1967’s supposed summer of love and its psychedelic, swirling colourful world was never going to last forever. 1968, by contrast, was darker and less flamboyant, a time of unrest. Students rioted in Paris, while the psychedelic pop of yesteryear was beginning to wane in favour of harder stuff. Often abreast of the mood of the pop-culture sphere, we only have to look at The Beatles output from this time to get a brief glimpse of the general changes in attitude. In a short time, they’d gone from lush, complex pop to a starker and altogether colder musical mood, a good chunk of the fourth side of their sprawling double set from 1968 devoted to near-impenetrable tape loops and cut-ups. Hendrix, too, had experimented with denser sounds on ‘Electric Ladyland’ than either of his previous two albums, while The Doors’ general circus of dystopia was at its peak. 1968 was arguably the year when pop begat hard rock. Fitting, then, with a whole arsenal of retro sounds at their disposal, that this trio from Cheshire should choose “1968” as their band name. Their sounds look backwards a time when the blues came with a mass of distortion and the world-changing Black Sabbath were lurking just over the horizon.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
RAY GUN – May The Bridges I Burn Light Your Way EP
Sometimes a release appears and instantly achieves the status of cult classic. Such is the case with the UK’s Ray Gun, whose debut cassette is so brilliantly DIY. In fact, had this band been spawned from Brooklyn, this release would surely have been snapped up by the King Pizza label and Ray Gun would be going head to head with The Rizzos and The Fucktons, such is their retro charm and wanton lo-fi discord.
MOTÖRHEAD – Inferno
In 1991, Motörhead realeased the album ‘1916’, an album on which they sounded more alive than they had in years. The songs were sharper than their late 80s efforts and the band sounded like they’d regained a lot of their spark. There was a surprise too: the title track was a cello backed ballad, where Lemmy crooned about young men joining up to fight for king and country in the First World War. Nobody saw that coming…and they say you can’t teach old dogs new tricks.
ERIC CLAPTON – Another Ticket
Most sensible session musicians would have walked out on Eric Clapton after his hateful, racist outburst in Birmingham on August 5th 1976. However, his regular band of musicians from Tulsa stuck by him throughout the following two years as he battled with the bottle. After the release of the ‘Backless’ album in 1978, Clapton and band took to the road once again for a world tour. A full length movie ‘Eric Clapton’s Rolling Hotel’ was shot at this time during the German leg of the tour, but has never been given a full release.
DIRE WOLF – Black Death EP
As much as their choice of band name might suggest, Brisbane’s Dire Wolf probably don’t have much time for the Grateful Dead’s brand of Americana. Formed in 2011, the band’s chief goal was to become one of the city’s heaviest bands – and if they couldn’t claim such a feat previously, their 2015 EP release ‘Black Death’ must set them pretty close. In just under twelve minutes, the band lay down a brutal hardcore sound, uncompromising yet thrilling, in a manner that fuses influences from Dillinger Escape Plan with a whole lot more besides.