Comprising ex-members of The Venus Flytrap, Black Luna is a three piece band who bill their music as “heavy lo-fi psychedelic garage”. That just about covers it, since their debut album 2015’s ‘Death Alley’ is all those things…and more. Often coming across like a hybrid of Yeah Yeah Yeahs and stoner rockers Ruby The Hatchet dressed down with a production value befitting a shoegaze band, these eight tracks really capture a sense of raw energy within a rather succinct twenty eight minutes.
Monthly Archives: December 2015
New video/tour dates from Tanita Tikaram
Best known for hear late 80’s hits ‘Ancient Heart’ and ‘Twist In My Sobriety’, singer songwriter Tanita Tikaram is releasing a new album in the new year. ‘Closer to The People’ is set for release on March 11th 2016, but you can watch the video for lead single ‘Food On My Table’ below.
MERCY BROWN – Mercy Brown
Mercy Brown’s debut album is a sledgehammer of a release. This Washington based band clearly aren’t keen to mess around; while not always the easiest of listens, this first full-length comes loaded with riffs the size of juggernauts, a production value so entrenched in bottom end that even the biggest riffs sound bigger still and their pneumatic rhythmic assault that’s like being repeatedly slapped in the mouth. They’re very much advocates of metal with a capital M and appear to have no time for the moulded and more mainstream bands that have so often filled the metal TV channels like Scuzz during the previous couple of years before this release.
MEGA – May The Force Be With You
On their 2012 mini-album ‘May The Force Be With You’, Italian punks Mega blend hooky choruses with a garage rock charm. Whereas their label-mates The Snookys focus their garage chops on upbeat rock ‘n’ roll, these eight tracks show the Milan-based four piece to have a bigger fixation with the Ramones. The raw sound of these recordings, however, ensures there’s always a stronger DIY element compared to the results from your average Ramonescore outfit, particularly in relation to many of their US counterparts.
THE QUARANTINED – Antiquate Hate EP
Three former students from the Musicians Institute of Hollywood, The Quarantined bill themselves as a grunge punk band and on their second EP, the tight musical trio take the listener on a voyage through various sounds dragged back from the nineties into the second half of 2015. Their retro grooves also come with a socio-political eye, though there are times when this comes across as somewhat vague, sometimes more soundbites than truly focused anger. Concentrating purely on their musical talents, however, this EP has a fair amount of enjoyable tunage – especially for those perhaps too young to have appreciated some of the sledgehammer influences the first time around.