefire on YouTube via the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-alXHjN4JI8

-Amelia Vandergast.

Accidental Allies Create The Perfect Union With Adorable Fever


What you really think Accidental Allies are all about depends upon which thread you pick at first. Start one end and they are a synth-pop act doing a spot of avant gardening, start somewhere else and they are an acoustic act building electronic platforms underneath deft, classical guitar lines. Others might think of them more as a dance band heading off into more progressive territory, or a soul band having embraced a futuristic vision of what the genre might become.

The reality is that they are all of those things or none of them, they might be a wide-ranging eclectic mix or a very singular roadmap towards their own musical destination. Not that it really matters, it is only when you try to write things down, to turn music into words that you come up against the limitations of language. Until they invent the right words to properly describe what is going on here you will just have to access their world via your ears and imagination. It is a world of interesting musical choices, mercurial stylistic blends, genre hopping and genre splicing, why would you try to capture that in word form?

A&R Factory Present: Erica Cooper

Erica Cooper announces the release of her debut album Safety Escape, April 29th 2017 on her record label Safety Escape Records. Erica is a Alternative Pop singer/songwriter from the Seattle area.

Her debut album was produced by Alek Edmonds, mixed by Paul David Hager (live engineer for Miley Cyrus, Devo) and mastered by Howie Weinberg (Nirvana, Jeff Buckley).

Erica performs as a solo artist and with her five piece band. She studied Jazz Vocal Performance and Composition at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. She took an interest in audio and met engineer and producer Alek Edmonds. There she found her passion for writing and sound. For the last 3 years, she has been writing and recording her debut album.

Erica is influenced by Disco and artists such as Radiohead, The Eurythmics, Grimes, Joni Mitchell, Enya, Florence and the Machine, Imogen Heap, Arcade Fire and Feist. Themes in Erica’s music include the roles we play in love relationships, vulnerability, being present and staying in the moment, loss, addiction, her struggle with Lyme Disease, the highest highs and the lowest lows, self empowerment, setting boundaries, and hope.

Erica was fortunate to record in some amazing studios including London Bridge, Synergy and Avast in Seattle and Encore Studio A in LA.

www.ericacooper.com