A band previously described as having “vim and verve”, Herfordshire’s The Lunar Effect play a brand of stoner and desert rock that so often has a definite American sound. Taking bits of Kyuss, Trouble, Sun Voyager and the obligatory seasoning of Sabbath, their work is riff heavy, but often tempered by a welcome spaciousness giving proceedings a slightly trippy nature. Following their 2014 home recorded EP, for 2016’s ‘Strange Lands’, Jon Jefford (vox/g) and Daniel Jefford (d) now find themselves as part of a full band and with a slightly bigger recording budget. This gives their first full length release more scope than they ever had before.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
SYREN CITY – Paradise In The Dirt EP
In the lead up to the release of their second EP ‘Paradise In The Dirt’, Bristolians Syren City embarked on a short tour with We Are The Ocean and Orchard Hill, bands which aside from being guitar driven, don’t always seem to share a common link. But then, already having shared stages with Cancer Bats, Skindred, Mallory Knox, Syren City seem keen not to be pigeonholed.
ANXIETY JUNKIES – Gentrified Homicide
Released in May 2015, Anxiety Junkies’ debut album ‘Self Sabotage’ was a low budget but well accomplished foray into hardcore punk, presenting a bunch of short and sharp tunes that really drove home the band’s DIY leanings. Barely a month after release, drummer Alex moonlighted with Forced Entry, giving an insight into how – although miles from DC, New York and other places readily associated with hardcore – Georgia, too, had its own burgeoning scene. Exactly one year on from ‘Self Sabotage‘, the Junkies made a full return with ‘Gentrified Homicide’, an angry politically charged release that takes in a few more influences than before.
HEYROCCO – Waiting On Cool EP
In 2015, Heyrocco released their ‘Teenage Movie Soundtrack’ full-length. Its ten songs packed a whole bunch of retro sounds into under forty minutes, often playing like a love letter to the 90s with clear influences from Pavement, Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr. and Smashing Pumpkins scattered throughout. Good as it was, there wasn’t especially much, stylistically speaking, that you’d think might attract the ears of retro-pop superstar and producer Brendan Benson, but for part of their follow up release, Heyrocco were booked into his Nashville studios and naturally Benson found himself in the producer’s chair.
50FOOTWAVE – Bath White EP
There are no two ways about it, Kristin Hersh is a legend. From the earliest days of Throwing Muses, through her varied and lengthy solo career, the singer-songwriter has released some very interesting work. Not all of it of a gold standard, of course – some inconsistency can be expected from a career spanning across decades – but when she’s good, she’s on fire. Such is the case with this sixth release from 50FootWave, comprising six absolute belting slices of alt-rock, all wrapped in a noisy blanket and offset by Hersh’s by now husky tones