Aaron Boyd - TREMOURS - Annie Hart - My Name Is Ian - Muca - Lindsay Lou

Aaron Boyd - Coming Undone (Album).

This is one really fine album, where every song matters. The background below gives a fine overview of both Aaron Boyd and the collection of new songs, listening just takes everything to another level.

Born and raised in Stanton Kentucky, and residing in Irvine Kentucky,  Aaron Boyd is a singer songwriter  that writes from a place only a few with the gift of a second chance can do. Boyds songwriting serves as an honest ledger of accounts that rise from the same rich patch of earth as the minerals found deep in Appalachian soil. With his carefully crafted lyrics and timeless sound, Aaron Boyd’s sophomore album “Coming Undone”, will shake your soul to its foundations.

Boyd began pursuing his passion for music and songwriting in earnest after his daughter was born. With new clarity and understanding of priorities, mortality and immortality, he was inspired to take seriously the gifts he no longer wanted to squander. His 2019 debut album, “Until the End” is a raw and honest account of the shadow-boxing necessary in one’s journey toward sobriety, when easy escape is no longer an option. through these haunting words and by facing and retrieving lost parts of himself, he becomes a healer for the rest of us

Fast forward a few years and we hear that sobriety brings a stronger, surer voice to his second album, “Coming Undone,” as well as a glimpse of light and hope and even a little gratitude. In the second verse from his title track, “I see you from across the bar/I get lost in your smile for a little while before I head to my car/it may not seem like much but it means the world to me/sharing some words of things we’ve heard and then suddenly/ I don’t want to run from all the things in life that I’ve done.”

“Virginia”, another single on the new album speaks of love whether it be of a special person or place and the fond memories of “those nights on the riverbank…underneath a big ole sky…Virginia, I love you/the heavens open up and shine a light on you while I’m away.” In “All the Good Times” the narrator is coming to acceptance and understanding of where he’s been while “The Very First Day” evokes the ethereal sounds of love eternal. “Earthly Sorrow” may be a nod to his beloved grandmother’s hymns.

 

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TREMOURS - Dark Glasses.

Today 7th July 2023 shoegaze/dream-pop duo TREMOURS release their new single 'Dark Glasses' via Little Cloud Records.  The b-side includes a remix from Peter Holmström (Pete International Airport) of the Dandy Warhols.  The tracks will be available digitally on all platforms and on 7" color vinyl.  The video for 'Dark Glasses' was shot and directed by Carlos Colón in the Mojave Desert.

'Dark Glasses' is ominous while dancey.  Lauren's ghostly, dreamy vocals are driven forward by Glenn's pulsating drums, as hazy layers of guitar and dark Moog lines swirl around it all.

TREMOURS formed in Los Angeles in 2021 by the duo of Lauren Andino and Glenn Fryatt. Late night jam sessions in the midst of lockdown uncertainty slowly transformed into TREMOURS creative partnership, driven by the tension between Andino’s hazy, drifting guitars and Fryatt’s urgent, pulsating drums.

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Annie Hart - What Makes Me Me.

"I wrote this song when I was feeling incredibly down about myself. I felt like the only thing I was good at was feeling gratitude - but at the same time, I was so melancholy. I pulled a trick from Belle and Sebastian’s hat and made this as cute, sing-alongable, and folky as I could. If I was going to feel bad about myself, why not have fun with it?" -Annie Hart

Annie Hart is is a New York City-based composer, songwriter, and performer. She made her name with David Lynch favorites and Twin Peaks alums, indie synth trio Au Revoir Simone, and has since branched into a wide-ranging solo career. Her new album, The Weight of a Wave, is an upbeat, fun blend of her DIY punk roots and love of new-wave-inspired vintage synthesizers.  Recorded primarily in her basement and at several arts residencies around the world, it was mixed in parts by Jorge Elbrecht (Japanese Breakfast, Hatchie), Joshua Druckman at Outlier Inn (Nude Party, Snail Mail), and Justin Pizzoferrato (Wild Pink, Dinosaur Jr.).

Annie’s reputation as a master of composition on analog synthesizers has led her to be chosen to compose the score for several shorts and feature films, including the prestigious ASCAP/Columbia University Film Scoring Workshop, Banana Split (Universal), & Olympic Dreams (IFC).  Film scoring, in turn, led her down the path of composing for orchestral instruments and study the art of it at the night school at Juilliard.  She has since won several grants for public performances of her chamber and classical work, including a performance by the Argus Quartet.

Between 2017 and 2022 Annie released three critically-acclaimed solo albums, including an ambient album on Orindal Records, and completed several world tours.  She will be touring the US in August of 2023, both as a headliner and collaboratively with the comedian and musician Fred Armisen.


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My Name Is Ian - Underachiever Of The Year.

Ahead of My Name is Ian’s upcoming album, ‘GO BANANAS GO BANANAS GO BANANAS GO BANANAS GO BANANAS’, ‘Underachiever of the Year’ is set to be released on July 7th. Following on from their last single, ‘Thank You’, the track is about working a dead end job, just being able to pay your rent, feeling as clueless as you did at 18 but now being in your mid 30s.

‘GO BANANAS GO BANANAS GO BANANAS GO BANANAS GO BANANAS’ will be the band’s upcoming 8th studio album. The record will be full of the trademark blend of catchy pop melodies, witty lyrics, and infectious energy. Songs about hating your life, loving your life, Norwegian families, coconut crabs, 90s television shows, feeling like a loser, not trusting the government and Peppa pig. There is something for everyone. The album will be released digitally on the 21st July, with a limited edition run of 100 vinyl records following in late august.

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.

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Muca - Like This Before.

Top London based producer Muca releases ‘Like This Before’, a brand new collaboration with acclaimed singer Celeste Caramanna and his second track featuring legendary Brazilian Bossa Nova guitarist Roberto Menescal. With the new single, Muca also announces his most exciting project to date; A full album created with Roberto Menescal and talented emerging singers from around the world that aims to refresh Bossa Nova with new energy and perspectives, creating a lasting legacy for the next generations of musicians.

Muca’s first collaboration with Menescal was 2021’s ‘Until We Meet Again’ which featured Alice SK on vocals. The track received incredible feedback from the likes of Songwriting Magazine & Songlines Magazine and BBC airplay with an interview with Robert Elms.  The song has now reached over 1 million streams worldwide, so it feels like the right time for Muca to follow it up with new Menescal collaboration, ‘Like This Before’.

‘Like This Before’ has a modern and lively approach that pays homage to its Brazilian roots and the Bossa Nova style. The combination of the infamous acoustic guitar style of one of the only remaining living legends and pioneers of Bossa Nova, Roberto Menescal and Celeste Caramanna’s soft and sumptuous vocals is like honey on the ears and the collaboration shows how a sixty-year-old genre is still so special and still resonates with both old & young minds. The groove from Roberto’s guitar work sits beautifully behind the melody, with Muca’s fine skill of fusing the old and new wrapping the track up into quite a unique piece of music.

Muca specifically flew to Rio to record the track with Menescal. Once the recordings were done, Muca handpicked the right singer for the song. The only name that came to mind for this song was Celeste. Making the decision was easy; Muca saw Celeste for the first time on the same night he first met Menescal at Pizza Live Express Live in London. Celeste appeared with Menescal and sang a track with him that night. Both Menescal & Muca agreed that she would be the best vocalist for this track.  Celeste then worked on the lyrics and recorded the vocals with Muca in London.

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Lindsay Lou - Nothing Else Matters.

Lindsay Lou shares “Nothing Else Matters,” the latest single from her forthcoming album Queen of Time, out September 29 via Kill Rock Stars Nashville. Co-written by Nashville musicians Maya de Vitry and Phoebe Hunt, the song features Grammy Award-winner Jerry Douglas with his immediately recognizable dobro work.

“I first heard this song when Phoebe sent me a few tracks to learn for a gig we had together,” explains Lou. “She told me that she had written it with my dear friend Maya, who was one of the first people I called when I was going through my divorce. Though the song wasn’t written for me specifically, it feels like it came to me right when I needed it.” She continues, “There is something incredibly iconic to Jerry’s playing; it’s unmistakable. Like every touch of his bar to the string speaks exactly to the heart of the song. I feel really honored to have his musical voice among the players.”

Queen of Time was produced by Dave O'Donnell (James Taylor, Sheryl Crow, Heart) and also features Grammy Award-winner Billy Strings. “Nothing Else Matters” follows the debut single and title track “Queen of Time,” which exemplifies the continued theme of duality as Lou explores a path filled with heartbreak, discovery and resilience.

After the loss of her grandmother, the end of her marriage, and the overwhelming turmoil of COVID lockdowns, Lou sought out a hallucinogenic ritual that would not only inform the way she processed the waves of grief ahead of her, but led to a profound realization about her own feminine power. With a new vision of womanhood in mind, she began to see a throughline from her grandmother, to herself, to the art she was creating. Queen of Time is the result of that deeply personal spiritual journey, unfolding across eleven tracks of tender, heartbreakingly beautiful music.

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Echo Ladies - Charlotte Carpenter

Echo Ladies – Fabrik.

Last month, Malmö, Sweden shoegaze/dreampop trio Echo Ladies announced that they have signed to Rama Lama Records/Gazehop Records and will release their second album Lillies on 8th September 2023.

Commenting on the track, the band say: “‘This is a song about the fear of getting stuck in life, doing repetitive things, please others and putting yourself second all the time. The song's name, Fabrik, actually means Factory in swedish. We wanted the sound of the synths and the drums to remind of some sort of big factory, a repetitive loop of big sounds that shaped a rhythm.”

Echo Ladies are Matilda Bogren, Mattis Andersson and Joar Andersén—three school-friends who, after playing together in a few different bands, realised that they worked best on their own. In 2014, after looking for “a name that represented our sound”, they became Echo Ladies, partly inspired by the name of the drum machine from another of their favourite bands, Echo & The Bunnymen (though their own drum machine, for now, remains nameless).

Following a quiet spell for the band while the rest of the world turned upside down, Echo Ladies are now proudly returning with their second album Lillies, recorded and mastered by Joakim Lindberg at Studio Sickan in Malmö, and following on from their acclaimed 2018 debut Pink Noise on Sonic Cathedral, which was one of Rough Trade’s albums of the year.

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Charlotte Carpenter - Not Good Enough.

East Midland’s singer-songwriter Charlotte Carpenter announces details of her long-awaited debut album A Modern Rage on 6th October 2023, and drops the album’s second teaser ‘Not Good Enough.’

‘Not Good Enough’ is a heart-wrenching song about the effects of toxic people on our own self-worth. It explores a real-life working relationship Charlotte had whilst in her early 20’s with an older, more experienced producer.

“It was my first experience of the industry, and I was made to feel it was an opportunity of a lifetime” explains Charlotte. “I was also made to feel I was being protected from the industry too, but as the years went on, I realised this wasn’t the case at all. I was playing to somebody’s else’s rules and expectations of what I should be; I didn’t know who I was. There is so much sadness in this song, and a yearning to find myself again.”

This experience was a catalyst for Charlotte’s deeply personal, at times raw, and cathartic debut album A Modern Rage, which touches upon power structures in the music industry, and society in general, which are detrimental to women, and also explores how life’s profound experiences are navigated – in Charlotte’s case, loss, love, addiction, mental health, and more recently the pandemic - within the often claustrophobic and pressurised confines of womanhood.

Musically A Modern Rage pays homage to Charlotte’s favourite artists from the 70’s through to the 00’s, from Elvis to Avril Lavigne, The Killers to Sheryl Crow, with the accomplished album spanning rock, pop, blues, with subtle country twangs and moments of old soul.

Charlotte Carpenter · Not Good Enough

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Gretta Ray - The Legendary Ten Seconds - Annie Taylor

Gretta Ray - America Forever (with Maisie Peters & Carol Ades).

Gretta Ray today releases new track ‘America Forever’ (with Maisie Peters & Carol Ades), lifted from her forthcoming album Positive Spin, a pure pop project that comes to you bathed in golden light, a hazy sunset of love and heartbreak, growth and understanding… a project full of beautiful moments of classic and emotive pop set for release on August 18.

Written in one of the ‘homelands’ of music that makes up her second album, ‘America Forever’ (with Maisie Peters & Carol Ades) is a more stripped back effort of soft confession side-by-side with an acoustic guitar as she finds her way. The production on the track slowly elevates and increases the tempo and the hope, true to the album’s pop foundation.

On writing with collaborator Carol Ades, Gretta says “if you’re lucky, you’ll meet someone who just is music, personified. That’s Carol. She is it!”. Hearing a demo only,  Maisie Peters - who just landed her first #1 album in the UK - lent her voice to the song.

“I’ve always felt extra creatively driven as soon as I touch down in L.A.  - the energy there permits me to fully believe in myself and the art that I make. On my final day in L.A last March, I rocked up to a session with Carol, and complained to her about having to fly home to Australia. I just wanted to stay in America, forever. The two of us spent the day unpacking this further on the couch in her living room, just us and an acoustic guitar. We also drove through Pasadena and continued writing as we looked out over the city, sparkling in the afternoon sunlight. When a certain place brings out the best version of yourself, it’s hard to leave it behind without feeling like you’re abandoning a piece of yourself. The more creatively liberated I am, the more I feel like me.” explains Gretta.

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The Legendary Ten Seconds - Captain Richard Scott / Rumours Of War.

We have two songs from todays 'Cornish and Devonian' album release from the excellent Legendary Ten Seconds. As always the knack of mixing old and new musical styles along with a fine selection of historical accounts is both inspiring and beautiful!

The Legendary Ten Seconds started off as the solo music project of Ian Churchward during the time when he was the lead guitar player of The Morrisons who were featured on John Peel's radio one show back in 1987. In 2013 Lord Zarquon joined Ian's music project and since then various guest musicians and vocalists have helped out in the recording studio. The most recent musician to join the project is Jay Brown who has helped to compose and record a song called the Time Stream.

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

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

Several albums were released throughout 2019 to 2022. The latest albums are a very silly comedy concept album called the Rejects of Lord Zarquon and a sensible one called Astounding Songs. The next album to be released is due out in July 2023 and will be an English folk rock concept album about Cornwall and Devon called Cornish and Devonian.

the legendary ten seconds · Captain Richard Scott

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Annie Taylor - Schoolgirl.

Annie Taylor’s newest single and video ‘Schoolgirl’ was released yesterday through Taxi Gauche Records and is taken from their forthcoming album ‘Inner Smile’. The band have recently recorded their eagerly-anticipated second album (‘Inner Smile’) in Bristol, UK, with uber-producer Ali Chant (Yard Act; Katy J. Pearson; Aldous Harding; Sorry). Annie Taylor also recently performed two triumphant shows at The Great Escape 2023.

The band's signature sound is evermore present in their newest single ‘Schoolgirl’, a mixture of contemporary indie rock similar to that of Wolf Alice, combined with 90s girl band rock, making it a track that would be at home on an angsty teen movie soundtrack. Undeniably catchy, the punchy guitar driven single is made up of snappy riffs, tight snares and lead singer Gini Jungi’s pristine vocals, capturing the excitement and uncertainty of falling in love in a fresh and honest way.

England's music luminaries Gigwise describes Annie Taylor as "Mellow, cool guitar romp through desert rock, shoegaze, indie and pop influences. Lush." - and not without reason! Band member Jungi said of the single: “Falling in love can be thrilling and confusing at the same time. Especially when you’re not sure what you’re about to get yourself into. It can make you feel bold and shy, excited and nervous but still, it’s a feeling that fills you up with energy and hedonism.”

“Schoolgirl is a reflection on the early stages of a relationship where everything is new and exciting, but it can also make one feel extremely confused and nervous. The lyrics capture the feeling of being young and in love, not knowing where it will all lead, but being excited to find out,” Jungi continued. The four friends Gini Jungi, Tobias Arn, Michael Mutter and Daniel Bachmann joined the Taxi Gauche Records family when they collectively decided to jump on a train for the most exhilarating adventure of their lives.

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Paris Paloma - Allison Lorenzen - Alex Nicol - Gal Musette

Paris Paloma - yeti feat. Old Sea Brigade.

Singer-songwriter Paris Paloma has released her enchanting new single “yeti,” the anticipated follow-up to her break-out single “labour”. Featuring vocals from acclaimed indie singer/songwriter/producer Old Sea Brigade, the song offers a unique perspective on the transformative power of closure in a relationship.

Guided by her captivating vocals and lyrical prowess, Paris takes listeners on an emotive journey through the complexities of human connection. “‘yeti’ is about the quiet, healing realization that comes with giving oneself closure after a relationship; when you’ve moved through a period of intense intertwinement - almost obsession - with another, and what feels like the vast chasm of time and space between that passion, and the point of indifference towards them that is reached in the healed-over aftermath.

It’s not a spiteful, false indifference, nor a bitter apathy, but a breathing-out of sorts, when those feelings let themselves out quietly in the night, without saying goodbye or marking the day. The gentle accompanying vocals from Ben Cramer of Old Sea Brigade completes the presence of both parties, who share in this realization, so these two people become eerily connected in their acceptance of how far apart they have grown,” elaborates Paris.

 

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Allison Lorenzen - MTO.

Colorado-based Allison Lorenzen's latest track "MTO (More Than Once)" is out now. Weaving some of the most muscular guitar work we've heard in Allison's work around her buzzing synths and rafter-reaching vocals, "MTO" sounds like the final climax of a Mark Fischer-influenced hauntological prom scene. Leaning into the well-deserved Julee Cruise and Kate Bush comparisons, the resonant core of "MTO" is a meditation on the cyclical way patterns retreat and return several times before we recognize them - and make choices to either embrace or change them.

The grace for self required for this work is one that Lorenzen is well acquainted with. After a nomadic stint following the breakup of her band School Dance, Allison wrote this song while contemplating how this era in her life would close. This led her operating a hot springs in Southern Colorado where sojourners come to rest and recuperate.

"MTO" was written and recorded in the shipping container that doubles as Allison's living quarters and recording studio. Following on the heels of 2022's "The Fourth Cycle", and her beloved cover of "Glycerine" with Midwife, "MTO" presages a follow up to 2021's critically acclaimed solo debut record Tender released on Whited Sepulchre Records.

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Alex Nicol - Hollywood.

Emerging like the score of a silver screen classic that never was, the Montreal artist’s latest single ensnares with all the potency and poison of its namesake. Casting strings of a knife-edge tension against the unexpected twists that unfold with its dramatic key changes, “Hollywood” finds Nicol play a starring role in a song of downbeat and disturbing Lynchian thrills.

A song about living with the tension of unrealised aspirations while striving for gratitude in the present, “Hollywood” hits home like a bruised lament for what could have been and what may never be.

“I’ll never go to Hollywood, I’ll never be a star” sighs Nicol, seemingly stepping into the well-trodden shoes of an actor down on their luck and feeling the weight of the world. Yet for all the despair that surrounds its lead protagonist, a cathartic chorus adorned with glimmering and atmospheric arrangements finds Nicol offer a silver lining of hope; a contentment to be found in the acceptance of our fates. Mirroring some of the resentments and realisations that have earmarked chapters of his own life story, Alex explains:

“Lyrically, “Hollywood” is a reflective song in which I begrudgingly accept that I have failed to find success yet, with Hollywood symbolizing the fame-in-youth narrative that, because I am no longer young, I will never be able to claim. But if the verses are where I list all the things I will never do, in the choruses I remind myself of all that nourishes me at home, and how far I have come. I have always considered myself a late bloomer, and Hollywood ends optimistically: me and the great blue sky, and all the opportunity that it conveys. Hollywood is a signpost in my path as a musician, marking the end of my youth, in which I was ravaged by self-doubt, and the beginning of my next chapter, in which the sky's the limit.”

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Gal Musette - Into the Blue.

Gal Musette is the artist name used by Grace Freeman, who began writing piano and guitar based lyrical compositions and performing at open mics in her home city of San Clemente, CA at the age of 10. Her graceful approach to melody-driven indie-folk has captured audiences all over Southern California.

At age 14, inspired by The Magnetic Fields’ triple album 69 Love Songs, Gal recorded her own collection titled 70 Love Songs, which caught the attention of the band, and won her an opening slot on a few of their Midwestern U.S. tour dates. In more recent years, Gal has opened for several renowned artists such as Macy Gray, Suzanne Vega, Todd Snyder, and Donavon Frankenreiter. While her artist name is taken from bal-musette, the accordion-based, waltz-style French instrumental music, Gal’s primary inspiration is drawn from songwriters including Joni Mitchell, Regina Spektor, Björk, Cocteau Twins, Burt Bacharach, Big Thief and The Cure.

In October 2021, Gal released her debut album, Backwards Lullaby, featuring a vocal duet with one of her biggest musical inspirations, Rufus Wainwright. The record explores the pangs of hopeless romances and unrequited love, what it’s like to move beyond idealized love into the acceptance of what is real and constant, as well as the cyclical nature of life and love in relationships. In July 2022, Gal released an orchestral EP consisting of three re-imagined cuts from Backwards Lullaby featuring the musicianship of Via Mardot a talented multi-instrumentalist based in Detroit, Michigan.

Gal's latest single "Into the Blue" is a breezy, euphoric song immersing the listener into a free-flowing and dreamlike aura of kaleidoscopic sounds and hopeful narratives. Gal confides, "Into The Blue" is "about letting go of all the expectations I clung on so tightly to, and attempting to break the delusional patterns of my mind, self-loathing and narrow minded thinking. The catharsis of realizing the lack of control I have even over my own mind."

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McDermott & North - Hunny Buzz - Margo Cilker - The Ready-Mades

McDermott & North - The Hollywood EP.

McDermott & North, the captivating indie folk duo known for their heartfelt sounds and irresistible melodies release 'The Hollywood EP'. Released yesterday via Weirder Together Records, the EP is a beautiful celebration of love, connection, and the beauty of everyday moments.

Since bursting onto the scene in 2016, McDermott & North have been winning hearts with their busking performances and beautiful songs. The duo already have a stack of singles and an EP, countless tours and hundreds of hours of performing under their belts, including having played at Bluesfest, BIGSOUND and Ted X Brisbane.

The unknown slow boil of 'The Hollywood EP' began in 2021 when the duo caught the attention of acclaimed Australian singer-songwriter and producer Ben Lee, who stumbled upon the two stylish troubadours singing in perfect 60s folk harmony. Little did they anticipate that this serendipitous encounter would pave the way for a remarkable collaboration resulting in the creation of this EP and one of the first releases for the new label Weirder Together Records run by Lee and his partner, Ione Skye.

After supporting Ben Lee at a show in Brisbane, he invited them to record with him in LA. Though recording in Los Angeles wasn't feasible, McDermott & North entrusted Ben Lee with their guitar and vocal stems to complete the EP. Ben Lee rallied an exceptional team to contribute their expertise, including Joey Waronker on drums (Beck, Roger Waters, REM), Roger Manning Jr on keys (Jellyfish, Glen Campbell, U2, Broken Social Scene), and Mike Viola on bass (Panic at the Disco, Dawes, Ryan Adams). It is a credit to McDermott & North that their songs were enough to draw a team like this together.

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Hunny Buzz - Now I can get over you.

Budding Bristol-based band, Hunny Buzz, share their brand new video to their punchy surf-pop banger “Now I Can Get Over You” released only a few days ago. Drenched in a rich layer of grungy guitar with lead singer’s Lyd Read’s personality and panache spilling out across every second of the track. Today’s new track is the first of many in the build-up to their forthcoming Pacific Wax EP out later this year.

Speaking about the track's narrative-driven lyrics and melancholic nature, Lydia Read explains “‘Now I can get over you’ is a blow-by-blow account of when a relationship goes so wrong, there can be relief in accepting the romance is dead and moving on.”

2023 is the year to keep an eye on Hunny Buzz, who are already super tight live since they formed in 2020, and possess the vitality of British tour successes Black Honey, Dream Wife and Wet Leg. The Group is made up of singer-songwriter Lydia Read, guitarist Rowan Barfoot, drummer Billy Pedrick and songwriter, producer and bassist Ewan Base.

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Margo Cilker - Keep It On A Burner.

Margo Cilker is set to return with her highly anticipated second LP Valley Of Heart’s Delight on September 15th via Loose. The upcoming record sees Cilker with the same group of collaborators (and a few additions) as her widely acclaimed 2021 debut Pohorylle. The 11-track set was produced by Sub Pop alum Sera Cahoone, who also contributes drums, and recorded by John Morgan Askew (Neko Case, Laura Gibson) with studio players from The Decemberists, Band Of Horses, and Beirut. Cilker and her touring band will take the new songs on the road this fall for an extensive run throughout the United States.

“‘'Keep It on a Burner’ is a stream-of-consciousness reflection,” Cilker offers. “Fittingly, I started writing it while floating down the Salmon River on a whitewater rafting trip full of rattlesnakes and wildfire smoke. I think of it as a song about playing the long game and pursuing your heart’s delight, despite life's winding waterways.”

Valley Of Heart’s Delight refers to a place where Cilker can't return: California’s Santa Clara Valley, as it was known before the orchards were paved over and became more famous for Silicon than apricots. She is the fifth generation of her namesake born there, and in this 11-song collection, family and nature intertwine as guiding motifs, at once precious and endangered, beautiful and exhausting. Cilker moved from California to the Pacific Northwest in her mid-twenties and wrote much of Valley Of Heart's Delight while living in Enterprise, Oregon, a small town near the Snake River and powered by the river’s massive, publicly-funded hydroelectric dams. The dams (part of the same system Woody Guthrie was hired to write about) provide clean electricity to much of the western United States but make it extraordinarily difficult for anadromous fish (such as Steelhead Trout) to return from the ocean and spawn in their native streams. Valley Of Heart’s Delight feeds off of this tension - how we live in and off of nature, how we live within and without family, and why we return to the places we were born. Of the forthcoming record, Cilker explains:

“I wrote these songs surrounded by the wild landscapes of the Northwest, but I was leaning toward the place I’d come from. I felt cut off from my family and the valley that held them. I spent hours thinking about my sense of belonging. I’d traveled through many places and then, when the travel stopped, I ruminated on where I had ended up. Where were you when the music stopped? I was in Enterprise, OR. And there in Enterprise, my mind drifted back to the Valley of Heart’s Delight. I wrote about family — about death and rebirth, and the arcs of love and art through a family line. There are songs that hint at missteps and redemption. There are songs about trees: in orchard rows, family trees, redwoods. And water: agricultural runoff, wild rivers, dammed rivers, baptismal flows. And there’s a [cover] song about a fish, cause it’s a damn good song and I wanted to record it.”

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The Ready-Mades - Tumbling Walls (Album).

Many of you know Badasonic from it's many sweet Reggae releases. We think you might enjoy their newest offering something a little different and wonderful!

Recorded on analog tape at the Retromixer studio in Châlons-en-Champagne, France, “Tumbling Walls” blows on the incandescent embers of 60's beat and soul, ignites minds and sets bodies ablaze, brings awareness and a contemporary outlook.

5/5 - "This is dope. Thank you! Love the rawness and the recording style makes this even more beautiful." - Hober Mallow - 2SER 107.3 FM - Sydney, NSW, Australia

"Brilliant update of that groovy 60s French pop sound!!" - Jeffrey Jones - WJOB 88.9 FM - Reserve, WI, USA

5/5 - "Some GROOOVY stuff from this French group! Vintage and yet modern... No synth sounds to be heard!" - Dr. StrangeDub - KFAI-FM 90.3 / 106.7 FM - St. Paul, Minneapolis

"We really like the sound of The Ready-Mades. Ready made for us here at CIUT-FM, Toronto." - Ken Stower - CIUT 89.5 FM - Toronto, ON, Canada

"Loving on this sound. Ready Made for listening." - Mister G - WSUM 91.7 FM - Madison, WI, USA.

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Jay Wood - Bekah Bossard - bdrmm - Sparkle*Jets U.K. - Tilia

Jay Wood - Oh Well.

West Australian alt-indie acoustic singer-songwriter, Jay Wood releases her highly anticipated single, ‘Oh Well’ today June 30th, 2023. This captivating single – A prelude to the 1st September release of EP, ‘Respire’ - serves as a testament to Jay's resilience and determination following a life-altering car accident that left her with a Catastrophic Traumatic Brain Injury, and embodies her unwavering spirit, inspiring listeners with its uplifting message. 

“[The song] began as a cute upbeat song professing heartfelt intentions toward her but morphed into more of an optimistic song with a lament of the love gone by, hence the weaving of the phrase “oh well” throughout.” – Jay Wood

Through her lyricism, reminiscent of the meaning injected through the songs of Phoebe Bridges and Missy Higgins, Jay expresses herself with raw honesty, quirkiness, and a "no holds barred" approach. Her songs fill listeners with unique and enlightened thoughts about love, life, and the human experience. By sharing her own challenges and triumphs, she creates a profound connection with her audience, encouraging them to find strength within themselves.

Jay Wood’s upcoming EP, 'Respire,' is the culmination of years of perseverance and resilience. Relearning the melodies and tunes from her lost memories was a painstaking process that required daily Functional Neuroscientific Therapy. Overcoming multiple health setbacks pertaining to her Brain Injury, Jay defied the odds to craft an EP that embodies her triumphant spirit. 'Respire' symbolises the power of choosing to embrace life, cherishing every breath and living with love and gratitude.

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Bekah Bossard - Venus.

Bekah Bossard shares “Venus,” a song that couldn’t get more personal to her, where she asks all the questions she wishes she could have asked her mother, who unfortunately lives with MS  (multiple sclerosis).  Bekah will be hosting an awareness night called “Venus” for the MS Society - the UK's largest charity for people affected by MS – on July 1st at The Old Library in New Cross where she’s invited several important guests.

Speaking about the song, Bekah said “I grew up hearing wild stories about her life in London in her 20s, falling in love with my dad and moving to LA with him, and their years traveling the world with the charities they worked for. As she deteriorated and became almost non-verbal, I relied on those stories to feel closer to her. The song came out of longing to be able to have those conversations with her. i hope anyone who hears this can sense how dynamic and loving she is. and that through this release, awareness is raised for the MS Society who offer support to those with MS & are researching an ultimate cure.”

Ed Tait, Executive Director of Engagement and Income Generation at the MS Society, says: “We’re so grateful to Bekah for using her talent to share such personal experiences and raise much-needed awareness about MS. Over 130,000 people live with MS in the UK. It’s relentless, painful and unpredictable, and can also have a huge impact on family and loved ones.

“Our vision is a world where no one has to worry about their MS getting worse. And money raised from events, like Bekah’s, help to bring us one step closer to achieving this. Bekah’s “Venus” event on July 1st will bring together an amazing line-up of talent who have all volunteered to come together to perform alongside artists and makers volunteering to sell their work on the night for a donation to the cause as well. Performing live alongside Bekah include poets Savannah Brown and Ella Monnerat plus fellow musicians Kitty Fitz and Amelia Lawn. Market stalls come from Doomsday Press, Ellie Redfern, Engelspark Bags, Hopeworld, Shut Up Shay and Knightsill.

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bdrmm - I Don't Know (Album).

While the world became socially distanced in 2020, Hull’s post-shoegaze, dream pop, heavy guitar effects quartet bdrmm made the kind of impact with their debut album any young band would dream about. Released on the small Sonic Cathedral label in July that year, Bedroom was hailed as “a heady, forward-thinking shoe gaze distillation” by Clash magazine. Mojo said that the band tread the “queasy tightrope of prime Cure, Ride etc. with real dexterity.” The Guardian proclaimed “one of the underground hits of lockdown,”, while NME awarded the album five solid stars and called Bedroom nothing less than “a modern day shoe gaze classic.”

The stunning debut was championed by the likes of Huw Stephens, Lauren Laverne, Steve Lamacq and John Kennedy, entered the Official UK chart three times, ended up in Rough Trade’s Top 10 albums of 2020 and turbo-boosted the band’s Spotify following, which now reaches just short of 300,000 listeners each month.

Three years on, the band’s new album I Don’t Know takes the adventure somewhere else. It’s contemporary shoegaze in a way but much, much more. Again recorded at The Nave studio in Leeds with producer Alex Greaves (Working Men’s Club, Bo Ningen), the band’s trademark effects-laden guitars and motorik Neu! grooves have now been augmented by piano, strings, electronica, sampling and even occasional dance beats. Fragile ambient pieces line up against pulverising guitar chords, sometimes within the same song. There are ambient washes and delicate piano pieces, while influences or reference points veer from Radiohead to My Bloody Valentine to the Cure to Brian Eno - perhaps - the minimalist classical of the likes of Erik Satie. Whatever has produced it, it’s a bigger-sounding, more tuneful, really rather fantastic second statement by four young men who are rightly sure about what they’re doing and loving every minute of it.

“We’re still coming from the same place, but the influences have got much broader,” confirms singer-guitarist Ryan Smith. His younger brother Jordan (bass, now also keyboards) has been checking out Steve Reich and Boards Of Canada and says, “A lot of it is just us gaining confidence, and also not wanting to retread old ground. We’d made the guitar record. So we were thinking, ‘What else can we do?’”

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Sparkle*Jets U.K. - Best Of Friends (Album).

Sparkle*Jets U.K., beloved icons of the Turn-of-the-Century Southern California guitar pop scene, are most assuredly back. BIG STIR RECORDS is proud to announce not only the June 30 release of the band's first album in over 20 years, Best Of Friends, on 2-LP Vinyl and CD in record stores everywhere and streaming worldwide, but a veritable multimedia renaissance for the band throughout 2023. Bringing back not just the vibes of the scene that birthed them but the songs as well, SJUK's jaw-dropping new double album is both a love letter of a tribute to the artists with whom they shared stages, and a thrilling revelation of those lost sounds to those who missed them the first time around.

Already heralded by the lead single, a cover of THE Masticators' “He's Coming Out”, Best Of Friends boasts 21 sparkling, punchy, hook-filled tracks across its four sides of wax, all originally recorded by the band's sterling peers on the late '90s LA pop scene. Each track is lovingly served up in the inimitable SJUK style, and the full album is almost dizzying in its rush of pure power pop delight.

It's a full-circle return for the Long Beach-based trio, consisting now as then of vocalist-guitarist SUSAN WEST, bassist JAMIE KNIGHT, and singer/multi-instrumentalist MICHAEL SIMMONS who also takes most drumming duties for the current edition of Sparkle*Jets U.K. (with Joel Valder sitting in on three tracks). The band has hardly been dormant for the decades since releasing their two widely admired albums In, Through And Beyond in 1998 and 2001's Bamboo Lounge, nor have they ever gone their separate ways. In addition to Simmons' continuing output as a solo artist (the acclaimed 2018 album First Days Of Sumer) and with Popdudes, SJUK joined the Big Stir Records family in 2019 for a special 7” tribute to Big Star recorded at Ardent Studios in Memphis with Jody Stephens on board. And all three 'jets have been a part of creating the extraordinary (and very much pop-rock oriented) music program at Huntington Beach High School. The band's 2023 renaissance, though, is something altogether bigger, and this new collection is just the start, with a full album of SJUK originals already completed for release next year.

But we're here to talk about Best Of Friends, whose mission is right there in the double meaning of its title: it consists of songs by the band's true friends from the late '90s and early 2000s LA pop scene, and it serves as a veritable “Best Of” collection for those unfamiliar with that era's delights. Destined to have a reach beyond its impact as a superb pop rock record, Best Of Friends is more of a multi-media event than a simple album release. Along with the singles and their inevitable companion music videos, the album's publicity campaign incorporates a weekly podcast (also entitled Best Of Friends) which captures Sparkle*Jets U.K. in candid conversation with the artists covered on the album, bridging the gap between the fondly remembered adventures and recordings of yesteryear and the fresh, bracing versions on the new LP.

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Tilia - Peaceful Warning.

Escape and uprooting, the hope to find the courage to become happy elsewhere. Tilia packs all this on her current single 'Peaceful Warning' to the ethereal appeal of Dream Pop, dissecting her emotional world in catchy melodies.

In the fall, the experienced songwriter from Zurich will release her new EP. 'Peaceful Warning' is already the second foretaste of it after 'Ever Ever'. 

After two albums and tours in Switzerland, Germany and Austria, Tilia took time off four years ago to devote herself to other artistic projects.

So long, until the distance to the music hurt and space for new music arose.

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Briscoe - Jess Nolan - Viv & Riley

Briscoe - The Well.

Rising Americana-folk-rock band Briscoe is set to release their debut album 'West Of It All' on 15th September via ATO Records. Produced by Brad Cook (Bon Iver, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats), the album features a collection of folksy hooks and bold songwriting that bridges the gap between classic American roots music and its modern-day incarnation.

The band started on the University of Texas/Austin campus, with free backyard performances which quickly led to sold-out gigs at Antone's Nightclub and The Continental Club Gallery. Comprised of bandmates Truett Heintzelman and Philip Lupton, they built their fanbase the old-school way, by constant touring and authentic engagement with the audience. The Texas natives wrote 'West Of It Al'l as graduation loomed in the distance, funnelling the stories of their college experience — from heartbreak to hard-won lessons to weekend trips into the rural countryside — into a raw, rugged blend of classic and contemporary influences.

As Briscoe continued to perform and grow their fanbase, a wider audience began to take notice. They soon opened shows for Noah Kahan and Ruston Kelly and were selected for dates with Zach Bryan and Caamp. And after recently graduating from UT, Briscoe has a packed touring summer, filled with festivals alongside some of music’s biggest names on Bonnaroo, Winnetka Music Festival, Fairwell Festival, Catbird Music Festival, Iron Blossum Music Festival and more. A career highlight happens for Briscoe when they take the stage before The Dave Matthews Band at the Gorge on 1st September. The band will headline a tour this Autumn as well. A full list of tour dates is below and on their website HERE.

To record the album with Cook in North Carolina, Heintzelman and Lupton added drummer Matt McCaughan (Bon Iver) and multi-instrumentalist Phil Cook (Megafaun, Hiss Golden Messenger). Cook plays bass on the sessions as well and encouraged Briscoe to explore their sound. "Brad was very adamant about highlighting the parts of our sound that are different from everything else out there," Lupton remembers. "He's very forward-thinking. Truett and I would come into the studio and track something, and we'd think it sounded like a blend of several bands we love, and Brad would say, 'No, boys, it sounds like Briscoe'".

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Jess Nolan - Emergency Landing.

Nashville-based singer-songwriter Jess Nolan has released a new single “Emergency Landing” “Taking days off and spending time alone helps me show up more fully for thepeople around me. Instead of viewing it as selfish, I now see it as a sacred step in community care. My hope is that we can all give ourselves a high level of compassion for our own needs so that we can better serve others,” she added. “Take a breath! We don’t need permission to care for ourselves.”

“Emergency Landing” is Nolan’s first release since signing with Righteous Babe Records; the label was founded by fiercely independent icon Ani DiFranco, who describes it as “a people-friendly, sub-corporate, woman-informed, queer-happy small business that puts music before rock stardom and ideology before profit.” "I love Jess's voice, her melodies, they lift me,” DiFranco says. “So happy to welcome her into the RBR family.

Poet and psychoanalyst Clarissa Pinkola Estés said, “Do your art. Generally, a thing cannot freeze if it is moving. So, move. Keep moving.” These were words artist Jess Nolan has lived by over the course of the last three years. As everything in the world came to a halt, she kept her creative mind in motion -writing, drawing, singing, and painting her way through the unknown, pursuits Nolan has always relied on to help alchemize her surroundings

 

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Viv & Riley - Kygers Hill.

A bittersweet nostalgia lies at the heart of Imaginary People, the new album from Viv & Riley, coming September 15, 2023 on Free Dirt Records. Over ten tracks, the pair applies an indie roots sheen to newly composed pop gems. Rooted originally in the folk tradition, the pair reframe the production into experimental territory, crafting songs that speak to finding a path forward into adulthood in an uncertain world.

Gifted songwriters and multi-instrumentalists, Vivian Leva and Riley Calcagno’s first album under the name Viv & Riley is a subtle masterpiece of thought and reflection. The album brings a reflectiveness to summertime jams that speak of uninhibited joy and creative camaraderie. Coming on the heels of their acclaimed earlier albums that showed preternaturally talented songwriting from such young artists, now the songs have caught up with their lives. Now in their mid-20s, the two are building a life together, creating a supportive community, and looking back on everything they’ve been through.

Based out of Durham, North Carolina, they’ve tapped into the area’s eclectic and collaborative music scene, recruiting Alex Bingham of Hiss Golden Messenger to produce the album. Bingham brings a sunny, lush sound to Viv & Riley’s music, moving beyond their earlier country roots and toward a layered sound and sonic experimentation. The songwriting has evolved as well, from the world-weary, stripped-down country songs they’re known for to indie songwriting at turns sweetly sad and gently sardonic.

Ultimately, Imaginary People is about carrying and honoring our pasts, about letting that inform our new steps forward. No matter how much we might cling to where we are, sometimes we need to uproot and take a leap of faith, to open ourselves up to new experiences and ideas in order to grow and blossom. (CLICK ON VIDEO AND WATCH DIRECTLY ON YOUTUBE)

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Career Woman - Rubber Blanket - Bird Streets - Achings

Career Woman - Jupiter.

Career Woman is the promising musical project of Melody Caudill, a singer songwriter from Los Angeles, CA. At just 19 years old, she exudes a genuine passion for crafting impactful indie rock songs.

Growing up, she found solace in songwriting and released her first EP at the age of fourteen. Caudill was raised in a creative household that has shaped her deep connection to melodies and lyrics from a young age.

Career Woman draws inspiration from a range of artists such as, Lomelda, Snail Mail, Samia and even the scores and soundtracks of her favorite video games like Life is Strange. These distinctive styles have left an indelible mark on her artistic voice.

"'Jupiter' was the first song I wrote since coming to college and it encompasses all of the new feelings that come along with starting a new life" says Caudill of the new single, adding "I was experiencing overwhelming joy but also paralyzing fear because of all of the new people I met and everyone I had to leave behind. The lyrics are all really specific and I tried to capture details that only me and the people involved could pinpoint, while still speaking to a larger message that could be universally relatable. The song started out as an acoustic folk track but my bandmate Jackson turned it into the full band sound it has today, and I think it was definitely a smart musical choice. I hope the song communicates the feeling of being in a completely new environment and starting a new life stage because it definitely articulates how it felt for me."

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Rubber Blanket - Good Times.

Los Angeles' Rubber Blanket (members of Wounded Lion and The Intelligence), a group that proffers a distinct humor/horror consciousness that is coaxed via a crate of oddball musical machinery that is arranged in a manner that bucks all subterranean boogie, is set to release their sophomore album. Our Fault, via Mt.St.Mtn on June 29.

Our Fault thoroughly trounces the laziness cabal. Its 10 tunes beckon listeners to embark on a preternatural sojourn under the collective Blanket of Brad Eberhard, Lars Finberg, and Jun Ohnuki (survivors all of WOUNDED LION), three artists and composers, working together forever and then some.

Unless there’s literal goo-goo-gah-gah, the notion that rockish musics with discernable peculiarities must possess childlike predilections is shite nouveau, serving only to signal that the experimental market is not blonde enough to churn hype butter. This kind of trash-think ignores the existence of real wonderment, as if the constant ingestion of multiverse stimuli couldn’t / wouldn’t / shouldn’t impact the capacity for marvel within the living human sponge. Our Fault is bright enough to recognize and even reproduce this strange ever-growing awe. A tumultuous, and somehow scientifically programmed spontaneity, is bottled on Our Fault. Different Rock’n’Roll, bright and strange.

Mt.St.Mtn. · Rubber Blanket - Good Times

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Bird Streets - California High.

When John Brodeur began his recording career in the early 2000s, he never imagined he would someday have his most rewarding musical experiences – working with members of Superdrag, Wilco, Big Star, and Jellyfish, artists he greatly admired – while struggling through one of the most difficult periods in his personal life. But that has thus far been the story of his project Bird Streets, whose first album was released concurrently with Brodeur’s separation from his wife of more than a decade, and whose latest, Lagoon, plays almost as a concept album about the emotional weight of divorce and regret. Released in November by newly minted Los Angeles label Sparkle Plenty, Lagoon is as personal a statement as you’re likely to hear this or any year–a rollercoaster emotional ride from “one of [the] prime architects of present-day rock” (Americana Highways), bolstered by masterful production and an array of guest appearances, including Ed Harcourt and Aimee Mann.

On June 30, Lagoon will be reissued as a deluxe digital edition with an additional eight tracks, including two new songs: the Patrick Sansone-produced “California High,” and “What In The World,” featuring Sting drummer Zach Jones. The re-release will be accompanied by a series of live engagements in the Northeast U.S. and Sweden.

“California High” marries layers of soft-strummed acoustic guitars to a lyric that could either be about seasonal depression or impostor syndrome, with a bridge section that takes a surprising leap into prog-adjacent territory. Recorded in 2019 at Nashville’s famed Creative Workshop, during the first Lagoon sessions, the track finds Sansone in full multitask mode, serving as producer and mixer, plus playing bass, additional guitars, piano, vibraphone, and singing backing vocals. With pedal steel by session legend Jim Hoke (Dolly Parton, Paul McCartney), the windswept folk-pop of “California High” would sit comfortably alongside Harvest-era Neil Young, America, or The Thrills. In another universe, it might have been Lagoon’s lead single, but Brodeur shelved it because “it didn’t fit the narrative. Had it been a 15-song album–which it easily could have been–this would have gone on side one.”

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Achings - Undoing Home.

LandLand Colportage recently announced that they signed Philadelphia's Achings, and the band are releasing an album titled All These Shapes, All These Days for the label on July 14th. Now the band is back with a new single from the LP.

Achings formed in the fall of 2018, almost by sheer accident. Singer-songwriter Rebecca Joy, having just started maternity leave, happened to overhear one of guitarist Justin Myer’s guitar tracks. The synchronicity was instantaneous: “I immediately knew how the song should go- I heard it with total clarity, and wrote the accompanying melodies and lyrics on the spot, and Justin was thrilled with the results; we both were.” That song was Abdication, Planet Earth.

One week later, Rebecca’s daughter was born, and over the course of her leave, Achings began to take shape, and an EP soon followed. While the EP largely tackles the specific life transition of becoming a parent in an increasingly uncertain and tumultuous time, the upcoming full length, “All These Shapes, All These Days,” broadens its scope, grappling with the various types and tones of connections past and present, and their indelible impact on our sense of self and place in the world.

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Keni Titus - Adams & Costello

Keni Titus - if u want.

Los Angeles pop artist Keni Titus shares her latest single “if u want”, along with a heavenly music video directed by Keni and her best friend, Victoria. Returning with her first song of the year, since her track “Come Back” in 2022, Keni has spent the last year writing a lot of new music, using songwriting primarily as a way to reflect on her experiences and relationships to date, and “if u want” is a product of that process.

The track is beautifully delicate and melodic, touching on intimate themes of companionship and desire. In her heartfelt lyricism, Keni expresses a desire to be all that someone needs her to be, in whatever shape or form that may take. Despite not having met that person yet, she can envision it in all its loving togetherness.

Keni passionately sings, “If u want I could fit right in the gaps of your teeth. If u want cover my mouth so there’s more air to breathe” “If u want” is the first single to be taken from her upcoming debut project, which is expected to come out later this year, along with more singles on the way preceding the project’s release. All in all, this track signifies the start of a new era in her career, with many exciting things to come from this artist on the rise.

The DIY style music video accompanying the single, shows Keni fully immersed in nature, surrounded by a flowing body of water and glimmering in the sunlight. It has a blissful, glowing energy about it, which perfectly compliments the track.

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Adams & Costello - Worry About You.

Adams & Costello are excited to share their second single, “Worry About You” from forthcoming LP, One By One. The track showcases relevant social issues that run rampant throughout the world, and the bitter numbness society has accepted in response.

 “Worry About You” describes the cycle of life, one’s experience with humanity and desire to make the world a better place. At the center of the track we see Michael Costello’s sincere songwriting and empathy for mankind among the inevitable transitions we face. Themes of love, loss, and humanity are demonstrated, allowing the track to become an ode to strengthening human nature.

When discussing the songwriting inspiration for  “Worry About You”, Michael Costello writes: “This song came to me after going through some deep personal loss. It’s about life’s experiences, getting older, having to care for the people who cared for you, caring for our loved ones, and having empathy for the loved ones of others...maybe strangers to me, but our fellow mankind. It was written fairly quickly and then I brought it to Julie and we evolved it together”

On “Worry About You”, Michael Costello’s guttural vocals draw comparisons to Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Leonard Cohen. Along with his impeccable guitar strumming, the track makes for an atmospheric listening experience. To balance Costello’s husky tone, Julie Adams’s airy background vocals add a refreshing vibe to the mix.

In the video, one half of the duo Michael Costello is seen strumming his guitar around various parts of the American landscape. In the span of four minutes, we see a world affected by homelessness, gun violence, and climate change, amongst other cultural issues.

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The Money War - TANDM - Endless Forms - The Kut

The Money War - I Don't Hear You Anymore (E.P).

Known for their innate talent for crafting beautifully written songs, the Western Australian-based duo, The Money War, was just released their heartrending new EP 'I Don't Hear You Anymore' on Friday, June 23.

Infusing their music with unwavering sincerity, Dylan Ollivierre and Carmen Pepper skillfully blend elegant pop purity with the resolute spirit of indie rock and folk, resulting in captivating melodies and refined production that eloquently capture their intricate experiences.

In 'I Don't Hear You Anymore', The Money War demonstrates their adeptness at navigating tender stories of love, loss, change, and the desperate need for self-expression. This collection of songs, which is both authentic and relatable, allows The Money War to express their innermost thoughts and emotions as they navigate the challenges of raising three young children. Each track on the EP offers a unique and heartfelt experience, beautifully encapsulating the duo's emotive lyricism and undeniable talent, and showcasing their profound artistic depth.

Speaking about the tracks on the EP, Dylan Ollivierre notes, "The songs are special to me because they remind me of moments in the last year where I felt desperate to express myself." As a full-time producer who is consistently occupied with other people's music, time dedicated to The Money War is limited. Ollivierre further explains, "Every now and then, I have this insatiable desire to create something that embodies my own vision and expresses Carmen and me as The Money War. In the past, we often had numerous songs to choose from, but nowadays, with three young kids, our time has significantly decreased. Therefore, a song only progresses beyond the 'idea' stage if it strongly demands to be realized."

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TANDM - 2quick2trust.

On the surface, they're charming in their sweet simplicity – effortlessly compelling thanks to graceful melodies, heartfelt lyricism, and syncopated synergy. But the deeper you dig, the more Toronto duo TANDM's songs seem to transcend time, place, and even stylistic categorization.

Their forthcoming collection, Sirens (out July 26th), finds the duo teeing up their most engaging and enveloping output to date – a potent distillation of the magical individual components that comprise TANDM's masterful take on alternative pop but with a newfound polish and elevated production style.

Their diss track, "2quick2trust," was inspired from negative experiences in their music and personal lives, where they felt that many people have tried to take advantage of them. From having people try to steal their music, take advantage of their band, take advantage of them as humans, TANDM wrote this track as a response.

When we started TANDM, our kindness, generosity, and innocence was taken advantage of, and that put us in a really bad place for confidence and trust in the music industry. This track is a confident clap back at those who have wronged us in the past, proving that all they were to us was 'nameless' and 'song material.' – frontwoman Maxine Beck-Sinderby

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Endless Forms - Make Me Feel Too Much.

Endless Forms was started by writer and producer Justin Allen in 2015 with the release of his debut album ‘Lazarus’ – a thoughtful album reaching out for a cathartic answer to life’s looming existential questions. Endless Forms’ subsequent releases – 2017’s ‘If There Were Water’, 2020’s ‘More Than Candy’ and 2022’s ‘Electric Heat Hypnotized’ each dive progressively further into the fractal, sonically evolving with each release into a dreamy marriage of deep atmosphere, layered rhythms, and earnest lyrics.

‘Make Me Feel Too Much’ is the third track taken from his pending album ‘The House of Love’ – the most intimate and personal album Allen has ever released. A somber, slow-building song that encapsulates the feeling of life “getting large and the stakes start getting high”. The track highlights the feeling of when things become too much, you almost start to feel numb.

He said of the new single: “I always imagined that ‘Make Me Feel Too Much’ could be played live entirely by four people. So many of my recording sessions get really out of hand with tons and tons of tracks, and I wanted to make something that could be played by some kind of Frank Sinatra-esque backing band. I was also listening to a lot of Aphex Twin at the time, and was really inspired by some his weird reverbs, where it sounds like you are inside some impossibly massive metal building. I wanted it to feel like it was in a space like that.”

“Lyrically, the song is a great microcosm for the whole album…There’s a Carl Jung quote that goes “the cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” What if that massive, scary pool of emotion is actually a sort of gateway into something extremely real and beautiful? How might we have to change in order to let ourselves sink into that pool?” 

DRRT Records · Endless Forms - Make Me Feel Too Much

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The Kut - Runaways.

The Kut is back with her latest single 'Runaways'. Written around a rolling bass-line, it’s a feel-good track about spending the summer outdoors.

Well it certainly seems to have been for good reason… ‘Runaways’ is the sixth single to release from her sophomore album ‘GRIT’ - a record that reached Number 1 in the Official UK Rock Albums Chart, after years of grassroots touring.

So it’s all the more sweet that ‘Runaways’ releases on the back of tours she and the collective played supporting US rockers Electric Six and Japanese punk-pop band Shonen Knife in the last few months.

The single animation shares a glimpse of the frustration, determination and hopefulness of an independent band on the road.

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