Category: New Music Reviews

Gonna make this into one long sentence because that’s how relentless this song is: “I Was Biting” is a gigantic, continually ascending monster featuring an all consuming vocal from Millie Duthie (kinda reminiscent of wonderful Annabella Lwin of Bow Wow Wow), with guitar, bass and drums pushed right up to the front of the stage and is completely restless, anthemic and kick ass and a reminder that maybe progress hasn’t actually set us free but pushed us all into a corner of surveilled sameness …which is to say yes, it kinda rules.

“Where To Begin” is eccentric. It’s constructed like a classic Dionne Warwick track as written by the legendary Bacharach and David but is simultaneously punctuated with the kind of melodic twists commonly found in tunes by sonically ambitious 60’s auteur Jimmy Webb …until the chorus that is, which is marked with a crunchy, singular guitar riff and Ellie’s delicate, mournful vocal wafting over the top. Then it turns again and is taken over by a wistful, horn driven, semi-orchestral break. And it runs over 5 minutes. It all adds up to something weirdly beautiful: a pop song on the surface but with something a little off kilter at it’s center. It’s one epic widescreen oddball, and a really handsome thing.

Good Lord. Pretty sure this one will be unlike anything you’ve heard today, and don’t know if I can describe it and do it true justice but okay….Sarah’s vocal is a complete and utter scenery chewer, occupying every inch of the song, leaving no oxygen whatsoever, a combination of an angsty Chrissie Hynde, a demented Beth Orton, and a drawling King Krule, sprinkled with some Bjork-ian inflections. It’s a desperate, mascara running, teetering on the edge of sanity, soul flayed open lament that sounds like it’s playing at the wrong speed. In other words, it’s amazing.

“Temps” is one giant, melodic, shoegazey tornado, all fat sad synth, and crying guitar twang spinning together under neon lights. And it features a positively monumental vocal from Harriet Joseph that’s sure to get you dizzy if you play it loudly. Utterly swoon-worthy and special.

A gorgeous collaboration/duet from 2 amazing artists in their own respective rights, “Threads” is the perfect evocation of complete and utter misery, which is to say, yes, it’s that good. All lopsided love, wasted hope and dust enveloped in delicate acoustics and distant playground sounds and…it’s just grim…yet utterly addictive and beautiful at the same time. It’s that old painful wisdom nugget in song form i.e. the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. Not a million miles from the fine Jessica Lea Mayfield in tone and timbre, it may take a couple of listens to succumb to it’s fragile airiness, but once you give in, it’ll stay with you for real.

Okay, not sure what the hell this is. One minute it’s Steely Dan. The next Queen. Then suddenly, and I do mean suddenly, it’s Alice in Chains. Then it’s all of them at once. Basically it’s a song that’s ingested far more sugar than anyone should have in a day. The vocal is whiny, petulant and over the top, and there are about a billion hooks…and it’s ridiculously awesome. You’ve been warned.

Transportive, sinewy and slinky R & B, with a warm and beautiful vocal, and some chilly synth washes that instantly brought to mind Ryuichi Sakamoto’s finer moments ( think his “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence soundtrack). Tégui also serves up a sweet spoken word break that triggered another 80’s memory, that being Grace Jones’s sublime declaration within her own classic “Slave to the Rhythm”. This is one gorgeous rainy day of a song, an absolute beauty.

Up to this point Steegs has made her name via some killer covers, everything from JT’s”SexyBack” to The Cure’s “Lovesong” to St.Vincent’s “Los Ageless”, blues-ing the crap out of them with her gigantic, emotive voice while playing some pretty bitchin’ guitar but this, her debut single, is in a another universe entirely. “Come Through” is a fierce hybrid of Garbage, Britney Spears, and Depeche Mode’s “In Your Room”. It’s weird, cynical, epic pop candy with some ballsy guitar riffing on the bottom and yes, hard to evict from your head once you’ve been exposed to it. The song’s refrain goes “Chase the things I’ll never get, and he’s the reason I’m depressed”. Fuck yeah.

Out of Austin and into your heart, Why Bonnie offer up some homespun wisdom in this  faded pop snapshot. A laid back groove enveloped in gently chiming guitar, and featuring one sweet little chorus, Why Bonnie remind us there’s no wasted time, it’s all practice. This is off the new EP ‘In Water” and it is exceptionally handsome. It’s also reminiscent of a wonderful sleeper from back in 2004 by A Girl Called Eddy which we are gonna recommend as well ( see below).

While we’re here, might as well share another track off the aforementioned EP, the jangling and sentimental “Made of Paper” which is also pretty fine:

And if you feel like going back in time, check out A Girl Called Eddy for more glorious chime:

As cringeworthy words go, “dreamy” is right up there. There’s no way to use it without sounding like love-starved fangirl/woman since it’s primary usage is in front of the name of some heartthrob ( or even more cringeworthy, within it, Dr. McDreamy anyone?), but there’s no other way to say it: this song is a dreamy heartthrob. It’s delicate, pretty, sweetly introspective, undeniably in need of an embrace, and is highlighted by a recurring synth line that resembles a tiny choir ( the ending is straight out of 10cc’s “I’m Not in Love”, which of course is the dreamiest song in history). “You pinched me, said wake up, that my misery glows through my skin and makeup”…yes, totally dreamy.