alt.rock
See: Reigning Sound drop a video for their reforming principle, ‘Let’s Do It Again’; warm garage rock for cleared chairs, loved ones and a decent bourbon
SCRATCHING that seven-year itch was a good idea. Yep, it’s been seven looong years since Greg Cartwright’s Memphis-meets-garage aesthetic, as propounded by his lovely Reigning Sound, brought any new music to the table for us; hell, let’s do it again, he thought, getting that original line-up together for A Little More Time with Reigning Sound, out …
See: King Ropes – ‘Magical Floating Eye’: outta their Montana eyrie with playful alt-rock
BASED in the small city of Bozeman, Montana, in the foothills of the Rockies, King Ropes have quietly going about their particular brand of whimsical, alt.psych rock since their 2017 debut, Dirt. There’s a little of Kurt Wagner’s husky, declamatory warmth and observation to their thang; a touch of the Malkmus absurds, a little Mr …
Track: Reigning Sound – ‘Oh Christine’: a sweet Americana lament from returning Memphis cult heroes
RETURNING Memphis prodigals Reigning Sound have followed up the the classy garage-rock soul of “A Little More Time” from last month with another little cracker on the path to their first album in seven years. That’s called “Oh Christine”, it’s herein, and it comes with a quality assurance from the man himself, Greg Cartwright, who …
Track: Reigning Sound – ‘A Little More Time’: Greg Cartwright’s garage band get the seven-year itch
CAST your mind back now: did you fall for the hip-shimmying rush of Reigning Sounds’ “I’ll Cry”, hitting the sweet garage spot wherein the classic Memphis soul sound smashed straight into Hüsker Dü with abandon? The brittle, dusty run at The Byrds’ “Here Without You”, with which they debuted? Clutch long-playing bombs like Shattered and Home …
SEE: Karate, Guns & Tanning – ‘Graffiti Children’: deliciously hazy dreampop with sharp edges
THE VIRAL world we’re all slowly swimming through, occasionally dashed on the rocks of what the fuck? means we’ve all made adjustments, remote learning, collaborating, working – which, as luck would have it, has made not a jot of difference to the creative practice of Valerie Green and Paige Shedletsky, the twin minds (or not, …
Album Review: American Darlings – ‘Afterglow’: sophisticated and psych-infused
OUT NOW digitally on Spotify and Bandcamp is the album, Afterglow from the American psychedelically-infused alt.rock band, American Darlings. Afterglow starts with “You’re Not Alone”, initially a warm, acoustic guitar haze which at first just meanders, before the whirligig of gently fuzzed-up and flange guitars fires in. Gentle 60s-style vocals glide in as the soundscape …
ALBUM REVIEW – MATTHEW SWEET – CATSPAW.
Those of us around a certain age may fondly remember the college rock movement of the early-to-mid ‘90s. Lord knows I do. For a period of time, power-pop became fused with bittersweet moments that reigned across college radio in the United States. Juliana Hatfield, Grant Lee Buffalo, Luscious Jackson, Saturday Morning Cartoons’ Greatest Hits; the …