Friday, 15 October 2021

MARBL - Monica Aben - Casper Skulls - emie nathan - Lydia Brownfield - Renée Reed

MARBL - Everybody's Getting Married.

Critically acclaimed Israeli Folk/Pop musician MARBL has released her new single “Everybody’s Getting Marries.”

MARBL about the song: “The new song “Everybody’s Getting Married” is a humorous song that’s winks at those who think that there’s only one right way to live. The video tells the story of a young woman running away from her wedding in the last minute. 

Tomer (who created the video) and me, wanted the situation to be as crazy and exaggerated as it can get, to make our point clear - I think that interviewing and dictating someone else’s life is much crazier and rude. People can be happy and live an amazing life with or without a wedding, with or without kids, in their own pace, due to their own wishes and life-map they draw to themselves. It’s our party, and our party only. Now go pour yourself a glass of wine and chill.“

MARBL, who also works as a vocal coach in Tel-Aviv, was able to generate a great media response worldwide with several singles and her last EP "The Flight of the Hawks". In addition to countless reviews, some of her songs have been included in editorial playlists by Amazon and Spotify.

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Monica Aben - Reasons to Reminisce.

Have you ever written a letter to the one that almost was, but never sent it? How about a letter to your future self, reminding you of the good, the bad & all the milestones in your life? What if you sent the postcard that your friend convinced you not to… would your whole life look different? Venice, California artist Monica Aben pulled the shoebox packed with letters & postcards from under her bed, and whilst reminiscing about the past, wrote a collection of songs that explores every unsent word from those pages, all encapsulated in her new EP Postcards.

This five-track release includes her latest single Reasons to Reminisce – a song that sees Monica stumbling on a thread of messages on an old cell phone to discover how much she’s changed. Through reminiscing, she realised you can learn from mistakes, feel none of the old feelings but still have appreciation for the person you once were.

Monica recorded Reasons to Reminisce with producer Justin Glasco & Ingrid Michaelson guitarist Brandon Walters. Mix duties were left to the Grammy winning Ryan Gilligan (Kanye West, Calle 13) before mastering engineer Jett Galindo (La La Land OST, Weezer) gave the release its final polish.

Other tracks on the EP include her previous two singles: CPH – an ode to Copenhagen & staying connected to your inner-self while building a life in a new city; and Kids In L.A. – about looking back on the best of times with the best of friends, while coming to terms with although life has moved on, you remain friends with your ‘besties’ from back in the day. There are also additional tracks That’s Alright – about having the courage to be yourself when changing direction, and Last Local In Venice – about how the true soul of her home town, Venice / Los Angeles has changed through recent gentrification.

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Casper Skulls - The Mouth.

Toronto's Casper Skulls are today sharing their new single and video, "The Mouth" – this track follows on the heels of recent singles tipped by FLOOD, Exclaim, Brooklyn Vegan and more arriving as the latest from their forthcoming album, Knows No Kindness, which is out November 12, 2021, via Next Door Records. The new record follows previous support from Stereogum, MTV, Brooklyn Vegan, Billboard, KEXP and more, as well as dates opening for the likes of PUP, Thurston Moore, Speedy Ortiz and Charly Bliss.

Once again latching onto the band's new direction of icy folk-inflected rock, taking cues from the likes of Neko Case, and Gillian Welch, the new single "The Mouth" peels back those heavier tones previously associated with the band to find a sound that allows singer, Melanie St-Pierre's lyrics to shine through. Expansive, dreamlike notions are still at play here with guitarist, Neil Bednis finding something more lyrical in his playing drawing inspiration from George Harrison and Neil Young. Written early on in the process of Knows No Kindness, "The Mouth" helped layout the blueprint for how the record would sound as a full piece.

Knows No Kindness is a deeply personal body of work for the band, in particular St-Pierre who tells stories of her life growing up in small-town Northern Ontario, specifically Sudbury and Massey. This new song reminisces on a park called The Mouth Park in Massey where the Spanish and Sauble rivers meet; it was a spot that was regularly frequented by St-Pierre as a child following in the footsteps of her mother and grandmother who used to go when they were growing up.

Speaking about the track, Melanie says: "The park has a bit of a legacy in my family. My grandmother used to take my mother swimming there when she was young, and later my mother would take my sister and me. Every spring hundreds of trilliums grow along the dirt road leading to the park. The protest pictured in our album art, of which my grandmother was a big part, helped save the area from having nuclear waste dumped into it. I’m very grateful for this area and go often to check on it and sometimes bird watch."



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emie nathan - white light.

Following on from this year’s debut single ‘noman’ - hailed as “pop perfection” by Wonderland, and recent follow-ups ‘upstream’ and ‘roses’, emie nathan last week unveiled her debut EP ‘white light’, set for release on November 26th ... You can now watch a video for the title track now out via Platoon.

A seven-track offering, the EP picks up the baton of nathan’s crystalline, soaring, Maggie Rogers-esque pop and fleshes it out, offering deeper insights into her internal world than ever. The first comes in the form of ‘white light’’s title track - which is now available to stream. An expansive highlight of the EP, it draws on the New York and London-based singer’s Jewish heritage, using the holiday of Yom Kippur (the day of atonement) as a stepping off point for some wider questions.

“I was inspired by the concept of “starting over” to write an irreligious song about reconciling with one’s own shortcomings and choosing to be a better version of themselves moving forward,” she explains. “Separating the religious ideology for a moment, atonement and reconciliation are two very real and widely applicable actions we as humans face all the time. I wanted to write something that encourages improvement in whatever way that manifests. When I try to envision an image of sorts that best represents self-reflection and working to right wrongs, I visualise the brightest light you could possibly imagine. It doesn’t really take shape or assume a form, it is just ever present and forceful in its shine. If we can embody this image of goodness and take it with us into our daily choices, I think we as people can do a lot better for each other and for ourselves going through the day to day motions.

“I grew up in a reformed Jewish household which meant we practised as Jews, but largely stuck to the traditional side of the religion that centres itself around family, food and song. My brothers and I have largely forged our own individual perspectives and relationships regarding our religion as we have grown up, but I think we can agree on how much of the hidden meaning can be translated as good advice for life. Make mistakes? Own them. Hurt someone? Apologise. Hurt yourself? Heal and move on.”

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Lydia Brownfield - We Are Bound.

Lydia Brownfield announces the release of the single “We Are Bound” on October 12. Through gentle strumming and Brownfield’s nurturing vocals, the single serves as a reminder that what we teach our kids is who they grow up to be. We can either lift up or tear down. It’s completely up to us. It’s off the upcoming album, Dig, due out November 19.

A plea for empathy, the song focuses on the idea that we all play a part in everyone’s life. Brownfield says, “I was feeling particularly isolated and also very frustrated, mostly within the political climate, near the end of 2019. Watching our political leaders only looking out for themselves was sad and infuriating. I wanted to write something to remind myself – we have the power to heal each other, to teach each other right from wrong and to lift up those who are down or less fortunate.”

The single produced by Fred Blitzer features Brownfield and Jeff Dalrymple on acoustic guitar, Andy Harrison on electric guitar, Jeff Martin on drums, and Phil Maneri on bass. Brownfield also added strings and piano.

The album travels the euphoric highs of being in love and the dramatic lows of breaking up and discovering internal power. Through genre-bending twists and turns of folk, punk, and pop, it explores the journey of getting caught up in someone else and losing sight of one’s journey of self-discovery.

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Renée Reed - J’ai rêvé.

Lafayette, Louisiana musician Renée Reed shares the second single and title track "J’ai rêvé" from her forthcoming digital EP coming November 2 while touring with Whitney across the US.

The song is one of two French covers on the record. "J’ai rêvé" was written and originally recorded by Joëlle Patural in 1979. The EP also includes two original songs by Renée sung in English.

Renée says this about "J’ai rêvé": "I originally found this song on youtube a few years ago, and it took my breath away. The video hardly had any information about it or the artist, Joëlle Patural, which made it even more intriguing for me. I have since tracked down a copy of the LP from 1979, and even exchanged a few messages with Ms Patural. She said she wrote the song when she was about my age and longing to travel and see the world but feeling stuck in her small hometown. I think it’s such a beautiful song, and I want it to go out into the world."

These songs were recorded during the same four-track album sessions as her stunning self-titled debut album, released earlier this year. That album garnered early praise from tastemakers Gorilla vs. Bear and Gold Flake Paint and a 7.7 Pitchfork review which describes her music as "full of dreamy, odd notes, and a sense of unreality shimmers around her songs."

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Wednesday, 13 October 2021

SHEAL - Sophia Alexa

SHEAL - Dark.

“I think a lot of my writing is me finding my voice. I’ve always been inspired by beauty and beauty in music, and that’s inspired me to create. My challenge was always finding my voice and feeling like I had something worthwhile to say.” explains SHEAL, Toronto-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.

No doubt has SHEAL found something worth saying with her sophomore LP, Courage Again. Writing the album over the span of several years with the constraints of being a mother and teacher, and recording most of it at eight-and-a-half months pregnant with her second child, Courage Again is deeply reflective of love, fear, and motherhood.

Introduced with an aching arrangement of strings and piano on “Gravity,” the LP’s opening line, “We are the same, and we come from the same place, baby,” is a call of gentle empathy and strength; a thread found throughout the album. “Courage Again is about how love makes your inner and outer world expand and how fear makes your inner and outer world contract,” says SHEAL. “It’s about my experience and learnings around pushing through fear rather than running away from it, hence the title of the album.”

Organic, expansive, and at times weightless in sound, SHEAL teamed up with producer Matthew Johnston in his London, Ontario studio to record the album. Capturing a lot of first takes and scratch vocals with SHEAL playing most of the instruments throughout, Courage Again carries an inimitable experience of authenticity and intimacy both sonically and lyrically.

With roots in a musical household in Halifax, Nova Scotia, SHEAL picked up piano, guitar, and violin as a child, and found her call to songwriting at age seventeen. She started committing more to her craft throughout her twenties, writing alongside friends and musicians on the East Coast. After moving to Toronto, she finally debuted with her 2016 EP, Courage, under her full name, Sheilagh McNab. The aptly-titled debut was a brave entrance into the local scene, performing her own material for the first time after joining talented friends for years as an accompanying musician and singer. SHEAL looks forward to the release of her sophomore album, Courage Again, in January 2022.


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Sophia Alexa - House of Cards.

A new artist to watch arrives in stunning fashion today as Sophia Alexa reveals her spellbinding debut single, House Of Cards. A beautifully crafted indie pop song showcasing Sophia Alexa’s dreamy vocals and searingly personal songwriting, the track serves as an exciting introduction to an artist set for big things. Speaking on the track, Sophia states:

House of Cards was written from the realisation that my old self beliefs were built on a foundation that required external validation. It’s a moment in time where I blindly followed the beliefs of others rather than my own. The chorus is the moment when the glass shatters and what you thought to be true falls apart. I remember going into the studio that day with no concept in mind just an overwhelming feeling of emotions that I could only translate into a metaphor as fragile as a house of cards. 

Sophia Alexa is a singer-songwriter with an intriguing background; born to German and American parents in California, she was raised in Amsterdam and has been based in London for over 10 years. Moving schools and cities a number of times, she often found herself feeling like an outsider and music was the one constant she could cling to. Growing up, Sophia developed an enduring love for classic singers like Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Stevie Nicks and Neil Young who have all influenced her style, mixing folk-inspired pop music with an electronic edge and her soulful voice as the focus.


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Tuesday, 12 October 2021

Elyza Bleau - KAVYA - Coda Facto

Elyza Bleau - Apparition.

Elyza Bleau's newest single, “Apparition,” is taken from part of her upcoming EP, Haunted. The song is a very personal one for her that will entice you with every listen.

Echoing the vibes of U2, but with more edge, her music is about her family’s legacy and more broadly about one’s own legacy not being able to be who you want to be due to your family's expectations or ideas of who you should be.

“I was really inspired by this need to trace our heritage in the zeitgeist and the expectations that families and cultures can have around people falling in line with it, even if your path is very different,” says Elyza. It’s about not fitting a mold that fits your ancestry and the hurdles that come with that."

Elyza was basically in a personal lockdown before March of 2020. She had moved away from the city into a bungalow on the beach and was working 2 full-time jobs. That fierce independence led Elyza to show up to her guitar every day in January. After 4 years of struggling to write, she wrote 21 songs in 30 days. Planning  to make an EP she had spent the last month and a half choosing the best ones to craft. And then…all hell broke loose on earth.

 

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KAVYA - Affection.

Every artist strives his/her best for their audience to get to know them better. The intention of every musician is to share their lives and personalities through music and Kavya Trehan shares the very same intention. A couple of years in the making, she is finally set to release her debut 4 track EP starting with the single 'Affection' that sees the light of day on October 8th. This single is backed by a solid team with support from visual artists Khyati Trehan and Sanchit Sawaria, Anhad Khanna on production duties, and Pranay Parti on synths.

Imagine a world without affection. Validation is something we all seek externally and often we base a lot of who we are on what we receive from others. But the pandemic brought about so many changes and taught KAVYA to honour and treasure the relationships and things in life that truly gave her the affection she sought for. It helped her filter through people, scenarios, experiences, interests and understand what makes her thrive. This time in isolation helped her understand her purpose, who are the people she would vouch for and vice versa. At the end of the day, we all need action to carry out the drama of life.

"This track is one of the most intimate pieces I've written so far. I think it took many years of unlearning to be so candid." - KAVYA

KAVYA (Kavya Trehan) is a 27-year-old singer-songwriter from New Delhi, India who’s been performing since the age of 14. Over the course of time, she’s collaborated with some of the leading producers in India and toured with her band, MOSKO. Her solo project is a celebration of raw emotion and her roots, where all songs have been developed from guitar parts and trusty voice notes. In order to constantly evolve as an artist, in 2016 she started writing music using Ableton. Since then, she is on a relentless spree of releasing her own material that has more of an R&B, electronic, and indie-pop feel.

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CODA FACTO - Jamesville (E.P).

CODA FACTO are a rock band from Hamilton, Canada founded by Alexander DeRoo and Jonathan Harley. CODA FACTO fuse melodic Brit-Rock and Americana with modern vocals and lyrical stories. Alex and Jon began gigging in 2010 after meeting as classmates at Hamilton’s McMaster University. In 2016, they formed the band ALEXR with Adam Rogerson (guitar), Mark Korczynski (bass) and Luke Ormond (drums).

They caught the attention of Glen Marshall and the late Bob Lanois at The Mule Spinner, a local venue in The Cotton Factory creative hub. The band would often rehearse, perform and record early tracks there gaining seasoned insights from both producers.

In 2018, the band was joined by Kaitie Allinger (vocals) and renamed STRATHCONA after the city’s west downtown neighbourhood. The band performed regularly at local music venues; including The Casbah, the former This Ain’t Hollywood, and The Mule Spinner. They recorded “Rock ‘N’ Roll Sounds” and “Hidden Treasure” with the artful guidance of producer Carl Jennings of Westmoreland Recording Studio.

Early 2019 saw the group disband as several members chose to pursue other interests. Alex and Jon continued arranging and recording with Jennings for a debut EP as the band, CODA FACTO. The name represents the coda of Alex and Jon’s music journey– every song’s beginning has an inevitable end bringing new beginnings. And, the fact friendship remains constant throughout their journey– CODA FACTO.

While recording their debut EP, Alex (vocals, guitar, piano) and Jon (strings, mandolin, vocals) involved esteemed, session collaborators: Joel McCabe (guitar, vocals), Matt Gormley (guitar, organ), Chris Gormley (drums, congas), Tim Jennings (drums), and Carl Jennings (bass, vocals). The fall 2021 release of CODA FACTO’s debut EP Jamesville follows the summer video and single releases of “Rock ‘N’ Roll Sounds” and “Ode to Rose.”

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Monday, 11 October 2021

Nadia Vaeh - Alicia Stockman

Nadia Vaeh - Snake Lady.

Pop artist Nadia Vaeh has just released her newest single, “Snake Lady,” which tells the story of a femme fatale that influenced and pushed her further in her journey of self-discovery. For the release of the single, Nadia Vaeh teamed up with The Love Yourself Project, a non-profit arts and education organization that provides community programs that promote self-awareness, self-acceptance, self-esteem, and skill-building. 

Nadia Vaeh describes the “snake lady,” the antagonist in the single, as “a girl with a darkly magnetic aura. She had a charm to her...a snakey charm and I was instantly enamored and stricken.” Based on a real experience, Vaeh tells the story of her run-in with a temptress. “I was in a very vulnerable place in my life, and she exploited that. Despite all of this, she did give me something in return as I was now able to explore more of my sexuality and was pushed even further and deeper into my journey as an artist and back into my skin.” 

As a long-time advocate for self-empowerment, Vaeh often encourages and shares her journey of self-discovery with fans. This new single, “Snake Lady,” takes us further down Vaeh’s journey. With a vivid beat and catchy melody, this song elevates listeners’ mood and quickly takes them into the story of a tempting mistress. The upbeat and danceable pop track was written by Nadia Vaeh and Daena Rogers, produced by Andrew Gomez and Tyler Spratt, and mixed and mastered by Tyler Spratt.


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Alicia Stockman - These Four Walls.

Alicia Stockman is a Utah-based folk-meets-Americana singer-songwriter whose music pulls back the veil to reveal everyday vulnerability. Her songs are written like intimate moments, drawing listeners into a relatable emotional journey.

At a young age, Alicia Stockman began her deep love for music, compelled by the vivid storytelling of powerhouse songwriters including Patty Griffin, Brandi Carlile and Jewel.  After performing in a loud rock n’ roll band playing bars with sticky floors and belting out Stevie Wonder tunes, Alicia began writing her own music more seriously.  Realizing her new songs didn’t have a place in a loud bar with a party atmosphere, she branched out and started playing more intimate venues, quickly finding her home in the folk and Americana scene. Her whisky-dipped soulful vocals and creative takes on day-to-day realities soon sparked the interest of “Nashville’s Americana Queen” Mary Bragg who began collaborating with Alicia on her new album.

Her upcoming debut 10-track full-length album is entitled These Four Walls and is a collection of  "songs to make you feel and feel seen." The album says, “I see you. I've been there. I understand.” Written over a three year period, These Four Walls is a luminous roots release infused with gritty blues rock guitar licks and attention worthy melodies.

The first track on the album, “Stay Between The Lines,” was written during a long drive home from New Mexico and the highway inspired single discusses how we all can sometimes “dance between right and wrong and personal limits and boundaries to keep life interesting.” The reverb drenched guitar and wild west twang make “Stay Between The Lines” an alluring listen.

In the album’s title track, “These Four Walls,” Alicia hopes to destigmatize the conversation on mental health. She confides, “I wrote ‘These Four Walls’ to help me process a former relationship in which my partner had severe depression/anxiety disorder. This song was my way of unpacking all that and finding a way back to myself.” The song features a stripped-down melody with dreamy, tender lyrics that showcase her vulnerability as an artist.

Recognized for her unique songwriting and performance formula, Alicia has received accolades from several performing songwriter competitions including Songwriter Serenade, Tucson Folk Festival, Suzanne Millsaps Songwriter Competition, and the Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival. These Four Walls is due for release November 5th 2021, worldwide.

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Sunday, 10 October 2021

Tessa Fleur - Julia Logan & Nina Persson - Sam Teskey - Benz

Tessa Fleur - The Hell of it All.

Twirling her way back onto the scene, Brisbane's ethereal singer/songwriter, Tessa Fleur, graces us with her new single ‘The Hell of it All’.

With a sound that has freshly floated down from the clouds, Tessa’s brand of fantastical folk provides the perfect escape from the daily mundane. Flourishing with honey-soaked harmonies and sweeping slide guitar, ‘The Hell of it All’ is a melancholy multi-layered masterpiece that encapsulates Tessa’s artful storytelling of self-exploration. Built around a striding beat and bassline, this nostalgic track exudes an essence of Fleetwood Mac that instantly transports you to a place of pure contentment.

Accompanying the single release is a mesmerising music video that is nothing short of a visual feast. Tessa’s angelic aesthetic runs wild as she whisks you to another world in a flurry of wind-whipped hair. We meet Tessa amidst an unnerving cult, dancing through fields in a flock of flowing white dresses. The video explores the concept of falling into your deepest truths and inner wisdom or, in Tessa's own words, 'indoctrinating yourself into your own cult.'

Directed by Long term collaborators Allisa Tsukimori and Oliver Marshall, this transportive video was a labour of love that took over 12-months, and the assistant of Tessa's friends, family and fellow creatives to create. Tessa invites us further into her vision by hand-picking locally sourced and hand-crafted props and costumes. “Collaborating with local businesses and creatives is something I’m heavily passionate about. More than ever, we need to support our local businesses and creative community,” explains Tessa.

After soaring onto the scene last year with her debut single ‘Sunset Melancholy’, reaching #3 on the triple j Unearthed chart, Tessa Fleur has since been persisting amidst restrictions, performing with her band and captivating local crowds. For 'The Hell of it All', Tessa collaborated with producer Alistar Richardson, whose resume glitters with the likes of Last Dinosaurs, Clea, Hallie, Sweater Curse and Nice Biscuit.

 

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Julia Logan & Nina Persson - One Mile from Heaven.

Forthcoming, Stockholm based, album debutant Julia Logan has been gaining lots of attraction this past year in Sweden. Tastemaker magazine Popmani used a fitting description when they listened to her debut single ”To Be True”: ”it’s nice to hear a voice that sound so modern and still lingers of inspiration from the past.” Since then, Logan’s been praised by high end international media such as Clash Magazine and Nothing But Hope And Passion as well as getting support from Swedish national radio and TV.

Her new track, off of her forthcoming album, is a version of cult artist Bobb Trimble’s ”One Mile From Heaven”, performed as a duet with one of Sweden’s most treasured singers - Nina Persson of The Cardigans, A Camp etc. Julia and her producer Daniel Bengtson first heard of the song when Aldous Harding mentioned it in an interview as a personal favorite of hers. After presenting the idea to Persson the duo went down to the south of Sweden, Malmö, to record her unmistakable vocals.

Julia Logan on the collaboration: ” When me and Daniel just stumbled across this song we immediately felt it would work out as duet. When Nina said yes to working with us, we were thrilled! The Cardigans’ music has been with me since childhood and I’ve always been inspired by Nina’s personal and charismatic voice. I think that we, in line with maybe Angel Olsen and Sharon Van Etten, is building a new kind of genre of female duets. ”

Nina Persson on the collaboration: ”Julia is a new acquaintance to me. I love her voice and there’s no better way to meet new people than making music together. The song is a real fine musical archeological find. I hope Bobb Trimble gets happy by us giving it new life in form of a brilliant female duet:”

On the recording we’re hearing, adding to the core team of Julia and Daniel Bengtson, the drummer Kyle Crane (Daniel Lanois, Neko Case, Conan Oberst, Kurt Vile etc), guitarist Peter Morén (Peter Bjorn and John) and Sofia Kristensen on backing vocals.


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Sam Teskey - Let The Sun Bring The Light.

Inspired by the cycles of life, Sam Teskey, guitarist of critically-acclaimed, blues-soul band The Teskey Brothers, announces his debut solo album, Cycles, a collection of music influenced by the great English psychedelic bands of the late ’60s & ’70s, out now on Decca Records. The first track on the album, Love, is a stirring, pastoral folk song that establishes the album’s own life cycle, ending with the reprise Then Love Returns.

Born out of lockdown in early 2020, with touring at a stand-still, Teskey relished in the opportunity to return to his vast back catalogue of incomplete musical musings he’d amassed whilst writing for The Teskey Brothers over the years. Painstakingly digging through old demos, spending time with the development of the songs, keen to make a record that would be enjoyed as a complete body of work. Starting where most finish, he settled on the track-listing before recording a note, thoughtfully building on the original ideas, with each track evolving to seamlessly melt together with the next.

On his debut album, Teskey says: “When on the road touring, I spend most of my time writing songs, so I have a massive collection of songs and ideas ready to go. Once I figured out that they all work together like that, it happened really organically. I love listening to albums that have progression and take you on a journey. A big point of this album is for people to create their own journey and their own story. I can say many things about the record, but I want to leave the experience up to the listener. It feels nice to put the creativity back in the listeners’ hands.”

Cycles offers a thrilling and immersive journey; the seven tracks ebb and flow like a stream of consciousness, shying away from traditional song structures and negotiating a range of genres from orchestral balladry, dissonant and ambient soundscape, all the way through to folk and heavy psych-rock. Determined to capture the music in its purest form, Teskey, enlisting the help of musician friends, live recorded the album almost exclusively live to tape at his analogue home studio in Warrandyte.

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Benz - Hometown.

Ebba Salomonsson (Benz) grew up in her stepfather's record store where she explored endless different influences and styles. Benz have now signed to Rama Lama Records (Melby, Wy, Chez Ali etc.) and is back with another collection of songs packed with her playful and diverse psych-tinged indie folk, its a sound where Benz with big confidence lets her music both be direct and breathe - creating a musical soundscape for the listener to get swept away in.

The new EP 'This Could Be The End' is out on November 5th. Second single 'Hometown', an atmospheric indie rock track about leaving the place you grew up but still feeling it's your home, is out now.

Thematically, the EP treats a broken relationship. But this is not your usual romantic sad-break-up-indie, as the lyrics tell the story about breaking up with an old friend. Ebba herself has compared the EP to "six seasons of Girls, a comedy-drama in a compressed format".

All the tracks on the EP are written by Ebba Salomonsson herself, produced by Wallentin Richardsson and recorded with Nathanel Salomonsson (drums), Simon Ström (bass), Olle Wahlström (guitar) and Alfon Keteli (keys).

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Saturday, 9 October 2021

Glass Heart String Choir - Elijah Wolf - T Truman - Karen Myatt

Glass Heart String Choir - Wounds.

Friends-in-arms reveling at the intersection of classical virtuosity, existential poetics, and art-film surrealism, Seattle art-pop duo Glass Heart String Choir weaves golden lyrical threads of haute-art into their achingly beautiful orchestral tapestry.

Their latest single and video, Wounds, is a delicate folk-pop offering reminiscent of Sufjan Stevens and My Brightest Diamond. Set within the alluring visuals of Joshua Tree and the Coachella Valley, the video finds the duo’s violinist/composer Katie Mosehauer fighting to escape the cyclic burden of psychic wounds and emotional scars.

Directed by Katie, the video finds her attempting to escape the confines of memory, artfully moving through unforgiving landscapes, endlessly looped back to a pool that should be a reprieve from the heat, but is instead a beguiling entrapment. Katie explains, “There are so many emotional spaces that we occupy alone, carrying a burden of psychic wounds and emotional scars that we never speak of to anyone. Music is an important place to give names to those spaces and make them visible to everyone. Wounds creates a world in which anyone who has or is sitting with those lonely emotions will have a friend sitting with them to celebrate the escape, to mourn the setbacks, and to offer a 2’30” reprieve to share that space with someone who understands.”

Their previous 2021 release, California, is a lyrical tug-of-war between fond recollection, consolation, and sorrow, with vocalist Ian Williams’ sanguine delivery floating upon Mosehauer’s elegant violin melodies and choral soundscapes suggestive of contemporary soundtrack composers Yann Tiersen and Jocelyn Pook. The 100+ string-sections and near-operatic highs of their Light EP are replaced with an airy, Enya-esque choir that haunts the piano-driven bridge, and boldly carries the song forward in its latter half, bringing a soft new dimension to the traditional repertoire.


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Elijah Wolf - Yesterday, With You.

Brooklyn-based artist and songwriter Elijah Wolf has released a new single “Yesterday, With You” which features performances by Robin Pecknold (Fleet Foxes), Paul Spring (Holy Hive), Josh Jaeger (Angel Olsen) and Kevin Copeland (Lightning Bug). The song follows a breakthrough summer that included a Newport Folk Festival debut, his first-ever UK headline tour and a packed performance at the End of the Road Festival that ended in a roaring standing ovation. “Yesterday, With You” is his first single release following his new album Brighter Lighting that was released earlier this year via Trash Casual Records.

“After creating my last record Brighter Lighting with Sam Cohen, I had felt inspired by the idea of building an even larger musical community around my solo project. I grew up playing in bands, so the idea of multiple collaborators felt really exciting to me now,” explains Wolf.  “I had been feeling inspired by these occasional Sunday night meet ups I would have with my friends Robin Pecknold and Paul Spring, where we would just sit and talk for hours. I wanted to capture this feeling in song, so I invited them to come help create one of my new songs in the studio. Josh Jaeger, who was a big collaborator on my last record, had been telling me of a studio he had been working out of in the Lower East Side of Manhattan with Kevin Copeland. I thought this would be a great space to create in. I wrote ‘Yesterday, With You’ about longing for a feeling you just can’t quite put your finger on, or name. Feeling mostly alright, but still feeling like a piece of you is missing. After the sessions we sent it over to Sam Cohen to mix, and D. James Goodwin to master.”

Video director Dylan Kaplowitz said about the collaboration: “Each of the roads in this video are loosely based on different memories riding around the hudson valley as a kid. Initially the first road was the route I took to see my first teen love, the roads in the middle of the sequence were the same I took to school and finally in the end sequence the rider is on the route I would take home to my family. This process formed as I was going through the footage and realized wow all of these roads are the same roads I took! Often alone and deep in thought. To me, this sequence feels like we're watching the character on their own way home.”

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T Truman - Vanity Jones.

T Truman, the solo project and alter ego of the Vaccines’ keyboardist Timothy Lanham, today releases new single "Vanity Jones" alongside an extravagant accompanying video, which sees Truman cruising through a virtual San Francisco skyline in a vintage Alfa Romeo.

Speaking on the new single, T Truman said: "Vanity Jones is basically about the inner cynic who comes out uninvited and spoils a good time." Dig a little deeper, and the track appears to examine human insecurities, jealousy and egotism – all wrapped in an irresistible piano-led, 70's tinged sound that is unmistakably Truman.

"Vanity Jones", co-produced and written with frequent collaborator Geoff Roberts, stands as the first new music to be heard from T Truman following his 2020 debut EP 'Born To Be Right', which drew praise for its glitzy, retro-pop stylings from the likes of NME, DIY Magazine, Dork Magazine, The Line Of Best Fit, Clash Magazine, Gigwise, Les In Rocks, Indie88 + more. The new single also coincides with a tour supporting Walt Disco, running from 23rd October to 1st November, including dates in Manchester, Brighton and London.

T Truman pays homage to the past as much as he looks forward to the future. With sonic references to 70’s piano-pop artists such as Todd Rundgren and Elton John, there's a distinct nostalgic feeling, but one that confidently steps forward with a clear modern approach.

"Vanity Jones" is lifted from T Truman's as-yet-unannounced second EP, due for release Spring 2022. Discussing the new EP, Truman commented: "Retrospectively I think a lot of this new EP’s underlying lyrical meaning is about a search for creative purpose, and perhaps the fear of what it means if you can’t find it… also a lot about the constant obsession with keeping in vogue, though I couldn’t help but layer all this with silly made up characters who I’d probably never want to meet."


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Karen Myatt - Femoir.

Canadian songstress Karen Myatt has released the first single/video from her forthcoming album Femoir. The title track is the first in a series of singles/videos to roll-out over the coming months.

“Femoir, itself, was the very first song that I ever wrote,” shares Myatt. “It started with a single line and a simple melody and just evolved organically from there. It almost wrote itself. Given my love for literature, the song’s theme of books, diaries, letters - the written word in any form - just poured out of me.”

The new video was funded by Music Nova Scotia, directed by Drew Wilson, and features artwork and animation from Briana Corr Scott. “It was an incredible experience to collaborate on this with them,” says Myatt. “Drew and Briana each brought their own unique creative vision and vibe to the song and the result is a stunning work of visual art that sets the mood for the whole recording.”

A musical mélange of original compositions and contemporary standards, Femoir’s 14 songs are a fusion of soul, rock, jazz, worldbeat, and more. The album was tracked at The Sonic Temple Recording Studio in Halifax, NS and engineered by Darren van Niekerk. It was mixed and mastered by Christian St. Germain at Studio 360 in Montreal, QC.

Some of Canada’s most renowned musicians appear on the new recording, including Chris Mitchell (saxophone), Matt Myer (trumpet), Lisa MacDougall (keyboards), Adam Fine (bass), Geoff Arsenault (drums), Shimon Walt (cello) and Jennifer Jones (violin). Those musicians will join Myatt onstage November 12 when Femoir is officially launched with a multi-media concert at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium in Halifax.


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Friday, 8 October 2021

Alice Tambourine Lover - Adam Hattaway and The Haunters - Lara Mrgic - Natalie Jane Hill

Alice Tambourine Lover - Forse Non Sei Tu.

Wandering between lazy Mazzy Star/Cowboy Junkies atmospheres and more gritty moments reminiscent of Mark Lanegan, Bologna-based duo Alice Tambourine Lover (Alice Albertazzi and Gianfranco Romanelli) are back with single 'Forse Non Sei Tu', out for heavy psych rock label Go Down Records (IT).

For the first time the tracks are sung in Italian, but the music language lingers on their cradling dream-roots idiom - somewhere between Yo La Tengo and Cranes. 

Forse Non Sei Tu features lyrics by Ligurian singer-songwriter Vittorio Carniglia, while the B-side is a cover version of 'Vorrei Incontrarti', one of the masterpieces of Alan Sorrenti's progressive production, played with a bluesy feeling that adds flavor to its cold beauty.

Alice Tambourine Lover were founded in 2011 as a side-project of psych band Alix, with five albums released among which Ground, recorded by David Lenci and Good One, recorded by Steve Albini. In 2012 they played All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival, headlined by Neurosis, Shellac, Red Fang, Uzeda. They have released, all on Go Down Records, Naked Songs (2012), Star Rovers (2013), Like A Rose (2015), which features two songs by Dandy Brown (Hermano, Orquesta Del Desierto) and John Garcia (Kyuss, Unida, Hermano), and Down Below (2019).

 

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Adam Hattaway and The Haunters - Riding the River.

Adam Hattaway & The Haunters are a New Zealand band who are steeped in the sound of American classic rock from the 60s and 70s, while doing their best to update these classic motifs for a modern audience. 

You’ll definitely hear a heavy influence of Van Morrison and The Rolling Stones, but their sound blends elements of soul, country, blues, and even punk rock on their new album. 

Led by frontman Adam Hattaway on guitars, vocals, and harmonica, the band appeals to classic rock fans who still love the tried-and-true style of those legendary bands but are looking for new bands who are carrying on that mantle into the 21st century.

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Lara Mrgic - Took Your Lover.

Alternative Pop queen, Lara Mrgic, is gearing up to release her next anticipated music video for her recent single titled “Took Your Lover” on October 8th. The track is available to stream on all platforms.
Lara Mrgic has an effortless flow when sharing her beautiful music through her angelic vocals and expressive sound.

The Bay Area Native finds her sound through pain and melancholic experiences and has always turned to music her entire life as a safe haven and space. Lara knew music was going to be in her life forever after finding this passion at the young age of 3. As she grew up, she began crafting her sound and learned to love the challenges thrown her way.

Translating her interest in writing and poetry into music, Lara introduces her audience to a new way to perceive the world through her own eyes. Presenting her love for 60’s/70’s film progression, Lara also finds ways to give a modern day twist to these elements and incorporate them into her alternative pop sound.

For her upcoming single, “Took Your Lover” Lara Mrgic notes that, “I wrote a symphony...and let the strings speak for themselves.”


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Natalie Jane Hill - Solely.

"Solely”, the sophomore effort by folk guitarist/singer-songwriter Natalie Jane Hill, is a record of transition. While the Central Texas native’s stunning debut “Azalea” grew from years spent developing a textural narrative voice and idiosyncratic guitar style in the vibrant Blue Ridge Mountains, “Solely” represents a period of inward growth, and an outward push into an expanded sonic palette.

Following a move back to the Austin area in the fall of 2019, just months ahead of the pandemic, Natalie began an intensive period of reflection, and expanded her song-craft’s foundations from the broader themes of nature into the vulnerable intricacies of self-discovery. Along with this process came an openness to external creative input.

Recorded between October 2020-March 2021 to Tascam 8 track in the Lockhart Texas home of producer Jason Chronis (Voxtrot, Tele Novella), these recordings represent Hill’s first incorporation of other musicians into her arrangements, featuring performances by Mat Davidson (Twain) among several other trusted friends. There is a liberating and careful grace in these collaborations, providing strength and color to the upper branches of each song while preserving space for the health of the roots.

“Solely” is a celebration of knowing ourselves well enough to be able to accept the darkest paths of introspection, which can allow us to combine our creative influence with others to construct the experiences we want to have. Like lived experience itself, this music breathes and inhabits the space you allow for it, constantly revealing new qualities and inviting repeated reflection.


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Wednesday, 6 October 2021

SUEP - Nisa - Jackson Dyer

SUEP - Domesticated Dream.

The stubbornly high spirited SUEP create oddball music with a touch of theatrical storytelling. Led by SuepLord (Porridge Radio, Garden Centre, The GN Band) and Brain Wastefield (UK top model), SUEP is borne out of a near-decade of wearing silly clothes and deconstructing pop together.

After relocating from Brighton to London, the pair added GN (The GN Band, Joanna Gruesome, The Tubs), Freakin' Deacon (PC World, Garden Centre), and T-Mr.9 (Head of Pastoral Care) to the line-up. They take turns writing songs and taking lead vocal duties but manage to create a coherent world of playful collaboration. Their songs take the listener through haunted castles, deprived encounters, days lost to the imagination in bed, and through the integral friendships that give SUEP the energy to keep dancing to their own beat.

SUEP’s infectious debut single Domesticated Dream combines a classic 70s Yamaha disco beat, deep bass, nostalgic drum machine sounds, a whole lot of cowbells, and hooky melodies. It’s about homelife, drinking too much, and making big plans that never come to fruition.

As SuepLord expands, “It’s about not having enough money or time to acquire stuff that you want because of capitalism, and about wanting someone to share your life with in a cosy and settled way.”  Sprinkled, however, with a lot of technicoloured positivity for the future of the human-race, with the chorus’ refrain, “the psychedelic 4000s,” predicting the return of a 60s-esque psychedelic Age of Aquarius in a couple of millennia time.

The kitsch 70s home video was shot in one room in Brian Wastefield’s house, an old MOT centre in Fulham, using green screen, Wastefield’s colourful wardrobe and images of odd retro rooms taken from the @estate_age archives on Instagram.

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Nisa - St. James Gate.

Early in 2021, the 22-year-old began work on a new collection of songs that would make up the forthcoming EP, Time To Plant Tears. The title takes its name from the final stanza of an Elizabeth Bishop poem called Sestina. Working together with collaborator and producer, Ronnie Di Simone, the songs were recorded between Brooklyn's Studio G and the Brick Box studio. The new EP demonstrates Nisa's penchant for intimate storytelling cast against the backdrop of glistening, cinematic soundscapes reminiscent of Angel Olsen, Indigo De Souza, Japanese Breakfast and Soccer Mommy. In describing the mood of the EP, Nisa has said that the songs are centered around “confrontation and focus; weathering internal and external changes; desire, and emotional rebirth.” Intersecting cinematic and poetic frames of reference, it lands between what is said and what is felt.

The opening track on the EP and the lead single, "St James Gate" provides a stellar introduction to the new collection. Sonically, it ebbs and flows, building from intimate guitar into a wonderful horn solo that serves to remind us of breaking free from stifled emotions.

When discussing the single, Nisa says: "I wrote “St. James Gate" after reading Sally Rooney’s Normal People and feeling deeply affected by the author’s descriptions of love in private spaces. The raging horn solo and blistering shouts over the final chorus are sobering reminders of the emotional claustrophobia of hiding."

Born to Albanian immigrants in the Bronx, Nisa learned to speak Albanian before English and grew up listening to the traditional folk music of her parent’s native country. It wasn’t long before she began venturing out into what she describes to be a “diverse and accepting arts community,” playing regularly at open mic nights in high school and joining a rock collective in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Her exploration of songwriting began when she was advised to lean into the rock stylings of the Eagles as an introduction to the guitar, from here she developed her own way of storytelling while referencing the likes of PJ Harvey, Björk and Radiohead as other key cornerstones to her approach.

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Jackson Dyer - Losing Light.

Jackson Dyer explains: "The film clip for my newest single ‘Losing Light’ was a fun video that I made with director Job Antoni Schellekens, a fellow Berlin-based artistand good friend. As the song is centered on lovely days with friends and of wanting to extend time so you can squeeze every bit of happiness out of the moment, Job shot the video on a DV handycam and a 16mm camera, which helped create a nostalgic, light-hearted atmosphere. We shot the video with a fewfriends, as well as Pascal Karier, who plays drums on the track, and our friend Elliot McKee, from Berlin duo Charity Children, also lent his expertise to the editing the clip. All in all, it was a super enjoyable process. :)"

'Losing Light’ is an upbeat, joyful track written with fellow Berlin-based musician Florian Höfer and featuring drums from Pascal Karier. The single reflects Dyer’s move to a more collaborative approach to songwriting. Particularly in recent, more isolated times, writing with others has offered Dyer a way to connect more with other musicians and approach his music in a more open and enjoyable way. This care-free approach is evident in ‘Losing Light’, an uptempo and optimistic song.

Since arriving in Berlin, Dyer has shared the stage with Hozier, Hiatus Kaiyote and Alice Phoebe Lou, as well as playing a host of festivals and touring Europe extensively in support of acts like Mighty Oaks and Dennis Lloyd. His laid-back songs are often influenced by nature and he brings a mix of soul, folk and indie to his spacious production and evocative lyricism. Dyer is set to release a new EP this year, featuring a mix of collaborations with fellow Berlin artists, further developing his distinct style.


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Tuesday, 5 October 2021

Matt Epp and Isaac Murdoch - Selkie - Brei Carter - Sarko Montaug

Matt Epp and Isaac Murdoch - Everything We Need.

Isaac Murdoch (Bomgiizhik) is an Anishinaabe Ojibway artist and community organizer from Serpent River First Nation – a member of the Fish Clan – where he grew up in the traditional setting of hunting and gathering on the land. A world-renowned visual artist, Murdoch is perhaps best known to his tens of thousands of followers as a engaging storyteller – recounting live and online the many tales taught to him by his Elders in an effort to reach the heart of the human spirit so that we may all reconnect with, and be stewards for, the land. He currently lives in the forest at the cultural revitalization camp called Nimkii Aazhibikoong, an Indigenous community that focuses on traditional language, art, and land-based activities.

International touring artist and award-winning songwriter Matt Epp is the quintessential troubadour of the Canadian prairies, who has won the admiration of an audience that spans the globe. A stark and confessional songwriter endowed with an infinite capacity to engage an audience, Epp’s performances encourage a sense of connection and community, where every listener leaves as a friend. He is one of the gifted forerunners defining the future landscape of Canadian music – no doubt contributing to his Grand Prize win at the International Songwriting Competition in 2017. A seasoned collaborator and activist, Matt’s music has been on regular rotation on CBC, Sirius XM, and community radio for over a decade.

You Were Chosen To Be Here kick starts a grassroots unity-seeking movement through collaborative live performances between Isaac Murdoch and Matt Epp under the name ‘Revolution of the Heart’, which will begin traveling across Canada (in person and virtually) later this year. A true weaving of community, storytelling, art, and healing. Stay tuned for tour dates.

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Selkie - Beatroot.

Glasgow’s Berlin-based Selkie returns bewildering second single ‘Beetroot’, which sees singer/songwriter Kristina Cox experimenting with more electronic sounds to create an effortless, liquid atmosphere, that transports you to otherworldly wonder.

Following on from her dark and dreamy debut single ‘Seeking’ (September 2021), ‘Beatroot’ holds a trip hop flavour. It is representative of a place Selkie inhabited at the time of writing: calm confusion, wild curiosity, burning desire. The low-growling bassline and melting fluidity of the synths paired with haunting, layered vocals are the perfect soundtrack for moments of introspection and searching the mysterious world of the intangible.

‘Beatroot’ is a collaboration with Glasgow based Kyle Daniel Lochhead, who comes from a lyric-writing artist background, and Patrick Cairns, a producer with a passion for analog synthesisers and creating beats. Both have influences in dub and trip hop genres which ties in perfectly with Selkie’s own musical style.

Originally hailing from the west coast of Scotland and currently based in Berlin, Selkie's music takes inspiration from the natural world. Selkie describes her songs as swaying like the ebb and flow of the ocean. The lush, and often dramatic backdrop of her homeland breathes life into her shimmering blend of electronic beats and electric guitar, as well as the spaces in between. Melding crystalline vocals and haunting harmonies with her knack for relatable storytelling, Selkie's ethereal dreamscapes won't just wash over you, they will pull you under and leave you gasping for air.

“The song began with Kyle's vision to bring the three of us together to write atmospheric music that would bewitch and enrapture people. Next came a loop Patrick made with the Moog Little Phatty, which he provisionally named ‘Beatroot’ - the name stuck, with jokes that our next collaboration would be called Raddish.

 

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Brei Carter - Gave Him A Girl.

Crossover country and southern pop recording artist Brei Carter is excited to release her new music video for “Gave Him a Girl,” a song which she proudly embraces her southern country roots. The song was recently heralded by journalist and country music historian Robert K. Oermann as “cute and catchy” in his weekly single review column for Music Row Magazine. The video also follows suit and hints at scenes from Brei's upbringing as a little girl, her family's influence on her, and shows the very authentic and vivacious southern persona she is building a reputation for.

“Being your best self is being an original, and that’s so much better than being an imitation of someone else,” Carter said. “Girls, live in your skin and love who you are because with you everyone gets the best of both worlds!”

The video is also set to make its network TV premiere on Monday, October 11 on The Country Network, along with forthcoming airings on Country Music Today on The Heartland Network, and will also be added to the live-streaming rotation at Nashville Country Music TV.

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Sarko Montaug - We Live in the Sky.

"We Live In The Sky" was produced and mixed by Jorge Elbrecht (Japanese Breakfast, Wild Nothing). In it, Elbrecht weaves together stacks of melodies sung by both members of the duo propelled forward by swells of vintage synths.

The duo confides, "We let our relationship coast for too long and were faced with the classic timeline of how all tragedies form: gradually, then suddenly." The music video was filmed in a mid-century house as well as a high rise apartment building both in the Chicago area.  "We wanted the contrast of the house, preserved in the era of its time (early 60s), and the apartment in such a modern building to reinforce the concept of the past suddenly becoming the present."

While the indie pop duo Sarko Montaug may be new to the music realm, their name is not. Paying tribute to twin pillars of the 80s NYC art/nightlife scene - DJ Anita Sarko and Doorman Haoui Montaug - the group's focus is on creativity. Haoui and Anita were instrumental in providing space for artists like Beastie Boys and Madonna to perform when they were unknowns. They had incredible taste and understood the energetic release that can only be experienced in a night club full of the right amount of friends, strangers and icons.

The group currently resides in Chicago, but as constant nomads, could be moving on again by the time you read this. "No matter where we live we'll always be displaced Philadelphians,"  say the members (married partners Cristian and Jess Mora).  While most connected to new wave and other 80s genres, the group is following their creativity towards whichever musical style calls to it. "We'll always sound indie, even when we are trying to be pop and we'll always be trying to modernize the past."

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Sunday, 3 October 2021

Wendy Rae Fowler - Reb Fountain - Gustaf - Daisy Chute

Wendy Rae Fowler - Golden Brown.

Wendy Rae Fowler has shared a brand new single - her own unique rendition of the Stranglers’ classic, ‘Golden Brown’. Whilst maintaining all the twinkling emotion of the original, Wendy makes the cover completely her own; adding a distinctive whimsical allure, a truly spellbinding rendition, exuding its own haunting grace. You may not think you know Wendy Rae Fowler, but you do.

Wendy Rae Fowler penned and performed the theme music to one of your favorite dark-noir thrillers, The Killing (AMC), and her music has been featured on Orange is The New Black (Netflix). Her work has been variously described as “Brutal and Beautiful” by The Sunday Times and “Eerie and unforgettable” by The Guardian.

She was a founding member of We Fell To Earth and has collaborated with numerous bands and artists, including vocals on Queens Of The Stone Age’s ‘Feel Good Hit of The Summer’, Mark Lanegan (Bubblegum, Field Songs, Here Comes That Weird Chill), Eagles Of Death Metal (Death By Sexy) and Maya Jane Coles. Her music has also featured on the critically acclaimed film Jeune et Jolie and the BBC Documentary A Year in an English Garden: Flicker + Pulse. The single ‘This Is Not A Love Song’ off her new album has been recently featured on CW’s The Republic Of Sarah and she has just composed the original score for the documentary film Clay + Bone, featuring Will Self.


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Reb Fountain - Iris.

The day hath arrived. Iris, Reb Fountain's newest album, is officially out now! Yay! We have spent the week busily picking packing boxing and wrapping all of your records and CDs in anticipation for this day of days. Rest assured, if you haven't received yours yet, the couriers are busy! IRIS is coming like the Summer down under not too far away.

Reb also has today released the visual counterpart to this week's lead single, and title-track 'Iris'; the video directed and filmed by none other than Lola Fountain-Best.

The namesake of her new album, Reb says on the single, “'Iris' is a love letter to my sisters and my many selves, an embrace that holds all the stories we never shared, a rainbow connection, a feminist arsenal, a space to rest, a prism for the heart. What’s in your heart that you dare not speak? If love be our currency, what stories we would tell?"


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Gustaf - Cruel.

Brooklyn art punks Gustaf have released their highly anticipated debut album, Audio Drag For Ego Slobs via Royal Mountain Records. Following love from the likes of NPR, DIY, NME, Paste, BrooklynVegan and more for their past singles "Best Behavior", "Book" and "The Motions", the band are sharing a final video for album standout "Cruel" ahead of their supporting run with IDLES throughout the US.

With further dates planned with new Royal Mountain label-mates Pillow Queens, as well as California legends Osees, Audio Drag For Ego Slobs sees Gustaf staking their claim as New York’s “hardest working…and most reliably fun bands” 

Vocalist Lydia Gammill expands on "Cruel", "When I started working out the lyrics for cruel, I liked the idea of someone getting mad at the sunlight for shining through their window. I wanted to play with the idea of someone victimizing themselves over a blessing. Ultimately "Cruel" became a ‘love’ song — or as it goes with a lot of Gustaf songs, an anti-love song."

She continues, "The protagonist in "Cruel" is unfairly upset at someone who gave them a glimpse of a good thing and then took it away. Now they’re left obsessing over the thrill of what could have been. They were content with what they already had, but once they knew something more was possible they became indignant over losing it. Selfishly musing that if they knew it would be like this, they would’ve rather not had the thing at all."

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Daisy Chute - Let Me Be Your Home.

Daisy Chute is a folk/Americana singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and regular on the London music scene. Daisy's new single ‘Let Me Be Your Home’ is taken from her forthcoming new EP ‘Songs of Solace’.

’Let Me Be Your Home’ is the second in a concept EP entitled ‘Songs of Solace’ that follows the beginning, middle and end of a relationship and explores themes of mental health and depression. The EP features acoustic heartfelt songs with female vocal,   guitar, cello, violin & piano. 

Daisy says “Let me Be Your Home represents the honeymoon phase of the relationship. It's simply about being someone's safe place, their home. It's cosy and comforting, with a tinge of sadness hinted at with lyrics like 'when you find that life's too much to bear’”

While her musical roots were born out of her Scottish/American heritage, Daisy has had forays and extensive training in both the jazz and classical genres.  Whilst still at school Daisy signed to Universal/Decca as one quarter and lead vocalist of multi platinum selling band All Angels.
A mix of Celtic, American, Classical and Jazz backgrounds has since seen her feature across Film, TV, Game soundtracks ranging from The Sims 4, Tomb Raider, Shaun The Sheep the movie, 47 Ronin and Yesterday, to David Attenborough documentaries (A Perfect Planet) and Radiohead albums (session musician on A Moon Shaped Pool).

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Penny & The Pits - Electric Litany - Lydia Luce - Ketch Secor - The Happy Fits

Photo - Nicole Cecile Holland Penny & The Pits - Headcrusher. Penny & The Pits have just shared "Headcrusher" along with ...