Shade – Jump Into Heaven

Manchester's Shade recently returned with their third single 'Jump Into Heaven'. It follows the colossal Seahorses inspired 'Head in the Clouds' and Noel key change Gallagher behemoth 'Neverdie'.

Motoring in town like most songs climax, Shade have set their lasers to euphoric motherfuckers once more. It rips apart everything you loved about The Courteeners for a decade and screams, it's their turn now!

Whilst they strive to be above clouds, they beautifully deploy the odd seed of doubt. Those fleeting moments of ambiguity cloud its positivity but, crucially, never cages it. Nothing can stop the hope bursting from the seams.

This is very much a song for the end of lockdown. Jaded souls and tired minds are in need of a paternal nudge back into society and, through Shade's stadium-sized belief and earnest soul, it quickly becomes a welcomed shove.

The Kecks - Tonight Might Be Different / Modern Girls

The Kecks are back with double a-side ‘Tonight Might Be Different’ and ‘Modern Girls’. It follows the dark Hawley-esque croon ‘All For Me’, can this be the catalyst for 2021 the guitar scene needs?

‘Tonight Might Be Different’ is wrapped in the 4am glow they speak off and follows the despair of ‘All For Me’ neatly. Emerging from the wallow comes a purposeful strut that beckons you to follow alongside rather than inline.

*image courtesy of Denis Uhreniuk

With more purpose and heart than ever before they building melody like Pulp at their deranged best. Just when you think it’s polished, it staggers into rocks desperate clutches to become more interesting. Warped like Cabbage but, they’ve embedded wave upon wave of melodies it conjures images of Mick Ronson and Graham Coxon having a debauched but fertile studio session.

Meanwhile, ‘Modern Girls’, is a different animal altogether. Flamboyant aggression pervades every turn of this early Strokes track. Whilst us mortals have lived in continual fear, The Kecks have stared down 'Is This It' and spat it out nastier and heaped on the brutality.

This is the sound of freedom beckoning you to a dark sweat-filled room to let it all hang loose. Smashing your doc martens into the floor, crashing into your fellow man, and letting a righteous love fill the night with endless dreams of possibilities.

Not since Dogs' debut album have guitars meant this much. Cosmic mind-bending punk-fueled fuck you guitars sent from the people to the people. You bet your life this is the catalyst needed!

The Kecks – All For Me

The Kecks are back with their new single ‘All For Me’. Released on the 23rd October, it once again saw the North West via Hamburg outfit link up with producer JB Pilon.

Sheffield has always produced great romantic song writers. Cocker, Walker and Hawley possess a romanticism tha now, the Kecks are tapping into. ‘All For Me’ unlocks the heart of Pulp’s ‘Dishes’ and Hawley’s ‘Coles Corner’ whilst flirting heavily with Bowie’s Berlin phase.

On the surface, there is enough warmth in the guitars to enrich the most broken of hearts. By the time of the solo, they will be dreaming of their wedding bells. Lurking though, is something more twisted and interesting. As front man Lennart Uschmaan sings of “take off your gloves and lay into my guts” and “you have got to have some stuff”, something darker bonding this love affair is clearly at play.

Uschmaan delivers such affection through his vocals that, you can’t help be sucked into this alternative love story. This is one hell of a return from The Kecks. May it long continue.