The Tip-Off: PAUW

[Jake]

Tame Impala + The Doors + edgy, raw rock = PAUW.

What I really love about this band is they take the grandeur of deep, heavy, psychedelic rock, and bring it back down to earth. There’s still an edge to their music; you can close your eyes and imagine seeing them on stage (in front of a hugely impressive light show).

They’ve recently gained more traction after the cosmic split EP with the Mystery Jets. Named after each band's’ new singles, “High Tide / Bubblegum” is a twist on the usual split that sees both bands cover each other’s new singles.

The first track I discovered, “Shambhala” from the album Macrocosm Microcosm, had me hooked from the get-go! When this track kicks in, your imagination will see a colorful, diverse street carnival, with brightly colored powder paint thrown in slow motion. Your ears, meanwhile, hear dreamy, reverb-laden vocals, and a thundering, relentless bassline. In fact, every time the bassline starts again throughout the song, you feel it in the pit of your stomach. A very nice feeling indeed.

spotify:track:70HpwAtYhsW0YbZgXg688Y:small

After the initial fun of “how do I pronounce their name? Paw? Pow? Pour?” (I still have no idea) wears off, you’re about 4:30 minutes into “Shambhala”, bracing yourself for a **spoiler alert** seriously powerful guitar breakdown. The riff in this breakdown will make you stop what you’re doing wherever you are, and immediately pull out that air guitar you carry around.

Oh yeah, and this is officially the first time I’ve ever headbanged to a sitar. Nice!

• Monthly Listeners in Spotify: 35,177
• Hometown: Netherlands (I’ve found it impossible to pin them down to one city)
• Would fit best in a playlist called: 2016 is so 1969.
• 3 Related Artists: Temples, Tame Impala, The Doors

Spotify Artist Page: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6pVhKsBfFZk88NsmUnEVlT

[Jake]

Kudos @Adam_B for writing this one. Such a great band! I'm a big fan of the revisited psychadelic, rock phase of the 60s and 70s. Tame Impala, Temples and PAUW celebrate the best of what was. Although some people argue against the rehashing of this genre of music, I see it as an awesome reincarnation of what was - with the added bonus of modern production techniques. #NowPlaying, Abyss 🙌

[Melody]

Nice! Enjoyed reading this :)

[Adam_B]

Glad you enjoyed it!

The split EP is also amazing. Mystery Jets and PAUW play off each other really well. Fans of fuzzy basslines, check out High Tide.

[musiccornercv]

Hey! Awesome blog! Great band too.

You pronounce PAUW as Pow but the 'o' sounds like the 'ou' from ouch. I'm sure you can master it. :D

(It's a Dutch word meaning both 'peacock' as wel as 'pow'.)