I’m still trying to figure out this blog stuff. I’ve moved it over to WordPress so hopefully everything looks a bit cleaner. I’ve wanted to just make this easier to write mainly.
This one is super late and I’ve realised I need to get my thoughts down pretty much immediately. I stumbled on getting the website fixed and then didn’t take enough notes after listening, which might show in some of these write ups. I have week 3 drafted and ready for release soon, so expect that as well.
Something to start off – I’ve tried to find a better structure for this and have landed on highlighting favourite tracks. I’m going to go back and add those into the first post, but I think this is a great way I can link to something directly so you can give it a listen yourself, if it sounds interesting.
Natanya – Feline’s Return
For this week, I thought it’d be fun to check out projects from several opening/support acts I’d seen. I think I went to 22 concerts last year, so I saw a fair share of them.
Natanya is a London based singer who I saw open for Ravyn Lenae and I thought she was really cool. She’s a great live vocalist and had a ton of charisma on stage, and having now checked out her music I’m even more impressed.
The sound of this project felt like a combination of early 2000s poppy R&B mixed with the laidback and honest songwriting and vocal styles that have dominate the genre currently. Think Destiny’s Child crossed with SZA.
I’m super excited to see where she goes from here, she feels like an artist who could easily breakthrough at any moment. Every song on here was tight, sharp and catchy. She’s definitely a gem waiting to be discovered.
My favourite is the closer, On Ur Time, which gives the latter a shoutout and has a cute low budget greenscreen video. It’s incredibly catchy and I’ve gone back to it over an over.
On Ur Time
George Riley – More is More
Another London based singer, I was lucky enough to see George open for oklou. She had personality and charisma in spades, spending her entire set dancing around in a colourful bodysuit. She’s also another incredible live vocalist.
This project was a really fun blend of a lot of different genres. It felt like a lot of British dance and electronic crossed with pop and alternative R&B. If you like PinkPantheress but want it dancier then I’d easily recommend her.
That being said, her sound feels genuinely unique in the current landscape, at least from what I’ve heard. She’s definitely doing something different and I’d love to see her breakthrough.
The song I’ve picked is the album’s namesake, More. I think it demonstrates just how fun and chaotic her sound is.
More
Zeruel – Awakening / Discography
Okay, so I’m kinda cheating already. Zeruel don’t have too much music so I just listened to everything they had on Tidal.
I originally saw them open for Deafheaven and I thought they were great. They were an excellent pick as a support act given their overlap with metal and shoegaze. It’s not nearly as extreme, more in the post-rock area rather than metal.
In this case I think that’s a big plus. Most of their songs are pretty short and I can’t help but listen to those and imagine making early YouTube style anime edits. It’s a really emotive blend of washed out sounds. I suspect edits might actually be where their popularity lies, as they’re sporting an impressive half a million listens on streaming, despite their small discography. I could easily imagine any of these songs trending on TikTok.
I think their newest singles are my favourite, probably just because the songs are longer. They’ve begun incorporating screaming too, something I hope they keep doing. So far it’s a really promising project and I’m eager to check out where it goes. A full album of this would be super cool.
Return by Dawn
AG Club – Brodie World
This was a group I saw open for Joey Valence & Brae. Seeing them live, I thought they were a duo, but doing more research I think there’s more members than I realised, the two I saw being Jody Fontaine and Baby Boy. On stage they had a ton of energy and talent and I knew I had to check them out at some point as I really liked how they blended some of the more current rap sounds with some of the underground sounds I’d been big on in the late 2010s.
What I found was very fun alt hip hop and R&B, reminiscent of Brockhampton, Odd Future and Tyler, the Creator (when he’s being fun). It’s very dynamic but also very varied, maybe a bit too much. At one point I thought Tidal had gone to autoplay and the album was over, but I still had another 3 songs left.
The song I’ve picked is not a great showcase for them as it does sound extremely Brockhampton, but it was my favourite and I’ve enjoyed listening to it a lot. I think my main criticism would be the length – a lot of these songs don’t give enough time to breathe. I didn’t dig into the song credits but I suspect it’s an effort to get everyone in and involved. I know this type of thing is possible to get right on an album (see: Brockhampton, again). Clearly they’re a talented group so I know they could make something great, they just need to make it more cohesive.
Sabine
Sour Widows – Revival of a Friend
This was a group I saw open for Alex G. I liked them enough as a support act, but I don’t think their sound was the ideal fit for him. That’s a shame I think, because I really, really liked this album.
It’s definitely a world away from Alex G – this is much noisier and dramatic than his quirky bedroom pop. I’m not that familiar with slowcore, but I think that’s the most accurate description here. There’s definitely some folk in here too and some blurry sounds that remind me of dream pop.
The vocalists have these gorgeous harmonies that I really enjoyed, in a style that felt reminiscent of Phoebe Bridgers, just with a much heavier sound. It also reminds me a lot of Wednesday and MJ Lenderman if you cut the country/americana out.
A lot of the songs kind of wander around, which helps tie everything together as an album and gives the whole thing a feeling of a sad camping trip or something. I especially liked how Initiation led into the instrumental Gold Thread, in that regard.
Hard to pick one track out as the whole thing was really consistent but Cherish was maybe my favourite and showcases the sound best, having sombre lyrics and a sullen sound that builds until it explodes, gradually settling until it builds and explodes again.
Overall, just extremely polished and well put together, one of those bands that I had assumed were a lot more popular when I’d seen them live.
If I have one criticism, it’s maybe that the writing could be stronger, but otherwise this was a really cool album and I’m really glad I listened to it.
Cherish
Portrayal of Guilt – Devil Music
This was the second support band at that Deafheaven concert and strayed way more on the black metal side of things. They had this really cool short film/music video (?) visualiser playing during their set. I’ve tried to look it up, but I suspect it would be too explicit and gory to stay up anywhere.
This EP has a really cool concept, it’s 5 songs in their usual black metal style followed by the same 5 songs in a chamber music style, meaning a french horn, tuba and cello. I think these are played by guest musicians, going off the Bandcamp credits.
I do think the first half is stronger, but this concept is very interesting. It breaks down these otherwise complicated, chaotic black metal songs and repackages them in a way that makes you think about their composition. As someone who doesn’t listen to that much black metal (aside from the aforementioned Deafheaven), I found it pretty insightful in that regard.
One Last Taste of Heaven
Titanic – Hagen
TBA
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