Aureien Dubois-Pham from the Domino Media Agency bring them to my attention and well, it was a quite nice surprise.
How many times in the last few decades it was declared: “rock is dead!” and get buried? I think indie is dead. Or at least I thought so. Then out of blue appeared Jack and Meg White and at the break of the century they had their own little revolution and gave new sense for something which faded out of sense. Since, we’ve got The White Stripes, The Dead Weather, The Raconteurs, The Black Keys and a few other exciting acts. Now we’ve got to add another name to this list: The Locomotive Sound Corporation.
Instead Alison Mosshart we’ve got more like a raging PJ Harvey from ’93 (“Rid of Me”) and raw, garage rock with roots back to Sonic Youth. And the Parisian band got a fan-friendly attitude: this self titled, five track debut EP scheduled to be released on July 11, 2011 can be listen and downloaded from their Bandcamp page for $1 (“or more”). Read more The Locomotive Sound Corporation – Self Titled (2011)
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Allcoy – Loud Music For Quiet People (2011)
Promised to be the new grunge revelation, Allcoy have delayed only one decade and so.You can get a taste of what they call “Allcore” at their Bandcamp page and buy their debut album if you like it. And these four guys from Detroit, Josh Augustine, Bryan Aldrich, Anthony Palsgrove and Drew Easton, delivering a pretty tasty alternative rock material with catchy grunge after-taste. It might be kind of out-dated and retro, but still, they write some good riffs, catchy themes and put together a couple of groovy rock songs. When most of the trendy bands are completely predictable, something “out of the beat”, even if it’s quite familiar, are sometimes a bless. And Allcoy brings back something from the rawness of the early Nirvana, the heaviness of Godsmack and the attitude of Stone Temple Pilots and blended all of this elements in their own high-energy rock. Read more Allcoy – Loud Music For Quiet People (2011)
Panzer Princess – Get Off My Back (2011)
Sleazy, ripped off from two decades ago, the Swedish Panzer Princess brings back the sparkling of glam metal just like it was yesterday. In June I had Michael Monroe of the Finnish Hanoi Rocks brand new album “Sensory Overdriveâ€, and the spirit of Hanoi Rocks, L.A. Guns, Mötley Crüe, Vain, Vixen, Faster Pussycat, Dogs Damoúr, and all the other sometimes called “hair-metal” bands of the 80s is all over on this “Get Off My Back”. And well, “Get Off My Back” and it’s 12 tracks are not just a fine time-capsule, but this dirty rock’n’roll sounds quite fresh and while nowadays everybody follows exclusively trendy patterns, it’s quite a rock’n’roll suicide. Read more Panzer Princess – Get Off My Back (2011)
Pop Evil – War of Angels (2011)
“Last Man Standing”, the leading single of the second full-length album by Pop Evil was released last fall and it’s a strong, powerful, 101 % American rock/metal song with all its best characteristics. “Monster You Made”, the second single from the album, was released on June 7, 2011 and it’s a power-ballad, maybe we chances on the charts, but actually quite pale and pointless. The album it’s right between great rock songs and themes and pale, faceless, plastic and second-hand taste like indie/post grunge whatevers. Good to hear catchy, beefy riffs like “Last Man Standing”, “Boss’s Daughter”, “Epitaph” or “Black & Blue” have, I see (hear) no sense in the Pearl Jam meats Bon Jovi copying “Let It Go”, “Next Life”, “Purple” and the mentioned “Monster You Made” ballads and cliches. Read more Pop Evil – War of Angels (2011)
Kauan – Kuu.. (2011)
“Kuu” is the Finish word for “moon” while “Kauna” means “long”. Kauan started by Anton Belov in February 2005 at Chelyabinsk, Russia. Belov also play under the moniker Helengard with Alina “Witch_A.†Roberts (Inferno, ex-Semargl) and in the project called inea with Ilya Rikhter (from K Seven and R Is For Rockets). Kauna started as a folk black band and in 2006 Lubov Mushnikova joined the band as a violin player. The duo moved in the direction of folk doom and grown into folk rock/post rock maintaining their gloomy, epic sound. Even though the band is from Russia, they writes lyrics both in Russian and Finnish language. “Kuu…” is their forth full-length album and it’s probably their most sophomore, experimental and colorful release up to date. Read more Kauan – Kuu.. (2011)
Amnesis – The Pier (2011)
Terry Gilliam’s film, “12 Monkeys” (1995) was inspired by, and takes several concepts directly from the pretty obscure French film “La jetée” made in 1962 by Chris Marker and known in English as “The Jetty” or “The Pier.” The film, by the way: black and white, runs for 28 minutes and the plot is quite simple, the main character – appears as “The Man” – is a prisoner in the aftermath of the Third World War, in a destroyed, post-apocalyptic Paris where survivors live underground in the Palais de Chaillot galleries. Scientists research time travel, hoping to send test subjects to different time periods “to call past and future to the rescue of the present”. They have difficulty finding subjects who can mentally withstand the shock of time travel, but eventually settle upon the prisoner, whose key to the past is a vague but obsessive childhood memory of a woman (who features obviously as “The Woman”) during an incident where a man was killed on the boarding platform (the jetty) at Orly Airport. Read more Amnesis – The Pier (2011)
Black Spires – — (2011)
“This is a collection of demo’s, not a real album,” and it’s available for FREE DOWNLOAD at the band’s Bandcamp page. Black Spires are a new band from Ghent, Belgium, consist of Olivier Copejans – music, vocals, guitars and programmed/played drums and bass, and Kristof Luyckx – guitar, working together since 2010. Imagine H.P. Zinker playing Pink Floyd songs (the 1967-1972 period) in a garage. It’s quite exciting, a little bit psychedelic, but cutting, drowned in the garage/noise rock approach and sound. Slower, tensioned moments are twisted into explosive, noise rock avalanches, they use exciting shifting of moods and themes, maintaining an intense groove, alternating subtle, sometimes acoustic moments with intense and inspired rock themes, noisy releases. Read more Black Spires – — (2011)
Michael Monroe – Sensory Overdrive (2011)
While the most influential glam punk band has been the New York Dolls in the 70s, the 80s had the Finnish Hanoi Rocks which were formed in 1979 and had a major influence Poison, L.A. Guns, Ratt and Guns N’ Roses, as well as Manic Street Preachers, Murderdolls, Skid Row and the Foo Fighters have admitted being Hanoi Rocks fans and they open the way to the success for other Finish bands such HIM. Drummer Rezzel death’s in 1984 – caused by a car crash for which responsible was Mötley Crüe’s lead singer Vince Neil – had a big impact on the band and they broke up next year. Considered a “rebirth”, not a reformation of Hanoi Rocks, Michael Monroe and guitarist Andy McCoy rejoined in 2001 and released three more albums, but split once again in 2007. Michael Monroe sung on eight Hanoi Rocks albums, one Jerusalem Slim and one Demolition 23. album and “Sensory Overdrive” is his eight studio album. Read more Michael Monroe – Sensory Overdrive (2011)
Maybeshewill – I Was Here For A Moment Then I Was Gone (2011)
I’m not quite a big fan of instrumental rock music, perhaps because I get into rock music and I spent over a decade spiting into the microphone, but this “I Was Here For A Moment, Then I Was Gone”, the third album by Maybeshewill, band from Leicester, U.K. formed in 2005, it’s quite impressive. They play a sort of post-rock, pretty gloomy themes, but in a quite charming way, and they using programmed and sampled electronic elements alongside acoustic and electronic instruments. Maybeshewill has seen a number of musicians come and go, but core members Robin Southby on guitar, John Helps on guitar and James Collins on drums have been with the band since their first tour and album. On bass currently is Jamie Ward.
They might be compared by some with Mogwai, but Maybeshewill’s music is more intense, powerful, in a particular way more rock oriented, but also much more colorful, I would say deeper. Comparisons have also been made with Sigur Rós, but once again, Maybeshewill sounds much heavier I think, they have stronger rock roots and their music is not that spacy, soundscape and soundtrack/cinematic like. Read more Maybeshewill – I Was Here For A Moment Then I Was Gone (2011)
Helms Alee – Weatherhead (2011)
Helms Alee were formed in 2007 by Ben Verellen (of the Harkonen, Roy, and These Arms Are Snakes), Dana James and Hozoji Margullis. “Weatherhead” is a boiling mixture of fury and beauty melting together vibrating and smooth acoustic elements and raging post-hardcore riffings, delivering perfect balance of what we mainly labeled as “alternative rock” and post-metal. Dana James have a powerful and expressive voice, she both singing and howling while Ben Verellen sometimes bring some extreme raw vocals as support. “Weatherhead” sounds cutting, dirty, full of energy, but still, they built in smooth and beautiful moments which gives a gloomy shining and more dynamics to their songs and this powerful album.
The trio sliding between styles and genres, switching from metal to psychedelic, from hardcore to folk, but they do all this extremely fluidly. Read more Helms Alee – Weatherhead (2011)
