Since the release of his self-titled EP in 2019, Matt Jatkola – aka JATK – has slowly built a fine catalogue of recordings. A series of digital singles released throughout the lockdowns of 2020 and ’21 further showcased his great talent for fuzzy, retro, and very 90s derived rock music. With influences ranging from big power pop hooks to introspective shoegaze oriented noise, the one man band has really carved himself a niche within the independent alternative rock underground. JATK’s coolness extends far beyond the music itself, too. When experienced as a whole package, it’s clear that Jatkola has thought very clearly about his brand, with each digital release wrapped within the visuals of a half eaten doughnut. To see each of the JATK digital releases together is almost like reimagining the classic Suede singles in junk food form…and they look great.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
KUROKUMA – Born Of Obsidian
Ever since the release of their self-financed ‘Advorsus’ in 2016, Sheffield’s Kurokuma have marked themselves out as one of the UK’s heaviest bands. Across a series of EP releases over the next few years, their uncompromising blend of sludge, doom and hardcore has gained them a very loyal cult following.
BIG BIG TRAIN – Welcome To The Planet
For even the greatest bands, there’s rarely such a thing as overnight success. This was certainly true for British prog band, Big Big Train. They spent the second half of the 90s and the early noughties recording independent albums that clicked with a small core of people, but remained largely hidden from the prog world at large. Works like ‘Goodbye To The Age of Steam’ and ‘Gathering Speed’ set out a rich musical stall that showed a love of Anthony Philips, and despite changes in line-up and sound, their music retained a very pastoral, very English heart that inspired all who heard it. Despite cult adoration, genuine success often seemed elusive; it wasn’t really until the release of their sixth proper album, 2009’s ‘The Underfall Yard’, that the band started to gain the kind of attention they’d long deserved.
J PROZAC – Building Blocks / Mandy
‘Behind The Mask’, J Prozac’s solo EP from 2018, was a short and sharp punk/Ramonescore gem. By pairing a couple of self-penned tunes with covers of well known Tom Petty and Ramones songs, the sometime Prozacs frontman ensured that his extra-curricular endeavour was as broadly appealing as possible. A full length release from The Prozacs swiftly followed in 2019, further cementing the band’s obsessions with Johnny & Joey, before an excellent thirty three track collection (‘Fan Favs & Wannabe Hits’) gave everyone a golden opportunity to take stock of the band’s progress so far. For those outside Massachusetts, there was every chance that such a compilation acted as a welcome introduction to their work.
FASTER PUSSYCAT – Babylon: The Elektra Years 1987-1992
Before the arrival of grunge, the US was awash with sleazy bands sporting huge hairstyles and huge attitudes. Guns N’ Roses would go on to achieve world domination, and MTV made huge stars out of many others, including Ratt, Motley Crue and Poison. For every band that hit the big time, of course, there were many that didn’t achieve quite the same levels of success. Kik Tracee, Tuff, and Jetboy were bands that very much fell into this category, along with LA’s Faster Pussycat, but even these “also rans” gained more than their fifteen minutes of fame at the height of the music television boom.