Night Dials – I’ve Done More Things/I’ll Sleep When I Die

From psych to garage rock, beat to pop; all the flavours of sixties rock ‘n’ roll are woven into the blend of nostalgia and modern invention crafted by UK band Night Dials and makes their debut single one feistily captivating proposition. A double A-sided offering from the West London based quintet, the encounter reeks of vintage influences and passions yet sits perfectly in the tapestry of modern music with a constant appetite for the old in its imagination. It might not be an entrance and release by Night Dials to set the UK music scene ablaze but with a thoroughly enjoyable presence it does insist that the band is firmly put on the radar.

Apparently leading up to the creation of the tracks making up the single, Night Dials recorded their first song I’ve Done More Things with Liam Watson at his legendary Toe Rag Studios, an environment decked out with pre-1969 equipment. A lack of money caused the recordings to be abandoned but led the band to a dingy cellar in a London pub where in a surrounding of “rattling wine bottles and kegs” they experimented, cultured, and subsequently recorded their first release. Cavernous and soaked in evocative reverb, the two songs emerging and making up the band’s first single thrust the imagination into decades past and the potent swing of current explorations and inventiveness. Recorded in the underground of London, the release is indeed pure underground rock ‘n’ roll, a proposition which captivates and lingers with organic potency.

     I’ve Done More Things instantly offers a thick fuzzy persuasion as jangly guitars collude with punchy beats within fizzy smog of sonic temptation. The vocals also make a quickly convincing entrance; their mellower effect wrapped tones an eager dance on ears whipping up imagination and appetite as easily as the more raucous sounds around them. The raw and sparse production only adds to the success and character of the song, its touch as much recalling the essence of sixties music and its recordings as the psychedelic breeze encasing the minimal but dramatic rhythms and the unfussy pop fuelling infectious melodies and the endeavour of the guitars.

It is a rich lure matched by the briefer but no less stirring adventure of I’ll Sleep When I Die. It opens with a magnetic embrace of echoing vocal harmonies and slim guitar enticing, their union building into a flirtatious stroll as new textures and sound join the almost nursery rhyme like charm of the song. The surf coated imagination of the guitars soon brings a richer climate and invention, the song even more irresistibly enthralling as it brews new hues in a senses inciting persuasion which is just a devilish mix of old and new spawned from a heart for the past.

Both songs leave an urge to know more about Night Dials and explore a sound which maybe can be best described as a union of The Yardbirds, The Sonics, Jesus and Mary Chain, and 13th Floor Elevators, but in the hands of Night Dials is something fresh and different again.

I’ve Done More Things/I’ll Sleep When I Die is available from June 22nd digitally and on 7” vinyl via Ciao Ketchup Recordings @ https://ciaoketchuprecordings.bandcamp.com/album/ive-done-more-things-ill-sleep-when-i-die

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

RingMaster 22/06/2015

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard on Reputation Radio @ http://www.reputationradio.net

 

Sara Lowes – The Joy Of Waiting

Photo Credit Emily Dennison

There is no other way of saying it, the voice of Sara Lowes is sheer mesmerism, an inescapable siren drawing the listener into adventures which musically transfixes ears and imagination just as potently. Her new album The Joy Of Waiting, is complete evidence of the fact, basking in these bewitching elements and in turn immersing the listener in charming and imaginatively charmed embraces. The successor to her acclaimed debut Back To Creation of 2011, The Joy Of Waiting is a quite simply a soul mate for anyone with a taste of melodic and harmonic alchemy.

Based in Manchester and North East bred, Lowes is the keyboardist in The Earlies and has working with the likes of Daniel Johnston, King Creosote, Jens Lakeman, Jim Noir, Jesca Hoop, and Dawn Landes on her CV. Her music draws on a diverse maze of flavours and styles, classically bred arrangements entwining and invigorating essences from progressive rock to pop, jazz to seventies psychedelia, and more besides. First album Back To Creation, as mentioned drew potent praise and support which The Joy Of Waiting can only emulate and reap greater rewards upon itself. Inspired by J.B Priestley, with a track using his name as a title, and looking at “observations on our perplexing relationships with time”, the lady’s new full-length is a spell of beauty and evocative reflections, and quite breath-taking.

The album’s title track starts things off and immediately is flirting with gypsy folk like strings which swirl provocatively around ears and emotions, their colourful expression joined by just as picturesque keys and melodies. There is a baroque like scent to the piece of music too, an older drama which wraps around the more fiery and sultry climate which emerges as the song continues revealing its heated landscape. Eventually the song drifts away and within a swift taking of a breath, the album swings straight back as Most Things and a riveting pop contagion which is soon dancing with the compelling tones of Lowes its puppeteer. The track is a ridiculously infectious kiss, a quite magnificent encounter courting sixties beat pop vivacity as fizzy tendrils of carnival-esque keys sport a creativity which reminds of The Stranglers Dave Greenfield.

Lowes has a voice which is hard to compare to another, though on the first songs and a few others tracks, she bears a resemblance to Brighton singer songwriter Cate Ferris, the following new single I Find You another blissful example. The song is a smoulder of thickly simmering melodies and enchanting harmonies over a great distortion kissed rhythmic tempting. Keys again bring psyche spinning enterprise to spice up the song’s enthralling canvas, whilst the ethereal radiance of voice and surrounding sweltering sounds merge like a mix of Solar Halos and The Capsules. It is pure creative majesty and has ears and appetite enslaved by the time it makes way for the courtly hug of JB Priestley. Lowes straight away has ears and pleasure cupped as orchestral spices back her sunny presence, the opening gentle lure a passage into a feistier but no less radiant stroll of warm jazz seeded pop catchiness. As across all songs, there is a tapestry of different flavours and styles colluding in their support of the vocals, each song as here, as unpredictable as it is immediately accessible and magnetic.

The intimate balladry of Bright Day smooches with the senses next, its refined texture and voice a warm glaze over ears, even if not quite igniting them as its predecessors do. That success, is sublimely achieved by Chapman Of Rimes, a seventies bloomed pop rock flight with celestial harmonies and bold hooks under a blaze of brass seduction, and even more so right after by the excellent With A Mirror. The opening lure of bass and keys with rolling rhythms is enough to seduce unbridled attention for the new song, helped all the more by the vocal hints which whisper within the sultry enticement and rays of brass bred sunshine which light up ears. Like being lost in your lover’s arms, the song strokes and infuses body and thoughts with a romancing croon of voice and sound. That alone would be enough to wax lyrical about the song but with unpredictable and superbly infused twists of ideation amidst wrong-footing turns, the song is a master-class in songwriting and aural theatre.

Given the hard task to follow such a triumph is Little Fishy, and it makes easy work of keeping enjoyment clasped. From a celestial yet intimate soundscape cast by wistful keys and harmonies, the song emerges as something akin to progressive rock and lounge/electro pop, weaving its own virulent aural carnival.

The quiet reflection of For The Seasons calms things down next, the captivation a haunting ballad with a 10CC breeze to its air, before Cutting Room Floor slips into ears and simply radiates elegance and beauty whilst adding further fascinating diversity and invention to The Joy Of Waiting. The song is a gorgeous soar of melodic enterprise setting up the listener enthusiastically for the final pair of songs which are seemingly placed in different order on the physical and digital copy of the album.

The Clock Plays It’s Game provides a melancholic temptation which blossoms with the dark and light suggestiveness of strings against the just as potent call of Lowes’ voice and classically dramatic keys. Maybe not as immediately impacting as other songs, it is a lingering kiss increasing its stature with every listen, whilst Horizons is a track which just lifts emotions and spirit with sublime craft and open relish. Its swirl of hooks and melodies is a gala of folk pop smiles and sixties pop merry making and quite sensational. Whether the last song on the album or not, we suggest you make it that anyway as you leave its company with a song in the heart and melodic manna in the ears, a remedy sure to cure all ills and chase away dark shadows, much like The Joy Of Waiting as a whole really.

The Joy Of Waiting is available now via Railings Records, digitally @ https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/the-joy-of-waiting/id963782296 and physically @ http://www.saralowes.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/SaraLowesMusic

RingMaster 25/02/2015

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard on Reputation Radio @ http://www.thereputationlabel.today

 

Jargon Party – Self Titled

The debut album from US band Jargon Party is an encounter which equally tests and tempts the senses, a proposition which concerns and spellbinds simultaneously. It is a release which maybe will not find a welcome with everybody though at its heart there is a seductive revelry and potency which refuses to relinquish its magnetic hold. The solo project and release of Zach Lewis, the album challenges and stimulates from start to finish, its sound heavily influenced by The Beatles and sixties pop whilst fusing plenty of invention and tasty flavours from indie to punk, surf to garage rock. Its biggest lure is the wonderful continuous drift of discord which soaks every aspect of the songs but its main and really only issue are the vocals of Lewis. Though successful at times his voice struggles with notes or vice versa, to defuse enough of the undoubted qualities of the songwriting and the generally thrilling sounds, something you can see putting many off before giving the release a chance. As it stands the album is an engaging and imagination feeding satisfaction but with a more accomplished singer it is easy to suggest the release would be stirring up passions and being talked about loudly.

Originally from Brooklyn and recently based on an Island off of Portland, Maine to record his new album, Lewis creates a lo-fi, garage feel to his sound which easily grabs ears and an healthy appetite. Jargon Party began around two years ago after Lewis moved to New York City aged 22 after years of playing in different live bands in Richmond, Virginia. The band was initially a six strong proposition before other projects and personal interests saw members leaving and the band dwindled down to a duo and subsequently just Lewis. A multi-instrumentalist, having learnt as many instruments as he could since a child, Lewis recorded his debut in his apartment and that of drummer Dave Charboneau who contributes to the album also. Released last year but still drawing in attention, as ours, the album parades openly the inspirations of the man, the likes of The Kinks, Arctic Monkeys, Of Montreal, Radiohead, Wolf Parade, and David Bowie adding to the loudest soak of the previously mentioned Liverpudlians.

Exploring ‘the ups and downs of life and love’, the album opens with Isabella a masterful romp of garage rock; sultry guitars entwining fab four like vocals whilst rhythms romp with a lively smile and mischievous suasion. The sixties lilt to the melodic stroll of the song and psyche teasing revelry to its touch makes an absorbing and exciting  start to the album, like a feisty mix of The Kingsmen, Thee Headcoats, and The Youth. Everything about the song is a contagious incitement bridging nostalgia and modern imagination to set the release and anticipation off in fine style. That heady expectation is soon well fed by the intriguing Internal Clock. The bass and guitar coax thoughts and emotions from the first second whilst delicious washes of discord providing unpredictable bait to devour eagerly. The effected wrapped vocals also add to the lure of the song, their touch shading the first signs that the vocals may be a weakness on the release. The wrong footing twang of the sonic designs continues to ignite a hunger towards the release, its confident and carefree provocation on ears and assumptions a very pleasing toxicity. With guest keys from Lydia Velichkovski adding to the mesmeric mayhem, Jargon Party keeps its initial grip firmly in place.

The following Lucy Melanie unveils a fifties rock ‘n’ roll swagger to its romp, vocals again cloaked in effects for the sixties pop bred dance though their hold on notes and harmonies begin to show signs of wear. Like the opener, the track slips easily through the ear musically offering garage rock seeded pop to breed very willing participation whilst the twists of discord and direction succeed with thoughts and satisfaction. The lo-fi, DIY touch of the production and recording also adds to the potency of this and all songs, its rawness hiding some of the sins and accentuating the nostalgia spawned voice of songs.

The smouldering croon of I Want to so Much embraces with appealing tempting, especially with the celestial twinkling of the keys though Lewis gives it too much to overcome with his delivery to match the previous tracks; it much the same with Surf Rock Anthem 7 though its opening provocation of dark moody basslines, crisp rhythms and punk guitar sets up an infectious incitement which persists across the whole of the undiluted garage punk dance.

The slow psychedelic pop of Giraffe fails to capture any real hold on the emotions, mainly because of those vocals again, though it takes corners and flavoursome turns which again shows the strong promise of Lewis and the project, whilst next up Under the Sun with its bluesy guitar flames and thick climactic melodic heat proves the enjoyable variety to the sounds bred in the album.

The release is completed by Will You Space Tonight and Sky Pilot, two tracks distinctly different to the others with further spatial investigation within psychedelically toned atmospheres and dream pop embraces. The first of the two is a decent enough flight whilst its successor thrills more with its evolving landscape which takes in scenery from progressive and psychedelic pop through to noise rock and eighties indie rock. It is a great end to a release which ultimately captivates with its excitable invention.

Vocally Lewis should reassess his options for greater success but musically Jargon Party, project and album, shows plenty to warrant being given proper attention.

https://www.facebook.com/JargonParty

http://jargonparty.bandcamp.com/album/jargon-party

7/10

RingMaster 04/04/2014

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

http://www.audioburger.com

 

Chantal Claret – The One, The Only…

by Anna-Franziska Milanollo

With big boned rhythmic seduction and even more tempting melodic suggestiveness, the debut album from Chantal Claret is one delicious romp of sixties pop and modern insatiable inventive hunger, a release which makes the term having a good time as a description seem rudely limiting. The former vocalist for the excellent Morningwood, Claret has crafted her own soulful and enchanting not forgetting vivacious sound, into a larger than life treat which brings femme-pop from five decades ago in a feisty and thrilling union with attitude drenched indie pop. Think Imelda May meets Brenda Lee with strong whispers of Wanda Jackson, Gwen Stefani, and at times essences of Brody Dalle’s Spinnerette, and you get the unique presence of Chantal Claret. The One, The Only… is an album which has feet and emotions pumping in time and passion with the forthright sounds it offers, a release which quite simply and persistently thrills with each and every enthralling note.

    The One, The Only… is something very different from anything Morningwood unveiled though there is still a visible thread between the two due to the stand alone vocals of Claret who arguably upon her first full length solo release has found an even richer and expansive depth to her tone and delivery. Following up the acclaimed Pleasure Seekers EP whose four tracks also grace this album, the new release dances with the passions and ear to send a rapture marauding through the body like a tide of raucous melodic energy which ebbs and flows yet never leaves anything less than captivated seduction roaming its presence.

The opening intro introduces the artist like you would have found at an authentic live performance or TV show of the sixties, or so my Dad told me… an audience excited and drooling as the artist takes her spot in their eager spotlight. It leads right into the muscular rhythms and initial crafty tease of Bite Your Tongue, a song which sways with devilment whilst coaxing the passions into its instantly infectious embrace. The rhythms continue to dominate from the drums and bass, even in its quietest lure, whilst the keys add smokey whispers to stand side by side with the blaze of horns. It is a terrific start with a female snarl and wile to its magnetic temptation.

The thrilling start continues with Pleasure Seekers, a track which has the fire of the band of the same name in the sixties and the gentle pop artfulness of Nancy Sinatra, through the contagious Pop Pop Bang Bang and on to This Time. The second of the trio is one of the highest pinnacles, its arrival on a nursery rhyme like coaxing opening moving into a riveting stroll of woman scorned devilry with accompanying violent intent. Not the most involved song in its construction but certainly the most dramatically mesmeric and energetic, the track enlists the listener into its revengeful mischief with enigmatic craft and arcane breath. The third of the trio leads the senses into a wealth of bulging rhythms and enchanted melodies coated in a sinister design which sparks an ardour as potent as the sacrificial seduction of a siren, both inescapable and unrelenting.

Arguably there is a constant surface shine and glow to the songs which shades the variety at work initially but with songs like the Crystals/Yeah Yeah Yeahs prompting No Love Lost and the Aretha Franklin/Gwen Stefani call to arms of Real Girls and their curves and swerves, any similarity in the coating is soon dispelled with their individual voices, the latter of these two a hip hop/pop fusion which makes it impossible not to hungrily enlist in its cause.

Further flames of pleasure come with the fifties gaited Black Widow, a song which is as tricky as it is insatiable, its aural tongue licking its lips as it seizes the heart with the appetite of its subject. The Mari Wilson sounding Honey Honey stands alongside the song as another real high point its sixties energetic kiss from keys and passionate vocals leaving thoughts and emotions into unbridled mischief before handing over to the excellent Song For The Sinners, the best song on the album. It stomps with guileful invitation and addictive charisma whilst the licking flames of the again irresistible horns incite further temptation into its cute yet dangerous heart.

The One, The Only… is an outstanding album which guarantees nothing but full and breath-taking pleasure, and who could want to share those moments with anyone other than the temptress Chantal Claret.

http://chantalclaret.com/

9/10

RingMaster 03/04/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

http://www.audioburger.com

Storm & The Dales: Delusions Of Grandeur EP

Bringing a lively slice of melodic indie folk with a breath borne from the sixties, Delusions Of Grandeur, the new EP from UK band Storm & The Dales, makes for a release which fires up the imagination whilst unlocking a well of future promise. The five tracks which make up the release bring a strong variety to their imaginative presences and though some moments elevate to greater heights than others, the EP triggers good emotions and thoughts with accomplished ease.

Storm & The Dales is the solo project of Dublin based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Dean Smyth, a musician who has reaped years of live music experience to bring a full and emotive depth to his songs. His experiences from a wealth of collaborations with other artists around the world has also added to and shaped his songwriting for a distinctive body to his music and lyrical creativity. The Delusions Of Grandeur EP is the perfect evidence, a collection of tracks which approach relationships lyrically and ideas musically with a shapely design to their essences.

The release opens with It’s Not Me It’s You and takes no time in holding the attention of ear and mind. The song has a distinct sixties swagger to its strong heart, the pop lightness a warm caress over the ear. The vocals of Smyth unveil the passionate tale with a delivery as emotive as the guitar play and easily outweigh the less than appealing harmonies which poke their noses in once or twice. It is a minor quibble in the context of the song their inadequacies lost in the shadow of the lean yet heated elegance of the track brought with a keen and expressive breath.

The good start is surpassed by the excellent Heart And Soul, a song which captures the imagination from its very first sweep of cymbal and contagious beats. Accompanied by a smouldering ambience to match the tender guitar, all the elements within the song combine to lay a shimmering haze of melodic seduction behind the again open vocals of Smyth, whilst the hypnotic teasing of the track breaks into moments of fiery imagination to leave extra  psychedelic trails across its skies and deepen the enthralling engagement. It is a rewarding encounter rarely matched in the rest of the release.

The Boy Who Cried Wolf is a song which feels very familiar without arguably offering anything recognisable, though again the sixties whispers leads all thoughts. It is a more than decent song which leaves plenty of incentive to check out more of the melodic enterprise from the band whilst itself offering a pleasing engagement within the ear.  The sharp guitar play is the highlight of the track whilst parts of the vocals harmonies again fall short of personal preferences but with no real damage to the appeal of the song.

The same cannot be said of Bad Little Girl, the one time the EP failed to ignite any real positivity. The song is an uncomplicated acoustic based slice of pop which recalls the likes of Herman’s Hermits to name one sixties band, but with its shallow production and depth as well as substance lacking vocals it just does not inspire any real reaction, something the impressive No Love does with skill and sure captivation. The closing track is a mesmeric slice of emotive grandeur big on atmosphere and passion. The dramatic piano expression evokes numerous thoughts and feelings whilst the unexpected sonic tinkering unbalances those mental assumptions and emotions wonderfully. It is a heavyweight song encapsulating the craft and distinct thought of the songwriting from Smyth and with Heart And Soul, surely is the direction the artist should pursue to greater acclaim and recognition such their power and craft.

Delusions Of Grandeur though not without a few flaws, is a release which engages the senses and future expectations with strength and imaginative style. The production could have been better to beef up the less powerful parts and further spark passion for those that work very well, but for the main the songs elevate themselves beyond their limitations to declare Storm & The Dales as a project to follow keenly and closely.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Storm-The-Dales/255002084546214

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/delusions-of-grandeur-ep/id573344864

RingMaster 19/11/2012

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright