Into New Music Round-up: December 2024
Well, November was a month when we delivered you numerous musical highlights but if you thought the pace would slow down in December, think again! You have another batch of top tuneage I hear you ask? Indeed, we do and Into Creative think this might be the best of the lot in recent weeks. Debatable, yes but no denying the quality of these songs so please read on and then check them out.
Artist: Peter Murphy & Boy George
Single: Let The Flowers Grow
Label: Metropolis Records
Now, there are some unusual bedfellows out there. Ham and pineapple pizza; Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito; Nigel Farage and dual passports, to name but three. Had someone suggested to me in the 1980s that the king of the dark, gothic arts and singer with Bauhaus would team up with the enigmatic front-man of colourful pop sensations Culture Club for a new single, I would have considered this fanciful in the extreme.
Well, it has actually happened and it is so much better than I could ever have imagined. Peter Murphy’s baritone vocal is as strong and powerful as ever yet raw and tender at the same time. Boy George comes in and adds further depth, channeling an inner Scott Walker vibe. Meanwhile the music flows over, strings, synths and deep bass adding gorgeous effects. This is what the world has been waiting for and here is hoping their is more to come from this unlikely duo. Utterly sumptuous.
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Artist: Reverend And The Makers
Single: Late Night Phone Call
Label: Distiller Records LLP
Trying to pick your way through the usually dismal Christmas singles offerings can be arduous work. However, we found a gem in Edgar Jones’s Here’s to the Holidays which we reviewed here recently and we are pleased to report another great festive offering in Late Night Phone Call from South Yorkshire’s finest, Reverend And The Makers.
Indeed, there is a campaign to make this the Christmas number one and at Into Creative we are squarely behind that. The song is released in conjunction with the Samaritans charity to support the services their volunteers provide, especially for people feeling lonely at this time of year.
Speaking about the track, the band’s singer Jon McClure said “Late Night Phone Call is a weird one in that it isn’t a Christmas song and doesn’t really have a chorus, yet it totally felt like a Christmas pop song from the beginning. I wanted to get Samaritans involved as people being alone and in a bad place at Christmas time is something that has always really bothered me. Every year on Christmas day I zoom a bunch of people who are alone and struggling and play them a song to cheer them up a little. I kinda thought we could go one step further with that this year and direct them towards a charity that is there to help with this. Times are tough for a lot of people and it’s not hard as an artist to help people in this way“.
The track is also fantastic, McClure channeling his inner Hank Ballard/Drifters/Elvis schtick as only he can, doo-wop harmonies with added Sheffield steel and shine, the music bold as brass.
Jon McClure is one of the good guys so let’s ALL get behind what is a great song, highlight awareness for an important cause and help raise funds for the Samaritans charity. For more, head to the Reverend And The Makers website here and the Samaritans website here.
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Artist: De La Rocka
Album: Nightmare Reborn
Label: De La Rocka Music
It’s fair to say that psychobilly music could be considered an underground genre. Perhaps more underground than a Chilean copper-gold mine but let’s not split hairs. In actual fact, the scene is positively booming and while not at the same level of mid 1980’s, there is a bountiful smorgasbord of bands, new and old playing all across the globe. Whoever claimed (and we know who it is) that only The Meteors are pure psychobilly was clearly talking pish.
Nightmare Reborn is the debut album from Finnish artis Panu de la Rocka aka De La Rocka and it is a fantastic album filled with a range of tracks with psychobilly at its heart but with rockabilly and punky rock’n’roll pumping through its veins. Twelve tracks feature coming in at just under forty minutes and there is something for everyone here. The album actually opens with a surf influenced instrumental in Atomic Bat before Beer, Blood, Rock’n’Roll literally explodes out of the speakers, this is like DAG’s Sparky on steroids. For those going to the Bedlam Breakout in March 2025, De La Rocka is playing and I suggest yu get yourself in the middle to wreck your psychobilly tendencies out, strong stuff.
De La Rocka has also dipped into the scene and there are a number of collaborators on the album, Hanna Hush the Frankenstein bride to Rocka’s monster vocal on Voodoo Queen, the track underpinned by some serious slapping bass. That mid 1980’s scene is referenced in the neo-rockabilly vibe of Planet Psycho, more laid back with Dax Dragster from Godless Wicked Creeps featuring as does some cool guitar work.
Elsewhere, there are punk overtones on the excellent Man With The Screaming Brain while the album ends with my favourite track (though that will likely change in a day or two), Little Green Men featuring Titch from the Klingonz (who incidentally will bring their unique stage show to Audio in Glasgow on April seventeenth next year). The track is an alien nightmare, a hyperactive, mesmeric beat. Resistance is futile……………
For more on De La Rocka head to the website here.
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Artist: Quad90
Single: Too Much Too Soon
Label: Last Night From Glasgow
We’ve been saying it for a while now and we will say it again, Quad90 are the Scottish band that you absolutely need to listen to. Anodyne was a belting single and the duo are back with another tip top track, Too Much Too Soon.
This is four minutes of music you need in your life, a great vocal, crisp music and sound production. It sounds effortless and skips along quite the thing. With a debut album expected to land in 2025, check them out now (if you haven’t already), Quad90 are the real deal.
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Artist: John Tiller
Single: Common Glory
Recorded on perhaps the coldest day of the year in a frosty Lancashire, there is a warmth to this new track from John Tiller. Common Glory sees Tiller lay out heartfelt lyrics with just an acoustic guitar for company but it stands tall, proud and has a yearning that never seems to diminish. Check it out.
John Welsh
@welshjb
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