Streaming Lights - Slush Fund Blues EP

Released: February 2012

Label: N/A

Genre: Indie/Electro/Funk

THE announcement of a new sound from a band often results in a lot of new feelings and opinions from fans. Why are they changing their sound? What will it sound like? Will it be good? Well, these questions often arise from their mouths as a side order to the main course of anxiety and despair. It’s a Queens of the Stone Age/Red Hot Chili Peppers/Artic Monkeys situation: on one hand a new sound is a success, whereas in other cases they aren’t so well received (and I love all three bands).

With their new EP Slush Fund Blues, it appears Streaming Lights have also knocked their heads together to form resultant headaches which are to be expected, and a new sound that is unexpectedly fantastic. As well as a nice improvement in production quality, the band has added the element of fun to their music, almost as if they had become obsessed with Eagles Of Death Metal lately.

The riffs and catchy rhythms were present on previous album Slush Fund Blues, but the way they were displayed did not give as much of an impact as they could have. Now on the brand new EP the increase in production allows for the listener to really appreciate the potential Streaming Lights and their riffs have.

The drum beats are insanely catchy, and the electronics thicken up the sound of Streaming Lights and the result is four tracks the listener over and over again. Slush Fund Blues EP is a fantastic listen and I cannot wait to see how Streaming Lights take their new sound and produce an album out of it.

X Amount Of Villains - X Amount Of Villains LP

Released: 29^th February 2012

Label: N/A

Genre: Indie with Progessive/Pop Elements

IT’S a shame when you have the dream of being in a band but the place you live in is so small it leaves a lot of publicity to be desired. Fortunately though there is the internet, and I am here to tell you all about X Amount Of Villains. Unable to receive much promotion in their small community, they have taken to launching their debut self titled LP for free via Bandcamp.

X Amount Of Villains features seven tracks full of emotionally driven vocals, pop melodies and simply rockin’ guitar riffs. Each song tell their own story and in the most ear-pleasing way possible, this is an album easy to get lost into and take you away from the current situation.

There’s even a near ten minute song to close off the album, and fortunately, it does not become boring or predictable at any moment, often turning the soil over and over again until the listener reaches the most atmospheric sound on the album. The entire LP is a joy to listen to but just hear out for that moment especially, a great way to close out X Amount Of Villains.

Stream the entire of X Amount Of Villains below, and buy it for whatever price you want (including free!).

Free Download Of The Day #13: Best Coast - The Only Place

 

BEST Coast is back after the tremendous success of debut Crazy For You in 2010. Second album The Only Place will be dropped on the 5^th of May, but while we wait for what seems like an eternity for May to pop it’s head around, the band have graciously released the title track for the album, available for free. Thanks guys.

The Only Place has a fleshed out sound compared to the simplistic formula of guitar + drum machine on Crazy For You, with a real drummer behind the sticks this time, a fuzzy bass guitar to help beef up the layers, and what appears to be the addition of keys to help create the thickest sounding Best Coast track yet.

As expected the song is about living by the beach and enjoying the sun, but with Best Coast it’s a nice change after the debut was full of teenage love and teenage heartbreak.

Download The Only Place for free on the little bar below. The Only Place (the album) will be released on 5^th May 2012.

Hotbreath Tea & The Invisible Branches - One Hungry Acre

Released: 27^th March 2012

Label: Tree Machine Records

Genre: Folk/Indie

I don’t think there has been an album with as much nostalgic goodness as this one. One Hungry Acre is the debut album from one man project and very long named Hotbreath Tea & The Invisible Branches, crafted through the mind of drummer Mike Moloney. This album features eight songs, all of which composed and performed on every instrument by Mike himself, and also has been recorded in the likes of dungeon-styled basements and old freezers.

One Hungry Acre has a very organic and wonderful sound. The guitars used by Mike are 20 years old and there’s also an ancient electric bass involved too, as well as the guitar Mike has been playing since he was eight years old. The nostalgic feel erodes from these old instruments and therefore comes with a sentimental element that you cannot help but appreciate.

In weather like this it’s a crime if you don’t accompany it with One Hungry Acre, so listen to it in it’s entirety below, and even download it for when you want to relax in the sun to music. It’s free as well, so you’ve got nothing to lose. 

The Stammer - The Stammer EP

Released: 1^st February 2012

Label: n/a

Genre: Alt/Indie/Psychedelic

THE Stammer is a four piece band from Philadelphia, and this is their debut EP, The Stammer. Fans of Ketamines and Bauhaus will certainly appreciate the reverb-heavy guitar riffs, pounding drum beats and the gloomy vocals from frontman Brian Brotman.

Opening track Follow The Leader features a badass guitar tone that rips through the entire sound, becoming the first instrument the listener notices much like the instrumentations on Yuck’s debut album. It has a straight forward objective to rock out as much as possible within its short 2/3 minute timeframe and definitely achieves it with ease. Second track Same Lines slows down a little but also gets high marks for continuing the momentum in similar catchy fashion.

The final tracks are a lot slower, allowing the guitar riffs to ring out loud and drag out these sounds unlike their previous counterparts, creating a nice blend of straight forward rock and roll and slower, progressive music too. The Stammer EP is currently $3 to purchase, but you can stream the entire thing below and see what you think.

Flats - Better Living

Released: 7^th May 2012

Label: Sweatshop Records/One Little Indian

Genre: Hardcore/Punk

I don’t think there’s been a debut album as loud and as brash as this. New band Flats releases its debut Better Living in the next couple months, and hopefully by then my ears will stop ringing after continually listening to it over and over. Better Living reveals the band adding a little change to the sound produced in their unsigned material, and also has touches of influence from old school heavy metal bands such as Black Sabbath, Anthrax, Napalm Death and Crass (amongst others).

Everything about Better Living is frantic. The vocals are very often just screams, the drums sound as if a whole collective of drummers are pounding at the same time, and the guitars literally shred through your ear drums. This entire behemoth is captured in a production that is muddy but squashes all four elements together to create an even louder impact.

There’s nothing about Better Living that stops me loving the hell out of it. It’s full of riffs that are superb and really drive the songs into oblivion, the drums are perfectly aligned with the hammerhead bass and become a force of their own, and the vocals cap off what is an absolutely brutal experience. From the bass intro on single Foxtrot all the way down to the “HURGH!” on Crucifixion, the listener’s mind will be blown to smithereens, because it’s impossible not to be warped into the mindset of this dark and heavy beast. With every listen the only thing that decreases are the headaches (fortunately) but what does increase however is the amount of admiration you have for Better Living. 

Maps & Atlases - Beware And Be Grateful

Released: 16^th April 2012

Label: FatCat Records

Genre: Math/Pop/Alt

MAPS & Atlases is back with new album Beware And Be Grateful, an album that pushes their math rock tag further into pop territory. If you managed to hear new single Winter, an infectious and ironically sunny sounding track that’s one of my favourites, then you can definitely expect more of that optimistic sound on the album.

The band have managed to progress their sound which saw them referred to as a math rock band after the release of their first few EPs into an accessible listen. Giving their songs a poppier structure without taking too much away from their original label, as there are often guitar licks added into the many layers of instruments scattered throughout Beware And Be Grateful.

Fans of Fleet Foxes and Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Fields will definitely appreciate the organic instrumentation the quartet manages to create which accompany the spring season perfectly. Maps & Atlases have a particular gift in which they can use their abilities to create deep, interesting album tracks and manage to pop out a couple of hits to create an album easy to play and enjoy all year round.

Breton - Other People's Problems

Release: 26^th March 2012

Label: FatCat Records

Genre: Electro/House/DnB

IF you’re ever in the mood for some new British electro music, then you have absolutely got to check out Breton. This new collective are releasing their stonking debut album Other People’s Problems via FatCat Records next week, and it features a wide array of genres ranging from some heavy hitting hip hop to some pretty chill sounding house and drum and bass.

The first three tracks rely heavily on the hip hop side of things with aggressive vocals and loud beats, all sounding similar to one another and fusing together to create a solid trilogy, up there with The Matrix series at the very least. But all references aside, Other People’s Problems gets off to a great start before revealing an entirely different side to their genre spectrum.

The Skints - Part & Parcel

Released: 12^th March 2012

Label: Bomber Music

Genre: Reggae/Ska/Dub

LONDONERS The Skints is back with second album Part & Parcel, which was funded by many fans during the band’s pledge campaign. Fortunately they were successful after a few months and after their fantastic cover of Katy B’s On A Mission blew up to over 100,000 hits on Youtube, it’s seemingly created the perfect time for the new album to be released.

Part & Parcel has a lot of genres on offer. From the spaced out instrumentation from opener Rise Up, to the fast paced lead single Rat-at-at to the poignant Just Can’t Take No More within the first three songs, all the way to the catchy innocence of Sunny Sunny, and the dub heavy soundscape of Rubadub (Done Know).

The introduction of keys bring an extra element to the tracks that also allows Part & Parcel to sound different from it’s predecessor Live, Breathe, Build, Believe. It creates a bigger relaxed atmosphere that accompanies the warm sunny weather or spring perfectly as well.

Paul Weller - Sonik Kicks

Released: 19^th March 2012

Label: Island Records

Genre: Electronic/Mod/Alt

PAUL Weller has always returned to the music scene with an album formed after many experiments to achieve a new chapter in his sound. In recent times the experiments fell flat, as while 2010’s Wake Up The Nation did manage to receive a Mercury Award nomination, it did sound a little too safe and barrel scraped to be known as a true Paul Weller record.

So with his eleventh solo record titled Sonik Kicks, first impressions of it were not positive. The connotations that came to mind from an aging legend naming his new album with a “cool” spelling of sonic and introducing the sound of keyboards and synths have fortunately been expelled, as the Modfather is back to his best.

Caan - Every Little Thing

Release: 19^th March 2012

Label: Camouflage Records

Genre: Pop/Alt

FORMER Ou Est Le Swimming Pool bassist Caan is looking to forge a solo career bouncing off the success of his previous band. New single Every Little Thing is the first piece of material to stem from his debut solo album and features a hypnotic repeated percussion/synth which plays throughout the track, complete with occasional roars from an additional synth to overall produce an interesting instrumentation.

Caan’s vocals take centrestage and as predicted they hold up well, with a similar tone to The Weeknd. Every Little Thing has elements of Caan’s former band and its clear Depeche Mode is an influence. It’s a solid track that leaves me intrigued to hear more. Stream it below, and check out three remixes too.

Heavy Blanket - Dr Marten's Blues

Heavy Blanket - Dr Marten's Blues from Outer Battery Records on Vimeo.

It was the summer of 1984, and a teenage J Mascis was bored. Sure, his band Deep Wound were still playing shows and melting faces. That band would prove to be one of hardcore’s seminal influences, but J didn’t know that then. Disillusioned with the direction that most of his hardcore heroes had taken, he wanted to start something new. He wanted to shed the pretentiousness and elitism that had risen around him  – to slow things down and turn the volume way, way up. This new band would influence generations of disenfranchised youth while tipping their hat to their heroes of years past, before punk existed. And so: he needed a band.

feedtime - The Aberrant Years

Released: 13^th March 2012

Label: Sub Pop

Genre: Punk/Rock/Blues

LATELY there’s been a lack of punk releases featured on Little Comments and for that I am sorry. I thought it best to revitalise the genre-blog relationship with a collection of a band at their peak time. Australian trio feedtime is one of the most celebrated underground bands of all time, with fans and bands alike being highly influenced by their gritty reckless sound (I believe Mudhoney is a fan).

The Aberrant Years bares a collection of the band’s material during the years of their greatest lineup throughout the year of 1979, all the way up to the demise of it ten years later. During that time, feedtime released albums shovel, Cooper S, and suction which saw them signed to seminal Australian record label Aberrant Records, Amphetamine Reptile Records and Rough Trade US.

This collection features all of that material as well as a bunch of rare bonus tracks, so it’s a must for any fan of old school feedtime, or for anybody looking for some new punk music. Feedtime’s sound is often centred around the sledgehammer heavy bass sound, with the guitars and drums going insane to support it all behind (at times) some incoherent yelling from the vocalist. 

It sounds just like an old school punk band should sound, so fans of Black Flag will definitely want to check this out, as this is quite possibly one of the strongest collection of the year.

Free Download Of The Day #13: Nihility - Explosive

TODAY’s free download is from Nihility, a band hailing from Massachusetts, and you can grab their fantastic new album Explosive below.

Fans of bands such as Velvet Revolver and Eagles of Death Metal will definitely need to jump on this, as they will certainly admire the solid electric and bass guitar solos and the sassiest rhythms heard in a long while. Nihility have a great old school sound, and can use it to produce either explosive (hur) moments or slow and sombre moments too.

Stream the entirety of Explosive below, and download it for free here.

Johnny Parry - Keep Kicking And Screaming

THIS may certainly well be the most ambitious record of 2012. Genius composer Johnny Parry returns to the airwaves with new single Keep Kicking And Screaming, a track created through the mind of Parry and his 30-piece ensemble.

At first the gruffness of Parry’s vocals may put the listener off the track because of its harsh contrast against the delicate instrumentation, but once the various other vocal yelps and string/horn sections introduce themselves, everything seems to fall in place to create a simply astonishing piece of music.

Johnny Parry’s new album Fields & Birds & Things will be released on 2^nd April, via Lost Toy Records. Hear Keep Kicking And Screaming below.

Odonis Odonis - Busted Lip

Released: 21^st May 2012

Label: FatCat Records

Genre: Lo-fi/alternative

ODONIS Odonis is back with new single Busted Lip, which comes from debut album Hollandaze that was released last year. The song offers an accurate description of what the listener should expect Hollandaze to sound like: Lo-fi, gritty, ballsy rock with a thick and claustrophobic production that will grip you by the throat until it’s finished.

Busted Lip has that certain badass quality that could feature in a Quentin Tarantino film, complete with Bauhaus-esque hazy vocals and Them Crooked Vultures-style guitars that roar throughout the track. B-Side I’d Prefer Walking draws back the claustrophobia a tad to allow a bass guitar cameo to take centre stage, providing a nice change of pace and variety to the single.

Hollandaze is out now via FatCat Records and Odonis Odonis will be touring the UK for the first time in April, and will be touring Europe in May. Hear the new single below.

fun. - Some Nights

Released: 21st February 2012

Label: Fueled By Raman

Genre: Pop/Alt

TL;DR: What Happened?

IN 2009, three people collaborated together in the hope of producing a sound that extended the boundaries of what a trio can create, and with the help of a lot of session musicians, and all collated under the name Fun., came Aim & Ignite. Aim & Ignite was a debut effort from a band that showed a lot of balls and originality in some aspects because of songs that could have you gripped in harmony and tears within a couple of songs. It was an exciting album that made Fun. a band to keep on the radar.

Three years later and it appears that Fun. has shut away all of those elements that truly defined their sound. Second album Some Nights has become a commercial success for the band because of lead single We Are Young, which featured Janelle Monáe providing guest vocals. Well, a guest vocal snippet, as she repeats four words a few times, hardly anything to tack onto the end of your song title. The song featured on Glee months ago, and because of that, it allowed Fun. to hit mainstream highs, even reaching number one in a couple of charts.

Paul Newman And The Ride Home - The Importance Of Being Ernest Hemingway

Released: 30^th December 2011

Label: N/A

Genre: Punk/Folk-Punk

TL;DR: Solid and Passionate

PAUL Newman and the Ride Home are back with new album The Importance Of Being Ernest Hemingway, a collection of songs Paul wrote during some of the lowest points of his life.

It’s full of great punk and folk riffs scattered around with optimism that makes me wonder how he managed to keep his head held high, but it’s nice to hear somebody make feel good songs out of the context and not use it to produce another sad album. You can stream the entire of The Importance Of Being Ernest Hemingway below, and buy it with whatever amount of money you want too.

Little Comments Interview 06/03/2012: SIMPLE BLASTA

ON Friday night I was able to find some time thinking about the interviews I used to have with various bands last year, and I missed that. So later on that night, I was very fortunate to have an interview via email with my favourite person from Belarus, Simple Blasta. 

You can read the entire interview below, and also listen along to his new EP, Night Phone Talks, while you read about our conversations regarding the new EP, the to-be-released debut LP, Heavy On The Drums, and also what it's like to live as a musician in Belarus. 

Free Download Of The Day #12: Gomez Addams - Rattle & Move

ONE of my favourite discoveries of 2012 has dropped yet ANOTHER song for free on his Bandcamp. Singer-songwriter Gomez Addams is back with Rattle & Move, an acoustic track full of light guitar licks and the perfect atmosphere for the sunnier side of the year.

Stream the song below and download it for free here.

Family Machine - Quiet As A Mouse

Family Machine - Quiet As A Mouse from video jon on Vimeo.

OXFORD band Family Machine is back with new single Quiet As A Mouse, a gorgeous track with Anna Log of We Aeronauts of Brainlove Records (great name) providing lead vocals. It’s a soft and fragile sound full of gentle acoustic melodies and fantastic vocal harmonies which helps flesh out the track a little more.

Download Quiet As A Mouse and the sheet music for you to play along to it for free here.

Family Machine is currently in the middle of recording its second album with acclaimed producer Ian Davenport, who has worked with the likes of Supergrass (RIP), Badly Drawn Boy and Athlete. 

Simple Blasta - Night Phone Talks EP

Released: 29^th February 2012

Label: N/A

Genre: Electronic

TL;DR: This guy again? He’s STILL really good!

SIMPLE Blasta is back once again with new EP Night Phone Talks, the second to be dropped in the last two months. The one man project’s debut EP was Yesterday’s Hero, four songs which displayed a great skill in manipulating samples and forming catchy beats out of them.  

Night Phone Talks progresses the low-fi sound from its predecessor and adds a hip-hop tone to it. Drum patterns are added to give a nostalgic hark back to 90s hip-hop, while extra layers introduce themselves and slide easily into the chilled atmosphere of each of the five tracks featured.

Cheap Girls - Giant Orange

Released: 21^st February 2012

Label: Rise Records

Genre: Pop Punk

CHEAP Girls is back with new album Giant Orange, and it accompanies the welcome appearance of March nicely. The month of sunshine, the month of warmth, the month of spring. What we have here is eleven tracks full of loud, catchy guitar riffs captured perfectly with the odd guitar solo and vocals that bellow over the already loud landscape of the instrumentation and slip neatly into the listener’s ears.

Variation is not a main priority on Giant Orange, what seems to be the main priority however is having fun and enjoying the darn thing. It goes perfect with the sunshine, and bares that certain nostalgic feeling that harks back to a time where The Offspring, Blink 182 and Sum 41 were the ultimate summer bands.