THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #61

Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore some of the more interesting mp3s and individual tunes that’ve landed in our inbox over the previous few weeks. In proper Singles Bar tradition, this week’s column covers a lot of musical ground by taking in country and a couple of singer songwriters alongside some extreme metal. There’s even time to introduce a new rock band. It’s unlikely that everything here will appeal to everyone, but as always, we hope you find something new to enjoy.

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THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #55

Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore some of the individual mp3s that have landed in our inbox over the past few weeks. As always, we’ve been swamped with submissions – although there’s always room for more! – and we’ve had a tough job picking out some of the best tunes. This week, the Singles Bar features some brilliant shoegaze, a couple of bluesy bits, a slice of indie folk, two very different styles of punk, and more besides. Hopefully you’ll find something new to enjoy…

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HOT FIENDS – Cult Supreme EP

Brighton’s Hot Fiends aren’t shy of a massive riff. Nor are they afraid of a sharp edged vocal. Their sound is much broader than a lot of other DIY punks, however, and on their debut EP ‘Cult Supreme’, they deliver some truly abrasive noises. In their own words, the music represents “a sonic slap”; for those keen to apply easy labels, it’s fair to say its five tunes take in hardcore punk traditions and splice the speed with bits of extreme post-metal, but the material also finds time to explore some genuinely uncompromising noise rock. When chucked in a giant musical blender, it ends up sounding much closer to a very confident post-hardcore racket, but the five tracks are anything but predictable.

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SHOOTING DAGGERS / DEATH PILL – Split

Death Pill’s self titled debut album instantly became one of the best records of 2023. On that release, the Ukranian hardcore punks not only proved they could share riffs that were every bit the equal of the pioneering American scene back in 1979/80, but also showed off a great ability to temper their punk with occasional swathes of metal. Packed with a world of absolutely brutal riffs, it set the band out as one of the greatest arrivals on the punk scene since Natterers issued their uncompromising demo flexi in 2016. Since Shooting Daggers made almost as much of a striking impression on their ‘Manic Pixie Dream’ EP in 2021, the bands are a very natural pairing for a split 7”, and this release from the New Heavy Sounds label does not disappoint.

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NIGHTFREAK – Speed Trials EP

Nightfreak are a band who, in their own words, play “feral punk ‘n’ roll”. Bands sometimes have a skewed idea of how they sound, or of the intents and complexities of the music they play, but in this case, these three lads from Chicago are under no illusions. Their second release ‘Speed Trials’ fills a brutal ten and a half minutes with unrelenting material that pulls the best from Black Flag and Germs and marries that hardcore intensity to rock ‘n’ roll riffs that sound like bits of Rocket From The Crypt and New Bomb Turks colliding with Keith Morris performing with a genuine anger.

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