Joanna Gruesome - Sugarcrush

Released August 12th 2013

When musicians choose to walk the thin line of emotive and desperation soaked musical undertones while keeping an all-out heavy aggressive and destructive sound they find they can leave themselves open to scrutiny, sometimes it pays off in a huge way while other times they’ll end up with a unfathomable mess that very few people will have the chance to appreciate. Joanna Gruesome are one of those bands; if you listen to their debut album release ‘Weird Sister’ you’ll see the almost schizophrenic mood swings from track to track, bouncing from anger and isolation to upbeat and almost jovial and celebratory pieces.

The track I'm reviewing here, ‘Sugarcrush’ presents this for the listener sublimely, the highs and lows fluctuate throughout keeping the listener engaged and show the truly remarkable talent these guys have for producing something totally unique. The female vocals provide define the direction of the music being played with the sweet and almost innocent sounding tones providing a stark contrast of the heavy music backing and the lingering depressive male vocals running alongside. Together they create one of the most original pieces of music I've heard this year and from a genre I’d had little to no experience with in the past.

As a standalone track it works wonderfully, everything sounds so DIY and homemade which only adds the charm and evokes nostalgia while simultaneously showing how music has changed and progressed over time; with clear influences from both modern and more contemporary artists what’s created is something wholly original, however when listened to as part of the album it takes on a life of its own, think of it as a piece of a jigsaw, alone you can appreciate its disjointed beauty while as a whole you enter into an extremely layered and textured piece of work.

I Divide - Follow Me

Released June 11th 2013

Following their triumph with Red Bull Bedroom Jam in 2012 and hectic festival schedule taking them to the likes of Download, Slam Dunk and Reading and Leeds Exeter rockers ‘I Divide’ release ‘Follow Me’ taken from their upcoming debut album out this autumn.

Let’s begin with a quick look at the video the song is set to, the style is very dystopian and post-apocalyptic; it begins with the lead singer sitting in an office cum shelter, the walls are covered in plans, maps and shelves filled with damaged and aged appliances. Everything works perfectly to build the atmosphere of the piece with the details used making a world of difference throughout. Throughout the video we see lead singer Tom Kavanagh pursued and his struggles to continue to his goal, the video ends spectacularly with the special effects going into overdrive as sky scrapers are seen rising from the ground then crashing back down to earth.

This leads us on to the most important part, the lyricism and overall musicality of the track. The band is your classic five piece set up, vocals, vocals and backing vocals, guitar, drums and bass; the instrumentals are tight, the guitar work is exactly what fans would want, harsh and unforgiving while the vocals are the perfect blend of emotive cries for help while maintaining the gravelly distinction to work in harmony with the instrumentals. The lyricism is the classic forlorn and emotional love story of a broken relationship, in this case it’s the one that hasn't yet happened but is clearly doomed from the beginning. The object of the protagonist’s affections is a girl clearly in love with someone else and he can’t quite deal with it, she comes across as untrustworthy because of it and the attraction is completely reciprocated to the point that the protagonist is losing his mind and can’t deal with the situation much longer. The symbolism in the video then becomes entirely apparent from this, the end is a clear metaphor for the truth hitting him, the building crashing down symbolise how his world is crashing down from the realisation.

“No loves in moderation, you’ll never follow me, it’s more like suffocation just get away from me”

This track really brought me back to my early teenage years, with the band obviously taking a lot of influences from the late nineties and early two thousands rock scene, the flash of nostalgia really helped me to warm to them track and ultimately lead to my enjoyment of the piece. In essence this song is a very well-executed and emotional piece, infusing heavy instrumentals and emotional driven lyricism and delivery of vocals you can see the band are at the beginning of a lengthy  career ahead of them.

Broken Witt Rebels - Call Out The Sun

Released July 27th 2013

In recent years there has been an abundance of the classic rock ‘n’ roll band, there’s been dubstep, indie, hip hop and numerous others topping the charts and making their mark on the music world while the more guitar driven bands have sat back and waited. Over the past few months I've been looking into the new up and coming music scene throughout the UK, I've seen alternate dance and electronic music, spoken word and hip hop forming their own very vocal scenes across the country and really having their music take shape and move forward however the style I've seen expand the most is the traditional rock scene. The classic guitar, drums, bass and vocal set up is being favoured by a host of artists, each bringing new aspects into the genre while tweaking the formula to make it better adjusted for them, the majority of these artist coming from the north of England, Manchester and Liverpool having their own independent scenes building up very respectable fan bases along the way. While everywhere is doing their best to add to this fledgling scene Birmingham and its surrounding seems to be the melting pot where so many of these bands are emerging from, each more unique and individual than the last; today’s track comes courtesy of Birmingham’s very own ‘Broken Witt Rebels’ with their phenomenal release ‘ Call Out The Sun’.

On first inspection you’ll hear a song with the usual rock ‘n’ roll qualities, the lingering chords, the passionate and emotive vocals and the crashing drums of a band very much influences by southern American rock ‘n’ roll of yesteryear. When you dig a little deeper you’ll hear the sheer heart and soul of the music being played, the way the band metaphorically pull out their innards for the listener to hear. These boys are out to impress and unlike a lot of other bands who show their shiny exteriors to mask a somewhat hollow and empty piece of music what you’ve got here is a polished and meaningful song, it’s something that a lot of people could mistakenly assume is a lot older than it actually is.

The main narrative of the track is a story of a broken relationship, doing whatever you can to deal with the abandonment and rejection when knowing ultimately you’ve been the one to do wrong. The band perfectly portray the feeling of self-loathing and regret through the passionate vocals and sprawling guitar work, with a feel of the deep south and an ability to almost inspire the listener to smell the stale Jack Daniels through the music you’ve got to hand it to them, they've got a sound to conjure emotions in almost anyone.

“She won’t forgive me”

A well-executed and effective piece of work from a band in the right place at the right time, when the explosion of the genre hits within the next year it’s safe to say that they will be very near the top of peoples so called “ones to watch list”.

Bleach Blood - H.O.P.E

Released July 10th 2013

Every once in a while a band will come along who defy genres, I'm not saying that as a band Bleach Blood are a multi Genre collision within the sound of each track, what I am saying is their music differs from track to track making them hugely exciting to follow. When listening back to their previous releases you’ll hear a band trying to find their style, from the upbeat punk sound heard on their debut EP “The Young Heartbreakers Club EP” which in itself is a bit of a mixed bunch, tracks like ‘I Was Born In A Rave’ and ‘Let Your Heart Sing’ taking a heavier sound while ‘Bleached Blood’ takes on a more visceral and dramatic tone throughout. The band followed up this release with their single ‘Anything Anything’ which took a more pop and indie sound while holding some of the heavier undertones you’ve heard on the EP; now, to take you back to the actual review of ‘H.O.P.E’ and make everything I've just wrote a lot more relevant, they've changed their game again.

To say it’s a complete removal from everything they've done thus far is a totally ludicrous statement to make; you can draw huge comparisons to ‘Bleached Blood’ when hearing the deep and meaningful lyricism Jamie shows throughout, the emotional investment you hear in the delivery of every verse. In essence the song revolves around the idea of looking back on things that are broken in life and seeing how you’ve essentially lost, whether the memories are of relationships lost or mistakes made you’ve got to maintain your dignity, realize the problems can be solved and as the title suggests have hope for what the future has in store. Obviously loosely based on the last couple of years of lead singer Jamie Jazz’s life the song is impressively atmospheric and emotive helping to bring the listener into the thought pattern he has experiences and reassure them that things do get better.

"We've got hope in our hearts"

The emotive and atmospheric sound of the track show a band made of people who genuinely love what they’re doing and does nothing but add to the anticipation for the band’s debut album release; you can hear influences from a wide variety of different acts, the sound can’t really be defined as there’s no one doing anything similar out there at the moment, there’ clear influences of 70’s and 80’s punk and rock while you can hear the pop influences in the lyrics, working together to make something so individual it’s sure to be the start of a long and successful career of a band who clearly work extremely hard.