THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #43

Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore the various individual mp3s that have landed in our inbox over the previous few weeks. It’s a strong selection this time, with a brilliant soul influenced tune, a great track that melds an almost indie sound with an undercurrent of electronica, some massive rock riffs, and the return of a Real Gone favourite, Bad Mary. As always, we hope you find something new to enjoy. If so, why not drop by and tell us? It’s always a pleasure to hear from our readers!

*

Continue reading

THE PROG COLLECTIVE – Dark Encounters

For this fifth outing from Billy Sherwood’s Prog Collective, the Yes bassist has brought together an impressive array of musicians to bring his fluid all star project’s music to life. In a sidestep from previous releases, however, there are moments throughout ‘Dark Encounters’ that appear somewhat moodier than before. The bulk of the record takes an instrumental route, and a couple of the tunes go much deeper into jazz fusion. That’s not to say that fans of the veteran musicians involved won’t find anything to enjoy, or even something familiar to cling onto – a Sherwood Project will almost always include material that nods in the very definite direction of Yes and World Trade – but at least fifty percent of this record isn’t exactly what most people will be expecting.

Continue reading

THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #42

Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore the various individual mp3s that have landed in our inbox over the previous few weeks. This time out, we’ve got a goth tinged number from a band making their debut; a really busy workout from a Northern Irish alt-rock act, and another debut from a very retro sounding, much noisier band. For those less enamoured by rock, this week’s SB also includes a couple of top notch singer songwriters who we really hope will become favourites over time. Dive in…and enjoy!

*

Continue reading

CRUZH – The Jungle Revolution

Few bands have managed to take such a giant leap in terms of quality between their first and second records as Swedish rockers Cruzh. Their 2016 album showed promise in terms of its (admittedly unfashionable) AOR-centric songs, but on that record, they sounded like an entire product of the studio. The guitars were smooth and the vocals subjected to so much post-production, they barely sounded human. In short, the material had no real bite. Their second record ‘Tropical Thunder’ – issued by Frontiers Records five years later – was a great improvement. The songs, still indebted to the Danger Danger debut and equally 80s-tastic material by Alien, came with a big heart, but more importantly, seemed to breathe far more naturally. Despite still being overproduced, the 2021 Cruzh had seemingly learnt the value of a more rock derived vocal, and some of the material shared great guitar work, suggesting that this band actually had the potential to become a decent melodic rock act. Granted, they’d still have to go a fair way to beat fellow Swedes Lionville and Streetlight in terms of sheer quality, but ‘Tropical Thunder’ was certainly a huge step in the right direction…

Continue reading

THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #41

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 previous few weeks. This time around, we bring you the return of some ska legends, a remix from a cult dream pop act, something with a huge electronica/dance core, some massive stoner/doom riffs…and more besides. As always, we hope you find something new to enjoy!

*

Continue reading