Those who’ve been keeping a close eye on Brighton’s The Rattlebacks throughout 2024 will have witnessed a band seemingly going from strength to strength. Each of the singles released from their forthcoming album has found the band sounding much more confident than before. Blending elements of melodic hard rock and a pinch of grunginess, the band’s best songs have conveyed a broad sound, and with ‘Dementia Lounge’ especially, The Rattlebacks’ ability to combine absolutely killer late 80s/early 90s riffs with a vocal that celebrates a classic rock approach reached its peak.
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Watch: Skye unveil new video for ‘Last Memory’
In 2022, British metal act Skye released their ‘Foundations’ EP, which shared three contemporary sounding tracks, blending a pleasingly heavy tone with a melodic core that advertised them as the kind of band who’d have a crossover appeal.
Watch: Eastbourne punks CHUB crank the speed on ‘California Reaper’
Eastbourne has often been labelled an old peoples’ town. Comedian Lee Evans once joked that the shops all had bifocal windows. It’s true that it lacks the vibrancy of the nearby city of Brighton, but Eastbourne is far from being somewhere that people go exclusively to live out their final years. Party punks CHUB aren’t just set on putting the town on the musical map; they’re also seemingly making a play for becoming one of the noisiest things to ever emerge from that south coast seaside resort.
Watch: ‘Stoneman’ – a brand new video from KOYO
KOYO’s third album, ‘Onism’, (released November 1st) saw the experimental band evolving. The featured material captured many of the complexities of past works, but by introducing a heavier edge in places, the band’s alternative sound embraced more of a post-rock aesthetic. Despite the confident changes and the fact that bits of the material drew from a huge pool of influences, the record proved that KOYO were keen to forge their own musical path.
Listen: Tulipomania unveil new track ‘I’ve Been Told – Absolution’
Tulipomania have always been a musical act who are keen on crossing genres and pushing boundaries, but with their ‘Dreaming of Sleep’ album (released in the dying weeks of 2023), the art rock duo took a big leap into the unknown. By dispensing with all guitars, the album’s material took an even darker and rather fierce turn, blending post punk, darkwave and goth influences to unleash a very arty collection of songs. It was the kind of record that wouldn’t appeal to a wide audience, and even some of their actual fans would be expected to work a little harder to reap the rewards, but it was never less than interesting.