Submission Hold Vol. 3: Featuring YNES, The Anderson Tapes, Doss, Venus in Noise
Is it that time of month already? Apparently so! It sneaks up so quickly on us all, I swear time gets shorter the older you get - not that I have much concept of time these days. I don't know about you, but the only reason I know it's still February is that Valentine's Day was recent and my Birthday is round the corner (*Note* It's early March for fans of buying vinyl records as presents for people they don't know..). It's not a particularly important Birthday this year in terms of it being a nice round number or a signifier of life beginning, as the last one was. Showing my age they eh? Own it Stephen.. OWN IT! Anyway, enough of the kind of middle-aged rambling usually reserved for a LCD Soundsystem single - let's get on with the good stuff.
Submissions Hold is our monthly section highlighting four of the best submissions received by the blog or that we stumbled upon during our adventures in sound. Last month we had a wonderfully mixed bag from all over the world - the Glam Punk of Berlin's LOBSTERBOMB, the experimental Indie Pop of Rochester's Public Prism, the incredibly tight Math Rock of Essex's Big in Sheboygan and the mysterious Alt Cabaret of Chicago's The Sifted Few. This month, we've stayed at home like good little boys and girls - where have we heard that before? All the acts featured are from the good ol' U of K. Rule Britannia and other ridiculously outdated notions of Nationalism. Music maestro!..
The back end of 2020 saw a concerted effort from those running our beloved nation to find ways to get people in the creative arts to look at retraining. There were THOSE posters advocating ballet dancers should become I.T experts, that were widely ridiculed as an attempt to coerce people away from their dreams in a year where dreams were perhaps more important than ever. It was the equivalent to the most boring, condescending and uninspiring teacher you had at school telling you in full monotone voice - "Look at your life, look at your choices."
YNES (pronounced YIN-ES phonetics fans) is Kira Inez Riess - A native of Coventry in the Midlands, - who rather self deprecatingly calls herself an "Amateur Musician and Professional Fuck-Up" - clearly something more to aspire to than constructing Firewalls. Her new single 'Better Job' took inspiration from and sarcastic aims at the Government's veiled attempts to crush the dreams of many, and her own experiences working as a Barista after returning to Coventry from Canada.
The track started life as a 30 second TIK TOK video that went viral; before being fleshed out into the full 3 minute song. YNES takes influence from the DIY punk ethics of American bands like The Front Bottoms, but make no bones about it - this is pure P O P, comparative to Kate Nash, Lily Allen and more contemporary acts like Zuzu and Billy Nomates. The guitar is loud and angry with the vocals following a similar path; they may not be the most technically gifted you'll hear this year, but they are certainly not much short of being the most passionate. Who wants to listen to Mariah Carey when you can have Shampoo anyway?
The lyrics leave you in not uncertain terms about what side of the argument YNES finds herself on. I know you joke about our kind behind closed doors - barely managing to contain her disgust. It would be easy for the disdain to overshadow the pop sensibilities that 'Better Job' possesses and a balance is beautifully struck with the chorus - Retrain me. Teach me how to be a morally upstanding member of society. It's the sing-a-long anthem for a generation of creatives feeling left in the shadows - The fight back begins here.
The Anderson Tapes - Sirens/Progression of Four
Next up is The Anderson Tapes who are based in London. The members of the band however come from a variety of different places including Poland, Argentina and ermmm...Middlesbrough. The band are Olga(Vocals/Guitar), Delfina (Vocals/Guitar), Martin (Bass/Vocals) and Chris(Drums) - Since forming in 2017, the band have been working hard on honing their sound which they describe as "Fuzzy scuzzy music" - a blend of feedback-drenched Grunge Pop that that has a classic sound of the 90s about it.
The double A-Sided single that was sent through to the blog was 'Sirens/Progression of Four' and immediately I felt at ease with the sound the band had created on these songs. 'Sirens' first surfaced in 2019 with the original recording ending up on a US based compilation album 'Punx Do Good' - which raised money for Amazon Watch and featured other, mostly American underground bands like Strangepride, Marblemouth and Arch Supports.
The opening riff is a quintessential Punk three chord affair that instantly feels familiar, but draws your attention for what is to come. The second guitar enters adding to the attack with bass and drum quick to follow in noisy unison. The vocals add a contagious juxtaposition to the abrasive and jagged guitar attack with echoes of Throwing Muses and The Breeders to the overall effect - Kim Deal would be proud. The chorus is a minimal repeated phrase that's hard to decipher, but it doesn't matter because it's infectious hook has sunk it's claws into you before you have time to over-analyse - a neat trick if you can pull it off.
'Progression of Four' highlights a different side to the band's repertoire, with it's tense opening guitars - Joy Division and Magazine spring to mind as comparisons. The rhythm section arrives taking the feeling of apprehension of where the track is going up a notch and the song dives headlong into early Sonic Youth territory. The vocals are shared between Martin and Delfina and they sounds as if they are telling the same story from two differing perspectives. A shrill organ punctuates the wall of noise and a Peter Hook style bassline comes to the fore before the track realigns and ends in a satisfying fashion.
Every so often I get something through this whole process that prods me in the chest and promises to give me a good thrashing if I don't take it seriously. Not literally of course - I've never written under threat of actual bodily harm; it's just got that kind of ready steady violence that Fontaines DC articulate about much more poetically than I can. Imagine my terror/excitement then when the new single from Doss arrived on my doorstep; sealed with a Glaswegian kiss.
Recorded solely in his bedroom studio, Doss is the new project of Sorley Mackay from Glasgow. Sorley broke his wrist early last year which left his arm very sore(ly) - soz, couldn't resist. Rather than seeing this as an obvious disadvantage, he decided to embrace the constraints his injury placed on his music by playing his Midi keyboard one handed; limitations can sometimes be the catalyst.
'Posers' is the first, self-released single to emerge from these restricted sessions - and it sees Doss kicking out at the world of style over substance in the Glasgow music underground. The track starts with vexatious intent; a deliberate sense of provocation in the form of a disturbing nursery rhyme. See that boy just got a new guitar, he's got big dreams of being a big Pop star are the opening lyrics that expose the target of Doss' discontent. The backing practically creeps along, hiding in the shadows of Glasgow city centre - giving a sense of derogating voyeurism. The barrage of lyrical insults continue before a sinister promise - That boy's a poser, I'm going to exposure ya.
There's a shift in gear as we get to a third of the way through the track with a much more aggressive Electro Punk sound emanating from the speakers. Post Punk Post Punk my band plays Post Punk, We've got a gig next month - mate will you please come? - the focus is shifted to vacuous scene jumpers. The Art School trust fund types don't escape either - Don't you think I'm really cool? Not really mate, I think you're a T***. Never worked a day, but got a big f****** flat. The flow of the lyrics sometimes comes across like faux Grime and it works spectacularly, giving Sleaford Mods a run for their money. The song ends with a pugnacious crunching guitar that's the aural equivalent to that Meme of Leonardo Di Caprio laughing manically. Definitely one to watch.
Venus in Noise - Dream
Let's finish off February's Submission Hold back in London - the metropolitan, multi-cultural capital of this increasingly isolated and self-important Isle. Venus in Noise are a duo that are based in the East End; Hackney to be precise. The coming together as musical partners of Aphrodite Goulioumi and Pablo Casadey is a tale of two countries and a tale of two gigs. Goulioumi met Casadey at a mutual friend's gig and then again at Bikini Kill's London show of their reunion tour - after both had come to the country from Greece and Argentina respectively.
Sharing a love of Noise Rock, Riot Grrrrl and Shoegaze bands of the 80s and 90s, the band decided they could tap into the rich history of their influences and attempt to create something new. Debut single 'Dream' was the result of the duo's early sessions and is an ambitious opening statement. The band have had to deal with the realities of modern life and not been able to progress as quickly as they would have liked due to the Covid 19 pandemic. Casadey remains in Barcelona and this has delayed the release of 'Dream'.
Early February finally saw the single released and it's a debut chock full of promise. The distortion pedals get a good work out with the two pronged guitar attack creating a mighty wall of noise. There's no doubt that both members of the band have spent plenty of time listening to Sonic Youth's 'Daydream Nation' over the years; but as someone who has done the same, I'm not going to complain about it. Aphrodite's vocals are subtle, never looking for it to overshadow the backing - it's almost as the voice is another instrument as opposed to bringing out the human narrative. There's a feeling of chemically enhanced hallucinations and surreal thought processes - it may not be original but it still sounds incredibly cool.
At under 3 minutes, 'Dream' is a glimpse rather than a full view of the capabilities of Venus in Noise, but it's a tantalising one. I suspect that they are holding back slightly and in the fullness of time, even more mind-bending soundscapes will emerge. For now, as a start, this will do just fine.
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