Parliamo - Freya Beer - YOVA - La Faute

Parliamo - You’re An Animal.

A funk-laden guitar pop anthem filled with hazy melodies that flutter and float like the last rays of sun dipping behind the horizon on a languid summer day, “You’re An Animal” arrives as the first new music from Parliamo this year.

Taking primary inspiration from the laid-back electronica-infused indie pioneered by the likes of Primal Scream, Super Furry Animals or Blur, with a healthy dose of the dazed guitar-pop rhythms reminiscent of Swim Deep or Peace also detectable amidst its sunny substance matter; “You’re An Animal” finds the band facing up to our fear of failure with a fizzing new release.

As vocalist Jack Dailly explains of the track: “The lyrics [of “You’re An Animal”] centre on projecting your own failures and insecurities onto someone else in an argument: when you really should be having a go at yourself, you deflect the blame and double down. It quickly became an effective live number, with loads of people who had seen us live asking us when it would be released.”

Initially written over two years ago, “You’re An Animal” has been finessed to perfection at live shows and their home studio ever since. The final version was recorded, mixed and produced by Jamie Holmes at Castle of Doom Studios in Glasgow in 2023.

Parliamo · You're An Animal

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Freya Beer - Fantasy / Galore.

Her first new music of 2023, the “Fantasy” // “Galore” AA-side single arrives as Freya begins to etch out the successor to her acclaimed debut album ‘Beast’. Toying with that which tempts us in both lucid fantasies and shadowy realities, these two bold, dark and exhilarating new tracks find Freya Beer delving into what drives our deepest desires and showcasing two very different sides of her artistic abilities.

“You stretched your pegs out wide, slightly confused my appetite” teases Freya on “Fantasy” as she opens up the floor to a track of rapacious sexually-charged spills and raw garage rock thrills. Told through tactile, tantalising prose and prowling proto-punk riffs, this latest cut finds Freya celebrating the uncensored version of ourselves we become in our wildest daydreams. As Freya elaborates:

“Fantasy is an unfiltered exploration of self-discovery and expressing your thoughts in a fictional world. I wanted to write a song that emotes raw emotion and tells the listener to embrace their feelings in a positive way.”

On the flipside, “Galore” is an altogether more salacious affair that explores what can happen when those fictional pursuits and carnal desires boil over into real world infatuations with uncertain consequences. As Freya explains: “Galore is about people who are infatuated with something, almost bordering on ‘obsession’. The line “I’m your galore, you don’t want anyone else babe” depicts how this obsession is becoming a feeling of escapism and creating a fictional storyline for themselves.”

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YOVA - Feel Your Fear.

Letting loose a runaway freight train of jumpy guitar rhythms and primal percussive rumblings, the new single from the duo of Jova Radevska and Mark Vernon is one intended to heighten the senses and toy with what drives our fears and failings. As Jova explains:

“”Feel Your Fear” is about the human’s fallible nature to form addictions in order to alleviate pain. We can do this with a person too: we can believe that their company will save us from the challenges we are facing and we cling to that, when in fact we haven’t addressed the real cause of those feelings. It is often our insecurity and un-dealt trauma that makes us cling to people/substances, addictions in general.”

Citing ESG, Gang of Four, King Sunny Adé, and early Talking Heads as being amongst the subliminal influences that played into the track, “Feel Your Fear” sees YOVA deftly update their dynamic brand of alternative pop music with hints of garage rock, Afropop and funk to gripping effect.

Produced by Mark Vernon and arranged by Rob Ellis, the track was recorded between Dorset and London and also features Daniel O’Sullivan of Grumbling Fur on bass and features the legendary Terry Edwards (PJ Harvey) on saxophone. Intending to create an unshakeable feeling of restlessness, Jova Radevska’s airy vocals toe a fine line between playful and impending, while its haunting baritone sax, sinuous bass, and meticulously timed blasts of trumpet and organ all play their part in the unsettling fabric of “Feel Your Fear”. As Vernon adds: “The sonic tapestry and rapid tempo of this track is written to convey a sense of heightened urgency: the impending sense of emotional claustrophobia and resulting fear is echoed in the narrative of Jova’s lyrics. A sense of one last rushed midnight dance before emotions inexorably spiral out of control and time literally gets swallowed up before our eyes.”

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La Faute - The Crown.

A hidden gem from the frozen heart of Toronto, Canada, art school dropout and Sony Music Publishing artist La Faute (aka Peggy Messing) is releasing her third single “The Crown” from her upcoming debut Album, “Blue Girl Nice Day”.

La Faute is Messing’s dark, dreamy solo project. A visual artist, multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter originally from Winnipeg, Canada, she explores themes of surface vs. depth, longing, betrayal, mourning and desire. Using tenor electric guitar and obsolete hardware samplers, she created her captivating live show and released her debut EP just before the pandemic. She chose to pause performing live due to her health, and returned to focusing on creation, finding workarounds to the problem of isolation. She connected with fellow artists and producers in France, the UK, Canada and the US to create music during this time, most recently with LA-based Topher Mohr who produced her upcoming album.

She received unanimous praise for the first single from the album, ‘Blue Girl Nice Day’, in February 2023, an unsettling, haunting song inspired by the Milgram experiments of the 1960s. The song was accompanied by an eerie video that showed the artist making a bed in a windswept field with looming power lines in the background. Her second Single, “Watercolours” was equally highly praised, and featured a video of Messing night driving in the rain and getting drenched in a cold downpour. She has become increasingly interested in filmmaking, art-directing and shooting music videos for each song herself, inspired by French new wave and film noir aesthetics.

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Hourglvss - Jill Andrews - Tom Emlyn - Sarah Segal-Lazar

Hourglvss - Calling

North Wales alt-pop quartet Hourglvss, made up of best friends Katie Benbow (vocals / keyboard), Sophie May Williams (vocals / keyboard), Rosie Hamilton (guitar) and Lauren James (drums) are the newest infectious girl gang you will want to be a part of.  This week they share their infectious new single 'Calling'. Operating out of Benbow’s ‘Vintage Hearts’ clothing warehouse; complete with pink floors, a giant lipstick, alien mannequins, and heaps of vintage garments, these four women have created a safe space for their own unique Hourglvss universe.

Hourglvss was first formed back when Sophie became a customer of Katie’s vintage clothing website. The pair instantly hit it off and found they had almost everything in common. After attending a Tame Impala gig, the pair began playing music together, covering songs at Katie’s house. It was there that they discovered they had something special.

Soon after, Rosie and Lauren joined the band, and the sisterhood was locked in. “It’s a girl gang, people come up to us after our gigs and want to be our friends, we are building a community for everyone.”

 

Hourglvss · Calling

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Jill Andrews - High Fives.

Nashville singer-songwriter Jill Andrews just released a brand new single called "High Fives" along with an official music video. Co-written with her Hush Kids bandmate and frequent collaborator Peter Groenwald, "High Fives" is a nostalgic song inspired by childhood friends and finding immense joy in the simplest of things. The video was directed and edited by Joshua Britt and Neilson Hubbard.

“I’ve always been a big fan of elaborate handshakes,” stated Andrews. “I once created a routine with a friend of mine that lasted upwards of five minutes and involved a whole lot of synchronized dancing. Near the four and a half minute mark, we would find ourselves in a crab-walking position preparing for our final move. It was a grand high five followed by a nonchalantly spoken ‘see ya’ as we crab-walked out of each other’s view. This move proved to be tricky for us bipeds so we kept missing contact on the high five. In my opinion, there is nothing more unsettling than this. So we had to start the whole routine over again until we finally got it right. This could take all day.

But when you’re young, what else do you have to do? My favorite kinds of friends know how to dive deep into the fun-loving sides of themselves. They may have learned and performed all of Janet Jackson’s ‘Rhythm Nation’ dance routine with me at one point or another. They may have helped me develop a couple’s inline skating routine in a freshly paved parking lot somewhere in East Tennessee. It seems like these types of friends are harder to find as an adult. Everyone gets so tangled up in bills, kids, and home repairs. I’m lucky to still have a treasured few in my life. And for those who really know me, I hope they still see that silly girl, whose favorite thing to do is laugh so hard that she loses control of her limbs.”

"High Fives" follows the release of "Dark Days," Andrews first new studio release in over two years. A sprawling reflection on the complexities of simultaneously looking back and moving forward, "Dark Days" was featured by The Bluegrass Situation and Ghettoblaster among others.

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Tom Emlyn - Broken Mirror.

Tom Emlyn released his new single 'Broken Mirror' a few days back. The follow-up to 'Like a Cigarette' it's the second of three singles leading up to the album ‘Return Journey Revisited: Scaredycat Vol 1’ released on the 5th of May 2023. Mastered by Charlie Francis (R.E.M., Pixies) 'Broken Mirror' is a semi-fictional ballad of lost love set against the backdrop of the Welsh landscape with a heavy dose of irony and imagism.

"And beauty is a curse/ But ugliness is worse/And loneliness is always" Sighs Emlyn bittersweetly on this wistful poetic song rich with detail, as spindly guitars, waltzing fiddles and harps, orbit around his tender vocals. Beguiling and anthemic, introspective yet universal 'Broken Mirror' speaks to the human experience of lost love.

Emlyn says: "This was a song I wrote after I came back from traveling in about 2015. It was a bit of a prototype for some of my other songs like Empire or Under the Weather, which try to use the Welsh landscape as a metaphor for a breakup. It's not really as biographical as it sounds, there's a lot of fiction in there too. It also deals with the choices you make in life and realising that there are many ways to look at a situation. It's quite conversational and imagistic."

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Sarah Segal-Lazar - Even Miami Is Cold.

Folk femme fatale singer and theatre actress Sarah Segal-Lazar has been making music since before she could talk. Folks say she took her first steps in ¾ time.

She wrote “Even Miami Is Cold”  after a trip to spend time with her long-distance boyfriend, but within two days she realised it was like a romcom gone wrong.

The line that started it all – “Baby when I’m with you even Miami is cold” – feels like something Katharine Hepburn would fire back at Cary Grant. It’s a good reminder that even the most specific and personal stories can still live in poetry.

“I was so stressed that I spent a good chunk of the trip shivering, even though it was 30 degrees out,” Sarah explains. “Needless to say, by the last night, we had called it quits. I flew back to Montreal, half heartbroken and half bewildered.”

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Josienne Clarke - Everything By Electricity - Brenda - Marlody - Sock

Josienne Clarke - Anyone But Me.

Josienne Clarke has released “Anyone But Me,” the final single from her new album Onliness (songs of solitude and singularity), out today Friday, April 14th via Corduroy Punk Records. Darkly urgent, with distorted guitars reframing its folk origins to create a whole new sound for Clarke, “Anyone But Me” is a study in possessiveness. The song’s grim and ominous music video directed by Alec Bowman_Clarke is a fitting visual companion as it follows the end of a marriage. “Maybe I just watched too many Hitchcock films in lockdown, but when I was commissioned to make a video for this song, I knew exactly what I had to do” explains Bowman_Clarke. “Bob Gallagher, the maker of Josienne's wonderful 'Chicago' video, was kind enough to grant me permission to use his character, and Chris Newman jumped at the chance to reprise his role. I'm very grateful to them both for helping bring this vision to life.”

The “Anyone But Me” video has earned early support from film festivals across the world–it’s currently a semifinalist in the London Indie Short Festival and the San Jose Independent Film Festival, and has been selected by the Tokyo International Short Film Festival and the Roma Short Film Festival. “Anyone But Me” follows previous album singles “The Birds,” “The Tangled Tree,” and “Words Were Never The Answer”.

Written, arranged, and produced entirely by Clarke, Onliness is the follow-up to 2021's A Small Unknowable Thing–her first LP released via her own label–and presents a career retrospective viewed through new eyes and ears. The LP arrives about five years after she left her contract with Rough Trade Records and is ultimately a striking overview of an artist who has beautifully traversed their own path, no matter how rocky it became. Throughout the process, Josienne was clear that she wanted the album to work on its own terms, that it could stand tall as a brand new chapter even to those unfamiliar with the initial recordings. She also wanted to approach each new song as a singular exercise, to follow the instincts that she’s honed over the past few years.

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Everything By Electricity - Goodbye.

"Goodbye"  first came to fruition when singer-songwriter Yulia Bizyukova decided to do some spring cleaning in her flat. From the ashes appeared an external hard drive with various unfinished tracks - one of which recovered a skeletonized version of "Goodbye".

At the time, the track contained only a few lines of a verse and chorus. After tweaking "Goodbye" for a couple weeks, Yulia sent it to Andy Baldwin, for mastering at Metropolis Studios. The end result is a captivating display of shoegaze layered underneath lush vocals that gently embrace the listener's ears.

Yulia Bizyukova was born and raised in the barren landscape of Barnaul, Siberia, where it snows for a third of the year and freezing cold winters can last up to five months. At age 10, Yulia taught herself guitar and began writing songs that drew inspiration from the melancholy she witnessed.

Everything by Electricity accredits Slowdive, Tangerine Dream, and Joni Mitchell, as some of their biggest influences. Prior to the pandemic, Everything By Electricity's rich sound enabled them to support Helen Marnie of Ladytron on tour.

Everything by Electricity · Goodbye

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Brenda - Microscopic Babe.

Glasgow trio Brenda release Microscopic Babe, the second single from their upcoming self-titled debut album. Microscopic Babe is out 14th April, following recent single Cease and Desist.

Brenda are Litty on guitar, Apsi on drums and Flore on synths. They’ve created a buzz by gigging across Glasgow with their post-punk, dream-pop. Their energetic sets described as the type that “end up seared onto your brain after a single viewing” (The Scotsman). The combination of their dreamy synths, witty lyrics and unapologetic energy is truly infectious.

The album is released 28th July and will be launched with a gig at The Glad Cafe in Glasgow with support from label-mates Casual Worker. The Brenda album is available on blue vinyl and digital by Last Night From Glasgow.

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Marlody - Runaway.

‘Everything was gone: I was on my own…’ ‘Runaway’ by Marlody is a melancholy pop song about being on the brink of oblivion: contemplating the beauty of nothingness but stepping back just in time.

As with many of Marlody’s songs, if you concentrate to her mesmerising keyboard and her exquisite melodies you’ll be okay: they will keep you safe from the sheer drops either side of you.

‘Runaway’ is the third single from Marlody’s acclaimed debut album ‘I’m Not Sure At All’.

Marlody is from Ashford, Kent, UK.  Her next live performance are:
23 April 2023: London (Camden), The Green Note.
20 May 2023: London, Bush Hall: Le Salon de Heavenly, afternoon show.
27 May 2023: London (Forest Gate), Tracks E7.
1 June 2023: Folkestone (Kent), Folklore.
17 June 2023: Rolvenden Layne (Kent), The Skep: Words and Music Festival.

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Sock - Change Your Mind.

Formed in Cardiff, Sock make guitar-driven alternative rock, taking inspiration from psychedelic music. Known for their creative melodic arrangements and blending of genres, the band describe their music as “a rather progressive affair”.

Following on from the bands debut album ‘Fresh Bits’, in 2018, their much anticipated self- titled follow up is out this April. The album features Jacob on Rhythm Guitar & Vocals, Billy on Lead Guitar, Sam on Bass & Keys, and Simon on Drums & Percussion.

Produced by the band, the album was recorded during the pandemic and sees the music move into a heavier and more refined sound.

Change Your Mind is the second track released from their self-titled second album, which is out on the 28th April through Bubblewrap Collective.

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Tom Jenkins - NUTANA

Tom Jenkins - Products of the Western World.

Welsh singer-songwriter Tom Jenkins has unveiled a new video for “Products of the Western World”, ahead of a string of UK live dates this Spring/Summer. A hazy, languid track that swings from discordant to dreamy in a beat, “Products of the Western World” also features legendary guitarist Marc Ford of The Black Crowes on slide guitar.

Of the new track, Tom explains: “”Products of the Western World” is like my theme tune to the end of the world or the closing credits. It’s a song of depressing, serious subject matter played out in a joyous, almost bluesy, Gospel, Ben-Folds inspired manner, that it throws you from the idea of how messed up our world really is.”

“Products of the Western World” is taken from Tom Jenkins’ expansive and exploratory recent 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.

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NUTANA - Nutana (Album).

Sam Corbett tells us the following about his superb new album released under the monika NUTANA. "You may know me as the drummer from The Sheepdogs, and you may or may not know that I was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2018. My treatment left me too tired to drum, so I had to bow out of a couple tours with The Sheepdogs. At home and unsure of what to do, I started playing the piano and writing the songs that became my debut album, released last Friday April 7th under the name NUTANA."

Sam continues "My songwriting was an attempt to cheer myself up and maintain a connection to music during a time when I felt untethered. "Ave H Blue" is about that period of time in my life. Given the subject matter, I went for a calm and reflective vibe, and musically it lands somewhere between Fleetwood Mac and Gordon Lightfoot.

When I was first diagnosed, I understood that testicular cancer had a high survival rate, but I didn't know yet if it had spread throughout my body. So it was still weighing heavily on my mind, and that's why my diagnosis and treatment play such a large role in the songs on this album.

At the same time, I wanted the lyrics on NUTANA to be a little more subtle, and to speak to more than just other cancer survivors. A lot of the songwriting I like is open to interpretation and I wanted to allow my songs to have that space. Sometimes the most personal stuff can also be the most universal. This album has also allowed me to grow a lot as an overall musician, which is something I’ve been able to take back to my role in The Sheepdogs."

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Girl Ray - Drive-By Truckers - Poi Dog Pondering

Girl Ray - Hold Tight.

London's Girl Ray are no strangers to re-invention. The three-piece comprising Poppy Hankin, Iris McConnell and Sophie Moss, made an immediate impact with the release of their 2017 debut Earl Grey on the influential indie Moshi Moshi (Anna Meredith, Florence & The Machine, Kate Nash), which channeled the baroque 70s soft pop of Todd Rundgren through the scrappy aesthetics of 80s UK indie and earned high praise from outlets like Pitchfork, The Guardian, Stereogum and FADER among many others. Their second LP, 2019’s Girl, saw the band change direction dramatically, taking on a kind of indie-fied R&B that The Guardian described as "the great sound of a band getting pop wrong," and in 2021 the band returned in yet another new guise, releasing the one off, house-adjacent single "Give Me Your Love" that was produced with Hot Chip's Joe Goddard and Al Doyle.

Today, Girl Ray have returned to announce their third LP Prestige, an album they made with the revered producer Ben H Allen (Gnarls Barkley, Animal Collective, MIA, Belle & Sebastian), that will be released on August 4th on Moshi Moshi. To mark the announce the band have shared the lead single "Hold Tight", alongside an extremely endearing video directed by long time collaborator Alex Catouris.

The band hinted at their new direction with the one off single "Everybody's Saying That", which was released in February and received best of the month honors from FADER, who described it as "the kind of song Dua Lipa would make if she was more used to playing pubs than arenas." "Hold Tight" sees the band continue in that direction, maintaining the bookish introspection, and open-hearted songwriting that have long been the core of the band's sound with a bright new sonic pallet.

“Lyrically this songs is about how appreciative I am to have found my partner, and how my mental load feels so much lighter and easier to bear now that I'm with her," Hankin explains. "The production on this takes some inspiration from Haim's incredible record ‘Women in Music Pt. III’, and features a subby drum loop inspired by Atlanta’s hip hop scene.”

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Drive-By Truckers - Puttin’ People on the Moon (Vocal Recut, Remixed, Remastered).

The Drive-By Truckers will release The Complete Dirty South on June 16, 2023, via New West Records. Originally released in 2004 to wide acclaim, The Dirty South explores the mean highways and dark hollers of what the band called the “Mythological South,” a tornado-ravaged landscape populated by bootleggers and small-time criminals, everyday folks just scraping to get by and looming icons like Sam Phillips, John Henry, and Sheriff Buford Pusser. The album is a reckoning with the place they call home.

The ground-breaking album has been re-sequenced and expanded to the band’s initially proposed 17-song track listing. It includes 3 bonus tracks that were left off the original album, 4 remixed songs, and 2 featuring newly updated vocals. Also included is a 32-page book featuring original and new liner notes written by the Drive-By Truckers’ Patterson Hood, track-by-track descriptions written by Hood, Mike Cooley and Jason Isbell, never-before-seen photos, and updated artwork by the late Wes Freed. The Complete Dirty South was remastered by the legendary Greg Calbi. This definitive version of the album will finally be available as the band intended.

Today, the Drive-By Truckers shared the remixed & remastered “Puttin’ People on the Moon,” which features new vocals. Patterson Hood says, “I wrote ‘Puttin’ People on the Moon’ in the passenger seat of our van driving through western Tennessee and northern Georgia in late 2003. At the time I was angry about the recently started war in Iraq and the polarization President Bush and his cronies were unleashing on our country, but also drawing a parallel to the policies of President Reagan, who at the time many still viewed as a grandfatherly presence despite his enacting so many policies that had major negative ramifications on our future, a future we’re still living through now. The song was probably the best political song I had ever written at that time and unfortunately is more timely today than it was in 2003.” Hood adds, “We recorded it in Muscle Shoals (in one take) in January 2004, but by the time the record came out, I had already begun to regret the vocal take, which attempted some things I hadn’t yet really learned how to do at that time.

As the years have passed, it is one of two on that album that has always really bothered me when I hear it played, while live it has morphed into a truly powerful song for me to sing. When we were given the opportunity to do a ‘Directors Cut’ version of what many consider to be our masterpiece, I wanted to take another stab at that vocal and nailed what I believe to be a definitive version of it in one take. One that truly captures the inherent anger and despair of the song as written and played by the band. The scream at the end might be the most primal recording of my voice anywhere in our catalog and I’m very proud to have this version out there after all these years. The Complete Dirty South might indeed be DBT’s masterpiece.”

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Poi Dog Pondering - Keep On Loving Each Other (Album).

Poi Dog Pondering's newest album (released in January) Keep On Loving Each Other, a song cycle that reverberates with the determination to follow one's heart while living within an extended arm's embrace of empathy, is the band's 10th full-length album.

The Poi line-up for this album is: Frank Orrall, Ted Cho, Susan Voelz, Max Crawford, Paul Von Mertens, John Nelson, Ron Hall, Rick Gehrenbeck, Dag Juhlin, Ryan Murphy, Julio Davis, Bruce Hughes, Matt Davis, Kelly Hogan, Nora O'Connor, Abra Moore, Kornell Hargrove, Sophia De Leon Sanchez, Robert Cornelius, Carla Prather, and Ali Weiss Mann.

Keep On Loving Each Other was produced by Frank Orrall and Ted Cho, recorded in Chicago and Sonoma, and mixed by Ted Cho with additional recording and mix assist by Frank Orrall.

Formed in Hawaii, coming to national attention after moving to Austin, TX in 1987, and headquartered in Chicago since 1992, Poi Dog Pondering was born out of the mid-80s post-punk indie acoustic scene (the Pogues, Mano Negra, Camper Van Beethoven). They have released albums on the labels Texas Hotel, Sony/Columbia, and Platetectonic Music, occasionally licensing music to Tommy Boy, Premonition, and Bar None Records.

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Oslo Twins - Mazey Haze - Esther Rose - Allie Crow Buckley

Oslo Twins - Breath.

Bristol born outfit Oslo Twins release their new single "Breath" and announce their signing to Fascination Street Records - a new label founded by producer Ali Chant (Yard Act, Perfume Genius, Aldous Harding, Katy J Pearson) in partnership with Bristol's Factory Studios.

With lo-fi, dream-pop and trip-hop influences, Oslo Twins' new single "Breath" is teeming with quiet passion. Produced, mixed and engineered by Ali Chant, the track signals the release of the band's debut EP, due for release on Fascination Street Records later this year.

Held together by a sharp, addictive electronic drum beat, "Breath" hints toward insomnia and dread, but with a sense of acceptance coming from the gentle and complex rhythms of the track and the softness of the wistful call and response vocals. The track features Harry Furniss from Bingo Fury (cornet) and Tom Connolly from rising Bristol group Quade (violin), whose instruments bring the track into its progression from its intimate verses to its shimmering, heady ending.

“For us, Breath is a very nocturnal song about feeling cut off from the world,” says vocalist and songwriter Claudia Vulliamy. Speaking more on the track's lyrical inspiration, guitarist, keys player, vocalist and songwriter Eric Davies said: “Breath is an attempt to embody how unrequited love feels. I wrote it after having a panic attack, so it’s about that as well - an expression of panic in the style of a love song. There’s a sort of dry irony about it.”

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Mazey Haze - Back to the Start.

Indie-rock rising talent Mazey Haze (aka Amsterdam based musician Nadine Appeldoorn) releases her new EP 'Back to the Start' and shares the video for its title track. The EP's titular, opening track perfectly encapsulates the spirit of the project. Announcing itself like a Californian daydream, awash with synths, heavenly vocal harmonies and jangling guitars, the song's accompanying video was directed by Pasqual Amade.

The EP's title track captures a certain struggle Appeldoorn has untethering herself from the umpteenth setback. “I’m just being very honest and very real, being like, ‘I went through all this shit for a reason, but now I’m clueless again,’” she explains. “But I think that’s basically what life is: you constantly get over these really hard, big things.”

Following a string of European tour dates supporting acts Spacey Jane, Paolo Nutini and Feng Suave alongside widely praised performances at this year's edition of Eurosonic Festival ("a set of swooning dream-pop. Singing over a tapestry of guitar and synth, the songs were encapsulating, swaying in sentiment and washing through the dark room" - The Line Of Best Fit) - Mazey Haze will embark on a brief stint of European tour dates in support of the EP this month, with stops in London, Paris, Amsterdam and more.

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Esther Rose - Spider.

Esther Rose will release Safe to Run April 21, 2023 via New West Records. 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 New Orleans based band Silver Synthetic, Cameron Snyder of The Deslondes, as well as Alynda Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff on the title track.

The video for the album highlight “Spider,” which was directed by Anthony Simpkins has just been shared. Of the song, Rose says, “As I was writing this, I remember thinking ‘This. Is. My. Final. Word!!!’ My drummer Lonnie calls this one an ‘emotional dump truck.’ We tracked vocals live and tried to redo them later, but they didn’t hit as hard as the original take. There’s something kind of deranged happening in the third verse, the situational complexities, you can feel it. It’s our favorite to play live.” Anthony Simpkins said,  "When Esther approached me to make this video, she had an idea to involve a boxing match. I thought, why not film it at a real MMA event? I love the stark contrast in the on-screen action and Esther's song. It is somehow both the polar opposite and perfectly matching the journey each person is going through from the beginning of the night to the end of the fight. Love, anxiety, pain, triumph, anger, defeat... you feel everything at a fight. Esther captures the same emotions in her songs."

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.

Rose previously shared the video for the album’s title track, “Safe to Run,” which features Alynda Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff. The song is a gorgeous duet that directly merges the personal with the global, superimposing feelings of spiritual displacement onto the larger, looming dread of climate grief.  She also previously shared the video for the album’s first single, “Chet Baker.” Of the song, she 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.’”

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Allie Crow Buckley - Cowboy In London.

Los Angeles & London-based indie artist Allie Crow Buckley has shared her final single, “Cowboy In London,” from her forthcoming LP, Utopian Fantasy, out May 19th. To go with the driving and playful track, Allie directed a mesmerizing video that showcases her in one of her trademark ethereal dresses, frolicking around London.

Buckley explains, “The song is a reflection on my years as a teen and being on my own in London for the first time. It was wonderful and terrifying, and I was totally enthralled. I had terrible jet lag, so I would wake up and sort of stalk the streets at five in the morning. So, I tried to set the sonic scene with this in mind.” Adding, “The video was shot traipsing around London - I wanted to capture some of the naivety, and sort of carefree sass that I feel the song evokes.”

Utopian Fantasy is the follow-up to her 2021 debut, Moonlit and Devious, and takes the listener on a psychedelic journey through the mythical world inside Buckley’s head. The album was recorded at the 4AD Studio in London, mastered at Abbey Road, and was written, recorded, and produced by Allie Crow Buckley and Jason Boesel (Rilo Kiley, Bright Eyes) between a lush cottage in the English Countryside, the sunny mountains of Ojai, California, and the hotels in-between. The album will also feature her recent singles “Dreamboat Soulmate,” “Greatest Hits,”  “Naked At The Feast,”  “Utopian Fantasy” and “Angel.”

When asked about the record, Allie explains, “It is the sort of feeling of leaving your body - as one does during times of immense stress or when chaos ensues. Escapism of sorts. These themes occur throughout the record - from references to Dionysus (god of wine and chaos) to the myth of Cupid and Psyche. Resigning yourself to whatever is - a sort of submission to chaos. Like in the myth of Apollo and Dionysus. Being naked at the feast, the idea of that vulnerability of just awaiting your fate. How we all long to be carried by Zephyr, the wind, from our fate into a bed of flowers. Just as in the myth of Cupid and Psyche. But what comes next? Coming to terms with your new reality. Like being lost in the realm of the faery, and reemerging years later. Feeling as if it were all one day or one dream."

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Sneakpeek - Bethan Lloyd - Gal Musette - Sarah McQuaid

Sneakpeek - Serendipity.

Los Angeles duo Sneakpeek have just returned with new single “Serendipity,” to announce their long-awaited sophomore album, Scene Within A Dream, for a June 2 release..” Discussing, Sneakpeek’s Dora Hiller noted, "Inspired by the teachings of Abraham Hicks and Yogananda, ‘Serendipity' is about the magic of synchronicity and how the universe sends us messages if we are willing to notice the signs.”

Hiller and Aric Bohn reemerged last autumn with the single, “Dreams That You Discarded,” time away focusing their creative energies on other mediums. The duo had released their self-titled debut album in 2013 on Burger Records, with the LA Times hailing it as a, “noisy nine-track album offering up heavy, druggy guitar riffs that’d make Kurt Vile (or Lou Reed) proud.”

While that record combined elements of dream pop with grungy, garage-rock sludge, “Dreams That You Discarded” pointed to a new direction in the duo’s material, with one foot in abstract avant-garde and another foot firmly rooted within the sensibilities of new wave and disco embedded with strands of mutant DNA. Surrounded by walls of synthesizers and vintage drum machines in their Glassell Park home studio, Dora and Aric leaned into their psychedelic abandonments, taking them out on the dance floor.

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Bethan Lloyd - Metamorphosis (4 tracks).

Bethan Lloyd is a Welsh artist whose trance inducing vocals expand over an ocean of rave inspired production, harmonic layering and otherworldly ecstasy. Her sonic exploration has taken her from training as a classical singer, immersing herself in Berlin’s experimental music scene, to learning with shamans, masters and the ancient teachings of the natural world. In her latest album, Metamorphosis, Bethan, producing alongside Pre-Human bandmate and master of noise Isaac Ray, takes her intense explorations of the spirit and emotional realms and blends them into something playful and danceable, a gritty experimental pop.

 

 

Tracklisting
1.Boss Of Big Dreams
2.No Umbilical
3.Antares
4.Aria
5.Cutting Circuits
6.Parasitic Yes
7.None Of The Above
8.Whatever We Delete

Using expressive vocal layers and hypnotic acid breaks to pull the listener into an ecstatic experience, Bethan Lloyd begins this album by exploring the primal state of emptiness, a place where no thought exists and only being, acting and living remain. It is this state of emptiness and often The landscape itself which becomes the inspiration for Bethan's creativity. She is frequently journeying with her sonic tools to ancient Neolithic sites and places of awe and wonder and allowing her surroundings to inspire a unique vocal soundscape. A soundscape that stirs up a sense of the forgotten past.

The album explores the cosmos and the dark euphoria within it, the themes of mind control and diluted society ask a question about where we are headed as a collective. The music is a spell for transformation. A cry for a return to sovereignty and autonomy of mind and body. This project delves into the philosophy of animism, guiding humanity back from its abusive relationship with nature. Cutting the chords of consumerism. Cutting the circuits of control and returning to our true gifts, to the web and to the void.

Bethan Lloyd · Metamorphosis

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Gal Musette - Moment.

The new single "Moment" from pop noir singer/songwriter and piano virtuoso Gal Musette is quite stunning.

Gal confides, "Moment was a song I wrote one verse for 7 years ago, but at some point I lost the paper with lyrics on it and over time almost completely forgot the melody. Years later when I experienced a significant personal loss, I was struggling to express my grief and fell into a crippling season of writer's block.

By a stroke of serendipity, the lyric reappeared on a folded piece of paper in my glove compartment which triggered a memory of the melody, and led full circle to my finishing the song and beginning to let go." Gal's cinematic vocals sing bittersweet melodies over intoxicatedly esoteric chamber pop soundscapes.

Gal Musette · Moment

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Sarah McQuaid - If We DUB Any Deeper It Could Get Dangerous.

Ahead of a 21-show April-May UK tour that takes her from the West Country to Aberdeenshire and from Cumbria to Kent, folk singer-songwriter Sarah McQuaid has joined forces with Tim Norman of 1990s acid and ambient dub duo UVX ((Ultraviolet Explorer)) for “If We DUB Any Deeper It Could Get Dangerous”, a new remix of the title track from her 2018 album If We Dig Any Deeper It Could Get Dangerous.

“It all started with a tongue-in-cheek conversation when we were on tour in the USA to promote the album back in 2018,” explains Sarah’s longtime manager, producer and sound engineer, Martin Stansbury. “Long drives and longer days led, as they often do, to rambling chats that were occasionally intense and often frivolous in nature.”

One such conversation featured the development of a less-than-serious concept in which If We Dig Any Deeper It Could Get Dangerous could be reimagined as a dub album, akin to the Easy Star All-Stars’ classic Dub Side of the Moon.

The “dub remix” idea continued to pop up from time to time as a jokey reference over the ensuing years — until one day Tim Norman asked Martin to master a dub remix he’d done for a US-based singer/songwriter. This transformed into a simple labour exchange, and “If We DUB Any Deeper It Could Get Dangerous” became a reality.

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Lawn Chair - Lanterns On The Lake - Dutch Uncles - Orchard Sky

Lawn Chair - Punkrock Band.

Ever since their stage debut in late 2021, German-American art punk band Lawn Chair have relentlessly rehearsed, recorded and played shows, including appearances at showcase festivals such as Reeperbahn and Waves Vienna. The band, fronted by Seattle-born Claudia Schlutius, has quickly gained recognition in the German indie scene with a guitar-driven energetic sound, Schlutius’ powerful stage presence and meticulous songwriting. Last month, the band released ‘Sunset Heartbreak’, a single that has garnered the group early support from the likes of BBC Radio 6 Music and DIY as well as comparisons to bands like Gustaf & Bodega.

On their new single ‘Punkrock Band’ Claudia Schlutius says: “Don’t we all sometimes just want to start a band and live the glamorous life of rock stars cruising the streams of showbiz? Probably not, which is why the maddeningly cheerful acoustic guitars in all their glory of the 90s contrast the ambition the lyrics provide. Looking at you Michael Stipe,” she continues.

After releasing a self-produced debut EP in the spring of 2022, Lawn Chair returned to the studio in the autumn to record their follow-up. Eat The Beans And Wear The Jeans! was recorded with the help of esteemed producer Olaf Opal  (The Notwist) and L.A.-based mixer Chris Coady (Beach House, Future Islands, TV On The Radio), who helped take the songs to the next level. The new songs present a new and interesting twist to timeless topics like unrequited love, the despondent boredom growing up in the countryside and the hardships of show business. With this new EP Lawn Chair are underscoring their rightful ambitions to a much larger audience.

Lawn Chair · Punkrock Band

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Lanterns On The Lake - String Theory.

With their much-anticipated new album Versions Of Us due out June 2nd via Bella Union, Lanterns On The Lake now reveal their epic new single, “String Theory”. With Radiohead’s Philip Selway delivering a bravura performance on drums and vocalist singer Hazel Wilde one of her most powerful vocal turns, the track is arguably the dynamic standout from this career-best album.

Commenting on the track singer and songwriter Hazel Wilde says: “String Theory is a song about reflecting on what might have been and might, in some way, still be. It finds beauty and solace in the multiverse theory and the idea that out there somewhere, vibrating on their own frequency, exists another fully realized version of yourself where your story turned out differently.”

Lanterns On The Lake previously released the single “The Likes Of Us” and also recently shared a stunning live version of the track recorded at The Old Church in Northumberland.

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Dutch Uncles - Damascenes.

Dutch Uncles, Manchester’s much-revered electro art rock quartet, have just released their long-awaited sixth album, True Entertainment, via Memphis Industries to widespread worldwide acclaim. Album standout "Damascenes" is this week released as a single alongside a new visualiser with behind the scenes studio footage, coinciding with the announcement of further tour dates and a headline slot at this year's Twisterella Festival in Middlesbrough.

"Damascenes" marries future funk synth vibes with a truly magnificent vocal from Duncan Wallis (with added BV's from Everything Everything's Jonathan Higgs). Lyrically, it borrows from The Simpsons, specifically an episode where Lisa considers that angels might indeed exist after visiting an archeology exhibition...

Vocalist/lyricist Duncan Wallis discussed the lyrical inspiration behind the song: "This definitely felt like the song we broke ground for the album with. The demo is worlds, if not galaxies, away from the finished product musically speaking (electric drums provided the only rhythm as I recall, and not a guitar in sight, just synths), and lyrically I found myself right at the beginning again, clumsily trying to straddle two ideas: one Simpsons based, the other personal; both of which were just too righteous to give up.

"On the one hand, I could retell the story of Lisa Simpson coming round to the possible existence of Angels after discovering a skeleton on an archaeology exhibition. "At the same time I could journal a weekend away of soul searching in Glasgow, beginning and ending in its transcendent Central Railway station (there is indeed a piano in there – or was at least), which was topped off by a chance encounter with the then leader of the Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn, just days before the election was determined on the way home. A truly life affirming scenario and one hell of a hangover cure."

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Orchard Sky - Rollin' 7's (Live).

Blurring the lines between Southern Rock, Soul and Country, Orchard Sky's fresh new sound comes from a combination of Krystle Dos Santos's powerful vocals, and the hard driving work of lead guitarist Mitch Smith and bassist Andreas Wegner.

Dually based in Vancouver and Edmonton, Orchard Sky’s self-titled debut EP -- out now on all digital platforms -- includes their latest single “Rollin’ 7s” (featuring Clayton Bellamy of the Road Hammers), a blend of lipstick, dynamite and the roll of the dice. Already finding a home at Canadian Country Radio, “Rollin’ 7s” is a foot-stomping track that demands turning the dial up to eleven.

It follows on the heels of Orchard Sky’s 2022 single “Canadian Party Song” an instant country-rock anthem that Rogers SportsNet deployed as a the soundtrack to last year’s NHL playoff series between the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames. As SportsNet Music Supervisor Carson Illidge said, “It makes my job very easy when I’m pitched such great songs. This one’s a ripper.” Along with other heart-pumping tracks such as “Flashbang” and “Honest,” Orchard Sky’s EP delivers a sound guaranteed to fire up your soul.

Since Smith and Wegner teamed with Dos Santos early in 2022, everything has fallen into place. What Krystle brought to the band was not only her stunning voice, but also a creative energy that she’s previously displayed as a solo artist and stage performer. Along with earning two Western Canadian Music Awards, she has appeared in productions of Dreamgirls, The Chelsea Hotel: The Songs Of Leonard Cohen, and her own cabaret-style musical, Hey Viola!, a tribute to Canadian Civil Rights heroine Viola Desmond.

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Güero - Part Time Signals - Paradox Arcade - William The Conqueror

Güero - Mind's Eye.

Sacramento quartet Güero have released their latest single “Mind’s Eye”  in advance of their sophomore full-length album, Wednesdays, arriving this Friday, April 7 via Dutch Records. The guys once again tapped director Paul Bates to bring the song to life with a video.

Discussing “Mind’s Eye,” guitarist/vocalist Rik Krull noted, "We played this song for a while never really trying to tame it. When we play live in the greater Sacramento area, we tend to play a 2-3 hour set. During one of our gigs we had some time to fill and played 'Mind’s Eye' knowing we could jam it awhile. It ended up being an epic rendition, one that will never be played that way again. Luckily, we have, Russell our scribe who caught it on his phone.

Maybe because we weren’t really thinking it needed to be anything specific, everyone’s part just fell into place, perfectly. Some of those things we played that night were developed into the recorded version since we were able to draw from Russell’s recording. We really like how we added the mellow beginning to the song and how, Mike changes to the four on the floor during the second verse.  It’s the little things about this song that we have grown to love."

Güero announced Wednesdays in January with the “Streams of Light” single, which Under the Radar called it, "a lost classic reemerging from a forgotten corner of the radio.” The album was recorded live at Pus Cavern Studios in Sacramento with ace recording engineer Joe Johnson and further elevated by Oakland producer and fellow musician, Akiyoshi Ehara (The Seshen, Geographer); who amping up and dialing down dynamics added greater tones, higher fidelity, heavy delays and string arrangements.

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Part Time Signals - The Man.

Part Time Signals is the brand new project formed by Sock vocalist and guitarist Jacob Church. The band came together initially by taking demo seeds written by Jacob, which were then planted into a musical garden when introduced to a live band setting. Part Time Signals features the talents of Sam Barnes (bass), Gavin Jenkins (drums) and Michael Blanchfield (keys).

The first taste of music from the band, The Man, is released across all digital platforms today April 5th. The track was recorded at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, mixed by Sam Barnes and mastered by Eddie Al-Shakarchi.

Jacob explains the meaning behind the song: “The Man is whoever you want it to be. Maybe it's that delivery driver throwing your parcel about, maybe it's your landlord increasing your rent, maybe it's the Tory government. Perhaps all of the above?”. Catch Part Time Signals performing live at Porters, Cardiff on 26th April.



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Paradox Arcade - The World That We Know.

The Guelph-based indie music and art project Paradox Arcade recently released its debut single, “The World That We Know” (RCS Records), a song of hope that calls out the illusions that cause division and inspires people to look beyond to the better world we can all create.

“Each of us in our own way reaches for a better world,” says Xristopher Bland (often simply called ‘X’), composer and author of the song and creator of the song’s cover art called The Reaching. “Even if we can’t see it or fall to the doubts and opinions of others, we know it’s there.”

Mixed and mastered by Alastair Sims (Barenaked Ladies, The Trews, Arkells), the song also reflects the present state of the world, characterized by Oxfam as a decidedly broken world of “extreme inequality. Yet as powerless, disenfranchised, or cast out as many may understandably feel, Xris points out what others have said before.

“The world that we know is not the world we can know. One simple act like saying no to something helps change the world because even the smallest of stones cast into an ocean causes ripples. That’s what this song is. It’s a ripple that moves to the language of repair and healing by calling out the deceptions that separate us, the orchestrations of conflict, and the noise that fragments our innate knowing of who we really are. It’s reawakening call to equity, equality, and peace.”

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William The Conqueror - Somebody Else.

William The Conqueror will release their new album ‘Excuse Me While I Vanish’ through Chrysalis Records on 28th July. Produced by the band in a playground of vintage gear and mixed by Barny Barnicott (Arctic Monkeys, Sam Fender, Kasabian), the resulting album's ten tracks marry earworm tunes with insistent, imperious, soaring rock shapes, punctuated by chorus hooks that are simultaneously nuanced and anthemic. ‘Excuse Me While I Vanish’ is the follow-up to 2021’s critically-acclaimed album, ‘Maverick Thinker’, and will be available on multiple vinyl formats, CD and streaming platforms. William The Conqueror today unveil new track ’Somebody Else’ with an accompanying video filmed at Marshall Studios.

"Somebody Else came from a very specific memory of not knowing which version of myself I was supposed to be playing,” explains frontman Ruarri Joseph. “An identity crisis in real-time. It's so cathartic to play. Harry's drums absolutely beast along. He has a way of finding that extra gear just when you think it can't possibly go any higher.”

‘Excuse Me While I Vanish’, very nearly didn’t happen. Following the imposition of lockdown restrictions, Joseph found himself cocooned at home in Cornwall, ruminating on an uncertain creative future, watching on as his wife Mandy, a valiant mental health social worker, engaged with the all-too-real dilemmas of the pandemic-riven here and now. Her example motivated Joseph to become a temporary care worker, an experience which would provide renewed focus and influence the songwriting on the new album.

“My wife was insomniac for the first six months of lockdown, which made it impossible for me to moan or grieve the fact that everything I’d been working on for the last five years had come to a standstill. It was a much-needed perspective and made me realise what a selfish undertaking William had been – navel-gazing with my head in the clouds when what people needed was boots firmly on the ground, preferably on the feet of someone like Mandy.”

William The Conqueror's fourth album finds the indie-rock trio firing on all cylinders as Joseph confronts the thin line between creativity and madness, inspired by compassion for the real-life angels of the world. Ruarri’s compelling semi-spoken vocals and swamp-blues-Seattle-scuzz guitars are propelled by the rhythm section of Naomi Holmes (bass) and Harry Harding (drums) as ‘Excuse Me While I Vanish’ delivers an effortlessly winning blend of melody and ensemble dynamics, the most accomplished and undeniable William The Conqueror album to date.

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Glass Forest - Chris Emmert - Special Friend

Glass Forest - Can't Just Walk Away.

Vancouver-based Glass Forest is an indie-pop group composed of Nick Owen (vocals/keys), Stephen Clarke (bass/beats) and Abby Wale (vocals). They have gained a reputation for euphoric live shows that blend electronic dance elements with atmospheric soundscapes. Their debut EP is anticipated in May 2023.

"Can't Just Walk Away" was written about the emotional hardships following the fallout of a previous relationship; specifically, between band members Nick and Abby.

It was a uniquely honest process writing and recording the single as they directly confronted the traumas. Oddly healing, it gave space to address and work through past issues, broaching subjects rarely discussed by ex romantic partners.

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Chris Emmert - Say My Love.

Nashville Americana singer-songwriter Chris Emmert has officially released his latest single, "Say My Love", on all streaming platforms this weekend. The track marks Emmert's second release of 2023, following his debut single "Lets Go Out Tonight". Both tracks will appear on Emmert's June 23rd debut EP Introducing Chris Emmert.

Emmert, on the single: This is one of the last songs I decided to put on the EP. It was a staple in my set for about the last year or so, and was a song audience members would often cite as a favorite after my performances. It’s a simple song with a honest message and an upbeat swing about it. I think everybody likes when a tune is easy to understand and feels good. One of my heroes, Hank Cochran, always said, “make it short, make it sweet, and make it rhyme.” So, I think for those reasons this song works and vibes with folks.

We recorded this song live, only going back to overdub my guitar and vocals. All of the arrangements were developed organically in the studio. I told the players to simply play what they were feeling. I think that fostered a really unique and original sound for all the songs, which was my ultimate goal in producing this EP.

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Special Friend - Bête.

Special Friend (American Erica Ashleson and French Guillaume Siracusa) are a duo with a sound that’s somehow minimal and epic. She drums, he plays guitar, their voices harmonise, a bontempi organ slips in almost unnoticed - and suddenly you find yourself lost in the huge landscape of a song.

Bête is one of many great tracks on the album – insistent, catchy, yet mysterious and elusive.  Erica and Guillaume switch effortlessly from English to French in their songs but the melodies are so entrancing you often don’t notice the change.  The lyrics lie in wait for you, and they are powerful (Bête is about the self-destructiveness of our species), but the music will seduce you first.

You may be reminded of Yo La Tengo, the Delgados or, when the volume goes up, Quasi and Galaxie 500. But Special Friend bring something new, something special!

Based in Paris, they’ve built a strong following in France, and the new album looks set to introduce them to the wider audience they deserve. The video for Bête is a good introduction to the band; it was filmed in the summer at Studio Heat in Montreuil, where the album was recorded.

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