AS if by magic or coincidence, we find ourselves twelve months removed from the last time that we uttered that all too familiar phrase, ‘is it December already?’
In just 30 short days, we will herald the arrival of a new year that is sure to see us flooded with a fresh batch of new bands and sounds to clamour for and get excited about. Flying in the face of the notion that this concluding stage of the year is when everything begins to wind down, we’ve still found plenty of new music to fall in love with over the course of these past two weeks and have compiled it all into yet another bumper edition of New Music Radar.
Anteros- Love
Blessed with the innate ability to be immediate and accessible without compromise or re-evaluation, London’s Anteros continue to impress at each stop along the way with ‘Love.’ Following hot on the heels of ‘Bonnie’, the track adopts more of an abstract socio-political stance than much of what we’ve came to expect from the band in the past as it refutes the focus on financial gain as opposed to finding the one that illuminates the way and makes the toil of life that bit easier. Reminiscent of the golden age of new wave with its vivacious guitars and affected vocals, it’s just feather in their now well decorated and almost imposing cap.
Django Django- In Your Beat
Scottish art-rock quartet Django Django have unveiled the second single from their upcoming album Marble Skies. The critically acclaimed outfit returned last month with the exhilarating ‘Tic Tac Toe’; a fast-paced slice of trippy indie-rock full of enormous hooks and frenzied rhythms. Now back with another tantalising preview track, their latest offering ‘In Your Beat’ arrives today to reaffirm our suspicions that another hugely exciting and inventive record is on its way from the four-piece.
A band who very much dance to their own beat, their latest single sees them delve into the dance-oriented side of their sound with their trademark worldly harmonies delivered over layers of eighties synth sounds. Bursting with vibrancy and a restless innovative energy, it’s another thrilling example of Django Django’s inimitable approach to their craft.
Retro Video Club- Famous
Having enraptured those that bore witness to their Tenement Trail set at Broadcast, Retro Video Club’s year is one that is typified by patience and persistence. After retreating into the studio and themselves as a cohesive unit following the release of ‘Noir’, the band’s reemergence was set of by the incendiary ‘Psycho’ and has been made all the more robust with the arrival of ‘Famous.’
Taking aim at the palpable vapidity of celebrity culture and its adverse effect on our own lives, outlooks and relationships, it is a clear indication of the fact that this Edinburgh four piece are hitting their stride in the vein of a confessional and vibrant indie rock sound that shares DNA with The Strokes, Two Door Cinema Club and many others. Given the undiluted and raw nature of frontman Liam Allison’s vocal delivery and the conssumate musicianship that’s on display, it’s not hard to imagine that they’re on course for their music to lead them to traverse lands far beyond our own in the same manner as the nation’s other breakout stars.
Sports Team- Stanton
Following releases with successful breakthrough acts such as Pip Blom, Dead Pretties and Queen Zee and the Sasstones, Nice Swan Records have bolstered their roster even further with the addition of West London collective Sports Team.
Channelling their millennial frustration and cynicism into four minutes of raw, unfiltered punk rock, the six-piece take aim at multi-storey car parks and London middle-class suburbia in thunderous fashion. Reminiscent of fellow Londoners Shame and Dead Pretties, Alex Rice stakes his claim as the next formidable frontman with his distinctive snarl as the track shifts from devilishly sarcastic to fully revved up and confrontational.
Taking influence from slacker bands such as Pavement right through to the likes of Haircut 100 and The Family Cat, Sports Team have declared themselves a force to be reckoned with. With the band’s debut EP Winter Nets set for release in early 2018, we recommend you keep an eye on the band as they take their first tentative steps in what is sure to be a thrilling journey.
Tijuana Bibles- Catacomb
The proprietors of some of the most decadent and veracious rock ‘n’ roll this side of Joshua Tree, California, Tijuana Bibles continue to forge ahead with their emboldened new sound as 2018 draws ever closer.
Reaping the rich creative harvest that was sown within the demented post-punk of ‘Pariah’, the band have continued to retool and prod at the perceived horizons of their sound with tremendous efficacy on new single ‘Catacomb.’
Setting out with cavernously deep grooves that provide frontman Tony Costello with ample room to wrestle with the self-destructive tendencies of love and lust when they become intertwined the track’s transition into a disconcerting realm of unrelenting guitars and frenzied vocals mirrors the maniacal nature of this mysterious force that we all fall foul of at its most chaotic. Racing towards a bewildering and utterly thrilling crescendo that shares more DNA with the post-hardcore stylings of At The Drive-In or Million Dead than any of the influences that permeated into their earlier work, it is becoming clear that Tijuana Bibles are crafting their very own creative milleu that has no boundaries or rules to adhere to and it is a true joy to behold.
