Burned-out mathematician turned indie-soul artist, Jeremy Voltz’s music is inspired by thinking deeply about the people in his life and what he’d love to have the courage to say to them. Reminiscent of Jeff Buckley, Hozier, and Stevie Wonder, he has a voice that is powerful and haunting, delivering hook-heavy melodies with universal, heartfelt lyrics.
Voltz’s new indie-folk single, “Mountains”, follows on the heels of his debut full-length album, Weekender, produced by multi-JUNO-winning producer Michael Wojewoda. Weekender was named Album of the Year at the Ontario Folk Music Awards in addition to receiving national airplay. The music video for “Fall Apart” has been screened at film festivals internationally and received awards at the Indie Gathering International Film Festival and the Open World Toronto Film Festival.
A signed artist with Hyvetown Music Publishing, Voltz has quickly gained notoriety as a songwriter. His songs have been featured on national commercials as well as on film, television, and radio by companies such as Hallmark, TLC, the NFL, and CBC Radio. Currently featured on Spotify’s Discover Weekly, his award-winning acoustic anthem, “One Day at a Time,” has millions of worldwide listens and recently inspired an illustrated children’s book.
Sacramento quartet Güero have returned a new single “Scribe,” a first taste from their third album, due in early 2023. The track was produced with Akiyoshi Ehara (Geographer/The Seshen).
Discussing “Scribe,” bassist Russell Volksen noted, “We called it ‘Scribe; because it came from always recording the practices, like the way a scribe was tasked in being the record keeper. The song started just as something that we jammed on, a three-chord progression that Rik had. A week or two later, I was listening to it and thinking, ‘We have to try to make a song out of these riffs because they’re really cool’. So, I played it for everyone and we kind of were able to grab some of the parts and construct a song using those riffs. It feels like it was the first time we ever did that, where we pulled some random riffs in a jam and said, ‘that’s the intro, that’s the verse, etc.’ Mike would always yell, ‘Scribe’ impersonating the scene from, ‘Monty Python & the Quest for the Holy Grail’ if we needed to pull up a recording for reference after this.”
Along with Volksen on bass, Güero are guitarist/vocalist Rik Krull, keyboardist Shea Ritche, and drummer Mike Ruiz. The quartet are fond of banging things out live, in their rehearsal studio, recording via the Voice Memos App, to see if anything clicks and sparks. Through this process “Scribe” was born.
AyOwA’s Hannah Schneider has just unveiled a really gorgeous evocative new video for ’The World’s Gone Still Now’ from her new album ’Ocean Letters’.
From the beginning of her career, Hannah Schneider has established herself as a unique musician on the Danish scene. With her love of strong melodies and well-crafted lyrics, she constantly treads new artistic paths, carrying the weight of contemplation as a companion.
‘Ocean Letters’ is written in a time of turmoil, where the waves of water and time have inspired Hannah Schneider's universe of contrasts. Where she has found her classical roots and connected them to her electronic universe. Where gravity and hope, vulnerability and beauty exist side by side at all times.
We have two incredible songs today from to highly creative artists! We begin with indie-folk artist Josienne Clarke who has released Now & Then, a surprise ‘extended E.P’ of covers via her own label, Corduroy Punk Records. Now & Then is a diverse collection, with covers of traditional folk songs like ‘Reynardine’ and ‘The Month of January’ sprinkled amongst Josienne’s take on Radiohead’s ‘Nude’ and Sharon Van Etten’s ‘You Shadow’.
Of her new release, Clarke says: "The last few years I've gone through a process of change as an artist and what better way to orient yourself as a singer and a songwriter than through songs and the work of songwriters you deeply admire.
Perhaps this seems like an odd collection of songs to release now and/or to have alongside one another but these are all songs that I’ve been singing live or have secretly held a notion of how I’d interpret them when I gave myself the chance. Each one deeply melancholic in a way that particularly speaks to me, as a singer, songwriter and an admirer of lyricism in songcraft.
The song from which the EEP's title is taken is a rare-ish Sandy Denny demo, as far as I'm aware only a rough early recording of it exists, the song feels almost beautifully unfinished, a rare one of her tunes that never quite got the attention it deserved. It has this poignant and resigned melancholy that I've always been drawn to in her lyrics. Now and then, the present and the past are two different places and states of being. The lyrics seek to reconcile the two and the peace comes from letting them exist apart from one another.”
In addition to covers of songs by artists like Sandy Denny, Radiohead and Sharon Van Etten, listeners of Now and Then will also find a reworked version of Clarke’s own song ‘Undo’, a track which originally featured on 2017’s Such A Sky, a collaborative EP Clarke released with Mercury nominated jazz pianist Kit Downes. “I included a reworking of my own song 'Undo' because in the same way, my own songs have various lives and this song felt timely, during a period of change and upheaval,” she explains.
We continue with the very honest and talented APACALDA who tells us "My self-titled debut EP was fully written and inspired by true events. I chose bold honesty, sharing details about experiences that have maybe hurt me, but also molded and shaped me. It is meant to simulate an inner downward spiral, enchanting the listener to descend into a hauntingly beautiful immersive world that has been meticulously yet authentically curated."
My latest track, "Male Gaze," is deliberate introspection about the unfortunate yet inevitable darker experiences femme/women have endured and tolerated in a world led predominantly by the "Male Gaze." It's about speaking out, the refusal to continue to adapt to what is, and instead confronting the truth with the intention to accept nothing less than change in favour of a safer existence.
Director Maïlis got an instant inspired vision from listening to the first 20 seconds of this song. The depiction of a woman going through some sort of exorcism, releasing all of the residual judgments, the ingrained ideas of the perception of a woman, and confronting the problematic behaviour that has consumed femme/women and their existence for centuries.
The Sleeping Souls are best known as Frank Turner’s loyal bandmates and fellow road warriors having played together for over a decade. But alongside this role, Tarrant Anderson (bass), Matt Nasir (piano), Callum Green (drums), Ben Lloyd (guitar) and together with Frank’s guitar tech Cahir O’Doherty (Fighting With Wire, Jetplane Landing and currently New Pagans) on vocals, they have branched out on their own with their first single ‘Liar/Lover’.
Blending the tight musicianship and ear for a heartfelt hook they’ve picked up during their many years on the road, this immense and affecting track tells the tale of acceptance in a waning relationship.
Written by the Souls whilst on the road over the past few years, the band explain: “We lie to ourselves and each other as easy as drawing breath. Every lover lies. “Liar/Lover” is about that moment in the breakdown of a relationship when you accept that there’s no repair: only ownership of your own part in its failure.”
A slow-burning acoustic rock track that sees gentle guitar plucks and rousing vocals swirl towards an emotive climax, the new cut is the first of a number of singles taken from a debut album from The Sleeping Souls (due next year). The Sleeping Souls have toured with punk-icon Frank Turner since 2006. They have recorded six studio albums with the artist, including 2022 #1 ‘FTHC’, headlined Wembley Arena, performed at the 2012 London Olympics and toured the world many times over.
A couple of songs from the brand new album & I have to say time fly's it was 2020 when we last featured them & it seems just months ago, anyway another superb album from a fabulous band, enjoy!
What's the opposite of locking down, staying in, and yet another mildly satisfying TV night? That would be "going out," precisely what The Claudettes passionately prescribe with their rich, diverse, riveting new album, The Claudettes Go Out! Released on October 14, 2022, via Forty Below Records.
Wielding a one-of-a-kind, piano-powered roots-pop sound, The Claudettes merge earthy blues and soul with pop hooks and punk spirit, writing an intriguing new chapter in American roots music. Pianist/songwriter Johnny Iguana first gained renown as pianist for blues giant Junior Wells and as co-founder of punk-organ band Oh My God. Johnny has toured or recorded with Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Johnny Winter, Derek Trucks, Gary Clark Jr., Shemekia Copeland, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, James Cotton, and more. He has played on three Grammy-nominated albums and earned a 2021 Blues Music Award nomination for Piano Player of the Year. Johnny co-founded The Claudettes with drummer Michael Caskey (Chuck Mangione, Koko Taylor). Caskey is a Downbeat Magazine award winner and a five-time Detroit Music Awards recipient. Michael had previously toured with Johnny's band Oh My God, as had Claudettes bassist/singer Zach Verdoorn. After hearing Berit Ulseth sing in a Chicago country band, Johnny asked her to join The Claudettes in 2016. Ulseth studied jazz vocal instruction at NYC's New School and has sung on three of the band's albums and an EP.
The band completed two sessions for the new album. The first session was recorded and co-produced in Chicago by recent Grammy nominee Anthony Gravino (Kurt Elling, Charlie Hunter) and mixed in NYC by Grammy-winning legend Kevin Killen (David Bowie, U2, Elvis Costello). The second session, in Chicago, was helmed by Grammy-winning producer Ted Hutt (Violent Femmes, Old Crow Medicine Show) and mixed in LA by Hutt and Ryan Mall.
Though the song "Park Bench" features string charts by Jim Cooper, violin and viola by Andra Kulans, cello by Nora Barton, and acoustic guitar by Anthony Gravino, all the rest of The Claudettes Go Out! was performed by the four band members. The album opens with "A Lovely View," a haunting, hallucinatory slice of post-punk soul, before unveiling profoundly heartfelt and sharply sardonic songs. "The American Sky" begins as a bluesy '60s torch song à la Peggy Lee's version of "Fever" before morphing into string-laden Flaming Lips "Superman" territory. "The American Sky" finds the narrator so smitten with his political talking points that he sees them as majestic soaring eagles. Later, the breakneck-paced "Exposure" summons the spirits of everyone from The Who to Devo as the band laments the necessity of music-biz meetings when all they want to do is play.
Growing up in Northern Italy, Cavalo55 didn’t have much to do apart from learning how to play the guitar and dreaming that he was somewhere in America. After playing in a few bands and studying at a film school, he quickly realized he’d never settle to be an armchair wanderer. As soon as he got a chance, he left Italy and traveled to Australia, Indonesia, Scotland, and the United States, where he mingled with anarchists and jammed with New Orleans’ music-loving crust punks. During those days of busking and train-hopping, he dug deep into the great legacy of old-time folk guitar music, absorbing the Delta blues of Robert Johnson, Blind Willie Johnson’s slide guitar, and picking up the Appalachian banjo.
A family emergency prompted him to fly back to Italy, and soon he made his way to Lisbon, Portugal, the westernmost part of the European Continent. After a short while he was already playing with countless local artists with these collaborations bolstering his reputation and songwriting. Now the right moment has presented itself for him to create and release the first songs under his own name as he looks to shape his musical identity as a solo artist.
Now manifesting itself for the first time on ‘Hi’s&Lo’s’. As he explains, recounting one trip in particular, and how it went on to provide the inspiration for the track: “I wrote this song on the way back from France to Portugal. There's this little place called Santo Tomé, close to Madrid, very dry, desert like hills, highways, and nothing else”. Cavalo55 goes on to explain: “it's about opposing forces that want us to keep some things unchanged, forever unspoiled, and at the same time our need to go forward. And it's about being happy, and being sad, and then being ok, and then in the end, it being all good”.
Mainly self-produced and in large part self-recorded at his home studio with a few tools and with additional production coming from Hugo Valverde and Tiago Saga (Time for T), it was mastered by Philip Shaw Bova (Marlon Williams, Bahamas, Andy Shauf) with Catarina Falcão (Monday), Paulo Novaes and Tiago Saga adding backing vocals. ‘Hi’s&Lo’s’ is the kind of gorgeous song you will soon come to expect from Cavalo55.
Listen To BCMR
(Beehive Candy Music Radio) streaming 24/7 with all the music featured
on Beehive Candy in recent weeks and an eclectic mix of music from days
gone by. BCMR-HERE.
Berlin-based shadow-pop newcomers Bad Hammer have shared new single 'Call Me'. The single comes alongside news that they will be touring the UK and Europe in November and December, including dates with NY's Black Marble. Bad Hammer blends melancholic melodies with poignant guitar riffs, meandering along warm synth pads and subtly driving drum beats to dazzling effect.
Thematically the songs that make up their forthcoming debut, End of an Age, are connected by referring to a state of being on hold, undetermined, between looking forwards and back, holding on to something and anticipating change. End Of An Age will be released on November 25th.
Their new single, 'Call Me' is is a song about the connection between a mother and her child. A six-minute pop epic drenched in emotion and longing. On their new single, Bad Hammer says: "It's about communication, through the umbilical cord, then through touch, then through words, through machines like a telephone, through thoughts and eventually through energies when one is not there anymore. There is that desire, that feeling of solitude and vastness when that connection has become ethereal.”
Bad Hammer are Lisa Klinkhammer (synthesisers, vocals) and Johannes Badzura (guitar, drums, vocals). In 2019, they released their debut EP, Extended Play, and have been touring extensively throughout Europe ever since, opening for like-minded artists including Molly Nilson, Sean Nicholas Savage, Jaakko Eino Kalevi and more.
Julian Shah-Tayler is a new-wave electro-rock artist hailing from Leeds, UK now based in South Pasadena, California. He draws his inspiration from 80s and 90s New Wave, Britpop and Electronic Rock with lyrics inspired by literature and a lifetime of professional touring. Fans have described his sound as “David Bowie and Depeche Mode had a baby”. Synthy, complex, sexy music to make love to.
The album features contributions from David J (Bauhaus/Love and Rockets) and MGT (Tricky/Mission UK) as well as coproductions with Robert Margouleff (Stevie Wonder/Devo)
The new album, the third under his own name, entitled “Elysium” is “the story of *the* love of my life from the very moment we met, and the subsequent and very relatable emotional rollercoaster that comes with the territory of being in love and overcoming vast distances, both literal and metaphorical”.
The record opens with “End Of The Line” which narrates the dissolution of old pain, paving the way for new beginnings. It then takes the listener on a voyage through the building back of hope through the different moods and stages of love and resolves with the triumphant universalism of “Darkling U.” In a word Beehive Candy has no hesitation but to say "superb" no make that SUPERB!!!
Arriving like a twisted fairy tale from the heart of Middle England, the new single from Fe Salomon is off-kilter and unpredictable at every turn. Taking the listener into “the countryside, in the middle of nowhere, with postcard villages and fresh clean air”, “Quintessential England” finds an artist reflecting on a period of her life where she gave up the bright lights of the city in search of a new life in Rutland (the smallest county in the UK on the Northamptonshire / Leicestershire border).
While this beautiful pocket of England provided the change of environment she craved, after spending a couple of years playing at the good life, petting sheep and living an isolated existence’ the daydream began to fade and Fe began to realise that the demons that had driven her there hadn't disappeared.
With its toy-town like melodies, topsy-turvy vocal trills and clockwork-like percussive ticks, it’s a song that twitches with a very palpable presence of paranoia and claustrophobia. Speaking about how she formulated its unique score, Fe remembers: “The starting points of this song were the howls and chirps made by the studio cat, mixed with vocals, then transcribed into violin parts and played with chopsticks.”
Through wry lyricism and vivid imagination, “Quintessential England” paints a lucid, if lonely, depiction of a life lived out in the sticks; one that ultimately arrives at the conclusion that perhaps “the grass isn’t always greener”. She’s still searching for that place to belong.
ALASKALASKA (pronounced “Alaska-laska”) share their long awaited new album, Still Life, via Marathon Records (Lava La Rue, Courtney Barnett, Pond etc). It comes ahead of their 13-date UK tour supporting Porridge Radio, which kicks off next week (dates below). Still Life finds writers and producers Lucinda Duarte-Holman and Fraser Rieley embracing a more free-form electronica while exploring the privileges associated with modern domestic existence and the pressures that come with technology, social media and climate change.
The highly anticipated album features singles "TV Dinners", "Still Life" and "Growing Up Pains (Unni's Song)", which drew support from BBC 6 Music's Lauren Laverne, Chris Hawkins and Tom Ravenscroft, BBC Radio 1's Jack Saunders and Nels Hylton, BBC Introducing's Jess Iszatt and more. Produced by Jas Shaw (of Simian Mobile Disco), the album is full of digital sounds, drum machine and synth melodies cunningly sat beside rich, organic, acoustic instrumentation–a looping tug of war between existential dread and everyday simple pleasures.
To celebrate the album release, they also share a video for the new album single “Glass” Lucinda says of the track: "Glass is about the unhealthy relationships some of us have with work. Do you live to work, or do you work to live? Do you feel like you have a choice? It feels like a lot of people are starting to re-asses their work/life balance after the effects of the last couple of years. Ultimately I think there needs to be a shift in work ethics in general. Bring in the 4-day working week and pay people properly for their time and energy!"
Listen To BCMR
(Beehive Candy Music Radio) streaming 24/7 with all the music featured
on Beehive Candy in recent weeks and an eclectic mix of music from days
gone by. BCMR-HERE.
A tranquil, subtropical rainforest studio made the perfect setting for Meanjin/Brisbane-based funk/rock octet The Steele Syndicate to record their debut album ‘Weekend’s Coming’. The result is an uplifting, delightfully noise-filled listen brimming with feel-good fun, and is out to enjoy now.
Encompassing the themes of work, love and happiness, 'Weekend's Coming' showcases the band at their raucous and rocking best, with signature doses of funk led by plenty of horns. Each song was recorded using only analogue instruments - so every horn stab, synth note, guitar, organ or kick sound is the real deal. Frontman Steele McMahon divulges:
“I remember tracking the lead guitar line for ‘One Beer (Is Never Enough)’, and having this old Roland Jazz Chorus maxed to the proverbial 11, and there being so much thick noise even when the guitar was not playing, that it sounded like the studio was literally drawing breath.
While it was challenging to utilize only real instruments, in a day where nearly every sound can be achieved with the touch of a button, I think it presented a fun and creative opportunity to embrace limitations, and really allow the nuances and idiosyncrasies of analogue instrumentation to shine.”
The band's feature album opens with the thought-provoking, sway-inducing 'City of Dread'. It sets the scene for next track 'Dance' to steal the spotlight, and amp things up with plenty of brassy fanfare.
"Oh what haunted tune can I bring you?" Uhl asks at the opening of "Haunted Tune," the first single from Channels. Her serpentine melodies and operatic storytelling cascade from there in perfectly executed art pop waves that crash over and over, recalling Kate Bush's The Sensual World or Annie Lennox's Diva or Weyes Blood's more recent work. To be sure, this is really not the kind of thing that works if it's only halfheartedly executed or if the artist is anything but exceptional.
And so here's Uhl: fully going for it and fullly pulling it off, supported by the acrobatic production of Peter Murray (Alela Diane, Lisa Crawley). The melodies are memorable, the arrangements are spot on, and the dramatic effect is consuming. Fans of Liz Fraser's and Cindy Sharp's songs on It'll End in Tears, brace yourselves.
Uhl embodies a different character in each song, "channeling" these narratives. In "Haunted Tune," the narrator seems to be singing from the other side, warning that "you can't fool love and you can't cheat fate," but then coolly posing: "Isn’t it a pity / A quick hand deals and suddenly you’re carried away / With all your mistakes / Can’t lose what wasn’t yours to take."
After recently being nominated for 'Best Alternative Artist' at the 2022 Aotearoa Music Awards, Vera Ellen has released her first new music in over a year! It comes in the audio visual form of instant classic 'Homewrecker'.
"Homewrecker is the personification of my inner demon forcing its way in to create chaos where it senses harmony. I'm my own home wrecker. Ain't we all?" - Vera Ellen
The video, directed by Albert River, and made with the support of NZ on Air, is a cheeky tip-of-the-hat to "The King of Cool" Dean Martin, and his 1983 'Since I Met You Baby' video. The high contrast visuals see Vera cheerfully crooning amongst a cast of gorgeous models, despite the bleak and introspective undertones of the song's lyrics.
"I didn't realise it was my dream to dress as Dean Martin and prance about on a roof until a few months ago. Never give up on even your most current dreams!"
Get swept away by Jade Empress when her powerful electro-pop single 'Madness' came out yesterday October 14. Jade Empress has been gaining steam and collecting accolades over the last few years as a talented songwriter. She was the winner of multiple categories of Songsalive!'s Song Comp in 2017, a finalist in the Australian Songwriters Association Songwriting Contest for three consecutive years, a semi-finalist in the International Songwriting Competition 2021, a participant in Ben Folds’ 2021 songwriting intensive retreat - all while working as a frontline doctor in rural and remote Australia.
Now, the artist is swapping the stethoscope for a microphone, and is ready to share her second single with the world, named 'Madness'. A soaring piece that celebrates the artist's impressive vocal ability, 'Madness' speaks to embracing the chaos of daily life. Produced by Grammy award-winning Kon Kersting (who's worked with the likes of The Jungle Giants, Tones & I, The Reubens and many more), this is a moving, melancholic pop track with emotive piano, converging in a dramatically swirling melody that uplifts and carries the songwriter's compelling voice to even greater heights.
Written in response to the chaos of her life in recent years, she chose to welcome it rather than fight against it. "Routine has always been important for me. I thought the pandemic was bad. Now, suddenly I'm finding myself working in the Pacific, as a doctor alongside the Australian Defence Force, and living day to day in an environment of civil and political unrest, I truly appreciate uncertainty and a certain kind of daily madness."
Jade Empress has already received enthusiastic support for her first release from Triple J, Double J, as well as commercial and community radio stations. 'Golden Hours' has also been featured on international music blogs including Send Me Yours Ears, Roadie Music, Indie Dock Music Blog (UK), PopMuzik (Sweden).
Listen To BCMR (Beehive Candy Music Radio) streaming 24/7 with all the music featured on Beehive Candy in recent weeks and an eclectic mix of music from days gone by. BCMR-HERE.
Nashville based singer / songwriter Ariel Bui has released the music video for “Real & Fantasy”, the second taste from her new album of the same name. The music of Ariel Bui, who Ann Powers of NPR Music once described as "a psychedelic cowgirl cool rockabilly queen”, pulls from her wide ranging musical background as a performer and music educator, blending elements of indie rock, indie pop, country, soul, surf, and psych rock into a distinct sound that should instantly appeal to fans of artists like Angel Olsen and Courtney Barnett.
This new album Real & Fantasy reunites Ariel with Grammy-nominated producer Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes, Hurray for the Riff Raff), with the entire new LP recorded at his Nashville studio, The Bomb Shelter.
The video was recorded in Tokic’s Bomb Shelter Studio, featuring a team of seasoned Nashville musicians who helped bring this record to life – including Jo Schornikow (Phosphorescent) on Piano & Keys, Megan Coleman (Jenny Lewis, Yola) on drums, Jack Lawrence (Jack White, The Dead Weather) on bass, and Ellen Angelico (She’s A Rebel) on guitar. This studio performance not only highlights the stellar musicianship and warm indie rock sound that makes this record so rich sonically, but also the undeniably compelling presence of Ariel herself as both a performer and songwriter.
There is marvelous comfort that comes from listening to this eclectic collection; a sense of warmth, a sense of being nurtured, of being cared for as a listener. While some songs touch on parts of life that aren’t comforting - loss, injustice, hypocrisy - even these convey love, concern, and hopefulness for a better future - the essence of a nurturing spirit.
The album title "Ripples in the Wake” reflects how songs of deep self-reflection, tribute, and political introspection, can ripple into each other, overlapping in a way that carries you into the currents of this album. Kirby remarks that “(That’s What Makes) A Bluegrass Song” was great fun to write and, at times, almost a music theory lesson. “Grab the Lightning” is a tribute to horses she rode in her late teens, especially a retired barrel racer named Rocker. From the very first chord the song takes you into the rush of wind on your face and the beautiful balance of horse and rider.
In comparison, Kirby's voice, an older one in its expression of wisdom, long-held understandings, and timelessness, can ache like winter wind on cold hands. She sings as if she deeply knows herself in “I Was Never a Child.” Kirby’s worked hard the past 3 years and this new CD shines with her fresh songwriting, self- confidence and performing. Sharing her point of view via her heart, these are the songs she lets fly out into the world, bringing us the same insight she brings to herself.
Since the November 2019 release of her first solo project, “Mama’s Biscuits”, Kirby Heard has become known for songs that take listeners on journeys through yesteryear and memories of home. Often introspective, inquisitive, and witty, these are songs with an authentic voice and perspective. Chris Spector (Midwest Record) called it ‘delightful, meaty songwriting that could only come from the heart and does a great job of opening your ears. “Mama's Biscuits" also earned an A- from Robert Christgau, “Dean of American Music Critics” and author of the online music newsletter “And It Don’t Stop”, and ranked #26 on his Dean's List 2020.
The long-awaited return of the best Scottish pop band since Orange Juice!Sometimes it can take several years to realise what you’ve been missing. Sometimes it can even take decades.... (If you already know all about The Orchids, well, you’re going to like Dreaming Kinda lot.) The Orchids were making sophisticated pop music right back in the early 1990s when Sarah Records first started.
Their songs were as emotionally pure as anything else on that label, but they were always a step ahead of their peers in terms of song arrangements and musical ambition. With a casual, unpretentious air they made writing perfect pop songs seem easy, almost accidental, and several great releases followed. The Orchids gained a passionate following: people knew a good thing when they heard it and they hugged it close. But now it’s time for the rest of the world to be let in on the secret. The songs themselves are a beautiful mix of strength and gentleness.
They wrap you in a powerful embrace, making you feel comfortable and secure –and then whisper their insecurities and anxieties into your ear. They say: ‘it’s OK to admit weakness. It’s OK to be fragile. That’s where true strength comes from’. From Glasgow, and proudly Scottish, the band shares a musical lineage with other great groups from that city, from Aztec Camera to Orange Juice, Lloyd Cole to Teenage Fanclub. All bands that specialise in song-writing that that can tell big stories through small fragments, that can make the ordinary extraordinary. Producer Ian Carmichael has helped the band createa perfectly-crafted masterpiece.
He subtly accentuates the drama of the songs, with a sophisticated choreography and gloss that never overwhelms the tenderness of the music. In ‘This Boy Is A Mess’ (the first single from the album), the lyric confesses frailty while the music gets stronger and stronger. It is bittersweet and exhilarating at the same time. ‘I Want You, I Need You’ has harmonies as big as a house –but the yearning message remains intimate and close. ‘I Don’t Mean To Stare’ is a sophisticated new version of the track that first appeared on the Under The Bridge compilation earlier this year
Toronto-based artist, Julianna Riolino shared her new single, "Isn't It A Pity" earlier this week, which comes as the final advance track to be lifted from her forthcoming debut album, All Blue which is out for release via You've Changed Records today. The album has found support so far from Pitchfork, Uncut, The New York Times, Stereogum, CBC, Exclaim, Shindig, Brooklyn Vegan and more.
Leaning more heavily on emotional reality than diary details, the kernel of truth and experience always shines through in Riolino’s songwriting. That duality rings like a lovesick bell on “Isn’t It A Pity”, a track lodged somewhere between AM radio breeze and the florid wash of Waxahatchee. Trilling organ and Roddy Carlyle’s rangy bass play the perfect complement to Riolino’s sweetly strummed acoustic. “Isn't it a pity, isn't it a shame / The flowers in our garden have bloomed and shed their fray," she bounces, before adding lines about astral projection, bringing a modernist edge to the vintage proceedings.
While also moonlighting as part of Daniel Romano's 'The Outfit', Riolino has slowly but surely been building a solo career of her own over the past few years with this debut LP following on from her 2019 EP, J.R. which helped to establish Julianna's musical direction while finding her open for the likes of Julie Doiron and Daniel Romano across North America.
Recorded in August 2020 at the now-shuttered Baldwin Street Sound, All Blue was produced by Aaron Goldstein (credits with Cowboy Junkies, Ducks Ltd, Le Ren, Kiwi Jr) and largely features a cadre of musicians playing together in the room. “Recording live made for some long days, but it was a lot of fun and I had the benefit of working with some really talented people,” Riolino says. “It helped create this feeling of glimpsing a moment in time. It's like therapy: I could just let out this period of life and then move forward.”
In Lasse Matthiessen's "Dreams Don't Make Noise", he sings of looking out over to Sicily's warm, dry sienna-coloured earth. He sings about the grapes that grow from the ground and about the sweet wine he and a mystery lady friend had in the evening. Wine made from the grapes. While he looks at her, who ”sucks the light out of the day and glows like the full moon at night”.
He sings of how they could sing their dreams out into the night or let them wither in the darkness of the silence. Because that's how dreams die. If you don’t go after them. But Lasse wants to go back and be there with her. Or maybe he was never there - as he sings in the chorus, "Dreams don't make noise when they die they just fade. It is only a dream”.
Lasse's dark, deep and rich vocals alone in the verse with only pumping synth bass. From the verse and into the pre-chorus, where the clear synth adds color to the chorus's explosion of choirs, beats and the heavy deep sub-bass while Lasse sings. We have to let ourselves dream and follow the dreams until they swallow us.
In "Dreams Dont Make Noise", the singer finds himself in a place that could be Sicily. It could be the South of France or elsewhere. A place where the dry sienna-colored soil is the fertile ground for the grapes grown there and is the ingredient in the sweet red wine he drinks in the evening in his dream when he sings:
"And you can kiss me if you like. We can play the piano downstairs Could sing dreams into the night or let them fade”
In "Dreams Don't Make Noise", the "dream" of what Lasse hopes will happen, the dream of what has happened and what will never happen, flows together. It’s another excellent electro-indie banger from this hotly tipped artist, that’s flecked with melancholy and romance and it is also the title track of Lasse’s forthcoming new album.
Sister Wives have shared two more tracks from their forthcoming debut album. The Double A single release sees the emerging Welsh speaking band release tracks 'Streets at Night' and 'O Dŷ i Dŷ', following on from a string of well-received singles and appearances at festivals across the UK this summer. Inspired by Welsh mythology, thread throughout a cavernous mix of psychedelia, folk, post-punk, garage and 70s glam rock, Sister Wives recently announced their debut album will be released on 28th October via Libertino Records.
New track 'O Dŷ i Dŷ' is about the Welsh folkloric custom of South Wales, The horse headed Mari Lwyd. The song discusses the tradition and questions whether she has been culturally appropriated, and if she has, whether this is a bad thing or not. The earliest accounts of the horse headed Mari date back to 1798, but the tradition declined in popularity in the early 20th century. The tradition saw a resurgence towards the end of the 20th century and then in 21st century has increased its popularity with the iconic image and use of the Mari spreading as far as North America. O Dŷ i Dŷ’ translates as ‘From house to house’, referencing how she attempts to gain entry to houses, where a musical battle would commence to gain entry, like a poetry slam.
"The song questions whether this is a way of celebrating Welsh culture or whether this is a form of cultural appropriation" says the band. "It mentions how ‘the mare runs free, let’s see where she ends up landing’ and asks for people to reflect on whether those who have resurrected her in other countries are guilty of stealing her skeleton."
Meanwhile, 'Streets at Night' is a literal, visceral description of what it feels like to fear for one's life when walking at night. Paired with a retro organ and a pulsing changeable tempo, the track imbues a distinctive sense of dread - almost emulating a classic horror movie soundtrack. "The song was written as an outlet for this experience that we’ve all felt" says the band. "The speed of the song changing halfway through influenced the lyrics and we hear heartbeats speeding up and slowing down throughout, mirroring the feeling of being on high alert when out walking alone."
Montréal-based singer-songwriter Gabrielle Shonk shares “How We Used To Be”, her first new music in five years. The song is taken from her forthcoming 2023 album which chronicles the enormity of heartache and hope that comes with endings and new beginnings.
“How We Used To Be” marks a new chapter in Shonk’s career. After parting ways with the major label behind her debut album, she used her newfound creative freedom to collaborate with longtime friends, co-writer Jessy Caron of the band Men I Trust, and producer Jesse Mac Cormack (Helena Deland). The result is a moody single with tinges of 90s R&B exploring romantic nostalgia by reminiscing about a relationship before it fell apart.
Released today via Arts & Crafts, "How We Used To Be" is a love ballad about "a relationship that was hard to leave," explains the JUNO-nominated singer. Delicate piano lines and softly-strummed acoustic guitar accompany Shonk's dreamy vocals recalling a time in a relationship before it turned toxic. “I hate you, I love you, I miss you,” Shonk laments before the soulful chorus reflects on better times: “Touch my hand, gently / Talk to me, it’s soothing / Make me see how we used to be.”
How do you come back to yourself? Perhaps it’s important to first understand you have become lost, and admit you’ve veered off path. How then do you begin to piece yourself back together? Five years since her self-titled debut, this is the journey Gabrielle Shonk takes us on with her sophomore album set for release in winter 2023.
Sounding bigger and better than ever before, Bad Sounds return with their knock-out new single ‘Nu Me Nu Yu’. Self-produced and mixed by Nathan Boddy (Mura Masa, Biig Piig, PinkPantheress), bursting with energy the track is an unmissable reminder that Bad Sounds are ever-evolving and here back once again to stay.
Sharing more, the band explained: "We’re absolutely delighted be the latest in a long list of bands ripping off the Beatles and repackaging it as our own. ‘Nu Me Nu Yu’ is a song that was originally destined for one of our side projects, but everybody we know told us it sounds too much like Bad Sounds, so we eventually got the hint and now we feel silly for not realizing it ourselves. The lyrics are pretty self explanatory, they’re just spelled stupid.
The video is super DIY just like they were when we first started out. We built a room of mirrors and spent a day bumping into our reflections, and trying to not break the glass floor/ceiling/walls. It was super fun to shoot and kinda trippy to watch. We really hope people like it!
Nu Me Nu Yu is the band's first release since January which saw the launch of their impressive EP ‘Escaping from A Violent Time Vol 2.’. The dreamy five track record played host to some stand-out collaborative moments including ‘Move Into Me’ which featured New Zealand two-piece BROODS and ‘You Move backwards’ which features hotly tipped UK artist Ruti.
The band's collaborations continue outside of their own music as their production and songwriting network flourishes in their purpose built studio in the Cotswolds. They’ve had their finger on the pulse collaborating with lots of important new acts coming through, including Arlo Parks (co-writing and producing track ‘Bluish’ off her debut album) and others like Rose Gray, Miso Extra, Joey Maxwell, Devon, Max Pope, VC Pines, SOFY and LCYTN.
London based outfit Sunglasses For Jaws today announce their new album 'A Room In Europe' will be released 16th February 2023 via Hackney tastemaker label Pony Recordings (Tempesst, Caleb Kunle). The trio mark the album announcement with the release of the album's first single and album opener, "Under A Rainbow" - featuring vocals from Australian singer Elle Musa.
Widescreen, psych-rock with a penchant for the dramatic, Sunglasses For Jaws consists of David Bardon, Oscar Robertson and Olivier Huband. The outfit's new album was produced by David and Oscar in their London studio and mixed by Elliot Heinrich (Sorry, Parquet Courts, DEADLETTER).
Combining a love of Scott Walker, Somalian 70’s funk, Hollywood strings with a dash of Portishead, new single "Under A Rainbow" opens with a spiralling string arrangement intertwined with splashes of Turkish Yazh - before dropping into its riveting, luxurious psych-groove. Never short of epic reveals, the instrumental is punctuated by welcome splashes of wah wah guitars and triumphant horn sections.
Featured vocalist - Brisbane based painter and musician Elle Musa adds a delicacy and poise to the track, as she pines for normality, new experiences and good times amidst unusual circumstances.
Speaking on the lyrical inspiration, Elle Musa said: "At a time of isolation in Byron Bay, when we weren’t able to go out or see the world, I wrote this song about longing for newness and good times. I recorded my vocals on a very old little tape machine that my partner found. It was used to record nature documentaries back in the day. I love how the tape machine only records mono but somehow it sounds stereo due to the nature of how well rounded the saturation is. The sounds become more alive and that’s exactly how I wanted to feel when writing the song. In my mind I saw the evening light with the sea close by... Falling in love and the bliss that comes with it. Feeling so free as if dancing underneath a rainbow."
With the release of “Modelo” on October 7th the Germany and Los Angeles based band Rhonda has not only announced their fourth studio album Forever Yours but also tour dates for early spring 2023. Forever Yours follows the critically acclaimed album You Could Be Home Now (2019) and will be released on February 17, 2023 via popup-records.
Musically, the single ranges from soul, rock, pop to film music. The focus lies on an extremely catchy guitar hook and the bittersweet vocal melody of exceptional singer Milo – an instant Rhonda classic.
The pandemic and the resulting restrictions have put the band to the test because of the distance between the musicians who live in Germany and in Los Angeles. However, necessity is the mother of invention: the forced break initiated an intense creative process among the band members. Due to lively exchanges via Zoom and sending back and forth sound files a new album was created.
As an album and intimate snapshot, Forever Yours demonstrates the longing for human contact. The characteristic Rhonda sound, which the band has cultivated in the last few years, illustrates searching and finding in different ways – quietly or brutally, but always carried by human warmth and soul. Rhonda's songs are always personal; they deal with highs and lows, foreign shadows and familiar light and stem from experiences, visions, stories and hopes. Between the poles of sweetness and gloom, new and unfamiliar tones which carry an aestival lightness resonate on Rhonda’s new album Forever Yours.
After a South American getaway marked by her two EPs Coração Louco and Eu Voo, created at the sides of the Boogarins – along with tours in Latin America and in the United States, where we caught a glimpse of the new tracks Miossec and Lemon Twigs – Laure Briard reveals her fourth LP, celebrating rebirth and letting go.
Not blue, then this record’s color would be yellow maybe; the shade of the Californian sun as it sears the ochre desert of Joshua Tree, reputed for its icy nocturnal temperatures and its sweltering hot days. A two hour drive from the City of Angels, this remote national park is a no man’s land where space and time seem to stretch on and on. While the old gold rush mines lie seemingly untouched, we still find old guitars at the antique dealers in the Yucca Valley. An America both obsolete and haunted by its past legends. A fantasy. It is here that Laure Briard’s new album is born.
It would take nearly three years to finish this new album. The labor was long, enriched by her travels, and in the end, liberating. Lighter and more optimistic than the broken destinies and disillusionments of Sur la piste de danse, Ne pas trop rester bleue follows an autobiographical story punctuated with encounters. It is a cathartic work that would allow Laure to free herself from her ghosts, all while conjuring up new ones. We find there the storytelling of Lee Hazlewood in “Magical Cowboy,” a tale of a solitary and broken-hearted cowboy; the shadows of the weary country poet Don Gibson; and those of Bobby Gentry also figure in these new compositions. But it is above all Carol King who stands as a major influence. Following the example of the singer activist and New Yorker, Laure Briard produces country imbued with soul.
Laure Briard gets closer and closer to the light, a journey that already began with Un peu plus d’amour s’il vous plaît, appearing in 2019, and continues in the video of the first clip “Ne pas trop rester bleue,” where the proliferation of the protagonist’s possible destinies are dizzying, as well as in “Me pardoner,” a song about liberating oneself from the past. If we had to compare her to more contemporary artists, we would have to look at Cate le Bon for the rough psychedelic pop, the airy pop songs of Aldous Harding for the romanticism, or the falsely naïve innocence of Laetitia Sadier.
The new single from indie baroque pop artist and piano virtuoso Gal Musette is entitled "Je Vois Le Ciel." This enchanting song, sung entirely in French, explores feelings of loneliness and isolation coupled with an unfulfilling mundane daily life, heightening the human need for companionship and someone special to share in the magic of beautiful moments, thus making our lives more complete.
Inspired by acclaimed French poet and screenwriter Jacques Prévert, the song pays homage to his style of "song poems" - orchestrated works consisting of free verse, dramatism, and sentimentality intertwined with clever humor. With emotive whimsical vocals over playful keys and steady upright bass, "Je Vois Le Ciel" is a captivating sonic offering.
"The thousand mornings I spend alone, I watch the sky turn from gold to blue, I walk by foot, I walk everywhere, I see the sky but I don't care." Gal Musette has toured with The Magnetic Fields, Donavon Frankenreiter, and has collaborated with Rufus Wainwright.
Edinburgh-based songwriter Hailey Beavis has shared new single 'Anything That Shines'. Her debut album, I’ll Put You Where The Trombone Slides, will be released on November 4th via OK Pal Records. The album, which has been seven years in the making, is a celebration of resilience, determination and evidence of an artist who has overcome many obstacles to reach where they are today.
‘Anything That Shines’ amplifies Beavis’ message that compassion can prevail over exploitation. Of her new track, Hailey says: "Anything that Shines is a nod to my community and to friendship, the resounding forces of good in my life. Every time I have spiralled out I have been able to return, and I have been that for so many friends also. This is the thing that truly shines. It’s about the time spent chasing miss-decision, like a moth to the flame, getting burnt. As I grow older my priorities are changing and I want to shape my days, and enjoy impulsivity without being wholly guided by the chaos of it. Think of a fantasy movie where everyone is trying to get to that sparkly orb of light, well I just dropped the ball and it’s a relief."
For all intents and purposes, I'll Put You Where The Trombone Slides is Beavis’ debut. However, the reality is not so cut and dry. In her early 20s, Hailey had become a familiar face on the Edinburgh music scene, playing in folk pubs and regular support slots for bigger acts that came through town. During this time she was approached and offered help launching her career. “I was wide eyed and careless because I was young,” she says. Over the years, Beavis would come to understand a darker side to the music industry. “The more time I invested with them, the more I felt I had to see things through, but there was never an end in sight.” Beavis recorded 3 EPs and an album during that period.
Eventually, things between them reached breaking point and Beavis left, cutting her losses, which included all the material they had recorded together. “Rebuilding my life was difficult. I had been so focussed on just keeping going in the hope that my music would be released. I suddenly found myself lost, believing that was the end of my musical career”, she says.
Rama Lama Records, winner of Label of the Year at the Swedish Indie Awards 2022, introduces a brand new singles series called Rama Lama Family Club, gathering singles from side-projects of bands who we've had the honour to have released throughout the years. First out is Hippopotamus, the project of Victor Skogseid (Cat Princess) and his uncle & producer Rolf Klinth (Tiger Lou, Dia Psalma), with the single 'Horse Race'.
Musically the smooth track nods to acts such as Timbre Timbre and Mild High Club while thematically treating the various stages of a relationship. During the track we follow a fiction couple through three stages; 1. sudden and passionate love, 2. stagnation and arguments when life stops feeling easy and reality knocks on the door and 3. acceptance, perspective and love based on differences rather than similarities.
Horse Race is recorded, mixed and mastered in Matching Headstudios by Rolf Klinth. The music is composed and performed by Victor Skogseid (drums, keys, guitar and vocals) and Rolf Klinth (bass).
Mary Clements is a singer-songwriter based out of Hamilton, ON, who uses her music to explore the world around her. Rooted in piano and voice, her songs can sometimes sound like indie-folk, pop, classical or even country. Her sincere vocals combined with the textures of her production create an experience that is simple and authentic.
Clements wrote her soothing new song, “Bonne Nuit,” to encourage a gentle approach to sleep that’s free of judgment about the day. Featuring both French and English lyrics, “Avec mes peurs et défis, je fais des amis, come with me it’s okay, I’ll help you find your way,” translates to “With my fears and my challenges, I make friends” as an invitation to cultivate self-acceptance of the less comfortable aspects of ourselves and life.
The official music video for this song is filmed, edited and produced by Clements, featuring her singing over a green screen with different dreamy backgrounds, wishing the viewer a ‘bonne nuit’ alongside the range of images they might experience as they fall asleep.
Clements’ radiant and rich vocals are showcased in her first studio album through sincere and poetic lyrics. This combined with the textures of her arrangements equals a unique and fresh musical experience that is curious and innovative, but approachable. Come With Me is slated for release in November 2022.
goodheart (previously known as Lianna B) releases her new single “Make Me Feel.” The new single takes a different turn from her last one, which hit 12k on Spotify. Make Me Feel is a softer track—a bright, beachy love song that includes melodic vocal layering and a driving drum beat that captures the essence of summer romance.
About the single, goodheart shares: “Deep love has a special place in the summer. Ocean waves, lazy days and a kind of magic that is best shared with someone special. Make Me Feel reminisces on this kind of love.”
goodheart is a Toronto indie artist and producer who combines pop with hints of folk and rock and encapsulates it with singer-songwriter energy.
Through warm toned guitars, bright vocal layering and heart that shines like the summer sun, this new single may be the Canadian singer-songwriter’s best song yet.
