The Crooks - Hypercell

Chesterfield’s The Crooks recently release their debut EP ‘Hypercell’ via Run On Records and Modern Sky UK. Recorded and produced in Glasgow by Chris Marshall, ‘Hypercell’ was mastered by Natalie Bibby at Air Studios.

The band returned in 2024 and have built towards this point with a string of singles. ‘In The Meantime’ which features here, becoming an anthemic to their live shows. What was relief to fans was just the beginning of their second coming. The arduous life of being a band today began again, having allowed time to pass once, would not happen again, would it?

Bridging the gap between their initial run and their second coming is former single ‘In The Meantime’. Big meaty chorus and hooks with space for fans unite in anthemic euphoria once more.

‘Always’ and ‘Mesmerises Me’ both mark a foray into a new mature sound. The former is blessed with pure sense of exploration which allows the riffs to move away from Seahorses parody and toward a hopeful and authentic rock ‘n’ roll pastiche. ‘Mesmerises Me’ fluid guitars are born out of the same bedroom of dreams. The kind that, with Embrace’s gospel-hymn expansiveness and their own unshakeable sense of destiny, lift the band to the edge of the horizon, close enough to kiss it.

On Madness and The Lines, they hit upon the sound their peers Rolla have been perfecting in recent times. Violent basslines and aggressive licks allow for snarling vocals to swell. Where they differentiate themselves is, not fully detonating, they remain in a stasis of menace rather than violence.

Certain alt genres give bands space to grow into their sound. When you’re a balls-out rock ’n’ roll band armed with great melodies, it’s more all or nothing. The Crooks haven’t taken it all here, but there’s a maturity creeping into their playing, expanding those anthems with shades of darkness and giving their lyrics room for narrative twists. Time may have elapsed, but it has not been wasted. There is now a depth to match their aching ambition for big stages.

The Dream Machine – Thank God! It’s The Dream Machine

Wirral five-piece The Dream Machine released their debut album ‘Thank God! It’s The Dream Machine back in April via Run On Records and Modern Sky UK. The band formed in 2020 when frontman Zac McDonnell quit drumming in The Mysterines and began working at the iconic Parr Studios. Studying the likes of Blossoms and The Coral, McDonnell united Matt Gouldson (lead guitar & backing vocals), Jack Inchboard (bass & backing vocals), Isaac Salisbury (drums), and Harrison Marsden (keyboards) and began to hatch their psychedelic dreams.

Image and artwork courtesy of The Lost Agency

In a world of corruption, war, and failure of leadership like never before, The Dream Machine’s innocent souls are beyond refreshing. Their creative journey without borders or destination rings true through them, as with The Jonestown Massacre in 1995. Newcombe, Mayami, and Gion’s fingerprints can be found on ‘Away For The Summer’ and ‘The Last Temptation’. The former, a ramshackle kaleidoscopic folk number with harmonies so pure that you’ll miss the bitterness (“I'd rather die all on my own than see you again”) swelling. ‘The Last Temptation’ taps into BJM’s colossal sense of destiny and The Coral’s melodic joy on this satanic masterpiece.

The moments when they raise the tempo show that this is a band that can and will do whatever they want! ‘Always On My Mind’ waltzes into view like the devil conducting The Stands. Meanwhile, former single ‘TV Baby / Satan’s Child’ sets fire to Love’s ‘A House Is Not A Motel’. McDonnell’s usually angelic vocal fractures into a James Skelly freak beat moment of genius! Then, in ‘White Shadow Blues’, they erupt into a furious mesh of ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’ and Jake Bugg’s early classics ‘Taste It’ and ‘Lightning Bolt’.

What is true of their influences is still typical of the music industry today. They will be judged on their singles. Step forward ‘Lola, In The Morning’ and ‘Children, My England’. The former is blessed with the optimism of The Coral’s ‘In The Morning’, Roger McGuinn’s finesse, and Hamilton Leithauser’s vocals. On ‘Children, My England’, The Dream Machine cross the threshold from upstarts into a world of Richard Hawley and Pete Doherty. Masterful poets lost souls, and romantic souls are searching for a higher ground to set themselves free. The Parisian keys meet the guitars of The Stands and the bands featured on the Children of Nuggets compilation. Shimmering and tumbling guitars provide a perfect backdrop for the lyrics that bed in between Coleridge’s ‘Lyrical Ballads’ and John Cooper Clarke’ 's ‘Ten Years in an Open Necked Shirt’.

‘Thank God! It’s The Dream Machine’ is undoubtedly the most fully formed debut album from a British band in a generation. Perhaps longer. They’re on the precipice of greatness. Flashes of immortality rear up here, making the prospect of their second album mouth-watering.