THE B-SIDE MONDAY MEGAMIX
Every Monday, one of our writers splits the bag wide open and finger-paints parietal ruminations on the B-Side cave walls with whatever oozes out. This week, Seymour Quigley daubs you the news.
F.O.X - HALFWAY TO NOWHERE
Beloved of everyone fortunate enough to have ever seen them live, Colchester's finest hard-touring electro-pop trio F.O.X have had a pretty awesome year, as their heroes (and mine), Basildon electro pioneers Depeche Mode, invited them to tour the ridicudromes of Europe alongside Southend's The Horrors, making for quite the Essex package tour. Now that the dust and adrenaline have settled, the band are hard at work on a brand new album (following their 2013 debut LP 'Chimera' and last year's two-part 'Hypoxia' EP). We will, of course, bring you news as and when it trickles or gushes in. See them live at: Colchester Arts Centre, 26th Jan. Now listen to: 'Hypoxia' two-part EP, CD/download, out now. Follow: Facebook - Twitter
SLOWCOACHES - NORMS & VALUES
Slightly tenuous, given that there's no East Anglian connection that I'm aware of, and that their debut album - the frankly fucking incredible 'Nothing Gives' - came out 12 long months ago. However, good music is eternal and (thanks to occasional B-Side contributor Matthew Dupuy, who brought them to my attention) I cannot begin to put into words how excited I am about hearing more from London's Slowcoaches in 2018. Here's my favourite track from 'Nothing Gives'; I'm stuck for superlatives so I'll spare you the usual word avalanche, and let you simply enjoy the sights and sounds of a rad band rocking the fuck out. See them live at: Not currently touring. Now listen to: 'Nothing Gives' album, vinyl/download, out now. Follow: Facebook - Twitter
ME AND THE MOON - STANDING STILL
Having set the bar high back in 2012 with his short-lived band The Façade (whose still-wonderful single 'Waiting For You' became the only release ever to score a full 10/10 on B-Side, back when arbitrary ratings seemed like a good idea), wandering guitarist Jonny Elstone seemed on course to become Bury St Edmunds' 21st century answer to Jimmy Page or Eric Clapton, his name being briefly attached to numerous bands and projects (including much-missed surf-popsters King Blood), before a relocation to the South East saw him team up with singer/guitarist Tamara-Jane Grzegorzek and drummer Alex Archer in 2015 to form Me and the Moon. As delightfully, unashamedly twee and indie as their name suggests, Me and the Moon's opening volley of perfectly-formed singles were picked up and championed by BBC Introducing and Radio X, causing a slow-building buzz of industry and media attention. 'Standing Still' is a confident if brief slice of giddy, slightly seasick indie pop, further hinting that their long-awaited debut LP (due, surely, sometime soon) will be quite the triumph. Even better, though, is the single's Intaka remix, currently streaming on Spotify. See them live at: Guildford Star, 28th Feb. Now listen to: 'Run With Wolves', streaming/download, out now. Follow: Facebook - Twitter
Standing Still by Me and The Moon
KYANOS - THUNDER IN JAPAN
Slack-as-a-hammock, psychedelic Bury St Edmunds foursome Kyanos have had an odd couple of weeks, their recent debut EP 'Elevator to Japan' having been singled out by weekly music bible NME as "an exercise in restraint and perfectionism… all carefully layered to perfection for this cosmic ride", and the band bigged up (alongside Gaffa Tape Sandy) as part of Bury St Edmunds' "devilishly exciting... buzzing" music scene. Recorded on their iPhones on their own sweet time, 'Elevator to Japan' was a genuine quantum leap from their previous output: a free-flowing concept EP (reminiscent of Gallic ambient-astropop heroes Air) that showcases the band's meandering tendencies - which can seem a little shambolic live - as towering strengths. A full-length debut is promised for the new year. See them live at: Bury St Edmunds Hunter Club, 2nd Feb. Now listen to: 'Elevator to Japan' EP, streaming/download, out now. Follow: Facebook - Twitter
Elevator to Japan by KYANOS
THE STATE with THY LAST DROP - A FOREST (LIVE AT EMPORIUM OF ODD)
Perhaps unnecessarily self-conscious about their square peg status, The State are - oddly, given the genre's enduring cult appeal - to our knowledge the only bona fide industrial metal band currently operational in East Anglia. I say "unnecessarily" because, whilst they may take their cues directly and baldly from genre titans Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, Rammstein and latter-day Gary Numan, The State are also bloody good at it: kicking off their recent, second album 'Ministry of Truth' with a pointed quote from US TV show 'Mr Robot' ("And what is it about society that disappoints you so much?"; "Oh, I don't know. Is it that we collectively thought Steve Jobs was a great man even when we knew he made billions off the backs of children?"), before going on to mercilessly dissect everything wrong with every aspect of our corrupt, deluded, inward-looking society over the course of eight utterly livid tracks. There is a rarely-glimpsed lighter side to The State though, as evidenced by this, one of the finest unexpected moments of the gigging year, which saw the band team up with self-described "Victorian murder punk" troupe Thy Last Drop for a faithful-but-rambunctious cover of The Cure's imperishable 1980 goth classic 'A Forest'. Both bands are set to be busy in the coming new year, so prepare yourselves and prepare yourselves well. See The State live at: London Dublin Castle, 1st Feb; Bury St Edmunds Hunter Club, 3rd March. Now listen to: 'Ministry Of Truth' album, CD/download, out now. Follow: Facebook - Twitter See Thy Last Drop live at: Not currently touring. Now listen to: 'Tales From The Triple Tree' album, CD/download, out now. Follow: Facebook - Twitter
Photo: F.O.X (from Facebook)
