Song reviews

The Josh Joplin Group sound distinctly mainstream and there is little doubt that they are strong on the sentiment with their song “One More Someone” confidently tugging on the heartstrings of the listener.

Dutch singer Daniel De Boer sure sounds serious and his song “Beside Me” abounds with both earnest emotion and, lyrically at least, spiritual intent. It’s a deeper meaning type of song for the kind of people who need deeper meaning.

It would not be the blues without a guitar and Paulie Boy Blues adds some fluid old school rock seasoning to his version of the standard “Ramblin’ On My Mind” to duly take the song for a stroll down easy street.

An endearing mix of neo indie pop and synth pop from Melys with “Santa Cruz” having enough in the way of retro influences to induce an attack of sentimentality. You can’t keep a good band down, as the man with the plan is prone to say.

Litany may sound like another looped to the beat plastic pop princess on the way up yet “Sad Girl” takes it all the way to the chorus with more than the expected amount of radio airplay friendliness. A hit? Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

Heralding a possible, and long overdue, revival of what the oldies would call a pop song are The Tisburys and their song “Forever” duly bounces along in a good natured and guitar driven way. There’s even a chorus. Good enough.

Decidedly commercial but not without a certain oddball style, Mollie Elizabeth bakes some discontinuities and oblique lyrics into her song “Vegas Venetian” thus making another worthy three minute snack for the cognoscenti.

Retro rock from The Orphaned Bee with vocoder style vocals, synthesiser loops and solid drumming powering “Rain” and serving as a reminder of what rock metamorphosed into after the excesses of the seventies.

Heast hotwire the punk steamroller and, with steroid fuelled guitar riffs aplenty, they take their song “Did They Ever Find Out Who Let The Dogs Out?” for a joyride. Naturally, this song begs to be played at volume whilst drinking beer.

All fluffy and bouncy, Kat Greta’s song “Summer Daze” sounds like it would be the on the perfect soundtrack for a trip to the beach. Some might even call this a song for better times and, for those four minutes, even I would do just that.

“Harry Dean Stanton” may be 100% eighties retro but when The Armory Show stars big hitters like Richard Jobson and Scottish guitar god Martin Metcalfe then that retro bandwagon simply refuses to be derailed.

“Fever” might well be looped to the point of danceability yet there is something warm and appealing about Foley that transcends the merciless processing and induces positive vibes. Plastic but not pointless.