After a 10-year hiatus The Embrooks are back, and sounding better than ever. Over the past decade music has changed, fads have come and gone, and “psychedelia” now means literally anything. The Embrooks pop-art stomp however sounds just as it always has, neither dated or of our era – and somehow they seem to sound more powerful and youthful too. Pop music the way it should be.
The name tells the tale: Alejandra O'Leary is a melodic mash-up of far-reaching artistic cultures and geographic and musical influences.
Alejandra O'Leary and the Champions of the West are proud to announce the release of their new single: BURN ME UP. The song was conceived and recorded during the sessions for "Heartspace Timepiece" and features all the band's trademarks: dueling guitars, evocative vocals, and a beat to keep time to your dreams.
Combining classic raw rock with a contemporary pop vision, and musical ideas that span the spectrum of pop and rock history, from The Beatles to Elvis Costello, from Liz Phair to The Strokes, O'Leary's music suggests delightfully paired opposites: Hard-charging and luxuriant, defiant and sugar-coated, individual pain and collective ecstasy, physical drive and spiritual transcendence. Rock and roll.
22 obscure Australian Power Pop tracks from 1974-1986.
Thought you knew everything about Australian power pop? Think again, as this compilation will BLOW your mind ~ No need to list the bands/artists ~ just get it, you won't regret it - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Zero Hour has secured distribution of this awesome compilation and you know we don't like to disappoint - 100% guaranteed POWER POP BLISS.
On September 22nd The Janitors will release the 4-track 12” EP Evil Doings Of An Evil Kind and today Here They Come will be released as a digital single as a taste of what is coming up. Here They Come is the first The Janitors song with a political edge and comments on the rise of the rightwing in Europe and the coming election in Sweden September 14th.
Evil Doings Of An Evil Kind is a collection of dark and noisy songs that are not aimed at the faint of heart. Almost all songs have a disturbing vibe as if you should not come too close risking a punch on the nose. On this EP The Janitors display a hypnotic, monotone and evil drone although the barbed wire fuzz rock often is infused by a melodic groove.
The Janitors 12” EP is limited to 500 copies on black vinyl and is the second installment in the new series of 12” EPs on Bad Afro. Pre-sale starts September 1st via http://badafrorecords.bandcamp.com/
Kool Stuff Katie is a Portland-based indie rock band, infused with pop, punk, and New Wave sounds. Their signature stylistic elements include electric synth hooks, heavy drums and guitar, intricate vocal harmonies, and brief but powerful songwriting. Formed in 2012, they consist of Shane Blem (lead vocals and guitar) and Saren Oliver (drums, vocals, synth.) Think The Dollyrots, The Plimsouls, Ramones, Peter Case and The Strokes!
If You Let Me Hold You' is the first single to be released from the Melbourne-based New-Wave band's debut album. The track typifies the groups sound with a driving beat, spiky guitars, off-kilter arrangement, pop vocals and clever wordplay.
The sentiment of the song revolves around emotional detachment in the face of unrequited love, but requited lust. The painful irony of getting what you want but not what you need. The band have been likened to a modern version of popular late 70's artists as The Knack, Elvis Costello & Joe Jackson, but their sound is unmistakably their own and tailored for the modern world. Formed in 2012 when English songwriter Lee Jones met American guitarist Laf Zuccarello in Melbourne, the duo quickly found a sharp-dressed local rhythm section and set about recording and releasing
The Solicitors debut EP 'Made To Measure' which garnered a lot of praise from online and print media across the globe, and received airplay on national and local stations home and abroad, leading to deals in Europe & Japan. The band gained some serious momentum and are set to capitalise on it with their eagerly-awaited long player, 'Blank Check' landing in October 2014. (Presales in August)
Originally formed from the ashes of two small-town garage bands, The Beatpack initially peddled their primal wares from 1987 to 1991, terrorising audiences with their distinctive brand of violent rhythm & blues, intense hessian-sack-clad live shows and acres of hair. Recording an EP, a 45 and an LP for Germany's Screaming Apple Records, aided and abetted by Billy Childish on production duties, the group burned out in a blaze of glory and its members scattered to the four winds.
Fast forward 20 years and the 'Pack are back. Reunited in order to complete their mission to bring hip-shakin', feedback-screeching, blues-wailing garage-punk R&B to the masses, and featuring original members Simon Harvey (lead guitar), William Bourton Esq. (bass guitar) and Hugh Dellar (screaming and harmonica) alongside new boy Adrian Smith on rhythm and the inimitable Ian O'Sullivan on drums, the band have already played a pre-Purple Weekend night in Leon, Spain, The Berlin Beat Explosion and Le Beat Bespoke in London.
Their first recordings since 1991 unleash the dynamism and tremolo-laden suspense of ‘I'm Walkin’’ (with its echoes of Oz ’60s punkers The Masters Apprentices and Dutch tongue-tied long haired R&B merchants Q65) along with the crunchy garage of ‘Hey Senorita’ (‘Farmer John’ meets ‘125’ with lashes of timeless testosterone fuelled teen abandon).
Few songs have impacted the generations of rockers like the “Louie Louie.” The song has sold millions of copies, been covered by nearly every bar band and released by dozens of major recording artists. No version, however, has been quite as popular and time-tested as The Kingsmen’s classic 1963 rendition.
This year marks the 50th Anniversary of The Kingsmen releasing their classic version of this American rock standard. On Sunday September 29th, Original Kingsmen lead guitarist MIKE MITCHELL went back into the studio to re-record his famous lead guitar solo with one of todays most energetic and talented young bands, “The CRY!” The results are EPIC!
Of course, like the original, the track was recorded in Portland, Oregon (this time at Fetish Pop Studios) and features Mike’s epic lead solo. Joining Mike on Guitar is The CRY!’s Brian Crace. The two pickers immediately found chemistry and (true to the garage genre) only took three takes to get the final leads tracked. The CRY! front man Ray Nelsen’s punky lead vocal style fits perfectly (and we can actually understand the lyrics!) Bassist Dave Berkham and drummer Kurt Lavon deliver the goods filling out the rhythm section and backing vocals.
In celebration of this song (and a half century of togas, beer and frat parties) Mike is joining The CRY! in releasing this OFICIAL 50th ANNIVERSARY VERSION for FREE DOWNLOAD. .
The Thanes have long been ambassadors of ’60s folk-punk and garage pop jangle, so it's not really surprising that their new single should reflect these distinct qualities. In fact they were making records like this before the new breed of mid-6os loving kids were even born. But that’s not to say they’re old hat. Singer and guitarist Lenny Helsing has led a plethora of line-up changes – now settled on Angus McPake (12-string guitar / organ / vocals), Mark Hunter (bass / vocals) and Mike Goodwin (dums) – that reaches back to the mid-80s; but unlike some of their more visual and visceral ’80s contemporaries the group never succumbed to an over use of fuzztone and onstage bombast, keeping their approach and style far more oblique and honest. The Thanes’ distinct sound has changed little over the years too. Whilst bands have come and gone and moved onto new pastures they have continued to focus on a format of perfecting the mid-60s jangle of LA bands that “Love-d” The Byrds (ie The Dovers), the weirdly mixed-up beat of Dutch bands like The Outsiders and Q65 and the minor-key moodiness of Scottish ancestors The Poets. Their music has never dated or aged. It remains undiminished.
‘She's Coming Back To Me’ is a perfectly encapsulated melodic slice of jangly garage furnished with short jabs of fuzz across the chorus. Unexpectedly, it then veers off into a whirligig of jazz-spiked 12-string … and back again, as authentic in spirit and sound and as tightly constructed as any of ye olde garage nuggets that so often gain spins on 6 Music and beyond.
The flip-side houses the group’s reading of ‘Love Is Fading Away’, originally recorded by The Poets back in the autumn of 1965, but not released commercially until 30 years later. Although The Thanes’ version was recorded before the death – in August 2012 – of Poets’ founder, lead singer and songwriter George Gallacher, it now serves as the group's poignant tribute to the memory of their great friend, musical compatriot and truly dynamic voice! Between 2010-2012 The Thanes led an interesting double-life, playing as The Poets, featuring George Gallacher and guitarist Fraser Watson, breathing new life into and giving a distinct edge to the group’s much-loved Decca and Immediate material. If much of Scotland are fretting over independence The Thanes are single handedly keeping the music of the nation’s finest beat group alive. Frankly, it is that important!
These latest waxings are fruits born out of sessions undertaken in group member Angus McPake’s self-built Ravencraig studio complex deep in the heart of Edinburgh. As with both State and Toe Rag recordings the analogue recordings leap out of the speakers.
Beaulieu Porch is the work of one man, Simon Berry. He writes, plays and records his orchestrated, baroque psychedelic pop songs on his home studio in a secluded spot in the south of England. He creates all the artwork, and releases his records through his own burgeoning label, Tillsammans Records. The debut, self-titled album was released at the tail end of last year to a clamour of praise and critical appreciation, appearing shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Tame Impala and Brian Jonestown Massacre in several end of year “best of” charts. The follow up album, We Are Beautiful, released this year, has already appeared in several best of 2013 lists, alongside Jacco Gardner, Temples, Foxygen et al, picking up some marvellous reviews on the way..." A sublime work" (The Sound Of Confusion Blog)..."absolutely stunning" (Sound Injections Blog)..."effortless hooks spilling out and intimate pop mastery virtually bubbling up at every turn" (Sunrise Ocean Bender Blog) and "very much an essential purchase" (Shindig! Magazine).
The View From Gainsborough’ is a galvanic slice of pure modern psychedelic pop; swathes of backwards guitar chords over crashing drums and tambourines introduce a floating, harpsichord led verse, and the catchy, sing-a-long "Let me be you guide, to the other side" chorus will be lodged firmly in your open mind. If you listen carefully towards the end, you may hear, among the strings and guitars, something that sounds like a latin mass sung backward at the wrong speed in a high pitch.
After a 10-year hiatus The Embrooks are back, and sounding better than ever. Over the past decade music has changed, fads have come and gone, and “psychedelia” now means literally anything. The Embrooks pop-art stomp however sounds just as it always has, neither dated or of our era – and somehow they seem to sound more powerful and youthful too. Pop music the way it should be.
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The name tells the tale: Alejandra O'Leary is a melodic mash-up of far-reaching artistic cultures and geographic and musical influences. 
Kool Stuff Katie is a Portland-based indie rock band, infused with pop, punk, and New Wave sounds. Their signature stylistic elements include electric synth hooks, heavy drums and guitar, intricate vocal harmonies, and brief but powerful songwriting. Formed in 2012, they consist of Shane Blem (lead vocals and guitar) and Saren Oliver (drums, vocals, synth.) Think The Dollyrots, The Plimsouls, Ramones, Peter Case and The Strokes!
If You Let Me Hold You' is the first single to be released from the Melbourne-based New-Wave band's debut album. The track typifies the groups sound with a driving beat, spiky guitars, off-kilter arrangement, pop vocals and clever wordplay. 
