Tag Archives: Rock

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Track of The Week: Sophie’s Earthquake – Zero Distance

Human nature is an unusual and difficult thing to predict at the best of times. It sees the worst in humanity, being driven to inflict pain, misery and suffering upon one another or even to be as cruel as to end another’s life, for whatever goal or reason that consumes you. But it can also bring out the best in our species, to love, cherish and show compassion to another, to share an experience or a memory that leaves an everlasting impact on the recipients, that can last for the rest of your days.

I had already made the joke at Sophie’s Earthquake’ expense regarding a girl creating an earthquake that ultimately costs the lives of our fellow man. Only to have that theory shot down not long after, once the band contacted me themselves saying the name was actually derived from having the rehearsal space underneath the drummer’s house, whom wife is called Sophie. Least I seem to recall that’s where the name came from. The story’s all here anyway. But this goes hand in hand with what’s already been said about human kindness. After the original article focusing on their EP, they were incredibly generous enough to offer me an exclusive listen to an unmastered demo, taken from their forthcoming album, the demo now known as Fatima and Flood respectively. I had never been given such a moment of privilege in my entire life, and was truly humbled by this experience and will continue to be forever grateful for.

Four to five months later, Sophie’s Earthquake’s debut album was released on Christmas Eve just gone. Titled The Flood, it carries on their psychedelic- meets-grunge approach, but in the gap between their EP and the album, the band have truly blossomed and evolved their sound into some musically jaw-dropping compositions. Although Fatima and Flood were conjoined upon my first listen, they were separated for the album’s release but still retain that sense of awe and excitement I felt upon that twelve minute extravaganza of smoky ambience and blazing guitar work in full instrumental glory. Despite being released very late last year, for fans of music with a chasm-like depth of atmosphere and scale, you need to listen to this album.

My pick from The Flood, personally has to be Zero Distance. The Alice In Chains-style tone has morphed into a more ominous, urgent sounding presence, lying in the shadows. It certainly sounds far more abrasive and threatening than any moment of their previous work, likely down to the distortion on the guitar.  The beat of the war drum drum hasn’t changed however, but it didn’t need to. It was already a gratifying percussive force and complimented the swirling atmosphere beautifully. Here, against the tone of an oncoming storm, each thump of the skins is another footstep closer to something landscape-changing. Upon the beat becoming regular and that snare serving as warning shots, you can feel something electric building up further and further into time. Throughout you also get the warm rumblings of bass, providing an additional layer of groove or thickening the overall atmosphere, just when chaos seems around the corner. Echoes of a voice wailing in the distance lead in the blues-soaked vocal chords, that do undeniably have a resemblance to the late Layne Staley. While we given the impression the band were unsure at first whether to include vocals in the bulk of their songs, the decision and startling confidence behind the delivery speaks volumes.

Switching from sinister whispers, to a soulful, whiskey-coated croon, to a melancholic but empowered bellow to make you tremble where you stand, the vocal projection has been elevated to another level from past material. And transferring such passion into a darker, brooding progressive journey, only enhances the experience. The moving cries of lead guitar harmonise with groove of the bassline, giving one last moment of calm and stability in the sonic landscape, before the inevitable gear switch, triggered by the sudden emphasis on bass driving the tempo. It becomes a manner of waiting. Power chords are left to wail and ring into the night, while drums intensify and diminish just as quickly, teasing that pay-off. It is left down to an almighty yell, for all the instruments to unite in one hurricane-force gust and unleash the unstoppable psychedelic force they possess. In tone, the atmosphere sits more in a dark and stormy night than a haze-infused trip, so the moment doesn’t explode as such, but it doesn’t make the guitar soloing any more stellar and spectacular. Bass plays a crucial part in making this a real special moment, the prominent deep grinding away, adding more than a substantial yin to the guitar’s yang, while drums keep pounding hard and inject some subtle rhythmic nuances to the pace. Towards the final furlong, this truly is a moment of pure rapture and a moment to lose yourself within. One tremendous drum performance, the continual bass siege and one last blues-touched anti-war slogan, we come to a close.

Aside from being some of the absolute nicest gentlemen I’ve ever had the opportunity to reach out to, Sophie’s Earthquake are killer musicians and deserving of a higher pedestal to put their music on. The Flood is a fantastic debut album, taking what made them a fascinating prospect and fleshing it out above and beyond what was thought they were capable of. Far darker in mood and tone than could be anticipated, but full of intoxicatingly good musicianship and songs, that are enjoyably progressive but can keep you guessing too.

 

The Flood and their debut EP are only available to purchase on their Bandcamp page, for very reasonable prices might I add, while physical copies are currently in the planning stages. Their website is also under maintenance. as of the time of writing. Sophie’s Earthquake will no doubt also be touring shortly, so keep an eye on their social media.

Which you can do so by clicking this link here and giving them a great big thumbs up:

https://www.facebook.com/Sophies-Earthquake-833196446731760/?fref=ts

And if you feel like giving me a thumbs up at all for this post, you can give me a like, a follow of subscribe to the blog, if you want to of course:

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20 Bands With New Music In 2016 You Should Keep An Eye On

Well, 2015 has reached its close, December slowly fading off into the distance as we leave behind a year of fantastic music and a year of fantastic bands, in the public knowledge and waiting to be discovered. What awaits us into the next calendar leap year? Hopefully more of the same and whatever craze next to infect the minds of the impressionable as it cracks the charts. I’m pretty sure 2015 was the year of big room house, or bass house, or whatever. I didn’t care enough to pay attention. But what I did care about, and what I very much care about, is hearing the rumblings or public declarations in some aspects of 20 under-the-radar, underrated, unsigned and underground bands making music in the new year that I’m excited about, and hopefully I can make you excited about too. After all, this is what I want to do for life. If I can’t make you excited about emerging or unearthed music, then I may as well quit here and now.

I’ll give it my best shot. So, in no particular order, 20 bands with new material in 2016, you might want to pay attention to:

Continue reading →

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The Maras

So the saying goes that there’s supposed to be no one you can rely on more in this world than your family. Some actually find resentment for their own family enough, pouring venom into the statement that you can’t choose your family, twisting the most important support network to you as a person, into nothing but bitter disdain. It must therefore be a fascinating statistic for the amount of families that are able to completely co-exist and co-operate without a hitch amongst one another. Music definitely is an adhesive that bonds people and their interests together, and family is no exception to this rule. After all, it works for King of Leon and they’re all cousins. It did work for the siblings of The Knife, before by their own admission, the creation of music and performing stopped being fun. It does however currently work for brothers Matt and Eric Mara whom after toiling and honing their floorfilling, pop-infected grunge bursts for five years, are finally releasing their works into the wider waking world. The unsuspectingly titled The Maras Go To The Mall! is their first long-player after a steady release of EPs earlier this year, squeezing the trigger hard for a myriad of aggressively charged bullets to the skull of modern rock. While you can claim that a lot of The Maras’ output revels in the sounds of the past, the breadth of those sounds and pure passion for music of decades gone has rejuvenated that spirit and goes as far to even sound brand new again, testament to their brilliance for writing hooks. Certainly from day one of hearing Ray’s Gun, that bass melody has been nothing but persistent in worming into my ear drums and burrowing deep into the pools of wax that lay within. But such is their talent that in just under two and a half minutes, they can pull off a near-perfect grunge-pit punch-up. Think the Pixies in a disco mood and you’re about there. Sound production has weaponised the drum beats so it carries across as a steady stream of bludgeoning projectiles, while the bassline calmly injects itself into your aural channel. Reminiscent of its era, monotone vocals seeped in reverb soon join the fray, still keeping a composed demeanour to the track. Vocals then take an anguished turn for the chorus and its contagious repetition, again keeping the instrumentation in a slightly numbed state, leaving just enough room to tease some tension for good measure. The mesmerising melody picks back up to start the cycle once more, coming back to that outrageously infectious chorus hook before jolting synth stabs take over and the bass slows the pace to a crawl and concludes. This is just one aspect of The Maras’ songwriting capabilities. Songs such as Church of Mad and Red Hair have far more fleshed out synth elements, and Texas Blood Thirst takes their angst to a far higher level. Ray’s Gun balances these both with just simplicity in structure and a killer series of hooks, and really that’s what The Maras excel at, writing bite-size tracks that have absorbed everything good from their respective 80’s record collections and translating it into a formula that hits your memory as hard as it does your eardrums. A true treasure awaiting discovery. Maybe that’s what the real value of family is..

The Maras Go The Mall!, single Muddy Susan and EP Welcome To Wax Beach are all available from their Bandcamp page for a very reasonable fee. Physical copies of The Maras Go The Mall were recently made available too on Bandcamp, so I’d recommend investing in a copy of that. The album is a real sleeper hit waiting to happen, that’s for damn sure.

Write them a love note of some description:

https://www.facebook.com/Themarasbrothers/?ref=hl
https://twitter.com/TheMarasBand

I am also welcoming of love notes too, but that’s entirely your choice:

https://www.facebook.com/IAmTheSoundshark/
https://twitter.com/The_Soundshark

 

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Mad Penguins

OK gang, time for a history-cum-geography lesson. Stoner rock. Where in the world do you reckon it originated in? I think can hear you saying America there. Correct. In the Palm Desert of California, DIY musicians and party goers hauled generators and held all-night jam sessions until the dawn, or the authorities turned up. Now, where do you reckon the scene is best right now? Europe? Yes, arguably. Where is surprisingly good right now? It may take you a while on this one, but the answer is actually Italy. I don’t exactly know what it is, or where it’s coming from, but Italy houses an astonishing underground array of psyche, blues, sludge and stoner bands that few seem to be taking notice of, at least at the moment. But their scene is absolutely thriving right now. One last unintentionally patronising question: Where do penguins live? Somewhere cold right? Yes, and no. At least if your country’s name is Ecuador anyway. But according to a Brescia three-piece, some of the angriest or craziest of this particular diving bird species like to holiday to Europe and hone their skills as a killer rock outfit, that marries punk bravado and stoner swagger with the ceremony held in a grunge mud pool. The latter become increasingly more apparent with their whack at Nirvana’s Scentless Apprentice on brand new release Radamanthys, if course guitars drowning in enough slurry to rival the Thames Estuary and heavy enough to tenderise a kitten in a matter of seconds wasn’t an indicator. Make no mistake, their music has a ferocity about it that does live up to their namesake, a real hard strike to the solar plexus of mediocrity in every possible way. One of the hardest hitters is Grindmind, detonating in your face immediately, leaving the squeals and squawks of guitar and the battering of skins to lead you into the beast’s domain, where fiery, crunching riffs and a maddening call of torment maul even the most cautious of souls. The song title is spot on, as the soundscape scrapes away at listening capacity you have, there’s almost the theatrics of the vocalist’s sanity in decline, his delivery certainly become more erratic towards the song’s climax. Perhaps a little like a certain frontman from Seattle we know and loved. You can certainly feel the vitriol spill from every syllable uttered, and only heightens the intensity on display here. This history and geography lesson didn’t intend to delve into the depths of musical darkness, but boy do Mad Penguins deliver that. For the unsuspecting, this three-piece deliver an occasionally uncomfortably heavy rock and roll tour de force, add in the lunacy of the vocals and the brazen attempts to punt your teeth down your throat and you have a legitimately dangerous musical trio, that people should get excited about.

Radamanthys only came out last week, but with 2013’s El Capretto, 2010’s When Tomorrow Hits and 2008’s When Difference Hits, all of these albums and tracks can be bought from their Bandcamp page. Depending on where you look, you can also find their albums at most respectable music retailers too.

Now I said these penguins were nasty, but all penguins like cuddles, and you can do so here:

https://www.facebook.com/Mad-Penguins-34058088538/

Could I too also have a cuddle, a like follow or subscribe-shaped cuddle? You don’t have to really though:

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https://twitter.com/The_Soundshark

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Universal Theory

I don’t really remember to what sort of length I’ve discussed goth on this blog before. I know the extent of which I have discussed subculture, but not actually empathising or focusing on one particular culture. Anyway, I’m already heading for a tangent here, but if you have any cultural knowledge of the 1980’s, you’ll understand the significance of the goth movement from the latter half of the decade, seeping into the early 1990’s. It still exists in society very much today, but in more of a translucent, subdued kinda way I feel. Their echoes do resonate through some modern artists nowadays, but so few and far between occurrences, that to me the scene appears to lurk in a tomb of its own gloominess, so far underground you’d need to ask Shell to borrow a drill to start digging with. In my eyes though, goth rock encountered an identity crisis because media mouthpieces started flinging labels at bands like Type O Negative, whose noticeable gloomy aesthetic and occasional playing at the pace of barely breathing gained far more publicity, than their recognition of having more musically in common with Black Sabbath or The Beatles. Those seeds were very much sown and a new translation of the phrase was born. So we stand here with Universal Theory, a Spanish duo whose music flows with a similar lifeblood that once filled Type O Negative, but are very much their own artefact of intrigue. Between just two of them, to construct a record with an eruption and outpouring of atmosphere and sombre yet infatuating tones is outright astonishing. Guitars billow with distortion, heavy enough to cause bleeding from the ears, with a vintage monotone but strangely appealing male set of vocals and a luscious siren’s sigh of female vocals to accompany it. Together they are backed by an army of trance-inducing synthesisers, drums purpose built to direct chaos or compassion and a stunning hand-stitched orchestral tapestry that enhances their gothic overtones far beyond just an icy chill in the air. While tracks like Before Sunrise showcase their vicious streak, the second part of Romance demonstrates a deeper emotional personality in their music. Almost waltzing with a saddened violinist through a downpour to begin with, guitars carve their mark into the mix quickly but settle in as an additional atmospheric marker wonderfully, that extra texture serving the melancholy very well. There is an instance of a riff interjecting every so often that threatens to topple the beautiful score in progress, instead serving as an impactful footnote in the otherwise well-realised atmosphere. The last minute or so of the song culminates in the escalation of this emotion, into an intense but moving whirlwind of strings moistening your eyes while drums cause calamity at the final stretch, and vocals calmly bring the proceedings to a halt. This is just one highlight of a terrifically formulated project. The Most Attractive Force couldn’t be more correct of an album name if they’d had it tattooed on their retinas. It sounds like a prog rock burial if one came across, but is without a doubt, one of the most beautifully involving, emotively stirring albums to emerge from the nether this year. Goth called, they say they’re doing pretty well. That should be the universal theory.

Both The Most Attractive Force and their earlier Mystery Timeline can be bought from Metal Hell Records’ Bandcamp page, whereas Mystery Timeline can be bought in a physical or digital capacity from most respectable music retailers. They also have a website you should be looking at. Just saying.

Tell them you like them:

https://www.facebook.com/universaltheory?fref=ts

And if you would like to, you can tell me you like me too, via my social media channels also:

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The Black Tears

I’ve always been weary of the phrase ‘re-imagining a classic,’ just for the connotations of altering an item of much adoration so it fits in with a modern mindset. More often than not in musical terms, that would come in the form of cover versions of songs, in which a change in tempo or even musical style could bring about that phrase, for opening the minds of people, to thinking of the original beloved version in an entirely different way. This is by no means a new concept in the industry, but allow me to give it some context. The 90’s are making a comeback, long story short, and whilst I remain dejected or indifferent about less-than-to-be desired trends and genres of music, some I’m pleasantly content for a revival of. By their own admission, Nuneaton’s The Black Tears are ‘unapologetically influenced’ by the Seattle grunge scene, traces of their work certainly recalling Pearl Jam and Alice In Chains to name but a few. This female-fronted four piece not only invoke that spirit of angst and disenchanted youth, but their taming of a now iconic sound has settled into a bluesier territory, making for a very intriguing listen. Their past EPs and album very much were piloting a straight-up emulation, but greater experience on stage and on the road is moulding them into a truly enthralling beast of a band, especially on the basis of their most recent double A side single Liquid Fabulous. While the title track itself is belted out in a siren-fronted Soundgarden-esque dreamstate, it’s the flipside La Ghooste that fuses the new found blues flavour into the grunge counterpart, to form what resembles a melancholy soul ballad as performed by a lightly downtuned Alice In Chains. The plucking of bass at the beginning with the reverb of the guitar swipes gives the mood an atmospheric haze that with vocalist Lischana Lane’s velvet tones, sets the scene for a smouldering performance. Verses remain a quieter affair, melodies from the guitars teasing an inevitable shift in amplitude, but giving an aura of tragedy to the words spoken. Drums propel the pace steadily, prominent and powerful, yet never overcomplicated or detracting from the forte of the vocals. It slots perfectly into the tone and ambience of the storytelling. Reaching the chorus, that Alice In Chains overdrive kicks in with the guitars delivering the right sorrow-tinged notes in a heavier persona, even adding some wailing into the equation for good measure, all the while with vocals spreading wings before soaring into the skies. The last minute certainly infers as much, an impressive vocal range in numerous altitudes, to the tune of guitars twisting tension in the closing moments. The blues-infused grunge dream weaving of The Black Tears is an utterly fascinating experience, one that deserves far greater recognition. There lays the workings of sheer brilliance in their rendition of grunge’s finest, wringing the raw emotion and energy out of the sound beautifully, but in shaping it with another of history’s greatest sounds, the label of a classic reinvention never seems more appropriate.

Their most recent EP Liquid Fabulous from April last year, 2013’s Philosophy Of Perception EP and 2012’s album Lacrimal Lake are all available from most respectable music retailers for a reasonable fee. In the meantime, they have a website you should be looking at for their gigs and other things.

You should go like them on social media right away:

https://www.facebook.com/TheBlackTears?fref=ts

And if you like them, maybe you might like, follow me or subscribe to the blog too, or you might not, your call:

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Stalin

Bewilderment I’ve always thought is an unusual word. I can’t exactly explain why, but I’ve never felt overly compelled to use it in general conversation. According to the Oxford English dictionary, the definition of the word bewilderment is the state of being puzzled or confused at events that have transpired. Out of context, if you happen to be followed by an identity known only to you as Stalin, you can only be bewildered as to how this occurrence came about in the first place. After all, Stalin, the man himself, is one of the most divisive figures in modern history, as well as a hip-hop artist also from California apparently. So, just who or what is Stalin? That too is a subject of bewilderment. Although the facts are they are a rock band, there’s at least two of them and they have an interest in cult, stretching to occult paraphernalia, a box to define their sound or style doesn’t quite seem to fit them. Elements of bands in sparse amounts you can claim make up the fibre of their already distinct musical output, but aside from a background reminiscent of the school of grunge, they really are a beast of a unique breed. Whether progressive doom backed by eerie chimes in the distance, sludge dirges with a wistful piano break or the quiet-loud waiting game leading in a wave of devastation, Stalin does it with a beautiful yet slightly twisted flair that few bands are capable of. This is none more apparent in their possibly most accessible work California, in combination with the NSFW music video. Bass becomes a big focal point in the track, grinding the surface of sound into an uneasy meeting between yourself and a presence of unsettling intentions. Guitar opens the dialogue, a rich, almost lamenting series of notes expressing a tone of remorse, but not overbearingly so, kind of hinting that there may be an agenda more untoward than let on. Impressions from one of the most original vocal styles I’ve heard in years suggest that too, playing from sinister whispers, to soulful innocence, to crooning with a hint of deviance, to full-blooded screams, even foul-mouthed spoken word gets a look-in, all from the mouthpiece of an incredible talent. With a trance-like drum pattern, all of these pieces slot together into a tenebrous, evocative exhibition, leaving the listener on tenterhooks the entire time. The ending of four furious tapping and skin-bashing bursts into just ambience, the pounding of toms and yelling thought-provoking slogans is surprisingly powerful, not to mention relatively irregular in this kind of music. Unashamedly different in execution by unnervingly talented musicians, Stalin are not just a band, but an experience, an experience that keeps you guessing and rewards perseverance with a blackened take on reinventing the modern rock formula. Music for the masses they say? You’re damn right it is! Masses that have to hear this band.

Stalin are kind enough to be offering the majority of their recorded output on Bandcamp on a pay-what-you-want basis, which I’d recommend go looking at and supporting them. My words might make a little more sense if you watch the music video, which I’ll remind you is NSFW. You were warned. Oh, and they have a website to go look at too. Make sure you do that.

Go give them a like on social media:

https://www.facebook.com/Stalin1144?fref=ts

And if you like and enjoy what I do, give me a like, a thumbs up on Twitter or consider following my blog, all optional, it’s your life after all:

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Eyes Of The Nightmare Jungle

There’s a stage in life, where I wish I were able to understand or sympathise with, where decades after establishing a band, making music, recording albums and seeing a little of the world before posthumously calling it quits, you can look back with a fondness on what you once did. General sensations such as hindsight and nostalgia are a similar thing, but I’m not a musician, so I can’t experience the same feelings associated with once having a short-lived band that had a mild success story. If your name is Russell Webster however, and you were the mastermind behind once one of the most influential independent recording studios in the country, and a cult status electro-goth rock band with notable club hits in central Europe, it’d be an achievement to be proud of. What Russell is now known for however is his work as a voiceover artist, having lent his voice to audio book and self-guides, on a one man crusade to make the world a better place. But what I admire from the small amount of research I’ve done, is that he is refreshingly honest about the success of his band Eyes Of The Nightmare Jungle. He claims that they bombed after their second album because they decided to be too clever, but in my opinion, they may have been a bit ahead of their time. Eyes Of The Nightmare Jungle are for the best part, your archetypical goth rock band taken very much from the 80’s, drum machine, heavily distorted guitars, grinding basslines to make the earth tremble, booming spoken word that later expands into gang chants, keyboard hooks that sit on top of the brain. But despite a sound getting on for thirty years old, it sounds like it hasn’t aged a day. In select circles, their calling card Shadow Dance is a club staple and it’s easy to understand why. From the effects-soaked chords of the beginning, leading in the endearing programmed beats and the haunted wail of the keyboard, there’s an overflow of deliciously dark melodies and smoke-filled atmosphere across the five minutes, that wrap you head-first into the spider’s lair and injects you with a euphoria, designed for the dancefloor. That keyboard, or guitar line, I’m not entirely sure which, is also worth its own mention, for in each appearance is a shimmering. delightful breeze that despite its twanginess, adds a real extra dimension to the track and the sheer infectiousness of it, elevates it beyond just being another streamlined goth floorfiller. Eyes Of The Nightmare Jungle were class songwriters, and with a producer at the top of his game at the helm of the project, it’s incredible to hear that it hasn’t aged a day since 1988. What’s more outstanding, is the appeal and allure that their excellent back catalogue awakens from not just the most hardy of all gothic fans, but from a much wider musical audience too.

Because we’re talking a band from over three decades ago that never had real mainstream recognition, you’d expect them not to have the latest and greatest in music dispensing tools. But digital and occasional physical copies of their work can be obtained at most respectable music retailers still, if this intrigues you as such.

Go give them a like on social media:

https://www.facebook.com/Eyes-Of-The-Nightmare-Jungle-150814181624559/timeline/

And if you liked this retrospective piece, why not sling some love in my direction, like follow, subscribe, however you want to, if you even want to at all:

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Moxy And The Influence

Kinda without wanting to get tangled up in the vast web and warzone that gender politics and feminism have evolved into, when it comes to rock music, women seem to have had it tougher because the industry put a lot of emphasis on marketing sexuality over talent. In smaller pockets of the industry, that can still be a problem, you’d probably need a few hands to count the amount of bands in which this happens to. But the ambitions of those determined, undeniably talented women, wanting to make a living doing what they love, keep tearing at the fence of adversity and the flow of females, not just as vocalists, but kickass guitarists, bassists and drummers is becoming more of a mainstay in up-and-coming bands. In and amongst those jostling for greater widespread attention and rightly so is the youthful spirit of California’s Moxy And The Influence. Sitting somewhere between the shoulder blades of Paramore and Halestorm, but raised on a healthy diet of glam and some of the greatest rock bands to ever pick up an instrument, the three ladies and one gentleman that make up the band have already received glittering acclaim and plaudits from local media outlets on their unforgettable melodic hard rock battle cries. Despite only being a band for two years and having an average age of 18, what staggers me most is how seasoned and polished they already sound for a band that could still be considered in its infancy. Since their inception, there’s been a steady trickle of singles and material, all packed with the charisma, fire and passion that makes rock ‘n’ roll function and personally, none fulfil that more for me than the punk-fuelled statement of empowerment that is Alive. Though lyrics lead me to believe that this deals with not being comfortable in a relationship, it feels more like acknowledging yourself and that you as an individual has purpose in this world, which despite sorrow breeding poetry, the optimism and positivity is incredibly refreshing to hear. There’s an attitude and sass to vocalist Moxy Anne that becomes far more emphatic against the well-oiled engine of the fast but weighted buzzsaw chords, bass that vibrates deep through your bones and drums that dictate the form of attack. Yet while the chorus is a strong mantra for believing in yourself, there’s an unexpected feistiness in the near-screams of a later bridge and a damn impressive, smoking hot guitar solo that follows it. Moxy And The Influence are similar in nature to that of wildcats: in no way to be underestimated and certifiably no hope of being tamed. A band of superbly talented musicians, very well versed in rock ‘n’ roll with the earworm masterstroke and the potential to climb very high in the musical food chain.

Their Alive EP can be bought from their website in a physical capacity, or from most respectable music retailers if you want the immediacy of digital. They have plenty of other merch available too if you wanna look at all the other things you could be buying.

Show them some much deserved love on social media:

https://www.facebook.com/MoxyAndTheInfluence?fref=ts
https://twitter.com/MoxyInfluence

And if you’re feeling generous and feel I deserve some love too, why not like, follow and/or subscribe to the blog? Or don’t. Your call:

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Majestic Mojo

The bass often gets relegated to the furthest regions of the musical pecking order, essentially being the reinforcement of a musical siege upon whoever may be listening. That of course is, unless your name is Les Claypool. But there was once a period in time where the bass was integral to the construction and success to a very prominent era of music, one that could be labelled as at risk of extinction in modern music. That era was the rise of disco and the explosion of funk in the 70’s. Of all of the originators, very few are still around, the core principles of funk having long since transitioned and transformed in modern pop music. It’s rare nowadays that you’ll hear out and outright straight up funk with the exception of a certain Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars collaboration and occasionally Red Hot Chili Peppers. Although dormant in indefinite hiatus, the power and energy behind Sweden’s Majestic Mojo certainly gave a new shining hope to the plight of funk music. The bass here was given a starring role in giving the groove, attitude and swagger that funk demanded. Playing what is described as heavy funk or ‘hunk,’ the machismo of the gentlemen from Karlstad was an attraction since 2005 and did spawn one fist-pumping compilation of good-time rock stompers called What A Handsome Face. And immediately from the beginning of Two Legged Freaks, that party spirit is demonstrated with an impressive slap-bass display, driving full steam the groove train into the salutations of trumpets and in-your-face rapping bravado, that cannot fail at putting a smile on your face. Ample spotlight is given to the outstanding bass show here, but the composition of this track at such a pace and at such a short running time all deserves applause. As good an introduction to this band and the thrill-a-minute fairground that funk is capable of, it seems such a shame that their take on a sound in capativity, has faded into near obscurity after toiling for six years. Funk’s not dead, not by a long shot, but if there ever was a fantastic reminder that bands can still perform the musical language in one of its most unrefined incarnations with such charisma and flair, Majestic Mojo deserve be a far, far bigger band than they ever were. Here’s hoping to their return one day.

Sadly having vanished for four years, any independent means of supporting them in musical limbo has disappeared, aside from being available from most respectable music retailers. They’re available on Spotify and Last.fm too if you want to support them that way.

https://www.facebook.com/majesticmojo?fref=ts