Tag: Indie rock

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Best tunes of 2020: #9 Andy Bell “Love comes in waves”

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Ever since pioneering shoegaze rock band, Ride, called it quits rather spectacularly back in 1995, I’d been firmly planted in camp Mark Gardener in terms of following the post-breakup careers of the two warring principal songwriters and driving forces behind the band. I’d always preferred his voice and with the exception of “Vapour trail“, enjoyed far more the songs he led with Ride. I always thought he’d do greater things. Who knew the opposite would turn out to be true?

Sure, Gardener was the first of the two to record and release a solo album by a long shot. However, Bell seemed to get back on the horse quicker, forming Hurricane #1 in 1996, a band of whom I’ve still only heard a few tracks but who released a couple of reasonably successful albums before breaking up a few years later*. Shortly after that, he was recruited by the Gallagher brothers to replace founding Oasis member Guigsy, a job for which he had to quickly learn the bass. He stuck with them until their rude implosion a decade later** and stayed on with Liam for a couple of albums under the Beady Eye moniker. Fans (and readers of this blog) will know that Ride successfully reunited just over ten years ago and not only toured but have released three amazing new albums that build beautifully on their legacy. There’s also been a host of other collaborations and projects that I know little about or only heard tell of so I won’t list them, but know Mr Bell has been quite active indeed.

And in the midst of all this productivity, Andy Bell has been writing, recording and tinkering with songs, a step away from all of these projects, refining and honing sounds, lyrics and melodies. Apparently, “The view from halfway down” became something more than just a ragtag collection of song snippets shortly after David Bowie’s death, this event lighting a fire under Bell’s comfy chair. As a debut solo album, it works perfectly, recognizable enough as Andy Bell but different enough to set it apart from his other projects. And, yeah, some excellent tracks here.

“If you’re searching for meaning
Or a secret worth revealing
And you’re missing the feeling
Of connection, a reflection back from above
You’re ready to ride the first wave of love”

“Love comes in waves” is the opening number and the lead single from the album, a clarion call, a demand for attention. It’s frenetic jangling guitars repeating and not giving up, pounding it in to you, dancing up and down your spine. Meanwhile, the drums just chug along, breathless and immovable, like the unbreakable ocean that he’s comparing with love. A thing of beauty that creates a space that I would definitely want to revisit again and again, sometimes dancing, sometime just being.

*Hurricane #1 was re-formed by cofounder Alex Lowe without Bell and really, the rest of the original lineup in 2014.

**Of course, he was asked to join them on their wildly successful reunion tour this past summer/fall as well.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2020 list, click here.

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Live music galleries

Live music galleries: No Joy [2025]

No Joy at The 27 Club, October 1, 2025

Artist: No Joy
When: October 1st, 2025
Where: The 27 Club, Ottawa
Context: No Joy is an act that I’ve been waiting to see for well over a decade. Indeed, I had planned to see them in 2015 when they were touring in support of their third album, “More faithful”, and they were hitting a now-defunct local spot that was even more intimate than Wednesday night’s venue*. I purchased the ticket for this latest show back in August, right after I realized that the Oasis show I was supposed to see was not in the cards, that disappointment making me even more determined to not miss No Joy a second time. When I first heard of them, they were a full band but nowadays, the project is mostly the work of Jasamine White-Gluz. For the tour, she has brought Tara McLeod and Liam O’Neill along to bring even more noise. And man, was it loud**. It was a sound that was palpable and filled with texture. Jasamine and Tara shredding away (and I mean SHREDDING) at their guitars and Liam hammering away at the drums. It was a relatively short set and ended early, which suited these aging bones just fine, but it was a fine selection of tunes and included many of my favourites from “Wait to pleasure”, “Motherhood”, and the new one, “Bugland”. I went home buzzing and quite satisfied.
Point of reference song: “Bugland”

Jasamine White-Gluz (aka No Joy)
Tara McLeod helping out on guitars
Liam O’Neill taking care of the beats
Jasamine playing for effect
Liam doing his thing
Tara shredding
Jasamine taking a water break

*Why I missed that show is too embarrassing to recount.

**I was very glad for my earplugs.

Categories
Tunes

Best tunes of 2013: #16 Black Hearted Brother “This is how it feels”

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For a time back at the end of 2013, I found myself listening to nothing but Black Hearted Brother and their debut album, “Stars are our home”.

The album was released in October of that year and took me completely by surprise. At the time, I had pretty much given up on any new material from Mojave 3, and well, forget about Slowdive, and Halstead’s solo work, while excellent, had never been mind-blowing. I hadn’t heard any peep or rumour about any possible new Neil Halstead projects. The only reason I listened to this album at all was that the name, Black Hearted Brother, jumped out at me from the album release pages as one that I fancied. So, yes, the album was a surprise but it was even more so when I first put it on. Indeed, that voice was instantly familiar to me and a quick Google search had me smiling at the discovery.

The term supergroup was bandied about in the press immediately after the release of “Stars are our home” but the album was far from a planned project, really more of a happy accident that came together between friends. Neil Halstead, Nick Holton, and Mark Van Hoen, all had a wealth of prior recording experience between them. They knew what worked and what didn’t. But if you’re a fan of their previous work, don’t go into this album expecting a rehash of any of their respective bands’ classic albums. Rather, it’s a synthesis of what these guys are and do and what they haven’t done before and as a group, seemed to have made a conscious decision with this project to just let go of everything and not let themselves be restricted by their own musical history. In that sense, “Stars are our home” is an experimental album and for me, it’s an experiment that worked wondrously.

When I listen to it still, I picture these guys just having a blast in the studio, just playing with different sounds and not thinking too much about whether any of the songs will make a good single or not. Indeed, you can tell that this is an album that the musicians wanted to make for themselves and nobody else. It feels like a shake up (shake down) to the dream pop scene of the 21st century, their record label, the mighty Slumberland Records, calling it “space-rock/shoegaze/post-everything”. It’s the veterans showing the young pups how it’s done. It’s noisy, electronic, gentle, beautiful, ugly, and delicious. “Stars are our home” rocks*.

There’s certainly plenty to like on “Stars are our home” but “This is how it feels” became an early favourite around these parts and remains so to this day. Never since Spiritualized’s “Ladies and gentlemen, we are floating in space” has a song practically forced me to picture myself orbiting the earth from outer space, encapsulating the feeling of weightlessness and solitude. By times gentle and by times brash, it dances daringly between genres, flitting between folk and synth, splashing bright colours and loud washes over the already blurred lines of psychedelia. It lulls you, lullaby-like, into a false sense of security with its gentle drum rhythm and barely there guitar strums and then, shakes you wide awake at each freakout chorus.

*Unfortunately, “Stars are our home” would turn out to be the one and only release by the project. I’m not even sure they ever did any shows to promote it, though I’m sure these shows would’ve been amazing. Slowdive announced their reunion not long into 2014, taking up the lion’s share of Neil Halstead’s over the last decade or so.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2013 list, click here.