It seems as if it isn’t true but we’ll still have so many tracks to remember them by as the troublesome trio Milk Teeth has announced that they have broken up.
In a statement posted to the bands Facebook page, Bassist and Vocalist Becky Bloom has said “the time has come for me to move onto a new part of my life”.
The full statement can be read below.
After battling with the decision for over a year, the time has come for me to move on to a new part of my life – today marks the bittersweet end of Milk Teeth.
A huge thank you to anyone who has supported us and myself over the past 8 years and thank you for all the incredible memories, conversations and backing through both the good and bad.
I won’t ever forget where it all started – four kids from Stroud making the music they loved in college. We did more than we’d have ever imagined possible and I will be forever proud of how much was achieved.
Sending love to you all and see you for the next chapter – B
Since their formation Milk Teeth have released Four EP’s, Two Records, 2016’s Vile Child and the bands self titled record which was released earlier this year.
Be sure to check out the Fan Lockdown video for ‘Sharks’ which was released last month as ‘Owning Your Okayness’ below.
Hello everyone. I do apologise for not posting in the last week. As some of you might not know, I’m a one person operation on this blog and things just got away from me in the last few weeks where I’ve been applying for more jobs as well as working at my part time place of work so things have been a touch hectic for me at the time of writing. But enough of that real life stuff, let’s get to the music side of things.
The first pick of this week is Thousand Below. They have a animated video is a reworked version of their track ‘Chemical’. The track originaly featured on last year’s ‘Gone In Your Wake’.
This new version featured guest vocals from Dead Lakes frontman Sumner Peterson and is off their recent EP, ‘Let Go Of Your Love’ which does feature more reworked tracks off ‘Gone In Your Wake’.
Next we move to Australia. The heavy hitters in Alpha Wolf have their latest video for ‘Bleed 4 You’, which is the third single off their upcoming ‘A Quiet Place to Die’.
Sabian Lynch (Guitar) says on the track:
“This song is a little out of our comfort zone but upon completion we feel we created something special. We’re not a band who wants to stick solely to one sound, we have a wide variety of influences and we want each song to stand up on its own.
We initially had written pages of lyrics for this song. It seems most people have a story of meeting the exact right person at the exact wrong time, so there was no short supply of input. However the further we delved into the song, the more apparent it came that we didn’t need pages of lyrics, just a handful of the right words. Originally the track was a lot heavier, which shouldn’t come as a surprise, but once we had the lyrical theme in mind we revisited the song and it evolved into something none of us expected.”
Heading to the British waters for a bit of Punk this time in the form of Milk Teeth.
‘Sharks’ is off their recently released self-titled record where this video sees their fans assist in some clips.
“The video for ‘Sharks’ was put together to show fans and friends having fun during lockdown,” Becky explains. “It’s been a really weird few months globally and incredibly isolating for many, the aim of the video was to bring the music community together while we aren’t able be together in person. The submissions brought a lot of joy – a huge thank you to those who took part. Sharks is lyrically a very dark song juxtaposed against a catchy melody and tempo.
“Originally written on the piano, it’s about when I was being bullied for almost 2 years after a bad breakup and having to stay strong and determined even though I was getting swarmed by “sharks”. The “I need you like the air that I breathe” symbolises the unhealthy connection I had to the person involved – they were being abusive but I’d still feel like I needed them and their approval no matter how badly I was treated.
“The last verse is about how resilience is so important and that they may have left me vulnerable and metaphorically “exposed “ but that I wouldn’t be made to disappear until my bones have rusted out (resilience) and that even the wear and tear wouldn’t beat me.”
Keeping the next pick on British soil, Norwich’s Other Half released their debut record, ‘Big Twenty’ out into the world via Venn Records on the 21st August 2020.
Before that happened however, they dropped ‘Sameness Without End’ into the world for everyone to enjoy.
On the video, the band say:
“As nice as it’s been making all our previous videos ourselves, it’s pretty hard to get us all playing together when Sophie has to be stood behind the camera the whole time. I think we operate at our best when we’re actually making a din together, so we asked our friend Tom from Road Mutant to make us a video where we do just that.
We recorded the video at Sick Room, the studio where we recorded ‘Big Twenty’. Owen who runs Sick Room was such an important part of making the record so it was nice to come back and spend some quality time at the studio playing the same song over and over again in 33 degree heat.”
Now, in much anticipation of their upcoming record, ‘Ohmns’, Deftones have the title track in music video for for up. This is the first offering for us in four years since the release of their record ‘Gore’.
Moving onto the German progessive metal band The Ocean. they have a video for the track, ‘Oilgocene’ which is set to come on their upcoming record, ‘Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic’.
The video was filmed by Loïc Rossetti (Vocals) and David Åhfeldt (Guitar) and Robin Staps (Guitar) , the video was shot in the Aragats mountains in Armenia during one of their tours last summer.
On the video Staps says:
“We found this place by accident: the dilapidated ruins of a soviet observatory & research station for cosmic radiation. The building itself looked like a spaceship that had crash-landed up high in the mountains, but there were lots of interesting structures scattered across the landscape: concrete cubes, underground tunnels, rusted machinery, fallen power poles and watchtowers. It all looked like taken straight out of Andrej Tarkovsky’s ‘Stalker’ movie.”
Heading over to Little Rock, Arkansas for our next pick in the quartet Pallbearer for the video of ‘Rite Of Passage’, the second single off their upcoming record, ‘Forgotten Days’.
Joseph Rowland (Bass) says:
“‘Rite Of Passage’ is both a reflection and a confessional. The toll that loss has taken on my life often finds ways to remind me that I may never feel whole, and the song’s purpose is to express and embody that emptiness. It felt totally appropriate to wrap it in reimagined trappings of our earliest doom-leaning material.”
Vegas anyone? That’s the destination of the Post-Hardcore Amarionette whom have the video for their title – track off their latest record, ‘Sunset On This Generation’.
How about a Philadelphia band?
The up and coming group Neverkept have a new single out in the world titled as ‘Sundown Somehow’ alongside the accompanying video.
It’s uncertain if the track is a stand along single or if it’ll be part of a larger EP or Record.
The band explain:
“We wanted to write something that would sound like the ups and downs you face in recovery or struggles in any capacity, for that matter, through the sound of pissed off guitars, room rocking drums, and intimate vocals.”
Toning things down slightly, we have the Chicago Singer/Songwriter Into It. Over It with the new track and accompanying video for ‘We Prefer Indoors’.
This is off the upcoming fourth record, ‘Figure’ set to be released via Big Scary Monsters / Triple Crown Records which will be the follow up to the 2016 effort, ‘Standards’.
And lastly we have the ever incredible Normandie, which is one of the EU’s best exports as well as their home country of Sweden.
They have for us ‘Jericho’ which is the bands first new music in two years since the release of their record, ‘White Flag’.
We all have our secrets. Whether we’re ready to face them or not, each and every one of us has something buried deep down inside that we desperately keep hidden away from the prying, judging eyes of the rest of the world. But sometimes those secrets become so powerful that they can no longer stay buried, festering and gnawing at our souls so much that they can stop us from living life to the fullest. He didn’t realise it until recently, but singer Philip Strand was harbouring one such secret for the longest time.
“When we first wrote Jericho I was actually singing about something else,” he begins. “It was originally about a relationship where the other person was very cold hearted and they didn’t really give away any emotions but it became increasingly clear that something else was driving the song.”
“Writing became like a therapy session for me, all of a sudden,” he explains, “I felt like there was something deeper I wanted to touch on. I wanted to touch base and just really go into this emotion. Something was driving me down there, into myself. So I made a conscious decision to write about my personal experiences for the first time. I felt like it was time. I went back and I switched some words around so that the entire meaning of the song shifted. It’s became about breaking down the old to give way and form something completely new…”
And that’s it for another week of the music video countdown. Be sure to check back next-time for another round of great music videos. If you have any suggestions for me to check out, be sure to send an email or message us via the socials on Facebook or Twitter!
Milk Teeth have put out a request to their fans for footage to be included in their next videos.
The requests for the track ‘Sharks’ is one off their recently released self-titled record.
They explain:
“We hope you’re all keeping safe and well. We’ve missed you guys and we all have really enjoyed seeing you all experiencing the record in full for yourselves. We hope it’s provided some solace during testing times.
“With so much change going on across the world, we know the last few months haven’t been easy for anyone. We miss not being able to play shows and hang out and catch up with you guys, and not being able to share our album release in person has been really tough for us.
“To hopefully make up for it we want to do something creative with you guys. We want to create a music video for our single ‘Sharks’, by showcasing you all and the creative things you’ve been doing to pass the time. We need as many of you, your friends, your families, and even your pets to record a video of yourself enjoying the track, singing along, dancing, showcasing your talent, being creative or generally just anything else that has been keeping you busy over the past few months. Whatever you’ve got, we want to see it.”
Creeper, Palaye Royale, Cheap Cuts and more are among the names added to the Homeschool Festival.
The online event is set to take play over the May bank holiday weekend, 8th – 10th May 2020 on homeschoolfest.com
New acts added to the line-up are Palaye Royale, Dream Nails, Best Ex, Talk Show, Creeper, We Are Scientists and more.
This adds to an already stacked bill which includes SWMRS, Boston Manor, Milk Teeth, The Amazons, Circa Waves, Jamie Lenman, Bloxx and more.
Homeschool Festival is reading awareness of the life saving work of the frontline medical staff and volunteers in the UK, encouraging donations to the NHS Charitites Together Covid-19 Urgent Appeal over the weekend.
You can check out all the artists that are participating in the festival below.
You remember that online festival Homeschool? I posted about it a week or so ago.
Well now, even more bands have been added to the lineup and it is stacked. The Xcerts, Bloxx, The Sherlocks were already on the bill but now Milk Teeth, Swmrs, The Amazons, Boston Manor and more have been confirmed to be playing the festival.
The festival is raising awareness of the indescribable work frontline medical staff and volunteers are doing here in the UK where the festival will encourage donations to the NHS Charities Together Covid-19 Urgent Appeal throughout the weekend.
Homeschool Festival will take place 8th – 10th May 2020.
For a full list of the artists playing the festival, take a look at the lineup poster below.
Milk Teeth are well and truly back now! They’ve been a little silent toward the end of 2019, apart from the short UK run with Nervus, it’s time for them to conquer 2020 with the announcement of their new record!
It’s going to be a self-titled record which will be coming out via their new label Music For Nations on March 27th 2020.
Details of the record including Album Artwork, Tracklisting and Pre-orders are available below.
Tracklisting.
Given Up
Flowers
Dilute
Better
Transparent
Sharks
Medicine
Destroyer
Smoke
Circles
Wanna Be
Album Art.
The lead single off the record, ‘Transparent’ is available to stream now.
Check it out below.
Pre-orders are available via the following links. Label Webstore, Google Play.
But that’s not all because don’t forget they’re headed out on a headlining UK tour with Potty Mouth and Koji!
Here are the dates.
April 2020
1st – Tunbridge Wells Forum *Milk Teeth & Koji Only*
So here it is. Slam Dunk Festival 2019. In all its glory. A feat of brilliance from the organisers who pulled this off but a day of music? in Leeds? Well, there was Live @ Leeds just the other week but this is one festival very close to my heart because it was actually one of the first I ever went to in my teenage years and I’ve been continuing to go back because of its location in Yorkshire, the people I meet, the acts that they’re able to put on and of course, its one that brings my friends together.
Side note on this as well before the review starts, I know this is coming super late but life, work and everything has just gotten in the way of so much lately to the point I’ve had to re-schedule a lot of things and cancel on going to some gigs but I’ve cleared some time here.
Let’s dive straight into Slam Dunk Festival 2019.
So the first moment I heard my alarm, I raced to get ready because this is always my favourite day of the year! I was up roughly at 6.30AM to get a bus to the train station in York at about 8AM, from where I was heading off to Leeds so I could get the very first shuttle to the festival! Luckily this was a reliable day for the train services so thank you to the great train god, in the sky! So, I hopped off in Leeds and it took a little bit of a finding for the shuttle buses to get to the festival as there’s a lot of maintenance being done to Leeds Train Station. I found my way eventually and was one of the first people to be in the queue. The festival staff had to get on board one first because who’d be serving the drinks and operating otherwise? So that was a good move. The only thing I’d say as a tiny complaint was to tell us to start queuing from the end of the queue because of those of us who got here first was waiting for the second or third bus (If there had been a longer queue and I was waiting for an hour or so, it’d be a bigger complaint on my end). The actual route there, it took roughly twenty minutes with the shuttle. So far, so good.
Now getting dropped off at Temple Newsam, I’d never been there before so I wasn’t sure what to expect but the shuttle to get there was about 20 minutes or so max. When I got past the initial bag drop off, I thought the lines would be 2-3 times longer than what they actually were (Somewhere closer to last years.! To my surprise, I was inside the main festival grounds in two to three minutes max! Now I was thinking holy f***! So much better this year because of that one thing. I had no idea what I was in for yet. Also, getting my DSLR through was no problem at all, Slam Dunk Festival is the only festival in the UK that’s pretty lenient on this sort of thing, provided you only have one lens. When I was through to the main festival area, it just looked gorgeous. This was the first real festival I’d experienced with a tent in the field as well so I was pretty excited! But until 11AM (I was in my about 9.20 by this point) there wasn’t so much to do apart from sitting down and have a drink.
When I was able to meet up with a few friends after the main festival gates opened, we decided to explore a little bit. (TIP: Go to the big merch tent after an hour or so next year because that was rammed and there’ll be more chance to meet bands later in the day as well). There was everything from Impericon to American Socks on the day. I actually got a Dream State shirt because Impericon they were running a surprise shirt giveaway for £5 and my friend got two Dream State shirts which were the same size as well! So after a little exploring the festival grounds which were just beautiful, I headed over to the Marshall stage for William Ryan Key to kick off the festival!
Seeing Ryan play live is always heartbreaking because he’s not with the full Yellowcard band although, although watching him is always heartwarming all the same as he conquered his solo set going through ‘Way Away’, ‘Southern Air’ and more Yellowcard classics. There is a little bit of a problem in itself for those who are fans of his newer solo material where I believe he only played one and the rest were Yellowcard in that he could’ve been a little more original on the day but I think he wanted to give the fans what they wanted and that’s understandable. The only thing was Milk Teeth had to follow ‘Ocean Avenue’.
Ryan Key
I’d waited roughly two to three years to see Milk Teeth again! I think the last time I saw them was when they had Employed To Serve supporting them. (Who were performing on The Key Club Stage later on the day as well!) There had been an obvious lineup change but I know they’re all the better for it now with ‘Nearby Catfight’, ‘Brain Food’ and more from their catalogue, the punks are ready to take on the world and more where hopefully ‘Stain’ is just the beginning of a new chapter for the young punks.
Milk Teeth
Milk Teeth
Milk Teeth
From here, I met up with another friend who was at for the festival and this is what I love about Slam Dunk, it gets you to meet new people and reunites old friends who come down for it as well! It’s funny as well from here because I almost always go to gigs alone, chat away to people but I’ve never really met up with people at other gigs.
Moving to the Key Club stage, we decided to see what newcomers Hot Milk were all about. They’re a little bit of an enigma because a lot of hate online comes from the fact they’ve hardly been on the scene yet they’re getting support slots for Foo Fighters. In fact I don’t think they had one track out at the beginning of 2019 when they were supporting You Me At Six in the EU and now they were playing a midday set at Slam Dunk festival having been out in the world for less than a year! Nevertheless, they encapsulated just what the scene needs right now. Young, vibrant and energetic people to show fans how to play a show and seeing these tracks from their debut EP, ‘Are You Feeling Alive’ made people just want more. And hopefully, we’ll see more after the festival circuits are over for 2019 where we’ll see them up and down the country soon.
Hot Milk
Hot Milk
Hot Milk
Now, the secret bank Y3K. It was Busted. It’s a clear Year 3000 reference right there. And I have to say, that was a pretty rowdy crowd. For pretty much every song in their set, they powered through as if it was nothing. I mean, having been on touring circuits for years now, I imagine they’d be used to it but honestly, it was a welcomed addition to the festival. Everyone was rowdy in the pits for them, numerous crowdsurfers, a few moshpits, you had to be there to believe it but I can’t’ believe after all these years how hardcore some of these fans were! That’s what nostalgia does to the young!
Y3K
Y3K
Moving across to the Acoustic stage, I couldn’t miss Lizzy Farrall. I’ve seen her tour about four or five times now and every time, she just delivers and constantly improves. Her new surprise EP released recently meant a few tracks did make the cut of the set and her voice is magnificent where backed with her band, there’s nothing this artist won’t accomplish in her lifetime. There’s no part three of A Conversation With…. this time but hopefully, I’ll be able to see her full plugged in sound to see what I make of it when she’s on her tour with Tiny Moving Parts at the end of summer in the UK.
Lizzy Farrall
Lizzy Farrall
From here, I dotted around a few bands, catching one or two tracks from Seaway, As It Is, Waterparks, Simple Plan etc but ultimately I decided to queue up to meet All Time Low. This was more for my friend because she’d waited 10 years to meet them and the look on her face when she did, priceless. I actually made her go before me when we were at the front because I really wanted to see the look on her face more than anything because I cued up earlier than we originally planned which was a good thing as well because it was getting long! To give a sense of it, we just made the cutoff point, only just! That’s how lucky we were!
Seaway
From here, it was straight back to the Key Club stage for Employed To Serve, possibly the heaviest band on this stage for the entirety of the festival but wow, they never disappoint. With the release of their latest record, ‘Eternal Forward Motion’, the energy in the room was electrifying as they encapsulated the tent in what was a standout set at the festival! So much to the point that when some of the band finished crowd surfing, they didn’t realise their set had ended! That was brilliant but so humbling to see. They were having so much fun, they forgot they had a time limit!
Employed To Serve
Employed To Serve
Darting across to catch the last bit of Neck Deep, I did brave the rain where from what I could see it’s only a matter of time before these lads become festival headliners. I mean, the other year, they headlined their own stage so, with their next record, I’d say it’s pretty close. It’s always huge to see ‘Don’t Wait’ off ‘Peace and The Panic’ which for me is the standout track from the record, either that or December but what I do notice here is that Slam Dunk embraces all these bands as a new generation and that’s what they give the platform to and I suppose that’s what makes the festival so different to others in the world where they give a platform to give lesser known bands the exposure they deserve and Neck Deep are a prime example of a band that rose through the ranks.
Heading back to The Key Club for Lights, this was a strange artist for the festival mainly because she’s more Pop than anything. However, the diversity of genres is something Rock has been kind to so to see Lights perform was a true spectacle with her voice commanding the audience was a sight to behold.
Lights
Lights
For the headlining band of the key club stage, IDKHOW was the band I was thinking should I stay or not? I’m glad I did in the end because hearing the records on Spotify and seeing them play live is two very different things. For one, the artist’s personality comes out far more where for this band, it does give them something to boast as usually, you just see the songs but not for IDKHOW. They’re someone I’m going to be revisiting because of their standout performance as there wasn’t anything I didn’t enjoy and its performances such as that turn the heads of everyone there.
IDKHOW
IDKHOW
Now… the headliners. All Time Low! Funny fact, back in 2013 when it was my very first Slam Dunk Festival, All Time Low headlined back then as well! Jumping straight into their sets, Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don’t) received instant recognition, crowd surfers you name it. They truly showed everyone there why they were the headlining band. To celebrate 10 years of nothing personal as well, Stella and A Party Song were played throughout their set where the addition of a never before heard track Getaway Green had the classic Nothing Personal feel to it. It was unlike anything I’d heard All Time Low play in a while, especially since their last few records were a bit more mature for the band, it was definitely a throwback and what was a standout track where hopefully, there’ll be a studio version of the track where they just “dropped it old school”. I’ll never get bored of watching All Time Low live though, they always manage to keep things fresh and the chemistry the members all have with each other is so rare these days, it keeps everyone wanting so much more than what’s given.
All Time Low
Right, now the festival was over, getting back to Leeds city centre was the main objective. I confess I did race for the shuttle buses as I was worried I’d end up stuck at the festival site (which is what happened to another friend of mine, stuck there for roughly two hours because of the amount of everyone there) but thanks to some quick thinking (and running), I managed to get one of the first shuttles back into Leeds and a subsequent train back to York no problem whatsoever!
Overall, it was such a smart decision to move the festival site to Temple Newsam where it was a lot more thought out than in previous years, the only thing I saw was that more toilets would be needed as well as bars because, from my perspective, they were two big problems there.
Slam Dunk Festival is happening this weekend and I’m heading over to the Leeds Date! That means I need to make some plans and fast but thus far, I haven’t remotely decided on who I’m going to be watching from the crowd this year!
But I thought in the run-up to the festival over the next few days, a few posts would be dedicated to the festival and I’d share some memories and some bands you can’t miss out on if you’re going as well!
So, with that in mind, here are five artists I can’t miss at this year’s Slam Dunk Festival (and the stages they’ll be playing on).
5. Employed To Serve (The Key Club Stage)
Employed To Serve are one of the best bands on the rise within the UK at the moment. It came as a massive surprise that they’re playing the festival, especially on The Key club stage but what I love about Slam Dunk Festival is that they put all sorts of varying bands on the different stages and if there’s one thing I know ETS can do, it’s play a damned great set! With the release of their latest record, Eternal Forward Motion out now, then the fresh material will help get the place moving and cement the Woking based band as one of the best British bands in the UK.
4. Lizzy Farrall (Acoustic Stage)
With the transition to the full band, Lizzy Farrall is coming across to the Acoustic stages again where she first hit her stride. I love the acoustic stages at festivals because it’s a chance for artists to be as intimate as possible with the audience and that’s something Lizzy always nails. Her tracks are always so personal to the listener which is the main reason she’s pulled in so many listeners in the first place and with that in mind, it makes her material all the more relatable. With her supporting fellow performer Lights on her UK tour prior to the festival, I’m sure she’ll give a great performance across the dates for the 2019 festival.
3. William Ryan Key (Marshall Stage)
Heartwarming and emotion, it can only be Ryan Key. Since Yellowcard disbanded he’s been on quite a few tours as a solo artist, working with different bands in the studio and working for Marvel Comics (yeah that actually happened). But what I remember the most is the emotion that Ryan gives through his solo work, he connects to the audience in a way only a few bands are able to dream of doing. What’s more is that he’s a true artist where he reinterprets older material he’s been a part of so that he can reach out further to the audience and it that which makes him one of the best artists the organisers could have booked for the 2019 iteration of this festival.
2. Milk Teeth (Dickies Stage)
Now, it’s been a while since I’ve been able to see Milk Teeth. This is mostly because they hardly ever do a North Easterly date! The time before last (because it was only recently they played in Leeds) was at the Key Club in Leeds a couple of years ago as part of a headlining run. But since then, the band have had a few personnel changes and had some rejuvenation for themselves and found that spark which made them so interesting to both listen to and watch. I’m so happy they were able to do this with Stain because it incorporates their best material from the Be Nice & Go Away EP’s and moulds both into something truly remarkable for the Punk scene. Hopefully, we’ll hear this latest track from the band during their set and people will go nuts for them.
As It Is (Monster Energy Stage)
It was between As It Is and All Time Low I think for me. But the reason I’ve chosen As It Is would be because they’re the band I’ve connected the most within recent years and it’s topics such as mental health that they’ve written about which has helped myself throughout the last few years and made me okay with who I am today. But the reason they’re at the top of my list is because of the performances they give and their personas they adopt for their records. Everything about them screams larger than life for themselves to their music in a way no band has been able to do for a long time and it’s from this spectacle that makes them one of the best bands on the lineup for the day.
Slam Dunk festival 2019 takes place on 25th May 2019 at Temple Newsam Park, Leeds and 26th May 2019 Hatfield Park, London. Below you’ll be able to find the full lineup.
Yes! I’ve been waiting for this announcement for a few months now!
With the band known as Milk Teeth two guitar players down, they recruited Em Foster to help them out with guitar and backing vocals for a track which sounds as though they’re well and truly back.
Yes! Milk Teeth have confirmed that Em Foster whom has been filling in for Chris Webb has confirmed to carry on as the band’s full-time guitarist.
And to round off the activity in the Milk Teeth camp, the band have announced a mini-tour, played both their recent ‘Be Nice and Go Away’ EP’s in full as a build up to the band heading out as main support on certain dates of the upcoming Enter Shikari tour.
So top nine releases of the year time! There would be a tenth option but you can only have nine on Instagram. I’m saying releases time because there are a few EP’s which have stood out this year so I’m not just specifically restricting myself to Records themselves. It’s also not genre specific as well which is one of the best things about the music from the genre. It branches out to Pop-punk, in some cases punk and records that have been on the heavier side. And being at a few shows for over half of these bands, (Stand Atlatinc, Roam, Milk Teeth, Employed To Serve and Neck Deep) seeing the tracks played live adds an extra layer to not only the instrumentals but a great deal to the music. So without further interruptions, here are my top nine picks for releases of 2017
9. Wolf Alice – Visions Of A Life I’ve Seen
Back to another great record which is their second on Dirty Hit Records, is Wolf Alice. Adding to their amazing setlist of tracks such as Yuk Foo and Beautifully Unconventional makes up some of Visions Of A Life I’ve Seen which has seen huge critical success in the UK with NME and Q, ranking in their top 5 records of the year and charting in the official albums chart at number 2 in the UK. What makes it one of my favorites of the year is the supercharged tracks which bring their sets to a new level, blending them not into just a pop group, but one that blurs the line and makes them come across the multiple genres.
8. Can’t Swim – Fail You Again
Electric and Energetic. These are a couple of words that come to mind when describing Can’t Swim’s debut record. Seeing them live, I have seen some of them in action and audience reaction has gone down well to some extent. $50,000,000 has to be my favorite and when they started playing the track, the fangirl inside of me just awoke and a iggy smile took over. It’s a fantastic record from Can’t Swim which sees a big leap for them in a small amount of time which has helped them branch out into different countries and looking to the future, it’ll be the first in a long line of records.
7. Roam – Great Heights & Nosedives
Of all the records on this list, this one has to be the most fun. This is just going from the music video’s I’ve seen from the visual aides it has to offer. But Playing Fiction, which is one of the lead singles off the record is a highlight. Is it Pop-Punk perfection though? Just about. I say just about because there’s definitely a refined sound to Roam’s music which houses some great tracks, two being Guilty Melody and Left For Dead which up’s their catalogue of tracks and will hopefully, in turn, bring the band to new heights and coming off their own headlining tour and a support slot with New Found Glory, the record looks to be doing just that.
6. Creeper
This is a little of a different choice for me because at first, I didn’t expect to love this record as much as I have since its release. I’ve been a modest fan of Creepers music for a little over a year now but I feel they’ve been able to take a massive step forward in their career now because of this record. Black Rain has really become an anthem, hearing it on a few alternative nights out, playing along with a lot of the cult favorites of My Chemical Romance, Paramore etc. But what this record really needed to do for them (which they have) is to set themselves apart from all of the comparisons of the usual music for artists they look up to and what everyone listens to on a day to day basis. Bridging from their past releases though, the content and rhythm are still the same in their charge toward Eternity. But because of the themes and lyrical content which runs rife throughout the record, that’s why it earns a place in the top nine.
5. Employed To Serve – Warmth Of A Dying Sun
I’ll confess something. I listened to this because I saw they were supporting another band I love, Milk Teeth in the summer, but I’ve made a habit of doing this and finding incredible new bands to listen to. From the first track of the record though, I was mesmerized by their sound, their whole basis and from that to the stage, everything was straight up bonkers. But the record, from start to finish is just a masterpiece. Those are the only words I can use to describe it being not only a top record of mine but an important one in today’s world.
4. Pvris – All We Need Of Heaven, All We Need Of Hell
“It’s a fantastic breakup record”, “Best one I’ve heard in ages”, “Definitive listening in the 21st century”. These are just some of the comments I’ve heard people say about Pvris’s phenomenal record which has seen them go to new heights. If White Noise was the start, then AWKOHAWKOH, is just not only a fantastic achievement from the band but some of their finest works to date. Particularly with What’s Wrong, they blur the lines again with the genre, with their instruments but also, it opens up the interpretation of their work which they do re-visit with the live version. The question being though do the tracks make up the sum of their parts? Absolutely, There are a few themes of loss and anger apparent within most of the record which make up the best tracks but it’s there with the lyrics being the struggle is what people will and always relate to for the record, making it one of the best releases of the year.
3. Stand Atlantic – Sidewinder EP
When I first heard this EP, I listened to it again, straight after because I knew there was something special about this band. I’ll say it, I think from this EP alone, Stand Atlantic are going to be one of the next great bands on the scene all over the world. ‘Mess I Made’ really stands out because it’s got a lovely rhythm which gets lost in your head to make sure you always come back to it. Here though, the highly addictive title track ‘Sidewinder’ is arguably the best. The track is apparently about Never having to “compromise who you are just to try and change something you can’t.”. The subject matter is what strikes me the most here because obviously quite a lot of people can relate to. Mixed with a mesh of the pop and rock we have a fantastic and huge sounding EP from the Aussie up and comers who have great things in store for them in the future.
2. Milk Teeth – Be Nice EP
Certainly, this EP has more refined tracks in Milk Teeth’s catalog than they’ve ever released. This isn’t their best work musically but it’s their best lyric work. Prism and Fight Skirt are such fun tracks at shows but the lyrics that are sung absolutely compel the band to take newer and more daring risks, coming away with an EP which is more refined than most of the releases in my top nine. What’s more is that they’ve extended this to Owning Your Okayness, which is possibly now the band’s most well-known track and slowly but steadily becoming their signature anthem to let crowds know exactly who Milk Teeth are!
Neck Deep – The Peace And The Panic
There’s been no doubt in my mind from the first time I heard The Peace And The Panic that it would end up being my favorite record of 2017. It’s because the tracks keep coming back around, especially Parachute or 19 Seventy Something because the band brings out videos and doing something live with the tracks to make them that much more important. But it’s more than that, it’s probably a record which lyrics I connect to the most because of its theme as well as the punchy choruses. They have the most definitive tracks of the year and they’ve become this number one band for pop punk in the UK. It’s a crowning achievement for them so this record could reach new heights. Here though, I don’t think this is their best work because they’ll find a way to top them because they did with this record after Life’s Not Out To Get You. If anyone can top themselves, it’s certainly Neck Deep.
The next Lower Than Atlantis tour is a little bit away but they have announced their support bands for the 21 date tour in April / July in the form of Milk Teeth, Boston Manor and The Faim.
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Almost Anything Music 