The Nite Songs Singles (Mini-)Bar (January 2021)

 

The original plan this month was not to have a Singles Bar as, let's face it, there's usually very little out in terms of new releases in January (as the fact that pretty much all the albums we've reviewed this month came out in November/December last year probably testifies). However, upon investigating the inboxes we did manage to find just enough stuff to merit doing a smaller-than-usual column hence this one-off Singles Mini-Bar. Feel free to help yourself...

The biggest name on our review list for this month is Tyla's Dogs D'Amour with their new "Powder Dry EP" (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑). I think most people know that Tyla is one heck of a prolific songwriter and it's led to times in recent years where it's felt a bit as if quantity has sometimes taken precedence over quality for Mr Pallas. However, this mournful ode to old friends who've left this world far too soon is a good effort from the guy and you may find yourself with something in yer eye all of a sudden as you listen to it. The gentle country lament Stole My Love Away on the B-side is a good gentle slice of Tyla angst as well and a live version of Mad Bad Jack and an acoustic take on Powder Dry round this one off nicely. The boy and his latest Dogs line-up done good here. Bandcamp link here.

Inevitably as with every January singles review column, there's one straggler from the Christmas batch in the form of Dream Nails and their festive effort "Lonely Star (Christmas Song" (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑), a gentle ode to those stuck on their own and alienated at Christmas. This takes all the mix of pop-punk rhythms and fired-up solidarity that you'd expect from Dream Nails and fuses it to a big glam stomper of a tune. Dream Nails are a genuinely great band and we should finally have a much-delayed review of their recent album from late last year up on Nite Songs in the next couple of weeks. Bandcamp link here.

Built on a similar sort of premise are Californians Bleached (not to be confused with early '90s Ipswich noise-mongers Bleach) and their insanely catchy "Stupid Boys" (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗) single railing against nightmare ex-boyfriends bouncing along on a soaring pop-punk tune that sounds like Kenickie covering the Waitresses. Great stuff which has made me keen to check out their three albums to date - hopefully a fourth will be coming along soon. Bandcamp link here.

It's been good to see Zombina (no longer with the Skeletones apparently) returning to the music scene in recent months and Mega Madness (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) is another good effort from Merseyside's very own voodoo queen built on an '80s style synth squiggle before the guitars kick in to reveal an awesome slice of party-down horror pop. B-side Power Of The Night is a more sinister number built on pounding tribal drums and sinister vocals. Like the A-side, this would have been a surefire hit for a more commercially fortunate band in 1985 or so. Maybe not quite what you were expecting from Zombina but this new pop direction suits her pretty damn well it has to be said.

Speaking of the early '90s Bleach, Brighton scuzz merchants Beach Riot who have a new single out on Alcopop called "Blush" (🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑) sound like they've teleported straight into 2021 from that era with their fuzzy squalling guitars and slightly fey vocals. Yet this one stays heavy enough throughout to banish any potential bad memories of Thousand Yard Stare et al and marks them out as one to potentially keep an eye on. Bandcamp link here.

Finally for this month, it's always good to see some new music from Saint Agnes and "Repent" (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗) sees them at their snarled-up heaviest with Kitty Austen scowling out a warning of impending revenge against some unlucky individual (if I was them I would get running as fast as I can) while the group blast out some truly unholy sounded distorted riffs over the top. Another very worthwhile effort from this very special band. Bandcamp link here.

Oh, would you look at that, it looks like we've drunk the mini-bar dry. Probably best that we get out of here before the hotel staff hit us with the bill in that case. Hope you've all enjoyed this month's column and hopefully we'll be back with a full Singles Bar in either February or March. Till then...