REVIEW: Jungle Doctors – ‘Falling’

Jungle Doctors have released their new song Falling, which will appear on their upcoming EP Open UP. The band has been making progress ever since they released their debut EP Making Conversation, which encouraged people to take note of the band.

The song has made their second EP even more promising as the track gives an insight into what else will feature on the upcoming EP, which is high quality material.

The song is fast paced and uplifting, with the band exercising their indie muscles, as the guitars spread an impressive layer for the vocals to go over. The guitar work in the song is admirable, as the lead guitar seems to run through all of it, giving the rhythm much more depth.  This is also accompanied by some subtle synth work, as this makes the song seem that bit bigger.

With releasing the single, and their EP to be dropped soon the band will be very busy in the coming months, however you can catch them the at Birmingham 02 academy on 5^th April.

Download the song on Itunes HERE.

8.0/10

 

Words by Alex Wise @al4563

 

 

Summer Snowmen – Broken Eyes (single)

Intro

After meeting at the Colchester Institute while studying music back in 2011, it was only a matter of time until in late 2012 that Summer Snowmen formed after Nathan & Jack decided it was time to fill out their sound. They roped Jake into the Band after his own hardcore metal band diminished, then they found Joe without a home and he was soon welcomed into the band. Taking influences from Ben Howard to The Rolling Stones, Summer Snowmen have a wide range of influences coming in, which can be heard in their music. With a multitude of influences they aim to fuse them together to create a sound of alternative, blues, post rock, acoustic, rock and indie. So who’s in the band?

Jack Bennell – Vocals, Acoustic Guitar Jake Blackman – Electric Guitar Joe Wimpress – Drums Nathan Edgell – Vocals, Acoustic Guitar

‘Broken Eyes’

‘Broken Eyes’ is a beautifully dramatic guitar song which is supported by some impressive vocals.  The build-up and the dramatization of it all stems from  Jake Blackman’s guitar work by him effortlessly tapping the fret board, a very impressive skill don’t you know. You can tell he used to feature in a hardcore metal band from the way he plays and the skills he shows, but he has the melody of George Harrison, but a slightly darker version for this particular song.

The use of two acoustic guitars was surprising because it was something you don’t normally see in a four piece, but they made it look like it should be the basic template for a band with the sound they created, it’s something most bands would strive for.  Jack’s vocals are unblemished throughout, with him hitting each note as clear as a bell, making the song even more so dramatic and mouth-watering. There’s also a dark eeriness hanging around the song, it’s the same dark eeriness that lingers around most Radiohead songs, you can  see the Radiohead influence in this piece. The solo is smart to say the least, Jake’s metal influences burst at the seams in this solo but it remains relevant and vital to the song as it still maintains to walk in the indie/acoustic territory.

Unfortunately it’s a band miles away from me, so I’ll probably not get to see them this years, but my eyes are opened and I will be looking out for them.

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Words by Alex Wise

@wordsformusic1 or @al4563

wordsformusic@live.co.uk

The Clocktower – Kiss Ya Glass – (Single) Review

Intro

The Clocktower are a four piece indie, rock ‘n’ roll band hailing from a place not far from home, Wolverhampton. the band consists of:-

Lead Vox/Guitarist/Songwriter – Ryan Evans
Backing Vox/Guitarist/Songwriter – Ian Dowdeswell
Bass Guitar – Andy OBrien
Drums & Percussion – Connor Dowdeswell

Taking influences from The View, Oasis, The Beatles, The Kinks, the Small faces and many more, the band have conjured a smart sound which manages to be edgy and catchy.  After starting out in 2009 the band have achieved rather a lot, having already released an album and playing with the likes of Bonehead, Tom Hingley from Inspiral carpets and Chris Helm voice of ‘The Sea Horses’, not to mention supporting The View at the Wulfrun Hall in their hometown.

‘Kiss Ya Glass’

Four piece indie bands are ten a penny, they’re everywhere, unless you’re in a town or city with no culture or decent music. But The Clocktower aren’t one of these ten a penny bands because of the songs they have at their disposal, one of them being ‘Kiss Ya Glass’. This is a song that will stick in your mind for weeks and one that you’ll catch yourself singing regardless whether you wanted to or not. It’s pure indie sound shows influences from all across the bands that were mentioned in the intro, the attitude of Oasis, the melody of The View and captivating like The Kinks. Evans’ vocals manages to carry assonance accompanied by a bit of prevalence with it, a lot like Paul Weller mixed with Kyle Falconer, which Is something you don’t hear too often. You could see this song being played in front of huge crowd, jumping from wall to wall, crowd surfing and trying to get on the stage, it’s a bold crowd-pleaser which could make the most hardcore couch potato get up and go mental. Perhaps not the most complex songs, but the best ones never are, for example Oasis- Live Forever, Arctic Monkeys – I bet you look good on the dancefloor, The Cribs – Martell, seriously, the list is endless. This is just one of the songs that feature on their debut album ‘The Days of Rosey Row’ which after listening to a few times is an impeccable album with more blissful indie songs such as ‘Sounds like Heartbeat’  and ‘Naughty little head’,so i’ll advise you to go out and buy this album if you love this song.

Overall I think these lads have got so much more to offer, with them still being relatively young and they already have an album out, I’m sure that this won’t be the last we hear of them.

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CHIRPING – Flicker and Fade – Single – Unsigned band

Intro

This band are hailing from Stockholm, yes the capital of Sweden and liken themselves to Echo and the Bunnymen, The National and U2. They’ve been together since glorious summer of 2011, shortly after Carl and Johan (the guitarists) met at Muse concert, an extraordinary way to start a band, especially if you’ve just met the person. In the band you have, Carl Vikberg – vocals and guitar,Johan Melander – guitars, Viktor Åström – bass guitar and Björn Rudling – drums. Since being together they’ve been creating and developing their sound, which is astounding when you first listen to it.

Flicker and Fade

Flicker and Fade was released 10th February 2013 and is there third piece of music they’ve released after their first single ‘Birdland’ their debut EP ‘The Sirens. The fresh, fast paced and catchy guitar riff and the immediate start of the song draws you in quickly and it simply doesn’t let you go until the song has finished, and even then, you’re left wanting more. There’s definite comparisons from Echo and the Bunnymen, especially from the vocals , as Carl distinctively reminds me of Ian Mcculloch in his glory years being the 80’s. Sometimes bands that attempt this genre of music can come off quite badly, and sound pretentious but it’s not the case with this band as it sounds extremely genuine. A small breakdown within the song breaks it up nicely, but yet again keeping drawn in with some eerie whispering to keep you connected with it. The song is a definite crowd pleaser as once you’ve finished listening to it, it’s left ringing in your ear like fire alarm, but much more pleasant.

However the single doesn’t stop there as if offers yet another piece of beautiful music which sounds heavenly, and something you’d only expect from a band that had been touring around countries, yet these lads only need a year and a half. Once again with the Mr.Sheen vocals and angel like harmonies the song brags bliss and beauty all at the same time.

The single is a real treat for all decent music lovers out there, and for a band that has only been around for such a miniscule amount of time they can proud of their catalog so far.

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Transition, Baby! New EP – 4 songs

 

Introdustion

I continue to gain this name of a bad blogger, as I consistently continue not to post as regularly as I’ve pledged to (2 times a week), for this I apologize to the people who read my blog, and wait for day after day for the next post to put up, which is probably no one, but if there is one person, I’m sorry. Anyway, Transition,Baby! New EP, this was released nearly two weeks back, so not really that new, but still new to the people who haven’t listened to it. I reviewed their song called ‘Manners wasted on you’, which I really enjoyed because of the energy in the song, and the riff being quite catchy. After that they said they were working on an EP and here it is, and because I enjoy listening to it, the list I could do is review it.

The EP

I remember thinking to myself when they said they were creating an EP ‘I hope it’s more of the same stuff’, because I really liked the vocal on the songs and the guitar riff that was in it, and they haven’t dissapointed me in the slightest, also they’ve put some twists and turns in some of the songs as well.

Although I put the EP up here, I still encourage you to go on their soundcloud, and their facebook because it’s not enough just listening to the music you have to get behind them.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/transition-baby/259062655460?ref=ts&fref=ts  <<So there do it.

I think the pick of the bunch for me would be ‘Grit’, I don’t know but it really stud out for me for some reason. I really like the pace of the song, and how it picks up pace, drops it and still keeps the rhythm while doing this. As well as that it’s just a really catchy beat/rhythm, when you listen to it and if you don’t agree please tell me. The other favorite from these is the one I reviewed before ‘Manners are wasted on you’. Even though I listened to it before, it still sounded fresh, and there were little parts of the song that I didn’t know about which I found out about, meaning the song has layers.

Overall I think it is a really strong EP, with ll of them being catchy pieces of music, and I think this band holds something different than I’ve heard before. Obviously there are comparisons to ‘We Are Scientists’, but I think they different to them. I think this definitely a sign of good things to come from this band as they seem to have that knack of writing and piecing a song together which obviously is quite hard to do.

As always, get behind the band, get their music listened to!

The Forgotten Saints – The voices in my head

Intro

This is a four piece indie band who formed in June 2012 in Wigan. The band consists of Vocals + Guitar + Acoustic – Peter ,Kirwan Bass – Paul Walker, Lead Guitar – Chris Simpson and Drums – Marcus Mayes, and they’re currently on a label called Home Demo Recordings. They take influences consist of Miles Kane, Oasis, James, The Rolling Stones and The Stone Roses.

The Song

Think you should listen to it before I start talking about it, and I would also like pint out that they have another song called ‘Sinking in’, which ia a really beautiful pieces of music, the vocals and lyrics are something special.

Got to say I haven’t really heard anything like this for quite a while, it’s something quite new and fresh. The song has all these really nice sounds going on, with the bass and the drums really complementing it well, as well as they’ve added this cool affect to the acoustic guitar which I really like. Also what they’ve done is really brought the vocals straight to the front of the song, and I’m glad they did because you can really hear the lyrics and such brilliant vocals.

The vocals remind of Liam Gallagher but a more toned down version, which is not a bad thing at all because he’s got a really good singing voice on him.  Another element I really like in the song is the guitar part which just jumps in,  which first kicks in at 2.40, it’s nice part which only adds to the song, and gives it a slight edge.

I can’t really liken it to any other music I’ve listened to say, all I can say is that it is five minutes an nineteen seconds of well written, well composed and very well produced music. After listening to their other song, I’m pretty sure that they can produce more of the same stuff. For a band that has only been together for 2 and a half months, they’ve got two brilliant songs under their belt and they deserve our support.

http://www.facebook.com/TheForgottenSaints

The Cribs – In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull

Introdcution

Like most of my posts on here about albums, it’s extremely overdue seen as it came out on 7th May and I still haven’t mentioned anything about it. When I first heard ‘chi-town’ and ‘come on and be a no one’, I think the feeling was mutual across all Cribs fans, that the songs were really good. I think the songs sent a message out saying ‘yeah, these songs are good, so our album is going to be tantalizingly good’, and we were all there waiting to be tantalized. When the album came out I had shit loads of work going on with Uni so I didn’t find the time to listen to it, but I heard off a couple of people that it was a good album even with the absence of Johnny Marr. Finally I got round to listening to it, and finally I was excited by music again.

The Album

Before this album I felt there was a period of no good British guitar music, proper guitar music, with distortion, a bit of screaming, passion within the songs,  there was nothing really that came out and really grabbed my attention. You had Noel’s album which I loved, but it didn’t really have a guitar feel to it, the Arctic Monkeys were quite close but think it lacked that edge, along with Kasabian. Graham Coxon’s was quite good, that’s quite close but it doesn’t match up to this album.

The album starts with a noise, a daunting yet brilliant noise. When I put the CD in my car (where I first listened to it) I just heard three loud symbols then that noise and I thought ‘this needs to be turned up a bit more’, and that feeling consistently went through the whole album, which a lot of albums fail to do because they have that odd song that just doesn’t cut it and there honestly isn’t  one on here.

Sometimes you can’t really hear what Ryan or Gary’s singing sometimes, but you forgive them for that because of that sound under their voices. Sometimes I found myself not trying to listen to them singing but just listening to the guitar. The album has a mix of catchy riffs, catchy chorus’ and perfect solos(which we expected), as well as that you have this lovely little acoustic song on there called ‘I should’ve helped’, and it fits in the album perfectly because that has a bit of a rough and raw sound to it as well. It’s probably one of my favorite acoustic songs now, it’s that beautiful. There’s a part in the album as well where from tack 11 to 15,  the songs run on from each other, which worked nicely with the album again it just seemed to fit in perfectly.

Overall 9.5

This is one of my favorite albums now, it’s one that I will always mention to people, and one I will be telling my children about because it is that good. Is it there best album so far? I’m gonna go out on a limn and say I think it is, because all the songs are perfect from start to finish, I can’t pick a fault. Also I think I’m slightly biased towards that guitar sound, because it was distorted and it didn’t feel like it was pieced together, just sounded like it happened and it was beautiful.  Even if you’ve just heard one song of The Cribs and you liked it, BUY THIS ALBUM, YOU WON’T REGRET IT.

This is the reason why it hasn’t got a ten, I don’t think it will stand the test of time, it hasn’t broken any records or anything yet, hopefully it does and I can eat my words.

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The Enemy – Streets In The Sky

Intro

This was another album that I got from Kerrang! Radio, because they’re ever so nice. I wasn’t gonna get this album when it came out because I don’t like buying music I’m unsure of, and I only had their one song ‘Saturday’to go off, which i quite liked but I wasn’t convinced by that one song. I saw the album at Kerrang! and I thought, why not it’s free, I can listen to it on the way back in the car, best place to listen to it.

The Album

BANG, the song ‘Gimme a Sign’ kicks the album off, pretty good start, liked the song, very catchy, however the lyrics sounded like he was trying to hard. Then the next one came one ‘bigger cages, longer chains’, again very good catchy, good riffs but the same again with the lyrics. The ‘Saturday’ came on (turned it off heard it too much to be honest. Then ‘1-2-3-4’ came on, and it was really similar to the last three and also by this time I was bored of it . Anyway, I waded through the whole songs and then listened to it again a couple of days later, just in case I was having a bad day, and it wasn’t I think it is just a poor album, considering they claimed they were going to solve rock’n’roll.

The album was filled with lyrical cringes such as ‘like a dancer’, rhyming train with rain in one song I think, that sort of stuff that make you feel ‘try harder!’. I can’t fault the sound because I love it, the sound of the guitars and everything was good, I just think the lyrics really let it down and I felt they should have tried to be more versatile.

Don’t get me wrong I think there is some good songs on there like ‘Gimme the sign’ and  ‘Saturday’ but it’s all the other songs on there that make it worse, should of cut it down to four songs and brought out an EP, would’ve got better credibility. One thing I particularly dislike about the album is that it feels like they’re trying to fight a cause, trying to stick it to the man, and I found that cringe worthy as well because I think it’s less creative and there’s more to sing about. It’s a good album to have on before the lads go out and they’re having a few beers, or if you’re looking to get ‘pumped up’, this is your album to. Oh yeah and it will make a good soundtrack for a London gangster film or a football factory type film.

Overall – 6.0

I think this could might well be the band to ‘save rock’n’roll’ but it’s definitely not with this album because there are too many flaws and the songs aren’t strong enough. The album just didn’t leave me wanting more, which an album should do.It should leave you something you wanna go back and listen to over and over again.

I don’t know if everyone felt the same way about this album, but I felt let down.

Dirty Little Lies (Walsall Band) – Two New Demo Tracks – 25-04-12- AW

Never to late in the day for a post, been doing work all day so haven’t really had a chance yet. Yesterday the manager of Dirty Little Lies (band from Walsall) told me that the lads have got two new songs down, so obviously I listened, and I’m really glad I did. I did a post on these lads a couple of weeks back, and I didn’t have a bad thing to say about them, and after listening to these two songs I still don’t have anything bad to say about them. These two songs aren’t as guitar heavy as their earlier stuff, because a their earlier material was quite fast paced and had heavy guitars in them. This isn’t a bad thing, i think this just shows how versatile they’re as a band, they’re album slow it down and be more mellow and still be brilliant.

Will I ever see you

This is the first one i listened to of their new ones, the acoustic part at the start of it is beautiful slowly drifts you  into the song.     It’s also got a nice little riff at the start as well which I quite like with the drums blend in well with it. I’m a big fan of hearing the a drum beat in a song, and this song does it really well. Writing lyrics can be quite difficult sometimes, because sometimes it seems like the lyricist is trying to hard, but it doesn’t sound like they’re trying to hard, the words just seem to flow together. The song just sounds complete, which I think is quite hard for bands to do, to create a song and make it flow together. There’s a part in the song where he just sings over the drum beat, which I think is pretty cool too

Flying High

This is probably my favorite out of the two of them simply because I really like the instrumental part in the middle of it with the solo again the Guitar and the drum really compliment each other well. Again the lyrics are spot on, it doesn’t seem like they’re trying to hard and I actually make fuckin’ sense of these lyrics, because some songs these days I dunno what the fuck they’re singing about.

Overall

I think these two songs are just evidence of what this band are capable of, and I really think they can even do better than this, and I’m sure we will with get to hear it. If you like rock/indie music then you will like this because it just says rock/indie all over it. Check the band out they’re quality, here’s their soundcloud http://soundcloud.com/dirty-little-lies , you’re only gonna benefit from listening to it.

Off to watch trainspotting, sorry it’s a short a blog I’m knackered fuckin’ work up to my eyes, and no time at all to do it.