SebaRashii is a legendary and prolific blogger, writer, artist and street culture freak from the mysterious land of Seba World. He likes nothing more than a good day of music, weirdness and downright madness with coffee. Readers, there is only one Seba Rashii. Tags: Cowboy Indie, End of the World, Indie, Stanley Brinks
Going against the grain of traditional childhood games, Stanley Brinks delivers this piece of intriguingly described “cowboy-indie”. And, it isn’t as unnerving a prospect as it may initially seem. But any trace of the cowboy influence is only in it’s desert ridden gruff vocals and gulping whiskey honed guitar that easily evokes the sand strewn cowboy town of the proverbial Western movie. However, the Indie sensibilities of the song come out in the obviously lovingly crafted lyrics that have the power to simultaneously soothe and crack you up in laughter. One glorious example is the line that goes like so – “My baby’s like a baby monkey, she’s really easy to feed, my baby’s like a mosquito…” Quite what it all wants to say is unclear, but it doesn’t really matter and shouldn’t really matter that much when the song is as charming as a Christmas snow scene and fits together in such a pleasingly odd manner that should the world end anytime soon, one might wish to have to this song as part of their compilation made for just such an occasion. If you get a chance, you really need to give this a listen!
What’s in a name? If ‘Grand Madness’ is indicative of anything at all, this album should be a richly produced piece of madness. I can confirm that this time the oft-quoted saying is all wrong. This album is just as the title says from it’s production to it’s strangely satisfying song titles such as ‘Goodbye To All The Cynics’, ‘Dance Like A…’ and ‘Kicking And Screaming’. Of course, special mention must go to the catchy lyrics they lay down, such as “they’re all blank faced and dejected with that come on and impress me look” from the aforementioned ‘Goodbye To All The Cynics’. Add to this the fully formed musical backdrop that is unpredictable as it is diverse in it it’s influences and you’ve struck gold. There’s rock, metal, dance, post-punk and a whole lot more. If it sounds ambitious, it is. But the important part is that they pull it off without ever coming out looking extremely confused. Witness ‘Kicking And Screaming’ which is fuses dance rock and guaranteed to etch itself onto your nerves it’s that catchy. One listen and you’ll be glad you did so. In that lies the grand madness of this album.
Kick To Kill aren’t dangerous. I’m sure of that because I discovered that their name isn’t from experience. But one thing I’m sure of is that they are almost immune to danger, if not downright lucky, as you’ll discover in this interview. Pain is nothing for them and if this interview caused them any pain what so ever, they didn’t show it. They recently released the delightfully titled single ‘Cut Me’, reviewed by myself on this very site, and are probably the people you’re the most likely to see in the back of a van giving blood. Yes, Glasgow’s finest gothic experimentalist’s discuss their near misses of death, influences on life and music and just why on the release of their first single the band had a major line up change. Needless to say, there is nothing uninteresting where Kick To Kill are concerned…
Volcanoes are unique. If any statement is more true this year, then I’ll eat the pixels they take up on this screen. Yes, this gang of – in the best possible way – weirdos, are crazy, amiable, possibly prone to delusions and partially from the creative hub that is Sheffield. But just because they’re from Sheffield, don’t pigeonhole them yet, because they may get rather angry and hypnotize you into doing things that may be illegal. Yet, despite the band name there were no explosions, volcanic or otherwise , in the course of this intensive grilling and I am proud to be able to provide you the answers to just how the band describe their brand of music, why they possess a blow up snow man, just what they would do if lava overwhelmed the world and why we may not hear their album for a while yet…
If I was to ask somebody to watch me bleed, I doubt they’d be very entertaining of my offer. But if Kick To Kill were to offer, I’m sure there’d be a raft of people eager to take them up on their generous offer. And, indeed this single is a good basis for such an offer as it does exactly that in a manner that would certainly get many people in the mood for the abrasive, dirty sound that this nihilistic song is built on. Reminiscent of The Stooges’ pure rock and roll ethos, singer Dave Cook gives a performance so convincing you almost can picture the blood flowing out of his veins as the guitars fuzz, the drums bang and the rock gets harder. Amidst their dirty sound it has deceptively smooth production to it all, a pulsing beat and probable guitars smashing against any near bye walls. Perfect for a head banging session like none before ‘Cut Me’ really will literally cut you off from your idea of music and get you rocking out like you’re in a club with The Stooges in their heyday.
Whether this song will follow in the steps of it’s boldly given appellage is up for debate, but Moscow Drive have definitely made a good start to their career with this gently energetic guitar driven song that wants us to appreciate what we have or or find something that we truly can appreciate. A good sentiment for a debut single, because someone will surely discover this and grow to appreciate the simple and clear values that are on offer even if it isn’t groundbreaking or particularly innovative. This is not however a disservice, as its simplicitydoes not serve as a slice of melancholy to our collective ear. The passion in the lyrics deliver aim to deliver a meaningful message rather than moan on about how bad their lives are in rhyming couplets. And ultimately one would certainly hope that this song gets somewhere near colossal for it’s chorus alone!
If Shabby Rogue were really Secret Agents, they’d be in trouble for telling us about it, but on the showing of this wonderfully bizarre single, they’d have my protection if they were. Maybe it’s the energetic pace of the song that could easily qualify as it’s own dance if put to movement, or maybe it’s the songs relative brevity that makes it so listenable in the end. But there is definitely inspiration present in the mix as the suitably spy-moviesque melodies mix up with the lyrics that were apparently inspired by a drug addled period of paranoia according to singer Shaun Litton, who channels every bit of his nervous energy into making this song the paranoid surf rock spy tune that it is. The remarkable thing about ‘My Life As A Secret Agent’ is that it quite literally tells a story that isn’t pretty, remarkable or even that interesting in these modern times and yet the listener feels a sense of edgy artistry that transcends the events that inspired it. And it all makes good of the anxiety, paranoia and drug abuse that caused it in the first place. Nothing new in rock, but something we don’t hear much of these days.
If this album is very perplexing, it’s only in a way that makes you think of sinister ceremonies, dark candlelit festivals and masked cannibals doing their bit for the ecosystem. Well, it was mentioned it was rather perplexing. And, in it’s bewildering genre leaps and horrorcore jazz style(!) song titles, including what is possibly the bands answer to Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew with Bastard Brew, the band make an album that is short and sweet. Well, as sweet as songs like ‘Feed Me A Stray Cat’ can be, anyway. The albums jazzcore outlook is what stands out, but the listener could argue that a genre such as jazzcore is like treading a thin line between excess and perfection, and whilst Dr Slaggleberry do a good job with this all instrumental mini-album they could have done with emphasizing the jazz a little bit more and extending some of the jams to bring a satisfactory conclusion to what were turning into merely interesting pieces of music rather than genuinely enjoyable listening. Of course Dr Slaggleberry, like jazz itself, are a live phenomenon so take this album as a taster of their live performance and enjoy the experimental leanings of this talented band.
The acronym of this bands name is WTF, which is quite similar to what comes mind when listening to this single that comes into the world known as ‘Isle Of Dogs’. They purvey to play elements of grunge, rock , metal and hardcore on this single. And the expectation of such a mass of noise to make anything of substance other than just a mellay of unlistenable noise was not expected! But in our ill thoughts of what could happen -mistaken confidence maybe- for ‘Isle Of Dogs’ is actually very listenable, and the main reason is that it’s just one short burst of well thought out, well produced hybrid rock that clocks in at just under three and a half perfect minutes of surprising clarity. Clarity is not the only strong point here, it is also the well formed emotive maturity of the bands sound that makes the ears listen closer, especially to the obvious talents of hardcore vocalist Jack, who like all the group, has no second name, apparently(!). With a song like this, you could expect the future to be bright. You may find yourself uttering that same acronym yourself very soon!
There are so many bands that claim to be punk, and unlike most of those sketchy sub genre groups, this group have a sturdy hold on the melodious genres of chiming alternative pop and sufficiently grunge like riffs that will keep the most avid listener interested and the casual listener from flicking the forward button idly. Why? Well, despite the stereotypes of the punk genre, their vocalists are more than worthy of the title, their music isn’t straight ahead thrashing like pure punk and they have a good sense of when to be out and out punk and when to be melodious. There isn’t one track that is unlistenable on Law Found Guilt, and for a band that have been playing together for ten years, they have lost none of the edge that traditionally wears away with age. The best thing about this album is that the melodies bring a definite human edge, despite the occasional heavy riffs and production which almost pits the two sounds against each other, and the songs that stand out from the pack are surprisingly un-punk like, (the acoustic ‘Within Reach’), giving us an album that is perfect for chilling out and moshing up! Wow!
