We seem to say it every December, but this year has gone so quickly. We’ve fit a lot into twelve months, of course. Over the last twelve months, Real Gone has picked up a truckload of new followers and regular visitors; we’ve discovered new bands, reconnected with a couple of familiar faces, and given more column inches to old favourites.
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During the second half of the nineties, Dave Matthews and his Band released a trio of great albums that brought the jam band aesthetic to a new audience. ‘Under The Table & Dreaming’ and its superior successor ‘Crash’ appeared to blend the complex melodic charms of ‘Mars Hotel’ era Grateful Dead with the more commercial strains of mid 70s Steve Miller, but latch onto a contemporary audience. With ‘Before These Crowded Streets’, the band hit their studio peak when introducing jazzier elements.
Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore the various individual tracks and mp3s that have landed in our inbox over the previous few weeks. This time around, we offer a festive selection – a collection of tunes with a Christmas theme, ranging from the traditional to the bespoke. Some of the material is brand new; some re-works the familiar in a new way, but when heard together, we hope these tunes entertain, and will prop up any great alternative playlist!
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Following a string of digital singles released between December 2021 and June 2023, this double a-side from rock artists Wolforna continues the Bradford band’s musical ascent. They have shown an ability with a riff or three previously, but these tracks take their sound a little further and – in the case of ‘Amandolyn’, couples a great tune with a strong vocal that could well be their best yet.
On this debut EP, The 355’s don’t exactly introduce themselves quietly. Within a couple of notes of the opening number – and lead single – ‘Jig A Jig Out’, the level of fuzz applied to the guitar work is off the chart, and there’s even an equally distorted vocal to match. It’s as if they’ve absorbed the best bits of The Black Keys and turned that duo’s typical schtick up to eleven. Although that bluesy element drops in intermittently during the next couple of minutes, effectively driving a great verse against a heavy drum sound, the bulk of this number is actually more concerned with much bigger rock sounds. Cranking the guitars, Adam Thompsett and Craig Lockwood fill the chorus and beyond with a great, overdriven riff that almost sounds like an old glam rock number retooled by a massive sounding garage rock band. This should be enough to appeal to a broad spectrum of retro rock lovers, even though the lyrical hook is a little more simplistic than was perhaps necessary. What that means, of course, is that the number is almost guaranteed to find an audience in high spirits in the live set, and its rowdy approach – combined with a fiery lead guitar break – more than suggests The 355’s are a band with a really gutsy edge. There’s time enough for a little melody here too, since the middle eight drops into a quietly atmospheric moment or two with a more soulful vocal, and this really helps the knockabout number feel far more well rounded.