Showing posts with label Amber Hotel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amber Hotel. Show all posts

Tuesday, 4 November 2025

Amber Hotel - Pacifica - Nathan Bryce and Loaded Dice - Cherry i

Amber Hotel - Midnight’s Echo.

Enter Amber Hotel. Still flickering, still rising, from the darker corners of modern-day Chicago. If Digital Ghost haunted the wires of broken connection, and Shadowed Face forced you to stare into the mirror you’d rather avoid, then Midnight’s Echo is the sound of being swallowed whole by the dark itself. A song of corridors without exits, whispers without faces, and time slipping through your hands like shattered glass.

This is not comfort. It’s hypnosis. The guitars circle like restless shadows, the bass drags like chains across midnight floors, and the voice drifts between confession and surrender — pulling you deeper with every line. “Every breath feels like a crime / We’re just ghosts against the time.”

Post-punk and darkwave DNA runs through its veins — echoes of Lebanon Hanover, The Cure, She Wants Revenge, Boy Harsher — but warped into Amber Hotel’s own fever dream. Brooding, cinematic, electric, and alive. Midnight’s Echo is chapter four of Amber Hotel’s descent. Another door unlocked. Another step further into the unlit world that waits behind it.

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Pacifica - In Your Face (Album).

Formed in Buenos Aires by Inés Adam and Martina Nintzel, Pacifica have been on a fast, furious rise since transforming their bedroom YouTube covers into a fully-fledged global phenomenon. Blending the gritty immediacy of early-2000s garage rock with the swagger of post-punk and the emotional punch of ‘90s alt, the duo have built a devoted following and a reputation for blistering live shows that channel friendship, chaos, and catharsis in equal measure.

Now, Pacifica return with their highly anticipated sophomore album In Your Face, out now via TAG / The Orchard. The record marks a new era for the Buenos Aires-born duo — one that captures their trademark mix of vulnerability and rebellion with more bite, confidence, and self-awareness than ever before.

“In Your Face is an introspective journey that brushes through themes of heartbreak, betrayal, lust, spite, immaturity, and regret — all with a pinch of humor and light-heartedness,” the band explains. “It’s about cause and consequence. Accepting fate and flaws, realizing some things really are the other person’s fault, falling in love and wanting to jump off a building for someone, learning to be patient, and just living through it — Tokyo streets, Maseratis, vibes.”

The album’s focus track, “Indie Boyz,” is a riff-heavy, tongue-in-cheek ode to late-night indie sleaze — all sweat, irony, and hazy dancefloor nostalgia. The band note that it’s “not to be taken too seriously — just a description of a week of going out almost every night. No poetry, just vibes.” "Indie Boyz" is also a nod to a trendy club in LA called Tenants of the Trees. Other highlights include “Fixer Upper”, a biting reflection on toxic relationships and performative self-destruction, “Just No Fun,” an irresistible, chaotic anthem about knowing you’re self-sabotaging — and doing it anyway, and “What You Doing,” a sharp, emotional spiral set to driving guitars and sardonic wit.

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Nathan Bryce and Loaded Dice - Sailboat in the Sky.

Nathan Bryce and Loaded Dice have unveiled “Sailboat in the Sky,” the bands hugely anticipated new single. This marks the debut collaboration between Nathan Bryce and songwriter Candace Crockett, blending heartfelt storytelling with Bryce’s soulful edge, creating a sound that’s both timeless and new.

With “Sailboat in the Sky,” Nathan Bryce delivers a laid-back, feel-good blend of Southern soul and his signature honey-bourbon blues-rock, with a modern edge. The vintage soul, swampy grit, punchy drops and sunset-coastal vibe feels both nostalgic and cinematic. It has a hook-laden, sing-along chorus that lingers long after the last note yet it’s more than a song, it’s a breath of freedom, a moment to rise above the noise, and remember what it feels like to be fully alive again.

Nathan Bryce and Loaded Dice are known for their energetic blend of classic rock, blues, and southern rock influences, bringing a fresh perspective to the guitar-driven rock tradition. With a line-up featuring Nathan Bryce (guitar and vocals), Dylan Halacy (drums), and Jerry Paswaters (bass and vocals), this Missouri-based trio continues to make waves in the music world. NBLD has been touring the U.S. and internationally for the past 3 years as backing band and supporting act for Australian guitar prodigy Taj Farrant. They are now embarking on their own Tours, bringing their unique blend of Rock N’ Roll, nostalgia and high energy performances to audiences nationwide and beyond.

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Photo - Ramzi Karam
Cherry i - Mistake.

London art-rock group Cherry i return with their new single ‘Mistake’, a magnetic follow-up to previous single ‘The Arsonist’, continuing their collaboration with producer Ali Chant (PJ Harvey, Youth Lagoon, Soccer Mommy). Built around an uneasy dialogue between artist and art, ‘Mistake’ captures what vocalist and lyricist Nikol describes as “a relationship with defeat”, embodying the tension of not being able to control what you create.

The track moves from hushed reflection (“I know who I am / I know what I lack”) into something unrestrained, as guitars scrape and shiver over taut percussion. Lyrically, ‘Mistake’ is full of surreal, visceral imagery (“The sun rays are filled with disease / My hopes are lost in you”), with Nikol reflecting on the frustration and compulsion that underpin creative pursuit - her performance leading the song from quiet restraint into full cathartic release.

On the lyrical inspiration behind 'Mistake' - Nikol said: “The idea behind the song is essentially a one way conversation between a person and something inanimate, in this case it is the fraught relationship one can have with music and choosing that as a career path. Wanting to have a sit down conversation with something so opaque and undefinable as art is what inspired the lyrics."


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Wednesday, 1 October 2025

Sally Phantom - Tom Smith - Amber Hotel - Crystal Shawanda

Sally Phantom - Going Insane.

With a powerhouse voice and an unmistakable presence, Montreal’s Sally Phantom emerges fully formed on her debut single, “Going Insane.” Rooted in alternative pop-rock but stretching into gothic soul, cinematic grunge, and alt-pop balladry, Sally’s sound lands somewhere between the torch-song drama of Amy Winehouse and the theatrical darkness of Evanescence, with flashes of Lana Del Rey, Ethel Cain, and Paramore woven throughout. 

Backed by a team of seasoned industry veterans, this young artist arrives not as a hopeful, but as a headline. Co-written and produced by Canadian music mainstays Hugo Mud and Adrian Popovich, the track is a masterclass in collaboration: raw, addictive, and impossible to ignore.

“Going Insane” began as a spontaneous creative spark and quickly evolved into something far more deliberate. From Houde’s gripping instrumentation to Popovich’s heavy-lidded synth work and precise mix, the production walks a razor’s edge between gritty and cinematic. But it’s Sally’s performance that cuts deepest—her vocal range is wide, expressive, and unflinching, with the same dramatic heft that made legends of Amy Winehouse and Evanescence. Her songwriting, co-crafted with Mudie, dives into addiction, identity, and emotional unraveling, delivered with rare lyrical poise and intensity. 

“It’s a conversation with God,” she says, “a personal letter to my addictions, and a reflection on the pain of loving someone I couldn’t have.” Writing the song meant returning to the moment she realized something had to change. “Addiction had controlled my life since my teens. At 23, my dad sent me to rehab, and it saved me. Sobriety gave me the courage to feel again—and this song was how I admitted that to heal, I had to finally feel.”


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Tom Smith - Leave.

Tom Smith steps forward as a solo artist with his debut album There Is Nothing In The Dark That Isn't There In The Light (out December 5 via Play It Again Sam). New single "Leave" follows "Life Is For Living" and "Lights of New York City". 

Working alongside producer Iain Archer, Tom Smith has completed work on his debut solo album. Stepping out of the world of Editors for the first time, ‘There Is Nothing In The Dark That Isn’t There In The Light’ is eagerly anticipated and today's single release 'Leave' is the third taste of what we are expecting to be a fabulous album with a real distinction from Editors material.


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Amber Hotel - Shadowed Face.

Enter Amber Hotel. Still flickering, still rising, from the darker corners of modern-day Chicago. Amber Hotel is not nostalgia. It’s a gathering point. A sanctuary for those who feel out of step with the speed of the modern world. It’s 2025, and things have never felt stranger, heavier, or more electric.

If previous single Digital Ghost was the phantom of lost connection, Shadowed Face is the mirror you’d rather not face. A track that stares back at you—cold, unblinking—revealing the parts we bury under light and distraction. It’s brooding, cinematic, and drenched in the DNA of post-punk and dark wave, carrying echoes of The Cure, She Wants Revenge, and early Interpol, but warped into something wholly their own.

The guitars don’t shimmer—they slice. The bass doesn’t just drive—it drags you into the undertow. And through it all, the voice: commanding yet distant, both confession and accusation. This is chapter three of Amber Hotel’s descent. Another key, another door unlocked. Behind it lies a shadow, a mask, a self you can’t escape. Welcome back to Amber Hotel. You can hide your face, but the shadows will find you.

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Crystal Shawanda - Sing Pretty Blues.

Crystal Shawanda's video for the song Sing Pretty Blues launched this yesterday. Known for her JUNO and Maple Blues Award-winning albums, Crystal's latest release covers Stax-sounding soul, rootsy acoustic Americana, and pure Janis Joplin-style power Blues.

Crystal began singing this song in concert when she started her music career, performing as a Country artist at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge in the 1990s. 

A song about the struggle of letting go of the past, confronting pain and seeking forgiveness, Crystal's fans have often requested a recording. Audience members will tell her about how much the song means to them, and about the people who continue to struggle or whom they've lost along the way. 

This song was recorded acoustically on two resonator guitars with the accompaniment of a 150-year old hand drum played by a revered elder from Crystal's home reservation, Wiikwemikoong First Nations on Manitoulin Island in Ontario. 

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Violent Vickie - The Paper Kites - Will Romeo / The 1984 Draft - Mick Clarke - Steel People

Violent Vickie - Open the Door . It's a massive welcome back to Beehive Candy for Violent Vickie who we have had the pleasure of featu...