Somewhere between the works of Martin Rossiter, Old House Playground, The Bad Seeds and…The Connells lies the music Morning Bells. Purveyors of the finest thoughtful indie pop/rock, this Raleigh based collective is perhaps a little restless on their ‘Fall From The Velvet Sky’ EP. The five featured tracks wander a fine line between the gothic and soulful, between the honest and mournful, before ending up somewhere unexpected. The band’s way of working on the hoof and creating music borne within a moment means that sometimes, stylistically speaking, there’s a huge variation in sound. However, whether tapping into sad sounds or something a little more lively, they often create interest from the beauty of their unease.
Watch: Night Goat unveil new video for ‘The Greys’
As you’d expect from a group of musicians naming themselves after a Melvins song, Night Goat worship the sludgier elements of the rock and metal spectrum. The Ohio-based noise-makers started to create a stir with their second release, ‘Milk’, at the close of 2019, but are ready to face 2020 square on, escalating the promotion for the new record with a brand new video clip.
TOM BAKER – Dirty Snakes
Tom Baker is somewhat of a legend on the Boston music scene. As frontman for his own band The Snakes and as a member of The Dirty Truckers, he’s known for delivering swaggering rock music with a retro charm. 2019’s ‘Dirty Snakes’ presents itself as Baker’s first official solo release, but as its title more than suggests, it still retains a very strong link with his previous works as the six tracks find him backed by members of both bands.
Real Gone – A Decade of Deep Cuts
In November 2019, Real Gone reached its ten year anniversary of being online. To celebrate, we shared thoughts on ten albums we loved from that decade. That list came with two strict rules beyond becoming favourites: each year had to be represented by one album and each album had to in some way have helped our site to become more established.
As we reach the end of the year, it’s time to look back more broadly on some of our favourite albums of the ’10s; albums that have kept us listening for pleasure long after the reviews and coverage have been completed. If you’re a regular visitor to Real Gone, lots of these names will be familiar by now, but we hope this time for looking back helps to reconnect with a couple of old favourites, or find you a new one somewhere along the way. [Full reviews & streams can be found by clicking on the individual titles.]
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MONO IN STEREO – Can’t Stop The Bleeding EP
Formed from the ashes of pop punk band Mulligan Stu, Mono In Stereo really mixed things up on their debut LP, 2015’s ‘Long For Yesterday’. On numbers like ‘Start Again’ and the title track, their punky roots were more than obvious, but other material suggested the combined band members had an equal love of trashy rock ‘n’ roll like The Replacements. The album highlights ‘Woke Up In Haight’ and ‘Never Coming Down’ even showed off a big love for Soul Asylum and the noisier end of the Americana spectrum.
It took the band four years to craft a follow up…and while that turned out to be an EP rather than a full album, ‘Can’t Stop The Bleeding’ proves yet again that quality will always trump quantity – and a couple of the songs are actually better than anything from the older full length.