Showing posts with label Kat Greta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kat Greta. Show all posts

Saturday, 3 May 2025

Kat Greta - The Happy Fits - Jimmy Dale Richardson - Voom

Kat Greta - Set You Up.

Melbourne/Naarm-based artist Kat Greta is stepping into bold new territory with her latest single ‘Set You Up’, released Friday, May 2 an explosive, percussion-driven anthem and her first fully self-produced release. Backed by earthy chants, rolling grooves, and undeniable energy, ‘Set You Up’ is a rallying cry for connection, built to be felt in the body as much as in the heart.

Known for her blend of contemporary pop, soft rock, and worldly folk influences—as well as her magnetic stage presence and fierce drumming—Kat Greta channels that same power into ‘Set You Up’, a song that pulses with communal spirit. Chant-like call-and-response vocals meet layered percussion in a track designed to bring people together, whether in the crowd, on stage, or listening solo with headphones. Mixed by Nathan Zammit, the single hums with a raw, unfiltered urgency that’s impossible to sit still through.

“Set You Up is about community, connection, and the energy that comes from people coming together,” Kat shares. “It’s built on rhythm—layered percussion, call-and-response moments, and a raw, unfiltered energy that makes you want to move.”

To bring the track’s heartbeat to life visually, Kat teamed up with director Dayne Edward for the music video—featuring none other than her own family. Filmed entirely via Zoom, the video captures Kat and her loved ones drumming together from afar, proving that distance is no match for rhythm when connection is the goal. “I wanted the video to reflect the spirit of the song—raw, real, and full of energy. Having my family involved made it even more meaningful, showing that music is something we share, no matter the distance.”'


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Photo - Anna Koblish
The Happy Fits - Everything You Do.

Indie/rock darlings The Happy Fits just unveiled their sprightly new single “Everything You Do” along with an energetic new video. The track marks their first new music to release in nearly three years as they make their anticipated return and kick off an exciting new chapter for the band. With a newfound spirit and vigor, “Everything You Do” is an intoxicating, heartsick anthem with infectious hooks, earworm melodies, and dynamic instrumentation heralding a roll-down-the-windows summer vibe.

“I read somewhere that the amount of married US adults dropped from 67% in 1990 to 53% today,” stated frontman Calvin Langman. “At the same time, over 50% of millennials are taking on multiple jobs and ‘polyworking.’ I’m no data scientist, but why is it so damn expensive to be in a relationship these days? Maybe it’s just my social circles and algorithm, but there’s a shared feeling amongst the hoi polloi of being overworked, underpaid, and underloved. It’s not that we don’t want to be in relationships, it’s just that we simply can not afford to love. ‘Everything You Do’ is my own internal battle of fighting for my heart vs. being practical and rational. Knowing me, the heart always finds a way to win…”

They continued, “For the grand premiere of the bigger, better The Happy Fits 2.0, we knew we had to show what we do best: perform! The video was shot in the basement of the punk-world-famous First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia, along with a skeleton crew of guys who knew how to squeeze every ounce of vibe out of that space and into the video. Ironically, we were kicked out two hours earlier than we expected due to an Agnostic group who had rented the space after us, claiming they rented it earlier than it said on the call sheet. They seemed pretty sure about this for a group of people who aren’t sure about a lot. Nonetheless, over 11 hours of shooting, we got the dozens of takes needed for our first performance-based music video ever, and the first look into the future of The Happy Fits.”


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Jimmy Dale Richardson - Pretending / Beltline Boogie.

Here it is! The great new recording by Fun-Guy Records recording star Jimmy Dale Richardson. Jimmy is one of the top stars in the world of roots rockabilly throughout the US and Europe. He's performed at Summer Jamboree in Italy, Rockin' Race in Spain and Hemsby in the UK. His powerful tenor vocal and exciting and unique guitar work always impress wherever he plays.

“Pretending” is a haunting yet beautiful ballad with expert singing and guitar playing by Jimmy, while being backed by Reverend Horton Heat and band. Other great musicians are featured as well on this fantastic stereophonic recording. “Pretending” features the great songwriting ability of Jimmy Dale Richardson! It’s romantic and dreamy, yet dark. Super cool!

“Beltline Boogie” is a rocking and swinging little number with Reverend and band backing up Jimmy. It’s all about ‘getting your kicks” on the Route 66 ‘Beltline’ alignment road that runs through and around Oklahoma City. This cool monophonic recording also features some fantastic slappin’ bass by Jimbo Wallace as well as some exciting guitar solos by Jimmy. It is bound to be a rockabilly dancehall favorite!



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Voom - Crazy Feeling.

Voom are on a roll with the release of another great single, Crazy Feeling. Filled with all the catchiness and uplifting galore of every Voom song you've ever loved. We're super excited for the new album Something Good Is Happening, and we know you're gonna love it too! Auckland indie-rock band, Voom, who, after years of releasing and performing music to their cult-like following, have announced a brand new album, ‘Something Good Is Happening’ out May 16th via Flying Nun Records.

The release of the latest Voom album has taken just short of two decades to be officially announced. Is this pace glacial, or considered? Sloth-like, or discerning? The Tamaki Makaurau-based foursome will tell you the nineteen years since their much-loved 2006 record, Hello, Are You There?, have been spent jamming and gigging, writing, rewriting and sifting, reflecting on what surely must be some of the strangest times in human history to present fans with their latest offering. Something Good is Happening is the child of strange seasons and tides, strange minds, pedals and fingers.

After accumulating literally hundreds of demos over the years, Flying Nun Records thought it was about bloody time Voom got at least some of these songs packaged up and released into the wild. The band agreed, and so have been painstakingly whittling and curating and bashing these tracks into shape, to form the 2025 album Something Good Is Happening. Each track has walked a different path into being a part of this record. 

Written and recorded in a variety of locations, with a plethora of different equipment, over decades of seasons and life stages, but always steered by the unsteady hand and watchful ear of frontperson Buzz Moller — seen by some as one of NZ’s most treasured songwriters. All members of Voom (Buzz Moller, Murray Fisher, Nick Buckton, and Josh Sorenson) are multi-instrumentalists and producers in their own right, consequently this combination of minds has helped forge the sound and vibe of this new album.

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Friday, 31 January 2025

Ruth Lyon - trost&treibstoff - Red Telephone - Autumn - Kat Greta - Laurel Smith

Photo - Tash Barker
Ruth Lyon - Wickerman.

Newcastle singer-songwriter Ruth Lyon returns this week with haunting new single "Wickerman". Produced by John Parish (Aldous Harding, PJ Harvey), "Wickerman" is the first new music to be heard from Ruth Lyon since her 2022 EP 'Direct Debit To Vogue'. With the release of "Wickerman" and its transfixing accompanying video (directed by Sel MacLean), Ruth Lyon also announces a UK headline tour, with stops in Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, York, Newcastle, and London - following notable festival slots at SXSW, The Great Escape, Latitude and Secret Garden Party.

Known for her transportive folk songwriting and a distinctive voice which ranges from powerful and expressive to beautifully intimate, Ruth Lyon blends the raw emotional honesty and poetic lyricism of Fiona Apple with the melancholic world-building of Regina Spektor.

New single "Wickerman" reflects upon vulnerability and betrayal. A powerful expression of resilience in the face of adversity, dreamy clarinet and melancholic strings sit diffused like sea light on top of the mesmeric groove of the piano and bass with shimmering drums and guitar cutting about like fish coming up for air.

Speaking more on the release of "Wickerman", Ruth said: "Wickerman lives in the borders between lucid dreaming and painful reality and I wrote this at a time I found myself alone yet haunted. The iconography of the burning wickerman evokes the chasing away of winter through fire and ceremony, welcoming the Spring; a re-seeding of soul into new light. Unravelling life changes can be disorientating, kicking up heavy questions to ask and the only answers I found were in time, nature and spirit. I wanted to be remembered and more importantly to remember myself."


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trost&treibstoff - Widely Scattered.

Alright, the name trost&treibstoff ("comfort & fuel") might be a bit perplexing. You wouldn’t immediately associate it with a band rooted in punk and raw indie rock. But as soon as “Widely Scattered,” the new single by musician and artist Rolo Schwegler from Zurich/Switzerland, starts playing, you feel its roots. Under the name trost&treibstoff, Schwegler creates powerful indie songs inspired by post-punk and pop.

Schwegler cites bands like The Cure, Tocotronic, and Watchhouse as his influences. Although the name might be new to the indie scene, Rolo Schwegler is no newcomer. Before founding his one-man project trost&treibstoff, he released a series of albums under his own name, with evocative titles reminiscent of Element of Crime lyrics, such as Das Leben jetzt (2005) and In den Tälern zieht die Sonne ein (2009). Under trost&treibstoff, works like Thermik (2011) and Warten auf die Gegenwart? (2013) followed.

So, what’s the story behind “Widely Scattered,” the new single by trost&treibstoff? “The song tackles a topic that most of us deal with more or less regularly and that can occasionally make life hell. The lyrics tell the story of a woman who has such vivid nightmares every night that she wakes up drenched in sweat—and her strategies for coping with it. The harmonies are designed to offer comfort and act as an antagonist to the whims of neurotransmitters,” explains Rolo Schwegler.

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Photo - Rhianedd Sion
Red Telephone - Faithful.

After a string of single releases, Cardiff’s Red Telephone finally unveil their excellent sophomore album today entitled Delay The New Day a rebellious manifesto wrapped in melodic psych and darkwave textures. Drawing inspiration from MGMT and St. Vincent, the Welsh quintet crafts a cinematic journey that blends industrial post-punk grit with haunting electronic noir. Alongside the album, they surprise fans with a brand new music video for the album’s lead single ‘Faithful’

At its core, Delay The New Day emerges as a fight for meaning and sanity. A defiant statement against institutional pressures, the band positions creativity as a powerful tool for individual resistance. “It’s not about any one thing, it’s as much about asking questions of yourself as it is answering them” 

Lead singer Declan says of the album “We’ve always found ourselves fighting pressures to fit in and play the game. Sometimes it’s seductive and you’ve really got to fight those temptations, so we wanted to use the creative process and our instincts as a guiding light. The whole process was about embracing a spirit of independence”

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Autumn - Venice.

US ethereal-darkwave trio Autumn (Minneapolis, MN) have unveiled ‘Venice’: the second single and video to be revealed from their forthcoming new album, Songs About Dying. Neil McKay (guitar) and Jeff Leyda (bass) generate a hypnotic, amniotic whorl of pulsing electronics, flickering guitars, and driving bass and drum-machine: echoing a sense of Venice’s transition and movement down through the ages, edging ever-near to a watery grave. It is a backdrop befitting vocalist Julie Plante’s impassioned lament for the ancient city’s uncertain future, whereas the song also celebrates Venice’s endurance as a symbol of romance and majesty, as Plante explains.

“Venice is on one level about the death of a city, in that nothing remains unchanged. Everything we experience in this world, all that we create, it is all in a constant state of transition, whether we realize it or not. Venice is a striking example of slowly drowning under the weight curated by our actions and inaction. Venice is also one of those iconic places that we hold a romantic hunger for, a celebration of decadence in spite of everything going on around it. We want to immerse ourselves in it, even as our collective hunger creates the environment that threatens its survival. So, for that reason, this track is also about resilience, and that beauty, once created, can never truly be destroyed. Its continued existence gives me hope for my own.”


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Kat Greta - Summer Daze.

Fresh from her regional Victoria and NSW tour, multi-instrumentalist and dynamic artist Kat Greta returns with her latest single, 'Summer Daze' (out Friday, Jan 31). With its unique, modern-60s and joyful sound, the track captures the vibrancy of the Australian summer while showcasing Kat’s original and free-spirited style.

For Kat, 'Summer Daze' is a deeply personal project that took years to perfect. “I feel like I’m sharing my most authentic self in this song,” she explains. “Recreating the essence of the ‘60s in a new way was a challenge—it’s not the kind of song that people would expect to hear these days. This song is my love letter to the Australian summer, but it’s also about holding on to the things that matter, especially as I navigate my own cultural identity. As both of my parents are unwell and I’ve lost close family members recently, I’ve been reflecting a lot on what it means to preserve traditions, memories, and the feeling of belonging. This song is my attempt to honour those pieces of myself—my Italian heritage and my connection to Australia—while embracing change.”

Drawing inspiration from icons like Burt Bacharach, The Seekers, and The Beatles, Kat has crafted a sound that feels both nostalgic and fresh. Her melodies evoke a timeless warmth while embracing a modern energy.

At its core, 'Summer Daze' is a love letter to the Australian summer, a reflection of how Kat’s connection to the country’s traditions shaped her artistry. “The Australian summer has always been a part of my identity—beach days, family gatherings, sunsets, and the warmth that comes with it. It’s a reminder of the simplicity and beauty of our traditions,” Kat shares. “But, as we know, traditions can be fleeting. This song is about cherishing what makes Australia so unique, and finding joy in the moments we can hold on to—especially in the face of change.”

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Photo Tom Seager
Laurel Smith - pink gun.

North-London alt-provocateur Laurel Smith releases her incensed new single 'pink gun'. An exhilarating expression of female rage, on 'pink gun' Laurel gives a voice to the suppressed anger and frustration of women who consistently experience sexism, gaslighting and disrespect, through a torrent of breathless vocal runs and cavernous, brooding beats.

Speaking more on the release of her new single - Laurel said: "I wrote pink gun when I was holding in a lot of anger from my experiences as a woman throughout life. I have felt spoken over, belittled, not taken seriously, gaslit (and at times) unsafe, uncomfortable and taken advantage of. I know most girls and women have felt and experienced all these things too and internalise these feelings. I want them to let it out. pink gun was my outlet and something that made me feel empowered so I hope it will do the same for my listeners."

Grapples with identity, explorations of female empowerment, examinations of human relationships; the protagonists within Laurel Smith's music are rebelling against expectations, challenging societal norms, finding their place in the world. A "hip-hop kid" at heart, Laurel Smith was born into a family with rock and heavy metal at its core. Those two disparate worlds can be heard within Laurel's potent, shapeshifting creations, with her new music radiating an energy and confidence of an artist revitalised.


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1Type (feat. Duke Al) - Veronica Fusaro - mokina - Blue Foundation (feat. Helena Gao)

1Type (feat. Duke Al) - Rise Up.  The 1Type Band's debut song, Rise Up, isn't just a song; it's a powerful anthem raising awar...