The Atelier – Gold Review
The sound of The Atelier is owed to the collective passion for creating unique and wonderful music that all six musicians share. Brought together over the course of the spring and summer of 2011 by the multi-talented duo of Thomas Carli-Jarlier and Vasilisa Illicheva, who wanted to surround themselves with musicians they loved.
The Atelier is made up of six people from different countries and different musical backgrounds, each bringing their own voices and experience to the workshop. The music glides effortlessly from the softest, most fragile Jazz moments, to head bobbing, floor shaking dance grooves and beyond. This is not a Fusion band. This is the sound of six friends constantly pushing the limits of their creativity. This is The Atelier.
Smooth… Sultry…. Sexy…
The Atelier – Gold by The Atelier
To begin the beautiful jazz melodies are soothing and share a highly influenced blues vibe: superbly recorded and delivered by the band. But don’t get complacent as just around the corner lies a pissed off woman prepared to rip your heart out and stomp on it repeatedly.
The vocals are emotional and the lyrics seem to derive from what one would expect to be an ex-boyfriend treating her badly.
‘Gold’ is chilled, powerful, relaxing and disturbing. A definite listen.
Links:
The Atelier on Facebook
Hullabaloo – Landslide Review
Hullabaloo from Cardiff, UK could be classed as an uplifting sounding punk rock band.
Their sound is like a rockier sounding Reel Big Fish – definitely not a bad thing.
The lyrics are amongst the catchiest I’ve heard so far in 2012. Stuck in the middle of a landslide, landslide… It will get caught in your head within seconds. The lyrics are well written and the singer delivers them with emotion and power.
“Stuck in the middle of a landslide! landslide!”
Landslide (Demo) by HullabalooBand
Landslide is a demo – which is a massive surprise as it’s put together well and wouldn’t sound out of place in my “happy punk rock” playlist on iTunes.
I adore “landslide” and predict big things for Hullabaloo. Watch out, they are coming.
Damon Dwyer – Hot Food EP Review
Damon Dwyer is a singer-songwriter from Aylesbury in Bucks and has just released an 11 track EP called ‘Hot Food’. Damon plays guitar on most of the tracks and sings on all, Chris Taylor at Bluebarn Studios helped produce the album – who has worked with Simply Red and Roots Manuva.
His EP ‘Hot Food’ is available to listen to on Soundcloud here.
Painted lady is a great start to the album and sets the tone with some intricate strumming, hearty vocals and some amazing story telling. The tone is similar to that of The Red Hot Chilli Peppers in songs like Californication – and the visual imagery is just as good.
After which are songs including: Drive – a very easy going, slow well written and performed song; Lucky Song – a toe tapping song with a lot of country and western influence; and Sitting By Myself – again with strong country vibes, it’s a beautiful re-take on an old genre.
And then Hot Food hits – the single which the title is named after – and it does not disappoint. Lyrics include “we’ll silence the critics, they’ll eat their own words…” but trust me, they won’t need to silence the critics as I’m sure they’ll be getting 4 star and 9/10 reviews from big magazines soon enough.
My favourite track from the album is called drowning:
Drowning is a beautifully told story of loss and whilst the lyrics are emotional there’s still a sense of hope in Damon’s voice. The songs themselves are similar in style to Damien Rice lyrically, but totally difference in performance and it makes for a great listen.
Overall I’d give Hot Food a 9/10, I thoroughly enjoyed it and can’t wait to listen to Drowing and Hot Food over and over again.
Conformist – Savages Go Modern review
Who knew a cluster-f**K of quotes, samples and random noises could be twisted and mangled in to an interesting and damn good music track:
A cluster-F**k of awesomeness
28-year-old Michael Simmons is the man behind Conformist, hailing originally from the picturesque village of Dale in Pembrokeshire. Michael’s musical inspiration quickened with a move to Cardiff’s beckoning City lights. Conformist expertly manipulates and reassembles intricate layers of sounds, sampling from cable TV shows, shopping channels, talk shows, pornos, the dregs of TV, hacking, editing to extreme levels of complexity, cutting and pasting together a complex patch work quilt of filthy noise the soundtrack to the cities seedy post-apocalyptic underbelly!
The song ‘Savages Go Modern’ is difficult to describe, it demands to be listened to – that’s the only way I can fully describe it.
But if you want a bit more insight, it’s qwerky, different and would it nicely at some slightly grungy hip bar in Shoreditch. The track includes massive and filthy dub steb baselines, crunchy guitar riffs and a hell of a lot more. A very interesting track that The Music Mag recommends to its listeners.
Doug Prescott – It’s About Oil Review
It’s a massive shame that we’re currently concentrating on UK bands. One the reasons reasons goes by the name of Doug Prescott.
From the moment I began listening to the single ‘It’s all about oil’ I was captivated by the tone of Doug’s voice. His singing style wouldn’t be out of place in a modern day western take on a 60′s classic.
The song is a country and western song, mixed with a bit of soul and brought in to the modern day with catchy lyrics and soothing riffs.
It’s About Oil – by Doug Prescott by independentmusicpromotion
Imagine the coarseness of Cash and the guitar vibes of Williams, mixed with a dash of blues and that should give you an idea of the sound to expect from Prescott.
A very soothing piece of music with political undertones that aren’t too in-your-face, but apparent enough to hopefully make a difference. The song sets about what it wants to accomplish and it does it well.
Doug Prescott is an Americana artist from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. His music is “truly American”, with influences such as Little Feat, The Neville Brothers, Asleep at the Wheel and Jimmy Buffet. From love ballads to political rockers, the common thread in Prescott’s song writing is honesty.
For more information on Doug Prescott and his latest release, please visit www.dougprescott.com.
The Monks of Mellonwah – Neurogenesis Review
The Monks of Mellonwah are a 4 piece indie rock / alternative band based in Sydney, Australia. The band are nominated in various categories for the 2012 All Indie Music Awards including “Best Rock Artist” and “Best Indie Rock Artist”.
Such being their popularity and unique sound, we had to feature them at The Music Mag before they made the big time… and believe us it won’t be long before you hear them on the radio.
They recently released their first EP called Stars Are Out, which was highly praised in the music circles. Moving on from the success of their EP The Monks of Mellonwah are working on a full length album, on which Neurogenesis is one of the singles.
“Neurogenesis” by Monks of Mellonwah by independentmusicpromotion
Neurogenesis begins with a strong blues influence creating a nice chilled vibe reminiscent to that of the red Hot Chilli Peppers and even a ltitle of Stone Roses, that is until the vocals kick in and the song really begins…
The verse builds up nicely with some top notch lyrics and a quite brilliant breakdown in to the chorus, which itself is an explosion of intensity. After you listen to the song you will have the lyrics ‘You made me yours, I’ll make you mine’ stuck in your head for hours.
Top top it off the solo is just mindblowing in a way Hendrix himself would be proud of.
We give Neurogenesis a massive thumbs up and can’t wait to hear their first full length album.
Links:
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Homepage: http://www.monksofmellonwah.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/monksofmellonwah
Blue me away!
Played in a classic, but creative way, from amazing guitar solos, drums riffs and other too cool for school playing, to stuff like a trumpet solo, using a Guinness glass as a mute!
The musicians are players who work all over the world, many supporting household names. Some have been on the scene since the 60′s. The playing is sublime and you dont just get a night out, it’s a spectacular !
Where can you find such amazingness? Sunday at the Castle, (452 Finchley Road, London NW2). The venue has room for all, but an intimate feel. Get comfy, kick back and enjoy some of the best Blues.
This band really gets people a-swingin’ and a-swayin’.
Sax Appeal with Tasty Riffs
Cool solo riffs with some unusual instruments playing the blues, like steel drums and other percussion, made this a great evening. The powerful female vocalist sang some atmospheric, gutsy blues.
Sax Appeal
This New Years Day event was the first of appearances to come by this band at the Prince of Wales pub (99 Willesden Lane, NW6 near Brondesbury station). Nice!
PRIMER – Water Review
[PRIMER] are a 4-piece female fronted rock group from the West Midlands. Formed in 2007, the band as seen several member and sound changes before settling on their distinctive, inimitable style; a mix of Celtic inspired vocals mingle with strong, expressive guitars whilst powerful, intense drums and an emotive, resonating bass push through to drive an original, unique sound with a difference that is not to be missed.
Their single ‘Water’ starts off with crunchy and fast paced guitar riffs, pleading with you to jump up and down in a frantic manner. These are followed shortly by some very deft drumming and sultry singing.
Speedy, raunchy & toe-tapping riffs
The vocals are very interesting and not what I’d normally associate with the backing of the fast paced guitar and drumming. It actually reminds me slightly of Coheed and Cambria in their more punkier days. However I do feel the vocals are perhaps slightly too contained and aren’t stretched enough to evoke the angst connected with the lyrics.
Having said that the guitar and drumming is fantastic! And I believe with another record the song has the potential to be a hit with fans and newcomers alike.
Find out more about Primer on their website – here
Love and Zombies – No Way Out Review
No Way Out is the new single by love and Zombies due for release on January 24th: their first new release for over a year, but boy has it been worth the wait.
Fast, punchy & non-pretentious
The verse is catchy, without sounding poppy, and builds up fantastically to the chorus. The breakdown in the middle of the song had us nodding our heads in agreement before rocking out again to the ever present power of heavy guitar riffs and light speed drumming.
Love and Zombies nifty slogan ‘kill the hipsters’ sums up what this band is all about in three words. We love finding new music without pretentiousness, and that is exactly what you get with Love and Zombies.
Their artwork is also top notch
Their new single No Way Out is due for release on January 24th but you can play it here for free. If you like it make sure to support them and buy it on release.
Links: Love and Zombies Website
