London
SEE: the lyric video for Stats’ ‘Naturalise Me’; album news
STATS is the nom-de-musique of London-based, Welsh-raised Ed Seed, who’s paid his musical dues touring the world with Dua Lipa. Elsewhere, once safely installed inside his Stats persona, he’s released a lovely LP of verry funky synthpop in early 2019, Other People’s Lives, which picked up plaudits from none-huger names such as Elton John. That …
Say Psych: News: The Oscillation Re-Press Droneweapon and Share New Video
Following the tragic news last week that Tom Relleen of The Oscillation, Tomaga and most recently Autotelia had died, leaving behind him a wonderful and inspiring legacy of music, the news that a re-press of The Oscillation’s latest offering Droneweapon was now available was music to any fans ears, particularly those who missed out first …
Say Psych: Album Review: Japanese Television – EP III
Japanese Television don’t surf, but if they did, it would be on a swirling wave of reverb-drenched organ, garage-rock guitars, hypno-motorik bass and pounding, ritualistic drums. The band formed in 2018 through a shared love of fuzz boxes, Joe Meek and UFOs and together they invented “Space Surf”. Upon discovering it already existed, they reinvented …
Say Psych: Video: The Dead Zoo – Mother
London’s The Dead Zoo have recently release their debut single ‘Mother’ on Rock Noir Recordings along with a fantastic video that captures the creativity coming out of the times we are living in. Recorded and mixed from the bandmembers’ homes under COVID-19 separation, ‘Mother’ became a favourite from their live set and is sung by …
TRACK: Tree Trunks – ‘Reaction’: elegant synthpop for a lovers’ summer
LONDON outfit Tree Trunks have been around for a little while now, nibbling at pristine pop, picking up airplay, seducing the ears. There’s been four singles in the past couple of years proffering a line in intelligent, pristine synthpop, taking on influences such as the Yellow Magic Orchestra, Talking Heads and Frank Ocean to bring …
Track: Phantom Isle – MAR V
The new single from London-based band Phantom Isle, is pure explosive medication guaranteed to sort out those isolation blues. ‘MAR V’ opens up with an eighties euro-disco stomp with the most mind-blowing bass riff and a wall of funky, filthy noise – guitars, synths and pounding insistent drums. It is absolutely exhilarating, mixing an early …
Say Psych: Album Review: Bo Ningen – Sudden Fictions
Meaning ‘Stick Man’ in Japanese, Bo Ningen are a London-based four-piece alternative rock band. Though they come from Gunma, Tajimi, Nishinomiya, and Tokyo in Japan, they coalesced in London. Two met one another at a gig in 2006 and first formed Bo Ningen as a duo, later joined by the other two members. With three studio …
Say Psych: Premiere: Autotelia – Floating Island Of The Gods
Autotelia, as originally coined by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, describes a process by which someone has a purpose in, rather than outside of themselves. Those who are autotelic depend less on external rewards for their satisfaction, being driven instead simply by purpose or curiosity. Such was the genesis of a new project put together by The …
TRACK: bathe in the sun of PELA’s ‘South Of’
OFF THE back of their debut single, “You Got Me” last month, South London’s PELA have shared their second outing, “South Of”. It’s a beguiling, dazed bliss of a track, with an underscore of Rhodes shimmer and a lazy break shuffling forward, courtesy Olly Shelton; south-of-the-river chanteuse Hannah Coombes drips honeyed sun over the top. …
Album Review: Empathy Test – Monsters
With an explosive track opener like ‘Monsters’, Empathy Test clearly sets out their vast ambitions for their new album, also called ‘Monsters’. And these ambitions are decidedly and unequivocally met in what is a brilliant, bold and very exciting album. Empathy Test, in this album, tread a fine path between outright commercial accessibility and a …