Last week (18th October 2018), Canterbury rockers, Broken Hands, announced that they had signed to Atlantic Records by releasing a pair of brand new singles, ‘Split In Two’ and ‘Friends House’; their first new music since the release of the 2015 full-length debut, Turbulence.
The five-piece band, which consists of Dale Norton (vocals), his brother, Callum Norton (drums), Jamie Darby (lead guitar), Thomas Ford (bass) and David Hardstone (rhythm guitar & keys), have been busy working with Tom Dalgety (notable for mixing a lot of Royal Blood‘s work) on these two tracks – his style is particularly reflected on ‘Split InTwo’, which has an amalgamation of both psychedelic and grunge vibes.
The band’s style is further reinforced by the fact they have played shows with the likes of Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, Blur and Deaf Havana.
The music video for ‘Split In Two’ sees the band performing amongst a glowing green light with a Matrix-style code backdrop.
No details about their forthcoming album have emerged, as yet, but we’ll keep you updated.
Cover Photo 📸 – Hollie Fernando
What are your thoughts on this band’s latest release, since signing to Atlantic Records? Have you got a #WildCardWednesday track to recommend us? Please leave your thoughts or song suggestions in a comment or chat to us via social media.
Matt Maltese is a piano-led, 21-year-old, singer-songwriter, who pens songs that are both emotionally intelligent and satirical at the same time. Having recently toured with Isaac Gracie (review), he is now releasing his debut album, Bad Contestant, through Atlantic Records. Here are our thoughts…
Matt Maltese‘s debut, Bad Contestant, is jam packed full of wisdom beyond his years but served up with equal doses of cutting humour, hilarious irony and pure over-exaggeration. This is an artist who merges, at times, understated yet sultry melodies and retro sounds with stunning lyrical craftsmanship to create his own unique style.
Album-opener, ‘Greatest Comedian’, begins with an unassuming introduction before launching into a fantastic set of back-handed compliments topped off with some intriguing instrumentation and beautiful higher-pitched vocals in the chorus; very similar to something by label-mate, Will Joseph Cook.
Title-track, ‘Bad Contestant’, has some seriously funky synth sounds and sees Maltese take on the character of an overly honest and confessional yet fruitless game show contestant.
This is very much an album where jazz and a touch of britpop meet funky, organ-led soul.
Meanwhile, ‘Nightclub Love’ is deeply satirical look at how Maltese sees the realities of clubbing and finding love there, whilst ‘Less & Less’ is an extremely saddening break-up song that is both beautiful and also attempts to put a positive spin on the situation. Of course we can’t go without mentioning the wonderful track, ‘As The a World Caves In’; a hysterical tale of the unlikely hooking up of Donald Trump and Theresa May, watching the nuclear destruction of the world as they do it; genius!
Other key tracks worth taking note of, include; ‘Sweet Sixteen’, an organ-led track taking a twisted look at a modern relationship – the sound is very much somewhere between Kaiser Chiefs and Blur, ‘Like A Fish’ which sounds like the opening to an old, 80s, British TV show and ‘Misery’ which is a dark and intense track with some reverse-sounding vocals on the chorus. In fact, the latter half of the album appears to get darker as it goes on.
The album features production and collaboration by a combination of Jonathan Rado, Hugo White (Maccabees) & Alex Burey.
This is very much an album where jazz and a touch of britpop meet funky, organ-led soul, all dressed up in a hipster outfit and sung with a deep, crisp and crooning vocal. Picture Blur, Pulp and Jamiroquai creating some sort of spliced-together lovechild that’s been brought into the modern, contemporary age and you get Matt Maltese‘s debut, Bad Contestant. A truly alluring debut that is sure to pave the way for an exciting career ahead.
We hope you’ve enjoyed our review! What do you think of this singer-songwriter’s uniquely captivating debut album? What would you rate it? Please leave your thoughts in a comment below or via our social media.
Enjoyed this? Check out some of our other reviews here:
Geowulf is a duo comprised of members Star Kendrick and Toma Banjanin, originally from Australia. They started writing music a few years ago and released their first track, ‘Saltwater’, in July 2016, which now features on their debut album, Great Big Blue. Here’s what we had to say about it…
Self-described as ‘Beach Pop’, this album is exactly that; it’s hypnotic, easy listening music with a brilliant blend of laid-back guitars, floaty vocals, subtle synths, down-tempo beats and all-round melancholic vibes.
This album is Americana through and through and could quite happily be the soundtrack to a lazy afternoon around a Californian pool-side or whilst hitting the open road in a big convertible, wind through your hair, driving down an American highway. It has a strong resemblance to some of Lana Del Rey‘s music too…just with a slightly more light-hearted feel to it.
Great Big Blue is hypnotic, easy listening music with a brilliant blend of laid-back guitars, floaty vocals, subtle synths, down-tempo beats and all-round melancholic vibes
Prior to its release, the album enjoyed several successful singles but some of biggest highlights on the record include; ‘Sunday’, which is a beautifully mellow ballad, setting the tone for what’s to come (plus the opening lyric gives the album its title), ‘Saltwater’, is slightly more up-tempo with a real summery warmth to it, ‘Get You’, has an almost African rhythm, topped off with Star’s long, drawn-out notes, whilst ‘Drink Too Much’ is probably one of the most conventionally pop tracks, with a tongue-in-cheek look at how drinking a little more than you should, whilst on a night out, can land you in trouble when you get home, with the simplistic yet honest lyrics; ‘Coz I get myself in trouble when I drink too much, Think too much, And you’re somehow on my mind when I drink too much, Think too much.‘ At face value, it sounds cheerful and uplifting but when you listen to the lyrics, it’s a real oxymoron to the sound.
On first listen, the songs tend to blur a little into one, however it’s after a few plays through that you can begin to detect the differences between each track and truly admire Star’s euphoric vocals, Banjanin’s stunning melodies and understand the complexity behind the simplistic-sounding, psychedelic production, appreciating just how much time and effort must have gone into producing Great Big Blue. I have to say, whilst I really did enjoy this record, from start to finish, it is not necessarily an album that you will want on repeat for weeks on end; it’s a very good album but will it stand the test of time? Sadly, I’m not convinced.
We hope you’ve enjoyed our review of Geowulf’s debut album! What do you think of it? What would you rate it? Please leave your thoughts in a comment or hit us up via our social media to talk about it.
Enjoyed this? Check out some of our other reviews here:
Gorillaz are an English-formed band, created by Damon Albarn (from Blur) and artist Jamie Hewlett, who created the characters of the virtual band. The band consists of four animated and heavily characterised members; 2-D (lead vocals and keyboard), Murdoc (bass guitar), Noodle (guitar,keyboard) and Russel (drums and percussion.)
These characters are entirely fictional and relate to the members of the band in no way; they are unique and alive in their own fictional universe.
In their time, the band have released five studio albums, one remix album, three compilation albums and 16 singles.
‘Dare’ is from the album Demon Days, which was released back in 2005. The song is predominantly sung by the character of Noodle, with vocals provided by the singer Rosie Wilson and backing vocals from both Damon Albarn and Shaun Ryder. From the electronic synths and sounds to the distinguishable drum beats, this song will make you want to get up and dance… but maybe not as vivaciously as Noodle in the music video!
The music video for this song features an appearance by Shaun Ryder from the bands Happy Mondays and Black Grape; he takes up the role of the giant disembodied head, who Noodle is keeping alive by the use of various machinery. Noodle largely takes the spotlight in this video, by dancing around and singing to the camera. However, the other characters can be seen appearing in short cameos, such as 2-D listening to what is happening by pressing his ear to the floor. The music video also nods towards classic horror movies which can be seen at the start of the video, where a “reject false icons” statue can be spotted depicting Pazuzu, the figurine from The Exorcist. Crows can also be seen flying around the area which is a tribute to The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock. There are many other cameos dotted about…see if you can work out more!
Do you remember loving this song back in 2005? Are you still a fan today? Have you got your own #FeelGoodFriday song to share with us? Please leave your thoughts or song suggestions in a comment or via social media.
Last week (18th October 2018), Canterbury rockers, Broken Hands, announced that they had signed to Atlantic Records by releasing a pair of brand new singles, ‘Split In Two’ and ‘Friends House’; their first new music since the release of the 2015 full-length debut, Turbulence.
Muzik Speaks 