Ummagma - Frequency (EP).

Ummagma - Lama (From the EP 'Frequency').

Background - Canadian-Ukrainian duo Ummagma have confirmed details for the UK release of their EP ‘Frequency’. This mini-album will be available through Raphalite Records and is slated for release on November 13th. Alongside five original tracks, the EP features remixes from Cocteau Twins legend Robin Guthrie, Wales' celebrated Lights That Change, and Malcolm Holmes of Orchestral Maneouvres in the Dark (OMD).

Ummagma consists of Shauna McLarnon, who hails from Canada's Yukon, and Alexander Kretov, who is from Ukraine. Since bursting onto the music scene in 2012, they have made a significant impact on the underground music scene. Their potent combination of uplifting and melancholic textured dreampop, shoegaze, postpunk, ambient and electronica rapidly gained them a sizeable international following despite the numerous issues they faced living between Canada and Ukraine.

‘Frequency’ follows the band's two debut LPs 'Antigravity' and 'Ummagma', which were simultaneously released in 2012. This release represents a slight departure from the first two albums, which whisked the listener through the romanticism of first meetings, big love, adventures abroad and optimistic dreaming through to the realities of birth, loss, death and departure. In contrast, 'Frequency' explores such themes as space and distance, timelessness, escapism, and the search for tranquility.

Canadian-Ukrainian duo Ummagma have blazed quite a trail for themselves in their short history. They've landed press coverage and radio play in more than 50 countries, including Rolling Stone Russia, and have managed to strike an endearing chord with a good number of 'first wave' shoegaze and dreampop artists, particularly from Creation Records and early 4AD rosters. "Ummagma have something very special about them that you don't find in many bands, that is an honest, believable & beautiful lyric delivered by an honest, believable & beautiful voice," says Malcolm Holmes of OMD. "When you combine this with the swirling ambience of lush layered guitars, this duo end up with their own unique sonic landscape."

Dreamy, ambient, gentle and smooth, oh! and throw in lush for good measure. Just what the music doctor ordered. This EP is everything the above promo promised and more.

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Something Special: Niamh Crowther - Shred Kelly - Little Red Lung

Niamh Crowther - Little By Little.

Background - Following 130,000 streams on Spotify and play-listing on national radio in Ireland, Niamh Crowther releases her single 'Little by Little' on October 23rd.

Niamh came to prominence in Ireland aged sixteen when she beat over 15,000 other young people to claim the prestigious Irish Youth Music Awards. The judging panel included Willie Kavanagh (then head of EMI), Jackie Hayden (founder of Hotpress magazine and the exec who signed U2 to their first record deal) and Will Ryan (Hozier). The accompanying rave reviews and talk about town earned her “one to watch” accolades from Hotpress, and on her eighteenth birthday Niamh found herself on stage with Richie Sambora.

Following the completion of her Leaving Certificate (A Levels), Niamh set about recording in Windmill Lane with some help from Tim Martin (The Corrs, The Commitments, Declan O’Rourke), resulting in the well-received 'Origins' and forthcoming single 'Little by Little' which has already been play listed on both RTE Radio 1 and RTE 2XM, selected as single of the week by multiple media outlets and featured across 32 radio stations across Ireland.

This is a wonderful song, that demonstrates the vocal qualities of Niamh, and just how good she can sound, especially when matched by a superb musical accompaniment. Website (here).

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Shred Kelly - Sing To The Night.

Background - Canadian folk rock heroes Shred Kelly have released (in America) their new single, “Sing to the Night.” Thanks in large part to their dynamic, high-energy, and engaging live show, Shred Kelly have crafted their own sound, called “stoke folk.” Their most recent full-length, Sing to the Night, was named one of the Top 15 Most Anticipated Albums of 2015 by CBC Music. They recently won Album of the Year and Best Live Act at the 2015 Kootenay Music Awards and are currently nominated for a 2015 West Coast Music Award for Best Music Video for “Sing to the Night.” Sing to the Night will be released in the U.S. on November 13.

According to Exclaim Magazine, “Sing to the Night is a huge step forward for this young group.” Through their individual backgrounds, Tim Newton, Sage McBride, Jordan Vlasschaert, Ian Page-Shiner, and Ty West have amplified the traditional sound of folk music with a more contemporary approach. Their reputation as a captivating live band has earned Shred Kelly sold-out shows across Canada, performances at some of the Canada’s premier festivals, and placement upon a growing list of awards and recognition.

Shred Kelly’s third album, Sing To The Night, features their signature claw-hammer banjo riffs, layered ambient synth, powerhouse rock, and lush vocal harmonies. Their acclaimed producer John Critchley (Elliott Brood, Amelia Curran, The Once) from Green Door Studios was a master at creating an album that pushed their creativity and gave Shred Kelly a new take on their signature sound. It is this “stoke folk” sound that has translated just as well on albums as it does on packed dance floors.

High energy folk? More like barnstorming folk, or as the band say 'stoke folk'. Now this is refreshingly good music, brimming with positives. Website (here).

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Little Red Lung - Porcupine Sheet (from the album 'Beware').

Background - Los Angeles' Little Red Lung originated as a solo project of singer/keyboardist Zoe-Ruth Erwin, whose pure, bellowing vocals have been compared to the likes of Florence Welch, Stevie Nicks and Grace Slick. She quickly brought on board three creative veterans of the local indie music scene: guitarist Ali Nikou, bassist Rob Hume, and drummer John Broeckel, whose unique influences spanning the psychedelic troughs of Hendrix, the urgency of the 80's post-punk movement, and the fierceness of the early Seattle rock scene, cultivated Little Red Lung’s distinctive voice. 

Little Red Lung's debut LP "Beware" promises to be a bold and uninhibited follow up to their 
acclaimed EP, stretching the boundaries of their unique multi-dimensional sound. Starting back in May 2015, Little Red Lung began releasing one song per month via iTunes, Bandcamp, Amazon and their official website. The full album will also be available on limited edition 40G Vinyl.

'Porcupine Street' is the first album track. It immediately suggests there is some real mileage in the promo description. This is a band happy to try out, and share musical ideas, both vocally and musically. If you like the featured track, the album will fascinate you. Website (here).

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Jesca Hoop - Live in Manchester, UK - 2010 (IA)

From the Internet Archive (IA) this is Jesca Hoop live at Band On The Wall, a venue in Manchester, England, back on Monday 24th May 2010.

This is what the Manchester venues website had to say about Jesca prior to the gig - Jesca Hoop was born in Southern California to strict Mormon parents. She grew up singing traditional folk tunes in four-part harmony, but soon broke away from this background, becoming a homesteader and working with children. As a nanny for Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan’s three children, Hoop gained both musical experience and notoriety; Waits said of Jesca, 'Her music is like going swimming in a lake at night'. Following exposure through radio station KCRW, Jesca toured with Polyphonic Spree, Mark Knopfler, Andrew Bird and Elbow – with Guy Garvey also dueting with Hoop on her (then) latest acclaimed album Hunting My Dress.

In addition to this we can add (from Wiki) As a result of meeting Tom Piper, the touring manager of the band Elbow, Hoop moved to Manchester, England in 2008. Initially she found it difficult to adjust "as a California girl, I find it hard to stay under that canopy of cloud". After settling in the Chorlton area of the city, Hoop spent 18 months recording new material for the album “Hunting My Dress” which was released in 2010. She had parked "a lorry trailer in my back garden that we use as an extension (...) where I go to write". In the same year she signed with the US-based label Vanguard Records.[8] It was followed by the “Snowglobe E.P.” in 2011, which consisted of a handful tracks recorded prior to her move to the UK. Hoop described them as "folk songs" and the EP received a degree of critical acclaim. The following year she released “The House That Jack Built” and in 2014 “Undress”; a re-interpretation of songs recorded four years ago.

Recording Details: Source DPA4060>Chruch 9100>R09 (48kHz/24 bit) Lineage Card reader>Wavelab>Isotope RX>CDWave>FLAC.

Sound Quality: Very good (clean and highly enjoyable).

Set List:

1. Seed of Wonder
2. Whispering Light
3. Feast of the Heart
4. Four Dreams
5. Money
6. Angel Mom
7. The Kingdom
8. Phonograph
9. Moon Rock Needle
10. Out the Back Door
11. Tulip
12. Murder of Birds
13. (chat)
14. Hunting my Dress
15. (chat)
16. Enemy
17. Love and Love Again
18. Storm [off mic]

Website: Official Here.

Comments: There are FLAC, Ogg Vorbis and mp3 download files, along with the streaming material over at the Internet Archive (here).

Stream Below:

A Couple Of Good Ones: Murder Shoes - Rissy

Murder Shoes - Nineteeneightyone.

Bio - Sometimes, it really does boil down to who you know. Shortly after Derek Van Gieson first moved to Minneapolis, he met fellow guitarist Chris White through an ex-post-hardcore-punk pal. For a year or so, Derek and Chris stockpiled hundreds of songs. The songs ran the gamut of 60s pop/garage nuggets, gothic folk, chaotic post-punk, 80s funk and R&B, country/western, shoegaze, rockabilly, and surf. 

It could have been a real hot mess, but Derek brought Tess Weinberg in to the picture and she tied the whole thing together with her sultry cross-genre vocals. They further refined their sound as a trio and just when they thought they had it figured out, bassist Tim Heinlein and drummer Elliot Manthey brought the volume, power, and muscle. Inside of a year as a quintet, Murder Shoes recorded and released three EPs, a full length album, and went on tour. After many adventures in the studio and live, the band has refined the eclectic nature of their sound, which can now accurately be described as “Murder Shoesy.”

On November 6, Land Ski Records will release “Daydreaming,” the full-length debut from Minneapolis, MN indie rock band, Murder Shoes.

The band at times remind me of Blondie circa their first album, however that's just part of the story. There is a harder edge to the guitar driven music and vocals are if anything smoother, the band drift from post punk into surf rock, and plenty of other places. As debut albums go this is a solid collection of songs, the band have done themselves proud.

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Rissy - Sunset Raining.

Background words - It took barely 10 minutes to write the words and vocal melody, but two years of massaging and marshalling the various creative forces to turn ‘Sunset Raining’, a new electronic-pop tune by seasoned newcomer Rissy, into a reality.

“I arrived at the studio, listened to the track just once... and started writing madly,” says Rissy of her first acquaintance with the catchy creation from the genius duo L D R U and Yahtzel.

“I wrote the whole song within 10 minutes and we recorded it shortly after,” says Rissy. “It was a very natural, very easy process.” Sunset Raining is about crazy, blissful love. "Get high up on your platform baby" meaning, shine like you should.

Rissy’s strong, upbeat voice flows like honey over Carmada’s spiky electronic backdrop, thoughtful sound sculpting that works a treat. That was 2013. So why the delay in releasing the song? “There were a few entanglements that we needed to undo, and a couple of musical options that took time to explore. It had to be right for me.”

Rissy, slim and dark-haired, was determined not to compromise artistically. ”It wasn’t an easy time for an impatient soul. But I’m stoked with the result and that A&R Records is handling my first commercial label release.” The singer/songwriter from Sydney’s northern beaches crafts her electronic tunes of relentless optimism using a staple of compelling percussive sounds and engaging pop- driven melodies. “I usually start with hearing the chords and beats. That gives me the whole vibe of the song, which then writes the melody and lyrics.”

She has been collaborating with some of EDM's finest producers including Carmada (AUS), L D R U (AUS), Sam Roberts (AUS), Pretty Visitors (AUS) and Hotsauce (USA). “Sunset Raining” by Rissy will be released 30th of October 2015.

This is a really nice song. The gentle electro backing is just right and Rissy has a very distinctive and pleasing voice. It deserves to be heard.

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