Released earlier this month is the new EP from Frøkedal. Having fronted Norwegian indie band Harry’s Gym and performed a major role with the delightful, I Was A King, Frøkedal continues to pursue the solo route with ‘I See You’ EP. With this latest effort consisting of four tracks, Frøkedal continues her exploration of more traditional elements of music, combined with pop and electronic influences. Such an example gradually bubbles to the surface during the excellent introduction to this EP, ‘Surfers’, that leans on folk music for its main inspiration, but also filters in broader instrumentation, such as use of keyboards, giving it a fuller and more modern sound. Follow up, and title track, ‘I See You’, reaches out to the past and offers a clearer example of traditional folk music, without quite being that as well. Clearly not content to dispose of her past creative works, and rightfully so, Frøkedal produces a clip, cut and then pasted together electronic rhythm that passes through darker waters than anything else present here. With the melancholic and downright beautiful ‘Silhouettes’ adding the final piece in the set, Frøkedal has produced a consistently strong EP that bodes well if, and when, a decision is made to convert this rich form to a full-length album.

More a one man show when you consider the number of roles performed by frontman, Ati Edge (no relation to another famous guitarist), who penned the 11 tracks on offer here, in addition to producing the record and designing the artwork gracing the album’s cover. No doubt tea making duties were also part of his brief when meeting up with fellow bandmates, The Shadowbirds, to record ‘Old Cars, Tattoos, Bad Girls, Wild Guitars’ because his work rate is without doubt impressive. Of course, Ati Edge wouldn’t be complete without Krista Kat on upright bass and Rolee Shine on drums in order to make these songs transmit to a wider audience. The psychobilly label can definitely be applied to this release; evident by the vocals that give the impression of a pre-soak in bourbon, and then left to marinate overnight, before setting to task the next day in a rather gruff manner. This, unfortunately, is also the album’s weakest link because after a period of time it all becomes a bit too much, due to a lack of variation in its overall expression. In its defence, ‘Old Cars, Tattoos, Bad Girls, Wild Guitars’ is an album free of pretence, with the notion that what you see is what you get, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, this particular long player would have best been served as a full instrumental, as this is where its most interesting aspects lie. Look no further than the album’s title track with Ati Edge and The Shadowbirds applying an engaging dark blend to the rhythm playing out this song, which is nicely spiced with a bit of Duane Eddy in terms of the guitar. ‘Let The Guitar Keep On Playin’ also packs a tasty, noirish beat, and offers the most complete song when taking the vocals into account. ‘Baddest Girl In Town’ pricks the interest somewhat with its hint of Stray Cats’ ‘Rock This Town’ during its intro. Once more it’s left to the instruments to grab the headlines with the rhythmically tight instrumental, ‘Hot Rod Racing’. With a little less stiffness in the vocal department, and perhaps a complete shift to an instrumental affair the next time Ati Edge and The Shadowbirds decide to record a follow up to ‘Old Cars, Tattoos, Bad Girls, Wild Guitars’, then the trio from Hungary could have one hell of an album on their hands.

Fine moniker, even finer band. Hailing from the land of Oz, and joining forces for one track (‘Blue Knuckle Ride’) with fellow Aussie musician, Ezra Lee, Hanks Jalopy Demons see their ‘Music On The Up Beat’ released. Closer inspection reveals that this new album is, in fact, a reissue of their previously released Australian only version of the same name Down Under, with the album now receiving wider international distribution. Almost as old as time itself, this four-piece band have been treading the rockabilly circuit for some time, as well as performing in other bands such as Benny and the Fly-By-Niters and the Starliners. With this baggage comes a wealth of experience and evident from the off by recapturing a raw and authentic rockin’ sound. Take the jittery rhythm of ‘Damn Their Hides’, with its paranoid or truthful narrative depending on how one interprets it, but either way this song speaks volumes, “Damn their hides, They’re gonna take you for a ride, Damn their hides, They’re gonna feed you lies”, which could very well be speaking about the industry they find themselves in. It’s a terrific start. More greatness follows with, ‘You Bring Out The Wolf In Me’ that finds lead vocalist, Hank Ferguson, slipping into character and struggling to retain his affections for the other half in his life via some compelling vocals and hints of a definite darker side to this song. If you’re looking for a variety of emotions and topics, then you have come to the right place as ‘Music On The Up Beat’ is littered with them. ‘The Jackal’ and ‘No Shoes’ are two such examples that touch on the darker sides of life once again; both revealing somewhat desperate situations, greatly exemplified by the musicianship and intriguing lyrics. There is even humour afoot during ‘Beat Up ’40s Ford’, sandwiched between two other auto-themed songs (‘Peel Out Baby’ and ‘Blue Knuckle Ride’), that retains an affection for this beat-up truck, despite getting left behind by faster models on the motorway somewhere. It is such songs, as those mentioned, that suggests you could set a cereal box in front of Hanks Jalopy Demons and within a matter of minutes the ingredients from said box of cereal would likely be transformed into an engaging yarn. If further demonstration is required of the inherent skills at the centre of this band, then ‘The Loser’ is perhaps the pick of the crop. Awash in a drunken haze and lost in its own sorrows – part comical where you can visualise the central character almost falling from his barstool after propping up the bar for so long – it’s music that really describe its content to great effect. Not content with leaving it there, Hanks Jalopy Demons show fire in their bellies with the rousing ‘The Pressure’s On’  bringing this long player to a dramatic conclusion. ‘Music On The Up Beat’, most definitely!

Benjamin Finger trades houses once more, and this time with Blue Tapes and X-Ray Records to release his latest album, ‘Amorosa Sensitivia’. Where previous effort, ‘Motion Reverse’ offered more of a cold, bleak world via its often harsh sounding electronica, ‘Amorosa Sensitivia’ is generally one of a calmer ambience that is detailed and pondering, and therefore taking its time before reaching any sort of conclusion. There is a sense of being hard on oneself in addition to the deep thought processes on offer here, with suggestion of creative progression hitting something of a stumbling block in the mind of Benjamin Finger; hence the song titles ‘Headspincrawl’, ‘Waltz in Clay’ et al. Fear not, however, as the mind of this Norwegian artist may be a tad scrambled, but the sounds emanating here suggest a far more cohesive unit, and one that expresses a wild rush of blood to the creative thinking at times. For example, ‘Whirlbrainpoolin’ jolts ‘Amorosa Sensitivia’ with considerable impact, shaking it from its slumber with a concoction of scrambled  instrumentation, utilising the formulaic electronica but with added full band in his repertoire where short, sharp stabs of brass pick their notes, depending on which hot coal they managed to tread on, and let fly in a free jazz form, thus offering a side to this artist that has not been heard before, as far as the plethora of releases issued this year. The follow on, ‘Bum Finger Notes’ rises to its feet via delicate piano and a whisper of electronics in the background, yet the dark textures of the previous ‘Whirlbrainpoolin’ fails to subside due to the occasional twitch of brass instrument dragging this darkened mood to an eventual finale of improvised electric guitar. By closing with ‘Darnskullgreyness, the pale electronica aptly expresses the impassive suggestion of its song title, and provides no clues to the cause(s) of such emotions. Despite ‘Amorosa Sensitivia’ finding Benjamin Finger at a juncture where thoughts weigh heavy, this ‘Waltz in Clay’ of the mind is transformed into a truly fascinating experience where personal creativity is expressed in new ways, and serves as a conduit to the next phase without its creator necessarily fully realising such a progression.

Album number four for indie five-piece Foals, who decided to recruit the services of producer James Ford (Artic Monkeys, Florence + The Machine, Mumford & Sons) to help realise their latest creative processes and thoughts via ‘What Went Down’. What transpires is an examination of a variety of emotions stretched to the extreme in order to test and gain greater understanding; something of which lead singer, Yannis Philippakis alluded to during the album’s construction: “I wanted to tap into my inner madman and feel like I was channelling some sort of fevered creature”. Such words certainly have a ring of truth about them once the album’s title track gathers momentum and draws to a dramatic conclusion with Philippakis bearing his soul.  Despite the intensity of this opening track, the pursuing tracks treads more of a melodic terrain with the soaring tempo of ‘Mountain At My Gates’, and synthpop of ‘Birch Tree’ being two such examples. With the album having been recorded in a 19^th century mill in a rural location in the South of France, the surroundings of such a location no doubt played their part considering the reflective mood of ‘Give It All Away’ and sorrowful yet musically stirring ‘Lonely Hour’, as there is real beauty at the centre of these particular songs. With Foals steadily collecting a number of accolades for their work to date, as well as appearing at festivals around the world and headlining those in the UK, the band look set to raise their profile even further with latest album ‘What Went Down’ because despite the raw intensity and robustness of some of the tracks here, the band retain their poise to serve up a balanced long player that should suit fans of old and appeal to many new admirers.

Jam packed and crammed to the rafters is the compilation album ‘Perfect For Parties 3’. With the odd number of thirty-one tracks of predominantly rockabilly and rhythm and blues making up this compilation album, the decisions made concerning the artists involved no doubt caused a few sleepless nights considering the roster to choose from. By allowing The Rip Em Ups to kick-start this party was definitely the right decision with their piping hot instrumental ‘Killswitch!’. The infectious energy of this opening number permeates to the rest of the album, with the twanging guitar and raw vocals of Crystal & Runnin’ Wild’s ‘You Gotta Go’ really adding to the tempo set, before handing over the baton to the likes of Dale Rocka and the Volcanoes (‘Go Man Go’), The Backseat Boogie (‘Sins and Secrets’) and Marc and the Wild Ones (‘Can’t Stop Lovin’ You’) to keep this particular segment of the party rockin’. A healthy dose of rhythm and blues is added to the mix with the excellent Rusty Pinto and CC Jerome adding much character by way of ‘Mary Lou’, and then followed in similar fashion by Nico Duportal & his Rhythm Dudes (‘When I’m Gone’) and Cherry Casino & the Gamblers (‘Where Can I Put The Junk’). Familiar faces pop up with the longstanding Spo-Dee-O-Dee chipping in with ‘Little Baby of Mine’, and Levi Dexter with ‘Roots Man’, as well as two darker numbers with first, Jittery Jack’s ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’ and followed by Twisted Rod’s obsessional ‘When I Watch You’. The final statement is left to The Sabres and their instrumental ‘Ride The Savage’, which is the perfect demonstration of how to really celebrate this wild rockin’ party in style.