Edge of Arcady

Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro Review

NB: There’s a £20 discount code at the end of this feature!
Thanks Soundcore by Anker for gifting this item to us.

What good is excellent new music without an excellent piece of kit to listen to it on? Fair question, right? We thought so. That’s why we’re changing tact for a moment and bringing you a review of Soundcore by Anker’s Liberty 3 Pro earbuds, a quality piece of hardware to absorb some high quality audio.

Let’s start with the presentation:

The Liberty 3 Pro earbuds look iconic. First off, the pebble case design is striking and it fits neatly in the palm of your hand. There are four choices of colour – white, black, blue-grey and light purple. We chose light purple, potentially brash but the light tone keeps it understated. The top of the pebble case slides satisfyingly back to reveal the smooth, deftly designed earbuds inside. When positioned on the contact points correctly, LEDs beneath the earpieces slowly pulsate to indicate they’re charging, along with three glowing LEDs on the front of the case, showing the power remaining.

Also included in the expertly presented box are four choices of ear tips and four choices of ear wings, designed to give maximum comfort and minimum sound leakage, a USB to USB-C power cable and a quick and clear visual guide to finding the perfect earbud fit.

A beautiful, well presented piece of technology all round.

Now for the sound:

For mid-range quality, the Liberty 3 Pro earbuds sound mightily impressive, delivering a rich, warm, vibrant audio experience. Soundcore by Anker have equipped their product with LDAC codec audio technology to deliver high-resolution audio over a bluetooth connection alongside heavy duty Noise Cancellation boosted by their HearID ANC feature – a built in hearing test on the Soundcore app, to ensure your audio stream is masterfully tailored to your own individual hearing. The Liberty 3 Pro also boasts a very helpful Transparency Mode, easily activated by a long press on your right bud (essential when you want to keep listening to Trampolene at the same time as trying to speak with train station staff when your morning commute rail ticket won’t work – we’ve been there).

In order to have full command over these features, you will need to download the Soundcore app onto your mobile device, but in doing so you’ll also be able to switch on and off Wind Noise Reduction, Wearing Detection – your audio gets put on pause when the device is taken out from your ears, a Fit Test to ensure you’re using the best ear tips, and ear wings for maximum audio quality and noise cancellation as well as being able to adjust the tap and hold controls. The app itself is simple to navigate and an integral piece of the Liberty 3 Pro experience.

Cool tip: if you switch off the LDAC mode you can connect your earbuds to two devices at the same time.

Road Test:

To fully test out this nifty bit of audio tech we gave it a road trip during the commute to and from work on a bustling, elbow to shoulder train from Penarth to Newport. We found that the seepage through of surrounding background noise next to non-existent, with only the quiet low rumble of cars on the main road walk to the station and the faint sound of the tannoy announcing the next train station forcing their way through, not even the rushing sound of the train itself getting in. We also thought, when we stopped at Greggs to order a coffee, that when popping transparency mode on, the surroundings come whooshing back in and it sounds like you’re hearing the world through a very vivid and clear telephone receiver, just right for when you need to interact.

We put Grimes ‘IDORU’ on walking down Commercial Road in Newport, the track’s birdsong, Claire Boucher’s coos and the deep bass all sounding pristine and clear. On the way home we stuck on Oasis’s ‘Morning Glory’ – guitar riffs, drum pound, Liam’s growl and helicopter whirrs all standing out, sounding crisp and strong.

Charging:

The blurb on the box claims the earbuds have a playtime of up to 8 hours and 32 hours with the charging case. We’re yet to find this out, preferring to keep the audio equipment fully juiced. However, on one occasion we didn’t quite position the buds in the case properly and only one charged which bummed us out a little. But slipping them back in the case for five minutes provides enough energy for at least another hour, before the next full-charge opportunity (we found that bit out ourselves). The charging connectors feel magnetic, so the earbuds slip onto them easily but do make sure the charging light is pulsing on both ear tips before closing the case to signal a full charge is underway. It sometimes takes a little wriggling to get it going.

Overall, the Soundcore by Anker Liberty 3 Pro earbuds are a solid, exciting piece of mid-range listening technology from a reliable and innovative brand.

If you want to bless your musical experience with this gorgeous piece of kit, you can buy the Liberty 3 Pro earbuds over on Soundcore by Anker’s website.

Enter EdgeofArcady2023 at checkout for an exclusive £20-off voucher.

Man/Woman/Chainsaw – Back/Burden

The best, elite, crème de la crème of alternative music is short. It comes up along, packs an almighty punch right in the middle of your psyche, and scoots off again into the night, leaving the innocent listener bewildered in a daze of masochistic, painful joy. Want an example? Stick Man/Woman/Chainsaw‘s new one – ‘Back/Burden’ on and experience the phenomena yourself.

Big Richard records’ latest offering is a two minute ten second firecracker about, well basically drunken fucking, singer Vera (erm, we don’t know her second name) leading the London seven-some with growls and sordid commentary through a speedy, stop-start, post-punk onslaught of the old-school Richard Hell and Crass kind. The sexiest music to feature forward slashes in the title since Justin Timberlake’s ‘FutureSex/LoveSounds’ – and that’s a fact.

We’re pretty big fans of Big Richard records over here at Edge of Arcady (see previous releases from Kipper Gillespie and As Loud As A Mouse) so you should probably google them and check out the rest of their roster.

‘Back/Burden’ was released on 15th March 2023, available all over the streaming services. We’ve bunged the Spotify link for you below, but Deezer, Apple Music or Tidal away if you want, we’re not fussy:

Phoenix feat. Clairo – After Midnight

The mighty Phoenix. Masters of effortlessly knowing their way around the crafting of outstanding, loveable indie pop tunes and always, always there, toiling away reliably, brilliantly, in the background. We do love Phoenix so very, very much. And so, it would seem, do some of the biggest and best names in indie rock. Very recently, on latest album ‘Alpha Zulu’, single ‘Tonight’ featured a guest spot from Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend and now, before putting the LP to rest, indie prodigy Clairo has jumped on one of the record’s highlights ‘After Midnight’, with laudable results.

Acting as a duet between the french masters’s frontman Thomas Mars and the Atlanta, Georgia, songstress, the structure of the track remains essentially the same as last year’s original version, the synths remain as sprightly, the melody stays as playful, the lyrics make some allusion to the night time but ultimately seem to be about a brilliant nothing, but Clairo’s new vocals are addition enough to elevate the song up from ‘Alpha Zulu’s magnificent mass and get it some well deserved attention and airtime of it’s own.

‘Alpha Zulu’, the seventh studio album from Phoenix, was released at the end of last year on 4th November 2022. ‘After Midnight’, however, was released just a few days ago on 16th March 2023. You can hear it on all of the streaming services wherever you normally listen to music or, while you’re here, you can have a watch of the lyric video on YouTube below:

The Mighty Cymru Playlist

From Penarth to Anglesey, Pembrokeshire to Newport, the welsh music scene is positively bouncing and more exciting than it’s been in a loooooong, long time right now. So we went ahead and picked our favourite current tunes from all over this lovely nation and put them into one mega playlist for you to fill some merry moments and feel a surge of that national pride glow.

Featuring Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard, Trampolene, Boy Azooga, CVC, Panic Shack, Adwaith, Broken Fires, Red Telephone, Alice Low, Minas, Fate Of The Sun, James And The Cold Gun, Himalayas and tonnes more.

Wanna have a listen? The Spotify playlist is right there below. Have the time of your life.

Fate Of The Sun – the ‘Glory Hole’ interview

“Believe it or not, I’ve always kept my politics to myself, not got involved, but I said to myself, “If I don’t start to speak my mind and try and highlight things or change people’s opinions, then I’m doing my children a disservice”. Nothing will ever change unless we stand up for what we think is right!”

Penarth’s own Fate Of The Sun has swung right back into action with knockout new single ‘Glory Hole’, released yesterday – Friday 3rd March 2023. To mark the release, the FOTS artist himself agreed to answer a few interview questions for Edge of Arcady and let us in on his views on the new track, politics, the highs and lows of putting out music and the fate of Fate Of The Sun.

To kick things off, what is Fate Of The Sun’s mission statement?
Challenge the system, speak your mind, never conform.

Your new single, Glory Hole, will be out when this gets posted. Can you tell us a bit about it?
The song is about the internet, probably one of the greatest and scariest inventions that we, mankind, has ever produced! It’s reach and capacity seem infinite, yet we use it to tell everyone about mundane shit like what we had for our tea or the bike we just bought that’ll probably never leave the garage. We have such a powerful tool that we could use for the greater good and all we end up doing is sending dick pics to each other! Did you like the last post about my new daps BTW? What did you think of them?! Hahah

How did Fate Of The Sun get started?
A few years ago I saw a documentary about David Bowie. He said, and I am paraphrasing here, that “If you are out of your depth, if your feet can’t quite touch the ground, that is the space where you can come up with something exciting.” I didn’t feel that way until ‘BLADE RUNNER 1999’. It was ground zero. All that came before seemed boring. The type of Indie music I was making didn’t excite me anymore. I could do that with my eyes closed!

Who or what would you say are your biggest inspirations – musical or otherwise?
Obviously the absolute legend that is David Bowie. The Beatles have been my favourite band since I was a young kid… Strawberry Fields Forever is my all time favourite song and it’s not even a close run thing! Oasis, SFA, Wu Tang, Stone Roses and Beastie Boys are all timers for me. Prodigy, Sleaford Mods, The Streets, garage music, grime, mod culture, terrace culture, gangster films, post apocalyptic imagery, graffiti, Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia, my family, friends, loads of stuff, loads of people and I’ve probably left a band or 10 out that some one I know, probably my Mam, will say “you didn’t bloody mention them mun!” So every aspect of my life up to this point inspires this music, good or bad, funny or sad.

Your last single ‘Hey Mate Hey Mate’ sounds like it has a bit of story behind it. Is that right and can you tell us about it?
‘Hey Mate, Hey Mate!’ is about going out for a quite drink and bumping into an absolute head-case. Them attaching themselves to you and the ensuing craziness that these people attract. My wife always likes to point out to people that “It’s a character, not him” which is true. I’ve bumped into several people like this over the years, as probably most of us have! The one time that springs to mind is me and a few of the boys were drinking in the Old Arcade in Cardiff, watching the footy, Sunday sesh like, and these two brothers attached themselves to us. They were celebrating the fact one of them had just got out of prison after serving time for being involved in organised football violence and they were getting aggy with anyone in the place who had a different opinion of the game to them. More trips to the toilet, more booze down their neck and Liverpool playing United on the telly was not a good mix! Hahahahaha.

‘Blade Runner 1999’ and ‘Rogues Gallery’ both have some cutting views on the modern world. It’s maybe obvious to anyone who has listened to those tracks but what are your thoughts on the UK and the world at large in 2023?
I see ‘BLADE RUNNER 1999’ as like an origin story to a character that has had enough of all the bullshit that’s going on and ‘Rogues Gallery’ is an extension of that! When I wrote BR I was like fuck it, I’m just saying what I want from now on and not pulling any punches! Believe it or not, I’ve always kept my politics to myself, not got involved, but I said to myself if I don’t start to speak my mind and try and highlight things or change people opinions, then I’m doing my children a disservice. Nothing will ever change unless we stand up for what we think is right! At the moment we’re totally fucked and we need change! Politically, is It Labour and Keir Starmer? I hope so! I’ll be straight down that polling station at the first opportunity and I’ll be encouraging others to do the same! What I do know is, it isn’t these fucking bastard Tories who are only out for themselves and their pals, and not the people actually making this country tick, the working man and woman! They need to go… SOON! I’m feeling the fucking strain and I work, my Mrs works, and we aren’t even in as much shit as other people around us!

What’s your favourite record from another artist?
Already mentioned it, Strawberry Fields Forever. It blows my mind every time I listen to it! I was listening to it this morning. How were they were able to produce a record like that, back in 1967, with the equipment they were using?! Absolute fucking genius.
Special mentions for Beastie Boys: Sabotage
Rage Against the Machine: Killing in the name of
The Streets: Blinded by The Lights
This list could go on and on… I want you back by The Jackson 5.
Strawberry Letter 23 by Shuggie Otis! I need to stop or we’ll be here all day

Big question, I know, but how do you go about making your records?
It used to start with chords or melody and then the lyrics, but more recently it’s anything! A phrase, a situation, someone’s behaviour, a drumbeat. Anything! I write most of my lyrics in my head at work. I never used to write them down, but the amount of stuff I’ve forgotten, I had to start. I normally do them as a little post or story on Insta. I don’t have a book or anything like that. If I need reminding I look on there. So if you see me post something like that on Insta, that’s why. Hahahaha

What have been your high points in recording and releasing music so far?
Easy, interacting and meeting the people that support and listen to my music! Also other musicians and creative people who get that if we help each other, we all win! Not like the crabs looking to pull you down or are just out for themselves! I got followed the other day by this band, they know who they are, they followed me, I followed back, the lead singer then followed me, we interacted a little,they then unfollowed me on their band page, but the lead singer kept following me. If this is a new tactic to get more followers to your main band page, I don’t want anything to do with you, fuck off! You’ve missed the point. I can’t wait to get out and do shows and meet some of the people who have supported me since day dot and share a beer!

Any downsides or low points?
It’s hard having enough time to do everything and sometimes I feel like I’m not 100 percent present with my family because I’m so focused on doing this music thing. I work, I have a family, plus I put in stupid hours doing this music thing. Only people like yourself or anyone else who does something for the love as well as all the other stuff will understand that it’s hard, but necessary! One day I hope my kids look back on what I’m trying to achieve and see that sometimes it’s not about having the best car on the street or the most expensive holidays or any of that other shite! It’s about being you and true to what you love. Anything else is bonus.

You had your two first live performances recently – the very first broadcast live on YouTube, the second at a spoken word night in Port Talbot. How did you find them and can you tell us about them?
The live session I did was at music box in Cardiff and came out much better that I could have imagined. I love the way the vocals sound on it, just one take, proper punky. That’s why I’ve decided to release ‘Hey Mate, Hey Mate!’ (Live) as the B side to Glory hole. For me it’s better than the original. The poetry night came about through a relationship I had on Insta with the owner of Afan Ales and one of founders of Drunk Poets Society, Gavin John. What a night that was, I was blown away with the sense of community Gavin and co-founder James Lilley have cultivated. I’ve never been in a room where people have just laid themselves bare creatively before, it was amazing and I hope to be a regular there in the future! Big shout out to all the people I met that night. I was shitting it to be fair, but everyone who I met on the night and have spoken to since on Insta have been generous with their support. Port Talbot, Culture capital!

What are your plans for the future of Fate Of The Sun?
Glory out on 3.3.23 is just the start of what I’m planning to be a busy year. On 24th March I’ll be returning to Afan Ale’s in Port Talbot, for the first ever live F.O.T.S performance, which I’m very excited about! It’s a top place, full of amazing people and I can’t think of a better place to do my first show. I’m also featuring on a song by the very talented Canadian artist Mercury Teardrop, news of that will be coming very soon. It’s a relationship that I hope will continue grow and produce more songs in the future. He’s been very supportive of F.O.T.S and I’ll always appreciate it. I’ve been offered my first Cardiff gig, which will be in support Shackles of Shame in June, watch this space for more information on that. I’ll also be releasing another single on the same date as my Afan Ales gig – you heard it here first! It’s called ‘Bark! Bark! Bark!’ and will be available from the usual places on 24.3.23. KTF and thank you, Edge Of Arcady for all the support!!!

‘Glory Hole’ is out now to listen to on all streaming outlets, along with all of Fate Of The Sun’s singles to date. We reckon you should take a listen on the Spotify link below:

Loviet – The Nighttime Is All In The Timing EP

It’s no easy feat to create rock songs that tower ten storeys high with sheer, dark, sore emotion and stack them next to the fast paced punk-pop of Hole or Green Day. Yet that’s just what Canadian singer-songwriter Loviet has managed to do on her latest EP ‘The Nighttime Is All In The Timing’. Not only has she done it, she’s done it really fucking well.

Introduced by a broken up phone call, much of the EP, starting with opener ‘Broken Lips’, uses classic 80’s and 90’s rock sounds as the format to put across some deeply harrowing feelings – synthesisers present, delay pedals on overdrive, but all zhuzhed up with the calm shimmer of The 1975 while retaining a primal edge, singer Natalie Lynn’s vocals similar to Miley Cyrus’s current sound – i.e, between Courtney Love and Stevie Nicks (maybe with a little less gravel than Miley).

‘Star Treatment’ shrinks the sound right down to one girl playing punk rock on a stage with wiry guitar, punchy drums, fast talking vocals and a major chorus as Loviet wonders aloofly and out loud: “Was that too emotional?… Did I bare my soul to another fucking asshole?”. If you want more of that but with a less moshy, more danceable air (we wouldn’t blame you if you did) then skip forward to final track and latest single ‘Some Kind Of Drug’.

If you were to do that, however, you’d miss the heart-shredding, ponderous, moving beauty of ‘January’, an anthem that half tries to fathom the wreck of a ruined love and spends the other half playing a tear-inducing guitar riff that then collapses into feedback, as only a fan of 90s guitar rock could make work.

‘The Nighttime Is All In The Timing’ was released in full on 24th February 2023 and you can buy it right now on bandcamp or hear it on all the streaming services. We’ve also included the video for ‘Some King Of Drug’ for you to check out below:

CHROMA – Don’t Mind Me

The level of dirty riffage here, the sheer scuzz of it, is something you’d expect to hear on a Rage Against The Machine track, shortly followed by Zack de la Rocha’s revolutionary grunts. Yet this is not RATM land, this is the world of CHROMA, where heavy rock guitar and rapid machine gun drum fills are levelled up with singer Katie Hall’s sincere lyrics about her battle with mental health and forever wishing you could just not have those problems, capped off with the magnificent coda “Don’t mind me, I’m just having a breakdown”.

The Pontypridd trio’s first single from their forthcoming, as yet untitled, debut album sees the group, firm linchpins of the Cardiff music scene, in grungier mode than ever, which bodes exceedingly well for the LP coming later this year – part of their freshly signed deal with Alcopop! Records. Bring on the fuzzed-up rock.

‘Don’t Mind Me’ was released today, 1st March 2023, and is available to buy on Bandcamp, as well as stream on all the streaming platforms. You can take a listen on Spotify below:

Death Of The High Street – Not Fair music video

A couple of weeks back we brought you Midlands post-punkers Death Of The High Street’s latest single ‘Not Fair’. A few days after the release they put out an excellent video to go with the track, all DIY on a budget of zero pounds and zero pence, directed and edited by the group’s lead guitarist Andy Purves. We reckon it’s just a bit special so thought we’d give you a rundown of it.

The promo refuses to take the single’s theme of feeling chained into a relationship and not knowing when to call it a day figuratively, seeing the couple at the centre of the story literally shackled to each other as they go through a day, from waking up together, making breakfast, going to and coming home from work plagued by memories of bickering and fights.

The evening sees the pair downing shots in a bar as the DOTHS boys themselves play in the background. After some carefree dancing, cuddles and getting a kebab together, the night sees the couple end up in an argument over dodgy text messages and before we know it the shackles are back and the duo are sobbing on the kitchen floor before a flash forward to the following morning hangover.

A video expertly made, with some fine acting performances from stars Ricky Wild and Alex Taylor. Top work all round and a top tune to boot. Give the video a play on YouTube below.

Chvrches – Over

Scottish alternative-electro masters Chvrches have been releasing spectacular indie-dancefloor conquering music for a decade now, if you can believe it. To mark the occasion, the trio have signed fresh new record deals with EMI and Island Records and put out the mega, one-off single ‘Over’, a track that actually rates, in this writer’s assured opinion, as one of the best records they’ve come up with yet.

Frontwoman Lauren Mayberry’s brilliantly euphoric vocals explore “themes of trying to exist in an escapist dreamscape when life is difficult” among unorthodox and hypnagogic synth beats and rapturous melodies, succeeding in being astonishingly uplifting while twisting your stomach in overwrought knots all at the same time.

To compliment the single, Chvrches have released a promo video for ‘Over’ which sees the band dressed up all dapper, performing on an outdoor stage covered in otherworldly strip-lighting. Obviously we’ve not begun to do that imagery justice, so click below to watch it for yourself:

Gengahr – A Ladder

Hackney based London indie chaps Gengahr are dipping their toes in the water again, after a two year break, with new single ‘A Ladder’. A perky, upbeat tune with a sun-drenched slant, the playful track is backed by sliding bass and effervescent instrumentation, alongside what the band themselves refer to as “cartoon-like imagery”.

We’ve come to expect intrepid experimentation and some startlingly original sounds on your average Gengahr track,three albums and nine years into their career they’ve never been ones to rehash the same noises but, much like Foals decision to go all-out party mode on ‘Life Is Yours’, Gengahr appear to have thrown their lot totally into feel-good, loved up bliss in this next era and we’re fully into it.

We think it’s safe to say a new album will be announced shortly, but for the time being you can view the outstanding video for ‘A Ladder’ which sees the band mock-scientifically examine the song’s lyrics, decked out in lab coats, grasping microscopes, with the aid of some nifty old school graphics and a telescope. Bit of a 1980’s Open University/Look Around You vibe. See for yourself below: