Deep Cuts #31
Now that we’re hurtling towards autumn gig season, Getintothis contributors have some songs to accompany you on your journey into the darker nights.
Last week, large swathes of music fans celebrated the 25th anniversary of the release of Oasis’ seminal debut album, Definitely Maybe.
The band themselves released special edition tracks, videos and footage to mark the occasion, as social media became awash with memories of 1994.
Those memories were genuinely fascinating to read, and while the majority of them were relatively similar, there was one outstanding theme. Many fans were sharing their ‘firsts’.
I saw a lot of: “I was at ______ when I first heard it” and “I first saw them at _____”.
Music has the almost unmatched ability to allow us to travel to a time and place upon hearing a particular song. The sounds take us from 2019 back to a place that often reflects a time when that song was important to you.
Such as when it was first released.
But there was one problem. As much as, yes, Definitely Maybe is one of the standout albums of the last 25 years and perhaps one of the greatest of all time, the nostalgia we had last week was tinged with something else.
It will be incredibly hard to recreate what happened in August 1994, many have tried but few have come close. What is pivotal though, is that we are open to it. There were so many ‘first time’ memories surrounding Definitely Maybe last week that it highlighted to me just how important it was to keep discovering.
Oasis celebrate 25 years of Definitely Maybe with special events and releases
The debut album from Fontaines D.C., released earlier this year, has many similarities with Oasis‘ record, and I dare say that their show in November in Liverpool may grow into an incredibly important one in terms of how much I love that band. Perhaps, in 25 years time, I’ll be able to share when I first listened to Dogrel, and when I first saw them live, and be transported back to 2019 from wherever I am then.
The important thing is that in order to have the ability to share memories and be nostalgic, a music fan must continue the process of finding new music. Finding news bands, listening to new albums, going to new gigs. It can be a sometimes unrewarding task, but as last week showed when a band gets one right – the rewards are substantial.
Here’s hoping you find a new band in here.
Lewis Ridley, new music editor
The Letrasets
The Letrasets: Dunes
After recently supporting Liverpool rising stars SPINN, The Letrasets have secured their rightfully earned fanbase in Liverpool. Following on from their first single Castles, the band released Dunes. The same high energy indie guitar flows through both pieces and yet they succeed in being entirely different in tone with Dunes arguably being the better of the two.
The first thirty seconds of a song make or break it, and The Letrasets undeniably smashed it this time round. With a Vistas-style high-energy indie opening riff and a secure and confident vocal, the band succeed in maintaining the naïve energy that sticks to new bands like glue and yet they feel secure in their production.
Even the lulls in the song hold so much emotion, no vocals but a melodic manifestation of the lows that are a part of everyday life. Brief but powerful in adding to the positive energy that ripples through the piece.
Megan Walder
LUTE
LUTE: Fears
LUTE are back as the progressive/ sludge metal rockers from South Manchester reemerge with their new single Fears – but there is nothing to be scared of. Taking inspiration from prog overlords like TOOL, King Crimson, Pink Floyd and also Metallica, the track mixes up heavy guitars with complex layers and time signatures with harmonious vocals to create a complex soundscape which is as brash as it is contained.
A track laden with deep grooves and overdrive, the near primaeval breakdown bouncing between drums and guitar unnerves and conjures mighty chaos of an angered (usually sweaty) live surrounding.
Who said riffs are dead?
Will Whitby
San Pedro’s Vision
San Pedro’s Vision: Twilight of The Elephant Gods
Sensational Merseyside troupe San Pedro’s Vision’s most recent EP – Twilight Of The Elephant Gods is a sublime blend of crisp guitars, punchy drums and otherworldly synth sounds. The opener You Don’t Know My Mind clocks in at a lengthy 5:26, yet doesn’t feel like it outstays its welcome at all, continually moving and flowing as the track progresses.
Having recently played alongside the legendary Psyence in Jimmy’s Liverpool, the 5-piece group’s latest effort packs a weighty punch in You Don’t Know My Mind, which begins with a lone guitar which is joined by a chaotic blend of instruments, before dissolving into a shimmering, groovy track difficult to pin down to any specific stylistic comparisons.
You Don’t Know My Mind is a great early autumnal track, and is no doubt the perfect soundtrack to a September evening as the days grow colder and darker – with the casual, laid back nature of the track a great match for the current time of year.
The 5-piece really do flex their ability to craft ambiences in this track, with ethereal synths perfectly blending with the sweet bass hook of the track to create a smooth, dreamy nature that is sure to be a success amongst existing fans of the group and those who haven’t yet discovered them alike.
You Don’t Know My Mind really has it all, a heavily Beatles-inspired breakdown in the middle, a transatlantic guitar solo, and a vocal delivery which leaves little to be desired from the quickly rising group – be sure to give it a spin if you haven’t already.
Max Richardson
Echoes (Credit: Facebook)
Echoes: Out of Her Mind
Echoes’ debut EP, Out of Her Mind, offers everything you want to hear from an indie record.
The Liverpool four-piece have produced three catchy songs, ticking all the boxes. With a catchy beat and thoughful lyrcis, this lead track is a great opener and lays a good marker.
All three tracks have sing along choruses that could fill small music venues across Liverpool. Powerful vocals front up this EP to make it a triple threat to be reckoned with.
There is plenty for Echoes to be positive about after their first release, as they prepare for their second later this month. They’re a band you’re going to want to see sooner rather than later.
Amos Wynn
Pixey
Pixey: Colours
Just as the sunny days comes to an end, Liverpool indie queen Pixey has unleashed one of the sunshine records of the summer bringing vivacious indie-pop to the encroaching dark, autumn nights.
Colours is the debutant EP from the longtime Getintothis favourite mixing uplifting, addictive indie-pop hooks with bold, hands-in-the-air festival trickery. A raw yet euphoric memoir of growing pains, good times and dreamy guitars.
Opening track Supersonic Love sets the tone with a glittering guitar melody floating over a raft of hi-hats and echoes. The kind of uplifting track you put on in an empty Saturday afternoon to bring in the good times; with an infectious groove which reaches a rhapsodic crescendo in this bedroom pop-cum-indie BBQ banger.
On My Own brings talk of hazy isolation and dancing on your own with Pixey’s self-aware yet feel-good songwriting taking control on the bittersweet track of effortless self-love.
Growing pains and changing times are met with title track Colours. A slick pop ballad that doesn’t fall out of place within the record as it adds some substance and emotion behind the vibrant surroundings.
The colours in the world don’t seem the same, the colours in the world change is sang swimming over jangling 80s inspired guitar lines as Pixey displays a depth in lyricism which doesn’t sway the attitude of the EP- adding only honesty to the demeanour.
To close the EP sees a rerelease of duo of already released tracks in Hometown and Young. We see an artist unafraid to swathe between the barriers of 90s pop and indie floor filler motifs within the effervescent fizz of Hometown.
A joyous finale in Young dives headfirst into chat of reckless and hopeless youth all the while injected with punchy synths, oscillating guitars and a woozy lof-fi kaleidoscopic backdrop. A real lose yourself in the moment kind of song.
Upon its first foray in 2016, we described the North West hotshot’s then debut track as: “more Long Beach than Leigh.” 3 years is a long time to wait for a debut EP but this track alone has kept eagle-eyed fans keen and eager over the wait- myself included.
Recorded and created within a basic home studio, the honest escapism of her music helped her through the recovery of an illness. The end product is just that- euphoric, bedroom pop escapism to brighten up dreary days.
Quick, someone get the BBQ out before October arrives.
Will Whitby
The Jacques (From their Twitter page)
The Jacques: Kiss The Pharoah
Kiss The Pharoah is the third single from The Jacques since their 2017 debut. While there are similarities to their two previous releases, this track sees the band opt for a moodier, grungier edge.
Thudding drums carry fuzzed out vocals, to transform what begins a slow burner into a different beast altogether. Chiming lead guitar takes us from verse to verse, before the track comes to a two tone style climax.
This is their best effort yet by some way, and marks a fascinating chapter for the band.
Lewis Ridley
Arliston, fromt he artists Facebook page
Arliston: Two Times
Dead Kaczynski: Mr Switch
Kent noise rock trio Dead Kacyznski have this month released their debut single ahead of their forthcoming album, Yakuza Attack Dog.
The track doesn’t hang around, clocking at just 1 minute and 30 seconds, but in this short time a trashy, sour work of art rears it’s head. This is perfect.
The band was born from the ashes of Kent punk-scene favourites Wiremother and they have quickly built a reputation for intense and ferocious live shows, that’s no surprise, as this track alone is an intense experience.
On the track, that band said: “When you understand something fully, you can destroy it utterly. What do you mean we nicked that?”
Listen here.
Lewis Ridley
WOR
WOR: Annual Leave
Howard Doupe
EMBLM
EMBLM: Young
Young is the second single release from Manchester’s EMBLM and is in his words: “A lamentable take on
summer’s end, autumn’s beginning and the reluctance that often comes with change”.
A deeply personal track from the emerging R&B inspired musician, the single proudly carries a photograph of his great, great grandmother on the cover, posed in 1915.
This same photograph takes pride of place on a wall in the artists’ home by the piano on which he wrote this song. Little is known about the artist; there appears to be no obvious social media presence at this time, by design, but it’s a sure bet that songs of this depth and maturity are going to make an impact very soon on local and national audiences.
Young is contemplative and beautifully crafted and whilst it sums up an individual’s natural fear of change, change is inevitable in life, so let us embrace it.
Young is to be released on 11 September on the Ditto label.
Jane Davies
Slime City (Credit: Facebook)
Slime City: You and Everyone You Know Will Someday Die
Since forming in 2017 this three-piece from Glasgow have been making what they call ‘fast existentialist nerd rock for people who like sighing but also fighting.’ Whatever you want to call it, they’re putting out powerful tracks about Jools Holland, male pattern baldness, and dial up internet that mix nostalgia for the recent past and dread of the not-to-distant future.
You and Everyone You Know Will Someday Die lays bleakly prescient vocals over manic guitars to build to something that’s defiantly joyful in the face of the torrent of despair that seems to hit every time you check the news.
Readers north of the border can catch them at one of their frequent gigs around Glasgow and across Scotland, or wait for February when they set off on the Slime City Death Club Tour ’88. Aside from the odd gig they’ve yet to launch a major excursion much further south, but fingers crossed they’ll pay us a visit when Death Club ’89 comes around.
Mostyn Jones
You can listen to the track here.
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