Browsing Tag

Britpop

The everyman’s folk raconteur Matt McManamon reached a new plateau with  ‘Circles in the Sky’

Posted on 15 October 2023

The Liverpudlian-Irish singer-songwriter Matt McManamon set the bar plateau-high with his critically acclaimed debut LP, Scally Folk, after breaking away from his band, The Dead 60s, but he transcended it all the same with his latest single, Circles in the Sky.

The everyman’s folk raconteur took the inspiration for his latest single from a trite positivity post found online and spun lyrical gold from the sentiment which was an attestation to how fear, failure and inspiration will always be components of the same formula. The consoling compassion which equally emanates from the assuredly steady guitar chords and his tender vocal timbre also goes a fair way in proving the chaos in life won’t always make it easy for you to succeed – perseverance is the trick.

If you can’t get enough of the psych-tinted alt-90s nostalgia in Circles in the Sky, you won’t have long to wait until your next retro indie-folk fix; the single was the first to drop from the illustrious artist’s upcoming EP, Seventy-Two Hours.

Or you can always delve into The Dead 60s discography; with Matt McManamon at the helm, the band toured with Morrissey, Kasabian, and their Deltasonic label mates The Coral when they weren’t playing Glasto and appearing on Top of the Pops.

Circles in the Sky dropped on September 29; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Emerge from the Shadows of Toxicity with JW Paris’ Clamorous Call to Action Against Digital Subjugation, ‘You’ve Got Me’

Posted on 12 October 2023

Even after growing accustomed to JW Paris’ exhilarating amalgams of grunge and Britpop, their latest hybrid synthesis, You’ve Got Me, still struck me as an ensnaring feat of tightly unhinged volition, delivered with electrifyingly dark tones, and liberating intent.

The cutting social discourse against the more interpersonal vignette slices is an affecting affirmation that JW Paris delivered a verbatim narration straight from the antagonised and agonised soul. Imagine the haunting melodies in The Holy Bible augmented by the rancorous swagger of grunge, and you will be close to getting an idea of what JW Paris delivered with this anthemically unshackling elucidation to the toxicity within the grip of algorithms and the seductiveness of social media.

Discernibly, the London-based three-piece have perfected the art of gnarled high-octane hooks and choruses that draw you right into the centre of their distorted chaos, which still doesn’t hold a candle to the dystopic chaos that consumes us when we’re in digital arenas that leaves us with desperation for validation-derived dopamine.

After experiencing the visceralism, in retrospect, it is almost laughable that we are so pre-occupied with fears of AI advancing when we’re already enslaved by the technology that keeps us hooked to a mind-numbing sedative which comes with insecurity and polarised hostility as side-effects.

JW Paris Said

‘With lines like “Can you sit inside the silence, reflecting on the shame,” the song paints a vivid picture of introspection, urging us to confront the uncomfortable truths that we’ve ignored. It delves into the paradox of feeling unwanted and pushing for constant attention.’

You’ve Got Me was officially released via Blaggers Records on October 11. Stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Emerge from the Shadows of Toxicity with JW Paris’ Clamorous Call to Action Against Digital Subjugation, ‘You’ve Got Me’

Posted on 12 October 2023

Even after growing accustomed to JW Paris’ inventive and authentic amalgams of grunge and Britpop, their latest hybrid synthesis, You’ve Got Me, still struck us as a superlatively ensnaring feat of tightly unhinged volition, delivered with dark tones, and liberating intent.

The cutting social discourse against the more interpersonal vignette slices is an affecting affirmation that JW Paris delivered a verbatim narration straight from the antagonised and agonised soul.

Imagine the haunting melodies in The Holy Bible augmented by the rancorous swagger of grunge, and you will be close to getting an idea of what JW Paris delivered with this anthemically cathartic elucidation to the toxicity within the grip of algorithms and the seductiveness of social media.

Discernibly, the London-based three-piece have perfected the art of gnarled high-octane hooks and choruses that draw you right into the centre of their distorted chaos, which still doesn’t hold a candle to the dystopic chaos that consumes us when we’re in digital arenas that leaves us with desperation for validation-derived dopamine.

 After experiencing the visceralism, in retrospect, it is almost laughable that we are so pre-occupied with fears of AI advancing when we’re already enslaved by the technology that keeps us hooked to a mind-numbing sedative which comes with insecurity and polarised hostility as side-effects.

JW Paris Said

‘With lines like “Can you sit inside the silence, reflecting on the shame,” the song paints a vivid picture of introspection, urging us to confront the uncomfortable truths that we’ve ignored. It delves into the paradox of feeling unwanted and pushing for constant attention.’

You’ve Got Me was officially released via Blaggers Records on October 11. Stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Tiny Camels have got the minuscule hump in their sophomore release, One of Those Days

Posted on 28 September 2023

Determined to reinvent Britpop for the 21st-century airwaves, the Cardiff-hailing outfit, Tiny Camels, made melodious headway with their sophomore single, One of Those Days.

By abstracting the laddish swagger that became as synonymous with 90s Britpop as bucket hats with a sweeter vocal register that defies gravity with its interstellar soaring hues around the eternal sunshine in the indie pop guitars that wrap around the kaleidoscopic atmospherics, Tiny Camels delivered euphoria without the hits of ecstasy.

With indie rock hooks as sharp as the ones crafted by the Vaccines when they semi-permanently implanted Post Break-Up Sex in our mind for the entire duration of 2011 around the jangled and angular elements of new wave indie that creates a romantically effervescent sphere of the soundscape, One of Those Days lies on a plateau above the rest of the 2023 indie landfill.

One of Those Days hit the airwaves on September 22; stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

MODEL CITISIN – Been and Gone: Manic Street Preachers Fans Will Glue Themselves to This Debut

Posted on 27 September 2023

Proving that time isn’t linear, the London-based outfit, MODEL CITISIN, fronted by Nick Swettenham, brought the 90s Britpop era right back around with their debut single, Been and Gone.

Muso nostalgists are hardly in short supply, but nothing about Been and Gone even comes close to antiquated. The resurgence of the brassy euphoria, psychedelically tined guitar tones, and crescendos carved from violin strings will tempt the souls of the most world-weary indie fans out of repose.

Unravelling as a mash of the signatures of the 90s, with enough room for authenticity in the high-octane melodic hooks that could ensnare a stadium, it’s impossible not to get excited about the foundling outfit’s potential.

With superlatively orchestrated guitar solos that could give James Dean Bradfield a run for his virtuosic money augmenting the sentimentality of the single, which throws in a few Grandaddy-esque synth lines for good measure, Been and Gone is easily one of the most promising debuts I’ve heard in 2023.

Been and Gone was officially released on September 22; stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Dorset’s Nick Capaldi composed a folky odyssey with his single, Sunnies and Guitars

Posted on 6 August 2023

Singer-songwriter, Nick Capaldi, gave his folky odyssey of a fourth LP, You and all the Seasons, one of the tenderest touches we’ve been melodically caressed with in a long time.

The standout single, Sunnies and Guitars, is a sun-soaked celebration of the simplest pleasures in life; the stringed and lensed objects of every man, woman and dog’s burning desire become an abstract lyrical theme as the sonics find themselves in the cosmic middle ground between The Flaming Lips and Neil Young.

With touches of twangy Americana entwined into the spacy layers of the blissfully nostalgic serenade, Nick Capaldi didn’t stop at scribing his signature sound into the single, he projected his interstellar air into an atmosphere that seems far too celestial to solely belong to Earth’s orbit.

Steam You and all the Seasons by heading over to Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Andrew Bradley advocated for unity in the infectious grooves of his latest single, Everybody’s Welcome Here

Posted on 30 July 2023

Hot on the heels of his debut LP, All Things Considered, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Andrew Bradley is set to unveil his unifying funk-dripping pop-rock hit, Everybody’s Welcome Here.

After an 80s funk hop reminiscent intro, the single unravels as a kaleidoscopically groovy hit that will leave you itching to hit a dancefloor and move to the intrinsically rhythmic magnetism. With the attitude of Britpop and a perfect pinch of Beatles-esque 60s psych-pop, Everybody’s Welcome Here is a compellingly textured sonic TARDIS of a release that couldn’t be better timed.

In such a divisive era when it feels like the pot is being perpetually shaken to breed antagonism in the atmosphere, Andrew Bradley served an all too welcome reminder that acceptance is one of the highest virtues we should all find a little more time for.

Prior to releasing Everybody’s Welcome Here, Andrew Bradley has gained experience in the industry as an artist and producer. From The Sound Emporium Studios in Nashville to Abbey Road Studios, his multi-faceted talents have graced plenty of the bucket list studios.

Check out Andrew Bradley on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

djamesk13- She Rides in Secret: grungily Lynchian psychedelic Britpop

Posted on 27 July 2023

For his latest single, She Rides in Secret, the alt-rock artist, djamesk13, orchestrated a scintillating installation of grungily Lynchian psychedelic Britpop.

Finding the middle ground between Pixies, Stone Roses, the Psychedelic Furs, and the pioneers of darkly dissonant post-punk, She Rides in Secret is a hypnotic aural effigy to authenticity, inexplicably carved by one of the boldest experimentalists that we have had the pleasure of putting on our radars in recent years.

The moodily sludgy lo-fi propensities of She Rides in Secret may not be anyone’s cup of tea, but if you’d prefer to lose yourself in a sonic storm in a teacup, delve right into the seductive soundscape that will caress you with its succinct melodies and wistful romanticism.

She Rides in Secret was officially released on July 17th; hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Gratitude triumphs over self-doubt in The Kaves’s seminal cinematic indie rock ballad, Soul

Posted on 7 July 2023
The Kaves

Starting with swathes of 80s nostalgia in the momentary prelude before fast-forwarding to the next era in the first verse by emanating shoegazey Britpop and cinematic rock in the same rhythmically arrestive breath, the latest single, Soul, from The Kaves puts them in the same league as their memorably emotive Glaswegian idols.

The porous vocal lines which allow soul to pour through them as they soar as high as the guitar solos against the driving backbeat in the ballad ensured the listening experience is as visceral as sentimental.

So many ballads centre around the acquisition or loss of love; never ones to peddle pedestrian tropes, with Soul, The Kaves, narrated the cynicism which amasses around low self-esteem after unconditional affection is put on the table by someone who loves you in spite of your idiosyncrasies. In its superlatively authentic essence, Soul is a reminder that when it comes to love, gratitude is always the better option over pessimistic over-analysis.

If anyone has what it takes to prevent indie rock from fading into further obscurity and show Alex Turner what stellar indie should sound like in 2023, it is The Kaves.

Soul will be available to stream from July 7. Hear it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

JW Paris Leave It Alone Video Premiere

Posted on 30 June 2023

Teaming up with the video director and director of photography, Alex Estrella, the prodigal spawn of alt-indie, JW Paris, visually captured the same superlative swagger of their distorted to-the-nines sound in their latest single and music video, Leave It Alone.

JW Paris was hardly painting at the kids’ table with their former releases. But the exhibition of a freshly honed sound in Leave It Alone, ahead of the release of their upcoming sophomore EP, marks a fierce new frontier for the powerhouse who never lyrically play with their cards close to their chest.

With Glasvegas-esque choruses that raise the roof so high they leave the brickwork on another plateau, Leave It Alone is metaphysically mind-melting in its ability to balance anthemic transcendence with hauntingly grunged up rancour that adds oceanic depth to the melodies.

Lyrically, Leave It Alone peers into the human proclivity to question reality and look for redemption for past mistakes. In JW Paris’ own words:

“Leave It Alone is a deeply personal song that reflects our own inner journey of self-discovery and acceptance. It invites the listeners on an introspective exploration of identity and longing for inner peace. It is a heartfelt track that encapsulates the struggles and triumphs of self-discovery, reminding us to embrace our imperfections and find solace within ourselves.”

Splicing two facets of the iconic 90s epoch has seen the London-based three-piece comprising Gemma Clarke, Daniel Collins, and Aaron Forde establish themselves as a peerless outfit you will want to try out for size and never take off.

Their two seminal 2022 singles, Electric Candle Light and Runaway received extensive airplay from BBC Radio 1, BBC Introducing, Absolute Radio, and Amazing Radio. JW Paris also deservedly worked their way into the main playlist on Radio X, and numerous curated indie playlists.

Leave It Alone will be released via Blaggers Records on the 30th of June after being recorded at Buffalo Studios, produced by JB Pilon and mastered by the 2023 award-winning engineer at Air Studios, Cicely Balston.

Stream it on Spotify or watch the official music video on YouTube. 

Follow JW Paris on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Review by Amelia Vandergast