Blauerosen

2017 is an exciting year for the Band of Holy Joy. First of all the band will release the EP ‘Brutalism Begins At Home’ this Friday January 27^th 2017 through Tiny Global Productions. It’s hard to argue against what the title of this EP is implying and given the band’s strong social reflexes it is expected that all the songs will be musically as well as conceptually very appealing. The EP has been produced by Brian O’Shaunghessy founder of the iconic Bark Studio in North London who has also worked with many artists including My Bloody Valentine and Primal Scream. The mastering of this EP is courtesy of Stuart Moxham (ex. Young Marble Giants). The first track from this EP entitled “Come Home To Me“ is already available through the official bandcamp page of the band and the full length album will be released in July. In between those dates, we are pretty sure that we will have the opportunity to see them perform part of this album, live in London.

Timber Timbre is a beloved band of Blauerosen and 2017 is the year that this band brings good news to us. The band comes from Brooklin, Ontario and has already released 5 studio albums with cinematic, melancholic downtempo melodies and ethereal, choral female vocals. As far as the album covers are concerned, be sure that they will spark your imagination from the moment you will see them.It’s been three years since the release of the previous album ‘Hot Dreams’ and the band has announced the release of a new album entitled ‘Sincerely, Future Pollution’ on April 7, 2017 through City Slang and Arts&Crafts in Canada. The first track from this album “Sewer Blues“ has already been released and its music brought immediately to my mind soundtracks of David Lynch’s movies. The album’s release will be accompanied by a world tour and the most exciting news is that this tour includes a stop in London’s Islington Assembly Hall (April 18, 2017), three years since the last live appearance of the band.

A haunting atmosphere traverses the band’s music and it brings to mind both the melancholy of Elvis Presley and the eerie ceremonial atmosphere of Ennio Morricone’s scores. If you are a fan of Air’s moods then you will find the music of Timber Timbre really appealing.Other than that, I cannot praise enough, the band’s choice to include various saxophones in their sound and the skillful orchestration and sound engineering, that highlights the bass and the keyboards, just enough. If you still haven’t got this band on your radar, I urge you to give them some time…

The next piece of news comes from The Underground Youth who will launch their next, 8^th album, live at MOTH Club on March 8^th 2017. The album will be officially released on February 15^th through Fuzz Club Records and its title will be ‘What Kind Of Dystopian Hellhole Is This?’ The self- explanatory title of the album is a direct critique of the state of affairs worldwide and seems to be aesthetically consistent with the band’s previous releases. In the already released video of “Alice“, the camera follows the steps of a girl’s night out probably in Berlin and one could assume that this video highlights the loneliness of the big cities even within the underground culture. The Underground Youth are fascinated by dystopia as a condition and this is evident through their videos. The band’s take on slow rhythm hypnotizing post punk and their lyrics, prove that they are set to explore darkness in depth and in detail!

The news from Fuzz Club Records do not end here, as we are also expecting a new album from Singapore Sling, on February 2^nd 2017. The album, which will be the 9^th studio album of the band, will be entitled ‘Kill Kill Kill (Songs For Nothing)’ and Fuzz Club promises that “This is Singapore Sling at their most sinister, immersive and unforgiving…” so…naturally we couldn’t be more impatient about this release! One track has already been released called   “Riffermania“ and it seems to follow the trail of ‘Kill Baby Kill’ so I think it’s safe to say that this is an excellent teaser of the forthcoming album. The fans of Singapore Sling would hardly trade this band’s take on psychedelia and post punk for any other band than Suicide themselves.The devotion of these fans is evident during the band’s sold out appearances. We will be counting the days until 2/2/17 will you?

We were almost brought us to tears when we read this last piece of news. Let’s just say that since the release of their last album ‘Born Into The Waves’ in 2016 and the two unforgettable shows in Leipzig (WGT) in 2016, we have been reading about live appearances of And Also The Trees everywhere else BUT in London. I speculated about the reasons for this and each time I was sure that the band’s absence from London must have had an explanation.  The time has come and And Also The Trees have now announced a date for their next appearance in London and the date will be May 13, 2017 at the O2 Islington Academy!  ‘Born Into The Waves’ is a must have album (as are all of the band’s releases if you ask me) and it really comes to life during the live shows, especially if these take places in a theatre, as was the case in Leipzig’s Schauspielhaus last year. In this album the band revealed an inspiration from the musical tradition of Greece by ‘taming’ the guitar so that it would sound like a greek bouzouki! The dexterity with which Justin was playing the guitar during the band’s appearance at Schauspielhaus, was unforgettable. The same applies to Simon’s artistic sincerity throughout his performance in both shows in Leipzig.Enough said…just do your best not to miss this, rare, appearance of the band in London!

Blaue Rosen