Browsing Tag

desert rock

Post-Punk Meets Desert Rock in The Immaculate Crows’ Spellbinding Single, School of Hard Knocks

Posted on 11 June 2023

Taken from their Light in Dark Rooms EP, The Immaculate Crows’ alt-indie rock single, School of Hard Knocks, is an 80s-nostalgia-swathed invitation to wear the scars you have amassed in your fight to survive as a badge of honour.

In recent years, there has been a heightened prevalence of the presumption that society is a mediocracy where everyone is granted the same opportunity, in complete disregard to the disparity in starting lines. The Immaculate Crows reached out to the disenfranchised with validation written into their spellbinding single, which bridges the gap between Siouxsie Siouxe and Echo and the Bunnymen while working in an extra slice of desert folk-rock glamour. The endlessly compelling female vocal lines pull you right into the centre of the dark yet radiantly mesmerising orchestration.

School of Hard Knocks is available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Desert folk duo, Medicine Hat, made soul the centre of their gravity in their latest single, She Comes and She Goes

Posted on 7 March 2023

The latest single, She Comes and She Goes, from the breakthrough duo, Medicine Hat, is an instantaneously resolving amalgam of indie, blues, deserty folk, and psych-pop, which will efficaciously pull you into the soul-centred gravity of the harmony-laced release.

While the folky strings exhibit just how much the nostalgically-inclined independent duo respects the roots of the genres they tease through their melodies, the Stevie Nicks-reminiscent lyrics paint a romantically immersive picture of a free spirit that you can’t help falling in love with by proxy.

The riff-driven middle eight gives you the perfect opportunity to appreciate the virtuosic flare of Medicine Hat, along with their ability to reinvent a familiar palette to make it definitively their own.

She Comes and She Goes was officially released on March 3rd; hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Sabres bare their teeth in their sophomore release ‘Tell Me Where It Hurts’

Posted on 29 August 2022

Here to prove that pigeonholes are for the banal is the Portsmouth alternative duo, Sabres, with their genre-evading sophomore single, Tell Me Where It Hurts.

The titularly compassionate, sonically scuzzed up single comprises just the drums and bass guitar. But the unholy rhythm section is far more than the sum of its dualistic parts, thanks to the heady synergy that grungily grinds through the collaborative chemistry between Sam Cutbush and Dominic Taylor.

Given the times that we are living in, there has been a discernible lack of aural angst, but Sabres are tackling our collective new crises, fears and perversions head-on with their unapologetic reflections on anger.

Sabres may be fresh from its late 2021 inception but in their respective earlier careers, they have supported the likes of Catfish and the Bottlemen, British Sea Power, New Candys, Phobophobes and Melt-Banana. This is far from the first time that Dominic Taylor has left me transfixed by his monstrous percussive energy; I was lucky enough to witness the launch of his former band, Burning House’s debut album, Anthropocene. I’m stoked to hear him on top form once again.

Tell Me Where It Hurts is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Photo credit @oldskoolpaul

Take a psychedelic desert rock trip with Shandri’s latest single, Desert Flower

Posted on 21 March 2022

From the ancient mountains of Central Mexico, the alt-indie psych artist, Shandri, is here with his latest progressively indulgent aural trip, Desert flower. It evades every revival cliché by complimenting the shimmering psych-rock transcendent tones with a touch of War on Drugs and Radiohead art-rock finesse.

For the instrumental interlude, the one-man project surpassed expectations with screaming saxophones and jazzy nuances that will leave any self-respecting desert-rock inclined muso weak at the knees. Yet, Shandri invertedly poured plenty of commercial potential in the single by wrapping it into an addictive 3-minute package that deserves to blow up as much as the Black Keys’ biggest hits. We can’t wait to hear what follows.

Desert Flower is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Find a ‘Moment of Joy’ in Firebug’s Bluesy Desert Rock Single

Posted on 20 March 2022

The immensely and immeasurably talented Joshua Tree recording artist, Firebug, has given us a taste of what’s to come on their forthcoming psychedelic desert-rock album by teasing us with the old-school-rock-but-never-as-you’ve-heard-it-before single, Moment of Joy.

They kicked up the dust on the archetypal desert rock vibes by adding a little New Orleans flavour and nuances of folk and blues. If I could take a bath in the arcanely psychedelic tones that are swathed in 60’s and 70’s nostalgia, I’d be hesitant to get out. For impious musos, sonic experiences don’t get much more spiritual than Moment of Joy which grips you by the scruff of the neck and drags you into the feel-good bliss with the striking vocals as a guide.

So far, the successes counted by Firebug include performing at SXSW in Austin, CMJ in NYC, Sonisphere Festival, and the Viper Room in LA. After this release, it is easy to see that Firebug is only just getting started.

Moment of Joy is part of Firebug’s album, No Return, which will drop on March 18th, 2022. You can check it out for yourselves via Firebug’s official website and SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Arizonian psych-rock experimentalists, SPACEMOOSE, have released their cathartic triumph of a stoner doom debut

Posted on 26 January 2022

SPACEMOOSE by SPACEMOOSE

The experimental music project, SPACEMOOSE, from the Arizona based space rock alchemists Blake Waltein and Josh Merrick, has made its official debut with the self-titled, psychotropic stoner doom single.

The 9-minute long desert rock-inspired single uses the first two minutes to ease you into the opium-den-style opulence and ambience, before darker and more ominous electronic textures join the sitars and tribal vibes. With the addition of angular 60s psych-rock guitars at the 4-minute mark, the single starts to amass momentum steadily, leaving the quiescence from the prelude far behind in the overdriven garagey tones that deliver a sense of chaos to the mix.

Even though the vocals consist of little more than ethereal sermonic chants that bleed into the soundscape, it’s hard not to be beguiled by the mystique in them. It certainly isn’t every day that we hear a debut as authentic and arresting as this 9-minute cathartic triumph. Naturally, we can’t wait to hear what follows.

You can check out the debut single from SPACEMOOSE by heading over to Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Bob Ballard invites you to enjoy your lockdown-induced mania in ‘Locked Up’.

Posted on 22 July 2021

You can laugh, or you can cry, and we have been doing plenty of the latter during our mania-inducing isolation during lockdown (don’t lie), it’s always refreshing to get a fresh perspective, such as the one in Bob Ballard’s light-hearted lockdown track, Locked Up.

The dusty desert rock hit carries some staunchly rock n roll hallmarks; to amplify Ballard’s playful, freshly ambivalent attitude, jazzy psychedelic tones weave their way into the mix.

In essence, Locked Up proves just how well the devil-may-care attitude would have served us if we’d adopted it from the start. After all of the anxiety, we’re still breathing; we can still enjoy sardonically ingenious tracks such as Locked Up that take some of the sting out of our dystopic existence.

Get a serotonin hit from Locked Up for yourselves by heading over to Bob Ballard’s official website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Run Over Dogs has dropped ‘G0t W0rse / All G0ne’

Posted on 29 April 2020

Run Over Dogs has released single ‘G0t W0rse / All G0ne’ an eerie and mysterious piece with many Rock elements.

Starting off with the pluck of the strings, adding in that electric riff as the vocals come in, in a rather low-pitched gravelly sound as they tend to become distorted and they begin to really hit the high notes and the pitch heightens as it begins to fade in and out.

Having that rough texture on the vocals keeping the pitch at that same low volume throughout, making sure to still continue to have that steady flow between the vocals and the instrumentation.

The instrumentals begin to cut through whilst having this static effect added to them that continues through as the clasp of the electric guitar strings play over the top with that same style of instrumentation playing till the end as it begins to fade out slowly.

Listen to Run Over Dogs G0t W0rse / All G0ne by heading over to YouTube now.

Review by Karley Myall