Curated by DJ Astrocreep
Well, with a few exceptions, the pathway out of the dark tunnel that has been the past 16 months finally seems to be getting clearer day by day, as we slowly take those vital steps back to at least a semblance of the normality we enjoyed before the pandemic wrecked chaos on our collective and individual lives. Yes, there are still some restrictions in place in some parts of the Über Kingdom, but the signs are increasingly positive, not least in terms of the summer festival season being up-and-running again, and the light on the horizon is growing ever brighter – and it’s not just ‘cos we’re being blessed with a rare (occasionally) sunny summer!
One constant throughout the vagaries of inconsistent and often hard to stomach lockdowns has that the ÜR Singles Club has remained open for (virtual) business throughout, bringing you our selection of what we regard as the best new sounds to have come our way every fortnight – with a few special events thrown in for good measure! So, it’s time to once again fire up the death decks and see what joyous gems the past fortnight has brought our way, with my selection of my favourite tunes from among the more than 500 submissions which we received over the course of the two weeks…
First up, Kills Birds are hunting slightly different prey with ‘Rabbit’, an alt-punk single in the vein of Be Your Own Pet or Metric. Short, explosive, and in your face – what an introduction it was for me to this band!
We keep the avian theme going, as Owls & Aliens are telling us ‘You Can’t Save Everyone’ in their latest hook riddled hardcore punk tale. Aggressive vocals with a groovy punk rock backing combine for something that harkens back to the early days of hardcore, such as The Adolescents.
From Oregon ÜSA over to Manchester ÜK and Twisted Illusion are quickly becoming a favourite here with their headstrong belief to take ‘No Compromise’ when writing highly melodic, top notch musicianship, mixing prog into alt-rock in quite the mesmerising manner!
Black Swamp Water are urging us to ‘Roll Over’ and die now in this latest hardened blues rock effort. Plenty of swagger and enjoyable riffs make for a real ear worm!
Little Thief have crafted quite the little groovy number in ‘Freak’, with the Bristolian rockers providing plenty of soul amongst the swagger, in a manner akin to Black Stone Cherry!
Sea Power are back with a slight name change and even more gorgeous sounding psych rock, as they give ‘Two Fingers’ at the self-serving figureheads of our era!
When it comes to my more batshit affected side of music love, Diablo Swing Orchestra are pushing all the right buttons as they again craft something utterly bizarre yet utterly entrancing with ‘War Painted Valentine’, sounding like Mr Bungle experimenting with swing!
Sleep Token are rightfully emerging as one of the finest purveyors of both melody and heavy that the ÜK has to offer and ‘The Love You Want’ is yet another track adding fuel to this particular fire. Heavy on the melodic side with a smattering of heavier to add further depth to a sublime song.
Time to crank the heaviness a bit more and antipodean metal heroes Alien Weaponry are back to thrust some more aural delectations down your lugholes, though with a track like this, they’re likely to leave us all ‘Buried Underground’.
Billy Boy In Poison are meshing melody with aggression as they search for ‘Supremacy’ with this latest death-influenced metalcore. Brutal yet somehow catchy with politicised lyrics, it’s a great introduction to the talented act.
As post-rock goes, Shy, Low are doing a great job in creating beauty in dissonance with ‘Helioentropy’ sounding like a misery fuelled trip amongst the stars, simultaneously uplifting yet crushing!
High Desert Queen are matching ‘The Mountain Vs The Quake’ in their latest stoner opus, with the Texan rockers approaching the release of their debut album in fine style in this groove-riddled effort.
Superweapon have taken old school metal and unleashed a real ‘Battle Cry’ with this track, letting us know that the old school is still revered with their debut single!
3TEETH are back with a HUGE collaboration with Ho99o9 and a step towards metalcore, though still with plenty of their industrial roots, as they set out to ‘Paralyze’ us all with the sheer curshing heaviness of this track!
Taking all the mix of theatrical power metal with symphonic, yet somehow still similar to Dimmu Borgir’s ‘Progenies…’, we have Zornheym aiming to actually ‘Keep The Devil Away’ instead of raising him. Mixing power metal with heavy symphonic, they’ve created something that celebrates the beauty in true chaos.
Mildreda have created something truly disturbing feeling with ‘Liasons Dangereuses’, with an understated tracks that will haunt your dreams in the small hours with it’s dark electronic industrial vibe.
Our penultimate track takes in The Paradox Twin and the simply gorgeous sounding ‘Wake Vortex’, mixing highly melodic prog with raw emotion into a breathtaking effort.
To finish off this roundup, we have Immersion – a supergroup in their own right – combining with Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab and ‘Riding The Wave’ of absolute delicious sounding up-beat indie with a post-punk feeling, intermeshing the two in a stunning piece of music.
Well, that’s your lot for latest iteration of the Singles Club. Yet again, we’ve drunk the pumps dry and the optics are running low, so it’s time to neck the dregs and take a break to restock the bar and recharge the batteries before delving headlong back into the rock ‘n’ roll action in two weeks’ time, when the boss man once again will be taking charge of the deathdecks and bringing you some of the hottest new sounds from around this hoary old rock ‘n’ roll planet… Until then, keep ‘er lit, keep ‘er between the hedges and #StayTheFuckSafe!
- All written content © Über Rock. Not to be reproduced in part or in whole without the express written permission of Über Rock.