Ray Bull – All That You Are

I have been reading a lot in recent weeks about how there is an uprising in pop music of new young acts who are doing it right. They are leaning in to the performing and production aesthetics that gave the form such potency and variety in its sixties and seventies heyday, as well as placing emphasis on musicality, style and non-generic personality. In other words they are rejecting the formulaeric tropes that makes so much of the current chart music landscape a bland, uninspired and largely unloveable environment. That it is a young persons movement is welcome because, so often when similar groundswells of resistence have appeared, you look at the actual people involved and it always seems to comprise of former members of bands from earlier decades or seniors having a belated roll of the dice. Which is all perfectly valid and often delivers some magic, but that this latest unconnected collective appears to be populated by the youth, that does give me hope for the years ahead. The art of the pop song pioneered by the Beatles, Kinks and Rolling Stones etc will have a future if this kind of forward flow can still occur at ground level. America’s Ray Bull are one such example of a band that are treating the form with the respect and craftsmanlike quality it deserves. If you want to know more we have just published a review of their new album on this site and furthermore, you can get a copy of that album here: https://amzn.to/42Z18d1

Eel Men – When I Get Rich

In the UK the mod sounds of popular music as minted in the sixties, re-positioned in the punk years then persuasuvely re-sharpened by Blur’s British music manifesto ahead of the Britpop boom is another design classic that never dies out. Not that it troubles the charts much these days but all the same, it is exciting to come across a band like Eel Men and hear that the energy and the attitude, not to mention the thrill of a bangin’ new single with a snotty cutting edge, still exists among what is left of the grass roots music scene. They are a North London band about to release a 10″ EP called ‘Glass Hammers’ which includes this track. It is a middle finger to the ludicrousness of the never-ending quest for more, the thought that life might suddenly make sense once a certain threshold is reached, and the quiet realisation that it rarely resolves that way. Check out the forthcoming new release here: https://eelmen.bandcamp.com/album/glass-hammers-ep

Sharp Class – Faith In The Brakes

Drinking from a similar fountain of inspiration are Sharp Class who, with this driving slice of three minute perfection, are proudly wearing their allegiances on their made to measure sleeves. I have no issue with a band giving such an up front nod to The Jam because, ultimately, what they are showing loyalty to is an attitude and a lifestyle that has music high, or even top, on the list of priorities. That was all Paul Weller’s breakthrough band were doing and he did not hold back on proudly displaying the effects Steve Marriott and Pete Townshend had on his sound and look. ‘Faith In The Brakes’ is the first single and title track from the bands upcoming third album. It is said to be a song about someone stuck in an extreme tunnel vision mentality but whether or not it was insipred by personal experience, it is that very focus and assuredness in what they are about that makes Sharp Class such a hot proposition. Get ready to buy the album via this link: https://amzn.to/4uHoD6p

Kathleen Halloran – Showstopper

We are moving into a rootsier rock sound with this one as Kathleen Halloran shows some love for the scuzzy glam and decadence of the early seventies. It is available on her debut solo album ‘Nobody’s Baby’ which represents the moment she is stepping out of the shadows, having been an in demand touring guitarist, and finally forging a musical identity of her own. It is a debut built on clarity of purpose: sharp songwriting, unforced emotional weight, and a refusal to hide behind virtuosity even though she easily could. Roscoe James Irwin’s production gives the record its warm, lived‑in glow, but the spine is Halloran’s own. You can get the album via this link: https://amzn.to/435JCnr

The Black Keys – She Does It Right

This is a track from the new Black Keys ‘Peaches!’ album which sees them turning their hands to a set of covers. It was cut live in the room while Dan Auerbach was caring for his father during his final illness. What began as friends jamming to lift the weight off his shoulders hardened into a raw, unvarnished document of the band reconnecting with the blues that first lit the fuse. Across these reinterpretations (from George Thorogood to Junior Kimbrough) you can hear the duo shedding polish, chasing feel over finesse, and rediscovering the grit that once defined them. That is especially evident on this Dr Feelgood cover, a jerky stimulant fuelled thrash in its original form, it is now a “let’s spend the night together” piece of cranked up blues rock filth – and I mean that as a compliment. You can get yourself the album via this link: https://amzn.to/3OVurKt

Tidetied – First Of Spring

Finally this week another new band that I strongly urge you to keep an eye on. I featured their superb song ‘Valley’ in the third volume of our ‘Fresh Juice New Releases’ Mixcloud shows (see the Music Mixes page on this site) and now this newly available live performance further enhances the evidence that there might be something pretty damn good going on here. They came together a couple of years ago from the debris of Thomas Haywood’s post‑Blinders project Whitehorse, whilst John McCullagh and Nathan Keeble joined from other Sheffield loose fits. For now they have been finding their footing on the live circuit but the music coming out has moodiness, poetry, dynamics and some handsome melodic flashes so keep a watch in this direction https://tidetied.com/