megalist for music lovers (no posers allowed)
enough of the creative advice and controversial takes (back next week), get your stretch pants on and ready yourself for a feast of tasty musical treats that will leave you feeling shamefully full.
neo-smithcore
First up - music that sounds a bit like Elliott Smith. It’s been 20 years since his death and yet his musical influence seems to be growing stronger than ever as our cannibalistic culture devours the 90’s all over again.
What is Neo-Smithcore? As the worlds leading (and only) expert let me tell you. It’s the sound of super close and often scratchy guitars, brushed or washy drums, breathy vocals and beguiling chord changes that somehow remain melodic as hell.
‘Cozy’, ‘More / Marsh (Unplugged)’, ‘Runner’ & ‘Against The Grain’ are all direct nods to the sound with stylistic embellishments - ranging from modern production to a sprinkling of country spice - adding their own small twists to Elliott’s formula while maintaining the essential vibe.
‘Running’, ‘The Peak’ & ‘Hold Yr Horses’ base themselves in different genres and blend in elements of Smith’s sonic fingerprints for more of a reimagining than a homage. Featuring breathy, soft, often double tracked vocals, scratchy sounding guitars and a melancholic atmosphere, these tracks show us a glimpse of Neo-Smithcore’s steps forwards.
new the new british new wave new
There's a heady swirl of post-punk indie guitar music thrashing to the surface in the UK right now - some of it is plucky, other twangy, often absurd and always energetic.
Often rhythmically monotonous and melodically chaotic this new class flirts with dissonance and absurdism while keeping their feet firmly on the solid foundation of driving drums and angular bass lines.
Moreish Idols, Squid & dura dura all share the Speedy Wunderground connection - a London label headed by producer / musician Dan Carey (not Danny Carey you tool) who alongside producing the likes of Wet Leg, Kae Tempest, Foantaines D.C. etc also puts out a 7” series of tunes recording and mixed within a weekend from which the dura dura track has been pulled. He’s the sheepish looking guy playing guitar front and centre on the Squid ‘Pamphlets’ live session.
Ulrika Spacek have been a personal favourite for many years now, oft-cited as the band I’d most love to be a member of (still waiting for that call guys, plz) and they, alongside Egyptian Blue & Bar Italia represent a scratchy, psychedelic flavour that can permeate though this scene musically and/or sonically in recordings.
The Cool Greenhouse deserve a special mention for the sheer directness of their intellectual snark and hypnotic dissonance found on tracks like ‘Cardboard Man’, ‘Get Unjaded’ & ‘Alexa!’
anyone can produce a computer song
With music production technology becoming incredibly affordable, accessible and flexible in the digital age we are starting to get some extremely creative sounding tunes.
Sounds and textures in place of instruments, quiet sounds unnaturally loud, distorted and warped organic material - I love the funhouse of mirrors modern music is becoming.
For example, this Water From Your Eyes track ‘Barley’, may or may not be to your taste but you’ll have to admit there’s not much else that sounds like it.
Both ‘Switch It On, Switch It Off’ by Chartreuse & this Thomas Powers (TNAF) / Chelsea Jade (Chelsea Jade) use modern production techniques to enhance their natural sound - supercharging atmospheres, billowing reverbs and adding a real heft to the sound to present something in the realm of familiarity with an almost hyper-real / surreal quality.
Where as SLOE JACK, Skrillex & Ross From Friends take modern techniques and create futuristic tunes. Crammed with in-your-face drums lathered in saturation & bursting with energy and excitement, they create upbeat tracks high on the sonic equivalent of performance enhancing drugs for the dancefloor.
nothing but the best for you
To finish off we’ve got my current obsessions gauntlet style. Idles are back with a dubious feature from LCD Soundsystem doing background vocals in a chorus or two, the catchiest hook on a guitar song this year from Wellington’s Macho Macho (Logan paid me big $$ for this plug) & great new tunes from Jockstrap, Kurt Vile, Bombay Bicycle Club, CMAT & more!