In September 2023, retro roots rockers Rowsie released their first full length album. Packed with distorted guitars, it’s the kind of record that proves the influence of bands like Crazy Horse, Uncle Tupelo and Dinosaur Jr never gets old.
In terms of debut singles, they don’t come much better – or much chirpier – than Shannon Smith’s ‘Dance The Night Away’. The Australian singer songwriter unleashed his near perfect tribute to 70s AM radio pop earlier in 2023, and it’s one of those songs that’s so unbelievably catchy, you might even feel as if it’s an old number he’s resurrected.
Back in February 2023, Ukranian punk band Death Pill released their debut album. It was – and remains – absolutely terrific. It’s short playing time and sharp sound meant there was little room for filler and no time for boredom to set in. In short, it was an instant classic, and in terms of modern hardcore, up there with the best work by Natterers.
At the end of September 2023, experimental band Tulipomania released ‘You Had To Be There’, a single very much destined to split opinion. For those who missed it, it has the potential to be one of the year’s most interesting single releases.
It might well be 2023, but in The Crystal Teardrop’s world it’s still 1967! The Midlands based rock band have reached deeply inside themselves and unleashed their inner flower children on their brilliant second single ‘By The River’.