Lucy And The Rats – Self Titled

There are some things which are simply bred for temptation, propositions instinctively natured to lure like sirens. Among their numbers is the debut album from Lucy And The Rats. Deceptively unassuming but one virulent contagion, the release is an irresistible slice of pop punk with a snarl in its heart and the most disarming melodies and harmonies on its breath like a winning blend of The Shirelles, Honey Bane, and Spinnerette.

Lucy And The Rats is the new band from now UK based singer/guitarist Lucy Spazzy, formerly one third of Australian punksters The Spazzys. Once settled in London in 2015, she set about assembling a new band being “bored of playing at home by herself”, subsequently linking up with guitarist Joe To Lose (Los Perros, Johnny Throttle), bassist Mike Cannibal (Animal Cannibal), and drummer Manu (Thee Tumbitas). A pair of ear grabbing singles followed as the band made a stir on the live scene in the Capitol, in turn nationally and all over the world sharing stages with the likes of Buzzcocks and Paul Collins along the way. Produced by Johnny Casino and Jim Diamond (White Stripes, Dirtbombs), their first album is an inescapable tap on the shoulder of the broadest attention and recognition, a sweet sounding proposition so so easy to run off with.

Opening up with Pills, the album instantly had ears attentive and the body rocking. Soon the song strolls along with a summery glaze over eager catchiness as hooks collude with flirtatious riffs and rhythms. There is a whiff of The Shirts to the track as its heart embraces the instincts of pop and rock ‘n’ roll around the magnetic presence and tone of Spazzy.

The following Make You Mine wears a similar hue of sound but quickly reveals its own personality and The Waitresses meets The Crystals like temptation. Again feet were keenly shuffling and hips swinging as melodies seduced hand in hand with golden harmonies but all the while a punk edge stirs accentuated by the wiry enterprise of the guitars, they repeating that taunting prowess in next up Lose My Mind. Imposingly infectious, the song suggested involvement within seconds, manipulating it a few breaths later much to the lusty pleasure returned.

The likes of the surf kissed seduction that is So Simple, a mellow kiss on ears with the melodic smooch of The Dollyrots and rapacious touch of Valentiine, and the pop bouncing Melody just devour attention while the viral shadows of the bass grumbling Night simply danced with the imagination as the song took hold of the waist. It is truly hard to pick a favourite song within the album, all three among the options but the third makes an especially compelling statement.

Through Fall our passions pretty much echo their ardour as it swings with flirtatious grace and mischief, next up Hold On Me emphasising similar manipulation with rolling rhythms and deceptively controlled yet rousing energy with Spazzy tempting like a pop punk conjuring Pauline Murray. All three just leave a greed for much more, the latter laying on the temptation with some great hooks out of the Only Ones songbook, before Girl saunters along without a care in the world sharing the kind of creative snare addiction was invented for.

The album closes with Can’t Surf; a fifties inspired pop ’n’ roll romp which may have lost the heart for hitting the waves but had us riding its enterprising currents with zeal. The track is a thrilling end to one glorious encounter. Lately we have found pop punk to be a touch vacant on real uniqueness and though Lucy And The Rats have a sound which is much more flavoursome than that tagging, their album is the  fresh and inspiring breath within both pop and punk, indeed rock ’n’ roll we have been yearning for.

The Lucy And The Rats debut album is out May 25^th digitally with Dirty Water Records and on vinyl through Surfin’ Ki Records, Monster Zero Records, and Stardumb Records.

https://lucyandtherats.bandcamp.com/  https://www.facebook.com/Lucy-and-the-Rats-817424101645809/

Pete RingMaster 23/05/2018

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Baronen & Satan – Why Does The Blood Never Stick To Your Teeth? / Satan Is A Lady

As each year passes it seems harder to find something truly unique to feast upon so those encounters which do carry that special character make a most striking impact and hopefully temptation. The sound of Swedish outfit Baronen & Satan magnificently fits that claim and hope, its nature a psyche twisting trespass and voice a senses searing incitement which together go to make one glorious seduction on body and imagination.

Though formed in 2014 after guitarist Philippe Jean-Piere Dominique Sainz met vocalist Linda Rydelius, the pair uniting in love and creativity once meeting, our introduction to Gothenburg hailing Baronen & Satan is now through Dirty Water Records USA and their releasing of the band’s new EP, Why Does The Blood Never Stick To Your Teeth? in tandem with the re-release of 2016 album Satan Is A Lady. It is a long overdue meeting as hindsight shows the band has been teasing attention across a horde of tracks and years but one we like so many others are greedily devouring. Completed by bassist Marie Bergkvist and drummer Stefan Young Sik Olsson earlier this year, Baronen & Satan create what we assumed has been self-penned as “Garagedeath”.  Whatever you call it, the Baronen & Satan sound is a wonderfully invasive yet flirtatious trespass of reverb grafted adventure conjured from a mix of garage and psych rock, garage punk, noise, and punk rock with plenty more teasing away in its predacious and haunting swamp thick sonic psychosis.

Produced by Jim Diamond (White Stripes, Dirt Bombs), Baronen & Satan’s new EP greedily consumes the senses from its first breath. Why Does The Blood Never Stick To Your Teeth? opens up with new single Elisa and instantly consumes ears in a tide of riffs and rhythms entangled in spicily melodic tendrils. As a bass grumble teases, beats fly with fevered energy, Sainz’s guitar weaving away with salacious grooves as the distinct and unique tones of Rydelius deliciously ‘whine’. Her presence almost steals all attention but with the devilish textures and enterprise at play around her, the whole song seduces in equal measure to get things flying.

The following Buttermilk Sky has a similar but fully individual presence and sound, its psych and garage rock bred rock ‘n’ roll an incitement to appetite and hips as it dances provocatively in ears. Its citric melodic spicing is less kind in the second track compared to its predecessor but just as alluring; the song offering a beefier intrusion taken to darker temptation yet again in the EP’s title track. With the swinging biting beats of Olsson rampant and Bergkvist’s bass sound gnarly, seduction is swift from personal tastes; add the sonic squall of Sainz and Rydelius hellish beauty in voice  and submission to the track’s rapacious rock ‘n’ roll is welcome slavery which the melodic toxicity with its tinge of Echo and The Bunnymen compounds.

All three tracks unite for one unwavering increasing addictive proposal to have us reeled in hook line and sinker; a triumph equally matched by last year’s album, Satan Is A Lady. It similarly needs mere seconds to tempt and begin brewing up a tight grip as opener Lady Creature lies its initial sonic nagging upon ears. Quickly the boisterous beats of Olsson descend and romp; the track bouncing around with eager tenacity as Rydelius casts her riveting vocal antics into the stomping devilment of a proposal. At times Scottish trio The Creeping Ivies is provoked in thought by the track but a great spicing to something again as unique as all the subsequent essences and adventures across the album prove to be, all hues in viral sonic toxins particular to Baronen & Satan.

Next up is Catwalk, its feline prowl lively and predacious with Olsson’s swings marking every step with zeal. Always fuelled by a boisterous spirit, the song stalks the listener as vocals wrap their flirtatious clutches around psych and garage infestation. Magnetic drama, the song sublimely bewitches before the even more energetic exploits of Asskisser bound in. With shimmering sonic suggestion and more rhythmic rascality, a PiL-esque sheen invading its bold canter, the track commands the listener like a puppeteer, its noise nurtured tendrils veining its wonderful manipulation.

Headcuts lurks and taunts with an instantly open Cramps inspiration, continuing to size up its victim before launching into a rapacious garage punk stroll with fifties rockabilly spicing. As its predecessor, the track is glorious; caustic manna for ears and instincts which a fine line of sixties garage rock a la Cradle to add another twist.

Expanding and thickening its ravenous enterprise and character, Satan Is A Lady hits another sweet spot with the sonic buzz of The Projects, a minute and a breath of irresistible niggly punk rock which Comet emulates in success with its own demonic affair for ears and imagination. As most tracks, its core is a relentless nagging which gets right under the skin; heavy dark bait bred on rhythmic and sonic almost wanton dexterity honed into a cauldron of virulent temptation as carefully woven as it is rabidly unleashed.

The album’s title track swings in with muscles tensed next, a riveting PiL meets Siouxsie and the Banshees hook circling ears as once more the compelling tones of Rydelius grip the bold intrusion. Sainz’s initial bait swiftly develops a Buzzcocks spiced essence as the track flexes its animated imagination, every second a beguiling and infectious scheme to enslave.

Through the psychotic stomp of Pony and its sonic Cramps meets the Orson Family moonshine pleasure only escalates, the latter of those hues a bolder essence in the dark saunter of Sugarwalls which too only inflames an already greedy appetite for band and sound. Invasively ethereal and ravenously portentous, the song also gives a glimpse of what you might imagine bands like Blood Ceremony and Jess and the Ancient Ones could sound like if mutant off springs of Lux Interior and Jim Morrison.

The album ends with the invasively haunting Underwater Love, an immersion into a sonic sea of intrigue and unpredictable imagination steered by the alluring vocal ingenuity of Rydelius. It is dark, bordering on suffocating and a compelling end to a quite thrilling and refreshing album.

Uniqueness is rare but when it comes it should be devoured especially when it bears the dark discord and beauty of Baronen & Satan.

Both Why Does The Blood Never Stick To Your Teeth? and Satan Is A Lady are out now @ https://baronenandsatan.bandcamp.com/album/why-does-the-blood-never-stick-to-your-teeth  and https://baronenandsatan.bandcamp.com/album/satan-is-a-lady respectively.

https://www.facebook.com/baronenochsatan/

Pete RingMaster 07/11/2017

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

The Red Fuze – Bazooka Circus EP

There is an air of rebellion to the sound of Swedish rockers The Red Fuze, a devilry which gives their songs a great unruly and feisty character as shown by new EP Bazooka Circus. The release is a handful of fiery garage rock/blues bred tracks bursting with the passion of the sixties /seventies and the tenacious hunger and enterprise of the now. It is a slab of boisterous rock ‘n’ roll easily stirring the body and emotions, an incitement lying somewhere between White Stripes and In The Whale leaving an intrigue and want for more.

The Red Fuze is the creative partnership of vocalist Randy Wild and guitarist/producer Raimond Raio Geezer, a duo from opposite ends of Sweden who met through an online Bandfinder page. Once connecting, the pair began writing and recording music via email, text message, and phone calls; not physically meeting until the release of their self-titled debut EP last year. As suggested, musically they have nurtured a sound seeded in blues and garage rock but are many other essences from psychedelic rock to more punk inspired hues which are just as potent. It is an attention grabbing potion now lighting up second EP Bazooka Circus to fine effect.

   The EP opens with its title track, Bazooka Circus swinging in on a surf rock blossomed sonic enterprise aligned to a similarly woven repetitious groove. It is a seriously enticing entrance increasingly in temptation as Wild’s vocals ride the tendrils of tantalising sound like a sideshow barker, he backed by restrained but anthemic rhythms and wrapped in the sublimely quirky wash of captivating keys and guitar.

By its end ears are hooked, appetite sparked, and the imagination waiting to be treated again, Dance Now quickly obliging with its spicy weave of guitar amidst mesmeric keys, both speared by jabbing beats. Wild’s vocals have a mellower tone compared to the first song, but with a great raw edge which growls perfectly against the smoother persuasion of keys and melodies. As soon realised, every track from The Red Fuze has volatility to it, an incendiary spark which is always near the surface and often breaking its skin to blaze and add even richer tempting for ears to bask in.

Black Mustang unveils a stirring web of tangy grooves and fuzz filtered guitar next, the track romping around with fifties rock ‘n’ roll breeding and a noise/indie rock imagination which is not that far removed from a Pixies or a Thee Exciters. There is wildness to its nature and rowdy rock ‘n’ roll intent to its heart which inspires the throwing off of the shackles of inhibition and get involved, an offer impossible to refuse again when made by Kitchen of Love. The fourth track is a funk infested, blues scented stomp with swinging rhythms and saucy sonic tempting, both working away on feet and hips with swift success. As with Dance Now, there is a fiercely infectious quality to the song, a rich enticement seizing body and emotions with consummate ease.

The EP is closed by Blue Girl, another scuzz kissed lure of captivating and bluesy invention which seems to know just what ears and emotions need to have a good time. It is a thoroughly pleasing flame of sound to end a great release, and though admittedly the Bazooka Circus EP is not necessarily showering the listener with major originality there is plenty about it that is truly fresh and distinct to the band, and a whole which that leaves pleasure the overriding reaction.

The Bazooka Circus EP is out now @ https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/bazooka-circus-ep/id1045505131

https://www.facebook.com/theredfuze/     https://twitter.com/theredfuze

Pete RingMaster 01/12/2015

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

For more exploration of the independent and promotional services check out http://www.zykotika.com/

The Mojo Slide -Twist Your Bones

 

Uniting blues and rock ‘n’ roll, and many other colours with their own feverish climate of imagination and dirt encrusted textures, UK rockers The Mojo Slide release their first album this month, an encounter as fiery and sonically smoky as an alcohol fuelled barbecue. Twist Your Bones offers eleven faces of blues scented dark rock ‘n’ roll, each song a fresh twist on another whilst breeding their own distinctive dose of contagious devilry.

It is an infection loaded flavouring which has captured loyal and eager support for the Cambridge, St Neots, and Cambridgeshire hailing quintet since they formed in 2011. Locally and further afield, The Mojo Slide has built a rich reputation for their live stomp, an earned stature backed by a clutch of singles leading to the release of their gripping full-length debut, it a proposition easy to imagine pushing the band to national attention with the potential for much more.

Twist Your Bones opens with the glorious Addicted, a song which from its first breath of scuzzy guitar seizes ears and attention. In a few moments more rhythms are strolling with carnival-esque revelry as the voice of Mark Wilks stands astride sharing the track’s narrative like a side show barker. With quaint keys courting the thick enticing of Mike Fenna’s guitar backed in potency by the prowess of rhythm guitarist Matt Legg, the song swings along with vaudevillian virulence, simultaneously riding a rhythmic contagion cast by bassist Danny Savage and drummer Michael Graham. There is a touch of Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers to the impressive opener which continues into the just as thrilling Jesus Don’t Love Me. The second song similarly opens on thick guitar bait, scything riffs aligning with a throaty bassline too as an instant catchiness comes the way of the vocals. Again as its predecessor, the outstanding track has its and the listener’s hips swinging with zeal whilst it roams the imagination with a jazz/funk bred tenacity entwined in warped rock ‘n’ roll.

     From an old single to the band’s new one in the warm embrace of Smiling. Just released to make a potent teaser for the album, the country bloomed croon gently glides along on a southern twang and again highly enjoyable vocals, that union alone brewing a catchy tempting under the track’s sultry air and blues seamed The Black Keys type serenade. Though not as dramatic as the first two, the song reveals the depth and adventure to the band’s songwriting and sound whilst indeed laying down a strong invitation for Twist Your Bones.

The following High is a blaze of harmonic and sonic causticity and again an inescapably addictive persuasion, with Wilks the ringleader of a gloriously compelling chorus and the energetic bubbling of blues acidity around it. As many songs, there is a sense of recognition to the inspirations and flavours within the song, yet brewed and boiled up into a distinctive swagger. Norwegian rockers Electric Woodland do come to mind during already another big highlight of the album but as suggested, only a welcoming spice in The Mojo Slide stomp.

     Make You Bleed is similarly styled sound wise but leaning more towards a Rolling Stones meets White Stripes flame of sonic seduction whilst previous single Bad In Every Bone, is a slice of delta blues inspired tempting spun by the conflagrant craft and enterprise of the guitars. Stalked by the throaty shadows of bass and intimidating beats, the track seduces as it prowls, adding a funk infused essence to its blues which definitely has a tang of Red Hot Chili Peppers to it. Both tracks impress and get the body keenly moving, with the latter a real incendiary incitement before Rattlesnake Humbug Blues gets feet and hips bursting with further energy with its classic Jerry Lee Lewis toned rock ‘n’ roll.

A transfixing dance of vintage/modern keys brings a captivating texture and enticement to The Ballad Of Satan The Devil next, at times the song laying a Doors like touch on ears whilst in other moments eighties electro pop nudges as an Arctic Monkeys like spicing lurks in the heated roar of the song. It is another shade of sound and creativity in the album, as mentioned its diversity an enjoyable trait continuing in the Dylan-esque canter of Little Bird and in turn the soul blues meets rockabilly, bluegrass seeded Drunk Dog Blues. If an appetite for the album was wavering, something highly unlikely as we found, the track chains it back up again in rich style, quickly backed by the closing psych rock burn of The Sky Is Falling In, a sizzling ramble of rock ‘n’ roll also searing ears and exciting the senses.

For those with a bent for blues and firebrand rock ‘n’ roll, Twist Your Bones is a must, but equally it has a twisted and slightly psychotic tinge to its voice and invention which will appeal to those with a taste for bold alternative adventures. Our recommendation is to go find out if it is for you anyway as fun is a sure fire reward.

Twist Your Bones is released November 14^th @ http://www.themojoslide.com/music–2

http://www.themojoslide.com   http://www.facebook.com/themojoslide   http://www.twitter.com/themojoslide

Pete RingMaster 11/11/2015

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

For more exploration of the independent and promotional services check out http://www.zykotika.com/

Steaming Satellites – Self Titled

Steaming Satellites is an Austrian band that for the past ten years has been a major lure and adventure in their country’s music scene, underground and within stronger spotlights. The fact that it has taken their new and third album to find, like for so many others, our attention shows how little of the vast music world anyone has a hold on at any given time. We can only be thankful that the Salzburg band’s new self-titled release has found its way through to thrill ears and ignite the imagination though because it is simply bewitching.

Consisting of Max Borchardt (vocals/guitar), Emanuel Krimplstätter (keys/bass), Matthäus Weber (drums, programming, keys), and the recently joined Manfred Mader (bass), Steaming Satellites casts a sound bred from indie rock but welcoming to an array of flavours from blues, funk, soul, and electronic enterprise. Their previous pair of albums were strongly acclaimed propositions whilst live, with shows alongside bands such as Thin Lizzy, The Ravonettes, and Portugal. The Man amongst a great many, the band has earned a potent reputation for sound and performance. Now it is the turn of album three to stir things up and as for the umpteenth time the release lights our ears and revitalises emotions, the thought of Steaming Satellites becoming a ‘household’ name across numerous territories seems a thick possibility.

It opens with Together and a caress of acoustic guitar; a gentle coaxing aided by the immediately enticing and expressive tones of Borchardt. Soon stringed tempting wraps around ears and in turn a dark moody bassline strolls through the emerging colourful and creative landscape of the song. As keys jab and harmonies unite, the song blossoms into an infectious romance for the imagination and a swiftly open appetite for the release. As catchiness and shadow kissed drama similarly grows within the fascinating proposal, feet and hips become eager whilst thoughts only greedily consume the impressive entrance of the album.

   Its indie rock swing is emulated in the following Rocket, though electro tempting is the first bait to engage ears to lead them into the military funk of the rhythms and the fiery dance of the guitar. Its air becomes a sultry breath at certain points, always returning to its lively endeavour though as varied spices burst from the festive heart of the track, again with feet and voice in eager involvement. Like The Flaming Lips trying on the psych rock of The Doors and the creative intimacy of Billy Momo, the song excites before departing, leaving lingering trails behind it though the fuzzy revelry of Unreal soon has attention all to itself thanks to jangly hooks and a deliciously roaming, slightly grouchy bassline which toys with the melodic radiance of the keys and harmonies. At its heart, the track is a funk bred romp but as already shown, Steaming Satellites never leave anything to settle into predictability, always keeping invention and surprises potently shimmering.

Both Honey and Restless Robot keep pleasure high and enterprise blooming, the first with its tangy Arctic Monkeys/Kings of Leon shuffle within a flirtatious smile and the second through a rhythmically dark and sonically sultry Portugal. The Man meets Futureheads tango. There are many other slithers of spice bringing a whisper of varied bands to the song, and album, but in the hands of Steaming Satellites all get turned inside out and honed into something unique and as here forcibly captivating.

Door is a heavier emotive croon which, without matching the successes before it, enthrals with its evocative textures and instinctive bounce aligning perfectly with the song’s moodier atmosphere and vocal heart whilst Circles slips into a bluesy Black Keys-esque character with stomping riffs, crisp rhythms, and spicy grooving. It too pleases without tapping up the lustier reactions found by earlier songs and definitely ignited by the outstanding Unfold straight after. The track is pure magnetism, a resourceful serenade of intimate vocals and emotive smouldering which just gets bigger and more persuasively spellbinding with every passing chord and melodic spice. It is as much an anthem as any raucous sing-a-long rocker, a compelling contagion of sixties keys, seventies melodic drama, and indie imagination.

Through the raunchier funk ‘n’ roll of Back And Forth, the feisty post punk meets indie/electro rock of Phone, and the dark White Stripes rock ‘n’ roll of Fill The Cup, album and listener continue to be fully involved in each other whilst Secret Desire employs a more restrained stride and melodic haze to its crystalline sparkle of keys and guitar to further engage the imagination. Tempered by the earthier tones of the bass and the grounded delivery of Borchardt, the track is the perfect blend of dark and light; maybe a slower burn on the passions than other treats within the album but another leaving long term hooks in its wake.

The album is completed by Move On, a gorgeous slice of lively balladry cored by ever impressing vocals and coloured by a virulent and imaginative tapestry of melodic and sonic colour. The track is a tremendous end to an outstanding release, an encounter which gets more commanding with every listen. It is hard to imagine Steaming Satellites being a relative secret from now on, but then as we said music is so big that the ease with which one can miss things is inescapable. Our suggestion is that band and album, is not another you allow to pass you by though.

The Steaming Satellites album is out from October 30^th

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

Pete Ringmaster 29/10/2015

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

For more exploration of the independent and promotional services check out http://www.zykotika.com/