Best of the Box: #1

Blood Red Shoes

Lizzie and The Yes Men

Blood Red Shoes lead the way in new regular post…

For one reason or another I am lucky enough to receive hundreds of emails per week from local and international bands alike who are working hard to spread the word of both their passion and art. Unfortunately I struggle to get the time to open but a fraction of those mails, never mind write about the sender in question. This is something I have always felt bad about as I hate not being able to reply personally to every individual who has taken the time out of their day to get in touch with me so I am hoping a regular post such as this, which may only contain a link to the bands in question, will at least show that I will endeavour to listen to every track that comes through the virtual letterbox.

Box Rules:
To regularly take the time to listen to five bands who have mailed the band address and have not had a reply in some time, write a short note on my favourite(s) and include a link to the rest, eventually – well theoretically at least – going through every band that mails the blog.

Dark Brighton duo Laura-Mary Carter and Steven Ansell are Blood Red Shoes who smoothly slowcore their way into arena-rock with the single and video for the Jakarta-shot cerebral-cruncher ‘The Silence and The Drones’.

Tarantino surf-pop from London citing Best Coast, The Ronettes, The Beach Boys, Love and Dum Dum Girls as influences. A début album is on the way later this year.

Seeing as the two videos I have seen of Tears For Annie either involve a gyrating gimp-suited chap and an audio-free clip of lead singer Tears (no, not Annie) wrapped in nothing but a plastic bag walking zombie-like down a paved street, I’m not even going to attempt to categorize this London group’s sound. Described in the past as “beautifully vulgar”, TFA certainly grab your attention. Now whether they can hold it is another thing.

Who?: Kantor Tzar Collectif
Where?: Dublin
What?: “Kantor Tzar fuse all the elements they find most original about alternative guitar based music, since forming they have honed a live set using breaks, beats and minimalist grooves to enhance their ongoing experimentation with visual imagery.”
More?: kantortzarcollectif.bandcamp.com

Who?: Luca Siani
Where?: London
What?: Italian-born “guitarist and composer of multiple styles of music, combining acoustic instruments with electronic ones, synths and computer generated sounds.”
More?:  www.lucasiani.com

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