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Showing posts from July 16, 2017

Dream Lake - Factory Edge - Bunny - Max Chillen and the Kerbside Collective

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Dream Lake - Midnight Sun. Background - So the summer is finally here and so is the latest single by the Swedish electro-pop act Dream Lake. Consisting of Isabella Svärdstam and Niklas Willar Lidholm, the band has already released an EP and have quickly stocked up a good number of Spotify plays. That automatically created a demand for more of their music to be out and here is where we’re at exactly, whole new material. The new single ‘Midnight Sun’ is taken from their forth-coming ‘Lux’ LP, and is produced remotely by the duo themselves. Niklas’ and Isabella’s hard labour, irrefutable talent and artistic independence seem to be paying off by having already gained the support of Konbini, The Line Of Best Fit or Ja Ja Ja Music to name a few. Airy, dreamy and filled with stunning vocal lines, the single ‘Midnight Sun’ holds a soft and steady beat whilst instantly luring the listener into its eerily stunning sound. Playing with the perennial romanticism softly implied by bands lik

Major Leagues - Swimming Tapes - Tulipomania - Oly Sherman - The Crowleys - Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

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Major Leagues - It Was Always You. Background - Brisbane garage pop four-piece Major Leagues hae just dropped their debut album 'Good Love'. Already receiving rave reviews 'downunder' the album is now available across all digital platforms worldwide.  The band have toured relentlessly over the last three years since their debut EP and have played alongside an exceptional lineup of intenrational and local Australian talent including the likes of Alvvays, Beach Fossils, Wild Nothing, Wye Oak, DMA's, The Preatures and San Cisco. Good Love was produced by acclaimed Australian artist Jonathan Boulet. Lead-singer Anna Davidson explains, “We went into the studio planning on recording 5 or 6 songs and came out with 12, which was weird... but cool. This is definitely the most collaborative thing we've ever done, which I think comes through in the sound of the record. It sounds more natural and cohesive than our previous stuff. Usually Jaimee and I have very separat

Discolor Blind - The Vacationists - Yoke Lore

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Discolor Blind - Black and Grey. Background - If a musician’s creative output is intrinsically linked to the journey that brought them to that point then it is hardly surprising that Discolor Blind’s debut EP 'Long Vivid Dream' is a mercurial blend of flavours and genres. The journey taken by frontman Askhan Malayeri has been one that has taken him from his native Tehran to Cambridge and London and then across the Atlantic to Canada, where he established his own studio and began pulling together all of the ideas that would weave together as his first significant release. This is as much a show case for Ashkan’s musical skills, from composition to lyric writing to multi-instrumentalism to production, as it is a suite of songs in its own right. This EP not only connects the dots of his musical learning, but also connects the flavours of the cultures he has lived in and the styles that have influenced him. ‘Long Vivid Dream’ was recorded in Montreal between April 2013 and O

Andrew Johnston - Juanita Stein - Anna Tosh - Marc Baker

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Andrew Johnston - Redheads (Video premiere). Background - Today we have the new video for "Redheads" from Andrew Johnston's new album "The New Great Game." It was directed by Sinbad Richardson who has worked with various notables including Sam Roberts, Plants and Animals, and Young Galaxy. On his latest album, the Murray Lightburn (The Dears) produced “The New Great Game” Andrew Johnston paints in broad, expansive brushstrokes, delivering 12 killer rock anthems for troubled times, with just enough redemption to keep hope alive. Growing up in Ottawa and now calling Montreal home, Andrew has had the great fortune of a career that has included work with some of Montreal’s finest including Richard White (Besnard Lakes), Rishi Dhir (Elephant Stone), George Donoso (Sam Roberts, the Dears), JF Robitaille and many more.  “The New Great Game” is the sound of an artist earnestly aiming for the bleachers and holding nothing back. If a certain aesthetic of coy rest

The Dot And The Line - Get A Life - Fastball - Diesel Park West - Bradley Wik & The Charlatans

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The Dot And The Line - Draw Me In. Background - English duo Dot and the Line’s have released their alluring debut single “Draw Me In.”  Based in Los Angeles and consisting of keyboardist, guitarist, and programmer Ned Douglas and vocalist Hetty Clark, The Dot and The Line were born from a shared love of classic downtempo electronica and dark cinematic soundscapes. “Draw Me In” represents the pair’s enigmatic blend of analog synths, programmed beats, and Clark's hushed vocals. According to Clark, “Draw Me In” also reflects The Dot and The Line's interest in human intimacy: “It's like watching a sketch unfold and then be redrawn in a changing social world. The song celebrates and flirts with this feeling of danger, and with the quiet allure that comes with change. It is not difficult to notice how saturated and absorbed people are in their online lives. There is a morbidity in this. In valuing a virtual life over a face-to-face life, we are generating a world of indivi

The Warp/The Weft - Ummagma - Amadou & Mariam - Belle Game - Ritual Talk

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The Warp/The Weft - Briars. Background - “Briars” is powered by amazing spine-tingling, expressive high-register vocals by Shane Murphy. This song is a dark, haunted ballad that begins solidly in the folk rock tradition but gradually builds into a crescendo assault of rock grit and psychedelia. “Briars” is by The Warp/The Weft and is released on Admirable Traits Records, based in Buffalo, NY, USA. “Briars” is a single from the forthcoming album, “Mapping an Absence,” which will be released at the end of July. The Warp/The Weft, active since 2012 in and beyond New York's Hudson River Valley, has earned praise for its uniqueness and song-crafting from casual and devoted listeners alike. Blending traditional and avant-garde styles, the warmth of a good wool sweater and the sometimes-bleak cold of an upstate winter, the progressive folk and psychedelia that the band brings to bear (compared to Fairport Convention and Jethro Tull) is propelled by poetic lyrics and a "spirit-co