If you’re taking time out of your day right now to let an indie album run in full, on a whim of a hope that it might take your breath away, Frequency by Italy’s Downflyers is categorically a gamble that pays off.
Pop Punk
Further securing their role amidst the future of pop-rock and indeed punk-pop, The New Starts Now bring through perhaps their strongest hit of songwriting yet with this brand new single.
“Remember to love yourself for you, and never change. It’s the people that are different that add color to this world.”
A brilliant single, Estranged Visions utilises contrast to a fine degree, breaking things down to the bare essentials – that soulful, mildly funky guitar rhythm, isolated between moments of full distortion, bass and drums.
The mix is a little muddy, as befits the genre, but I like it – it feels retro, knowing and modern all at once, and the hooks are all very much in place. Strap yourselves in!
Violet Tempo’s four-to-the-floor arrangement and high energy kick in amidst a quickly infectious melody, deeply personal yet poetic lyrics, and a vocal lead that offers a notably emotional, refreshing sense of character.
Energetically blending the nostalgia of nineties punk-pop with that of the Happy Gilmore glory days, Queensland’s Kid Fly kick into gear with a brilliantly well-crafted new single.
Chemicals kick things off, presenting a fast-acting power-chord progression, raw drums and an equally raw vocal line that lays bare a deeply reflective, poetic string of lyrics.
A band with precisely the tools and passion required to satisfy that need for energy and volume during these extensively still, unsettling times.
This feels like a slept-on classic from a simpler time, and still the concept focuses on something that much of modern music refuses to even attempt.
An interesting hybrid that’s halfway between Panic at the Disco and something much more prog-y, with proper and very grown-up playing, Thinking Clear is an episodic delight, with an awful lot of elements that could easily crossover to please an awful lot of people.
Kevin Lee and his band of well-practiced, passionate musicians kick into gear with a brilliantly energetic hit of story-telling and classic rock and roll.