mimi bay - Hanna Barakat - Corniglia

With songs as good as 'Really' it's hardly surprising that mimi bay has already gained considerable attention, her Bedroom Pop is smooth, dreamy and beautifully arranged.

Just four weeks ago we featured Hanna Barakat and the song 'Damage Done'. Swiftly following on from that we have 'Leave Your Light On' a song that really showcases the power and splendour of her vocals, ahead of August's album release entitled 'Siren'.

It's been a while since we last featured Perth, Australia's Corniglia whose music has evolved into a resplendent mixture of shoegaze, psych rock and darker dream pop, with the new song 'A Lost Forgotten Dream' also demonstrating the quality attached to all of that.
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mimi bay - Really.

Hailing from Gothenburg, Sweden, 18-year-old Bedroom Pop artist, Mimi Bergman is set for bigger things. From a young age, the self-taught multi-instrumentalist has been surrounded by music, showcasing it best with her deeply personal songwriting and poetic music. Influenced by many artists, mimi taught herself how to play a variety of instruments and at 14 started to write and self-record her own music in her home recording studio, then sharing it on her YouTube channel Hi I’m Mimi which has grown to near a quarter of a million subs.

With the release of ‘really’, mimi bay explores the feeling of unrequited love, the dreamy heartfelt track is set to bring back memories of a past love that you never seem to get over. mimi will send you into a musical daydream with her sweet soft-pop vocals and emotive guitar playing. To best describe her sound, think beabadobee, Girl In Red and boy pablo. mimi’s debut EP is to be released later this year.

After releasing music on YouTube, the songwriter soon started grabbing attention, gaining a huge amount of support and fans along the way. With over 3 million streams on Spotify, her singles ‘Afraid’, ‘Too Late’ and ‘in your neighbours garden’ – her ever-growing YouTube fanbase has secured her at the forefront of the bedroom-pop.

mimi says that “’really’ is about romanticizing people you see online and spending time thinking of them while they don’t know you exist”

With her keen eye for dreamy aesthetics, mimi bay takes all control of her visual output, creating artwork that fully accompanies her music, assuring a strong and cohesive narrative throughout her work.

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Hanna Barakat - Leave Your Light On.

Austin-based, hard/alternative artist, Hanna Barakat, announces her new single, “Leave Your Light On,” ahead of the upcoming album, Siren, due out August 16, 2019, produced by John Moyer (Disturbed). Born in Texas to an American mother and a Lebanese father, Barakat spent her early years traveling around the world with her family. Barakat pays homage to her roots  on the album.

The album was produced by John Moyer, bassist from famed hard rock band, Disturbed, mixed by Martin Nessi (Michael Jackson estate, Ariana Grande, Josh Groban, Celine Dion, Andrea Bocelli, Ricky Martin, Kelly Clarkson), and mastered by Ted Jansen of Sterling Sound (Disturbed, Evanescence, Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin, Halestorm, Pat Metheny).

Barakat states on "Leave Your Light On:"“Society portrays love like a fairy tale, and if the relationship you’re in is not picture perfect, there’s always someone else out there to sweep you off your feet and ride off into the sunset with. Reality tells us that pairing lives with another soul is one of the hardest things two people can do on this earth. Relationships take constant care, devotion, patience, and a hell of a lot of strength. We all go through periods of depression, weakness, physical or psychological traumas, and we need help. We need people in our lives to lift us up and hold us tight while we recover. Leave Your Light On is an honest plea between two lovers to do just that - be strong for one another in tumultuous times - Be each other’s  light - their pillar of strength - and know that it is an ebb and flow - the roles will most certainly be reversed not long down the road. This is what relationships are built on.”

Barakat beautifully describes the inspiration behind the album: “I chose the title, Siren, for my debut record, after John Moyer and I produced our final song together, which happened to be “Siren.” The power of the music and the lyrics filled me with such fire. It motivated me and inspired me to take this next step in my journey with such confidence. Though the song references the mythical sirens of the sea, I loved the idea of a double meaning: an actual siren, warning call, alarm! The songs on this record were written over a span of 10 years. These songs have been my comfort and my therapy, as I’ve journeyed this world, witnessed injustices, engrossed myself in my ancestral culture, grown within myself, literally travelled the globe, loved, lost, failed, loved again, and struggled to reach the place where I am today.

I want to bring awareness to these situations, not by forcing any political agenda, but by pushing for love, understanding, and acceptance of all the other humans walking this earth together. Throughout history, there have been unnatural walls physically erected, or socially accepted and perpetuated, in order to divide people. I want to tear those walls down. All of them. Through my music, with rock guitars, heavy drums, deep rhythmic bass lines, and my intricate vocal melodic lines and punchy harmony stacks, I have chosen to forge arabic instruments like the oud, kanun, frame drum, riqq, into my sonic landscape, where I feel they so naturally and appropriately belong.”

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Corniglia - A Lost Forgotten Dream.

A Lost Forgotten Dream It's waking in a primordial land. It's waking from a dream. A dream of nature and of man - Conjoined twins long separated - both reunited and at war. It's a rolling psych song. It's dark dream pop. It's the undulating, pulsing flow of surreal lyrics over rolling drums and guitars that drive and release like the rise and fall of the ocean.

“On/Off”: Album Notes - It’s dark melodic shoegaze. Dark dream pop. Whispery, stunted psych. Surreal and introspective. Disconnection. Discontent. Fraying. A derelict Cyborg Earth. But it is technology overreaching, faltering. The Earth reclaiming power. It’s the future mirroring the distant past. It’s Man and Nature reunited and at war.

Time erodes, swallows everything. Monoliths - cultures, cities, ideas… Buildings inevitably crumble. Become irrelevant. In the face of the enormity of time - our own perceived self importance dissolves away - It’s finding a calmness and contentment in this. This microscopic-ness. This irrelevant-ness. These aren’t sombre thoughts though. These are beautiful and freeing. A freedom in anonymity.

Other possible things to take from the title “On/Off”: Living on autopilot in mindless routine like an appliance - with an on/off switch. The Earth reseting itself like an appliance (when it’s not working properly).

The album is a little different to previous stuff. Was definitely more focussed on a theme this time. The obvious difference though, Chloe not singing on the album………unfortunately. That wasn't planned. She was really busy with Uni the last 12 months, so we decided I’d be left on my own for this one. She’ll definitely be back for the next thing though. The album was recorded at my house. My brother Mitch, played most of the Drums. It was mixed and mastered at Bergerk! Studios in Perth.

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Thandii - Team Me - Julia Rakel - Grace Gillespie

Less than a month since we featured 'Honey' by Thandii they return with 'Tides' where the driving bass line and assortment of sounds blends beautifully with the gorgeous soaring vocals.

Team Me also return for a second time, back in April we shared 'The Future In Your Eyes' and now we have 'Does Anyone Know How To Get To The Heart Of This' a splendid enough song title and equally splendid indie piece the bands knack for creating rousing catchy tunes continues.

We featured Julia Rakel a couple of times back in March and now we have 'Summer Hit' another creative and melodic song where her fabulous vocals and wonderful musical arrangement work wonders.

Finally and pretty much a month to the day since we first featured her, Grace Gillespie has shared the new song 'My Love Surreal', a hook filled pop piece that is just a little off kilter making the track even more engaging.
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Thandii - Tides.

Margate based duo Thandii have released new single ‘Tides’. This will be the final single from upcoming EP ‘Serious Town’, slated for July 5th.

Having gained support for their signature blend of sultry female vocals and upbeat pulsating bass lines on previous singles ‘Company’ and ‘Honey’ Jess and Graham now return with ‘Tides’ where they explore the themes of guilt and how people deal with it. A growing cluster of rhythmic sounds and shuffles, and an ever-present increasing bass line invoke the feeling of being relentlessly chased by guilt. A tribute to Greta Thunberg, the song has a constant nod to her work in raising awareness toward climate change, and uses it as a metaphor for regret. “There’s another heatwave on….” and “I can’t ignore you,” Jess sings with her soaring vocals.

‘Serious Town’, out July 5th on the band's own label Bad Hacker, sees a departure in tonality as well as the way it was recorded from Thandii’s previous works. “For the EP we chose to spend some time in a proper studio, rather than recording at home as we have done before. One of our favourites is a place called ‘Echo Zoo’ down in Eastbourne - it’s an analogue recording haven more akin to the Southern States than the southern coast of the UK.” The duo wrote and produced the EP themselves and took inspiration from the darker side of the psyche. “Imagine if the voice in your head sang at a dystopian disco.” Featuring previous singles ‘Company’ and ‘Honey’ the EP also features 4 new tracks, including upcoming single ‘Tides’.

‘Suits’ is a delicate and floating melody over the stab of reverb bathed synths that laments the aftermath of a fight. It culminates in a distorted guitar solo that perfectly conjures the moment raw passion meets vulnerable emotion.

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Team Me - Does Anyone Know How To Get To The Heart Of This.

After their euphoric return earlier this year, Team Me present the memorable ‘Does Anyone Know How to Get to the Heart of This’, out now via Propeller Recordings (Highasakite, Dagny, Sløtface, Moddi), the third instalment of their upcoming EP.

Leading man, Marius Drogås Hagen of Team Me tells of the track, “‘DAKHTGTTHOT’ teleports us back into the post-apocalyptic world. A future where our cyborg heroes are fighting a losing battle. A battle for love, lost in a sea of flames”, continuing the harrowing and poignant narrative from it’s predecessor ‘The Future In Your Eyes’.

Capturing the anguish and romantic longing in the sonic soundscape, paired with Marius’ soft vocals, Team Me have taken a gentle and thoughtful approach on ‘Does Anyone Know How to Get to the Heart of This’. The single demonstrates the band’s capacity to create versatile sounds, showcasing their artistry while cementing Team Me’s reputation for manufacturing cinematic indie bangers in all forms.

When speaking of the band’s new chapter, Marius tells “as for the music, I really want to be more focused on documenting this time, rather than releasing an album and touring for three years on a campaign. I want the project to just be a way to let things out of my system.”

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Julia Rakel - Summer Hit.

Umeå-via-Malmö Swedish musician and producer Julia Rakel is the latest addition to Stockholm indie label Rama Lama Records' (Melby, Steve Buscemi's Dreamy Eyes, Chez Ali etc.) roster. Debut EP indie fEELz was just released in march and Julia is already back with a new single called Summer hit, out now on all platforms

Julia works at the well-known Malmö studio Tambourine and her credits include sound design and music for the award-winning short film Plankton. With her expertise as a producer she's refined her stripped-down sketches to a daydreaming beautiful soundscape that develops with every listen. This, put together with Julia's individual vocals and often ironic lyrics, create a intimate and memorable sound. A sound that has been described as “a laid-back, dreamy, DIY aesthetic provided with some wonderfully candid and vulnerable music”.

Julia Rakel's own words about the single: "Man, I’ve had such a shitty 2019 so far. So frickin’ long and dark. But then April comes along and is really warm and sunny, and I thought. YES. It’s finally going my way. So I took a longer route to work, smelled a flower, all that jazz. The day after I wrote and recorded this little jam! The lyrics are super depressive, but the song is happy! My favorite combination."

Debut EP indie fEElz is six track creation that according to Julia is a try to deal with the very different kinds of relationships we have with each other and ourselves through "a lot of irony, drum machines and way too many choirs parts". The tracks treat universal topics such as forced acquaintances, love, desperate attempts to be understood, how we feel about our egos and sad celebrations of friendships.

“Summer hit” is out now on all platforms via Stockholm independent label Rama Lama Records. Julia Rakel made her live debut in October last year and have since supported Molly Nilsson amongst others, more live dates to be expected.

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Grace Gillespie - My Love Surreal.

Grace Gillespie follows the infectious 'I'm Your Man' with the off-kilter pop track ‘My Love Surreal’, from her debut EP ‘Pretending’.

It’s South London based Grace’s exploration into solo psych-pop material after touring as part of Pixx’s live line up, supporting names such as Nilüfer Yanya, Cosmo Pyke and Trudy and The Romance.

Diverging from her previous romantic ballad, ‘My Love Surreal’ reveals the playful element of Grace’s sound, with discordant synth patterns that feel like the “cool blue light refracted” she’s singing about. Layered upon an almost-sinister plucky guitar riff and doused in her ethereal, vintage sound, the track is the epitome Grace’s individual pop vision.

Summarising the push-pull feeling of the charm of the track with the unexpectedness of dissonant chords, she describes the track as a “summer dysphoria”. With references to “blue light” and “day-glo”, “everything is vivid, patterned and bright - and yet entirely out of reach.”

Grace wrote the track in the peak of the hot concrete London summer, feeling frustrated, as “the circular synth patterns reflect little repetitive, negative patterns of thought, born out of a sense of isolation, being stuck indoors, being stuck creatively.” Anyone who lives in a big city will understand the confusing feeling of loneliness matched with endless potential.

In the end, the track comes full circle to remind Grace that her “love is real”: “It’s easy to be critical and get stuck in these relentless little cycles of negativity - I suppose the song was me trying to win myself over.”

It's yet another demonstration of Grace Gillespie’s ability to craft captivating pop songs whilst keeping listeners on their toes, a reminder to “get out of your head - it’s beautiful out there!”

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Dive Bell - The Goa Express - Honey Moon - Oh, Rose - Late TV

From Sydney, Australia we have Dive Bell and a video for the song 'Lupine', a rich and unique sounding track where somewhat ethereal vocals are joined by a disparate musical arrangement yet they work beautifully together.

The Goa Express have shared 'The Day' an energised indie rocker where the vocals are enthused and the band tight and feisty.

It's our third feature for Honey Moon as once again the London jangle pop outfit impress us, this time with 'Magic' a timeless pop piece that is rammed full of hooks.

Oh, Rose new album 'While My Father Sleep' opens with '25, Alive' accompanied with a video, the song is a loose rocker, Rose's vocals ebb and flow with charm and feeling, it's a fine teaser for what's to follow.

We have 'I Gotta Pay' from Late TV another band making their third appearance here, in fact we have two versions studio and live to checkout, both are really fine as the band take us in another direction that is nonetheless just as pleasing as their previous songs.
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Dive Bell - Lupine.

Sydney’s Dive Bell exhibit their mysterious, divergent sound with ‘Lupine’, their cut through first release of 2019.

Shaping a truly vast and cinematic soundscape with their blend of alt-rock, electronica and trip-hop, ‘Lupine’ sees haunting harmonies effervesce around brutal guitar tones and shimmering synth lines. Initially striking with its raw digital crunch, this dissolves effortlessly to reveal a lush final quarter full of bright optimistic tones. “I was inspired by a doco I watched which delved deep into the territorial nature of wolves. It raised themes around belonging and entrapment, freedom and repression - which I explore lyrically in the track,” singer/keyboardist Aleesha Dibbs explains.

Voyaging to the wolves' nomadic habitat, the music video adds to the wonder, catapulting viewers into a seemingly ethereal world. Far from civilisation and shot on location in the Snowy Mountains, the clip sees Aleesha running amongst the wild. ”It involved the most intense cold I’ve ever experienced, a substantial amount of time on the freeway and a real-life 'Man from Snowy River,'” she jokes.

Having shared the stage with the likes of as Jonti, VOWWS, Body Type, Party Dozen, Lucianblomkamp, VOWWS, 100, Exhibitionist and A Swayze & The Ghosts, four-piece DIVE BELL have captivated audiences from all across the musical spectrum. Cementing themselves in both the local and national scene, their previous singles have seen support from the likes of FBi Radio and Rage.


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The Goa Express - The Day.

The Goa Express release their urgent new single 'The Day' on Friday the  5th of July. Recorded at Champ Zone with Nathan Saoudi (Fat White Family), it rattles with an unstoppable new wave rhythm, shudders with abrasive guitars and with vocals that sneer with the spirit of seizing the day while everything is falling apart around you, their sound may rustle with the ghosts of acts like The Stooges,  Psychedelic Furs and contemporaries like Shame, but the Goa Express possesses youthful energy, northern spite and ever-evolving sound all of their own.  The band's frontman James Douglas Clarke says ‘The new tracks are about moving out to university and getting caught for doing shit whilst there and also about the fake, social media platform of our society, lick arses and how everybody wants to pretend that they’re friends.’

Teenagehood, brotherhood and a love for an array of alternative music, across the years, has closely united Burnley and Todmorden's, The Goa Express. Although the intensity of their friendship has resulted in the occasional bust-up, along the way, it is outweighed by their chemistry, which the band offers collectively both on stage and on record. Together, James Douglas Clarke (Guitar + Vocals), Joe Clarke (Keys), Joey Stein (Lead Guitar), Naham Muzaffar (Bass) and Sam Launder (Drums), each contribute to a fuzzy wall of diverse sounds that become hard to pin down with their ever-changing, experimental sound.

Since coming to Manchester, The Goa Express have enjoyed support slots with international bands like The Murlocs, Moon Duo and Mystic Braves as well as performing live with domestic indie champions such as Cabbage, YAK and The Orielles. Whilst at university, The Goa Express have played headline shows at both Manchester's Band On The Wall and The Castle Hotel, as well as slots at Liverpool Psych Festival and the Leeds based, Karma festival. Their live sets are raw, and with expressive, outspoken mindsets, the band transform the hyper- communication and speed of modern life through hard-hitting, relatable lyrics.

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Honey Moon - Magic.

London jangle-pop crooners Honey Moon reveal new single ‘Magic’ ­– perhaps their most ambitious cut to date. It’s straight from the classic songbook, replete with saturated Hollywood strings, swooning vocals and a spine tingling key change. Once again frontman Jack Slater Chandler’s vocals come to the fore, with the rest of the mooners’ model musicianship dealing a handful of expert flourishes to deliver the slow, hip-swinging ballroom bop.

To put the track out they’re once again teaming up with Manchester label Heist or Hit  (Her’s, Pizzagirl, Baywaves, Guest Singer), with whom they released last year’s acclaimed Four More From… EP, enchanting taste makers as well as BBC 6 Music and legendary crate digger Elton John.

Augmenting their trademark doo-wop sound with new textures, rhythms and instrumentation to give a more expansive sound, Honey Moon capture shadowy, wistful late-night moments. Plucked guitars, walking baselines and shuffling drums carry ‘Magic’ as it drifts through faded dreams. Slater Chandler explains the wider concept the band are aiming to express with this latest ode:

“We wanted to explore the illusionary theme, to try and make something expansive and cinematic-sounding. 'Magic' represents the soul-mate style love we see in film, literature, Honey Moon songs - everywhere! What can seem like the most mundane, everyday elements of companionship are often the most important and overlooked. This sort of souped-up version of having 'one true love' is, whilst a nice idea, pretty difficult to imagine as anything that's realistically achievable, but there's something very real in the sentiment, and that's the ‘spell’, that's the illusion.”

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Oh, Rose - 25, Alive.

While My Father Sleeps by the Olympia, Washington based band Oh, Rose tells the complex story of family, adversity, love, and friendship. In ten songs, the record bears the soul and shares the truths of the band’s front-person and creative driver, Olivia Rose, while also serving as a homage to Rose’s mother, who passed away in January of 2017. It is Rose’s life story, told under the banner of a story her mother was never able to finish.

“While My Father Sleeps is the title of the book my mother wrote throughout her life,” Rose says. “It involved her relationship with my grandfather, the way she could communicate with him through the poetry of Carl Sandburg and the writings of Truman Capote. Her storytelling always inspired me to tell my own through music. The album title and artwork serves as a bookend, the songs written between two moments. The front cover shows my mother reading to my brother and me outside the North Asheville library in the summer of 1995, the back is her headstone. Though I didn’t write these songs in a state of grief, I came to know this album while I was grieving. When my mother died, I learned a new language, the language of death. At the same time, I was continuing to build strength and love within my community; my story isn’t uncommon. I hope my music finds a home with those who speak these same languages.”

Soon after arriving in Olympia, Rose met the friends and musicians who would become her community and extended family. Formed in 2014, the band built its foundations by playing DIY house shows and contributing to Olympia’s long-standing punk and art scene. A play on Rose’s own name, Oh, Rose recorded and self-released their first EP, That Do Now See in 2014 followed by a mini album the following year titled Seven. Sticking with the tradition of their previous release, WMFS was recorded and mixed by band member Kevin Christopher in Olympia Today, the live lineup includes Rose on vocals and guitar, Liam Hindahl on drums, Sarah Redden on synthesizer, and Kevin Christopher on bass; the dynamic continues to be as supportive and collaborative as any group of people can be. Each member writes their own instrumental parts with Rose bringing the songwriting and melody. The trust the unit shares with one another is where the group’s power truly lies.

While My Father Sleeps begins with “25, Alive,” a dirge-y, distorted-guitar gem that is fueled by Rose’s lovely rise-and-fall vocals and its choppy-smooth rhythm. The album’s lone number written following her mother’s death, it is a self-appeal to release the anger Rose had been holding both during her mother’s life and after her passing. As the song opens with the lines “Am I strong enough to tell my truth/25 I am alive and I am angry,” the way is paved for the passionate soul-bearing that follows. “I was 25 when my mother died and I was angry and broken” Rose says. “This song is me saying I don’t want this anger because I know what it does to a person if they hold onto it.”


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Late TV - I Gotta Pay.

About ‘I Gotta Pay’ There’s a humbling eclecticism in Late TV’s sound when comparing ‘I Gotta Pay’ with previous singles like ‘Citizen’ and ‘Great Gulfs’. Just when you think you can pin them down, they throw a swerve ball from somewhere left-of-field. That their music still (lucidly) gets to the core of who they are with every release is a testament to their versatility as songwriters, their voraciousness as listeners, and their clarity of vision as a group.

Their latest release is a poised and effortless foray through the familiar avenues of jazz and funk, with Defunkt-style motifs of punk and new wave, (frontman Luke Novak name-checks the seminal ‘Make Them Dance’ as an influence), weaved in alongside the afrobeat-tinged rock of The Budos Band. Lyrically Novak has modern culture in his sights as he threads together a series of financial frustrations and western cultural ironies with rhyming couplets to make a dour and absurdist collage. Like all the music of Late TV, it’s a mutant assemblage of ideas that succeeds through the canniness of its juxtapositions, never setting out an ideal, but through the subtlety and force of their craft and energy alone, leaving us in no doubt as to what’s being communicated.

About Late TV Amidst the cultural detritus of television’s after hours rises a freaky new street beat played by London’s Late TV. Culling influences from jazz cats and art rockers, B-movies and trash television, via Lynch and Tarantino, Late TV are the moonlighting house band for a surreal all-night dream club where the intangible dance floor shifts and folds to become the set piece of a talk show beamed onto the farthest reaches of your channel selector. Helmed by Luke J Novak, who hails from the slabbed post-industrial backwater of Kidderminster, Late TV originates from a folk noir group formed by Luke and Richard ‘The Showman’ Bowman, a drummer whose restless search for groove quickly outgrew their genre.

Joined by Indiana’s jazz fusion obsessed Ryan Szanyi on bass, Parisian keyboard maestro Martin Coxall, tenor sax player Evesham Nicholas, and Matthew Halsall (whose bionic heart valve’s separate mic-detectable rhythms occasionally cause problems in the studio), their new outfit Late TV harks back to a time when music was all fearless fusion and intractable improvisation. 2018 saw them take major steps forward. Kickstarted with the release of their brilliant ‘Citizen’ single, the group then appeared at Standon Calling Festival that summer alongside Goldfrapp and spiritual forefather Bryan Ferry. They followed it up early this year with the wind-swept soft rock of ‘Great Gulfs’ - its louche romanticism showcasing their immense songwriting versatility. In the postmodern wastelands of pop they’re the high-brow/low-brow mutant junk dwellers, collecting the shards of our fragmented culture and building something both irresistibly dangerous and dangerously irresistible.

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Erin Durant - Catacomb Saints - Michael Paul Lawson - Keøma - Glass Mountain - Chapell

Erin Durant has just shared her fourth and final single from the forthcoming album 'Islands'. Her appealing and gentle vocals glide above a restrained yet detailed musical canvas, 'Islands' should be good.

'Bankquilizer' from Catacomb Saints is atmospheric and simmers with restrained power, the mixture of post punk and sonic exploration both musically and vocally gives this song some rotatable edge.

Michael Paul Lawson has released the song 'Memories And Throttle' a refined singer songwriter piece his vocals are perfect for folk orientated music as they convey emotion and earnest feeling.

We first featured Keøma in April this year and they return with 'Young' accompanied by a video, their fresh and extremely catchy music once again proving hard to resist.

'Autumn Jam' by Glass Mountain is a hook laden indie rocker, the bands natural delivery and level of distinct overall sound, helps them stand out in what is a crowded music genre.

The overall production and resulting sound on Chapell's latest song 'Ride' is a deliciously rich, the musical arrangement and backing vocals are superb and allow enough room for Alan Chapell's palpable voice to own the piece.

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Erin Durant - Rising Sun.

The fourth and final single from Erin Durant’s forthcoming ‘Islands,’ ‘Rising Sun’ is its raison d’etre, the grand statement that leads you by the hand into her sprawling, sun-dappled archipelago. Over a gently strolling guitar and muted toms, Durant sings ‘I’m going far, I’m going wide’, signalling her intention to embed you within her travelling time machine. A lesson in sophistication, ‘Rising Sun’ fuses strung-out trumpets with Durant’s balm-like voice. ‘Rising Sun’ is like the lavender you spread on your pillow to induce sleep. Lie with it, doze off and dream of magical lands.

Rarely does an artist appear, as if out of thin air, with a full body of work where lyrically lush songs carry you into other worlds as if they were your own. Erin Durant's second album, Islands is an odyssey of sorts, with songs that blur the line between reality and fiction. Produced by TV On The Radio’s Kyp Malone, the eight songs deliver clarity within mystery and adventure in their uncluttered vignettes.

Born and raised in New Orleans, Durant has been based in New York for over a decade, all the while keeping track of the intricacies of life surrounding her and diligently developing her craft as a songwriter and performer. Lyrically, she composes most songs on piano, songs that tend to unfold structurally like a memory or a scene from a movie. As a performer, Durant usually transports a 232-pound ¾ size piano to venues without one. To hear her play the instrument makes plain her case for the extra effort. Her music is rooted in an ongoing dialogue between the physicality of her playing and the high, clear tone of her voice. Enmeshed with one another, it’s a display of an artist in full possession of herself and vision.

Islands sprawls out in front of you, weaving disparate stories into an overarching narrative. The songs touch on the ability to find meaning in minutiae. On “Take A Load Off” Durant tells a story of a weary traveler disoriented but pulled into revelry in an attempt to assuage their loss. The titular track “Islands” takes a similar tact, focusing on the conflicting process of attempting to find joy when joy seems lost. Islands is a continuously shifting landscape, with a knowing nod to the inevitability of these shifts.

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Catacomb Saints - Bankquilizer.

Catacomb Saints share their new atmospheric post-punk meets folk single "Bankquilizer". Regarding the song, the band stated ""Bankquilizer" is a hypnotizing post-punk ballad of greed and violence, sung in a visceral style inspired by Nick Cave and the falsetto of Klaus Nomi. This song is a call to arms to rise up and not be tranquilized by banks and good ol’ boys. We recorded this long distance between LA and Edmonton, but that distance pales in comparison with the distance between the oppressor and the oppressed."

Catacomb Saints is Neil Holyoak (Holy Oak) and synth artist Devon Beggs. They recorded their first song in a cave in Banff, Alberta. Neil was burnt out on folk music and could only sing one line over and over again. They traveled through the Canadian Rockies in mid-winter to seek inspiration in a dank dark cave.

Immersed in the unusual environment and through sonic experimentation, they began a new composition. Playing the entire cave like a giant instrument, they used the natural reverberation to create a sonic landscape. Neil began making records in Montreal under the band name Holy Oak in 2007. Inspired by poets such as Thich Nhat Hahn, Rabindranath Tagore and Tomas Tranströmer, Neil’s fascination lies with the dark undercurrent of the subconscious.

Devon’s background is visual art, but his work in performance and video led him to experiment with synthesizers and homemade instruments. He uses a process based approach to synthesis and composition, in the spirit of Brian Eno or John Cage. Catacomb Saints release their EP, Cruel as the Grave, on June 14th, 2019. They’re currently working on their first full length album, which they’re recording at their studio on a small island in the Pacific Northwest.

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Michael Paul Lawson - Memories And Throttle.

Michael Paul Lawson was born into a deeply musical family, with generations of band leaders, classically trained academics, and brass band legends before him. While his early inclinations were to follow in their footsteps, his contentious relationship with his father and the urgings of his family to pursue more lucrative career paths, dampened his musical ambitions. Trading in the rust of northern New York for the luster of Long Island’s gold coast, Lawson set his artistry to the side in pursuit of corporate life. Eight years later, saddled with student loan debt and weary from the relentless New York City grind, Lawson moved, on a whim, to Norfolk, VA.

In Norfolk Lawson found space and clarity. He could watch the sunrise over the Atlantic and the sunset across the Blue Ridge Mountains in the same day. In Virginia the music started to flow. Plain-spoken ballads with deceptively straight-forward lyrics. A mix of beautiful prose and raw realities, conjuring up the early work of Jason Isbell and the slow burning, sobering lyrics of John Prine. Lawson was soon singing these songs in breweries and bars across Virginia, working it out, making up for lost time.

A disciplined artist with a punch-clock work ethic, Lawson began building a reputation as one of the most prolific writers and performers in the area, and he quickly began securing notable slots at the Norfolk Folk Festival and providing opening support for The Steel Wheels, and Sons of Bill. Eventually, his songs reached producer Daniel Mendez (Noah Gundersen, The Native Sibling) who offered Michael a development deal and an invite to track a debut EP in Austin.

Returning to Austin, where Lawson spent childhood summers visiting his father, was cathartic. It had been 16 years since Lawson was last in hill country, and 16 years since he last saw his father’s silhouette in the back of a squad car, when the constant drinking and violence came to a head in the Texas night, ultimately leading to their estrangement. It was an odd place to return now that he was carving out a new life path, but it also felt strangely in step with the material he had written for his debut EP, Some Fights You’ll Never Win. He was reconciling his relationship with his father, there in the flesh, and in the studio, as he committed his highly personal songs to tape. It was a healing experience, coming full circle, continuing the lineage of musical craftsmanship that had run in his family for generations.

“It’s taken a long time for me to get to where I should have been going from the start,” Lawson reflects. But taking the ‘back roads’ gave him the clear understanding, as the songs on Some Fights You’ll Never Win attest, that the most important battles to dive into are internal.

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Keøma - Young.

KEØMA, the collaborative project between Sydney-born, Berlin-based multi-instrumentalist/producer Kat Frankie and Cologne-based singer-songwriter Chris Klopfer, have released their new album "Saudade" alongside a video for "Young".

"Young" is a summery jangle-pop number with a lo-fi video celebrating the carefree feeling of youth as the duo take a trip down memory lane. Clips of sandy beaches, ice-blue swimming pools and palm trees are composed together like flickering memories of a postcard from an unforgettable holiday.

Kat Frankie is a well-known character in the German music landscape via her soulful indie pop, dynamic live shows and collaborations with top-tier German acts (Clueso, Olli Schulz, Casper & Materia). Chris Klopfer hails from the indie rock world, writing in both English and German and duetting with some of Germany’s finest singer-songwriters (Gisbert zu Knyphausen, Moritz Krämer).

This fateful and organically evolving project came together after Klopfer caught a performance from Frankie and suggested they write a song together. The name originates from a Castellari Spaghetti-Western movie about a gunfighter who returns to his hometown only to find out that it’s been ravaged by plague and menaced by outlaws.

Saudade is the duo’s latest release; an album whose title suggests a longing for brighter seasons. Gone is the dusty melancholy of their previous offering - instead, a more blissful pop-focused chapter has opened up. The album was written and recorded in Berlin and though the artists are certainly in a happier space, Klopfer admits many of the lyrics reflect his homesickness for his hometown of Köln.

“Those songs are about yearning for a home or vacation, which came from feeling isolated in cold, big Berlin as a small town boy. Our Saudade is the strong desire for a place you can call home, with the people you love.” Saudade puts Klopfer’s honest lyricism and heartfelt vocals into focus, while honing in on Frankie producing. Their collaboration with Markus Ganter (Casper, Drangsal) brought their sound radiating more into the pop world, exactly how they wanted it to be.


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Glass Mountain - Autumn Jam.

Bradford based four-piece Glass Mountain have released their new single ‘Autumn Jam’.

The single follows their EP ‘Wow & Flutter’ and lead single ‘Gin Flows Through My Veins’ and is a song about the joy and fear of love which is eerily beautiful in both its poetic lyrics and cinematic sound.

The band are currently touring the UK with Radidas and label mates LELO.

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Chapell - Ride.

Alan Chapell is a unique character – even by the quirky standards of the West Village, NYC. The product of years of traveling the world, honing his craft and moving seamlessly through musical genres, Chapell’s lush sonic pallet falls somewhere between the progressive pop rock of Bryan Ferry and the jangle rock nuance of 10,000 Maniacs.

Growing up on the “mean streets” of Stamford, Connecticut, Alan was something of a musical wunderkind - playing piano and trumpet before the age of six. He recorded with the legendary producer Jimmy Ienner at age 15, and more recently with Talking Head Jerry Harrison. He’s played to jam-packed houses around the world from Managua to Mumbai. It took Chapell a while to get to this point, but audiences across the U.S. are starting to take notice in a big way.

One of the more interesting things about Chapell is that, in addition to his musical successes, he’s carved out a niche advising tech companies on privacy issues. When the producers of HBO’s Silicon Valley consider creating a character to lampoon your role as chief privacy guru for dozens of tech companies, you know you’ve made it. Chapell has started drawing comparisons to Roger McNamee’s Moonalice as each has a foot firmly planted in both the tech and music worlds - and each are vocal critics of the privacy practices of Facebook.

Chapell’s newest LP, Penultimate, is the closest he’s come to bridging his innate musicality with the perspective gained wading neck deep through the rise of the Internet age. Chapell’s music evokes the naïve optimism of the early days of “new media” and juxtaposes that with the current state of constant surveillance. “Ride,” the first song on Penultimate, somehow manages to be both optimistic and dark. Similarly, in “I am Zuck,” he parodies the never-gonna-happen confession of Mark Zuckerberg; at times using Zuck’s own words to take him down. And if you’ve paid any attention at all to what’s currently taking place in the tiny Central American country of Nicaragua, you’ll find “Sandinista” to be nothing short of chilling.

On making music in 2019 Chapell now says, “I feel like I’m discovering myself as an artist in a way I never could have earlier in my life. For too long, I bought into the notion that I couldn’t become a successful artist after age 30 – and it was liberating to recognize how foolish that was. The most invigorating thing is that I don’t feel I’ve written my best song yet.”


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Dana Crowe - Eckhardt And The House feat. Bella Hay - NKOS

Dana Crowe's new single 'Not Broken' mixes genres (a little country, a little rock etc) yet has a distinct and very pleasing vibe, where her resplendent vocals are backed by a skilled and well arranged band.

Eckhardt And The House feat. Bella Hay serve up some bright rhythmic indie music with 'Lonely' one of those songs that will make those who cannot dance (like me) at least enjoy tapping their feet.

'Little Miss Numb' by NKOS is their debut single on Beatbuzz Records, it's a lush synth driven piece with some dreamy vocals vying with a somewhat darker musical feel and it works splendidly. 
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Dana Crowe - Not Broken.

Dana Crowe is ready to deliver her latest single Not Broken. A striking song of confidence and durability, it’s driving classicism is set to carry you to the highway interchange of hope and hardiness.

‘The song has a resilience to it. Life is a struggle and not everything is as it should be or seems but we do what we can and carry on. We’re strong but also vulnerable. We aren’t broken but you can see some cracks. It has a Bruce Springsteen Human Touch kind of feeling. I wanted to get the basics right and have the kind of bones of the song make you feel it and move to with relatable lyrics that have heart.’ - Dana Crowe

In 2017, Dana released her debut Ep Everything, which climbed the AMRAP radio charts for a month as well as the song Darlin Darlin receiving radio airplay Australia wide. Developing her writing style and voice through 2018’s release Peace Of Mind, host on national broadcaster Triple J, Nkechi Anele, described Crowe as ‘full of sass’.

Recorded in Melbourne with producer Alessandro Stellano and mastered in Nashville by Sage studios, Not Broken communicates a well-honed sound of her own, it has a distinctive swagger and incorporates a balanced mix of roots, country twang and rock ’n’ roll while still keeping a pop sensibility. Dana Crowe is on the troubadour’s road, sincere, open and transmissive. She’s currently recording a follow up Ep to be released later in 2019.


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Eckhardt And The House feat. Bella Hay - Lonely.

Eckhardt And The House is uptempo and danceable indie music with elements from pop to avant-garde to disco-funk, all twisted up into a signature sound with wild experimentation and disregard for the norm.

For new single Lonely Eckhardt And The House found inspiration looking at the people working in their huge office buildings in the 'Financial Mile', the rapidly developing business district in the city of Amsterdam. While projecting a kind of metropolitan feeling of loneliness on those office types (including the tremendous individuality and all those burnouts in their twenties), Lonely is not a gloomy track. It is a sort of acquiescence to the theme, all singing "lonely on the 3rd floor" in the chorus. The fate of young ambitious people in the big city.

With thirteen singles and an album under their belt, the band scored iTunes chart positions in ten European countries plus Turkey, Brazil, South Africa and Japan, Spotify charts in The Netherlands, France, Italy and Turkey plus airplay in six European countries and the US. Press rolled in from worldwide. Lonely is released 14 June 2019 on BERT music (a division of TCBYML)

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NKOS - Little Miss Numb.

About ‘Little Miss Numb’ “Our main inspiration has always been Eighties and Nineties new wave and English trip-hop,” say NKOS. “Our sound is a development of that stuff with modern electronics. NKOS is multifaceted because it easily goes from dark to light and it does so without fear.”

‘Little Miss Numb’, the band’s debut single on Beatbuzz Records, is indeed dark – dark, powerful and irresistible, sounding like a post-punk Ladytron or a gritty Sneaker Pimps from hell. The bass kicks in like the rotors of a helicopter fleet, joined by a bruising electronic beat and ethereal vocals that are both sweet and swathed in danger. This breathtaking single – mixed and mastered by “Icio” Maurizio Baggio (The Soft Moon; Boy Harsher), with additional production by Jagz Kooner (Massive Attack, Primal Scream) – is how London-based Beatbuzz Records will introduce NKOS to the world.

Initially a pan-national studio-based project, NKOS has evolved into a full band, one set to thrill on stages around the world. Brought together by friendship, the internet and sometimes sheer luck, NKOS comprise four artists from very different backgrounds – and locations – who share a love of deep, edgy electronica.

Singer/songwriter Nancy Natali was born in Australia but grew up in Geneva and Rome, her beautiful vocals honed in bands of indie/alternative leanings. Producer Flavio Manieri perfected his electronic house and pop sonics, filtered through a love for the Cocteau Twins and Portishead, between Poland and Italy, and it was in Rimini that he met renowned producer and DJ Chris Shape, whose studio skills have enhanced many dance-music anthems as well as the acid techno of Franz and Shape. Stoner-psych-rock guitarist Marcus Billeri, meanwhile, lives in Paris.

These diverse upbringings and influences only play to NKOS’ strengths, resulting in a powerful, harmonic mix of synth-based techno, industrial and electro. Their dense, innovative sound piqued the interest of producer Jagz Kooner (Massive Attack, Primal Scream, Manic Street Preachers, Rammstein), who is behind the desk on three of the tracks on NKOS’ debut album.


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Magnetic Skies - Leem Of Earth - Ludwig Hart - Kuri

Our third feature this year for Magnetic Skies as their 80's influenced synth pop music continues to shine, this time with 'Hold On' a song with a vibrant upbeat feel and hooks galore.

'Chapter Three' completes a trilogy of EPs from Florida based band Leem of Earth and as we've covered the first two it makes sense to include a song from this one, especially as it's another really fine track entitled 'Wishing Well'.

Ludwig Hart has just released the song 'Rivers, Lakes & Hills' the Swedish artist has a distinct and fabulous voice, and pens some beautiful music as is witnessed with this refined piece.

Kuri describes himself as "an observer" he is without doubt also a very talented musician, songwriter and creative mind. The new album 'No Village' is streaming in full below, it exudes creativity, heart and quality.
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Magnetic Skies - Hold On.

Hot on the heels of supporting Heaven 17, synth-rock band Magnetic Skies are set to release their second EP, “Hold On”, in July 2019 via the independent ReprinT Records label. Lead track, “Hold On”, will be released as a single on 21 June 2019, with a second single, “Refugee”, released the following month on 19 July 2019.

Following on the heels of the duo’s debut EP, “Dreams And Memories”, which received glowing praise, the 5 tracks on the new release showcase the diverse elements of the band’s output, moving from synth pop and rock to ambient soundscapes. The songs feature Kent’s delicate and instinctively melodic vocals set against Womar’s synth backdrops, evoking the emotionally-charged hooks of some of the 80’s defining pop bands, such as Japan, Duran Duran and Tears For Fears.

Opening track, “Hold On”, is all pulsating, vintage analogue synths and bass, with a big, memorable chorus - a song about finding redemption from temptation: “A picture in my hand,/temptation over shifting sand/bring a dream to life/I’m so alone tonight/hold on and save me”.

“We wanted to draw on the feel of some of the great pop songs from the 80s on this track, and also give it a contemporary edge”, Jo explains, “there are deliberate nods to bands like The Human league and Japan, and hopefully that comes through with the synthesizers, the backing vocals and the effects we added to Simon’s voice”.

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Leem Of Earth - Wishing Well.

Chapter Three completes a trilogy of EPs from Florida based band, Leem of Earth. Lyrically the final EP wraps up the storyline of an other worldly character named Leem, sonically it follows its predecessors in treading 90s rock band waters. Though it moves from a definitive synth rock sound into something more fluid ala Sunny Day Real Estate, which  is often cited by the band as an influence. There’s a hint of prog-rock, as well, evident on the track ‘Army of Dry Bones’. These 3 tracks were recorded by Chris Taylor and produced by Jeremy Griffith, just as Chapter One and Chapter Two were.

The first track, ‘Wishing Well’, has vocalist LM singing with tense and direct passion in the verses. The chorus quickly builds into a dynamic wail of sounds from the entire band. The lyrics tell of Leem wishing that she was anywhere but the wishing well, a feeling that seems at odds with the traditional fairy tale character, but is right at home on Chapter Three, as the storyteller comes to the end of herself. ‘Dressed For War’ circles the earth with war drums pounding and arpeggiated synths. The guitars are close and the bass holds everything firm. LM sings “…all of this time I’m looking out but blood’s on the battlefield within.” The song ends with the whole band singing out in the final bridge. The closing song, ‘Army of Dry Bones’, is cryptic with ancient and biblical references, it gives melodies to match the spirit of the lyrics: “Our bones are dry, our hope is lost.” The band thunders in a way that is reminiscent of Radiohead circa The Bends, underneath the angelic vocals. As quickly as this whole project began, it also quickly finds it’s close.

Leem of Earth offers this trilogy-ending EP as an other-worldly resolution to Leem’s story: that of a person on a quest, in music and in words.

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Ludwig Hart - Rivers, Lakes & Hills.

If you haven’t heard of Ludwig Hart yet then now is the time. From Örebro, Sweden, his full-length debut album drops late August. He describes his own music as “get-in-the-car-and-just-drive”-rock. But it is so much more than that. The stunning arrangements, with soaring guitars, synths, and a grand cinematic atmosphere, are reminiscent of 1980’s Jackson Browne and Fleetwood Mac. Singer Michaela Holmberg, the constant duet partner to Ludwig, strives for an inner sense of sincerity in her expression, with a raw and romantic voice akin to Stevie Nicks.

Ludwig Hart is also comparable to contemporary American indie bands, but with a distinct melodic immediacy - and an incredible voice - all of which we think will carry him towards an all-embracing global audience. As if The War On Drugs had idolized Don Henley instead of Bob Dylan.

Several record labels and publishers have wanted to sign him, but the honor fell on newly started Argle Bargle, which is run by the songwriter/producer Stefan Örn together with the artist Tomas Andersson Wij. During last winter, Ludwig opened for several successful swedish artists around the country.

Ludwig Hart has during this year released two singles - “A Dream I Keep Returning To” and “Cowboys” with great reviews. The Swedish blog Rockfarbror describes the artist as “...one of this year’s greatest surprises”. The single “Cowboys” was premiered on the Swedish magazine Savant Musikmagasin and added on Bands of Tomorrow’s weekly Nordic hits list.

On June 7, the third single “River, lakes & hills” was released by Argle Bargle with the debut album releasing in August.

“A couple of years ago I fled town and bought a house out on the countryside. It might be the best thing I've done. Maybe the worst. River, lakes & hills is about daring to let go and to trust your feeling. My very own Streets of Philadelphia.”

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Kuri - No Village.

Though he may be a singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer, Kuri chiefly describes himself as “an observer.” His keen insight and sonic curiosity thread together an intriguing framework of carefully constructed and composed alternative on 2019’s debut album No Village [Nevado Music]. The foundation remains rooted in organic performances, classically infused orchestration, jazzy freeform spirit, cinematic ambition, and ultimately inspired observation. “I like to watch, analyze, and create systems in my brain,” he affirms. “As a solo artist, I enjoy the freedom to express exactly what I want by drawing on what I see.”

Born and raised Scott Currie in the city of Abbotsford, British Columbia, he found himself constantly looking outward. The small Mennonite community he grew up in incited “a sense of questioning everything to figure out why we do what we do.” As the youngest of four brothers, mom bought him a drum set to jam with his guitarist siblings. Soon, he transitioned from behind-the-kit to an old piano in the house by the age of twelve.

Scott began writing under the name Kuri in 2017. Galvanized by influences ranging from Robert Glasper and Radiohead to Africa’s Tinariwen and composer John Cage, he arranged an expansive sonic palette informing his signature sound. It’s comprised of an ever-growing arsenal of instruments, including piano, drums, congas, strings, horns, bass, guitar, and more. “Every instrument has its own language,” he goes on. “I try to hone the language of each one. It helps articulate the overall goal.” After entering the CBC Searchlight competition, his songs caught the attention of Nevado Music, and Kuri signed to the label during 2018. Now, No Village strains emotionality through his analytical approach.

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Rebecca Rego & The Trainmen - Imperial Daze - Anna Rose - Bridal Party - Georgia Dish Boys

Rebecca Rego & The Trainmen have a third new album called 'Speaking Of Witches' which is available in full to stream just below. Rebecca Rego has fabulous vocals that lend themselves to rock as much as they do to anything Americana, the band are polished and the songs consistently good, the album is well worth a full listen at the least.

Imperial Daze have now released their Surfaces Sensibles (E.P). Just a couple of months back we featured a video for 'Minding The Haze' - Live from Electric Eel Studio, which is one of the five songs in this new collection, a mixture of psych pop and rock, that is consistently impressive.

Anna Rose first appeared on Beehive Candy in April with 'Nobody Knows I'm Here' and we follow up with 'The Chariot' where her soulful and passionate vocals are again outstanding as is her music.

From Victoria BC we have Bridal Party with 'Too Much' an art pop song that is full of melodic hooks, I like the notion that the band are keen to make pop music that they like, with songs like this that seem quite credible.

Finally from Athens GA we have a foot stomping song from Georgia Dish Boys titled 'Put My Records On', it is just so likable as it builds real anticipation for their July 9th forth album release.
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Rebecca Rego & The Trainmen - Speaking Of Witches (Album).

Last year Rebecca Rego & The Trainmen recorded their third full-length record Speaking of Witches at Bon Iver’s April Base studios in Eau Claire, Wisconsin with producer Beau Sorenson. This is their second album with Sorenson, who is based at Tiny Telephone Studio in San Francisco. Sorensen has previously worked with Bob Mould, tune-yards and Thao and The Get Down Stay Down.

Speaking of Witches follows the 2014 debut Tolono, which the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel called "an album worth celebrating, from Rego's smart, attentive songwriting to her earthy and appealing Edie Brickell-like voice” and 2016’s Lay These Weapons Down, for which Smile Politely wrote "Lay These Weapons Down demonstrates impressive range, convincingly spanning several genres. All the while, the album remains cohesive and congruent. An excellent album, it's all there, composed and performed expertly."

Rebecca Rego - vocals, acoustic guitar
Eric Fitts - electric bass, acoustic bass, acoustic guitar, piano, vocals
Cory Ponton - electric guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, septavox, vocals
Evan Opitz - electric guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, vocals
Jack Peterson - cello
Matt Yeates - drums, percussion
Mia Carruthers - vocals

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Imperial Daze - Surfaces Sensibles (E.P). 

London psych-pop band Imperial Daze have just released their new EP ‘Surfaces Sensibles' via Tip Top Recordings. It follows the release of their debut ‘Solid Fair EP’, which was produced by Rupert Jarvis from The Maccabees and recorded in their studio.

The new EP was co-produced by the band and Rupert Jarvis and was recorded between The Drugstore (The Maccabees studio) and their own studio. A studio they spent most of 2018 building themselves, thanks to a successful crowd-funding campaign and to landing the gig of scoring a big advertising campaign. Built from scratch in a disused giant commercial freezer under a railway arch near Tower Bridge in London, it is now called The Electric Eel Recording Studio, due to the fact that the space was previously used to store eels.

Having shared stages with Mystery Jets, All We Are, The Maccabees, and Matt Maltese, Imperial Daze play a headline London show at The Victoria at the end of the month, with more dates to be announced soon. (Tuesday 25.06 at The Victoria, London).

Imperial Daze are: Al Ward (vocals/guitar), Felix Rebaud-Sauer (Bass, guitar), Facundo Rodriguez (keyboards/vocals) and Tom Sunney (drums).

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Anna Rose - The Chariot.

Ahead of her highly anticipated full-length album due later this year and appearance at Nashville's CMA Fest this week, fast-rising singer and musician, Anna Rose, has released a potent new song featuring her unique style of hard-hitting, soulful Americana. Produced by Paul Moak, the deeply honest and soulful track, "The Chariot," is available everywhere now.

"'The Chariot' is a really special song for me," says Rose. "I wrote it with Elizabeth Elkins in Nashville just a few days after one of our musical heroes passed on. Writing through the grief was an incredibly cathartic way to honor this person who had given us both so much inspiration."

The album, written and recorded in Nashville, is Rose's third and follows her praised 2016 EP Strays In The Cut. Two previous singles "Nobody Knows I'm Here," first heard in the NBC hit This Is Us, and "Sucker Puncher" were released earlier this year via White Pony/AWAL.

As a touring artist, Rose has always been a bit of a nomad, believing that home is where the heart is. For this record, home was in Nashville. "Throughout a time of deep turmoil and sadness, I found myself in Nashville a lot, writing not just for myself but for other artists and for film and television. That city slowly began to really feel like home. Working there, making art there… really helped me heal a lot of the wounds that I had collected along the way in my life,” shares Rose. “I’m eternally grateful to the city of Nashville for opening their arms to me. As a bit of an outsider, it gave me a place where I felt like I belonged for the first time really…ever."

“When I sat down with Paul for the first time, I knew something special was happening in the room. He understood not only who I am as an artist but also what I want to accomplish with my music. I am so proud of what came out from us working together.”

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Bridal Party - Too Much.

Victoria, BC art-pop quintet Bridal Party have always had the goal of making pop music they like. Now with the approaching release of debut full-length Too Much (due August 23rd on Kingfisher Bluez) the band find themselves at a critical moment: as songwriters and collaborators presenting their personal vision.

Principal lyricists Suzannah Raudaschl and Joseph Leroux formed Bridal Party with bassist and producer Lee Gauthier and drummer Adrian Heim in 2015. Jordan Clairmont joined on keys in 2017. Their initial EP release Hot Daze (2015) found chart success on college radio and some modest but promising support through placement on Bandcamp Weekly. Their second EP, Negative Space (2017) charted well and lead to six-figure streams of lead single Fruitless on Spotify. Beatroute (BC) magazine describes Bridal Party as “a perfect marriage of indie pop and soul.”

The band recorded Too Much over three separate week-long immersive studio visits in 2017 and 2018. This disparate recording process would ultimately undo and reform everything the band knew about their sound. A playful and unflinching lyrical voice was honed, drawing on themes of care and self-love as well as their sombre opposites. Each players’ particular handle on their instrument resonates without tuning out the chemistry of influence the members enjoy with one another.

The resultant record is a vibrant collection of songs of uncanny intimacy, thriving from experimentation in studio that remains honest to the band’s live set. Whether it’s the confessional lyricism and feathery textures of “When I’m Naked”, the plaintive riddle and bedlam of “Armour”, or the celebratory disco of the title track, Too Much shines a light on the band’s interior joys and terrors in equal measure.

A broad sonic landscape that shares territory with Crumb, U.S. Girls, and early work of The Cardigans, Too Much is due Friday, August 23rd, accompanied by a relentless tour schedule.

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Georgia Dish Boys - Put My Records On.

'Good Country Livin,' the fourth album from Athens, GA based Georgia Dish Boys is as much a description of the album as it is a way of life. The songs feel effortless at first, but below the surface are illustrations on the complexities of love in its various forms. Songwriters Seth Martin, and more recently, Olivia Anderson, contribute visceral takes on the subject.

The songs embody small town Georgia life with “Meme,” a tribute to Martin’s 88 year old grandmother. In “What If,” Martin assures the listener that no matter what “I’d still love ya.” The title track, “Good Country Livin,” is an honest reflection of a dysfunctional family where Martin and Anderson admit “half of us are drunk and the rest of us are in pain.”

Songs like “I Can’t Act (Like I Don’t Feel Good),” “Ain’t Losing Time,” and “Put My Records On” work as both geography and feeling, reminiscent of mid-‘70s Neil Young covering Gram Parsons between takes at a Stars & Bars barn session.

The album is a notable contrast from their previous release, ‘Nine Song Movie,’ though Martin’s voice and Rob Hibbs’ guitar are still sharp as ever. 'Good Country Livin’ pours authenticity while showcasing vast creative growth from a group that just wants us all to “be ourselves and do the best we can.” Look for 'Good Country Livin’ on July 9, 2019.

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