POSTS TAGGED : Art-Rock

Fax Machine – ‘Motorbike’


Fax Machine is the musical moniker of Newcastle Upon Tyne (UK) based songwriter David Turnbull who has a propensity for unconventional, off-kilter and colourful confections of sound as evidenced by 2019 debut Soup.

Turnbull is back with plans for a new album Ouch!, expected on Dec 11, it is preceded by the magical lead single ‘Motorbike’ – a giddy and playful slice of jerky post-punk, art-rock and indie-pop. It buzzes with excitement and exuberance as razor sharp riffs and hyper-active bursts of guitar jerky to-and-fro as a series of earworm hooks and playful melodies swirl around the colourful sound-palette akin to Futureheads meets The Beta Band. ‘Motorbike’ is a wonderfully manic, spikey and infectious jam coated in a fine veneer of power-pop – word of warning, this is a tune that will be stuck in your head for days and days but will leave you all the better for it. 

Listen to ‘Motorbike’ below – and keep an eye out for the new album next month.


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Michelle Blades – ‘Politic!’

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Michelle Blades is a Miami-raised, Paris-based, Mexican-Panamanian songwriter and multi-instrumentalist with a flair for colourful, catchy and effervescent psych-pop.

Blades is readying the release of her new album Visitor, due out on March 29 via Midnight Special Records, and has shared the vibrant off-kilter confection that is ‘Politic!’ as a taster. Blades’ multi-cultural experiences are reflected in the magpie like sounds of her colourful, imaginative and irresistible psych-tinged indie-pop as ‘Politic!’ flits in and out of psych dreaminess with jerky guitars, bouncy beat and jittery bassline puncturing the bright, luminescent spectrum of colourful sound. Addictive and infectious with decidedly danceable disco grooves, ‘Politic!’ manages sweetness, effervesces and jerky art-rock hi jinx simultaneously as vocals slide from deep and honeyed to powerful intent, and glass-shattering screech with such an ease. A colourful, fizzy and fuzzed-up psych-pop adventure of the finest calibre.

Listen to ‘Politic!’ below & watch out for new album Visitor, due out on March 29 via Midnight Special Records.

NANCY – ‘I’m Not Getting Sober, I’m Just Getting Older (Helluva Guy)’

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NANCY is mysterious, reclusive post-punk outfit hailing from the North East of England.

Self-described as “Sgt. Peppers for degenerates”, little is known about the outfit aside from the fact NANCY have a propensity for furious, jerky and brilliantly mind blowing art-rock meets post-punk sounds – as the recently released EP The Mysterious Visions is testament to.

Lead track ‘I’m Not Getting Sober, I’m Just Getting Older (Helluva Guy)’ is addictive, ambling forward with a raucous, powerful purpose but skittish energy. Jerky, hyperactive machine-gun guitars combine with a furious barrage of barreling drums and frenzied vocals to protrude through the swathes of lo-fi fuzz and distortion. A vital whirlwind assault of brusque noise delivered at breakneck speed as lyrically it is an honest assessment detailing how easy it is to fade into substance abuse while being afraid to admit it.

‘I’m Not Getting Sober, I’m Just Getting Older (Helluva Guy)’ is but one of many on the recently released EP – utterly thrilling and electrifying tunes!

The Mysterious Visions EP is out now on B3SCI Records and Cannibal Hymns – tune in here.

Listen to the single below.

DRINKS Announce New Album; Share ‘Real Outside’

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With the release of their 2015 debut, Hermits On Holiday, DRINKS arguably bamboozled as many as they impressed – with I firmly in the latter camp.

The collaboration between Cate Le Bon and White Fence’s Tim Presley, DRINKS is about as peculiar as it is marvelously creative, and absolutely magnificent. Last week, to the sound of much jubilation, the pair confirmed the release of a second album, Hippo Lite, and shared the first track from the LP, ‘Real Outside’. A mash of the jerky angularity of post-punk and the creativity of ’60s-leaning-psychedelia and art-rock, ‘Real Outside’ is instantly bananas but as it reveals itself, a mesmeric hypnotic pattern emerges. The slowly plodding, off-kilter bass-line saunters at its own pace as if it exist in its own space, time and dimension while it mingles with jarring guitars that meld into the percussion and repeated jumbled lyrical phrases. Taken separately, it makes no sense but in tandem these discordant components hum sweetly.

Individually, Le Bon and Presley are formidable artists in their own respects but together as DRINKS, they are creative tour de force.

Hippo Lite is out April 20th via Drag City – for now, ‘Real Outside’ is below for your listening pleasure.