All posts in category Single Reviews

Single Review #5: Ravens & Chimes, ‘Division Street’

Guest reviewer, @tvermar, is back in the saddle for this release from Ravens & Chimes:

“Division Street” is the first single from the latest record by New York based five-piece Ravens & Chimes. Hitting the streets on 19th November 2012, its timing couldn’t be more perfect. It has a great autumnal feel to it – a song as good as “Division Street” is exactly what you’d want to hear on coming home to a warm house on a cold, dark November evening. Both the music and vocals have such a warm, lush feel to them, that it’s impossible not to get swept up and lose yourself for the duration of the song.

The track itself is refreshingly clear and simple, beginning with clean-cut male vocals and supporting piano refrain augmented by unobtrusive backing instrumentation. As the song progresses the melody is driven home by effective use of both the second piano and the complimentary female vocals to supplement the main musical theme. The whole piece works as both a haunting and comfort giving 3:22 minutes, is addictive, bears up to repeated listening and we always like a tune with a clear beginning, middle and end.

We highly recommended that you all give “Division Street” a listen this coming November and we are already looking forward to hearing more from Ravens & Chimes when their album, “Holiday Life” is released in 2013

@tvermar

If you like what you hear then the band are heading out on tour thhis November,

Ravens & Chimes European Tour November 2012:

tue 13.11.12 GER Kiel  – Pumpe/Roter Salon
wed 14.11.12 SWE Pustervik – Göteborg
thu 15.11.12 NOR Revolver – Oslo
sun 18.11.12 SWE Kopenhagen – Huset i Mag.
mo 19.11.12 GER FFT – Düsseldorf
tue 20.11.12 GER Haldern Pop Bar – Haldern
fri 23.11.12 ENG Brighton – The Hope
sat 24.11.12 ENG Oxford – Modern Art Oxford
sun 25.11.12 ENG Cambridge – Portland Arms / day show
mo 26.11.12 ENG London gig, venue tbc
tue 27.11.12 ENG London  – Bull & Gate
wed 28.11.12 ENG Coventry – Taylor John’s House
thu 29.11.12 travel
fri 30.11.12 LUX DQLIQ – Lux.   City
sat 01.12.12 NL Guess Who – Utrecht
sun 02.12.12 NL Haarleem – Storing
tue 04.12.12 Fr Paris – Espace B
fri 07.12.12 CH Kilbi Festival / Zürich
sun 09.12.12 GER Freiburg – Swamp
mon 10.12.12 FR Strasbourg – La LAITERIE
wed 12.12.12 NL Amsterdam  – Winston
fri 14.12.12 GER Dresden  – Ostpol
sat 15.12.12 GER Hamburg – Prinzenbar

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by jcverrall on October 25, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by jcverrall on October 25, 2012

http://someofitistrue.com/2012/10/25/single-review-5-ravens-chimes-division-street/

Single Review #4: Chris Simmons ‘You Could Have It All’

Chris Simmons – You Could Have It All

As a solo singer-songwriter, Chris Simmons faces plenty of competition navigating his way to the head of the pack. That said, on the evidence of this single and the accompanying video, he may well be on his way to discovering a route to wherever it is he wants his talent to take him.

‘You Could Have It All’ starts quietly and builds slowly, dominated by Chris’s guitar and vocal. The effect of the repeated lament of, ‘Mine is a minute to late, Mine is the wrong time and place, Mine is a shade to soon…’, coupled with Chris’s strong clear vocal, does an excellent job of hinting at the underlying emotion but stopping short of telling the whole story.

When it gets to the chorus, and you are expecting a musical outpouring of the emotion driving the lyric, what actually happens is that Chris reins the song back in again. Where there might have been an uplifting solo the guitar line is captivating, but it is the vocal that delivers the real knockout blow, “I counted on a friend that always seemed to let me down”.

If you think all this sounds a little intense then perhaps the finest complement we can pay the songwriter is that, even with all the emotion, the song remains engaging & inspiring throughout – leaving you with the sense that only repeat plays will unlock all its secrets.

You can download the single here: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/you-could-have-it-all-single/id567667255

Find out more about Chris here: http://www.facebook.com/chrissimmonsmusic

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by jcverrall on October 3, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by jcverrall on October 3, 2012

http://someofitistrue.com/2012/10/03/single-review-4-chris-simmons-you-could-have-it-all/

Single Review #3: Robots With Souls ‘Droids That Bleed // Watch Out!’

At someofitistrue we like to focus on the music and have only a secondary interest in a band’s moniker and/or image. But, having said that, we’ve got to say that Robots With Souls is just such a really cool name. We weren’t sure what to expect when this landed on our desk, but the name conjured images of electronic circuits, lab coats and backwards recordings of pianos falling down staircases. In actual fact Robots With Souls are a noisy rock band from Oxford, the sole work of musician and producer Steve Wilson.

“Watch Out!” is the most immediate track of this double A side single release.  There is a great sense of brooding darkness and paranoia throughout the whole song. It starts off with pounding beats, the perfect soundtrack to being chased by secret police in some future Oxford gone bad.  It has a great bass/drum sound that drives the song along and there are stabs of guitar to add colour. Steve’s terrace chant vocals fit perfectly to the overall sense of foreboding. I really like this song, it reminds me for no real reason, of Sliver by Nirvana; it has that great mixture of simplicity and excitement, but with added Glitter band style glam rock drum stomp. The video is also excellent.

“Droids That Bleed” has an introductory one minute drone before kicking off in earnest. It has more of a regular verse, chorus, verse, song structure than the stompy “Watch out!”, but has the same general feel of paranoia and impending doom. It requires repeat listening and has a great ending,  stopping much earlier than expected and catching the listener unawares. It’ll be interesting to see how this song works live, where apparently Steve plays everything himself. Music In Oxford called Robots With Souls the ”Black Sabbath in-the-future rock” and that is a pretty neat description of “Droids That Bleed”

For this listener, the robots here are not man’s electronic friend doing the mundane tasks we don’t want to do whilst we sip cocktails on the beach, but man himself, living a repressed and controlled existence within a dystopian society. So think Robots with Souls as the rebels trying to evade federation troopers from the future as depicted in Blake 7, rather than the friendly C3PO of Star Wars fame.

Review by @tvermar

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by jcverrall on July 3, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by jcverrall on July 3, 2012

http://someofitistrue.com/2012/07/03/single-review-3-robots-with-souls-droids-that-bleed-watch-out/

Single Review #2: ‘Falling Fast’ by Shoeb Ahmad

“Falling Fast” is the lead single from Australian Singer/Producer Shoeb Ahmad’s debut solo record, ‘Watch/Illuminate’. It is a haunting four minute slice of ambient dream pop based on a neat repetitive bass line, muttered vocals and the odd splash of uplifting colourful chords as the arrangement progresses. Repeated listens certainly reap benefits, as the vocals become more apparent and the hooks start to dig in. “Falling Fast” is an enthralling enough mood piece in its own right, but as the lead track on ‘Watch/Illuminate’, we are interested to see how the ideas contained within this soundscape progress within the context of the entire record.

Shoeb Ahmad is making his debut trip to the UK in June 2012 and it will be fascinating to see how his sound translates to a live setting.

Review by: @tvermar

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by jcverrall on June 5, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by jcverrall on June 5, 2012

http://someofitistrue.com/2012/06/05/single-review-2-falling-fast-by-shoeb-ahmad/

Single Review #1: ‘Not Every Song From The Sixties Is A Classic’ by The Dreaming Spires

If anything can make a sunny day even sunnier it’s a great blast of American influenced power pop. The UK has sweltered in a mini heat-wave for 3 days and “Not Every Song From The Sixties Is A Classic” by The Dreaming Spires is the perfect soundtrack.

The Dreaming Spires don’t attempt to hide their influences; there are clear references here to originals such as Big Star, The Byrds, Dwight Twilly Band and modern equivalents such as Teenage Fanclub; but why should they? These bands made some of the best guitar driven music ever and The Dreaming Spires should be commended for giving this sound a 21st Century brush up and adding another great tune to the power pop lexicon.

Driving jangly guitar, stop/start organ, lovely vocals and catchy, hook driven lyrics, underpin this three minute love letter to both the escape offered by rock and roll and a classic musical style.

“Not Every Song From The Sixties Is A Classic” is the lead single from The Dreaming Spires debut album, ‘Brothers In Brooklyn’, which is out 11th June in the UK. We here are someofitistrue can’t wait to hear more.

Review by @tvermar

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by jcverrall on May 25, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by jcverrall on May 25, 2012

http://someofitistrue.com/2012/05/25/single-review-1-not-every-song-from-the-sixties-is-a-classic-by-the-dreaming-spires/

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