Errant Boy

We Like You is the first Errant Boy single of 2018 and a preview of their forthcoming second album, due later this year. Boasting their signature melodic guitar manoeuvres and lyrical unease, it’s a worthy follow up to last autumn’s Means track which appeared on several best of 2017 lists.

Errant Boy has a sound that's pretty unique but if you were to twist my arm for a comparison they're a cross between Jonathan Richman and a perkier version of St Helens legendary band The Bordellos who are on a quest to annoy as much of the mainstream music industry as possible. 

This is Errant Boy at their off-beat best. The track is as like-able as it is addictive. Not so much lo-fi Doom Pop; more jangly-fi (yes I just made that up especially) Quirk Pop, and is the most fun I've had listening to music with my clothes on so far in 2018.

Brian will be playing the track on the Radio KC Indie Show this Sunday so tune in on rkc.noip.me Internet Radio 5-7pm.

Benbo

Multi-instrumentalist and cartoonist Benbo is set to release his new single Gravity Pulls Me Down 22nd September via PKLZD.

Tipped by Pigeons & Planes, Eddy Temple Morris and BBC Introducing, and co-signed by Cooking Vinyl, the former London resident has flown the capital to somewhere in the north of the UK that he will only describe as ‘The Bunker’, where he has amassed over four days worth of unreleased music over a vault of various hard drives.

Gravity Pulls Me Down, the first cut off his forthcoming mini-album Everything Is Fine is an off-kilter, psychedelic tinged alternative pop wonder and Ralph will be playing it on the Radio KC Indie Show on Sunday 13th August.

Speaking about the track, Benbo said, “It’s about depression I think, how you can be feeling high because for once everything is going lovely and then something happens to puncture your happy feeling and you’re on your way back down to the ground. Also there’s something in there about true love, I used to think it was about true love winning in the end but upon listening to it again I’m not sure whether it’s actually about the love in question being unrequited.”

Breaking off from a long-time quest to complete the perfect debut album, the reclusive artist Benbo will release his his new 9-track mini-album Everything is Fine – a meticulously-crafted 20-minute alt-pop journey through space-fuelled plans to escape personal and global disaster - on the 29th September. 





Also included on the promo CD’s is Bleep This aka F This one of the album’s most radio friendly tunes (in edited form) that highlights just how caustic a ninety second pop fix can be, when you put your heart and soul into it.

The release will feature collaborations from the likes of long-time Ralph's Life favourite Kat Five of Feral Five fame, writer A.K. Benedict (Doctor Who) and audio collector Gr3n (Cathay Tapes); plus production/mix by Marta Salogni (Frank Ocean/MIA) and mastering by Grammy-winner Mandy Parnell (Björk) and Bob Macciochi (DJ Shadow).

Equinox

When William Blake penned his oft recited poem Jerusalem he could almost have unwittingly been setting the scene for the work of Equinox. Those ‘dark Satanic mills’ almost a metaphor for the depression that is prevalent within the poetry and the ‘mental fight’ that has become an almost daily battle.

The poetry of Equinox takes no prisoners with subject matter ranging from male suicide to prostitution but with equal amounts of undying love and devotion, and has been set to music by several musical influencers with whom contact has been made over the last few years.

A debut album, It’s Hard To Be Happy When Your Head Is Full Of Sin is planned for release early 2017 and is already half completed.  

A debut appearance on the tYDbXx album by Welsh miserablists Radio Europa in the form of Josephine sparked initial interest as did surprise appearances at two 2016's secret gigs, and Scream sees a duet with Welsh D.I.Y. lo-fi artist Pulco which has already featured on Radio Wales, Radio KC and Pure Radio.  


Scream was also featured on the recent #MoreInCommon compilation raising awareness for the Hope Not Hate campaign. Equinox promises a huge name will appear on the album but no secrets are being given away.  

When asked how the collaboration happened and how the unknown artist was persuaded to take part the answer is simple and concise – “we just asked him and he said Yes”.

New track Goodbye sees a duet with freaky electronic oddity maker Dementio13 who is renowned for his ambient, drum 'n' bass and krautrock influenced work in a track that is starting to make the media sit up and listen.

They aren’t just about poems, they stand to break down any misconceptions about the genre and the often hard-hitting deadpan will continue to be a source of interest over the coming months.

So, is this goodbye to a friend? 

A friendship we thought would not end. 

Is this the start of where we drift apart? 

Into loneliness now we descend.





Goodbye has a stark feel with the almost dreary, exhausted Northern vocal juxtaposed against the eerie lo-fi soundscape provided by Dementio 13, whilst Radio Europa provide an ethereal almost choral, cathedral-esque background to the whispered, prayer-like utterances on Josephine.

The vocal on Scream has an Anglo Saxon feel to it, overlaid on the delicate, swirling synths provided by Pulco. Disjointed and disturbing, the tracks make the listener look to and challenge their own demons.

NUUXS

Nuuxs is a French born singer songwriter who grew up in Hackney. Her music style is influenced by Tarantino soundtracks and Lo-Fi beats, ably demonstrated in her debut single Holy Man released in April. The track, which has received over 66,000 streams on Spotify, was produced and co-written by Jake Gosling (Ed Sheeran, Shawn Mendes, The Libertines, James Bay, Paloma Faith) and added to Starbucks' in-store playlist.

June 2016 saw NUUXS and Gosling collaborating again on The Cry EP. The title track was released as a single, again attracting a huge response via Spotify with over 36,000 streams since its release, and earning a place on their 'New Music Friday UK' playlist.

The EP has been welcomed by crtics who have praised NUUXS for her "bold pop" and "stunning" delivery; she's been compared to the likes of Lana Del Rey, Gwen Stefani and Adele.

She learnt her trade playing in Jazz clubs after growing up on a diet of Soul and R'n'B as well as musicals such as My Fair Lady and Les Miserables. 

Since making her debut at The Kensington Roof Gardens in February 2016 she has gone on to sell out four shows including dates at The Pheasantry Chelsea, The Groucho and more recently Soho Jazz Club where she was the headline act. 

Her voice is steeped in nostalgia yet her music is still current and fresh, an alluring combination that lends itself to the intimate performances that have captivated her audiences, but word is spreading and those intimate venues look set to become larger.

Of course Ralph has already given the sultry Holy Man a spin on the Radio KC Indie Show. Needless to say the silky delivery of NUUXS immaculate vocal on the track makes it extremely radio friendly and we'll be spinning more from her on the show soon.

Snippet

Long time Ralph's Life favourite Johnno Casson, prior to releasing the third album by his alter ego Snippet has regaled us with a collection of tracks that detail the last ten years of that particular musical incarnation. Here he gives us an insight into that nascent period...

"In late 2004 I tentatively started planning to record a new solo project and back then there was no Soundcloud, no Bandcamp and no iTunes.

MySpace was about to kick in however, there was an online platform where some like-minded DIY musicians were sharing their musical creations called Grooveplay." 






"With no gear outboard gear to record on other than a trusty yet beaten up Yamaha acoustic, a bunch of samples, a shit microphone and a half dead PC in a tiny corner of our already very full flat - Snippet was born."

What follows is a delightful trip through his self-styled 'Wonky Pop', from the psychedelically dreamy The Digital Yes to the trippy 50 Pounds Each it makes you smile and makes you groove in equal degrees.

He cut his musical teeth as the lead singer of trip hop pioneers Deep Joy, working with the likes of Primal Scream's Andrew Weatherall, James Lavelle of Mo’ Wax/UNKLE fame and Adrian Sherwood of On-U-Sound plus touring extensively; including with The Farm.

"After being in Deep Joy and having had a wonderful break starting a family I needed a new outlet for my creative juices and so it came to pass that 2005 was the birth of Snippet on grooveplay dot com. 

These wonky sound collages were never released. To celebrate 10 years of Snippet they are out in all their dirty glory. Lo-fi and proud they're available as a pay-what-you-want to anyone who fancies a journey down the memory lane which gave birth to Snippet." 

Vukovar

Ralph's ideally placed to find out what's happening musically in St Helens and a quick trip to Kaleidescope Records on Westfield Street proved to be worthwhile as local band Vukovar have produced a gem in the shape of their recently released album Emperor on Small Bear Records.

I may have invented the phrase Bleak Pop just for Emperor as it lays it's foundations in all that's good from the likes of Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground to The Fall and Joy Division. Similaries with Ian Curtis abound in muso musings just out and that's no bad thing as Vukovar explore the depths of socio-politicality in this album.





Vukovar have created an aural joy in Emperor and their track The New World Order could become a bit of an Indie classic. If uncle John Peel were still with us he'd embrace it and play it relentlessly as will I on Radio KC.

The album is disjointed (in a good way - have a listen to The Staircase with it's narrative overlaid with a deliciously jangled soundscape), industrial, lo-fi, dystopian and addictive. 

There's no division in my joy (see what I did there) on listening to it.