November 04, 2024

Librarians With Hickeys: How To Make Friends By Telephone

Librarians With Hickeys are down to a duo, leaving it to Ray Carmen and Mike Crooker keeping power pop alive in Akron, Ohio. They are both multi-instrumentalists, so it wasn't a problem to make their new album How To Make Friends By Telephone sound like a band firing on all cylinders. Jangling guitars are king, closely followed by the vocal harmonies. They are proud to be retro, confident that quality songwrting and musicianship will give them a prominent place in the niche labelled "jangling pop".

Latching on the perennial themes like falling in love, heartbreak and roadtrips, the duo have managed to add a fresh layer of paint to melodies that sound familiar. It is trip to memory lane, but there a plenty of sights along the way to keep listeners entertained and in awe of their guides.

Red Dwarf Star: Ex-Patriot

Maserati guitarist Coley Dennis put his voice through 80s technoloy for Ex-Patriot, the new single by his solo project Red Dwarf Star project. It could be mistaken for the theme song of a dystopian Sci-Fi series, albeit that in this case humankind has not blown up the planet yet - they have come pretty close though.

Dennis is obviously seriously worried about what the fuck is going on his home country and from the safety of his current place of residency Lausanne he has a bird's eye view on US politics. It is a scary mess and being a proud American is not a viable option right now.

Pocket Knife Army: The Flood

Dutch electronic pop duo Pocket Knife Army turned it down a notch for their new single The Flood. It is a consolation for everyone who is kind of overwhelmed that a raucous high tide won't last: "Every flood will crawl back to the sea, eventually". This is as close as they got to writing a ballad, but thankfully without the candy-flavoured bits that tend to ruin the lyrics.

November 03, 2024

Pickaxe: Provocateur

Hardcore D.C. based quartet Pickaxe have bottled righteous anger on their Provocateur EP. Vocalist Emily Rainey takes a swipe at toxic relationships and gun violence, while shouting at the heavens - mostly at Melpomene, the muse of tragedy and song. The music is in-your-face, goes straight for the gut (or the neck when not paying attention).

Hitting a listener over the hard with hard facts is not really fashionable (was it ever?), but punk and hardcore never gave a fuck about what John Doe and soccer moms might believe in. Provocateur is a roundhouse kick and sometimes that is what is needed for people to get their attention.

Myriad's Veil: Hollow

Dutch neo-psychedelic folk duo Myriad's Veil enter a dream world of their own invention on their new single Hollow. singer-songwriter Ismena and Temple Fang guitarist Ivy van der Veer searched for common ground, mixing their preferred styles and ended up with an intricate soft-spoken track that unfolds like a flower in slow motion.