Split releases are always interesting, but once in a while one will come along that’ll be utterly amazing. This 2018 release from I Buy Records (Italy) in conjunction with Mom’s Basement Records (USA) featuring unreleased tracks by Italian punks Proton Packs and The Livermores is such a disc. Although neither band is hugely well known outside their home country, both are capable of supplying first rate Ramones styled pop punk that’s as well played as any.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
DAVID MYHR – Lucky Day
Let’s not mince words: David Myhr’s solo debut ‘Soundshine’ is a classic album. Not just for the time of its release, but a genuine classic. Its retro pop style places it on a par with 10cc’s ‘How Dare You’, with Wings’ ‘London Town’ and Badfinger’s ‘No Dice’. In terms of more contemporary recordings, it rivals the Oranjuly debut and Jellyfish’s ‘Spilt Milk’ for sheer pop wonderment.
A follow up had a hard act to follow and perhaps knowing he had a big job in hand, Myhr rallied around the troops. As a result, 2018’s ‘Lucky Day’ features co-writes with Linus of Hollywood, Bleu, Bill DeMain and Young Hines – names which should be familiar to most power pop aficionados – and songwriter/producer Brad Jones, a man whose credits involve working with Matthew Sweet, Jill Sobule and Josh Rouse. It’s fair to say it’s got some solid foundations.
SOPHIA MARSHALL – Song 3 EP
At the beginning of 2018 singer-songwriter Sophia Marshall released an EP of low-key, stripped back Kasabian covers. With the arrangements finally allowed room to breathe and a decent vocal applied, Kasabian never sounded better. Barely a month later, Marshall returned with a two track digital single centred around The Pretenders. It perhaps wasn’t as broad in appeal as the Kasabian release, but her dreamy, strung out version of the Ray Davies penned ‘I Go To Sleep’ was definitely worth hearing. The third release in her ongoing covers project, ‘Song 3’, turns its attentions to Colchester’s favourite sons, Blur, and rather disappointingly, despite the title building up hopes, she doesn’t re-imagine their indie-punk belter ‘Song 2’ in a swoon-some dream pop style. That’s not to say her three choices aren’t interesting of course, since the Blur catalogue is ripe for the picking…and it’s not like they get covered very often either. Also, two of Sophia’s re-imaginings are of a gold standard – great additions to her covers project.
BROCKLEY FOREST – Castaway EP
When Brockley Forest released their ‘Die Has Been Cast’ EP in 2015, it felt as if the band had reached a turning point. While the raw garage blues of their previous releases still provided the heart of their music, the EPs songs showed a leaner, meaner Forest – slightly more commercial without selling out; by providing bigger hooks on bigger songs, they really stretched their musical talents. Following a long gap between releases, Brockley Forest’s welcome return with 2018’s ‘Castaway’ is a step forward yet again. The production values on these three songs are terrific. Far removed from a garage based labour of love, the material has as much punch as that Royal Blood LP you all love – even though there are better exponents of that style – and the choruses are more than sizable.
MASK OF BEES – Reft EP
Mask of Bees are an experimental band from Manchester, proudly crossing musical boundaries and caring not for any kind of genre tagging. Their overall sound blends art rock with a metallic crunch and then gives that a massive send off with huge swathes of jazz fusion. Hearing them is an intense experience, almost as if bits of The Jesus Lizard got spliced with bits of TesseracT, Soft Machine and an old John Coltrane record.