New Soul Punks - UPDATE
As an update – John and the New Soul Punks have been into the studio and recorded some tracks for us – so I figured I should check out how some studio time has affected their stuff!
First track Real One immediately shows how much work has gone into these tracks, it’s a clean and professional sounding mix of acoustic guitar lines and soft bass undertones. The vocals sound almost haunting over the music, the whole mix forming something which doesn’t get you out of your seat or make you jump around, instead sitting you back and making you merely ponder what it is you’re hearing, knowing that whatever it is, it’s good. I really like the chilled out approach to things here, it’s music which you can well imagine playing in the background when you’re with friends or on a car journey, it’s non intrusive but enjoyable to hear.
Renew You follows the same conventions, this time opening with a slightly more upbeat tempo and pace, the whole mix remaining chilled out and laid back but this time with more energy. Once again, things are kept melodic throughout, allowing you to immerse yourself in the music and simply enjoy what’s going on. Personally, this is my favourite track from the selection, and one which I know I’ll be coming back to time and time again to listen to, I can well imagine this being the sort of music which is going to accompany a lot of good times. Superhero riffs aside (read the comments on the track and you’ll understand!), In My Arms is soon upon us, this time opening with an edge of emotion which grabs your attention and pulls you in from the outset. Keeping the bass soft, the guitars clean and adding in an orchestral effect to the background, what you end up with here is a track which matches every single moment of heartache and every moment of happiness from your past. As the track progresses, images flash through your head and you find yourself once again just sitting back thinking wow, this is what music can do!
Closing the selection with a proper recording of Neo City Burn, everything finishes on a high leaving you with a real taste for these guys. The vocals seem to get off to a shaky start on this track, but this is soon sorted and the track takes form, not following natural progression and instead forming into something which you can’t help but want to hear more of, it’s got that ambience which makes you keep listening just to hear what it is going to do next! As a final track it works for me, and leaves me not only happy with what I’ve heard, but wanting to hear more from these guys!
John has mentioned how happy he is with things on this front a few times now so I’ve been looking forward to hearing what they’d come up with, and now I’ve heard it, I’m as impressed as I was before. I love the clean sound which the New Soul Punks have got, it’s just one of those sounds which you can’t get enough of. So I guess it’s fitting to simply finish with the words – More. Please.
First track Real One immediately shows how much work has gone into these tracks, it’s a clean and professional sounding mix of acoustic guitar lines and soft bass undertones. The vocals sound almost haunting over the music, the whole mix forming something which doesn’t get you out of your seat or make you jump around, instead sitting you back and making you merely ponder what it is you’re hearing, knowing that whatever it is, it’s good. I really like the chilled out approach to things here, it’s music which you can well imagine playing in the background when you’re with friends or on a car journey, it’s non intrusive but enjoyable to hear.
Renew You follows the same conventions, this time opening with a slightly more upbeat tempo and pace, the whole mix remaining chilled out and laid back but this time with more energy. Once again, things are kept melodic throughout, allowing you to immerse yourself in the music and simply enjoy what’s going on. Personally, this is my favourite track from the selection, and one which I know I’ll be coming back to time and time again to listen to, I can well imagine this being the sort of music which is going to accompany a lot of good times. Superhero riffs aside (read the comments on the track and you’ll understand!), In My Arms is soon upon us, this time opening with an edge of emotion which grabs your attention and pulls you in from the outset. Keeping the bass soft, the guitars clean and adding in an orchestral effect to the background, what you end up with here is a track which matches every single moment of heartache and every moment of happiness from your past. As the track progresses, images flash through your head and you find yourself once again just sitting back thinking wow, this is what music can do!
Closing the selection with a proper recording of Neo City Burn, everything finishes on a high leaving you with a real taste for these guys. The vocals seem to get off to a shaky start on this track, but this is soon sorted and the track takes form, not following natural progression and instead forming into something which you can’t help but want to hear more of, it’s got that ambience which makes you keep listening just to hear what it is going to do next! As a final track it works for me, and leaves me not only happy with what I’ve heard, but wanting to hear more from these guys!
John has mentioned how happy he is with things on this front a few times now so I’ve been looking forward to hearing what they’d come up with, and now I’ve heard it, I’m as impressed as I was before. I love the clean sound which the New Soul Punks have got, it’s just one of those sounds which you can’t get enough of. So I guess it’s fitting to simply finish with the words – More. Please.
New Soul Punks
We were recently contacted by Mr John Batty about his new project, New Soul Punks, to see what we thought of their stuff and to get some feedback. Always on the look out for new and exciting acts to feature, we jumped at the chance to see what was on offer.
Inspiritus opens acoustic and twangy, laid back yet still managing to create a sound which you want to hear more of to hear what comes next. The track is based around the guitar and vocals with a picked lead line behind everything to add a further depth to proceedings. This version isn’t the final mastered version so it’s not perfect, but I think that’s part of the charm of it to be honest, it’s got that ‘real’ feel to it that shows what the band are capable of. There’s no drums on this track but to be quite honest, I’m not sure they’re needed, it’s got that acoustic feel which is enough on this track, it’s the sort of track you can imagine being released as a b-side version to the official release as it shows how a track was born.
Through These Eyes is another catchy acoustic number, this time adopting more of an upbeat tempo and creating a track which you can imagine being performed in this simple way, just keeping all of the elements basic without adding in unnecessary elements which can so often confuse things. Again the track isn’t perfect in its recording, it’s done very basically but again this seems to add more charm to it, you get that live feeling which is so often lost on a recording. As to the structure of the track itself, it’s relatively basic over all but it works as something you can put on and just kick back to, almost with a bit of a country ballad feeling to things. Neo City Burn on the flip side is a solid ballad through and through, the guitars adopting a soft approach and the vocals continuing this relatively soothing approach to things. I like the different layers of guitar work on this track as they bolster the track further, raising it from a simple acoustic track into something which has more depth and more emotion to it.
The final track I checked out is Holding You In My Arms, a track which opens melodic and catchy then continues on this route throughout. The track itself is once again clean and emotional, once again adding a further depth to things with the different layers of music going on in the background. I think of all of the tracks here this is my personal favourite and the one which I’d be most keen to see a full version of once the band have sorted out some recording time in a studio – it’s got a ballad feel to it yet is also a track which I think could well be tuned up so to speak, but we’ll see how it ends up.
There’s a really solid basis here from the New Soul Punks, and I like that the tracks are in their most basic elements here as it gives them a feeling that this is what you’d get if you were to go out and see them. There’s almost a Foo Fighters Skin and Bones feeling to things, almost as if these tracks could be performed either in this basic manner of acoustic elements or with a more upbeat and rocky tempo – so it will be interesting to see what comes from the band. In the meantime, kick back and check these guys out just to see what you think, I think there could be some divide from people but I personally like hearing music like this as it shows what a band can do.
To find out more about the New Soul Punks, check out their Facebook page HERE.
Inspiritus opens acoustic and twangy, laid back yet still managing to create a sound which you want to hear more of to hear what comes next. The track is based around the guitar and vocals with a picked lead line behind everything to add a further depth to proceedings. This version isn’t the final mastered version so it’s not perfect, but I think that’s part of the charm of it to be honest, it’s got that ‘real’ feel to it that shows what the band are capable of. There’s no drums on this track but to be quite honest, I’m not sure they’re needed, it’s got that acoustic feel which is enough on this track, it’s the sort of track you can imagine being released as a b-side version to the official release as it shows how a track was born.
Through These Eyes is another catchy acoustic number, this time adopting more of an upbeat tempo and creating a track which you can imagine being performed in this simple way, just keeping all of the elements basic without adding in unnecessary elements which can so often confuse things. Again the track isn’t perfect in its recording, it’s done very basically but again this seems to add more charm to it, you get that live feeling which is so often lost on a recording. As to the structure of the track itself, it’s relatively basic over all but it works as something you can put on and just kick back to, almost with a bit of a country ballad feeling to things. Neo City Burn on the flip side is a solid ballad through and through, the guitars adopting a soft approach and the vocals continuing this relatively soothing approach to things. I like the different layers of guitar work on this track as they bolster the track further, raising it from a simple acoustic track into something which has more depth and more emotion to it.
The final track I checked out is Holding You In My Arms, a track which opens melodic and catchy then continues on this route throughout. The track itself is once again clean and emotional, once again adding a further depth to things with the different layers of music going on in the background. I think of all of the tracks here this is my personal favourite and the one which I’d be most keen to see a full version of once the band have sorted out some recording time in a studio – it’s got a ballad feel to it yet is also a track which I think could well be tuned up so to speak, but we’ll see how it ends up.
There’s a really solid basis here from the New Soul Punks, and I like that the tracks are in their most basic elements here as it gives them a feeling that this is what you’d get if you were to go out and see them. There’s almost a Foo Fighters Skin and Bones feeling to things, almost as if these tracks could be performed either in this basic manner of acoustic elements or with a more upbeat and rocky tempo – so it will be interesting to see what comes from the band. In the meantime, kick back and check these guys out just to see what you think, I think there could be some divide from people but I personally like hearing music like this as it shows what a band can do.
To find out more about the New Soul Punks, check out their Facebook page HERE.
