Song reviews

“Blood Wolf Moon” sounds like it has fallen out of a (better) time with those indie sentiments meshing in with bleak synthpop sounds. If anyone can successfully do deathpop on this side of the pond it would be Vulture Party and indeed they do.

Sugary sentimentality powers “Colour Me” and, with all the precision of the best pop songs, Alex Amor tugs at the heartstrings that we all wish we had. Radio friendly in a delightfully dreamy way, this song is candy floss to the ears.

More sounds from the urban jungle with cumgirl8 throwing guitars, distortion, wiped out vocals and tortured electronica into the lo-fi dustbin to make “Dumb Bitch”. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure and this one makes me all fuzzy.

You can’t go far wrong with a bit of blue collar philosophy when it is wrapped up with Sunset Black’s nihilistic rap that echoes the mindset of those who will never live the Kardashian dream. “White Trash Wasted” is made to go with beer.

That retro rock vibe pervades “Lover Meet My Eyes” and, with the addition of guitar loops and synthesiser swirls designed to wash over you, Matt Boylan-Smith soon magnifies the enclosed emotion into a form that even FM radio of old could digest.

I like a song with muscles and “Dig Me Out” has definitely made use of both a gym membership and some steroids. Meisha & The Spanks rip up some hardcore power chords to start the fire and keep it going until the building burns down.

Some manic minimalist synth pop from Kristeen Young with “Sara Get The Baby” leading you through the mid-life crisis littered streets. Powered by a sequenced combination of internalised rage and arthouse deconstruction, this one goes bang!

Kind of old school urban in her approach, Simone Miller takes a familiar post midnight path but her soul strolling style gives her voice the chance to convince those whose hearts are willing to listen. As they used to say back in the day, this one is a grower.

Hippies and Cowboys take their song “Baby Won’t You Stop” for a walk down the Stax track and that is just fine with a soul man like me. The horn section would get arrested for grand larceny but there’s a short but muscular guitar solo to keep things fresh. Serve with cold beer.

“Sötnos” hide their wry humour and grunge meets indie ragged round the edges charm by mixing it in with a whole bundle of nineties retro sonic snippets such as power chords, hard urban beats and a chant for a hook to keep things going until the end. Solid irony in sound.

One listen to “Just Me” is enough to convince these ears that this is another finger on the pulse of our times pop song and DeVries duly applies more than enough polish to slide it on to a radio playlist or ten. Heartfelt, no doubt.

Belgian band Bullets&Knives do the angular euro rock thing rather well with “Trauma L3” mixing pulsating rhythms, hard edged, almost nihilistic, lyrics and power chords into their sonic stew. You’ll get a taste for it if you try.