The Nite Songs Singles Bar - July 2022

 

Welcome to the July edition of the Singles Bar. The weather outside's a bit scorching so come on in and we'll fix you up with a cold one. Please peruse at your leisure...

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Well I guess the big news this month is a new single from The Cult, their first in three years no less. Pleased to report that Give Me Mercy (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) is a strong comeback from Astbury and Duffy with its swooping riff and haunting vocals harking back to the group's classic Love album. New album due in September and hopefully this is a good omen for it.

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Another exciting development is news of a collaboration between Hi-Fi Sean (aka Sean Dickson, formerly of the Soup Dragons and Nite Songs faves the High Fidelity) and David McAlmont who have a new album out later in the year. Maybe (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) is a good first salvo from it too with Dickson's chilled out electronica and McAlmont's trademark sublime vocals combining to make something good. Recommended. Bandcamp link here which also has links to the two High Fidelity albums that your correspondent was bemoaning not being available when we did the High Fidelity SFTJ a while back - check those out too while you're there.

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We mentioned when we covered them in Sounds From The Junkshop that we were probably due a new 69 Eyes album this year and sure enough, Call Me Snake (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗) has duly turned up in the Singles Bar as a comeback single. One of the heaviest singles from the Eyes that I've heard for many a year, this reminds me a lot of Fields of the Nephilim with its grinding guitars and Jyrki's low growl definitely owing a nod to the Neph's Carl McCoy. B-side Drive meanwhile sees the group's traditional sound coming to the fore and is even better - a breakneck riff-fest that could easily be '80s Billy Idol if he'd got the Sisters of Mercy circa Black Planet in as his backing band. And before you ask, that's most definitely a good thing.

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Tony Wright is another who has an album due out in the autumn and your correspondent was lucky enough to catch him playing the songs from it at Bradford Nightrain a couple of months back (apologies for the lack of a live review, the alcohol intake from that night...erm, fuzzed out my memory a bit shall we say?). Informed by the lockdown and isolation, Buried You Deeper (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) is reminiscent of the dark and reflective mood of his Thoughts 'n' All album from a few years ago, an ode to trying to put past memories out of your mind with a bit of a countrified feel to it. Rest assured we'll have a review of the album when it lands (and hopefully a proper live review for the tour this autumn as well).

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Tony has, of course, dipped a toe into country waters in the past with his Grand Ole Otley album which saw him collaborating with Ryan Hamilton. Who, as happy coincidence has it, also has a new single out this month (now how's that for a seamless link eh?). Paper Planes (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) is a good one as well, definitely one of Ryan's strongest releases for a while. Equal mix sugar and spite, it has a bit of an '80s new wave vibe about it with the lyrics about letting old grudges go. Proof that Hamilton's still a dab hand with a good hook and memorable chorus and hopefully a new album will be on its way in the near future which keeps this quality up. Bandcamp link

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Blimey, first the High Fidelity and now China Drum - is this the month where all of your correspondent's favourite unjustly forgotten about bands from his late teenage years return to the fray? Apparently so and we've got a double dose of new releases from the Drum - first up, Bonnie And Clyde (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) has a sinister but gentle mid-tempo feel, kind of like their Diskin album but with more clear cut production and a better tune - if anything this reminds me of the Replacements a bit but that's never a bad thing. Kitty's Burn, on the other hand, is much more identifiable as the traditional China Drum sound with the frenetic drums and jagged riffs harking back to their Goosefair debut. A good mix of the old and new then and hopefully this bodes well for future releases. It's good to have them back. Bandcamp link

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Cut from a similar cloth are Pet Needs who, just 12 months on from their impressive debut album Fractured Party Music are already gearing up for a follow-up and Get On The Roof (🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑) sounds like a cross between the full on thrash of China Drum and Frank Turner's recent FTHC album - angry but with a definite tune in there. Album due to drop in September and we'll have a review up here when it does.

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The Amplifier Heads' Saturnaliens album was one of the unexpected highlights of last year, a full on unapologetic T-Rex indebted glam stomper and I'm pleased to report that Space Cadette (🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑) is a good follow-on, sounding like a '60s Kinks song being given a thorough going-over by the Sweet. Original? Hell no. Fun? Hell yes. And sometimes that's all you need, am I right?

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It seems apt that we're reviewing post-punk duo Deux Furieuses' new single Bring Down The Government (🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑) just a week or so after the long-awaited fall of our hated soon-to-be-ex-PM. A lurching slice of noise which sounds like a cross between the Slits and the Breeders, it's underpinned by a righteous anger that makes it worth a listen. Unsettling but definitely good. Bandcamp Link

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Finally for this month, we first encountered Jo-Jo & The Teeth a couple of months back via their Don't Get Too Heavy single which, to be honest, we were a bit underwhelmed by. This month the follow-up No More Good News (🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑) has landed and I'm pleased to report it's a bit better with Jo-Jo's voice being better suited to a mournful lament like this. The only thing that spoils it a bit is the slightly cheesy disco drumbeat whacked on over the top which sounds a bit inconspicuous with the general feel of the thing but this does at least show a band that's improving so there may be hope for them yet.

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MINI-ALBUM REVIEW

TOWERS OF LONDON - "Yet To Be"

Well, of all the comebacks we've had this year, this has to be one of the least expected. For those who don't remember, the Towers of London were basically the Gob On You sketch from Not The Nine O'Clock News made flesh and put out a couple of absolutely storming singles in the mid-noughties (On A Noose and the all time classic Fuck It Up) before an inconsistent debut album, line-up instability, some very ill-advised media stunts and a truly terrible second album left them sunk without trace (a story which I'm sure we'll cover in more detail when we come round to writing their Sounds From The Junkshop column)

Having reunited half a decade or so ago, the prospect of new material from them is something that I was a bit unsure about to put it very mildly but Yet To Be isn't actually that bad. Lead off track Jump sees them going almost full on pop with big gang chant chorus and glam rock drums complete with handclaps (if you remember Cameo's Word Up then you may have trouble getting that image out of your head while listening to it). It should be ridiculous but somehow through sheer insistence it claws its way into your brain and ends up actually being quite enjoyable. Get Yourself Out Of Here is even better, sounding like second album Supergrass covering the Pixies' Planet Of Sound while Free Your Love is powered along by a swaggering riff from Rev which is one part Junkyard's Hollywood, one part White Zombie's Thunderkiss '65. Push It The Same Way has a weird stop-start new wave feel to it which reminds me of late '90s almost-weres the Warm Jets while Amazing is the big epic power ballad to sign things off which is somehow simultaneously cheesy as hell but quite affecting with it. Not a bad way to close an EP out at all.

Back in the day, the main thing Towers of London had going for them was, at their best, being able to carry themselves through on sheer chutzpah and Yet To Be shows that, amidst all the changes of the last 15 years, that's a quality they still very much have. It's very much the sound of a band with the pressures of trying too hard now cast off and making the sort of music they want to make and has a cheerful enthusiasm running through it which makes it difficult to dislike. Where exactly the story goes from here is anyone's guess but it'll certainly be an interesting journey.

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑🌑 (7/10)

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Anyway, hope you're all cooled down now and ready to go about the rest of your day. We'll see you for the August instalment of the Singles Bar in a few months.