“Surf-doom”. That surf-rock beach party that got run up on by some weird (mean) zombies, Brighton band The Wytches “Beehive Queen” is the soundtrack to that. The Wytches will be playing select dates throughout the UK during May and June.
Dates
4th May – LONDON, UK. Shacklewell Arms. (Bad Vibrations Festival)
16th May – BRIGHTON, UK. The Mesmerist. (Great Escape)
4th June – BIRMINGHAM, UK. Hare & Hounds. (w/ Drenge)
5th June – LONDON, UK. Barfly Camden. (w/ Drenge)
6th June – SOUTHAMPTON, UK. The Joiners. (w/ Drenge)
7th June – BRISTOL, UK. The Louisiana. (w/ Drenge)
“I Will Love You” is a great match for a gorgeous, sun-filled day. It’s retro-pop, with bright catchy hooks and a sound that is not overly-produced, but organic. Summer Twins give She & Him a run for their money, and it would be money well spent. By Desiree Autobee
Creatively constructed guitars, vocals, and percussion make “Houdini Crush” a bit like those Choose Your Own Adventure books you read in grade school. You follow the music as it begins to build a musical adventure, then the song comes to a juncture where the form opens and primes for melodic interpretation; you can go where the band takes you, or you can add in your own constructs along the way. No matter where your ear chooses to go, this song doesn’t let down. By Desiree Autobee
Humble. Exuberant. Virtuoso. Eclectic. Gary Clark Jr. is real southern blues and rock legend in the making. For the second time in just over two months, Jr. has sold out the legendary Roxy Theatre on Sunset Strip in Hollywood. His performance on Tuesday night, April 16th was of the most pure.
GCJ kicked the night off with “When My Train Rolls In” from his most recent album, Blak and Blu. This set the tone for what would come to be a very gratifying musical evening. Nearly two hours deep, Clark and his three-piece band had rolled through a flawless set. When the audiences’ eyes were finally unglued, and when my jaw was picked up off the floor, I looked around to discover that the entire room had just been hypnotized. Maybe it was the way Clark’s guitar seemed almost weightless in his gentle hands, as he swayed across the stage during “Things Are Changing”. Perhaps it was the sensational sounds and melodies of Robert Petway’s “Catfish Blues” that pumped through the speakers, or maybe it was when he played his song “Numb,” that the goose bumps and chills were simply just too hard for everyone to shake?
A succeeding two-song encore felt epic and solidified that Gary Clark Jr. could very well soon become a household name. The guitar gods are surely smiling down on him.
UK artist Sivu releases “Bodies”, the follow-up single to his breakout track “Better Man Than He”. Produced by Charlie Andrew (Alt-J), “Bodies” is tight, compact & well-constructed but it’s certainly not constricted in its ability to emotional affect the listener. That, and the track manages to surprise at each turn; the chorus & bridge, etc are great but twist the track in ways that are really interesting and that only help to further raise the song’s power & quality. Very very nice.
BON-BON, a/k/a UK singer-songwriter Sian King, delivers soul-tinged pop of the best order with new track “Lois Lane”. “Retro”, “reference”, “throwback”, “nostalgia”, these placeholder words that stand-in for actual unique thoughts/criticism, could be used (blankly) to describe “Lois Lane”. There are many references here to 60’s & 80’s pop in the track’s arrangement & feel (a la maybe Fitz & The Tantrums or Eliza Doolittle), but “Lois Lane” gets its bread on the back of its incredibly catchy, playful & well conceived chorus that has had us running to the replay button the entire day.
Collector of UK critical nods & all out great songwriter and singer Laura Marling releases second single from upcoming Once I Was An Eagle LP. The twangy drop-D’d “Master Hunter” offers an adept refresh for the Marling sound, as it finds the Hampshire native exhibiting on record a greater than usual irreverence and activity. We’ll see you guys in December when Once I Was An Eagle assumes it’s usual for Ms. Marling position on most Best of 2013 Albums Lists.
London duo Thumpers recently debuted a new lyric video for their track, “Unkinder”. Just a couple spins through this tropically laced track, and we’re still coming back for more. It’s synth pop boasting melody drenched vocals – that stick (firmly rooted in your memory to be revisited when you least expect it). We could not be more ready to hear what’s yet to come from Thumpers.
The instantaneously (& insanely) catchy “All I Fear” is part of a limited release Record Store Day 10-inch vinyl from the New York-based band. In addition to “All I Fear”, the 10-incher’s title track “Binary Mind” as well as three additional unreleased demos will round out the release. Look out for “Binary Mind” on Record Store Day (April 20th) and get with the band when they hit your town this spring.
Doin it right, again, producer Koreless this time remixes “Late Night” from Foals. Dreamy and aquatic, this arrangement is sure to make that weekly playlist. Check it out.
Indulge in new band smell. Resident writers Brian Litwin and Erin Feathers recently caught up with hotly tipped Oxford, UK act Pixel Fix. They chatted about the band’s new self-titled EP, their unique sound, time travel and more. Check it out below:
Pixel Fix – Rosa
B3SCI: Can you tell us a little about Pixel Fix come to be?
PF: All of us had been in bands or had been involved in other musical activities in the past, so that’s how we all met and got to know each other… At the time, we (Clem and Marcus) were producing electronic music. We had been in guitar-based bands before, so this was just a little project we were working on, but as the electronic music we were making began to progress we thought, why not mix the two together? We were both really into electronic and guitar music, so it probably made sense for us to blend between the two… we spoke to the other guys and we all seemed to be on the same wavelength, so we thought we would give it a go.
B3SCI: With such an array of sounds in Pixel Fix, give us an idea of your live set up, both electronically and acoustically.
PF: It’s a pretty standard band set up, just with a load of synths and samplers that we play live, and about a thousand cables. We try and make our live shows as close to the recordings as possible. Although you can imagine we don’t have the most exciting time setting it all up.
B3SCI: Tell us what it was like to play with The 1975, Disclosure and Everything Everything, three of the hottest acts out right now?
PF: It was great thank you, although the Everything Everything show was a DJ set. We’re really grateful to have had the opportunity, and it was sick to share a stage with them and play to more people than we normally do.
B3SCI: Your sound seems experimental with unabashed guitar and impeccably polished electro. Do you consider your style of music experimental? How do you like to describe your style of music?
PF: Thank you, that’s very kind. Yeah we guess so; we don’t really think about it when we write though, we just make music that we would personally love to listen to in our own time…. We like to describe it as a load reverb, beats and guitars.
B3SCI: What electro are you currently listening to?
PF: We find our selves listening to Andrea, Luvian, Kadugodi and Stumbleine a lot at the moment.
B3SCI: What rock/pop are you listening to?
PF: Recently we’ve been listening to Tangled Hair, Coasts and Peace. We’re also really liking Frank Ocean’s stuff.
B3SCI: How does it feel to have a new EP being released?
PF: We’re feeling pretty excited. We’ve been sitting on these tracks for a while now, really since the band started, so we’re just eager to show people the music we love making. We’re a little apprehensive of how people will receive our music because we just hope people like it. We guess that’s pretty normal though.
B3SCI: The video for “Rosa” is a clever nod to 80’s SCI-FI flicks with subtle references to “E.T.”…
PF: ‘E.T’, it’s a classic.
B3SCI: We’re hooking you guys up with a ride on our B3SCI time machine. Where are you guys going?
PF: We’re gonna head back to one of the first Woodstocks to see what it’s all about. I bet it was mental.
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