Emo. Originally shorthand for emotional hardcore and practised by melodic hardcore bands like Youth of Today, Rites of Spring et al, by the beginning of the twenty first century, anything labelled emo couldn’t be further away from those origins. There was a spell in the mid 90s where alternative rock bands with a slight indie leaning were also labelled emo (the best of which were the much missed Sense Field and the short-lived Shift) and they were great, but beyond that, emo just became a lazy tag for “whining sub-goth naval gazing with floppy fringe”. Surely, somewhere in the US, Brendan Canty wonders what the hell happened?
Buffalo Tom: 25th anniversary edition of Let Me Come Over released in May
Peers to Dinosaur Jr. and Lemonheads, Boston’s favourite alt-rock sons, Buffalo Tom released their third album ‘Let Me Come Over’ in 1992. It was arguably their first essential recording. It’s hard to believe that it’s been gracing peoples’ turntables for a quarter of a century.
To mark this milestone anniversary, Beggars Banquet Records will release a 2CD and 2LP edition of the album on 19th May 2017. The full official press release appears below.
The album can be purchased from the Beggars Banquet online store, here.
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Get ready for another voyage across the Jet Black Sea…
In 2013, Jet Black Sea released their debut album ‘The Path of Least Existence’. The project was essentially an outlet for Nine Stones Close guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Adrian Jones and studio engineer Michel Simons to release interesting musical ideas that didn’t quite fit the usual mould. The end result often came across like a mix of a Pink Floyd ambient jam and the mellower end of Massive Attack’s downtempo trip-hop.
The album attracted a genuine cult following. Those who heard it loved it. Those who loved it wanted more.
Adrian went back to work with Nine Stones Close, but there were many rumours of a second Jet Black Sea being under construction. Finally, Adrian brings some news and concrete evidence that the musical cogs have, indeed, been turning…and more creatively than anyone expected.
RUM THIEF – Time To Make A Move EP
In the summer of 2015, singer-songwriter Jot Green (aka Rum Thief) released ‘Reach For The Weather Man‘, an EP of hard jangling tunes coupled with social commentary and an unavoidable sense of Englishness. Like a northern Frank Turner, an underground Alex Turner or perhaps a Mike Skinner with actual tunes and talent, he showed a strong ability to couple grass roots messages with a gruff but fairly timeless indie-rock backdrop. A fair while passed and nothing more was heard. Had the Rum Thief been swallowed up by his day job, or even run out of things to tell the world? It would seem so.
Stream ‘Hour Glass’ by alt-rockers In My Disguise
Taking a huge funk metal riff, a pinch of emo and a huge influence from classic alternative rock, Suffolk’s In My Disguise serve up a huge sound on their new single ‘Hour Glass’.
The track previously premiered on the Punktastic website but you can now hear it in full below. The band’s debut EP ‘Achromatic’ is released on 19th May.