8 Aug 2012 – Veglam

The MACHINES were formed in 1977 in Southend-on-Sea, UK. They released the EP “True Life” and then disappeared the next year. No future, but fate decided to give the band another chance as they got back together in 2005 with Steve Pegrum (ex-GHOSTS OF LOVERS) behind the drum kit. They’ve been playing regularly since then and even recorded new songs including one dedicated to Johnny Thunders (“Girl In Black”.)
New record label Angels In Exile decided to collect the various recordings of the band for their first release, and this was quite a good idea. Most of the songs were recorded in 2007, except “Racing” and “You Better Hear” which are demos from 1977 and the four songs from their 1978 EP.
There was a time when punk also meant rock’n’roll and The MACHINES know this very well, sometimes reminding of The PROFESSIONALS and The HEARTBREAKERS on their most recent songs. The old songs sound more raw and angry but can still make you (pogo) dance!
This comes out with a great booklet including the band’s history, the song lyrics and pictures. Those little things that will always make records better than mp3s!/Laurent C.

http://www.angelsinexile.com/Label/html/shop.html

A new and possibly last (as the title suggests…) album from these fine French GENTLEWOMEN who previously released two EPs and one album (“Death of The Tree”.) The band has decided to put the acoustic/folk influences a bit aside to try and experiment with new things on “The Last For” musically as much as when it comes to the record production (Lucas Trouble) itself, and the result is quite interesting…
Opening with a LORDS OF THE NEW CHURCH kind of intro (“She”) and a Lou Reed on speed meets a punk gospel choir (“The Preacher”), just followed by the catchy “I Try”, you can tell that WAYWARD GENTLEWOMEN have now gained enough experience to materialize their ideas and wildest fantasies into music. Late 60s melodies collide with 90s noisy guitar distortion and flirt with garage fuzz (“Kings”) or country punk (“Night Fears”.) Most of these songs would actually work really well as a movie soundtrack, whether they are sad ballads (“Stupid Idea”) or cryptic wave-ish rock’n’roll tracks (“Don’t Bug Me”.) You can also find a bit of the amazing French band les DOGS in this album, especially in the moving “So Lonely”.
Experimenting with new styles lead the band to write songs that can sound a bit surprising at first, like “I Was Alone” and its 80s hip-hop touch, “Jungle” and its wild animal backing vocals or the shoegazing “Laughing”, but in the end these songs bring more variety to the album.
This might be one of the last chances for you to check WAYWARD GENTLEWOMEN out, so don’t miss it…/Laurent C.

http://www.myspace.com/waywardgentlewomen