Midweek Muse: Nice Motor - The Amazons - Lionfly Secrets - Cocoa Futures

Nice Motor - Duck And Cover.

Background - Nice Motor is a Rock n' Soul band from Chicago, forming in late 2014. With Brian Webb on Vocals and Guitar, Seth Webb on Drums, Dave Swick on Guitar, and Neil Krajenta on bass, the band began recording music during the summer of 2015. Their first releases, "All the Neighbors" and "Turn to Stone" were made available for free on Soundcloud in the fall of that same year.

Nice Motor formed after the break-up of Chicago veteran band "Jonny Rumble", freeing up Brian and Seth for new adventures, and Dave's departure from another Chicago band, "Super Happy Fun Club". Neil was waiting in the wings, bought a bass, and off they went. Beginning with acoustic writing sessions on a balcony, and impromptu electric noise-making, the band quickly began to write tunes as a well-orchestrated unit. After pocketing a hand or two full of songs, the band began recording in May with their good friend Chris Mason manning the controls of a make-shift home-studio. The month of May also saw Nice Motor play their first show, selling out Alive One in Chicago, to benefit Team High-Life and bring awareness to suicide prevention. They quickly followed up by selling out a show at Tonic Room in June.

The band’s next show is on NYE at Double Door in Chicago. They will be opening for Lucky Boy’s Confusion. Facebook here.

I cannot help but love the vintage sounds that introduce 'Duck And Cover'. However rather than be the highlight it simply helps the refined, beautiful music and vocals that follow to stand out even further. Alt rock of sorts Nice Motor have a something pretty special going on here.

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The Amazons - Little Something.

Background - Following their recent Q Award nomination for Best Breakthrough Act, The Amazons’ upwards momentum continues with the news that their brand new track ‘Little Something’ has been chosen as Annie Mac’s Hottest Record in the World. Now available to download and stream, ‘Little Something’ impacts on January 20th.

Produced by Catherine Marks (Wolf Alice, Foals, The Vaccines), ‘Little Something’ elevates the clash of melody and aggression that simmered in The Amazons’ previous single ‘In My Mind’. It starts with an ominous air of moody atmospherics before erupting into a fiery ball of energy following a dynamic breakdown that inspires chaos when the band performs it live.

“‘Little Something’ represents the darkest and heaviest place we’ve pushed our music to,” says frontman Matt Thomson. “It’s a predatory lyric based around the hunt for an obsession that’s out of reach, and then in the darkness and failure of reaching it, finding yourself becoming something you’re not.”

‘Little Something’ will also feature on the band’s debut album which has been recorded with Catherine Marks in Flood and Alan Moulder’s famous Assault and Battery studio in London. Facebook here. Website here.

The Amazons recently played their biggest London headline show to date at Oslo and are currently finishing a run of dates as guests to Jimmy Eat World. They conclude 2016 – and preview an even bigger 2017 – with the following shows:

December:
1st - St. Albans, The Horn
8th - Bath, Moles
9th - Bedford, Bedford Esquires
10th - London, Nambucca (This Feeling club night)
15th - Newcastle, Think Tank Underground
16th - Sunderland, Independent
17th - Manchester, When In Manchester Festival

A nice thumping bass and drums combination bring 'Little Something' into play and the darker vocals and haunting guitar add additional atmosphere and urgency. This is one meaty and powerful track, a short reprise halfway through is the calm before the band storm into a full on finale.

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Lionfly Secrets - Epiphany Spinnup.

Background - Lionfly Secrets released their new single “Epiphany” on Friday 18th November. “Epiphany ” is a bombastic, energetic electro-pop symphony. It is four minutes of hook-filled melody with striking synths, crashing guitars and a female vocal that thunders boldly through the progressiveness of the track.  The production is rich, colourful and steady.  Erica’s vocals reverb through the track and sit perfectly with the electro style of their music. Fellow bandmate Nikolai Hemmingsson is the Producer charged with the warmth and power of the production and serves up a track full of oomph and dynamism.  Erica describes the song as a moment of diversion from reality “We wanted to create a soundtrack for escapism. Walking around in headphones and dream away that you are in a dreamworld and a better place, but then you have to take the earphones out and get back to reality where nothing is as good as you hoped it was”.

Lionfly Secrets are a 5-piece from Sweden.  Vocalist Erica Zandelin hooked up with Sebastian Fernstedt whilst in High School and he produced her first single. An ongoing working relationship continued over the years, until 2015 the pair officially unified and created Lionfly Secrets and added 3 band members to the family. The band have achieved a great deal since their incarnation, including reaching the finals of “Stream Your Dream” competition in Stockholm, part of an acoustic tour in Sweden and had the opportunity to play the “Live At Heart” festival in Orebro.  As with all working bands, day jobs have to be sustained to fulfil the dream – in the case for Erica that is operating  a forklift truck – but it is the means to an end.

Release plans for 2017 for Lionfly Secrets are scheduled. Writing and recording over the winter for an EP release in Spring and touring and festivals in the summer and further releases in the autumn. Facebook here.

With something of a swirling sound 'Epiphany Spinnup' introduces itself before developing into a very catchy song that drifts between indie pop and rock. Erica Zandelin has distinct and very fine vocals and the band have a depth of sound that adds something a little extra!

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Cocoa Futures - The Grey.

Background - Perhaps Cocoa Futures’ most direct offering of sparkling, upbeat indie pop, 'The Grey' is all driven groove, sonorous dancefloor bounce and soaring vocal hooks. Such pull-no-punches positivity stems straight from the tune's lyrical subject matter, as Futures frontman Greg explains. “‘The Grey’ is about someone facing life and all of its normality after something really bad happening. It talks about how difficult that can be and the things that you can do to get through it. It's also a reminder that they will.” ‘The Grey’ is taken from Cocoa Futures’ forthcoming ‘Blue’ EP – produced by Marc Withasee (Micachu & the Shapes) – out on Lost In The Manor Records on 2 December.

“Our ethos is pretty simple – to be ambitious about making music we’re proud of. And to have a nice time.” Greg, Cocoa Futures

Scotland-bred and London-based, Cocoa Futures are the brainchild of frontman Greg (vocals/bass). They specialise in pristine pop harmonics crossed with a taste for the unexpected. Greg assembled a band including Dave (drums), Zoe (keys) and Jack (guitar) and first came to prominence in 2014 through the self-released upbeat singles ‘Do Something’ and ‘Scotland’, while commanding distinguished reviews for their select live shows, which included the Great Escape and Camden Crawl festivals. This early promise served as a staging post for the band to determine their musical direction and decamp to the studio to write. And write. 

Crafting and developing manifold demos became a daily pastime for Greg and when he sent a batch of these over to producer Marc Withasee (Micachu & the Shapes), the pair bonded over a love of ‘messed up’ pop and the producer was instrumental in setting tempos, tweaking arrangements and bringing out the band’s penchant for building tracks around loops and effects as they collaborated on the ‘Blue’ EP, completed in early 2016. When Greg shared the results with Lost In The Manor Records, the label wasted no time in offering the band a contract. ‘Blue’, mixed by Max Taylor and mastered by Jason Mitchell, is immediate yet intriguing, a collection of fantastic pop moments wrapped up in music of great depth, and its release seems set to propel Cocoa Futures to the frontline of UK pop’s key innovators. Website here. Facebook here.

It was back in August that we featured the first single 'The Blue' from next weeks EP release. 'The Grey' is another fabulously alternative pop song, where the melodic creativity is delivered in style. The EP is just so, so good!

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Three Good Ones: Room1Fourteen - Novaa - Cocoa Futures

Room1Fourteen - So Cold.

Background promo - Room1Fourteen are an indie rock trio based in-between England and Switzerland. The band is made up William Mayos (vocals / guitar / piano /songwriter), Rob Green (guitar / production) and David Dasenbrook (drums /bass). “So Cold” is their free download single taken from their debut album “Control”, which are both available on 5th September 2016. “So Cold” is a rock n roll song sprinkled with melodic guitar hooks and a driving rhythmic section.

Will’s vocal is seamless and controlled hiding an underlying sense of frustration to whomever it concerns. The single and album are the follow up to the bands debut “Living In Dreams” EP (2015), which received airplay in Europe, U.S.A and Switzerland along with some positive blog support. They are planning to tour the album in the U.K. as lead vocalist Will is English and wishes to play live in his homeland. 

The bands influences are some of our rock n roll greats from Oasis, to Blur, The Smiths and Pink Floyd, which can be heard in their diverse rock output throughout the album. Keeping true too the great’s who paved the way before us the bands name comes from the number of a hotel room where what can only be described as something truly rock n roll occurred … Rock n Roll forever

There is something of a classic indie rock feel with 'So Cold', and enough of the bands own style and composition skills, to make the song extremely likable. Vocals are refined and sit well in the mix above some tight and powerful trio rock musicianship. The above cited influences are just that, this is no copycat band and if this is the benchmark for Septembers debut album, things are looking good.

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Novaa - Hands

Background - Novaa releases new single 'Hands' off her upcoming Stolen Peaches EP. "Hands" is about trying to connect to someone but not being able to get past the physical level. I tried to give it a very hypnotic, trance-like and also dark atmosphere that is meant to reflect that desperate feeling of not being able to see someone fully and clearly behind his/her human layers. During the song the protagonist is constantly questioning the relationship to the other person and tries to build a deeper connection. But as the efforts turn out to be pointless the protagonist tries to get that depth and devotion by destroying the relationship.

Novaa is a singer, songwriter and producer, and at only 19 years old, comparisons have been made to highly significant and creative artists such as Björk and Grimes. Within her unique sound which draws from elements of Electronica, Folk and Pop, Novaa creates an impactful new genre - "Organic Electronic". Belted by her crystal clear vocals, she builds on soundscapes that float above the common ground. Past the depths of everyday things and activity she finds fragile frameworks of sounds and vibrant bass notes, forming her own musical galaxy and creating magical new worlds to explore.

If the name Novaa seems familiar to you, it may just be because we featured her less than a month ago, with the song Rose. 'Hands' continues the trend of thoughtful, intriguing and melodic music indeed the nine track EP is something very special, with an eclectic mixture of electronic music and Novaa's beautiful vocals.

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Cocoa Futures - The Blue.

Background - Composed around an eerie, looped ice cream-van siren and a big dumb bass riff, ‘The Blue’ is sonically fitting for a track concerning the symbiotic relationship of the gleeful and the gloomy. “It’s a good idea to feel sad sometimes,” says Cocoa frontman Greg, “but the things you can do to avoid feeling down can be really, really fun.” It’s a sentiment delivered through a song that’s anchored by a super-fat metronomic midtempo groove that administers dancefloor thrust to melodic trills and percussive interjections while Greg urges us all to “Catch Up”. Characteristically Cocoa Futures, ‘The Blue’ is electro-inspired dance-oriented pop, at once absorbing and accessible but equally as adventurous, revealing new surprises and musically creative tricks with every listen. Fuck art, let’s dance? No need. Cocoa Futures have them both covered. “Our ethos is pretty simple – to be ambitious about making music we’re proud of. And to have a nice time.” Greg, Cocoa Futures

Scotland-bred and London-based, Cocoa Futures are the brainchild of frontman Greg (vocals/bass). They specialise in pristine pop harmonics crossed with a taste for the unexpected. Greg assembled a band including Dave (drums), Zoe (keys) and Jack (guitar) and first came to prominence in 2014 through the self-released upbeat singles ‘Do Something’ and ‘Scotland’, while commanding distinguished reviews for their select live shows, which included the Great Escape and Camden Crawl festivals. This early promise served as a staging post for the band to determine their musical direction and decamp to the studio to write. And write. Crafting and developing manifold demos became a daily pastime for Greg and when he sent a batch of these over to producer Marc Withasee (Micachu & the Shapes), he received a wordless reply that contained an amazing first draft of what would evolve into ‘The Blue’. Withasee and Cocoa Futures bonded over a love of ‘messed up’ pop and the producer was instrumental in setting tempos, tweaking arrangements and bringing out the band’s penchant for building tracks around loops and effects as they collaborated on the four-song ‘Blue’ EP, completed in early 2016. When Greg shared the results with Lost In The Manor Records, the label wasted no time in offering the band a contract and the EP’s release will coincide with a number of key London launch dates. ‘Blue’, mixed by Max Taylor and mastered by Jason Mitchell, is immediate yet intriguing, a collection of fantastic pop moments wrapped up in music of great depth, and its release seems set to propel Cocoa Futures to the frontline of UK pop’s key innovators.

Live:
Friday 16 September: Ryan’s Bar, London N16 (‘The Blue’ single launch)
Friday 7 October: Blogtober Festival, The Finsbury, London N4
Saturday 3 December: Sebright Arms, London E2 (‘Blue’ EP launch).

'The Blue' is due for release on 16th September, with the EP following in early December. The single is a wonderfully mixed up pop song, for me it's brings memories of Devo and Talking Heads, whilst in effect sounding like neither. I guess that's the wonder of "messed Up" music, and I just love it!

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