Tag Archives: retro

Drivin’ Wheel: Real Gone meets Denny Smith

Posted on by

In 2010, back when Real Gone was in its embryonic stages, we received an email from a musician in the US asking if we’d review the then new album by his band The Great Affairs. That man was Denny Smith, singer-songwriter and previously a member of rock band fORMER. When he contacted us again approximately five months later, he had the distinction of being the very first artist to approach Real Gone for repeat coverage. Almost ten years on from that first contact, Denny dropped by to tell us all about the new album, his extra-curricular projects and more besides. The Great Affairs’ current album, ‘Ten & 2’ could be their best yet…

***

Continue reading →

THE GREAT AFFAIRS – Ten & 2

Posted on by

The Great Affairs have evolved over the years. On their second album ‘Ricky Took The Wheels’ they owed a reasonable debt to The Black Crowes in terms of influence; by the following year, they were experimenting with stripped back Americana and, two years hence, their music – with a guiding hand from a new rhythm section featuring drummer/vocalist Kenny Wright – things had moved further towards gritty bar-room rock. Whatever the chosen style, though, each release could be relied upon for a handful of superb tracks.

Continue reading →

MAGPIE – Picasso On A Log EP

Posted on by

Formed in 2014 somewhere in deepest Somerset, Magpie hatched a plan to create “grown up guitar pop”. Their 2017 EP, ‘Picasso On A Log’ almost casts them as serial thieves, since their collective influences are very obvious. Still, nobody ever said that grown up pop had to be original; it’s more likely to be sounds recycled with love…and based on this recording, these black and white popsters absolutely love the sounds they serve, pilfered or otherwise.

Continue reading →

Hear the new single from Strange Majik

Posted on by

It’s been a busy couple of years for Strange Majik (aka David Pattillo). Starting with the release of 2016’s ‘Raised On Rock ‘N’ Roll’ (Real Gone’s favourite album of that year), Strange Majik began an exploration through various retro rock, blues and funk jams that reached fever pitch last year with two angry and politically charged EPs.

This summer, he embarks on his first European tour which is followed by the release of an anticipated new full length entitled ‘Channel T’.

Before the album’s appearance in September you can get a taste for Majik’s new jams, since a new single is available right now and streaming in full below.

Continue reading →

THE RAREFLOWERS – The Rareflowers EP

Posted on by

New Jersey’s The Rareflowers began life in 2013 when brothers Jimmy and Kane Maraday met drummer Aaron Gollubier and started experimenting with cassette recordings. Five years on, their debut EP carries the kind of DIY spirit that comes from such basement experiments and the songs very much hark back to the 80s with the light neo-psychedelics of what became dubbed the Paisley Underground scene. In other words, the lighter, floatier end of jangle pop.

Continue reading →