Some absolutely cracking band names this week! Artists featured include MSPAINT, Their/They’re/There, No Windows, Man/Woman/Chainsaw, Ehiorobo and Lil Yachty.
THE BEST:
‘Acid’ – MSPAINT
All hail MS Paint, the best Microsoft program to ever exist except
maybe Full Tilt! Pinball. It’s a pretty fitting name for this Mississippi
hardcore band, whose sound has a very nostalgic digital feel to it. Weaved into
the guitars are woozy retro synths and electronic drums. The mix of heavy
guitars and retro synths kinda reminds me of nintendocore group Horse The Band
(yes, nintendocore is a real genre. Check it out!), except this band take a
more vaporwave-flavoured direction.
‘Living Will or Living Well’ – Their/They’re/There
Their/They’re/There are a Chicago math rock band. ‘Living
Will or Living Well’ is their (they’re? there? No definitely, their) latest
single and it’s so much fun! I was pretty much sold as soon as that chaotic-yet-melodic
opening riff came in. In fact, ‘chaotic-yet-melodic’ seems to sum up the whole
track pretty well – the listener gets thrown around like a ragdoll, and yet the
vocals and guitars hit all the right sweet notes. The track comes after a 9
year hiatus and will appear on their debut album Their/They’re/Three.
‘Shout (Red Song)’ – No Windows
Edinburgh duo No Windows consists of 18-year-old singer Verity
and 16-year-old multi-instrumentalist Morgan. Their latest single ‘Shout (Red
Song)’ is exciting stuff for two musicians so young. It’s a mix of enchanting
dreampop vocals and ethereal lo-fi production. I love the distorted fizzling
cymbal that drives the track along – the drums are very buried in the mix, but
just clear enough to give the track a steady stomp. ‘Shout (Red Song)’ is set to
be one of three singles, each related to a colour and available on a limited
tape.
‘Any Given Sunday’ – Man/Woman/Chainsaw
I said there were some cracking band names this week. Man/Woman/Chainsaw
is a London post-punk band with unhinged spoken word vocals. Their latest
single ‘Any Given Sunday’ grows in intensity around a gloomy guitar riff before
breaking into a mariachi-flavoured crescendo while interpolating ‘Swing Low,
Sweet Chariot’. There are some obvious similarities to BCNR (especially in the
vocals). At the same time, the song still feels uniquely wild enough to set
these guys/girls/chainsaws apart.
‘Beyond The Stars’ – Ehiorobo
Experimental r&b/soul artist Ehiorobo remains criminally
underrated. His latest track ‘Beyond The Stars’ contains a chopped-and-screwed
vocal performance over a glossy electronic beat. The vocals sound almost
Michael-Jackson-esque at points as a result of the pitching up. For those who are
interested, there’s also a ballad version of this song without the vocal edits
that really shows off Ehi’s unique voice.
THE WORST:
‘Poland’ – Lil Yachty
Songs are getting so short and lazy nowadays that they
barely classify as songs. We’re given only a single verse here and it sounds
like he improvised it on the toilet. The quivering auto-tuned delivery of ‘I
took the Wock’ to Poland’ is pretty catchy though.