Phantom Handshakes - Marcelo Deiss - Russian Baths

Phantom Handshakes - No Better Plan.

Today, NYC-based dream-pop duo Phantom Handshakes are sharing "No Better Plan," the first single off of their new album, No More Summer Songs, coming on April 30th via Z Tapes.

The band adds that it's, "about the consequences of pleasing someone else’s wishes at the expense of following your own dreams."

Born out of quarantine, Phantom Handshakes is a collaboration between Matt Sklar (Exiles) and Federica Tassano (Sooner, Mônetre). Their first album, Be Estranged, was released last year on Z Tapes.

No More Summer Songs was written, recorded and mixed entirely by Phantom Handshakes at their respective homes in New York City and mastered by Carl Saff at Saff Mastering in Chicago. 

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Marcelo Deiss - One.

Marcelo Deiss is a Brazilian born, London based artist whose music dances between indie, blues, folk and rock. His music approaches subjects that we face everyday. Constantly bombarded with advertising, fake news and social media, we become numb to the real world and lose touch with ourselves, while simultaneously the planet is dividing itself. Marcelo’s music is a reflection of this and how we can so easily lose track of what’s real and what’s not. He opens up discussions about these subjects and stands up to them, fighting for change.

His upcoming EP Hurl features six tracks, all delving into the world’s issues and how we can truly make a difference if we put our minds to it. Leading single “ONE” is a song about finding the strengths to fight back and standing together before it is too late. The organ-filled song is packed with emotion and feeling, lifting spirits up and showing others that we’re capable of great things.

Then there is “On the Way Out!” - born during the American elections and tackles political issues. It’s satirical nature and quirky instrumentation adds a sense of comic relief to a sober situation. “JuVenTuDe” is about the youth living in these troubled times. Minimalist guitar arrangements and mellow vocals provide comfort, reminding listeners that better days are ahead. “Fragments (Tell Me About It)” is about falling through the rabbit hole and being down and lost, overcoming those feelings and coming out alive on the other side. Raucous guitars and roaring organs make you feel as if you’re being born again. “Chiba City Scene” like the name suggests, was inspired by the book Neuromancer and is about the greedy higher power in charge. The track features sweeping strings, raindrop sounding piano and a singing guitar, all of which tell a story without any words being needed.

Title-track “Hurl” was written two years ago and talks about the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and standing up to the men. Bringing the EP to a close, it’s high energy and clashing instruments make it impossible to ignore what Marcelo has to say.

Spending time in both London and Sao Paulo, the musician is able to explore new sounds as well as new topics. The commute between these two cities influenced Marcelo immensely, he shares, “To immerse yourself in a new culture can 100% change the way you think. That really shaped the pursuit of subjects I was interested in whilst writing the EP. Just by observing people we can learn a lot about ourselves.” Interestingly enough we tend to behave the same across the world. We are different yet have so many things in common. The idea of writing about society came from his experiences of being immersed in these two cultures. Through the rawness of his music and the sheer gravity of his lyrics, the Brazilian artist is creating music to stimulate emotions. Hurl is currently available worldwide.

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Russian Baths - Responder (Night).

Russian Baths have unveiled a re-imagining of their single "Responder," titled "Responder (Night)." The new version strips the original's waves-crashing noise-rock to its melodic, atmospheric core leaving flittering keys and percussion and Luke Koz and Jess Rees' vocals laid bare.

The band details; "Striving to control others (emotions, desire, behaviors) corrupts. This seems like a chronic symptom of the worst in masculinity.

A responder talks back, but does it listen? Not equipped with the tools to be vulnerable, one voice denies reality, refuses to connect, exerts more control, idolizing restraint ("the way I held every face card") and admonishing its counterpart ("you way you scolded me"). With denial (to self and other), all's bound to collapse. Both know it will happen. Neither wants it.

I guess it's also an exploration of the big 80s breakup love ballads of the Patty Smyth featuring Don Henley variation, but the dark sexual politics of the heartbreak are more explicit. This is the night version.

I was listening to a lot of the xx and Sinead O'Connor when we wrote it and when re-recording it, I was listening to PJ Harvey almost exclusively. I wonder if this bleeds into the atmosphere."

Good Eye Records · Russian Baths - "Responder (Night)"

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Shane Pendergast - Piers Faccini

Shane Pendergast - It Slips Away.

Shane Pendergast is a folksinger from Tracadie Cross, Prince Edward Island. He learned to play by ear at an early age, immersed in a culture of family kitchen parties; by age 13 he was performing professionally on stage. 

Shane’s connection to Maritime folk music dates back to the efforts of his great-grandparents, preservers of folklore in P.E.I. Shane is carrying the torch forward with his own songs, inspired by rural life and Maritime history. At age 22, Shane is known as an “old-school troubadour,” performing upwards of 200 gigs a year. In 2020 he released his debut album, “Place to the Name.”

“Shortly after the track was recorded, I received the word that a close friend of mine passed away. The song is about loss, so it took on an added meaning. The music video footage is from a show I played at Toronto’s TRANZAC Main Hall. That was the last night that I saw my friend Alex. 

I find it surreal to look back at the footage of him, not to mention the big crowd that was gathered. Nobody knew that the world would slip away a few weeks later with the COVID-19 lockdown.”

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Piers Faccini - The Real Way Out.

British-Italian artist Piers Faccini today announces his new album ‘Shapes Of The Fall’ for release on April 2, 2021 through Nø Førmat! (Oumou Sangaré, Blick Bassy & Mélissa Laveaux) / Beating Drum. Featuring collaborations with Ben Harper and Abdelkebir Merchane, ‘Shapes Of The Fall’ is Faccini’s seventh album in a career spanning over twenty years and collaborations with the likes of Rokia Traoré, Ballaké Sissoko and Vincent Segal. The announcement arrives alongside the first track lifted from the album, ‘The Real Way Out’.

In the Gabriel Garcia Marquez story A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, the author reflects on the opposing facets of human nature, like the two sides of a spinning coin landing randomly either on cruelty or compassion. Faccini’s new album ‘Shapes Of The Fall’, speaks of something similar - asking, which part of our nature will prevail in the modern world; will we, as the very old man with broken wings, learn to fly again or are we destined to fall? It’s an unsettling question which permeates tender new single ‘The Real Way Out’ - a consideration of regret and sorrow that is nonetheless leavened with a real sense of hope. Speaking about the new track, Faccini says; ‘The Real Way Out’ is a love song to life itself in the shape of an enigma, the unsolved mystery being, the impossibility of reconciling a perfect love with our imperfect identities.

Recorded live in a farmhouse studio in the French countryside, co-produced by Fred Soulard - ‘Shapes of the Fall’ draws heavily on Faccini’s own ancestry, on southern Italian, Arab-Andalusian and Sephardic modes and rhythms, bridging southern Europe with the Near East and Africa. Beginning with his fascination with Tarantismo from Puglia and the last known example of trance ritual and music in Europe, the album crosses the narrow straits of the Mediterranean, accompanied by two Algerian brothers and master instrumentalists, Malik and Karim Ziad, to interplay with trance traditions in the Maghreb and in Berber and Gnawa culture.

The songs on ‘Shapes Of The Fall’ - with string quartet arrangements provided by Spanish composer Luca Suarez - are steeped in rhythm, blending Faccini’s custom-made hybrid fretless instrument, the guitar-oud, bender & tamburello frame drums, karkabous castanets and handclaps to compelling effect.

As a whole, ‘Shapes Of The Fall’ is characterised by an elegiac quality - a thoughtful collection of songs with parallels not only to humans’ destructive effect on the ecosystems of the natural world around us, but also to the internal monologues of our own lives, our own reflections. How have we strung the beads of our lives together? What choices, what actions will determine our rise or fall?

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Miesha and the Spanks - Jaelee Roberts - The Neighbourhood Watch - Hadda Be

Miesha and the Spanks - I Want Fire.

Miesha & The Spanks offer a dynamic mixture of punk, garage and hard rock embellished with straightforward lyrics, gritty production and hard hitting performances. Inspired by proto punk classics like The Runaways, MC5 and The Stooges, and 90s riot grrrl/grunge like L7 and The Gits, M&TS conjure an energy that hits you in the face, throwing you into a world of killer riffs and sweaty gig venues.

Originally a punk rock kid from the East Kootenays, front-woman Miesha Louie started this project a decade ago after moving to big city Calgary, AB. She toured and released like crazy, building momentum and a reputation for her DIY approach, with any drummer up for the challenge. Joined by Sean Hamilton five years ago, he brought big Bonham style that’s intuitive like John Freese, always creating the right feel for the song.

Recorded in Brighton UK, their 2018 release Girls Girls Girls was produced by Danny Farrant of punk legends The Buzzcocks. The album reached #1 on Earshot!’s National Loud charts, and had singles hit #7 on CBC 3’s R3-30, and #1 on the Indigenous Music Countdown. It received multiple adds on SiriusXM Canada, and was even given attention from Rodney Bingenheimer’s Sirius XM show in the US. At the YYC Music Awards, Girls Girls Girls brought home Rock Recording Of The Year and Single Of The Year (“Summer Love”), as well as securing Miesha as Female Artist Of The Year.

Taking a brief hiatus while Miesha birthed twins, M&TS are back with their next release, Singles EP. While the Covid-19 pandemic did slow down production, the duo have put their full weight behind first singles “Unstoppable” and “Wanna Feel Good” – a juggernaut garage rock banger and a gritty fuzzed out anthem, respectively – reminding us that sometimes head first, full throttle, is the only way to get it done. Both songs received adds to SiriusXM Canada’s CBC Radio 3 and Indigenous Peoples’ Radio, with features on The Verge and Rodney Bingenheimer Show. Wanna Feel Good charted Top 10 on the Indigenous Music Countdown.

What was meant to be a mixed tape of self-serving, standalone tracks for radio and licensing, Singles EP instead became a collection of songs influenced by the immediate life-changing effects of life during lockdown. Working with Western Canadian Music Award winning artist/producer Leeroy Stagger was meant to reign in Miesha & The Spanks, to clean up the noise for crisp, polished songs – but visited from the ghost of punk rock past, Stagger instead turned it up (way up) and imbued their crunchy mono-guitar sound with extra doses of fuzz and feedback, guaranteed to get the blood pumping.

“I Want Fire” is the third single coming in hot ahead of Singles EP, boasting a catchy as hell chorus, and conjuring the urge to explode we’re all feeling after nearly a year of restrictions and lockdowns. For those who want to burn it all down or light it up, I Want Fire is open to interpretation. This song rocks hard, and serves as a strong representation of what’s to come.

Miesha and the Spanks · I Want Fire

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Jaelee Roberts - Something You Didn't Count On.

Hearing a new talent finding her voice is always an exciting musical moment, and though “Something You Didn’t Count On” might not be Jaelee Roberts’ literal debut, it marks her arrival on the scene in a way that almost demands recognition. With support from award-winning bassist/producer Tim Surrett (Balsam Range) and a group of supremely skilled and empathetic musicians, Roberts’ first single for Mountain Home Music Company more than fulfills every expectation for the young singer-songwriter.

“Jaelee’s is a name you should remember. I’ve got a feeling we’ll be hearing it a lot in the future,” says hit country singer/songwriter and 2-time IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year Shawn Camp, and he’s right. “Something You Didn’t Count On” underlines the point, offering both the song itself — co-written with another grass-inflected singer-songwriter, Theo MacMillan — and a confident performance that stands out boldly from the music supplied by an all-star crew that includes Surrett; 2-time Mandolin Player of the Year, Alan Bibey; 5-time Banjo Player of the Year, Kristin Scott Benson; guitarist Tony Wray (Blue Mafia, John Cowan Band) and fiddler Jimmy Mattingly (Dolly Parton, Garth Brooks, The Grascals).

“‘Something You Didn’t Count On’ is about anything that happens in life unexpectedly,” says Roberts. “The main theme is about love coming out of nowhere, but it really has so many underlying meanings, and that’s why I love the song so much. The melody and lyrics came to Theo and I pretty quickly and, interestingly, the storyline comes from either the male or female perspective. I think my favorite line in the song is ‘you don’t always look for what you find’ which is the focus of what the song is all about!”

Indeed, while the group turns in typically burnished backing, energetic solos and razor-sharp harmonies from Flatt Lonesome’s Paul and Kelsi Harrigill, Roberts is in full command as she delivers the song’s well-crafted story of an unexpected love capable of sweeping past every doubt and obstacle. And though it’s more providential than deliberate, “Something You Didn’t Count On” may serve, too, as a metaphor for the jump start the single should give to her career.

Syntax Creative · Jaelee Roberts - "Something You Didn't Count On"

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The Neighbourhood Watch - Lost In Bloom (Album).

Our brand new album, Lost in Bloom, is about three things: abandoning arrogance, resenting the people we loved, and being scared of growing up. A collection of profound changes and adjustments have happened over the past two years, in all of our lives. Whether it was deep self-reflection on how we treated our friends, relationships ending, or the anxiety of a global pandemic – the years between 19 and 21 were eventful.

The song, "20 Year Dream," is about being happy for the people you used to love. Accepting that you were standing in the way of their growth—and that they’re better off without you. My favourite lyric is you've got your own sense of loving, and it let me down. I wrote this track sitting in a garden in Johannesburg, tipsy from an evening at a rooftop bar in Maboneng. I had just cried after a hard call, recognizing that I was letting so many of the people I love down.

Let's reflect on how our energy has the power to make others either feel warm and loved, or cold and rejected. Whether it's actual adolescence or arrested development, a lot of us aren't conscious enough of our impact and responsibility in the world. It's such simple things. How you share good news. How you argue with your significant other. Make space for the people you love to say what they need to say, and be who they need to be.

Lost in Bloom is about a few young men learning that growing up isn't about ambition, but rather kindness. - The Neighbourhood Watch.

The Neighbourhood Watch · Lost In Bloom

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Hadda Be - Another Life.

Hadda Be (formerly Foundlings) walks the line of early 90's fuzzy indiepop, reaching for the stars britpop, and somehow still finding ways to keep it all danceable and sharp. 

The band was formed under the name Foundlings in 2018, spread across joint hometowns of South London and Brighton. Their first two singles, ‘Misery’ and ‘Horizon’, received generous airplay on BBC 6 Music and Radio X, as well as Melita Dennett’s BBC Introducing the South. The following year saw the release of the band’s debut, eponymously-titled EP via their new record label, Last Night From Glasgow. In support of the release, the band took to the road, performing at festivals across the UK and selling out their two release shows at the Sebright Arms (London) and Stereo (Glasgow).

In 2020, with the departure of the band’s original bass player, a new member, a recent introduction to parenthood, a debut album in the works, brexit-induced political turmoil, coronavirus and a US trademark dispute to boot, the newly replenished four-piece made the change to Hadda Be. Taken from Allen Ginsberg’s poem Hadda Be Playing on the Radio , the new name reflects a fresh outlook for the band, a keener understanding of its sound and a heightened sense of purpose.

The aptly titled Another Life , the band’s forthcoming debut album, was recorded in five days at Brighton Road Studios in between the two national lockdowns. The intention of the album was to create a body of work that captures the energy and spirit of the band, something that sets them apart: “There’s a vibrancy and an energy to our live shows, a distinct personality that we wanted to immortalise in our debut album. The songs were mostly recorded live, with some overdubs here and there. Due to the coronavirus lockdown restrictions, the recording of the album was delayed twice. By the time we finally managed to get into the studio, we had the songs down to an extent that we recorded most of them in only a few takes.” That immediacy is palpable throughout the album, the band achieving what they set out to do, capturing their spirit over the course of five intense and unforgettable days.

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Roseanne Reid - Raquel Kiaraa - Departure Lounge - Partner

Roseanne Reid - Tentsmuir Sky.

Scottish singer and songwriter Roseanne Reid unveils ‘Tentsmuir Sky’, the second offering from her upcoming EP ‘Horticulture’, set for release on April 10th, via Last Man. Inspired by Tentsmuir Forest in Fife, Scotland, the track in Rosanne’s own words “tries to capture the magic of a place which has offered me both escape from and reconnection with the world. The Redshank and Roe deer referenced in the opening lines highlight just a fraction of the amazing variety of wildlife that inhabit the forest, at the edge of which the sea meets the sky”.

Entirely written and home-recorded during lockdown by Roseanne herself and mixed by The Who and Manic Street Preacher’s producer Dave Eringa, ‘Tentsmuir Sky’ is the follow up to ‘You Underestimate Me’, which premiered on BBC Scotland’s Another Country with Ricky Ross last December.

Lockdown and cancelled tours in 2020, saw Roseanne perform series of popular live streams from her garden. Inspired by her interest in horticulture, she enrolled in a degree course whilst also learning music production and recording techniques. These two new skills created the basis for the forthcoming EP ‘Horticulture’, a four-track collection of new songs due for release as a special edition vinyl in April 2021. Last year Roseanne was nominated for Song Of The Year at the UK Americana Awards for ‘Amy’, this year Roseanne played an exclusive live streamed show during the AmericanaFest UK.

Opening for Teddy Thompson in 2022, Roseanne will support his 12 dates tour starting at Glasgow’s Oran Mor on 21st January 2022, touching London’s Earth Theatre on 28th January, before ending at Manchester’s Band On The Wall on 3rd February.

Roseanne Reid’s critically acclaimed debut album, ‘Trails’ announced the official arrival of a singular voice in folk-roots and americana music. Produced by Teddy Thompson and featuring Americana legend Steve Earle - has seen the talented troubadour and eldest daughter of The Proclaimers' Craig Reid - been praised for her “authentic country-tinged folk” by The Sun (****), with approval from Uncut (8/10) and Sunday Times Culture, the latter also including the album among its “100 best records of the year”. While support at radio from Jools Holland’s on Radio 2, and live sessions with BBC London’s Robert Elms and Another Country with Ricky Ross at BBC Scotland further enhanced her reputation.

 

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Raquel Kiaraa - Official Love to the Moon 

Have you ever imagined what it would be like to grasp the tail of a kite?  Imagine no more; Raquel Kiaraa is prepared to take you with her on a trajectory to the "moon."

Raquel Kiaraa is a  modern-day chanteuse who defies genre with musical dexterity. She gave wings to her music in 2018, having never sung or played an instrument prior. “At 32 I learned how to sing and play the piano so I could transform my poetry into music, the same age as my muse/role model, Leonard Cohen when he began making music,” she shares. Love, loss, hopelessness, and redemption weave seamlessly throughout her deceptively simple yet soulful lyrics.

Raquel’s voice has been compared to Amy Winehouse, Florence and the Machine, Alannah Myles, Joan Jett, and Carly Simon. Her energy, showmanship and performance presence have been inspired by the talented Lady Gaga and Cher, curating her own unique stage costumes that command her presence to be felt and known.

By 2019, Raquel was motivated and determined enough to finally turn her goals into reality. By simply believing in the power of her music, she assembled a band of accomplished musicians and, after only two rehearsals, some vocal lessons and music sheets for 13 original songs, Raquel produced two sold-out 250+-seater performances, selling her own tickets and running her own publicity single-handedly.

But nothing has come without a cost for Raquel; there were many lows in her life, in particular an athletic career thwarted by an injury. But as a young, tall, awkward teen, she emerged into adulthood with startling poise and glamour, believing that fear would never be her leader.   On the way to becoming, Raquel wrote her feelings into her journal. Words, stories, and observations in life were etched into the pages of what would one day be released to the world as lyrics to her hauntingly beautiful songs.

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Departure Lounge - Australia.

From Athens, Georgia to Australia in one bound, the sound of legendary R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck’s twelve strings jangle their inimitable way through the latest single from Departure Lounge, reunited Bella Union-alumni ‘critics choice’ band, now signed to reputed UK indie Violette Records, who announced their first album for two decades at the end of 2020. The band's singer and songwriter Tim Keegan sought out his friend of thirty years after noticing a distinct ‘Rickenbacker-shaped hole’ in the track during their brief, yet fruitful album sessions.

Of all the eventful incidents of a life in music well-lived, Keegan counts his longstanding friendship with Buck, initially via their mutual musical acquaintance, Robyn Hitchcock and more recently via a tiny festival in Arctic Norway with John Paul Jones, amongst the most enduring and valuable of happy accidents. As an R.E.M. devotee from the early-80s, Keegan subconsciously wrote the perfect foundation for Buck to layer streams of his distinctive fretwork over in Australia, a studio-crafted slice of urgent alt-rock with the pan-American flavour of both Illinois’ Wilco and California’s Grandaddy. However, it was Buck’s contribution, according to Keegan, that brought the whole thing right back to Georgia.

"Listening to the playback of 'Australia' in the studio, I remember saying to the rest of the band: ‘what this song needs is Peter Buck’ (like the bicycle in the Quentin Blake book, ‘Mrs. Armitage on Wheels’). I sent him the rough mix, he said he dug the song and went and played the perfect part on it. I am not ashamed to say that when I opened that email and first listened to his divine soloed track on headphones, I shed some tears of joy. Now it sounds like a great lost REM single from 1989 (with a different singer, sure) and it's probably the best thing we've ever done.” - Tim Keegan, Departure Lounge.

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Partner - Good Place To Hide (At The Time).

Partner are back with a new video for their RUSH-inspired single "Good Place To Hide (At The Time)." It is the final single, from Partner's Never Give Up (You've Changed Records) the follow up to their break out debut album, In Search of Lost Time. There is a content warning, however, the video does include mimes/clowns. It also features Partner doing choreographed synchronized dance moves, under the direction of Karissa Laroque.

A Message from Partner: "Please take note of the content warning, this video includes mimes (clowns). This video is the result of a collaboration between ourselves and our friend Mylou Sauvage. We were so excited when Mylou offered to direct our next music video. We knew she was a film industry professional with a lot of experience, and that she would be the perfect person to interpret our queer, melancholy prog rock song.

We had quite an adventure making this video. The journey to the set was dramatic, featuring an unexpected snow storm. Despite wretched weather we had a wonderful day and we were extremely inspired by Mylou's one-of-a-kind leadership qualities and artistic eye. She brought together an amazing crew of friends, family and co-workers to help on the set, and we had so much fun working together and celebrating over pizza at Tartinizza later that night.

We are so happy with how the video turned out, but the greatest gift was the day we all spend together. We are so grateful to have this memento of that wonderful day with our friend Mylou. Never Give Up is dedicated to her memory. Thanks for watching! " - Partner

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