Saturday, 14 November 2020

All Things Blue - llawgne - Flight Attendant - Palberta

All Things Blue are a Los Angeles pysch-shoegaze band and they have just released 'Lully' ahead of their debut album 'Get Bit'. The song itself slowly opens with gorgeous vocals and plenty of originality, adding some refined musical accompanyment. ===== llawgne (aka Mathias Engwall) shares 'Reverie Neverending' a song that is smooth flowing dream pop with a hint or two of showegaze, the melodic hooks making the piece really stand out. ===== From Flight Attendant we have the new track and video for 'Comedy Show'. The Nashville based quintet serve up a song that builds both musically and with intensity, it's a little dramatic and very enticing, the video conveys all of that. ===== Palberta return just over a month since we featured 'Before I Got Here' with another new song and video for 'Corner Store'. Once again the vocals and especially the harmonies are notable and the stripped back music complements well.

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All Things Blue - Lully

Los Angeles pysch-shoegaze rockers All Things Blue have released the latest taste of upcoming debut album Get Bit, in the shape of contemplative new indie-ballad "Lully".

The project of singer-songwriter India Coombs (aka Blue) and guitarist Jon Joseph, All Things Blue’s new album Get Bit follows a series of hype-building EPs and singles, tackling the personal and the political with equal vigour. “I feel like everybody has a spaghetti brain,” India says. “In one moment you're talking about politics and what's going on in the world, and then the next moment you're thinking about somebody that you really like. It’s the ups and downs of the human brain.”

New track "Lully" leans more toward the political, with India zooming in on cotton plantations in Arizona and putting the magnifying glass on environmental sustainability.

India Coombs said: "My brother sent me an article about farms using flood irrigation on their cotton crops in Arizona and how unbelievably wasteful it is. Cotton is the most widespread profitable non-food crop in the world and its current production methods are completely environmentally unsustainable."

Taking inspiration from the weirder, psych-leaning corners of indie-rock, and especially Aussie psych legends Pond, whose latest album Tasmania tackles Australia’s own brand of climate change-related horrors, Get Bit brings together influences from across the guitar music spectrum. “Tipsy” is a loose, lo-fi romp that recreates the feeling of its title, while “Buddha and Penelope” is a woozy slice of psych-pop. Then there’s “Scratch,” a blistering 40-second tirade against unrealistic expectations, which sees All Things Blue bare their teeth and take cues from gutsy garage rock.

Traversing genres and sounds with impeccable clarity, Get Bit is an open, giving record that allows and beckons listeners to make their own interpretations, and get whatever comfort and validation they need from its songs of rage and love. In an era of oversharing, the album is a tonic with which to use your imagination, project yourself onto, and take these songs into a whole new world.

India and Jon originally met in LA at the age of 18, having both independently moved to the city; Coombs driving across the country in her broken down pickup truck from Philadelphia, and Jon hailing from further south in California. The pair wasted no time becoming friends and firing out an eclectic assortment of demos. They did so namelessly for some time, but eventually settled on "All Things Blue”.


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llawgne - Reverie Neverending.

‘Reverie Neverending‘ is the exciting first single from Mathias Engwall aka llawgne’s upcoming 2021 album Nevereverie. A classic shoegazed dreampop song, Mathias explains ‘Reverie Neverending’: “its about waking up one day and realizing you've been practically living in a daydream all your life. You discover that everyone around you has been living in the real world all along, and are miles ahead of you in their lives.” 

“In your romantic mind you were the protagonist of the movie, but in reality you didn't even get cast in it. And, most importantly -there is no movie.” “I wanted to convey this with a kind of a mildly euphoric but also melancholic wall of sound - think Tom Petty and Deehunter mixed with a classic Swedish indie-vibe”.

llawgne is the brainchild of Gothenburg's Mathias Engwall who had early praise from first 2019 single, ‘The White In Its Eyes’, a dreamy pop song that found its way onto the PSL Top 20 and several major playlists. 

A showcase of ambitions for strong melodies within soundscape balanced with beauty and noise. The previous single ‘Love + Somebody’ was described as "Sonic Youth meets Chris Isaak", getting buzz from Savantmusikmagasin, Hymn, We All Want Someone To Shout For and more. Mathias also works as a record producer, mixer and mastering engineer in Sweden. He has done remixes for Loney Dear, and recently collaborated with David Ahlen.


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Flight Attendant - Comedy Show.

Nashville based quintet Flight Attendant have just issued a video for their dark and sensuous new single, the ironically titled ‘Comedy Show’. Released to coincide with the ongoing election circus in the USA, the song is a sombre, melodic and thought-provoking ballad with a lyric that comments on the current social and political landscape in their home territory of Nashville TN where they will be performing on Sunday.

Flight Attendant lead singer Karalyne Winegarner states that the song "serves as a gentle warning to not lose sight of what’s important in a world filled with so many distractions. The song is supposed to remind you that the easier road of plugging up your ears and laughing your problems away is a temporary fix that won’t hold. The line ‘There’s a ghost from tomorrow’ is a warning to get our heads out of the distraction box and take a long look at our world and ourselves and start changing and improving the one life and world we have to live in. This song is close to our hearts as a band and I couldn’t think of a more perfect time to release it than when the distractions seem to be at their loudest."

A video for ‘Comedy Show’ switches between Winegarner distractedly watching the endless gabble emanating from a TV screen and scenes of her walking through sumptuously colourful woodland to a river in which the band can be seen immersing/cleansing themselves.

Displaying wide-ranging influences that span from Lana Del Rey to Vivaldi, Flight Attendant established themselves locally via a series of ecstatically received live performances prior to lockdown, while the June 2020 release of anthemic single ‘Man Of Chaos’ saw them begin to gain international acclaim via a number of excellent reviews.

The band is currently hard at work creating their debut album with Grammy winning producer Charles Yingling to be released in 2021 by Moraine Music in association with Membran.

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Palberta - Corner Store.

Last month, the beloved NYC trio Palberta returned to announce the follow up to their breakout 2018 LP Roach Going Down, with their clear-eyed fifth album, Palberta5000 (out January 22nd, 2021 on Wharf Cat Records). The album was announced with a deep-dive feature on Stereogum that explored the more expansive and pop-forward style on this new release from a band long-heralded as one of the most original and idiosyncratic bands in the East Coast DIY scene. The announce was also accompanied by the release of the single "Before I Got Here," that created a stir even by the standards of critical acclaim that have greeted the band's earlier releases, earning comparisons to ESG and Delta 5 in The New York Times, being described as "everything great about Palberta" on NPR's All Songs Considered, and garnering glowing coverage from spots like Pitchfork, NYLON, Paste, Consequence of Sound and BrooklynVegan among many others.


Now the band are sharing a second single from their new LP, a track called "Corner Store". Opening with just guitar and voices that builds to full band as the band's three members (Nina Ryser, Ani Ivry-Block and Lily Konigsberg) continue expanding and mutating their layered harmony parts in ways both beautiful and bewildering, before eventually casting their instruments aside entirely in an extended a capella breakdown. The track is full of elements that have been common to Palberta's songwriting for some time, but are given a new depth and power here, and a confident display of Palberta's growing mastery over their sound.

"'Corner Store' is a song we’ve been playing live for a while now and has gone through many transformations over time," Ryser explains. "It culminated in this final version once we discovered that it needed an a capella breakdown that would slowly bring us back into the groove. Though it’s a classic Palberta move to fit in a 3-part harmony whenever we get the chance, it felt crucial. This song tells a story about strolling to the corner store, a sacred place we all know and love, on a Sunday afternoon to meet your friend and you see them on the front of the Sunday Times. And once they arrive, you do a double take and say to them, 'hey! No way! I saw you at the corner — I saw you on the front of the Sunday Times!'"

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Friday, 13 November 2020

Flor and The Sea - Sketch Club - Rampton Prom - Looms

Flor and The Sea have just released their new E.P 'Kings & Queens'. Last month we shared 'A Candid Lie' from the collection and we now have the full set streaming below, this really is a sumptuous collection of indie electro music. ===== Yesterday Sketch Club released 'Futile Pursuits' which is a rhythmic and sweeping alt rocker with some fabulous melodic hooks. ===== Rampton Prom debut single 'Too Baby' is a stunning and dreamy song that flows along and demands an immediate replay. ===== Brooklyn rockers Looms have shared 'Obvious' a song that packs plenty of power, emotion and some very catchy vibes.

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Flor and The Sea - Kings & Queens (E.P).

The songs of Flor and the Sea’s debut EP Kings & Queens invite listeners to surrender themselves to the stream of music: to dream, to dance and to defy the world’s tumult for a moment and abandon themselves to the group’s heady stylistic fusion. Pop elements meld with electronica throughout their songwriting, inviting a host of esoteric influences from dubstep, synth pop and trap to join them. 

It’s a melting pot of style that recalls the work of Flume, Miike Snow or Alt-J. Co-produced by composer Dieter Dolezel and mixed by Moritz Enders (Casper, Kraftclub), the songs are a multifaceted exploration of sound and songwriting. From the lilting mythology-evoking arpeggios of ‘Arcadia’ to the electro propulsive ambience of ‘Dark Minds’ and the bleak dystopian piano keys chiming through ‘Reconnect’, Kings & Queens reveals a restless group with a unique and voracious musical chemistry.

Munich-based indie/electropop duo Flor and the Sea was founded in 2015 as a five-piece project. With the release of debut singles ‘Hold Your Breath’ and ‘Shed No Tear’, as well as live gigs at Digital/Analog Festival and the Muffat Winterfest among others, the band generated a lot of buzz in short time and were featured as ‘Band of the Week’ by the Suddeutsche Zeitung/SZ Junge Leute in early 2017. After the group split up later that year, Marc Aretz (guitar/synth) and Chaem (vox) decided to keep Flor and the Sea alive as a duo. 

Redesigning their sound from scratch, they incorporated influences from bands like Alt J, Radiohead and Portishead. Singles ‘Dark Minds’ and ‘Reconnect’ were birthed from the rubble and led to widespread acclaim, receiving regular airplay on radio stations like Ego-FM, Bayern 3, M94.5 and BR Puls, and landing glowing reviews on international blogs like Composer's Toolbox and York Calling. Capping it all, the duo performed live on Radio Fritz ‘Live on Air’ for the first time. Flor and The Sea resumed live performances in 2019, while simultaneously producing their debut EP Kings & Queens, and put together an elaborate new program with their own light show, visuals, masks, and the support of additional live musicians. A first taste of this show was presented at renowned festivals Theatron Musiksommer and Sound of Munich Now in 2019. 


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Sketch Club - Futile Pursuits.

“Futile Pursuits” is a reflection on the things we pursue in life that don't end up being good for us. Be it a relationship, a career or a dream, sometimes the things we chase the hardest end up being entirely unhealthy occupations. And sometimes as we stand in the bright lights of hindsight, we can see we were set to fail from the start.

Recorded in March at Phaedra Studios, Melbourne with producer John Lee (Augie March, Bananagun, Laura Jean), with mixing & mastering taking place remotely via several hundred discerning phone calls over the following months during lock-down. Originally hailing from Dublin, Phillip Island and Brisbane, Sketch Club formed in Melbourne in 2009 via a classified ad left on an online forum for music nerds.

The band quickly settled on a song writing method that works best for the indie-rock outfit - 3 gentlemen making noise in a red velvet room until something good happens. And good would be some cinematic pop with a dark edge & a little swagger.

With songs from their 2017 EP “Primal Calls & Graceless Falls” finding their way on to radio rotation and Spotify’s New Music Friday (NL) playlist, the 3-piece continued to write, play and chin rub their way towards a new body of work. This inspired time has resulted in the band’s debut LP “Departure Lounge Transmissions, out 4th December 2020!

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Rampton Prom - Too Baby.

Self-professed, ageing, wannabe pop stars, Jonny (Bubs), Ryan (Breeze) and Gina (Queen G) reveal new project Rampton Prom.

Out of a dead-end band that fell apart after years of utter disappointment, three members regrouped to form the new alt-pop project. 

Debut single 'Too Baby' takes cues from their influences of contemporary pop and US hip hop, with their unique mix of choppy beats, poetic lyricism and quirky analogue arrangements (plus a sprinkle of vibraphone).

'Too Baby' is the first track we made together as ‘Prom. We wanted to make a low-key pop groove with a lyrical sense of unease. "I guess I feel like a bit of a wimp sometimes, like I need to toughen up". - Gina 'Queen G' Leonard.

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Looms - Obvious.

"Obvious", is the new standalone single from Brooklyn rockers Looms, their second of 2020 following “My Stupid Life”.

On the track, the band's Sharif Mekawy (lead vox, guitar, keys) shares, "this is a song about realizing how obvious your feelings are for someone after being so uncertain."

Looms entered the studio in January 2020 with the goal of recording five new songs and releasing them throughout the year as singles. The first song was to have an accompanying music video and be released coinciding a trip to SXSW. Unfortunately, everything derailed once March came, and we took a few months apart to deal with the world.

'My Stupid Life' (which has new meaning in these times) was finally released in June, and we've been rehearsing, livestreaming, writing, and trying to continue on as a band as best we can in the moment. It's a weird year for everyone, but we're moving forward.

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Wednesday, 11 November 2020

Falcon Jane - Loryn Taggart - Leif Vollebekk - HOPdot

Falcon Jane has shared 'Feelings' just ahead of Friday's album releases 'Faith'. We have already had the pleasure of featuring two songs from the new album and the latest 'Feelings' is another fine reminder of her knack for creating original and lovable music. ===== From Loryn Taggart we have 'The River' where the folk and singer songwriter shares a gently opening and intimate song, the build is gradual, the end is fabulous and in between we are treated to some wonderful vibes. ===== Leif Vollebekk has released a new original song entitled 'Long Blue Light' it's accompanied by a cover of Bon Iver's '29 #Strafford APTS'. We are just sharing 'Long Blue Light' which is a gorgeous piece that just funnels emotion. ===== HOPdot contacted us directly with 'Before We All Go Under'. They are a father and daughter duo and collectively they are simply fabulous as is born out with this gentle, intelligent and beautiful song. 

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Image - Brendan George Ko
Falcon Jane - Feelings.

Ontario-based project Falcon Jane, led by lead singer and songwriter Sara May, are today sharing "Feelings", the final pre-release track to be lifted from their forthcoming Line of Best Fit, Earmilk and American Songwriter-tipped album, Faith, which is out this Friday, November 13, via Darling Recordings. Stream the new single here.

Faith serves as the follow-up to Falcon Jane’s debut album Feelin’ Freaky, which firmly established May’s self-labeled “plez-rock”. Still keeping some of those previously pleasant summer vibes, Faith sees May steer towards a darker spiral—one that personifies the often isolating meanderings that come with figuring it all out. “A lot of the songs on the album are written from me to me,” she explains. “It’s about trusting in yourself and believing in the thoughts and feelings in your own mind.”

The new track, "Feelings", which features heart-wrenching guitar work from Branson Giles, arrives a song love song written about rediscovering love that you thought had disappeared. "A rekindling, a reawakening," explains May. "It's about letting go of the past in order to pursue a new future. Establishing a new belief system and a new way to express love." Once again featuring May's celestial vocals that are this time laced around jaunty, blues-infused guitars, "Feelings" offers up a real highlight from the forthcoming record, establishing itself as another crucial segment to the emotional core of Faith.

Faith has found Sara May going back to the beginning: her home, her beliefs, and herself. This intention gave her the ability to take another look, to reassess, to breathe. Writing under the Falcon Jane moniker, May explores the intimate experience in getting to know yourself again, highlighting the banal but beautiful ebb and flow of our every day. Her new record is an investigation into what it means to be alive and the often painful experience of the ordinary. As someone who describes herself as “emotionally guarded,” Falcon Jane is May outstretched, breaking through the introspective wall and inviting us in on the experiment.


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Photographer: Simon Pelletier

Loryn Taggart - The River.

I once moved across the world for someone I thought I loved. I didn't listen to myself, or my heart, I just followed the wind. My gut told me one thing and I ignored it. That person made me feel like I wasn't good enough, strong enough, or smart enough to face life alone.

"The River" is a song about relocating internationally for love, and realizing that it was a one-sided sacrifice. I need a man to cross the river is said in a sarcastic measure.

I want anyone listening to look at their current relationships and really question why and how they serve their wellbeing. Start to question the balance between self-love and love given. It's important you have people in your life that are willing to sacrifice for you, the way you would for them.

Weird how we walked as strangers / no rhythm and no bond / A year of love / it took this long to get you in a song is one of my favourite lines, signifying the relationship arch of going from strangers, to dating, to being in love, to strangers once more.

Sadly, and by an unfortunate loss, my father passed away this year. I was in and out of the studio for about two months while I grieved, but the experience of recording this song led me to heal much faster than I anticipated. My father was with me the entire way. He was my biggest fan and really loved this song. I hope it's meaningful for you, too.


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Image - Vanessa Heins
Leif Vollebekk - Long Blue Light.

We have the new double single release from the critically acclaimed Polaris Prize nominee, Leif Vollebekk that comes as one original track titled "Long Blue Light”  and a cover of Bon Iver's “29 #Strafford APTS”, out now via Secret City Records (SUUNS, Wilsen, Braids).

Vollebekk has drawn critical acclaim in his time as a musician from the likes of The New York Times ("pensive and restless, blossoming with stream-of-consciousness verses that bear the marks of long nights spent alone on the road"), Pitchfork ("understated and affecting"), NPR, FLOOD, The FADER, The Line of Best Fit, Paste, Sunday Times Culture, World Cafe, KCRW and more. Alongside press and radio support, he scooped a Polaris Prize shortlist nomination for his record, Twin Solitude, shared stages with the likes of Sinéad O'Connor, Angie McMahon and Beth Orton, and sold out North American headline tours.

Leif has been highlighted previously for his moving way with lyrics and his ability to build brooding and deeply emotive atmospheres, tying 60s folk music with jazz sensibilities. This batch of new music from Vollebekk hints towards his penchant for this style, producing a new original – which features drummer, Homer Steinweiss (Amy Winehouse, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings) and esteemed lap-steel guitarist, Cindy Cashdollar – and a take on one of Bon Iver's 22, A Million numbers.

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HOPdot - Before We All Go Under.

Background from David of HOPdot - A little about me I've been collaborating with a lyricist for a few years now sending songs to publishers, music companies etc. 

I was looking to get songs placed with artistes getting some positive feedback now and again, to cut a long story short decided to try and make a go of it myself with the help of my daughter Amy.

Amy is singing the vocals with myself playing instruments and production, due to covid in 2020 haven't been able to collaborate or do gigs locally in Durham hoping to do so in the future.

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Tuesday, 10 November 2020

Michaela Bekenn - AJ Rosales - Muca & La Marquise

Michaela Bekenn recently released 'The Earth Has Music' and thankfully it came our way this week. The Toronto based artist has a multitude of skills which include creating intimate, refined and beautifully arranged singer songwriter pieces, as this track amply demonstrates. ===== Chicago singer-songwriter AJ Rosales has shared 'If Not Today'. AJ has drawn a number of impressive comparisons and his music is hard to pin down into any one genre, more importantly though this is one powerful and irresistible song. ===== We are also just catching up on Muca & La Marquise who released 'October Blues' unsurprisingly at the end of October. The vocals are quite stunning as is the sumptuous bluesy musical backdrop, there's shades of Jeff Buckley but come on, surely nobody can complain about that.

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Michaela Bekenn - The Earth Has Music.

Michaela Bekenn is a Toronto-based interdisciplinary singer-songwriter, sound therapy & yoga practitioner, dancer, and storyteller. She was steeped in the arts from a young age, growing up within the Shaw Festival Theatre community where she spent two seasons as an actor. Telling stories through song, movement, and spoken word has been a guiding force in Michaela’s work and daily practice. 

Michaela currently serves a wide variety of demographics as a sound therapy practitioner, yoga teacher, meditation facilitator, and arts educator with youth. She has offered sound baths and performed at major festivals such as Download Music Festival (England) and Electric Picnic (Ireland). 

Michaela has had years of training in vocal technique and musical storytelling, and often captivates listeners with her raw and honest sound. As a songwriter, Michaela’s intention is to share music that is both enlivening and grounding for the listener, which encourages self reflection and community connection. 


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AJ Rosales - If Not Today.

Chicago singer-songwriter AJ Rosales just released the single "If Not Today." Recorded and mixed by Doug McBride at Gravity Studios, Chicago and mastered by Oli Morgan at Abbey Road Studios, London it will be featured on Rosales's fifth studio album Manifestations, set to be released on Friday, Nov 27. 

This collection of tracks is over two years in the making and his live performances of the songs have been eliciting enthusiasm from a diverse fan-base. His previous releases Ultramarine, Resistor, The Earth and Shoal EP, and Daughter Product (Fatigue) have garnered college and mainstream radio airplay and have impressed critics, leading to shows across the US.

His style is not easy to classify, perhaps "progressive acoustic" is the best term, but he has been compared to Pete Townshend for his rhythmic approach, to Cat Stevens for his emotive delivery, to Robert Fripp for his experimental explorations, to Bob Mould for his expressiveness, and to Nick Drake for his soulfulness. Ultimately, he delivers his own unique hybrid sound, blending multiple genres into a cohesive and modern sensibility that sounds like "AJ."

AJ Rosales, who has been playing guitar since his mid-teens, has opened for the international touring acts Vertical Horizon and Modern English and one of his previous singles, "Sweetest Thing" (from the 1999 EP Earth and Shoal), was included on CMJ's Certain Damage CD and was featured on WBEZ in Chicago. The title track from his 2004 album Resistor received airplay on WXRT and won glowing reviews from the Illinois Entertainer, Americana UK and Left of the Dial.

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Muca & La Marquise - October Blues.

Following the release of their previous singles, London and Blue Moon Bossa, which gained the attention of industry heavyweights such as Roberto Menescal and Will Gompertz, Muca & La Marquise return with a Bluesy Ballard, 'October Blues'.

Imagine, for five minutes, being able to lose yourself to a female Jeff Buckley singing on a 'Since I've Been Loving You' style ballad with a Gilmour inspired guitar solo.

If you can do that, you've got what Muca & La Marquise are all about.

Muca & La Marquise is Muca's brainchild musical and visual project.

For this time, Muca teamed up with Tiago Judas, a painter/illustrator, who had his comic 'The Liquid Mystery and The Solid Fatality' brought to life in an animated video for the track which was filmed by Tom Casey and edited by Luan Pali.

A full album is expected by the first semester of 2021.

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Anna Smyrk - ZOCO - Howling Bells - TCBYML

Photo - Michelle Grace Hunder Anna Smyrk - This is a Drill . Naarm/Melbourne based singer-songwriter Anna Smyrk shares a poignant moment o...