britpop – and so she thinks

Pipers – Edge of Nowhere

admin — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 16:33:11 +0000

I don’t often listen to Neapolitan bands, I must admit, either due to a lack of supply or a narrow mind. Pipers, a three piece from the lovely Italian city have been bubbling away in the streets of Naples for a while now, and have developed their sound from electric-tinged indie pop to a more mature, layered alt-folk pop sound with more than a slice of Britpop in there. New song Edge of Nowhere starts with loose strumming and a layered vocal before bursting into catchy guitar strums and urgent melodies. Complete lulls in instruments throughout allow each dimension to shine, and there are plenty of them, with bass, mandolin, backing vocals from Stoo, Marco on drums and backing vocals and Stefano supplying vocals, guitar, piano, harmonica. The smooth ‘do you feel’ towards the end is seduces before an abrupt end and a click to repeat. Must be that Italian charm. Recorded at Casa Lavica in Naples Italy and mixed & mastered in Wolverhampton UK by Gavin Monaghan, the song is available to download for free.
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/57187643″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Charlie Straight – Coco

admin — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 12:11:32 +0000

An infectious and intense pop tune with a sad tale behind it (discovered courtesy of Infectious), Coco is the new song from Czech band Charlie Straight. The hypnotic and warm vocals are luring and alluring, and the guitar work harmonic without being overwhelming, distinct but not stripped back. It’s not cool. Let’s get that straight. Some people will raise eyebrows, some sneer, but this is perfectly packaged and blissfully britpop, the sound of September days, with the light fading, russet hues starting to appear in the trees, and anthemic melodies still in the air. Glorious. Out September 16th.

ScenicLife – a shot in the arm for you

admin — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:13:21 +0000

If guitar music is dead, rock’n’roll redundant and music stars fading, what are ScenicLife doing here? Ready with that ‘shot in the arm’ that Jim Chancellor of Fiction records is adamant guitar music needs, the first four tracks from Scenic Life (Lawrence Bray on vocals and rhythm, who shares the songwriting with Daniel Dodson, also on drums and ‘Jimi’ Drew Vera on bass) are triumphant, pulsating, and anthemic stuff. Sounding like a clenched fist in its tangibility, is Just The Same which flicks and tricks like a kid on a skateboard, bass lines all a-twang. The flagrant swagger of singer Lawrence Bray’s live performance is captured – with every snarl the giveafuck confidence of all the greats is conveyed. Take Me Away is a slower affair, swooning and smouldering until it builds to an anthemic chorus, a powerful and stately vision with a gritty and visceral aura, whereas Make Believe is a menacing eruption evocative of early Oasis demos like Cloudburst or Take Me. Brighton ’64 sounds an all too late warning to those on Margate beach on that fateful day, reminding us that holding fast to the music will save your soul, with its chorus ‘Come on, sing your favourite song, and then you’ll find you’re doing nothing wrong’ repeated over an epic curving riff. Some will bleat about ScenicLife wearing their influences so overtly on their sleeves, but a wardrobe crammed with the Gallagher brothers, John Lennon and The Stone Roses is a stylish one to be in. The lyrics are direct and the simple rhymes will be questioned, but then if they’d wanted to wallow in similes and abstract metaphors, they’d have become English teachers. And they’re not. They’re rock’n’roll stars.

Life Before Now by ScenicLife

The Standards – Mice

admin — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 21:37:38 +0000

Released November 7th 2011 on Schnapps House

Reviewed by Francesca Baker

My initial thought was ‘Oooh, they remind me of Pulp.’ Anyone who knows It’s All Happening, or myself, will aware that this is emphatically. A. Good. Thing. The occasionally venomous lyrics plinky piano and bouncy melodies employed by The Standards are used to an alchemic effect to create a songs so catchy that your find your heart beating to them long before your head starts to process them. All this is true on latest single Mice, offhand comments made in a slightly soiled yet soothing voice tossed amongst moody riffs as it swerves with menace to a ridiculously simple and catchy chorus. Despite being doused in Carnaby Street style, there are some surprises chucked in; the trickling guitar post chorus sounds almost Catalan and even the la la la’s sound like an essential ingredient in the quest for the perfect pop song. Love it.
Mice by The Standards

Girls – Heartbreaker

admin — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 09:34:15 +0000

Melody is pretty Britpop, you almost expect to get Jjohn Power (The La’s and Cast) singing, but then the really deplete vocals (he sounds like he’s singing as though doing an impression of a duck) make it quite different. FB
I really like Heartbreaker. Can hear the Britpop thing, the jangly guitars and too loud kickdrum. I like his vocals, very chilled. LS
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcfO4t-sbYE]