After a bit of an excursion with our Green Man special last time around, it’s back to regular proceedings with this edition of Pulse; no theme, just lots of new music with no particular place to go except right in your brains through your ears. So, open them ear holes wide and let all this new music inside.
If you’re not familiar with Pulse (where the fuck have you been?), then it be the good ship Cultured Vultures’ new music feature in which we aim to improve your lives with awesome new music you might not have come across. Feel free to look back on the first few volumes (ONE, TWO, THREE), if you haven’t already. Otherwise, let’s focus on this edition and get amongst it!
Zinc Bukowski
If you take Zinc Bukowski’s hometown of Pontypridd and combine it with my hometown of Tonypandy, you’d get Pontypandy, the hometown of Fireman Sam. However, that information has fuck all to do with fuck all. On to actual valuable information, Zinc Bukowski are a south Wales trio that have been doing the rounds for a little while now, and making a right old racket in the process.
They’ve just now gone on a wee break to get some new rackets down for a new album, so what better time to check in with them to get up to speed and on board for when they make their live return later this year, with new tunes in tow. Speaking of tunes, Zinc Bukowski dish out a slathering of abrasion, distortion, and melodic contortion, as they channel the noisy spirits of Sonic Youth, Melvins, Fugazi, and The Fall, among others. It’s all post-punk, rock’n’roll, feedback and grooves.
Kiran Leonard
I have three distinct problems with Kiran Leonard; he is younger than me, he is more talented than I am, and he is younger than me and more talented than I am. Old-before-my-time-bitterness aside, Kiran Leonard really is very talented, and young. Last year saw him release his album Bowler Hat Soup (though he’s self-released a shitload more), upon which he played all the instruments, weird and wonderful as they were.
To focus on what really counts here, the music, Leonard writes blends of folk, singer-songwriter, psychedelia, music hall, country, chamber-pop, prog, jazz, indie, and pretty much anything you can think of to be honest. Kaleidoscopic gets bandied around a lot, and I do a lot of that bandying myself (I fucking love the word), but Leonard’s music really is as if little diamonds from innumerable genres slide over one another at any one time.
Bloody Knees
It’s been a while since I last bloodied my knees, it was drunkenly falling down the electric cliff railway of Aberystwyth’s Constitution Hill one night. However, Bloody Knees are the kind of band that make you want to get your knees bloody. In a very good way. The four piece hail from Cambridge, and when they hit their instruments together they make a ruckus that you could describe as scuzz-punk, skater, lo-fi, emo, and a bunch of other brand names like that.
The band recently released their newest EP in the shape of Stitches, which you’d ideally need afterwards if you gave it a listen and let loose, because it’s chock full of noisy, adrenaline fuelled fuzz that’s catchy as fuck to boot. It’s real just let it all out and have a good time doing so noise.
The Planets Collide
I came across The Planets Collide courtesy of Violet Swells (whose EP I reviewed recently and raved like a madman about it) as one of their members recorded The Planets Collide’s debut EP. It’s not hard to see why, as there’s a definite crosspollination between these two, but whilst Violet Swells get their psychedelic on from the ground up, The Planets Collide is very much adrift in space from the get go.
The solo venture of musician Stephen Dunham, but sounding like so much more than just a man. As The Planets Collide Dunham creates space rock soundscapes in pop song soundbites, with a bunch 90s indie/dance swagger thrown into the mix for good measure. It all brings to mind the likes of Spacemen 3 and Primal Scream in their prime, with a touch of shoegaze, except it’s more like stargaze.
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