New Noise: April Edition
As we prepare to stagger – or swagger – into the post lockdown light, we are fabulously greeted with a true smorgasbord of digital drops that are just hammering on the front door of your latest playlist, demanding with menace to be added. So let’s get on with it then.
Straight out of the blocks is Ostrich’s (feature image) 48 Hours, with William McTaggart’s deep rich voice, dripping with a sense of sunny optimism. We also love the way it starts, that lonesome voice of his and what sounds like a cheap bontempi, wheezing away in the margins. A touch of genius this truly is. Check this mob out, there is something very unworldly about them (Released 2 April 2021).
Our spies tell us that the chaps down at Venus Demilo HQ have kept up the momentum in what has already been a busy new year for them. Running Out is their third single awaiting Johnsonian capitalist consumption. This is a highly polished, 24 carat affair, with an ear-worm hook that just swoons to be picked up on national radio (Released 31 March 2021).
Bias alert! Confession time, but The New Icons to these ears are not putting a foot wrong at the moment. And so too with their new tuneage, the Persistence of Memory, which evokes the heady days of New Wave, tidying up after Punk gave everything the good kicking it truly deserved. Anthony Hart’s voice just perfectly conjures up the essence of times gone by, shaping recollections. The production is ice-cold glacial, the guitars splintering off into sub-zero sonic space (Released 9 April 2021).
The Heavy North release Darkness In Your Eyes, a tune of guitar driven dirty licks and driving groove. This is real foot stomping stuff, and sounds……heavy, which I suppose is the point. But what a point! Another graduate from the Guitar Valhalla that is 3rd Planet Recording Studios (Released 5 April 2021).
So from the heavy to the nuanced observations of the auteur. James Greenwood is up next with Museum, an accomplished affair, which emphasises the importance of the singer-songwriter’s vision and viewpoint on the world around them. Sounding great, and well arranged, this is a talent to definitely watch (Released 9 April 2021).
The opening bars of Midnight at 6’s Into The Wild had these svelte hips gyrating just like my great granddaddy Elvis used to do down in the Deep South. And it’s a tune that just doesn’t let up! This song is like sonic sertraline – it just puts a smile on your face and gets you going. Insistent and urgent…..it really is “the new energy”. Most recommended (Released 9 April 2021).
April Moon consists of the Canadian duo Jaime and Jason, who have washed up on these shores, and boy, are we happy to have them here. Their lovely duet At Least We Are Not Lonely is a tender aural caress that will make your heart ache. I am totally and utterly smitten (Release 2 April 2021).
Finally, Ask Elliot’s Flowers of White is just, well, achingly handsome. I won’t go on about the shimmering guitar riff, the melancholic vocal, the nuanced backing vocals, the feeling of spiritual uplift that this song gives you and how bloody essential it is. Nope! Find out for yourself – this scribe is not for sharing! (Released 22 April 2021).
Till next month….#ObamaOut.
Steve Kinrade
