Forest Bees (aka San Francisco solo artist Sheetal Singh) has just released 'Alone Together' after some time away from the music scene, this is a fresh, creative and genre spanning track. === Tenci has a new single entitled 'Forgot My Horse's Name', it's a mixture of modern folk with some Americana feeling to it and a refined musical backdrop. === Bear shares 'Matched & Gasoline' which is a gently paced country song, that gradually adds musical layers behind her really fine vocals. === Today NYC rockers High Wasted have released their new album 'Sick Of Saying Sorry' and it's playing in full below, the bands often feisty indie rock is matched with some clever pop sensibilities, making for a vibrant sound throughout. === Julia Logan has shared her debut single 'To Be True' which is a refreshing and beautiful song, with a strong melodic hook running through it.
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Forest Bees - Alone Together.
At a glance, the genesis of Forest Bees (aka San Francisco solo artist Sheetal Singh) reads like standard music biz fare: a critically-acclaimed indie band has a brush with the big time, fizzles in the face of industry frustrations, and a former member goes it alone.
Only Forest Bees is going it alone fifteen years later, as a mother of two and, as she puts it, “a brown woman in what is still a very white indie rock world”. And Forest Bees explores themes rare in such dream pop, from postpartum depression and loneliness within marriage, to cultural expectations and humanity’s intersection with artificial intelligence.
In the early aughts Singh played bass for San Francisco shoegazers The Stratford 4 which, after two acclaimed indie albums, was signed to Elektra Records by Cars legend Ric Ocasek. Ocasek produced their third record, but it got lost in the post-Napster music industry meltdown and the band split. The Stratford 4 reunited in 2015 to rave reviews but also, for Singh, a realization.
“I was bored. It wasn’t what I wanted to do. In fact, it never really was,” she recalls. “I never felt like I was able to express myself in the Stratford 4, which was a white, male-fronted, guitar-heavy shoegaze band. I did love the music and my bandmates … [But] I knew I needed to do it on my own terms.”
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Tenci - Forgot My Horse's Name.
"Forgot My Horse’s Name” follows a string of previously-released singles and videos, including “Joy,” “Earthquake,” and “Serpent.” Throughout, Shoman’s voice is soft and enchanting, her distinct vibrato lulling over waltzing guitar. The accompanying video, directed and filmed by coool (John TerEick and Jake Nokovic ) over a weekend in Minnesota, reflects the song’s beautiful simplicity. It features Shoman riding a horse, illuminated by a golden sunset.
“‘Forgot My Horse’s Name’ is quite literally about a time I went horseback riding and afterwards forgot my horse’s name,” says Shoman. “The horse and I weren’t really getting along. She wasn’t listening to me and kept running me into trees because she didn’t want to get mud on her feet. By the end of it I was all scratched up and her name was erased from my mind.
Since then the song has taken on a deeper meaning about relationships. You can put so much time into nurturing and creating something meaningful, but sometimes by the end you are left with something that’s bruised and nameless.”
Tenci began as the bedroom-folk project of Jess Shoman in December 2018. The band name comes from Shoman’s grandmother's name Hortencia, who she feels is her kindred spirit. Her memories of hearing her sing while cooking or cleaning influenced some of the same qualities in her own voice. Shoman’s music is vividly introspective, blooming with her sweet and shaky vibrato.
These days Shoman collaborates with a lineup of Chicago musicians she met playing some of her earliest shows— Curt Oren (saxophone, flute, and guitar), Izzy True’s Isabel Reidy (bass) and Joseph Farago of Joey Nebulous (drums).
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Bear - Matched & Gasoline.
Bear’s sassy and fresh take on songwriting is exactly what country music needs. Originally from Chicago, she earned the nickname, Bear, during her time in Texas.
Inspired by Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, and Dolly Parton, her songwriting transcends generations. Performing since the age of 7, Bear is no stranger to entertaining crowds. Bear is one of county music’s rising stars!
Matches & Gasoline is a song about a toxic relationship that has finally come to an end. This pop country track will make you want to sing at the top of your lungs!
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High Wasted - Sick Of Saying Sorry (Album).
NYC-based rockers High Waisted have released their new record, Sick of Saying Sorry, out everywhere today.
High Waisted's Jessica Louise Dye (lead vox, guitar) shares, "This is an unapologetic record about finding hope in a hopeless situation and the strength to get up when the world is screaming at you to stay down.
Our first record was about living in the moment and being the life of the party—it captured the carelessness of youth. Our sophomore album embodies what happens when you leave the party at dawn to go home to your tiny apartment, alone.
High Waisted’s music has always been dreadfully sad songs disguised as happy ones—the tracks on our new record follow the same pattern. Songwriting is like spell casting. That’s why I’ve used the writing as my own personal time machine. I get to rewrite history and edit out the parts that are too heavy to bear. I get to finally say all the things I wish I had. Never date a songwriter, because we always get the last word."
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Julia Logan - To Be True.
Julia Logan just released her debut single "To Be True"!
“It’s about the desire to break through the invisible piece of space that seems to separate us from someone else, and what can happen when you, somehow, manage to break through”, says Stockholm, Sweden, based Julia Logan about her first single, released via Playground Music today.
Logan has played on the same bill as acts like Courtney Marie Andrews and Neko Case, whose drummer Kyle Crane (Daniel Lanois, M. Ward, Bon Iver) turned up for the studio sessions. The song was written and recorded in close collaboration with Daniel Bengtson of Studio Rymden.
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Saturday, 23 May 2020
Friday, 22 May 2020
Immaterial Possession - Violent Vickie - AMJ Collective - Casual Fan - banfi - Nichole Wagner
The first track from Immaterial Possession forthcoming album is 'Midnight Wander' and it's accompanied by a suitably matched video as the bands dramatic doom-dance quickly demands more than a little attention. === Los Angeles based Violent Vickie releases 'Circle Square' today, where sweeping synths glide over techno/electro beats as the shimmering vocals drift in and out. === AMJ Collective have shared their extended single 'Earth Is Calling' where instrumental reggae and some fabulous dub music shine beautifully. === Casual Fan just released 'Runners' a melodic indie song which exudes natural personal feeling through the vocals. === The brand new album from banfi entitled 'Colour Waits In The Dark' is an absolute feast of wonderful music and is streaming in full below. Creative and superbly delivered musical ideas cover considerable ground on what is a really fine album, one to take time out for. === Nichole Wagner releases her new E.P 'Dance Songs For the Apocalypse' with five distinctly different songs Nichole covers a lot of musical ground her consistently fine vocals keeping the overall feel together, this is a high quality collection.
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Immaterial Possession - Midnight Wander.
Midnight Wander is an energetic, doom-dance song, navigating the throws of impending earthly catastrophe, not without an uplifting shimmering view through the dark clouds.
Immaterial Possession was conceived by Atlanta natives, Cooper Holmes and Madeline Polites, whom share a history of the underground DIY Atlanta music, theater, and arts scene. The duo moved to Athens and was soon granted the seasoned drummer, John Spiegel, and eventually fulfilled with Kiran Jeremy Fernandes (keyboards, clarinets, flutes)- descendant of Elephant 6's beloved John Fernandes (Circulatory System, Olivia Tremor Control, Cloud Recordings).
All members bring forth a spectral hue unique to the ear- with Holmes' dark and driving punk-rooted base interwoven with Spiegel's vast repertoire of drumming artistry and sacral ardor. Polites, inspired by the musical scales of the Greeks and Spanish, weaves from her haunting bedroom classical guitar and transposes to a grittier electric. Fernandes' hands dance fearlessly along the keyboard as well as clarinet, offering windows into far away eastern lands as a light in the looming darkness.
The group's vocal charm is shared by both Holmes and Polites, tying the dynamic of the band into an intricate bow- sometimes in relatable rawness, other times by billowing operatic impulses. All together they create a sort of entrancement exclaimed as distinctly rare. "Immaterial Possession", the debut LP to be released on Cloud Recordings, is as much a visual journey as auditory. With Holmes, Polites, and Fernandes all sharing ties to surreal and abstract theater, each song on the album creates a distinct 'world' of impression and mystery.
The album commences with the apocalyptic fury of "Midnight Wander" to "See Through Stares"- the catching pop tale of altering the past through the present. It takes you through the psychedelic landscapes of "In the Loom", the hallucinatory darkness of "Accidental Summoning", towards the final 'Night Cap'- a soft, but inescapable ushering into the depths of the ancestral dream state. Cover tin-type by Salvage Sparrow.
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Violent Vickie - Circle Square.
Los Angeles-based Dark Synth-Riot artist Violent Vickie, is launching her latest track “Circle Square" today.
After being featured in EDM Joy, Brutal Resonance, and Fresh on the Net for her music video/single "Serotonin", Violent Vickie returns with "Circle Square", a gloomy, noisy electronic track with forlorn and haughty vocals that explores the illusion of not belonging. The second single from her upcoming Division LP, Circle Square is a mix of techno/electro beats and noisy synth texture, reminiscent of the dark techno tunes Vickie partied to at Oakland warehouse parties.
Violent Vickie is a Los Angeles based Dark Synth-Riot artist consisting of Vickie and co-producer/recording guitarist E. Vickie has toured with Hanin Elias of Atari Teenage Riot and supported Jessie Evans (The Vanishing), Trans X, Them Are Us Too, Aimon & The Missing Persons.
Her track "The Wolf“ was featured in a National Organization for Women film and she was interviewed for the documentary “GRRRL”, part of the museum exhibit “Alien She”. Her LP "Monster Alley” was voted best album by KALX and her tracks have been remixed by 25+ artists. Violent Vickie’s “Division” LP will be out in the fall of 2020 on Crunch Pod.
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AMJ Collective - Earth Is Calling.
Earth is Calling is a powerful instrumental lamenting the state of our planet with an uplifting call for a wiser, positive future. It was recorded live in the studio with the band.
The mixes feature once more the skills of Rob Smith at the controls. This tune will grow, there are more versions to come (including vocals), but we thought we’d share what we have with you right now and send some good energy out to the world. - Bless. AMJ
Led by producer John Hollis, the AMJ Collective is a group of musicians, thinkers and creators originating from the UK, Jamaica, Cuba, Colombia and Africa.
AMJ have been releasing fresh, modern dub tracks since 2011, steadily building a solid reputation for an original sound. Their first album, Sky Blue Love, a collaboration with dub maestro Rob Smith (RSD, Smith & Mighty), came out in 2016 to wide acclaim across the world. This was followed in 2017 with the Believe album. Now they embark on the 2020 Series, a collection of their latest recordings.
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Casual Fan - Runners.
It’s early March and you’re sitting in your car at a lookout on top of the ocean, looking down on the beaches you grew up on, thinking about a city you’re moving to and already missing the people you won’t get to see all the time.
You stay there a while and it gets to 6:30pm and cos of daylight savings it’s still light outside. The surfers are still all out there, and the sun setting over the hill shoots beams into the blue and orange haze and it’s like everything stands still, just for a moment.
Recorded in Cairns in late 2019 by Mark Myers (The Middle East) and mixed by Tim Fitz (Middle Kids), “Runners” is a song about the slow jog of life, and the rare moments you get to sit and watch it all run by.
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banfi - Colour Waits In The Dark (album).
Having relocated from North West England to South Wales via Edinburgh, Cornwall, Sheffield and 6 years in London, Joe Banfi has settled amongst the stark beauty of the Gower Peninsula. He entirely self-produced and recorded the album here, before heading to Eastcote Studios in London to mix the record with Eliot James (Two Door Cinema Club, Noah & The Whale).
Thus far 2 singles have been released from the album - the summertime-reckoning pop-hooks of ‘So Bright’ and the hypnotically addictive ‘Always Goodbye’.
Talking about these tracks and the album, Joe explains "Time and natural landscapes in relation to how I feel... I'm just trying to weave these things together for the listener... love and the passing of love among ancient things. Time and love entwined with the blood in the sky blessing my heart and the shells down on the beach that will go on sighing without me.
I've tried to voice a kind of void-fear amongst hope... John Keats’ gravestone (“Here lies one whose name was writ in water”) evokes a dread of time leaving each moment behind in a centreless dark, like goodbyes written on pages that'll one day float away.
But then there are no real grounds for believing that an afterlife, or lack of one, is any more eternal or real than the fact that you have once existed and always will have, forever in the past. We tend to project our linear view of time onto death, and maybe that's a mistaken view of the world. For me these answerless trails of thought create a flowing, bird-in-the-wind feeling of surrender to the force of time that I’ve tried to capture”.
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Nichole Wagner - Dance Songs For the Apocalypse (E.P).
Born and raised in the small town of Louviers, Colorado, Nichole Wagner grew up with a love of music and an extraordinary voice, but she had no way to really share her passion with the world. “I grew up writing song lyrics and wanting to be a musician, but I didn’t really play an instrument,” she says, “so that was a problem.”
At eighteen Nichole moved to Arizona to study journalism at Arizona State University, a career path that would offer a steady paycheck while also allowing her to indulge her love of photography. But she found that it’s not so easy to let go of a dream.
“I wanted to be Stevie Nicks,” she laughs, “but I had no idea how to start playing music out in public, and I still didn’t play an instrument with any degree of skill.” So I put that dream up on a shelf and said ‘well that’s probably a thing I’m not going to get to do.’”
After college, she moved to Austin, where she photographed the music scene and wrote articles from the sidelines. But the dream refused to die, and one day she found herself onstage at an open mic. She started writing new songs, learned to play guitar, and like wildfire the long-buried dream flared back to life.
In 2018 Nichole’s first album, And the Sky Caught Fire, was released, a terrific collection of country-rock that balances commerciality and integrity. It earned high praise from none other than Americana sage and No Depression magazine founder Peter Blackstock, who wrote in the Austin-American Statesman, “Wagner’s first full-length record establishes her as one of Austin’s most promising young singer-songwriters.”
Her new EP, Dance Songs for the Apocalypse, is another great leap forward. The first single, a funky, soulful take on the Talking Heads’ Life During Wartime, is a stunner: a deep and danceable track that takes David Byrne’s dystopian vision one step further and highlights Wagner’s abilities as an interpreter as she takes the song into deeper and darker territory. Those interpretive skills show themselves again in an intimate and mournful eight-minute take on Neil Young’s Ambulance Blues, a gorgeous piano and violin trip through sadness and reflection. Yet somehow none of it comes off as doom and gloom. There is the triumph of Better Son and Daughter, which starts off with an acoustic guitar and Wagner’s front porch delivery, but then builds as the band comes in, gathering steam and force. Finally, Bird Set Free shows off an electric piano and strings and carries you off to an ethereal and poignant place.
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Immaterial Possession - Midnight Wander.
Midnight Wander is an energetic, doom-dance song, navigating the throws of impending earthly catastrophe, not without an uplifting shimmering view through the dark clouds.
Immaterial Possession was conceived by Atlanta natives, Cooper Holmes and Madeline Polites, whom share a history of the underground DIY Atlanta music, theater, and arts scene. The duo moved to Athens and was soon granted the seasoned drummer, John Spiegel, and eventually fulfilled with Kiran Jeremy Fernandes (keyboards, clarinets, flutes)- descendant of Elephant 6's beloved John Fernandes (Circulatory System, Olivia Tremor Control, Cloud Recordings).
All members bring forth a spectral hue unique to the ear- with Holmes' dark and driving punk-rooted base interwoven with Spiegel's vast repertoire of drumming artistry and sacral ardor. Polites, inspired by the musical scales of the Greeks and Spanish, weaves from her haunting bedroom classical guitar and transposes to a grittier electric. Fernandes' hands dance fearlessly along the keyboard as well as clarinet, offering windows into far away eastern lands as a light in the looming darkness.
The group's vocal charm is shared by both Holmes and Polites, tying the dynamic of the band into an intricate bow- sometimes in relatable rawness, other times by billowing operatic impulses. All together they create a sort of entrancement exclaimed as distinctly rare. "Immaterial Possession", the debut LP to be released on Cloud Recordings, is as much a visual journey as auditory. With Holmes, Polites, and Fernandes all sharing ties to surreal and abstract theater, each song on the album creates a distinct 'world' of impression and mystery.
The album commences with the apocalyptic fury of "Midnight Wander" to "See Through Stares"- the catching pop tale of altering the past through the present. It takes you through the psychedelic landscapes of "In the Loom", the hallucinatory darkness of "Accidental Summoning", towards the final 'Night Cap'- a soft, but inescapable ushering into the depths of the ancestral dream state. Cover tin-type by Salvage Sparrow.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Violent Vickie - Circle Square.
Los Angeles-based Dark Synth-Riot artist Violent Vickie, is launching her latest track “Circle Square" today.
After being featured in EDM Joy, Brutal Resonance, and Fresh on the Net for her music video/single "Serotonin", Violent Vickie returns with "Circle Square", a gloomy, noisy electronic track with forlorn and haughty vocals that explores the illusion of not belonging. The second single from her upcoming Division LP, Circle Square is a mix of techno/electro beats and noisy synth texture, reminiscent of the dark techno tunes Vickie partied to at Oakland warehouse parties.
Violent Vickie is a Los Angeles based Dark Synth-Riot artist consisting of Vickie and co-producer/recording guitarist E. Vickie has toured with Hanin Elias of Atari Teenage Riot and supported Jessie Evans (The Vanishing), Trans X, Them Are Us Too, Aimon & The Missing Persons.
Her track "The Wolf“ was featured in a National Organization for Women film and she was interviewed for the documentary “GRRRL”, part of the museum exhibit “Alien She”. Her LP "Monster Alley” was voted best album by KALX and her tracks have been remixed by 25+ artists. Violent Vickie’s “Division” LP will be out in the fall of 2020 on Crunch Pod.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AMJ Collective - Earth Is Calling.
Earth is Calling is a powerful instrumental lamenting the state of our planet with an uplifting call for a wiser, positive future. It was recorded live in the studio with the band.
The mixes feature once more the skills of Rob Smith at the controls. This tune will grow, there are more versions to come (including vocals), but we thought we’d share what we have with you right now and send some good energy out to the world. - Bless. AMJ
Led by producer John Hollis, the AMJ Collective is a group of musicians, thinkers and creators originating from the UK, Jamaica, Cuba, Colombia and Africa.
AMJ have been releasing fresh, modern dub tracks since 2011, steadily building a solid reputation for an original sound. Their first album, Sky Blue Love, a collaboration with dub maestro Rob Smith (RSD, Smith & Mighty), came out in 2016 to wide acclaim across the world. This was followed in 2017 with the Believe album. Now they embark on the 2020 Series, a collection of their latest recordings.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Casual Fan - Runners.
It’s early March and you’re sitting in your car at a lookout on top of the ocean, looking down on the beaches you grew up on, thinking about a city you’re moving to and already missing the people you won’t get to see all the time.
You stay there a while and it gets to 6:30pm and cos of daylight savings it’s still light outside. The surfers are still all out there, and the sun setting over the hill shoots beams into the blue and orange haze and it’s like everything stands still, just for a moment.
Recorded in Cairns in late 2019 by Mark Myers (The Middle East) and mixed by Tim Fitz (Middle Kids), “Runners” is a song about the slow jog of life, and the rare moments you get to sit and watch it all run by.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
banfi - Colour Waits In The Dark (album).
Having relocated from North West England to South Wales via Edinburgh, Cornwall, Sheffield and 6 years in London, Joe Banfi has settled amongst the stark beauty of the Gower Peninsula. He entirely self-produced and recorded the album here, before heading to Eastcote Studios in London to mix the record with Eliot James (Two Door Cinema Club, Noah & The Whale).
Thus far 2 singles have been released from the album - the summertime-reckoning pop-hooks of ‘So Bright’ and the hypnotically addictive ‘Always Goodbye’.
Talking about these tracks and the album, Joe explains "Time and natural landscapes in relation to how I feel... I'm just trying to weave these things together for the listener... love and the passing of love among ancient things. Time and love entwined with the blood in the sky blessing my heart and the shells down on the beach that will go on sighing without me.
I've tried to voice a kind of void-fear amongst hope... John Keats’ gravestone (“Here lies one whose name was writ in water”) evokes a dread of time leaving each moment behind in a centreless dark, like goodbyes written on pages that'll one day float away.
But then there are no real grounds for believing that an afterlife, or lack of one, is any more eternal or real than the fact that you have once existed and always will have, forever in the past. We tend to project our linear view of time onto death, and maybe that's a mistaken view of the world. For me these answerless trails of thought create a flowing, bird-in-the-wind feeling of surrender to the force of time that I’ve tried to capture”.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nichole Wagner - Dance Songs For the Apocalypse (E.P).
Born and raised in the small town of Louviers, Colorado, Nichole Wagner grew up with a love of music and an extraordinary voice, but she had no way to really share her passion with the world. “I grew up writing song lyrics and wanting to be a musician, but I didn’t really play an instrument,” she says, “so that was a problem.”
At eighteen Nichole moved to Arizona to study journalism at Arizona State University, a career path that would offer a steady paycheck while also allowing her to indulge her love of photography. But she found that it’s not so easy to let go of a dream.
“I wanted to be Stevie Nicks,” she laughs, “but I had no idea how to start playing music out in public, and I still didn’t play an instrument with any degree of skill.” So I put that dream up on a shelf and said ‘well that’s probably a thing I’m not going to get to do.’”
After college, she moved to Austin, where she photographed the music scene and wrote articles from the sidelines. But the dream refused to die, and one day she found herself onstage at an open mic. She started writing new songs, learned to play guitar, and like wildfire the long-buried dream flared back to life.
In 2018 Nichole’s first album, And the Sky Caught Fire, was released, a terrific collection of country-rock that balances commerciality and integrity. It earned high praise from none other than Americana sage and No Depression magazine founder Peter Blackstock, who wrote in the Austin-American Statesman, “Wagner’s first full-length record establishes her as one of Austin’s most promising young singer-songwriters.”
Her new EP, Dance Songs for the Apocalypse, is another great leap forward. The first single, a funky, soulful take on the Talking Heads’ Life During Wartime, is a stunner: a deep and danceable track that takes David Byrne’s dystopian vision one step further and highlights Wagner’s abilities as an interpreter as she takes the song into deeper and darker territory. Those interpretive skills show themselves again in an intimate and mournful eight-minute take on Neil Young’s Ambulance Blues, a gorgeous piano and violin trip through sadness and reflection. Yet somehow none of it comes off as doom and gloom. There is the triumph of Better Son and Daughter, which starts off with an acoustic guitar and Wagner’s front porch delivery, but then builds as the band comes in, gathering steam and force. Finally, Bird Set Free shows off an electric piano and strings and carries you off to an ethereal and poignant place.
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Wednesday, 20 May 2020
Grace Inspace - The Jerry Cans - Gaygirl
Grace Inspace returns with 'Off The Grid' a song that typifies her sharp thoughtful lyrics along with a sophisticated musical backdrop for her gorgeous vocals. === The Jerry Cans have released 'Swell (My Brother)' ahead of their fourth album and it's an expansive indie rocker with plenty of engaging hooks throughout. === Today South London band Gaygirl have released 'Killing It' a track that ebbs and flows with forceful energy as their mixture of Grunge rock and pop demands attention.
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Grace Inspace - Off The Grid.
During the onset of the evolving covid-19 crisis, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Grace Inspace found herself fleeing a rental apartment in LA for the unpopulated safety of rural California. Sleeping in the back of a pick-up truck and bathing in the icy waters of the Smith River, she headed for her family homestead in the Six rivers region of the Siskiyou Mountains. Her new song, Off The Grid is the sonic embodiment of the premonitory dream you have right before everyone is donning masks and growing their own kale.
Born in California and raised in London, Grace introduced herself last year with debut EP Lazy Grace’s Apocalyptic Kitchen, pt. 1. Off The Grid is the first song in her upcoming collection, Lazy Grace’s Apocalyptic Kitchen, pt. 2, and is out now on all major platforms via AWAL.
“This song is born of two worlds and a pick up truck. It was recorded in a home studio in Los Angeles with one of my drumming heroes Stephan Perkins sitting in before all this started melting down. Now is the time for this song, these worlds are colliding; there is a great learning going on.”
“I live somewhere between central London and an extremely rural outpost in California, where the pot plants grow high and the second amendment posters sit amicably alongside rainbow flags. Peace and tolerance!”
23-year-old Grace has a mature head on her young shoulders, with politically charged character-driven lyrics amidst collaged soundscapes. She’s currently sequestered in that 100-year-old cabin in the woods, writing and recording a second collection of songs.
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The Jerry Cans - Swell (My Brother).
Iqaluit’s The Jerry Cans have always been, and will always be, a band from and for the north. But on Echoes, the JUNO Award-nominated group’s upcoming fourth full-length record, they’re not the band they used to be. The record arrives with a wash of glassy, slashing electric guitars, thundering drums, effects-warped throat singing, and darkened violin work. These are sounds of love, anxiety, desperation, and grief, and the tangled relationships between these things. It is intense and heavy, a charred, deep-blue Arctic indie rock soundscape.
From the start, The Jerry Cans—guitarist/vocalist Andrew Morrison, vocalists/throat singers/accordionists Nancy Mike and Avery Keenainak, violinist Gina Burgess, bassist Brendan Doherty, and drummer Steve Rigby—have been committed to making music that honours and dialogues with their home communities. With Echoes, they reaffirm this commitment, but do so with a collection of songs that burns their usual blueprint.
The band recorded in early 2019 with producer Jace Lasek (Besnard Lakes) at Lasek’s revered Breakglass Studio in Montreal. Here, they bucked expectation and routine. Avery Keenainak, the granddaughter of legendary accordionist Simeonie Keenainak, joined the band full-time, adding new depth and energy. Morrison ditched his acoustic guitar for an electric (Echoes is the only Jerry Cans record without any acoustic guitar), while he, Mike, Keenainak, and Burgess raided Lasek’s extensive effects pedal collection for rare and unusual sounds to tense the record’s sonic boundaries. Lasek’s cult-classic production pedigree (Wintersleep, Wolf Parade, Patrick Watson, Stars) hasn’t changed what The Jerry Cans are saying—it’s just changed how they’re saying it. Mike and Keenainak also conducted recording sessions in an igluvigak (igloo) which they constructed behind Mike’s home near Iqaluit.
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Gaygirl - Killing It.
South London band Gaygirl return today (20th May) with new single "Killing It", lifted from their debut EP Pleasurehead, out this Friday 22nd May via Permanent Creeps.
A schizophrenic grunge-pop track and the final showpiece of the EP, singer Bex Morrison said this on the ferocious new single: ""Killing It" is about feeling stuck and the flitting emotions between trying to make things okay, and being on the verge of having a complete meltdown. The extreme up-and-down contradicting lyrical content is reflected throughout the song and as it progresses, falls more and more out of control."
Pairing the raw, emotional grunge of PJ Harvey with the immersive, bold alt-pop moments of early Garbage, each of Gaygirl's 4 band members bring a unique set of influences to the table. As a unit, not only do they create a sound that is hard to pin down, but with every twist and turn – they make an impression that’s unshakable.
Speaking a little more on how "Killing It" came together when recording, Bex said: "When we play the song live it's pretty chaotic and we wanted to make sure we got that across in the studio by experimenting with various vocal and guitar effects, and just having a lot of fun with it. The process from writing to when we took it into the studio was really just playing around with lots of different ideas and inspiration, adding things in and taking things away until we knew it felt right."
Consisting of songwriters Bex Morrison (vocals, guitar) and Lewis Clark (guitar), and completed by Louis Bradshaw (drums) and Tom Coyne (bass) – Gaygirl have earned a reputation for their hypnotic and visceral live performances; playing shows with the likes of Sorry, Automatic and Calva Louise in 2019.
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Grace Inspace - Off The Grid.
During the onset of the evolving covid-19 crisis, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Grace Inspace found herself fleeing a rental apartment in LA for the unpopulated safety of rural California. Sleeping in the back of a pick-up truck and bathing in the icy waters of the Smith River, she headed for her family homestead in the Six rivers region of the Siskiyou Mountains. Her new song, Off The Grid is the sonic embodiment of the premonitory dream you have right before everyone is donning masks and growing their own kale.
Born in California and raised in London, Grace introduced herself last year with debut EP Lazy Grace’s Apocalyptic Kitchen, pt. 1. Off The Grid is the first song in her upcoming collection, Lazy Grace’s Apocalyptic Kitchen, pt. 2, and is out now on all major platforms via AWAL.
“This song is born of two worlds and a pick up truck. It was recorded in a home studio in Los Angeles with one of my drumming heroes Stephan Perkins sitting in before all this started melting down. Now is the time for this song, these worlds are colliding; there is a great learning going on.”
“I live somewhere between central London and an extremely rural outpost in California, where the pot plants grow high and the second amendment posters sit amicably alongside rainbow flags. Peace and tolerance!”
23-year-old Grace has a mature head on her young shoulders, with politically charged character-driven lyrics amidst collaged soundscapes. She’s currently sequestered in that 100-year-old cabin in the woods, writing and recording a second collection of songs.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Jerry Cans - Swell (My Brother).
Iqaluit’s The Jerry Cans have always been, and will always be, a band from and for the north. But on Echoes, the JUNO Award-nominated group’s upcoming fourth full-length record, they’re not the band they used to be. The record arrives with a wash of glassy, slashing electric guitars, thundering drums, effects-warped throat singing, and darkened violin work. These are sounds of love, anxiety, desperation, and grief, and the tangled relationships between these things. It is intense and heavy, a charred, deep-blue Arctic indie rock soundscape.
From the start, The Jerry Cans—guitarist/vocalist Andrew Morrison, vocalists/throat singers/accordionists Nancy Mike and Avery Keenainak, violinist Gina Burgess, bassist Brendan Doherty, and drummer Steve Rigby—have been committed to making music that honours and dialogues with their home communities. With Echoes, they reaffirm this commitment, but do so with a collection of songs that burns their usual blueprint.
The band recorded in early 2019 with producer Jace Lasek (Besnard Lakes) at Lasek’s revered Breakglass Studio in Montreal. Here, they bucked expectation and routine. Avery Keenainak, the granddaughter of legendary accordionist Simeonie Keenainak, joined the band full-time, adding new depth and energy. Morrison ditched his acoustic guitar for an electric (Echoes is the only Jerry Cans record without any acoustic guitar), while he, Mike, Keenainak, and Burgess raided Lasek’s extensive effects pedal collection for rare and unusual sounds to tense the record’s sonic boundaries. Lasek’s cult-classic production pedigree (Wintersleep, Wolf Parade, Patrick Watson, Stars) hasn’t changed what The Jerry Cans are saying—it’s just changed how they’re saying it. Mike and Keenainak also conducted recording sessions in an igluvigak (igloo) which they constructed behind Mike’s home near Iqaluit.
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Gaygirl - Killing It.
South London band Gaygirl return today (20th May) with new single "Killing It", lifted from their debut EP Pleasurehead, out this Friday 22nd May via Permanent Creeps.
A schizophrenic grunge-pop track and the final showpiece of the EP, singer Bex Morrison said this on the ferocious new single: ""Killing It" is about feeling stuck and the flitting emotions between trying to make things okay, and being on the verge of having a complete meltdown. The extreme up-and-down contradicting lyrical content is reflected throughout the song and as it progresses, falls more and more out of control."
Pairing the raw, emotional grunge of PJ Harvey with the immersive, bold alt-pop moments of early Garbage, each of Gaygirl's 4 band members bring a unique set of influences to the table. As a unit, not only do they create a sound that is hard to pin down, but with every twist and turn – they make an impression that’s unshakable.
Speaking a little more on how "Killing It" came together when recording, Bex said: "When we play the song live it's pretty chaotic and we wanted to make sure we got that across in the studio by experimenting with various vocal and guitar effects, and just having a lot of fun with it. The process from writing to when we took it into the studio was really just playing around with lots of different ideas and inspiration, adding things in and taking things away until we knew it felt right."
Consisting of songwriters Bex Morrison (vocals, guitar) and Lewis Clark (guitar), and completed by Louis Bradshaw (drums) and Tom Coyne (bass) – Gaygirl have earned a reputation for their hypnotic and visceral live performances; playing shows with the likes of Sorry, Automatic and Calva Louise in 2019.
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Tuesday, 19 May 2020
Lavender Diamond - Anne Freeman - Stony Sugarskull
Los Angeles based trio Lavender Diamond return after an eight year hiatus with 'Look Through The Window' and it's a really beautiful and imaginative song accompanied by a colourful video. === Anne Freeman shares 'Days Go By' a track that exudes refined indie pop with a hint of country along the way. === We have two tracks from the new 'Lioness' album from Stony Sugarskull namely 'Empty' and 'House On Fire' both of which shed some light on this collection of multi genre songs influenced from punk to Krautrock along with plenty of other styles.
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Lavender Diamond - Look Through The Window.
Lavender Diamond return with the official video for "Look Through The Window," their first release of new music in more than 8 years. Earlier this year, the Los Angeles-based trio of Becky Stark, Steve Gregoropoulos, and Ron Regé, Jr. announced their signing to Petaluma Records and a now-cancelled tour with Bright Eyes.
"This song resounded in my heart and mind for months - it was all I wanted to sing," said Becky Stark. "It felt so mysterious - a song about such deep isolation, separation and rebirth. When the quarantine began it suddenly seemed that this song had come to speak to this moment of trial and transformation - and contained within it a prayer for the healing of our world."
The song was recorded by Jason Soda at Palomino Sound and Steve Gregoropoulos at Ransom Notes and mixed by Tucker Martine. The recording also features an 8-piece orchestra featuring Bright Eyes' Nate Walcott on trumpet and Sasami on french horn.
Lavender Diamond has been on hiatus since the release of their 2012 album Incorruptible Heart. Becky Stark is also a member of the Living Sisters alongside Eleni Mandell and Inara George, and has collaborated with John C. Reilly, The Decemberists and She & Him. In their review of Incorruptible Heart, Pitchfork stated, "It would be easy enough to call these 'side-projects,' but it's more helpful to think of Lavender Diamond as just one nook in Stark's glitter-spackled pantheon of boundless creative joy."
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Anne Freeman - Days Go By.
The new song by an indie-folk artist Anne Freeman who grew up in the Mississippi Delta, not far fro Bobbie Gentry’s hometown.
She caught the ear of Graham Hamaker (also of fat Possum) and he signed her to his new label Muscle Beach. The single “Days Go By,” was mixed by Matt Ross-Spang (John Prine, Margo Price, Jason Isbell)
She’s just starting out but she’s already played festivals in her home state and been on Mississippi Public Radio as well as American Songwriter.
Anne says, “’Days Go By’ is about struggling to cut ties with a toxic friend but constantly getting lured back in. Everyone has someone or something in their life that makes them feel incredible for a while, but eventually leads them down a dark path.”
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Stony Sugarskull - Empty / House On Fire.
The album 'Lioness' represents the female who fights for a positive change and protects the weak. The songs on this album are arranged according to a breakdown (which we're currently suffering) and the re-organization of this chaos. On the A-Side, a climax is reached with the B-Side going back to a beginning, an effort to reach a meaningful synthesis of the technological advances and an inner and societal return to nature in order to save humanity/future generations. In this album, each song is imbedded in certain healing sound frequencies. Musically, the album is an attempt of combining several music styles such as krautrock, punk- and psych rock, shoegaze, jazz, pop, or blues not only to mirror our current time but also to attempt to go ahead and create something new.
After having finished her PhD on the biophilic healing functions of music in African-American literature in London/New Orleans/Berlin, Dr Monika Demmler started her musical project, Stony Sugarskull in 2015 where she has channeled her academic music-philosophical inquiry into her creative works of songs, lyrics, and sounds. Dr Monika Demmler has produced three releases so far: Trust (EP), Gaia (EP), and Butterflies (Single), available on all major online platforms. “Trust”
The self-released “Gaia” appeared in March 2017 and was issued worldwide on vinyl, cassette, & through online digital distribution services. The work is based on the philosophical ideas of a return to Gaia, the first goddess or “mother nature,” in our overtly synthetic technologized age. The EP’s first performance was live at the 8mm Bar in Berlin after which followed additional gigs in Berlin and London (e.g. Madame Claude, Berlin, Fete de la Musique, Berlin). These performances included her local band members (Gael Pettinaroli, Colin Dayer, Dr Hans-Dirk Düngen).
Her third self-release, “Butterflies” was a single recorded by Guido Wolters at her home studio in Berlin. Following this recording, Dr. Demmler expanded her musical horizons by traveling to Los Angeles and immersing herself in that reputable music scene. It is in LA where Reid Murray (drums), Denee Lee (lapsteel guitar) and Landon Reed (bass) joined her project for live performances in the US followed up by a five-week-long European tour across the UK, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Serbia, Greece, Spain and Switzerland.
In 2020, her debut album, LiONESS; a mix of psychedelic, punk rock, krautrock style, mirroring the socio-political background/moods of the 21st century, along with the inbuilt music healing frequencies of guitar and drum sounds derived from her philosophical studies.
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| Photo - Shervin Lainez |
Lavender Diamond return with the official video for "Look Through The Window," their first release of new music in more than 8 years. Earlier this year, the Los Angeles-based trio of Becky Stark, Steve Gregoropoulos, and Ron Regé, Jr. announced their signing to Petaluma Records and a now-cancelled tour with Bright Eyes.
"This song resounded in my heart and mind for months - it was all I wanted to sing," said Becky Stark. "It felt so mysterious - a song about such deep isolation, separation and rebirth. When the quarantine began it suddenly seemed that this song had come to speak to this moment of trial and transformation - and contained within it a prayer for the healing of our world."
The song was recorded by Jason Soda at Palomino Sound and Steve Gregoropoulos at Ransom Notes and mixed by Tucker Martine. The recording also features an 8-piece orchestra featuring Bright Eyes' Nate Walcott on trumpet and Sasami on french horn.
Lavender Diamond has been on hiatus since the release of their 2012 album Incorruptible Heart. Becky Stark is also a member of the Living Sisters alongside Eleni Mandell and Inara George, and has collaborated with John C. Reilly, The Decemberists and She & Him. In their review of Incorruptible Heart, Pitchfork stated, "It would be easy enough to call these 'side-projects,' but it's more helpful to think of Lavender Diamond as just one nook in Stark's glitter-spackled pantheon of boundless creative joy."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anne Freeman - Days Go By.
The new song by an indie-folk artist Anne Freeman who grew up in the Mississippi Delta, not far fro Bobbie Gentry’s hometown.
She caught the ear of Graham Hamaker (also of fat Possum) and he signed her to his new label Muscle Beach. The single “Days Go By,” was mixed by Matt Ross-Spang (John Prine, Margo Price, Jason Isbell)
She’s just starting out but she’s already played festivals in her home state and been on Mississippi Public Radio as well as American Songwriter.
Anne says, “’Days Go By’ is about struggling to cut ties with a toxic friend but constantly getting lured back in. Everyone has someone or something in their life that makes them feel incredible for a while, but eventually leads them down a dark path.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stony Sugarskull - Empty / House On Fire.
The album 'Lioness' represents the female who fights for a positive change and protects the weak. The songs on this album are arranged according to a breakdown (which we're currently suffering) and the re-organization of this chaos. On the A-Side, a climax is reached with the B-Side going back to a beginning, an effort to reach a meaningful synthesis of the technological advances and an inner and societal return to nature in order to save humanity/future generations. In this album, each song is imbedded in certain healing sound frequencies. Musically, the album is an attempt of combining several music styles such as krautrock, punk- and psych rock, shoegaze, jazz, pop, or blues not only to mirror our current time but also to attempt to go ahead and create something new.
After having finished her PhD on the biophilic healing functions of music in African-American literature in London/New Orleans/Berlin, Dr Monika Demmler started her musical project, Stony Sugarskull in 2015 where she has channeled her academic music-philosophical inquiry into her creative works of songs, lyrics, and sounds. Dr Monika Demmler has produced three releases so far: Trust (EP), Gaia (EP), and Butterflies (Single), available on all major online platforms. “Trust”
The self-released “Gaia” appeared in March 2017 and was issued worldwide on vinyl, cassette, & through online digital distribution services. The work is based on the philosophical ideas of a return to Gaia, the first goddess or “mother nature,” in our overtly synthetic technologized age. The EP’s first performance was live at the 8mm Bar in Berlin after which followed additional gigs in Berlin and London (e.g. Madame Claude, Berlin, Fete de la Musique, Berlin). These performances included her local band members (Gael Pettinaroli, Colin Dayer, Dr Hans-Dirk Düngen).
Her third self-release, “Butterflies” was a single recorded by Guido Wolters at her home studio in Berlin. Following this recording, Dr. Demmler expanded her musical horizons by traveling to Los Angeles and immersing herself in that reputable music scene. It is in LA where Reid Murray (drums), Denee Lee (lapsteel guitar) and Landon Reed (bass) joined her project for live performances in the US followed up by a five-week-long European tour across the UK, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Serbia, Greece, Spain and Switzerland.
In 2020, her debut album, LiONESS; a mix of psychedelic, punk rock, krautrock style, mirroring the socio-political background/moods of the 21st century, along with the inbuilt music healing frequencies of guitar and drum sounds derived from her philosophical studies.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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