False Advertising

What’s Hot In My House – April

Posted on by edwardlayland

The big problem with music is that there’s too damn much of it. I mean, I was just putting a playlist together, so I was going through the gargantuan collection on my phone and I was like: “oooo haven’t heard that for ages; I miss that album; shit, I used to love that” and so on…. Anyway, I was basically left marvelling at what a wonderful thing it is to be so damn spoilt for choice, and everyday there’s more and more of the stuff!

As such, my listening is more often than not dominated by things I’ve been reviewing or researching for whatever reason, and April had been a busy month! I’ve heard a lot of seriously excellent records – the new albums from singer songwriter Kevin Morby and Canadian rockers Greys being particularly outstanding, although it’s the sublime new album from Ben Watt that’s taken up most of my journey’s home. However, as coincidence would have it, over the last couple of weeks I’ve had three EPs, all alternative rock, all female fronted, but all distinctly different, vying for my undivided attention. Check them out…

Haybaby – Blood Harvest EP
This power trio from Brooklyn are an intriguing mix of indie, grunge and sludge punk (whatever that may be) and last year’s ‘Sleepy Kids’ was one of my favourite albums of 2015. So, I was understandably excited to discover they had new music hitting the racks, and after managing to get an advance copy, was not disappointed. In fact, Leslie Hong and company have built on their loose style and added a little more bite on five scathing tunes stacked with cool bass grooves, histrionic guitar lines and massive riffs; not to mention the excellent vocals. Check out the killer ‘Kramer/Dreams’:

False Advertising – Brainless EP
Like Haybaby, False Advertising also released an album towards the end of 2015 and have followed it up with an EP less than six months later. In the case of Jen, Chris and Josh, who describe themselves as “twisted power grunge” and have a more nineties feel to their sound, it was a case of not only maintaining creative momentum but also dealing with some personal issues. As a result, their sound has also toughened up a little more, yet they still mange to include some killer hooks. What you get are five furiously energetic tunes that neatly blend punky grunge rock and angular indie with a touch of pop sensibility – frantic guitars with badass choruses. Here’s a snippet of their live show and the disturbing ‘Alopecia’.

Making Monsters – Bad Blood EP
This record won’t actually be released until the middle of next month, but the Northern Irish quartet are definitely ones to watch – whatever ‘it’ is, they’ve got it and I for one am loving it. Besides being blessed with a heavy alternative sound, bursting with top drawer guitar work and some really well constructed songs, in Emma Gallagher they have an exceptionally good vocalist of quite stunning versatility. This is a band that definitely stand out from the pack and there are plenty of moments on ‘Bad Blood’ that really nail it – watch this band rise.

Ben Watt
Like I said above, Ben’s new album, ‘Fever Dream’ is quite sublime, but I have also been revisiting the previous offering, ‘Hendra’ with some regularity of late. Both records are packed with quality songwriting, where the attention to the tiny details of everyday life manages to paint vivid pictures of loss and regret or love and relationships. The accompaniment from Bernard Butler is nothing short of superb and both albums make for a truly involving listen.

Here are a bunch of links to find out more about everything I’ve been going on about and maybe even purchase some the bands’ music at ridiculously low prices – some of the earlier releases may even be name your price!
http://haybabyband.com/
https://falseadvertising.bandcamp.com/
https://makingmonsters.bandcamp.com/
http://benwatt.com/

He For She

Posted on by edwardlayland

While thinking back over the music I’ve enjoyed during the past year, I came to the realisation that a very large portion of it came from female artists or female fronted bands. This really shouldn’t be noteworthy in this day and age, but if you think about it, with the exception of the pop market, most musical styles are still pretty much male dominated. I mean, think of your all time favourite metal/rock/indie/rap acts and basically only indie really has a high chance of including a girl and she’s almost certainly gonna be called Kim.

As such, Indie continues to lead the way with a much higher percentage of female fronted bands; maybe it’s down to being a less image oriented genre, where who or what you are is far less important than your art, who knows? Even so, with the exception of Florence’s last minute headline slot at Glastonbury, the UK festivals were still shamelessly male dominated, indicating that there remains an undercurrent of male bias in the industry. This is highlighted by the fact that when you consider that based on merit alone, rather than the questionable practice of positive discrimination; that is, using record sales and critical acclaim as a guide, the main stage at Reading, Glastonbury, Leeds or IoW could easily have lined up Bjork, Florence, Sleater-Kinney, Wolf Alice, Courtney Barnett and Soak on the main stage; wouldn’t exactly have been torture now, would it?

So, whether the powers at be choose to recognize it or not, there has been a lot of damn fine records released this year by women across all genres, even Rap. Therefore, in my best Emma Watson-esque spirit, I think it only fair and right to give a shout out to some of the supremely talented ladies that have contributed so much to my listening pleasure of late.

Although the overriding misogyny of the Rap/Hip-hop scene continues to be a difficult hurdle for female talent, the likes of Kate Tempest, the classy Dej Loaf and Little Simz represent a new generation of talented girl rappers. In addition, 2015 also saw the return of some old school talent; with the unique Missy Elliott coming back with a stylish new single after stealing the half time show at the Superbowl from under Katy Perry’s nose. However, it’s Tairrie B., one of the most pioneering performers in the game, that has most surprised and challenged me this year with her return to the genre for the accomplished ‘Vintage Curses’ project (https://hardpresseded.wordpress.com/2015/08/18/tairrie-b-vintage-curses/). It showed that she still has a flow comparable with any major rap artist around right now, as well as being as empowering as ever. Check out this badass remix of ‘Wicked Witch of the West Coast’ by Mediatrix – another upcoming female talent.

Hard Rock / Heavy Metal is another complicated area for women, but the likes of Pvris and Marmozets are breaking down old fashioned sexism with the sheer quality of their material. Speaking of quality, I can’t put down the smoking ‘Into the Wild Life’ by Halestorm; Lzzy Hale has a superb hard rock vocal and on ‘I Am The Fire’ she is, well, on fire.

As I said before though, it’s the world of indie/alternative where women are really holding their own. I cannot get enough of Wolf Alice’s ‘My Love is Cool’, especially killer tracks like ‘Bros’, ‘Your Love’s Whore’ and ‘You’re a Germ’. Lead vocalist, Ellie Rowsell, has a superb voice, drifting easily from a breathy hush to a full blooded scream on WA’s classy songs – album of the year?

I discovered the old school indie sludge punk of Haybaby a couple of months back and believe they too are set for bigger things. Leslie Hong has a very strong voice and is equally good whether understated or raging; I love her screaming “I don’t give a fuck if you love me anyhow” in the middle of the chorus to ‘Old Friends’, badass.

Laura Hancock of The Echo and The Always, is another vocalist that has seriously impressed me this year. She has a little more bite to her voice, which glides easily amongst the multiple facets of their intriguing record; she can deliver a pop hook with ease, hold her own on rockier numbers but also has the smoothness of a folk singer. This band will be massive.

To be honest, there is so much amazing female talent around right now, whether it’s a tiny upcoming band like False Advertising (Jen Hingley), hot new singer-songwriter like Soak or a legend like Björk, I could go on and on giving examples. Suffice to say that with so much good music on offer I find it staggering that the issue of equality still needs to be addressed in the music business.

Five More British Rock Bands That Could Use a Break

Posted on by edwardlayland

Since staring to write for http://www.alreadyheard.com and subsequently on my own blog I have become more and more involved with bands at the hard end of the music industry.

Earlier in the year I wrote a piece on some upcoming British bands and went on to interview three of them about the difficulties of the industry. (https://hardpresseded.wordpress.com/2015/08/06/five-british-rock-bands-that-could-use-a-break/) The picture they painted was, to be quite frank, fucking depressing and totally awesome in equal measure. Depressing because it is just so damn hard to get anywhere when so little money filters down to this level of the industry, especially given that major labels are now far less likely to take a risk, indie labels live eternally cash strapped and a large amount of so-called music lovers seem to believe that music should be free. Throw in the fact that every five minutes another venue closes and you’ve gotta feel for the bands; not much chance of giving up the day jobs just yet, all the more so when you consider the competitiveness of the scene. Which brings me to the awesome part; the music scene is bubbling with superb new bands! The internet has made life so much easier in many respects; they are able to market themselves, get financing and even sell their product more easily – bandcamp is a veritable hotbed of vibrant new material.

Nevertheless, there is still this disconnection between industry savvy professionals and the pool of talent, so not only do bands have to finance themselves and juggle rehearsals, shows and writing around their day jobs, they then lack top draw professional input in terms of production and or A&R advice, even if they are lucky enough to have a deal, as with one or two of the bands here. Moreover, studio time itself is also expensive, before you throw in a producer, and even if the band have a manager it is rare to find one that really knows about artistic development. So the odds are stacked against new bands, but they keep appearing and here are a handful that I have come across recently that could all use a break, whether in terms of a record deal, quality A&R input or just expanding their fan bases; check them out.

False Advertising
Manchester based trio False Advertising are “twisted power grunge” indie rockers with a serious weight to their riffs and some interestingly quirky touches to their songwriting. They have just the right amount of pop sensibility to write a decent hook and are particularly good vocally, whether it’s Jen Hingley or Chris Warr taking the lead. They are such a DIY band that they also share guitar and drum duties, while Chris does production and Jen takes responsibility for artwork and videos. The addition of Josh Sellars on bass added depth to their songwriting/sound and their totally DIY debut album is pretty damn good. With a bit of polish to their rough edges they could really go places.
(Full review: http://alreadyheard.com/post/128182956195/album-review-false-advertising-false (not my words))

The Endeavour
Peterborough based five piece are on the radio friendly side of alternative rock and certainly know how to write a hook. They showed plenty of potential on their debut EP released earlier this year and have been working hard on the live circuit to build a following. They are strong instrumentally and flirt a little with a number of styles, though they’re at their best when exploring their guitar interplay. They have definite hit-making potential and with a steadying hand could well sail onto bigger things.
(Full review:http://alreadyheard.com/post/124570358619/album-review-the-endeavour-voyage-ep)

Deepshade
Hailing from Wigan, this three piece band have a distinctly seventies feel to their straight ahead hard rocking sound. They do have a slight touch of the psychedelics coming through now and again though, and IMHO their sound has more depth when they mix it up a little and include a few twists and turns. However, lyrically speaking they are socially aware, especially on the highly critical “Out of Hand”, and instrumentally they are seriously talented – there are plenty of top draw riffs and musical interludes that really nail it; throw in the occasional smoking solo and it’s hot rocking heaven. As I said in my review, if they leave their comfort zone a little more when composing they could be set for bigger things.
(Full review: http://alreadyheard.com/post/130061922814/album-review-deepshade-everything-popular-is)

Aurora
Maybe it’s down to the fact that life for a certain section of society always gets a bit shitter under a Conservative government or that the youth of today really are the “Lost Generation”, who knows? But either way the UK metalcore scene is boiling over with top quality bands expressing their disquiet in emphatic style and close to the top of that pile is the hard as nails sound of Aurora. They are a bit less screamy than some bands, which helps add even more weight to their sound, and they are not afraid to mix things up, putting plenty of stops and tempo changes into their songs. When they go on the attack they are badass heavy but when they slow it down they also know how to work a melody to good effect, it’s a good example of where metal is at right now.
(Full review: http://alreadyheard.com/post/132473530378/album-review-aurora-faithbreaker)

Saint (the) Sinner
Spectacular blend of melodic hardcore and alternative rock, Saint (the) Sinner have a theatrical quality á la Panic! At the Disco combined with a seriously hard edge that is really something special. They employ two different vocal styles, one a guttural scream, the other more melodic, which combine to good effect on their catchy as hell songs. The new EP, ‘Masquerades’, was released to coincide with Halloween in a stroke of marketing genius and these guys really look set for bigger things. Their post hardcore side may limit their appeal in the long run but right now they are an interesting proposition – ones to watch.
(Full review: http://alreadyheard.com/post/131955145513/album-review-saint-the-sinner-masquerades-ep)

Margraves Part 1

Posted on by edwardlayland

The legendary DJ John Peel had a policy of listening to (and often playing on air) every demo tape he was given by a band – he loved it but also admitted that the sheer quantity drove him mad. As I am a million years away from being the most influential disc jockey in the industry, my task is somewhat easier, yet given my lack of time I have some idea of what he must have felt. At the time of writing I have little more than a handful of followers on Twitter, yet since I opened my account I’ve had bands following me and sending me their work. Here I will attempt to provide a space to showcase some of what I receive and although I cannot promise full reviews, actually I can’t even promise empty reviews, but I will endeavour to put bands out there in some way so that people can make up their own minds; obviously the more excited I am about them, the more  likely I am to go on about them – fair enough?

So, here’s the first crop of what I call ‘Margraves’ – a sideways tribute to John Peel (A.K.A Margrave of the Marshes) – featuring five newish bands, via Twitter, in order of discovery:
The Mantells – britpoppy Arctics influenced, nice clean sound – good vocal.

Lux Lisbon – slick slices of indie tinged atmospheric pop with good strong songs and a well refined sound.

We’re no Heroes – eighties groove with an upbeat sound, very likeable.

Charlywood – infectious English fronted guitar band from Austria with an air of Libertines meets Billy Bragg about them.

False Advertising – slightly mechanical indie fuzzers with some poppy hooks