Trunky Juno - Meggie Lennon - The Weeping Willows

Trunky Juno - Serial Killer Vibes.

Trunky Juno warmly greets us with new single ‘Serial Killer Vibes’, a lovely slice of upbeat acoustic technicolour-pop crafted in his basement studio in the North East of England. The song expands on his already eclectic repertoire by dressing up an anxiety fuelled lyric with Trunky’s trademark charming melodic hooks and balmy tones.

Lyrically ‘Serial Killer Vibes’ is the musical equivalent of meeting a fist bump with a handshake, then calling someone the wrong name before accidentally insulting their mother whilst verbally digging a hole that seems to get deeper and deeper with every word. And even though this incident happened four years ago, its 3AM and you haven’t slept because you’re still thinking about it, asking yourself “why did I say that”. Distil all of that down into a song and you get ‘Serial Killer Vibes’.

Talking about the song, Trunky says: “'Serial Killer Vibes’ is a track that haunted me for a long time because I knew there was a good song in there, but I just couldn’t figure out how to present it in a way that allowed anyone else to see it too. It’s not really a song about serial killers at all, it’s about perspective, living inside your own head and trying your hardest not to be weird when you just are. It's an ode to painfully awkward exchanges, which is going to become very relatable once we all start trying to interact with each other again.”

Trunky Juno · Serial Killer Vibes

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Meggie Lennon - Night Shift.

Montreal-based singer-songwriter, Meggie Lennon is today sharing her new single, "Night Shift" which arrives as a radiant psych-rock intro to her debut album, Sounds From Your Lips – out July 9 via Mothland – which she's announcing in tandem. Lennon, who previously lead the award-nominated Quebec-based band, Abrdeen, is also sharing the Marielle Normandin Pageau-directed video for the new track – watch here.

The debut album arrives produced by Samuel Gemme (Corridor, Anemone, The Brooks) and features the guitar-playing of Elephant Stones’ Gabriel Lambert as well as additional contributions from her longtime friend and collaborator, Jules Henry (Super Plage). Seamlessly fusing the worlds of late 60s and early 70s psychedelia as she subtly harnesses the energy of artists like The Byrds and Tyrannosaurus Rex (later T-Rex), with early 2010-era acts such as Melody’s Echo Chamber, MGMT, and Beach House, the album, described by Lennon as "make-out dream-pop," oozes this glowing sense of optimism.

Tracks on Sounds From Your Lips flow with a breezy, laidback energy, marrying warm percussion with finessed bass lines to summon these tar-thick, sultry grooves. This lead single and album-opening track, "Night Shift", comes part-inspired by late nights coming home from bars in Montréal; sonically it works as a fitting intro for the record, demonstrating an equal balance of dreamy synth verses and a devastatingly beautiful crescendo towards the end.

Speaking about the single, Lennon says: "The first part of the song came to me while cycling home back from L'Esco after a wild night. I was on a Bixi and the streets were completely empty. I was riding fast through the night and it felt both meditative and exhilarating – this feeling is reflected in the dreamy verses and then heavier guitar crescendo at the end. When we got in the studio, I laid the lead track on the Wurli and it all came naturally. The second part, "take a glimpse outside," came while doodling on the synth. We were in the studio without windows but we both went outside and the sun blinded us, the lyrics were inspired by this."

First introduced to Quebec audiences as the leader of indie-pop/rock outfit Abrdeen, with which she released the Endless Dreams and Dreamlike Mornings EP (nominated at GAMIQ) in 2017, Lennon promoted her music throughout the province, sharing the stage with the likes of Good Morning, Elephant Stone, The Dears, Julie Doiron, Sugar Candy Mountain and Laura Sauvage. Alongside shows with up and coming names in music, Lennon performed at the likes of POP Montreal, M for Montreal and FME, as well as lending her soft voice for collaborations with Debbie Tebbs, Lucill and Super Plage.

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The Weeping Willows - Long Black Veil.

The Weeping Willows have long revelled in the darker musical traditions of the American South, populating their songs with figures desolate, desperate and doomed. It’s a penchant given its clearest outing yet with the pair’s glorious “Southern Gothic” EP.

Brand new original instrumental “Southern Gothic” is a brooding study in backwoods fiddle and dreadnought guitar, while sweetly sad lilt “Hangman (The Gallows Tree)” (featuring Bluesman Nick Charles) channels one of the tune’s most popular renderings by Peter, Paul and Mary. Gertrude ‘Ma’ Rainey’s immortal “C.C. Rider” – popularised by artists from Elvis to Old Crow Medicine Show – is an impassioned demonstration of The Weeping Willows’ vocal range and palpable harmonic sympathy. A signature tune for Lefty Frizzell, the mournful “Long Black Veil” showcases Laura’s exquisite falsetto, before “One Kind Favour (See That My Grave Is Kept Clean)” (written by Blind Lemon Jefferson) finds Andy wresting richly resonant tones from his guitar.Walt Aldridge’s “Ain't No Ash Will Burn” is a stirring country-folk plaint, while rounding out the EP’s dark proceedings is The Weeping Willows’ own “Black Crow” - an ominous tale of doom recorded with celebrated producer Ryan Freeland (Bonnie Raitt) at Stampede Origin Studio, Los Angeles.

The bulk of “Southern Gothic” was tracked, engineered and mixed by the inimitable Roger Bergodaz (Raised By Eagles), and features David Piltch (Willie Nelson, Don Henley) on upright bass, Luke Moller (Hayes Carll, Kasey Chambers) on fiddle and mandolin and James Church (Montgomery Church) on Dobro. Ranking among Australia’s foremost songwriters, The Weeping Willows took out the 2021 Golden Guitar for Instrumental of the Year. They’ve netted eight CMAA Golden Guitar nominations and have supported Americana greats from Iris Dement (USA) to Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real (USA).

Equal parts ornate and austere, “Southern Gothic” finds The Weeping Willows delving ever deeper into the Gothic grandeur of critically acclaimed second album Before Darkness Comes A-Callin' (2016) and serves as yet another unmissable glimpse into the duo’s highly anticipated third studio album, due out next year. “Southern Gothic” is our across digital platforms Friday 4th June 2021.

The Weeping Willows · Long Black Veil

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The Naysayers - Hanging Freud

Artwork by Dan Brown-Hozjan

The Naysayers - Yesterday.

Background from the band - We're a sub-arctic indie rock four piece from Whitehorse, Yukon. "Yesterday" is out now on Coax Records from our self-titled LP to follow on June 25, 2021.

It's a visceral song about living grief, and the helplessness of loss, reconciling the death of someone who's still alive.

"Yesterday" has evolved to include and acknowledge the grief from physically losing others in this past year to addiction, and the realization, I will never be able to say goodbye.

The video emphasizes the inherent vulnerability of the song because it's made entirely of my grandmother's personal super 8 footage from the '50s and '60s. Head over to YouTube to watch and subscribe. This song is a slow burn rock song, for screaming into the void, or for taking shelter from the storm.

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Hanging Freud - Antidote/Immune.

Glasgow based darkwave/post-punk duo Hanging Freud have just unveiled their sixth full-length album Persona Normal. The band states: "We were living between the UK and Brazil, going back and forth. These were two societies going through extreme change. The whole world was changing in a way that felt scary."

Some themes of Persona Normal deal with detachment, dissociation, what it means to be human, political issues and about strong, irrational cults. These are approached in tracks like “I beg you” and “We don’t want to sleep”. Persona Normal is also a record about transformation, and growth, accepting losses and coming to terms with the loss of innocence.

Persona Normal is available now in physical and digital formats on HANGING FREUD's label, Tiny Box. Persona Normal was written produced and recorded by the duo with mastering duties from James Plotkin (Khanate).

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Kety Fusco - Bill Fever - Smaller Hearts - Abby J Hall

Kety Fusco - Ma Gnossienne.

One year after the release of her debut album DAZED, the young Italian-Swiss harpist and composer Kety Fusco gives us a very personal version of the famous song "Gnossienne N.1" by Erik Satie. In this modern reinterpretation, which Kety has entitled "Ma Gnossienne", the harp is used in an unconventional way to generate sounds that have nothing to do with its classical timbre. 

The entire sound system is set up with sounds of vinyl scratched on metal strings, objects struck on the soundboard of the pre-sampled classical harp, and analogue effects manipulated live.

Switzerland-based Kety Fusco has embarked on a unique harp sound research. She works with Delta Electric Harps from Salvi Harps, who have taken Kety on as their official Ambassador. 

Her exploration of harp and effects technology began successfully with the debut of her album DAZED, described by Swiss critics as "a white fly". Kety Fusco has over 80 concerts throughout Europe, and she is working on the first world's sound library of non-traditional harp sounds.

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Bill Fever - Money Goes To Bloody Money.

Background from Bill Fever: I self-released my debut EP "Money Goes To Bloody Money" this month (May) through Bandcamp & CD Baby.

Over the past couple of weeks, tracks from the EP have had national airplay on Tom Robinson's BBC 6 Music Introducing Mixtape (his tip of the week), local radio play on BBC Radio Northampton, NE & CWR and featured on the most recent New Music Saturday Podcast.

The EP blends grungy indie rock sounds with a spaciness that's been described as 'a garage punk Hawkwind' (NMS Podcast) with a 'Jack White-esque freewheeling sound' (New Boots Music Blog).

To put things mildly, I've been frustrated with the political situation in the UK and these songs tackle those feelings. Having relocated from London to Kettering, my ambitions to form a new band in 2020 were put on hold by the pandemic. Deciding to carry on writing solo, I self-produced and recorded my debut 4-Track EP “Money Goes To Bloody Money” in my attic and shed in Northamptonshire. I sing and play all instruments except drums, bringing in talented session drummer Joe Montague.

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Smaller Hearts - Mean Routine.

Nova Scotia husband and wife duo Smaller Hearts announce new album Attention (out July 23), share second single, "Mean Routine."

“This song is about how we can have great ideals and big plans for who we think we are, who we want to be, and how we'll change the world—but the daily grind of going to work and paying the bills gets in the way,” said Smaller Hearts' Kristina Parlee (she/her) and Ron Bates (he/him). “The mean routine is the pattern of not getting to do the things we really want to do.”

“We drew a picture of the world we hoped to see / Held it close to heart in hopes that it would come to be,” sings Parlee, on this pining synthpop song. “And plans keep interrupting our plans.”

“‘Mean Routine’ comes back to 2020 being a big interrupted year,” Parlee and Bates said. “And being interrupted by something big that you couldn't control, you start to think about the smaller ways life pushes you away from the things you want to pursue, and how we should push back and just try to do them. After a year that kept us from our friends and our interests and our plans, ‘Mean Routine’ encourages us to try to seize the moment as we emerge into the possibility of something new."

The duo previously shared single “Double Space,” which tempers Smaller Hearts’ 1980s electro pop slant with an effective minimalism.  Releasing July 23, Attention is the band's third full-length and builds on their exploration of synth-pop sounds that both diverge and draw inspiration from the indie rock focus of their other projects (including Orange Glass, The Memories Attack, Shoulder Season & the Maynards).

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Abby J Hall - Tough Love.

Abby J Hall is a Canadian singer/songwriter from Burlington Ontario. Some of her musical influencers are: T-Swift, Julia Michaels, Alec Benjamin and Maggie Rogers. She started songwriting when she was 11 and has been passionate about it ever since. 

Her go-to instruments are the guitar, keys and ukulele. Memorable music moments include: playing her originals at The Sound of Music Festival in Burlington; at Canada’s Largest Ribfest; for the Live and Local Music Series at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre and at Canadian Music Week. 

She has been in the studio over the past year and is excited to be releasing new music over the next couple months. Everyone has a story to tell. Abby loves nothing more than to write some of those stories down and put them to music.

Abby J Hall · TOUGH LOVE MASTER

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Layla Frankel - Charly Lowry + The Heart Collectors - Late TV - Ellis

Layla Frankel - Postcards From The Moon (E.P).

With a musical style that pays homage to the spirit of the late, great Etta James (according to the site Rock at Night), Layla Frankel moved to Nashville in 2017 when she was fresh off a cross-country tour. 

Her new EP Postcard From the Moon includes the single “You Can't Love Me Like I Loved You,” which was selected as a finalist in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest.

Postcard From the Moon was recorded at Startstruck Studios in Nashville, produced and mixed by Jim Kimball (who has toured and recorded with an extensive roster of artists that includes Reba McEntire, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, and Justin Timberlake), engineered by Todd Tidwell and the executive producer was Mary Johnson. The EP also features some of Nashville's top session players.

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Charly Lowry + The Heart Collectors - Navigating to Hope.

The next video in Folk Alliance's Artists In (Their) Residences series is fromNorth Carolina songwriter Charly Lowry and Australia's the Heart Collectors. Each of the ten is a pairing between a US and global artist collaborating on music to reflect on the world during the pandemic and shines a light on Folk Alliance's COVID relief Village Fund: (HERE). Lowry is a singer-songwriter from Pembroke, NC with roots in the Union Chapel Community. Charly received a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies from UNC Chapel-Hill. Upon graduation, Lowry moved full-steam ahead in pursuit of a career as a professional musician.

For over a decade, Charly has attained regional and national success as both a solo artist and lead singer of alternative rock/ soul/ folk band, Dark Water Rising. In addition to performing with Dark Water Rising and The Ulali Project, she often shares the stage with funk/soul band, “The New Mastersounds”. In 2004, Charly had the opportunity to compete on the wildly popular television show, American Idol. She ventured through several rounds of auditions to make it to the Top 32.

Charly enjoys performing, meeting people, and educating others on the Native American experience. Charly served as a Lumbee Ambassador for the Lumbee people in 1997-98; traveling throughout the country to visit Tribal Nations while attending various conferences, powwows, etc. Her reign as Jr. Miss Lumbee was the catalyst that awakened her spirit to an inherent calling as a “Culture Bearer”. Lowry continues to work on her craft; immersing herself in the culture of American music and expanding her listening ear to various genres, all the while composing songs that give a personal account of her experience as an Indigenous woman walking in two worlds.

Of the Heart Collectors, John T Davis, author of ‘Austin City Limits: ’25 Years Of American Music, said, “Imagine Fleetwood Mac with more of an organic, Celtic-inflected lilt of vocals and melody and you have a rough idea of why Australia’s Heart Collectors are so instantly appealing. There is a vibrant and timeless allure to their music that is resistant to the fashion of the moment, and all the more enduring because of it. Kymrie’s voice is the stuff angel’s wings are made of.”

With the sentimentality of 70’s inspired harmonies, the Australian four piece ‘Epic Folk’ band has graced stages around the world, accomplishing three international tours and releasing four studio albums. Picked as one of the ‘Top Bands To See’ at SXSW (The Austin Statesman), this independent group have found creative ways of staying connected throughout the 2020 lockdowns and the cancellation of their USA and UK tours. The Hearts released their latest album Time To Say I Love You (2020) one single a fortnight, featured on Spotify with The Guardians “Australian Music for Isolated Times” and Sounds Australia’s “Sounds Australia Selects” playlists. In September 2020, The Hearts were selected to be 1 of 12 Australian artists for the Premier Event Global Music Match – a world wide initiative to connect musicians and industry in the face of COVID-19 restrictions.

The Heart Collectors have momentum in 2021, joining Folk Alliance International for ‘Folk Unlocked’ Private Showcases, ‘ISOL-AID Unlocked’, and the ‘Artists In (Their) Residence’ programme. Now as possibilities are opening for touring in Australia again, The Hearts embarked on a Statewide tour of Tasmania this January/February to Sold Out audiences. With soaring cello, intricate guitar, sparkling mandolin, boot banging banjo, passionate strikes of a tambourine and the thundering of the bodhran, these four charismatic performers create real musical synergy, marrying progressive folk/rock sensibilities and clean classical precision.

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Late TV - Night Tennis.

Having slimmed down from a 6-piece funk-factory to a 4-piece combo, Late TV have set about shifting their focus onto razor-sharp song-writing, atmospheric storytelling and tight shimmering grooves. The result of this attention to detail is in full force on the mooching urban fairytale Night Tennis.

Taking musical cues from Ken Nordine’s legendary ‘Word Jazz’, Cypress Hill’s soundtrack to late 90s shoot-em-up ‘Kingpin’ and the noir low-rock of Morphine, the band take disparate influences and seamlessly wrap them up into a concise 3.33 song. The track was recorded and produced by the band in London and mixed by Ed Longo (Ed Longo and Applied Arts Ensemble) at his Soundrays Studio in Berlin.

In the song, ‘Steve’ a lonesome everyman is seeking romance as he embarks on a date which gradually unravels revealing more about the trials and tribulations of his companion, rather than a moonlit walk back to hers for a nightcap. Considering the convention that love can be a game, Night Tennis rallies between two struggles, one man’s lascivious desires and one woman's ongoing battle to negotiate the cultural minefield of life in the big city.

Lyricist and Vocalist Luke J Novak explains: “I wanted to capture the electric moments of social interaction, the beats in a conversation where perceptions shift. Here we have a man who comes looking for one thing, but leaves with another; an insight into another’s perspective on the world that they both inhabit. The band laid down that bouncing groove and it was the perfect setting for the scene”.

Culling influences from jazz cats and art rockers, B-movies and trash television via Lynch and Tarentino, Late TV are the moonlighting house band for a surreal all-night dream club nestled amidst the cultural detritus of television’s after hours. Guitarist and vocalist Luke J Novak and drummer Richard ‘Beu’ Bowman left their hometown of Kidderminster and hooked-up with Chicago’s jazz obsessed Ryan Szanyi on bass and Parisian keyboard maestro Martin Coxall in London. Kick-started with the release of their brilliant Citizen single, the group then appeared at Standon Calling Festival in 2018 alongside Goldfrapp and spiritual forefather Bryan Ferry. Night Tennis is the first single to be taken from the band’s forthcoming debut album, where the group explore the postmodern wastelands of pop as 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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Ellis - What if love isn't enough.

In April, Ellis announced her latest EP nothing is sacred anymore which is set for release on June 25th. Announced with the single "Hospital," the EP is the first new music from Ellis (the alias of Hamilton, Ontario musician Linnea Siggelkow) since the release of her debut LP Born Again, which arrived right as the pandemic began on April 3rd of 2020 and followed her breakout first EP The Fuzz. 

Like The Fuzz, her upcoming EP sees Ellis working as her own producer again, this time alongside Charlie Spencer (of the band Dizzy), and it is perhaps her most emotionally intimate work to date, a quality that is foregrounded on the EP's latest single "what if love isn't enough."

"I mean, this is a question I’ve asked myself a bunch, usually when I’m being a little bit dramatic which happens to be often," Siggelkow explains. "But I’ve also seen relationships fizzle out even when two people seem to really love each other. We place so much emphasis on love but I guess I just wonder about all the other stuff needed to make it last forever. I’m a hopeless romantic at heart but sometimes I’m just hopeless."

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T. Hardy Morris - Bandicoot - Good Morning TV - Doctor Lo

T. Hardy Morris - Shopping Center Sunsets.

T. Hardy Morris is set to return with The Digital Age of Rome on June 25th via the New West Records imprint Normaltown Records. The 10-song set was produced by Adam Landry (Deer Tick, Rayland Baxter) and mixed by engineer Nate Nelson. It follows the Diamond Rugs and Dead Confederate member’s 2018 acclaimed Dude, The Obscure.

After touring Dude, The Obscure, Morris had 13 new songs demoed for a new album. He was excited to get his band together to rehearse the songs before hunkering down in the studio to record...then the pandemic hit. Sequestered at his Athens, GA home with his family, Morris, like most everyone else in the past year, mulled over what was truly important to him and in response, crafted an entirely new set of songs. Enlisting a group of musicians including Drive-By Truckers drummer Brad Morgan, singer-songwriter Faye Webster and many others, Morris pulled no punches with his mesmerizing lyrics and hazy brand of southern glam rock.

Looking directly inward and captivated by the sobering realities of the pandemic, Morris has composed one of his most personal works yet. He tackles the well-worn anxieties of the past year as pandemic and political divisions ravaged America. The Digital Age of Rome is more direct than Morris has ever been and is one of his boldest records yet. Unapologetic and brutally honest, it is a necessary diary for an uncomfortable time that continues to unfold.

Morris remains Athens, Georgia’s foremost purveyor of dynamic rock-and-roll-songwriting and his blend of poetic southern outlaw storytelling is delivered in a haunting vocal howl. The sonic energy and raw emotion in his music captures the same call to adventure that helped launch other Athens-born bands (including R.E.M., B-52’s, Vic Chesnutt, The Drive-By Truckers, The Elephant 6 Collective, Pylon, and The Glands before him) and put the artsy college town on the map. Drive-By Truckers co-founder Patterson Hood described Morris’ songwriting as, “distilling that subtle truth down to its very essence and expressing it in a way that cuts through the bullshit...I was immediately blown away.

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Bandicoot - Worried Blues.

For Bandicoot "Worried Blues inhabits a world of paranoia, born from a fear of lost love. It carries you down labyrinthine streets like a nightmarish memory, with a contagious strutting rhythm which never lets you stop moving along with it.”

Never missing a beat or taking time to catch their breath Bandicoot are back with a new and impressive single.

‘Worried Blues’ starts with forceful piano chords and an anguished emotional vocal from Rhys Underdown, channeling John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band primal scream as a voice from the dark. When ‘Worried Blues’ intro releases into a riff full of Talking Heads strutting art rock/ dance punk directness it leaves no doubt, Bandicoot are ‘The Sound of Young Wales!’.

 

_Bandicoot · Worried Blues

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Good Morning TV - Entertainment.

Good Morning TV started in 2016 with a first self titled EP, released by pop diggers Requiem pour un Twister, that managed to echo until miles away from their homeland, France.

At the time a solo adventure of Bérénice Deloire, the project progressively became a band as Barth Bouveret (producer for both the EP and the album), Thibault Picot (Brace! Brace!) and Hugo Dupuis joined their forces, guided by mutual harmony.

After two years of writing together, the quartet isolated itself in a peaceful home of the south of France in order to achieve their first album 'Small Talk' to be released on Géographie Recs (Marble Arch, Paper Tapes, Born Idiot). 'Small Talk' is born in this rough temporary studio, that rather resembled a weird laboratory. 

Its singular material, along with a contemporary production that both enhance a bold songwriting are casually passed by familiar choruses. With this record, Good Morning TV paints a melancholic portrait of daily disillusions and claims its own vision of pop, somewhere between Broadcast, Deerhoof or The Olivia Tremor Control.

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Doctor Lo - Claiborne Avenue.

Doctor Lo (Faber), formerly of celebrated jam band God Street Wine, shared the title track from his upcoming folk/Americana-leaning LP Claiborne Avenue last Friday. Faber is set to celebrate the release with a limited run of live shows, including a sold-out performance at Albany, NY's The Hollow on June 18 (full dates below).

June 18 - The Hollow - Albany, NY
June 20 - Gabe-Gate - Sussex, NJ
June 22 - The Tap Shack - Duck, NC
June 23 - The Tap Shack - Duck, NC (two nights!)

Doctor Lo Faber’s music exudes the warmth, grit, and enchantment of New Orleans — a city he’s called home for the past decade. A listen to “Claiborne Avenue,” the title track off his new album, reveals a number of specific NOLA settings: there’s the obvious, the street for which the song is named, as well as the iconic Magazine Street. There’s also a hat tip of sorts to The Neville Brothers, with a reference to the “Pocky Way beat;” and it name-checks Louis Armstrong, Mr. Bienville (Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the “Father of New Orleans”), and Mr. Claude Tremé (for whom the Tremé neighborhood of NOLA is named).

If it sounds a bit like a history lesson in song, well, it is. And this historical focus is fitting, given that Dr. Faber (or Doctor Lo, as he’s known in the music world) has his Ph. D. in American History, is a former history professor, and published a book about New Orleans in 2013 entitled Building the Land of Dreams. “Some of the songs are united by being my experience of living here in New Orleans for about nine years now,” Lo explains. And while he notes that his music “is not New Orleans-y,” one can’t help but almost instantly feel transported to the Crescent City while listening to it.

Seemingly a product of the pandemic – said track speaks of the “tourists [who] left without a trace” – Claiborne Avenue (the song and the album) is both observational and introspective at once. It sees Doctor Lo reflecting on the past through a nostalgic lens with a hint of regret (“I broke the rules and I paid the cost / You know nothing comes free”), and the refrain “Who knows what you might catch in the air” takes on more meanings the longer you listen.

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Emily Kate - Kelly McMichael - Neighborhood Brats - Breathe Panel

Emily Kate - The Whole Time.

Recording artist, Emily Kate perfectly bridges the gap between country and pop with her unique sound and lyrical storytelling. Born and raised in Toronto, Emily Kate’s love for music started at a very young age. She grew up inspired by her musical family and influenced by Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, Kelsea Ballerini, and Danielle Bradberry.

Pulling from real life experiences, her music conveys relatable thoughtful messages weaved with fresh, soulful melodies. Her meaning filled lyrics coupled with her warm sound is often described as Kelsea Ballerini meets a motivational speaker.

“I want to be able to say something with my music. For people to connect with themselves and feel inspired when they listen…while also having fun.” – Emily Kate

Working with CMAO nominated Producer of the Year, Shawn Moore, her anticipated debut EP All In, reveals a strong willed female artist, sure to impact the lives of current and future fans. Giant, the first single off her EP, became available August 7, 2020 and its empowering message has gained popularity amongst her fans and also Canadian Country Radio. Having over 500 plays on Sirius XM and many other stations across Canada.

Keeping up with the momentum, Emily Kate released her next single off her EP, All In, which has reached Top 50 on the Sirius XM charts. This song has touched that relatable experience when we sometimes pick the wrong guy, and makes you want to hold up a lighter while you sing and sway. The second last song, Space, showcases a more vulnerable side. The soaring lyrical story centres on Emily Kate’s strong belief that every little thing in our lives happens for a reason. It’s all about timing and Space brings that metaphor to life throughout the stellar songwriting and effortless production overlay.

Emily Kate · The Whole Time

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Kelly McMichael - I Missed Out On Everything.

Kelly McMichael is known for her commanding vocals, classic songwriting, and unique ability to conduct powerful musical forces whether making bedroom beats, rocking a Gibson SG or serenading softly on the piano. She has fronted RENDERS, Thelma & Louise, and The Gloss and Rouge.

Her debut full-length album Waves (available now) displays a wide range of rock sounds and marks a transition from her electronic-based project ‘RENDERS’. It has taken years to find the right circumstances to bring these arrangements to life, and she finally found them by the ocean with the support of engineer, co-producer and drummer Jake Nicoll (The Burning Hell), and multi-instrumentalists Maria Peddle and Sarah Harris (Property) from St John's.

After years of experience and searching for the right pieces, I've created a collection of my best songs played with my favourite musicians infused with the magical energy on this whacky and amazing island of Newfoundland. It's a celebration of resilience, marked by this ridiculous cover photo of me - tired and proud on a cranky horse, smelling the salty air, wondering what magical surprises are in my future, remembering the golden fields of my rural Ontario past. - Kelly McMichael.

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Neighborhood Brats - Confines of Life (Album).

 Neighborhood Brats is a California punk band formed in 2010 by vocalist Jenny Angelillo and guitarist George Rager. Originally based in San Francisco, Rager and Angelillo relocated frequently around and between northern and southern California during the band’s formative years.

In 2013, publicity, positive reviews and regional US touring attracted enough attention for the band to begin touring Europe, which would become a mainstay for the band’s road activity. By the end of 2019, the band had completed five European tours, and multiple headlining and direct support tours throughout the United States and Canada.

In 2021, Neighborhood Brats will release their third LP, Confines of Life, which was recorded in 2020 as Los Angeles shut down in response to the incoming pandemic. The album will be released on May 28th via Dirt Cult Records in the US and Taken By Surprise Records in Europe.

Dirt Cult Records · Neighborhood Brats - Confines of Life

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Breathe Panel - Lets It In.

Today, Breathe Panel have announced that their new album will be released on September 17th on FatCat Records via the sharing of title track ‘Lets It In’. With members divided between London and Brighton, Breathe Panel come together to produce music that is as effortless as their name suggests. Recorded live to tape by esteemed producer Ali Chant (Aldous Harding, PJ Harvey, Katy J Pearson), Lets It In was recorded with no agenda other than the enjoyment of making music together. The resulting album is ultimately positive in outlook, centering around themes of falling in love, moments in places, light, breathing, walking, urban living and finding beauty in a sometimes heavy environment.

Living together in a shared house in East London, frontman Nick Green and lead guitarist Josh Tyler would start writing songs together as an escape from the restlessness of the city. “A sort of meditation from the mess”, says Nick. With the arrival of the lockdown, their immediate surroundings became even more vivid and influential as spring turned to summer last year. “I've been reading about Psychogeography and the weird link between where you are and how you feel and how sometimes those two things can align to make you feel like you're in a sweet spot just for a split second or an afternoon,” explains Josh.

Nowhere is the essence of the album found more precisely than on the album’s title track which documents a relationship blossoming at the first signs of the summer. “The single highlights what I was seeing at the time; light, windows, day-to-day goodness and being in a good place,” explains Nick. “Once that song came together I felt like we'd landed on the sound of the album,” says guitarist Josh. “I was struggling to write a line for it but it slowly began to flow in a practice in Alex's kitchen. I like how it's a turn of phrase that feels close to something you might say on a daily basis but never think twice about,” he continues.

For a band who are at their most comfortable writing songs together in a living room, swapping drum kits for cushions, it’s unsurprising that the music Breathe Panel produce is as rejuvenating to listen to as it is for them to produce. The result is a second album that sounds real and present in the moment, evoking the moments in time in which it was made, calling to mind the warm 90’s indie-rock of bands like Acetone and The Sea and Cake. Breathe Panel is here to soothe the collective soul in 2021.

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Peter Drucker and Alyssa Messina - Low Hummer - Abbie And The Roses

Peter Drucker and Alyssa Messina - Pathetic.

Songwriter turned accidental frontman; Peter Drucker has developed a style that loosely threads the line between an out-of-phase Kanye blended with “Montana” era John Mayer. He creates melodies with infectious enthusiasm, and a lyrical intensity spanning a well crafted collection of glimpses into his mind.

Youthful and ambitious, Peter burst onto the scene in 2018, with an armoury of tracks ranging from electric guitar driven synth-pop, to catchy, heartfelt string-centred ballads; all aided by a uniquely soulful voice and a dominant sense of groove that leaves listeners mumbling choruses into the night.

Based out of Toronto, he is performing and writing every chance possible, honing and developing his craft by working with local and global talents such as Laguil (J-SOUL, DVBBS & lil Baby), Roy Hamilton III (George Nozulka, Mia Martina) & Kevin Howley (of Running Red Lights).

“Each song tries to say something. If people don’t talk about it, don’t respond, then it’s back to square one. But every day I wake up excited, sketching a little bit closer to whatever that truth is.”

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Low Hummer - The People, This Place.

The People, This Place is the fast, urgent post-punk track from rising Hull band Low Hummer that complains about the mundane. 

Over a driving bassline, punchy drumbeat and "keep breathing" chants, vocalist Dan Mawer performs an intense and anxious stream of consciousness about pressure, stress and excess.

Following a BBC Radio 1 playlist, 6 Music support and 6 Spotify Editorials with their last single, Low Hummer have announced their debut album 'Modern Tricks For Living' to be released on 17th September on Dance to the Radio.

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Abbie And The Roses - What You've Done.

Abbie and The Roses are an alternative pop band formed in London in 2018 by vocalist Abbie Rose, guitarist Nick Crowe and backing vocalist Maeve Brennan. The band first burst onto stages with their infectious debut single “All This Time”. Mixed by world-renowned engineer Geoff Swan (Ed Sheeran, Liam Gallagher, Kings Of Leon, Charlie XCX, Years & Years), this disarmingly honest break-up tale heads straight to the heart and just won’t let go. 

Abbie and The Roses’ self-penned and self-produced debut single showcases their expansive sound and deeply personal songwriting, delivering a sharp hit of raw honesty rarely heard in recent years. Following the success of their first two studio releases and one live acoustic track the band have been in the studio working on collection of new songs ready for the new year. 

As 2020 draws to a close the band release their third studio single ‘Atmosphere’ a heartbreaking piano ballad fitting for the difficult times 2020 has brought upon us. They look to 2021 with positive energy as it’s set to be a huge year for the band. They prime to hit stages once again with an all new storming set of soul-stirring songs, with their sights set on the stratosphere!

Song info: This song was written last year during a really difficult breakup for our lead singer Abbie, it is a reflection of the complicated emotions she felt for her ex and touches on the anger and heartbreak she felt during a difficult and lonely time. Without wanting the song to be a big xxxx Off she wanted to say I hope you’re happy with your decision and I wish you well because she knew eventually she would be fine.

Abbie & The Roses · What You've Done

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Mad Symphony - Heather Walton

Mad Symphony - The Next Door.

Mad Symphony has released its debut self-titled album worldwide on MR Records. The band also recently world premiered the video for The Next Door. Talking about what was the inspiration for the video The Next Door, David Groves said, "The Next Door is a song about trying to make the right choices in life for ourselves and how those choices don't always work out the way that we had hoped for or planned.  Game shows such as The Price is Right and Let's Make A Deal were the perfect backdrops to dramatize this lyrical theme in a compelling and often comical way."

As to why did the band pick this song for a video, David adds, "The Next Door is a song that perfectly encapsulates all the elements that make up Mad Symphony. Soaring harmonies and melodies are woven through interesting and ever-changing rhythms. Chunky guitar riffs blend with the bass and keyboards in a cacophony of instrumentation. Mostly though, we just wanted to see our lead guitarist get decapitated by an angry rabbit....and this song is perfect for that!"

“It ain’t over, never over, ‘til we do it all over again!” is the hook-line and rallying cry from Vancouver-based melodic prog-rockers Mad Symphony on their forthcoming single ‘Do It All Over Again.’ While channeling the sounds of classic rock bands such as AC/DC, The Who and Led Zeppelin, Mad Symphony infuses their songs with modern elements of heavy guitars, elaborate keyboards and massive vocal harmonies to create a sound that is both contemporary and instantly recognizable by music fans of all ages. Examining the themes of love, loss, and betrayal with songs such as ‘Sell Me Out,’ ‘Reality Check’ and ‘Wasted in Oblivion,’ Mad Symphony seeks to illuminate the pressures and struggles faced by all who live through these confusing and rapidly changing times.

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Heather Walton - I Wanna Know.

Born in California, Heather Walton is an American singer-songwriter living in Utah, USA. She composes her music with the acoustic guitar and piano, her favorite being the electric guitar. Some of her influences are: Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and Christina Aguilera (all the divas). Along with Elton John, one of her favorite artists. 

As a contemporary vocalist that adores romantic music, Heather is aspiring to achieve this vibe in her upcoming work. She enjoys tapping into her feminine and sensual side, her most authentic nature. She hopes to spread light with her music and lyrics, as her mission is to help all feel love, the highest of all values. Heather started releasing covers on YouTube in 2018 and was discovered by a Canadian mastering engineer, François Rocheleau. 

He began mastering her covers and encouraged her to release original compositions. In 2020 she was contacted by Mtec Academy Music Production from London, UK. They released 7 singles together. Early 2021, Heather signed with the renowned Italian Sonos Music Records Intl. Label (Maffucci Music). Out in May her new single “I Wanna Know” which will be the first of a long collaboration with them and the arranger Ermanno Corrado, who runs his recording studios and video production facility.

I want to know more about the possibilities of the purest human emotion… love. This is the basis of my new single “I Wanna Know.” It’s an anthem for the world, but especially dreamers. About a big ideal based on one’s innermost desires and feelings that have a deep meaning in the most passional way. It’s about overcoming boundaries and quest for light. My hope for “I Wanna Know” is that it will spark the listener to analyze their deepest desires on the subject of love, and then strive to reach new heights in their relationships, emotions, fantasies, and dreams. Love is the highest of all values after all.

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This Is The Deep - Laurence Murray Project - Roxanne de Bastion - Melby

This Is The Deep - The Best Is Yet To Come (Part 1 - EP).

East London 7-piece psych-pop collective This Is The Deep today release their debut EP 'The Best Is Yet To Come (Part 1)' - out now via B3SCI Records, with new track "Let Her Go" also out now.

Over the last two years This Is The Deep have quietly established a cult live following through support slots with HMLTD, PVA, and Family Time, as well as their own sold out cross-over events at venues such as Windmill Brixton, Moth Club and The Shacklewell Arms, combining immersive art and video installations with live performances from acts including Sinead O'Brien, Opus Kink and Baby Vanga.

Written, recorded and produced by the band at 'The Sauna' – their HQ in Hackney Wick – the EP is a wildly inventive introduction to the band. Across its 8 tracks, the band switch seamlessly between explorative psych-rock, glitchy art-pop and stomping indie rock.

What started out as late night recording sessions between flatmates Ranald Macdonald, David Bardon and Oscar Robertson - quickly spiralled into This Is The Deep’s carnivalesque troupe of seven musicians.

Drawing as much from artists such as Suicide, Death Grips, and the scores of Angelo Badalamenti (Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet) and Ennio Morricone, as from the glittery pop-disco of the Scissor Sisters, This Is The Deep weave together personal stories with wider ideas and anxieties about the times we’re living through - from the loss of ‘real’ experiences to the feeling of being constantly watched by technology.

"Ultimately, we want to transport the listener somewhere completely different with the music.  A landscape that can offer a different perspective on the real world or a just place to enjoy and escape from it," the band explain. "To us, The Best Is Yet To Come (Part 1) isn’t saying that everything is getting better. It’s about feeling that things today aren’t ‘The Best’ and although you can’t say exactly what it will look like, hoping that one day something better will come."

This Is The Deep consists of post-punk royalty Susie Honeyman (Mekons) on fiddle, Sammy Silue on guitar and vocals, Ranald Macdonald on synth and vocals, Hannah Tilson on trombone and vocals, David Bardon and Oscar Robertson on bass and drums, with electronic drums and percussion from Liam Toon.

This Is The Deep · The Best Is Yet To Come (Part 1)

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Laurence Murray Project - NPD.

Laurence Murray Project recorded their sophomore release ‘NPD’ at the UK’s most remote recording studio: Black Bay Studio on the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland. This setting helped create the sense of intrigue and mystery to this stunning psychedelic and rock infused single.

Featuring swirling twelve-string guitar parts, vibraphone and audacious drums reminiscent of late 60s and 70s Psychedelia, ‘NPD’ is both pleasing on the ear and edgy with Laurence Murray’s gritty vocal summoning smoky emotions. Lyrically, the track involves a dark take on themes of deceit, infidelity and delusion, whilst adventurous instrumentation and percussion parts create an apt musical backdrop for an exploration of the complications and intricacies involved in a modern-day romantic relationship.

On the single, Murray explains, ‘“NPD” is ultimately a track about duplicity and how we are all susceptible to manipulation at any given time. It’s about having a light bulb moment where many seemingly small & insignificant red flag moments come together at once to create a much larger picture.’

“The lights are on and the room is empty” is the sudden realisation of being duped all along. The screaming guitar solo and outro section of the track acts as a symbolic release from being controlled and abused. It is a ‘shackles are off and now it’s time to heal’ symbolic moment of Laurence Murray Project’s debut 11-track album ‘Still’, set to be released in mid-late 2021.

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Roxanne de Bastion - Molecules

Rising singer-songwriter Roxanne de Bastion announces the release of her cathartic second album ‘You & Me, We Are The Same’. The ten songs were written by Roxanne, then recorded and produced with Bernard Butler, during the two-year period Roxanne was losing her father. However, ‘You & Me, We Are The Same’ is not a sad album. It has moments of euphoria, of fun, of falling in love, as well as falling apart, because as Roxanne explains “all those things still happen, even in our darkest chapters.”

As producer Bernard Butler explains “Roxanne sings great modern pop songs about being Roxanne in 2019. I really enjoyed making this album, I think we created something emotional and special.”

New single ‘Molecules’ is a slice of hypnotic, invigorating and intelligent dark-pop fusing elements of psych, folk, and a love of late 60s production, with Roxanne’s sound taking inspiration from artists like The Beatles through to Regina Spektor. Roxanne’s pure vocal is both contrasted and complemented by the screaming violins and vigorous guitar riffs, the latter, alongside the video’s stylised black and red silhouetted imagery, a nod to The White Stripes’ influence. The track’s drum sound is actually clapping and Roxanne hitting things like tambourines and floor toms in Bernard’s living room.

Lyrically, ‘Molecules’ raises some divine questions in its refrain “You can shout at molecules and see them react…that might be God, they might have mislabelled that.” As Roxanne explains “What if we got it wrong? If there is such a thing as divinity, maybe it’s more on a modular level.”

To celebrate the album’s release, Roxanne de Bastion has announced she’ll return to the Moth Club, London on 12th October, with full band and live audience. The show marks a year since Roxanne’s virtual gig at the venue during the start of the pandemic, which was broadcast worldwide and recorded for her 10” vinyl ‘Live at Moth Club’ EP.

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Melby - Concorde

Stockholm four-piece Melby have constantly been growing since their debut with catchy single 'Human' in 2016. In 2019, the band released their acclaimed debut record 'None of this makes me worry' which was followed by tour dates all over Europe. During the pandemic in 2020, the band have worked on new material in a new way. From these sessions, we've previously heard the prog/psych inspired 'Common Sense', the dreamy but melancholic 'Old Life', 'Somewhere New', a dynamic track inspired by classical counterpoint composition and the indie pop gem 'Magic'.

New single 'Concorde' is another taste of the band's dynamic indie pop, psych and folk blend that continues to win them fans with every release and step they take. 'Concorde' might just be their smoothest track to date, as they in their own way resemble contemporaries like TOPS, Tennis and more.

Melby tells us about the new single: "Concorde is a song about the luxury that is always dependent on other people."

On 'Concorde', Melby continues to cement their role as one of the most interesting Scandinavian acts around, a band so home and accomplished within their sound that they're now ready to continue to experiment with it without losing their characteristic. The new material was mainly written and straight-away recorded in the studio in close collaboration with producer Alexander Eldefors, this is a completely new way for a band that previously in many cases have toured material for years before recording them.

The band often gets compared to fellow Swedes Dungen and Amason but Melby’s dynamic sound, with influences from folk, psych, indie and pop, stand out. The quartet's light, semi-psychedelic folk pop is led by Matilda Wiezell’s enchanting voice which fits perfectly with Melby’s unique musical landscape - a sound that's been called "otherworldly, and wholly brilliant" by The Line of Best Fit.

The band consists of Wiezell, Are Engen Steinsholm (back-up vocals, guitar), David Jehrlander (bass) and Teo Jernkvist (drums) and formed while living together in a Stockholm shared housing.

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Georgia State Line - Melissa Sullivan - Tautologic - Charm Of Finches

Georgia State Line - Every Time.

Honest, agile, and refreshingly self-assured, Georgia State Line’s unique brand of country-infused melancholy yields music that’s equal parts heartsick and hopeful.

The stage moniker of Australian singer/songwriter Georgia Delves, Georgia State Line blends both vintage and contemporary sounds to craft songs steeped in Tennessee sunsets. Delves’ voice is effortlessly colourful, lyrical and textural with a depth and grace to rival even the most revered of talents.

“Every Time” is the first single lifted from Georgia State Line’s highly anticipated new album due later this year. Georgia says “it’s a song about making friends with the consistency of change; acknowledging what isn’t meant for you and celebrating the courage it takes to let it go. It highlights the quiet strength found in choosing to feel joy for what once was, and the power that comes with putting yourself first”.

The visuals were shot in Victoria’s beautiful Wimmera region on Wotjobaluk Country, the atmospheric single capturing the triumph of heartbreak.

“Every Time” was recorded at James Cecil’s studio, Super Melody World in Macedon, Victoria over 2019. It features some of Australia’s most celebrated Americana musicians: Tom Brooks on electric guitar and pedal steel, Laura Baxter on bass and backing vocals, Patrick Wilson on drums, percussion and piano, and of course Georgia Delves on lead vocals and acoustic guitar.

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Melissa Sullivan - Marcella.

American singer-songwriter, Melissa Sullivan announced the animated music video for the song “Marcella” from her debut album Late Last Night (Daring Sparrow). Directed by Gabriele Fabbro and Illustrated/Animated by Serena Viganò in Milan Italy, the “Marcella” lyric video that follows an adventurous bird who travels through city and space to find his love. The song and video for “Marcella” takes its inspiration and theme from love being the key to create change. With everything happening in our world today; the pandemic, climate change, the division in countries, the goal was to create a video with hope. 

What started as an original song Sullivan used to sing to her husky dog Anastasia was then brought to Jimmy Edwards for lyrics. Her melody envisioned a bird flying over the ocean for love, which Edwards lyrics fit perfectly. It was then transformed into a Brazilian influenced Bossa Nova beat when fleshed out in the studio and made its way onto her debut album. 

“I have always been inspired by Gilberto Gil, Antonio Calos Jobim and the Bossa Nova sound,” said Melissa Sullivan. “My album Late Last Night is an ode to some of my favorite music and is a blend of jazz, pop, and blues of original songs and covers. Gabrielle & Serena’s video beautifully embodies the song’s theme of love being the key to create change via their imagery of lost connections between imaginary lovers.” 

Sullivan’s Late Last Night album combines both original songs and newly realized standouts from The Great American Songbook and was recorded at Sir Tiger Studio and produced by Peter Adams, Will Gordon, Ed Maxwell and Melissa Sullivan.

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Tautologic - Wheels Fall Off (Album).

 Tautologic is in its third decade (plus or minus a hiatus or two) of making “perfectly normal music for slightly odd people.”

Wheels Fall Off is the first Tautologic album to feature a line-up of the band still intact at the time of its release - Ethan Sellers (keys/vocals/production), Patrick Buzby (drums), Nathan Britsch (bass), Chris Greene (saxes), Emily Albright (violin, vocals), and Jay Montana (guitar). “New guy” Montana has - at the time of the album’s completion - been with the band for 10 years, making this the longest-lived line-up in Tautologic history.

Tautologic had some help from special guests - Tom Culver (cello), Johnny Showtime Janowiak (trombone), John Moore, Jr. (trumpet), and Sellers’ own children. Sellers kept the guest list limited, otherwise - preferring to celebrate the band’s talents and stage-honed interplay.

Tautologic completed most of Wheels Fall Off even before releasing its 2018 album Re:Psychle. Determined to capture their live chemistry, Tautologic recorded roughly half of the album at a single live full-band session with Rick Barnes at Chicago's Rax Trax Recording in late 2013. Sellers recorded overdubs at his home studio, culminating in a COVID-19-inspired recording binge in the spring and early summer of 2020. An Illinois Arts Council grant generously defrayed the cost of Barnes mixing the album and provided a more urgent timeline to complete the album.

The music for Wheels Fall Off is an organic mash-up and a study in contrasts. Sellers’ composed pieces leave openings for in-studio improvisation. Male and female vocalists trade leads and harmonize. Short vocal-centered songs co-exist with long instrumental epics. Prog-rock and fusion workouts share space with Afro-Caribbean, zydeco, funk, blues, and samba grooves. There are organic whole-band recordings, and layers of one-man-choir vocals, one-woman string sections, guitar armies, horn sections, synthesizer mini-odysseys, and post-production audio mangling.

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Charm Of Finches - Gravity.

We have the new single from Australian eclectic chamber indie folk sister duo Charm of Finches. Entitled “Gravity” the track follows the tremendous success of their recent single “Treading Water” and is part of their upcoming full-length album to be released later this year.

“Gravity” reflects on the many dangers of “toxic positivity” and how this can cause people to avoid the inner-work of dealing with painful and uncomfortable feelings, such as sadness and grief.  The song features the sisters’ gorgeous emotion-laden and harmonious vocals, with sublimely beautiful instrumentation composed of cello, ukulele, banjo, violin, harp and guitar, and a tender smooth, stripped-down melody laced with bittersweet nostalgia and deep melancholia.

The duo are signed to AntiFragile and have been acclaimed by the likes of NPR, and have been added to popular Spotify playlists including Fresh Folk, Lush + Etheral and Infinite Acoustic.

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