Browsing Tag

garage rock

The Real Zebos captured the banality ‘Indie Girls’ struggles in their latest single

Posted on 10 September 2022

Humility goes a long way in the indie scene, which is just one of the reasons The Real Zebos haven’t failed to amass a staunch following on their journey from Craigslist strangers to a 5-piece garnering over 3 million hits on their most popular tracks.

I’ll be honest; I thought I was going to hit play on their latest single, Indie Girls, and hear yet another cringe exposition on Manic Pixie Dream Girls. Thankfully, the garagey pop-rock jam is an addictive continuation of the same playful hubris found on Pavement’s seminal album, Brighten the Corners, with hilarious observations on the trends of try-hard e-girl vampires and the banality of their struggles. Admitting to loving this track is probably the most un-feminist thing I will ever do, but I can think of infinitely worse hills to die on.

Indie Girls is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Green Wire launched their latest indie-rock attack ‘Upside Down, Inside Out’

Posted on 9 September 2022

“Upside Down, Inside Out” is the latest feat of era-spanning indie pop rock from the Manchester raconteurs of raucous innovation, Green Wire.

With notes of garage rock, pop punk and 80s rock fusing to create their dynamic sonic signature, Green Wire are by far one of the most authentic Manchester up-and-coming powerhouses as of late – a fact I can fully attest to as a fellow Mancunian. This high-powered frenetic earworm is sure to see the cheeky fourpiece go far.

Upside Down, Inside Out will officially release on September 2nd. Check it out via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

60s garage rock rides surf rock waves in The MindRide’s latest single, Delta Alpha

Posted on 24 August 2022
The MindRide

Even at half the length of your average pop track, the nostalgia-driven duo, The MindRide created the ultimate LA proto punk bop with their latest single, Delta Alpha, which grooves with nuances of skate punk and surf-rock and comes together as the ultimate genre-fluid earworm.

With The Walkmen-Esque percussion falling slightly below the warm and crunchy overdriven guitar tones and the relentless momentum in the vocals, getting caught up in the punky euphoria of Delta Alpha is non-optional. Especially for fans of The Kinks, The Strokes, and The Sonics. With their 5th album in the pipeline, The MindRide deserve a spot on your radar.

Check out The MindRide on their official website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

LUXTHEREAL has unleashed the alt-rock soundtrack to our destruction, Humanity’s Fall

Posted on 26 June 2022

The latest single, Humanity’s Fall, from the Phoenix Arizona hailing artist LUXTHEREAL, sonically resonates like a sombre-breakup track but the only thing that has departed is the promise of an empire that will stand the test of our destruction. The concept is stunning; the execution of the atmospherically hooky harbinger is equally sublime.

With a touch of proto-punk, garage rock and post-punk, there is a protestive vein running right through the intrinsically melodic body of the single, which forces you to contemplate our failures. And sure, it’s nice to dissociate and shop for your favourite nerd items on Amazon while the anthropocene raises the temperature and the parasites with shoes, otherwise known as our world leaders, carve out a new ring of hell on this side of the earth’s crust, but we can only hide our heads in the sand for so long before they boil in there. Kudos to LUXTHEREAL for being true to their moniker and delivering raw realism.

Humanity’s Fall Remastered by LUXTHEREAL is available on SPOTIFY & ALL major streaming services, you can view the video here!

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Salfordian duo, Yakumama, scuzzed it up for their garage rock debut, Let Me Out Alive

Posted on 27 March 2022

‘Let Me Out Alive’ is the scuzzy indie garage rock debut single from the enigmatically volatile Salfordian duo, Yakumama. They’ve already caught the attention of Radio X with their promising debut that carries the buzz and the bounce of Mudhoney, the effortlessly cool swagger of Kyuss and the efficaciously sharp hooks that demand repeat attention.

The Manchester music scene has been crying out for new artists that rock the indie assimilator apple cart with their off-kilter ingenuity. Yakumama does exactly that with their post-punk nuances and the chaos that breeds at the mercy of their guitar pedals and their vicious power-pop vocal lines.

We already can’t wait to hear what is in the pipeline after this gothy plea for hope and mercy that was written to shake listeners out of moving with the tide.

Let Me Out Alive is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The trashy surf-punk powerhouse Astrokraut have launched their latest album, Trash Attack.

Posted on 25 January 2022

Any staunch Krautrock fans will definitely want to roll with the progressive punches in the latest album, Trash Attack, from the Germany-hailing garage/surf/punk powerhouse, Astrokraut.

With tauntingly ethereal female vocals that sit between Blondie and the B-52s and the frenetic furore in the complex time signatures in the guitars in the standout single, Invasion, you couldn’t ask for a better introduction to the outfit that formed in 2010 under the influence of Heavy Sabbath 70s sounds. If only more bands made that transition from assimilation to innovation.

A sense of chaos lends itself to plenty more than just the sonic textures in Invasion. It is practically a trashy surfy adaption of Fear and Loathing – and we couldn’t rate Astrokraut more for their fearless commitment to throwing themselves into their creativity completely. There’s no sense of pretence to be found here.

Astrokraut’s latest album, Trash Attack, is now available to stream in full via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Proto-punk bites back in Underdog’s seminal punch-drunk alt-rock track, Over and Over

Posted on 10 January 2022

Over and Over (Northern Lights) is the seminal proto-punk track from Boston’s most boisterous alt-rock powerhouse, Underdog. It may be harder for new artists to register as obsession-worthy from the first hit, but the college radio rock vibes mixed with the lo-fi scuzz and energy that stems from the frustration that resounds around monotony makes a riotously magnetic track out of Over and Over.

Thankfully, the band that has been charting as the top alternative band in Boston since establishing in 2013 didn’t allow their creativity to buckle during the quarantine. Their album, Trans Global Amnesia, is due for release in the Spring of 2022. Any fans of the New York Dolls, The Heartbreakers and the Ramones will want Underdog on their radars – it is only a matter of time before their moniker becomes unfitting.

Over and Over is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Feliz told a fuzzed-up modern love story in a neo-western landscape with their garage rock hit “Pocket Cowgirl”

Posted on 22 December 2021
Pocket Cowgirl by FELIZ

With plenty of gorgeous wobbly tape echo delay around the Iggy Pop-level gruff vocals in the intro, slipping into the latest psychedelic feat of garage rock from Feliz is a blissful trip away from reality.

The fuzz-loving Californian outfit’s latest single, Pocket Cowgirl, is an analog modern love story gone wrong set in a neo-western landscape. It carries the same gritty gravitas as the likes of Alex Cameron and Jack Ladder in the low timbre vocals while Isela Humerez’ dreamy, distorted and poppy vocals add a stunning dynamic to the lo-fi yet succinctly arranged track.

Even after the eccentricity of Pocket Cowgirl has faded away after the first few plays, it still doesn’t disappoint. The ingenuity keeps on pouring like rabbits from a magician’s hat along with the affirmation that Feliz psychologically delved far deeper than most to deliver this sultry ground-breaking release. And the best part? The playful humility shines through just as much as the shimmering guitars.

Pocket Cowgirl is now available to stream, purchase and fall in love with via Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

James Sebastian saved our Shipwrecked Soul(s) in his latest 70s rock n roll hit

Posted on 20 December 2021
James Sebastian

After getting hooked on his unforgettably sweet single, Lemon Sunshine, the UK-based solo artist, James Sebastian, has shown us a harsher 70s rock n roll edge in his latest single, Shipwrecked Soul.

While the vintage garagey tones feed the frenzy in the instrumentals, James Sebastian’s raconteur vocal timbre ensures that apathy isn’t an option when you hit play on this unapologetically feel-good hit. The up and coming singer-songwriter found the perfect way to influence his listeners to take their melancholy in their rock n roll stride. In a time when authority and answers are hard to find, it is beyond refreshing to hear an artist with the ability to vindicate our jetsam-like misery so viscerally. That’s before we even move on to his talent at pulling authenticity of vintage rock. So many artists  have left us questioning if that was even possible. Notably, James Sebastian is a diamond in the rough.

Check out James Sebastian on Spotify and Facebook.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Chicago’s Temple Drake move to a scuzzier territory with ‘Mexican Coke’

Posted on 1 December 2021

Queens of the Stone Age’s scuzzier cousin, Temple Drake, is set to release their gnarliest garage rock single to date with Mexican Coke. The hard-hitting manically vintage track is pretty much distortion porn for the way the guitars and basslines bounce – bounce being the operative word – between crunchy, rolling, fuzzy and psychedelic licks. Short of mainlining adrenaline, there are few experiences as energising as delving into this frenetically ingenious track.

Mexican Coke was released on November 27th as part of the Chicago-based duo’s EP, Transmission 2. It is now available to stream on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast