LATTE+ – No More Than Three Chords

latte+Even if their name isn’t particularly familiar in the UK or US, Italy’s Latte+ have attracted a cult following on home turf.  With 2014’s ‘No More Than Three Chords’ – the band’s sixth full-length and first English language disc- gaining US distribution, that very much represents a definite step towards world domination for the punk quartet.

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CROWSAW – Karma EP

crowsawIn 2014 UK rockers Crowsaw released ‘Smoke & Mirrors’, a blues-edged collection of songs which was well received in some quarters.  For those expecting them to pick up where they left off and build upon their cult following, 2015’s ‘Karma’ may come as a bit of a surprise.  Rethinking their game plan, the band have taken their melodic vocal and riff-based sound, dispensed with pretty much any Hendrix and Cry Of Love influences and heavied up the guitars about seventy percent.  There’s a huge amount of rock at the core of the material – as is only natural – but all previous blues influences have been thrown out of the window in favour of channelling a defiant metallic crunch.

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CRIMSON CALAMITY – All In The Cards EP

calamityUS singer songwriters Lauren Harding and Mallory Trunnell have already made inroads into solo careers as adult pop singer-songwriters:  Harding’s brand of pop/rock on her 2011 release ‘Heart In a Box’ mixing piano tunes with occasional bluesy twangs, Trunnell’s more in keeping with Sara Barailles and piano pop.  Together, recording as Crimson Calamity, the pianos are abandoned and various types of country music very much the order of the day.

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