Tied together by family and soaring harmonies, The Pairs share stories of life's hope, hilarity, and hardship. Pull up a seat around their lively kitchen table for a unique blend of music that will hug your eardrums and make you want to groove.
A smattering of feelings and self-doubt, "Superhuman" tells a personal yet relatable story of realizing how we get caught up in the way we're being perceived by others instead of truly experiencing life and all the feelings that come with living. We're not perfect, so why do we put so much energy towards trying to convince people that we are? This song marks the intention to try and drop the hyper perfectionism and accept ourselves as fallible and human.
"Superhuman" reminds us that we can be wrong, that we can make mistakes, that we can say things that hurt people, and that none of that makes us bad people, or unlovable.
Singer-songwriter Amy Stroup creates the kind of songs that transport listeners. Known for her ability to tap into rich, emotional honesty and vivid storytelling, the self-proclaimed “song farmer” will release her fourth solo album, Since Frank, on June 23. The album's next single, "Break the Feeling,” out today, explores presence and grounding.
“Walking, hiking, and trail running multiple times a week are ways of exercise, yes, but more ways that I ground myself ritualistically,” Stroup says. “Movement helps me shake off what holds me up and at the end of a trail I never felt quite the same as when I started.”
Since Frank finds a cohesive sound thanks to producer Chad Copelin (LANY, Broncho, Ben Rector) and his expert hand at transforming live tracking into an expansive finished product, with drips of overdubs and drum samples created by James McAlister (The National, Taylor Swift, Sufjan Stevens). These handmade elements frame a range of songs Stroup wrote with herself in mind—a change from the hundreds of songs she's written for TV and film, which include backing moments on How I Met Your Father, This Is Us and Grey's Anatomy, among many others. According to Billboard Magazine, she is one of the most licensed women in music today with her work in campaigns for British Airways, Google and Nike, to name a few.
Since Frank, a 10-song collection, covers a wide range of subjects, ultimately settling on what it means to find a way to be okay on the inside. Stroup wrestles with the kind of heaviness—and reprieve—that lives inside all of us: the album begins with the lush strings of “Valley,” a stream of consciousness about how love can lift us from the depths of melancholy. “Night Wave” struggles with intrusive thoughts; there is a yearning for a fresh start on “A New Life” (feat. Broncho), and a certainty of unconditional love in “As Long As You're With Me (feat. Andrew Belle). The album ends with a resounding and hopeful message: “We'll All Be Alright.”
“These songs feel like freeze frames of pivotal emotional moments of me finding a safe place to live from inside my own body,” Stroup says. “I've done a lot of experiential therapy, self-nurturing work and beyond, to get to a more true place to live from, and a lot of the songs capture the process and pivotal points on that continued journey.”
Legendary party-starters Dub Pistols release their new single ‘Moving On’ featuring MC and D.J. Natty Campbell. After announcing their forthcoming album Frontline to be released March 10th through Cyclone Records, this notorious touring band are carrying the summer atmosphere into these winter months with their infamous blend of dub, hiphop, ska and jungle. Dub Pistols will also be playing a series of exclusive release week shows partnered with some of the UK’s best independent record stores- they will also be signing physical copies of the record. Listen to ‘Moving On’ Here. Watch ‘Moving On’ Here.
Having recently celebrated their 25th anniversary, the collective release the third and final offering before releasing their forthcoming LP. New single ‘Moving On’ sits amongst multiple genres as frontman and legendary DJ, Barry Ashworth wanted to write something in a different vein to anything the band have done before. He explains, “‘Moving On’ is kind of dark with a ‘Ghost Town’ feel. But it still has an uplifting message”. After going over ideas and melodies that he had written with Ashley Slater, Barry then worked with King Yoof to give the track its darker edge before bringing in Natty Campbell to voice the verses.
Natty Campbell adds, "It was a pleasure as always to collaborate with Barry and King Yoof on ‘Moving On’, it was one of those tunes that came very easily, the beat is a bit different and it was good fun to showcase different styles of vocals while lyrically sending a positive message. It's one of those tunes that goes off live and has everyone singing, so it's great to be involved in the dub pistols musical family and contributing more tracks"
Not many acts stay together for a quarter of a century and still remain firing on all cylinders. However, Dub Pistols juggernaut rolls on, exploring fresh sonic pastures and accelerating into 2023. The multi-cultural collective has involved dozens of artists and musicians over the years — some remaining for years, a few for the duration, and others just popping in for a guest appearance. Their sound has accordingly morphed a variety of times since their inception: taking in dub, punk, jungle, ska, breakbeat, hip-hop and a whole lot more, it’s been a long road travelled.
"This was one of the last songs I wrote for the album, I was really embracing some of my earlier musical influences - the ones that first got me really excited about music like Syd Barrett and Brian Wilson. So it's kind of this psychedelic journey through time, looking through a lens of bright eyed bliss and innocence, and using that lens to try to make sense of or understand the chaos of recent years."
Long Daze, Dark Nights is the upcoming album from Waldo Witt. The artist embraces 60s and 70s psychedelia inspirations like Todd Rundgren, King Crimson, and Brian Wilson, alongside a continued adoration of 80s soft rock and disco, resulting in a vibrant sounding record, full of hooks and charismatic structural twists.
Even in its nostalgic glow, Long Daze, Dark Nights doesn’t linger too long in the past. Hook-heavy throwback odes are abundant, though also resonating with modern production and thematic pursuits. Offering poignant reflection following the past several years of tumult, the release explores themes of uncertainty, instability, and unpredictability. Waldo, his wife, and their van road-tripped through much of the pandemic, and many of the release’s lyrics were written while traveling in isolated areas throughout the country, like rural Montana and Colorado.
The result is filled with introspection and soul-searching, representative of how artistic creation can lead to great self-discovery. The release, in particular, pursues how one feels the need to create and make art. “It leads you to the experience of being completely in the moment, which is what it’s all about,” Waldo says. “The ups, downs, in betweens – all are expressions of the aliveness of being.”
H.Hawkline (Huw Evans) has shared a new track, “Empty Room” which is taken from his upcoming fifth album, Milk For Flowers out on Friday March 10, 2023 on Heavenly Recordings. This follows previous album tracks “Milk For Flowers”, “Suppression Street” and “Plastic Man”.
Talking about the track, Huw said: “A song about the middle, written before and after. I used to think that if I stayed very still, I could stop time. Houses possess this ability: moments become trapped in stillness, the whole room frozen, too big to fit through the door. I think it was me who moved. My coat buttons are made of snow, I fasten them on the beach as I think of you.”
Having used the same video for “Milk For Flowers” and “Plastic Man”, Huw extends and slightly alters the concept by again using the video for “Empty Room”, except this time with a different ending, as he explains: “This is the last time you watch the video. The ending is different but we arrive the same way as before. I wanted the ending to feel like reality but to be honest, I've never ordered a White Russian in a Stetson.” His most personal and confessional record to date, the album, was produced and features musical contributions from long-time collaborator and celebrated solo artist Cate Le Bon.
Zoe & Cloyd - We'll Meet Again Sweetheart / Bei Mir Bistu Sheyn.
Right on the heels of Valentine’s Day, klezgrass practitioners Zoe & Cloyd release two new Organic Records singles — and with that kind of timing, what could be more appropriate than a pair of love songs that showcase the complementary musical legacies embodied in the title of their forthcoming full-length album, Songs Of Our Grandfathers?
From the rich bluegrass heritage of John Cloyd Miller’s grandfather comes “We’ll Meet Again Sweetheart.” Says Miller, “This classic bluegrass number was one of four sides my grandfather Jim Shumate recorded with Flatt & Scruggs for the Mercury label in 1948. That early lineup of the Foggy Mountain Boys — featuring Jim, Mac Wiseman, Cedric Rainwater and, of course, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs — was a force of nature and set the standard for bluegrass moving forward. We were excited to revisit the energy and tastefulness of that iconic recording."
With Miller’s smooth lead vocal, bassist Kevin Kehrberg’s echoes of Rainwater’s active bass work, ace banjo man Bennett Sullivan's recap of some of Scruggs’ signature licks alongside a few twists of his own and Natalya Zoe Weinstein’s loving recreation — on the same fiddle used in 1948 — of Shumate’s original work, it’s a track that will bring a smile to those who know every note of the vintage recording even as it reflects Zoe & Cloyd’s unique creative touches.
Paired with the Flatt & Scruggs favorite is an even more widely known song with long-obscured roots in the once lively world of New York’s Yiddish language theater: “Bei Mir Bistu Sheyn.” The spelling reflects the duo’s reversion to the song’s original Yiddish, as explained by Natalya, whose winsome vocal is framed by well-crafted solos from Miller (here on mandolin), Sullivan (guitar) and Kehrberg that reveal the influence of klezmer music on the more widely known “gypsy jazz” of subsequent versions:
“‘Bei Mir Bistu Sheyn’ was originally written in 1932 by composer Sholom Secunda and lyricist Jacob Jacobs for the Yiddish theater. The title means ‘To Me You Are Beautiful.’ The Andrews Sisters recorded the English version in 1937, and the song became a worldwide sensation. Not surprisingly, this song was in my grandfather’s repertoire as well, and I used to play it with my father on piano. For our recording, I even learned the Yiddish lyrics!”
Bis release single Shopping For Tattoos on Friday 17th February, following recent album Systems Music For Home Defence. Much like the rest of the LP, Shopping For Tattoos is characteristically infectious, described as "declamatory electro pop punk" by The Scotsman.
The album was released in November 2022 and the band define it as "born out of a wistful, slightly corrupted nostalgia for a simpler era that may or may not have existed at all". It is available on vinyl, CD and digital from Last Night From Glasgow.
Since their formation bis have continuously developed their sound, from their initial punk synth-pop roots to tracks crafted for sweaty nightclubs. Sci-Fi Steven, John Disco and Manda Rin first entered the scene in 1994 and were soon the first unsigned band to ever appear on Top of the Pops, playing their unmistakable Kandy Pop in 1996.
Bristol-based ones to watch DAMEFRISØR have released new single "The Grip" the latest tase of the band's upcoming debut EP 'Island of Light - out 24th February via Permanent Creeps Records.
New EP 'Island of Light' was produced by Alex Greaves (Working Men's Club, bdrmm, Lice) and recorded at The Nave Studios in Leeds. The EP arrives ahead of upcoming dates with Lynks and VLURE, as well as a headline tour of their own in March with stops in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester, Portsmouth, Bristol and London.
Latest single "The Grip," perfectly encapsulates the essence of what DAMEFRISØR went out to achieve with their debut project; large industrial soundscapes – staying true to their roots in shoegaze, whilst elevating the arrangements with upbeat, dance and club-influenced elements. “We tried to give space to let the bass and percussion drive the song alongside the giant cavernous grinding lead line starting in the first chorus,” the band notes. “After that it was a case of finding guitar and synth phrases to contrast and compliment the driving forces without making things too muddy."
The band's drummer and "The Grip" lyricist Nyle Dowd added more insight into the track's meaning: “It’s a short story essentially about running away from things, that feeling of being trapped by your decisions or the decisions of others and being swallowed up by guilt. The paranoia that comes from something being fucked up in your life, it can be overwhelming…”.
DADDY LONG LEGS, New York City's most diabolical Rhythm & Blues street gang, have shared their new track “Silver Satin” from their upcoming and eagerly anticipated new album Street Sermons, to be released on March 17th via Yep Roc Records. The group describes the track as an experience where “we take the listener on a trip through New York City’s underground rail system with a bottle in hand concealed by a brown paper bag. Lose yourself in a song dripping with tremolo and electric piano, but whatever you do, don’t fall asleep on the subway.”
The group previously released the track “Street Sermon” which sees the group beseeching their troubled congregation to “Work with one another/Not against each other” as the Brooklyn band evolve into a chain gang that sounds like they’re emanating through the cracks of a hot and sticky subway station.
The band's fourth studio album represents a wellspring of bottled-up feelings and emotions that need to be taken to the streets. Produced by Oakley Munson of the Black Lips at Old Soul Studios in Catskill, NY the band expands upon a sound that’s all their own and features guest appearances from Punk Rock legend Wreckless Eric providing backing vocals on "Nightmare" and "Silver Satin" and The Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian on "Ding-Ding Man," In dark times DADDY LONG LEGS continue to shine their light everywhere they go, leaving a piece of themselves on stage every night because it’s in them and it’s got to come out.
The Charlotte, NC indie duo bed signs are back with “Tongue Shred,” the second single to be released from their upcoming album Silver Lining Breakdown.
“‘Tongue Shred’ came together so easily and naturally that we felt like we really had something once it was finished,” explains bed signs’ co-founder and multi-instrumentalist Chris Lonon. “‘Tongue Shred’ is the first song that we wrote in what I consider a ‘backward’ style. I had never written a song where the music did not come first and the melodies and lyrics last. This song is the total opposite. I wrote and arranged all the music around Casey’s melodies and lyrics that she sent to me in an iPhone voice memo. The emotional rawness of that original iPhone recording is so cool that it made it onto the final track, juxtaposed against the studio recording.”
“The video for ‘Tongue Shred’ was our first attempt at making a ‘live-action’ video,” adds Casey Livingston, the vocalist, and lyricist of bed signs. “The idea runs somewhat ancillary to the song. It’s based more on impressions of what the song means than what it actually means. ‘Tongue Shred’ is about a person on the verge of leaving their relationship at home and walking out that very night. What that really entails – leaving everything you know; your home, your spouse, maybe kids, your past, your identity; becoming a ghost in your own story. The idea was also that this is not necessarily a ‘bad’ or a ‘good’ thing – it just is – and every action has consequences and rewards. We shot it in just a few days and although it obviously doesn’t look like we spent millions on it, I’m proud of what we were able to accomplish.”
Suzi Moon has just released a new video for the song "Any Other Way" which comes from her critically-acclaimed debut LP "Dumb & In Luv." The video was shot at one of Moon's recent shows in Pittsburgh and was directed by Dan Brenkert and edited by Moon herself.
Moon has drawn the attention of fans, journalists, and bands around the world. Upon its release, Goldmine Magazine hailed it as "one of the best albums this year" and John Gentile at Punk News called it his favorite album of the year.
Suzi has recently announced tours supporting The Queers and Agent Orange which will take her all across the United States through the entire spring and beginning of summer before she heads to Europe for festival appearances and other shows. With this endless touring, along with the massive success of her debut LP and 2 EPs, she is available for podcasts, features, and other press! Suzi has loads of availability for phone, email, and Zoom interviews before she heads out for months and months of touring.
Since the release of her debut single in 2019, Glaswegian artist Neev has built a reputation for discovering beauty in the small details. Her talent for storytelling and worldbuilding has earned her early support from the likes of BBC Radio 1’s Sian Eleri and BBC Radio 6 Music’s Tom Robinson, as well as a sync on BBC drama Waterloo Road. On April 28th, the now London-based musician is set to release her debut album, Katherine, a collection of intricate indie-folk songs that pack a lyrical punch.
Today, Neev has shared her new single ‘Fast Patterns’. Written from the point of view of an imperfect friend, the song is about not knowing how to be there for someone in their darkest moments. It asks how far you should go for a friend in need and at what point you need to take a step back.
Buoyed by the experience of engineering, mixing and producing her 2021 EP Currants almost entirely alone whilst the country was in lockdown, much of Katherine was recorded at Neev’s home studio and the homes of a host of talented musician friends. “It was really important to me that the album wasn’t only a group of songs but that it would also be a learning curve for me, and it was! I learnt so much about arrangement, frequency, the range of my voice and the way I like to construct songs and write,” she says.
Katherine carries all of the trademark sounds of Neev’s previous releases. Acoustic guitars, soaring string arrangements and layered backing vocals can be found throughout, but this time they’re bigger, at times, calling to mind artists like Marika Hackman and Fenne Lily. Every song on Katherine is tied to the idea of identity.
Today, Matt Corby released his hallucinatory new single “Big Smoke,” the newest single from his upcoming album Everything’s Fine (out March 24th via Communion). Next month Corby will kick off a limited run of intimate shows across the US with sold-out shows in New York, Los Angeles, Austin, and Toronto.
His first album in five years, Everything’s Fine vividly captures the personal and creative growth of Matt Corby who, like many, was tipped belly side up recently. Beyond the global touring pause, on the day he was meant to start recording his new album, Corby and his family were instead rescued by a neighbor. Their home had been engulfed by the flood waters that raged through Queensland and New South Wales, Australia, in early 2022.
After nervously watching his heavily pregnant partner and young son be whisked away in a small inflatable dinghy, he got to work ferrying provisions to stranded locals and digging rotting mud out from beneath his home. With their home inundated by floodwaters, the whole family moved into Corby’s Rainbow Valley Studios during the album’s recording process. Juggling familial responsibilities with his creative pursuits was a one-of-a-kind pressure cooker circumstance that galvanized his artistic evolution.
“I'm currently rebuilding a lot of my foundational stuff,” Matt shares. “Covid changed me a lot, slowed me down. I feel like I've become aware of a lot of the stuff I need to work on, and I'm happy to start – and I have been. All of that chaos helped me not be neurotic with this album process and get to the point where I accepted things. Like, I couldn’t sit and stew over how something sounded and potentially make it worse if I was needed elsewhere."
Hot off the heels of their latest single ‘Something Real’, Surf Friends release the second single, ‘Dreaming’, from their upcoming album Sonic Waves. Taking a step further into their kaleidoscopic sound whilst keeping in line with their blissful rock sensibilities, Brad Coley and Pete Westmoreland dish out even more ethereal melodies and guitar loops on ‘Dreaming’, enveloping listeners in its heavenly wash of sonics.
“This song is about how nature provides us with the environment we need to slow us down, allowing us to see more clearly the direction we want to take.” Surf Friends say of the track. “It is about that very moment we become aware and feel our potential, see the direction and take the helm.”
Along with the single, Surf Friends have announced two album release shows in March to celebrate the release of their upcoming album, Sonic Waves. Taking place in their hometown, Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland as well as surf capital Whāingaroa/Raglan, Surf Friends will be joining forces with Power Nap (in Raglan), DJ The Bermuda Triangle and King Of The Sadboys (in Auckland) to put on an epic night of music, and showcase their new tunes live and in the flesh. Surf Friends will also be performing at Field Of Dreams Festival on Saturday the 18th of February, alongside Te Huhu, Arthur Ahbez, Wellness and more.
Emiliana Torrini & The Colorist Orchestra - Hilton.
Just over a month from now, Emiliana Torrini & The Colorist Orchestra will release their anticipated new album Racing The Storm on March 17th via Bella Union. Ahead of the release, and having previously shared videos for the singles “Right Here” and “Mikos”, Emiliana & TCO now share a captivating video for new single “Hilton” directed by Aarich Jespers (TCO) & Anaïs Dyckmans. Taking its inspiration from David Hockney, “Tango” by Zbigniew Rybczyński and “Here” by Richard McGuire, the video is a one-shot of Emiliana, The Colorist Orchestra and dancers together in a small living room, projected onto objects and re-shot. In the end we see a broken image of ‘one scene’. This image underlines the eclectic vibe and groove of the song and speaks the language of isolation and being together in online meetings, dreams and fantasies.
Picture this: a big storm is brewing overhead. You’re careening through the backroads of rural Iceland, trying desperately to catch your flight out of Reykjavik as the skies darken behind you. You’ve just had one of the best songwriting sessions of your life, in a farmhouse deep in the Icelandic countryside, but none of that matters now. You’ve found yourself in a race against time to get all your work to the next studio and continue working on your album—one that just might turn out to be one of the most important of your entire career.
This exact scenario is what befell Belgian duo The Colorist Orchestra and Icelandic-Italian singer-songwriter Emiliana Torrini during one of the many recording sessions for their new collaborative album—and the experience was so emblematic of the entire awe-inspiring, chaotic, life-affirming process, that they ended up naming the record Racing the Storm.
The Colorist Orchestra knows a thing or two about controlled chaos. Since their inception in 2013, close friends and multi-instrumentalists Aarich Jespers and Kobe Proesmans have taken on the task of reinterpreting other artists’ discographies with their unique blend of pop, electronic and world music. In 2015, they entered into a collaboration with Emiliana, who at that time was already well into her own illustrious career, having released six studio albums, as well as the international hit “Jungle Drum”.
If you like your blues dirty and rocking hard, then La Ratte and their debut album may be just the thing to get you off your chairs, put on your dancing shes and go see where your air guitar is stashed.
Astray is the album where seasoned and street savy musicians Harm van Essen (guitar/vocals) Jochem Jorrisen (drums) and Nikolas Karolewic (bass) meet in their passion for hard hittin' Swamp Blues, Roots and Rock n' Roll. It surely confirms the musicians' punky attitude towards music.
La Ratte is a three piece band formed as a well fitting misalliance. It started out with two Dutch musicians, Harm van Essen and Jochem Jorrisen, with a punk attitude towards music. Harm started to record demos that put La Ratte in a new direction. The new material needed a bass player to play the songs live, and Nikolas Karolewicz from Münster Germany was asked to join the band.
Since late 2021, La Ratte has been based around Harm’s wayward songwriting, raw vocals and fiery guitar playing, Jochem’s explosive drumming and Nikolas’ steady and old school bass groove. The combination nails a contemporary blues sound by delivering a swampy catchy roots album.
The new album, Astray, was recorded in 7 days at Studio De Krakeling, built in a former mental asylum. Each of the eleven tracks explores a different side of American Roots music, taking inspiration from the energy of Texas Blues, hypnotizing Mississippi Hill Country groove, and the catchiness of Louisiana Swamp Pop classics.
Determined to release a song for all special occasions, My Name is Ian are due to release a Valentine’s Day Indie ballad this year. Following on from their Halloween pop-punk offering, ‘Spooky Holiday’ last year, and 2018’s ‘Christmas Time Again’, ‘You Are Amazing’ will be out across all digital platforms on February 14th.
The track, which references off-kilter romantic sentiments and pairings, has long been a staple of the band’s live repertoire, and has finally been blessed with a studio recording. The track comes as the band prepare to release their latest album, ‘GO BANANAS GO BANANAS GO BANANAS GO BANANAS GO BANANAS’, due out this summer through Bubblewrap Collective.
Creatures of Cardiff, My Name Is Ian have already built a back catalogue that would have taken The Stone Roses millennia to mirror. Since 2010 their output of has dealt with break-ups, breakdowns, mysterious lion paintings and characters from the Tom Hanks movie Big. This restless productivity has seen genres including but not restricted to lo-fi, bedroom punk, garage rock, prog and anti-folk, all filtered through the pop-oriented cranium of frontman Reginald Foxwell.
Impressively prolific and prolifically impressive, bittersweet but unbroken, My Name Is Ian require your immediate attention.
This is a fabulous song from Romanian-American creative Sarah Chirita who we are told "is well versed in singing, song writing, and speaking" and this gorgeous track suggests that statement is not an exaggeration.
Sarah is described as an Americana artist, deriving inspiration from the likes of Zach Bryan, Dolly Parton, Tyler Childers, and many others. She finds herself between Americana, indie and folk.
Sarah's Romanian background played a large part in her love for folk music, whilst growing up in Texas deepened her love for Americana.
This song is for anyone who is struggling financially, was raised by a single parent, or struggled to make ends meet.
Franny is the latest single from rising Austin-based group Redbud. It's off of their debut EP, Long Night, which is out February 24th. The band's Katie Claghorn say's regarding the song, "I wrote this song about my cat. My big, silver, mischievous barnyard cat, Francis.
I scooped Franny the kitten from an apartment complex during 2020. He was offered to me in a Facebook group after I posted about finally being ready to care for a furry friend during the Q. As Franny aged, the necessary flea baths grew more and more difficult as he grew more and more aware of what drawing a bath meant for him. He looked so pathetic one day during his flea bath that I began to sing him a lullaby.
I sang the tune (which became the verse melody) to myself for a few months before finally forcing myself to sit down and find some chords that worked alongside it."
Redbud is the brainchild of Claghorn who crafts intimate sonic portraits with whimsical, psychedelic tones and meditative, soul-exposing lyrics. Born out of pandemic, the group has blossomed into a four-piece and has become a rising staple of the Austin scene, most recently supporting Wild Pink and Why Bonnie. Long Night stands as their cohesively kaleidoscopic vision as well as a trail-sign for where their path leads in the future.
Tara Van der Kolk has released the second single from her upcoming album, Rise (due April 2023), the hopeful reflection on self-love that is “Back In Love.”
Composed after a brutal breakup, “Back In Love” is a “self-soothing anthem” in Van der Kolk’s words, an ode to the hopeful nature of rooting oneself once again.
The melodic, acoustic pop song layers Tara’s harmonies and empowering lyrics to create a peaceful, sonic cocoon.
“Back In Love” reflects on the challenges of being ‘too much’ and the recognition that for oneself and for the right people, one can never be considered ‘too much’ of anything.
Chris Williams and Kid Reverie - Warning Bell.“Damned if I do, damned if I don’t. I’m still gonna care even if you won’t,” sings Kid Reverie in the opening line of the new Chris Williams and Kid Reverie single, “Warning Bell.” An acoustic guitar-driven groove, highlighted by swirling B3 organ fills, provides a comfortable bed for a devastating lyric. “Sometimes folks just give up.
No matter how hard you try to navigate all of their landmines, inevitably there is an explosion,” says Williams, who wrote the song’s first four lines before bringing in Kid Reverie, known off-stage as Steve Varney, to write a chorus from a little more distant perspective. “We set about working through this idea with just the first verse written. That verse came from a very personal place,” remembers Williams. “There were long discussions about our experiences with this topic that, for me, were very cathartic, yet too close to fully embrace expressing outwardly. Steve was able to seamlessly articulate our points as he quickly wrote out the chorus that followed those first four lines.”
Throughout the pair’s upcoming album Something from Nothing, “Warning Bell” is the only track that features Varney on lead vocals. “Chris referenced the intensity of my rock record that I did as Kid Reverie back in 2018 and I took it from there,” says Varney. “In the end, he loved how I sang it, so I just went ahead and did the vocals. It felt good to make a rock song again.”
The resulting tune feels desperate and understanding at the same time; an urgent message punctuated by a redemptive, resolute guitar solo to counter the gut-wrenching refrain of “Please, please, whatever you do, don’t let me be like you.” “Steve has a remarkable way of arriving at a vocal expression for a needed moment,” says Williams. “His delivery matched that intensity.”
British vocalist and songwriter Alice Auer returns this week with her new single "Greek Street", out now via London tastemaker label Young Poet (Conor Albert, WOOZE). With a voice to thaw the most glacial of hearts, Alice Auer first came to prominence collaborating with south London producer (and Young Poet label-mate) Conor Albert on 2021’s 'Smile' EP and her own 2022 EP 'Daydreaming'.
Since those initial releases, Alice's music has been streamed over 10 million times; she has shared the stage with acts including Nia Archives and ELIZA; received shout-outs from the likes of Justin Bieber, and has established herself as the heart and soul of a burgeoning London scene that includes contemporaries James Smith, Matilda Mann and Maya Delilah.
New single "Greek Street" - produced by Conor Albert and co-written with London songwriter and producer James Smith - exemplifies Alice Auer's supremely relatable and refreshingly modern approach to jazz-songwriting. On "Greek Street", Auer's candid storytelling and pristine vocal shine through as she reminisces about a first date in Soho. With an empathetic worldliness, she offers catharsis against the complexities and heartbreak of relationships and daily life.
Speaking more on its inspiration and how "Greek Street" came to be, Alice Auer said: "I wrote 'Greek Street' in a day with my lovely friend and very talented musician/producer, James Smith. Story wise, Greek Street was inspired by the first date my boyfriend and I went on together, at Jazz After Dark in Soho, London. I wanted to create some contrast in the song emotionally and musically, so we wrote the lyrics from the perspective of someone who had that relationship, that experience, that romance - but lost it and longs to have it back. We then took the bones of the song to Conor and let him work his magic."
That Old Quiet Lighthouse continue to create their sad-boy multiverse with new single ‘Laughter’, out now. After doubling their social media presence through the course of a couple of months, being featured on V13 alongside numerous radio plays including on Charlie Ashcroft’s show on Amazing Radio, That Old Quiet Lighthouse are on somewhat of a roll.
Powering through with their commitment to ‘putting the emo back in wholesome (it’s in there somewhere)’, they combine the keen and emotionally charged lyricism of Pinegrove with the bittersweet textures of Alex G, with a pinch of instrumental virtuosity for good measure.
Building an audience steadily through their brilliant mix of witty banter and immersive musical storytelling, there really isn’t another band like That Old Quiet Lighthouse. Constantly featuring different vocalists and instrumentalists on songs creates what can only be coined as a ‘sad-boy multiverse’ for the listener to enjoy, following each incredibly talented featured artist down their own rabbit hole to a place of entirely different but equally brilliant musical experience.
The guest vocalist on new That Old Quiet Lighthouse single is the perfect example of this. ‘Laughter’ is an upbeat indie-pop tune, channelling folk influences through its tenor horn counter melodies. Featuring the beautiful and unique voice of Sanja Cin, the song is almost a duet - her melodies serving as an echo of a love since gone. The best way to describe it? Infectiously upbeat, irresistibly charming, a song that perfectly articulates the bizarre nature of ending a relationship with no ill will.
Kalila Badali is an alt-folk/art-pop singer songwriter and psychotherapist based in Toronto. Her music strikes an ethereal balance between witchy folk and danceable (yet moody) pop. At the age of seven, Kalila taught herself to play guitar and began writing songs. Having started writing at such an early age, her performing and writing has spanned two decades. She is most influenced by St. Vincent, Kate Bush, and Aldous Harding.
Kalila officially launched her music career with the release of her Indie-Folk EP, Perfectly Collapsing (shared on “plantable paper” to reduce waste). Kalila’s EP garnered attention on CBC Radio One’s Big City, Small World. Her current project, Panacea, has received funding support from the Ontario Arts Council and FACTOR Canada and will be released in 2023. Her singles, “No Eye Contact” and “Dotty Mae” are out now on all streaming platforms.
Music represents an ongoing avenue for Kalila to express her understanding of the world as a neurodivergent person. Since graduating from University of Toronto with an M.Ed. in Counselling Psychology, Kalila has been a Registered Psychotherapist in Ontario with a unique private practice working with neurodivergent, LGBTQ2SIA+, and arts workers. This balancing of her two careers as a musician and therapist has led her to offer workshops to emerging artists on musicians’ mental health.
Esther Rose has signed to New West Records and will release Safe to Run April 21, 2023. The 11-track set was produced by Ross Farbe in New Orleans, LA and Placitas, NM and is the follow up to 2021’s acclaimed How Many Times. Alongside longtime collaborators Farbe and Lyle Werner, Safe to Run also features the acclaimed New Orleans based band Silver Synthetic on many songs, Cameron Snyder of The Deslondes, as well as Alynda Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff on the title track, a gorgeous duet that directly merges the personal with the global, superimposing feelings of spiritual displacement onto the larger, looming dread of climate grief.
Safe to Run is the quiet culmination of years spent fully immersed in a developing artistry, and presents Rose’s always vividly detailed emotional scenes with new levels of clarity and control. Her songwriting transfigures the chaos and uncertainty of a life in progress, but here she introduces a newfound pop element that attaches unshakably catchy hooks to even the darkest stretches of the journey. The album’s production takes a giant step forward. Across all of the tracks, the open-air, live-in-the-room sound she tended towards in the past was exchanged for an exploration of multitracking and overdubs.
Of the song, Rose says, “Someone sent me a DM, asking ‘do you remember me.’ I was transported into a decade-old memory; a weird weekend with a crew of dangerous college preps, a car crash. What came out is this short study of my townie life in Ann Arbor. As I was writing this song, it occurred to me how lucky I was to have survived that time of willful recklessness. I wanted to empathize with my younger self, like, ‘it’s alright, you were 23. You were out of control. I got you now. You’re okay.’”
“One Small Thing” imagines an internal and external space of reprieve, peace, and calm, away from our present day’s environments of tension, challenge, and turmoil. The song asks the question: If such an idealized place seems out of reach, what are the “small things” we can do today to make such a space feel possible?
Bellows selected the musicians who performed on “One Small Thing” based on his appreciation for their subtle, artistic approach, and their ability to connect to–and express–the emotional core of a song. Nova contrasts Bellows’ low, gravelly voice with soaring, angelic vocals. Malcolm Burn’s nuanced bass lines organically cleave the melody, singing in a beautiful, thoughtful way. Steve Decker’s open, impressionistic, even jazz-inflected drumming breathes new life into the architecture of the song through a varied series of textures and undercurrents.
The contrast of growing up surrounded by the quiet beauty of the natural world in rural New England and now living in New York City’s urban landscape creates tension in Bellows’ music. The songs are an ongoing dialogue between internal, reflective wonder and an external sense of outward, urgent searching.
Bellows works in three creative fields simultaneously–writing, music, and visual art– exploring a cohesive artistic point of view among the three mediums to undergird his songs. He says, “I explore emotional terrain with these various creative outlets in an attempt to understand–through different vantage points–what matters to me.” He writes about memory, affect, family, legacy, the natural world, human frailty, injury, redemption, and resilience. He says, “I’m interested in unresolved images and fragments of unfinished thought and dialogue.” The engine of most of his work–writing, music, and artwork–is the constant process of reconciling the past while existing, in an ever-changing state, in the present day.
PD Martin and his band hit the trail as a straightforward blues-trio. But twelve bars ain’t enough and soon they are leaving the main road.
Gig by gig, song by song, they make their way through a wetland of blues and funk, ever groovin’ to the rhythm of the almighty Soulbeat. The record you are discovering here is a report of this exciting journey. “Soulbeat Incarnate” is a diverse collection of eleven original songs.
From the raw blues of “Artificial State of Misery”, over the funky hooks of “Come to Bed” to the extremely danceable groove of “Strip It Down”, this album, produced by JB Biesmans (Travellin’ Blue Kings), is compelling from beginning to end!
Tom Jenkins - It Comes In The Morning, It Hangs In The Evening Sky.
Welsh Singer-songwriter Tom Jenkins has revealed a brand new video for “It Comes In The Morning, It Hangs In The Evening Sky”, the title-track of his spectacular latest solo album (out now). The official video arrives as Jenkins confirms a string of live fixtures for the new year ahead, including support shows with Cardinal Black, Frank Turner and Bastille as well as sold out headline shows in Cardiff and Trowbridge.
A sprawling and cinematic track that unfolds like a great epic told in three parts, “It Comes In The Morning, It Hangs In The Evening Sky” pins together tender vocals with cascading drum rolls, unhinged guitars and meteoric instrumental flourishes.
Of the new song, Tom explains: “”It Comes In The Morning, It Hangs In The Evening Sky” is probably the most epic track on the album, and had to really live up to the name. The song draws influences from the likes of Jeff Buckley, Daniel Johns of Silverchair and Big Thief. Lyrically, it focuses on the feeling of dread and how it creeps up on you.”
The title-track of an equally expansive and exploratory new studio album (out now, via Xtra Mile Recordings), ‘‘It Comes In The Morning, It Hangs In The Evening Sky’ is the singer-songwriter’s follow-up to 2019 solo debut ‘Misery In Comfort’.
Recorded in the depths of lockdown, Tom started tracking the album in a disused barn on an old laptop with just one microphone and a 2010 version of GarageBand. Realising he was completely out of his depth, he turned to lifelong friend and producer Todd Campbell and the pair began to turn the collection of songs into a full-length album at his studio in South Wales.
Faith Vern, lead singer of notorious Manchester punk band PINS, has shared new single ‘Cold Hearted Woman’. The single, a swaggering and smoky number, marks the launch of her new solo project, The Faux Faux, as well as the relaunch of the Drowned in Sound Singles Club. “We’ve always championed Faith’s work in the ultimate punk gang PINS” says Drowned in Sound founder Sean Adams. “We got talking a couple of years ago, when she sang with Iggy Pop at the BBC’s legendary Maida Vale studios and kept in touch.”
“When I murmured that I was thinking of bringing back the label, Faith mentioned a solo project… and as I absolutely adored what she sent over, here we are, restarting the singles club that previously kicked off the careers of Kaiser Chiefs, Bat for Lashes, Martha Wainwright and more. This is track one from what will be a slowly released 10-track compilation of new artists I love, with a new track arriving each month.”
With a chill in its bones and a fire in its belly ‘Cold Hearted Woman’ is a debut single that feels as if it has just marched off the set of Peaky Blinders or John Cassavetes’ Gloria. “I’ve always been intrigued by Cindy Sherman, Sylvia Plath, Gregory Crewdson, Virginia Woolf, Nan Goldin to name a few,” explains Faith Vern, “these writers, poets, photographers, artists, who have shown us the beauty and the desperation in the mundane.”
Vern continues “After the birth of my first child I needed more space which meant moving from my one bedroom flat in Prestwich to a ‘proper’ house. Somehow my husband and I convinced ourselves that we should head to the country, little did we know that lockdown was lurking… I was writing about being somewhere and feeling trapped, anxiety and coping mechanisms.” “The chorus ‘I’m a Cold Hearted Woman’ is of course tongue-in-cheek, it’s almost like once everything, all your personality, freedom, joy, is forced out of you, you just sorta go ‘ok fk it, you think I’m cold, well yes, here it is...’ ”
The striking talents of rising Portland artist Kendall Lujan will be impossible to miss in the coming year. Her indie-operatic voice stratifies songs through octave runs, making moody, melodic folk rock. To rise out of Portland's flush music scene is no easy feat, Lujan has been making herself heard by singing harmonies in AC Sapphire’s backing band The Shoulderpads.
In her latest project Lujan steps out in front of the band. Many folks introduction to Lujan will be “Another”, a song of lingering desire that floats Lujan’s vocal range over a small symphony of archtop guitar and strings. Her strengthy voice –which ranges from mountain holler to bird-like warble, seems to hang in the air. She sings a song about retracing steps to the point where love was lost, and resolves to regain that trail in another life.
Lujan opens the moody “Dot My I’s” solo, fingerpicking guitar, giving us a chance to hear her commanding voice. Layered vocals and gentle driven drums join Lujan in a pocket groove. Enjoy her lyricism as she asks “how can these memories be so sweet, and other times only sting?” Lujan comes to Portland from the upper-left-most corner of rural Washington. She’s had bands before but the time of the pandemic created an opportunity for Lujan to do things differently. She moved to Portland, and saw the isolation of relocation and lockdown as a chance to really dig into her own songs. The trained piano player picked up a guitar.
Lujan’s songs concentrate on growing up, and figuring it out, and she turns experience into a story to make the point. The natural singer and songwriter put together a band with Micah Hummel (drums) Sam Arnold (bass) and recorded at the Map Room in Portland with Dominik Schmidt producing.
Taken from the forthcoming EP “Ancient Lights”, “Into Your Grief” is the new single from Surreybased contemporary folk artist Hannah Scott. The EP is a collection of old songs Hannah thought deserved to be dusted down and played to audiences once more. Into Your Grief was written towards the end of 2008 as her three year relationship was breaking down.
Hannah says, “I’ve often found myself too afraid to say how I really feel. As I’ve got older and realise the impact that not being fully open and honest has, I definitely see this as a weakness and it’s something I’m working on. Somehow expressing those feelings in lyrics is easier. My relationship had been on the rocks for a while and we hadn’t voiced it. I played my then partner the song and we both started crying and that was that! We are still good friends 15 years later.”
Ancient Lights takes its name from the house she grew up in, a Tudor building in Suffolk, named by her father because of its leaded light windows. These take centre stage in the EP artwork created by her mother. Hannah had the idea to name a record after the family home in her early twenties but she knew she’d have to wait until she was older in order to have some old songs to record so the title would make sense! Two close family bereavements in the space of a year as well as the period of quiet which the pandemic and lockdowns brought set Hannah on a path of reflection as she rediscovered some of her oldest material.
Heart-felt lyrics wrapped in a saucy bass-line, catchy chorus, and a head bobbing groove; with remnants of Gorillaz, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Arctic Monkeys, and The 1975.
This opening song for the upcoming EP Vol. 1 is really a look into getting older and fighting with the feelings of aging, depression, and anxiety. How have 30 years already past? I still feel like a kid. I am just a kid. I was always “the kid” in the local music scene. Always the youngest one on stage and still keeping up with the veterans. But now, that is no longer the case. I think everyone has this disconnect at some point in their life. As time goes on, our lives get busier and life seems to speed up day by day. We all want to feel young forever.
Jesse Hite is an American artist living in the French countryside as a musician, producer, and singer-songwriter. His experience exploring and living on the West Coast of America, travels through Asia and Europe, and time spent living in France has taken his lyrics and songwriting to a whole new level. He has combined those life experiences inside his home studio and molded them into a piece of art for all music lovers to enjoy. He shares his honest experiences through his intricate storytelling-like song style. His songs are groovy, atmospheric wonders with poppy hooks and deep stories.
BC Camplight has just announced news of his new album, The Last Rotation Of Earth, out May 12th via Bella Union. To accompany the announcement, BC Camplight has shared a lyric video for the LP’s title track and first single. Is there a curse that says Brian ‘BC Camplight’ Christinzio cannot move forward without being knocked back? That the greatest material is born out of emotional trauma? Whilst making his new album, The Last Rotation Of Earth, Christinzio’s relationship with his fiancé crumbled after nine inseparable years.
The album follows this break-up amid long-term struggles with addiction and mental health. The outcome is an extraordinary record, with Christinzio describing it as “more cinematic, sophisticated and nuanced than anything I’ve done before.” He goes on to describe how the separation altered his creative focus and caused him to “scrap 95% of what I’d already recorded”, finishing The Last Rotation Of Earth in two months and making what he believes is his most vital album.
Still, Christinzio doesn’t see any of this as a story of redemption. “This is not a story of victory,” he says. “It is a document created in the shadow of incredible darkness. One from which the creator hadn't planned on escaping, and still doesn't. Hence the title of the album. It is the result of an illness that I've battled my whole life. It isn't something that the world has done to me. It's the world I live in and it's no one's fault.”
Independent Country artist Cody Hall from Lethbridge Alberta has a brand new song available on streaming services today February 10th
“Made my day”, the third track recorded with Bucket Brigade Studios and producer Joel Pearson, highlights the story of young love and has an alternative-pop flare that compliments the country flare that Cody is known for.
Cody's previous releases, “One of Them Boys” (August 2022) and "The Dark" (February 2022), both hit regular rotation on local stations here in Alberta and together have over 300 plays on Sirius XM’s Top of the Country channel.
