Vulture Twin: Vulture Twin

Psych garage rock DuoElizabeth Vallero and Eddie Sanchez used a hell of a lot fuzz on the self-titled EP by their Vulture Twin project, three dusty sounding songs wherein guitars and muffled synths are trying to commandeer the spotlights. The push and pull between the instruments has spilt over to the songs, ensuring that melodies that are pretty as such don't get a chance to become sugarcoated or, even worse, boring.

The pair set out to create a bunch of tracks that they would love to hear themselves and offer them as a take-it-or-leave-it statement. They may sing about wanting to connect (Signals) and the need for healing after going through a rough patch (Messorem), but those things will need to happen on their own terms, a very rock 'n' roll outlook on life indeed.

Words about music (838): Syd Barrett

It's always been too slow for me. Playing. The pace of things. I'm a fast sprinter. The trouble was, after playing in the group for a few months, I couldn't reach that point.

Syd Barrett

Todd Tobias: Ammon and Goam

Ohio based experimentalist Todd Tobias wrote the soundtrack for an imaginary dystopian Sci-Fi movie, Ammon and Goam, wherein a a man and a half-human are trying to survive on a planet where only a few scattered places are still inhabited. They happen upon an abandoned ship, try to decipher the meaning of pictures in a canyon and are stranded in the doldrums.

Tobias' capability to tell stories without words, but using softly percolating noises, drones and sculptured soundscapes, makes it easy to picture the duo making their way through hostile environments. Some movies don't need to be actually made - it's all there in the soundtrack.

Getner: Motorman

Manchester based rock quartet Getner sing about Operation Motorman, carried out by the British Army against the Republicans during The Troubles across various cities Northern Ireland on July 31, 1972. Two band members grew up in Derry, where the stories about that faithful day are still being told today. It is a loud and angry tune, riding the wave of an unrelenting riff, with a bit of self-deprecating humour as a relief for the tension that is the main driving force.

Opal Mag: Goodbye Lavender

photo: John Stanley

English singer Opal Mag tackles the perennial subject of relationship hassles on her Goodbye Lavender EP, alternating between hazy leftfield soft spoken pop and shoegaze drenched in soundscapes. She describes the implosion of an affair in slow motion with World End, with key lines "I wanna hit where it hurts" and "Kick me when I'm down", wants to be loved again against better judgement in Kiss Me, and contemplates travelling back in time when the shit had not hit the fan in Young Forever.

The songs are the opposite of Joe Jackson's quip that "happy loving couples have no stories". She has plenty of grudges to bear, raging against the dying of what was supposed to last, by way of slacker rock that wants the other party to hurt and quite possibly bleed.