The Nite Songs Singles Bar February 2021

 

Well it seems oddly apt that we're visiting the Singles Bar the day before Valentine's Day for February, doesn't it? Pull up a stool, order a drink and who knows, you might just get lucky tonight. Let's take a peek and see what joys lie within this month...

Definitely the most anticipated release of this month is a new single from Rich Ragany & The Digressions ahead of their second album due in the spring and I'm pleased to report that Marionette (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) is another good offering from Rags and co with a driving verse merging into a big soaring chorus. In a just world, of course, it would be a chorus that would be being bellowed from stadium rafters by hordes of adoring fans rather than this group being a well-respected cult outfit but who knows, on this evidence, they may yet change that. Either way though, this is a fine effort and well worth your attention. Bandcamp link here.

It's a generally acknowledged fact that Frank Turner is one of rock 'n' roll's good guys and his new single Road Crew (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) is a tribute to the folks behind the gig scenes who keep the shows rolling with the proceeds going to the We Make Events fund to keep those whose lives depend on the live music industry being active going during the pandemic. Even ignoring the philanthropic nature of the song though, it's still a good 'un - little bit of ska, little bit of brass and plenty of lyrics which anyone who's ever played or helped out with a gig will find themselves nodding and saying "Aye..." to. You know what to do folks - Bandcamp link here.

Killer Kin hail from Connecticut and Sonic Love (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) sounds like the Hip Priests booking themselves into the cheapest and nastiest studio known to man to cover the Backyard Babies' Bombed Outta My Mind while Nashville Pussy look on drinking whiskey and nodding approvingly. In other words, the production here is truly awful but the sheer rabid Little Richardesque energy means that they've got just enough cheek to get away with it. The driving howling-at-the-moon blues rock of B-side Narrow Mind is a good one too and leaves this one as very much recommended. Bandcamp link here

Even more feral are Detroit natives The Stools with the four tracks on their Car Port EP (🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑) zipping by in just six minutes. There's a ferocious energy here that's difficult to ignore with the full-throttle lead track Life's Hard Lover being a particular highlight. If you're the sort of person who finds the Descendents a bit too long and proggy then this may just be for you. Bandcamp link here

Of course, New Zealand exiles The Cavemen have been doing this whole feral screaming garage punk thing for a good few years now and new single Am I A Monster? (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗) is another good offering from these lunatics with both it and the B-side Schizophrenia providing some of the most thrilling high-octane odes to self-loathing that you're ever likely to hear. Great stuff - any chance of a new album some time soon guys? Bandcamp link here

After all that none-more-riotous garage-punk, the arrival of a new single by Penfriend actually represents a welcome chance for this reviewer to catch his breath back and Exotic Monsters (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) is exactly the sort of thought-provoking lyrical content (in this case an ode to the need for acceptance) that we've come to expect from Laura Kidd over the years sounding like the missing link between Gary Numan and early Goldfrapp. Good stuff. Bandcamp link here

Cut from similar cloth albeit a bit heavier are Leeds goth-rockers Venus Grrls and their new single Goth Girl (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) sounds like Evanescence minus the tedious operatic preening and with a welcome dose of self-deprecating humour thrown into the mix. Another band who I'm surprised it's taken me this long to twig on to but more exploration is definitely on the cards on the evidence of this one. Bandcamp link here

Londoners The Other Ones describe themselves as a punk rock/power-pop crossover band and Forever Young (🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑) is no less than their sixth single (no album as of yet though weirdly). It's definitely a slightly generic and very Americanised take on the sound though and really sounds more than anything like it should be soundtracking an episode of Buffy or Sabrina back in the late '90s. If you grew up in that era when there really was a surfeit of interchangeable bands like this then you might well be feeling the hives rising on your skin at that statement but what just about carries the group through is that at least they've got a decent knack with a tune and are pretty tight musically. There's a bit of promise here but I think a bit more of an edge to their sound wouldn't hurt them. Bandcamp link here.

Poison Boys, hailing from Chicago, are another one of those bands who I've sort of heard of on the grapevine for a while without checking out but on the evidence of Nothing But Darkness (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑), a taster from their forthcoming second album, I've evidently been missing out. I get the impression that if this band had come along 20 years earlier then they'd have been in with a real shot at the big time - their sound has a bit of Turbonegro here, a bit of the Murder City Devils there and is pinned in on a none-more-frenetic riff-fest that blasts the chorus home with all the subtlety of a jackhammer. Roll on the album. Bandcamp link here

Ah, some more frenetic garage-punk to go with the other stuff we've received this month - marvellous. Deathtraps, hailing from Newport, definitely owe a nod in their sound to Nottingham lunatics the Hip Priests and both songs on their Double B-side (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗) - the ferocious Go Fast and the leering Broken Halos are supremely nasty slices of chantalong scuzziness which owe a sly tip of the hat to Stiv Bators and Lemmy. Again, I think this is another band that we'll be featuring again on this review blog going forward. Bandcamp link here 

Ryan Hamilton literally just made the cut for this month's Singles Bar with Deja Vu (I Love You) (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑), the second single in his 1221 series, being released the day before this column went live. It's definitely the strongest entry in the series so far with a stomping singalong chorus powering it along and sending it soaring into the stratosphere. We await next month's entry with interest. Bandcamp link here.

Finally, a historic occasion here as I think this is the first time we've ever featured a split single in the Singles Bar - the guilty parties are Los Pepes and Jibaros with Together and Ain't Life Easy respectively (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑). I've been a fan of Los Pepes for a few years and Together is another tight-as-you-like slice of pepped-up power-pop which makes me hopeful we'll be hearing a new album from Ben and the guys this year. Jibaros are a pleasant surprise as well with Life Ain't Easy kicking in on a duck-walking AC/DC style riff before dragging it back to the garage and streamlining it to good effect. Call this one a score draw I think - Bandcamp link here.

Well, it may be Valentine's Day weekend but I think we can all agree that this was a suitably scuzzy and enjoyable instalment of the Singles Bar. Hope you all managed to find something to pique your interest and we'll see you again next month all being well.