debdepan (always lower case) are a Margate based duo who’ve been pitched as making “genre-blurring” music that’s “influenced by dance, art pop and grunge”. Sometimes, labels don’t work. Sometimes they’re so wide of the mark, they’re laughable. Sometimes, though, they can be pretty useful, and in this case, that short description is about as accurate as you’ll find. It certainly gives the listener a fair idea of what to expect when heading into debdepan’s excellent debut ‘Lovers & Others’, which presents five slabs of dark, danceable alt-rock which casts its net as far back as the 90s for influence, with a pinch of Curve and Garbage, but also has an ear on the contemporary.
Watch: Kalamity Kills unleash new video for brilliant Beatles cover
Often when covering world famous tracks, it’s important to put your own stamp on the work. Once in a while, though, a track will come along that’s so perfect, a great cover won’t necessarily need a lot more than a huge amount of enthusiasm applied to make it work. Such is the case with the version of The Beatles’ ‘Help!’ recorded by Nashville based hard rockers Kalamity Kills.
Bad Mary revisit ‘Last Christmas’ with new cover tune
Ever since its original release in 1984, Wham!’s ‘Last Christmas’ has been beloved many. Only reaching #2 on the UK singles chart the first time around, it became the second most celebrated track to fall just shy of the top spot. Ultravox’s ‘Vienna’, arguably, takes the crown there, losing out to a terrible novelty record – ‘Shaddap You Face’ by The Joe Dolce Music Theatre; at least Wham! had the dignity of knowing they were beaten to the top by a charity record, and one that George Michael was also on!
THE STRIPP – If You Want Me / So Long
In 2021, The Stripp contributed a couple of brand new tracks to a split EP with Electric Frankenstein. At that point, the Aussie band only had a sole EP to their credit, but their material ran rings around the veteran punk and roll band. Electric Frankenstein still sounded good, of course, but they were no match for the fiery, still new band who’d been paired with them.
A few years on, it seems that The Stripp have lost none of their spark. Released ahead of a full length album, this pair of tunes capture all of the sharp edges and the genuine excitement of their earlier work.
THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #134
Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore some of the more interesting individual tracks that have landed in our inbox over the past couple of weeks. This time around, we bring you an unexpected cover tune, two slices of top drawer power pop, and among other things, a great track that bends elements from various different genres into something genuinely interesting. As always, we hope you find something new to enjoy.
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