The U.S. Americans - Leisure Club - Tusk - Cold Reading - Ritual Talk

The U.S. Americans - Fade Out.

Background - NYC-based progressive psychedelic punk-rock band, The U.S. Americans, announce the release of their debut album, Greatest Hits, due out October 27th 2017. Produced by Scott Von Ensign and executive produced by Daniel Deychak, Emerson Williams, Roy Abraham and Jeff Weiss, Greatest Hits, is a collection of the best of progressive, psychedelic punk from the sons of liberty, The U.S. Americans.

The group developed as a live act. Highlark Magazine caught a live show and reported, "the Americans had me from the word go as vocalist Jeff Weiss proudly hoisted a United States Championship belt overhead and outward toward the audience." The belt has become a major part of the live show and House of Glory, New York’s largest independent wrestling company, has used their music in their lively wrestling video compilations. Isaac Rodilla from HOG says, "The team here at HOG has dubbed U.S. Americans as the best band in the USA. We gave them the championship belt and it's not just for this year... it's 4 life."

Highlark Magazine went on to say, "In terms of performance, Weiss’ voice and flamboyant gestures were enchanting and, not to be outdone, the instrumentals were so well done that I took for granted how good they were... concert-goers who didn’t need any more incentive to love America." 

Producer Scott Von Ensign distilled the energy of their live show into an under-an-hour record. Sporting an array of songs as diverse as Queens and spanning timelines between 90 seconds and 9 minutes, Greatest Hits is a fun trip into the world of Cuban gangsters, cinema, promiscuous cutlery, board games, Kings County, and oral hygiene. Website here, Facebook here.

Described above as a "progressive psychedelic punk-rock band" the U.S. Americans have covered a lot of bases, however the new song 'Fade Out' suggests it's a reasonable description. The music video is a creative and intriguing montage of images, the song seemingly suppressing an overload of emotional power, & put together this is a superb piece.


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Leisure Club - Hold On.

Background - Leisure Club is a home for the conjuring of pop songs focused on groove, catchy guitar melodies, and vocal hooks. Although the Vancouver five piece was forged in 2016 by their mutual interest in living the most relaxed life possible, their live performances inspire a rhythm in the crowd akin to spring break. 

“Leisure Club compact a whirlwind summer of love, lust and heartache into 3.5 minutes” (PR Press) and “you can’t help but want to mix a pina colada for your friends wearing a one-piece by a pool” (Betty & Kora). This has led to them sharing the stage with the likes of Blossoms, Lawrence, Cub Sport, Louise Burns, and a performance at Ponderosa Festival.

Saddling up with producer Shawn Cole (You Say Party, Yukon Blonde, Bend Sinister) the group headed to The Noise Floor on Gabriola to record their debut self titled LP with Jordan Koop manning the board. Slated for release in the fall of 2017, Leisure Club looks forward to sharing it’s nostalgic charm and summer breeze across North America

Their latest single "Hold On," is off of their upcoming self-titled LP due for release November 17th. Website here, Facebook here. 

Bright and fresh 'Hold On' is a catchy indie song, where both vocals and music add to the upbeat vibes.

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Tusk - Matter Of Time.

Background - Nottingham's Tusk is a five-piece, twin guitar, alt-rock band hailing from the same university campus that gave us London Grammar, Childhood and Amber Run.

After uploading their song ‘Dull Ache’ onto Soundcloud mid-2016, they were invited to play the BBC Introducing stage at Reading & Leeds Festival 2016; Clash Magazine voted them a 'top 3 pick' in their Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition, and Dean Jackson from BBC Introducing (East Midlands) recorded and broadcast two live studio sessions on his weekend show.

Since this early interest, the band has built a solid local live fan-base and written and recorded a collection of new songs. One of these new songs, Matter Of Time, is their debut single.

Lyrically the song tackles isolation, paranoia and broken relationships. Specifically, it’s about the rise of animosity between friends as one begins a new relationship and the other quickly attempts to destroy it by spreading lies and half-truths. With friends like that, who needs enemies? The single was produced by Rob Milton and mixed by Monkey Gun, 'Matter Of Time' is available from 3 November 2017 on Strataville. Website here, Facebook here.

Alt rockers Tusk have come up with a fine song in the shape of 'Matter Of Time'. Musically it's a tight rock track with a subtle funk vibe that morphs into more sweeping sounds. The distinct vocals are the icing on the cake, giving the band some real edge.


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Cold Reading - Sojourner EP.

Background - After releasing their huge single ‘Books & Comfort’ in late July, which gained a lot of attention in Germany, UK and Switzerland, Cold Reading have just released their new EP ‘Sojourner’ via Krod Records. The record consists of four heartwarming, inspirational tracks situated somewhere between contemporary Indie Rock and 90’s influenced Emo.

The House & The Arrival: During the writing process, the band withdrew to a small cabin in the back-country of their hometown. With wintery temperatures outside and comforting warmth by the fireplace inside, the four songs that are now released on Sojourner came to life. The intention was to capture that cosy, pleasant and peaceful atmosphere the group experienced up there in the music as well. The cover design goes along with this nicely. The cabin symbolizes the consoling sensation and the warmth of having arrived.

Sojourner means arriving and finding refuge: Looking for a place in this world was already the central motive behind the lyrics on Cold Reading’s first album, where the main concern was the search. The new EP Sojourner picks up where Fractures & Fragments left off.

Singer Mike Portmann describes the lyrical content of the EP as follows: Inspired by changes that came along in my personal process, I wanted to emphasize a hopeful continuation of my progress. The lyrics capture moments on my journey and act as snapshots along the way. I learned to draw hope from different wells and to find solace within myself, as I’ve gotten better at putting up with setbacks and understanding failing as part of a development. To reconcile with myself is the vital element for me to accept myself.

Over the past couple of years the band toured all over Europe and the UK supporting bands like Such Gold, Little You Little Me, The Deadnotes and opening for the likes of Four Year Strong, The Hotelier, The Flatliners and The Get Up Kids. Facebook here.

The four song EP 'Sojourner' is made up of consistently good indie rock, each track carries it's own weight & Cold Reading mix up the moods and styles, with plenty of hooks along the way.

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Ritual Talk - Dancing Still.

Background - Brooklyn-based, psychedelic indie rock band, Ritual Talk, announce their debut EP, Rippled Glass, due out in October 2017. 

The EP was recorded in several places - 4 out of 5 of the drum tracks were produced in Philly, vibraphone and cello were recorded at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music with Jack Hallenbeck (Scott James, OSHUN) and nearly everything else was produced and recorded in the band's apartment in NYC. The EP was mixed by Chris Shaw (Modest Mouse, Wilco) and mastered by Chris Gehringer (Yeasayer, Chairlift). 

Primary songwriter, Alex DeSimine (vox, guitar, keys), began writing music in his adolescence as a means of sorting out a jumbled mind. The band came to fruition when DeSimine moved in with bassist, Alex Tremitere and drummer, Tom Criblez, and elicited the help of Dylan Gleit (guitar, vox), who previously performed with Criblez and Tremitere, and TJ Alcala (keys, vox). The band's distinct vocal layers, with all five members signing live, added a new level of excitement to their live set. Live dates are over on Beehive Candy's Tour News Page, Facebook here.

Melodic and powerful 'Dancing Still' does indeed have some psychedelic overtones, alongside a vibrant chorus line, plus some sensitive & more dreamy moments.

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Darto - Jennings Couch - Expanda Fuzz - Glances - The Dirty Youth - Jude Shuma

Darto - No Self.

Background - Aagoo Records has just released two packages of goodness simultaneously: The first is ‘Human Giving’, a full length album from Seattle-based four-piece Darto. The second is the 'Follow Up / Hush' 7” featuring Darto and Wand, who wrote and performed these tracks together. They have also released the new creepy video for 'No-Self'.

'Human Giving' was preceded by the single 'I Am', which The Big Takeover Magazine calls "a catchy sultry melancholic downtempo synth-infused psych-trip combining the best of Cate Le Bon, The Velvet Underground, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, and The Black Ryder".

The album's mood is immediately clear from the first note of 'GDLS', enveloping the space around the listener. By the time 'I Am' enters, the sound and feeling transitions from lush and inviting, to focused and intentional with the keyboards and strings propelling the movement. The lyrics and accompanying melodies float along seamlessly like being lulled into a dream. 

“Despite all of its catchy qualities, ‘Human Giving’ is a difficult album to pin down. The lyrical phrasing, and melodies have been stuck in my head for months,” says Alec Dartley of Aagoo Records. “It takes me to a place filled with light, despite the psych realms the band takes us”.

As the record progresses, splashes of Americana seem to emerge, painting subtle pictures of the American West, or a vast expanse that we would associate it with. It’s a momentary visit to those places as Darto keeps moving, exploring new worlds. The album closes in a cinematic soft way, where the constant is an emotional hook that dives into the human condition. This is an open story, suggestive but with room for the listener to fill in the blanks. Website here, Facebook here.

Twelve gloriously unique tracks make up the new 'Human Giving' album. 'No Self' provides some incite into this collection. The band have a structured sound that is let loose in different directions, moods and feelings. The constant is a hypnotically addictive and often very catchy vibe. If you are looking for some music that is adventurous, different and also unpretentious, this album is all of that and more.


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Jennings Couch - Serotonin.

Background - If artists are considered to be the summation of their influences, then the upbringing experienced by 22 year old Jennings Couch has served him up with a veritable feast from which to define his musical palette. Born in the urban wilderness of New York City, raised in the quiet tranquilly of rural England and made on the streets of West London, this is a man who embodies the virtues of his environments whilst imbuing his artistic output with reflections of all of his life experiences and observations to date.

A chance meeting with record producer Kevin Malpass set Couch on a path to which music would take on central importance in his life. In Couch’s forthcoming debut album, the pair have produced a startlingly powerful body of work which manages to balance the notion of embracing universally appealing lyrical themes with a musical path less trodden; a conscious rejection of the preordained formulas commonly used to write music. The pitch perfect harmonisations and anthemic arrangements that Jennings creates provides fans with rich and varied soundscapes that compares to the likes of The 1975, Coldplay and Alt J. His lyrical content deals with a range of philosophical, social and scientific ideas from studies of time to quantum physics, demonstrating a level of intellectualism and maturity way beyond his years.

“I couldn’t quite suppress the science geek in me!” Jennings mock defends himself, before countering “There is plenty of relationship stuff in there too, just done in my own special way....the song,  'My Dear Andromeda' for instance, is an example of me writing about something I’m passionate about whilst making sure it also comes across as a relatable love song.”

It is an adoption of British eccentricity that goes beyond the novel or the skin deep, resulting in an enthusiasm for amassing retro collectibles, from pocket watches and clothing, to furniture and rudimentary tech. This is a character formed in part by his environment, yet utterly bereft of the notion of conforming. With Couch himself the embodiment of the archetypal classic front man, bringing a genuine drive and charisma on stage, theirs is a show like no other. By early 2017, and having perfected their craft week in and week out at numerous haunts across the UK, Couch’s band were on their way to Austin, Texas to perform at SXSW. Initially only invited for one show, they managed to gain the attention of numerous promoters and demand was such that they were added to the line-ups at both the The Apple Music House and the BBC British Music Embassy at Latitude 30. It was a vote of confidence embraced with open arms.

Jennings Couch’s new single ‘Serotonin’ is a powerful alternative rock song inspired by the neurotransmitters within the human brain and their effect on behaviour. He has once again managed to take an idea so abstract such as neuropsychology and morph it into the relatable subject of two lovers. Through enchanting lyrics and trance- inducing melodies, Jennings Couch urges the listener to delve into the world of Freudian psychotherapy, just for a moment. The accompanying music video, taking the form of a Victorian therapy session, reinforces the entrancing nature of the music. Website here, Facebook here.

The vocals are striking from the very start, the melody and hooks are quickly present as well. I have some personal knowledge regarding 'Serotonin' and how it effects our behaviour and mood. The song is sensitive to something that can have a huge impact on an individuals life, & the video is for me amusing and just right for such an impressive song.
 

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Expanda Fuzz - The Last Of The Who Heads.

Background - Expanda Fuzz is a duo from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, conceived while attempting to rip apart a Pink Floyd song with a distorted bass and a fuzz-driven guitar through a ripped speaker cabinet...while playing to a Roland 404 sampler. 

The result of that experiment can be heard on the duo’s first record ‘Bleuets’, where they showcase their brand of catchy, drone-y, post-punk songs that hook heavily into a psych-garage sound. Think Kim Deal fronting the Velvet Underground, or Mary Timony jamming with Suicide. 

The band was formed in 2016, and during last year, they performed notable festivals like Ottawa Explosion and Edmonton's Up + Downtown Festival. They released their first EP 'Bleuets' in the late summer of 2016. 
That was followed, appropriately in September with the single 'Sonic Halo', an original track backed with Earth Wind and Fire's 'September'. Now in 2017 we have the latest release - The Last Of The Who Heads. Facebook here, Bandcamp here.

The title track from the new EP is 'The Last Of The Who Heads'. This is our second feature for Expanda Fuzz (the first was last December), and they have come up with a three track EP that builds considerably on previous works. Powerful, warm and intense rock, that cuts to the chase, the duo really are carving out a defined sound of their own.

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Glances - SEM.

Background - There’s more to a story. Glances is a recording project out of Chicago, Il. In 2012 Micah Waldron moved into an artist loft in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood where he met Ashley Thompson, cute. 

About a year later Ashhh spent some time on a farm in Hawaii where she met Christian Whiting (Chin). Through her persuasive nature she convinced Chin to move to Chicago where the three of them started playing music together. Eventually an album started to form. It was an accident.

‘I feel very close to you right now’ is a collection of songs that strive to portray the the hidden meaningfulness of impermanence by examining it through the context of a relationship. Before we weren’t close, now we are, soon we will not be. It’s meant to be listened to, preferably together. Website here, Facebook here.

'SEM' is the second of ten tracks on the new album. Glances seem to go with their imagination wherever it might take them. Creative and imaginative, the album has no particular genre that can label the music. The featured song gives some idea, expect a lot more, I would also agree with the bands view, that this is an album that is at it's best, when listened to as a whole.

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The Dirty Youth - Hurricane.

Background - The Dirty Youth are back with their explosive new single ‘Hurricane’, released on Friday 22nd September through Marshall Records. The band kicked off 2017 with the announcement that they were the first band to sign to Marshall Records. This was followed by the news that they would be heading to the legendary Abbey Road Studios to lay down new material.

'Hurricane’ is the first taste of what you can expect from a rejuvenated band with the world in their sights. Epic in every sense of the word, the track fuses the huge sound and instantly memorable choruses - the hallmarks of the TDY sound. Sweeping and yet punchy, emotive whilst taking no prisoners, ‘Hurricane’ is the sound of a band flexing their considerable sonic muscles and demanding your attention.

‘Hurricane’ was released 22nd September through Marshall Records and is accompanied by the B sides ‘San Frandisco’, ‘Hurricane (Acoustic)’ and a remix of “San Frandisco” by New Black Light Machine. Website here, Facebook here.

The choruses on 'Hurricane' explode into powerful, full on rock & it's the verses that are more understated & melodic. Epic? You bet it is!


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Jude Shuma - Reflection.

Background - Chicago-native singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Jude Shuma has cultivated an indie-meets-chillwave sound that indisputably harnesses its charisma from a stimulating psychedelic style.  To date, Shuma has released three critically-applauded EPs, 'Afternoonified,' 'Biggest Hits,' and 'Insomnium,' that have awarded the artist syncs in some of TV's most recognizable programs including HBO's Ballers,  CW's Riverdale, and ABC's Quantico.

Shuma's provision for fans after the two single releases of "Lemonade" and "Reflection," is a new full-length album Reflection.  Jude's fourth project provides a further appreciation for those familiar with Shuma's dexterous aesthetics, as the album consists of nine tracks that traverse Shuma's trademark sedative style from "Coasting," to "Dreaming," and finally ending with a "Champagne Cigarette." Throughout the record, Shuma's ethereal vocal style shines atop a mixture of strummed guitar melodies and additional organic instrumentation.

Fully encompassing the psychedelic nature of the music, Shuma has also released an official music video for album cut "Reflection," which sees Shuma create a fanciful world of the bizarre. Exploring the oddities of suburbia, Shuma fully envelopes the viewer into his world where abnormalities and social faux-pas reign free. Facebook here.

There is just a hint of The Beach Boys 'Surfs Up' era feeling to 'Reflection'. View that as a complement, this is no copycat affair. Gently psychedelic and dreamy, this is a wonderful, melodic and enticing song.


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Tusks - Joana Serrat - Sauropod - Brass Phantoms - Thee Conductor (Feat: Bonnie Prince Billy) - Lisa Anderson

Tusks - Last.

Background - With her debut album Dissolve released 13th October, Tusks (aka Emily Underhill) builds on her towering musical vision. Created alongside longtime co-producer Brett Cox, her rich visual imagination with its cinematic enormity and resplendent detail is the work of a young artist mastering the nuances of her craft, a journey which began in her early teens.

On new single ‘Last’, Tusks ups the ante; “it’s the feistiest track on the album. It was a bit of a f you to a person at the time who I'd invested loads of energy and time into who'd messed me around."

It’s a track that demonstrates the breath of emotion on the record, that within ‘Dissolve’s’ immersive cinematic artistry and beautiful soundscapes sentiments of a vigorous, vitriolic nature also burn bright.

From a young age, her voracious appetite for music has taken in artists as disparate as Bonobo, Explosions in the Sky, and Foals, and the result is a sound that resists pigeon-holing. It’s the assemblage of all her experiences as an artist and as a person that get distilled in her powerful, glacial sound, which has been praised across the spectrum by tastemakers including Wonderland, MixMag, The Line Of Best Fit, Annie Mac, MistaJam and Lauren Laverne and nabbed her a spring tour with the impressive Icelandic singer songwriter Asgeir. 

Debut album Dissolve is heady and ambitious, not so much the sum of its influences as an outward projection of its creator. It’s the purest distillation of Emily as a person, and it strikes a uniquely human chord through its melodies, which are at once comfortingly familiar and refreshing. Website here, Facebook here. 

'Last' mixes distant & dreamy vocals with a musical soundtrack where the more understated moments are delicately arranged & when the power kicks in the attention to details is still notable.

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Joana Serrat - Come Closer.

Background - ‘Come Closer’, Joana Serrat’s new song taken from her forthcoming album ‘Dripping Springs’, features members of Israel Nash/Midlake. For her fourth album in five years, Joana Serrat travelled from her home in Vic, Barcelona to the Texas Hill Country outside Austin. There she teamed up with Israel Nash at his Plum Creek Sound studio near the town of Dripping Springs. For the recording sessions Nash & Serrat corralled a stellar crew of musicians: Joey & Aaron McClellan, (Midlake, BNQT, John Grant, Israel Nash), Eric Swanson & Josh Fleischmann (Israel Nash), Dave Simonett and Dennis Love, as well as Nash himself providing additional guitar and backing vocals. Israel Nash produced the album, with Ted Young  Grammy award winner for The Rolling Stones) on engineering and mixing duties. 

It was no mean feat to gather all these creative talents and get them working together as a team, but as Israel Nash commented, “it was very easy to work with Joana because she knows where she wants to go and she leads us all there. Joana’s lyrics are brilliant. She uses images and colours to describe her songs and luckily that's the way we are used to working.” Joey McClellan adds, “her voice was our guide”. The resulting album - which Joana named after the local town - is unsurprisingly Joana Serrat’s most Americana album to date. Mojo described her last album Cross The Verge as “Mazzy Star guesting on an early Neil Young demo”, but with Dripping Springs she has produced a far more rounded and polished piece of work. Serrat explains, “it’s an album that deals with farewells but is filled with an optimistic melancholy that doesn’t isolate nor enclose the spirit and determination to realise our own dreams”. It was a bold move by the young Catalan to cross the Atlantic to work with a bunch of American musicians that she had admired from afar but had never met.

What she came away with is, however nothing short of magnificent and should see Serrat building on her existing achievements which have included a BBC 6Music Recommends Track Of The Week selected by Gideon Coe and Lauren Laverne, the latter commenting “she’s an amazing artist, an astonishing talent and I love her songwriting”. The lead single from Joana’s upcoming album has once again received plays from Gideon Coe, and also Another Country With Ricky Ross. Within the last year Joana has toured with The Jayhawks, The Handsome Family & Courtney Marie Andrews, and played the main stage at Primavera Sound Festival showcased at SXSW. Joana has just returned from performing in Nashville at AmericanaFest 2017. Facebook here.

Whilst Joana Serrat continues to provide music this good to feature, it will be featured. 'Come Closer' continues in a similar vein from the previous song we shared, with beautiful Americana vibes and a superb musical arrangement to match her beautiful vocals.

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Sauropod - Never On Time.

Background - Norwegian trio Sauropod, made up of – Jonas Røyeng (guitar, vocals), Kamillia Waal Larsen (bass, vocals) and Jørgen Natland Apeness (drums) just released their second single ‘Never On Time’ via Propeller Recordings. The latest signing to Propeller Recordings (Sløtface, Highasakite, Frøkedal etc) — new single ’Never On Time’ is an exhilarating burst of high-octane grunge-tinged punk rock. 

An ode to living in the moment, Sauropod’s endearing carefree approach shines particularly brightly on this latest single. "I’m never on time / being so precise is putting me down” - sings Jonas, atop of the track's erratic rhythm section, before conceding he’d..."rather stumble around like a clown / cause all I see, surrounding me, is people who try very hard to believe that freedom’s for free”.

Perfectly capturing the sweet–sour synergy of frontman Jonas and bassist/vocalist Kamilla, ‘Never On Time’ showcases exactly what sets the band apart from their peers; a natural gift for simultaneously delivering energetic, punk-leaning songwriting with irresistibly catchy hooks.

Quickly becoming a force to be reckoned on the live stage, the band’s recent live credits include Øya Festival (NO), Trondheim Calling (NO), Eurosonic (NL) and Visions Festival (DE) - and their next steps will see them supporting label mates Sløtface at their upcoming London headline show in October.

The band are currently preparing for an extensive touring schedule kick-starting in the new year, as well as writing for the release of their first album on Propeller Recordings. Website here, Facebook here.

Indie rock with punk energy makes 'Never On Time' a feisty and potent affair. Catchy and urgent, at just over two & a half minutes it's a blast of refreshing rock.

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Brass Phantoms - Indigo.

Background - Irish fourpiece Brass Phantoms have announced the follow-up to recent single City Of Wolves with new single Indigo released on 22nd September.

Indigo is a passionate track opening with a powerful and unique vocal that builds into a melodic indie-pop chorus backed by euphoric guitars. The video, produced by Alan McCarthy, shows a dancer performing a routine in a hall alongside a live performance by the band, which builds in intensity with the song. 13-year-old Alicia Premkumar stars as the dancer in the video. The band say;

“Indigo at times paints the picture of a war scene. We wanted to paint a bleaker image over music that has the appearance of joy or euphoria.”

“Alicia Premkumar was amazing. Her performance is extremely emotive and it gives another layer to the track. While the song is partially about a battle, her performance shows another conflict, a mental conflict to go with our physical.”

Having played headline shows in their home city along with performing at festivals such as Other Voices and Indiependence, Brass Phantoms will be embarking on their debut UK headline tour next month. Tour dates are on Beehive Candy's tour news page, Bandcamp here, Facebook here.

The vocals shine from the word go and it's not long before the band up the stakes even further on 'Indigo' a hook laden and passionate song.



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Thee Conductor - Face Crinkle (Featuring Bonnie Prince Billy).

Background - The video for "Face Crinkle," is the first single off the upcoming Thee Conductor album, Cotton Tornado, which is out on October 20 via Sixgunlover Records.

Jason Butler, the creative force behind Thee Conductor, has teamed up with an impressive selection of musicians for a structured and intentional, yet open and collaborative, art project resulting in a curated collection of songs titled Cotton Tornado. 

This first single, which features Bonnie "Prince" Billy on main vocals, is the perfect intro to the project and oozes with depth, sincerity, and warm delivery. Pre-order here, Facebook here.

The first of ten tracks on the forthcoming album is 'Face Crinkle' featuring Bonnie Prince Billy, whose natural vocals are so at home with this song. Putting a guest artist of this calibre on the first track, suggests that Thee Conductor are confident in the quality of the remaining material. Rightly they can be, this is a selection of very individual and unique songs, there is an overall feel to the album, however the music takes on many forms and does so with quality and beauty.


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Lisa Anderson - Your Silence Says It All.

Background - Lisa Anderson is a singer-songwriter from Calgary, Alberta who traveled and lived around the world before finding herself back home reeling from heartbreak. 

It was here, a place she once felt like an outsider, where she delighted to discover the freedom to be herself, the determination to plunge into her music, and the chance for real love.

A Hundred Lives reflects the struggles and the joys of embracing all life has to offer – the dark, the joyous, and the grey in between. 

The album journeys through the grief of her goodbyes, the ability to forgive a betrayal, the exhilaration of new romance, and the celebration of everyday absurdities. Her realistic optimism and quirky humour weave through her lyrics to form moments of kinship with her listeners.

Lisa Anderson will be supporting the release of A Hundred Lives with a Canadian tour in 2017-18. Release Date: Sept 26th, 2017. Website here, Facebook here.

'Your Silence Says It All' is one of eleven songs on the new 'A Hundred Lives' album. The featured track and music video gives a good idea of what to expect. Sometimes it's a little more sensitive, other times the lyrics are very personal, however add to that the musical quality and melodic vocals, and for me, we have a creative and very likable album.


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Sittin' Pretty - The Loft Club feat. Lisa Loeb - Michael Jablonka - Peter Matthew Bauer - Sarah Hiltz

Sittin' Pretty - Then You Break.

Background - The North West’s very own Sittin Pretty come confidently striding out on to the streets to deliver you their thumping slab of defiance ‘ Then You Break’, the new single to be released on Gas Music 24th November. 

This band capture a sound, an attitude, that can only be delivered by an authentic group of musicians embracing their youth and love of life in this modern age of rock, blending classic rock, blues and touches of psychedelia.

Front man Conor Wilde explains ‘When Lewis and I first started playing together it was in a bedroom smaller than the average boiler closet in Lewis’s Mother’s 2 up 2 down in Breightmet. I was a pretty angry kid who’d always used lyrics and songs to express myself, and Lewis played some pretty heavy riffs so it immediately worked very well, we didn’t give a fuck about where it was going. It was just for us and just for the absolute love of playing.’

The band is working now on their debut album due for release next year and have been earning a reputation with shows across the UK sharing stages with Primal Scream, Black Grape, Reverend and The Makers and Foals, plus a tour supporting Ian Hunter of Mott The Hoople fame.

Conor Wilde from the band explains how ‘Then You Break’ was born: ‘we started messing around with the riff and melodies for this single, ‘Then You Break’. Lyrically for me the song is about struggling to understand all the shit I see every day and the feelings that come along with it, and the bulk of this song is about being confused and trapped which ironically is what makes everything seem normal for a twenty something year old these days. It has taken us months to get this track off the ground but we had some good advice from Ian Hunter, who invited us out with him last year and he told me that ; “You should always strive to write about something that means a lot to you”.  So I did’, website here, Facebook here.

There is plenty of rock'n'roll swagger to 'Then You Break' a powerful no nonsense mixture of blues rock & potently pleasing vocals that add a level of psychedelic feeling to this wonderful rocker.


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The Loft Club - Flicker feat. Lisa Loeb.

Background - British indie band The Loft Club release their new single “Flicker”, featuring Grammy-nominated recording artist Lisa Loeb. “Flicker,” available now via Lightyear/Caroline/Universal Music, is a double A-side single, which comes bundled with an original version of the track.

A melodic and ardent ballad. "Flicker," showcases lead singer Daniel Schamroth and Lisa Loeb's vocal talents, perfectly blended in a seamless and fluid manner; heartfelt with soaring melodies, alongside harmonious arrangements of guitar, bass and drums. The Exeter-based, Sixties-tinged band, consisting of Daniel Schamroth, Jamie Whyte, Kieran Chalmers, Amy O’Loughlin and Dan Wright, drafted in US singer-songwriter Lisa Loeb to collaborate on the official single edit of "Flicker", a brand new version of the track that was originally released on the band’s debut EP 'Heart's Desire', last fall.

Lisa Loeb started her career with the platinum-selling hit single “Stay (I Missed You)”, it spent 3 weeks at Number 1 on the US Billboard charts in 1994. The song was also a Top-10 hit in the UK, where it spent 15 weeks in the UK Singles chart. Loeb is the first and only artist in history, to top the American charts before signing to a label. Ironically, “Flicker” is released (August 25), exactly 23 years to the day, that “Stay (I Missed You)” was spending it's 3rd week at Number 1.

The Loft Club are playing festivals throughout the summer, such as Beautiful Days and Smoked & Uncut. The band have achieved over 250,000 streams since their debut release last fall. They have been featured on Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlist since February, amassing over 70,000 monthly listeners in March, drawing listeners from all over the world, including countries like Lithuania where they charted on Spotify’s Viral-50 chart. “Flicker”, produced by Jolyon Holroyd, was mixed and mastered at Magic Garden Studios by Gavin Monaghan, whose credits include Editors, Ryan Adams, Kings of Leon, and Paolo Nutini. “Flicker” by The Loft Club featuring Lisa Loeb, is available now at all digital retailers. Facebook here.

'Flicker' is a bright indie rock song where the interchange of vocals are fabulous and the band provide a rich tapestry of sounds that gives this superb song some real edge.


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Michael Jablonka - Peacefully.

Background - Michael Jablonka is a musician so prolific that you may think he devotes every waking hour to his art and, if the fantastical nature of many of his songs are anything to go by, several hours of his dreams as well. In addition to performing as Michael Kiwanuka’s chosen guitarist – a role that has found him touring arenas and festivals worldwide this summer – Jablonka has been fine-tuning his own powerful 21st-century take on bluesy alt-funk and soulful indie-rock. Proof that there’s still nothing to tingle the spine like soul-soused mastery of raw electric six-string, Jablonka’s gifted, intricate guitar skills bely the no-frills anthemic intent of his rootsy songcraft – sonic elevation designed to liberate the listener from the confines of their reality.

Born and bred in the capital, 27-year-old Jablonka has been gigging since the tender age of 14 as an in-demand guitarist for hire. Those to have enjoyed his dextrous services include Charlie Brown, Stooshe, Shakka and Delta Maid before fellow North Londoner and Brit-soul sensation Michael Kiwanuka came calling. Around the same time, Jablonka decided it was time to blaze his own trail as a bandleader and songwriter, collating a set of crack musicians and intense yet universal alt-rock’n’soul tunes that scream for wider appreciation. ‘Peacefully’ is the first of a dynamite double-A to be released by Lost In The Manor Records and is sure to bring on the kind of praise and popularity now enjoyed by Michael’s namesake and regular bandmate.  

True to its rousing sense of urgency, ‘Peacefully’ erupts with a crunching overdriven riff coming on like Jack White here, Matt Bellamy there and the ghost of Hendrix himself throughout. Michael Jablonka melds his enthralling guitar runs to a whip-crack rhythm and deep layers of double-tracked melody, while projecting his magisterial vocal across a stone-walled anthem of a chorus. Three minutes later, this steamy electric-soul belter is spent, leaving the listener to wonder just exactly what hit them as they reach for the repeat button.

“‘Peacefully’ is about separating yourself from a rough situation,” says Jablonka of the track produced by Ben ‘BJ’ Jackson at NXNE Studios in London. “Everyone is constantly in need of escapism.” Lucky then, that you’d be hard pressed to find a more immediate means of escape than this incendiary single. Facebook here.

The vocals and guitar lead music compete with each other for attention on 'Peacefully'. Both are powerful, high quality & passionately delivered, in what could be, a masterclass for modern day classic rock that's relevant.

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Peter Matthew Bauer - Khidr.

Background - The new LP from Peter Matthew Bauer has been confirmed. It is entitled 'Mount Qaf (Divine Love)' and it will be out 11/10 on Fortune Tellers/Kobalt Music. Along with the announcement the site also shared the first single "Khidr (American Drifter Music)". 'Mount Qaf (Divine Love)' is the follow-up to Peter's 2014 release 'Liberation!'.

Peter Matthew Bauer is an American singer and recording artist born in 1978 in Washington DC.  He has had a strange, storied and original career. A founder of seminal New York art rock band the Walkmen, he released 6 full length albums with the band before his first solo LP Liberation! in 2014. Concurrently, Peter moved to Los Angeles and founded two organizations: the artist management/production label Fortune Tellers Music and the Laurel Canyon Center For Consciousness Studies, focusing on his esoteric work as a writer and astrologer and drawing influence from different schools of eastern philosophy along with the work of Carl Jung, Alejandro Jodorowsky and the western phenomenologist and Islamic scholar Henry Corbin.

Mount Qaf (Divine Love) an album of esoteric love songs. It is a singular cycle of music and a strangely primitive and direct rock & roll performance that goes beyond genre into something more contemporary and strange. Working with co-producer Nick Stumpf,  Peter Matthew Bauer envisioned Mount Qaf as made up of 10 love songs, each filled with a desperate, skeptical and highly personal form of mysticism. Driven both by his own synchronistic outlook on life, as well as the discovery of a worn out copy of a Henry Corbin book on the Sufi master Ib’n Arabi, the songs arise from a central idea of human love and poetic insight seen as a literal shift from concrete objective reality into a further dimension, a transitory realm of light and imagination that supersedes all forms of fundamentalism and rationality. It is less the sound of a musical craftsman and more the sound of an artist trying to make sense of the world as it rises and falls all around him.​ On November 10, 2017, Peter Matthew Bauer will release Mount Qaf (Divine Love) and tour alongside it in America & Europe. He resides in Los Angeles. Website here, Facebook here.

'Khidr' opens with Matthew Bauer's vocals centre stage. They are gradually accompanied by a sweeping musical arrangement and the song continues to epic-ally build & after a short refrain the whole song majestically develops again.


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Sarah Hiltz - Without You.

Background - Beauty in the Blue is a compilation of songs and stories culled from Sarah’s multiple journeys across Canada as a travelling musician on cross-country Via Rail passenger train, “The Canadian”.

Hot off a UK tour supporting Canadian darlings Running Red Lights, Beauty in the Blue is Sarah’s first studio project featuring long-term stage collaborators, drummer Jordan Michaelis and multi-instrumentalist David Puzak. The album is out November 7th.

Sarah's thoughts on first single: Without You is a song that talks about the effects of depression on a relationship or partnership. It’s my idea that, for better or worse, when one person in a relationship is suffering, it can bring them both down, whether they want it to or not; and that when you commit to living life side by side, it means living through all the peaks and valleys you both go through- together. Website here, Facebook here.

Gently melodic vocals that oozes sensitivity ensures 'Without You' opens in a refined manner. The music slowly develops into a top quality arrangement, and Sarah Hiltz demonstrates she also has power within her voice when required. Fabulous!

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