Artist of the Day: The Clause

The Clause

Todays Artist of the Day come from Birmingham, a city who in recent years have become accustomed to churning out new talent in recent years including the likes of Peace, Swim Deep and Jaws to name three! These guys are a little different to those mentioned but the last year for them has been a massive rollercoaster and single ‘In My Element’ just went everywhere from plays on tv shows to been on what felt like every playlist going on streaming sites reaching over 200,000 plays on Spotify alone.

Their infectious indie sound has captured us all and they have sold out shows 600 capacity shows without any management or label as well as that they have supported some big names on the way including the likes of The Blinders, The Pigeon Detectives and set to tour alongside Slow Readers Club, taking their sound to more new expectant revellers.

Music full of 80s grooves and the anthems that we’ve all grown to love this lot aren’t content with what they have done, expect more big bangers from them as they continue to hit us with more ear worms.

 

Artist of the Day: Skylights

Skylights

This is a band right now riding the wave of the new rock n roll, writing anthem after anthem. Its fair to say being Leeds fans has helped their huge climb up the ladder with sell out shows including home town York plus shows in Manchester and Newcastle most recently and in my eyes putting on their best shows to date. If you haven’t heard the anthems of ‘YRA’, ‘Britannia’ or even recent single ‘Enemies’ then they are must listens for any rock n roll fan to check out during what are these hard times to empower a feeling of excitement for the summer time. Its a sound that is psychedelic tones The Stone Roses meets the Britpop noise of Shed Seven with the slick guitar noises of Turnbull Smith that carries the pounding vocals of Rob Scaz brilliantly.

Not only that but if they don’t make you want to get along to one of their shows then you’d be fool to think otherwise. Yes some will say they sound like any other band but trust me this lot are the real deal and set the bar extremely high. A comeback which was nearly two years ago now selling out the 250 capacity The Crescent in their home town of York for a bit of fun has now spiralled into this juggernaut, their social media platforms are going wild and with every show everything just seems to be getting bigger and rightly so. Not only did they make their TV debut on Soccer AM recently but all being well they are set to support fellow York band and 90’s Britpop royalty and aforementioned Shed Seven at The Piece Hall in Halifax, they performed for Leeds United’s centenary as well as other festival slots that have all piled up high into the Skylights diary, making them one of the must see bands of 2020.

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Artist of the Week: Queen Zee

Queen Zee and the Sasstones (now known simply as Queen Zee) seemed to just appear out of nowhere. Like one moment there wasn’t a classy, colourful, angry, loud, political, proud, punk, queercore, hardcore, pop (yes pop too!) band and the next there was. Like something from a Brothers Grimm tale, although the Fairy Punkmother who created this lot is definitely my type of Fairy Punkmother. They smashed their way out of Liverpool onto stages around the UK. I was lucky enough to be walking past the BBC Introducing Stage at the Leeds Festival in 2017 just as they kicked off their set with “Sissy Fists”. I was hooked and stayed around for their whole set. I saw them again at Live at Leeds in 2018 and they have become even better, possibly one of the most exciting British bands around right now.
They play a hook filled style of lo-fi punk with a powerful message. This is the kind of band that has the ambition and sheer force to unite disparate groups of people. Who cares what gender you are or what genre you like? If you like Queen Zee then you’re a good ‘un! Their live shows are a true punk rock spectacle with their songs taking on an extra dimension when played live. Especially the four stunning tracks from their most recent EP, ‘Eat My Sass’. The EP was released at the end of last year on Nice Swan Records and was produced and Mixed by Tom Roach at Elevator Studios, Liverpool. Two of those, “Boy” and “Porno” are accompanied by videos that are both exciting and disturbing at the same time. If ancient DJ Mike Read who famously banned Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s “Relax” in 1983 saw these films he would spontaneously combust! Probably not a bad thing.

Their barnstorming show has travelled throughout the UK and more recently to France with more dates lined up for 2018. Queen Zee, for who the band is named, fronts them with more sass than anyone else has the ability to muster. She is true music royalty in the making. Like many other bands they do cover occasional classic hits live and Queen Zee have been known to cover songs such as the Prodigy’s “Firestarter”, Electric Six’s “Gay Bar” and Dizzee Rascal’s “Bonkers”, is that great taste or what? This band is readying itself to take over the world and I reckon they have the riff firepower and the artistic artillery to do it! Queen Zee and her band mates Em Dee, Courtney Hate, Frankie French and Lily Bit Furious will be around for a bloody long while so get used to it! We love them over at Northern Radar.

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Written by Bill Adamson

10 New tracks to check out this week

Here are some of the freshest new tracks from the freshest new sounds that we think you need to be listening to this week.

“Box Of Bones” – Haarm

The Ninth Wave

Perfect summery electro pop from Haarm. You definitely need to check out these pop dance supremos, what haarm can it do, right?

“Shock Machine” – Sheafs
A massive blast of scuzzy, fuzzy, bluesy rock from Sheafs and blistering slice of psyched out funked up sound from the Steel City.

“Jaded” – The Old Pink House
Finely crafted pop rock from Geordie music maestros in possession of one of the strangest and clever band names around. This bunch know how to write a tune with a hook. In the olden days this would have been a monster hit.

“Swallow Me” – The Ninth Wave
Echoey post punk style harmonies underpinning a dark composition from Glasgow’s the Ninth Wave. Early Spandau Ballet crossed with Echo and the Bunnymen!

“Waves” – Krrum
Not many bands get away with throwing everything including the kitchen sink at a song, but Krrum from Leeds pull it off with style. A driving electronic beat is superbly offset with some stunning vocal harmonies and sonic acrobatics.

“In The Know” – Plaza
Chilled electro acoustic tune with indie rock undertones and a banging chorus. The guitar solo is something special too.

“Scratch, Sniff” – Dylan Cartlidge
If Beck was British this would be him. Weird, wonderful and deserves to be heard. Some vocal parts evoke Jeff Buckley and Hawksley Workman. A truly epic tune.

“Simmer Down” – Wild Front
A powerfully bass driven piece from Wild Front that feels like Vampire Weekend and Friendly Fires spliced together and injected with a large dose of 70s yacht rock. A refreshingly different band from the south coast.

“All Yours” – Apre
Dreamy, sublime funky pop with ethereal call and response vocals. One listen and this stays in your head for ages, but in the very best way.

“The Off Button” – Paris Youth Foundation
Cheeky harmonic scousers hit the indie heights with this fun and funky song. Despite the title no one in their right mind would reach for the off button while this is playing!

Written by Bill Adamson

EXCLUSIVE: Debut release from new band FILM hear ‘Crutch’ here first

Brand new London four piece FILM have today released their debut track ‘Crutch’ which oozes full of psychedelic, garage rock n roll. A storming first release full of huge hitting drum beats and a pure chilling vocal that will rip straight through your body. Check it out down below.

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Album Review: Isaac Gracie – Isaac Gracie

Isaac Gracie’s self titled debut album is the first of his work that I’ve listened to. From listening to it I can say that it is one of the best debut albums that I’ve heard, it reflects his musicianship as well as his raw talent within composing, his vocal ability and guitar playing. I get a Jeff Buckley feeling from his work and that can never be a bad thing.
The first track on the album is ‘terrified’, which tells a story of not feeling good enough. It’s done superbly with the use of different musical elements and a strong and catchy chorus, which gives an insight of what to expect with the rest of the album. We are given quite a chilled out and relaxed feeling from the first two tracks, but then Gracie brings in ‘the death of you and I’ which really is something special. The verses reflect the feeling of the past two songs, but the chorus is fast and powerful, it comes out of nowhere but works very well. It’s similar to what the likes of The Pixies have done in the past, with a slow and chilled out verse then a fast paced and loud chorus. It has a great effect on you as a listener and really shows he’s a very capable vocalist. The songs compliment each other as the album progresses and you never feel like the order should be different, it’s clear that he’s put thought into the ordering of the album which added a wonderful flow to the album throughout.
The album is very acoustic guitar heavy, a lot of the time it features just Gracie and his acoustic guitar which is most definitely not a bad thing. The melody’s that he sings are interesting and there isn’t a dull moment when listening. The songs often start with just him and the guitar but eventually build up with drums coming in, as well as backing vocals to give the songs a bit more texture and to liven them up a bit.
I think Isaac Gracie will be a name we’ll all be very familiar with in a couple years, if not less. It’s hard to listen to his music and not be blown away by the sheer emotion and feeling he puts into every song. I think if he keeps that up, which I’m sure he’s very capable of, he’s destined for greatness.

Written by Brad Holleran

Live Review: When In Manchester Festival

When In Manchester, one of Manchester’s most exciting and diverse multi-venue urban festivals taken place within the Northern Quarter. I caught Flood Manual, SAPHO, The RPMs, Faux Pas and Hey Charlie.

The day opened up with Manchester’s indie punk rock band Flood Manual over at The Peer Hat. With a mix of harsh, shoegazy guitar tones, the band performed a killer performance; certainly one to be proud of. One thing that stood out to me the most was how frontman Louis Johnson and bassist Lee Bond’s vocals compliment one another. A personal favourite of mine ‘Fooled Us’ shows a great example of this. The band provided great stage presence and professionalism all throughout, these guys are bound to go far.

Next up, I took a walk over to Gullivers to catch St. Helens’ 3 piece rock band SAPHO. Founded in January 2017, the band have achieved great opportunities such as a slot at Tramlines and supporting the well-known upcoming band, No Hot Ashes. Back for their second year of WIM, the band set their standards high with raw energy and harsh, heavy guitar tones giving us a stellar performance and providing tasteful, memorable songs all which really got the audience moving.

Moving over to Jimmy’s for the rest of the evening, Brighton’s finest alt-pop band The RPMs were next up. Having only been together a few years, the band have made short work of grabbing people’s attention. Making waves on Huw Stephen’s BBC Introducing, tipped by 6 Music taste-makers Steve Lamacq and Tom Robinson as well as taking up invitations to Glastonbury two years in a row. The RPMs brought a high amount of energy to their seriously catchy pop rhythms and frontman Jack Valero knew exactly how to engage with his audience and stayed professional throughout the minor technical difficulties. The bond between the band also stood out for me, especially between Jack and bassist Miguel Cosme, always smiling and dancing with one another. So much enthusiasm and passion was put into their set, these guys are ones to look out for.

Next up we had Faux Pas, championed by BBC Introducing, they have performed at a number of festivals including Leeds and Reading Festival, Kendal Calling, Dot To Dot and have been featured on Radio 1. Alongside of this, the band have achieved great success on their UK tours and have gathered a following of fans all over the country. Mixing grunge gloom with upbeat slacker indie sets an unbelievable amount of energy and an incredible stage performance from them all, I’ve never seen a band go so wild. 2018 is shaping up to be a huge year for the band who are destined for great things.

Finally, imagine Nirvana but a group of blonde haired British girls and you get 90s grunge pop band Hey Charlie. Formed in June 2016, the band have been making a name for themselves by playing at various festivals such as BST Hyde Park, The Great Escape, Neighbourhood Festival and have recently come off tour with All Time Low. Dressed in their trademark matching pleated red skirts, knee high socks and plain back t-shirts, the girls had an instantly recognisable look. The passionate trio mix grungy, catchy guitar riffs with a hint of pop and memorable choruses to create their powerful, bass heavy songs. Their set was full of energy and chemistry between one another and as they stated towards the beginning of their performance, this was their first time playing in Manchester. In my opinion, they certainly stood their ground and marked their territory; definitely ones to keep an eye on.

Written by Megan Andrew

Live Review: Polo @ The Fulford Arms, York

Imagining your average small, Wednesday night gig; you probably don’t think of an otherworldly, out-of-body experience yet that’s exactly the vibe given from Polo and their support at The Fulford Arms last week. Everything from the heart-wrenching bass to the relaxed, warm and inviting POLO lettering lights took you from the downcast, despondent real world to a totally alien environment filled with luscious, mouthwatering beer, friendly faces and a whole lot of singing and dancing… Though, that’s if you like your beer out of a plastic cup.

After a day of sweltering red-hot sun I arrived at the venue icecream in hand, I had arrived early as I was meeting some friends, the bar staff were lovely and served us a refreshing cold fruit cider to mark the summery day and we sat in the venue’s beautiful beer garden as we waiting for the music to begin. At around half seven people started turning up so we headed back inside. Within moments we had already been made welcome and felt right at home and yet we had no idea what was to come. When the music first started we instantly knew that the night was about to be a night we’d never forget, there were three support acts before Polo finally performed, these were Honey Smugglers, Fawn, and EEVAH. Each band brought something new to the table, and every single one of them was fantastic, whether that be the awe-inspiring vocals of Fawn’s extraordinary “The Dishes” single or EEVAH’s stunning instrumentals of “Can’t Breathe.”

The moment that Polo took to the stage the crowd stormed forward, creating a semi-circle around the band, everyone was taken aback by how outstanding the performance turned out to be, with people of all ages singing along and bopping their heads to the music. It was almost impossible to not smile listening and dancing, taking a moment to look around the room it was easy to see the joy and happiness in the room. I was singing and dancing with people I didn’t even know, it was incredible.

The only issue I really had with this event was the lack of time each set lasted for each band, having three support acts seemed like it had been made a little crammed in, although the change-over time between each band was very short which helped the situation. Having four bands in total is, however, a fantastic idea and I think should be the case more often, it lets you experience more music, more genres and have an even better time! I’ve been to over 35 gigs so far and this was by far one of the top!

Written by Sam Walker

Live Review: Cabbage @ The Crescent, York

One of the greatest things about intimate, small-scale gigs is the ability to be up close and personal with some of the best musicians of our era and this is no change with the Cabbage gig on Wednesday. Whether sharing a pint with She Drew The Gun or staring into the eyes of fellow fans while Cabbage’s incredible lead singer Lee Broadbent screams the words to Uber Capitalist Death Trade, it is undoubtable to say everyone in the room was surely having a fantastic time. Just taking two seconds to look around the room you could see the incredible atmosphere with people as young as 16 putting their dance skills to the test up against the music veterans among them.

Having said this, however, the atmosphere did take its time to build up, the first act (Grimm Twins) tried their hardest with their music, and it was definitely worth watching – and listening, but it seemed as though the crowd just didn’t get into the mood. That doesn’t mean people weren’t enjoying it, they definitely were as seen from the bopping heads and tapping feet but there was no real collective atmosphere. It’s quite likely that this is simply due to the fact that nobody could really sing along, the people at the gig were there for Cabbage and She Drew The Gun, probably not Grimm Twins. It doesn’t mean they didn’t like the music, just that they didn’t know the music or what to expect from it. The second act – She Drew The Gun definitely tried to build up that atmosphere, and did a good job at it too, this could also be from the increasing amount of alcohol being downed by the crowd or for the anticipation of Cabbage but it is without a doubt I can say everything from the other-worldly harmonies of the Lead Signer to the thought-provoking lyrics in some of the stunning songs and raps she performed, She Drew The Gun absolutely smashed that stage.

After Cabbage were escorted to the stage by security (which did seem a touch overkill) the crowd went absolutely wild, although for most this is a great thing, unfortunately the aggressive mosh pit which kept on growing throughout the night and beer dripping from the ceiling after fans launched their pints in the air is not for everyone. Sadly, this resulted in a lot of fans who weren’t admirers of this kind of activity being pushed back away from the stage, preventing some of those sneaky photos we all like to take and generally just ruining the night for a lot of people. Having said this, it’s undeniable that Cabbage had put on an extraordinary show. The sound engineer had perfectly balanced the melodies of the guitars and the beat of the bass drum, nothing was overpowering and nothing was missed which lets you experience Cabbage’s iconic Terrorist Synthesizer exactly as the band intended, all whilst having an absolutely stunning beer from The Crescent Community Venue where the gig was held, the staff are very welcoming and friendly and made everyone feel at home.

There are good and bad gigs, and this was definitely top-notch!

Written by Sam Walker

Review: Goat Girl – Goat Girl Album

On April 6^th ‘Goat Girl’ released their self entitled debut album into the school playground of up-and-coming bands.  Singed to Rough Trade two years ago, this South London band have taken the time to perfect what can only be described as a brilliantly bold statement of an album. This offering is a lengthy one, even by today’s standards, however even at 19 songs long this album certainly doesn’t feel like a chore to immerse yourself in. From the outset it is clear that Goat Girl’s music demands respect, patience and attention as from the first song ‘Salty sounds’ we hear a very particular atmosphere being created, and it’s one that is rather hard to put your finger on, nevertheless ‘Salty sounds’ is reminiscent of Blur’s ‘Caramel,’ so it’s guaranteed to take you somewhere special. This atmospheric feel is continued perfectly throughout the album with hauntingly beautiful vocal harmonies in every song featuring vocals, and backed up with Libertines esque punk guitar that at times even sounds Led Zeppelin inspired, and in your face lyrics, Goat Girl’s debut LP is something undeniably new and most definitely more than just a face in the crowd.

While successful in creating their own unique sound, don’t assume that means the Goat Girl’s entire album lacks any sort of diversity. From the third song on the album and my personal favourite, ‘Creep’ we immediately see some versatility as it features a folk inspired Fiddle part that completely changes and shapes the dynamic of the song, lying underneath the lyrics and then moving to the forefront of your attention after the chorus creating a punk/folk fusion. As you move further into the forest and become more immersed in this album you’ll come to find ‘Lay down’ at number 11, and it will immediately grab you with no intentions of letting go. Even at just under 3 minutes long this song strongly resembles a guitar part that is familiar to us all, ‘Stairway to heaven.’ Need I say more?

They’re not shy either. Painting a picture of London that most definitely won’t be found in any tourist books. Front woman Clottie paints a very droll but most likely realistic picture of life in the (unnecessarily) big city as is highlighted with the lyrics to ‘Creep’ that read – ‘Creep on the train, with his creepy gold chain… I really want to smash your head in.’ There is a sense of exasperation directed at society that can be heard in Clottie’s voice and lyrics, paired with a stinking attitude born from anger that is reflected perfectly in the build up of instruments to a heavier crescendo through two separate songs on the album named ‘I don’t care part 1’ and ‘I don’t care part 2’ for which the lyrics read ‘I don’t care what the people say cause the people don’t care anyway.’

It is very clear that this band have taken their time to perfect and hone an original sound that can be called their own for this album. A debut album that will leave you grateful for its length, and continue to reward you with new discoveries upon each new listen, I get the feeling that Goat Girl may have set themselves up for something good here. A bold first attempt that will be sure to stand out in the playground and demand everyone’s attention.

By Will Underwood