Orlando Fernández and Coco Santos are Clubz, a Mexican band that started making a name for itself by bringing eighties electropop up to date and by preparing a reconquest focusing their sound on R&B, smooth bass lines and black pop. The duo debuted in 2014 with “Texturas·, a presentation EP that positioned them as one of the most interesting bands in Mexico and opened the doors of Canadà to them, label on which they will release their next record. For the moment tracks like “Épocas” and “El Rollo” already point to this change in direction towards urban rhythms and funk with an eye on the dance floor.
Still in their early 20s, The Orwells have already released two albums and toured with Arctic Monkeys. Their third album, Terrible Human Beings, feels like it should be the next precocious step in an upward progression for the Chicago area garage rockers; instead, it’s a competent but unspectacular offering that’s more likely to reinforce the band’s place as indie rock also-rans than take them to the next level. Today in concert at Sidecar.
Liverpool-based All We Are return with their second album Sunny Hills. Produced by Kwes (Solange, Kano, Loyle Carner), it follows the three-piece’s self-titled debut in 2015. Coming together while students in 2011, the trio is made up of Guro Gikling (Norway), Luis Santos from Brazil (guitars) and Richard O’Flynn from Ireland (drums). After spending much of 2015 touring and honing their sound the band started to write new material with a renewed sense of urgency and power, songs that documented the emotional rollercoaster the trio have been on in the past two years. Sunny Hills has a wobble to it, a human heartbeat and a grit that reflects the energy of the band’s thrilling live shows.
Mestre Bergman travelled to Turkey to discover a new band. Istanbul band The Away Days released two singles from their debut album (due out in 2017) earlier this year, along with playing their first European headline tour. It’s dream pop that draws influences from India and the far east as well as the likes of Joy Division, The Smiths and the La’s, and has attracted support from Savages, Belle & Sebastian, and Everything Everything.
As River Tiber, singer/beatmaker Tommy Paxton-Beesley is unafraid to push his love for R&B and hip hop production into unusual places: pitching his vocals to sound like Mariah Carey, multitracking his voice into a dozen ghost choruses, and narrowing the gap in the soul spectrum between Jodeci and Flying Lotus. His early years have already put him into close working contact with Toronto peers like jazz-funk iconoclasts BadBadNotGood (he did overdubs on their 2014 album III and 2015’s Ghostface collaboration Sour Soul), while previous releases like 2013’s The Star Falls EP have shown just how starkly his blend of R&B and bass music stands on its own. River Tiber took his chops to the next level through collaborations with Pusha T and Kaytranada as well as appearing on Drake’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, all ahead of his debut album release, Indigo, in June 2016. This next friday at Sónar.
The Bath-based band are making some noise with their slacker-style guitar music and are currently touring with Rat Boy. Bad Sounds are 70s-inspired grooves and upbeat music even if the lyrics frequently allude to dark stuff – even death. They’ve just released their new Ep ‘PHRESSH’
Mestre Bergman presents this week Pinegrove. From the collision between the traditions of indie and folk with Americana roots comes Pinegrove, a quartet from New Jersey captained by singer and composer Evan Stephens Hall. They define their music as “music for the promotion of introspective partying”, a statement that helps to intuit the precious, melancholic songs and the mixture of electric guitars, banjo and pedal steel guitar. A delightful breath of fresh air for the rock in which there is a good dose of the roots of Wilco and the indie candor of Built To Spill. On Thursday at Primavera Sound.
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