Nite Songs

  Ah the joys of the January review pile As has often been observed in the past, this is very much the graveyard shift of the year where yer average reviewer has to look at stuff they may have missed in the last few months. So at least you know what to expect on here until the release schedule starts to pick up again in February/March. Anyway, you may remember New York's Baby Shakes for their rather excellent Cause A Scene  album in 2019 which was one of the first reviews we ever did on Nite Songs. Shake The System  is more of a stop-gap album of demos and previously unreleased tracks with all proceeds going to the NAACP charity which supports racial justice and equal rights. So all for a very worthy cause then. The material herein is the usual impressively tight and tuneful power-pop that we've come to know and love this band for with a few tracks such as Running Through The Night  and  Modern Girl Renegade  which have surfaced on previous releases rubbing...

  Welcome once again to the Singles Bar for our final session of 2020. As you'll see throughout today, this month's entry has been a bit of a never-ending saga to put together. The aim was to clear the decks before the end of the year but just when we thought we'd got everything sorted out, it seemed like something else that was of interest came on to our radar. So keep your eyes out for further updates today because rest assured they will be coming. Anyway, here's a blast from the past to start us off -  Grand Theft Audio were one of the few bands I genuinely used to enjoy back in the dreaded nu-metal era (partly I think because of the presence of ex-Wildhearts drummer Ritch Battersby and former 3 Colours Red guitarist Chris McCormack in the fold).   Ruin Your Youth (🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑)   is their comeback single as a three-piece (McCormack is now busy playing guitar with the Professionals) and sees them abandoning a lot of the electronica that marked their sole album from ...

Your correspondent first ran into New York based power-pop types Baby Shakes at the Pump It Up Power-Pop Weekend concert in London a couple of years ago and was pleasantly surprised by their tight-as-you-like take on garage rock. Now on their fourth album, Cause A Scene  is a good effort which hits home with power and precision. Imagine if the Donnas had grown up listening to the Buzzcocks and the Undertones rather than Kiss and Judas Priest and you wouldn't be a million miles off. Songs like the title track, Nowhere Fast, Love Song In Reverse  and Down  are well and truly locked in and will have your toe tapping along from the off with melodies that'll stick in your head and stubbornly refuse to leave. Meanwhile they cover Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again?  by Aussie rockers the Angels and comprehensively put their own stamp on it to good effect. If this band had come along in the wake of the garage band boom of 15-20 years ago then I think it's fair to sa...