We get sent stuff constantly, then we hear stuff reviewed on other sites, played on the radio, recommended by friends and as this deluge of sound falls on us we try and make sense of it. Fighting Boredom has decided with absolutely no demand whatsoever to review the last fortnights tracks in the pub, sharing a single pair of earbuds as the photographer forgot his and writing our thoughts down. We have missed hundreds of records so if you want, get in touch and tell us what we missed. So with the help of beer and the promise of a home made pinball machine on the table after we have finished we give you Fighting Boredom’s view of the tracks from the break of the year until Friday the 13th.
M83 – Oceans Niagara
A synth driven electro tune, according to the photographer it’s okay, just a bit wet. I like the shiny lushness better than him We agree that it’s not too bad. Not an auspicious start but a new journalistic honesty is going to prevail in this column. From the forthcoming album Fantasy.
The long, long awaited new music from Everything But the Girl, who’s last music was a hit with the photographer. We both love the way her voice has matured but the music seems to just carry on from the drum and bass beats on Missing as if there hasn’t been a gap. But there has. So maybe we expected something else. We will be waiting to see what comes next.
I was adamant that we would listen to everything we got sent so this pop song is played. It’s a sixties tinged pop rock stomp that I can listen to happily. The photographer however states that it’s horrible and to stop now.
The photographer thought it was an okay indie tune, nice and jingly jangly but that it lost it at the end. I liked the whole feel of it, it is indie and it’s fuzzy grumpiness made me smile. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the end of it either.
The photographer, it’s Iggy, if you like Iggy it’s going to be a winner innit. I completely agree but would like to say that this is by no means the best song on the album, it just seems to be a calculated move to get a Stooges reference in yet again…
I liked the laid back groove and the pretty much spoken lyrics. The photographer summed it up with a bit dull but not unpleasant.
I thought this static drenched folk horror slice of music was excellent, the photographer thought it was a bit odd but again not unpleasant.
Neither of us like this much, it’s summed up by the photographer as mind blowingley dull indie, I don’t disagree.
This is noisy and nasty and we both liked it. Photographer thought that is was a bit Mogwai then went weird then completely different then different again. We both want to hear more so it’s fortuitous that I have the album to review.
This is a Ramstein cover and bearing in mind that neither the photographer or I are Ramstein fans this is pretty damn good. It’s got a black metal influence. It’s repetitive and cool and the photographer sums up with it’s Norwegian folky and doomy.
Not very impressed by this one, not overly interesting, we agreed that it’s not very good wet indie, mainstream and boring. For the record, neither of us has anything against wet indie but this isn’t agood example.
I like this more than the photographer, who just described it as dreadful. It’s not dreadful in my opinion, it’s decent jittery pop music.
This is a nice slice of proper old school indie, Summed up by the photographer as eighties electronic, Sarah Records dribbley indie. Which is quite apt really – if you like that sort of thing you will love this.
Interesting samples at the start and a nice drone and tipping beat meets a high pitched vocal dreamily full on. The photographer describes it as not great wonky. It is also seven minutes long so I think the idea is stretched a little.
This is excellent. Good Black Metal. Noisy and loud and just good. This is fourteen minutes long and could be twice that as far as we are concerned. Bear in mind that this whole thing is written by one person, Ravenna, but then performed by a choir and it just seems even better.
This is a reworking of Marlene Dietrich’s 1950s ode to Berlin, and as such there’s nothing inherently wrong with it, except, it’s alright. A bit dreary, which I’m sure is the point, but it’s not grabbing either of our attention.
Veteran US Punks release an ace album and this is the single. A Punky protest groove with chanting, cool guitars and whiney singing. I love it. However it’s overproduced with a touch of the Green Days middle aged metal.. according to the photographer.
This is a full on wonky masterpiece. Nasty controlled beats and a croaky almost lost voice talking the language of the cracked and lost. Agreed between us that it’s the best of the lot.
After the last track this is, in the photographers words, more dreariness. It feels lazy which is probably the point but doesn’t really grab me either.
They’re right, nothing ever does change. Indie. The photographer throws his hands up in the air and shakes his head.
Now this is just a bit bonkers. It has a jolly jaunty nonsense groove but then gets angrier. A post-punk cool track.
This nearly won it. An all female Heavy Metal band from Japan who make asn immense metal sound. I imagine seeing these live would be brilliant. To sum it up, here’s the photographers last word, speedy Japanese nonsense but brilliant.
There you go, the first singles column for 2023, expect this every fortnight. I’m not saying you’ll get it but we will do our best.
Best track is Mimi Banks.
Let us know what you think
Here’s the Spotify playlist..
All words by Adrian Bloxham and Martin Ward
