Browsing Tag

Rock n Roll

BreakTime got all revved up in their 60s pop-rock single, Motor City Mama

Posted on 4 July 2023

If you wanna grease the wheels of your 60s pop-rock playlists, the latest single, Motor City Mama, from the illustrious nostalgia peddlers BreakTime, will get you all revved up with the Beach Boys-esque vocal harmonies and the bright guitar melodies that burst with vintage flair. Hitting play is like stepping into a parallel universe where Brian Setzer managed to work his way into the Beatles.

The New Jersey-hailing outfit started as a cover band before they started to nod towards their favourite eras and artists in their original music rather than assimilate them, which is exactly how BreakTime acquired their amalgamated sound that emanates rockabilly, sixties pop, blues rock and surf rock.

Even though the prodigal sons of vintage rock n roll switch up their sound between their releases, upbeat harmonies, technical skill and arresting showmanship always come as standard.

Motor City Mama is available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Palace became heirs to the rock n roll dynasty in ‘Looking at You’

Posted on 24 June 2023

Just as royal blood ran in the veins of Prince and Queen, The Palace is just as imposingly majestic in their debut album, Rainbow Shades, which hit all major streaming platforms on June 9th.

The standout single, Looking at You, is a rapturous riot of Broadway-esque blues rock, with the shimmering Organ keys aiding the transcendence of the experience around the bluesy piano glissandos and the reverent rock electric guitar solos.

Star quality emanates from the natural charisma of the frontman, who utilises his soulfully profound dynamic vocal range to bring this stellar slice of rock n roll to visceral life. If your rock playlists are lacking serotonin, give them a potent fix by making Looking at You a staple.

To launch their debut LP, The Palace performed on the main stage at Indy Pride Festival, following a series of performances to capacity crowds throughout independent venues in Indianapolis.

Stream Looking at You on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Propter Hawk stoked the fires of a rock n roll revival in Clean Old-Fashioned Hate

Posted on 2 June 2023
Propter Hawk

With demurely electrifying vocal lines in the same vein of She Drew the Gun and Black Honey fused with cruising kaleidoscopic guitars which angularly nestle into the middle ground between Pavement and The Beatles, Toronto’s premier rock outfit, Propter Hawk, knocked it out of the sonic ballpark with their latest release, Clean Old-Fashioned Hate.

The feel-good rock n roll rhythmics were the perfect way to address our contemporary appetite for division and hatred while throwing you right back to the simpler times when we could believe what we read and tribalism wasn’t excessively weaponised.

Armed with their vintage gear and an MO to stoke the fires of a new era of refreshingly relatable rock n roll, the raconteur powerhouse is unreckonable; join forces while you still can.

Clean Old-Fashioned Hate will be available to stream on all major platforms from June 2. Head over to their website for more info.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

THE PALE HORSES rolled with the punches in their soulfully heavy progressive blues single, Shallow Dive

Posted on 28 April 2023

THE PALE HORSES raucously reimagined blues with their latest feat of heavy progressive blues, Shallow Dive. The shimmering tones spilling from the Hammond organ remain definitively bluesy, as do the harmonised backing vocals, but everything else in the innovated hit came straight from the Toronto-hailing artist’s very own heavy rock n roll drawing board.

Even if you can take or leave blues and heavy progressive rock, there’s enough exhilarant substance in the release to affirm THE PALE HORSES are one of the most original acts on any scene. The jazz-inspired drums and vocal lines from Dane Hartsell transform this ode to 70s vintage tones into a riot of rock renovation, which may make traditionalists itch, but anyone who appreciates experimentalism will want to bask in the heat of this scorching sonically salacious release.

Shallow Dive is now available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Groovy Shirt Club chiselled a modern edge into rock n roll nostalgia with ‘Electric Flowers’

Posted on 25 April 2023

With Groovy Shirt Club on the scene, no one can claim ‘they don’t make ‘em like they used to’. Their latest single, Electric Flowers, chiselled a modern edge into a vintage sound, captured through a live euphonically melodic performance.

The vocals in Electric Flowers are enough to give you the Chris Isaak chills, and elements of the psych originators (the Beatles, obviously) can also be noted in the kaleidoscopic soul that spills across the entire sonic landscape that you will want to visit time and time again to affirm that rock n roll isn’t dead, it’s still alive and kicking on the underground. There’s also an undeniable touch of the college radio rock sound that R.E.M. defined with their creamy chords and ruggedly sugared harmonies.

Electric Flowers is available to Stream on Spotify.

Join the Groovy Shirt Club gang on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Tin Zelkova has unveiled their NSFW-sexy alt-rock single, Miss Mean Marcella

Posted on 22 April 2023
https://spotify.link/U7M6eTs5Oyb

Sexy enough to be NSFW, Tin Zelkova’s latest debauchedly dark alt-rock single, Miss Mean Marcella, is another radio-ready slice of organically originated rock. It is quite the departure from the soulful sonics we last heard from the three-piece when our ears were candied with the standout single, Soul Shaker, from their debut eponymous LP.

But we were far from disappointed to be drenched in the slick swagger of Miss Mean Marcella, which paints a scintillating picture of the kind of femme fatale that would leave anyone weak at the knees. If the tale of the maleficent mistress doesn’t leave your libido hot under the collar, you might want to check if it still has vital signs. With the guitar lines as loaded as Velvet Revolver’s and the vocals clawing you into the narrative with every honeyed note, Miss Mean Marcella definitively deserves to be a chart-topper.

Miss Mean Marcella was officially released on April 8. Catch it on Spotify and YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

AXiS got elemental for their latest razor-sharp slice of reinvented 70s rock, Firewater

Posted on 21 April 2023

The Serbian/Romanian power trio, AXiS, ensured the 70s rock n roll era made a monolithic return to the airwaves in 2023 with their elementally overdriven reinvention, Firewater.

Taking the iconic sounds from Black Sabbath, Hendrix, and Led Zeppelin and channelling a modern twist into the high gain guitars, the rock-reverent originators slathered Firewater with swagger and burning hot riffs that will turn your speakers into smoke machines.

After forming in 2012, the trio has shared its fair share of success as a touring band and in the studio. After their sophomore album left them pigeonholed as a blues rock band, they’ve proven with Firewater that their raw live sound is a million miles away from those roots. It’s straight-up sleazenik rock n roll that you will want to line up and drink warm beer for.

Firewater was officially released on April 1st. Stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Tom Seth Johnson projected adoration through indie rock anthemics in Anywhere in the World Right Now

Posted on 19 April 2023

If indie rock n roll has a soul, it resounds in the magnetic sincerity of the latest single, Anywhere in the World Right Now, from Oxford’s prodigal son, Tom Seth Johnson.

With only an edge of 90s Britpop, there’s plenty of room for an Americana tinge that poured in the same foot-stompin’ vein as The Black Keys. So many postcards get sent to Britpop, but Johnson put his own swaggering stamp on his. Especially, through the sweeter-than-sugar line, “I’ve finally found a reason to play my guitar, ‘cos usually I’m down in Dixies midnight bar”. I legitimately shed a tear.

The rock n roll lifestyle is subject to prolific glamourisation; Johnson put that toxicity to bed and wrapped it up in soulful anthemics to prove all the vacuous sex and drugs in the world can’t parallel the high of coming home when it is a person that defines home instead of four walls.

Anywhere in the World Right Now is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Stephen The Storyteller pulled a wild sonic card in his punk n roll hit, Missin On.

Posted on 11 April 2023

If you fused the roguish appeal of the Cramps with proto-punk scuzz and bluesy rock n roll riffs, the amalgam would be as raucously gritty as the standout single, Missin On, from Stephen the Storyteller’s album, Supragenre.

With his whiskey-soaked vocal lines pouring into the frenetically progressive pace of the authentic by-design hit, you’ll be shakin’ like Elvis by the time the chorus kicks around. He’s the complete antithesis of artists of the modern era who create around the confines of stereotype and genre; reminiscences aside, Stephen The Storyteller pulled a wild sonic card with this release that stays true to the organic nature of expression. The Doylestown artist, poet, and producer, may keep his sound design experimentally old school, but with his music videos, he’s embraced the future and allowed AI to take the metaphorical lead.

The AI-created music video for Missin On premiered on April 1; watch it on YouTube, and check out more of his content on his official website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The gloves are off in Tough on Fridays’ swaggeringly infectious indie alt-rock hit, The Awakening

Posted on 8 April 2023

Taken from their trailblazing alt-rock, indie, and grunge amalgam of an LP, The Encore You Didn’t Ask For, Tough on Fridays’ standout single, The Awakening, is a sure-fire hit of vindication for anyone who knows how bitter-sweet goodbyes can be when betrayal was the final parting shot.

With the same energy as Shitlist by L7, the grungy and Riot Grrrl to the core powerhouse lived up to the hype that has been brewing around them as they’ve taken the Texas music circuit by storm in the last six years.

The compellingly raw vocal lines add a demure touch to the swaggering power rock instrumental aesthetics of the track, which prove how much Tough on Fridays has honed their sound. Their infectious scream-the-chorus-from-the-top-of-your-lungs appeal is only getting more visceral with each new release.

It’s rare to find an outfit offering as much substance as style, but Tough on Fridays is anything but your run-of-the-mill paint-by-numbers outfit. Their soul, scorn and scuzzy riffs are just a few of the reasons you should reserve a place for them on your radar.

The Awakening is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast