Wednesday 3 June 2015

I Got PNKSLM'd


Luke over at Stockholm label PNKSLM Records has been keeping quite busy this year. Besides his own outlet Lucern Raze, he has a bunch of cool releases that are prepped and/or out there, diseasing the ears of all who deign to listen. And now I intend to continue that infection...


Let's kick off fullest and latest, with Melt, a four track EP by Stockholm trio Magic Potion that came out on Monday. It's the kind of wonky guitar pop that Unknown Mortal Orchestra kicked off with, with heady elements of Mac DeMarco, Ariel Pink and the more bucolic moments of Thee Oh Sees. The weird rounded vocal delivery adds to the bubblegum acid, and some liquid guitar in 'Booored' and jangled instrumentation in 'Deep Web' ensures that there is a lot more than quirky novelty here. They have an album on the way this year too...




Over to Russia now and Angelic Milk, a slightly grizzled indie band with a serious degree of hook addiction. Or should I say girl - Sarah is a 17 year old who recorded 'IDK How' in her St Petersburg bedroom. It strikes a ebullient chord, somewhere between Colleen Green, Speedy Ortiz and Best Coast. She now has a band behind her - the world is her oyster, not that she cares.



The Castillians are from Birmingham and have been kicking about for close to five years. PNKSLM is priming to release their second album You & Me later in the year, but are just as keen to get people dipping into the jumped-up retro party anthems from their debut LP Show Your Teeth. This is much more throwback garage rock than many of their contemporaries - it sounds more like a time capsule relic from the 60s than a barely-heard CD-r from 2011 - therefore is bound to have a longer shelf life. Go on, smile - show your teeth.




And lastly (for now) we have Holy, who I mentioned back in January. They released Stabs earlier in the year, and it is again a pastiche of pastoral psych pop and the modern garage rock movement encapsulated by San Francisco, with some warped warmth all of its own. These songs are ones that linger and lick at the ears, wanting lengthy gratification, begging for repeat performances


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