Night Owls (Photo Credit Georgia Richards)
Another week, another batch of essential underground sounds, it’s what Unknown Pleasures was designed for and Getintothis’ Mike Stanton is once more your host.
Night Owls are bringing lo-fi grunge into the 2000’s with their riff-heavy and searing track Do You Want It All? Inventive guitar work is by turns explosive, textured and brooding, lending the song an at times suffocating dirge-like quality. Do You Want It All? is a deconstruction of the scandals sweeping Hollywood at the moment, as the lads say, “We thought it would be interesting to explore the arrogance and fear of someone who had abused their position of power, and was about to have their whole world crumble around them”.
A three piece from Leeds, Night Owls consist of life-long friends William Pollard (vocals and bass) and Liam Waddell (guitar) joined on drums by Dominic Reed. Grabbing bits and bobs from the fertile hunting ground of 90’s grunge and seemingly elements of shoegaze, Night Owls have forged a sound of amplifiers in overdrive and controlled feedback to belt out a wall of churning sonics and air-rumbling din.
Do You Want It All? is a loud, kinetic and dynamic three and a half minutes of controlled fury that builds then releases a heady tension leaving a pleasant buzzing in its wake.
Do You Want It All? is out now.
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HUSK (Photo credit: Artist’s Facebook)
Elements of soul, R&B and early 80’s synthpop all influence this moody and melodic swirler from emerging Manchester artist HUSK. Drawing inspiration from artists as diverse as No Doubt, Girls Aloud, CHVRCHES and early Madonna, HUSK has delivered a song of genuine electro-pop power, unapologetically exploring life, love and sexuality, through his transgender experience.
Brother Kin has its fair share of catchy hooks, frosty synths and poignant melodies but it is its central narrative that makes this track so compelling as HUSK asserts how it feels to be ‘on the outside’ of a societal norm. HUSK‘s vocal performance is clear-eyed, strong and open with a hint of vulnerability, all the while bubbling synths and anthemic hooks drive the song onward.
HUSK has embarked on his voyage of discovery and empowerment and has created a song of bright and clear electro pop that draws from the past and pushes into the future with style and confidence. Expect to hear more from this most talented and singular voice.
Husk – The EP is out now.
St. Tropez (Press Photo)
Yacht-punk, you’ve probably never heard of this genre before. Well, it exists and is thriving in Amsterdam. St. Tropez are fine exponents of this experiential freakout. Down is one of St. Tropez’s most visceral cuts to date: “both a chaotic ode and a political indictment to destruction” as they see it. Pummeling drums usher in a bracing riff, before the group’s trademark groove and ear for a chorus takes over. All of this is accompanied by an ominous visual component – one elongated, weirdly cinematic greyscale shot.
Down is the first taste of St. Tropez‘s forthcoming second full length record, set for release in May and if this single is anything to go by it’ll be an album of fierce energy and power-packed mini-epics. Using heavy blues and rockabilly to build on a psych-folk and galloping riff, Down shimmers and twists its way throughout the relatively short two minutes thirty seconds and it is gone in a blur. With more hooks than an amateur production of Peter Pan, St. Tropez have produced a record that improves with repeated listens.
Down is out now.
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