Author Archives: Olivia

BOSCO ROGERS.

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With it getting slightly warmer (and in London that means soon people will be wearing shorts and everyone will smell of sweat when on the tube. Socks and sandals will emerge, reinforcing how uncomfortable the summer sometimes makes me.)

To ease you into warmer weathers, Bosco Rogers are the band to do so. They have a proper summertime feel to their sound, an old 60s real Rock & Roll thing going on also. They make you want to put on a Hawaiian shirt and head to the nearest beach.

Bosco Rogers manage to merge a bit of Psyche, Garage Rock and all in between in their songs to make you feel like you are in another decade. Basically, they make you feel as if you’ve gone back to the 60s and turned your back on the future. These guys know how to mix something old with something new.

Their Googoo EP came out in December and is full of songs to make your mind escape to the beach. They’ll make you want to go on a road trip that lasts a crazy long time because as we know, real life is dull for the most part. Solace is found in music, as are different worlds. Worlds collide and fall apart, music is the glue that keeps us together.

Googoo consists of 4 songs and coming in at around 10 minutes, and of course it leaves you wanting more. EPs are a massive tease aren’t they. You drive yourself mental because you want more but all you have are these 4 songs to keep you going until next time. Bosco Rogers deserve to be on your favourite new band list because they are massively exciting and quite frankly, are different to a lot of things around right now. They’ve got something about them that reminds me of bands such as The Vagrants, Count Five and The Pretty Things- three bands that are so important to music. You cannot help but smile and bob along as you listen to the songs on Googoo. It was easily one of the highlights of last year.

These ruffians are the ones to put you in the mood for the summer. I think a lot of their gigs at the moment are in the Brighton area, they’re worth the trip. Their short and to the point songs have hints of Punk mixed with sunny dispositions. I think they’re just bloody wonderful and I cannot wait to hear more from them. Googoo is just a hint of how great Del and Barth are. Just to lure you in, and lure you they shall with their flowery pop-esque melodies.

You can listen to their EP here:

The artwork was designed by the Queen of Keys, Robin Eisenberg (Crocodiles keyboardist) and is out via Bleepmachine. Enjoy!

ORLANDO SEALE AND THE SWELL.

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It doesn’t matter about the kind of music you expose yourself to and fall in love with, what matters is how it makes you feel. However, the only person it should matter to is you. What you like, another will hate and vice versa. Make music your own.

Some singers can get to the core of a feeling, and even if you’ve not experienced it, you feel it too. It goes beyond being powerful. It goes beyond moving you. It takes you deep into the unknown and stays with you. Orlando Seale is one of those guys who does this.

He and his band have been labelled as the male version of Florence And The Machine. This is a bold statement, and was coined by beautiful weirdo Noel Fielding. As someone who loves Florence a lot (one of our pet rabbits is named after her) I was a bit dubious about this statement. I remember the rawness of her debut, Lungs and being terrified and in awe of such beauty and despair in the lyrics. I can see why Orlando has been given this label.

His lyrics are heartfelt and full of the feelings we try to push down. All Of The Dogs has a line that just hits you, “Sometimes I want to hurt you.” We’ve all been close to someone who makes us feel this way. They drag out the ugly feelings in us and compress the good. They can pull the good out, but it only touches the surface. He has this gorgeous way of taking you back to a time full of pain and dislike for yourself and what you were becoming, he allows you to face it. Albeit a few years too late to undo the damage, but you know to never do it again. Carry the burden and never let on what it did, what you did. This is all in one song.

Prior to making music, Orlando was living in Los Angeles and his girlfriend at the time lent him an old Eliot Smith guitar. She then left him. He left Los Angeles. He returned back to London and something charged through his songs giving them some kind of menacing tone. Songs that are romantically brutal, crushing and adoring. Like I mentioned about Kingsley Chapman And The Murder this week, Orlando too writes unconventional love songs. My idea of love and your idea of love are different. Some go to the typical sides, I’ll take the dark Nick Cave side of love. Always. Feel it and feel it to the core until it burns through you.

There is so much soul and power reeling through his music. You know that this is a band that HAVE to be seen live. There’s a lot of them on stage, but not in an annoying Arcade Fire kind of way. A cult like feel almost, you’ll chant along and leave no longer questioning all those doubts in your mind.

Sadly I missed his show in December at The Lexington. I probably had a migraine. I have more of them than a person probably should, and it gets in the way. But this is the kind of music to take you somewhere bloody brilliant and it makes you feel entirely fearless. Go for a run or something whilst listening to Aeroplanes, you’ll feel invincible.

You can listen to their tracks here:

The band have a two date residency at one of the best venues in London this month at the Sebright Arms on the 25th and 26th March.

LOS TRASGOS MUERTOS.

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Manchester. The home of music. Kick anyone in the teeth who disagrees (to an extent.) It has some of  the best venues, the best bands (past and present) and the accent is the best in the North West, even if Manchester is on the wrong side of the Pennines it is still a brilliant city.

A lot of bands I love and write about are from Manchester. I don’t go looking for them, it’s just coincidence that this happens.

After waking up at 5am with a bastard of a migraine (I now feel like someone has punched me everywhere) I feel alright enough to listen to something moderately loud and brutal. Ready?

Los Trasgos Muertos are from the grimy and dark streets of Manchester. Hoodlums with balaclavas luring you into alleyways to sell you their music and to claim your soul. This may or may not be true. The band members have names that could either be friends of Jack The Ripper or the potential to be bad but good superheroes. We’ve got Von Beek, ‘Captain’ Reed and Il Fleishe. Names that just make you want to know the band, and bloody love them with their leather, battered gloves around your neck screaming their songs at you.

How do they sound?

A thousand furies echoing in the horrors of your mind. A gut-ridden plague ripping through you with no hopes of being sane at the end of it. Los Trasgos Muertos are loveable swines who make gloriously decadent music. If you want something creepy yet thrilling, then these guys are for you. They are loud, bloody hell they are loud. They are the kind of band that make you want to ditch everything, move to Manchester and throw yourselves into the Manchester music scene. Or this could just be me. That’s alright. The best kind of noise is the noise that is unapologetically loud and fearless. This is all Los Trasgos Muertos are.

The Psyche sub-genre (if you want to be like that about it) is brilliant. It is full of mind-blowing brilliance that allows you to free your mind and to feel something from the gut and beyond. The good stuff takes you on trips that nothing else on this planet could, and you don’t want to come down from it. Real life remains a mundane blur, but you come home and play something like these guys and you’re away. Where do you go? Who knows. You just go there.

Los Tragos Muertos have a cult-like feel to them. Join them. Give them your soul.

You can stream their new record, Eponymous EP right here: https://play.spotify.com/artist/5oQAKnW2TgWsVGLN0Kf1jE

Play it as loud as you can stand, go somewhere entirely lucid and eerie. Be free, get free and stay free. Go.

KINGSLEY CHAPMAN AND THE MURDER- Olympians.

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Things take time. For great things, you sure have to wait. It’s okay to wait because you know you’ll end up being exposed to something wonderful.

Kingsley used to be in a band called The Chapman Family, a band that were astounding in their time. If you ever saw them live, you would have seen just how captivating and terrifying they were. There is something quite disturbing about being in awe of a person tying a mic cord around their neck and belting out such glorious songs. You cling onto the words more.

The Chapman Family were loud in a brutal way, in a way that could probably divide a room with bottles flying and blood everywhere. The music he is now making is still loud, but in a way that demands you to listen and you cannot walk away from it. It’s every part Nick Cave, Scott Walker with the sentiment of Morrissey. There is so much heart and power in their debut song, Olympian. For those idiots who claim nothing moves them anymore or that new music isn’t too great- turn off commercial radio, seek and you shall find. You don’t need an overpaid twat to tell you if something is good or shit.

http://soundcloud.com/kingsleychapman/olympians

Olympian is a 5 minute ballad. A murderous ballad with so much going on, in the most gorgeous way. The sax adds something really euphoric to the song. The keys on the piano are hit in a “you better fucking love me and listen” kind of way. If you want conventional, step away. This is a beautiful and unconventional love song. Those are the best kind. Kingsley’s voice on this song is enough to make any sane person regard him as one of the best vocalists around, and he’s a fantastic lyricist. He’s studied the greats and in returned has created nothing short of a masterpiece. Kingsley is the only person to sing a Morrissey song just as well as Morrissey (TCF covered Everyday Is Like Sunday.)

Blood, sweat and tears ooze out of this 5 minute euphoric delight. It isn’t typical and it isn’t a song you play once, and carry on with the rest of your day. I’ve been listening to it for the past 20 minutes or so, and I’m not sure if I’m ready to listen to anything else now. Olympian is a song of comfort for those who aren’t attracted to feelings that seem “normal” but still seek the security of things that seem “normal” to others.

He’s done it. He’s made something bloody fantastic and I’m proud of him. If you’re getting married (be careful) then have this as your first dance. Or just play it in the company of nobody else, hold yourself and sway. You’ve got options.

You can find more information about the band here: https://www.facebook.com/kingsleychapman1 and here: http://www.kingsleychapman.com/

CROCODILES-Crybaby Demon.

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The most handsome men in music are back. Crocodiles, the loveliest guys you’ll ever meet are back with a new record called Boys out in a few months, but first, to get you ready for this stunning record (I’ve heard it and no other record is going to be as important as Boys this year) they have just put out the video to Crybaby Demon.

Crybaby Demon is a trashy and smutty number. If any band can make you feel violated and dirty in the best way possible, then it is easily Crocodiles. With Charlie’s unapologetic sneering guitar sounds and Brandon’s smouldering vocals, Crybaby Demon is the perfect Crocodiles song to lose your mind to. Sure we can call start mini riots to I Wanna Kill, but Crybaby Demon is the year’s most trashiest anthem. Gloriously perverse and weird.

The video to Crybaby Demon is directed by Tito Echevarria (Young Boys/SISU) and it feels like one of those obscure films that are on TV at 3am when you’re too wired to sleep. It feels like every lucid dream you’ve ever had. A real sleazy and utterly charming video that brings the song to life, a perfect fit.

It is fairly obvious that I could write about Crocodiles until I ran out of words or something equally dramatic. There is something massively relatable about their lyrics and something freeing within their music. They take you out of your comfort zone and into the unknown. I just bloody love these guys and cannot wait for everyone to hear Boys and for the tour to start.

Crocodiles are one of the few bands that have that real Punk feel to their music and how they do it. Their DIY ethic is evident in all they do, and that alone demands respect. If you’ve never seen them live, GO. Their shows are wild and carefree. The London crowd that go see them are the least dickish London crowds around (I’ve been to enough shows in London to be tired of seeing people just stand still when exposed to brilliant live music.) It’s just like one big party and the love the fans have for Crocodiles is just bloody lovely. Hopefully I’ve sold it to you!

Boys is out via Zoo Music on 11th May. Outcasts, deviants and rebels rejoice because this record is for YOU.

SPECTRES.

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The best kind of music is the kind that terrifies you. You play it before you go to sleep and before you know it, you are having the most painful and obscure dreams possible.  It terrifies you, but you don’t jolt yourself awake. You want to see where it takes you and how long you can stomach it for.

A large chunk of the records I own have become important to me because of the artwork. The front cover can sometimes define the mood of a record, and Dying by Spectres full backs this idea up, but the beauty is that you must take it your own way. When you stare at the front cover, a load of ideas run through your mind as to what is going on. Is he killing himself in the bath? Is he being killed? How is he feeling? There is terror and mystery. Two things which can sum up Spectres sound.

Dying is a great record. No. It is a phenomenal record. I can’t tell you the ideal situation to listen to it, but you MUST zone everything out and ignore everyone around you when you listen to it.

Ideally this would have been some kind of review of their record, but I must tell you all I possibly can about how they make the listener feel, or maybe just me. Who knows. Last night they played The Lexington. I had every desire to go to the show after work, but I was off sick again with another migraine. Pretty sure they would have cured it.

Spectres are loud, brutal, dark, sinister, cold and creepy. It is everything I want from a band. This Bristol based band remind me of bands I adore such as Sleep and Noothgrush. There’s some kind of doom/sludge thing happening here with distorted sounds a la My Bloody Valentine. Heavy guitars, menacing drums and haunting vocals. Massively sinister, think a slightly calmer version of Pop.1280. They’re my favourite new band, make them yours too.

Their songs feel like really twisted and proper evil horror films. The kind of films that won’t be shown in chain cinemas. Spectres have this brilliant way of demanding your attention without being pricks. A lot of bands want all of your attention, and it comes across quite needy and irritating. Spectres know you’ll turn onto them eventually so they don’t need to plead you. This is the kind of band I love.

I love when you find a band that make you feel as if you’ve gone too far or you’re damaging your ears by listening to them. I don’t want arty farty love songs that mean nothing to me. I want brutally charged songs that would raise a concern with anyone who claims to know me. I want terror to fill my brain as soon as I hit play. They take you away from the horrors (and dullness) of every day life. They take you to some forbidden place, an unconventional meeting place for those who do not wish to be part of what they are constantly sold.

I wish I could have seen them last night as I probably would have more to say, I would have seen first hand what the atmosphere is like. But, I guess a strong band can maintain that tension regardless, I’m 100% sure Spectres can do that, and DO do that.

Everything about Spectres is mesmerising, I cannot pin point one thing that stands out. I’m in love with the artwork, the guitars, the noise, the vocals, the loudness, how a sound like this cannot be tamed. They’ve magically and majestically created the sound to your nightmares, and being “shit your pants” terrified has never sounded so good.

Their record is easily going to be one of the highlights of the year, and a sound like this just doesn’t go away. It gets bigger and louder.

BEST COAST- California Nights.

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There are some songs that when you listen to, nothing can touch you. Every sad and horrible feeling you are carrying around fades away. A song that just becomes a part of you, a very important part of you. It doesn’t matter who sings it, just as long as you feel it.

Songs that take you away, I feel, are the best ones. Real life is dull and repetitive. How do you escape it? Through headphones. You take a song that whisks you away to some place so calming and your own piece of perfection. You can find it anywhere. You might already have that song, if you do then remember you can always have more.

For me, the song that sums up everything surrounding escapism and daydreaming is California Nights by Best Coast. It is 5 minutes of sheer bliss. I urge you to take 5 minutes out of your day to zone out and listen to this gorgeous song. I’ve been a fan of Best Coast for years, and I say with confidence that this is their greatest song to date. Their debut record holds a lot of sentimental value to me, but I am willing to move on from it and cling onto California Nights with all I have. It sounds nothing like their previous songs/records, but still holds firmly onto that beach/dream-esque atmosphere. Best Coast are a band you listen to when on the beach on a hot day with nothing else to do. Pretty hard to do that when it’s freezing cold out, so you play it on repeat and allow it warm your bones in the comfort of your own home.

Listen to it on the journey to/from work to imagine you are anywhere you want to me, place it at work, on your lunch break, before you go to bed. It doesn’t matter, all that matters is you allowing yourself to be taken on this ethereal trip that you don’t want to come back from.

I wanted to write a massive essay on how this song makes me feel and such, but my words will not and cannot do the song justice. I heard it last week and it’s all I’ve been listening to. It’s all I want to listen to. Some songs win you over instantly and become a huge and vital part of you, that’s exactly what California Nights has gone and done. It is one of those songs that reinforces your love for a band, for music.

Have it on repeat, and go somewhere nobody can disturb you.

PINS- Too Little Too Late.

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Middle fingers and glitter. Sometimes you just have to tell someone to fuck off. As satisfying as it is to have a sweary rant in your head (all of the time), sometimes you have to just let it all out. Don’t ever feel bad about it.

PINS are back, and their new song Too Little Too Late is a different sound to what Girls Like Us sounds like. Both equally sublime, but wonderfully different.

Their new record, Wild Nights is out 8th June via Bella Union and going by their show last week, it’ll probably be in my Top 3 records of the year (number 1 has already been claimed by Crocodiles) They are supporting Sleater-Kinney in March and Drenge in April. They will also be playing a show at The Lexington on 27th May.

The track listing for Wild Nights is as follows:

Baby Bhangs
Young Girls
Curse These Dreams
Oh Lord
Dazed By You
Got It Bad
Too Little Too Late
House of Love
If Only
Molly
Everyone Says

Too Little Too Late will be released 30th March.

PINS- Sebright Arms 26th February 2015.

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When you become a fan of a band, it is usually their live shows that explain why you love them. Most bands I’m a fan of sound a billion times better live than on record. For the interaction and to see their faces as they play certain songs. It feels like it’s just you and them.

PINS are a band that HAVE to be seen live. On record they are exceptional, live they are perfect. Their show last night consisted of them playing their new record in full. If you’ve heard their debut, Girls Like Us you will know of a certain sound they have. A little dark, a little sinister and mixed with songs to chant along to. Their new record is nothing like Girls Like Us. If this becomes a problem for whoever listens to it, then they probably need their head checking.

I’ve no clue what the titles of the songs are, but I can tell you they are brilliant. With their first record they became a band to pay attention to, with their second they have become a band that will kick the behinds of those wanting to start a band, motivating them to make their own noise. They’ve truly found their own sound here on the new record, it isn’t too heavy and it’s utterly divine.

As I was listening to the songs last night, one band in particular came to my mind. A band that I hold as high as my mother. A band from the home of music, Manchester. PINS new songs have wonderful dreamy elements that are found in songs by The Stone Roses. I looked on feeling like a proud parent. This is a band that have done something really special, and I can only hope more people pay attention to them. I remember hearing Say To Me/Luvu4lyf and being amazed at what I was hearing. This was heavy and creepy stuff, it was incredible. The same feeling hit me again last night as I watched them rip through their glorious second record. There is something about live music that moves you, and last night was a proper example of that.

The new songs are powerful and inspirational. There is wisdom in the lyrics and fury in the drums. If Sophie doesn’t make you leave wanting to be a drummer, then you’ve probably been watching with yours eyes closed the whole time. A truly magnificent show, and I can honestly say (and I say it a lot) the best time I’ve seen them.

They end their set with Girls Like Us which ends with Faith bringing some fans on stage (one being Robert from Crocodiles!) to join in with the jumping about. The song is mixed with number 1 party jam, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. A brilliant end to the show. The show last night was a showcase of things to come from PINS, and I can’t wait for everyone to hear this new record.

The only crap thing about going to a PINS show is the amount of creepy old guys standing near the front and taking photos of the bands legs. Come on now. If you’re looking to get off on something, I’m fairly sure you can find a porno for free online. But anyway, if you ignore that then you can just appreciate how bloody great the band are. Faith’s voice is a lot stronger, Lois is a delight to watch because she bops up and down on the stage like a kid who’s downed a lot of cherryade and had a sherbet based sweet as her main meal. They are going to easily become an influential band in no time, they’re on the right path to doing so. Oh and before I forget the other thing that wasn’t great about last night was that Anna wasn’t there. Get well soon! PINS are quite frankly one of the most exciting bands around, on record and live they take you some place truly magical. Nothing really feels the same afterwards.

THE LIVING EYES- Living Large.

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I’ve had my copy of Living Large for a while, but sometimes I’m stupidly lazy. Then it all comes in spurts.

Living Eyes are a brilliant Garage Rock kind of band. They are pleasantly loud and foolishly underrated. They’ve got hints of Ty Segall and Wavves flowing through their music, but their record Living Large sort of feels like something by The Vagrants mixed with the Beach Boys. Kick a can hopelessly on the beach until everything becomes clear. That’s what you get from this record.

Boredom. It hits us all. Saying we’re bored because we’re not bored, we just don’t know. It’s a state of mind and it’s an unflattering way of life. But the thing is, The Living Eyes make this sloppy way of living feel alright. They make you want to waste your days away doing nothing. If this is the soundtrack to it, then please sign me up now. The Living Eyes are one of the most exciting bands to come from Australia in a while, but don’t let that make you think that they don’t have a decent music scene there, because they do. There’s a lot of great bands there who will hopefully soon get the exposure that they deserve.

Living Large is not just a Garage Rock record. They’re not just a Garage Rock band. There is something else there, something that’s dying to come out and of course it will. Living Large lures you in, and once it has its grip on you, you won’t want these 4 guys to let you go. They’ll put you in a sweaty choke-hold and you’ll want more. Living Large may end up being quiet, but come the summer months it will get played constantly. It’s exactly what it was made for. Living Large wasn’t made for the pissing rain. It was made for the blistering heat and the desire for shade to protect you from the rays.

Some bands you fall in love with instantly when you hear them, and if you’ve never listened to The Living Eyes before, this record will make you sway, swoon and fall in love. If you’ve felt hopeless, bored and lifeless then this is the record for you. It was designed to make you feel a little better. Buy it, stick it on, learn the words, wear it out and make The Living Eyes your favourite band.

Living Large is gloriously frantic, chaotic drumming, beastly guitar riffs and all in between. This is what you need if you’re in need of a kick up the arse or a punch to the eyes. The Living Eyes are unapologetically loud and brutal. Their song, Bad Example justifies fully why this band demand your attention and you know you better give them it.

I’ve never seen them live, but I’m fairly sure it’ll be a lively sweat-fest and massively brutal. Just how it should be. They say perfection doesn’t really exist, but they’ve never listened to these guys have they.

I’ve kept this brief as my piece on them a few months ago explains why I love them, and I won’t shut up otherwise. Just go buy the record. It’s out now, go to your local record store and treat yourself.