Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we investigate some of the individual tracks that have landed in our inbox over the past few weeks. There’s a really smart selection this time out which, among other things, shares some great instrumental sounds, welcomes back some ska heroes, explores the darker side of an Australian singer songwriter, and even takes an opportunity to introduce someone brand new. As always, we hope you find something to enjoy!
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Following a run of enjoyable digital singles, Octavian Winters released their debut EP ‘The Line Or Curve’ in October 2023. Rounding up the band’s previously available tracks and premiering the excellent ‘Velveteen’, its five songs explored an old school goth sound, but by blending that with a much tougher post-punk influence, the release shared a superbly dark mood laced with very strong melodies throughout. One of the EP’s highlights, ‘Surreal’ managed to bring the cold brilliance of ‘Faith’ era Cure into the realms of the more modern, potentially making it amenable to fans of bands like Lacuna Coil, and the combination of Jay Denton’s huge bass melodies and Ria Aursjoen’s soaring 80s vocals resulted in something atmospheric. With slow but wondrous melodies underscored by ringing guitar, it showed how classic 80s goth rock riffs and melodies could sound just as thrilling forty years on.
Welcome back to the Singles Bar, the place where we explore some of the individual tracks that have landed in our inbox over the previous few weeks. This time around, we’ve mixed the familiar with the new, to bring you something that sounds like a superb tribute to AM radio pop, some contemporary rock sounds, a feel good pop track, a re-working of an old dance classic and more besides. As always, we hope you like what you hear, and discover something new!
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Although the name Sunbomb might not be a massively familiar one on the rock scene in 2024, the band features a few familiar faces. Making up the core of the band, LA Guns guitarist Tracii Guns is joined by his old bandmate Adam Hamilton on drums, and taking on vocal duties, you’ll find legendary Stryper man Michael Sweet. This new band aren’t contemporary sounding, nor are they especially subtle, but Sunbomb were never likely to be either. According to Tracii, the main aim was to make the kind of metal album he “would have made at [the age of] seventeen”, back in 1983.
Over the first six months of 2024, Real Gone received hundreds of submissions for the Singles Bar. Naturally, not everything appealed, and with only eight tracks featured every week, there were various great tracks that also fell by the wayside. Our Singles Bar “Summer Special” rounds up some of the best sounds that didn’t find a previous home. It would’ve been a travesty not to share such good music, but in a couple of cases, we’ve even included material that really should have featured at the Singles Bar around the time of release. Within this batch of twenty top tunes, we’ve pulled together some very retro sounding pop-rock, something with a huge late 60s sound, a couple of gothy bits, a nod to Americana, and even a slice of trad folk. We hope this round up of bits and pieces introduces you to something new, and maybe even inspires you to check out more material.
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