If you ever needed evidence that rock is indeed a global family, then look no further than this week’s monstrous musical mayhem. We’ve got offerings from Poland, Australia, Sweden, the US, and from London-based Irish and London-based English. There’ll be more globe trotting next week, but we hope you enjoy these until then.
Coheed and Cambria - You Got Spirit, Kid If you’re heading down to Port Lympne Wild Animal Park next month to see US proggers Coheed and Cambria entertain the giraffes and zebras at Hevy Fest, You Got Spirit, Kid is the ideal soundtrack for braving the Kent Serengeti. It’s an uplifting portion of tuneful, metallic prog with some good swearing.
Stags - Through The Looking Glass We received an urgent email from veteran rock writer Malcolm Dome this week, demanding we proceed immediately to the internet to listen to Stags. “They’re like Mother Love Bone meets Clutch meets King’s X,” he squealed, excitedly. And so we did. And, as usual, Malcolm wasn’t far from the mark. Watch this space, we very much suspect.
Bonafide - One Kiss In a world where rock bands often the neglect the art of song-writing, instead losing themselves to slavish riff devotion, Swedish rockers Bonafide have released a single that’s as tuneful as a forest full of Nightingales, with a gigantic singalong chorus. Why can’t more bands do this? And what is it they out in the water over in Sweden? We demand to be told. Demand.
BirdPen - Alive Archive offshoots Birdpen started life as a video-making project, and Alive clearly shows those cinematic roots. Think Spacemen 3 or Mogwai crossed with an epic, intergalactic flight towards an impending space apocalypse. It’s from the band’s new album In The Company Of Imaginary Friends, which our dragon-slaying colleagues at Prog magazine have called a “truly remarkable work.”
The Everlasting Yeah - A Little Bit Of Uh-Huh Sounding ridiculously youthful, here’s a sparky first salvo from former Undertones/That Petrol Emotion men Ciaran McLaughlin, Raymond Gorman, Brendan Kelly and Damian O’Neill. Smooshing Let’s Spend The Night Together with Kung Fu by Ash, more cheeky power-pop tuneage is no doubt due on imminent debut album Anima Rising. Did someone say here comes the summer?
Ragdoll - Rewind Your Mind Perth rockers Rogdoll promise us that their new single merges “the swagger of the 70s, the anthemic melodies of the mid 80s and the sonic intensity of the modern era” and, by golly, they may have achieved precisely that. We’re especially fond of the bit that sounds like Alice In Chains.
Riverside - Discard Your Fear Prog-lovin’ Poles Riverside pull out all sorts of 80s flavours on their new single. They certainly show no fear of fretless basswork, jazz-funk riffery or jiggery-Moogery on this mysterious little number from new album Love, Fear And The Time Machine. See ‘em at Ramblin Man Fair on July 26, or headlining a UK tour in October.
Love Buzzard - Cash Love Buzzard describe themselves as “a provocative, super-charged garage rock duo with raw, bourbon-soaked vocals asserting infectiously filthy lyrics alongside feverish, Cuban-heel-stomping drums”. And if that doesn’t sound like your cup of tea and biscuits, we strongly recommend you watch the video anyway, for it may just be the most demented thing we’ve ever seen.
