Bipolar Sunshine - Love More Worry Less

Released September 18th 2013

2013 is really shaping up to be the year of the new artist, brilliant music coming from a vast assortment of different genres from all over the UK and showing that we truly are the leading power in the music scene, today’s artist is the alternative indie outfit, Bipolar Sunshine and really shows the creative melting pot is really throwing out some amazing stuff.

You may have seen my review of Rivers, taken from the debut EP ‘Aesthetics’ which in my opinion is one of the most beautiful and sublimely performed pieces of music released so far this year, today’s track, ‘Love More Worry Less’ walks in the very impressive footprints of its predecessor and delivers the goods. The song opens with the hard hitting line “another pregnant girl, underage” giving you a glimpse of how Britain works as a nation, people casting judgement on others on how they appear on the surface rather than digging a little deeper to find the facts. The message of the entire song is clear as soon as you read the title, Love More Worry Less, and it’s something as people we should really consider.

The song has an anthemic and atmospheric sound to it making you feel the sheer scope and size as you listen, the inclusion of others singing along to the hook adds to the amazingly. The song is one of an ultimately positive message, giving people basic advice that they probably forget in normal life and offering help to people should they need it.

At its simplest this track is a work of art, the lyricism has deep meaning and is truly believed by the singer Adio Marchant, the sound is well put together and works to beautiful effect with the vocals. The track will no doubt go down terrifically at live shows with plenty of opportunity for the crowd to get involved. The song is effective on so many levels and will leave the listener thinking about their own life afterwards, in my opinion what separates a good song from a great song is its power to resonate in the listeners thoughts for time after and this has that ability in massive amounts.

Swim Deep - King City

Released June 16th 2013

Another review, another band from Birmingham; the city to the north that seems to bleed out quality band after quality band making the rest of the country seem lazy by comparison. Today’s review is from alternative indie rock band Swim Deep with King City, taken from their debut album ‘Where in Heaven are we’ and re-released from 2012.

To begin with let’s state that before hearing this track I’d never listened to anything by the band, I’d heard about them but never their music; cue kicking one’s self for missing out on what could be one of the best finds of their year. The song has an otherworldly and dreamlike tone and sound; the inclusion of having the entire band as backing singers really adds to this and makes it something totally unique, building a haunting sound and delivering atmosphere to the music in heaps.

 The lyricism of the piece is another thing to be marvelled, the overall theme being pretending and living in your own ‘King City’, with the main vocalist, Austin Williams informing the listener he wants to pretend he’s in a relationship with Warpaint’s bassist Jenny Lee Lindberg.

“Fuck your romance, I wanna pretend that Jenny Lee Lindberg is my girlfriend”

With the sheer quality the band displays with this track you can see the massive amount of passion and enthusiasm the they have for the music they’re producing; couple this up with the massive interest surrounding them and you can safely assume they’re going to be around for a long time to come. This is a well-executed and gracefully performed piece from one of tomorrows biggest acts.

letthemusicplay feat Kate Tempest - Our Town

Released September 13th 2013

From time to time you’ll find an artist who totally changes your impression of the genre they’re performing, they'll inspire you and change how you see the world, for me there’s only ever been a couple; the now defunct ska-punk band The King Blues and Scroobius Pip. In my eyes they changed my life, they inspired me to ask question, read into their beliefs and make a more educated decision in regards to my view of the world. Back in December last year I saw Scroobius Pip during his spoken word tour, he was supported by comedy creation Brian Gittins and another spoken word artist, Kate Tempest of the band ‘Sound Of Rum’.

The track here is Our Town by letthemusicplay with vocals by the south London based poet/playwright and it’s something pretty amazing right from the start. Letthemusicplay consist of Rollo Armstrong and Sister Bliss, both highly successful DJ and producers in their own rights who've come together to form the new collective which is making some pretty amazing stuff, the quality is something to be truly marvelled at and shows other producers how things should be done.

The overall highlight for me here is however Tempest, having been the first under forty year old to win the Ted Hughes award for innovation in Poetry you can tell that she is going to go down in history as one of the greatest poets of our generation, everything she does she pours her heart into and this is no different.

“Let’s go staggering through alleyways laughing into kisses”

She does something that a million writers have done before so beautifully that it sound so new, the romanticism of London, the dreams of success in the big city, or town as its put here show her love and passion for the place that has moulded her as an artist. For me it resonates with me due to the dreams I had when I first moved to London, you think it’s going to be easy sailing, the world at your feet with opportunity at every corner yet you inevitably find yourself in bed with three bottles of wine. The magnitude of her love of hip hop and poetry is displayed clearly for the listener to hear, she puts her all into everything she does and comes out with pieces people will marvel at for years to come.

Little Big League - My Very Own You

Video released August 21st 2013

Sometimes you’ll hear a track that sounds so summery you can guarantee that it basically bleeds sunshine; the kind of song that takes you back to childhoods spent riding bikes for hours, achieving nothing and wasting a whole lot of time. Before you wonder if I'm having some kind of break down let me explain; this song brought me back there, in part due to the video which features a lot of skateboarding but also due to the actual sound of the track.

With one of the most delicate and hauntingly beautiful voices I've heard in a very long time, courtesy of lead singer and guitarist Michelle Zauner ‘Little Big League’ release their debut video for ‘My Very Own You’, a track taken from their debut LP ‘These Are Good People’.

Let’s get it underway by saying it’s comparable to a lot of 90’s alternate rock acts, notably The Smashing Pumpkins and Sonic Youth; But while saying that you can also see the influence of both The Velvet Underground and Lou Reed’s solo work, a lot of ways I’d say it’s a spectacular homage to ‘Satellite of Love’.

On to my judgement of the track itself, if you’ve got this far you’ll have already realized I love it with all the comparisons I have made. The graceful escalation from the initial opener of the song to the powerful and almost raucous piece towards the end come so organically you’re left feeling like someone has drove you to the top of the mountain only to abandon you and tell you to find your way back down, in a nice way obviously.

The Philadelphia are going to go far, from this track there’s such a vast collection of influences all brewing that you can tell they've got so much more creativity left to come and it’s a great future mapped out for them should they produce work equal to or above what I've heard here; a truly remarkable track from a band I'm sure will have a bright future ahead. 

Protest The Hero - Clarity

Released September 6th 2013

Canadian progressive metal is a collection of words you’d never really put together, Canadians tend to be calm and peaceful people, the music of ‘Protest the Hero’ can only be described as the antithesis to this. Back with the first track from their upcoming fourth album ‘Violation’, released October 29^th the band are bringing more of the same electrifying highs and in your face aggression seen on a lot of previous releases.

The line-up of the band has changed a little since the last album; drummer and founding member Moe Carlson is no longer part of the band after leaving to pursue an education in tool and die manufacturing with Chris Adler of ‘Lamb of God’ fame stepping in to fill the spot. Another change for the band being the band not funding the album through traditional record label funding methods instead going for crowd sourcing through fan funding site Indiegogo resulting in the band generating almost three times as much as they needed for the album.

The track itself holds on to the band’s trademark sound, crashing drums, powerful vocals and a shattering power not seen in many bands operating at the moment, they’re not mixing anything up with the new track but clearly maturing in their own sound and skills, something that is often overlooked by bands trying to reach a new audience and inadvertently losing their current one.

As a casual listener I was drawn into this track, while not to my usual taste they show how progressive music should be performed; if you’re not making the earth shake you’re doing it wrong.

Dumb - Retina

Released July 23rd 2013

Birmingham just doesn't seem to ease up with their music output recently; becoming a sort of creative melting pot with so many alternative bands destined for the big time the whole city is going to get a huge cultural boost within the next couple of years.

Today’s artist fits this recent explosion from the north, Dumb with their track Retina. From the off you’ve got a great exploratory sound coming from a group of guys with huge passion for what they’re doing, with great musicality and an unusual vocal style you’ve got something different while fitting a traditional rock n roll theme.

Something I noticed with the video was a member of the band wearing a Fugazi shirt, whether this is intentional or not this gave me a realisation of how much in the same vain this track follows, whether Fugazi were a creative influence on the production of the band’s music or they’re just fans of the band I don’t know but it’s kind of nice to think that it’s a little nod to someone they’re influenced by.

Overall this band has a sound that a lot of people will react extremely positively to, great lyricism paired with tight and effective music the band will find their feet in no time and be selling out shows and working their way up festival bills in the near future. As well as all that they seem like a likeable band which is often as important as the sheer talent they show.

Baby Strange - Friend

Video released July 11th 2013

Scotland seems to be awash with three piece rock and punk bands lately with their most successful export currently being Biffy Clyro. Following in their footsteps, albeit only in the Scottish and three piece aspect is Baby Strange; combining punk riffs with heavy drumming with moody vocals these boys are out for blood with their latest track, Friend.

In the spirit of punk forefathers The Clash the bands catchy hooks and heavy guitar will be a crowd pleaser with very little effort. With a relatively short run time of just over two minutes the song gets straight into it, no openers or faffing about. Lead singer and guitarist Johnny Madden’s vocal styling are comparable to the late garage rock artist Jay Reatard and the influence of this genre is apparent throughout the entire song.

To summarise, if you’re looking for something along the lines of The Vaccines with a bit more edge and attitude Baby strange are your guys, the whole song plays like a brick wall of music start to finish. With a truly unique mixture of lo-fi, punk rock and grunge the band are on to a winner, pair that up with the recent explosion in the call for bands like this their career is going to go far.