London
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 …
See: Berwyn releases new video for Glory
We ran into Berwyn before, on the recently released Everything is Recorded album, and now the Trinidad-born, Romford raised rapper, singer, producer has released his own debut single, Glory. Deeply autobiographical and built over this heart stopping piano riff and soulful sung chorus, Berwyn lays it on the line with his sharply observed family/self circumstances. …
Track: PLÅSTIC- Bled
After being on the scene for just over a year, picking up attention as they go around London, PLÅSTIC have just released their new single Bled. Bled starts out with this energetic, early The Cure type thing going on, but it soon lets the shackles off, shakes out its hair and instead rumbles uncontrollably down …
Premiere: Yaglander to release new video for The Straight and Narrow
We’re delighted to premiere the new video this morning from North London’s Yaglander, for his single The Straight and Narrow. It’s taken from his EP of the same name which is out on 22nd May. The straight and narrow mixes up left-field indie/synth pop, akin to the likes of Cate Le Bon, but throws in …
See: After Smoke Clears release new video for Deterioration
London 4-piece After Smoke Clears, have released a new single and video, ‘Deterioration’. The second of six single releases throughout the year, the band blend metal, tech and groove to deliver a powerful sound. It’s on the heavier end of metal with a guttural vocal delivery and catchy head nodding riffs. The song portrays the …