The Delines - Allegra Krieger - The Royal Foundry - Pierce Turner

Photo - Summer Luu

The Delines - Drowning In Plain Sight.

The Portland, Oregon based country-soul group The Delines have shared the final music video from their upcoming album, The Sea Drift, which will be released on this Friday February 11, 2022 via their new American label home Jealous Butcher Records. The song, a focus track for the album titled “Drowning In Plain Sight”, is a perfect example of songwriter and author Willy Vlautin’s knack for giving you a look into the interior lives of the characters who populate these songs with just a few well-chosen little details. 

As lead singer Amy Boone croons lines like “The kid’s ice cream is melting, my husband’s beer is getting warm / The phone starts ringing an hour after I should have been home”, her soulful and smoky voice gives these storytelling vignettes instant emotional heft, communicating years of struggle in the lives of these characters with just a few words, as lush and cinematic country-soul arrangements gently swell around her. Simply put, the music of The Delines not only makes you feel like these characters are real people you could meet in any of the small towns and cities along the gulf coast of Texas where The Sea Drift is set, but that their lives will continue on long after these songs end.

The music video for “Drowning In Plain Sight” combines footage of The Delines performing the song in their home studio in Portland with scenery from those beach towns along the Texas gulf coast that serve as the setting of The Sea Drift. If you’ve never been to a town like Galveston where this video was shot, the visuals will instantly give you a sense of the way the natural beauty of the ocean is juxtaposed with the desperation, regret and wistful longing of the people who inhabit this world. The houses are all on stilts, the sun sets over abandoned train yards and industrial plants, and lights from carnival rides on the boardwalk glisten across the ocean waves at night.

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Photo - Dallas Starky

Allegra Krieger - Wake Me If I'm Asleep.

Brooklyn, NY based singer-songwriter Allegra Krieger today shared two new songs from her forthcoming album Precious Thing, releasing March 4th, 2022 via Northern Spy Records. On the two tracks that open up the album—“Wake Me If I’m Asleep” & “Isolation”—Krieger sings about the fear of loss and her hope to live more presently. Inspired by a pang of fear that struck her after seeing the paramedics leave a neighbor’s house, Krieger’s anxiety is palpable, yet her resolve remains strong. Listen to the songs here.

In October 2020, Allegra drove across the country to record Precious Thing in Marin, CA with producer Luke Temple (Here We Go Magic, Art Feynman) and musicians Jeremy Harris, Kalia Vandever, Rob Taylor and Jacob Matheus who contributed organs, synths, bass and lap steel. Delightfully mellow but never bleak, Precious Thing is a soundtrack for the daily motions of our lives.

On Precious Thing, Allegra Kreiger tries to capture fleeting moments in a world that is sick from itself. With a voice that rings like a windchime signaling a storm coming, Allegra masterfully weaves together ephemeral moments as life barrels by her unforgivingly. From singing about sharing a gaze with a man on the train to Coney Island as the clock strikes 12 on New Years, to saying goodbye to a loved one, to processing the religious trauma of wine, Krieger portrays the particular pang of being a woman alive in a modern world.

At the heart of this album is a young, working woman asking “Do you see this right now? I can’t be the only one.” This is an album about looking, and Krieger fills up each lonely space she enters with her gaze. Krieger asks you to look, to really, really look, so that you can remember something, however small it is, when it’s all gone.

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The Royal Foundry - Hello Dreamer Baby.

Background from The Royal Foundry - You are made to be that which you dream to be. No matter how you get there, who you meet along the way, or how many detours it takes – it will always be waiting for you, so try and try and try and try.

This is the ethos behind our new single, "Hello Dreamer Baby," written after we took a spontaneous road trip and discussed our dreams, goals, and our desire to accomplish them in the now.

The music video, featuring a sunrise that reveals amazing red rock canyons with each passing second.
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It's so easy to quit and just live with mediocrity, but this life is short so why would you not want to be the best you can be? We wrote "Hello Dreamer Baby" for us, but we hope it resonates with you too.

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Photo - Chris Schoonover

Pierce Turner - Love of Angels.

The internationally acclaimed Irish performer, Pierce Turner, releases a new single titled “Love Of Angels.” Set over a rocking guitar arrangement, the philosophical track combines the teachings of acclaimed The Power of Now author Eckhart Tolle and the idea of the psychological “ego.” This is the fourth track off Pierce Turner’s forthcoming album, Terrible Good, which was created with legendary guitarist Gerry Leonard (David Bowie, Suzanne Vega, Rufus Wainwright). The album is set for release on February 25 via StorySound Records.

“For me, lyrics always have to have a message,” explains Turner. “On ‘Love Of Angels’ I take the phrase ‘you are what you eat’ and expand upon it to a further truth. We are everything that comes in-what we think, read, see, breathe, smell, hear, and believe as well as eat. If it’s good stuff, you will be good, guaranteed. How we move affects us too, I swear!!!!! You can dance to this. It’s The Rolling Stones meets Eckhart Tolle.”

An Irish-American musician in the truest, and most literal, sense, Pierce Turner lives half the year in his hometown of Wexford, Ireland, and the other half in his longtime adopted hometown of New York City. Both places are reflected in his songs, which frequently move between these two different worlds. Since he began his solo career in the 80’s, he’s worked on a broad range of projects including writing for opera, scoring movies, and composing a contemporary Mass. His genre-bending songwriting has led Turner to collaborate with legendary producer John Simon (The Band, Leonard Cohen, Cass Elliot) on 1991’s Now Is Heaven and composer Philip Glass on projects such as 1986’s It’s Only a Long Way Across and “Yogi with a Broken Heart.”

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Palm Friends - Certain Animals - Jo Schornikow - Thomas Dollbaum

Palm Friends - Hidden Perks.

Minneapolis-based quartet, Palm Friends are sharing their new single, "Hidden Perks" which comes as the first preview of their new EP, The Delivery out via Forged Artifacts on March 24. A stunning intro to the new release, outlined with warm, fuzzy guitars and quietly confident vocals, it follows the band's 2019 debut EP, Nice Weather coming mixed and mastered by Ben Etter (Deerhunter, Cate Le Bon).

Palm Friends first came together as a means of healing. After his brother passed away, guitarist and singer Jesse Pedersen moved from New York back home to Minnesota to be with his family. As part of the grieving process, he called up some of his high school friends and asked if they wanted to start a band. With Jon Lindquist on drums, Will Bunton on bass and Jesse on guitar and vocals, the band quickly recorded their debut EP. The result was an ebullient indie rock six-song burst, the sound of a band in its early stages having a blast together. Soon after, Shawnna Stennes joined, and the final Palm Friends lineup was solidified.

The band wrote most of The Delivery together over quarantine before recording in three ten-hour sessions at The Terrarium in Minnesota. The result is a truly collaborative effort, on a songwriting level but then also on a deeper, emotional level. As a songwriting duo, Jesse and Shawnna play off of each other’s strengths, from Jesse’s indie rock songcraft to Shawnna’s warm yet melancholic lyrics but as a full group, this is really a collaboration centered around healing and friendship.

Album opener “Hidden Perks” is an older track, originally written by Jesse while he was still living in New York. Jesse gave the song to Shawnna, who rewrote the lyrics and melody, changing the nature and feel, balancing joy with a tinge of sadness and an understanding of the difficulties of the world but a determination to find happiness wherever it’s available. Over a mid-tempo indie-rock beat, Shawnna sings, “I fight time in the back of my head/ Trying to make me boring.”

“‘Hidden Perks’ is about how I figured that as I got older I would become a better and better version of myself because I would learn more and learn more lessons,” says Shawnna. “And I came to realize I was really admiring my former self and striving to be someone I was before.”

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Certain Animals - Angels In Disguise.

With its first release in 2022, Certain Animals cheerfully opens its eyes and takes a look at the past. Driven by the Hammond organ, the band recalls its childhood memories.

Uninhibited, with an open mind and framed by pointed guitar riffs and a finely funky Wurlitzer, Certain Animals tells a three-part story as if it came from one mouth. Simple but effective: from sweet-voiced solitude to guitar harmonies that would not have been unworthy of the Allman brothers, and from pinprick to exploding reverb tank. Angels In Disguise strikes a balance between vintage and modern.

From the past to the present, the song takes the listener through a musical whirlwind and the accompanying unexpected beauty that man can encounter.

Hold On, Sun King, Younger Than Now and Midnight TV, the first four singles from Certain Animals' upcoming second album have been very well received by the media in their home country of the Netherlands and abroad. The singles have been added to playlists and have been played very regularly on national radio stations. The singles were all in the Top 3 of the alternative charts on Dutch national radio. Sun King was also heard in the Dutch edition of the very popular TV program The Bachelor. In Belgium previous single Younger Than Now is currently on the playlist of national radio VRT 2 and can be heard on Studio Brussel the national pop station.

TCBYML · Certain Animals - Angels In Disguise

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Jo Schornikow - Visions.

Atop Jo Schornikow’s piano is an altar filled with pieces from the Nashville-based, Melbourne by way of NYC-bred artist’s life: a life that led her from jazz bars to church organs, performing on tour around the world with her partner Matthew Houck of Phosphorescent, and home to their two children - pieces that were once housed in dusty boxes when she lost her sense of self.

Today, Jo announces her new album ALTAR, out May 20 via Keeled Scales, named as a tribute to the thread that ties together and celebrates all her various selves. The title also nods to its homophone’s definition of 'change' and the German translation of its truncate meaning ‘elder.’ It’s a joyously vulnerable pronouncement of her purposeful presence, a protean spirit transmitted. The seeds of this album were tended to by Jo throughout loud, intense years of heavy touring, and quiet, intense years of early motherhood, growing through whatever cracks were found in those dual foundations.

To celebrate the announcement, Jo releases “Visions,” a rousing song in the tradition of Tom Petty-inspired by an ominous cosmic confluence of events that makes peace with impermanence as the only constant. It’s paired with a video shot under a surprise severe weather warning at a small-town Tennessee fair, directed by Noah Hanson.

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Thomas Dollbaum - God's Country.

About God's Country, Thomas says simply: "This song's about driving around rural Florida"

Thomas Dollbaum was born and grew up in Tampa, Florida. In 2015, Thomas moved to New Orleans to study at University of New Orleans for his masters in poetry.

While in New Orleans, Thomas worked as a carpenter and began writing the songs that eventually became Wellswood. The album was recorded over many sessions during the pandemic in New Orleans in an old hotel suite turned recording studio by friend and fellow musician Matthew Seferian.

Thomas still resides In New Orleans, running his own carpentry business.

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Mall Girl - Neska Rose - Dot Allison - Owen FitzGerald

Mall Girl - For Hannah.

Superstar, the debut record from Norwegian art-pop outfit Mall Girl, represents an exciting new chapter for the buzzed-about band. The release follows a string of successful singles, including album tracks ‘Bachtap’ & ‘Bubbly Cool Drink’, which introduced them as an act to watch in the alt-pop arena. Their debut album is scheduled for release on April 29th via independent label Jansen Records.

Recorded at Studio Paradiso in Oslo with long-time collaborator Marcus Forsgren, Superstar runs the gamut of emotions and moments of reflection on our fleeting experiences. On their new single, 'For Hannah', the band say:

"All the feelings and thoughts you hide from the other person in a relationship, where do they end up and what will they lead to? As life keeps on moving forward towards an uncertain future, you sit and wonder what your desires are in the midst of all the uncertainty. These questions are the story told in this song: “Who will catch me if I fall? Will you run if things get too tough? What are your true, inner desires?” And until you get your answers you’ll sit down, observe the world around you and try to find as much comfort in the future unfolding before your eyes."

Members Iver Armand Tandsether, Hannah Veslemøy Narvesen, Eskild Myrvoll and Bethany Forseth-Reichberg were forced to get creative when the pandemic hit, sidelining best-laid plans to flesh out some songs before heading into the studio together.

"Because of COVID regulations and the four of us living in two different cities, we changed the way we worked with the songs quite radically in the months leading up to the studio recording,” Narvesen says. "We’ve always been very oriented towards the live performance of the songs, including when we compose them together in our rehearsal space. That way of working has led to some challenges when recording, as you end up listening to the songs in a different manner and might figure out you should have done everything differently."

While others put their creative endeavours on hold, Mall Girl opted to try something different. Many of the songs on Superstar were tracks that the band regularly performed, but they wanted to seize the opportunity to evolve their sound even more.

Jansen Records · For Hannah

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Neska Rose - Pick Me.

Singer, songwriter, and actress Neska Rose has released a brand new single called “Pick Me”, an upbeat, guitar-driven pop song that shows off both her natural charisma as a performer and her knack for catchy and relatable songwriting. The song is accompanied by a music video starring Neska and her twin sister Libi Rose, who frequently collaborates with her sister on music and whose voice can be heard harmonizing with Neska on the song.

This new song follows her debut single “Done” from 2020 and an EP in 2021 titled The Repel Of A Young Girl, both of which Neska wrote and produced herself. In addition to her music, Neska is making waves as a comedic actress, featured as the recurring character Gertie on the Nickelodeon high school mockumentary Drama Club and will soon be appearing in a climate change anthology series “Extrapolations” from Apple TV alongside a star studded series cast that includes Meryl Streep, Matthew Rhys, Marion Cotillard, Eiza Gonzalez, Tobey Maguire, and more.

The song and music video are both centered around, as Neska puts it, the “need to feel like you’re being heard, that you want to be picked”, with the video literally taking place at a theatre audition as Libi plays three different characters who are all trying out for a part. As each one of these distinct characters played by Libi dances across the stage with Neska, you get a real sense of not only the strong performing chops these young women have already developed, but also the natural chemistry they have with each other as siblings.

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Dot Allison - Love Died in Our Arms (Lee Scratch Perry Remix).

Dot Allison follows the critically acclaimed Heart-Shaped Scars - her first solo album in a decade -with a remix of "Love Died in Our Arms" by the late Lee 'Scratch' Perry, the final project of the legendary producer's career. Perry’s remix serves as the first single for the upcoming Entangled Remix EP, a collection of reworkings of favorite tracks from the critically acclaimed album.

Along with Lee "Scratch" Perry's mix the EP features contributions from Saint Etienne, Anton Newcombe, Lomond Campbell and The Anchoress. Saint Etienne have always had close ties to Dot, thanks to their mutual ties to Heavenly and Andrew Weatherall. Anton Newcombe is a fellow singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist and has collaborated with her recently on their work for the soundtrack to the TV series “Annika.” Lomond Campbell, a BAFTA-winning songwriter and shortlister for the Scottish Album of the Year Award, combines his ambitious creative spirit with Dot’s poignant lyricism. And The Anchoress, who has performed and collaborated in the past with renowned acts such as Simple Minds and Manic Street Preachers, brings her wide range of experiences to reimagining a never-before-released song from Dot.

Dot says, “I titled this ‘Entangled Remix EP’ to tie with “Heart-Shaped Scars” but also in a way the slightly disparate influences on the EP spanning decades from when I was first influenced by dub music & did a remix for St. Etienne to Anton in Berlin & the Anchoress now.

Of all the tracks on the Entangled Remix EP, none hold a greater importance than Lee “Scratch” Perry’s remix of “Love Died In Our Arms,” the final work of his long and storied career. Perry works brilliantly as he always has within the framework of Dot’s original song, weaving his signature dub beats into the music without distracting from Dot’s moving singing and songwriting.

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Owen FitzGerald - Don't Give Me A Pet.

Themes of dissociation are some of the major conduits running through Owen FitzGerald’s work. Somewhere in the narratives and world-building vignettes the characters that inhabit the universe of A deep clean you can count on! start with or wander deliriously into a state of bewilderment with the relationship to their own bodies, the utterly de-centering experience of being head-over-heels in love, the secret language of animals and plants and the atomization that the grist-mill of modern life inflicts.

Blundering through existential crisis after crisis, FitzGerald’s gives us a few anchors that tie us back to the physical space: feeding the dog, the biomechanical synchronization of a lover’s breath, the office politics of forest animals and core memories of singing out loud with friends. Musically, FitzGerald invites us to follow the breadcrumbs in the labyrinth of his knotty, surrealistic and, often, very funny and very dismal brand of Country music.

Based out of Durham, North Carolina FitzGerald’s shift away from his moniker Jokes&Jokes&Jokes towards his Government name in 2020 feels more like a person getting to know themselves rather than a magician revealing the false bottom or other pair of legs. Musically FitzGerald shares a similar bent trajectory of expressing the existential and the ineffable through the hard-scrabble and unlucky characters that populate these nine songs. Glenn Campbell, Bill Callahan and the spectre of John Prine figure heavily. The trinity here seem to guide the album’s neat strummers into the Chamber-Folk and further into Free-Jazz inflected. Meanwhile FitzGerald’s incredibly strong songwriting cuts a broad swath of rich purple velvet connecting him to contemporary outsider-Country artists like Cass McCombs and Simon Joyner in their surrealistic poetry and punch-in-the-gut one-liners.

Of these songs, FitzGerald writes, “These nine songs are like school pictures. They are wallet-sized portraits taken between 2006 and 2016. The songs on “A deep clean you can count on!” are frightened, sad, confused, bewildered, dislocated, hopeful, and hopeless. They’re emotional snapshots. Sometimes I can’t recognize myself in the songs. Other times I’m so swept up that I’m carried back in time by strong, old feelings. I’m hungover and doomed. I’m an unfixable thing that hurts other people. Whenever you find an old picture of yourself in a yearbook or a sock drawer I hope you feel happy to be where you are. More than anything else, that’s how this record makes me feel.”

What was it about the past not being done with us or time being a flat circle? By opening up every drawer and dawning the elbow length rubber gloves and grabbing the Ajax, FitzGerald leaves no stone unturned in his psyche and no dark corner unexplored. Yet, everyday our dog tracks mud on our freshly cleaned floors and our dead skin cells sluff off on our sheets when we sleep. FitzGerald seems to be saying that maintenance, routine and the courage to stare yourself deep into the eyes and cry and laugh at all the dumb shit we did, is the deep clean we can count on.

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Ali Sperry - LUIANNA - Josie Bello - The Hourglass Effect

Ali Sperry - In Your Dreams.

Of "In Your Dreams," co-written with friend and fellow artist Carey Ott, Ali says: "As artists, one’s own authenticity and unique perspective is our greatest asset and in some ways, it feels like it’s all we really have. Our ability to look at something and respond as ourselves and reflect back in our own authentic way is crucial. 

The goal is to create art that is un-self-conscious, that is our own truth, and not trying to be something we think might be trendy or popular or 'cool.' 'Don’t worry, don’t be sorry, say it' is the repeating mantra of this song and it is what I have endeavored to do throughout this record, and as I move forward through my life."

The album features collaborations with some of Nashville's finest: Allison Russell, Kyshona, Natalie Schlabs, Jill Andrews, and more. At a time of desperately missing making music in a room with other people, Ali and her husband, producer Jamie Dick, made a virtual room in which to gather friends to contribute their voices and ideas. When daily life was often feeling like Groundhog Day, working on this record gave Ali a creative purpose.

It's not a record about the pandemic, but it was very much informed by the stillness of life at that time. The concurrence between our new quieter, slower daily pace with the intense political atmosphere of 2021, including the racial reckoning that was taking place in our country and the echoes of the #metoo movement still active in the public discourse, spilled into a batch of beautifully executed, Laurel Canyon-esque songs about mortality, our place in the universe, how we treat one another and ourselves, and what we are passing along to the next generation.

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LUIANNA - Lying To Me.

Alt-pop newcomer LUIANNA kicks off 2022 with the release of her celestial new single Lying To Me, released on 4th February 2022.

Taken from her upcoming debut EP Skiá, Lying To Me is a brooding slice of atmospheric electronica oozing with sonically dark twists and turns throughout. Written weeks before LUIANNA found out her partner was having an affair, the single has become a powerfully emotive and highly relatable premonition for what was to come.

LUIANNA elaborates, “the song told me it was happening. I didn’t know until I wrote it and when I went to see him, it all fell into place. I love how songwriting can do this, predict. I put this down to the subconscious knowing what you have not yet understood; being in a space writing freely channels into the subconscious.”

LUIANNA - aka Jasmine Luianna Emslie - was born in London, brought up in South Wales and has since spent the past fifteen years between Bristol and Berlin. Her upcoming EP was recorded in The Famous Gold Watch Studio in Berlin. With Skiá, LUIANNA hopes to captive listeners further with her unique blend of intimate electro-pop.

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Josie Bello - Resilience.

Resilience is Josie Bello’s third full-length studio album.  Resilience is a collection of nine tracks of new original material covering a multitude of subjects and moods —revealing a more introspective side to Josie’s lyrics.  The music is a mix of Americana styles encompassing Folk, Country and Rock. In addition to Josie’s lead vocals, accordion and keys, the players feature Mike Nugent on guitar, bass and dojo and Shawn Murray on drums. Jim Small’s emotive harmonica and Richie Guerrero and Sean Dolan on percussion add texture and depth to the sound on a number of the tracks.

Josie’s first two albums, Have Purpose Live Long (2020) and Can’t Go Home (2018), were met with positive reviews both in the U.S. and in Europe, and extensive radio play and chart placements. The album Have Purpose Live Long ranked #17 on the Folk Alliance International  Radio Chart (Aug 2020) while Josie ranked #24 on their Top Artist List that same month.  Josie was named on the Euro-Americana Radio Chart in the “ones to watch” category (Aug 2020) and her album Have Purpose Live Long continues to place on the RMR (Roots Music Report) Top 50 Folk Radio Chart over one year since it’s release— making it to the Top 5 Folk Album Chart 28 times!  Josie’s first album, Can’t Go Home,  placed on the “RMR Best of 2019 Charts”— #29 NYS RMR Album Chart,  #36 Roots Rock Album Chart and #68 Rock Chart. Her first album Can’t Go Home broke in to the top 200 on the Americana Music Radio Chart.

Josie’s music has been reviewed and written about in the following print and online publications: Americana Highways,  NYS Music, FATEA Records UK, Midwest Record, The Bandcamp Diaries, Americana UK, The Rocking Magpie, INK 19, Cheers To The Vikings, The Sound Cafe, Take Effect Reviews and Rootstime Belgium. Two of Josie’s tracks were picked up by Aldora Britain Records (ABR) for compilation albums: Not The America Of My Dreams on the ABR compilation album Remember (2020) and Happy Independence Day on the ABR compilation album Candy Cane (2021).  Both albums are available for sale on Bandcamp.

 

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The Hourglass Effect - But Anyways.

“But Anyways” is self written by artist and songwriter Drew Brashear, produced by multi-instrumentalist Dave Hardman and vocalist Erin Fox-Clough. But Anyways is the outcome of a peak covid-time jam session in their efforts to stay creative and push through the negative situation worldwide, which was then arranged and turned into the first track of the self-titled album.

The Hourglass Effect came about from a serendipitous meeting in a parking lot.

Spotting flame-haired singer Erin clutching a guitar heading to a recording studio, songwriter Drew struck up conversation. It just so happened that Dave was her music teacher at the studio, and together, the three bonded over their shared vision for Drew’s songs.

As soon as Drew heard Erin sing, he began to write with her passionate, arresting voice in mind.

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The Selenites - Handsome and the Humbles - Jana Pochop - Niagara Moon - Debora Rusch

The Selenites - I Won't Go.

Blinded by love, people make mistakes that are difficult to explain logically, however our passion and devotion to things we love is what makes us human. Occasionally it’s good to forget about our very rational mind. For that reason The Selelnites created their latest single  “I Won`t Go" as a hymn of praise to the gut feeling and matters of the heart.

"The Selenites" - Sebastian Pichler (vocals, guitar), Thomas Berndl (drums) and Paul Hangler (backing vocals, upright bass) - are a three headed Rock'n'Roll band from Austria, who are dedicated to infect the world with their unique style of Rock'n'Roll. They play and interpret Rock'n'Roll as well as the different genres of Rockabilly (50s, 60s, Neo) in their own and new way, mixing it with elements of Surf and even Garage. 

After their founding in 2018 the band already released their first album „Moon Madness“ in August 2020 and are now back with new material. From guitar, upright bass, drums and an inimitable voice they created a mix that catches you and is second to none in the Rock'n'Roll world. Just like their former album the new song was created on an authentic live recording in the studio, an analog mix and was refined with a tape master - well just like back in the old days.

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Handsome and the Humbles - 400 Cigarettes (E.P).

In his day job, the gig that pays the bills until his band — Handsome and the Humbles — gets the recognition (and the payday) it so richly deserves, Josh Smith spends his days listening.

He’s a physical therapist assistant, and that merry twinkle in his eyes and ever-present smile puts his patients at ease. As he encourages them and puts them through the routines that bring their frail and wounded bodies back to health, they open up to the East Tennessee boy, and in turn, he gives them his mind and his imagination as well as his hands.

“It gets you thinking about things,” he says. “Hearing about people who have been through a lot more than I have makes me think, ‘How would I handle that? Am I as good as this person?’ I’m a lucky guy — I’ve got a great family and great friends, and I wonder sometimes what my life would be if I had to go through what they have.”

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Jana Pochop - Maps.

"Since I have been a full-on freelancer for over a decade, I think I have reached a point of success in that I get to dictate my days and no two days are alike." says Jana Pochop, a self-proclaimed nerd with a penchant for pop songs, wandering and slow drip coffee. Joining the ranks of fellow do-it-yourself Texan Troubadours such as Susan Gibson, Jeff Plankenhorn and Terri Hendrix, Jana has long since mastered the art of creating your own destiny and teaching other songwriters the importance of the pivot. Case in point, the completion of her newest record, 'The Astronaut', during a worldwide pandemic that sent us all to our knees.

A project born in 2019, shelved due to the hectic (pre-covid) life of a traveling musician, waiting to truly start then finish the album turned out to be serendipitous. As the world shut down, the creators opened up - both indelible acts of survival. New ways to collaborate were placed on the proverbial table and Jana, along with Producer Daniel Barrett, took this opportunity, masked up and ran - straight to Congress House Studio in Austin. With Mark Hallman now on board to engineer the rolling process, Pochop recorded her vocals and guitar parts in just two days, which speaks to the creative, resilient force that she aims to keep well-fed.

Jana hails from the culturally rich Albuquerque, NM, where she earned a degree in History from the University of New Mexico, all the while cutting her teeth at coffee shops, street corners, and folk festivals. She says it was at the University where she learned how to learn…a skill that she uses constantly while maneuvering the ever-changing music business. Jana honed her performance chops at gigging and opening slots, and in 2006, moved to Austin to close the gap in her pursuit of a career in music. Jana immersed herself in the Texas music scene, playing clubs, house concerts, and anywhere that would have her. In 2019, the opportunity to have a residency at the legendary Threadgill's presented itself, and Jana shared the stage with a new guest each Wednesday for her Midweek Modern Troubadours Series. She also joined Kiya Heartwood’s band on electric guitar and toured Ireland, the U.K., playing Fringe Festivals in Edinburgh and The Isle of Wight.

Jana Pochop · The Astronaut - Jana Pochop

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Niagara Moon - Bad Vibes.

 Niagara Moon debut single is "Bad Vibes".  The track is "a parody of paranoia. A satire of superstition. “Bad Vibes” explores how fear can lead to consuming misinformation. Current events being what they are, there’s a lot to get spooked over. And certain circles of the internet can make things feel even worse…" confides Niagara Moon.

Reminiscent of Beach Boys meets Thom York with a Willy Wonka lens, "Bad Vibes" takes the listener on an unexpected sonic journey.

Currently based in Massachusetts USA, Niagara Moon formed during a three-year period of living and studying in Kyoto, Japan. The name itself inspired by a 70's Japanese pop artist, the NM ethos is that of finding calm, balance, and room for self-expression in a world of close-mindedness, over-activity and malaise. A whimsical forest to escape to in solitude, and let the mind wander to new and exciting places.

In the past few years of accruing a modest following through online videos, a weekly Niagara Moon Podcast (featuring many guest artists), and livestreams, I've been able to holistically develop my branding, look, and fan avatar to better reach the most engaged audience - writers, vinyl collectors/Beatles and ELO diehards, art & film school students, etc.

More on the upcoming new album Good Dreams: While the world fell into discord and confusion, Niagara Moon calmly and comfortably sussed out the situation from afar - injecting his wry observations into songs that assure the listener "the world may not be ok, but you can be."

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Debora Rusch - Do You Remember.

With her last single 'Grey' Debora Rusch has already achieved a lot and landed in the playlists of numerous radios all over Europe.

Now the Jonerin releases her originally planned summer song in the middle of winter! Why actually? Where subdued mood, cold and colorlessness prevail, music should cheer up. Where there are fewer adventures and opportunities to experience, is to be smoldered in memories.

On February 04, 2022, her second single «Do You Remember» brings warmth straight home. From gray to colorful, from melancholy to the most inspiring times. Let's dive into poppy soul feeling with cheeky reggea flavor and let ourselves be carried away by the supporting trumpet sounds. Get out of the daily grind and dive into your own stories.

Recognize that every moment we experience in the now is already given in the next second of the past. ...So we better consciously make it a precious memory....

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Ellen Arthur Blyth - Dana Gavanski - Many Voices Speak

Ellen Arthur Blyth - Young Ones.

Ellen Arthur Blyth is a Dublin based singer songwriter. Her unique, soulful sound blends classic artists such as Billie Holiday and Peggy Lee with contemporary hints of Katie Melua and Lana Del Ray. Honing her craft over the years Ellen is excited to unveil her debut album ‘Nine’ in 2022. Leading up to the album release is her new single ‘Young Ones’. With a seductive vocal line and jazz-infused instrumentation, the new offering is a tantalizing tease of what we can expect more of from Ellen Arthur Blyth.

“It's less about falling in love and more about choosing to stay in love, trying to find magic and playfulness with someone in the mundane of the everyday. It's striving to be someone’s safe place in a world that can seem overwhelming at times. Love is a choice and so it’s important how we frame it.” Ellen shares.

The track was recorded as part of her upcoming debut album ‘Nine’ in Hell Fire Studios, Dublin and produced by Alex Borwick, head engineer at the famed Grouse Lodge studios in Ireland.

The impressive sound walks a tightrope of consonance and dissonance, nostalgia and joy, resulting in a finely poised drama of soft, lilting melody and haunting wistfulness. The vocal, at once resonant, is at times achingly honest and captivates from beginning to end. With the plethora of talent behind it, ‘Nine’ does not sing like the debut album it is, but instead stands as an accomplished piece, unapologetic, stylish, and yet encapsulating the fears and aspirations of a nine-year old girl tottering about in her sister’s high heels whilst belting out numbers into her hairbrush.

 

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Photo - Clementine Schneidermann

Dana Gavanski - Indigo Highway.

There’s something mesmerizing about the fingertips of Dana Gavanski. Conducting each note with a light gracefulness, they appear to dance whilst aiding their owner in expressing the stories behind each of her lighter-than-air tones. Stories which, on her new album When It Comes – out April 29 via Flemish Eye (and Full Time Hobby outside of North America)  – may never have been heard if not for healing ‘lost’ vocal cords and a lesson in taking the rough with the smooth.

“In many ways this record feels like it is my first,” Dana tells. “When I could use my voice, I had to focus so there is an urgency and greater emotional trajectory than before… it’s very connected to vocal presence, which extended into an existential questioning of my connection to music. It felt like a battle at times, which I frequently lost.”

Arriving where introversion and extroversion meet, When It Comes is Dana’s most vulnerable record to date. A Canadian-Serbian artist unafraid of extremes, she seamlessly blends her love of music from the 50s-70s with mythology. Led by instinct in its purest form, Dana’s latest chapter is an ode to the voice as an instrument – its power, and how intricately it can deliver words to tug at, and tie knots in, every heartstring. “Words can be taken quite literally, but to me, a lot of the time, they are pivots. They point in a direction but don’t necessarily stay there,” she says.

The follow-up to her 2020 debut Yesterday Is Gone was started in Montreal, ended in Belgrade, recorded back in London at Total Refreshment Centre, and then mixed by Mike Lindsay (Tunng, Lump). It offers something altogether more atmospheric and widescreen, as heard in the idiosyncratic carnival arpeggio grooves of the first single "Indigo Highway."

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Photo - Julia Mard

Many Voices Speak - Seat For Sadness.

Many Voices Speak has announced her return with second album 'Gestures', released on 29th April via Strangers Candy. Many Voices Speak, the project of Swedish musician Matilda Mård, has always found its power in its ability to capture an eternity in an expression. Mård’s elegant, yearning dream-pop makes the world seem to slow down around it, where time stretches out, and you can get lost in the deep pools of memory and emotion. After the success of her 2018 debut 'Tank Town,' her new album 'Gestures' showcases her growth as a songwriter, one more comfortable in her own skin.

The first single taken from the new record is 'Seat for Sadness'. “The verse of this song kind of came to me all at once. Then it took quite a long time until I got the rest of the song out of me", Matilda recalls, "I lived in Berlin at the time and rented a piano room at a music school, and most of the hours spent in there I was searching for the rest of the song. It wasn’t until me and Petter Nygårdh had started recording the album back home in Sweden, that I came up with the melody that would become the chorus. The new chorus pushed us in a new direction by making the whole song require something more. We had only brought a small part of the home studio to a country house to escape the noise from the neighbour’s renovation, but we found an acoustic guitar in that house that ended up being an important part of Seat For Sadness, and later on an important part of the album as a whole.”

Working with longtime producer Petter Nygårdh, the writing process, and how Mård thinks about it, grew into something new on 'Gestures'. She wrote the early versions of the songs on piano, as she always has. But before, she thought as a singer-songwriter, determined to make the songs stand up on their own, in their stripped-back version. Here, she wrote them merely as beginnings, aware of the possibility to evolve them into something more. “I want to capture these things that I can’t really put my finger on”, says Mård. “The lyrics have become more important for me. I’ve put a lot of trust in the text this time. I could explore this darker and more cinematic sound, I didn’t just think about writing a pop song”. That step made for an album that presents a more mature, developed vision of Many Voices Speak.

As well as an artist, the album has seen Mård grow as a person through writing it. Each song represents an issue she has struggled with - they tell a story of unspectacular, but deeply meaningful, transformation. Mård says “What unites the songs is a need for inner change, to handle the things in life that can’t be changed. I’m creating strategies for myself - new ways of thinking, so I can live with certain things. The title comes from that. I’ve figured out that gestures are important because they’re proof of love, and that’s the only power we have against death and separation”. It’s a theme that’s very personal to Mård, but one that resonates with a lot of people – something that could be said about Many Voices Speak itself. The stargazing mood of Gestures makes for an album that’s powerfully moving, one that creates a space apart from the noise of the world around it – a little retreat for Mård, and her listeners, to call their own.

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Andrew Ryan - Jody and the Jerms - Ghosts Of Torrez

Andrew Ryan - Midwest Kids.

Andrew Ryan announces the release of his Americana single, “Midwest Kids,” out today. The single is off the album, A Tiny Death, due out April 1 on Delete Yourself. “Midwest Kids”  revolves around the growing pains of figuring out who you are or where you belong, even within yourself.

“Midwest Kids” serves as a guide to navigating life, the good or the bad, from childhood through adulthood. Ryan says, “Being a father, I’m starting to see my daughter try to navigate the same waters that we all swim through.” The single is an open letter to Ryan’s daughter, who moved from being a kid to becoming a pre-teen when he wrote the song.

After spending so much time on the road, Ryan found a kindred spirit in William Least Heat-Moon’s book Blue Highways. In fact, on his upcoming album, he wrote the song “Heat Moon” about the fellow traveler. The book chronicles Heat-Moon’s journey across back highways (blue highways), where he encounters a diverse group of people along the way while discovering more about himself in the process. Ryan says, “I find inspiration in everything I experience, the people I meet, the places I’ve been, and the difficulties that life presents. I credit a lot of it to touring and being on the road.”

“Midwest Kids,” the first single set for release, revolves around the growing pains of trying to figure out who you are or where you belong, even within yourself. Ryan says, “Being a father, I’m starting to see my daughter try to navigate the same waters that we all swim through.” “All My Life” follows the struggle of trying to do the right thing or understanding if what you’re doing at the time is the right thing or not.

Jay Burgess (The Pollies), Alden Hedges (American Aquarium), Daniel Wolff (Dead Horses), and  Will Walden (StaG) were just a few of the friends and artists who contributed to the album. It was all recorded from everyone’s home or home studio, except for some backing vocals recorded at Native Sound in St. Louis, Missouri.

Andrew Ryan · Midwest Kids

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Jody and the Jerms - Heavenly.

True to its title, it’s a track of divine indie-pop that finds the Oxford-via-Wales band harking back to the genre’s golden era. For a track written in hell-on-earth (i.e. a traffic jam going over Henley Bridge as the band made their way to the studio one day), “Heavenly” defies all expectations with its saintly vocals, shimmering guitars and sunkissed melodies.

A bittersweet love song that will play a serenade on your heart strings, “Heavenly” is all “about the perils of falling for someone head-over-heels and how that plays out” says Jody.

Written and recorded on the same day in October of last year, the song is a beam of warmly fuzzy guitar pop laced with all the promises of new romance and new beginnings around the corner, yet spun with the reclusive cautiousness familiar to any indie kid finding their way.

Earning a dedicated fan in the late broadcaster Janice Long, the new single was aired for the very first time when Jody & The Jerms were invited into what would be the DJ’s last ever live session on 20th December 2021, shortly before her passing.

“Heavenly” is the lead single and opening track of Jody & The Jerms’ upcoming second album, ‘Flicker’ which they also announce today. Confirmed for release on 4th March 2022 via their own JATJ imprint, ‘Flicker’ arrives less than 18 months after the surprise hit of their lockdown-released debut ‘Deeper’ (released Autumn 2020).

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Ghosts Of Torrez - The Legend of Billy The Whale.

Ghosts Of Torrez released their first single (The Return) during the second lockdown in 2021 to critical acclaim and the follow up ‘Closer’ following later in that year. In 2022 the band will release their debut LP and have already started taking their cinematic style, psychedelic, electro-folk to the live arena (more live dates TBC).

Their new single ‘The Wailing’ is due to be released on the 11/02/2022 on all streaming services, followed by a limited free, Flex-Disc release in early March

‘The Wailing’ is accompanied by a Manga style video, “The Legend of Billy The Whale” (The Wailing/Whaling – who doesn’t love a play on words), which depicts the desperation of a broken, Captain Ahab type figure, vengefully taking on the beast he holds responsible for the death of his loved ones.

Taking their lead from bands such as Explosions in the Sky, Joy Division, Sigur Ros and Mogwai, GOT build their songs from soft, slow beginnings into cinematic style wonders.

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Romantic Thriller - Van Chamberlain - Jules Jones & the Legendary Ten Seconds

Romantic Thriller - I Cannot Tell.

LA based performance artist and mastering engineer, Rebecca Huston, aka, Romantic Thriller says her music is inspired by film noir, the dictionary states of the film genre: it’s marked by a mood of fatalism and menace. The avant garde artist weaves an intricate tale on her new offering ‘I Cannot Tell’. Eerie synths and an enigmatic vocal line make up the haunting soundscape of the track, making for an otherworldly listening experience.

The track tells the story of teenage love, jealousy and big personalities that perhaps cannot coexist. Huston details the characters in her story; Cynthia, Heather and Jesse. On a mystifying night in the woods behind a fairground, things change forever as Heather goes missing and Cynthia and Jessie’s worlds collide.

“Though no one knows a thing, really… about what happened that night in the woods, there are details Cynthia has never been able to bring herself to say. Would Jesse understand? Would Heather still be here if she revealed her secret? She cannot tell.” - Huston says on the track’s story.  This track and others in her catalog have interwoven storylines and recurring characters.  She says she likes to think of them as tantalizing blurbs on the back of campy serial teen romance novels.

The release arrives with a music video that captures the story being told through Lynch-inspired dreamy visuals. Hazy imagery of the fairground and the woods transport the audience to the fateful night that is captured in ‘I Cannot Tell’.

Huston has been musical from the start, playing violin and oboe in school. She comes from a creative background and to this day surrounds herself with friends with innovative endeavours. Huston honed her craft over the years and her life experiences led to her identity of Romantic Thriller. Comparable to musical misfits such as Grimes, Ashnikko and FKA Twigs, Romantic Thriller creates pop music with a mesmerizing quality that drags you into a mystery story you MUST solve.

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Van Chamberlain - A.G.T.

Van Chamberlain is a Brooklyn-based indie rock band. Having grown up making music together on a shared wavelength, brothers Van & Jacob began playing under the name Van Chamberlain in 2019. They make music that combines dream pop and jangle, with a slight 90’s alternative influence showing through. They’ve each played and toured the world in bands including Phantom Buffalo (Rough Trade Records, Time Lag) and Eternal Drag (members of The Dodos). In 2019 they found themselves reunited in Brooklyn, and immediately began crafting their new record, In the Sun.

The band released their first studio-demo, LY, in 2020, right on the cusp of the global pandemic. Having to cancel their live debut, they instead turned to the recording studio. Their first LP, In the Sun, was finished in 2021. By the end of that year Van Chamberlain signed with Very Jazzed with a release scheduled for March 2022.

In the Sun is an album about layers, both sonically and philosophically. Driven by textures of guitars, lush reverb, and grounded by infectious percussion, In the Sun offers sonic choices that feel new and undiscovered every time you put the record on. While Van’s laid-back vocal style offers the disposition of a sunny day with little to do, his lyrics draw from personal experiences of loss and subsequent growth. Their layered sonic approach reaffirms the band’s philosophical message: that what’s past is prologue, and the future holds promise, but neither will count unless you make peace with the present.

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Jules Jones & the Legendary Ten Seconds - The Spanish Are Coming.

The Legendary Ten Seconds started off as the solo music project of Ian Churchward during the time when he was the lead guitar player of The Morrisons who were featured on John Peel's radio one show back in 1987. In 2013 Lord Zarquon joined Ian's music project and since then various guest musicians and vocalists have helped out in the recording studio. The most recent musicians to join the project are Phil Swann and Martyn Hillstead.

The Legendary Ten Seconds have recorded many critically acclaimed English folk rock albums which chronicle the Wars of the Roses and the life and times of Richard III in England during the late 15th century. The albums are available on Amazon and itunes and the band have donated money to a scoliosis charity from some of the income generated from the sale of their music. The CD versions of the albums are available via the Richard III Society in the UK.

In 2018 the band recorded the Mer de Mort album which was commissioned by the Mortimer History Society to commemorate the Society's tenth anniversary. It is a historically accurate album of songs which tells the story of the significantly important Mortimer medieval family from their roots in Normandy prior to the battle of Hastings and into the 15th century. The album includes historical narratives read by the actor John Challis ( Boycie in Only Fools and Horses ) who was the patron of the Mortimer History Society.

2019 saw the release of four albums, Devon Roses, History Book Part One. Instrumental Legends and Thrilling Blunder Stories. In February 2020 the History Book Part Two album was completed and this was followed by The Acoustic Almanac, Amazing Songs and the Pageant of Torbay Part One albums. Additionally a new version of the first Richard III album was released in digital format via Circle of Spears Productions. The new version of the album features fictional narratives written by Sandra Heath Wilson. Following the release of the Pageant of Torbay Part Two and the Semi Acoustic Almanac albums in 2021, the latest album contains songs all about Devon. This album is in the format of a Torquay radio show with jingles recorded by the band and introductions by Riviera FM's Peter Cartwright.

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Anna Westin - Violent Vickie - Vakili Band

Photo - John Haney

Anna Westin - Bright Burning Mess.

Singer, songwriter, and poet Anna Westin, who hails from the UK by way of Canada, has released the second single from her upcoming album, LEV (the Hebrew word for “heart”). The single, “Bright Burning Mess”, which also opens the album, begins with some of Anna’s spoken word poetry, creating an atmosphere of intimacy and setting the thematic tone for the record as a whole. As the spoken intro of the song slowly gives way into a sturdy folk rock groove, Anna Westin’s entire musical style gently unfolds before you, drawing the listener with some of the album’s catchiest vocal melodies and lush backing instrumentation before dissipating back into the ether as Anna’s poetry returns in the track’s outro.

Speaking to her inspirations for “Bright Burning Mess” and how the process of creating this song was the moment that unlocked the album as whole, Anna writes: “At first it was just a collection of songs. It was only later that the more recent songs brought it into a whole concept for an album. So, probably sitting in my new flat in Margate, wondering whether I should have moved to a town I didn’t know by the sea, excited about the possibility of what was next, mourning an old love. I remember distinctly - the flat, with one sofa, before the furniture was bought - the cold blast of sea air, the sense of anticipation, and making sense of a few dreams that I kept having. That’s where 'Bright Burning Mess' started, and where the album emerged essentially.

There’s a Turner painting of the sea bed that reminds me of the movement of the piece - where Turner paints this churning brown muck that is caught up in the crystal blue storm sea, and there’s a bit of that in the piece - a sense of the underriding ’stuff’ pulled up from the deep, and the clear blue that transmits its own burning brightness of light across the horizon, reflecting sunset and moon and light and the vastness above, as it settles, as the day clears, like when we are going through something that causes the foundations to be broken up, and then find that we are on the other side, that the sea within has settled, and we are in the middle of a burning glorious brightness. All just feels like it has settled - like it is well again.”

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Violent Vickie - The Gloom (Dimension 23 remix).

After recording a DJ set for Rinse France, Violent Vickie returns with “THE GLOOM” (Dimension 23 Remix) , a dark punky dance remix of her angsty song by the Techno Trance producer of the 1997 rave hit "I. M.O.K.R.U.O.K" known as Dimension 23. “The Gloom” (Dimension 23 Remix)  is the second track off of Violent Vickie's Division Remixes LP which will be out in March 2022.

Violent Vickie is a Los Angeles based Dark Synth-Riot artist consisting of Vickie and co-producer/recording guitarist E.  Vickie has toured with Hanin Elias of Atari Teenage Riot and has shared the stage with Trans X, The Missing Persons,  Jessie Evans (The Vanishing),Them Are Us Too, Pastel Ghost and Aimon.

She has toured the US, Mexico, Canada & Europe and played Insted Fest, Solidarity Fest, Shoutback Fest & Gay Prides and Ladyfests.  Vickie’s tracks have been released by Crunch Pod, Emerald & Doreen Recordings (Berlin), Riot Grrrl Berlin, & LoveCraft Bar (PDX).  Her track "The Wolf“ was featured in a National Organization for Women film and she was interviewed for the documentary “GRRRL”, part of the museum exhibit “Alien She”.

Her LP "Monster Alley” was voted best album by KALX and her tracks have been remixed by 25+ artists.  Violent Vickie's Division LP was released in September 2020,  followed by a remix album of "Under The Gun" in February 2021 and a cover of Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire in July 2021.   Violent Vickie’s “Division” Remixes LP will be out in March 2022.

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Vakili Band - Fathers Sound.

In anticipation of the album, Walking Sideways, Vakili Band have released the new single, “Father’s Son,” on January 28, 2022, with a video to come. Fronted by powerhouse vocalist/songwriter/guitarist Lily Vakili, Vakili Band cites artists such as Patti Smith, Prince, Iggy Pop, and Rage Against the Machine among their influences, and “Father’s Son” pays tribute to those influences, with lyrics that embrace rebellion.

“My lyrics are a poem with references and nods to what it is to be an outsider, loner, non-conformist - an artist, a son, a woman, a person that doesn't accept easy categorization,” she says. “There's anger in being in that place of otherness - and self-doubt too: ‘I find myself in an indiscriminate rage over misperceived aggressions and slights.’” 

Inspired by a riff written by lead guitarist Ben St. Jack, the song came together when bassist Matt Jovanis and drummer Gordon Kuba locked into an intense percussive groove and Joel Dorow introduced a melodic line on harmonica. The horn section - a new addition to the band’s sound - came to Vakili in a dream. “When it works this well, as a singer/performer, I feel completely unconstrained and can be more experimental with vocals,” Vakili states.

Born in Honduras and raised in Thailand, Puerto Rico, and Iowa, Vakili worked in theatre and went on to carve out a successful career as a biotech lawyer while continuing to nurture all manner of dreams, including making music. She’s since released three albums - two as a solo artist, and one with the band.
Walking Sideways shows the growth of Vakili as a songwriter, vocalist, and bandleader, and the group as a whole. As the band gears up for the release on February 25 2022, they are enjoying the return to the stage. “Performing music live is a pursuit of ecstasy, connection, desire, and love... it’s real, heady stuff,” Vakili says. They’ll next perform at NYC’s Mercury Lounge on January 31, 2022.

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