Andy Clockwise and Concrete Knives

     Sometimes you like music “just because.”  That is, at times you can go into great detail why you enjoy a particular song or a specific band, but then there are other times when it’s like being asked for your explanation for your favorite color. Maybe some people can explain their color preferences, but we cannot. As the expression goes, “It is what it is.”  
    With that background, we introduce Andy Clockwise and the Concrete Knives to the Indie Obsessive blogsite (It was Bob G. who introduced Concrete Knives to us). The background applies more to Concrete Knives than it does to Clockwise, but it is what it is. This blog entry is all about ignoring the urge to provide a justification.

     Andy Clockwise is from Sydney Australia, but has spent a healthy portion of his adult life in Los Angeles. He writes all his own music and prefers to play all of the instruments for his recordings. Often such a preference leads to a conclusion that live performances must be lacking. But Clockwise has a reputation of putting on daring, high energy acts. As a consequence, he has a loyal fan base. In late 2012, Clockwise released “Steam Dream.” It’s our favorite by him - and the reason is, “because!!!”

 "Stream Dream" by Andy Clockwise

     Concrete Knives is a band from Caen, France. The members are Nicolas Delhaya (vocals and guitar), Morgane Colas (lead vocals), Adrien Leprêtre (keys and backing vocals) Guillaume Aubertin (drums and backing vocals) and Augustin Hauville (bass and backing vocals). Yes, as is evident from the below music, there are numerous voices. But the music would be even better if they did some harmonizing.

 In October of 2012 their first album was released in France, but the release occurrred a little later in other European countries.  The name of the album is “Be Your Own King.”

     We like “Happy Mondays.” The song starts with a guitar riff that sounds like it’s a song by Airborne Toxic Event (particularly in guitar progressions in “All I Ever Wanted”, which is included below), but once the vocals begin, the similarity to Airborne ends.

"Happy Mondays" by Concrete Knives (Bandcamp)

For comparison purposes only - "All I Ever Wanted" by Airborne Toxic Event


"Bornholmer" by Concrete Knives

"Wallpaper" by Concrete Knives