If It's Too Loud...

Photo by Tom White Leeds based post-punk/free jazz band Volk Soup are releasing their new album Friday, but we have one last single to share before then. "Friends" starts out more on the jazz end, and kind of reminds me of a laid back version of James Chance and The Contortions. And then it just erupts before going back to the chill if slightly off jazz style, giving new meaning to the whole loud/quiet/loud thing. Jazz doesn't usually rock as hard as it does in "Friends," but that's why we love Volk Soup. I can't think of any other band that combines free jazz and post punk in any way, let alone as well as it's combined here.  Harry Jones (vocals/guitar) says of the band's latest single: "A song written in a time between friendship. A time when I had drifted from the friends of my youth and had yet to meet the people I call my friends today. It was a bitter and resentful time. A time when a kindred spirit was hitherto unseen. These were the ...

Photo by Tom White Our favorite Leeds based post-punk/free jazz band Volk Soup is back with a new single. "Professionalism Debunked" is a weird freak out that simply sounds and feels cool. It's surprisingly groovy, with a chorus consisting of wordless sounds... and it could very well be one of the catchiest things we've heard all year. I'm not quite sure how you're going to dance to this one, but you're going to want to find a way. And all of this is before the guitar solo kicks in with the odd vocalizations behind it. "Professionalism Debunked" has an interesting Talking Heads meets Frank Zappa thing going on, with maybe just a little extra aggression thrown in. Vocalist/guitarist Harry Jones says of the band's latest single: "It’s a song with a simple sentiment: don’t take your job too seriously. It is essentially demanded of a person that they lose vast swathes of their precious time on Earth or else face a cruel and untimely death. W...

Photo by Tom White Hailing from Leeds, Volk Soup have released a frantic new single. "Reptilian Brain" would mostly be considered a post-punk song, but there's an interesting looseness to the song that almost feels like free jazz. It's definitely danceable, but in a bizarre, jerky way. The song is kind of simple with a ton going on all at once. Amongst the post-punk trappings of "Reptilian Brain" there are also bursts of horns that don't quite go along with the rest of the song, giving even more energy to the entire ordeal, and an unexpected free jazz feel. Volk Soup are a high energy band making music not exactly like everyone else, and we kind of love that around here. Vocalist/guitarist Harry Jones says of the band's latest single: "We brought this song to fruition in a lovely practice space in a mostly abandoned warehouse in Manchester a couple of hours before playing a show. The bass line and lyric was hand delivered and the rest fell into ...