‘Mixed Messages’ is the first single from the solo EP with the same name by drummer and songwriter Guy Pek. The song sounds like a combination of a vintage ‘Beatlesque’ sound with South American percussion and vocals reminiscent of Elliott Smith. ‘Mixed Messages’ sounds summery and cheerful, but if you listen carefully it is full of complexity. So are the lyrics: they deal with the challenges an extreme introvert encounters on the love path.

In terms of songwriting Guy draws inspiration from the late Elliott Smith, though in his production we hear a touch of the Motown era and the use of African percussion, reminiscent of Graceland by Paul Simon. Sometimes Pek’s melodies take a turn, and we can hear the echo of Frank Zappa, and to a lesser degree Steely Dan. 

‘Mixed Messages’ was written and recorded in the lockdown. Besides producing and mixing, Pek also played all the instruments himself. The single had been released on Friday August 6 and can now be ordered via the Gentlemen webshop and it can be heard on your favorite music platform!

Go check out ‘Mixed Messages’!

‘Mixed Messages’ is now available as a digital single in our webshop. Or check it out on Spotify or YouTube:

Stranglehold is the second single from the upcoming EP by dutch alternative rockband Grenadeers. The song deals with the familiar story of not fitting in, being casted out, trying to serve an environment that doesn’t serve you.

The band draws on first hand experience, as frontman Siep van Rijswijk was a highschool dropout and had troubles to find his way within the educational system. Eventually he found a safe harbour in music, and the song reflects the feeling of empowerment this brought about. 

A song for all the misfits
‘Stranglehold’ poses critique on how society deals with eccentric people: they’re perceived as an inconvenient disruption within the general course of affairs. But most of all, Stranglehold is a song for all the misfits.

This new track is the successor to the successful first single ‘Single Filter Exit’, which received very good critical acclaim, and which, among other things, spent weeks at the top of the IndieXL Free40 Chart and could count on airplay in England and Australia.

Go check ‘Stranglehold’ out!

“Stranglehold” is now available as a digital single in our webshop. Or check it out on Spotify or YouTube:

After the successful single ‘Nomad’, synthpop artist L’Asset now releases her second single of the year: “Even-Uneven”. A personal story in a light danceable track.

With ‘Even-Uneven’ L’Asset wants to give the listener a look inside her head and thereby draw attention to neurodiversity and resilience. She shows how she is constantly looking for balance, how she sometimes finds it and sometimes loses it, and how she tries to convert that into strength. As difficult as that is.

“Because everyone is different, everyone is equal. It may seem cliché, but it is a truism. Because it is precisely this diversity that connects us.”

With this track, L’Asset shows the contrast in her head between being completely sure one moment and being unsure the next moment. Between ups and downs, chaos vs. rest and everything in between. Something that is not always visible. With ‘Even-Uneven’, L’Asset shows that it exists and wants to help others.

“I now know that I am resilient and that I can get up again when things are not going well. That is why ‘Even-Uneven’ has become a powerful, but light-hearted single. I hope I can let the listeners know that they are not alone, that they can fully embrace and love themselves. I want to make neurodiversity more open to discussion because we are all worth it.”

L’Asset has managed to pour this heavy subject into a beautiful positive melody, which makes the single immediately appealing. ‘Even-Uneven’ is idiosyncratic, light-hearted and danceable. The single had been released by on July 9th.

Go check it out!

“Even-Uneven” is now available as a digital single in our webshop. Or check it out on Spotify or YouTube:

Barely a year ago indie/funk/pop band Big Baby was born. After two summery funky pop songs and a rawer winter single, the band brought sunny tunes again on June 25: “Let’s Do It Again”.

“Let’s Do It Again” was born and elaborated in studios around the world. It was eventually perfected to perfection in London, to be distributed around the world on Friday 25 June.

A danceable summer single with a positive vibe
The release of this stamper of a danceable summer track does not entirely coincide with the European Championship football, and therefore has an international sound that will appeal to everyone who loves football or the summer. In addition, the positive vibe of the single, especially in the current Corona period, offers a relief. Perhaps it will be the single with which better times are going to be celebrated worldwide.

Go check it out!

‘Let’s Do It Again’ is now available as a digital single in our webshop. Or check it out on Spotify or YouTube:

French post-punk band Versari have returned with a four track EP featuring three incarnations of single ‘Brûle’, including a remix by renowned producer Gareth Jones (Depeche Mode, Einstürzende Neubauten, Wire, Erasure).

Brûle, a menacing bass-heavy album standout, has been reimagined, remastered and shortened, and cuts deep to the heart of who Versari are. The EP also includes a remix by Erica Nockalls (The Wonder Stuff) as well as a School Daze remix of ‘Des Images’.

The evolution of Versari is one of continuous propulsion. Their dark brooding sound, sits faultlessly against the seductive backdrop of Paris’ ‘City of Light’; a contrast of cultures, colliding to beautiful effect.

The UK release of their second album Sous la Peau in November 2020, saw their abrasive post-punk sound, and ambitiously painful literary outpourings, gain admiration from tastemakers and fans alike. 

Go check it out!

‘Brûle’ is now available as a digital EP in our webshop. Or check it out on Spotify:

After gaining fame as a violinist for The Proclaimers and The Wonder Stuff, Erica Nockalls went solo in 2013. After five years of silence, she releases the single ‘I Know (feat. Jah Wobble)’.

‘I Know’ is a song of self-realization: a confession of one’s own demise. A dark atmosphere is palpable, but accompanied by bittersweet lyrics, set up with a powerful voice. A very captivating single, with a story that you will want to keep listening to.

Thanks to Jah Wobble (Public Image Ltd. / Invaders Of The Heart) the single has been made even more captivating. The tones of ‘violin drones’, the moreish beats and killer dub bass lines lure the listener in to sombre euphoria.

Erica’s conservatoire training as a violinist and vocalist are evident, but not defining. She chooses danger and experimentation with her violin, making it a tool of creation, rather than accompaniment.

Go check it out!

‘I Know’ is now available as a digital single in our webshop. Or check it out on Spotify:

Today The Celtic Social Club released a new, two-part single: with side A ‘The Edge Of The World’ and side B ‘For Real’.

Two-part single the magic recipe

Always looking for the ideal formula to unify pop, rock, folk and traditional music, The Celtic Social Club seems to be approaching the magic recipe on these first two extracts from their new album Dancing Or Dying?, which will be released in October 2021. Two deliberately pop-rock titles that invite you to a dancing optimism and a fierce energy to face the post-lockdown world.

Side A
Between heroic guitars, new-wave rhythm and torrid gavotte (traditional Breton dance.), ‘The Edge Of The World’ takes you in four minutes of raw energy. “It’s the present moment that counts ” proclaims their singer, Dan Donnelly  “Forget the past and don’t worry about the future, because there will be no turning back!”. A fierce optimism with a deliberately pop-rock sound where the seven Franco-Irish encourage us to “not fear the edge of the world”.

Side B
‘For Real’ could be seen as a mix of Dexys Midnight Runners and The Beatles. The violins of the first, the vocals and stirring melodies of the second. The seven Franco-Irish people claim loud and clear that when the world kicks back into action, they will be ready… ‘For Real’!

Go check it out!

‘For Real’ is now available as a digital single in our webshop. Or check it out on Spotify:

Today Americana / Soulsinger Jack Francis released his single ‘Wild Eyes’. It is his third single this year. Is there an album coming?

A love song

‘Wild Eyes’ is about falling in love. The early stages of infatuation and realisation that what you’re feeling is more than just a fleeting crush.

In little over a year, Jack Francis went from playing his unique brand of Soulful Folk at small local gigs in his hometown of Southampton, to appearing at major UK festivals such as the Isle Of Wight, Victorious and Stone Free Festival at the O2 Arena.

Two Jack Francis singles had been released by Gentlemen Recordings before: ‘A Little Love’ and ‘Silver Lining’. Both has got a big international reach, with +22K and +10K Spotify streams. Now it is up to ‘Wild Eyes’ to make the world a little more soul and Americana.

Go check it out!

‘Wild Eyes is now available as a digital single in our webshop. Or check it out on Spotify:

Today alternative rock band Grenadeers released their single “Single Filter Exit”. It is the second single of the forthcoming EP, which is planned for this summer.

A single in a post-apocalyptic scene

The song is set in a post-apocalyptic scene, in which none of the Paris Agreement’s long term climate goals were met. The band deals with the question on how they would look back on the times we live in now, while searching their own conscience as well. They wonder if they were also guiltly, standing in the midst of it all without truly grasping the width of the problem because they were absorbed by their daily worries. It’s not a comfortable notion, and in this song there’s no happy end. But it is an honest reflection of what occupies the band’s minds in these turbulent times.

Lyric video

A lyric video also came with the track, where images are shown in the background that fit the realms of climate change. Not an easy subject, but good to face, says Grenadeers.

The first single was about the fact that social media is taking over too much of our lives, and at the same time we are not very social and not looking around at things that really matter. In this way the band tries to draw attention to a social problem in every song.

Go check it out!

“Single Filter Exit” is now available as a digital single in our webshop. Or check it out on Spotify or YouTube:

Irish indie band Cronin has been busy during these corona times. They released mini album A View From The Next Door (with remixes of old songs), played with U2 and Glen Hansard in Ireland’s The Late Late Show special to raise money for The Simon Community, and appeared in the Julien Temple Documentary ‘Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan’. Now they come up with new work for the first time in two years: ‘Bank of Love’.

A love song that you can wash the dishes to

Mick Cronin about the process: “This was one of the first songs we started jamming to get the juices flowing after not seeing each other for 3 months when the first lockdown was lifted last year. We wanted to get back to the feeling of being a young band playing songs in a garage.

We were listening to a lot of Lou Reed’s Transformer, Richard Hawley, Jarv Is. We started it the night Scott Walker died and it took another form with the pandemic. A love song that you can wash the dishes to.”

Bank of Love was recorded at Transmission Rooms, Drumlish, Co Longford by Mick Cronin. Mixed by Ger McDonnell (U2, Manic Street Preachers) and Mastered by Richard Dowling at WAV Mastering, Limerick. It is the first single from the new album, scheduled to be released in mid-2021. This will be the second album after the critically acclaimed debut album The First Kiss of Love.

A few nice words on Cronin:

“Touches of Neil Diamond, Nick Cave, Richard Ashcroft.”

Steve Lamacq, BBC Radio 6

“Pure Celtic Soul.” 

Shane MacGowan, The Pogues 

Go check it out!

‘Bank of Love’ is now available as a digital single in our webshop. Or check it out on Spotify: