If It's Too Loud...

Photo by  Clémentine Schneidermann Manchester, UK's Westside Cowboy have a great take on the whole indie rock thing. Their latest single, "Pin Up Boys," is a loud and rockin' track with just the slightest hints of country twang. This is indie rock with a focus on the rock that we haven't seen in quite a while. The abrasiveness of the song mixes with an unexpected melody. Bands that immediately come to mind while listening to "Pin Up Boys" are The Hold Steady and Drive-By Truckers mixed with the Pixies. Westside Cowboy are the kind of band that are going to be beloved by indie rock hipsters with a potential massive crossover potential for more mainstream rock fans. Vocalist Reuben Haycock says of the band's latest single: “‘Pin Up Boys’ was written a year and a half ago using an acoustic guitar, a drum machine sample pad and some screwdrivers as drumsticks. It is by far the longest serving song on the album and the one that we have played the most liv...

Photo by Denmarc Creary Hailing from Leeds, UK, English Teacher are part of a new generation of British bands that are updating post-punk. Their latest single, "R&B," is going to remind you of recent bands like Squid and Yard Act, except English Teacher ramp up the noise and aggression of those bands. "R&B" takes the current post punk blueprint and adds some Sonic Youth style noise rock guitars over it. This is an intense song that pays off with a fantastic build of speed and noise that happens to slowly you barely even notice it has happened until the end. In the current crop of British post punk artists, English Teacher are going to stand out on their own. Lily Fontaine (vocals, rhythm guitar, synths) says of the band's upcoming album: “Sonically and lyrically, the album is about not being quite like one thing, nor quite like another, existing in that space between being assigned a choice and completing it where anything is possible." You can watc...

Photo by Phoebe Fox The more I hear Yard Act the more I enjoy them. The Leeds, UK band re-imagine Parklife- era Blur as a post punk band instead of Brit pop. So far their vocals have been much more along the lines of spoken word or ranting than actual singing. Their latest single, "Rich," has this blistering building intensity that goes in stark contrast to the cheerfulness at the beginning of the song. Very slowly the song gets angrier and drips with more and more attitude the further you get into the song. "Rich" starts off as an almost accessible song and then devolves into a much noisier and discordant one towards the end. A+. Frontman James Smith says of the new song: “ ‘Rich’ is the natural successor to ‘Payday’. That’s the end of the story right? Success! Status! Security! Except, there’s always more money to be made, and you’re deemed a failure if your life starts to head back in the direction it came from. It’s about being so lost you’re sure you know exact...

Photo by James Brown Hailing from Leeds, Yard Act are threatening to become the next huge thing out of England. The band's new single, "Payday," imagines a bizarre world where Blur skipped out on the whole Britpop thing around the time of Parklife to become an experimental post punk band that also was really into funk. Needless to say, "Payday" has a wonderfully unique sound with buzzing and swirling guitars and all sorts of odd little twists and turns. We've been late to jump on this bandwagon, so you're going to want to jump on and join us ASAP. Singer James Smith says of the new song: “ ‘Payday’ was one of the few tracks on the record we had to rebuild completely in the studio because the first demo was recorded on my computer and the hard drive corrupted. We spent about TWO hours trying to figure out that stupid keyboard part I'd put on it and couldn't remember how to play. It was boring but worth it. It's about gentrification, class feti...

Photo by Sam Crowston Hailing from the UK, The Lathums typically play jangle pop, but on their latest single they stray from that sound into ska. "I See Your Ghost" [insert hacky music journalist joke about ghosts and October here] has the upbeat tempo and guitar riffs of ska, minus the horn section. However, The Lathums haven't dropped their typical sound completely. "I See Your Ghost" is ska through the lens of indie rock and Brit pop, and I have no idea how this sound didn't happen twenty years ago.  Frontman and singer Alex Moore says of the new single:  “There’s something inside me, maybe like everyone, that ticks to the beats of reggae, ska, grime or hip-hop. A natural, human swing you hear in the music that, even without the tune, still exists. It’s how your heart ticks. ‘I See Your Ghost’ is that feeling for me.” You can watch the video for "I See Your Ghost" below. The single is out now via Island Records. For more on The Lathums, check ou...