Güero - Part Time Signals - Paradox Arcade - William The Conqueror
Sacramento quartet Güero have released their latest single “Mind’s Eye” in advance of their sophomore full-length album, Wednesdays, arriving this Friday, April 7 via Dutch Records. The guys once again tapped director Paul Bates to bring the song to life with a video.
Discussing “Mind’s Eye,” guitarist/vocalist Rik Krull noted, "We played this song for a while never really trying to tame it. When we play live in the greater Sacramento area, we tend to play a 2-3 hour set. During one of our gigs we had some time to fill and played 'Mind’s Eye' knowing we could jam it awhile. It ended up being an epic rendition, one that will never be played that way again. Luckily, we have, Russell our scribe who caught it on his phone.
Maybe because we weren’t really thinking it needed to be anything specific, everyone’s part just fell into place, perfectly. Some of those things we played that night were developed into the recorded version since we were able to draw from Russell’s recording. We really like how we added the mellow beginning to the song and how, Mike changes to the four on the floor during the second verse. It’s the little things about this song that we have grown to love."
Güero announced Wednesdays in January with the “Streams of Light” single, which Under the Radar called it, "a lost classic reemerging from a forgotten corner of the radio.” The album was recorded live at Pus Cavern Studios in Sacramento with ace recording engineer Joe Johnson and further elevated by Oakland producer and fellow musician, Akiyoshi Ehara (The Seshen, Geographer); who amping up and dialing down dynamics added greater tones, higher fidelity, heavy delays and string arrangements.
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Part Time Signals - The Man.
Part Time Signals is the brand new project formed by Sock vocalist and guitarist Jacob Church. The band came together initially by taking demo seeds written by Jacob, which were then planted into a musical garden when introduced to a live band setting. Part Time Signals features the talents of Sam Barnes (bass), Gavin Jenkins (drums) and Michael Blanchfield (keys).
The first taste of music from the band, The Man, is released across all digital platforms today April 5th. The track was recorded at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, mixed by Sam Barnes and mastered by Eddie Al-Shakarchi.
Jacob explains the meaning behind the song: “The Man is whoever you want it to be. Maybe it's that delivery driver throwing your parcel about, maybe it's your landlord increasing your rent, maybe it's the Tory government. Perhaps all of the above?”. Catch Part Time Signals performing live at Porters, Cardiff on 26th April.
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The Guelph-based indie music and art project Paradox Arcade recently released its debut single, “The World That We Know” (RCS Records), a song of hope that calls out the illusions that cause division and inspires people to look beyond to the better world we can all create.
“Each of us in our own way reaches for a better world,” says Xristopher Bland (often simply called ‘X’), composer and author of the song and creator of the song’s cover art called The Reaching. “Even if we can’t see it or fall to the doubts and opinions of others, we know it’s there.”
Mixed and mastered by Alastair Sims (Barenaked Ladies, The Trews, Arkells), the song also reflects the present state of the world, characterized by Oxfam as a decidedly broken world of “extreme inequality. Yet as powerless, disenfranchised, or cast out as many may understandably feel, Xris points out what others have said before.
“The world that we know is not the world we can know. One simple act like saying no to something helps change the world because even the smallest of stones cast into an ocean causes ripples. That’s what this song is. It’s a ripple that moves to the language of repair and healing by calling out the deceptions that separate us, the orchestrations of conflict, and the noise that fragments our innate knowing of who we really are. It’s reawakening call to equity, equality, and peace.”
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William The Conqueror - Somebody Else.
William The Conqueror will release their new album ‘Excuse Me While I Vanish’ through Chrysalis Records on 28th July. Produced by the band in a playground of vintage gear and mixed by Barny Barnicott (Arctic Monkeys, Sam Fender, Kasabian), the resulting album's ten tracks marry earworm tunes with insistent, imperious, soaring rock shapes, punctuated by chorus hooks that are simultaneously nuanced and anthemic. ‘Excuse Me While I Vanish’ is the follow-up to 2021’s critically-acclaimed album, ‘Maverick Thinker’, and will be available on multiple vinyl formats, CD and streaming platforms. William The Conqueror today unveil new track ’Somebody Else’ with an accompanying video filmed at Marshall Studios.
"Somebody Else came from a very specific memory of not knowing which version of myself I was supposed to be playing,” explains frontman Ruarri Joseph. “An identity crisis in real-time. It's so cathartic to play. Harry's drums absolutely beast along. He has a way of finding that extra gear just when you think it can't possibly go any higher.”
‘Excuse Me While I Vanish’, very nearly didn’t happen. Following the imposition of lockdown restrictions, Joseph found himself cocooned at home in Cornwall, ruminating on an uncertain creative future, watching on as his wife Mandy, a valiant mental health social worker, engaged with the all-too-real dilemmas of the pandemic-riven here and now. Her example motivated Joseph to become a temporary care worker, an experience which would provide renewed focus and influence the songwriting on the new album.
“My wife was insomniac for the first six months of lockdown, which made it impossible for me to moan or grieve the fact that everything I’d been working on for the last five years had come to a standstill. It was a much-needed perspective and made me realise what a selfish undertaking William had been – navel-gazing with my head in the clouds when what people needed was boots firmly on the ground, preferably on the feet of someone like Mandy.”
William The Conqueror's fourth album finds the indie-rock trio firing on all cylinders as Joseph confronts the thin line between creativity and madness, inspired by compassion for the real-life angels of the world. Ruarri’s compelling semi-spoken vocals and swamp-blues-Seattle-scuzz guitars are propelled by the rhythm section of Naomi Holmes (bass) and Harry Harding (drums) as ‘Excuse Me While I Vanish’ delivers an effortlessly winning blend of melody and ensemble dynamics, the most accomplished and undeniable William The Conqueror album to date.
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