It’s just a couple of weeks until Christmas. The days may be short, and the weather less than pleasant, but Margate is still very busy. Thankfully, the seafront has stopped being harassed by the tail end of the storm that has battered the west coast, but things feel less than calm and decidedly soggy. The weather hasn’t stopped most of the locals coming to Dreamland for a huge night out, however, and the Travis show is a sell out. The upstairs room – the Hall By The Sea – has seen many busy nights in the past, but few have felt as absolutely rammed as tonight’s gig. It feels as if the entire town has shown up to support the band, and that’s not entirely surprising since this is supposedly the popular Scottish band’s first ever visit to the seaside resort.
THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #82
This visit to the Singles Bar shares a whole wealth of inspiring sounds. Within the eight picks, you’ll find an unexpected tribute to easy listening from a familiar name, some contemporary French pop, something with a country rock influence from Australia, and a new twist on an old classic. You’ll also discover a couple of superb underground rock tunes that represent the heart of Real Gone’s regular coverage. As always, we hope you’ll find something new to enjoy…
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SUN ATOMS – Everything Forever
On their 2021 LP ‘Let There Be Light’, alternative rock band Sun Atoms shared some great music. That record’s quieter and more downbeat moments blended elements of goth pop with a very retro guitar twang, often falling somewhere between the classic, introspective songwriting of Leonard Cohen and the more contemporary moods of Tindersticks. When approaching busier sounds, the material mixed light electronica with spoken word passages. With other moments utilising muted trumpets and very retro sounding backing vocals, the album created a pleasingly varied listening experience.
anocean – climbing walls EP
Although the shoegaze and dreampop genres will be forever associated with the early 90s, there have been a wealth of great bands and artists keeping the flame alight in the twenty first century. 2024 saw some great releases from Keeley, Set Feux, Sunder, Newmoon, and many others. Even scene stalwarts like A Place To Bury Strangers were hugely prominent with a run of digital singles which gained some very positive online press.
Check out ‘Grind’, the new video from Zygnema
When thinking of groove metal, it’s easy to think of the standard tropes: huge riffs and grinding tones, often coupled with a growled vocal. Often, the results fall into a sound that draws from ‘Far Beyond Driven’ era Pantera, and ‘Ashes of The Wake’ era Lamb of God. Whenever bands borrow from these sources, the results are always impressive – despite Phil Anselmo’s insistence on ruining Pantera’s legacy in a number of ways – but once in a while, a groove metal band will come along who are just a little more interesting.