Helen Love – ‘Power On, Go!’ (Alcopop! Records)

Helen Love – ‘Power On, Go!’ (Alcopop! Records)

Four years on since ‘Smash Hits’, any fans will be relieved to know that little has changed in the dayglo world of Helen Love. No introspective, bleak dramas or unwelcome ballads. If anything, this album is more in your face, relentlessly upbeat and frenetic. The usual lyrical suspects are here; Ramones, glitter pop, radios and plastic.

 

In the current climate, this is quite a relief. No mention of the ‘real’ world, you can lose yourself in Helen’s bold, primary colour land. ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’ (not that one) is jubilant; “I’m in love and it feels so good”. I’m glad someone’s happy! It’s a rarity nowadays. Single ‘Debbie Takes Control Of The Radio’ comes on like a bubblegum Sputnik, complete with ‘Pump It Up’ sample. ‘Jackie’ has a riff to make Johnny Ramone smile, ‘Dead In My Head’ has a suitably Buzzcocks intro, while ‘Sandra Dee’ waxes lyrical about Ms Newton John.

 

‘Power Of The Music’ is like a kids’ birthday party full of those lovely old E numbers, on a trampoline. And it references ‘Shout It Out Loud’. ‘Star’ is equally nuts; “we love the way you dance in your plastic pants like a New York Doll”. ‘You Wear Your Hair Long’; “like Joey Ramone”. Obviously. What else were you expecting? ‘On My Own’ condenses a Duncan Reid album into one song.

 

Helen Love clearly makes music because she loves it. It won’t win over doubters, or Radiohead fans, but that’s not the point. If you want an escape from grim reality, this is what the doctor ordered.

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Author: Martin Chamarette

 

 

 

TOKKY HORROR (ex-Queen Zee) Sign To Alcopop! Records – Debut Single ‘Girlracer’ Out Now

TOKKY HORROR (ex-Queen Zee) Sign To Alcopop! Records – Debut Single ‘Girlracer’ Out Now

TOKKY HORROR (ex-Queen Zee) Sign To Alcopop! Records

Crash “Hyper-Masculine” Cultural Spaces On Debut Single ‘Girlracer’ Out Now

Liverpool/London collective TOKKY HORROR are pleased to announce they have signed to Alcopop! Records. Their debut single ‘Girlracer’ is out now and available to stream and purchase on all good DSPs.

 

Completed by joint-vocalists Mollie Rush and Ava Akira, the trio form the hotly-anticipated new project from ex-Queen Zee vocalist Zee Davine, marking a stark change in musical direction from Davine’s former outfit.

Commenting on the new project, Davine says: “For me, ‘Girlracer’ is a joyous return to the fun of creating and making music after falling out of love with it. The experience of creating Tokky Horror has helped me address what my priorities are with my creativity, and how I wish and need to express myself. Sonically we had no idea what we would sound like, except we wanted it to be intense, visceral and cathartic.”

Inspired by artists like Dennis Lyxzen (Refused, International Noise Conspiracy)—who has spoken and written in depth about wanting to create punk music for the present generation, instead of simply mimicking bands from the ‘60s and ‘70s—and Liam Howlett of The Prodigy— who would refuse to pinpoint their specific sound—culturally-speaking, the new material carries on where Queen Zee left off, by crashing headlong into traditionally less diverse spaces and firmly planting the flag for the LGBTQ+ community.

 

“I wanted to find my own sound, and my own way of expressing myself, that takes from all of our influences across dance culture, psychedelia and punk,” explains Davine of the process. “Lyrically the song addresses hyper-masculine spaces (which is very often dance culture itself) and inserts Tokky Horror with confidence. Girlracer’s unashamed appreciation of fast cars and loud music is a tongue-in-cheek to every boy who thinks they’re better than us.”

 

Written and recorded by TOKKY HORROR, ‘Girlracer’ was produced and mixed by Zee Davine, and mastered by Stephen Cole at WHAT STUDIO, Liverpool.

 

Hailed as LGBTQ+ icons in the making, and touted as “the next Iggy Pop” by Iggy Pop and Debbie Harry on the 2019 GQ Awards red carpet, with multiple BBC Maida Vale sessions and a raft of press and radio support under their belts Queen Zee announced their unexpected shock split following the release of their debut album in October 2019.

 

Over the space of their short career they appeared at Glastonbury Festival, Reading & Leeds, Download, Latitude, Rebellion, Kendal Calling, Beautiful Days and more, and toured alongside Marmozets, Dream Wife, Skunk Anansie, and The Zutons.

 

TOKKY HOROR will be revealing further details and announcing more new music over the coming months.

 

Girlracer is out now on Alcopop! Records

TOKKY HORROR online: Facebook / Twitter 

 

DBOY – New Records In Human Power (Alcopop! Records (UK) & Dine Alone Records (CAN))

DBOY – New Records In Human Power (Alcopop! Records (UK) & Dine Alone Records (CAN))

Dboy are a bunch of low slung masked maniacs ripping the balls out or early Turbonegro, Deadboys, and Dwarves. Instantly recognisable and equally as disturbing, this Canadian trio has a 13 point program to end sonic austerity. Dboy is here and now!

 

Hot on the heels of last year’s  ‘Ass Cobra’, uhhhh, I mean ‘Prove Your Love – Live in Belem’, Dboy blast into 2020 with ‘ New Records In Human Power’, a collection of 12 tasty chunks of filth and fury. Recorded by the legendary (?!!?) Steve Albini and presented here on super hot splatter vinyl. This thing is rough, raw and ready to fuck your world.

 

Screaming out of the blocks, ‘Why Do You Only Luv a Dboy’ is 54 seconds of pure skull-cracking fun. No time wasted baby, just a pounding riff and a razor-sharp hook. That said, by comparison, the opening tune is an epic compared to the 25 seconds of ‘Thumbless’ and 32 seconds of ‘Gimps Don’t Limp’. Fist in the air, balls to the wall stuff. This stuff will rip it up live when the band stumbles into your local sweaty shit hole club.

 

‘Performance Horses’ breaks the minute barrier, even with its false start. Boasting a great angular riff serving as its hook, it kind of puts you in mind of an evil Hives. Tasty stuff.

 

None of the tunes hang around for long. It’s straight out of their brain and into your pants !!!

 

Lead video track ‘Red Ultrglide’ is a regular 2-minute tune that’s anything but regular. It shines like a fallen star caught in the gutter. I guess you could say it’s a bit Lux Interior murders Bleach era Nirvana-ish but hell it even has a key change. None sexier.

 

‘DBoy Sells’ is the sound of the Devil’s beat group, taking us all to the halfway point of ‘New Records In Human Power ‘ within 6 minutes of the needle first caressing the vinyl

 

I like ‘Scavangers Of Luv’ a lot. You can feel the twang of the knee level bass. Fuck it, I’m listening to this one again. “Oh here we go again, the dboys of your heart, The perfect candidates to tear your city apart”. Fuck yeah. ‘Money Talks’ carries the torch in the same vein. We’ve broken the 2-minute barrier again. This must be the prog side ‘coz there’s even time for a guitar solo on this bad boy !!!

 

‘Full On’ spits out tales of sex, violence and stylish clobber, while ‘Hips’ is a full-on call to arms. No verse – chorus – verse – chorus here, just a gut level lyrical assault. Another stand out tune in a pound shop treasure trove of dirty dirty RocknRoll.

 

Turbo has it in blue, The Hip Priests have it in black but Dboy have their ‘White Denim’. Full force and ferocious but hitting the spot again.

 

‘Love Will Always Find You’ brings down the final curtain with a mega Ramones blast. Short and sweet, blink and it’s gone…… but not forgotten.

 

There are only 300 copies of this bad boy on splatter so get in there quick or pay over the odds when it hits Discogs.

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Buy ‘New Records In Human Power’ Here

 

Author: Fraser Munro