5 Notts Albums to Listen to This May

Haggard Cat
Challenger
Album (Earache Records)

As any fule kno, the classic lineup for a half-decent rock band is a four-piece consisting of guitar, bass, drums and vocals. After all, it’s the format that’s stood the test of time: anything more is too showy, and anything less just isn’t loud enough. Right? Wrong. Very wrong. Leaving trios and the dread spectre of Sting to one side, we’re blessed to be living through a golden age of rock duos. If the White Stripes, Death from Above, The Black Keys and Royal Blood have taught us anything, it’s that two people are more than enough to rock the house down. That is, if you’ve got the right two people, of course… but I’d suggest that taking the frontman and the drummer from the infamously destructive Nottingham hardcore band Heck is a pretty promising place to start. Freshly signed to the legendary Earache Records, Tom Marsh and Matt Reynolds are now ready to unleash Haggard Cat’s ferocious debut album into an undeserving world. Right from the opening blast of The Patriot, it’s clear that these boys have got some major musical muscle and they’re not afraid to use it. These songs are absolute sleaze-blues smash-metal stompers, and the album is a belter. It’s not exactly subtle, but this certainly isn’t brainless one-paced thrash either. There’s even a bit of wonky brass on closing track High Roller. What more could you possibly want? As the band say themselves, the future is going to be loud. Wear protection. Tim Sorrell

94 Gunships
Tooth Rattle
EP (Wire & Wool Records)

Tooth Rattle is the follow-up to the gravelly blues collective 94 Gunships’ debut EP, 2015’s Dead Bees. Steadily gigging for the past three years has paid off, and their sophomore release has the band sounding tighter than ever. The opening song and title track sets the scene: menacing, rumbling bass, snarling, surfy guitars, the whole thing sounding like it’s soaked in bourbon and Tom Waits records. Good Book continues in a similar vein, while the band takes us to Mexico in Loretta, with its flamenco-infused rhythms, giving way to a rowdily chanted chorus and a desert-scorching guitar solo. The fourth and final track, Guts, builds on everything that’s come before it, nailing it onto a toe-tapping skiffle rhythm. Tooth Rattle will have you reaching for the nearest bottle of tequila. Paul Klotschkow

Ady Suleiman
Memories
Album (Pemba)

Having left Simon Cowell’s label, Syco, this rising neo-soul star releases a series of candid and unapologetic tracks on his long-awaited debut album. It’s a richly woven collection of funk, neo-soul, r’n’b and jazz, all tied together with his fluid, sweet-boy voice and frank delivery. “All the songs on the record are stories from either my life or people close to me, like family and friends,” says Ady. “Life was definitely an inspiration for the record.” Artists like Lauryn Hill and James Blake spring to mind; never disguising feelings through abstract lyrics, the album’s bouncy opening track I Remember sets the tone, as well as the high bar. Ady humbly apologised for the frequent swearing on the record at his live set at Rough Trade last month, while members of Ady’s six-piece live band presented breezily. The album tells a soulful and brutally honest tale we all want to listen to. Ashley Morris

Filth Collins
Skinlover Split
7” (Vetala Productions)

Heavy, brutal and oppressive; the funnily titled Filth Collins take no prisoners on this split EP with fellow noisemongers Skinlover. They breathlessly charge headfirst into their side of this release like a freight train powered by rocket fuel, getting through ten songs in under three minutes. With the ferocity of the band’s playing, and the pummelling, almost-oppressive volume, it’s hard to believe that it’s just two of them making up the grindcore band; they make an astonishing racket that smacks the listener right in the gut. The bewildering pace can make you miss the good stuff going on here; the frantic riffing is dexterously sharp, while that growl could surely only be produced by someone with a throat made of tar, gravel and lost tormented souls. Paul Klotschkow

Joey Collins
Souls
Album (Self-released)

Joey Collins built up a reputation in the Notts music scene with his rock band Saturn Ascend, most notably playing at local venues like Rescue Rooms and The Bodega. Since then, the 21-year-old singer-songwriter has spun off into a solo career, writing and producing his new twelve-song EP Souls. There’s something nineties-grunge about the tracks, with a definite Cobain influence in the gravelly vocals and slow pace of the music. The instrumentals behind the voices are skilful and well-crafted, using electric guitar to create a psychedelic depressive tone that runs throughout. A flavour of sadness is mixed into each song. All in all, the extended play is a cool release, immersing you in the dark, moody mind of the artist. Elizabeth O’Riordan