Savage Goth is concrete proof that you can’t judge things by name alone. Such a judgement led to one of the band’s first gigs being support to a tech metal band – their choice of music somewhat lost upon the receiving audience. Led by songwriter Matthew Kenworthy, the name was a tongue-in-cheek throwback to a slur dating back to his school days in the north of England, where anyone who admitted to liking guitar based music was labelled a “savage goth”.
Tag Archives: electronica
UMMAGMA – Frequency EP
Ummagma are a dream pop/shoegaze duo based in Canada. Despite gaining favourable press from the Russian edition of Rolling Stone Magazine, like so many bands of their style, they’re somewhat of an underground act. Their third release, ‘Frequency’ comes three years after their previous works and, if anything, is a far more chilled out affair. The five original tracks on this 2015 EP are slow burning, almost other worldly in their construction; tracks with a minimalism that really expects the listener to sit and lend a very close ear, for the tiny details are often where the magic lies.
CITIES – Manning Alaska EP
Although compared by others to Mogwai, if Cities’ almost ambient musical approach combined with the use of samples and visuals makes you think of Public Service Broadcasting, you wouldn’t be completely wrong. There are some key differences, of course, but most importantly – unlike the works of Public Service Broadcasting – it’s not at all derivative and boring. Public Service Broadcasting are all about the samples, to the point where they’ve often forgotten to write interesting music; with Cities, their musical arrangements are the heart and soul of everything they do. Yes, you can spot various influences scattered throughout their ‘Manning Alaska’ EP – but there’s rarely a moment passes that where Cities haven’t added their own twist of musical magic.
FOREVR – Demonstration EP
This debut EP by Australian-based duo FOREVR is one of those discs you’ll either love or hate within seconds of hitting the play button. With no time to warm up, the band have already shifted from silence to a complete wall of sound in a split second, as the intro ‘Yucatan’ crushes with a huge droning noise. Overdriven guitars with amplifiers turned up to twelve (one even louder) gleefully throw out distorted shapes as chief musician Donovan Miller hammers at an array of effects pedals. From somewhere within, vocalist Sam George-Allen melds her voice accordingly, a filtered sound rising and falling throughout, wisp-like and ghostly as if she’s channelling Elizabeth Fraser on a collaboration with the equally uncompromising A Place To Bury Strangers.
ZERO SHE FLIES – The River EP
Zero She Flies is a folk-rock band from Bristol formed from the ashes of pop-rock outfit Mermaid Kiss and although all three members had been involved with the previous band at various stages, the first recordings from ZSF feel very much like a new beginning. The band made their debut in May 2015 with standalone track ‘Small Mercy’, giving listeners a fair idea of what to expect from upcoming material. Their first EP, ‘The River, released a couple of months later, features four tracks associated with water, thus making it a concept release of sorts. That’s concept in a “linking theme” sense as opposed to carrying a definite narrative stretched out to its thinnest point over a double elpee, so those looking for more Broadway lambs, walls built from arrogance and general pomposity can swiftly move along… Stoking up the folk elements, on these four numbers, Zero She Flies often carry sparkles of Caravan and Renaissance, but always with their own twist, and it would be fair to say that listeners who enjoy the occasional folky lilt and a strong female voice will find an affinity within at least three of these four tunes.