Single Review - Road Trip by Nah! (2018) (Self Released)

It would perhaps be somewhat trite to state that Nah burst onto the indie scene earlier in the year with their superlative March 2018 release,Summer's Falling EP. For the Dutch / German due consisting of Estella Rosa Sebastian Voss are simply to cool to expend energy on 'bursting'.

Ooze and slide might be considered more apt adjectives, as their previous debut Summers Falling EP,  encompassed all things magical about the late 1980's and early to mid 90's British jangly indie/twee-pop scene. It simply oozed class from every pore and the laconic tempo, sweet tunes and the slightest semblance of fuzz, ensured it received the correct sort of critical acclaim whilst at the same time furtively sliding past any inferences to any commercial sound.

Album Review - Life's Story by Javelin Boot (1991) (Self Released under No Duh Records)

Janglepop in the late 1980's and early 1990's was a 'bag load of lad'. Bands such as R.E.M and McCarthy were busy politicizing anything that remotely upset them as they held aloft the flag for 'angry young men' on both sides of their pond. 

Similarly testosterone was injected into the natural beauty of the genre by virtue of the fact that bands such as The Smiths, Thousand Yard Stare, The Railway Children and Milltown Brothers were popping up from the UK's less affluent towns. Thus all manner of floppy haired university types could support their cause safe in the knowledge that they were now forging the illusion of being part of the 'council estate chic' that pervaded an era where it was considered 'cool' to be poor.

EP Review - Time Sides With No One by Dolly Spartans (2017) (Self Released)

A couple of weeks ago the opening verse of Hanging Out ear-wormed into my mind and resulted in this EP from New York 4 piece, Dolly Spartans, becoming something of a permanent recent fixture on my daily playlists.

This brilliant track (see below) is perhaps indicative of the general aesthetic. Essentially it is indie rock that appears to be influenced by the mid-2000's Postcard Records led by Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs and Bloc Party and the spiky, angular guitar works of 1980s bands such the Fire Engines and Josef K. 

Album Review - Mama Pancake by Eggs on Mars (2018) (Self Released)

Regular readers will know of the janglepophub love-in with Joplin, Missouri based jangle/surf-gaze band Tennis Club. Joining them in the quest to ensure the surf transgresses the twelve-hour drive to the same state is Kansas City-based Eggs on Mars.

Eggs on Mars provide a far more traditional surf-pop sound to their counterparts and lace it with a definitive pysch-pop alliance. There is no comparative shoegaze jangling riffs on show here, as the faster tempo tracks such as Red Haired Darling,  Doing Fine and Don't Listen (see below) playfully bounce, chime and twang in a manner that evokes notions of those hottest of youthful summer nights where a party has just 'developed' with irradiated spontaneity.

Single Review: Vodkas by Tennis Club (2018) (self released)

There was a fair bit of love for the eponymous Tennis Club debut album among janglepophub readers when it was reviewed here earlier in the year. 

As such we are delighted to hear that Missouri based Winston Hernandez and his revolving panel of drummers (this time producer Sean O'Dell is on the sticks) are working on new material for an album due out in early 2019.

Single Review: The Smile (orig.edit) by Lewsberg (2018) (Self Released)

Arie van Vliet and his Rotterdam based four piece Lewsberg have been the subject of much gushing love from janglepophub over the last year. especially in relation to their eponymous, self released debut album that we reviewed earlier in the year here.

Album Review - Feelings by The Future Dead (2015) (Gnar Tapes)

I have a little five year old daughter. She is the apple of my eye. She also has two elder brothers whose level of protection towards her is so vehement that I genuinely do worry for any future beau, when, at the age forty, daddy (might) finally lock away his shotgun and let her date (a pastor, chaperoned by daddy/brothers for the initial three years).

EP Review - Object by Seventeen and the Berlin Wall (Self Released) (2018)

As a kid I had a plastic kaleidoscope. In fact I had several over my very earlier years. Like a miniature Captain Pugwash I would thrust one end to my eye and lethargically twist the other end to unleash an array of psychedelic shapes and patterns straight into the as yet unfettered innocence of imagination. I loved them because I could get lost in them. They added impetus to my general ADHD day dreams. They added beauty.

This release gives me the same wondrous feeling for it is good shoegaze and good shoegaze can provide a beauty that enables your mind to drift off and explore the cracks and crevices of its soul, just like a kid gazing into a myriad of rock pools and thinking they have seen something that eventually was not there. 

Initially the 1st half of the album piles on this aesthetic. Reminding of the sweeter moments of the James Hanna / Asobi Seksu arsenal of the mid 2000's, the general sound is a wall of guitars upon which is layered gradually increasing levels of intensity and the sort of musical bells and whistles that might persuade people to use a post-rock tag if it was not for the fact that somehow the wall never veers from the overtly melodic.

All of the three opening tracks have the same sense of the beautifully disarranged as if someone had re-engineered the general shoegaze aesthetic by taking the sound apart and then putting it back together in a vastly different, ultimately better order. The best of these tracks is undoubtedly Vision (see below), with its strange ever increasing intensity that  somehow emerges even without any obvious tempo change. Like the kaleidoscope this tracks just takes me places with its trance like tendencies. It provides the most beautiful company when fostering a day dream.

Vision

Similarly  Spiral,  has the same hypnotic reverie, with its droning thrummed guitar work depicting the best of Hush era Kula Shaker (have they been forgiven for being too posh yet by the British public yet?). If it was not so perfectly invasive on the senses it may well be perfect meditative music.

However, it is in the second half of the album that the excellence transcends to more exalted climes and increasingly satisfies my life long need for high end melody. Here the tracks attempt to increasingly negate the shoegaze vibe. It is most definitely still there but the guitar riffs are simply too accentuated, too beautiful and too jangled and dominate the shoegaze maelstrom with the sort of beauty that bands such as The Luxembourg Field or The BV's provide in abundance.

The best of the three tracks and indeed the true stand out of the album, is the jangled beauty that is Scene (see below). I have been critical of the increasing movement towards what the kids call janglegaze these days, in previous reviews. However when a band gets things right within this sub genre to jangle-pop / shoegaze the effects are truly wonderous. This track gets its 'very right' as the previous mentioned musical kaleidoscope has the clarity of Real Estate style jangle-pop interlacing the 'gaze' foundation to provide a musical soundscape that totally enthralls.

Scene

I know very little about this band other than they are a young four piece from Tokyo. However that is really not a problem as their music gives me time, space and impetus to create their characters !

Beautiful stuff.

Artist Links

17berlin.tumblr.com, Facebook, Twitter, SoundCloud

Album Review - Canary Island Breakfast by Airport (2018) (Self Released)

Just over two years after their sublime Slow Decline of an Evening Herald debut album should have wiggled the beauty receptors of way more people, the Portland four piece that are Airport are back to provide yet more 'stunning'.

Simultaneously difficult to place yet endearingly familiar, this albums sees a continuation of the bands usage of the two primary aesthetics that were seen on the debut. Initially there is still the beautiful female croon of Rachel Zakrasek that conditions the longer tracks such as Line By Line (see below), I Disappear and Eagle Cases with a sense of sultry beauty that reminds me of an indie-pop version of Cat Power. It is all slightly illegible breathless sensuality which is accentuated by the slightly hazy surf pop riffs that are wrapped around the laconic core.

However, it is in the adoption of the second musical stylistic that the album truly excels. Here the sultry haze of the longer tracks are consumed by a more clear precise indie-pop sound enabling the jangle-pop to start to breathe. Tracks such as Sober, the album's lead single Go On, Andi, Chasing and the true stand out of the album in Candy Cane (see below) adds a sparsity and transparency to both the Camera Obscura style Tracyanne Campbell vocal stylistics and the thin almost tinny, yet gloriously jangled riffs, to produce a sound that is as enchanting as it is exclusively Airport.

It could be that after two albums with the same beautiful aesthetic that Airport may decide they need a somewhat different direction n future releases? However with a current sound that incorporates elements of indie-pop, jangle-pop and dream-pop in it's beautiful whole, I hope they stifle the temptation for a while longer and consider the sum of the parts as enough.

Artist Links

1. Facebook
2. Bandcamp

EP Review - 378 Vol 2 by The Bascinets (2018) (Self Released)

In my decidedly working class upbringing clever people were overly revered. Anyone who read a lot was something of an academic demi-god to my lot. My Mum used to clean for an old WW1/2 army Captain who had books to the 'top of the ceiling' and was apparently 'extremely well read'. Similarly my Dad had the same boss for several decades who he laughed at for being too posh, but still adored because he too 'was extremely well read'. Reading was just really impressive to our sort and gave you the highest of social credence.

Despite being imbued with qualifications coming out of every orifice myself these days, there is still that council estate kid in me that wants to give head bowed deference to all that is clever, to all who are 'extremely well read' .

This EP (a swift follow up to the equally superb 378 Vol 1, reviewed here) gives me that feeling as it is plain to see that this band, despite their tender years, are 'extremely well listened', with all of these 5 tracks visiting a different jangle-pop inference.

Initially the opener Bikes (see below), has a musical foundation portraying the sort of chopped up, withdrawn atmospherics of any number of Dunedin Sound type bands, with perhaps the distant slightly vacant production of earliest The Bats or The Clean being the most potent reference point. Ultimately the clarity and depth of the jangled guitar riffs adds more shine to the Dunedin vibe giving it a definitive sense of originality.

The second track is a somewhat harder to place but definitely the most fun whilst trying to do so. There is that modern take on the 1960's, laconic bouncing jangled melodies that the current artist Super 8 is excelling in at present. However this introductory vibe is gradually commandeered by a modern Paisley Underground aesthetic that has notes of both Rain Parade and more specifically The Long Ryders.

The darker dank jangling atmospherics of indie rock bands such as DIIV or RVG is the next influence to be visited. All chunky bass lines mixed with lucid threads of jangled riffs, this track touches at the points where post-punk stopped and the jangle-pop movement started in the mid to late 1980's. In an EP that visits so many fringe jangle-pop nuanced musical strata, this type of track is absolutely essential to this release in terms of completeness.

The EP finishes with a visit to two more modern jangle-pop citations. The stand out track of the release, Harold In Conversation see below), hoists itself into brilliance with the juxtaposition of Holy Tunics style uptempo jangled riffs (although any number of Brooklyn bands could be the reference) to a manic almost The Cure screeched vocals. Vocally it is extremely different to anything they have ever done before, but somehow the newly found lack of vocal control is tailored to 'weird perfection'.

The closing track is all things Nap Eyes. Soft wistful vocals delivering soft wistful melancholy whilst the most beautiful jangled chords are woven into the fabric. Somehow this track is almost expected at the end of a hitherto frenetic release and the sense of down tempo undoubtedly completes a journey of much of their favourite music.

I have been unabashed and unashamed in my total adoration of this band for a couple of years now and a) there is nothing in this release to change that stance and b) I will keep on about them until you all listen !

Artist Links

1. Facebook
2. Instagram
3. Bandcamp

EP Review - Proper by Athensville (2018) (Self Released)

This debut EP from Philadelphia based Athensville, superbly celebrates the period between the mid 80's and very early 90's and effectively catalogues a journey whereby new wave morphed into jangle-pop, before eventually being consumed by all things college rock.

EP Review: The Hannah Barberas - Go Go Hannah Barberas (2018) (Self Released)

I can do clever things with excel spread sheets and I am gainfully employed do so. They give me a nice big office and a few staff that can also do clever things with spread sheets and then make me predict things that might happen to the company and their money. I like it because a)  it pays well, b) I am left to my own devices and c) most importantly I get to listen to music all day and as such thoroughly devour a release prior to reviewing it.

Album Review - Learning To Go Underwater by The Filters (2018) (Self Released)

The Filters are a four piece band hailing from Vermont, consisting of Ross Temple (guitar), Ryan Prushinski (drums), Sam Morris (vocals/guitar) and Tyler Cameron (bass/vocals), who appear to still need to decide what their definitive essence is going to be  and hopefully care even less as it is the ambiguity of this debut than procures its excellence.

EP Review: At Home With The Postcards EP by The Postcards (2018) (Self Released)

Last month I got all slushy, mushy, gushy and any other romanticized '...shy' type words that may be eluding me at present, over a brief, but nonetheless brilliant, three track EP from South London's newest purveyors of 80/90's retro indie/jangle-pop, The Hannah Barberas (see review here).

Album Review - An Entire Album About My Ex-Girlfriend by Something Else (2018) (Self Released)

The digital music era we live in, is one of contraction. Much of the music the under 35's love comes from a tiny little yellow folder found on their hard drive or from within one of the numerous streaming sites now available. This enables music fans to contract geographical distance to within a lazy reach for their mouse, as the musical scenes from cities thousands of miles away are instantly available at your laptop.

EP Review - 378 Vol.1 by The Bascinets (2018)(Self Released)

The Bascinets first aroused my interest at the turn of 2018 when one of the followers at the @janglepophub Twitter site posted the sublime track Some Time on My Own from their debut 2017 album release, Always Want To Be Your Friend. This track had just been announced by some fancy application that my wife added to the media player, as the one that I have listened to the most in the last 365 days.

Album Review - Best Laid Plans by Lost Ships (2018) (Self Released)

Those of us who are far too indie/jangle-pop nerdy for our own good, might well remember a band called The Kites who I vaguely recall seeing in a pub somewhere near Plymouth way when I went to visit my mate who was at University there in the early 1990's. Impressed enough to still remember them in the YouTube years, I was able to dig out a recording of their gloriously jangly 1994 single Faster (link here).

Alum Review: Past and Present by The Spindles (2018) (Self Released)

I hereby officially declare, that from this date on, that I, the controlling member (also known as the only member) of the blog known as janglepophub, will never use the word quirky in any further reviews. Disappointed 'quirky' fans should know that this decision has not been taken lightly and is certainly not an indication of a dysfunctional attitude towards the word quirky (aka quirkism) as some of my best friends have used the word frequently and indeed could be considered as such themselves. 

Album Review - The Hannah Barberas Are Here At Last by The Hannah Barberas (2018) (Self Released)

I love Bandcamp. I love it in the same sort of manner as I love watching an FA Cup match between a Premiership team and lowly Smeghampton Academicals of the Smiths Fish and Chip shops 12th tier reserve league. I love it in the same sort of manner as I love to watch my slightly pubescent eldest child navigate faltering steps at 'chatting up' or 'sharking' the latest recipient of his clumsy affections. I love it in the same manner as you simply have to watch the plucky little neighbourhood nutter have a pop at the biggest granite chiseled oaf in the pub, just because he dared to look at his pint in a somewhat skew manner.

Album Review - Bike Ride by Seeking Madras (2018) (Self Released)

One of my many faults is a limited imagination. A can of soup welded to corrugated iron will never be modern 'art' to me, just as the Star Wars 'Wookie' will always be a bear that looks like 'Bungle' off Rainbow (Brits of a 'certain age' will get the reference!). Similarly I will usually dismiss psychedelic music as a plethora of mad-haired druggies tripping their nether regions off, whilst dressed as wizards and playing guitars. My other main fault is stereotyping.