After the week of crazy uploads, I’ve decided on a reasonable upload schedule. There will be three uploads a week. Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. There may also be extra uploads from time to time if I’m feeling ranty. So I’ll see you all Friday!
Peace, Love and Cowbells,
Oscar
Trump starting a fucking war just to remain in power. And the UK, being America’s bitch as per usual, will follow him. Even if this only a small conflict and not world war fucking three. Our entire country is in a state of crisis thanks to the tories and Brexit. Half of fucking Australia is on fire due to climate change and they are going to go to war, waste money that could be far better spent on our nhs, on making a serious effort to clean up our waste. But no. This is the perfect get out of jail free card for the tories “well we couldn’t fulfill our promise to save the nhs, there was a war on!” Lives will be lost thanks to this war and thanks to the death of our health system. Let’s just hope no one throws any nukes about. Otherwise we’re all fucked
Guys I’m so pleased, I’ve lost nine and a half pounds this week, I’ve bought a Fender Bass Vi and a delay pedal. The tones. They are unreal. I’ve finally got enough money that I’m not panicking all the time, my new band has formed and I’m just on top of the world. As you know from reading my post just a few days ago, I was feeling pretty down. But this goes to show just how up and down life can be. I encourage all my readers to go out there and kick life right in the dick. You are strong, you are powerful. You can do this.
Peace, Love and Cowbells,
Oscar
Heavy garage rock at its finest, the latest Kath and The Kicks single, Walls Between Us, is a roaring track showing off each member of the trio at their best. Tight drums, screaming guitar, nice muddy bass and vocals reminiscent of the legendary Annie Lennox or Goth icon Siousxie Sou, this isn’t a band to be underestimated. Even if somehow you don’t like this single, Kath and the Kicks have plenty more songs to pick from, all with a wide array of influences and styles. But at their core? Pure rock n roll.
It really is amazing how varied the sound that these three have created is. From their latest raw heavy single, to the electro-rock Let It Out, or the lyrically brilliant The Lethal Parrot. There really is so much to choose from. Kath and The Kicks absolutely ooze style, and they are excellent and interesting songwriters. They are also one of several up and coming female fronted acts, which I desperately hope is the precursor to a second Riot Grrl Movement.
Now this band is really good, there is no doubting that, but to be honest I’m struggling to make this review long enough, there really isn’t much to be said. These three are really cool and are definitely worth paying attention to, but I’ve reviewed so many rock bands over the past week that they are starting to blur together, even with the wide array of sounds on display here, it takes a band truly special to capture the hearts and minds of listeners. You need so many things now in order to “make it” as a rock musician. You need pop songwriting, punk live performance, a great sense of identity while still remaining diverse in your style. On the final point, Kath and The Kicks really knock it out of the park, I can instantly tell who this is no matter how different the genre, thanks in part to the exquisite vocals. While their songs are superb, I feel as though they need to work on having catchier songs if they ever aim to reach a broader market. Even so, I’d highly recommend checking Kath and The Kicks out, all of their stuff is available on Spotify, it’s worth it just to marvel at how one band can create so many different sounds!
Peace, Love and Cowbells,
Oscar
Rejoice! It seems the 90’s is back! There has been such an influx of bands in my inbox lately that clearly take inspiration from that oh so awesome alternative rock scene we all grew up listening to. The latest band to come to my attention, Neverlanded, gets their roots from bands like Nirvana and The Smashing Pumpkins and create some truly cool sounds. The issue is, it’s nothing new. With one exception.
As much as I love it, this sound is becoming stale very quickly. If this band had been around in 1991, I’m sure they would have made their millions Tunes like Brainsane have that sound but are brilliantly catchy! But in today’s world, they really should be looking to develop their sound beyond the grunge formula. Even the tones are very similar. In spite of this, this trio are clearly excellent songwriters if they can be compared to Kurt Cobain and if you are looking for that particular sound, you can’t go far wrong with Neverlanded. As much as I am growing tired of this sound, Neverlanded have a single that is actually extremely cool and is definitely more suited to a modern audience. This Friend of Mine is definitely a slower song compared to the rest of their discography, but still contains all the anger and emotion. The sound is still reminiscent of that scene, but is refreshingly modern, thanks largely to wonderful song writing, better production, and an all-important change of tone. If you were to listen to any song from Neverlanded, please, I beg you, listen to This Friend of Mine, it has all their strengths of display and is definitely the direction I encourage these three to go in. I also must applaud them for their support in the transgender rights movement, after all, challenging gender norms has always been a huge part of the punk scene, especially in the 90s with the Riot Grrl movement.
I would really encourage my readers to check Neverlanded out, in spite of my distaste for this new trend of modern grunge, the songs are still excellent, and they show great promise in certain moments. If they can refine their sound just a little more they will really be on their way then.
Peace, Love and Cowbells,
Oscar
I’m absolutely obsessed with this band. Picture this. It’s 1973. The place is Detroit, Motown is soaring through the airwaves on every radio in every house. Except one. In a small, cheap home, three black, young Jehovah’s Witness brothers are getting into rock n roll. Soon enough, a Rickenbacker 4001 bass, a Fender Telecaster guitar and a mighty drum set are acquired. They start to play. And the noise. The sounds they were making could only be described as punk rock. But it’s 1973. Punk didn’t have a name yet, or even really exist. After a while one of the brothers, David comes to the rest with something. A band name. Inspired by the passing of their father he says, simply and clearly, “Death”. So it begun. Cut to 1980. The punk movement had been and gone, but Death still had received little success. At one time they’d been offered a record deal, but on the condition they change the band name. Like the true punks they were, they turned them down. In the end. They called it quits. They made one of the best 45 records ever created. But few had heard that record. It seemed as though they were doomed from the start. Let’s jump forward thirty years. David, the prolific songwriter and visionary behind Death had died a decade earlier. The two other brothers had all but forgotten their old band. They had families and jobs to think of now. But through a series of events, unbeknownst to them their old record had been copied to the Internet and was blowing up. Thirty five years after the record was released, Death were finally having the success they had always dreamed of. There is so much more to this story than I could cram into this short blog post, but there’s a documentary on amazon prime. Before There Was Punk, There Was Death. It’s a must watch. An amazing story that my mere words can’t get across. This is simply a public service announcement. Check out this band.
Peace, Love and Cowbells,
Oscar
Guys, I’ve had a hell of a day. I’m unwell and there’s been a whole host of bullshit I’ve had to deal with. But, life goes on. No matter how many times we get knocked down. We humans get back up. And so I shall get back up. Tomorrow. For now I must rest and leave you with this mini post. You’ll get a bigger one tomorrow. I hope you’ve all had a good new year and for those, like me, who haven’t. Don’t worry. It gets better.
Peace, Love and Cowbells,
Oscar
The Battery Farm’s new single, Crude Oil Water, really does have potential. On the whole its actually superb. But it’s held back by a few small but ultimately very impactful things which I will talk further about later. In order not to be too negative, I want to show you all what I found really positive about this track…
First of all, that wobbly bass synth riff is outstanding, in fact that whole intro/verse section is brilliant, the building drum and bass lines really add some punch to a synth track that I would never have expected in this context. By the time the vocals come in I’m already dancing round my bedroom, and the vocals are also a far cry from what I thought I would hear, it is in a much higher register, and is much catchier, than most synth punk tunes yet still maintains the aggressive style and lyrics found in the genre. It’s truly impressive.
But as things come up they must also go down, I was so pumped for the chorus for this song, I literally punched the air at exactly the right point where it SHOULD have come in. However, the bass and vocals build at certain points, at what I think is supposed to be a chorus, but they don’t last long enough, or have the volume jump to be noticeable. I was expecting an ear destroying bass riff or perhaps some in your face punk chords, but instead we get this weird interlude thing, and you hear it twice! The track suddenly slows down instead of getting to the glorious crescendo I desperately wanted to hear. I’m not sure if its due to a poor mix or poor performance, but the vocals sound terribly out of key from the rest of this section. The background atmospheric noise heard throughout the track, but especially during this sequence, are both distracting when you are listening to the song as a whole and barely above noticeable unless you really focus. It creates this irritating sensation of hearing something that you have no idea where it is coming from. This is most likely due to a poor mix.
It really saddens me that a track like this, one that has so much going for it is ultimately cheapened by a poor mix and just one section of an otherwise stand out track. I truly hope that The Battery Farm take Crude Oil Water and refine it (see what I did there?) into something truly spectacular. In the meantime, the other tracks in their discography are also worthy of your attention, especially I Am A Man. I hope you all enjoy listening to them, they are one to be watched, even if I am slightly disappointed with this particular track.
Peace, Love and Cowbells,
Oscar
Well you lot, I’ve sold out. I’ve started a Facebook page. Yes yes I know. Get your jeers out of the way now because soon I’ll be rolling in that sweet sweet “influencer” money and I won’t care anymore.
Seriously though all of us here at NMC would be so grateful of you looked us up and maybe give us a cheeky like. Just search @NeedsMoreCowbellMusicUK
Peace, Love and Cowbells,
Oscar
Oi! You lot! I have found a band.
One so heavy, angry and full of pure energy that listening to them damn near blew my head off.
The tones are immense; the vocals screaming; the drums pounding.
Yur Mum.
Yur Mum is badass.
Yur Mum is insane.
Yur mum…. I could go on with the jokes but seriously, this band is absolutely mental, and they are only a two piece! They were right –
Listen to Yur Mum.
Blending stoner rock, hardcore punk and a handy helping of angst, Yur Mum blasts its way into your mind and onto your Spotify playlists. Their latest EP, Ellipsis, has a vocal sound akin to L7, Veruca Salt or just a very pissed off Courtney Love. A monster guitar and bass tone straight off of a Kyuss record and expertly placed drum lines. It’s a flashback to the nineties while still keeping itself relevant in a modern context by taking previous ideas and pushing them even further, to their absolute limit. My favourite example of this is Closure. That intro has bassline and vocal melody straight off a Hole record with some lovely psychedelic wah guitar work that just hypnotises you. But it gradually builds into something more along the lines of a Smashing Pumpkins tune. The element of catchiness during the chorus of this song really ties it all together, proving that even the heaviest band can have a pop sensibility.
When I listen to these two, I can imagine myself in 1991 driving down the desert road from Palm Springs to some generator party smack bang in the middle of nowhere. Yur Mum is bringing the palm desert scene back in 2019 for a whole new audience and I couldn’t be happier about it. I highly recommend checking these two out. I’ve also had the pleasure of listening to some of their earlier work and I found the intro and outro to their first record to be a stroke of genius.
Personally, I love this style but the one thing I would say is that if they want to gain access to a wider market, they should try their utmost to combine their core sound with something new. What they do, they do better than the originators in my opinion. But you can’t ride the coattails of nineties nostalgia forever. To truly achieve success in this industry you’ve got to be something innovative, which is a truly difficult thing to do. If they manage that, with a healthy bit of luck, they could go far. Still, Yur Mumis still epic in its current state. I love this band, with powerful vocals bone crunching bass tones, wah-some guitar licks and a drummer who just abuses his kit.
I wouldn’t fuck with Yur Mum.
Peace, Love and Cowbells,
Oscar
Needs More Cowbell 