SKREEN B BLOG

There's a lot of debate going on at the moment about AI and its threat to humanity. Inevitably, much like the songs being written during the covid era, what's topical starts to filter down within new recordings - that's the case with  DemoDiva 's new release 'Monster'. Based in the US, independent songwriter, producer and publisher DemoDiva brings an old-school electro-pop feel to the subject matter, wrapping a serious warning in surprisingly soft and calm female vocals. The lyrics paint AI as both servant and master, with lines about feeding the “Monster” our thoughts before admitting, “I can’t control Monster / And what I’ve made of him.” There’s a nicely understated menace beneath the catchy synth-driven surface, making the dystopian message all the more effective. Thought-provoking without sacrificing its pop appeal, this is a warning which does not resort to scaremongering. 

Chapel Hill's Why The Hell Knot have just released a new ditty 'Book of Love' and this is more like it; some good, old punk from America which sounds like good, old punk - not some of that generic pop-punk that has been rotting away the airwaves since the 90s. ‘Book of Love’ is a brisk, high-energy blast that takes a witty swipe at the confusing rules of modern romance. With rampant guitars and plenty of sarcastic lyrical bite, it pokes fun at the typo-riddled, badly punctuated instruction manual we apparently rely on for matters of the heart. The song is a catchy, cathartic singalong for anyone whose love life has ever been derailed by dubious advice, mixed signals or one badly placed full stop - a jolly good track to make you want to jump around. 

Clocking in at just 92 seconds, Nice Boat ’s new tune may be called ‘Everybody’s Bored’, but that is certainly no reflection on the song itself. How could it be? The recording simply doesn’t allow enough time to get bored! Thankfully, the track is never dull, delivering instead a sprightly blast of fuzzy fun. Built around live beats, bass and fractious vocals, Nice Boat keep things lean and gritty, with sparse handclaps and talk-singing adding to the wonderfully scruffy feel of ‘Everybody’s Bored’. The band say "the song speaks to the moments on the receiving end of boredom in someone else’s eyes and a general frustration with the concept of 'boredom' in itself." The accompanying video perfectly captures the spirit of the song too, with bright colours and quirky characters somehow weighed down by life’s despondent inevitability. So, if you find yourself surrounded by grey skies, ‘Everybody’s Bored’ might just provide some brief respite from the boredom of being bored....

Many years ago Bad Manners did a song called 'Night Bus To Dalston', it was the b-side to their hit single 'Lip Up Fatty' - I still have the 7" vinyl. The 'Night Bus To Dalston' title always amused me, it was just so British and devoid of romance. Zoom forward 46 years (gulp!) and the perfect segue arrives from E.M. Kane with her new single 'One Night In Dalston'.  Glaswegian E.M. Kane spent ten years in London before returning home, and ‘One Night In Dalston’ turns that experience of big-city loneliness into something wonderfully raw and relatable. Built around a guitar-and-vocal core, the track has a satisfyingly rhythmic pulse, while Kane’s expressive delivery shifts from intimate confession to full-blooded release. She really sings her heart out here, with some wonderfully brave vocalisations that match – and at times seem almost to compete with – the grinding guitar solo. Inspired by a tear-filled night in an East London club, the lyrics captu...

I like it when musical genres go slightly rogue. From their base in the alternative internet culture of the US, experimental audiovisual artist personalheartbreaker serves up a suitably intriguing slice of cyber-gothic weirdness with 'Sorry Eyed'. Ethereal vocals float through heavy, reverb-soaked guitars, while electro bleeps and beats provide a distinctly retro-futuristic pulse. Inspired by the nu-gaze revival but considerably colder and more otherworldly, the track shifts between dreamlike intimacy and sonic heaviness.  The highly stylised presentation is very much part of the package, creating an unsettling visual world to match the song’s tale of desire, dependence and self-destruction. 'Sorry Eyed' is an interesting insight into the strange realm of personalheartbreaker.

There’s something rather compelling about a band who can make a song sound like it’s been beamed in from a particularly gloomy corner of Eastern Europe.  Dlina Volny ’s latest single 'Vochy' certainly manages that mood, wrapping a haunting combination of male and female vocals, brooding synths and a driving post-punk rhythm in a suitably shadowy darkwave atmosphere. It’s the sort of track that seems to lower the lighting in the room all by itself. What particularly grabbed me is the tension running through the whole thing. While the music remains controlled and beautifully composed, there’s a simmering frustration underneath, reflecting the song’s themes of lies, abuse of power and information overload. The fact that this is Dlina Volny’s first release in Belarusian adds another interesting dimension, too. There’s plenty of dark-pop polish here, but 'Vochy' never feels overly glossy. Instead, it manages that rather nice trick of sounding both intimate and imposing – moo...

Red tape put to tape, sums up this track. There’s something deliciously cruel about an insurance form becoming an interrogation, and Utrecht’s Empty Habits make the most of it on 'Life Insurance'. Restless guitars and post-hardcore tension propel a song about the pains of navigating officialdom and being forced to recall a messy adolescence for the sake of a tick box exercise. “Dropdowns hiding dropdowns” neatly captures the bureaucratic nightmare, while the lyrics’ cheery assurances about privacy make the whole affair wonderfully familiar. Recorded largely live, it retains a raw, impatient energy and finds the band on good form (see what I did there?). 'Life Insurance' is taken from Empty Habits' new EP, Self-Sabotage Life Insurance by Empty Habits

Sometimes the best songs come from carefully considered songwriting sessions; other times, apparently, you just need to pick up the phone and call Turkey - the country, not the things that go 'gobble, gobble'. Kathleen Blackwell ’s 'Hello Turkey?' is a gloriously daft one-minute masterpiece (that might be stretching it a bit?), born from a studio conversation about whether Turkey actually has any mountains – and, if so, what on earth they’re called. What started as a delirious joke was captured on mic and eventually turned into this wonderfully comical electro track, assembled simply to make Kathleen laugh. Thankfully, it worked – and now we get to share in the joke. A brief, bonkers detour from an artist who refuses to be confined by genre, proving that sometimes music doesn’t need to be profound; it just needs to make you smile. By accident, I found that 'Hello Turkey?' works best if you leave it on repeat - try it!

Now, this is my type of music, just the name of the band,  eggs and tiaras , gives you an indication that the audio is not going to be the usual run of the mill affair. Gladly, that's just the case as upon playing their latest track 'De mon Toi' (From my self) the dysfunctional creativity just flows.  The band say "As usual, Eggs and Tiaras invite you both to dance and to see things differently" which sums them up beautifully, there's oddness in their words and style, but that's all backed with tight, crisp beats and expressive electronics. Roughly translated, they say the song is about "the first cry, born inside us; the fed-up feeling. The one that shows how we feel about current politics. It's the morning cry, the one we want to let out while watching the news go by".  The Swiss act deliver their vocals in French, English and German with songs that tackle the darker side of everyday life with a mischievous mix of irony, provocation and irr...

Righty-ho! Gird your loins for a recording which might not be to everyone's taste - this one is a bit of a marmite track. 'Ghost Debt' by  Nero's Day At Disneyland is quite a sonic onslaught and even I am struggling to find the words to describe it. I suppose it is like glitch meets witch house? Much like a ride on an madly malfunctioning Ghost Train; you get all the percussive chaos of pots and pans cluttering and electronic twitching, combined with the spooky, banshee wailing. At times, I am not sure if you veer off into the Haunted House or down the rapids of the Tunnel of Love, but the result is two and a half minutes of mayhem and hilarity.  Los Angeles electronic producer Lauren Bousfield, aka Nero’s Day at Disneyland, has been making boundary-pushing experimental music since the project’s cult-favourite 2009 album 'From Rotting Fantasylands'. Alongside her solo work and collaborations, Bousfield has also worked as a composer, arranger and sound designer ...

Let's start with the cover. I would call the artwork "Red Wine Stain on Antique Paper" - but that's just me. The minimal image disguises the intensity of the sound within - however - I get the concept, this one comes from a band called The Grapes  - and the song's actual title is 'Repeat Mode'.  The Seoul brother-duo proudly proclaim themselves “your boyfriend’s least favourite band”, and 'Repeat Mode' makes a rather convincing case for the title. The first single from the band's second EP captures the maddening inability to let someone go as a relationship slowly fades. The song itself is wrapped in honest lyrics with a raw, punchy post-punk sound. “We got colder, we got colder” neatly nails the emotional chill. 'Repeat Mode' is a catchy indie number with a jaunty, but raw edge that warrants repeat plays. There's some good noise coming out of South Korea, that's for sure.

Against all odds, another remix has arrived which I really like. Stockholm trio ARMOURS have given their track ‘Body’ a rather impressive makeover, enlisting Danish heavyweight Leæther Strip for the job.  The original track, ‘Body’ deals with the experience witnessing a fading parent and the inevitable shift between generations - along with other emotions such as grief and sorrow. Not exactly your standard synthpop subject matter, but suitably dark and thoughtful. The reworking gives the song a substantial overhaul, pushing the EBM elements harder while bringing ARMOURS’ synthpop sensibilities further to the fore. The result is a rather satisfying meeting of two electronic worlds. A great collaboration.

I like this, I like this a lot! 'Blue In Your Hair' is the new release by Paris-based singer-songwriter, Poulpy - and, as a DIY production, it just rolls out with absolute honesty and vibrancy. Sung in English, but with a strong French accent, it is a little hard to completely understand the lyrics. I am pretty sure one line is "crushed like a fly on the wall" - but another was subtitled by YouTube as "I made love to your shoes"?? If that's correct, the mind boggles! I hope it is correct. Initially, I was hoping the song might be about Berserker-era Gary Numan, but alas not. Musically, the piece is straight up indie pop rock with Poulpy playing guitar, bass and providing the ever-so charismatic vocals. I don't know why, but the recording just comes across as really fresh and free from all the usual pretentious trappings of indie rock. The "home made with love" factor really does transcribe to the recording, making 'Blue In Your Hair...

Any release that comes through with a robot depicted on the artwork is always going to grab my attention - and that was the case with the 'Scratch - Club Mix' by  Pennan Brae . My only reservation was that it was obviously going to be a dance mix of a tune which I didn't know - and I prefer to hear the original version - remixes and whatever generally tend to simply pad out and water-down rather than enhance. However, this time I was happily surprised - the mix had me amused from the very start, it has a real fun element to the sounds and arrangement. The mix is an upbeat, energetic blast of 80s/90s-inspired club pop, layering playful keyboards over a dancefloor-ready groove while delivering a breakup message via slightly vocoded vocals. Thankfully, it is not trying to be trendy or hip, it is its own beast. As a standalone track, 'Scratch - Club Mix' really gets under your skin.

There’s something rather brave about an established artist deciding to throw caution to the wind and have a go at a different musical genre. In this case folk is swapped out for hyperpop - which is quite a bold transition of styles.  Sylva Faye ’s ‘Free (P34CH20)’ is the result - a calm, genre-bending track built around mellow synths, piano and strings, with a rhythmic quality that manages to carefully propel the song without relying on a traditional percussive element. Faye’s main vocals are swamped in a synthetic sheen, adding another layer of electronic texture, whilst vocalisations float around the arrangement like fireflies. Lyrically the song is said to tackle the weird homesick feeling she has all the time, no matter where she is. It’s an adventurous change of direction for a musician who has spent 20 years as a singer-songwriter and session player, and an intriguing introduction to her 9th EP, Cracked.

Lizzy Donzis has just released her new track, ‘american dream’. As is quite usual with me, I’ll start with the artwork. It took me a moment to work out exactly what the cover depicted, before the penny dropped - it’s a ballet dancer. I never really progressed much beyond second position myself, but I’m guessing this is the dying swan pose? The song neatly mirrors the drama of the artwork, with live strings and piano giving the instrumentation a suitably classical feel. The arrangement then opens out, bringing in contemporary guitar and driving percussion, while Lizzy delivers an emotive vocal centred around the song’s theme of being “a perfectionist in a world where you are never good enough”. As a slightly darker, pop ballad 'american dream' plays out extremely well.

First up, I like the artwork - as a fan of lemons, centre of the image caught my eye. Now onto the music itself - 'Star Stuff' is the new single from Eldersister .  The indie-folk duo are sisters Kaitlin and Marissa Sevy and their sound blends Kaitlin’s soulful vocals and guitar work with Marissa’s rich harmonies. Their songwriting tackles love, friendship, self-deception and finding hope amid chaos, all delivered with plenty of lyrical honesty and emotional punch. 'Star Stuff' showcases this approach to great effect with a catchy, enjoyable tune concentrated around strumming guitar, and the sister's voices, which have a very light twang of country. Fresh and zesty with a tinge of the blues, just like the cover - the song is pleasing on the ear and leaves you wanting to hear more. 

A big pop number for you this time round from America with  Tessa Joy 's new single 'Dancing On Your Heart'. The track is an upbeat number with a strong percussive and rhythmic backbone, but shines mainly through Tessa's powerful and sassy vocal performance. Tessa is a spirited singer-songwriter who clearly knows her way around both a stage and a studio, while also juggling an impressive array of instruments. Her recent singles, “All Night” and “Better Than You”, reveal a lively blend of pop and R&B influences. 'Dancing On Your Heart' is a definite one for those who like a slick, commercial sound centred around a confident vocal talent. 

Paris-based act mirabelle. have a new tune out called 'Back On Your Feet' - a song about "helping someone rebuild". The piece is very much an American feeling pop-punk tune - full of boisterous vocals and teenage energy. It is a slight pity that the band don't sing in their native French language or at least without the American accents, but I suppose that comes from wanting to appeal to a global audience. My favourite moment arrives near the finish, when someone yells “shut up!” and the guitars veer into something a little more chaotic and improvised - and yes, noisy. At times the production is a little messy, but this is 100% DIY and it does sound like the band are having a blinking good time.

There's not much to say about  Lil Busy 's latest release 'flower / homecoming' as it only clocks in at 77 seconds - and it is just a super short slice of bedroom electro with a rather subdued vocal. Mind you, Lil Busy still manages to swear a little during that brief time. No other information is offered regarding the release and even the accompanying artwork is as lo-fi as it comes. Odd without actually being odd. Give it a whirl, it won't take long.

Twenty years into their DIY indie-rock adventure, The Active Set return with “Uncomfortable”, the closing track on their just released album 'Death Of A Friend'. There’s a strong, melodic lead vocal here, riding over some smooth guitar, a nicely stabbing rhythmic pulse and keyboards that occasionally take a subtly sombre turn. Having said that, the general feel is reasonably radio-friendly and catchy. Lyrically, it’s considerably less comfortable, with the narrator admitting, “I can’t go on like this” before confessing, “I’m a shadow of my former self” The track gradually opens-up its grip with a satisfying flurry of guitar adding weight towards the concluding lines. For a band that have ridden the highs and lows of artistry for 20 years, there's a lot of self-reflection and they’re laying out their honesty before you. It feels like a weary, but triumphant band putting their all into the ending of this chapter.

Lisa Krystina x Little Steed transport us back to the 80s with their latest release 'Better Alone'. The keyboard sounds and overall production just remind you of very early Madonna, in the days when the world felt less stressed; youth was a giddy joy, not mental health battlefield acted out on social media. Musically 'Better Alone' seems like a bright and breezy pop song, but once you delve a little deeper into the words sung by Lisa Krystina, it all appears a shade darker. The song tackles the uncomfortable moment when the fantasy of a relationship disappears, leaving the courage to walk away as the only way forward. Like a lot of good pop recordings, there's a slight edge if you scratch beneath the surface. Better Alone by Lisa Krystina x Little Steed

MayDay! MayDay! No, that's not a cry for help, that's the name of the new song from Dear Darcy. Well, actually, the title is 'MayDay' - and maybe that should read as "new release", rather than "new song"? Confused? Let me start again, I'll explain... Dear Darcy resurrect a genuine 1996 alt-rock time capsule, with a song written all those years ago called 'MayDay' finally dragged blinking into the modern day after three decades in the vault. Led by songwriter/bassist Kim Cordle and featuring drummer Todd Long of The Verve Pipe and acclaimed guitarist Robert Hoppa, the US-based outfit deliver a gloriously hefty mix of shining guitars, foot-tapping rhythms and ear-candy hooks. It’s authentic ’90s alternative rock rather than a retro costume party, with Cordle’s intense vocals driving 'MayDay' straight at the heart of radio-friendly territory. Pity the artwork is a little lacking, though. LINK:  Dear Darcy

'little miss independent' by midwest ten got me with the first few lines: "wires in my bloodstream, static in my teeth, monochrome billboards, silicone dreams". Those lines set the tone for the song, a sort of lo-fi bedroom electronic ditty with all the charm and understated creativity you might expect when someone pours all their passion into a piece.  Born in midwest ten’s “goth cottage” period, this track was largely cooked up in the kitchen of a tiny studio flat - proof that you don’t need big studios and big budgets to make something interesting. There are no guitars here either, purposely with only synths and percussion supporting the vocals, symbolising a new musical direction for midwest ten. The result is a straightforward, yet highly enjoyable recording which really catches the ear...both of them! little miss independent by midwest ten

Austin's alternative-metal outfit  Bridges Ablaze have just released a new single called 'Left For Dead' and it really taps into their core sound with an energized percussive display working alongside some hard and flamboyant guitar trickery. The band say the song is “inspired by a painful breakup with someone a band member loved very much. The lyrics describe the experience from the inside looking out, painting a vivid and creative imagery alongside the elusive story-telling aspect”. That comes across in the pained, emotive vocals which act as a counter-weight to the heavy rock stylings. A video for the single will follow shortly on September 18th. Until then, this is possibly one for the air-guitarists to enjoy.