Hit or Miss - Give Up or Give In/See You Next Tuesday

Newport pop punk band Hit or Miss are releasing a new ep soon so we thought we would go over some of their older stuff.

The tracks being reviewed are 'Give Up or Give In' and 'See You Next Tuesday'. Both are deifnitely an offering for the emo/pop punk crowd of Wales, and I am certianly not one of this crowd. First track 'Give Up or Give In' starts with the customary bouncy guitars of pop punk legend, floating through with melody and happiness, now to a noise loving idiot such as myself this kind of music makes me want to vomit but for the teeny pop punkers who spend their time drooling over Hayley Williams or wishing they were Jared Leto this will be right up their street.

Second track "See you next tuesday" starts slower than the first track and has a lot more depth to it,definetly the better of the two

Both tracks play by the pop punk rulebook of bouncy guitars, stop start rhytyhms, catchy choruses etc, as close to pop music that anything with a guitar should be allowed to get.

If you like Blink 182, Simple Plan and all those other punk pop melody makers then this will be right up your street. Way too much poppyness for my liking but I am definetly not this bands intended audience, and while I personally don't like it I can imagine there will be alot of young people throughout the land who will. So if your aged between 14 and 18 and like Paramore then check these guys out.

http://www.myspace.com/hitormiss01

Live Review - DD/MM/YYYY - Undertone 09/11/2010

Live music review time, Cardiff's newest live music venue Undertone held a night of chaos and confusion last night as Canadian math rokers dd/mm/yyyy played to start off they're uk tour, With support from Bellies and Stacking Chairs, a rather eclectic bunch if I ever did see one.

Starting the night was one man sample king Stacking Chairs, now its fair to say that you won't see many gigs like this again, Stacking Chairs is basically a nerdy looking fella playing around with tape samples and loops while sitting on the floor drinking champagne, seeing him live is quite a surreal experience.
            Some very clever and original stuff going on here, my only problem with this kind of performance is it treads a very thin line between genius and boring and I'm not really sure this kind of thing works live, this does not take away from the fact that what Stacking Chairs is doing is incredibly clever and original and on record would probably sound amazing, it's just that in the live enviroment it dosent really do it for me.

But check him out as he is definetly doing some interesting stuff.

Next up were the new creation of Bellies, compiled of members from Jela and Drunk Grannys. Now I must say that after listening to they're myspace before the gig I was very much looking forward to seeing these girls live. They play an awesome style of lo-fi art pop rock very similar of other great bands Pens,Wet Dog and La La Vasquez, only last night something seemed to go wrong, it was a mistake ridden set that only lasted about 4 tracks before the girls decided to give up.

This was definetly not a great performance but in the parts they did get right they impressed and I would definetly check them out live again. I do urge you all to have a look at their myspace though as last night does not in anyway do them credit. Shame about the performance but still a very interesting band.

Check them out at http://www.myspace.com/hungrybellies

Up next were the headliners and the reason most of the people in the room where here, the amazing toronto based math punk rockers dd/mm/yyyy, now these guys play the kind of high tempo noise that'll get your ass jigging away in no time. Live they are more electronic than I realised, with keyboards and a lot of effects being added to the set. A little mid set chaos from them also as their bass pedal breaks and the lead singer banters with the crowd for a few minutes but very soon all is good again and they are back to doing what they do best.

Playing songs from their new album Black Square as well as some older stuff they deliver an awesome set from start to finish, ending with the amazing Digital Haircut.

This bunch of canadian misfits have done a very good job on they're first trip to wales and its safe to say it wont be a trip they'll easily forget

Check it http://www.myspace.com/ddmmyyyy

A sometimes bizarre and interesting night of live music

Single Release - Hail! The Planes - "Brother/I'm Sinking"

Single Review

Hail! The Planes - Brother/I'm Sinking

Cardiff's Hail! The Planes have just released their new double single Brother/I'm Sinking. A beautiful mixture of post rock and folk from start to finish, "Brother" starts with the minimilism of the violins, this creates a very intimate setting with the gentle strumming of the acoustic guitar accompanying the violin before moving into folk rock territory. The pace of the song varies as the violins slow things down beautifully. The vocals accompany this nicely without becoming too overpowering. 

A very nice folk rock track with moments of amazing intimacy.

2nd track "I'm sinking" starts similar to "Brother" but this time with the guitar starting gently before being accompanied by the violin. Together these go amazingly well yet again and the minimilistic intimacy they create is astonishing. This track moves along slowly before the great drumbeat kicks in to add power and urgency.

I'm sinking is a 6 minute instrumental mixture of heart and energy that you will struggle to find elsewhere. Hail! The Planes seem to have a fantastic blend of delicate folk and post rock with that progressive feel thrown in for good measure.

A very good release from the Cardiff band and I urge everyone to check them out
at: http://www.myspace.com/hailtheplanes.

Definetly a band i'm going to keep my eye on.

EP Review - Clay Statues - Yay,Volcano! V.2

EP Review

Yay Volcano! V.2 is the newest release from Aberdare / Cardiff noise makers Clay Statues, who back in August where touring with punk legends The Damned. Concocted from their EP, Yay, Valcano, which had sold out and their 2nd EP, the band decided to merge the two to make an 8 track LP. Having had the pleasure of seeing these guys live, we can say that its when live that they are best received.

The mixture of Drum & Bass really sounds amazing and raw as hell, with beefy distortion throughout. And not to mention that, these guys are loud, and not a certain type of loud as when your mother screams at you to turn the music off in your bedroom, these two young gentlemen are ear drum bursting loud.

Yay, Volcano V.2, has a mixture of bass heavy hard rocking punk screamy tracks to the more melodic sounding tracks, with both sounding hot. The hard rocking tracks that stand out are "Arguement for Michael Graves", "Clothed Female, Naked Male" and "Home", these tracks are Clay Statues at their very best, and you can imagine standing there at one of their shows, listening to these tracks with total face melt.

To the melodic side, these tracks consist of "I Was The Guns Of Navarone" and "What's Orange and Looks Good On Hippies? Fire!!" these are more towards pop punk tracks.

With the mixture of hard hitting rocking bass and drums tracks with the melodic tracks, this 8 track LP really works.

I seem to forget that there are just two members in Clay Statues just for the simple fact that they are so loud, but as mentioned previously you gotta check these guys out at a live show, coming to a town near you very soon.

Rake

EP Review - Mowbird - Excellent,OK

Mowbird - Excellent, OK

Excellent,OK is the debut ep by Wrexham's garage/surf rockers Mowbird. This band definetley have the DIY method of doing things and this ep is a shining example of that. From start to finish Excellent,OK is immersed in layers of lo-fi charms that add texture to each track, very similar to awesome lo-fi rockers Lovvers and The Crocodiles with hints of garage rock legend Jay Reatard.

From start to finish this is an ep of lo-fi surfer rock fun that I personally could listen to allday.

Stand out track "Dinosaur Costume" starts slow before the distorted guitars roar away. Closing track "Holy Moly Me Oh My" has the charms of sixties surf rock but with added lo-fi garage fuzziness.
      Its safe to say this band have found their niche and I for one will definetly be checking them out in the future.

If your a fan of Lovvers, The Crocodiles and Jay Reatard then you are sure to love these guys.

Top stuff

Visit: http://www.myspace.com/roydestroyuk to get yourself a free download of the ep

Release Thee Bats now on facebook

We are now available on facebook.

You can find us at: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001787058607#!/

Dont forget to give us a poke

Album Review - Howl Griff - The Hum

Album Review


Howl Griff - Hum

Aberwyswyth's very own Howl Griff has released an album of guitar pop goodness so engorged in 60's sunshine it'll make you feel like you've gone back in time. Reminiscent of Super Furry Animals, The Beatles and The Beach Boys,if this album dosent get you feeling good then I dont know what will.

Opening tracks "Bluebirds" and "Crash and Burn" storm into the album before slowing down for "Devotion" with lyrics as gentle as "I feel your pain and laughter still, the cracks are falling deep, devotion" which shows this band have real heart and can slow things down as efficiently as they can speed things up.

Tracks such as "Giving it the always", "Unselfish", "Hideaway" and "Dark Energy" also show that things are not all sunshine pop as they slow the pace of the faster and more upbeat tracks of "Back to Normality", "Uduhudu" and the amazingly dancey and almost surfer pop charms of "Jeans Therapy".

All in all from start to finish this album is a lesson in guitar pop by one this countries finest. If you like Super Furry Animals and 60's guitar pop then you'll like these guys. So check this album out.

Single Review - Jets to Zurich

Single Review

Jets to Zurich - Crimson Tide

We remember these Aberdare rockers from their debut album "Atmospheric Sound Cycles" which we reviewed early this year. Now they're back with new single "Crimson Tide".


The tracks starts with almost a bouncing guitar riff, then after a few bars we welcome the firm beating drums which add balance, added to that are Hawkins vocals which on this track are good and the lyrics have meaning "The sound of silence, is breaking us down" is for me a particular highlight. Reminiscent of Idlewild at the height of their career.

During the song, the same guitar rhythm plays and gets slightly repetitive but it doesn't take away from the track one bit in its entirety. The chorus kicks in with a more fuzzy style distortion which really works well, more in time with post grunge bands like Bush.

All in all, this track is missing the key elements from their first album but is still a fine track of melodic grunge.

We here at Release Thee Bats are looking forward to hearing the next release by these guys, as we're sure there's plenty more in the locker from Jets To Zurich.
Rake

Swn Festival

Had a great weekend at the recent Swn Festival in Cardiff. A long weekend of dirty music and dirty alcohol was had by many and I myself enjoyed both.  Saw a lot of top bands and a lot of stinkers but I thought since this is a Welsh Music Blog I would just go through the best Welsh bands I saw

The festival started off with a set from Threatmantics. Now this band has gone through a lot of changes over the last year and now have a folk element added to them. They werent quite as good as I expected and I found myself pining for the Threatmantics of old, the good old heart thomping bass riffs of 'Big Man', instead what was served was mellow folk rock, the band still do what they do very well, I just prefered what they used to do to what they do now.

Next up were Kutosis, first time seeing Kutosis for me and I was not dissapointed. From start to finish they put on a show of hi energy post-punk. Starting with the infectious 'Island' the band stormed through the set with verocity and got everybody in the room moving some part of their body in unison. Top show from a very good band.

Before the festival the biggest news for me was that Attack and Defend where going to be playing, having recently got into this bands back catalouge I was definetly looking forward to seeing them live. I arrived late to catch about half the set but man what a great half a set it was. Playing mostly songs from the excellent 'Theme' and 'Make' albums Attack and Defend showed a packed room at the Model Inn just why their performance was so anticipated by many.

Great performances of 'Cross Times Multiply' and 'Pineapples' as well as a couple of new songs Attack and Defend definetly impressed me and I look forward to any new releases from this excellent band.

Onto the Saturday and a nice early start as we head to Y Fuwch Goch to see our favourite noise makers Exit International. Now considering this was probably about the 50th time I've seen this band live and that I had the worst hangover ever known to mankind I was a little relaxed and half asleep going into the gig but it didn't take Scott and co. long to wake me up and yet again they tear through an awesome set of hard hitting bass punk that always leaves me wanting more. Throwing in a new track or two also got the room excited and ending on the awesome 'Disciple' this band just seem to get better and better with every performance.

I wait in anticipation for an album as it's sure to be a corker. If you are yet to see this band live then you must be insane. Top notch as usual.

On the non welsh band note bands such as The Ex, Swans and Bellini stole the show. All in all a darn good weekend.