The Cyrkle: "Revival" comes to vinyl

To tie with their 60th anniversary as a band The Cyrkle's comeback album Revival will be released on vinyl via Big Stir Records on July 10th: "Their voices have aged well, but don't try to go for the high notes anymore. Using a lower register enables to weave intricate harmonies that sound instantly recognizable. The Cyrkle still wants you to dance - in fact most of the new songs are about trying to get a lady to partake in this celebration of late 60s power pop. The 21st century versions of their hits from yesteryear are a nice touch, but it is songs like Dance With Me Tonight, We Were There and Center Of The World, an ode to San Diego that can serve as exhibits that they are not a just a bunch of men in matching suits once again chasing a dream that they woke up from a couple of decades ago".

Taxi Girls: Static

Montreal based garage rockers Taxi Girls have kept a positive outlook despite going through heaps of shit in their lives. Their new album Static is filled with both poppy and raw songs, but all of them have two things in common: an infectious melody and a rhythm that can be listened to sitting still. With tracks about nasty hangovers (Kill Your Darlings), staring at the ceiling about what song to pick for a person they have a crush on (Midnight Mixtape) and reminiscing about a Summer holiday fling (Secret Handshake), there is plenty to relate too.

With all four band members pitching in for the vocal department they can drown the nagging inner voices that are trying to tell them they suck. Imagine Blondie having a rowdy sleepover with The Hives and The Shirts. Whatever bad things the universe may have in store for them, they are ready to face them head on, armed with the trifecta of rock ''n' roll. As Lou Reed once wrote: you can't beat guitar, bass and drums.

Huey Lewis and the News / The Trammps: The Power of Disco

Bill McClintock made a mashup of Huey Lewis and the News and The Trammps : The Power of Love + Disco Inferno = The Power of Disco. Want more? His YouTube channel has lots of them.

Makeshift Art Bar: Marionette

photo: Isabella Bull

Belfast based post-punk quartet Makeshift Art Bar make a serious kind of electronics drive noise on their new EP Marionette. The four tracks cover all the bases that have been in the disgruntled youth playbook for longer than anyone cares to remember: ennui, boredom, and wanting to be heard and seen. O, and loved. That kind of struggle is always an uphill battle, for the band and their audience alike.

They used all the tricks that 21st Century technology has to offer, plus some tried-and-true ones from the past, punishing and distorting their instruments so harshly that the uninitiated will have trouble to make out what the Hell they are actually at any given time. Throw snarling vocals into the muddy, fuzzy mix, and you have caught the sound of the last forty-five years or so of barely contained anger.

Icarus Phoenix: Gallop

photo: Jefferson Liu

Three of the tracks on the new Icarus Phoenix EP Gallop already saw the light of day as singles, but with the addition of the upbeat pop punk song Depresso Dragon Bop it becomes a concise release about having fun, despite life throwing obstacles in the way of main man and songwriter Drew Danbury. Having regrets is not helpful at all and soldiering on is the only way to stay sane and being able to move on.

As a lyricist Danbury never holds back, using straightforward words to describe his joys, angers and pet peeves, although most listeners will reach for the dictionary to look up "desiccate". The EP is filled out with alternate - and quite frankly superior - endings for two of the songs, plus acoustic solo demos. The latter gives a good idea of his modus operandi, before the other band members come in and work their magic, turning them into songs that will appeal to both folk rockers and punkers.