Viv & Riley - Part Bat - Sophia Petro - Arielle Silver - T.R. Burge - Hector Gannet

Photo - Libby Rodenbough

Viv & Riley - Is It All Over.

The new single 'Is It All Over' from Viv & Riley (formerly Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno) is released this week and taken from their album coming in September from Free Dirt Records. It's a gently sardonic take on the coming future of climate change and billionaires on Mars. Over soft fingerpicked guitars and a harmonies, Riley wonders if the Arctic will have a baseball field on a field of clover, and whether the mining towns on Mars will have bars or Warby Parkers. I dunno, this song just gets me every time, I think it gets at the absurdity of our current age by amplifying that weirdness into a deadly serious future. Alex Bingham of Hiss Golden Messenger produced the album and you can hear some of the Durham, NC magic on it (Viv & Riley live in Durham)!

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. 

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Part Bat - Daywasters (Album).

'Daywasters' is a creative collection of gorgeous songs that without exception demand a second listen just to be able to take everything in. It goes without saying that we are mightily impressed! 

Part Bat, AKA Hannah Maryse Robinson was raised on 70's folk rock and the 24-hour news cycle. She writes anxious, apocalyptic Americana that you can still bop to. After years of creating bedroom music and showing it to no one, she found herself in Berlin. There she played endless bar shows and immersed herself in the city's vibrant anti-folk and psych scenes, playing bass for psychedelic acts like Soft Milk and Sour Janes. One fateful night she supported musicians Jordan Blue Peysano and Haui Boker, and the three teamed up to make their debut album Daywasters - due to be released in July 2023, Produced by Francisco Cabala (of Chicos de Nazca), Daywasters was recorded in Berlin's Reflex Magnet Studios.

Written between the turbulent years of 2017 - 2021, it is an album about making the best of a world that seems to be hurtling towards the end. Lead single Okay is a disco-tinged ode to doom scrolling and social media-induced ennui. Same Old Songs and Try Hard Blues explore Hannah's struggles with depression and rampant ADHD, with upbeat arrangements that bring light to the heavier subject matter. The softest song on the record - title track Daywasters - is also the most hopeful - a dreamy celebration of wasting time with someone great.

Since moving back to London, Hannah's put together a UK band, along with Kieran Murphy (of Cold Comforts). Together with a cohort of multi-instrumentalists, they're preparing a stage show that is part frank stream-of- consciousness confessionals, part party.

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Sophia Petro - Rosé Glow.

As a prelude to her upcoming EP, ‘The 11th Hour’, rising Australian pop artist, Sophia Petro releases her eagerly awaited single, ‘Rosé Glow’, bursting with mesmerising, catchy melodies and relatable storytelling lyricism, and it's all of that and fabulous and released today Friday, 21st July 2023.

The heart and soul of ‘Rosé Glow’ lie in its compelling narrative. Sophia Petro paints a vivid picture of the exhilarating experience of getting ready for a night out with friends. As the chorus unfolds, she delves into the secret yearnings for a deeper connection with someone who captures her heart amidst the bustling energy of a social gathering. The song encapsulates those fleeting moments when the "rosé glow" casts an enchanting spell, blurring the lines between reality and possibility.

Produced and mixed by Gabrielle Emery (EMEREE) and mastered by Darren Ziesing, the creative process behind ‘Rosé Glow’ was a collaborative effort between Sophia Petro and producer Gabrielle Emery. Together, they crafted a vibrant and catchy pop anthem that embodies the joy and anticipation of a night out. Sophia states “Gabrielle put down a vibe (the iconic guitar lick at the beginning of the track) and I pulled up my notes app on my phone and started writing down lyric ideas. We wrote up until the end of the first chorus and then I took it home and wrote the remainder of the song that very night because I was so inspired!”

Melbourne, Australian artist, Sophia Petro's musical style can be described as a fusion of folk and country with a modern pop-infused twist. Drawing inspiration from icons like Taylor Swift, Maisie Peters, and Gretta Ray, Sophia Petro uses her songwriting prowess to express her own emotions and experiences, connecting deeply with her audience through her relatable storytelling.

As an artist, Sophia Petro's journey has been shaped by her love for writing and storytelling. From an early age, she found solace in songwriting, using music to process and express her emotions. Influenced by her father, a musician, and her mother, a talented writer, Sophia Petro's artistic path was destined to intertwine with her passion for creating evocative and heartfelt music.

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Arielle Silver - Bramble Vine.

Los Angeles based singer/songwriter Arielle Silver has released her new song and video for “Bramble Vine” today July 21st. Her first single in three years, the song is the first from her upcoming album Watershed, due out this fall.

Arielle Silver was inspired by the blackberries that grew outside her childhood home for the song. “One day I was making pie and thinking about complicated relationships,” says Silver, “and the way that some kinds of love are complicated, but worth the work.” An earthy, scenic singer-songwriter ballad in 6/8, “Bramble Vine” is grounded in acoustic guitar and tender piano, and exemplifies Silver’s literary approach to songwriting, or in her words - “literate folk pop.”

Silver serves as the President of FAR-West - Folk Alliance Region West, where she fosters and promotes the work of artists, songwriters, producers and more across traditional, contemporary, and multicultural folk music, dance, storytelling, and performing arts. She additionally serves as a team member for the SONA Foundation, a charitable organization that advocates on behalf of songwriters and music creators.

“Bramble Vine” follows Silver’s 2021 acclaimed album A Thousand Tiny Torches. With support from Americana UK, American Songwriter, and more, A Thousand Tiny Torches was produced and recorded with singer-songwriter Shane Alexander, whose partnership with Silver continued throughout the recording and production of Watershed.

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T.R. Burge - Selling You (E.P).

Following on from the release of his highly-praised debut EP ‘God Ache’ last year, emerging Manchester-based singer-songwriter T.R. Burge has now returned with his new EP ‘Selling You’ released today 21st July 2023. This is a notable collection of songs, with distinct vocals and some beautifully creative material that really does stand out as something special.

Talking about the EP T.R. Burge has this to say, “The EP was based on the idea of having no pressure at all but getting together at the producer Robbie Moore’s new Idea Farm/Studio he is building in rural Sweden and seeing what came out. This is the first ever project that was recorded there and we were based in a beautiful old wooden outbuilding set within incredible countryside in Sweden. We started the recording on January 2nd and it was such a great way to start the year.”

“At points the snow was coming down outside and there was also plenty of rain, I love both rain and snow. It was a wonderful creative process and we had dinner in the evenings with Robbie’s family and children, slept deeply afterwards and got up and repeated the next day. My friend Liam from Manchester also came with me and took photos and we just all hung out. It was great. A drummer I have recorded with before called Tobias also came in from Berlin and played some awesome parts. It was bacon sarnies in the morning and easy and peaceful creative days,” he continued.

T.R. Burge · Selling You (EP)

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Hector Gannet - Emmanuel Head.

After recently returning to deliver their highly-praised sophomore LP ‘The Land Belongs To Us’, emerging outfit Hector Gannet are now looking to follow up their latest full-length with the new three-track collection ‘Emmanuel Head’.

Featuring the opening song of their recent full-length and title-track of EP, ‘Emmanuel Head’, as well as two live renditions of ‘Last Of The Buffalo’ and ‘Waiting For The Whistle’, this new outing looks to add to what has already been an incredibly accomplished year for the outfit. With ‘Waiting For The Whistle’ recorded during their support slot for Sam Fender’s recent St. James Park show, this new release marks a seminal moment in their career so far.

Hector Gannet, from North Shields on Tyneside, are masters of a kind of new, modernist folk music, taking their name from an ill-fated trawler which sank in the North Sea under heroic circumstances in 1967. Hector Gannet’s musical incarnation began to draw attention when they wrote and performed music to accompany vintage footage of the North East heritage of shipbuilding and fishing as part of a project for the BFI in 2017.  The band have toured widely, including a UK tour with Sam Fender and dates in England and Scotland with indie legends Sea Power, two North American adventures and, more recently, supporting Sam Fender (again) at St James’ Park football stadium.

Hector Gannet’s second album ‘The Land Belongs To Us’ was released to acclaim in early 2023. MOJO awarded four stars: “Pointedly political, natural-world-advocating folk rock.” Uncut proclaimed “North Shields’ answer to Crazy Horse.”

Emmanuel Head (taken from the current album) is a song inspired by escaping to a place of personal significance, in this case, for Hector Gannet, a white pyramid day marker on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne on the north east coast of England, but as Aaron Duff (aka Hector Gannet) explains “The song is as much about our connection with each other as it is about any personal fondness for a particular place. It’s about getting away from it all, to where we are without distraction and where, for a while, the land belongs to us.”

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Malena Smith - Tent Music - The Velveteins - Motihari Brigade

Malena Smith - 18.

Released today it's Beehive Candy's absolute pleasure to feature 18 the exceptional new single from St. Louis-based artist Malena Smith.

 Malena's music is a coming of age story; her previous/recent single, "Betray Myself," was about realizing some of her habits and coping mechanisms weren't really in her best interest. Her new single, "18," is a look back over the last decade of her life, and asking the question, "If I had the chance, would I relive that decade differently?" We are pressured to figure out what to do with our lives at the age of 18, and often succumb to societal expectations to choose the "safe" options - which we can all likely relate to. The weight of the subject matter is juxtaposed by an airy atmosphere and a pop-funk groove, total ear candy.

Malena, a classically-trained singer who came up in the world of jazz, has sung in lounges from St. Louis to Tokyo and shared stages with the likes of Michael Bublé, Clark Beckham, and the St. Louis Symphony. She's a storyteller, and her music is designed to turn her journey into a shared experience that people can connect with.

She is currently writing and recording a body of work produced by her GRAMMY-winning mentor Brian Owens as a part of his St. Louis ecosystem Life Creative. The project touches on her journey through the struggles and triumphs of a young woman blazing a life and career path in a complicated world.

 

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Tent Music - Fade Away.

The first single from Tent Music the name of the project and album by Micaela Tobin (White Boy Scream) and Joshua Hill is "Fade Away" which manages to breaks from dirge into ecstatic pop song within two minutes. It's a wonderful opening salvo hinting at the depths that Tent Music offers.

Tent Music is an album and project by violinist, composer Joshua Hill and Micaela Tobin - widely known for her avant-garde opera White Boy Scream project - that boldly cracks the door open between ritual and music, blurring the line between improvisation and possession, madness and oracular communication, destruction and creation.

Recorded in one night in a tent pitched outside the home of Joshua Hill's father's home, something happened that Hill, Tobin and visual artist Garek Druss (commissioned to provide the album art and sigilization of the album via a beautifully illustrated zine / insert) are just starting to understand the fulness of. While the album is wildly experimental, there are several entry points like the first single - "Fade Away" that recall Akron / Family's ramshackle exaltations while "Closer"  reflects on Coil's ritualized noise.

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Photo - Evangeline Belzile

The Velveteins - Athene.

Soaked in the bright psychedelia of the 1960’s and dipped in the indie rock explosion of the new millennium, The Velveteins are best described as a bridge between the two. Inspired after living out of a camper van on the beaches of Australia for a year, frontman Spencer Morphy returned to Canada and started the band with co-songwriter Addison Hiller in 2014. Later joined by Dean Kheroufi, Daniel Sedmak and Cam O'Neill, the fivesome have since made a name for themselves for their incendiary live performances.

“Athene” is the third single to be released from their upcoming sophomore album. The track was inspired by the war goddess in Homer's Iliad with Morphy sharing, “I was exploring through the Iliad at the time, so the lore was fresh in my mind, but I imagined a tale about a woman sort of mirroring Athene in modern life. I drew from great women that I know, and crafted a song that explored developing a relationship with her, and falling under her influence and just being along for the ride.”

Written in the small surf town of Tofino, Canada, “Athene” emits an easy and laid-back tone with warm, effortless vocals, relaxed guitars and a steady beat, creating an overall comforting atmosphere. It’s easy to get lost in the mesmeric sounds of The Velveteins, where you’ll find yourself hitting repeat and staying along for the journey.

Garnering millions of streams for their music to date, The Velveteins have built an ever-growing, dedicated fan base across all corners of the globe. Their vigorous touring schedule has led to international festival appearances (SXSW, and The Great Escape) and opening slots for established acts including Wolf Parade, Hockey Dad and Chad Vangaalen.

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Motihari Brigade - Reality Show.

Motihari Brigade's new official short film “Reality Show” explores the struggle to perceive reality amidst the onslaught of corporate-state technological dystopian narrative control. Motihari Brigade partnered with filmmaker Jovana Tomasevic of MLADE Studio who directed and produced this creative cinematic visual story for the song. Jovana envisioned the mysterious hooded figure to represent the spirit of hope itself, encouraging people to break free from the technological filters imposed by an elite. 

For a while, they are able to open their eyes, freely perceive reality, and smile, before all being consumed once again by the system. Appropriately, the video ends with a quote from George Orwell's "1984.”  But hope springs eternal, as they say…

Motihari Brigade’s second album "Algorithm & Blues" features defibrillating electric guitar, tachycardia rhythms on bass, and drums played by an octopus on stimulants. Layered keyboard, horn, and vocal arrangements combine to produce the magic of a highly-caffeinated rock band thumping on all ventricles. Twelve original songs and one cover provide an energetic soundtrack for listeners to more happily navigate the dystopian reality show that we are all now busily sharing on our smart appendages.

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Ora Cogan - Ariana Delawari feat. Devendra Banhart

Photo - Stasia Garraway

Ora Cogan - Dyed.

Experimental singer-songwriter Ora Cogan recently announced the Aug 25 release of her new album Formless by sharing the VHS/Super 8 video for the first single “Cowgirl”,  a haunted acid trip of intense sorrow, deep solitude, and dark nights of the soul. This week, Cogan ponders awkward love with the release of the haunting "Dyed."

"I wrote 'Dyed' while I was reading Italo Calvino's Difficult Loves," says Cogan. "It's about how strange and ridiculous romance is... how ridiculous human interaction can be. You're dealing with people on the surface but also their imaginations, fears, dreams, and projections. We're just a bunch of broken funhouse mirrors sometimes and that's sort of horrifying but also kinda fun."

“Dyed” is part two of a trilogy of videos by Latro Films created for Formless. The video revolves around a singular character who carries water as a symbol for the human heart and we follow her interactions with others in her world.

Formless, finds beauty, absurdity, humor, and unlikely joy in the bleakest of times. Cogan’s smoky, psychedelic approach to gothic country and hazy folk merges with post-punk, groove, psych rock, and traditional balladry.

 

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Ariana Delawari feat. Devendra Banhart - You Can Love Again.

Ariana Delawari is an Afghan-American musician, activist and filmmaker. Her film We Came Home (2013) documents her family, her travels to and from Afghanistan over a ten year period, in which Delawari recorded her first album. That album, Lion of Panjshir, was released on David Lynch’s record label to great acclaim. The events that transpired during the recording of her new album, I Will Remember, were even more personally significant and traumatic, as Delawari’s mother and brother-in-law both passed away and she saw her home country fall to the Taliban. Delawari explains:

“I started to write about my mother, about living and dying, Earth and Heaven, Afghanistan and my life growing up in America, refugees, love of different forms, and about the social justice and environmental justice themes that my mom taught me about which shaped my own activism as well. I never could have imagined that COVID-19 would hit a few months before she died, and that I would lose her during quarantine. I’ll never forget the day I wheeled her up to a nurse in a hazmat suit at a sidewalk and couldn’t even kiss her goodbye.”

“I never could have imagined that just as I was finishing the album, a little over a year later, we Afghans would lose Afghanistan to the Taliban. Afghanistan is my whole heart, it is the cause of my entire lifetime and all of my activism. I am a very loud anti-Taliban Peace Activist, so the fall of the country was my biggest nightmare coming true.” Delawari was essentially born into her role as an activist and her mother was even friends with Malcolm X. She explains, “I was born just after the Soviets Invaded Afghanistan. I attended my very first protest in utero when my father led an anti-Soviet Invasion protest at the Federal Building in Westwood. Four decades later, I would be at that very same location at a protest I helped organize after the fall of the country to the Taliban.”

“My mom’s name was Setara which means “star," and she died literally in the middle of a Leonid Meteor shower, so there are themes of stars on the album too. She also died the same day that Prince died, who I like to imagine is one of the many magical cosmic souls who welcomed her at her celestial dance party ;) I tried to honor her as much as I could, and I wanted to connect with everyone out there who lost loved ones during Covid19. I wanted to transmute deep grief and loss into something hopeful and meaningful. I also wanted to reach the hearts of my people, and honor Afghanistan and our refugees. I wanted to transmute the losses of my mother, brother, and my motherland… finding hope as we all move forward together."

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Matilda Mann - The Garment District - Moon Sisters - Vinny Peculiar

Matilda Mann - You Look Like You Can’t Swim (EP).

The incredibly talented Londoner Matilda Mann has shared her latest EP “You Look Like You Can’t Swim” which comprises of an inimitable collection of acoustic songs that cements her as  one of  Britain’s most brilliant young talents.  Matilda has also shared a Wes Anderson-inspired video for the EP’s title track.

Speaking about the EP, Matilda explained “Over the past few years, I’ve loved progressing and experimenting with different types of genres and musical instruments and working with other musicians and producers, but Ive had such an urge to create a small group of songs that feel so simple, vulnerable, Romantic and emotional. The kind of songs I would’ve dreamed to make and release when I was 16.”

In regards the video, Matilda added “Wes Anderson’s movies have been my favorite since I can remember. There’re so many satisfying qualities in his shots. The symmetrical frames, colour pallets and the movement of the camera, makes his films so unique as a collection.  These were all the points I took into the music video planning, and I was so lucky to have such an amazing team help me bring it to life!  The title of the song is a bit jokey in itself, so I wanted to bring that element into the music video, while keeping that serious tone of “omg I have no idea how to handle anything in life”.

Matilda Mann · You Look Like You Can't Swim

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The Garment District - Left on Coast.

The Garment District return with the superb new retro-futuristic single "Left on Coast" and announce their new album 'Flowers Telegraphed to All Parts of the World' will be released on HHBTM Records on September 22nd, 2023.

On their second full-length LP, The Garment District delivers a Kunstkabinett of sound reminiscent of the Manhattan neighborhood (and others around the globe, both existing and shuttered) with which they share a name. Just as one might wander through a Garment District shop entranced by a staggering display of fabric from seemingly every era and locale, surrounded by rows of buttons, threads and trimmings, listeners will be equally entranced by the hypnotic array of textured sounds on Flowers Telegraphed to All Parts of the World.

The album was recorded in a friend's home studio nestled in the labyrinthian hills of Western Pennsylvania during the time warp surrounding the pandemic. For composer and arranger Jennifer Baron (who plays numerous instruments on the album), settling in at David Klug's studio atop Pittsburgh's Mount Washington allowed her to stretch and challenge herself, creating expansive arrangements. In another lifetime, just miles away within nearby hills and hamlets, Jennifer's great-grandfather arrived from Zagreb, forming a family band, a tamburitza orchestra featuring her grandfather, great-aunt and great-uncles, who performed in Monongahela Valley steel towns. Jennifer's work with her first cousin Lucy Blehar, who supplies lead vocals, continues this family music-making heritage.

Along with guitar, bass and drums, listeners will encounter a full suite of strings, horns, a variety of percussion, and finely woven keyboards and vocals. Some parts were improvised on-site, while others evolved at home, highlighting Jennifer's collection of analog keyboards before being translated into final recordings. Having the opportunity to experiment with equipment borrowed from friends, like a rare 1970s Roland Paraphonic 505 and a 1960s UMI Buzz Tone Volume Expander, shaped the exploratory process of crafting dimensional melodies and instrumentation. The result is a gilded tapestry of pop music history that is both panoramic and idiosyncratic.

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Moon Sisters - Land of Escape.

‘Land of Escape’ is the first single released by Moon Sisters. The song is about inter-connection on a deep level! People need people; to talk to, to laugh with, to cry with, to miss, to love, to depend on and to support, without bias or judgement. Moon Sisters express this as ‘a connection of hearts and minds’. The song is also about hope, which thrives on human connection - hope for wishes to come true, and for a dreamy escapeland: a better world! The song is inspired by the mutual bond that the three singers formed in a short time after meeting via the online social singing app ‘Smule’.

 Moon Sisters are an Irish-Dutch vocal group that perform old classics and original songs. They do this in their own acoustic and polyphonic way. The vocal group was born during the Covid-19 pandemic when three singers met via an online social singing app called Smule. Moon Sisters are Julieanne Black Reel from Ireland, Eva Stultjens and Ilona Dekker from the Netherlands. Through song, the girls instantly connected and formed a beautiful bond, much like sisters. 

The girls were recognised on social media by a festival organiser in Ireland. He flew Ilona and Eva over to perform a full live concert with Julieanne at the Muckno Mania Festival (Castleblayney). This was the first time that the girls met and sang together physically. They received a standing ovation, and the concert was a magical experience for them. This was just the beginning of their musical journey!

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Vinny Peculiar - Peace and Love.

Singer-songwriter Vinny Peculiar  will release his new album ‘How I Learned to Love the Freaks’ on 15 September, with recent single “Peace and Love” out now. Alan Wilkes aka Vinny Peculiar has been putting out albums for the past twenty years to considerable critical acclaim. Landing this September, ‘How I Learned to Love the Freaks’ will be his thirteenth studio release.

The record is inspired by Hippy culture, the summer of love and the socio-political awakenings of the late 1960s. In part it’s  tribute to an emerging free-thinking youth culture, the risks they took, the values they espoused, the sacrifices they made, with the failings and ultimate implosion culminating in “Death of the Counterculture”.

Over its ten tracks the new album looks at the personal impact of these cultural shifts and its impact on subsequent generations, specifically from Wilkes’ unique stand-ppoint as both disaffected youthful enquirer and seasoned older cynic. Recent single “Peace and Love” considers protest, apathy and mistrust. “Flower Power” is both a celebration and a reminder of what can be achieved and how easily it all slips away. “Going to San Francisco” tracks a young man’s awakening and pilgrimage to the Haight and beyond.

All in all, ‘How I Learned to Love the Freaks’  is a guitar-based, Grateful Dead-inspired, Jefferson Airplane-revisited, Chocolate Watchband-approved kind of record.

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Skinny Lister - Pressing Strings - Aaron Smith & The Coal Biters

Skinny Lister - Company Of The Bar.

Skinny Lister are excited to confirm details of their sixth studio LP titled ‘Shanty Punk’, for release on 20 October via Xtra Mile Recordings. The album announcement is coupled with the unveiling of its leading single, “Company of the Bar.”

A song built for the road and the endless adventures it can promise, “Company Of The Bar”, fuses three themes that have loomed large throughout Skinny Lister’s output: drinking, traveling, and the sea. Combining these into one driving, no-nonsense celebration of the virtues of hanging out down the pub with mates and loved ones; it’s a barnstorming addition to the Skinny catalogue and one that pines to be heard bellowed out at your local gig haunt. 

As Dan Heptinstall says: “It’s a simple sentiment, but one that is at the heart of the Skinny Lister philosophy. This is a song that has been built for the rugged road, and we can’t wait to hear it belted back at us on our upcoming US and UK Tours later this year!”

The track is the leading single to be cut from ‘Shanty Punk’, Skinny Lister’s sixth long-player; a concept album that’s all about, well, Skinny Lister. As Dan explains: “Shanty Punk is our concept album – and the concept is Skinny Lister. It’s a pure distillation of what makes Skinny Lister tick, and perhaps a collection of songs that leans further into our folky routes than we’ve ventured in some years. It felt to us like it was time to touch base and celebrate the essence of the band, while at the same time – giving it a fresh and dynamic feel.”

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Pressing Strings - Your Love.

Acclaimed Annapolis, Maryland-based trio Pressing Strings has released their new studio album. And I For You via Warren Haynes’ Evil Teen Records. …And I For You, the seventh full-length album from the three-piece whose influences range from folk, blues, rock, funk, soul, and reggae, includes the lead single “Your Love” and recent track release “Carousel.” Coinciding with the album release, Pressing Strings has issued the official music video for the infectious “Your Love.”

“Writing and making this record was a great experience for me personally and the band,” shares lead guitarist and vocalist Jordan Sokel. “It’s not always an easy process and we weathered a lot of stuff in the past couple of years for it to come together in the way that it did. It’s a great feeling to finally release something out to the world that you love and are proud of. We hope people dig it!”

And I For You marks the most fully realized set of songs yet from Pressing Strings and their first record to feature all members sharing the singing and helping with the harmonies. The album touches on timeless themes that resonate and find meaning at a time when turmoil and tenacity seem so predominant within a weary world. The 11-song collection, produced by Steve Wright, reminds us that gratitude, devotion, and the wisdom to recognize that even in the midst of uncertainty there are virtues that are important to cling to, which, in turn, can ultimately lead to true satisfaction.

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Aaron Smith & The Coal Biters - The Legend of Sam Davis Album).

Embark on a journey through time to the rugged and untamed landscapes of Newton County, Arkansas in the 1820s, led by the masterful storyteller and musician, Aaron Smith. Step into the world of the eccentric mountain preacher, Sam Davis, as he sets out on a quest to find his long-lost sister. Experience the heartbreak and tragedy of the Trail of Tears, and marvel at the courage of the outlaw pioneers who braved the unknown.

With Aaron‘s powerful storytelling and thoughtful musical arrangements, you'll meet unforgettable characters, such as a mother mourning her wayward sons and a midwife who traveled on horseback to deliver countless babies. These are the true stories of resilient people in tough times, filled with heartbreak, rage, longing, and love. You will feel their pain and joy, and experience the sense of community and isolation that defined their lives in a bygone era.

Banjo, fiddle, guitar, mandolin, dobro, pump organ, clarinet, and jug band percussion provide an authentic and evocative accompaniment to the stories being told. The album includes a beautiful coffee - table compendium that reveals deeper insights into the stories with essays, family photos, maps, and original artwork for each song by Newton County artist, Dreama Phoenix.

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Oslo Twins - Jill Andrews - Charlie Kaplan - Blanco White

Oslo Twins - Back To Nothing.

Bristol born dream-pop outfit Oslo Twins have released the title track from their upcoming debut EP 'Back To Nothing'. The new EP will be released on 12" vinyl and digitally on 28th July via 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.

The band's upcoming debut EP 'Back To Nothing' is subtly influenced by dance, industrial and lo-fi music of the 80s and 90s, adorned with distinctive, hooky pop melodies, all connected by a sense of distance and the tension between unity and isolation.

New single and EP title track “Back To Nothing” is lyrically suggestive of romantic loss, yet its steady rhythm and bright legato synths evoke a sense of calm acceptance. The violin courtesy of Tom Connolly (Quade) adds a melancholic folk depth, before the song arrives as its rich, euphoric climax. “I wouldn’t say it was about longing, but the stage after,” says Eric. “I wrote the lyrics by the River Avon in Bristol on a warm evening. It’s a melancholic, reflective song.”

Speaking more on its inspiration, vocalist Claudia said: "Sometimes you know that something is coming to an end, but you’re not quite there yet - you’re in the mournful, wistful transition period. There’s a sense of steady movement in both the lyrics and the music, but it’s ambiguous whether it represents progress or surrender."

Led by songwriters Claudia Vulliamy and Eric Davies, completed by Ed Lyness (keys), Will Snelling (bass/guitar) and Luke Brown (drums), over the past 18 months Oslo Twins have taken the London and Bristol live music scenes by storm, supporting acts such as Blondshell, The Comet Is Coming, The Last Dinner Party, Folly Group, English Teacher, Do Nothing and Honeyglaze.

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Jill Andrews - Better Life.

Nashville singer-songwriter Jill Andrews just unveiled her new single “Better Life” off her forthcoming album Modern Age (out August 18th on Vulture Vulture/Tone Tree). The nucleus to Modern Age and the song that inspired the record, “Better Life” finds Andrews grieving the loss of a “golden-haired beauty queen” to addiction, wishing there had been another path. The track also features guest vocals from fellow Nashville favorite Becca Mancari. Holler debuted the track and called it “a delicious slice of soft 70s country pop that brings to mind the sadder moments of Golden Hour or the luscious introspective dream pop of Weyes Blood.”

"I traveled back to my hometown in East Tennessee after hearing the news of a childhood friend who had passed away after a long battle with addiction,” stated Andrews. “While I was there, I swung by our old neighborhood. I drove by her house and walked to the bus stop where we used to stand on all of those cold, dark mornings together. I had known her since second grade. She was with me at the AMC Theater when I saw Titanic for the first time, crying into the same box of popcorn. She was with me when I smoked my first cigarette (one of her Grandmother’s Benson and Hedge’s 100’s that she had sneakily lifted from some mystery drawer). 

She was with me the day that I decided to see if the fire extinguisher worked on the school bus and promptly sprayed white foam all over my friend’s and new found enemies’ heads. It turns out it worked very well. Standing there as an adult, at the bus stop, I was struck by how close we had lived to each other. If I turned left, I could see my house, and if I turned right, I could see hers. It was startling how different our lives were, even back then. And how our paths grew further and further apart as we got older. So far apart that we really didn’t recognize each other anymore.”

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Charlie Kaplan - Talkin' French.

This week we're announcing the new Charlie Kaplan LP due on September 15 and follow up to 2020's excellent Sunday, and we're presentling "Talkin' French," a jangly, blissful ode to his wife, with a brief instrumental detour through outer space.

My wife’s first language was French, and I’ve always felt a little like the Gomez to her Morticia. When this song came together, I was incredulous it was about her: I’d never written a love song before for fear it’d fall short of my feelings. But with her as the slender verse, me as the smitten chorus, and the bridge as the life we escape to together, I finally feel like I got it. Of particular note is Winston Cook-Wilson’s gorgeous, out-of-time passage, recorded at the piano in my childhood home, where he is momentarily relieved of the song’s jangling gravity before falling back to earth and into form.

Singer-songwriter Charlie Kaplan’s releases play like tours through a musical memory palace. The Office Culture bassist’s guitar-based songs are overrun with ear-catching gestures redolent of classic rock radio hits, Americana standards, baroque pop micro-symphonies, and more-music that shaped him personally and artistically at a formative age. Ten years ago-during a time when the logistics of making an album seemed impossible-Kaplan began to catalog his acoustic phone demos around themes, feels, and personal associations. Eventually, he created a roadmap for an entire imagined discography. His new LP, Country Life in America, contains the earliest entries into this canon, painting a picture of a young man bursting with ideas, not certain where to channel his energy and not overly worried about it.

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Blanco White - Tarifa.

Blanco White has announced his new album Tarifa will be released 29th September via Nettwerk (Miya Folick, Matt Maltese), and has shared the lead single and title track. The new album release will coincide with a headline run across the US, Canada and Europe this autumn, culminating in a momentous homecoming at the Barbican in London on 21st November.

Tarifa is the second full length album from the project of Londoner Josh Edwards following his 2020 debut On the Other Side which has since seen over 130 million streams and led to tours with Jose Gonzalez and Gregory Alan Isakov as well as hugely popular world tours of his own, including a sold out night at London's famous Union Chapel. New album Tarifa was written predominantly in the town of the same name in southern Spain; the southernmost tip of Western Europe just 5 miles from Morocco. Self-producing, Josh also collaborated extensively with afro-jazz collective Nubiyan Twist’s percussionist Pilo Adami (from Cascavel a town in the southeast of Paraná a southern Brazil state below São Paulo) who co-produced most of the record.

Nathan Jenkins aka Bullion (Westerman, Nilüfer Yanya) also contributed back in London with additional production in the final stages. It was recorded between Tarifa and Blanco White's home studio in London, almost entirely on a mobile recording rig.

The album's title track and newly released single "Tarifa” was the first to surface from the album's writing sessions in Spain, following a debilitative chronic pain diagnosis. Imbued with the sunshine and restless energy of Tarifa’s famously windy climate, the song is adorned with swirling electronics and punctuated by more organic percussion elements, all tied together by Edwards' inviting vocal and his intricate, finger-picked work on the charango - a Bolivian instrument in the guitar family - made by luthier Juan Achá Campos.

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alice does computer music - Sandy Bailey - Grandaddy - Royal Castles - Denise La Grassa

alice does computer music - Coiled.

This week alice does computer music shared her new single "Coiled." The song is the second single from the cellist, songwriter, and producer's upcoming debut album, Shoegaze 5G, due out August 4th, 2023, via Jolt Music. The record was mixed by Mari Maurice (More Eaze) and mastered by Andrew Weathers.

In “Coiled,” alice does computer music entwines the fragments of her musical influences and memories in beautifully unmoored ways. Acoustic cello riffs are juxtaposed with bit-crushed drums that swirl into distorted, cavernous sound collage.

About the single, Gerlach says: "I keep accidentally pocket-dialing the SOS button on my iPhone’s lock screen. the pattern feels significant, like my subconscious is alerting me to an internal emergency. There’s a theory that there is no such thing as memory, only experience and its decay. With each occurrence I remember and forget the previous instances, lost in the uneasy stillness of being unmoored in time. coiled is a summoning of ghosts, a moment of panic as experience fragments into unawareness."

alice does computer music is an electronic project by cellist, songwriter, and producer Alice Gerlach. Conjuring a hazy space between pop and experimentalism, Gerlach’s work takes inspiration from an eclectic range of music such as ambient, avant-garde pop, breakcore, and noise. Her debut full-length, Shoegaze 5G, collects and exhibits the fragments of her wide-ranging influences, resulting in vivid, poetic electronic music.

 

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Sandy Bailey - Daughter Of Abraham.

Today Massachusetts-based artist Sandy Bailey releases the gorgeous title track to her scorcher of an album, Daughter Of Abraham (out on August 18th via Red Parlor Records).

The house Sandy lives in in Massachusetts was built in 1765 and she was told the house was a sheltering stop on the Underground Railroad. Inspired, Sandy wanted to connect with and honor her ancestors, and imagined a story where they may have traveled that route to freedom, and sought refuge in her house. She imagined her ancestors seeing their descendants living in the house that once hid them. It's a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit, that it can prevail under the cruelest, most impossible conditions. Wrap your ears around it here:

The haunting track tells the story of Abraham, who set off on foot in 1859 from "Carolina to Massachusetts" with holes in his shoes and hunger in his belly, to find his way to freedom. "I am a daughter of Abraham...whenever I'm lost / Don't know where I'm goin' / I walk and I start singin'...Light of the day, my inner flame / I am weary, guide my way," she sings.

Sandy is a biracial single mom who left her Pentecostal upbringing to play rock n' roll. With elements of soul, blues, gospel, and classic Americana, Daughter Of Abraham tells Sandy's story - one of a working-class American woman, and explores themes of loneliness, survival, getting lost, and finding your way again.

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Grandaddy - The Town where I'm Livin Now.

Modesto, CA’s influential indie-rock group Grandaddy have announced a special digital release of the Sumday: Excess Baggage, a thirteen-track collection of rarities and b-sides from the Sumday-era that unfolds like a lost Grandaddy album and is set for release on August 25 on Dangerbird Records. The band has also unveiled lead single “The Town where I’m Livin Now” alongside an official video, a spacy, wistful ode to the dissonant American landscape of California’s hardscrabble Central Valley.

Grandaddy leader Jason Lytle said, “I like making songs like this. Lots of bleak but sweet visuals. Everyday stuff available for everyone to see...but some of us just end up with the twisted work of documenting it.”

In May, Grandaddy announced Sumday Twunny, a limited edition 4-LP boxed set to be released on September 1 via Dangerbird Records. The collection includes the remastered original album as well as a complete 4-track demo version titled Sumday: The Cassette Demos, and Sumday: Excess Baggage. “After many years of hammering away at writing and recording as Grandaddy, Sumday seems to be the center of it and where it all peaked. To the journalists we were, ‘On the verge of greatness, underrated, overlooked, unsung.’ It was a tumultuous and exciting time for us for sure. Also very exhausting,” Lytle said.

“Revisiting this material and reflecting on those times has been a double edged sword. Bittersweet is an apt word, I suppose. Twenty years after the fact, I'm just grateful to be alive and kicking… celebrating that moment in time by re-releasing the original album, B sides and extras of that era, and even some raw cassette demos of the album itself a sort of sketchbook/rough draft of the LP in cassette form. So be it then. ‘On the verge of greatness, underrated, overlooked, unsung.’ This is what all of that sounds like.  I'll take it.”

Grandaddy formed in 1992 and have released five official LPs, most recently 2017’s Last Place. Grandaddy members include Jason Lytle, Aaron Burtch, Jim Fairchild, Tim Dryden, and the late Kevin Garcia, who passed away in 2017.

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Royal Castles - Bad Business Barbie.

Royal Castles describe themselves as a contemporary garage-rock band from Guelph, Ontario. Going by "Bad Business Barbie" they are all of that and pack some style and attitude for good measure on this highly addictive track.

The band tell us "As a band, we've really hit our stride (we've got three albums now!) which is why we wanted to mix it up and keep things fresh. In a first for Royal Castles, our drummer Katrin Sawatzky took the lead on the songwriting direction and vocals.

"Bad Business Barbie" is a bold love letter to the women who are tamed by patriarchy – a rally cry, a confession about vulnerability, power, freedom and the secrets we keep. We celebrate women everyday in our lives, and this is one of the ways we want to show it."

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Denise La Grassa - Dawn of the New Day.

Chicago-based singer-songwriter Denise La Grassa continues her inspiring musical journey with the impending release of The Flame. This powerful collection of 10 songs is a testament to the strength and resilience of the human spirit - attributes that also embody her own 'North of 40' journey, itself ignited by the closing of Lincoln College in Central Illinois. “I was heading into my sixth year of transforming the former jazz studies program into one with more practical music production and business degrees," La Grassa says. "The closing was a shock to everyone as the college had been around for 157 years. It was then I decided to follow my own dream by focusing full-time on songwriting and performance.”

The Flame blends raw roots-rock and soulful blues with Americana as the musical bedrock for two profound ideas: the significance of inclusivity in a united nation and the transformative power of immigration, inspired by La Grassa's own family history.

The album encapsulates La Grassa’s advocacy for social change. The album's title pays homage to the inherent strength that lies within a nation when it looks out for all people, particularly those who have been marginalized. La Grassa's poignant lyrics and soulful melodies serve as a rallying cry for compassion, urging listeners to embrace unity and stand up against injustice.  “I feel compelled to write music that reminds us as human beings why we’re here," La Grassa explains. "Jesus really had a simple message: ‘love one another and uplift the poor and marginalized.'"

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Equipment Pointed Ankh - Fake Fever - Erin K - The Goods

Equipment Pointed Ankh - Trucks to Gettysburg.

In terms of the headiest of heady jammers the Louisville, KY weirdo supergroup Equipment Pointed Ankh comes has made a name for themselves in creating uncompromising and unpretentious experimental music that appeals to the freaks and casual listeners alike. The group's magnetic pulse on their newest album Downtown! puts them in league with the Kraut conspirators while bouncing with a nervous, wiry rhythm of bands like This Heat. We think you'd dig it, or we wouldn't be sending this to you. The first single "Trucks to Gettysburg" is out now.

Welcome to the eternal now of Equipment Pointed Ankh, whose instrumental, electronics-squishing avant rock/future jazz will baffle and delight your earholes for years to come. Set your cruise controls in the direction of a fun, beer chugging midwestern American version of the tightly buttoned Euro adventurousness found on that sparkly Recommended Records 2xlp comp.

Equipment Pointed Ankh are from a Louisville, KY lineage that spawned the Endtables and Your Food, grew with Squirrel Bait, extended into Gastr Del Sol, King Kong, and the Web, then casually emerged into the present with Valley of Ashes, Sapat, Road House and Flanger Magazine (the last three consisting of actual EPA members!!) They initially appeared as the brainchild of former Tropical Trashian Jim Marlowe, and while his first release of smoldering Kraut throb (Live on Sophomore Lounge and recognized by cover art featuring a doomed cowboy's naked dong) was a signpost to the future, the true EPA really began on Without Human Permission (Astral Editions/ Sophomore Lounge) with the addition of the now constant lineup of Chris Bush, Dan Davis, Ryan Davis (no relation!), and Shutaro Noguchi. They created spontaneous constructions of drums, synths, guitar, and sundry other instruments that were then edited into structural cohesion within the glorious freedom and sonic possibilities of a legitimate recording studio with an utterly simpatico recording engineer (this being RI's Seth Manchester at Machines with Magnets). This approach continued with the Changing Legs cd (Newton's Kidney) of all possible permutations of duo improvisations between members and then followed by the giddily melodic grooves of From Inside the House lp (Bruit Direct Disques).

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Fake Fever - Graveyard Shift.

Nostalgia is a powerful drug. It can provide a quick escape or a warm blanket of comfort in times of need, but what happens when that temporary sugar rush of the past begins to corrode and fade? The longer that NYC-based singer/songwriter/producer Andrew Barnes spent in the nostalgic space that previously defined his chillwave/bedroom pop project Fake Fever, the more he felt these reflective comforts dissipate over time and found the harsh realities of the present staring back more ferociously than ever. After three years of false starts, new surroundings, bandaid ripping, chaotic experimentation, and refinement, what resulted is Fake Fever's highly-anticipated sophomore full length release - Inside The Well - a bittersweet breakup album with nostalgia.

"When I initially tried to piece together ideas for my 2nd album, I was hitting a wall and slowly realized that I had spent so much time over the last few years trying to recreate this essence of my childhood and my past and existing in this escapist place where I was constantly looking backwards, that I was doing a horrible job of living in the present and trying to progress, both creatively and personally." Barnes says. "This album encompasses that sometimes-painful process of loosening the grip on the past so that you can free yourself to move forward."

While the previous Fake Fever full length "Surrogate" made a splash in various online "-wave" circles during the 2020 height of isolation with its hazy, subdued trip through a lazy river of vaporwave-tinged dreams and memories, "Inside The Well" is a much more awake, emotional, and polished slate of pop-centric material. This 11-song, 42-minute yearning, aquatic pop journey fluidly weaves together new genre flourishes to the Fake Fever sound, ranging from shoegaze ("Autotoxemia", "Pressure Tank") to house ("Palace Intrigue") to footwork ("Sozu") to 2000s indietronica revival ("Graveyard Shift") to drum & bass ("Canvasing"), with the chillwave ethereality ("Coral Ring", "Sunrose") and tape-warped melodies ("Unknowable") that resonated with listeners on "Surrogate."

"After spending most of my musical life playing guitar and drums in heavy bands, this whole avenue of creating electronic and pop music is still so new to me, even after a handful of years of doing it now. Part of the reason this album took so long to make is because I spent an equal amount of time trying to refine what I had figured out and done well kind of by accident as a total novice on the last album, and an equal amount of time trying to get away from my musical crutches that I had developed over the past few years and expand my sound with brand new techniques as a songwriter and producer that took a ton of trial and error to finally bring within reach."

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Erin K - Breathe (Live) The Crypt Studio.

Acclaimed American-born London-resident musician Erin K just released her new playful and beautiful “antifolk” style singer-songwriter album ‘Sink To Swim’ (out 30th June).

Erin has recorded a gorgeous live session version of ‘Breathe’ from the album at The Crypt studio in London. Wondered if you might like to feature / share it?

On the song & session, Erin said- “In this song I am speaking to my former childhood self, questioning the decisions she will make to lead up to this present moment. Under seeming pressures to perform and act up to other’s standards, the option to choose a different path is presented alongside the ever present reminder to simply “breathe” in every moment. We had a wonderful time recording this live in The Crypt Studio in London, with my bandmates flying in from 3 different countries. This live arrangement of the song differs a little from recording studio production which is now released on my album Sink To Swim. We arrived at this production after a month long tour in Italy and I wanted to capture it during this session. I’m very excited to share this!”

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The Goods - The Goods (E.P).

Oakland California’s The Goods have just announced the release of their debut self-titled EP on Dandy Boy Records with an accompanying video for the song “David Jones Is Dead.” The Goods combine big guitars, huge hooks, and sweet British Invasion-style harmonies into a distinctive power pop tapestry on their debut. Self-produced in the band’s own studio in Oakland, CA, The Goods’ debut EP draws on decades of hooky punk and power pop from the 1960s through the 1990s. 

The three song 7" (with an exclusive fourth digital track) combines classic influences and timeless sounds with a fresh and playful energy. The lead single and video “David Jones Is Dead” calls to mind the band’s songwriting influences both new and old; Redd Kross, Young Guv, Tom Petty, Matthew Sweet, The Jam, Green Day and Cheap Trick. Reflecting on the process of writing “David Jones Is Dead” singer and guitarist Rob Good had to say, “I set out to write the shortest song I possibly could, all killer no filler, every bit of fat around the edges trimmed off. Lyrically, I was thinking about all these rock and roll icons that are now dying, and how their death brings up so many emotions - not only remorse for the loss of the person, but also nostalgia about the good times you had with their music and the friends you enjoyed it with. Ultimately it’s a celebration of that music and those good times.”

Avoiding retro-revivalism, The Goods' music is earnest and unironic, with just enough grit and muscle to balance its sugary sweetness. Dandy Boy label owner Bobby Martinez describes the connection between himself and singer/guitarist Rob Good, “I’m a big power pop fan and he was writing huge power pop songs. Not in a bleached hair/ leather jacket/ Buzzcocks way or a straight college radio/ 90’s alt way- but somewhere in between. There’s an element of Redd Kross camp over Cheap Trick timelessness that adds this level of fun and cheekiness. It never feels too serious or posturing yet avoids going full on cornball cartoon band. It’s completely self aware and doesn’t fall into some retro revival affectation. Rather than trying to duplicate classic power pop from the late 70’s or 90’s “left-of-the-dial” underground, they manage to sound organic. It’s power pop by guys who grew up learning their instruments by listening to Green Day and the Descendents and playing in punk bands. Guys who spent their formative years with Lemonheads and Jam CDs in their cars.”

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Rae Fitzgerald - Drab Majesty - Silent Forum

Rae Fitzgerald - Say I Look Happy.

Rae Fitzgerald shares "Say I Look Happy" today, the title track from her new album out September 1 via Keeled Scales.

About "Say I Look Happy," Rae Fitzgerald writes: "I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve struggled with major depression for as long as I can remember, starting in early childhood. As anyone with persistent mental health issues or illness knows, the stigma and pressure to 'fix' yourself can be more isolating than the condition. 'Say I Look Happy' is sort of an ode to that surreal plane of existence and a song of gratitude to the people who traipse through those valleys alongside me."

Say I Look Happy follows 2020's Lonely Listener EP, which The Wild Honey Pie described as “hypnotically relaxing,” and “dense with poetry, philosophy and celestial metaphor." Post-Trash called it a “a folk record at heart, built on dreamy atmospheres and intimate recordings, capturing Fitzgerald’s thoughts in raw portraits that channel honest performances and soft melodies.”

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Drab Majesty - The Skin and the Glove.

Drab Majesty have shared a second track from their forthcoming mini-album, An Object in Motion, which is set for release on August 25th via Dais Records. Alongside the new track, they have also announced European tour dates for this fall as well as an appearance at Darker Waves Festival in Southern California alongside New Order, Tears for Fears, and more.

Following last month's majestic ballad “Vanity” which features a rare guest vocal appearance from Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell, today Drab Majesty share a second look at the forthcoming record with new track "The Skin and the Glove." The song deploys jangle to sparkling effect  baggy, soaring, grey-skied kaleidoscopic pop in the spirit of Stone Roses, Primal Scream, and The Glove.

Inspired by the insuperable march of time reflected in the song’s lyrics, for the accompanying video Deb Demure and Mona D. decided upon the one medium that reflects most accurately the way that memories seem sewn together by fragments of imagery. The ‘flashing frames of time’ captured by the Super 8mm camera seem naturally edited in some part by simply moving through moments, holding down the trigger and choosing to remember certain aspects of a day, a trip or an extended period of travel. These glimpses into the personal and emotional aspects of touring were captured in far away lands like Europe, Canada, Mexico and even Tasmania. They attempt to compress the long passage of time and the effort that goes into playing in a band — to present it as the mind does; a tapestry of reflection that seems stitched together randomly and with that ephemeral granularity that rests in the potential to misremember.

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Silent Forum - Treat Yourself.

Silent Forum release their most unashamedly poppy single to date, Treat Yourself, coming out today 11 July via Libertino Records. Treat Yourself is mixture of revealing, uncomfortable lyrics paired with animated, uplifting pop instrumentation. 

You can hear the band having a great time playing around in much poppier territory than they are used to - this is as bubblegum as they're ever going to get.

Silent Forum split their time between Cardiff, London, Bristol and Barcelona. Their sound is equally unconventional - multifaceted music with confident but subtle streaks of dark energy. It’s textured pop-post-punk that equally rejects three chord song structure and monochrome doom.

Libertino · Silent Forum - Treat Yourself

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Surprise Baby - Enjoyable Listens - Simesky+Fritch - The Grahams

Surprise Baby - Poison the Well.

Surprise Baby is the Los Angeles based project of musician and songwriter Sarsten Noice and producer Claire Morison. Described as rock and roll cowboy meets indie pop, the two, who are originally from Northwest Montana, use their long-standing relationship as friends and creative partners to craft a sound which is both authentic and captivating.

The upcoming EP is a result of Surprise Baby refusing to be pigeon-holed and see’s the two exploring a realm of different genres and sounds. The first single to be released from the EP is “Poison the Well.” The track narrates facing the consequences of your own actions and the desire to change the reality of a situation but ultimately having the resignation that you can’t. Noice confides, “At the time, I was involved with someone who was in another relationship and we were both a part of a tight knit community (“the well”). At a certain point, it appeared to me that the toxicity of the relationship had permeated our ability to operate in our social scene without causing disruption to our lives and those around us.  I was faced with confronting the morality of my own actions as well as some heartbreak because I knew I was never going to be able to fully be with this person.”

Sonically, “Poison the Well” enters with a throbbing beat, echoing harmonies and a minimalist, eerie atmosphere. Steadily building in intensity, we hear the addition of layered textures and instruments, as Noice sings about the misguided actions that led her down the wrong path. She questions, “If I had never said goodnight, if I had been older when this had started,” as she ponders about what could have been.

Not afraid to speak her truth, Noice shares how she uses songwriting as a way to process her internal world and give intense emotions a way out of her body. She shares, “I try to create imagery that accurately captures a specific feeling and then allow myself to build lyrics in an abstract way, opposed to straightforward storytelling. This I hope leaves the songs open to the listeners’ interpretation.”

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Enjoyable Listens - Summer Hit.

Enjoyable Listens is a man, a machine and an enigma wrapped in a ball of mysterious dark wool. Having built an indie-rock-solid foundation using only melody, mayhem and an admirable ability to croon a series of pop smashes whilst teetering on a bar stool, new single “Summer Hit” sees the infallible actor continuing to warm to the task.

Funnelling inebriated ‘80s theatricality through luxurious layers of molten melodies and sun-dappled dreamhouse-ery, Enjoyable Listens aka Luke Duffett explains: “The original “Summer Hit” demo was the first thing I ever self-recorded. I wrote it during lockdown, and its name comes from a to-do list I had in April 2020.

While his attempts at gymnastics, baking and gaming may not have been quite so fruitful, “Summer Hit” certainly ticks the box. Re-recorded with Joseph Futák and Elanor Moss on backing vocals, the new track features a heady amalgam of mellotron, seagull noises and an aromatic indie-swooning that feels just as mellow as it does melodramatic.

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Simesky+Fritch - Back and Down Again.

Following on from ‘Colour Running Away’, the last release from Simesky+Fritch that graced indie charts, national and international airwaves across UK and Belgium, Australia, US, across the EU and South Africa, this is the new single ‘Back and Down Again’.

‘Colour Running Away’ changed everything for the duo. Its high shine pop and neon gloss took on a life of its own and blasted the track to success. But right here and right now they get darker.

With their cool 80’s retro wrapped in original new wave, they produce something gut-felt and lush. The Cure, Roxy Music, M83, they all leave their imprints like always. And as New Order and Berlin era Bowie atmospherics infect, each decade’s nuance of synthpop collides.

Back this up with the extended family of Thomas Wagner (creator of the perfect Back and Down Again video, Andy Wright (mastering; The Fall, Rag’n’Bone Man) and support from CJC Promotions… Simesky+Fritch become something unstoppable.

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The Grahams - The Wild One.

The Grahams have announced their new album The Grahams, due out September 8 via 3Sirens Music Group. The upcoming self-titled album finds the singer-songwriter duo – made up of Alyssa and Doug Graham – reimagining 10 hand-picked songs from their extensive catalog to reflect their sonic and artistic growth over the last decade. Along with the announcement, The Grahams have shared a revamped rendition of their 2015 staple “The Wild One,” a serotonin-boosting reworking that now features shimmering backing vocals from acclaimed indie pop group Lucius.

“‘The Wild One’ is part biographical, part fiction and part mantra,” shares Alyssa Graham. “The original version served its purpose and was often our opening song at concerts to remind ourselves of what we’ve lived and what’s important. When reimagining this song, we wanted to focus on the lessons in a more light-hearted and fun sonic arrangement and steer clear of the overdramatized story. After all, it’s just music and if we’ve learned anything over the past three decades together it’s to never let our hearts grow old and never let our love grow cold.”

On The Grahams, the duo pays homage to a fulfilled commitment they made a decade ago: three concept albums over 10 years, which found them exploring America and its rich tapestry of music. This trilogy began with their swampy 2013 debut Riverman’s Daughter, followed by 2015’s railroad-inspired Glory Bound and concluding in 2020 with the genre-defying Kids Like Us. The new self-titled album takes ten songs from The Grahams’ catalog and pours them through a new filter – what they’ve learned, how they’ve changed, and perhaps most centrally, how they sound today. While these songs bear some resemblance to their Americana roots, they lean harder in a new direction, weaving threads of the duo’s other influences: the bands they grew up with, the input of collaborators, and the ever-evolving love affair that now includes their child. Track by track, the changes are transformative, stripping the songs down in some cases and dressing them up in others.

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