Sunday, September 8, 2013

Saints and Sinners, a Sunday round up with The King In Mirrors, Ondadrops Vol.8 (Free garage album), Sunday Guts, Gleeson and Theatre Royal.


Hailing from Swindon, UK, The King In Mirrors, play some poppy, jangly gems reminiscent of the style of the Go Betweens and several of the bands that featured on the Sarah label like The Field Mice, which is most apparent on the EP's third track, the brilliant "Gaurdian Angel" which could have very easily sat comfortably amongst the best releases from that band.
The band was formed in 2012 by Rich May and the mini album "The KIng In Mirrors" was released the same month the band was formed and the band are now back with the "Rolling In The Sun" EP which has four tracks of lo-fi indie, post punk pop with rough and ready guitars and great tunes for your listening pleasure.



Stream and buy the EP and Mini album here: Bandcamp

Contact, befriend, follow, like and love The King In Mirrors here: Facebook

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I only became aware of this collection after blog faves The Sensibles dropped me a copy of their song that is included within the grooves and I have to say that it is an absolutely immense collection of songs from bands such as The Sensibles, Dead Ghosts, Los Vigilantes, Good Habits, Midwest Beat, Pop Zeus to mention just a few.
This is garage music at it rawest, dirtiest and most beautiful and if that wasn't enough to whet your appetite, it is all FREE too!

Get it free here: Ondarock

Be sure to trawl your way through all the other volumes and this amazing webiste.

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I received a nice e mail from these guys which sums up their music, drive and influences in their own words really well....so, here they are!

"We, Sunday Guts, are a guitar pop band from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  The band is primarily the music project of Billy Kilgannon (Vocals/Guitar/Programming), with collaboration from close friend Victor Berger IV (Bass/Vocals/Keyboard).  We enjoy the exquisite songwriting of XTC, Brian Wilson, Stevie Wonder, Robert Pollard, The Free Design and Joe Jackson.  Tegan & Sara and Wavves are some of the newer acts we like, too.  Emphasis is heavy on vocal hooks, interesting chord structure, open-for-interpretation lyrics, and actual guitar "riffs".  In other words, the guitar is a way to enhance the composition of the song, along with sonic reinforcement.  We also laid in some string samples (the Mellotron sound) here and there, for some depth and variation. 


"Leave it Go" was created by trading files over sites like Wetransfer.com.  The skeleton of the songs would be arranged, and sent off to Victor.  He'd add bass and a bunch of tight harmonies, then send those individual tracks back.  This seems to be a standard procedure for many artists in 2013. 

The high point for us is "Edge of the Universe" (track 3).  We've been in bands together for a long time, and have mutual interest in each others' work.  Yet, this is the first song we've ever really wrote together.  Vic came up with the heart of the song, and I finished it off with a bridge and the words.  We are very proud of all four songs, as well as our previous release - Grey Tipi."
Stream and buy the EP here: Bandcamp
Contact, befriend, follow, like and love Sunday Guts here: Facebook
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Gleeson are a rock 'n' roll band with some fantastic influences like Ray Davies, Big Star, The Beatles, GBV, Queen, Superchunk and others and there are a few nods to their heroes on this album and when your influences are that great, why not and secondly, it has helped mould a really great album.


This Austin based band has taken some time in getting their songs to fruition with the ideas having been   stored in a "concept warehouse" for many years, but they say the best things are worth waiting for and eventually a band was formed featuring song writer Ty Chandler and father and son Raul Vela III & IV and the songs were given the light of day....thankfully.


This is a really great album, possibly a bit long at 22 tracks, that said, they are all of excellent quality which you may not expect from such a vast collection and this listener is now off to listen to this bands back catologue too!

Stream and buy this album for a "Name Your Price" fee here: Bandcamp

Contact, befriend, follow, like and love Gleeson here: Facebook

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"Here it Comes" is the first single from this Medway Power Pop outfits 3rd album which is nearing completion and which promises to be something of another classic album from this conurbation and unitary authority in South East England that is well known for producing top quality musicians such as The Prisoners and a million Billy Childish outfits.

Theatre Royal break the mold of the punky, mod, garage band normally associated with the area and to me honest, when I read that they came from the Medway, I could almost hear the songs, or so I thought, shame on me for stereo typing!  Theatre Royal are a breath of fresh Power Pop that doesn't fail but to give a fantastic audible experience.


I think that Theatre Royal are going to become well played around here and I haven't even found my way through their whole back catologue and I already love them!


Stream and buy the single here (and check out the back catologue) Bandcamp

Contact, befriend, follow, like and love Theatre Royal here: Facebook

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