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Fake Shape is an Alternative-Indie band from Hamilton, Ontario that formed in September 2018.
All five musicians offer their own aesthetic, creating music that falls between funk, indie-rock, pop and ambient electronic.
They have been writing and recording at Fort Rose in Hamilton and are getting ready to release their debut EP, Night Swim.
The songs drift through contrasting mindsets and morphing textures like navigating a solitary swim through dark water.
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The wild magic of the Jersey Shore boardwalk has inspired musicians across generations, but it takes a uniquely distinct vision to go find that slice of regional wonder in Northern Alabama. On 'Italian Ice' (17th April / Single Lock Records), that’s exactly what Nicole Atkins has done, taking over the hallowed Muscle Shoals Sound Studio with a one-of-a-kind band featuring members of the Bad Seeds, Dap-Kings, the legendary Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and more. "Musically, it doesn’t make any sense,” says Atkins half-jokingly. “But I’m a superfan of all of them and we ended up with the weirdest, craziest band ever. It just became this awesome misfit party.”
The video for 'Captain,' which features guest vocals from Spoon’s Britt Daniel and finds Nicole starring in the most fashion-forward 80s infomercial ever.
Named dually for her favourite summer treat growing up in Asbury Park and an alter ego she’s taken on while shooting dice, 'Italian Ice' has been described by Nicole as “an acid trip through my record collection,” at turns as opulent as symphonic pop and as gritty as garage punk with shades of psych-rock, honky-tonk and girl-group melodrama. Conjuring the romance and danger of the Jersey Shore, 'Italian Ice’s eleven tracks ultimately channel an endless summer set to the sounds of the AM radio dial.
Nicole Atkins is a songwriter and performer with a fearless and frank style. Fans of Atkins’ previous release 'Goodnight Rhonda Lee' include Rolling Stone (who previously named her a “Top 10 Artist to Watch”), Uncut, Mojo, NME, NPR and American Songwriter. In addition to writing, recording, and playing music, the Nashville-by-way-of-Asbury Park musician is an art school graduate who specialised in wildlife illustration and is an active painter. Nicole will also be sharing her original artwork with fans through her newly-launched Patreon page, 'Natkins Funhouse'.
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Swedish indie-electro duo Kite has shared new track 'Tranås/Stenslanda'. The song combines an adventurous sonic approach with a pop sensibility, and it's a prime example of their sound, a dark wonderland of droning synthesizers and throbbing beats, full of majestic melodies.
The track comes accompanied by a video directed by Marcus Malmström. Asked about the video, he said: ”Having grown up in a small, rural place myself, I wanted to capture that decade-long wait to get away and start a life for yourself. Those drifting, longing thoughts that become rarer as you get older and in hindsight shaped the person you are today.”
Based in Stockholm, the duo is composed by singer Nicklas Stenemo, who grew up in the small town of Stenslanda and keyboard player Christian Berg who came from the even smaller town Tranås. After performing with various synth/indie outfits separately, they finally joined forces and started Kite. The opening track of their first EP, 'Ways to Dance', was an instant club hit in Sweden.
Their live experience – featuring spectacular lights, breathtaking projections and sometimes cat statues shooting laser beams from their eyes – have gained them a reputation as a great live band. This is how Dagens Nyheter, one of Sweden's main broadsheets, described one of their shows ”Projected on the dome over our heads are marching skeletons, hummingbirds in slow-motion, bomber aircrafts on a purple sky, lunar craters, the snow-covered peaks of Himalaya, neon shimmering nebulas and a space baby à la Kubrick´s 2001. The Native American dream catcher dangling from Christian Berg´s synthesizers must have been switched to reverse.”
Following last year's performance at Way Out West Festival and two sold-out shows at The Royal Opera in Stockholm, alongside a 16-piece orchestra, Kite are currently working on new music and gearing up for more live shows later on in the year.
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With their brand-new album around the corner, the Moscow-based band On-The-Go release their fourth single, ‘Unsaid.’ Influenced by electronica, pop, and folk, ‘Unsaid’ offers intimacy through its lyrics, whilst projecting a large amount of energy across its sound of indie-pop, and sonic surges.
The track tackles the feelings of regret surrounding the things we wish we were able to tell the people we care about, but never could. Whilst there is a guilty feeling of regret, lyrics such as ‘say what you have to, before you leave,’ suggest that there is hope for forgiveness, although there is a doubt of unlikeliness.
Discussing their new album, Yura Makarychev, the frontman of On-The-Go says: “We wanted to make sure that each song is based on specific ideas, and lyrics with the rhythm, and melody forming around the subject”.
Influenced by pop, folk and electronica, the band combine progressive time signatures, an ecstatic energy and crystal-clear production. Complex arrangements, delicately layered textures and heartfelt lyricism result in an affecting, nuanced record. The band tells us that “we wanted to make sure that each song is based on specific ideas and lyrics with the rhythm and melody forming around the subject.”
The songs tackle subjects such as looking for balance in relationships in the ever-changing and unpredictable world, the conflicting emotions around raising children within a political climate of fear and hatred, and the changing nature of memories as our current experiences increasingly conflict with the beliefs we held in the past. This is evident on tracks like ‘Happy’ (feat. Kate NV) which explores the effect of mental health on relationships, and the moral dilemma of trying to help or be supported by a loved one while trying not to be dragged under yourself.
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Britt tells us - My new song, “Looking For Another,” was written as I walked alone around Toronto on a summer day. Wherever I looked, there were groups of people who all seemed to know each other and have it “figured out.”
I produced the song as I wrote it, and it was important to me to hold onto its initial spark, as I built it out and mixed it myself later.
With the video for the track, I strove to tap into that same feeling I had as I was writing it, the longing and desire to connect with others, and the pain at feeling unable to do so.
I juxtaposed scenes shot in downtown LA by Eric Bilitch, with footage that I shot in my childhood bedroom back in Toronto. I edited these two worlds together - my past home in TO and my present home of LA.
With the narrative, I wanted to capture that feeling that we’re never enough in the eyes of others, that there’s something inherently wrong with who we are.
I did this through the eyes of a young girl (played by Charlotte Lindsay Marron) who struggles to look like the Instagram celebrities, even as it leaves her feeling deeply unhappy.
“Looking For Another” is tongue-in-cheek because although I felt like I was the only one, in writing the song I acknowledged the universality of feeling alone.
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Background from Tim - My name is Tim Cheesebrow, and I've been a performing musician in Minnesota for 20 years. During that time I've written seven albums of original material, written a book on songwriting and its effect on the mind and body, spent 9 years operating a nonprofit that teaches young people to write songs, and I play over 120 shows a year.
This latest album, "7," is quite special. It's a folk-rock, singer/songwriter's playground with a range of styles from driving rock to haunting dirges and soaring ballands. Stylistically it lives in the vicinity of Jackson Browne and the Eagles, with some 90's influence.
Calling on the talents of some of the Midwest's finest studio musicians, I produced and recorded the songs in my own studio. It's been a true labor of love to bring all the pieces together, and it allowed me to take time to craft the songs thoughtfully and artistically. I enjoyed every minute working on this project. I hope you'll enjoy listening to it just as much.
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One week ago, Inbetween Movies released their modern and playful anthem 'Kiddios Cave', followed now with a video.
Electronic, modern and playful: Zurich-based dreampop and shoegaze-quartet Inbetween Movies are back with new single 'Kiddios Cave'. Their refreshing mixture of frayed melodies and modern beats is reaching people around the world. The previous first two singles have gained thousands of plays on Youtube and Spotify – without the band's effort doing extensive promo.
With the new single «Kiddios Cave» getting into radio-programmes could work for the first time. The pulsating beat, carried by spherical hooklines, goes deep. Thematically, the song revolves around the moment when a relationship is actually already over, but both sides are still fighting for getting it together again. A situation that everyone knows and that moves. Yoiu can feel the glue of hope between the chords.
The video clip is also worth seeing. It shows how loneliness first needs to leave the body in order to allow hope growing again.
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Calgary alt-pop artist Selci is sharing a new video for “Strangers,” an anti-Valentine’s Day track about a love that’s faded and gone, off her debut Effervescence EP. The song recalls a run-in with an ex-lover, and the painful realization that after knowing someone so intimately you, hardly know them at all.
The video is framed around the deterioration of a relationship, juxtaposing Selci’s own memories in a surreal, subconscious world. A series of hazy vignettes spiral through memory, romance, dissociation and the loss of self. Blending high-definition and 8 mm film, home video and stop motion animation, analog textures are used to imply nostalgia and the timeless nature of broken relationships, while flickers of animation enhance the surrealist vibe.
“As the video progresses, I become cloaked in layers of fabric,” says Selci. “Happy memories are overcome by recollections of anger and violence, and I become engulfed by tulle. As the intensity increases, the boundary between reality and the subconscious world is blurred. This veiling is meant to signify the loss of self in a relationship. It mirrors the sensation of distance from the self and the distance from a lover as the relationship falls apart.”
Effervescence examines the aftermath of various relationships (“Strangers” and “Old Wounds”), a split with a bandmate (“Eyes of Amber”), and ponders the concept of artistic and societal freedom by using the metaphor of a mythic, mermaid-like creature confined to land (“Truth in the Sea”).
Though trained in opera, contemporary and classical musical styles, Selci uses ambience and rhythm to compose sounds that exist on the fringes of pop music. To create Effervescence, Selci spent years in isolation while learning the craft of production, setting her on a path of rediscovery and self-acceptance.
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