While Skrillex may have stolen dubstep from the grimy dives of inner-cities and whole heartedly destroyed everything we knew about it, what he did do is allow a whole host of metal bands to capitalise on fusing the two together. One such band is Leeds born, Manchester based Kids With Machetes. Their fusion of abrasive hooks with off-kilter beats and balls-to-the-wall vocals that take no prisoners has earned them a devout following across Manchester and further afield and it's easy to why. Eclectic, aggressive and ultimately a party band, KWM will appeal to fans of Hadouken! amongst others.
Subrosa
Dreamy and understated, London's Subrosa are making shoegaze cool again. guitars swirl majestically while ever-present drum beats rattle relentlessly behind. Vocally the band won't be for everyone, as singer David Woolf, has a tendency to verge on the almost-falsetto. However while it might deter some people, personally I think it's perfectly matched to the optimistic guitars and serves to make Subrosa one of the freshest sounding bands around at the moment.
The Knievel Dead
Brilliantly named with music that's as haunting as it is infectious, London based (via the North East) The Knievel Dead have been concocting their own eclectic amalgam of guttural blues and foreboding vocals for little under a year now but already their name alone has sent ripples through the blogosphere. While one wouldn't go so far as to say that the band were punk, there's a frenetic enthusiasm behind the music at least that harbours some of the same sentiment as the genre; although I would say would appeal more to fans of bands such as Eagles of Death Metal or Queens of the Stone Age.
The Stagger Rats
"Born out of love, under a bad sign" Edinburgh's The Stagger Rats are a band who want to "jangle your extremities". Blues-fuelled indie pop guitars rattle each song to their respective climaxes whilst the vocals ooze an unspoken sordidness. There's an Eastern European feel to some of their tracks that are evocative of certain Gogol Bordello tracks though that's as far as the similarities lie. That's no arguing that The Stagger Rats are a band in their own right, indebted to nothing but their own creative tendencies, and long may that be the case, with their début album Scorpio Leisure recently being released it won't be long before the buzz they've garnered gets even louder.
Beats & Cheats
Manchester's Beats & Cheats have been causing a stir on the spit and sawdust circuit of the city's Northern Quarter for several years, making music that's emphatic, uplifting, and ultimately fantastic. Singer Andy Seager's vocals are particularly effective, asserting himself as more than another wannabe Gallagher or Brown. While the influence purported on the bands Facebook page are the usual fair (The Who, The Clash, The Beatles) their music never sounds anything short of fresh and is never once particularly evocative of any of the aforementioned. Instread, Beats & Cheats have carved a niche for themselves in a city saturated by stagnant carbon copy bands.
Check out last week's Top 5 Unsigned.
No comments:
Post a Comment