Mamas Gun - Paul Cherry - A. Wesley Chung

Mamas Gun - You Make My Life A Better Place.

Background - Mamas Gun are now sharing the video for new single, ‘You Make My Life A Better Place’, the new clip follows the recently announced UK tour. The dates arrive as part of a wider world tour in support of the band’s forthcoming album, Golden Days which is due for release on May 18, 2018 via Candelion.

‘You Make My Life A Better Place’ follows in the footsteps of the Lauren Laverne-supported ‘London Girls’ and the Earmilk and Indie Shuffle-approved ‘Strangers On A Street’. The new album, Golden Days itself chronicles the band's decade-long journey to date with Platts and the rest of the band taking production duties into their own hands, recording the tracks live using analogue equipment. Notable contributions are littered throughout the album with the likes of Shawn Lee (Jeff Buckley, Kelis, St Etienne) assisting on the album’s mix, and songwriters Connor Reeves (Tina Turner, Joss Stone) and Christopher Braide (Sia, Lana Del Rey) lending hands.

Alongside the likes of Charles Bradley, Curtis Harding and the Dap Kings, Mamas Gun have helped fuel the vanguard of 21st century soul, as well as spawning Top 10 hits on four continents. In addition to securing support slots with the likes of Beverley Knight and Raphael Saadiq, Mamas Gun have performed at global and domestic music festivals including WOMAD, Secret Garden Party, Wilderness and Greenroom with their forthcoming UK tour arriving after an intimate sell out return in London. TWITTER, WEBSITE.

UK Tour
June 21 | The Jam House, Birmingham
June 22 | Deaf Institute, Manchester
June 28 | Rialto Theatre, Birmingham
June 29 | Omeara, London.

Bright and oh so fresh 'You Make My Life A Better Place' has some incredible classic soul influences all wrapped up in a modern and truly refined manner. Melodic and catchy the accompanying video also has style and adds even more colour to what is one high quality song.


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Paul Cherry - Like Yesterday.

Background - Paul Cherewick, aka Paul Cherry, came up during Chicago’s garage rock golden age of 2014. Despite being heavily involved in the DIY scene with up-and-coming bands such as Twin Peaks and The Lemons, Paul has abandoned the all-too-familiar lo-fi rock sound of his first EP “On Top”. He has spent the past two years returning to his jazz roots, completely reinventing himself on his upcoming LP, Flavour.

The first single, "Like Yesterday" sets the tone for the record as a brilliantly written, mid-tempo pop ballad. It would fit nicely as a modern addition to Paul McCartney's “Ram” or Todd Rundgren's "Something/Anything," or even Player’s “Baby Come Back.” 

Paul Cherry crafts melodies on Flavour that sit at the intersection of 1970s yacht rock and Ariel Pink’s lo-fi dream pop. Lyrically, Cherry touches on millennial culture with references to love in the modern age, phone culture, and giving a new, light-hearted twist to age old old themes of love lost, missed connections and polar political climates. TWITTER, BANDCAMP.

Whether it's Yacht Rock or Indie Pop the ten tracks that make up 'Flavour' are all pretty impressive. The featured song 'Like Yesterday' is indicative of the quality and unique nature of Paul Cherry's music, where ideas are there in abundance.

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A. Wesley Chung - Restless.

Background - Californian-born, Glasgow-based Americana musician A. Wesley Chung (The Great Albatross) has just shared the lead track from his debut - 'Restless' - a life-affirming and cinematic dose that tells  of Chung's own conflicting emotions around growing up and leaving California.

The wonderful singer-songwriter will release his debut album as a solo artist on 18th May via Glasgow’s own LP Records. Neon Coast is an homage to the US West Coast, where Chung grew up, and the three most pronounced sentiments that he associates with it – freedom, lonesomeness and restlessness.

The songwriter, known for his previous collaborations with Evan Weiss (Into It. Over It / Their There They’re) and Kate Grube (Kittyhawk), was reared on the ‘golden oldies’ – Chuck Berry, The Beach Boys, The Beatles. “I've tried to explore the three themes of ‘freedom’, ‘lonesomeness’ and ‘restlessness’ through the sounds of Country, Motown and Folk/Americana that I grew up listening to in California” says Chung. He expands: “In our deep search for meaning/self we become obsessed with self-actualization, and our fear of death pushes us further into our desire for recognition which only leads us deeper into self – this is ‘restlessness’.

Reflecting on the influence his Californian youth has had on Neon Coast, Chung comments: “Thematically, it’s a meditation on my home state, while sonically it’s a straight up road trip album, like a mixtape from a friend. From the start I wanted to make this perfectly-imperfect album that focused more on getting the vibe right than the parts or performance (a main reason we recorded most of it live).

Chung emigrated to the UK in his adult life to a wholly different and, in many ways, surprising culture, making Glasgow his new home. The Scottish city would be the facilitator to Chung’s band of revolving members and collaborators, The Great Albatross, who’s split 7” with Into It. Over It. was released on Struggletown Records, with the B-side mixed and co-produced by Glasgow producer Gordon Skene (formerly of Frightened Rabbit, Smash Williams, Moth and the Mirror). Skene would also go on to produce the band’s full length. FACEBOOK.

Hand claps and vocals introduce 'Restless' however this is no minimalist piece. As the musical arrangement develops we are treated to a melodic and cleverly layered assortment of instrumental sounds. The vocals are smooth and engaging, if the rest of the album is of this standard,  we have a lot to look forward to.


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Benjamin Dean Wilson - Forest Ray - Ellie Schmidly

Benjamin Dean Wilson - The Smartest Person in the Room.

Background - Benjamin Dean Wilson is a one man show - his new album, "The Smartest Person in the Room" was written, produced, and performed entirely by him and recorded in analog using a Tascam 1/2 inch tape deck.

Featuring a unique storytelling structure, each track is like a short film with its own ensemble of characters and blends elements of traditional "talkin' blues" style together with musical theater.

Benjamin Dean Wilson started his creative career in the film industry before turning to music, working as a camera assistant on commercials. He then made short 16mm films and play before deciding to tell his stories through music instead. He released his first album, "Small Talk" through German label Tapete Records, followed by a European tour. 

Benjamin Dean Wilson: guitars, piano, keyboards, bass, drums, harmonica, violin, banjo, mandolin, ukulele, organ, percussion, bells, etc. Maria Grigoryeva: fiddle on "The Smartest Person in the Room". FACEBOOK, BANDCAMP.

The title track from the new album 'The Smartest Person in the Room' is a very good indicator of the sheer quality and imagination that has gone into this impressive collection of songs. More or less a one man band, the musical arrangements are nonetheless tight and pleasing and the vocals add some real distinction to the music. Catchy, likable and individual this is an album to delve into.

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Forest Ray - Laughing.

Background - Forest Ray experiments in the analog and psychedelic. Their progressively vintage sound will have you spiralling back to the 1960s and beyond in a whirlwind of fuzz wound like a Roland Space Echo. Garage punk and psych with tinges of post-punk and drone rock recorded on an 8 track reel to reel. Started in San Luis Obispo, CA by Peter Sumic and Robby Porovich and currently based in Seattle. Their first record, Musical Witchcraft, was released October 28th, 2016 on 180g vinyl.

AKA Forrest Rey, Forest Ray is a Psychedelic Rock experiment that was born out of a DIY studio in San Luis Obispo, CA. The Studio, which was originally a slum lord junk dungeon attached to an apartment building, was transformed into a menagerie of vintage recording artifacts filled with tape machines, oddball microphones and prehistoric delay boxes.

Dedicated to the analog recording process and use of reel to reels for all steps of mixing and mastering for a darker, older and more intimate sound, more time was spent rewinding and marking tape for recording projects than was spent eating or sleeping. Originally released on Demo Cassettes hand-drawn by a good friend and collaborator in the Seattle Area, Forest Ray will release its first Vinyl LP mixed and recorded fully analog by Peter Sumic (Guitar, Bass, Vocals) and Robby Porovich (Guitar, Vocals) and mastered to Vinyl by Pete Lyman at Infrasonic Sound Studios in Los Angeles, California.

Forest Ray's recording have never touched a computer or any digital effect or amplifier during the recording , mixing or mastering process. The recordings are 100% analog until the vinyl and digital masters are made seperately and transferred from tape. The music combines guitar driven psychedelic rock with tinges of raw synth-laced UK post-punk, Tropicalia and Latin psych flute influence, expressive uninhibited saxophones with stoney jazz influences with energetic drumming that embodies the youthful garage punk aesthetic that fueled the group’s creation. FACEBOOK, BANDCAMP.

Casually coming into play the music on 'Laughing' is beautifully arranged and has so much clarity. The vocals add a little psychedelic feeling to the song, whilst the music on this occasion holds centre stage as it digs in deep.

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Ellie Schmidly - One More Wave.

Background - Ellie Schmidly has released "One More Wave," the second single from her upcoming debut EP, Blossom & Bone. Composer Jordan Critz arranged strings for "One More Wave," with Todd Gummerman (of MuteMath) producing this song along with the rest of Blossom & Bone. "One More Wave" is available today at all digital outlets, with Blossom & Bone following on May 11.

"'One More Wave' is about the bittersweetness of beautiful moments in life," recalls Schmidly. "I sometimes find myself celebrating joyful times only to be interrupted by the fact that the moment will pass. It seems grim, but I think it gives us freedom to find gratitude for something in every season of life."

Ellie’s journey to this point is a serendipitous story. Starting to write and record this EP was daunting process because she felt so far behind everyone else. She hadn't set out to become a songwriter. She wasn't attending a music program in Nashville, and wasn't considering music as her career path. Instead, her music was discovered by famed producer Charlie Peacock (The Civil Wars, The Lone Bellow) after one of her performances was posted to Twitter.

Peacock was so taken with her Springfield, MO house show performance that he reached out to her the very next day to introduce himself. Peacock invited Ellie to Nashville to partake in songwriting sessions and introduced her to those in the community that could help cultivate her music. She says Charlie’s encouragement was life-changing. It turned out to be literally life-changing because she left her home, friends, family, and school in Missouri where she was studying public policy, to make the move to Nashville. After years of learning, working, and continually writing, Ellie has arrived at this seminal point when she'll unveil her debut, Blossom & Bone. TWITTER.

Just a month ago we stated "Ellie Schmidly's vocals are personable and charming" when we shared her first single. The follow up 'One More Wave' is another beautiful song, once again the vocals are enticing and melodic, the music is in fine harmony, this really is something special.

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Hover Bored - Esmé - You Want Fox

Hover Bored - Safe Side.

Background - Formed in Wakefield, but now based in Manchester, Hover Bored are an up-and-coming grunge-pop quartet set to release their new single, the fiery, exhilarating Safe Side on March 30th.

Searing riffs, rolling bass, crashing drums and bratty vocals coalesce into a fiercely infectious track. Only just breaking the two-minute barrier, it calls to mind the likes of Dinosaur Pile-Up, Honey Lung and King Nun. Hover Bored’s sound is a fuzzy concoction of modern grunge and scuzzed out power-pop.

“With our music constantly adapting, 'Safe Side' captures the progression we have made over the past year” the guys explain,“It began as a throwaway idea until we made it the ending of another song. We fell in love with the energy that this small interlude brought to rehearsals and shows; so we decided to make it a full track.”

Gigging extensively across the key cities in the musical hot-bed that is the North West of England, Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds, it’s no surprise the four-piece bring to their recordings an urgency usually reserved for blisteringly loud live sets in grimy, sticky venues.

Safe Side was recorded with Sugar House, who have produced records by Pale Waves, Vynce and Larkins, at Catalyst studios in Manchester, was self-released last Friday. TWITTER.

From the opening moments 'Safe Side' signals that this song is going to be a thunderous affair. Guitars soar above, the rhythm is intense, the vocals passionately determined, in all this is a feisty blast of  grunge rock, and some...

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Esmé - I Wonder.

Background - Sydney based Songstress Esmé lures her listeners in with a spellbinding tonal quality and a rhythmically entrancing sound. Imagine a soundscape of stripped back beats, electro-acoustic guitar melodies and a soul imbued voice.

Esmé's unique approach to music and song writing can be attributed to her upbringing. She is one of eight children and was home schooled until grade 8, mastering the art of independent learning at a young age, self taught in both voice and piano. She left school and home at the age of 16 and began performing in small cafes and bars in Northern Queensland, before moving to Sydney to pursue music full time. Her long awaited debut single Come with Me was self released in December 2017, sparking the attention of Triple J and surprising the Sydney music scene with her understated sound. Esmé will release her second single I Wonder on the 30th of March 2018.

“My sister Olivia and I have always been extremely close. In 2014, our father passed away in our arms after a very long struggle post car accident. It was just the two of us with him at the time. I feel like this experience especially has always lead us to explore ontological ideas, me through music and her through poetry, she’s a writer. She texted me the words to ‘I wonder’ randomly one day. Her lyrics seemed to latch onto my melody, and my chords seemed to occupy the space in between the words perfectly.“ - Esmé

I Wonder song explores the invisible reality of human beings that can’t be physically seen like our bodies, yet we often understand to be the most alluring aspects of ourselves. I wonder explores the question with lulling electric guitar patterns and subtle synths, to what extent are we transcendent? Esmé music is reflective of the person she is; quiet and understated at first but full of intricacy and emotion the further you listen. Esmé lures listeners in with a spellbinding tonal quality and a rhythmically entrancing sound. She draws inspiration from jazz, soul, art and poetry to create a hushed hybrid of jazz infused electro soul. WEBSITE.

'I Wonder' opens with an understated musical arrangement that allows the vocals to beautifully engage with the listener. The soundtrack develops in an intricate manner, always making room for some soulful jazz infused vocals, that come together with refined style.

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You Want Fox - Liar Liar.

Background - Nottingham duo, Natalie and Colette of You Want Fox are proud to announce that their second album Reverse The Curse will be self-released with the help of Inflight Music Distribution on 27th April 2018.

After the success of their debut album ‘You Can’t Sit With Us’ in 2016, the girls have played a number of prestigious festivals including Dot to Dot and Macmillenfest as well as landing a tour in Los Angeles.

Melodically they are channelling Queens Of The Stone Age and Sleigh Bells, they capture you and pull you in with their massive pop hooks, making tunes that stick in your head for days. 

Equal parts lipstick pouts and knife fights, they emit an effortless fusion of girly pop sensibilities with biting distortion and primal rhythms. TWITTER.

'Liar Liar' is one of eleven tracks on 'Reverse The Curse' a potent rocker of an album. The vocals add some pop sensibilities to the music, whilst musically the rock & roll is uncompromising as it barnstorms from song to song. There are shades of Blondie's debut album on occasion, but with more power, whatever the comparisons this is one vigorous rocker.

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Frog Eyes - The Rare Occasions - Lavender Child - Moonshine Booze

Frog Eyes - Idea Man.

Background - Frog Eyes are set to release their final album Violet Psalms May 18th on Paper Bag Records. Frog Eyes have announced a North American tour in support of the album. Frog Eyes have made their last album. 17 years after their teetering debut, the Vancouver band unveils Violet Psalms—a giddy lament; a gnashing jubilee; a rain-drenched allocution on hope vs. horror, paradise vs. pride, Marx and Brexit and bad acid trips.

It's an ending like a beginning. "We were trying to pretend it was our first record," Carey Mercer says. This is their final record, Frog Eyes' last gasp—but the art-rockers wanted to capture the energy of a debut, the freedom you feel "when there's no expectation that anyone will actually listen." They made it at home, burrowing under the house where Mercer lives with drummer Melanie Campbell. The goal was to blot out the world, focusing on what they could grow down there, four musicians in a basement. Could they squeeze out ten songs? Was there enough paste in the tube to squeeze out 10? "In the end there was. Which is rad."

No guests, no engineers. A self-invention. Violet Psalms began with its frantic, reverb-drenched guitar, squiggling over a modulation pedal. Next Mercer and Campbell concocted the drum parts—imagining them as onomatopoeia then recording them in fragments, kickdrum by kickdrum, tom by tom, with tailored effects. "The goal was to disorientate," Mercer explains, but also to work by instinct, gut—a cut-up of music and image, songs that coil back and kiss. The band pruned as they went, adding Terri Upton's bass parts, taking other parts away. Whereas past LPs used piano, Shyla Seller worked with shimmering synths—chords like bleeding water colour, shadows casting on a wall. TWITTER. 

Tour Dates:
May 11th, Kamloops, venue TBA*
May 12th, Kelowna, Milkcrate Records*
May 18th, Toronto, Handlebar*
May 19th, Montreal, The Ritz*
May 20th, Ottawa, The Warehouse*
May 21st, Hamilton, Mill's Hardware*
May 25th, Victoria, Copper Owl*
May 26th, Vancouver, China Cloud*
June 29th, Bellingham, Shakedown Tavern*
June 30th, Portland, The Bunk Bar*
July 1st, Seattle, Sunset Tavern*
July 3rd:  LA, The Moroccan Lounge*$
July 5th: SF, Bottom of the Hill*$
July 7th: NYC, Elsewhere: Zone One*#
July 8th: Philadelphia, Johnny Brenda's*
July 9th, Washington DC, DC9 club*
* = With Hello Blue Roses
$ = With Skygreen Leopards
# = With Zachary Cale

The vocals on 'Idea Man' are different in a wonderful way, the music is fresh and vibrant and the art rock direction is refined. In summary, this is one of those songs that impacts hard, it's fabulous.

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The Rare Occasions - Mercy Mercy.

Background - The Rare Occasions have been steadily releasing new music since 2013, but have yet to release full-length album - that news changes now with the announcement of their proper debut Into The Shallows, which comes out May 25th (the renowned Spanish artist David Navas gave them permission to use one of his pieces as the cover art too).

The Rare Occasions originally formed in Providence before migrating west to LA. The band draws inspiration from each successive wave of garage rock, while always putting their own dark spin on it. 

Their sound melds angular guitar riffs with indie pop melodies, evidenced by their previous songs like the blistering psych-anthem “Dysphoric” (from Feelers) to the dreamlike track “Bug Eyes” (from Futureproof). This variability and depth of styles, layered with lyrical themes of existentialism and self-reflection, are what both define them and set them apart.

Primarily recorded in their cramped LA rehearsal space, The Rare Occasions’ debut bring their northeast sensibilities with them to California… the record delves deeper into the musical and lyrical concepts which have come to define the band’s aesthetic. WEBSITE.

Expansive indie rock comes to us in the form of  'Mercy Mercy' packing some slick guitar sounds and vocals that plead for your attention. The band are tight and rhythmic as they slide out some fine hooks with apparent ease.

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Lavender Child - Plutomania.

Background from Lavender Child - I released my debut EP “Reflections” independently this past fall. Yet, I was eager to dig deeper into my artistic vision. I created a collection of videos that premiered in January to a private audience of over 120 people at Ildsjel Collective in Toronto’s east end. Two videos (“Happy Illusions”, “Beautiful Landscapes”) have since been released publicly, with two more to be released in Spring 2018.

Plutomania is the story of a person who has always valued wealth and material possessions over personal relationships. As the person nears the end of their life they reflect on their past and come to the realization of deep loneliness and sorrow. There is an enormous range of dynamics and emotion throughout the song as the narrative moves through the process of realization, denial and acceptance.

The music video features the plutomaniac erotically and ravenously consuming “the fruits of their labors” and in the closing scene these indulgences come to an abrupt end. The production for Plutomania was proudly run by an all female crew, both behind and in front of the lens. With performance by Michaela Woeller, special thanks to Emma Aurelia/ Jessie Gaumond and front-woman Stephanie Traplin directing/filming/editing/ and providing the fashion from her shop Take Time Vintage. TWITTER, BANDCAMP.

With 'Plutomania' we have an intriguing subject, a creative and thought provoking video, however for me, most of all we have a gorgeous song. I thoroughly recommend checking out the full EP, where the vocals are mesmerising, the musical arrangements beautifully crafted and as debut releases go, this one is very special.


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Moonshine Booze - Happy.

Background - Moonshine Booze present 'Happy' as the second single off their debut album 'Desert Road', released via Seahorse Recordings. Along with that they reveal a new surreal video shot against the backdrop of vivid Kafkaesque scenery. Written by Emiliano Zapata and realized with the masterful supervision of videographer Jessica Montebello, who shot and edited the clip, in addition to her tremendous artistic contribution involving certain peculiar characters.

This story juxtaposes the immense landscape of the scorching desert with a smoky and dark journey that projects through an illusory door. Darkness and light, solitude and freedom side-by-side and yet opposite, and the fragile equilibrium of the characters, such as the emblematic clown, obsessed by chronic mood swings. These are allegories of the most arduous and torturing journey the mind can conceive - a journey towards happiness and the demolition of 'social rules' that inevitably tide the mind within stringent tormentuous borders.

Combining grit blues rock with alternative country, Moonshine Booze's music has been described as psychedelic country blues-tinged rock, as well as brazen desert alcoholic acoustic rock. The album's release was preceded by their first single 'The Place', along with a fiery retro-freakish yet humorous video.

Moonshine Booze formed in the summer of 2014 in Teramo, Italy. This trio is comprised of Andrea Manila (vocals), Emiliano Zapata (guitar) and Fabio Manchos (drums). The video for 'The Place' was a collaborative effort between Emiliano Zapata and Josh Heisenberg, with Zapata writing the scenario, Josh handling the filming and editing, and both on direction. Having been active on the music scene for over twenty years in various bands, both in Italy and The USA, the trio has gathered and relaborated experiences from different musical genres, putting them to good use in their new project. BANDCAMP.

Back in February we featured 'The Place' by Moonshine Booze and the second single 'Happy' is a welcome follow up. We considered the album back then and remarked "This is a band that are hard to put into just one genre as is made clear with the above promo piece. That they are highly original, creative, and perhaps just a little crazy should be taken as read, you can add fun and emotive, such is the variety packed into the collection." As 'Happy' demonstrates I feel those comments were valid and if I might be so bold, are now endorsed even further...


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