Unsung Rock: This One Time, At Bandcamp…
It’s been a while since I penned my last Unsung Rock, which came in the form of an interview with Liverpool alt-rock band Sound of Guns. So what better way to return than with even more new, exciting bands just waiting to be discovered?
Gallic Promise: Exciting rockers The Whatts
First up are The Whatts, a French band who have recently released an EP entitled ‘ABCD’. It’s a record full of driving bass lines and blazing electric guitars, with surprisingly light vocals that fuse together to form a rough-around-the edges debut effort from a band showing a lot of potential. The influences of the quartet, which include modern rock titans The Strokes and Arctic Monkeys, are ever-present, but The Whatts do just enough to create their own distinctive sound. Still, don’t just take my word for it! Check out the band’s bandcamp profile to listen to the full ABCD recording.
Next up are The Shutes, who have recently released an exquisite five-track EP, entitled Echo of Love. It’s the kind of take on classic indie rock taken up by bands like Foster the People, with riff based verses and techno melodies building to catchy-pop choruses. It’s a formula that works well and The Shutes make the style their own with distinctive vocals and lyrics. The EP manages to keep a certain consistency and rarely deviates from its original style, but hits a sweet spot with She Said, a half dream-pop half indie rock song that manages to create an sing-a-long chorus alongside synthesisers and acoustic guitars.
Rounding off our trio of tips are ‘Queen Electric’, a more traditional Hendrix-influenced rock ‘n’ roll band who have an excellent self-titled album jam-packed with blazing electric guitars, heavy, driving bass lines and, perhaps most importantly, guitar solos aplenty. The old-school is ever present, with classic rock bands as well as the likes of David Bowie outlined as the obvious inspirations, and while there isn’t a hell of a lot of uniqueness surrounding Queen Electric, the increasingly small amount of groups doing what they do allows them to stand-out from the rest. For a good rock ‘n’ roll album they provide something a must-listen.
You can find all three acts plus many, many more over at the bandcamp website. As if that isn’t enough new music, we’ll also close with the ‘Picks of the Week’:
Bleech – Mondays
Bleech are a band who have done well to establish themselves as a live act, with support slots for the likes of Pete Doherty. But their infectious new single Mondays could be the breakthrough in terms of getting radio air-play. The chorus is instantly infectious and catchy, and you’ll be singing along upon first play. Bleech could be ones to watch for the future.
The Milk – Broke Up The Family
The Milk are the latest alt-rock act to be generating hype recently, and I’ve high hopes for them considering that The Vaccines did so well from a pretty much identical position last year. Broke Up The Family is instantly catchy, and serves as both an excellent debut single for The Milk as well as an intriguing teaser for their upcoming debut album. There’s still a hell of a lot of work to be done, but you can bet your mortgage that this won’t be the last we hear of these guys.
The Tricks – Remember Me
After interviewing indie-upstarts The Tricks for FMV a couple of months back, the band have gone from strength-to-strength. Their latest single is the instantly catchy ‘Remember Me’, which utilises the classic formula of riff-based melodies and big pop choruses to create an infectious song well-worthy of your precious itunes credit. With this standing alongside former Unsung Rock pick of the week Just For The Summer, The Tricks could be one of the biggest surprise packages of 2012, with their debut album out later on this year.
Heard any great Unsung Rock? You can e-mail Dan with your suggestions for ‘Pick of the Week’ at unsungrock@rocketmail.com.
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