The NBT Review 117

Evi Vine reviewed by Martin Smit

Muffled Shine reviewed by Cobus Rossouw

 And So The Morning Comes – Evi Vine (independent release)

 This is before sunrise music, those eternal minutes where the darkness fools you that It’s never gonna leave, but somehow the lamplight is losing it’s power to soothe or distort (was it ever comforting really?)

This is music floating in that waiting world, where hope is not quiet born and sister despair is not as charming as she was just a few hours ago.

This is intimate, just you and the singer, the music the cool air you breathe as you conduct this personal conversation. You cannot imagine studio or electrics, cables and buttons and mixing desks, you cannot imagine close ups of strings and bows and microphones. You’re too busy being IN the song and the singer and her music is too busy being IN you.

And yet.

That said, it is also music that makes you want to betray that privacy, the second it is done, and tell others, so that they too can be lost, just them and the singer.

So tell us about the music, you plead, well its stripped down Mazzy Star, its the most fragile blues, its those thoughts you had when you fell in love and you knew you would one day fall out of love.

It can make all the beauty in the world a lonely frightening thing but it can also softly urge you to keep dreaming to dare not wake up right now.

I had this vision that as the music drifted into a bus full of noise and chaos, one by one those that heard it closed their eyes, warped slightly out of focus, let go.

Stops were missed, timetables forgotten, the future became flexible.

It really was that simple.

http://www.evivine.com/

 Muffled Shine – Just (Independent Release)

 In 2003 Frédéric Chaubin began a journey to document some of the Soviet Union’s incredible architecture. I stumbled onto the story of this adventure together with a sample of some of the photographs (click on Frédéric’s name above) and was immediately struck by how the architecture somehow conveyed a sense of the Cold War era while being very distinct from what was created in the US. The buildings have a close, claustrophobic feeling; even as they stretch creativity far further than the West did (well, mostly).

When I first heard this EP from Muffled Shine it immediately brought back the images of those buildings. Landscapes of graceful emptiness filled with architectural displays that are brutal, yet harmonic and somehow triumphant. This is a personal reflection though, and while I am sure that we cannot escape the effects of our environment I am also sure that Muffled Shine intends far more with this EP than to depict a fascinating past.

Gregory Khanin & Dmitry Gubin create music that falls within the “Industrial”, genre but it would sell their EP, “Just”, short if you tried categorise it that strictly. The reason for this is that “Industrial” so often conjures up the idea of grinding discomfort, agitation, angst, whereas Muffled Shine have produced something that is reflective and meditative without being mawkish or overtly spiritual. This album will not make it into a Tibetan monastery, but if it did they’d learn something.

The music is so evocative that it transforms your local landscape. With autumn fast approaching in South Africa it metamorphosed afternoon traffic into an epic adventure, a slow progress to some homecoming, some imminent arrival. It is such a familiar feeling that I listened to the album three times in succession without once feeling like I’ve heard it before. (I knew I couldn’t find the words to describe this feeling, so I’ll settle for “nostalgia”).

Since receiving the album for review I have probably listened to it more than twenty times, and I could listen to it again, right now and I know I’ll be moved. I also know that I’ll be moved in a different way, and that it will provoke an emotional response. This is my album for contemplation, for deepening the world, for delving inside.

 http://muffledshine.bandcamp.com/

  Both Muffled Shine and Evi Vine will be featured on the NBT DarkElectric and Flagship Podcasts going out on the 29^th and 30^th March respectively

 and both are playlisted on the NBTMusic 24hour Radio

 http://nbtmusicradio.playtheradio.com/

 

The NBT Review 116

  Aftermath – Alozeau & Jean Montag (Independent Release)

 the best music is a soundtrack to a movie in our imagination.

 Scene 1.

 the monster wakes up, the technical thing, the mechanical thing shakes off its sleep and pity and compassion coils into itself, throbs, then shoots up.

 We are flying now.

 The world..even as a stark map, negative photo, smudged photostat, is (in it’s final moments) serene beautiful.

 We are the soul of the bomb, this is the music that explains how it soars, these are the seconds before release. This is the coldest sensual. The prettiest brutal.

 If you were a man. Watching it fall from the pale sky. This would be the intake of your breath, slowed down, slowed down in a vain attempt to straighten out those insane jumbled thoughts, those terminal thoughts.

 And if you survive, this is now your music too.

 Scene 2.

 the seconds before. The seconds after. Ghosts inherit the landscape. The panic, the crowd frenzy, the voyeuristic vipers of TV land are silent. And what price this calm?

 Scene 3.

 switch focus now.

The soul

the journey into heaven, hell or where exactly? Does it really matter? But oh it is scary, dangerous, so now we know, we can still be frightened, still be thrilled, the tension is unbearable, but orgasmic. We do not want this imploding to end. Forget the hush, bring the noise.

 Scene 4.

 and in the electro darkness, the deep green deep, the murk, sparks slink out timid, search for mother, search for lover. Rebirth almost happens, sighs, fades, then almost happens again. The composer’s compassion interferes, flickers into the fluid. Hope can be such an ambiguous thing.

 Scene 5.

 and then we are born again.. into the bright bright new world.

 Find your own movies within this incredible music

http://jeanmontag.bandcamp.com

Several tracks from Jean Montag and his Collaborators appear on the NBTdarkElectric Podcast and

the NBTMusic24Hr Radio

 http://nbtdarkelectric.podbean.com

 http://nbtmusicradio.playtheradio.com/

 

The NBT Review 112

 Polar Dust is reviewed by Martin Smit

One Eyed Mule is reviewed by Cobus Rossouw

 Selected Demos – Polar Dust

 It is apt that I start with ‘Between The Lines’ as I swim through this selection. Because this music is all about space and weight, the dreaming, the waking, the thoughts in between those states of being.

This is music that seems both Heavy (not as in powerchords or metal but rather that tempting release of allowing ourselves to SINK) and Floating (not as in insubstantial but bravely floating, untethered to darker places)

 As these are demos there is a tiny bit of fear shooting through this reviewer, that when the songs are given ‘full’ life the band may be urged to ‘clean up’ the murk, the delectable dirt, the ‘otherness’ of these recordings. But it is not the shiny that entices here , rather like an ancient mirror, its the warped reflections, the fragmented visions that keep us captivated.

 We are asked to dive into the ‘Deep End’ while sparkly electronics do sonic battle with bass machine rumble, an industrial thing a pop thing, and then the vocals slip in, benign hallucinations.

 These manage float tween euphoric and lament, they are love songs that the enemy sings to you, lullabyes from suggestive strangers.

 They ask you to get lost In them, With Them and not care about the destination.

 I suggest you get tempted, it is well worth it.

 http://www.ilike.com/artist/Polar+Dust

 You can hear some of these Demos and more on the NBTDarkelectric Podcast going out on the 5^th March

http://nbtdarkelectric.podbean.com

 and the band is playlisted on the NBTMusic 24 hr streaming Radio

http://www.radionomy.com/nbtmusicradio

 One-eyed Mule – Drifting To A Happy Place (Artiscope Music)

 Anyone hearing One-Eyed Mule for the first time would be forgiven for imagining the band originates from the American heartlands. Their music is standard Americana, so standard that it came as a substantial surprise to hear that they were formed in Denmark and recorded this latest offering in Sweden.

Scandimericana then, easy on the ear, beautifully recorded and always interesting. It’s not an album that sets new benchmarks in music and it’s not avante garde or challenging, but it is wonderful. You see, for me it’s enough if music imparts a mood, evokes an emotion. I don’t always need to think, sometimes I just want to feel, and my word this album did it for me.

Starting off with a happy melancholy, a “September Sigh”, imagery of bleakness and yet hope, something warm, either in the past or the future. Rasmus Dall’s voice could feature in any band, its strength is its ability to express beyond the words, to drag you into the heart of the songs. By the time you reach the second track – “Rain keeps falling on you” he’s dragged you into the album and you will be hooked.

After a crazy week I left the office last week and as I hit the open road the track “Drifting to a happy place” and I wish I could make you all feel how it lifted me. Everything was suddenly ok and the weekend had been set up for joy. And this is why this album is so good. It touches all the nerves, it arouses the happiness junkie in me, it doesn’t so much “keep me going” as “makes me go”.

Now, before you start thinking that this is a simple album with little intellect let me caution you, this band knows its music and the album shows off all the chops without ever being self indulgent. Each song expanding in instrumentation, with banjo, cello, sitar and even jew’s harp. And nowhere is there a trace of overeager ego. In its place is perfect sensibility, which is rare.

It’s even difficult to pick a favorite track, although if I was forced to it would “All your love is gone”. I can’t hear it without singing along, and there’s a Velvet Underground feel to it that I have to love.

So in short – not a single note out of place, never boring, happy without being sentimental, melancholy without being maudlin and a range of pfectly constructed songs – ladies and gents, what One-eyed Mule have given us is a perfect album, perfect in every way.

 http://www.facebook.com/pages/One-Eyed-Mule/176292165300

 you can hear tracks from this album on the NBT Podcasts going out on the 4^th March and last weeks show as well.

http://nextbigthing.libsyn.com

and One-Eyed-Mule is playlisted on the NBTMusic Radio

http://www.radionomy.com/nbtmusicradio

The NBt Review 106

Selected Music -Sean Derrick Cooper Marquardt (Independent Releases)

This prolific creator of ambience and noise has so many works scattered across the web, that even three blogs would not do it justice, so for now I must be content to write about just a few and let you, the gentle curious reader explore deeper.

We start out extreme with ‘Son Of Thunder’ (a Kitty On Fire Records release), setting us down upon a twisted playground from an alternate past, once there were jolly warm glowing lights and souls, now they have been allowed to fade into the grew howl, leaving only a trace of a winter market melody behind. The barricades constructed here shift spookily, allowing glimpses of lonely choirs lost, till all is the swarm. The pleasure here is the dream of comfort never quite achieved, the artist making sure that it is the journey that is important.

Now Blisters take us further into the grinning gasp of darkness, where the assurance of scratches and static hide the slomotion glide of rooms and old men and flickers of dancehall memories. Imagine yourself out on a cold winter’s night, looking up at complacent hunks of residential buildings, lives shining from behind curtains far up above you. Add a sense of humour and horror to the experience and you are close to this.

Onwards now, bravely to the manipulation of ‘The Accidental X Change’ where the artist proves that the fabric of our reality can be stretched thin, even to breaking point and then like an overtired child lost within a train journey we slip into something that perhaps is not there, cannot be explained to mother or father and will slip away soon enough, traces of it haunting us still into adulthood.

And finally (for this review at least; remember this is only a tiny taste of this artist’s work) we attempt to float up the TwoRivers, up because these soundscapes push high into space, subliminal spikes jutting out allowing our tender soul brief sanctuary, then spilling back into the murmur, the saddest blur ever felt.

http://www.vimeo.com/16657554

http://www.vimeo.com/16636235

http://www.myspace.com/seandcmarquardt

http://www.avachorda.de/

You will be able to hear a lot from Cooper Marquardt on
upcoming shows on all the NBT podcasts in the new year

http://nextbigthing.libsyn.com

http://nbtdarkelectric.podbean.com

The NBT Review 82

Music As Weaponry – Post Death Soundtrack (Overthrow)

Sit down, push the CD into the computer, and press play. The magic begins. A swagger slow swing transforms a city building into a night flight, essence of exotic eastern, subtle perilous. The words sing soft for the destruction of lie, and in the melody the aggression builds but tightens within itself. In this tension the power stays.

These are revolution songs, fierce and intelligent, a battle against the bland the blind the soft focus, indeed as the tune screams, ‘taking back the radio’ the noise is refined, made razor sharp to cut into the nothingness of the normal.

Music as battlefield, the camera swoops into the thick of the fighting, the overlaid blur of social politics, and hedonistic rock frantic, even if the price paid is sometimes a’ life gone solitary’ (this miniature piece is both full of dread and quite beautiful)

Wake up and listen, this is a world where the vampires are the ones who preach and rule us from the televisions and parliaments, and this band make it easy to listen, to wake up. They cloak their truth within a euphonious shape-shifting structure. No rhythm is forced, no instrument overplayed, the mix is perfect, strong and provocative.

It is this restraint, this coiled madness that elevates this band, they embrace the chaos when needed, the love the fury when set free, but they know that darkness loves the frazzled intimacy, and they swoop down to whisper these confidences directly into our willing ears.

This entire album intrigues and captivates but for me the closing horror movie crash of a lullaby is the stand out. With this song,’I’ll Meet You At The End’ the possibility of this band taking back the radio is now very real.

Find at more and join in the revolution

http://www.postdeathsoundtrack.com/

Hear trax from this set and brand new songs too on the NBT Dark Electric Podcast going out on the 3^rd August 2010

http://nbtdarkelectric.podbean.com/

If you use Internet Explorer you can stream snippets of a couple of the Tunes here

                               http://www.nextbigthing.co.za

  (After the intro Click on the ‘#Just want to look around# text it will take u thru to next page)

   A chart made up from browsers rating and listening to the song streams can be found here:

                                      http://nbttopten.podbean.com/

The NBT Review 69

Starlit Apocalypse

Air

Endless – SNMT (Black Flower Music)

Plus Brand new Tracks from an upcoming release

I decide to listen to this music in the basement of my postwar (forever tween modern and ancient) German small town flat. I have this feeling that the ambience of the musty dark room full of wounded and dead appliances will suit these tunes. That as the sounds drift over the discarded machines of fun and comfort, and cardboard boxes packed to overflowing with no longer loved or listened to vinyl and comics begging for a future generation to love them, the rust and the glitter, the oil and the blood contained within the ragged rhythms will reveal themselves.

I have Three sets to go through plus new songs yet to find a home, and as a tense grey storm brews out there on the street I press random, then press play, lean back against the hard concrete and let the musicians have their chaotic way with me.

So if you expect some sort of order, the stability of one collection then the next, you are in the wrong place. This is for the senses, for the emotions provoked.

Oh I love the slow crawl into AWAKE that the first tune offers, airspace full of the crackle and shock of the moody electric. On this Floating Bridge, one must tread carefully, because it shudders and this is no silent vacuum of stars, here the squeaks shoot out sharp, always tempting the delicate balance to betray itself.

In this Graveyard, the ghosts are bloated, stumbling raw, they puff outward abrasive, yet believe (to the very core or their distressed hearts), that they can hug you, wrap around your soul, blanket like. So they chatter picking fraught phrases from the static. They are lost and there is something beautiful about that.

Now it’s time to fly once more, into a drift that is both unsafe and gentle, a shy startled seductive trip somewhere Between Space. The calm is deceptive though and The Turbo Lolita burns, as she drags us into her, this is Ragnarok , but no Gods on this level, these are men women, demons swimming in the heat, the confusion of yesterday’s failed flirting and tomorrows heavy rampage. They throw out the thoughts in waves that, to LoveYou is to fall, is to surrender to this fine noise, to perhaps find the melody where you may and ride it deeper (not AWAY) but inwards.

Then abruptly the Charm of an orchestra full of the scared and the hesitant brave, take a seat in the empty auditorium watch the blur on stage, the colours shifting as the music finds ways to heal itself. the Deep White entices, you want to dream here, though the unease shifts, sighs in its sleep abandoned baby birds, (clockwork or digital or just projection?) nag at us, to not relax too much, don’t let the REM movement take over

With this music

You may never come out.

Find out for yourself how one band makes so much chaos and beauty. Download from a vast selection of great albums here

http://blackflowermusic.com

You can hear tracks from all these sets on the next NBT Dark Electric podcast going out on the 17^th June

http://nbtdarkelectric.podbean.com/

And Black Flower Music will be the featured label in July on the http://nbtmusic.de website.

                              If you use Internet Explorer you can stream snippets of a couple of SNMT’s Tunes here

                               http://www.nextbigthing.co.za

                           (After the intro Click on the ‘#Just want to look around# text it will take u thru to next page)

The NBT Review 68

Fly Gallery – Frequency Theater (independent release)

One mans journey into the heart beyond the switches, travelling along the giddy current, he rides the dark sparks into a unique messy world.

The intro hints at the disturbance to follow, ancient voices saved perhaps from apocalypse, counterpoint the alluring lethal future siren full landscape.

Fragile mechanical rattle shivers for a few seconds then POW the song explodes, driving martial foot-stomp brave, call to arms call to dance call to PoP over artifice, call to commercial breakthrough, the chorus will save us.

Then we feel the wave motion, sultry swim of the Modern Myth, recalling the exact moment the young boys from the Depeche machine, plugged in, tuned out and lost their innocence and found a wry sense of melody.

                                Ahh the poignancy of the retro electronica, the percussion slinks in, all criminal rough telling us this ballad is being lead, willingly, lovingly to the slaughter.

This Theatre loves the chaos, but loves the sadness too, hear how the almost drum and bass chaotic rumbles detached as a gentle tune unfolds. This is Frenzy sure, but a wry thing indeed.

The vocals are unwrapped from their steel camouflage, allowed to be flimsy even personal, within a song that dares to be modern soul, the orchestral syrup of the latter day urban.

The pilot of this rocked up spaceship, Nathan Butler has a keen ear for hooks and a steady grasp of the human emotional behind the flickering effects. These are chart songs shooting down from a cool planet.

Finally the squelch slow build as we are pushed Over The Edge, sculpted tension the song spirals seductively outward.

The bodies undulate, the trance smokes in, and all too soon the song gurgles out.

Take a breath.

Press play

Begin the journey again.

http://www.frequencytheater.com

Hear tracks from this album and thoughts from Mr Butler on the NBT Dark Electric Podcast going out on the 17^th June 2010

http://nbtdarkelectric.podbean.com/

And later in June on the NBT Flagship Podcast

http://nextbigthing.libsyn.com/

                              If you use Internet Explorer you can stream snippets of a couple of Frequency Theater’s Tunes here

                               http://www.nextbigthing.co.za

                           (After the intro Click on the ‘#Just want to look around# text it will take u thru to next page)

                             A chart made up from browsers rating and listening to the song streams can be found here:

                                      http://nbttopten.podbean.com/

The Shiver In the Dark

An Interview with Izzie Voodoo

Voodoo creates a shimmering concoction of electro sounds, equally at home in the nu rave, indie and gothic tribes we threw a few devious questions her way and this is what came back…

 

NBT:  electro is bright shiny and very much modern (ie of the last 30 years or so) voodoo conjures up thoughts of darkness, mystery and the ancient..How do these two seemingly opposites meet in your act and your music?

My music’s always had a darker edge. It started out being far more eclectic , more guitar orientated, and much more ‘alternative’ and has grown into something which has more direction, has cleaner sounds, lately has far more space and gives way to the possibilities of having a more fun (but still  twisted) edge. Before, it was too dark and manic to handle that. I think my moods constantly battle with a childlike attitude to life and between highs that induce occasional hysterical giggling fits and a strange edge to my personality that’s drawn to anything dark, unnerving and unknown. The weird thing is that the 80’s type music that has had some influence on what I write was stuff from the commercial Goth era, whereas now I prefer to listen to more dance/electronica/pop stuff, and that must be where the crossover comes. I think it’s a decent balance though that might keep you on your toes.

NBT: Musicians should be political….or not… Discuss

Not deliberately so, in my opinion- there’s nothing worse than a preaching tunesmith. If a song demands that you make a point, make the point, but then leave it be.

NBT:  which is better, the internal of the studio or the revelations on stage?

That depends on the crowd, for me. If there’s a great crowd and they like what they hear, there’s no other feeling (horrible cliché, but true), but since I’m a geeky tech head, I tend to be  a  bit too happy locked up in the  studio- with beer and liquorice allsorts.

NBT:     how does a self confessed control freak delegate when creating music..or is that possible?

It’s not possible J

 I do it all myself til it’s nearly done ,then ask for constructive criticism and get really unbearably arsey when someone tells me ‘this isn’t right’ or ‘that’s too loud’. After an hour when I’ve calmed down, I generally pull my head in because I knew it was wrong anyway but was too burned out to fix it. Graphic design and some of the mastering I delegate out or share because I think it’s important to get an outside look at what you do.

NBT:  The internet is innocent, crazy and brave, with a wink of an eye and a touch of a keyboard it can discover, delight and showcase. Will this wild child save or destroy independent music..your thoughts please. J             

Absolutely- but I think it will change   the way that people access independent music- has already. It’s part of the evolution process of the industry. Already it’s given so many artists an opportunity to be heard by thousands of people that they would otherwise have had no chance of doing – not because they aren’t good enough, but because they don’t move in the right circles and get the right breaks. The internet is a wonderful new tool for musicians who have recorded songs, who no longer need record labels to do the things record labels traditionally did. The one thing that I think is already suffering hugely as a direct consequence of the internet and of new media tools like mp3 players , and the ability to view home made videos of bands at the drop of a  hat on a  phone and such like, is the live scene- which certainly from a  small venue point of view, is virtually dead on it’s feet.    

 

You can buy her songs and learn about gigs and news here

http://www.izzievoodoo.com/

Izzie is also on this week’s episode of the NBT Podcast

http://nextbigthing.libsyn.com/

 

                                                                                                   

 

 

 

The Manik Music Rant: Zorch Factory Records

So, anyway, trawling around my list of links, e-mails subscriptions and Blog reader whatsits I come across a lone line advertising a free download of a French band Camp Z’s 6 track ep. Whoaw…free, I gasp..”This last release mixes electronic

backgrounds along with dark feelings, raw guitars and post punk energy!” says the blurb…colour me interested – I’ve sort of rediscovered the whole French/Euro coldwave genre of the 80′s as of late and have subsequently kicked myself at being so damnably Anglo-centric in my musical gleanings in those bad old days – ok, there was no internet, and the genre was largely ignored by the (Brit/USA) press of the day any mention of which was probably quickly passed by by the likes of I (not being able to see anything in the flesh as it were, also didn’t help), I mean, I thought Plastic Bertrand was all there was!! So, consequently I devote the latest Bullets From the Belfry (and this blog) to Zorch!

 

 

 

 

 

Subsequent investigation led me to Zorch Factory Records and their eclectic stable of artistes from Europe (and other parts of the globe) in the dark indie/goth/deathrock/postpunk/coldwave/electronica field of things that i generally immerse myself in. Headed up by Manu, member of aforementioned CampZ, his dream to present a forum, a home, a promotional tool for some of the many truly independent artists forging out into the interwastes trying to elevate themselves to better things. All the material is published under Creative Common License free to download. His aim to create a fanbase for the bands so that interest is tweaked, demands made and the music industry swings their way, whether interest by some established label or enough interest is created to make music sales of future product viable. Manu’s dream is based on love, not profit, the artists free to move on to greener pastures whne their boat comes in!

 

 

 

 

After hastily glomming the CampZ goodies : a dark buzzsaw caterwaul of postpunk excess- with strong leanings back to coldwave, overlaid with Manu’s harsh, angry vocals – no fake Brit/Amerikan tones here….without meaning to sound condescending, the French accent is perfect for this music! I went for the rest with glee.

 

 

 

 

Joy Disaster, also from France have a recent live concert recorded in Italy up for grabs. I suppose any band described as postpunk and having ‘Joy’ in their name is going to be compared with, ah, Joy Division…well yes, the comparisons are there, perhaps an early JD, maybe even Warsaw rather, harsh, brash, angry (I entertain the notion that if Warsaw formed today and listened to Interpol a lot…) Cyclic, all music is cyclic but in doing so it does not have to immitate, re-invention is part of the game, re-interpretation, it does not have to cater to some fixed audience to ‘fill a dance floor’ ( She Wants Revenge….pheeggh!!!). I take emotion over polish any fucking day – I see big things for Joy Disaster.

 

 

 

Mmmmmm, Mexican goth/punk/deathrock, I love it, ever since I frightened folk off the dancefloor with the likes of Los Meurtes Vivientes and the Ultrasonicas! The Acid Bats have a couple of releases on Zorch Factory, an 8 track ep, ‘Exhumacion’ and a earlier demo recording…fabulous stuff, can’t wait to ever be invited back into a dj booth with this in my must play box!! (If I promise to play at least one She Whines Revenge track, can I ? Can I???)

 

 

 

The more eclectic Crimson Muddle do a wonderful cover of Joy Divisions ‘Means To an End’ on their ep, their sound veering into almost steampunk territory, but still with that endearing coldwave feel.Lamentations Psychotiques and Nuit d’Octobre round off the ep in a darkly whimsical manner.

 

On and on, it’s like stumbling into a sweet shop of delights, Les Modules Estranges evoke the spirit of Siouxsie Sioux on tracks like Crash, Cocteau twins on say Am I Blind. lovely vocals, fragile guitar, veering toeards but not drowning in shoegazer territory. More tracks including remixes are available here.

 

From Spain come the enigmatically titled Red Crayon Aristocratic Club, think Yeah Yeah Yeahs meets Ladytron whilst picking up The Cranes on the way… A splendid cover of The Clash’s ‘Stay Free’ is a gem on the cd.

 

Germany’s Monozid have 2 ep’s available on the Zorch Factory site, think postpunk, think Chameleons, early Psychedelic Furs, Wire here.

 

Rounding off the podcast this week- The Trespass, perhaps the most traditional goth/deathrock band on Zorch,’ traditional’ being a misnomer really in that their roots are solid postpunk, a bit of Echo and the Bunnymen lilting through their epical sweeping songs.

 

All in all, a valuable cause to support..and download, and hopefully, eventually, lay hard cash down for! Zorch Factory Records, Bullets From the Belfry salutes you!!

 

http://www.zorchfactoryrecords.com/

 

Listen to some of the amazing Zorch artists here on the BFB Zorch Factory Records Special Podcast

http://nbtdarkelectric.podomatic.com/

 

The NBT Review 5

The NBT Review 5

 

Easy Way Out

Natalia

Dandylion Daughters

Laura Marie

Reviewed by Martin Smit

 

Kevin Hahn

 Reviewed by William Elliot

 

Steal The Show – Easy Way Out (Independent Release)

 

From the first seconds of the first track, ‘Fade Or Shine’ the listener is taken from his silence straight into the soul of the band. There is no timid build up of intent here; the mix of tripping running galloping rap and smooth sigh counter vocals hits you head on.

Sly bass leads into ‘What You Want’ and the casual confidence of the band takes over, you know the screams might come later along with angry power chords and frantic drum rolls, (the very next track in fact) but first the swagger.

This is an album of many potential singles, but never once feels fake or too thought out; there is no committee here, just five musicians totally in tune with eachother. Happily lost in the sounds and thoughts they want to create.

In the track ‘Beat Down’ the band have a monster of a song, destined to be played on car radios and sweaty club sound systems across the universe. It will never age or grow tired.

 

www.myspace.com/taketheeasywayout

 

Electrosoul – Natalia (Independent Release)

 

One genre welcomed for its return, in my Indie heart at least, is the crafted sad/happy electro pop. Its seemingly easy tingle-tangle of heartbreak and cheerful dance, seems so simple, but so few get it right. Get it to the right degree of neon glow sway, innocent hope and tragic giggles. Electrosoul does all this and so much more.

Adding equal measures of Robyn and Human League to a gentle self-assurence, this insanely catchy collection is the perfect antidote to the bored cynicism of the Avrils and Gwens of the mainstream world.

With hooks worthy of a Sugababes writer, but with an added touch of much needed regret and honesty, this is a Pop (with a capital and Proud P) album that stays the distance.

Standout track of a VERY good bunch for me is ‘Fierce Explosion’ a song that soars so subtle and so free.

Oh and…

The remix of ‘My Life’ included here is perfect Dancefloor.

 

http://www.natalia-music.com/

 

Time To Play – Kevin Hahn (Solo-Crossroads Entertainment)

 

It must be summer, it must be time for a ‘Car Ride’, it must be time for the infectious boogie folk of Kevin Hahn’s latest.

Utilising touches of Folk, Jazz and Country the songs are the perfect antidote to the past long dark winter.

Hahn has a personal warm vocal, often skipping around the lyrics with a smile worthy glee. To top it all he has a tight backing band that rocks out when needed and plays cool when wanted.

The Album breaks no new ground really, but that is not really the object of this extremely beautifully played handful of songs. It is pop/rock done with skill, simplicity and a delightful exuberance.

Recommended.

 

www.kevinhan.com

 

Dandylion Daughters – Dandylion Daughters (Independent Release)

 

You know how a hectic thrilling electrical storm both delights and scares you a bit, How you are seduced by the constant violence of the downpour?  And taken outside of yourself by the wicked flashes of lightning and thunder?

This EP reminds me of that.

There is a stillness at the heart of this chaos, an acceptance at the core of this anger, that sublimely connects and protects, while at the same time scratching at the nervous system.

Having heard some of Paul Abrey’s later solo work, the mixture of stillness and shivers becomes obvious, but taken as a creature all on its own, this EP, shoots out the hidden and the blatant with equal cruel grinning love.

As sharp as a young mind after four cups of coffee, Paul Abrey and the Dandylion Daughters prove they are an act to watch and listen out for.

 

 

http://www.unsigned.com/dandyliondaughters

http://www.reverbnation.com/dandyliondaughters

 

Drawn – Laura Marie (independent release)

 

A lot of music, even beautifully played, exceptional music, allows the listener to stay at a distance from it. It pleases you makes you (possibly) sway, and sometimes if you are lucky, may even delight you.

But you never connect.

With an artist like Laura Marie, you discover the total opposite to this. You are invited into her soul home and then.. well

Secrets maybe revealed, personal tales maybe told, her world her thoughts, her adventures shared.

You are invited to connect.

Take the wry ‘This Time’ a song about release and independence, but also a song not afraid to make gentle fun of the singer herself, and there in lies its strength. No hate song here, but hope song instead.

The people Laura Marie sing about are Flawed, human and worth saving, a lot of this album seems to be about second chances, quiet redemption and fragile softly glowing futures.

A core song in this set is ‘In Code’ telling us to look beneath/beyond the face, the shrugs, the smiles, it offers up the chance to see beyond the code and catch for ourselves some kind of truth.

Drawn offers this with every word and chord.

An album that reveals and delights more with every listen

http://www.lauramariemusic.com/home.html