Introducing.. Esben and the Witch (Unsigned)

(Gothic/Pop/Trip-hop/Ambient)

Esben and the Witch are a Brighton three-piece who don't just have some of the most haunting gothic pop songs of the last decade to boast - they have one of the most concise and chilling band images to match. Naming themselves after a Danish fairytale, they fill their music with ancient medieval references and litter their myspace page with wood-styled carvings of skulls and forests. In keeping with the mystery surrounding their descent - they provide only first names, and quote their musical influences as simply 'glaciers, caverns and waning moons'; their lone headline is "nightmare pop." The heavily blurred and deliberately ambiguous photo above is about as clear as I could find.

As unclear as their past and present are, what we do know is that the three came together in 2008, are currently residing in Brighton and released their debut EP, titled simply '33' on October 26, 2009. They have a UK tour coming up and judging by the small selection of darkened live shots, they are well worth seeing - in true Fever Ray fashion, their stages are draped with low and coloured lights to match the low and melancholy mood.

Chilling, shivering late 80s gothic synthpop is where the musical result of all this background lies - this is downbeat and haunted electronic music not for the light-hearted. Taking all the hypnotic sentimentality in vocals of Beth Gibbons and combining it with the darkened themes of the Siouxsie & The Banshees inspired gothic movement of the early 80s leaves the bare bones of a candlelit tribute to all music of that mood. There are echoes of The XX in that this band are one of the more subtle bands out there at the moment, and its perfectly possible to read just as much into what they leave out as what they include. You can download the full EP '33' at the band website - esbenandthewitch.co.uk

File Next To - Siouxsie & The Banshees, The XX, Portishead

Esben and the Witch - Marching Song (MP3)
Esben and the Witch - About This Peninsula (MP3)

Introducing.. Gigi

(Pop/Showtunes/60s)

GIGI are a band of collaborators spawned in 2005 by songwriter Nick Krgovich and producer Colin Stewart, who after the former's acquisition of two authentic 60s plate reverbs back in summer 2005 figured that their time had come to create some authentic sounding 60s showtune pop songs. Citing Phil Spector and "The Brill Building Sound" as their influences, the duo proceeded to feature guest collaborators on every single one of the resultant tracks, which in turn contributed to a collection of these recordings, under the moniker of Maintenant, due out January 26th on Tomlab records.

In terms of recording history there's a hell of a lot of big names scattered around, many of which make their way on to the tracklisting - Stewart has produced The Cave Singers, Black Mountain and Destroyer in his Vancouver based studio and Krgovich is a full-time member of NO KIDS. In true Dangermouse & Sparklehorse fashion, with all of these industry links and footholds they've gained themselves a whole host of prestigious guest appearances including Owen Pallet of Final Fantasy, Zac Pennington of Parenthetical Girls as well as Katie Eastburn, Rose Melburg and Karl Blau.

With the sole aim of professing their lust for the sensibility of 60s popular music and recreating the same inspirations that launched the hit parade around that time, ideas naively spawned in just 2005 - they could never have known just how well-timed the context of the debut album would eventually turn out to be. Coming at a time when 60s influences can be heard in just about every element of contemporary music - from the alternative pop/rock musicianship of Kasabian's latest album through to emerging artists like Best Coast, Girls, and their seniors M. Ward and Adam Green, Maintenant comes at a time where its success is somewhat guaranteed. If all goes to plan the end of January, a month which also plays host to Four Tet's There Is Love In You, could turn out to contain quite a few early contenders for album of the year.

There's not a lot in the way of tracks knocking about for our eager ears to hear - they've done a fairly good job of keeping the anticipation high by only letting four tracks loose through the myspace. I've managed to get hold of a couple of tasters in the form of MP3s, which I've attached below. Strolling Past The Old Graveyard features Karl Blau and provides us with a mellowed out intro, quickly developing into a regular downbeat 60s revivalist anthem. No My Heart Will Go On is all together a more optimistic affair, with female vocals of Chorus not leaving us sold short at the slightest. It works comfortably and originally within the 3 minute retro hit-parade pop song formula, building in intensity with brass and tight strung backing music. Gigi are recycling old ideas and inspirations into new music of an unseen quality, and look set to stun the world with this release. When it comes time to purchase said release, a cash advance can place it in your hands that much quicker.

File Next To - (Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse/Phil Spector/Kinks)

Gigi - No, My Heart Will Go On (w/ Chorus) (MP3)
Gigi - Strolling Past the Old Graveyard (w/ Karl Blau) (MP3)

Preorder Maintenant on Amazon.com

Introducing.. Stornoway (Unsigned)

JOHN BULLOCK AUGUST 2009

(Folk/Indie Pop/Psych-folk)

My first experience of Stornoway came in seeing them at the bottom of last year's Glastonbury festival bill, and despite never getting around to watching them play that year, coming across them again months later somewhere on the internet was an unexpected, but welcome surprise. They remain unsigned despite recently making it on to the BBC's sound of 2010 longlist, being introduced on Radio 1 (and soon XFM) and picking up mentions in the esteemed music section of the News of The World, as well as that of The Guardian and Independent. All of this coming from a band who are yet to release an album or even sign to a label. Their self released debut 7" 'Zorbing' came out Monday 8th June 2009.

Based in Oxford, and naming themselves after an Scottish island on the Outer Hebrides (the relationship they have with which i am unsure), Stornoway innovate downbeat and optimistic folk pop tunes to counter the rather desolate implications of their name - music which uplifts with classic orchestral outros and airy backing vocals. Tight folky harmonies and jarring basslines accompany rich acoustics beneath the crisp-clean soulful voice of lead vocalist Brian Briggs. His vocals express every essence of a state of care-free psychedelia which comes across in every release to date - and are typically accompanied by a rising haze of urgency which crops up all around the unsuspecting listener, helplessly drawn in by the chillout psych-folk which exults from the first few minutes of each track.

They are heading out on a UK tour early this year (details on the myspace), including dates with Fyfe Dangerfield (of Guillemots), but as of yet there appears to be little or no news of an album release date - in the meantime, i've attached two MP3s below - their debut single Zorbing and the more ambient affair On The Rocks.

File Next To - Local Natives/Vetiver/Slow Club

Stornoway - Zorbing (MP3) (link removed by request)
Stornoway - On The Rocks (MP3) (link removed by request)

Stornoway's Second Single Unfaithful on Amazon

Introducing.. Fez (Unsigned)

(Indie Rock/Indie Pop/Alternative)

British guitar pop music is never something i've been a huge fan of; I like it when it finds me, but i never find myself making a conscious effort to actually hunt it down or listen to it, let alone buy it. Fez (or their latest recordings) are currently in the process forcing me to rethink, and for that reason, they are definitely a first for me in that sense - even though they definitely aren't a first in any other. They draw elements of all the bands who have gone before them, and although none of what they make is particularly original, it is made in such good spirits and to such a high standard that where their influences lie becomes irrelevant. The squealing post-punk guitars and charismatic four-part vocals make for an interesting compilation of the best bits of The Maccabees, Talking Heads and even more modern contemporaries such as The Courteeners. From what I can gather they formed in 2005 and are currently based in London - they are not currently signed and have a fairly limited future gig schedule, but with the creation of a new myspace, a set of new tracks and some new-found internet buzz Fez could be a potential underground indie rock band to make it in 2010.

File Next To - Talking Heads/Pigeon Detectives/The Maccabees

Fez - Lowlight (MP3)
Fez - Harmonix (MP3)

PENS - hey friend ! what you doing?

PENS - hey friend ! what you doing? (September 28, 2009)(Garage Pop/Lo-fi/Noise Punk)

Fitting in perfectly amongst the pioneers of 2009's musical explosion of 'beach/noise punk' al No Age, Japandroids and Wavves - all girl garage pop trio PENS make energetic and noisy punk-pop with bite. The sample track I picked up 'Freddy', gave me very high hopes, but to be honest, across the whole album there's not much in the way of structure, melody, tune, lyrics, subtlety or any particular creativity; most of the chord sequences are borrowed and re-used, and to top it off, the terrible microphone PENS used during their recording with De Stijl records means that the lyrics (or intermittent girly screams and shouts) are barely audible above the grinding overdrive on the amps.

As bad as that may sound, there is definitely something strangely satisfying about listening to all-girl musical chaos - and as much as I appreciate finely tuned songwriting, grand arrangements and experimental instrumentation - it is sometimes, for one reason or another, more satisfying to listen to a band that know full well but don't care in the slightest that the music they make sounds awful. Album opener Horsies, coupled with mid-album (and my sampler) Freddy are the standout tracks, not only because for the latter the usual clattering of drums is dubbed down, but also because for once the guitar follows a nice simple, cascading sequence and regular punk-pop beat, taking the song as far away as possible from the usual 70s rock caricatures which clutter the rest of the album.

At the end of the day, PENS do nothing groundbreaking, but through turning their volume notches up to 10, shouting, screaming and giving their guitars a workout they come dangerously close to putting out a decent debut. They're perfectly within fashion, but whether anything of hey friend other than Freddy is going to mean a thing to anyone five years down the line remains to be seen. As with synthpop in the 80s, shoegaze in the 90s and indie rock in the 00s - there's following fashion, and then there's sounding cliche.

4.5/10

Hey Friend, What You Doing? on Amazon for less than $3.

read my introduction post for more information and more mp3s.


File Next To - Wavves/Best Coast/Dum Dum Girls

PENS - Freddy (MP3) (via mediafire)
PENS - High In The Cinema (MP3) (via mediafire)