PINEAL – Smiling Cult EP

pinealPutting it bluntly, Pineal aren’t exactly shy with regard to their core influences on this release.  Although their recording budget occasionally shows a few limitations, this London-based trio really love Alice In Chains. Their stock riffs are never a straight up reconstruction of the AIC sound, though, since most of the heavier elements are more of a doom-rock persuasion, much slower in pace than AIC at their most sludgy…and certainly much heavier in many respects.  Any Alice In Chains homages are due to Daniel Murney‘s vocal style which – in more than a few places – really taps into Layne Staley’s trademark spooked out, nasal croon.

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The REAL GONE 2014 Advent Calendar

We don’t know about you, but here at Real Gone Towers there’s a feeling that this year has disappeared far, far too quickly.
It’s December already and that can mean only one thing: it’s time for our countdown to xmas!

For the next three (and a bit) weeks, we’ll be bringing you a selection of hopefully entertaining clips in the build up to the big event. A new clip will be added each day, so don’t forget to keep checking back!

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MIDNIGHT PLAYLIST – Built To Break EP

MPBTBLondon’s Midnight Playlist are a four piece alternative pop-rock/pop-punk band, who bring a strong sense of good times and youthful spirit on their debut EP ‘Built To Break’.  There’s a real energy present from the very beginning of the opening track: a door slams, voices chatter, an amplifier buzzes…and with that, the quartet burst into life. That opener ‘A Year In Hell’ mixes pop-punk guitar chords and an alternative rock spirit, like a DIY collision between early Sum 41 and Don Broco; it’s a performance on which drummer Atish really excels.  Twin guitars chug and thrash in classic punk-pop style – even making room for a couple of lead flourishes – while lead vocalist Aaron cries each line with confidence, all the while happy to let his natural accent through, despite the attempts of a few vocal filters to make his voice sound more generic to the musical style.  You’ll have heard this sort of thing a thousand times before, but there’s an energy and tightness here – even obvious despite the limited recording budget – that makes this tune very enjoyable all round.

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Parks & Recreation: Real Gone meets Brian E. King

In 2010, an unexpected power pop gem appeared in the release schedules by an unknown band named Oranjuly.  The release played almost like a history of power pop, pulling influence from Brian Wilson, Paul McCartney, Jellyfish and Weezer on a strong set of songs.  A year or so passed and we hadn’t heard much from the Oranjuly camp at all…until multi-instrumentalist/vocalist/songwriter Brian E. King re-appeared in a band named Parks.  In the autumn of 2014, Real Gone caught up with Brian to find out what happened to the Oranjuly project and why they seemed destined to a be a one album deal.

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