Plastic Tears fourth album ‘Anthems For Misfits’ is almost ready.
The band though they could finish it in good time before their fall UK tour, but since the pandemic messed up almost everything the album release is delayed. It’s also possible that the tour gets canceled.
To keep themselves busy Plastic Tears released a video for ’Communication’ on the 24th of April. The song was originally released as the b-side of ‘Look of Lies’, the first single from the upcoming album. Besides clips from their native Finland there’s also video material from Sweden and the bands recent European tour. The video fits these times well, when traveling is just a beautiful memory and touring can’t be done.
Faithful to their style the video is a punk rocking package, and you might want to watch it a few times to notice all the details.
Anthems For Misfits is released first thing when the circumstances are right.
DEAR HEARTS from Belgium started playing together in 2009 and have released a few records but I’m only hearing about them now with these 4 new songs. Opening with a song untitled “Dear Hearts”, you can hear a strong Californian punk rock’n’roll influence in the band’s music. “Lost Boy” confirms this with guitars and choruses reminding of SOCIAL DISTORTION. “Old Shirts” goes more into the skate punk direction, but still with a healthy dose of rock’n’roll thrown in. Surprisingly enough, the band chose a MISFITS cover to close this EP, bringing some sun in this good old horror punk tune that resurfaced in the mid-90s. As if it wasn’t obvious by now, these guys love punk rock! This EP is only available as a digital release for now /Laurent C.
British rockers TREMENDOUS introduced their music with a few digital singles last year and they finally release their first album on May 15th. While “Don’t Leave Our Love (Open For Closing)” or “Rock’n’Roll Satellite” have obvious UK 70s glam rock influences, you’ll also hear some 80s American metal in “Bag Of Nails”, “Copycat Killer” or “Daniela.” The band took their time to deliver their debut album and you can hear that they worked hard on these songs but also managed to avoid sounding too polished and they kept the tracks short. “Take a Good Look at My Good” is not that far from 90s grunge ballads and you’ll even find some punk traces in “Heart Sinker” and in “Fightin’ To Lose.”
Whether you like classic rock, glam or indie, you’ll sure find something to your tastes in “Relentless.” /Laurent C
BRIGITTE HANDLEY (The DARK SHADOWS) is releasing her new single in those weird quarantine/lockdown times. Two songs on a beautiful colourful 7″ vinyl picture dic. “After Dark” is a catchy pop song with a dark twist in which you’ll hear early British punk/rock’n’roll influences such as The CLASH in the guitars/bass and 80s goth rock touches. This song would have been perfect as the soundtrack of some cool 80s post modern vampire movie. B-side offers us a remix of “Lament Of A Lost Soul” by MATAHARI RANCH. Dark electronic, melodic vocals and distorted surf rock guitars are mixing together in order to give the song a new interesting aesthetic compared to the dark folk influenced version you can hear on “The Edge Of Silence.” Ordering records may take a little more time these days, but this one is definitely worth it! /Laurent C.
New album by French artist ALEX SINDROME (aka SINDROME) and this one is released on CD and on cassette tape (with great artwork!) “Solidaire Dans L’Isolement” brings the best of 80s French new wave to mind and sounds very appropriate in those lock down times! “Class 1987” (probably my favourite track) will probably make you remember your carefree teenage years if you can understand French and “Nos Ames En Noir” is a dark and catchy dancefloor tune. The minimal influences that could be heard in SINDROME‘s previous releases can be found in “Mélancolie”, “Vampire”, the nihilistic “Sans Issue” or in “Norma Jean” (although you’ll hear a quite powerful and haunting chorus in this one) while you’ll hear some slight disco touches in “Halloween à Neverland.” I was glad hear a bit of SIGUE SIGUE SPUTNIK in “Antonin Artaud” since I know that our man is a big fan too but you’ll also hear some Peter Hook influenced melodies in the last part of the song. You’ll also get some German industrial influences in “Dès Ce Soir” and some darkwave in “Misanthrope” before ending on an electro dance note with “Aux Fantômes.” “Fantome” is a good album to discover ALEX SINDROME‘s music if you haven’t yet and quarantine should be a good time to find out about new bands and artists, so… /Laurent C.
Rock n’ roll power trio Torpedohead have released a brand new track called “Heartbleed”
Featuring stomping hardrock riffs combined with a sticky chorus in the usual Torpedohead style, this new track will leave you singing along for days and
hopefully make you feel a little better while staying at home and riding out these times !
Combining a riff oriented hard edged sound with melodic supercatchy choruses and fast and furious punk n’ roll while transforming this into their own modern rock sound, Germany’s power trio Torpedohead lives the imagination of a 70s stadium rock n’ roll tape coming through a trashy 90s stereo, digitally remastered today for speeding down the autobahn !
Brighton-based artist Suzie Stapleton has announced the release of new single “Blood On The Windscreen”.
‘Blood On The Windscreen’ is the second single from the acclaimed songwriter and guitarist’s highly anticipated debut album ‘We Are The Plague’ which is slated for release in June via Cargo Records.
“I had a meeting with a photographer in early January to discuss the artwork for We Are The Plague. I joked, ‘I hope a pandemic doesn’t sweep across the world before the album release’. About a week later, coronavirus starting hitting the headlines… and here we are.
“When I wrote the title I was thinking not only of plague as in the disease, but of plague in the proportional sense. We are prone to knee-jerk reactions when another species appears to threaten us in some way, yet it’s our own actions that pose the biggest threat to our survival.
“Why have we reacted so swiftly to coronavirus worldwide, yet we drag our feet to combat climate change which could bring down not only us but our entire global ecosystem?”
‘Blood On The Windscreen’ was produced by Stapleton and mixed by award-winning engineer Dan Cox (Thurston Moore/Laura Marling). The track simmers with raw energy, harnessing the power of the 3-piece, Stapleton’s distorted guitar and gritty vocal are punctuated by the heavy-hitting of drummer Jim Macaulay (The Stranglers), and the driving bass force of Gavin Jay (Jim Jones & The Righteous Mind).
Stapleton was set to play a run of UK shows in March supporting Humanist – producer/guitarist Rob Marshall’s intriguing new project featuring vocals from Mark Lanegan, Dave Gahan, Mark Gardener and more – these dates have now been postponed until September due to the coronavirus outbreak. Further dates with Jim Jones-fronted powerhouse Thee Hypnotics are cancelled.
“These are strange times… Of course we were really looking forward to all of these shows, but it’s OK, it’s for the greater good. I’m going to make the most of self-isolation and use the time to be creative. I guess we wait and see what the summer brings. As long as there is WIFI in quarantine, I’ll get the album out there.”
Veglam 