Browsing Tag

Nirvana

Tim Lukic orchestrated the soundtrack to love & loss in the grungy alt-indie single, YOU WERE HERE

Posted on 13 October 2022

‘YOU WERE HERE’ is the latest grungy lo-fi single released by the Swedish alt-indie artist Tim Lukic, which melds the ennui of Nirvana with the melodic style of Grandaddy to provide the soundtrack to the complexity of love and loss.

The rhythmically composited single, influenced by the likes of John Maus, Frank Zappa, and John Frusciante, allows bitter-sweet gratitude to transpire from the world-tilting loss of someone that provided stability in an endlessly giving relationship.

Lyrically, it’s a deeply personal cry into the void left behind, but one that is sure to hit anyone that has experienced loss will resonate with. The sense of loneliness that permeates our psyches artfully echoes in the intricately woven instrumental layers in YOU WERE HERE. It’s an evocative ride, but there’s some comfort to be found in the knowledge that you’re not alone in even the most harrowing emotions.

YOU WERE HERE is now available to stream on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Condition Baker delivered a tenacious exposition of coming-of-age disillusion with their pop-punk hit, One Thing

Posted on 21 September 2022

The Holbrook, MA three-piece, Condition Baker, lace their pop-punk sound with an alt-90s twist; their latest single, One Thing, is the perfect introduction to their uniquely grungy and punchy sound distortion.

The infectious coming of age of lament unfurls around massive guitars fed through layers of frenetic distortion, drumbeats inspired by the Seattle grunge era and lyrics that are hooky enough that you can hang your coat on them before you head to the pit and enjoy the classic pop-punk choruses that keep on giving with every listen.

Any fans of Dookie-era Green Day, Jawbreaker, Descendants and Alkaline Trio will undoubtedly want to delve into this tenacious exposition of adulthood disillusion and exhaustion.

One Thing is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Donate Your Friends drops that memorable auditory compensation demo to swim inside your veins with on Devil Animus

Posted on 19 September 2022

Attempting to take away the hurt of billions of lost souls within us all, Donate Your Friends seeks us out with those words we will try to figure out was hollow or not with Devil Animus.

Donate Your Friends is an alternative art-hard rock band who performs with a wild imagination that is truthfully spellbinding and always emotional.

”We write our songs about personal anguish, dwelling in depressive moods and about global systematic corruption within our dystopian reality.” ~ Donate Your Friends

Looking for that valuable connection that shall rivet the attention away from the dusty paths of doubt and doom, Donate Your Friends are so brilliant with that anthem you have been seeking on Devil Animus.

Devil Animus from the alternative emo art-hard rock band Donate Your Friends is one of those good shots to the chest that wakes you up. With a mysteriously Nirvana-like entrance that shall help you burrow through the cobwebs of doubt that can hide you away, instead of dealing with the hurt head-on for the better.

Finding your worth through the noise is the mission.

Listen up to this heavy experience on Spotify and follow the journey on IG.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

West Ridge Circle – Stuck in This Chair: The Ultimate Off-Kilter Alt-90s Ode to Ennui

Posted on 20 April 2022

Taken from their debut EP, Nobody Home, West Ridge Circle’s standout single, Stuck in This Chair, is an eclectic array of era-spanning rock nuances and modernist lyrical vulnerability.

Fans of Pavement, Pixies and Nirvana will want to drink up the 21st-century melancholy that drips through the lyrics and captures the frustration that lingers in unrelenting ennui. It’s tracks like Stuck in This Chair that prove there’s a beauty in collective misery, that now, we can hear lyrics, and it isn’t an Olympian stretch of the imagination to get on the same level. Granted, that isn’t always a given, but West Ridge Circle are thriving on the funk that is writhing through our existential hive minds.

With the J Mascis-style guitar chops, the despondent Americana blues-rock vocals that come with a tinge of the Seattle alt-90s sound and the eerily relatable lyrics, Stuck in This Chair has all the makings of a melancholy alt-rock playlist staple. We hope there’s another release nestled in the pipeline.

Stuck in This Chair is now available to stream on Spotify.

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

James Gale sings the ‘Summer Blues’ in his resonantly seductive debut EP, Medicine

Posted on 1 March 2022

If James Gale’s debut 2021 EP, Medicine, passed you by, you missed a sweetly psychotropic slice of alt-rock that more than has what it takes to unite fans of Nick Cave, Nirvana, Elliott Smith and the Beatles.

The standout single, Summer Blues, which has now racked up over 14k streams on Spotify, is an indulgent cocktail of psych, blues, indie, and grunge. The dark narrative is delectably handled by the Bruges, Belgium-hailing singer-songwriter and artist. The way the accordant momentum picks up under Gale’s taunting vocals that question if you’re afraid to lose control before bluesily winding the soundscape back down into kaleidoscopically choral grooves is nothing short of arrestive.

We seriously hope that there’s a sophomore release in the pipeline.

Summer Blues is available to stream along with James Gale’s debut EP via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Elegant Chasers went off-kilter with the grungy panache in their sophomore single, Sunshine Mourning.

Posted on 4 February 2022
The Elegant Chasers

The Elegant Chasers brought their grungy panache back to the airwaves with the release of their sophomore single, Sunshine Mourning. We’d scarcely lost the earworm that was implanted through their debut single, Lets Ride, but we found ourselves gripped by Sunshine Mourning in a completely different capacity.

This time, the post-punk tinged track is as caustic as one of Sonic Youth’s most discordant releases in the verses and hooky enough in the choruses to give that stadium-filling effect that resonates as volatile gravitas once you get caught up within it.

The one-man powerhouse is taking full advantage of his independent artist freedom. Instead of attempting to appease moguls by pandering to the mediocrity in their tastes, he opted for an off-kilter track that splices together Nirvana-reminiscent drums, cleverly distorted vocals (we are talking Mike Patton level clever here) and guitars that are pliant enough to make your head spin. It is the epitome of an alt 90s aural riot. We can’t wait to hear what follows in his debut album.

Sunshine Mourning will officially release on February 11th. You can check it out for yourselves via SoundCloud and Bandcamp.

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

Noise Blossom – Louderage: The Sophomore Grunge Album No Alt-90s Fan Should Ignore

Posted on 25 September 2021

The popularity of alt-rock may have been in decline since the 90s, but the level of talent runs parallel through artists such as Noise Blossom. Ahead of the release of their sophomore album, Louderage, we’ve delved into the standout single, SAD.

Right from the prelude the echo of the grunge era grips you. Amidst the nods to Alice in Chains, Soundgarden and Nirvana, Noise Blossom diversifies their sonic palette with Metallica-reminiscent instrumental tones and doomy vocals that will undoubtedly resonate with anyone whose mentality errs on the side of melancholy. In 2021, I am assuming that is everyone.

The official video for SAD premiered on September 17th; you can check it out for yourselves via YouTube.

Check out Noise Blossom on their official website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

We’re infatuated, while Fred Whitacre, JR is ‘Less Smitten’ in his sonic Grunge single.

Posted on 22 June 2021

Fred Whitacre, JR’s latest indie grunge earworm, Less Smitten, acts as a TARDIS with one destination, the alt 90s. The over-driven distorted guitars eclipse the Seattle sound as Whitacre lends from heavier genres to ensure that the sticky-sweet melodies in Less Smitten hit with bruising impact.

If you could imagine the sweetly sentimental sound of Nada Surf, the disquiet chaos of Nirvana and the experimentalism of Pavement all rolled into one high-octane anthem where the buzzsaw riffs cut with a hint of pop-punk, you’ll get an idea of what is in store when you hit play. Quite honestly, I couldn’t be more infatuated with Less Smitten, which feels like quite the paradox, but it isn’t every day new grunge artists emerge with sludgy tones that lead to a spike of serotonin.

The official music video for Less Smitten is now available to stream via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast