Not to be confused with the Ghost Pokemon that evolves when trading a Haunter – yea we went there….Gengahr (apparently pronounced Geng-er) are another band we suggest you keep your ears open for.
The band claim Gengahr was born out of a desire to create something fresh and unique, Gengahr are part of the new breed of indie bands able to create large soundscapes and original sounds straight from their bedroom.
Seemingly effortless smooth and melodic indie-rock that meanders along at a laidback pace – think Tripwires and a Joy Division with a bit more Joy. Their influences draw from icons such as The Smiths and Modest Mouse, to the more recently revered Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Youth Lagoon. Gengahr have already received support from Huw Stephens, NME, DIY and host others.
With more news to follow in the coming months get more acquainted with Gengahr via the 3 tracks they are giving away on their Soundcloud, which include the spellbinding ‘Fill My Gums With Blood’ and the shimmering ‘She’s A Witch’ and check out the recent release of ‘Powder’ below.
We love a bit of Shoegazey music at Dissatisfied Sounds – and these guys are definitely worth checking out on their upcoming October tour. Details below;
Excessive lifestyle, noise, hype, drugs, ego, illusions of grandeur.
According to 150 Friends Club – That’s not them….
Singing of exclusion – 21st Century ennui they certainly aren’t One Direction.
Check out I Don’t believe in Atheists above….
Forming after the split of David Goo Variety Band came to its natural conclusion, David Goo wanted to do something different. After reading Dunbar’s theory that society works best in groups of 150 people, he concluded an audience of exactly 150 could be pretty sweet too. Smaller numbers, intimate settings, personal rather than alienating. The 150 Friends Club was born.
It was to a crowd of just under a hundred at the famous Half Moon in Putney at our favourite even of music and poetry Union (definitely one to check out – details at the bottom) that we had the pleasure of watching the Club in action. With deep crazy Lupen Crook-esque vocals David Goo conducts the four-piece who look as if they’ve been plucked from four totally separate bands. Somehow it works – we suggest you check out on Spotify Airbrushed AKA Your Children Will Not Inherit Your Plastic Surgery (that got a laugh from the audience).
Original songwriting and funky vocals make this band one to definitely keep an eye open for.
Check out Union‘s next night at the Half Moon in October ft. Dissatisfied Faves – Bella Figura
On their debut, Jungle show that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel as long as it’s travelling down brand new, unexplored avenues- it might just earn you a Mercury nomination.
With elements of 80’s pop, Afro beats and 90’s house – these musical cannibals have been setting our record player on fire of late. The elevator pitch is that they’re an amalgam of every great white funk band. A backhanded compliment? Not at all – imagine Happy Mondays’ baggy stomp, the avant bits of Talking Heads, Steely Dan’s studio perfectionism and the Bee Gees’ falsetto, and you’re very warm indeed.
What’s really intriguing about ‘Jungle’, though, is its darker side. There’s a tone of inner-city malaise, romantic ruin and psychedelic alienation to a raft of its tracks that speaks to those modern urbanites feeling screen-wiped and robbed of opportunities, busy earnin’ for nothing. It’s the sound of a 21st Century ‘What’s Going On’, a sister-piece to Bobby Womack’s Albarn-produced ‘The Bravest Man In The Universe’, and it’s encapsulated in the atmospheric interlude ‘Smoking Pixels’, a Morricone reboot resembling a electro-fried amalgam of The Beatles’ ‘Long, Long, Long’, Pink Floyd’s ‘Echoes’ and The Specials’ ‘Ghost Town’. But it also infects the lovelorn ‘Julia’ with a trip-hop undertone and ‘Accelerate’ with boudoir broodiness. It drips through the downbeat future jazz of ‘Drops’ and 110th Street shuffle ‘Son Of A Gun’ and throbs at the bruised heart of ‘Lucky I Got What I Want’. Indeed, from jubilant beginnings, ‘Jungle’ seems to follow the collapse of a relationship in its latter half and ends in heartbroken desolation, sat alone on the edge of ‘Lemonade Lake’ lamenting “every day and every night/’Cos I don’t know what went wrong/I miss you”. A rounded future pop record then; funky and reflective, ominous and ecstatic, as pouty as it is party. We’ll be rooting for them in the upcoming Mercury awards.
LONDON’S FIRST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL – 25th – 28th SEPTEMBER 2014 (Hackney Picturehouse)
At the beginning of 2014, Doc‘n Roll was born out of the collective passions of its directors, for independent film and niche music genres. They identified a gap in the cultural arts market and a large community of like-minded individuals, whose interests were not being served. This drove them to combine their knowledge and strengths, launching the UK’s first Music Documentary Festival, as a DIY project, in the autumn of 2014.
They will create an immersive event for their audience, which extends beyond film screenings. The Festival Hub will expand the audience experience for socialising and enjoying great live music and DJs, themed with each day’s screenings. Through its festival and pop-up events, the company will discover, support, and exhibit compelling music stories and associated acts, across all genres, to London audiences.
It’s all about the celebration of music subcultures and providing a unique platform to support their cinematic expressions!
Yo Yo – Dissatisfied Sounders – welcome back to another iteration of our fave sounds of the week. Let’s jump right in…
BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE – SERVO
We’ve spoken about Dig! before – one of the best music docs out there and we really can’t stress enought the quality of the band the doc focusses part of its time on the BJM.
Anton Newcombe, the tortured genius of a frontman is wise in his choice of instrumentation and band members contributing in all the tracks. The mad genius he is, often plays all the instruments himself but in “Servo”, he and Matt Hollywood the usual bassist do everything, Matt playing the acoustic guitar and Anton playing the catchy riff tearing through the lonely synth opening the song.
A acid-rocky number this is definitely in our top five BJM tracks – and from the stellar Give it Back Album – you should definitely check it out.
Also check out Anton’s Youtube channel – he’s just as mental as ever….thankfully.
SATISFIED
CHRIS ISSAC – WICKED GAME (SOULCLAP REMIX)
Chris Issac’s Wicked Games is a phenomenal song – unfortunately is best remembered as the soundtrack to Ross & Rachel’s breakup (“We were on a break!). However Mr. Issac’s song is given a bit of a lift by the Soulclap guys. It’s always great when a remix gives you more of what you loved in the original – exactly what this tune does. He may be a massive Elvis look alike – but this remix is dripping with plently of 21st Century hooks and an echoey soundscape.
SATISFIED
DEVO – GUT FEELING (SLAP YOUR MAMMY)
Yep…..pretty weird
As always at Dissatisfied Sounds we like a good change of pace- so here we go with 80’s mentalists Devo. We’re big fans of Wes Anderson’s films and we were pleasantly suprised to realise that his long term score provider Mark Mothersbaugh is actually one of the two brothers in Devo. Hence this track cropping up on the seminal The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. A special band with weird hats and with a title that contains Slap Your Mammy – they’re hard to pin down – but never dull. Gut Feeling may be one of the bands more conservative efforts – it certainly is no bore and if you’ve ever seen The LIfe Aquatic you’ll know what we mean when we say this track conjures images of the open sea.
SATISFIED
BUGSY FT. SKITZ – BORN INNA SYSTEM
Well it wouldn’t be Dissatisfied Sounds with out a Hip Hop select….so here we go….
Buggsy, The fast spitting Rasta emcee from the district of St.pauls in Bristol, UK. Not shy of entertaining crowds down to his poetic also african drumming based background.
First came to the Airwaves in 2005, On Rodney P and Skitz’s 1Xtra show with a smashing track produced by drum and bass legend Dj Die, Followed up by another smasher ‘Nail Biters’ Produced by Dj First Aid. Both tracks displayed crazy flows with loads of clarity which caught many peoples ears and they wanted more.
Now he has made his First Official release named ‘The Great Escape’ Which is surley due to set standards in the UK also Display Buggsy’s true musical abilities. Featuring Tracks Like BORN INNA SYSTEM, PURE GAS AND CONNECT THE SPDIF FT. JEHST AND FARMA G.
from the burgeoning Birmingham indie scene – band Peace have divided critical opinion with their debut album. They are seen by some as British indie’s great hope. They made the BBC’s Sound of 2013 list and have been championed by NME, which described them as “important”, the music press’s highest accolade; others call them derivative, and make unflattering comparisons to early-90s post-baggy bands. Both camps have a point.
This new track isn’t exactly a change of tack – but is well produced and definitely worth a listen. The band are evidently aiming to conjure images of 21st century ennui – check out the reference to Bitcoins – and it certainly tickles us enough to recommend it. Check it out and let us know what you think.
SATISFIED
RICHIE SPICE – YOUTHS DEM COLD
“If Education is the key – then tell me why the Big Babylon make it so expensive for we?”
It’s lines like the above that separate Richie Spice from the rest of the neo-Reggae pack. Much like Hip-Hop plenty of artists in 21st Century Reggae fall on the wrong side of satisfaction and fail to capitalise on genuine talent – by relying on base subject matter and unoriginal source material. Richie Spice bucks this trend by painting pictures of what life is actually like for most Jamaicans – toasting over sun dripped dub beats.
This is one of our favourite tracks out of Jamaica in the last ten years and as such we suggest you definitely get acquainted by Mr Spice. With rising University fees – the question has never been more relevant – why do they make so expensive for we?
SATISFIED
THE BAND – THE NIGHT THEY DROVE OLD DIXIE DOWN
The Band garnered huge success, were Dylan’s go to band on tour gained little mainstream recognition in their own time – one of those exciting nomadic bands that only the 60’s and 70s seemed to produce. Rag Momma Rag may be the band’s most radio friendly tune – but its this that has lest the most lasting impression.
The Night they Drove Old DIxie Down was written by Robbie Robertson. The lyrics tell of the last days of the American Civil War and the suffering of white Southerners, as evidenced by the lyric “the winter of ’65”. Dixie is a nickname for the Southern Confederate states. Confederate soldier Virgil Caine “served on the Danville train”. Union cavalry regularly tore up Confederate rail lines to prevent the movement of men and material to the front where Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia was besieged at the Siege of Petersburg. As part of the offensive campaign, Union Army General George Stoneman’s forces “tore up the track again”.
The song’s lyric refers to conditions in the Southern states in the winter of early 1865 (“We were hungry / Just barely alive”); the Confederate states are starving and defeated. Reference is made to the date May 10, 1865, by which time the Confederate capital of Richmond had long since fallen (in April); May 10 marked the capture of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and the definitive end of the Confederacy.
Robertson claimed that he had the music to the song in his head but had no idea what it was to be about: “At some point [the concept] blurted out to me. Then I went and I did some research and I wrote the lyrics to the song.”
Considering the band are from Canada and have little invested in the South – other than it being their adopted home later in life – it is the ability to paint a portrait of such an intense time – and portray the suffering of the pro-slavery South in the Civil War with such empathetic success smacks of Nirvana’s Polly and really stands as a testament to the power of music to tell a story.
We dare you to listen to the song and not feel a swell of compassion for those lives lost in a war that turned brother against brother – father against son. The live version we’ve embedded above is our favourite – as you can really hear they emotion in their voices – very satisfying we think…
Quite heavy? Well have a listen – have a cry and then move onto out next selection.
SATISFIED
DAS EFX – THEY WANT EFX
Well it wouldn’t be our satisfactory sounds of the week if we didn’t include some Hip Hop would it? This one’s no recent find but one we think has garnered enough main stream accolades that it should. When Jay-Z say he was most influenced by DAS EFX when coming up with his flow-style – you know these guys aren’t to be played with.
With one of the best rap samples of all time – using James Brown’s Blind Man Can See It – this song is a classic with an original flow that makes our Top 10 Hip Hop tunes of all time.
Our Satisfactory Sounds Selections of the Week (01/09/14)
Soooooo – September is here. Its gunna start getting cold soon – so we thought it best you get all cuddled up with a blanket – whack on the fire and warm yourself with this week’s satisfactory selects.
COLD WAR KIDS – ALL THIS COULD BE YOURS
Speaking of the cold – Industry veterans Cold War Kids have been around a while (10 years to be exact). We loved their first full offering Robbers and Cowards (check out that screechy guitar on We Used to Vacation) but they’ve been a bit quite of late . That is until their latest release All This Could Be Yours pricked our ears. Complete with jazzy piano and funky cymbal playing the band are known for, they have maintained the style that won them so many critics at SXSW where the band really broke globally. However when we first heard the poppy chorus we did worry that maybe the band had decided to hitch a ride on the mainstream; however the chorus is succeeded by some cracking screechy guitars and they bring it back and smash it out the park. A top tune for a top band – the forthcoming Hold My Home LP could take them into the stratosphere. To be released in October of this year – we suggest you check it out – this track certainly left us satisfied
.
SATISFIED
PRINCE FATTY – SHIMMY SHIMMY YA
We loved the original – RIP O.D.B! – but we have to say that Prince Fatty knows how to produce a respectful remix. Using the same hooks that made us fall in love with the cracked-out genius that was Ol’ Dirty Bastard – but with a really dense dub reggae beat and the spot on choice of Horseman to toast; this track reminds you of the original without ever feeling derivative.Not easy to do.
psssst! Prince Fatty’s the white one
There’s Not really much else to say about this one except that Prince Fatty is definitely worth seeing live and never stops touring. Also check out this other cover of Shimmy Shimmy Ya by the Wu-tang produced El Michels Affair – very satisfying hearing one of our best rap tunes sung by a school choir. O.D.B. Would be proud……we think.
SATISFIED
JUNGLE – THE HEAT
Jungle are a massive Dissatisfied Sounds favourite. We want to say that they’ll be massive but they’re most of the way there already. Album at the top of the iTunes chart? – check – Embarking on a big US tour? – check – Massive sets at Glastonbury and Coachella? – you get the jist…. Watch out for our forthcoming post on their eponymous first album – but as a little taster we wanted to satisfy you with TheHeat. Pick any of the tracks from their first LP and it is a scientific fact that you will be grooving at the LATEST by the 1:00 minute mark. Nothing exemplifies this better than the above video for The Heat. With a rainforest of sounds and beats -these guys are bringing the originality back to sampling – rejecting the common practice of recycling old successes in favour of creating their own unique soundscapes. Having watched them at Reading this year – we have never seen a crowd be converted to a band so quickly and so completely. The Satisfaction was palpable – as is ours…..
SATISFIED
NORMA FRASER – THE FIRST CUT IS THE DEEPEST
No for something a little more mellow. “The First Cut Is the Deepest” a 1967 track written by Cat Stevens, originally released by P. P. Arnold in the spring of 1967. Stevens’ own version originally appeared on his album New Masters in December 1967.
The song has covered by the whole world and their wife, most notably spawning hit singles for four different artists: P. P. Arnold (1967), Keith Hampshire (1973), Rod Stewart (1977) and Sheryl Crow (2003).
But its Norma Fraser’s version that we like the best. It’s somber but with enough humour to avoid sounding earnest. A big hit in Jamaica in the 1970’s – if you’ve ever felt some teenage heartbreak your young life. This song will resonate.
DissatisfiedSounds 