Showing posts with label Clem Snide. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Clem Snide. Show all posts

Saturday, 7 March 2020

The Electric Mess - Beachtape - Yusuf Sahilli - Brendan & the Strangest Ways - The Hideaways - Clem Snide - Nicole Atkins

The Electric Mess share 'Last Call' where the bands ability to mix up the rock genres results in this glorious hook laden piece. === Beachtape latest song is 'Somewhere Better' which exudes laid back rock grooves. === Yusuf Sahilli shares his first single 'In The City' taken from his forthcoming album. Both vocals and the musical arrangement are refined on this enticing track. ===
Brendan & the Strangest Ways make their second appearance here in less than a month with 'We Can Beat Mercury' another fabulous country rocker. === The Hideaways power up with 'Luminescence' a dominant rocker where even the reprises throb with angst and power. === We have already featured the first two singles and now Clem Snide returns with the third entitled 'Some Ghost' preety much ensuring the forthcoming album 'Forever Just Beyond' is a must hear. === Finally today we have Nicole Atkins and 'Domino' a fabulous modern pop song with an addictive groove throughout.
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The Electric Mess - Last Call.

NYC's rock & roll outfit The Electric Mess serve up a vibey, dark psych-pop single and accompanying music video titled "Last Call". A haunting chorus and memorable break combine for an immersive tune. It comes off their upcoming fifth full-length The Electric Mess V (Soundflat Records) due out April 17th.

"Last Call" opens with a bright guitar lick, quickly moving into an addictively catchy bass groove. Vocalist/keyboardist Oweinama Biu wastes no time jumping into a lyrical tale - pulling listeners ever deeper. "Last Call is dark and poppy, and gets great reactions at our shows," shared the band, making it a natural single ahead of their upcoming release.

Guitarist Dan Crow wrote the song a number of years ago, "about some things that went down in the house I lived in my senior year at college." The lyrics reflect on the outcomes and consequences of choices, lost friends, and what's left at the end of the day, asking "what are you going to do now?". The song came together with heavy sonic inspiration from The 13th Floor Elevators.

The accompanying video was inspired from 80's style MTV music videos, cutting between story-line shots and the band's performance. The band utilized local spots throughout New York City for a DIY approach to further bring the track to life, letting listeners still take their own interpretation

The Electric Mess defy a singular genre, blending elements of 60's garage, 70's punk, psychedelic pop, new wave, and high energy rock and roll into all of their performances. Lead vocals are shared between Biu and front-woman/rhythm guitarist Esther Crow, providing fantastically unique powerhouse of vocal teamwork. The band has a signature sound, yet always keeps listeners on their toes for what's to come.

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Beachtape - Somewhere Better.

Channelling the shifting perspectives we encounter over periods of change, ‘Somewhere Better’ is the latest scratchy, sunny indie-rock gem from Brighton quartet Beachtape. It’s being used to announce a new EP, ‘Bigger Picture’, out via CRC Records on April 10th, ahead of which they’ll be heading out to Austin to perform at SXSW.

The four-piece occupy a similar space to Happyness or Willie J Healey in recourse to the stilted, slacker-Americana of Pavement, Wilco and Dinosaur Jr, with a distinct beach-pop sheen adopted from their Brighton base. Their songs cover the fuzz of early-20s anxiety, a transitional phase of life with peaks and troughs dictated by paradoxical moments of drive and listlessness.

The gradual drift into changing circumstances, and the way this offers pause for thought, is the theme in the cross-hairs specifically on ‘Somewhere Better’:

“It’s about change. The inevitable changes in our future, and reflecting on changes from our past. The idea of something feeling so significant in the moment, but becoming so insignificant over time and vice versa. Our lives in and outside of the band have changed a lot over the last year and we’re all in completely different places to what we may have imagined a year ago.”

Whilst the band’s usual laidback style remains, there’s an added sense of subtle urgency, born out of its last-minute addition to the EP: “We wrote this song the day before we got in the studio and had to get a last minute practice the night before to figure out the parts. It was fresh and unprepared, and was the moment we found the final puzzle piece to this EP.”

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Yusuf Sahilli - In The City.

"In the City" is the first single taken from Yusuf Sahilli’s new album Let’s Do That due out June 5th, 2020. The single comments on consumption in modern society and how difficult it is to break the cycle. Russian animator Gosha Loshadkin brings the story to life by using Icarus from Greek mythology as he battles to make a healthy, well-balanced living - but will he be able to resist the temptations of modern life?

Let's Do That is completed by a video trilogy all animated by Gosha, starting with "Icarus Falling" (21 June 2019) followed by "In the City" (6 March 2020) and finishing with "You're It" (5 June 2020).

“It makes fun of music videos where artists try to show off their wealth with scenes like women in a pool being showered with money,” says Yusuf on the video for "In The City". “The song criticises the bank system that offers loans to people but also shows a society in a hamster wheel working from 9-5, never able to pay off their interest rates. We never see the horizon or the big picture in the city. Everything's fast and volatile. Too much noise. With light pollution now we can’t see the stars anymore. For centuries the saying "looking at the stars" was standing for hope. Especially in Berlin, there are so many contrasts. People try to live healthier lives, there are so many yoga clubs opening up, sometimes several in the same street. At the same time we're seeing more and more pubs and fast food outlets. We live healthily and then we reward ourselves with junk food, cigarettes and alcohol.“

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Brendan & the Strangest Ways - We Can Beat Mercury.

Brendan & the Strangest Ways announces the release of the “We Can Beat Mercury” video directed by Omeri Monroe (Tuneworks Media). Through a talent-show-gone-wrong, the video takes on the satirical struggle of an independent musician trying to find an audience. The single is off the album due out later this year.

As any talent show observer knows, it’s often spectacle that grabs attention above everything else. While Brendan Shea earnestly sings his song of hope and optimism, it’s the spectacle surrounding him that gets the judges nodding their head in approval. Nothing is too over the top: ballet and sequined dancers, kickboxers, hoop jugglers all join the mix.

Shea says, “The video pokes fun at the song’s message. ‘We Can Beat Mercury” was intended to be hopeful, optimistic and earnest.’ The video allowed an opportunity to reinterpret those ideas and tell a story where the protagonist, while perseverent, never gets to overcome his obstacles.”

About Brendan & the Strangest Ways - Brendan Shea adopted the moniker Brendan & the Strangest Ways to create music for the restless spirit. Heartfelt reflections comprise the songs: loves and losses experienced over countless miles traveled in search of something that always felt just a little out of reach. Early in 2019, Brendan and the Strangest Ways broke ground on the sophomore album Are We Sure The Dawn Is Coming? at County Q in Nashville. In October 2019, Brendan connected with veterans of Buffalo’s alternative country scene and former members of the band Bareback Jack: Tommy Bijak (electric guitar), Pete Wilson (drums), Paul Belardi (bass) and Kenny Blesy (steel guitar) to reform the Strangest Ways. The members backing Shea on Brendan & the Strangest Ways have done stints in Nashville recording and playing live. In their previous band, they opened for Marty Stuart and Charlie Daniels.

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The Hideaways - Luminescence.

A combination of raging guitars and driving rhythms alongside dark electronic and subtle trip-hop influences … The Hideaways return with new single ‘Luminescence’.  Produced by Matt Glasbey (Editors, Marmozets).

"I reckon Luminescence is a spot on example of what we're about musically" says frontman Danny Pugh. "When we're writing we always try to stick a few left turns in tunes that might catch people off guard a bit. That's what we wanted to get from mixing the psychedelic, eerie choruses with all the snarl and noise in the verses. Then for the outro we just wanted something massive that'd give everyone a proper melodic smack in the face".

The Hideaways also continue to build their reputation as a ferocious live act, having supported established names like Shaun Ryder and Little Comets alongside sharing stages with such up and coming bands as Fangclub, BERRIES and Football FC.


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Clem Snide - Some Ghost.

Clem Snide, the moniker of Eef Barzelay, shares the new single "Some Ghost" from his first album in five years, Forever Just Beyond, out on March 27 via Ramseur Records/Thirty Tigers. Scott Avett, who produced the record, co-wrote and provided harmonies on the new single as well.  "I have not had much luck over the years in my (few) attempts at co-writing," states Barzelay. "But with this one Avett and I just vibed hard and it came together as quick as you please! We both share a deep respect for the unknowing part of the process. It all starts in the dark but then the door was unlocked all along."

"Some Ghost" is the third single from Forever Just Beyond. The second single "Don't Bring No Ladder" was spotlighted by Nashville's Lightning 100 while the first single "Roger Ebert" was described by Rolling Stone as "a pretty, probing ballad that contemplates the mysteries of life...Clem Snide uses Ebert’s epiphany to make something that is wildly abstract, both relatable and comforting”.

Roger Ebert's wife Chaz even heard the song and wrote on RogerEbert.com thanking Eef for the song about her husband, "I was astonished and moved when I listened to 'Roger Ebert,' the new song inspired by words of my late husband, which serves as the lead track on Forever Just Beyond. If Roger's words in any way served as an inspiration to Clem Snide to not give up, it makes my heart overflow with joy. And Clem Snide (Eef Barzelay), I bet Roger appreciates it too."

The road to Forever Just Beyond, Barzelay’s stunning new album under the Clem Snide moniker, was an unlikely one, to say the least. “About ten years ago, everything just seemed to fall apart,” he explains. “The band bottomed out, my marriage was crumbling, I lost my house, and I had to declare bankruptcy. That started this process of ego death for me, where I realized the only way to survive would be to transcend myself and to try to find some kind of deeper, spiritual relationship with life and with being. Once I committed myself to that, miraculous things started to happen.”

Some miracles were financial (a superfan in Spain, for instance, sent Barzelay an unsolicited thank-you-for-the-music donation that covered the exact amount he desperately owed his bankruptcy lawyer); other miracles were more intangible. Roughly four or five years ago, as Barzelay struggled with how and if to carry on, a fan sent him a video of Scott Avett singing a Clem Snide song in front of a massive audience. Shortly after that, another fan sent an interview in which Avett raved about Clem Snide’s music. It seemed like a sign from the universe. “I had just hit this low point where I realized I couldn’t do it alone anymore,” says Barzelay. “I passed along a little message and a new song I wrote to The Avett Brothers’ manager, and Scott wrote me right back to say what a fan he was.”

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Nicole Atkins - Domino.

During the writing of her upcoming album 'Italian Ice', Nicole Atkins experienced a freak sinkhole accident turned life-altering revelation that led her to a new mantra: “Don’t be a bystander. Take action. Speak up. Make something. Live.” To this effect, the Jersey Shore-bred musician had a bold idea she’d typically brush off as unattainable: fuse the funky strut of her beloved French Electro music with the Italian Ice’s analog-focused Boardwalk Soul. And do it in Muscle Shoals, AL.

Atkins channels this fresh sound and attitude into 'Domino', a genre-pushing mission statement for living fully in trouble times. Citing additional inspirations like Prince and 'Miss You' by The Rolling Stones, Atkins delivers a groove-heavy pop gem with the utmost swagger: “I’m not gonna play / Safe and sound / When the world comes tumblin’, tumblin’ down.” In that respect, 'Domino' is not only the radio single off 'Italian Ice', but the vehicle for its central themes.

Like each of the eleven tracks on Italian Ice, 'Domino' was recorded at the hallowed Muscle Shoals Sound Studio with a group of her “best musical friends” – who just happen to be Jim Sclavunos and David “Moose” Sherman of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The Dap-Kings’ Binky Griptite, and drummer McKenzie Smith (St. Vincent, Midlake) – along with Spooner Oldham and David Hood of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Co-produced by Nicole and Ben Tanner (Alabama Shakes), Italian Ice also features special guests Britt Daniel, Seth Avett, John Paul White and Erin Rae, and songs co-written with Daniel, Hamilton Leithauser and Carl Broemel.

Nicole Atkins is a songwriter and performer with a fearless and frank style. Fans of Atkins’ previous release Goodnight Rhonda Lee include Rolling Stone (which before named her a “Top 10 Artist to Watch”), Uncut, Mojo, NPR, and American Songwriter. In addition to writing, recording, and playing music, the Nashville-by-way-of-Asbury Park musician is an art school graduate who specialized in wildlife illustration and is an active painter. Nicole has also shared her original artwork with fans through her newly-launched Patreon page, Natkins Funhouse. Fans who join will have access to items from Nicole including hand-designed monthly calendars and seasonal 8x10 art prints - as well as exclusive content like unreleased videos, demos and brand new covers. Step inside the Natkins Funhouse on Patreon here: www.patreon.com/natkinsfunhouse

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Sunday, 16 February 2020

Little Misty - Kerry Hart - Henriette - Totemo - The Tristones - Pike & Sutton - Clem Snide

Little Misty have released their self titled album 'Little Misty' which is a collection of nine refined progressive folk songs that are all fabulously arranged. === Kerry Hart has already gained considerable attention, hardly surprising considering the quality of her music, as is again confirmed with the new song 'Great Water'. === German country pop vocalist Henriette shares 'Crash Like This' a song with plenty of power and just a little hint of country rock. === From Israel we have Totemo with 'See You At The Beginning' a beautiful electronic dream pop and highly engaging song. === With a smooth funky groove The Tristones share 'Camaro' a track with all the slick quality Steely Dan used to serve up. === Just four weeks since we first featured the duo, Pike & Sutton return with the new single 'Together' another superb teaser for their full-length debut album 'Heart Is A Compass'. === Clem Snide makes his return just three weeks since we shared 'Roger Ebert', this time we have 'Don't Bring No Ladder' which is another beautiful Americana ballad.
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Little Misty - Little Misty (Album).

Little Misty is a progressive folk band from Montreal. The project started from a collaboration between singer Kathryn Samman and guitarist Francois Jalbert.

Surrounding themselves with a quintet of some of the finest musicians and friends in town, Little Misty explores the limits of folk music, bluegrass and progressive rock.

Their songs explore different topics such as motherhood, travelling and mental illness, always in a short movie approach; every song is meant to bring the listener into a world of its own. Their first record was produced by Joe Grass.

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Kerry Hart - Great Water.

Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Kerry Hart releases her debut album I Know A Gun. The album, which has already seen notable critical acclaim, has been met with enthusiastic fan response, with over 2M streams on Youtube, and well past half a million streams on Spotify and Apple Music. Today Hart is also spotlighting her new track "Great Water" for fans. She describes the song as "a modern hymnal, a worship song to the water, to the sky, and to the Great Spirit. It's an offering of one's burden on to the alter of Spirit, a pledge of faith to a higher power, a wider perspective. Within it, a potent lamentation, and a prayerful willingness to receive absolution."

Hart's beautiful rendition of Bruce Springsteen's "Secret Garden," was called "stunning" by Forbes in a recent interview, while Folk Alley has praised Hart as well, saying "Very few artists make a first impression so indelible and wondrous that you know within seconds that they are truly special. In the past few years, Courtney Marie Andrews, Anna Tivel, and Dylan LeBlanc all cleared that bar and even raised it with succeeding efforts. Now comes Kerry Hart making a play of her own to join their ranks."

Atwood Magazine also acclaimed Hart's most recent single writing, “'Screaming Quietly' showcases her in a space of complete and utter honesty. Supported by a quiet electric guitar that eventually evolves into a full background of warm harmony, Hart sings her heart out – turning her full self toward those afflicted by pain of all kinds, in mind, body, and spirit."

Hart joined up with Nick Rosen and Léo Costa, multi-instrumentalists who have worked with the likes of Pharrell Williams and Jason Mraz, to record I Know A Gun at Perfect Sound Studios in Los Angeles. The album finds Hart embedding her lyrics with pieces of hard-won insight, enveloping that wisdom in her endlessly warm delivery.  With its lavishly detailed and largely acoustic sound, the album unfolds in transportive melodies and sweeping arrangements, while bearing an edgy complexity entirely unique to Hart.

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Henriette - Crash Like This.

The German Country Pop vocalist Henriette managed to attract attention in a pretty short time with her cheerful, honest character and especially her great voice and not only to breathe new life into the Country scene.

With her self-titled debut EP, on Valentine’s Day via Dr. Music Records, she will gain many new fans. Henriette produced the five tracks together with the two producers Jay Tooke, drummer of the legendary band The Steel Woods and James Robertson, well-known guitarist for e.g. Lindi Ortega and Dragonette, in Nashville.

She already presented it live to a large audience as a support act for US Singer-Songwriter John Craigie and at the 10th International Country Music Meeting in early February. With her three singles released so far, the passionate, vivid “Crash Like This” as well as the successful, charming Indian Summer catchy tune “Dream Boy”  and the melancholic “Lighthouse”, the German Country Pop shooting star is currently on rotation on the radio.

The EP also features the two previously unreleased songs “Missing You”, which Henriette dedicated to her mother, who went through a hard time after the sudden death of her only brother, and “Fearless”, in which she processes the fears and doubts before her trip to Nashville.

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Totemo - See You At The Beginning.

Israeli producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Totemo releases her stunning new music video for single "See You at the Beginning." The track comes from her 2019 full-length 'Everything Happens Only Once.' Totemo (Rotem Or) is a producer, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Tel Aviv, Israel.

As a teenager, she began honing her mesmerizing electronic dream-pop sound that melded East-Asian soundscapes with moody downtempo synths and haunting vocals. Her debut EP Heavy as My Dreams was released in 2014 while she underwent a year of treatment for cancer she eventually survived. This period was followed by the critically acclaimed Desire Path EP (2016), which received much acclaim.

In 2019, Totemo returned with her first full-length Everything Happens Only Once. Its preceding singles went on to be picked by Spotify on their official Indie-Pop and New Indie Mix playlists (800K+ & 900K+ listeners)

She will be making an appearance at SXSW Festival in Austin before heading out to tour China, South Korea, Thailand, and Singapore, before returning once again to tour Europe.

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The Tristones - Camaro.

The Tristones, led by the lively and kinetic blues rocker Tristan Clark from New York, NY, today releases, “Camaro,” the third single from his upcoming album Camaro, out in April. The title track to his forthcoming album, “Camaro” is available on all streaming services and can be found here. “Camaro was a fun song to write. I wanted to have a song that had an Al Green type feel but I never felt like I was the kind of guy to sing Al Green type lyrics.

I decided to change the narrative to be about a car and give it a silly play on a love song,” explains Clark. The track came together quickly and was enhanced by the magic of the full band. “I showed it to the guys in the band, Gregory Jones on bass and Adam Jackson on drums, and they play that style so naturally it clicked right away! We recorded it in Maine and my good friend Dylan Heming overdubbed the keys in Toronto,” Clark describes. “Camaro” is a fun twist on a love story, with the object of Clark’s affection being this desirable, classic muscle car. Catch The Tristones playing their album release show on Stage Two at New York City’s venerable Rockwood Music Hall on Friday, April 3rd!

Working again with longtime friend and colleague Jared Lucow, The Tristones release a lyric video for “Camaro” alongside the audio. The third single from The Tristones’ upcoming full-length Camaro, “Camaro” was recorded in Maine. The track was engineered by Jon Roods (The Rustic Overtones), Stu Mahan (The London Souls, Eric Krasno Band) and Rick Salt. “Camaro” was mixed by Salt and mastered at Tranquality Sound.


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Pike & Sutton - Together.

Austin-based duo Pike & Sutton will release their full-length debut album Heart Is A Compass on April 3rd. Led by "hometown favorites" (Austin American-Statesman) Patrice Pike and Wayne Sutton, the band has evolved out of the longtime alternative rock band Sister 7. On Friday they released their new single "Together" which debuted on Billboard.

"The song is about creating a safe place for people to come together and transcend all the bullshit that's going on," Pike told Billboard. "But in retrospect it's kind of about Wayne and I, too. We've been in our friendship throughout the years. We've been through a lot. When people continue to make music together throughout their whole lives, something special happens. So I think those two things are in that song."

Pike & Sutton is a partnership, a creative evolution, and a promise fulfilled. Equally anchored by the powerhouse vocals of Pike and the deep textured guitars of Sutton, Heart Is A Compass is both a transformative celebration of the pair's R&B, soul, and roots influences and an exhilarating call-to-arms for the faithful. Co-produced with Grammy-winner Jim Watts (Emmylous Harris, Jenny Lewis, Kelly Clarkson), the album crackles with passion, vision, and undeniable hip-shaking rhythms.

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Clem Snide - Don't Bring No Ladder.

Clem Snide, the moniker of Eef Barzelay, shares "Don't Bring No Ladder," the new single from his first album in five years, Forever Just Beyond, out on March 27 via Ramseur Records/Thirty Tigers. Barzelay has also added new tour dates where the band will be joined by Forever Just Beyond producer Scott Avett.

"'Don't Bring No Ladder' was the first song I sent Scott in the hopes that it would entice him to make a record with me and with the extra secret hope that he would sing it," says Barzelay. "Both of those hopes were sweetly fulfilled. May we all die without resentment and regret."

"Don't Bring No Ladder" is the second single from Clem Snide's forthcoming album Forever Just Beyond. The first single "Roger Ebert" was described by Rolling Stone as "a pretty, probing ballad that contemplates the mysteries of life...Clem Snide uses Ebert’s epiphany to make something that is wildly abstract, both relatable and comforting”.

The road to Forever Just Beyond, Barzelay’s stunning new album under the Clem Snide moniker, was an unlikely one, to say the least. “About ten years ago, everything just seemed to fall apart,” he explains. “The band bottomed out, my marriage was crumbling, I lost my house, and I had to declare bankruptcy. That started this process of ego death for me, where I realized the only way to survive would be to transcend myself and to try to find some kind of deeper, spiritual relationship with life and with being. Once I committed myself to that, miraculous things started to happen.”

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Monday, 27 January 2020

Suzy and The Lifeguard - Alfie - Sandmoon - Clem Snide - Sammy Miller and The Congregation - Emerald Park - The Ah

Suzy and The Lifeguard have released 'Now' a song that twists and turns between melodic and refined pop to a more rocky psychedelic feel as it works wonders. === Alfie has an intriguing video for 'The Easter Song' a simmering and I quote "homage to Tex Mex music", it's also fabulous. === Sandmoon have a brand new single and video entitled 'Angel' the indie folk/rock band have a distinctive and highly engaging musical feel. === Ahead of a new album due in March Clem Snide has shared 'Roger Ebert' a gorgeously arranged piece where the mesmerising vocals exude real personal feeling. === Sammy Miller and The Congregation have released the wonderful song 'It Gets Better' which is a melting pot of delicious sounds. === From Emerald Park we have 'Rules Don't Apply' a vibrant indie rocker accompanied by some suitably matched old film clips. === Having featured the last two songs, today we have the third and final single from The Ah entitled 'Just Relief' ahead of the 'Mere Husk' album release which arrives on Friday.
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Suzy and The Lifeguard - Now.

Suzy & the Lifeguard lures her listeners into a sci-fi dream world immersed in lagoons of swampy jazz and shimmering 1960’s psychedelic pop. Her iridescent lounge-infused vocals are a siren’s call beckoning to a world where all the senses come alive, inspired and reawakened.

Suzy Paradise created Suzy & the Lifeguard as an alter-ego multi-media music project. Award-winning songwriter, producer, and recording artist Bleu McAuley (Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, Michelle Branch) co-wrote and produced the self-titled debut EP released in 2015. In 2016, she was nominated in the 14th Annual International Music Awards for “Best Jazz Song with Vocals.”

In 2020 Suzy & the Lifeguard is set to release the record, ANIMA, produced by Grammy award-winning recording and mix engineer, Phil Joly (Patti Smith, Lana Del Rey, Daft Punk). While the self-titled EP flourished in tropical island breeziness, ANIMA, embarks on a shadowed journey of neon nightlife and moody ambiance.  Recorded in Kauai at a friend’s chocolate farm/music studio, Paradise says, “It’s vibier than the last record. It’s a bit darker overall, but it’s also still silly and fun. I feel like it’s an honest reflection of not only what I have experienced in the last five years but also the fun and magical space we were in.”

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Alfie - The Easter Song.

"Easter Song" is the first single from Alfie's full lenght "If She Could Only Remember My Name", just out Jan. 24th 2020 on Seahorse Reordings. The song is a tex mex homage, filled with trumpets, love and religious obsessions, and guitars tremolos.

Long time collaborator with celeb italian jazzists and songrwiters, Alfie (born Alfonso Anagni) gets his inspirations from the likes of Lyle Lovett, John Moreland, Sturgill Simpson and Calexico.

And from movies. He could easily fit in a Paolo Sorrentino's movie (in another of his lives, he plays with a band at posh weddings in dream locations).

"The Easter Song" video - premiered by italian Rolling Stone mag - is kind of "la dolce vita" remake of The Big Lebowski, shoot at Tiam in Rome, the first bowling built by Americans in Italy back in the '50s.

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Sandmoon - Angel.

Sandmoon, an indie folk/rock band led by Lebanon-based musician Sandra Arslanian, have returned with a new single, “Angel”—a treatise to profound love that seamlessly blends propulsive guitars, feedback, and sweet harmonies, with Arslanian’s rich and emotive anchoring vocals.  The song will be released digitally on January 24. Sandmoon has also shared an accompanying video to the song shot in Beirut and directed by Tracy Karam.  Sandmoon creates songs that are lyrically hopeful and infused with an unerring sense of melodicism and a unique style that springs from Arslanian’s multi-cultural upbringing—born in Lebanon with Armenian roots and raised in Belgium.  Produced by Faddi Tabbal at Tunefork Studios in Lebanon, the song also includes Arslanian on backing vocals, synths and keyboard; Sam Wehbi on guitar, Georgy Flouty on bass and Dani Shukri on drums.  “Angel” is the second single taken from their forthcoming album, Put A Gun/Commotion, which will be released later this year.

Arslanian describes the song with emphatic simplicity: “’Angels’ is about absoluteness. It’s listening to your higher self, your angels, and fully living your life, with absolute love. For love is the only true thing that remains when everything else disappears.”

The video was shot in Lebanon and tells the story of a young person played by Daniel Aboushakra who experiences intense grief at the loss of his mother and his eventual transition from shock to acceptance through love. The video was produced by Arslanian and Jihad Saade was the Director of Photography.

Adds Karam: “It’s an emotional video about mourning and absolute love. It portrays a twelve-year-old boy trying to cope with the sudden, devastating loss of a parent by finding his way on his own. The pain forces him to face reality, in all its harshness and brutality. Yet in the midst of the chaos, there are moments of love, sparks of light that help him move on and replenish the emptiness.”

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Clem Snide - Roger Ebert.

Clem Snide will release their new album Forever Just Beyond on March 27 via Ramseur Records/Thirty Tigers. Produced by Scott Avett, Eef Barzelay’s stunning new album under the Clem Snide moniker may just be the most miraculous of them all.

Today they share the first single "Roger Ebert." Joined by Avett on harmonies, Barzelay spins the famed film critic’s final words into a gorgeous meditation on the mysteries of life and death on the track, which, like much of the album, seeks comfort in the acceptance of the inevitable.

“The last ten years have been a rollercoaster of deep despair and amazing opportunities that somehow present themselves at the last possible second,” says Barzelay. “That this record even exists, as far as I’m concerned, is a genuine miracle.”

“About ten years ago, everything just seemed to fall apart,” he explains. “The band bottomed out, my marriage was crumbling, I lost my house, and I had to declare bankruptcy. That started this process of ego death for me, where I realized the only way to survive would be to transcend myself and to try to find some kind of deeper, spiritual relationship with life.

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Sammy Miller and The Congregation - It Gets Better.

Sammy Miller and The Congregation release the latest single from their debut album Leaving Egypt, "It Gets Better," which bursts forth with a loping groove, and cleverly unfolds with moody passages that veer into the sunny side of the street. As Sammy states, “This is a song for the tough time, the tough day, the tough moment. It will get better.”

Sammy Miller, a Grammy-nominated drummer for his work with Joey Alexander, convened The Congregation in 2014 at The Juilliard School in New York City where he was getting his master's in jazz. “We all went to Juilliard and have these credentials, but we didn’t like the insular feeling of the jazz scene. We were seeking warmth and connection,” Sammy says. These misfit creatives descended on venues around NYC where the genre was not played. “I wanted to find a new audience,” Sammy says. “We played in dive bars where people were scared of jazz.”

Their live show grew to be something of a mix between a comedy troupe and a dazzling rock band that played a vigorously reimagined strain of jazz. “We let ourselves be free on the bandstand and we took the audience with us,” Sammy says. The band’s boundless energy, inclusive ideals, catchy songwriting, and revue style presentation made them a word-of-mouth buzz band. The septet expanded its reach through adopting the rock band philosophy of touring endlessly in a van to build a fanbase.

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Emerald Park - Rules Don't Apply.

One of Northern Europe’s most successful bands releasing music under a Creative Commons license, Emerald Park are back after about 4 years of silence. Emerald Park found their audience on the dark side of the internet when they released the album “For Tomorrow” (2008) as a free download back in 2010 - a choice that has given them almost 8 million listeners and over 1 million downloads at Jamendo.com. Thousands have also enjoyed their music in commercials and YouTube videos with various themes. This success brought Emerald Park to the Midem Festival in Cannes and led them to gigs in London (The Cavern), Hamburg, and Amsterdam - just to name a few.

The band hit the pause button in 2016 but are now back with their brand-new single “Rules Don’t Apply”.

“Rules Don’t Apply” was recorded by Mattias Larsson and Linus Lindvall of Cub&Wolf who attempted to find the band’s musical roots; this effort led them to the ‘90s with lots of guitars and fewer synths than in their previous works. The mixing was performed by the band members Daniel Gunneberg and Tobias Borelius who were joined by Ola Frick (Moonbabies) during the last stages of the process to rediscover the sound of “For Tomorrow”. With his final touch the band found what they had been searching for.

The lyrics are about being true and honest to yourself. Everyone around you will notice if you’re not. People hide behind computers and pretending to be someone else or buying things to impress their neighbors, scared of showing who they really are. That’s a shame.

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The Ah - Just Relief.

The Ah—solo project of composer and musician Jeremy Gustin (Rubblebucket, Okkervil River, Delicate Steve, Marc Ribot, Albert Hammond Jr, etc)—shared the music video for "Just Relief" the hypnotic third and final single from the forthcoming sophomore album Mere Husk, releasing January 31st via NNA Tapes.

The video's director, Yuka C. Honda (of Cibo Matto), shared her process: "I approach music and video in the same way as cooking. For me, it’s all about understanding the ingredients and creating something that uses their character to the fullest extent. In other words, I don’t write the story and look for the performers. I write the story based on the characters I am already aware of, with whom I am working. Jeremy sent me this music and asked me to make a video. I love the song very much. Somehow, it made me think about the last scene of the film "Black Orpheus". When the protagonist dies at the end, children emerge. They pick up the guitar that he dropped, then regard the sunrise and start singing and dancing. Life goes on. Death is heart-wrenching. But there are children who will keep on dancing, playing the guitars that we dropped. I thought, "I can make this video!", because I knew I wouldn't mind listening to this song 600 hundred times while editing."

The release of Mere Husk will be celebrated alongside Gustin's forthcoming photography book Foundscapes (releasing with 11A Records) at Brooklyn NY's Step Bone Cut on February 1st.

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Monday, 17 October 2016

Six Of The Best: James Edge And The Mindstep - Holly Elle - SHEL - Clem Snide - Alexis & the Samurai - Dia

James Edge And The Mindstep - Widdershins.

Background promo - James Edge is already a studious musical maestro and a top drawer composer. The Kent-raised musician studied composition to master’s degree level under Joe Duddell - arranger for the likes of Elbow and New Order. After moving to London and starting to gig in 2006, he formed James Edge and the Mindstep to record 2010 debut album ‘In The Hills, The Cities’. The working relationships he built around this time would provide him with some dependable collaborators, including regular engineer and occasional co-producer Tom Aitkenhead, best known for his work with Laura Marling and Bloc Party. A core jazz-folk trio of Edge, double bassist Andy Waterworth and drummer Avvon Chambers materialised. Together the trio started recording second album ‘Machines He Made’ over a five day period tracking everything live and only overdubbing the backing vocals. The songs were largely unrehearsed, with band members and additional session players mostly having not heard the pieces before. This spontaneous hodgepodge has resulted in some of the most whimsical and deeply experimental music to come out of the capital in a while. The eerie acoustics of Nick Drake inform the atmospherics of much of James’s songwriting, but his sheer compositional nous - which draws on aspects of jazz, modern classical music and punk rock and roll - elevates songs like ‘On A Red Horse’ and 'Four Two Four' to a place far above any glib and generic categorisation.

This year has seen the praise surrounding Edge get more fervent. ‘Where We’re Going To’, released by Folkstock in February, has been played by Alex Lester on Radio 2 and Tom Robinson on 6Music., while ‘Becoming’, the flipside on that AA single release, was premiered and made song of the day on Folk Radio UK. The ‘On A Red Horse’ EP also received glowing reviews from R2 and Fresh On The Net amongst others. Any praise Edge gets is well given. He is a modern day Zappa, channelling his eccentric art through folk arrangements to create something deeply surprising, raw, and unnerving. Website here.


From the forthcoming December 9th album release ‘Machines He Made’ the song 'Widdershins' exudes a mixture of acoustic energy and lively vocals that interplay with each other seemingly spontaneously. This is an exceptional folk based album, which mixes in hints of jazz, chamber and more modern styles. It's no surprise that we have featured two songs already this year from James Edge And The Mindstep, and with a date now set for the album, I would recommend checking out the other features, ahead of the release.

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Holly Elle - I'm Scared.

Background - An electrifying bond of authenticity links modern chanteuse Holly Elle’s radiant voice to lyrics, melodies and beats. With soul infused pop as a point of reference – and the mantra “No labels, no rules, no limits” – Holly arrives with verve, vision and vibe. 

While the press might portray Holly as a “Pop Powerhouse” there are far more complex dimensions to her ever-evolving artistry. Whether fronting a full throttle band, commanding a concert stage with electronic tracks or in an intimate venue accompanied by only an acoustic guitarist, she is equally enthralling. “The whole point of making music is for me to connect,” she confirms.

Originally from Chestermere, a small community just outside of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Holly’s earliest musical influences were nurtured by her parents’ house parties as a community of European immigrants shared the sounds of their respective musical heritages. Extended car trips with the family introduced her to a soundtrack of Sixties and Seventies classics and the Brit-pop brought back from England by her brothers who were studying abroad provided a modern melodic counterpoint. Classically trained with a Bachelors of Music in Vocal Performance from Winnipeg, Manitoba, and with inclusion on two Canadian albums: Things You Never Thought I’d Say by Freddy and Around the Universe in 80 Minutes – A Tribute to Klaatu, Holly was ready to launch a career in the U.S. – home to her favourite pop divas.

Holly appreciates both her career as an independent artist and her adopted city. “I love the feel of Nashville,” she says. “It helps me to take a breath and to slow down.” From song to stage to video and beyond, Holly celebrates all of the elements in her escalating career. As a complex Gemini with a treasure of talents and corresponding business acumen, her goals remain simple and sincere. “Loving music, continuing to make it, and finding an outlet,” she concludes. Website here.


Holly Elle's melodic and powerful vocals drive 'I'm Scared' along, with a complementing piano based soundtrack. It's a classic and contemporary pop song, with passionate vocals standing out.

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SHEL - You Could Be My Baby.

Background - The billowing curtains of sound on Just Crazy Enough, the second full length album from virtuoso indie-folk band SHEL, will be both familiar and far-out to fans of the exciting sister quartet. The classically inspired mandolin, violin and piano are there, along with the band's glowing vocal harmonies. But we also hear dense, ethereal textures that hover between the digital and the analog. Grooves are deeper, emboldened with electronic ambiance and beat-boxing. The overall effect sheds light on their broad collection of influences, from the daring rock bands of the 60s to the contemplative composers of the 18th Century, and even the waves of modern electronica. Because or in spite of this effervescent mashup, Just Crazy Enough is a masterful move for SHEL. It's the integral, front-to-back album statement the band has been preparing to make since they began making music.

Dynamic change and self-searching was inevitably going to be a big part of SHEL's story in these early career years. Sisters Eva, Hannah, Sarah and Liza Holbrook are, after all, twenty-something women, born in a five-year span and raised in a bohemian, art-loving family in Fort Collins, CO. Each found an instrument to master early on, studying classical music while composing and arranging unique works for their anomalous instrumentation, violin, mandolin, piano and drums. They gained performing experience working with their songwriter father, and soon had festival promoters and media figures championing their fresh, intricately drawn sound.

SHEL is now touring and creating relentlessly in the hothouse environment of the 21st century music business. "We've always made our living playing music,' says Sarah Holbrook, "I dropped out of two different colleges, before it finally sank in that I was supposed to be playing music with my sisters full time. We signed with Republic Records early on, but escaped the 'artist protection program' and we're prouder than ever to be waving our indie banner." Website here.


The video for 'You Could Be My Baby' stands out in a crowded world, with something a little unsettling in the emotionless faces, that really works with the song. Indie folk is perhaps the roots of the song, it's hooks dig deep, leaving me now needing to check the album out.

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Clem Snide - Better (2016 Remaster).

Background - Clem Snide's debut album "You Were A Diamond" issued on vinyl for first time with bonus digital download tracks. (HHBTM Records), Release Date: November 18th, 2016.

Excerpt from interview conducted a few years back w/ HHBTM founder & CEO Mike Turner for article about the label called HHBTM Records: 10 Years Of Angst & Regret.

Q: So given that you were already hanging out in Athens a lot, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea must have been a big deal for you when it came out.


A: Not really. At the time, I was just completely obsessed with this record by Clem Snide called You Were a Diamond that to me just did everything Neutral Milk did, but did it so much better. More heartfelt, more raw. In fact I actually kind of slammed the Neutral Milk record in my zine because there seemed to be all this hype behind it while this other record that I loved so much was just getting brushed aside. But of course I kept hearing Aeroplane everywhere I went and eventually yeah it clicked with me and I realised it was brilliant and everything people say it is. So yeah, I guess I felt a little embarrassed about that.

Q: Embarrassed because you’d said Clem Snide’s record was better?

A: No. I’ve never been embarrassed about that. That record’s amazing. It still kills me that nobody seems to know about it. Some records you put out because you like them, some records because you love them, and some records you put out because it’s an obsession and you want the whole world to hear this thing that has so much to offer.

You Were A Diamond is a record that is both haunting and haunted (that cello, the way it mimics the scraping of fragmented skull against fragmented brain). Like paintings done on glass instead of canvas, fragile and yet somehow more luminous. Clem Snide’s music is impossible to reduce to a literal description—can’t call it alt-country when there’s a cello, call it lo-fi even though you’re able to hear every note, call it folk, even though there is a predominant electric guitar. All of this adds up to the most unlikely of sonics. Call it Clem Snide. USA Vinyl pre-order here.


From what is for me a fabulous album 'Better' gives but a flavour of what's in store on the reissued 'You Were A Diamond' album. Mixing alt rock with Americana and even indie folk styling, it really is a fine collection of songs and the six accompanying bonus tracks just add to the story. Definitely one for vinyl fans to consider, or for those of us who missed out on the album first time around, then come and feast your ears on this.

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Alexis & the Samurai - Dogs.

Background - The duo of songwriters Alexis Marceaux and Sam Craft, the group brings to life a bold, Folk-Pop sound for the masses. The group creates a diverse spectrum of sounds, in which the duo learned how to multi-task and play several instruments for the release.

Performing everything as a duo has pushed Marceaux and Craft in new directions as songwriters. Both are classically trained musicians (voice for her; composition and violin for him) who have channelled their training into a catchy indie-pop sound. They build songs from scratch in the studio, each bringing in ideas that they work on together. The songs are born of the musicians’ own experiences.

Exiled after having lost everything in hurricane Katrina, Alexis Marceaux has spent the last decade returning home and building up a career from scratch. The meantime has been hard-fought but fruitful, with appearances at The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Voodoo Music Experience, SXSW, and several tours of the US and Europe. Alexis and bandmate Sam Craft met in 2009 and initially teamed up for Alexis' sophomore effort Orange Moon (2011). Under the tutelage and engineering of The Polyphonic Spree’s Rick Nelson, the duo drew an all-star cast, 25 of NOLA’s finest musicians of every genre for a big, lush, indie-pop opus with a distinct Louisiana flavor.

Marceaux put out her solo release Dandelion in '09, and its songs were picked up by various television shows (MTV's The Real World, E!'s Keeping Up With the Kardashians, and others), but with Orange Moon, she’s elevated herself into a "songwriting force to be reckoned with" (No Depression), securing more media placements, as well as rotation in Starbucks cafés and other stores. The duo latest LP is Move Into View. Bandcamp here.


'Dogs' is delightful. The same can be said of the latest album (Move Into View). Folk pop with energised moments, competing with beautiful vocals and harmonies, the duo deserve to be noticed.

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Dia - Covered In Light

Background - Dia is the stunning project of composer and performer, Danielle Birrittella. Her debut EP, Tiny Ocean, released with Manimal Records, features songs produced by Joey Waronker (Beck, REM, Atoms for Peace), Tim Carr (The Americans, HAIM) and Frankie Siragusa (theLAB).

Raised on a Hindu ashram, she sang ceremonial ragas as a child, which led to training and performing as an opera singer throughout the U.S. and Europe. Along these travels, she began experimenting with music and writing song fragments on a ukulele, which was gifted to her by her brother. Dia reminisces how she "would literally sit on the floor of my bathroom and come up with melodies". Encouraging reactions from those close to her, reinforced her musical path. Tiny Ocean showcases Dia's lush baroque-pop sound, which incorporates etherial vocal textures abstracted by organic percussion, electric guitars, ukulele, tiple, cellos, and drones. Her breathtaking debut is inspired by a 12th century poem in which Kafiristan confesses "since you love me and I love you the rest matters not”. This message is so awakening to Dia, she admits "the idea of just total surrender to love, martyrdom for love is power". Tiny Ocean is Dia’s version of that, "tie a knot around my tiny ocean, hammer me to every wall you build... burn me with your brightness…"

Dia’s practise as a classically trained opera singer induced an incredibly critical ear. Her influences of classical music, such as Baroque and French Romantics are beautifully infused with modern experimental cinematic folk on her debut EP. She imagines the ideal time and place to listen to Tiny Ocean is on a long drive in the car, "The grandness and the movement of being on the road supports the grandness and the movement of the songs".

A native of New England, and graduate of New York University (BA) and California Institute of the Arts (MFA), she has lived and worked as an artist in New York, France, and Italy. Highlighted performances have included Disney Hall's REDCAT - Los Angeles, La Musica Lirica - Italy, The Chautauqua Institute - New York, La Main d'Or - Paris, and The Ludwig Foundation - Cuba. Tiny Ocean is currently available worldwide. Facebook here.


First of three songs on the Tiny Ocean EP 'Covered In Light' is aptly described as experimental indie folk/Baroque pop. The theme continues throughout the EP, which has a distinct and quite unique and pleasing feel, love it!

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Zanna Black - Smoke and Mirrors Sound System - Remy Garrison - The Names - The Inciters

Zanna Black - This Town. With melancholic guitar and the loveliest vocals, Zanna Black lets out into the world her latest single, ‘This Tow...