
Review: Timebomb – Motionless in White
- by Nicholas Gaudet
- in Reviews

In a surprise new single, Motionless in White returns to their roots with “Timebomb”, a true metalcore masterpiece through and through.
In a surprise new single, Motionless in White returns to their roots with “Timebomb”, a true metalcore masterpiece through and through.
Three years after her last album with a whole new sound, MARO is back stronger than ever, alongside musician NASAYA, with I SEE IT COMING, a poppier song, all the while maintaining the elegance she’s exercised consistently in her career.
In a perfect blend of catchy harmonies, groovy rhythms and floating chords, Elko brewed a wonderful late-summer banger with their newest single, “Pretty Little Lies”.
London-based singer-songwriter and guitarist Cat Burns has enjoyed a truly meteoric rise over the last year and a half. When lockdown first hit in the Spring of last year, Burns had just started out posting clips online, mainly through Tik Tok. Within a year she’d amassed well over half a million followers, had been signed by RCA Records, and was the face of a Tik Tok advertising campaign. Not bad work for someone who had been rejected by several labels before embracing the social media platform.
At the start of this review, it’s only fair that I make a disclosure: Chinatown by Bleachers, featuring none other than Bruce Springsteen, was one of my very favourite tracks of the last year. A real lockdown record, with its haunting vocals and infused with a sense of yearning, it captured the essence of a difficult period. When lead singer and frontman Jack Antonoff and Springsteen crooned “I wanna find tomorrow”, it felt like they were talking to us all and our hope of better times to come.
Though she is probably still most widely known for her work presenting Night Tracks on BBC Radio 3, Hannah Peel is widely recognised as one of the brightest composers around. The Northern Irish artist, composer, producer and broadcaster studied music at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts and has a wide and varied CV. Her work includes collaborating with Paul Weller on his number one album On Sunset and writing and conducting all the orchestral arrangements for his 2018 shows at London’s Royal Festival Hall, to composing and recording the soundtrack for Game of Thrones: The Last Watch, which earned Peel a 2019 Emmy nomination for ‘Outstanding Music Composition For A Documentary Series Or Special (Original Dramatic Score).
Predicting what will come next from Liars has become an almost impossible task over the years. The New York outfit are now ten albums and more than twenty years into a career that still refuses to be easily labelled. Their back catalogue has taken in everything from the punk sound that influenced their early releases to funk, electronica, dance and rock. They’ve been through personnel changes – founding member Aaron Hemphill in 2017, and drummer Julian Gross three years earlier – and yet continually refused to stand still.
Coming straight from his new album, there’s something quite cleverly unique with Anders’ opening track, “Free Myself”, through both its tone and melodies, paired with the lack of clear genre and its uniqueness.
Coloratura is Coldplay in their most epic medium – a ten-minute powerhouse that is nothing but a pure showcase of talent from the British musicians.
Just as the world was still wrapping their heads around the genius of their Silk Sonic’s first single, “Leave the Door Open”, the duo released “Skate”, another absolute masterpiece through and through.
Even if you haven’t heard of Scunthorpe-born singer-songwriter Stephen Fretwell, you will almost certainly have heard his music. That’s because his song Run – taken from his 2004 album Magpie – is the theme tune to the TV smash hit show Gavin & Stacey, and was apparently chosen by the show’s creator and star James Corden as he’s a big fan of Fretwell’s music.
When Willy Mason crashed into the early noughties indie scene as a nineteen-year-old with his rallying cry Oxygen, he was hailed as a Bob Dylan for the post-grunge generation, a folk singer-songwriter who had a political message for millenials everywhere. For a couple of years, around the release of his debut album Where The Humans Eat, it felt like Mason was a bonafide global superstar in the making.
Here’s something that, if you grew up watching The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air and listening to DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince’s Summertime, is going to make you feel old: Willow Smith, Will Smith’s youngest child, is twenty years old. TWENTY. Seriously, where does the time go?
Irish four-piece The Academic dropped their debut album Tales From The Backseat in 2018 to positive reviews, it’s blend of youthful exuberance and noughties-inspired indie, as well as the band’s reputation for exhilarating live shows, winning them fans both in the UK and at home in Ireland, where it hit number one in the Irish Album Charts. They built on that momentum last year with Acting My Age, a six-track EP recorded with Nick Hodgson of the Kaiser Chiefs that spawned the single of the same title, a mainstay of their live sets.
One Week was the ludicrously catchy track littered with pop culture references that first turned on a whole host of listeners around my age to the Barenaked Ladies in the late 1990s. It remains the band’s calling card and biggest hit, and still serves as the best introduction to their work for anyone who has not yet (somehow) heard them. Though, thanks to the sheer runaway success of the TV show The Big Bang Theory, for which the band created the distinctive theme song, that title is arguably under threat.
A lot of people claim punk, metal, and rock artists make the best ballads. YUNGBLUD’s new single, Mars, is a testament to that.
Known for his vintage, soulful sound, Leon Bridges steps a foot into a more modern sound with his newest single, Why Don’t You Touch Me.
Before you hear this track for the first time, you read the title and you know this is going to be something epic! Then the track starts with an almost cinematic crescendo, with harps, horns & strings all building anticipation and in the last second of the intro you have no idea what’s about to hit you.
It’s the icing on the cake, it’s the cherry on top, the very highlight of summer, yes the summer fling is an old classic that never gets old, and I’m glad Nina has captured this vibe in her latest effort “ Summer Fling “.
Ahh yessss ! Punk rock and sticky, beer-soaked carpet, a unique smell that’s hard to forget.
There’s a song for every moment of your day, and if you’ve just woken up and poured your first coffee, let Courtney Barnett ease you into your day, with her latest effort, Rae Street.
Some say its Neo Soul, some say it’s retro. Either way Curtis never lets anyone down.
One person, an acoustic guitar and a capo. This is quintessential folk/Americana at its best.
The sun’s as hot as can be in early July, and Tyler Shaw does nothing to help with the heat. In fact, he decided to release a burning hot single, Sex on the Beach, which will groove you into the rest of summer.
It’s time to break out your vintage AKAI drum machine, and bring that retro sound to the new generation.
Take two parts punk, one part rock and a dash of pop, mix well in a test tube and out comes a high octane cracker of a song called “Contact High”!
Shuffle over. Inhaler is here with their latest effort “Totally”.
Imagine Dragons are a hit machine! The challenge at this stage of the bands journey is to try and do something different, yet not alienate their fans in the process.
Kojaque, otherwise known as Kevin Smith, is the latest in a long line of musical talent coming out of Dublin. On his debut album, the young rapper specialises in carving out sharply observed slices of life in the Irish capital, and in particular the experiences of the city’s young people, ravaged by years of political, economic and social change that have priced many out of finding their own home. Indeed, Kojaque wrote the album while living at home with his mum.
Best known as the lead vocalist of Australian pop rock outfit 5 Seconds Of Summer, Luke Hemmings has stepped away from the band to launch his solo career, beginning with the release this week of his new single Starting Line, produced by Sammy Witte.
Willow manages to push her limits as an artist once again with an analog twist. “t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l”, her newest single with the percussive powerhouse Travis Barker (Blink 198).
“Cathartic” is the single word 21-year-old Londoner Aziya Aldridge-Moore (known as just Aziya) used on her official Facebook page to describe the release of We Speak Of Tides, her first EP and a release that was spawned from the last year and more of life lived under lockdown. Unable to perform with her band, Aziya instead took to social media, releasing covers of some of her favourite artists, and working on the tracks that would form her debut EP.
Maisie Peters has already enjoyed a truly meteoric rise. After gaining popularity through YouTube and dropping the EPs Dressed Too Nice for a Jacket (2018) and It's Your Bed Babe, It's Your Funeral (2019) through Atlantic Records, the 21-year-old singer songwriter penned a record deal with none other than Ed Sheeran earlier this year, and the ginger-haired pop behemoth is all set to release Peters’ debut album You Signed Up For This later this summer through his Gingerbread Records label.
Birmingham-born singer, songwriter and composer Laura Mvula has endured a particularly difficult few years. It’s not just the constraints and strains of lockdown that we’ve all endured either. After her first two albums – 2013’s Sing To The Moon and The Dreaming Room in 2016 – were both Mercury nominated, her debut winning two MOBO Awards and the followup an Ivor Novello Award, Mvula was unceremoniously dropped by Sony from her five-album deal. Incredibly, she only found out the news by email.
Hailing from Atlanta, Georgia and led by the captivating vocals of frontman Andy Hull, Manchester Orchestra are a band that have achieved one of the trickiest feats for an indie rock outfit – making each album feel at once unique yet quintessentially identifiable as theirs. From debut album I’m Like A Virgin Losing A Child all the way through to their most recent release, 2017’s A Black Mile To The Surface, each new Manchester Orchestra record not only felt like it contained the band’s DNA at it’s very core, but also progressively improved on its predecessor and offered something new. Very few bands can do this, and it's a sign, if any were needed, of their incredible talent as songwriters and performers.
Let’s start this review with a quick bit of trivia: what is the best selling album of all time in the UK?
Hailing from Washington, west coast rockers Modest Mouse were one of the key flag bearers for the indie revival of the late 1990s. Their rapid fire release of three albums in just five years, from their debut This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About, to follow up The Lonesome Crowded West, and 2000’s The Moon & Antarctica, catapulted them to worldwide acclaim, and rightfully so. These early volumes were captivating, free flowing masterpieces of the genre that stand up more than two decades on.
Lockdown must have been a tricky prospect to deal with for Ripley Johnson, the hardworking singer and multiinstrumentalist who is one half of Moon Duo and the frontman of west coast psychedelic rockers Wooden Shjips. Suddenly forced off the road, the enigmatic Johnson turned his hand instead to crafting a new album, despite only releasing his last offering as Rose City Band last summer.
The boss and killers unite. Sounds like a plot for a new Mob film, but it aint!
Everything old is new again, but only if it “Feels Right”! With vintage synth stabs, and a rockin bass, Darius & Dune have created a laid back, danceable, head boppin tune that lifts experimental electronic music to a higher level.
If you’re looking for the perfect song to accompany you on a road trip this summer, Last Train Home, may just be the one!
If you’re a fan of country music, you’ve probably noticed an abundance of “Drinking Songs”, or songs which make reference to drinking.
With all the hallmarks of a Disco/Pop anthem, Jessie J is back with a vengeance with her freshly released single, I Want Love.
It is not only tempting to compare Mammoth WFV's debut album to Van Halen's work; it is almost impossible not to. Much as you are going to want to listen to this with an open mind, from the opening riffs of the very first track "Mr. Ed," the homages to Wolfgang's late, great father are everywhere.
It has been five long years since fans of the Wisconsin-founded Garbage have been able to celebrate a new album from this legendary band. But it was five years that needed to happen, with 2020 in particular proving to be the most profound in leading to the creation of “No Gods No Masters.”
Ciao bella, is this a joke?
It’s easy to write off any winner of a Eurovision song contest and label these artists and songs as a novelty. After all, most of the past winners, with the exception of a few, notably ABBA in 1974, fade away into musical oblivion.
Don’t you just love a killer bass riff? If so, then you’re in for a treat, so sit back, relax and let Sleater-Kinney take you on a sonic journey through a path of wellness and out through the other side.
When you cross soulful vocals with a touch of Rage Against The Machine, and a stoic attitude, the result is a beautiful monster, which is exactly what Nothing But thieves have created in their latest release “Futureproof”.
A little bit of pop, a little bit of jazz, a little bit of dance, AJ Mitchell takes on all that in the titular song from his newest EP, ONE MORE FIGHT.
Often times, when we have something important to say, we take a big breath in…. then out it comes. In the first second of October Sky, we hear Yebba take a breath in before the vocals. I love the production team for keeping this in, as it sets up the introduction to Yebba’s heavenly vocals perfectly!
Right from the start of this track, you can sense you’re in for a chillin, cruisy ride. The intro features beautiful & soothing atmospheric guitars blended with distant vocal licks. If you close your eyes, you can almost feel the warmth and radiance of the sun on your face.
Dexter beautifully blends elements of both hip-hop and new-school jazz in his newest single, Blue Skies, creating a groovy, laid-back track through and through.
With a surprising new release, late-legend Prince has released a single titled Born 2 Die from his upcoming posthumous album Welcome 2 America. It truly feels like a throwback to old-school funk, and promises the album to be of utmost greatness.
It’s very hard to find anything to criticize in fun, smooth, easy-listening rock, but even despite that, River Rise, David Crosby and Michael McDonald’s newest single, is a fantastic song that will wrap your ears and soul in warm wool and beautiful harmony.
With a star-studded cast composed with Pat Metheny, Dave Liebman, Billy Hart and Cecil McBee, it’s really hard to go wrong. Quite on the contrary, the supergroup’s new single, Heaven’s Gift, is everything but bad – it’s legendary.
Cody Fry’s newest album, Pictures of Mountains, opens with one of the tightest pop tracks the world may ever hear, Thinking About You.
Ain’t No Mountain High Enough is a beautiful celebration of one of the greatest time periods in music, sung by one of the most prominent figures in the genre; beloved Marvin Gaye. Supergroup Il Divo decided to have their own take on the classic, in a wonderful dynamic and eccentric reimagining of the classic.
In both a shocking, yet unsurprising twist of events, Coldplay released a new single that sounds like it could come straight from the 80s titled Higher Power.
After a long wait, J. Cole finally unexpectedly releases a song from his newest album, Off Season, titled i n t e r l u d e, which shows a whole new side of J. Cole that the world had never heard before this short two-minute track.
In a groovy and gritty mix of lofi and fusion, Hiatus Kaiyote manages to make one of the coolest, relaxing-yet-groovy tracks of the year with the release of their newest single, Red Room.
In a surprising grand return in 2021, 2017’s song I Hear a Symphony showed a new audience the beauty of Cody Fry’s genius in this simple yet complex three-minute magnum opus.
It’s common nowadays for band to take inspiration from old school rock and roll groups like Greta Van Fleet for example. It isn’t often, however, that you hear not only those roots glow through the music, but also in the production. Elevator Boots, Counting Crows’ newest single, is straight from 1968, and no one can convince me otherwise.
Smooth as butter and layered like an onion, RINI’s new single goes above and beyond what the artist has ever done before, and coupled with the talents of EARTHGANG the two manage to make a wonderful neo-soul tune true to the genre, while remaining true to their vision.
If All Gone, Beachy Head’s newest single, had wings, it would soar higher than planes could. The band have outdone themselves in one of the greatest soft rock ballads to surface in recent years.
Michaels has always had a knack for catchy, sharp, and poignant hooks, but she’s opted for a relatively subdued composition here and has succeeded to terrific effect.
In honor of 70s discos, Paris Jackson has partnered with hard rock legends The Struts with their newest, catchy single, Low Key in Love.
Gojira have always had a fantastic reputation with their releases. Every album is an expansion on everything they’ve done before, and they are excellent at continuing that moment with each release. With their newest single, Into the Storm, their fourth preview of their upcoming album Fortitude, they absolutely hold that momentum and propel it further on.
It’s very rare that artists manage to mix soft tones, sounding like water flowing down a river, and heavy, gut-wrenching beats, like the edges and bumps of the rocks the water flows over. But, as expected of Seq, the artist manages to mix the two in a perfect blend otherwise thought impossible in his newest single, worth.
Surfaces does a wonderful job subverting expectations with their newest single, Wave of You, by blending sounds from indie, R&B, jazz, and rock.
Years and Years delivers one of the grooviest, most harmonically intricate post-disco song of the year with his newest single Starstruck, all while honoring the legends that paved the way for the genre, and sounding as modern as can be.