Showing posts with label Garrett Owen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Garrett Owen. Show all posts

Saturday, 22 August 2020

Xanthe Alexis - Garrett Owen

Xanthe Alexis has released her new album 'The Offering' and we have two more songs from it namely 'Moon' and 'The Heart Needs Time' both of which typify this fabulous album. === Garrett Owen shares 'No One To Save You' following on from 'These Modern Times' which we featured in July and again the Texas singer songwriter delivers another refined slice of Americana.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Xanthe Alexis -Moon / The Heart Needs Time.

Xanthe Alexis' new album The Offering, out this weekend, is simply stunning, from her goosebump-inducing voice to her personal and vulnerable writing; and from the indie-folk production that encompasses acoustic guitar as much as drum machines to the radical empathy she practices in her life and art.

Like so many of her songwriting sisters and brothers in a year of lockdown, Xanthe Alexis has been awaiting the summer day she can give her second album, The Offering, to a revolutionizing world. The accomplished Colorado musician was just breaking into the national scene as the world shifted under our feet in early 2020. Her experience as both a trauma therapist and a single mother of two allowed her to weather the subsequent storm with unusual grace. Even from lockdown, Alexis has offered friends and fans daily affirmations of power and hope on social media – commodities that are rare in these times of vindictive language.

The passionate and strident tracks on The Offering reflect her wise responses to this new world shorn of pretense and masquerade. Her writing on the album also springs from the aftermath of heartbreak so the music functions both to heal others after hard-won lessons in moving forward herself. She sings, “It’s going to leave you hungry, kisses just like medicine, there and then gone again, here inside The Offering, tell me what you need.”

Alexis has noticed a distinct change in what her fans want from songwriters. In the almost four years since the 2016 election, she witnessed a need for a more authentic voice within the confounding politics and more passion in equal doses. Songs like “Siren” are meant to acknowledge anxiety while bringing a soothing hope for those living in fear. Alexis has found herself reflecting on her own newfound sobriety and writing about her journey towards healing. The songs are personally vulnerable and bring a broader context to living bravely, during fearful times. The recording sessions for The Offering began in 2019 under the tutelage of Conor Bourgal, founder of Colorado Springs group Changing Colors, and a proficient sound engineer. He worked closely with Alexis to accentuate what really mattered in these songs and to develop an indie-folk sound that draws as much from indie rock drum styles as from acoustic guitars, but always hangs back to let her stunning voice take the fore.

Alexis is unmistakable for her powerful voice and enchanting lyrics. The singular aura of magic surrounding her is a reflection, in equal measure, of her birth in the Superstition Mountains in Mesa, Arizona. Her childhood was steeped in the mysticism of blended cultures and gave her a passion and sensitivity for the unseen world of Spirit. She also experienced the effects of being treated as an “other” in America. Finding her own voice in activism, at the peaceful protests for Water Protection at Standing Rock, in her work as a Natural Healer in her community and now, in the ongoing movement for racial justice. Her Mother introduced her to the likes of Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell and Ella Fitzgerald at an early age, and she began writing songs just before her beloved sister died of heart disease. This gave Xanthe an additional window into the depth of pain and the need for a language in which we can speak the expanse of human emotion.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Garrett Owen - No One To Save You.

We have a fabulous new song from Texas troubadour Garrett Owen that's called "No One To Save You".

The song is about the hardships that result from a life lived on the road, inspired by a breakup he endured while on tour with Parker Millsap. The single is the newest from his forthcoming LP Quiet Lives out September 18th.

Garrett's songwriting comes from a unique viewpoint, and understandably so -- he grew up the son of missionaries in Africa, with the kind of wildlife in his backyard we'd have to pay admission to see here. His adolescence was spent playing music and being grounded in nature.

In his late teens, the family relocated back to Texas, and Garrett struggled to fit into the culture - the pain and despair from which caused him to attempt suicide. From those experiences, Garrett has learned lessons and grown both personally and musically, all on beautiful display in the grooves of Quiet Lives.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Friday, 3 July 2020

All Things Blue - Garrett Owen - Jody & The Jerms

All Things Blue just shared 'Dicking Around' alongside announcing that their debut album 'Get Bit' will be out in October. The new song is stylish and atmospheric dream pop, however expect additional genres when the album arrives. === From Texas we have Garrett Owen and 'These Modern Times' which is released today and it's a lush indie folk piece with a superb musical backdrop. === Jody & The Jerms also have a new double A side released today with 'Deeper' and 'I Knew A Boy' both sounding really good as the bands timeless indie music once again delights.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All Things Blue - Dicking Around.

Dream-punk band All Things Blue have announced their debut album Get Bit will be released 2nd October. Along with the album announcement, the LA-based outfit led by frontwoman India Coombs (or simply, Blue) and collaborator Jon Joseph, are releasing new single "Dicking Around".

All Things Blue traverse genres and sounds. One moment flirting with abrasive garage-punk, the next soaring psych-pop; debut album Get Bit finds the band weaving between the spirited psychedelia of Melody’s Echo Chamber, the timeless proto-punk of Patti Smith and the exhilarating alt-pop of St Vincent.

New single "Dicking Around" looks darkly inward as an all-too-casual narrator contemplates acting on their worst impulses. Sonically toying with the paisley underground sound of the 1980's but with a distinctly modern flair; "Dicking Around" utilises an expansive array of swirling guitars, psychedelic electronic flourishes and a potent rhythm section. Speaking on the new single, India Coombs said: "The phenomenon Edgar Allen Poe once coined 'the imp of the perverse' rang true to me as a strong parallel of the tone in Dicking Around. The mind can be surprising without what feels like the ability to help it. I wrote this as a wrap for thoughts of acting on my own worst impulses despite recognising they’re naughty hehe."

New single "Dicking Around" follows the previously released cut "Chad", and are both lifted from All Things Blue’s forthcoming debut full length album Get Bit, which will be self-released by the band on October 2nd. Covering everything from pensive love songs to directly addressing social issues and political ironies; India herself compares the album to Gabriel Garcia Márquez’s ever-relevant novel Love In The Time of Cholera. Indeed, the the band's new material promises love, however ethereal it may seem, at the end of a very dark tunnel, if not somewhere along the way.

India and Jon originally met in LA at the age of 18, having both independently moved to the city; Coombs driving across the country in her broken down pickup truck from Philadelphia, and Jon hailing from further south in California. The pair wasted no time becoming friends and firing out an eclectic assortment of demos. They did so namelessly for some time, but eventually settled on "All Things Blue”. The name itself was coined by India's late mother, who, when India was having trouble getting by in the rough and overpriced world that is Los Angeles, told her that she was just feeling blue and sometimes all things are blue for a bit but they'll get better.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Garrett Owen - These Modern Times.

Garrett Owen, is a Texas troubadour who is pushing the boundaries of indie-folk with his forthcoming LP Quiet Lives, due out Sept. 18th. The album's lead single, "These Modern Times," is out today Friday, July 3rd.

Garrett's got an interesting perspective from which he views the world and writes his songs; raised in Africa by parents who were missionaries, Garrett's landscape teemed with the kinds of wild animals we have to pay admission to see.

When the family transitioned back to the States, Garrett struggled to fit into a culture he couldn't understand, which led to pain, confusion, and an attempt to take his own life. Now, he's strong and ready to share this collection of songs, his observations on the culture, with the world.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jody & The Jerms - Deeper / I Knew A Boy.

Oxford’s Jody and the Jerms return with not just one but two fiendishly catchy new tracks ahead of their much-anticipated debut album. With added support from Spanish radio giant RTVE and BBC Introducing, ‘Deeper’ and ‘I Knew a Boy’ are the crystallised indie-pop tunes which are just what the doctor ordered for your post-lockdown shindigs.

It’s difficult to believe that this time last year, Jody had never sung in front of anyone. Now with a band assembled around her, comprising former members of the band The Anydays, and who played with Radiohead and Supergrass in the 90s, hit the pages of the NME in it's heyday and gaining airplay on Mark Radcliffe’s show on BBC Radio 2, Jody is ready to take on the world!

Jody & the Jerms’ sound harks back to those untouchable days indie music enjoyed in the 90s, possessing seemingly effortlessness melodies and choruses which embed themselves in your head for days. If you detect an influence for some of the breakout bands from the power pop movement of the late 70s and 80s, you might be onto something, checkout their recent cover of The Only Ones ‘Another Girl, Another Planet’!

Lockdown has proved a fruitful time for Jody & the Jerms, not only seeing them sign a vinyl distribution deal but also recording a full album’s worth of tracks…as well as the cover version! The benefits of guitarist Niall Jeger being the husband of singer Jody certainly ensured work never stopped! With their ranks swelled from three (alongside drummer, Alex Bridge) to six to allow for a full tour of the UK and Spain in the New Year, Jody and the Jerms are a well-oiled machine and this summer looks set have their songs imprinted in the musical minds of audiences everywhere.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dumpstaphunk - Kacimi & Mécréance - Ellen & Simona - Steven Troch Band - Bandits on the Run

Dumpstaphunk - Let's Do It. New Orleans’ modern torchbearers of funk, Dumpstaphunk returns to the fray with their new single “Let’s Do ...