Tag Archives: stream

KPT – Claw EP

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During 2020, when the world was in turmoil and a lot of musicians and gig goers were feeling socially lost, KPT (pronounced “Kept”) delivered a record that felt suitably dark and befitting of the time. ‘Big Witch’ jumped between electronic genres, sharing soundscapes that blended deep drone (‘Lament’), heady beats (‘Untamed’), and even ventured into into industrial sounds (‘Second Thoughts’). The relatively minimalist album really came into its own, though, when KPT explored some wonderfully bleak soundscapes that evoked ominous sounding film scores. It wasn’t the kind of album you’d necessarily pull off the shelf every day, but within its half hour playing time, it offered some enjoyable instrumental noise when approached in the right – suitably detached – frame of mind.

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DRAGON WELDING – The Naughty Step

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In terms of musical invention, Dragon Welding’s self titled debut from 2019 was a very interesting record. The duo mixed genres with glee: ‘The Builders’ hit the audience with a huge post-punk riff; ‘One Miserable Summer’ flaunted a lo-fi indie sound; ‘Join The Dots’ took the rock-centric core and applied that to a fuzzy backdrop that sounded like a Queens of The Stone Age cast off, and ‘Lament For Common Sense’ closed everything with a seven minute experimental drone owing a little more to Krautrock. Not that any of this prepared their audience for the sonic experiments that would follow. 2021’s completely instrumental ‘Lights Behind The Eyes’ took in elements of post-rock (‘Liquid’), the intricacies of California Guitar Trio (the brilliant title track) and even something that sounded like Mike Oldfield in a very bad mood (‘On’).

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THE LEMON DROP GANG – Leave The World Behind / Let The World Stay

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On a couple of singles released in 2023, Tucson’s The Lemon Drop Gang cemented their very retro sound on tracks that melded garage rock with surf, and roughly hewn 60s pop with an obvious love of Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound. Nobody would ever have called the results perfect, but to expect perfection from a band such as this would be to miss the point, since The Lemon Drop Gang champion a fun aesthetic and they deliver a raw sound that – if you’re into it – can thrill purely because of its imperfections.

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RICHARD EVANS – Quantum

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When it comes to applying retro synth melodies to compositions that still hold up decades after some their 80s influences have long faded, the work of Richard Evans is hard to beat. His 2023 EP ‘Dream of The World’ brought the classic elements of Jean Michel Jarre and Tangerine Dream’s mid 80s soundtrack works into the then present, and by dropping in a few nods to very early Depeche Mode along the way, the short release also felt a little more lyrical and accessible in a “pop” sense. Part of its appeal also came from the brevity of the release: three songs was enough to get the measure of a great artist, but didn’t allow anything to feel repetitive.

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FVZZ POPVLI – Melting Pop

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When it comes to stoner influenced sounds, Italian band Fvzz Popvli aren’t afraid of mixing things up a little. On their third album (the prosaically titled ‘III’, released in March 2023), their distorted, Orange Goblin-esque blueprint came with a few very welcome twists. ‘Post Shit’ took a layer of stoner fuzz and placed it across a high octane number that celebrated the spirit of garage punk; the percussive ‘Monnoratzo’ shared some fairly typical stoner rock guitar sounds and a busy Geezer Butler inspired bassline, but injected the usual tropes with more of a Latin American groove, sounding like an uneasy blend of Fu Manchu and Santana, and – perhaps best of all – ‘The Last Place of Shame’ worked a massive chorus to its advantage, with a melody that sounded more like a Britpop throwback from Shed Seven than the expected Sabbath and Corrosion of Conformity influences usually found at the heart of the genre’s usual fare.

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