For The Girl are a five piece indie-rock band from Nottinghamshire. As part of the promotion for their self-released EP ‘Kick It’ (their second of 2014), the band received good exposure supporting UK pop-punk/emo act Orchard Hill on a short tour of academy venues. Since each night of the tour was free entry, the four night stint showed a rare generosity, most welcome in the times of hardship facing chunks of the UK during the end of the year.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
KURT BAKER – Brand New B-Sides
Following several EPs, new-wave revivalist Kurt Baker released his first full-length LP ‘Brand New Beat’ at the tail-end of 2012. It’s half hour of tunes recalled strong links with Joe Jackson, Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello and often felt musically familiar, but was not any the less enjoyable for wearing its influences so obviously. The sessions also yielded a truckload of extra material; ‘Want You Around’, an upbeat number featuring Dan Vapid, provided the lead track of a 7” EP (and also appeared as a bonus track on the French CD pressing of ‘Brand New Beat’), backed with three cover tunes, including a spot-on version of Billy Joel’s ‘Sleeping With The Television On’. Discounting these four recordings, Baker was still in possession of an album’s worth of other tunes, most of which were collected on this 2014 release.
LEVEL 10 – Chapter One
Making their debut in 2015, the (mostly) European metal band Level 10 features a few familiar faces. While not quite stepping up to the true supergroup mantle, with its coming together of members from Symphony X, Masterplan, Primal Fear and Sinner, the band includes personnel that should be more than familiar to hard rock fans.
WATTS – Flash Of White Light
Boston rock ‘n’ rollers Watts dropped their second full length LP ‘On The Dial’ in 2010. Its selection of trashy tunes that by and large sounded like a collision between mid-70s Stones and New York Dolls overseen by Tommy Stinson and the band were more than happy to wear the influences proudly upon their collective sleeve. A few years on, ‘Flash of White Light’ essentially brings more of the same, though it’s obvious from the outset that the hooks are bigger and the general swagger comes with more confidence than before. The core of the Watts sound, however, remains unchanged.
THE MAD DOCTORS – Snake Oil Superscience
Brooklyn space-psych rockers The Mad Doctors released their EP ‘Fuzz Tonic!’ via Doctor Gone Records in the spring of 2013; its five echo drenched numbers gave an insight into their hybrid sound of garage rock/hard psych and surf music, but its limited recording budget hampered listening enjoyment to a degree. A year on, their first full-length ‘Snake Oil Superscience’ shows a great improvement.