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Showing posts from October 15, 2017

On The Wane - Indytronics - Marble Mammoth - Hoult - Ali Horn - Gaffa Tape Sandy

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On The Wane - Human Race. Background - Oscillating between dream gaze and power gaze fusion, Ukraine’s On The Wane brings us their new full album 'Schism', slated for release on November 20, preceded by the first single 'Human Race'. On the Wane is Daria Maksimova (bass, vocals), Anna Lyashok (drums, vocals), Eugene Voitov (guitar, synth), and Eli Demyanenko (guitar). Together, the four-piece have become a smooth cohesive force in the shoegaze, neo-gothic and noise rock realm. "Mankind as a race is quite an absurd thing. We strive to survive but we are killing ourselves. We're beautiful and ugly,  lovely and cruel but, anyway, we are not infinite," says Daria Maksimova on this lead track. In early 2017, the band recorded the 10 tracks that would become the full-length album'Schism' at the studio of the Kyiv-based band Sinoptik (winners of the worldwide music competition Global Battle of the Bands 2016) and under the direction of sound engi

Empathy Test - Lusterlit - Mcbaise - Louise Connell - Winter and Trabants - Sophie Morgan

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Empathy Test - Everything Will Work Out. Background - Empathy Test recently shared their latest single "Everything Will Work Out". The track is from their forthcoming EP 'Everything Will Work Out' (out Nov 3rd) and also appears on their new LP 'Safe From Harm' (out Nov 17). The duo explains that their latest single is about "hooking up with your ex and then waking up in the morning and realising you're not going to get back together, but it's okay; it's for the best". On November 17th, the band will be releasing two debut LPs, 'Losing Touch (Remastered)' and 'Safe From Harm', both of which contain remastered versions of previously released material as well as brand new tracks. You can pre-order the EP via iTunes, Amazon and Bandcamp, and pre-order the LPs here. Empathy Test was formed in 2013 by childhood friends Isaac Howlett and Adam Relf. Sharing a mutual love for all things sci-fi, the London-based duo draw inspir

Akiva - Daniel Carlson - Good Boy - FEVA

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Akiva - M.O.D. Background - A triumphant taste of the heavyweight synth-based electro that marks Akiva’s live sets, ‘M.O.D’ melds a strident musical backing to a fierce polemic on war, all brutal groove, pulsing analogue, fierce guitar licks and anthemic vocal. It is a song written about past events – namely the juxtaposition of the Ministry of Defence’s ‘Be the Best’ recruitment campaign and the funeral cortèges on the streets of Wootton Bassett – but, indicative of this Bedfordshire band’s unflinching take on the state of the world, seems increasingly relevant now, as the clouds of war gather.  “The lyrics reflect the hypocrisy of the political class sending the soldiers out against the public’s wishes, while simultaneously praising their bravery on national television,” explains frontman Dave MacKenzie. “They also highlight the pointlessness and futility of the deaths and trauma inflicted on so many soldiers.” The stunning video, its narrative arc illustrating those lyrics’ pas

Astrid Swan - Lauran Hibberd - Scott Ruthenberg - TYA

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Astrid Swan  - Dreaming Is Dangerous. Background - Astrid Swan's latest album From the Bed and Beyond (released early spring 2017 via Soliti) has been a substantial critical and commercial success. It's been further enhanced by successful festival appearances at Flow, Sideways, Provinssi and Tallinn Music Week to name a few. In addition to festivals, a run of special shows has created a deep connection with audiences who have responded deeply to the album's themes and powerful visual presentation.  From The Bed and Beyond is an album about the aftermath of breast cancer. It is about the body; giving birth, becoming a mother, then becoming a patient – becoming a physical body that is defined by medicine, controlled and intervened, unknown and simultaneously more feeling than ever. It’s a pop record about loss, death, grief and hope. It's Astrid's most personal and important album of music to date. Shortly after the release of the album Astrid Swan was diagnosed

Adam & Elvis - Cara Salimando

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Adam & Elvis - Modern Hitz / Thick Bob. Background - The Reading (Berkshire, UK) band have performed their adventurous, singularly intense live shows on the same bill as Fat White Family, The Zombies and The Correspondents, and garnered resounding praise for their blistering debut single, ‘Hanging Tree’, taken from their first long-player, Through Snow and Small Talk, to be released on the band’s own DIY Freak Power label in the autumn of 2017. It’s an album fizzing with ideas and energy, capturing Adam & Elvis in all their irreverent, witty and experimental glory, the sound of a group that have come of age and are proving as hard to pigeonhole as they are to ignore. About ‘Modern Hitz’ We’ve all been there. Another Saturday night enduring identikit clubs, watery drinks and cheesy chart music in the vain hope of stumbling across a special someone. It’s a state of affairs that Adam & Elvis sum up with characteristically mischievous prose in ‘Modern Hitz’, inspired, as v

Principe Valiente - Darling West - Philippa Hanna - Pollens

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Principe Valiente - Running Juveniles. Background - Principe Valiente’s “Running Juveniles” music video is here: a pure celebration of youth and life. The homonymous song is the third single to be released from the band’s most anticipated latest album “Oceans”. Shot around Östermalm in Stockholm, the video was filmed & edited by the Swedish filmmaker Andreas Hillerborg. After an outstanding self-titled debut album in 2011 and the breathtaking „Choirs Of Blessed Youth“ in 2014, the Swedish post punk / shoegaze band lead by Fernando Honorato, true to their vision, continues to carve out its own unique musical path. Drawing inspiration from ambient experimentalists like Cocteau Twins, 80's sci-fi soundtracks as well as exuberant vocalists like Bowie and Kate Bush, Principe Valiente ventured deeper into the sonic landscapes of their minds. The intensity of the athmospheric sound and the interplay of melodic guitar strings, the dark drifting drums, rhythmic bass lines and abo