The Scaners – II

Mar18

It is hard to believe that it has been over a year since the debut album from French cosmic punks The Scaners was unleashed; feeling like it was just yesterday mainly we guess because since its release it has barely taken more than a deep breath away from our speaks here at The RR. It was one of the major infestations of 2018 and is about to be joined by this year’s matching virus in the shape of the bands succinctly titled second full-length, II.

As with the first release, we are on board the intergalactic vessel Scaner with the Lyon based band, careering from planet to star, from stratospheric mystery to extra-terrestrial house party amidst a soundtrack bred on sonic hooks and scuzz punk antics. In many ways it is more of the same of that which made the first album so irresistible but within a few breaths there is no escaping a fresh wind of flavour, imagination, and creative devilment at play within the mischievously virulent II.

Recorded as the first full-length with Lo Spider and mastered by Jim Diamond the new adventurer in space instantly had the body bouncing and vocal chords hollering as first track, Please Abduct Me opened up its thrusters and declared its plea. Its first breath brings an eager surge of guitar amidst the swirling breeze of keys, boisterous rhythms in close company as the track flies through ears. The vocals of organist Pav are just as magnetic, backed by the equally tempting tones of the rest of the band. A slice of incorrigible power pop fuelled garage punk the track is superb, straight away putting album and listener in the keen frame of mind to go galaxy stomping.

Catch Up With A UFO follows, launching on a delicious rhythmic incitement from drummer BX which quickly leads to an adrenaline soaked stomp shaped by the guitar of DD and temptingly coloured by the dark shadows of Tama’s bass and the ever persuasive vocals of Pav and co. Navigating its flight through swinging gravitational debris, delinquent twists and turns further equip the inescapable greed casting bait of the song before the album lands at Random City 2099. A fuzzy slab of garage rock nurtured synth punk, the song is a magnetic shimmer of theremin and organ nurtured seduction across jangling guitar and rapacious beats and far too easy to devour to be good for one.

There was no running for cover as Mars Attacks descended on ears next, its aggressive bubblegum animation as feral as it is predatory with a Ramones meets Phenomenauts teasing sweeping the conflict while within the gamma ray hued Space X-Ploration, escape is a controlled but inexorable release of hips and greed within the song’s lunar contamination.

Through the sonic trajectory of Galactic Race the body became even more of a puppet to the band’s devious strings, so much so that an instinctive bounce did not relax even as it drifted off into the distance though that was as much down to the synth pop ‘n’ roll virulence of the following X-Ray Glasses as the teasing wake of its predecessor.

Then as Spin Like A Record brought an already breathless body to the boil with its insatiably anthemic punk ‘n’ roll clamour and Don’t Run, We’re Your Friends had it leaping around like a whirling dervish on hi-octane radiation, lust exploded from every pore. Fair to say The Scaners was already a band we had bred ardour for but by this point it was bordering on the illicit and only intensified by the ear stalking almost primal threat of No Panic, No Stress and the communicable untamed catchiness of the glorious Pesticide Kids, both infiltrated by pestering hooks and scuzz dusted melodic temptation.

Completed by the event horizon that is Run DD Run, its gravitational pull a trap few would wish to escape or not give up inhibitions for. A final pandemic of the band’s unique infective rock ‘n’ roll; it is a blistering and thrilling end to a quite sensational album.

Ok we were already on the biased side going into The Scaners sophomore album but still not prepared for its extragalactic invasion. If there is life out there and it resembles The Scaners we are in!!

II is released 29th March via Dirty Water Records with pre-ordering available now @ https://thescaners.bandcamp.com/album/the-scaners-ii

Upcoming live dates include…

Mar 29 Meteoro, Barcelona, Spain

Mar 30 Fun House, Madrid, Spain

Apr 20 Attica Club, Ponferrada, Spain

May 31 Le Nadir / Friche Culturelle De L’antre-peaux, Bourges, France

https://www.facebook.com/thescaners/

Pete RingMaster 15/03/2019

The Setbacks – Meet Me At The Blue Bridge

Mar18

A handful of weeks back saw the release of Meet Me At The Blue Bridge, the new album from Grand Rapids, MI based band, The Setbacks. It was a release born from a devastating moment in the bands creator’s world; a raw and honest encounter which bares its heart in emotion and rock ‘n’ roll.

The Setbacks was started by vocalist/guitarist Lucy Ernst who soon recruited Slumlord Radio vocalist/guitarist Tommy Erickson on bass and Brent Riva of The Holy Warheads on drums to complete her project. Their first offering is dedicated to Gym Young, Ernst’s long-time boyfriend, soul mate and musician partner who passed away and deals with loss and the recovery from it. Across its eights tracks, Meet Me At The Blue Bridge also uncages some feisty bordering on the gnarly rock ‘n’ roll; a potent force within songs which with their open emotions and contemplation suggests it all provided a truly cathartic release for its creators.

The album opens with Downfall and immediately flexes its muscle and groove as guitar and bass swing with the lively beats of Riva. Nagging hooks are just as freely offered around the vocal lure of Ernst, the song revelling in its dirty rock with a tint of punk character while all the time teasing and tempting as ears and attention were swiftly grabbed.

The following Slaughterhouse Orchid equally releases an appetite niggling hook from the off, Ernst’s guitar curving itself around the senses with devious intent as rhythms add their own infectious gait to the quickly enticing encounter. There is a great wonkiness to the song, an off-kilter edge recalling the days of old school UK punk which just as eagerly infests the vocals before it all makes way for the album’s title track. Sauntering with a certain swagger the song serenades with a roar in a reflecting voice as melodic flames rise around its blues lined hard rock wrapped thoughts. Though it does not quite match up to its predecessors, the song is a magnetic listen but soon eclipsed by the addictive antics of Closer to the Middle. Once more an infernal groove bred hook got under the skin with swift and keen relish as vocals and rhythms create their own eagerly catchy lures; together creating an impossible to ignore mixture which is just as crafty within the otherwise individual fiery rock ‘n’ roll of next up Watch it Burn.

Reflecting on those hooks and grooves springing from the guitar across the album there is something akin to Devo going post punk/noise rock with Starsha Lee in close attention about them and in full captivation within next up Broken Teeth. With an unscrupulous swing and flirty swagger to its gait, the track is a feral temptress which as the album just gets more inescapable by the listen.

A Pretenders like hue wraps Inside Out straight after, it a song which did not quite grab ears as those before but is a strongly intriguing proposal adding to the strength of the release before another highlight closes things up. One Kiss is the one song created by Ernst and Gym Young, an acoustic affair soaked in off-centre beauty as melodies share dissonant charm. The track is as compelling and cracked as an image in a shattered mirror and just as rich an incitement to the imagination with keys only adding to its haunting romance.

It is a glorious end to a release which just blossoms play by play. It might not fall as easily on the ears of some but for those with a hunger for disturbed melodies, aberrant but viral rock ‘n’ roll, and heart bred openness Meet Me at the Blue Bridge should be explored.

Meet Me at the Blue Bridge is out now; available @ https://thesetbacksgr.bandcamp.com/album/meet-me-at-the-blue-bridge

https://www.facebook.com/pg/thebluebridgegr

Pete RingMaster 15/03/2019

Push! – Dark Dive

Mar9

Exploring music is the most rewarding adventure but equally a truly frustrating one when discovering a band or sound which has been around for a fair if not long time but only now coming to personal attention. Portuguese hardcore outfit Push! is one such proposition; a band which has been viciously roaring away for a handful of years and drawing potent acclaim along the way but only crossing our radar now with new album Dark Dive, a rousing beast of sonic ferocity and unbridled rage.

Hailing from Lisbon, Push! has forged a strong reputation and lured rich praise from their live presence alone which over time has seen them share stages with the likes of Madball, Strife, Backtrack, Brutality Will Prevail, Sworn Enemy, Devil In Me, and For The Glory as well as play several major festivals in Portugal. 2014 saw the release of debut album Breathe In The Future Breathe Out The Past, a release making a strong introduction to the young band and laying the seeds for its stronger well-received voracious successor, This Is Cruel. This Is Life. two years later. Now the Stu Mckay (Malevolence, Brutality Will Prevail) mastered Dark Dive sees the band’s sound and songwriting at a whole new maturity, prowess, and indeed ferocity as greater and richer metal, groove and thrash amongst them, and punk flavours infest their hardcore instincts.

A compelling Intro sees the album rising to its predacious feet, the instrumental an untamed yet controlled, indeed devious web of grooves and riffs leading listener into the waiting scourge of Free At Last. Instantly the irascible throat of vocalist Nuno Cruz unleashes its ire whilst heading the equally choleric strains and riffs of the united guitars of Ricardo Servo and Roberto Cebolas. Just as swiftly an infectious strain of intent grips sound and emotion, a riling up of both which got under the skin with viral efficiency and trespass.

The great start is quickly backed up by Denial And Envy, a track led through ears by the senses clipping beats of Ricardo Aleixo before unleashing a tide of sonic and emotional irritability. Imaginative hooks and grooves line the cantankerous sounds exploring the speakers, Push! already showing themselves as dab and imaginative hands at spinning the most devious and persuasive kind, while gang and individual vocals only incited keener attention as the bass of André Paiva enticingly groans and menacingly growls alongside it all.

Through the album’s resourcefully fractious title track and the following carnivorous prowl of Pitfall, the increasingly addictive Dark Dive reveals greater unpredictability and invention. Both tracks are as feral as they are imaginatively and zealously grumpy, neither sharing a moment which does not keep you on your toes, nothing expected or uneventful shared before a breath is allowed through Left With Memories, an instrumental thick in intrigue and intimation woven by guitars.

Paiva’s bass provides a bestial lure to the following With Love; classic metal flavours wrapping the instant predatory tone and motion of the song before all traits expand in a cross-grained punk metal incursion. In some ways it is not as immediate a real temptation as others around it but in just as many it is one of the most magnetic moments within Dark Dive. It then makes way for the senses stalking exploits of Cuffed To Yourself, a voracious pursuit of the senses and appetite which in turn departs to allow the similarly predatory touch and inclinations of Ground Floor to bare irresistible enterprise.

It is hard to honestly pick out a true favourite from the eleven tracks making up Dark Dive such the prowess and devious antics of all but next up Keep Silent offers plenty to be considered with regularity, the track a barbarous but anthemic call impossible to ignore specially when it too turns to hounding the listener like a bloodthirsty beast.

The album closes up with Procrastinate, a final slice of ruthless incitement and emotive ire unafraid to embrace old school metal wiring, thrash rapacity, and punk causticity to its hardcore raging. It is a potent end to a simply outstanding release from Push!, the kind of record to thrust the band into much bigger spotlights we expect and hope; Dark Dive certainly deserves that success.

Dark Dive is out now; available @ https://pushhc.bigcartel.com/ and https://pushhc.bandcamp.com/album/dark-dive

https://www.facebook.com/pushhc/

Pete RingMaster 08/03/2019

Skinny Girl Diet – Ideal Woman

Feb16

Ever since the release of their striking and plaudit grabbing debut album of 2016, there has been an instinctive anticipation for a great many for the Skinny Girl Diet follow-up and not just for their sound but the rage, irritability, and bold attacks on life and values it is fuelled by. They are verbal trespasses feeling increasingly rare in modern music surrounded in a sound just as full of dissonance and unapologetic displeasure but it all giving the opposite. It is a combination easily ensuring Ideal Woman as suggested was eagerly awaited and now here destined to be declared one of the truly stirring encounters of this year.

Since the release of the acclaimed Heavy Flow, London hailing Skinny Girl Diet has reduced from three down to the founding duo of Delilah and Ursula Holiday, vocals/guitar and drums respectively. It is a move which has done nothing to quench the hunger and anger in their music; a proposition bred from the voracious attitude drenched essences of punk, grunge and dirty rock ‘n’ roll but not truly settling into any particular bed of sound. Ideal Woman is a richer palette of that mix; bolder in imagination, songwriting and flavouring as it impressively builds on the potent potential of its predecessor.

If noise annoys, then Skinny Girl Diet will be winding up a great many but it is a creative clamour nurtured on invention, passion, and honesty. As much as it pours scorn on the parade of ills inflicted upon modern society Ideal Woman is just as harsh and abrasive on the apathy around them while musically it just sung on the senses and appetite with matching imagination, instantly making a strong and alluring start with opener La Sirena. From its initial doomy prowl of guitar and slowly rolling beats, the track crawled over the senses, Delilah’s swiftly joining vocals harmonic but carrying an instinctive and never far from the surface snarl. A slice of untamed rock ‘n’ roll, it is primal flirtation and an irresistible introduction to the organic tension and enterprise of Ideal Woman.

Witch Of The Waste follows bringing a bluesy sigh and subsequent swing to bear on ears and a quickly embracing appetite. As with the first, there is a predacious hue to the track even as it dances with grooves and toxic melodies, fully captivating before making way for the similarly voracious if more controlled Shed Your Skin. Though not exactly in sound, there is something of a mix of The Slits and The Raincoats to the song aligning with its own individual and devilish lo-fi grooving and devious hookery.

There is no denying that the opening trio had us hooked but a snare ensuring full slavery with the album’s title track. It is a delicious slice of soulful temptation and melodic indie pop intimation boiling up to a fuzz pool of rock ‘n’ roll as unpredictable as it is enthralling. The best track within Ideal Woman, the song was pure captivation though quickly rivalled by the capricious drama and exploits of Human Zoo. Seduction and trespass collude across its equally absorbing trespass, the new adventure in the Skinny Girl Diet composing and sound in full blossom within both tracks and indeed next up, Starfucker. It too makes a calm yet slightly unnerving entrance; a tinge of portentousness lining the melody of guitar and Ursula’s mercurially edged rhythms. Delilah’s voice similarly has a volatile lining which breaks ranks rather than erupts across another rich highlight of the release.

Through the vacillating scuzz soaked saunter of Western Civilisation and the post punk teasing antics of the outstanding Outsider, satisfaction and pleasure continued to draw lusty returns while Timing and Golden with their respective Au Pairs-esque seducing turning rowing with the senses and instinctive volatility pretty much left a want for nothing.

The closing stretch of the album ensures it bows out as potently as it burst in; Warrior Queens leading off in confrontational style with defiance soaking word and the soiled causticity of its ear rapping sound. Its full cacophony is followed by the just as sonically and emotionally dissenting White Man where a Distillers like vehemence adds to its inherent pull.

Clickbait concludes the pleasure, preying on the listener with carnivorous beats and wolfish chords then breaking into a rabid punk grunge assault enhanced by Delilah’s ever alluring blend of harmonic coaxing and snarling tetchiness.

It is a rousing end to a release which just grows more stirring and impressive by the listen. Ideal Woman is prickly and fractious rock ‘n’ roll wrapped in a weave of imagination which has no interest in being anything other than honest and unique incitement all should risk infection by.

Ideal Woman is available now digitally and on vinyl through HHBTM Records.

https://www.facebook.com/skinnygirldiet/ https://twitter.com/skinnygirldiett/

Pete RingMaster 12/02/2019

Sofy Major – Total Dump

Jan31

Sofy Major is a leviathan of sound and trespass which persistently erupts from a noise fuelled creative lair with releases which for us have pretty much left contemporaries in their tempest and turbulence. Three previous albums have as good as decimated the prowess and adventure of other ear rewarding encounters around at the time and with Total Dump, the French trio has done it again Their new full-length is in many ways their most accessible and flirtatious offering yet but equally their most voracious and imposing not forgetting irresistible slab of noise and hardcore infested, metal lined rock ‘n’ roll.

The successor to the outstanding Waste of 2015, which itself eclipsed the thrilling Idolize unleashed two years earlier, the Dave Curran (UNSANE, Big Business) produced Total Dump is a contagion of abusive yet flirtatious noise and bruising but virulently captivating force and imagination. It is predatory irritable rock ‘n’ roll from start to finish with an eager taste in contagious and invasive enterprise. Opening up with its title track, the album immediately reveals its bestial side, the track prowling the senses with the carnivorous claws of Mathieu Moulin’s bass locked onto the senses as his more welcoming vocals align with the raw flames and tendrils of Thomas Dantil’s guitar. It is a preying of ears and imagination which never diminishes in threat and temptation however it evolves, a trespass driven by the menacing swings of drummer Mathieu Desternes that equally escalate in infernal virulence and captivation as individual and united enterprise breeds fresh twists and sonic commination.

The compelling start is only accentuated, indeed built upon by next up Giant Car Crash; a collision with the senses which had us bouncing as much as cowering before its flirtatious and barbarous intent. Voraciously feral and inhumanly infectious, the track devoured body and passions with unquenchable hunger leading to lustful responses before Cream It uncages its rapacious crawl to trespass the senses and melodic irreverence to seduce an already greedy appetite. The kind of proposition which offers a warm welcome whilst ruining the foundations to your sanity, the glorious track is a manipulative mix of viral noise with an appetite for clamorous untamed pop.

As the ravenously viral rock punk ‘n roll throes of Strike and the post punk embracing devilry of The Jerk infested and seduced ears with unruly dexterity, Total Dump just stretched its landscape of esurient intent and fevered invention. Both tracks are as mercilessly catchy as they are unapologetically invasive, that greater accessibility to the band’s sound in full bloom just as much its acclaimed creative villainy is merciless, and traits just as thrilling within next up Shinny Happy Asshole, a venomously swinging, deviously contagious but inescapably corruptive slice of unscrupulous enterprise.

Through the slow hunt of the senses that is Franck Butthole; a cancer of sound which just ignites the imagination, and the unbroken antics of Tumor O Rama it is impossible to say attention and pleasure wavered, the total opposite in truth up against their combined sonic punk infection fuelled scourges while Kerosine Mike n turn just trapped and enslaved with ursine-esque power and intimidation whilst brewing up its own melodically toxic strain of bewitching rock ‘n’ roll.

Completed by the senses ravishing, violently bouncing exploits of Panamarama, it one the album’s most magnificent moments, and the sonically consumptive, caustically alluring tempest of The Longest Yard, there was and is no diminishing of the ardour we bred and hold for Total Dump. Without any doubt despite the glories of the past, it provides the greatest, most thrilling time with Sofy Major yet but also is set to send a shiver through the world of noise in any form as those within wonder how they can compete with its voracious triumph.

Total Dump is out now via Deadlight Records on CD and Antena/Corpse Flower on Vinyl.

http://www.sofymajor.com https://www.facebook.com/sofymajor

Pete RingMaster 30/01/2019

David Alpha – Rockin’ Roulette EP

Jan31

As he prepares and works on his new album, US singer songwriter David Alpha recently unveiled the Rockin’ Roulette EP, a retrospective compilation bringing together two of the most potent cuts of previous full-length Sacrilege 2.0. They are songs that highlight the punk and rock richness in his music whilst providing a strong tempting for what comes next from the Florida hailing artist.

Former lead singer and songwriter of The Fons, Alpha resumed his solo career in 2014 after time off studying and a short-lived part in a new band he formed. With tracks rattling around in his imagination, he soon released Sacrilege 2.0 which drew strong attention and praise.

As the EP opener, Scarilege casts its roar it is not hard to understand why. Seeing Alpha linking up with Dead Kennedys guitarist East Bay Ray, the song instantly bounces along on a lively riff. It is a lure which soon catches flame as Alpha’s vocals alongside scheming rhythms rise from a relative calm to fevered irritability. Instinctively catchy as it bites and hollers, the song is a slice of prime punk rock which maybe does not boldly surprise but is openly fresh and infectious around a taunting bassline which just as eagerly captivates.

The following Jeans grabbed ears here even more swiftly with punk ‘n’ roll carrying a broader flavouring than within its companion though if not providing the same snarling bite. That is replaced by richer imagination catching twists and turns as Alpha vocally and musically teases and taunts ears and the world. It is that adventurous trait though which elevates it from a strong to great song, its unpredictable moments ensuring it really stands out from the throng..

Together both songs make for a highly enjoyable outing and for newcomers introduction to David Alpha, each sharing potential which will surely flourish in his forthcoming releases.

The Rockin’ Roulette EP is available now @ https://davidalpha.bandcamp.com/album/rockin-roulette

https://www.davidalpha.net

Pete RingMaster 30/01/2019

She Made Me Do It – Drenched

Jan30

pic by @dcmusicvideos

There is nothing better than an encounter which immediately enthrals attention and appetite but is only scratching at the depths of temptation and adventure within. The Drenched EP from She Made Me Do It is one such offering; a release which instantly had ears pricked and the body bouncing but was just revealing the seeds to blossoming levels of imagination and seduction.

The four track release is another in a long line of rich enticement from the duo of Shaheena Dax (Rachel Stamp) and Will Crewdson (Rachel Stamp, Adam Ant, Scant Regard, The Selecter, Bow Wow Wow, Flesh For Lulu) and one of the pairs’ most deviously tempting offerings. From start to finish it is a magnetic almost teasing fusion of dark shadows and elegant radiance bound in an equally rich mix of punk, new wave, post punk and alternative rock adventure. The successor to their 2017 album, The Frantic Legion, the compelling exploits of Drenched sees the band’s sound even more defined yet bolder in its adventure and tapestry of flavours. Through the captivation and intimation of Dax’s golden yet often almost portentously lined vocals and the descriptive yet rousingly tenacious antics of Crewdson’s guitar to the suggestive caresses and intriguing shimmers of their keys, She Made Me Do It create a captivating web to immerse in and dance with.

Produced by Crewdson and with Joe Holweger providing drums, Drenched opens up with the swiftly irresistible Bones. Straightaway post punk tendrils escape Crewdson’s guitar, their clinging hues something akin to the claws cast in the past by the likes of Leitmotiv and Sex Gang Children. Escalating these lures by the second, the track builds into a lumbering but lively stroll where Dax soon springs her own potent temptation as bass and drums steer the dark throes of the song’s canter; the punk hues of guitar only adding to its anthemic and equally predacious swing. Inescapably infectious but with that great edge of danger and intimidation, the song, as indeed the EP, needed a mere play to get under the skin and only burrowing, deeper and deeper thereon in.

The following Broken Morning is a just as skilful manipulator of ears and appetite even as it instantly reveals a much warmer and calmer nature. That is no chain to an instinctive catchiness and creative eagerness though, the song devilishly impossible to resist joining in with especially when faced with one contagion laded chorus and again a swinging energy which enlivens the body and spirit of song and listener alike. There is something, if right now indefinably, familiar to the track but a hue which only adds to its compelling design and persuasion.

Ashes is next up, electronic pulses gently but firmly resonating before the dirtier breath of the bass joins up quickly followed by the similarly beckoning strains of guitar and voice. A song which relishes its electro pop instincts as fully as its rock ‘n’ roll heart, it offers a tapestry of flavours and creative twists, all as unpredictable as the track is unsurprising in its voracious zeal and stirring enterprise.

The release ends with the melodically celestial beauty of Time, a song of intimate and spatial elegance over an earthbound spine that just as easily ignites the imagination as the siren-esque flight above. It is a hauntingly mesmeric conclusion to a release which as we said just grows more impressive and tantalisingly by the listen. It is a heavier, more guitar driven rocker than predecessors but equally richer in its melodic and broad weave of flavours and adventure; a must in anyone’s book.

The Drenched EP is out February 1^st on Catranstic Records with pre-ordering available @ https://shemademedoit.bandcamp.com/album/drenched-e-p and https://shemmdi.com/store