Tag Archives: garage

This week’s featured artist: New York neo-glam band, Dream Pony – debut single ‘Bikini Vision’

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‘Bikini Vision’ is the debut single from New York-based neo-glam band, Dream Pony, who recently got in touch saying:

“We stumbled on your blog because you’ve covered a lot bands we dig.”

I get an awful lot of emails like this, of course, but as soon as I played the video I was immediately drawn to that heady blend of garage rock meets glammed-up New York punk meets timeless pop. They rightly surmised that they’d be the perfect fit for Darren’s Music Blog so we here we are. They are not wrong.

Dream Pony: “Dream Pony draw on cinematic themes and are rooted in the poetic condition of the everyday.”

“Bikini Vision is a fuzzed out beach pop anthem celebrating personal expression and body appreciation. This recording takes us on a ride through Brooklyn on hot Summers day. Songwriter D’Arsie paints a picture of a character in search of an escape from the heat and the ensuing delirium, blissfully in love with life and able to see beauty in everyone and everything. Bikini Vision has both crisp, blown out guitars, killer drum fills driving bass, swirling organs and cruisy backing vocals. Somewhat equal parts Iggy Pop sarcasm and Rowland S Howard irony.”

Dream Pony were formed in late 2022 by singer-songwriter and poet Jordan D’Arsie (from NYC proto-punk combo Women of the Night) and Aaron Mika (from the band Televisionaries). The pair were then  joined by Supremo Massiv on bass, from another NYC outfit Revel in Dimes.

‘Bikini Vision’ released 18th August 2023

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089010656323

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/dreamponydream.

Rock/garage/punk: album review – Metro Velour ‘Hey You’

Album reviews, Rock music, , , , , , ,

This review was originally published by Get Ready To Rock here

Based in the small picturesque village of Montauroux in the Côte d’Azur region of the south of France, Metro Velour are an old school garage punk band. The four-piece is composed of Sebastian Smith (rhythm guitar and vocals), Louis Chevallier (lead guitar), J B Caramellino (drums) and Nico Pasqual (bass). While the latter three are all French, the front-man, Sebastian Smith, is actually an old English rocker whose been around the music scene a long, long time – ever since he formed his first band in 1959, aged 17!

Now in his mid 70s, Smith still clearly has rock n roll in his blood. “Most of the music today is a complete pile of crap,” muses Smith in the documentary on the band’s YouTube site. “The stuff today just pisses me off so much and I thought hell. Let’s get rock ‘n’ roll back where it should be.”

While plenty of us following Get Ready To Rock will counter that music today is not all X Factor and manufactured pop and that there are decent new rock bands about if you look that bit harder, nevertheless you cannot fault Smith’s (and the rest of the band’s) enthusiasm in pursuing their mission.

‘Hey You’ is the band’s debut album. Sound-wise, there’s definitely a flavour of US garage/punk acts like The Stooges, The New York Dolls and The Ramones but there’s also the spirit of British punk in there, too, particularly on account of Smith’s vocals and tongue-in-cheek lyrics (‘I’m in love with those dirty girls…’).

The songs are catchy and well-written and the band are tight and together. You may struggle to believe that this was recorded in 2018, not 1978. But if you fancy a bit of old-school punk blasting out of your speakers this album is well worth checking out.

https://www.facebook.com/www.metrovelour.fr/

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