PAREKH & SINGH – SINGLE REVIEW

Parekh & Singh – Newbury Street (Peacefrog) 

Parekh & Singh - Newbury Street

Release Date: Out Now

Having only discovered this duo quite recently, they seem to making huge strides including getting some BBC 6 Music air time and having this track premiered on USA Today. Then again, they are a particularly sharply dressed pair and they do write exceedingly good songs. ‘Newbury Street’ begins with a real sense of positivity as the breezy melody skips along a dusty Spring street and the whimsical vocals bounce off roof tops like a bird singing a delicate song. Parekh & Singh are masters of making soufflé pop that is lighter than air but utterly delicious and satisfying at the same time. Even the drums feel like the beat is being beaten out by two celery sticks on a white sheet billowing on a washing line in the morning sun. Such style, such grace and such melody – gorgeous.

More information: https://www.facebook.com/parekhsinghmusic/?fref=ts

Listen Here: https://soundcloud.com/peacefrog-records/parekh-singh-newbury-street/s-saq65

PATAWAWA – SINGLE REVIEW

Patawawa – The Heat (Soundplate Records) 

Patawawa - The Heat

Release Date: 30^th September 2016

Oh I do like Patawawa, I really do. From their gorgeous name to the fact that they create such delightful musical nuggets out of the relatively baron creative wastelands of Matlock, they’re just a delightful prospect. New single ‘The Heat’ is just another reason to fall in love with this trio with its bouncy guitars, funky beats and relaxed yet edgy vocals. Melodies scatter all over the place and bounce off walls leaving you feeling like you need to see a video with some impossibly young folk riding around on scooters in some neon drenched sun spot in the Med. There’s a B-Side too (another reason to love them) by the name ‘Kut Drop’ and this has an altogether more soulful feel that wouldn’t be out of place in the late 90s. Patawawa have that knack for infectious disco pop that the likes of Daft Punk and Pharrell Williams have made millions from yet they’re still hanging out in Derbyshire. It’s only a matter of time….

More information: https://www.facebook.com/patawawa

Live Dates:

16^th October -  Rough Trade, Nottingham w/Youngr

EBSON – SINGLE REVIEW

Ebson – Adapt To Thrive 

Ebson - Adapt To Thrive

Release Date: Out Now

Londoner Ebson is described in his press blurb as creating ‘alternative soul’ which sounds like something you might cook up with some kind of Ouija board and some backwards chanting. Instead, alternative soul, judging by ‘Adapt To Thrive’, is dark, delicious and gospel rich as Ebson’s smooth but powerful vocal emerges from the shadows of some semi-masonic chanting. There are bell chimes, chain-gang rhythms and the spirit of the blues all melting together like thick molasses and you’ll find yourself salivating before the last notes ring out. If this is alternative soul then I’m sold but I really think the blues ought to get a mention in there somewhere as this is a perfect example of the blues in spirit if not necessarily in structure.

More information: https://www.facebook.com/ebsonmusic/?fref=ts

Listen Here: https://soundcloud.com/ebsonmusic/adapt-to-thrive

I DRINK THEREFORE THERE’S DARKNESS – SINGLE REVIEW

I Drink Therefore There’s Darkness – There’s Always Another Summer 

I Drink Therefore There's Darnkess - There's Always Another Summer

Release Date: 24^th September 2016

Blackpool is not the kind of place that you might expect great new music to arise from but in the wonderfully monikered I Drink Therefor There’s Darkness we have an utterly enthralling prospect making music from that most illuminating of locations. ‘There’s Always Another Summer’ starts with the kind of perky and intermingled guitars that the likes of Vampire Weekend and Everything Everything do so well with but there’s more of a prog element here that sees this tune move from post-punk and prog in to grunge and shoegaze but all with a solid thread of melody. Press play at any stage in this tune and you might make comparison to Foo Fighters or My Bloody Valentine or Dutch Uncles or Swim Deep and if you can channel that kind of talent then you’re on to something good. Bigger things than Blackpool will be calling soon, I’m sure.

More information: https://www.facebook.com/IDTTD/?fref=ts

Live Dates:

23^rd September – Bootleg Social, Blackpool w/ Du Pig + Blanket

24^th September – Streetlive Festival @ The Star, Blackpool w/Dust Junkie + Eye The Bomb

30^th September – The Ferret, Preston

11^th November – Bootleg Social, Blackpool w/ Escape Artist

SARAH WALK – SINGLE REVIEW

Sarah Walk – Wake Me Up (One Little Indian Records) 

Sarah Walk - Wake Me Up

Release Date: Out Now

There’s nothing so heart stopping in music as the sound of raw piano notes and soft vocals whispering out through the morning mist. Anglo-American artist Sarah Walk is the creeping, resplendent dawn cutting through that mist on new single ‘Wake Me Up’ as she moves from atmospheric Bush meets Spektor introductions in to semi-rapped chorus triumphalism. With a voice so full of experience and range Walk was always likely to do well but the sheer diversity and creativity contained within this one song alone suggests she will do better than well. Here’s one to stick in your ‘Big in 2017’ pile in case anyone starts asking, you can thank me later.

More information: http://www.sarahwalkmusic.com/

Listen Here: http://clashmusic.com/news/premiere-sarah-walk-wake-me-up

Live Dates:

3^rd October – The Social, London

1^st November – London Fields Brewery, London

2^nd November – The Hope, Brighton

9^th November – Notting Hill Arts Club, London

BERNACCIA – SINGLE REVIEW

Bernaccia – Angel 

Bernaccia - Angel

Release Date: 23^rd September 2016

Now I’ve been championing this North East rabble for a while and with good cause, they’re ace, but new single ‘Angel’ takes things to a whole different level. The awkward, off kilter drums and Dick Dale doing Tarantino guitars are sumptuous enough in their own right but when overlaid with a sense of the atmospheric and powerful twin male/female vocals this becomes next level gorgeous. By the time ‘Angel’ reaches its irresistible climax there is a wall of pre-apocalyptic noise that leaves you feeling like you’ve just had the most intense kiss with a jumbo jet engine in the middle of the dance floor. Bernaccia have always been an intriguing and engaging prospect on a musical level but the raw power they have added on ‘Angel’ is something altogether different….and I’m not sure it’s of this world.

More information: https://www.facebook.com/BernacciaMusic/?fref=ts

Watch The Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgmdgiayF14&feature=youtu.be

Live Dates:

23^rd September – Head Of Steam, Newcastle

24^th September – Maguire’s Pizza Bar, Manchester

VANESSA ANNE REDD – SINGLE REVIEW

Vanessa Anne Redd – Drona Sticks 

Vanessa Anne Redd - Drona Sticks

Release Date: Out Now

Well here’s something a little different. I listen to so much music in the pursuit of sorting the wheat from the chaff that sometimes you become immune to certain songs and melodies but London based German Vanessa Anne Redd is hugely refreshing and sticks out like a red poppy in a field covered in snow. This new single, ‘Drona Sticks’, opens with some muted guitar notes and some real campfire percussion (including hand claps) that all start to build together slowly to create a raw but utterly uplifting piece as some dissonant piano notes and layered vocals all add to the audio soup. Think PJ Harvey and Patti Smith messing about in a London studio on a grey, Autumnal Sunday afternoon or Anna Calvi and Kim Deal being pushed by Bjork to let their inner spirit speak through their playing. I normally shy away from comparing female musicians with only other female musicians but there is something intrinsically creative and free spirited about Vanessa Anne Redd that, for some reason, I cannot imagine anyone with testicles even coming close to. The best I could do was Nick Cave but his spirit is far to leaden for that to work.

More information: https://www.facebook.com/vanessa.a.redd

Live Dates:

9^th November – Servant Jazz Quarters, London