Bex - The Ghosts of Searchlight - Eric Anders and Mark O'Bitz

Bex - Startrails / Here for You.

Visionary Filipino-Canadian singer-songwriter, Bex, has just released her brand new, debut, Indie-Pop/Rock album, “Startrails” on November 19 2021.

A powerful lyricist with impactful song writing skills and undeniable talent, Bex has earned herself a highly coveted placement on Sirius XM’s ‘The Verge’ as well as a top 10 finalist spot in the Toronto Deputy Mayors Online Talent Search. With a love for sharing her aural masterpieces with a live audience, Bex has already played numerous acoustic shows at popular venues across Toronto and was a featured performer at the 2021 virtual Canadian Music Week. Her empathetic lyrics leave listeners feeling like they have experienced the moments she discusses in her songs, and her uncanny ability to inspire relatability from her audience has drawn well-deserved comparisons between her and the female megastars of the early 2000’s pop-punk scene.

With her dedicated and passionate fanbase cheering her on from the sidelines, Bex pairs her relatable, melancholic, and hopeful lyrics with upbeat, danceable tracks in an explosive way, and uses the creative process of constructing her debut album as a form of therapy, for both herself and her listeners. By telling her vulnerable and relatable story of self-discovery, Bex encourages listeners to dig deeper within their own emotions and become more self-aware, hoping that her music will act as a piece of advice that her young listeners can always come back to when they need some words of encouragement.

“Startrails” is an authentic reflection of Bex’s creative and empathetic mind. Drawing influence from the early 2000’s era megastars Michelle Branch, Avril Lavigne, and Lights, Bex has created a perfect combination of Indie-Pop, Folk, Rock, Punk, with modern electronic production, alongside lyrics and storytelling that remind listeners of their own experiences. After performing some of her newly-written songs to a virtual audience earlier this year, Bex connected with local producer James McLeod to work together on crafting and producing the entirety of her debut album.

==========================================================================

The Ghosts of Searchlight - Taste Of Freedom.

The Ghosts of Searchlight further innovate and evolve their signature heavy instrumental post-rock meets surf rock sound on new full-length album "Sprawl", out now. Somewhere between the roiling surf of the Pacific Ocean and the blinding lights of Las Vegas lies the expanse of the Mojave and the inspiration for the aggressive, surfy sounds of The Ghosts of Searchlight’s brand of instrumental post-rock. Guitarist Brian Horn hails from these places and the journeys in between.

The Ghosts of Searchlight were dead. A part of life that had to be discarded to make room for so many other things. But in the last year, as life ground to halt, there was time to decide what could stay, what could go and what needed to be reborn. Sprawl encompasses much of that sense of longing and taking inventory. It's what brought the Ghosts back to life.

The Ghosts of Searchlight sound is a fusion of aggressive surf melodies with modern post-rock counterpoints, which reflects the places that have shaped the band: the chaotic lights of Las Vegas, the serene beauty of the Mojave, and the siren's call to the shores of Southern California.

About "Sprawl": "Sprawl was a chance for us to take a step forward by stepping back. A chance to slow down, take our time with the music and allow moments to breathe."

"With Sprawl, we wanted to expand the Ghosts sound and branch into unexplored territory: a 4-track, some mandolin, strings, even a seven year-old beatboxing. We're usually a three-piece capturing live energy but this one was all about layering the sounds that either made up life around us at the time or haunted our dreams."

==========================================================================

Eric Anders and Mark O'Bitz - Stuck Inside (Album).

Award-winning Singer Songwriter duo Eric Anders and Mark O'Bitz continue their expansive MTC (music in the time of coronavirus) collection with the atypically electric full-length album "Stuck Inside". "Stuck Inside" is the third installment in the MTC collection.

Northern Californian singer-songwriter, Eric Anders, and southern Californian guitarist-composer, Mark O’Bitz, will release their multiple-song collection “Music in the Time of Coronavirus” in four installments. Their single, “Careful Now My Son”--the only truly Americana song in the collection--was released in December 2020.

The 8-song album, Sirens Go By, was released in February 2021 and contains songs done in the singer-songwriter style typical of the Anders/O’Bitz duo.  Their 11-song album, Stuck Inside, was recently released (11/9/21) and contains songs with a bit more edge--a more rockin’ style.  The 10-song album, Variant Blues, will be released in December, 2021.

All of the songs for this collection were written and recorded during the pandemic, and all of the work so far has been done remotely.  The same goes for almost all of the musicians who contributed. Eric, Mark, and Mike released a climate-change single, “Searise,” on March 5th, 2021.  Soon after they released the “Searise” music video by Basque artist Joseba Elorza (Greenday).  Eric and Mark wrote “Searise” with Eric’s daughter, Evelyn, when she was only eleven.

Eric and Mark released their twelve-song concept album, American Bardo, on July 31, 2020.   American Bardo was recorded, produced, and mixed by Mike Butler of San Diego.  All the songs were written by Eric and Mark and inspired by George Saunders’ Mann-Booker-Prize-winning novel, Lincoln in the Bardo.  All the songs on American Bardo are what Eric calls “readings” related to one or more of the characters in the novel. Popmatters listed American Bardo among their top fifty Americana albums of 2020.

Eric and Mark took sixteen songs into the studio.  The four songs on their forthcoming EP, This Mortal Farce, were not directly related to one of the characters in Saunders’ novel so they thought a separate EP would be a better way to release these four songs.  This Mortal Farce will be Eric’s eleventh release (just counting EPs and LPs) and the duo’s fourth release.

Eric Anders and Mark O'Bitz · Stuck Inside

==========================================================================

Tomato Flower - Chrystabell - Twin Rains - Julie Christensen - Allison Lorenzen

Tomato Flower - Red Machine.

Baltimore band Tomato Flower have introduced themselves with a new single and video off their forthcoming debut EP Gold Arc, out February 11th, 2022 on Ramp Local.

"Red Machine" is a utopian pop song that envisions global transformation. With lyrics spanning the city and country toward a vision of worldwide solidarity, the single takes the form of a compact pop single to imagine a joyous future. Fittingly, the video -- directed and edited by the band's Austyn Wohlers -- is a panoramic vision of industrial and rural landscapes, focusing on images of movement and transfer. Blending images of industrial modernity with pastoral life, the video reflects the song's imagined future of a transformed city and country.

About Gold Arc: How might a Utopia exist? If the goal is social harmony amidst free-thinking citizens, where do the moral sets and ideals come from? It might include existing peacefully and respectfully with the natural world—agriculture and industry on an equal playing field. Maybe, an earthly utopia might not be what we expect. It might not be constant, and it might only exist in minute moments. For the Baltimore quartet Tomato Flower, utopia exists in the compromise between escapism and intellectual inquiry, between conceptual philosophy and pop-rock bliss.

Their debut EP Gold Arc finds Tomato Flower at multiple crossroads. Their sonic curiosity plays with tension between sweetness and a destructive heaviness. Conceptually, Gold Arc hungers for an alternate reality. Sometimes that is a “sustainable paradise,” as drummer Mike Alfieri puts it. Or, on “Lovers Arc,” it’s a desire to be loved constantly. “It's not that all these songs are straightforwardly positive, though,” explains Austyn Wohlers. “I think all of the songs are about longing for a different world and a different future. But, they take various shapes,” she says. “The song ‘Truth Lounge,’ for example, has a lot of pain and longing for a different world. ‘World to Come,’ has maybe a cultish edge to it.”

==========================================================================

Photo - Mathieu Bitton

Chrystabell - Midnight Star.

Chrystabell shares “Midnight Star,” the enchanting title track off her new album, which releases January 21 via Love Conquered Records. Accompanied by a music video starring wayward alien lifeforms seeking redemption amongst the crystal planets, the album’s opening track marks the start of a wide-eyed odyssey into the great beyond. The video was written/directed by Polish filmmaker and longtime collaborator, Archon, and featured this week at FLOOD Magazine, who said “The single slowly progresses from a collage of spacey sounds, from ambient synths to an energized string section, before erupting into a pulsing, dance-friendly beat.”

"The lights go down, the curtains go up and the musical quest of the album Midnight Star begins with the song ‘Midnight Star,’ setting the tone of high drama, mania and ultimately transcendence,” says Chrystabell. “The trip from impending doom to cosmic dance party takes under 5 minutes, so you can do it over and over again, without a shred of space trash.”

She continues, “When I asked Archon to direct, I knew he could take it way out. I was not disappointed. He meticulously manufactured an alternate reality, literally sculpting worlds with his hands to bring the vision to life. This is one of four videos he made for the record, this grand and bizarre voyage is just getting started.”

A sci-fi fantasia assembled as a collection of episodes, Midnight Star tells the story of a beneficent being seeking to save humanity from life on a troubled Earth. Chrystabell fully transports listeners into a dimension of her own making with a collision of post-disco, synth-pop and space-age psychedelia. Her unearthly storytelling permeates with a worldly insight, offering up tender instruction for living more ecstatically. BlackBook recently praised the debut single “Breathe Into Euphoria,” declaring “the new track gleefully draws on the enduring tenets of ’80s synth-pop, landing ultimately somewhere between Kate Bush and Nina Hagen – yet also sounding somehow spot on for 2021.”

==========================================================================

Twin Rains - All Of The Angels.

Toronto dream pop duo, Twin Rains, is about to release their sophomore album, Unreal City, but the mood is less than celebratory.

“This album almost didn’t get made,” says the band’s Jay Merrow of the new LP, the follow-up to 2016’s critically acclaimed Automatic Hand. Although the band’s first album established the duo as songwriters to watch —earning them a contract with Rough Trade Publishing and a song placement in a Seth Rogen film — the last couple years introduced physical and mental health struggles that almost unraveled the duo’s resolve to produce another work.

“It’s also been hard to find the energy to release it, to believe it even matters to put out music right now,” confesses singer Christine Stoesser. “I don’t want to add more confusion or pain to the world, but this is a ‘dark night of the soul’ kind of album. You could say I’ve been going through an existential crisis, something like that. And I don’t know if that’s relatable or just depressing and unessential.”

Twin Rains · All Of The Angels

==========================================================================

Julie Christensen - Find My Way.

When vocalist and songwriter Julie Christensen first heard Nashville singer-songwriter Kevin Gordon perform, she instantly remembered the first time a song made her cry. Having built her career forging connections through song — including stints as Leonard Cohen’s backing vocalist — Christensen knows the value of a sticky melody and well-crafted lyrics. But Gordon’s artful music and cinematically sweeping, vividly drawn emotional and physical landscapes reached her on a deeper level; she recognized their terrain, because she’d traveled it, too.

Christensen and her band, Stone Cupid, recorded Gordon’s “Saint on a Chain” for their 2016 album, The Cardinal. But in 2020, she decided someone ought to record an entire collection of the Louisiana native’s songs. When she suggested it, she mentioned “someone more famous” should have the honors. “No,” he responded. “I’m glad it’s you.” The result, 11 From Kevin: Songs of Kevin Gordon, will be released on January 21, 2022 — Christensen’s birthday — on Wirebird Records.

Christensen fudged the numbers a little, turning “Heart’s Not in It” and “Down to the Well” into a mini medley. “I had 11 songs picked that I could hear myself doing,” she explains. “Then I realized I needed a song drawn from his Iowa experiences.”
Iowa is one place where they literally did travel the same terrain: both attended the University of Iowa. A Hawkeye state native, Christensen majored in Asian studies there. Gordon earned a master’s degree in poetry at the prestigious Iowa Writer’s Workshop program.

“You can’t sing a poem, and you can’t read a song,” Christensen asserts. “But the way he elides his words and melodies together, they’re just really haunting to me.”

Julie Christensen · 01 - Find My Way

==========================================================================

Allison Lorenzen - Tender (Album).

Still reeling from the gut-punch of the distortion filled lead single “Vale” released earlier this year, many of us wondered what a full-length LP by the Denver based artist would sound like. Using the dystopian fever-dream of the aforementioned Midwife collaboration as a noise floor, the 8 songs on Tender spiral upwards like worried smoke against a low cloud ceiling, reaching towards the light but always within sight of the loamy earth surface. Shepherding lush, heavy compositions by way of synths, keys, guitars and subtle percussion, Tender finds Allison Lorenzen at her most vulnerable. Nursing old wounds from the end of a relationship and her musical project School Dance, Tender is also filled a renewed sense of heartbreak-made-triumphant that comes after the wisdom of solitude, allowing oneself to be taken care of by family and friends and, finally, documenting the way through.

The way through figures heavily on Tender. Imagery of passages through liminal spaces are replete. “Vales” occur as emotional valleys as well as McCarthy-inspired end times, “Mirrors” are portals into deep self-reflection, “Tentacles” keep pulling us back into old patterns, old memories. Musically, this non-linear approach to healing is explored through songs that move from light to dark and back again, often within the same song, if not within the same phrase.

Lorenzen’s voice has an uncanny choral quality to it. Taking a phrase that would have sounded quite beautiful sung straight in her smoky, ephemeral delivery, Lorenzen frequently raises the stakes by taking a single word through several octave changes within the same breath. Treading similar musical paths to Beach House in her penchant for writing quiet, world-shifting crescendos, the nocturnal, Styx-guiding Dream Pop of Julee Cruise and the heavy, distortion filled guitars and world-weary vocals of Miserable and frequent Tender collaborator Midwife, Lorenzen’s work comes alive in its own cinematic universe.

==========================================================================

Nisa - Mike Legere - zzzahara - Red Leaf Hill - FERLA

Photo - Angela Ricciardi and Silken Weinberg

Nisa - The Savior.

New York City-based artist, Nisa, is now sharing "The Savior," the final advance single to be lifted from her new EP, Time To Plant Tears which is set for release on December 2, 2021. This new single follows recent tips from the likes of Consequence, Our Culture, Audiofemme and more with this body of work following on from her self-released debut EP, Guilt Trip which landed earlier this year.

Early in 2021, the 22-year-old – full name Nisa Lumaj – 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 Savior," which once again finds Nisa pushing the boundaries of her own songwriting abilities finds the artist bringing in a woozy trumpet to flank her intimate guitar work and shimmering vocals. The song acts as an anthem of self-empowerment, calling for Nisa to put herself first in situtations. Speaking about the track, she says: “The Savior," is a trumpet call from within beckoning me to stop prioritizing others’ needs over my own, especially when it comes to making choices that affect me first. It's a reminder of the grounding nature of focus when the illusion of control starts to fade."

==========================================================================

Photo - Greg Francis

Mike Legere - Love Songs (In Fear Of Dying Penniless).

Mike Legere is a songwriter and producer based out of Toronto, Ontario, originally from Nova Scotia. After years of playing with bands Century Thief and Places Erupt he released his first solo record Ourselves in Public on June 8th 2018. He plays lyrically driven indie-rock music.

Playing with bands Places Erupt and Century Thief, Mike released multiple albums and EPs between 2012-2018. Through this process he developed an interest in production, witnessing the creative possibilities that open up in the recording and mixing process. After graduating from Recording Arts Canada, Mike began to work as an engineer at The Root Down Studio, where he’d later become lead engineer.

In May of 2018 he embarked on his first solo tour with Dante Matas, to support the release of his debut solo album Ourselves in Public, which was premiered by Aesthetic Magazine. The first single, “Yourself,” was premiered by Folk Radio UK.

To support the record, Mike booked a solo tour with Dante Matas and his band, who share members with Century Thief. Omar and Colin McNally joined him for a few songs throughout the tour, and later joined the project along with Greg O’Toole (Places Erupt). After the tour Mike decided to record two new songs live off the floor to capture the energy the band had developed. This became the single “Love Songs (In Fear Of Dying Penniless),” as well as its counterpart “Billboard.” He produced a video with Greg Francis (Century Thief) for “Love Songs.”

Shortly afterwards Mike began work on his upcoming record Memory Forming Clouds (2022).

==========================================================================

Photo - Jade DeRose

zzzahara - they don't know.

Los Angeles artist, zzzahara, has officially announced their signing with Lex Records and today they are sharing their label debut, “they don’t know.” Watch the music video directed by Ross Harris here. Atwood Magazine described the single as “A feverish indie rock song drowning in intimate emotion and frenetic energy … an evocative and memorable moment of truth for a solo artist quickly coming into their own.” Read the full interview & premiere here. 

Plenty of people come to Los Angeles looking to make their California dreams a reality. But zzzahara has always been here, turning reality into a dream. Born and raised in Highland Park, where they still reside, zzzahara (the solo moniker of Eyedress/Simps guitarist Zahara Jaime) has witnessed both gang-blighted and gentrified L.A. along the same geographical blocks. Like the transforming city itself, zzzahara has undergone massive personal changes, their characteristic stoicism giving way to a newfound sense of purpose. “they don’t know,” is their debut single on Lex Records and explores a life hanging in the balance between memory and possibility over frenetic Johnny Marr-esque guitar jangle.

Music has always been and escape for zzzahara, who struggled to feel seen as the sibling of a terminally ill brother. Z found solace in bands like My Chemical Romance, the Cure, the Ramones, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and in recording “corny acoustic parodies” about girls they had crushes on in middle school. That same absurdist humor followed them into early projects like bombastic hip-hop persona Lil Boba and post-punk quartet Zahara & the Herd, though as a queer person of color, zzzahara still felt out of place in SoCal’s bro-ish garage rock scene.

==========================================================================

Red Leaf Hill - Snow.

Red Leaf Hill releases her new single ‘Snow’. ‘Snow’ is her fourth single of the upcoming EP which is planned to release February 2022. Carmijn, the mastermind behind Red Leaf Hill, is building towards this release as she emigrates to Norway. Much of her music is inspired by this country, which is reflected in her homemade videos.

About what the single means to her, Carmijn says: You can lose someone, or miss someone terribly, but in your thoughts and in your dreams you can be together forever, that's what I love about this song.

Under the name Red Leaf Hill, singer-songwriter Carmijn Bakker shares the beauty of nature with the whole world. Her cozy pop songs immediately take you to majestic and breathtaking landscapes, the places that inspire Red Leaf Hill to translate her deepest emotions into music.

Red leaf Hill gets her inspiration from nature. From the simple afternoon walks in her backyard, somewhere in a rural area on the border of Germany. To shooting beautiful images with her drone in the fjords of Norway; nature is a majestic place Red Leaf Hill gladly wants to share with you. In this song, 'Snow', Carmijn is also inspired by the landscape around her. The beautiful melody in combination with her eloquent lyrics ensures that you are taken into the image that Carmijn describes.

==========================================================================

FERLA - Nothing Else Matters.

Melbourne synth-pop band FERLA release their self-described “menacing but meditative” new single Nothing Else Matters, the third track to be taken from their new album Personal Hotspot which follows 2022.

FERLA’s unique brand of after-dark confessional pop turns the personal experience into communal release with disarming wit and pathos, with front man Giuliano’s describing forthcoming new album Personal Hotspot as “A love letter to the world…made up of the things I hate about it.” Its honest self-assessment laid bare via acerbic and often brutally unfiltered lyrics which traverse discomfiture to levity, hot damnation to cold redemption. It’s both a confronting and wholly relatable mix of the conflicted, deflated and infatuated. It’s spicy. It’s juicy.

FERLA’s new single Nothing Else Matters is an oozy croon with an earworm chorus, sound-tracked with ghostly synths and lonely whistles that lay the bed for Giuliano’s mystery-man baritone.  “This song’s a bump in the night,” he says of it. “It’s like one of those dreams you have where you’re trying to run as fast as you can, but the air is thick as sludge and it’s taking all of your energy just to put one foot in front of the other. That’s this song.” The song is accompanied by a visual directed by Dan Cahill which sees Giuliano rollerblading his loneliness away.

FERLA has previously released a debut album Its Personal which was nominated for an Australian Music Prize, they have performed live on Triple J and PBS, and sold-out shows across Australia’s key cities as well as performing at various festivals including Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Cash Savage And The Last Drinks and Quivers. They have previously released two singles from forthcoming new album Personal Hotspot, the sly love song ‘Rita’ and the KCRW ‘Top Track’ ‘I See You.’

==========================================================================

Annie Booth - Mrs. Henry - Big Little Lions - Kindsight - Prima Queen - SUEP

Photo - Brian Sweeney

Annie Booth - Tropic / Cocoon.

Annie Booth is an Edinburgh-based artist with a gift for mood-painting and storytelling. A seasoned singer, performer and songwriter - with a flair for the nostalgic and the melancholy - she wields a unique voice in Scotland, bridging genre and influence with ease. Her restless live performance and songs never cease to capture the listener with their haunting melodies and infectious arrangements. Recorded over several months at Chem19 Studios and Green Door, Booth’s sophomore album 'Lazybody' will be released on 19th November 2021 on limited edition vinyl, CD and download. 

The debut single 'Cocoon' from the album has already received support from the likes of  The Roddy Hart Show, Vic Galloway & Rapal on BBC Radio Scotland, Postcards From The Underground, Shereen & Phoebe on BBC Music Introducing, Fresh On The Net and Amazing Afternoons on Amazing Radio.

The singer-songwriter is also known for her enthusiasm for collaboration. From 2015 to 2020 she performed backing vocals and guitar with prolific dark-folk collective Mt. Doubt, touring across Scotland, England and Wales and recording on numerous records. 2020 saw the release of 'Clean Living' (Last Night From Glasgow) under the moniker Slow Weather: a vintage-infused EP of alt-rock co-written with producer extraordinaire Chris McCrory. The release garnered praise and spins from Steve Lamacq (BBC Radio 6), BBC Radio Scotland and Amazing Radio as well as features and airplay in the US. Over the years Booth has also collaborated on tracks with artists such indietronica outfit Out of the Swim and indie pop quintet Wojtek the Bear.

Last Night From Glasgow · Annie Booth - Tropic

Last Night From Glasgow · Annie Booth - Cocoon

==========================================================================

Mrs. Henry - I Don't Want To Let You Go.

Rock band Mrs. Henry returns to the San Diego stage on November 28th to perform The Last Waltz at the Belly Up in Solano Beach. The Last Waltz was originally a farewell concert from The Band at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco on Thanksgiving of 1976. This performance will be Mrs. Henry’s second rendition of the show after their first recreation in 2017.

Mrs. Henry turned their last show for The Last Waltz into a full-blown celebration. Honing up to that celebration, this year's show will feature some of San Diego’s most notable musicians such as Jack Tempchin, Marc Ford, Isiah Mitchell, The Deca Dames, Mike Stax, Bryan Barbarin, Shane Hall, Jason Meyers, Clinton Davis, Murf McRee, Leonard Patton, Mike Pope, Anna Zinova, David Tcheng, and the Fresh Veggies Micro Brass Horn Ensemble. 

This accomplished lineup will make for an unforgettable night. In 2019, a documentary of their 2017 performance premiered at the Oceanside International Film Festival and has since been played at festivals around the world like Belgium, Australia, Wales, and Canada. In addition to their documentary, in 2019, Mrs. Henry released a cover album dedicated to their performance of The Last Waltz, which is available on streaming platforms.

==========================================================================

Big Little Lions - Extraordinary.

Big Little Lions continue their monthly releases with 'Extraordinary' which is out Thursday, November 18th.

Extraordinary is an upbeat, uplifting tune about becoming who you were always meant to be. It's about breaking free from self imposed obstacles, to become extraordinary.

Big Little Lions is the fabulous songwriting duo of Helen Austin and Paul Otten.

==========================================================================

Kindsight - Don't You Grow Up.

Danish indie-rock four piece Kindsight has shared new single ‘Don’t You Grow Up’. Kindsight’s music draws from 80’s and 90’s alternative rock and combines it with the shimmering Scandinavian pop that the region has become so renowned for, resulting in a sound that is both fuzzy and melodic in equal measure.

Kindsight formed when front-woman Nina Hyldgaard Rasmussen and guitarist Søren Svensson bonded over a shared love of The Sugarcubes. They went on to recruit bass player Anders Prip and drummer Johannes Jacobsen and over the past few years have earned a reputation within Copenhagen’s thriving indie scene for their exciting live shows.

New single ‘Don’t You Grow Up’, a coming-of-age indie gem, was the first song the band ever wrote together. Written in “a time when we thought to be a sunny teenage rock band, you had to write songs about teenagers in the sun,” they say. Atop jangling guitars, Rasmussen’s distinctive voice dances somewhere between that of Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval and Alvvays’ Molly Rankin, leaving the listener drenched in the nostalgic optimism of summers gone by.

Such sparkling talent is impossible to ignore and Kindsight is showing no signs of slowing down. Their new single comes alongside news that their highly anticipated debut album will be released on esteemed Swedish indie label Rama Lama Records in early 2022. ‘Don’t You Grow Up’ is available to stream and download now.

==========================================================================

Prima Queen - Chew My Cheeks.

Prima Queen release their new single Chew My Cheeks - the song, produced by The Big Moon, is Prima Queen's first release on Nice Swan Recordings. After 18 months away from the stage, Prima Queen made a triumphant live return at this summer’s Green Man Festival, boasting a new collection of songs and an expanded 7-piece band. With Chew My Cheeks, Prima Queen once again display the subtle touches and lyrical flourishes that marked them out as pre-pandemic press favourites.

 On the new single Prima Queen offer the following:
"Chew My Cheeks is a song that centres on an unhealthy obsession with someone who is slightly out of reach. We wrote it in lockdown last year when we were remembering what it was like to idealise people you don’t know and to use them as a form of escapism. We ended up watching The Matrix in isolation together around the same time and were really inspired by the world in which the movie creates"

Prima Queen are an all-female indie/alternative rock band fronted by songwriting duo and best friends Louise Macphail (Bristol, UK) and Kristin McFadden (Chicago, USA). Combining vulnerable and nostalgic story telling with light-hearted lyrical imagery, their ethereal yet gritty style draws influences from artists such as Julia Jacklin, Nilüfer Yanya and Lucy Dacus.

==========================================================================

SUEP - Misery.

Not to be fooled by the name, Misery is a strand of futuristic swing-pop wizardry with a cosmic piano melody and stabs of deep guitar. Described by T-Mr.9, who leads on vocals (with the Supremes-inspired harmonies courtesy of SuepLord), as “A love song disguised as a song about loss. It's about cherishing the things that matter but it's also about having the courage to say goodbye. I wanted every line to tell its own small story with different characters. They're all a bit lost but I feel like they work out what to do in the end.”

Misery’s joyful, surrealist and psychedelic accompanying video is the work of visual artist Rebecca Molloy, who says of the video “I wanted Misery to be a cross between a kids TV program and a cabaret show.  So, a pink and green dog was born and thrown into a psychedelic world with a not quite right band!” With an abundance of SUEP’s playfulness, the video explores the same themes of love, closeness, and despair that the song grapples with.

SUEP are a band who dance to their own beat, creating oddball music with a taste for the theatrical storytelling. Led by SuepLord (Porridge Radio, Garden Centre, The GN Band) and Brain Wastefield (UK top model) and borne out of a near-decade of wearing silly clothes and deconstructing pop together. After relocating from Brighton to London, GN (The GN Band, Joanna Gruesome, The Tubs), Freakin' Deacon (PC World, Garden Centre), and T-Mr.9 (Head of Pastoral Care) were added to the line-up. They take turns writing songs and taking lead vocal, so each new song feels like its own unique entity, but all hailing from the playful, eccentric planet SUEP.

==========================================================================

Royal Castles - KEG - Looms - Ziemba - Ashley Shadow (feat. Bonnie Prince Billy)

Royal Castles - Schönsee.

Produced by Zane Whitfield (The Glorious Sons, Sarah Harmer), this triumphant 90s rock anthem sparkles and uplifts, as it reminds us of our resilience as humans, and that sunnier days are always around the corner. We dedicate it to all of our grandparents, who worked so hard to give us a better life.

"Schönsee" means beautiful lake, named after the Russian-Mennonite colony in ode to drummer Katrin Sawatzky's ancestors, who made the Great Trek across Europe by caravan to escape religious persecution in WWII.

Prominently featuring the voice and songwriting of Katrin, who sings in both German and English, this song builds upon the German lullaby often sung to Katrin as a child, telling the story of curiosity, resilience, fear and hope for a better life.

"Schönsee" summons an inner feeling of safety and peace when the world around you feels chaotic. The feeling of triumph after tribulation. The elation of making it out alive.

==========================================================================

KEG - Farmhands.

Brighton based 7-piece Keg today announce their new single "Farmhands" alongside an otherworldly animated video directed by Andrew Howarth - which drops the septet into the "Smelve Village" - eventually succumbing to a sea-beast-version of the band's guitarist Frank Lindsay.

Keg have quickly seen their profile rise over the past 6 months, with widespread acclaim from BBC 6Music (Steve Lamacq, Huw Stephens), NME, So Young Magazine, DIY Magazine, Clash Magazine, The Line Of Best Fit and more, coinciding with a relentless touring schedule with acts including Squid, Talk Show, The Lounge Society, Opus Kink, Bull, Blue Bendy and LICE.

New single "Farmhands" was produced by the band and mixed by Sean Oakley (Show Me The Body, Sorry, Scalping, Kae Tempest) and is the latest single to be lifted from Keg's debut EP 'Assembly'.

Described by the band as: "a lovestory to St James Street [in Brighton] and its many erratic personalities and the eternal clash of oat flat whites and heroin poos" - "Farmhands" carefully builds from its driving, post-rock opening, singer Albert Haddenham riling against the gentrification of Brighton's city centre: ["My bamboo products quake in their cupboards / My macchiato spills over the plant ladder / All the greasy spoons hemmed in by bike shops / Their dishwashers shrink and fall down the drain"] - interspersed with trombone-laden breaks and moving towards an erratic brass-fuelled crescendo.

Speaking on the track's accompanying video, the band said: "In the summer in Brighton, the city council were giving homeless people train fare money to leave the city. I remember thinking this is an obscene solution to a really serious undeniable housing issue. The stark contrast of real poverty and gentrified coffee/juiceries is quite startling along most of the south coast, I’m sure everyone has an equivalent. The video came from us imagining the lyrics taking place in a small magical toadstool town of ‘smelves’ and seeing their reaction. If I could summon a sea beast I would."

==========================================================================

Looms - A Different Variety of Same (E.P).

What was originally written at the beginning of a supposed to be busy 2020 for Looms turned into a larger recording project as they navigated the pandemic. The themes of love, loss and isolation were in place pre-shutdown but turned out to be all too timely as they were eventually completed remotely.

The EP release includes two brand new tracks, "A Different Kind of Light" and "Nothin' Didn't Change," closing and coalescing with a sound that FLOOD Magazine noted it lands, "somewhere between the alt-country flavors of Wilco and the heartland rock inclinations of The War on Drugs."

The band shares:

Speaking a prayer of longing and uncertainty
Delicate ground crumbles at only the thought of steps
But the drum shows there is a path
As guitars churn and chug and swirl
Weaving the singular now…

Here is a bouquet of the gathered years
The countless unfolding of momentary togetherness
Standing in circles has been so important
To ring the bounds of the ancient well
And glimpse the divine as it slips
From the flat, black waters of the underneath
This is the sunken source of many tongues
Where our sciences and our spells are but a different variety of same.

==========================================================================

Photo - Ian Torres

Ziemba - Fear.

El Paso-based artist, Ziemba – a moniker for songwriter, producer, vocalist and pianist, René Kladzyk – is sharing her new single, "Fear" alongside details of a new album titled Unsubtle Magic which is set for release on December 10, 2021, via Sister Polygon Records. The new record arrives as the latest installment of Kladzyk's Ziemba project following previous releases that found support at Pitchfork, i-D, FADER, Stereogum, Vogue, Bandcamp Daily and more.

This first single acts as a fitting introduction to the musically eclectic album which touches on zany New Wave, baroque-pop and 1970s art-rock. Kladzyk's upright Steinway piano sits at the beating center of "Fear," flanked by fuzzy guitars and emphatic percussion.

Speaking about the single, Kladzyk explains: "One time a psychic told me that a curse was placed on me in the womb, and of course that was bullshit, she tried to sell me $800 in crystal therapy to lift the curse. But at the same time, intergenerational legacies of addiction, abuse, trauma and mental illness seep out at very inconvenient moments and for me often take the form of wondering if I’m cursed to destroy myself or the ones I love, just like some of my ancestors. This song is a journal entry from a day I felt very weighed down by that baggage.

"Musically, "Fear" is indebted to The Roches, the Plastic Ono Band, Richard and Linda Thompson, and John Cale. Arranging it was a fun and intuitive process in collaboration with Don Godwin, and it arrived pretty naturally at its final state."

==========================================================================

Ashley Shadow (feat. Bonnie Prince Billy) - Don't Slow Me Down.

The Vancouver, B.C.-based songwriter, Ashley Shadowhas just shared the video for her recent Pitchfork, Stereogum and Brooklyn Vegan-tipped single, "Don't Slow Me Down" (feat Bonnie "Prince" Billy). The visual piece, directed by Tyler McLeod, comes off the back of critical acclaim for the recent album, Only the End – out now via Felte – which found positive support from Pitchfork, MOJO, Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, All Music, Secret Meeting and more upon release.

The video is a moving addition to the music. Filmed separately it finds Ashley and Bonnie "Prince" Billy (aka Will Oldham) connecting in isolation to produce something that touches on nostalgic references, presented with stuttering tape reels and analog effects.

Speaking about the making of the video, Ashley says: "Since we had trouble connecting in the flesh with Will Oldham we decided to get creative with our approach to this video. I asked Will to send some footage to the song with little direction and said to get as weird as he wanted with it, he’s a professional.

When Will’s footage arrived Tyler McLeod and I were pumped up and the gears started turning. The creative juices were flowing and it all unfolded a wave of cosmic vibrations. Through analog effects and nostalgic references the video took on its own life and we succumbed to the creative forces of multi-dimensional techniques. Thus a video was born."

==========================================================================

The Kut - Reptaliens - Roni Bar Hadas - Melted Wings - Abby Sage

The Kut - ANIMO.

Rock solo artist The Kut (PhD) has announced a US distribution deal with Amplified (Alliance / AMPED / MNRK), for her hotly anticipated second album and released a brand new video single ANIMO.

Meaning ‘courage’ or ‘spirit’, ANIMO and the accompanying music video were released yesterday and funded by Arts Council England. Dubbed by NYC Takeover as ‘the revolution waiting to erupt’ the latest Kut single is fierce; pepper sprayed with haunting melodies, driving beats and unapologetically packed with grrrl power.

Written in support of recent women’s rights demonstrations in the UK, the single is the first of a series of releases, leading up to The Kut second album, due June 2022. The forthcoming album features all seven members of her collective of women in music, with the ANIMO single featuring Diana Bartmann (drums), Jennifer Sanin (bass/vocals) and Alison Wood (guitar/bass) performing alongside The Kut.

The Kut’s debut album ‘Valley of Thorns’ was produced by James LeRock Loughrey (Skindred, White Zombie, Bjork) and spent two weeks in the UK Rock Albums Chart (No.7) and No. 18 in the Independent Albums Chart. The album was distributed via Cargo Records, who stay on as UK & Europe distributor.

Her latest single hit the UK Sales Chart on Christmas Day (No.65) and spent four weeks in the Physical Chart (No.10).  These releases have spawned significant interest in the UK and USA, including support from Kerrang!, BBC Introducing, Total Rock, Hard Rock Hell, Planet Rock, Metal Hammer, Sirius XM, AAA, College stations, with videos selected for playlist by MTV USA, MTV-U, LATV, AXSTV & Music Choice.

==========================================================================

Photo - Dan Crayonton

Reptaliens - Like A Dog.

Portland band Reptaliens announce its new LP Captured Tracks with the single & video "Like a Dog" The video is a homage to 90s tv tropes and public access television.

Reptaliens are ready to be direct. After exploring surreal realms of high-concept synth-pop across two acclaimed albums, the Portland, Oregon, duo found newfound clarity in a stark, grounded approach. That may seem unexpected for such a colorful act—known for heady lyrics about conspiracy theories and transhumanism—but Cole and Bambi Browning have streamlined to the lean, propulsive essentials on their self-produced new LP, Multiverse.

Shelving the dreamy synths altogether and working without their other bandmates due to lockdown, Reptaliens reset, picking up their guitars and emphasizing the catchy attack that’s been there all along. Drawing inspiration from the spontaneous energy of the ’90s alternative canon, the pair hit a surge in momentum after a casual-turned-revelatory listen to Jane’s Addiction’s 1990 classic “Been Caught Stealing.” Without even aiming to make a Reptaliens song, they wound up penning the set’s lead single “Like a Dog,” a sun-soaked groove-bomb that’s blissfully unencumbered by sonic baggage. “That really kicked it off,” Cole recalls. “It was so fast and easy and fun that we said, ‘Let’s do more like that.’”

Oregon natives Bambi and Cole started Reptaliens in the mid-2010s as a multi-faceted vehicle for their most adventurous urges. Across their first two Captured Tracks albums —FM-2030 (2017) and VALIS (2019)—they established themselves as dedicated dreamers and deep thinkers, filling their wooly, homespun synth-pop with meditations on outré science fiction and philosophy. With some help from friends, they’ve been able to tackle big questions and explore vast sound worlds. Tapping Julian Kowalski (guitar), Bryson Hansen (synth), and Tyler Vergian (drums) for their previous albums and shows, Reptaliens have bewitched crowds during extended national tours with STRFKR, Turnover, and Turnstile.

==========================================================================

Roni Bar Hadas - Fear.

Roni tells us: "I have always had a complicated relationship with putting my own self care needs before others' expectations or demands of me. Suffering from writer's block last year, I found myself with a new focus to liberate myself from self-criticism."

"Fear" has a deliberate air of empowerment and was written from a place of happiness, breaking my cycle of only writing during low periods. Recording it at home allowed me to go in with greater freedom of mind in a more relaxed setting - free to create something I could dance to.

If I decide to try being healthy, it better be because of me.

This lyric signifies my understanding and constant striving to remember to be mindful of my own needs, so that the motivation for my self care stems from within myself.

==========================================================================

Melted Wings - Capture Love.

Melted Wings is the multi-genre musical project of Michael Wynn, guitarist and founding member of bands Trains of Winter and Vicky von Vicky, who were active in the Kingston and Toronto music scenes in the 90’s and early 2000s.

After several years of not making music, Melted Wings has had a prolific output of songs since 2017, releasing multiple singles and EPs, along with a new album set to come out in early 2022. It all began after playing a handful of songs for a friend of his late father’s in 2017, who encouraged and challenged Wynn to keep making new music. From this initial boost, Melted Wings was born, and the first EP, The Bane of My Existence, was completed and released.

Each album and EP has had broad musical and genre-twisting influences. From folk, country, rock, pop, funk, disco, and alternative, to new wave, electronic, and EDM. From Johnny Cash, Pixies, ABBA, and Grease, to Handsome Furs, Depeche Mode, and TRST. The songs have gravitated lyrically towards love, unrequited love, broken relationships, social issues, and the impact of human existence. Wynn tends to latch onto catchy and quirky phrases, such as “You are the fire that fuels the flames of all my fears,” in “Bane of My Existence,” or “Oh when you run don’t slip and fall, you’ll scrape your skin, bare bums and all,” from the streakers in “Rolling Night.”

==========================================================================

photo - cloudytots

Abby Sage - Fever Dream.

Today LA-via-Toronto singer/songwriter Abby Sage shares her EP "Fears of Yours & Mine."

The 6-track collection is a weighty emotional journey inspired by the trajectory of a relationship from start to finish. Here, Abby plainly expresses her feelings and anxious state of mind, an inward exploration that ultimately leads to self-love and discovery. Created with the help of producer Jeff Hazin (glaive, renforshort, Anna Sofia), the EP emanates quiet confidence and pulls at the details.

"I called the project 'Fears of Yours & Mine' because the whole thing plays upon fears and moments of doubt that l held within a relationship and the path I was on as a whole," Abby shares of the record. "Fear kept me from continuing one journey but pushed me directly into another. Part of that was the creation of this project. 'When I Leave,' 'Fever Dream,' and 'Space for Me' all touch on various problems and doubts within the relationship whereas 'Wasting Away,' 'Smoke Break,' and 'Residing in the Sky' speak on the ending of it all and the ultimate rediscovery of self."

The EP's focus single"Fever Dream" is a moody affair that finds Abby reaching through hazy synths for reassurance in a relationship that's not there. It's a song that burns with hushed intensity as we see Abby peering into a situation where things aren't reciprocated. "Maybe I need you like you don't need me," she intones.

"'There’s a fire in your mind I can’t deny the way it burns me too.' This line is my favorite because it encapsulates the feeling of trying to fix someone knowing the damage it is ultimately causing yourself," Abby shares.

==========================================================================

Favours - Parliamo - The Vaulted Skies - Black Pines

Favours - Escaping.

Favours is made up of Jacq Andrade, Alexander Zen and Mark Andrade. They released their first LP Made to Wait in 2020. Their song “Stowaway” was featured on Netflix and CBC Gem. Recently, Favours built a home recording studio in a former halfway house in Mimico. The studio serves as a practice space and home to Alex, as well as their central creative hub for all music videos and photography projects.

Favours’ EP, Left Behind, was released November 12th 2021 and it features a fresh dream pop, new wave sound inspired by their shared love of the 80’s new wave sound and a DIY post-punk feel. The band collaborated with a strong team for this upcoming EP. 

They enlisted the talents of Broken Social Scene’s Brendan Canning to play bass on the EP, the engineering chops of Tallies’ Dylan Franklin, who engineered the drums and bass, and the mixing prowess of Alexandre Bonenfont. Previous singles have been featured on NPR, David Dean Burkhart and charted #1 on Canadian College Radio.

Favours · Escaping

============================================================================

Parliamo - The Parliamo Manifesto (E.P).

Perth, Scotland based 6-piece Parliamo release their eagerly anticipated new EP 'The Parliamo Manifesto' via Modern Sky (The Coral, The Lathums, Abbie Ozard). Drawing from a plethora of influences from The Avalanches and Massive Attack to Super Furry Animals and The Beta Band – Parliamo bring together witty social commentary–styled lyricism with a distinctive songwriting approach very much of their own.

Widely adored by their Scottish contemporaries including Walt Disco, Glasvegas, The Ninth Wave and VLURE, the band have also seen co-signs from The Libertines' Carl Barat, Primal Scream's Simone Butler and Scottish actor Robert Carlyle. They've inarguably backed this support up, quickly rising through the ranks of new Scottish acts with momentous back-to-back sold out at shows at Glasgow's King Tuts and Dundee's Hunter S Thomson.

The band's newly released EP 'The Parliamo Manifesto' is the culmination of over a year's songwriting and is a bold statement of intent from the 6 piece. Employing a charming tongue-in-cheek approach to some of the slightly darker aspects of life which young people face today, the record touches on the complications of religious pressure on "Catholic Guilt", spiraling addiction on "Who Needs a Reason?", mental health on "She’s Only Human" and the awkward beauty of young love on EP opener "Paul & Barry".

The baggy, swaggering sound of the band and the often darkly humorous nature of the lyrics, stands in stark contrast with some of the subject matter, echoing the band’s propensity for laughing in lieu of crying. In a world of such turmoil and uncertainty, ‘The Parliamo Manifesto’ aims to reconcile people with positivity through vibrant, energetic music, whilst providing a relatable commentary on the modern world and the inner workings of the minds of young people. With lyrics sometimes written and delivered in the Scottish vernacular, the record offers a somewhat unique perspective on the simultaneously charming and terrifying nature of modern life.

Parliamo · The Parliamo Manifesto

==========================================================================

The Vaulted Skies - What If I Were The Boy?

James Scott (Guitar, Vocals) talks us through the story of the song… “A long time ago, at a college far, far away, I was paired up on an acting assignment with one of the popular girls. While we were alone in a rehearsal space, she asked me if I wanted her to do something to me, using a phrase I didn’t understand at the time, because I was naive and innocent. I assumed it would involve some kind of physical pain or humiliation - like a wedgie! - so I said no.

I realise now of course, that she was propositioning me. Given that context, I also realise that she said something else that alluded to a very troubled home life. Knowing what I know now, while I still wouldn’t have taken her up on her offer (she was high, as usual), I wish I’d recognised the cry for help underneath it all. I don’t know what happened to her. I can’t find her on social media. Mutual friends
have lost touch with her.

I may be inventing a reality that never came to pass, and she might be perfectly fine; but this song captures the panic I felt when the memory of unwittingly rejecting her advances suddenly came back to me, which haunts me to this day.”

==========================================================================

Black Pines - Chains.

Following on from the enormous response to their breakthrough singles ‘Heaven’s Son’, ‘Power’ and ‘Hope’ last year, as well as their stripped-back collection ‘Isolation Tapes’ in early 2021, Essex-based outfit Black Pines are back once again to deliver their bluesy new release ‘Chains’.

Channeling a bold and atmospheric direction this time around, ‘Chains’ sees the five-piece return in stellar form. With its bold and soaring textures, shimmering hooks, and bouncing aesthetic, they are truly breaking out of their comfort zone on this blistering new effort.

Speaking about the new offering, they said, “This was the first track we created after our debut 3 singles. It marks a somewhat noticeable creative swerve, and a change of attitude when it comes to our songwriting - likely motivated by our Covid-induced isolation. It’s more fun and less forgiving, and pushes Tom’s vocals to new heights.

“Sonically, ‘Chains’ was born from a love of what Nothing But Thieves and Royal Blood had created recently, as well as paying homage to the pitch bending, tone destroying guitars of past players like Tom Morello or Prince!”

Black Pines · Chains

==========================================================================