Tag: York UK

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Elanor Moss Shares Autumnal “Again, My Love”

London-based singer/songwriter Elanor Moss grew up in a very creative, devoutly Catholic family — and she can trace the origins of her career to playing music at church events. Homeschooled through early youth, her parents put an emphasis on nature, reading and music.

Eventually leaving the faith, Moss started writing her own original songs in York, where she studied English Literature and played open mics around the city. During her studies, she discovered Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and The Beatles.

Shortly, after graduation, Moss met producer Oli Deakin, who offered to record her debut EP, 2022’s Citrus. Her work with Deakin took her to NYC, where she began forging a sense of community.

Between the release of Citrus EP and her sophomore EP, 2023’s Cosmic, Moss toured with Christian Lee Huston, Benjamin Francis Leftwich and LYR, and played one-off shoes with Cassandra Jenkins, CMAT and Sam Amidon. And adding to a growing profile, she played sets at Pitchfork London, Green Man Festival, Mosley Folk and a list of others.

The rising London-based artist recently signed to Merge Records, who recently released “Again, My Love,” the first bit of new material from Moss since 2023’s Cosmic EP — and it’s a preview of more new music in 2026. Featuring a gorgeous, autumnal arrangement of strummed acoustic guitar and muted horns, accompanied by Moss’ haunting delivery, “Again, My Love” finds the London-based artist contemplating life’s transitions and the heartache of loss while allowing room for growth, understanding and transformation.

“It’s a song that reflects on change, the nature of change being something that requires you to lose things, and that’s okay, and actually really good. I wrote it when I was really having a rough time,” Moss says. “I was living a troubadour existence for the past couple of years, flitting between different places, and the uncertainty of that way of living was really getting to me. I think that one is a song for me, that I was trying to make a bit more universal.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Born to Welsh and Polish parents in Stoke-On-Trent, the rising British singer/songwriter and guitarist Benjamin Belinska relocated to Newcastle when he turned 17. He didn’t settle in Newcastle for very long; eventually he drifted around Europe, spending stints in Glasgow, Berlin, and Paris, supporting himself through a series of menial jobs, ranging from museum cleaner to estate gardener. During that period. he wrote music on borrowed guitars and stolen notebooks, garnering praise from the French press and the BBC along the way.

While in Paris, Belinska met E.A.R. and the duo started the band Paris, Texas, which released two Kramer-produced albums before deciding to relocate to Newcastle together. Two things happened to Belinksa, which may have altered the course of his life:

“Rushing to get a connection, I left a suitcase in York station. It was never recovered. Most of the early songs disappeared,” Belinska says in press notes. “Some months later, I was walking from home work and was randomly assaulted by a gang of four in broad daylight. During the recovery, I decided to stop drifting once and for all. As a first gesture, I would record a new album.”

The new album Belinska recorded, his solo, full-length debut Lost Illusions was released earlier this year, and the album’s first single, the Palace Winter-like “Young in Baltimore” reveals a songwriter, who can pair breezy and shimmering radio friendly soft rock, earnest, lived-in songwriting and an unerring knack for crafting an infectious, pop-leaning hook. But underneath the song’s breezy radio friendliness, is an achingly bittersweet lament evoking the inevitable and unstoppable passage of time, of nostalgia for seemingly simpler times, the uneasy compromises that every adult has to make and live with, the forced upon conformity to make a living and survive.

“The song is about regret, nostalgia and conformity,” Belinska said in an email. “It was inspired by Robert Frank’s photo-book The Americans and The Magnetic Fields. I played and recorded it myself and it was mixed and mastered by Giles Barrett and Simon Trought at Soup Studio, London.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Jay Sillence (vocals), Max Watt (guitar, vocals), Dani Barge (bass) and Dom Smith (drums), the up-and-coming York, UK-based hardcore metal act SEEP AWAY cite Black Flag, Cancer Bats, Bongripper, Turnstile, God Damn, Soulfly and Marilyn Manson as influences on their sound and approach. And in a relatively short period of time, the York-based quartet have begun to develop a reputation for being one of the region’s hardest working bands — and for a sound that may remind many listeners to Follow the Leader-era Korn and others.

Building on a growing profile, the band’s debut effort, The Blackened Carnival of Societal Ineptitude is slated for an early 2018 release, and the album’s first single is an explosive and feral cover of what may arguably be one of the greatest songs in the history of hip-hop — Ol’ Dirty Bastard‘s “Shimmy Shimmy Ya.” And I suspect that it would make ODB very proud while being mosh pit worthy.

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of two early demos “Take It Easy” and “Maybe Next Year,” the Brighton, UK/London, UK/York, UK-based indie rock trio  Johnny Kills, comprised of siblings Tim (guitar, vocals) and Lewis Lloyd Kimmings (bass, keys, vocals), and their best friend and Cameron Gipp (guitar, vocals), quickly received attention across the blogosphere and elsewhere for a sound that draws from surf rock, garage rock and Brit pop. Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the summer or the rest of the blogosphere, you’d likely know that the past few months have been incredibly busy for the band as they’ve released their official debut “Let’s Talk About Me,” and two follow-up singles “My Shirt Guy Is High” and “End Game” with drummer Fin S. Woolfson, and each of those singles have managed to cement the up-and-coming trio’s reputation for crafting anthemic, guitar-led pop that focus on the cluelessness, anxieties and uncertainties of being in your early 20s and trying to maneuver — well, everything.

“Not So Bad,” continues in a similar vein as its predecessors as it’s an anthemic power chord driven song delivered with an ironic, self-awareness of one’s own futility and ridiculousness. This shouldn’t be surprising as the band’s Tim Kimmings explains in press notes, “‘Not So Bad’ is about ridiculous conversations you have with your friends at the end of a drunken night. Putting the world to rights, arguing about dumb things, “genuine” epiphanies or just chatting shit. Safe in the knowledge that nothing will have changed in the morning”

 

New Audio by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of siblings Tim (guitar, vocals) and Lewis Lloyd-Kinnings (bass, keys, vocals) and their best friend and spiritual brother, Cameron Gipp (guitar, vocals), the Brighton, UK/London, UK/York, UK-based indie rock trio  Johnny Kills specialize in a furious, surf rock, garage rock and Brit Pop-inspired indie rock. And with the release of two demos — “Take It Easy” and “Maybe Next Year,” the trio quickly received attention across the blogosphere and elsewhere; in fact, as a result, the trio along with North London-based Fin S. Woolfson (drums), the band recored their latest single “Let’s Talk About Me,” a single which will further develop the young upstarts reputation for crafting songs about being in your early to mid 20s and being absolutely clueless and anxious — about anything and everything. And although it’s been almost two decades since I was in my early 20s, the band’s sound reminds me quite a bit of Blur and others, as it consists of explosive power chords paired with propulsive drumming, and an anthemic, shout worthy hook reminiscent of Blur‘s “Song 2.”

As the band’s Tim Lloyd-Kinnings explains “‘Let’s Talk About Me’ is about the frustrations of hanging out with people, who spend the whole evening talking about themselves, before realizing you kinda just want to talk about yourself too.” As a result, the song’s narrator recognizes that he’s had enough and wants to put his foot down; but he also seems to reveal a stunning lack of awareness of the fact that his friends are selfish, hateful pricks. But regardless of how far some of us are removed from our 20s, the song captures a sentiment that should be familiar, especially if at any point you may have been desperate for some kind of friendship/companionship.