The Outers

The Outers are a four-piece hailing from London. They’re made up of Ade (Vocals), Phil (Guitar), Luca (Drums), Clare (Bass), and Avery (Guitar). They have been making a name for themselves in South East London playing to packed audiences at the iconic Amersham Arms in New Cross.

*image courtesy of Rocklands TV

Let’s see what they have been up to:

Strings

Lo-fi indie licks that nestle between Sea Power’s moonlight meanders, and Thirteen Senses romanticism form a poetic backdrop for Ade’s Skin meets Lily Rae (Fightmilk) vocal.

Tinges of Eurythmics via Bloc Party emerge in the middle eight before a sumptuous solo blows the cobwebs away.

First Sight

Ade’s vocal delivery is blessed with great drama here. Toying with emotion, tone, and shades of light and dark on a career-best vocal. Meanwhile, Phil and Avery’s searching math rock licks stray into the realm of Foals’ classic ‘Spanish Sahara’ album before the power of Desperate Journalist filters into the joyous climax.

Helve

Hailing from South London, Helve are an experimenting indie five-piece. Having met at college in Croydon, they have gone on to be championed by John Kennedy (Radio X).

Let’s check out what they have been up to:

Snakes and Ladders

Dark science-fiction soundscapes collide with lo-fi Mogwai guitars and an impending sense of Armageddon! At points, they tantalise you with lush riffs and accessible vocals before just pivoting to new planes.

It’s challenging but always rewarding. Twisting from the lowlight licks of The XX to the underrated electronic folk of Buswell, and climaxing with a soul-crushing crescendo of brass., this is the sound of a band with the ability and the willingness to try anything.

As yet unreleased, you can enjoy a snippet of the song from their New Cross Inn gig last year.

Cabin Fever

You can buy the single here.

With the renowned producer Harri Chambers (Bess Atwell & Yard Act) at the helm, the band continues their Lo-fi indie jazz adventures.

With the 4am brushstrokes of Massive Attack and Portishead and savage self-reflection within the lyrics, they display a creative courage way beyond their years. The lyrics, border on character assignation and, who can honestly say hasn’t had that period during lockdown? The trepidation of the narrative is enhanced immeasurably with the lush nods to Mogwai and Mercury Rev.

*Image courtesy of Rocklands TV

Ivory Wave

Something is afoot in the in the Midlands. Gazelle, The Assist, The Pagans SOH, The Cosmics and now, Ivory Wave. The Brummie four piece are gathering momentum rapidly with their blend of Madchester, 00s indie-punk and the finer points of Foals.

In 1988, Factory Records and the Happy Mondays put out 'Rave On' EP. Calling on Paul Oakenfold and Steve Lilywhite for remixes, they changed popular music forever. Ivory Wave's tracks are begging for the next big DJ/producer to come along and unite guitars and dance music once more. In fact, on 'Separate Beat' and 'Club', its hard not to hear Oakenfold doing something special.

Like the Mondays, no one sounds like Ivory Wave currently. Latest single 'Gold' has production values akin to Primal Scream on their 'Chaosmosis' album. 'Cool Kids' merges Black Grape and The Twang, but frankly, is so fresh, the sound is theirs. The minimalist drums, psyche wobble, sax, and venomous vocals are going to blow a hole through dance floors in the UK.

*Image courtesy of Luke Jones

485c

485c are signed to the legendary Fierce Panda label and its not hard to see why:

Kapow

If 'Kapow' were to create a guitar sound venn diagram, it would have The Strokes one side, Dutch Uncles the other. The immediacy and power of the New Yorkers is channeled through the Stockport art rocker pioneers. As so many peers are cutting loose, 485c have taken a really interested side route to glory here.

Better The Man

An infectious indie guitar gem which illuminates the darkest of moods. Move over Belle & Sebastien, infectious indie rock has a new king.

Strange Medicine

When all the great mid 00s bands went off to record new material or on to side projects, the mainstream vultures swooned in Scouting for Girls and The Hooisers and killed the scene stone dead.

Strange Medicine is the perfect tonic to that injustice. It resets the clock to The Strokes’ ‘Is This It’ and has lovable rawness to it like The Cribs classic ‘Martell’. Guitars are pop, pop are guitars!

Image Source: Domante Kaminskaite  http://www.dkaminskaite.com/