New Year Round Up (Part 2)

The second instalment rounding up some tunes we missed from the tail end of 2017.

Let’s kick off with Yowl’s relentless and uneasy Darkroom, a wonderfully vicious and febrile slice of post-punk.

Night Herons’ raw sound is a visceral blend of garage rock and chugging proto-punk – for fans of classic bands like The Stooges or the New York Dolls.

Norwegian psych-rockers Electric Eye’s single Sometimes You Got To Jump To Lift Your Feet sounds like a soundtrack to a movie that hasn’t been made yet, it’s villainy acid prog, it’s ethno jazz, it’s old school hip hop grooves mixed with the easily recognisable, hypnotic Electric Eye sound.

Grant Earl LaValley plays a haunting iteration of psych/folk – almost like a gothic Gene Clark that experimented very heavily with psychedelics and lush instrumentation to accompany a sparse guitar. Where Are All My Friends comes from his excellent October release From LaValley Below.

The Roseline’s single How To Be Kind is full of low key, Wilco-like charm and Harry Nilsson-ish vigor.

Whispertown featured at the top end of our Best of Year listings and Freefaller is another fine example of stripped back acoustic Americana.

Texas psych-rock vibes permeate through Birds of Night’s single, Blacklight. Recommended if you like: Built To Spill, desert sunsets, abandoned ghost town seances, drugs, and mystic rock and roll.

Benjamin Jones’ single Light Up The Room is a lovely slice of sweetly melancholy folk that recalls Sufjan Stevens.

Post-punk in origin but with overtones of no wave, psych and garage rock, The Plan has been described as ‘Talking Heads meets the Breeders’. Listen to Bright Lights from debut long player Nervous Energy.

Finally, back in November, The Gotobeds released a verbatim song-by-song remake of Redd Kross’s infamous debut EP – this is a great version of Annette’s Got The Hits.