Alice Tambourine Lover - Adam Hattaway and The Haunters - Lara Mrgic - Natalie Jane Hill

Alice Tambourine Lover - Forse Non Sei Tu.

Wandering between lazy Mazzy Star/Cowboy Junkies atmospheres and more gritty moments reminiscent of Mark Lanegan, Bologna-based duo Alice Tambourine Lover (Alice Albertazzi and Gianfranco Romanelli) are back with single 'Forse Non Sei Tu', out for heavy psych rock label Go Down Records (IT).

For the first time the tracks are sung in Italian, but the music language lingers on their cradling dream-roots idiom - somewhere between Yo La Tengo and Cranes. 

Forse Non Sei Tu features lyrics by Ligurian singer-songwriter Vittorio Carniglia, while the B-side is a cover version of 'Vorrei Incontrarti', one of the masterpieces of Alan Sorrenti's progressive production, played with a bluesy feeling that adds flavor to its cold beauty.

Alice Tambourine Lover were founded in 2011 as a side-project of psych band Alix, with five albums released among which Ground, recorded by David Lenci and Good One, recorded by Steve Albini. In 2012 they played All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival, headlined by Neurosis, Shellac, Red Fang, Uzeda. They have released, all on Go Down Records, Naked Songs (2012), Star Rovers (2013), Like A Rose (2015), which features two songs by Dandy Brown (Hermano, Orquesta Del Desierto) and John Garcia (Kyuss, Unida, Hermano), and Down Below (2019).

 

==========================================================================

Adam Hattaway and The Haunters - Riding the River.

Adam Hattaway & The Haunters are a New Zealand band who are steeped in the sound of American classic rock from the 60s and 70s, while doing their best to update these classic motifs for a modern audience. 

You’ll definitely hear a heavy influence of Van Morrison and The Rolling Stones, but their sound blends elements of soul, country, blues, and even punk rock on their new album. 

Led by frontman Adam Hattaway on guitars, vocals, and harmonica, the band appeals to classic rock fans who still love the tried-and-true style of those legendary bands but are looking for new bands who are carrying on that mantle into the 21st century.

==========================================================================

Lara Mrgic - Took Your Lover.

Alternative Pop queen, Lara Mrgic, is gearing up to release her next anticipated music video for her recent single titled “Took Your Lover” on October 8th. The track is available to stream on all platforms.
Lara Mrgic has an effortless flow when sharing her beautiful music through her angelic vocals and expressive sound.

The Bay Area Native finds her sound through pain and melancholic experiences and has always turned to music her entire life as a safe haven and space. Lara knew music was going to be in her life forever after finding this passion at the young age of 3. As she grew up, she began crafting her sound and learned to love the challenges thrown her way.

Translating her interest in writing and poetry into music, Lara introduces her audience to a new way to perceive the world through her own eyes. Presenting her love for 60’s/70’s film progression, Lara also finds ways to give a modern day twist to these elements and incorporate them into her alternative pop sound.

For her upcoming single, “Took Your Lover” Lara Mrgic notes that, “I wrote a symphony...and let the strings speak for themselves.”

==========================================================================

Natalie Jane Hill - Solely.

"Solely”, the sophomore effort by folk guitarist/singer-songwriter Natalie Jane Hill, is a record of transition. While the Central Texas native’s stunning debut “Azalea” grew from years spent developing a textural narrative voice and idiosyncratic guitar style in the vibrant Blue Ridge Mountains, “Solely” represents a period of inward growth, and an outward push into an expanded sonic palette.

Following a move back to the Austin area in the fall of 2019, just months ahead of the pandemic, Natalie began an intensive period of reflection, and expanded her song-craft’s foundations from the broader themes of nature into the vulnerable intricacies of self-discovery. Along with this process came an openness to external creative input.

Recorded between October 2020-March 2021 to Tascam 8 track in the Lockhart Texas home of producer Jason Chronis (Voxtrot, Tele Novella), these recordings represent Hill’s first incorporation of other musicians into her arrangements, featuring performances by Mat Davidson (Twain) among several other trusted friends. There is a liberating and careful grace in these collaborations, providing strength and color to the upper branches of each song while preserving space for the health of the roots.

“Solely” is a celebration of knowing ourselves well enough to be able to accept the darkest paths of introspection, which can allow us to combine our creative influence with others to construct the experiences we want to have. Like lived experience itself, this music breathes and inhabits the space you allow for it, constantly revealing new qualities and inviting repeated reflection.

==========================================================================

SUEP - Nisa - Jackson Dyer

SUEP - Domesticated Dream.

The stubbornly high spirited SUEP create oddball music with a touch of theatrical storytelling. Led by SuepLord (Porridge Radio, Garden Centre, The GN Band) and Brain Wastefield (UK top model), SUEP is borne out of a near-decade of wearing silly clothes and deconstructing pop together.

After relocating from Brighton to London, the pair added GN (The GN Band, Joanna Gruesome, The Tubs), Freakin' Deacon (PC World, Garden Centre), and T-Mr.9 (Head of Pastoral Care) to the line-up. They take turns writing songs and taking lead vocal duties but manage to create a coherent world of playful collaboration. Their songs take the listener through haunted castles, deprived encounters, days lost to the imagination in bed, and through the integral friendships that give SUEP the energy to keep dancing to their own beat.

SUEP’s infectious debut single Domesticated Dream combines a classic 70s Yamaha disco beat, deep bass, nostalgic drum machine sounds, a whole lot of cowbells, and hooky melodies. It’s about homelife, drinking too much, and making big plans that never come to fruition.

As SuepLord expands, “It’s about not having enough money or time to acquire stuff that you want because of capitalism, and about wanting someone to share your life with in a cosy and settled way.”  Sprinkled, however, with a lot of technicoloured positivity for the future of the human-race, with the chorus’ refrain, “the psychedelic 4000s,” predicting the return of a 60s-esque psychedelic Age of Aquarius in a couple of millennia time.

The kitsch 70s home video was shot in one room in Brian Wastefield’s house, an old MOT centre in Fulham, using green screen, Wastefield’s colourful wardrobe and images of odd retro rooms taken from the @estate_age archives on Instagram.

==========================================================================

Nisa - St. James Gate.

Early in 2021, the 22-year-old began work on a new collection of songs that would make up the forthcoming EP, Time To Plant Tears. The title takes its name from the final stanza of an Elizabeth Bishop poem called Sestina. Working together with collaborator and producer, Ronnie Di Simone, the songs were recorded between Brooklyn's Studio G and the Brick Box studio. The new EP demonstrates Nisa's penchant for intimate storytelling cast against the backdrop of glistening, cinematic soundscapes reminiscent of Angel Olsen, Indigo De Souza, Japanese Breakfast and Soccer Mommy. In describing the mood of the EP, Nisa has said that the songs are centered around “confrontation and focus; weathering internal and external changes; desire, and emotional rebirth.” Intersecting cinematic and poetic frames of reference, it lands between what is said and what is felt.

The opening track on the EP and the lead single, "St James Gate" provides a stellar introduction to the new collection. Sonically, it ebbs and flows, building from intimate guitar into a wonderful horn solo that serves to remind us of breaking free from stifled emotions.

When discussing the single, Nisa says: "I wrote “St. James Gate" after reading Sally Rooney’s Normal People and feeling deeply affected by the author’s descriptions of love in private spaces. The raging horn solo and blistering shouts over the final chorus are sobering reminders of the emotional claustrophobia of hiding."

Born to Albanian immigrants in the Bronx, Nisa learned to speak Albanian before English and grew up listening to the traditional folk music of her parent’s native country. It wasn’t long before she began venturing out into what she describes to be a “diverse and accepting arts community,” playing regularly at open mic nights in high school and joining a rock collective in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Her exploration of songwriting began when she was advised to lean into the rock stylings of the Eagles as an introduction to the guitar, from here she developed her own way of storytelling while referencing the likes of PJ Harvey, Björk and Radiohead as other key cornerstones to her approach.

==========================================================================

Jackson Dyer - Losing Light.

Jackson Dyer explains: "The film clip for my newest single ‘Losing Light’ was a fun video that I made with director Job Antoni Schellekens, a fellow Berlin-based artistand good friend. As the song is centered on lovely days with friends and of wanting to extend time so you can squeeze every bit of happiness out of the moment, Job shot the video on a DV handycam and a 16mm camera, which helped create a nostalgic, light-hearted atmosphere. We shot the video with a fewfriends, as well as Pascal Karier, who plays drums on the track, and our friend Elliot McKee, from Berlin duo Charity Children, also lent his expertise to the editing the clip. All in all, it was a super enjoyable process. :)"

'Losing Light’ is an upbeat, joyful track written with fellow Berlin-based musician Florian Höfer and featuring drums from Pascal Karier. The single reflects Dyer’s move to a more collaborative approach to songwriting. Particularly in recent, more isolated times, writing with others has offered Dyer a way to connect more with other musicians and approach his music in a more open and enjoyable way. This care-free approach is evident in ‘Losing Light’, an uptempo and optimistic song.

Since arriving in Berlin, Dyer has shared the stage with Hozier, Hiatus Kaiyote and Alice Phoebe Lou, as well as playing a host of festivals and touring Europe extensively in support of acts like Mighty Oaks and Dennis Lloyd. His laid-back songs are often influenced by nature and he brings a mix of soul, folk and indie to his spacious production and evocative lyricism. Dyer is set to release a new EP this year, featuring a mix of collaborations with fellow Berlin artists, further developing his distinct style.

==========================================================================

Matt Epp and Isaac Murdoch - Selkie - Brei Carter - Sarko Montaug

Matt Epp and Isaac Murdoch - Everything We Need.

Isaac Murdoch (Bomgiizhik) is an Anishinaabe Ojibway artist and community organizer from Serpent River First Nation – a member of the Fish Clan – where he grew up in the traditional setting of hunting and gathering on the land. A world-renowned visual artist, Murdoch is perhaps best known to his tens of thousands of followers as a engaging storyteller – recounting live and online the many tales taught to him by his Elders in an effort to reach the heart of the human spirit so that we may all reconnect with, and be stewards for, the land. He currently lives in the forest at the cultural revitalization camp called Nimkii Aazhibikoong, an Indigenous community that focuses on traditional language, art, and land-based activities.

International touring artist and award-winning songwriter Matt Epp is the quintessential troubadour of the Canadian prairies, who has won the admiration of an audience that spans the globe. A stark and confessional songwriter endowed with an infinite capacity to engage an audience, Epp’s performances encourage a sense of connection and community, where every listener leaves as a friend. He is one of the gifted forerunners defining the future landscape of Canadian music – no doubt contributing to his Grand Prize win at the International Songwriting Competition in 2017. A seasoned collaborator and activist, Matt’s music has been on regular rotation on CBC, Sirius XM, and community radio for over a decade.

You Were Chosen To Be Here kick starts a grassroots unity-seeking movement through collaborative live performances between Isaac Murdoch and Matt Epp under the name ‘Revolution of the Heart’, which will begin traveling across Canada (in person and virtually) later this year. A true weaving of community, storytelling, art, and healing. Stay tuned for tour dates.

Matt Epp · 05 Everything We Need

==========================================================================

Selkie - Beatroot.

Glasgow’s Berlin-based Selkie returns bewildering second single ‘Beetroot’, which sees singer/songwriter Kristina Cox experimenting with more electronic sounds to create an effortless, liquid atmosphere, that transports you to otherworldly wonder.

Following on from her dark and dreamy debut single ‘Seeking’ (September 2021), ‘Beatroot’ holds a trip hop flavour. It is representative of a place Selkie inhabited at the time of writing: calm confusion, wild curiosity, burning desire. The low-growling bassline and melting fluidity of the synths paired with haunting, layered vocals are the perfect soundtrack for moments of introspection and searching the mysterious world of the intangible.

‘Beatroot’ is a collaboration with Glasgow based Kyle Daniel Lochhead, who comes from a lyric-writing artist background, and Patrick Cairns, a producer with a passion for analog synthesisers and creating beats. Both have influences in dub and trip hop genres which ties in perfectly with Selkie’s own musical style.

Originally hailing from the west coast of Scotland and currently based in Berlin, Selkie's music takes inspiration from the natural world. Selkie describes her songs as swaying like the ebb and flow of the ocean. The lush, and often dramatic backdrop of her homeland breathes life into her shimmering blend of electronic beats and electric guitar, as well as the spaces in between. Melding crystalline vocals and haunting harmonies with her knack for relatable storytelling, Selkie's ethereal dreamscapes won't just wash over you, they will pull you under and leave you gasping for air.

“The song began with Kyle's vision to bring the three of us together to write atmospheric music that would bewitch and enrapture people. Next came a loop Patrick made with the Moog Little Phatty, which he provisionally named ‘Beatroot’ - the name stuck, with jokes that our next collaboration would be called Raddish.

 

Selkie · Beatroot

==========================================================================

Brei Carter - Gave Him A Girl.

Crossover country and southern pop recording artist Brei Carter is excited to release her new music video for “Gave Him a Girl,” a song which she proudly embraces her southern country roots. The song was recently heralded by journalist and country music historian Robert K. Oermann as “cute and catchy” in his weekly single review column for Music Row Magazine. The video also follows suit and hints at scenes from Brei's upbringing as a little girl, her family's influence on her, and shows the very authentic and vivacious southern persona she is building a reputation for.

“Being your best self is being an original, and that’s so much better than being an imitation of someone else,” Carter said. “Girls, live in your skin and love who you are because with you everyone gets the best of both worlds!”

The video is also set to make its network TV premiere on Monday, October 11 on The Country Network, along with forthcoming airings on Country Music Today on The Heartland Network, and will also be added to the live-streaming rotation at Nashville Country Music TV.

==========================================================================

Sarko Montaug - We Live in the Sky.

"We Live In The Sky" was produced and mixed by Jorge Elbrecht (Japanese Breakfast, Wild Nothing). In it, Elbrecht weaves together stacks of melodies sung by both members of the duo propelled forward by swells of vintage synths.

The duo confides, "We let our relationship coast for too long and were faced with the classic timeline of how all tragedies form: gradually, then suddenly." The music video was filmed in a mid-century house as well as a high rise apartment building both in the Chicago area.  "We wanted the contrast of the house, preserved in the era of its time (early 60s), and the apartment in such a modern building to reinforce the concept of the past suddenly becoming the present."

While the indie pop duo Sarko Montaug may be new to the music realm, their name is not. Paying tribute to twin pillars of the 80s NYC art/nightlife scene - DJ Anita Sarko and Doorman Haoui Montaug - the group's focus is on creativity. Haoui and Anita were instrumental in providing space for artists like Beastie Boys and Madonna to perform when they were unknowns. They had incredible taste and understood the energetic release that can only be experienced in a night club full of the right amount of friends, strangers and icons.

The group currently resides in Chicago, but as constant nomads, could be moving on again by the time you read this. "No matter where we live we'll always be displaced Philadelphians,"  say the members (married partners Cristian and Jess Mora).  While most connected to new wave and other 80s genres, the group is following their creativity towards whichever musical style calls to it. "We'll always sound indie, even when we are trying to be pop and we'll always be trying to modernize the past."

==========================================================================

Wendy Rae Fowler - Reb Fountain - Gustaf - Daisy Chute

Wendy Rae Fowler - Golden Brown.

Wendy Rae Fowler has shared a brand new single - her own unique rendition of the Stranglers’ classic, ‘Golden Brown’. Whilst maintaining all the twinkling emotion of the original, Wendy makes the cover completely her own; adding a distinctive whimsical allure, a truly spellbinding rendition, exuding its own haunting grace. You may not think you know Wendy Rae Fowler, but you do.

Wendy Rae Fowler penned and performed the theme music to one of your favorite dark-noir thrillers, The Killing (AMC), and her music has been featured on Orange is The New Black (Netflix). Her work has been variously described as “Brutal and Beautiful” by The Sunday Times and “Eerie and unforgettable” by The Guardian.

She was a founding member of We Fell To Earth and has collaborated with numerous bands and artists, including vocals on Queens Of The Stone Age’s ‘Feel Good Hit of The Summer’, Mark Lanegan (Bubblegum, Field Songs, Here Comes That Weird Chill), Eagles Of Death Metal (Death By Sexy) and Maya Jane Coles. Her music has also featured on the critically acclaimed film Jeune et Jolie and the BBC Documentary A Year in an English Garden: Flicker + Pulse. The single ‘This Is Not A Love Song’ off her new album has been recently featured on CW’s The Republic Of Sarah and she has just composed the original score for the documentary film Clay + Bone, featuring Will Self.

==========================================================================

Reb Fountain - Iris.

The day hath arrived. Iris, Reb Fountain's newest album, is officially out now! Yay! We have spent the week busily picking packing boxing and wrapping all of your records and CDs in anticipation for this day of days. Rest assured, if you haven't received yours yet, the couriers are busy! IRIS is coming like the Summer down under not too far away.

Reb also has today released the visual counterpart to this week's lead single, and title-track 'Iris'; the video directed and filmed by none other than Lola Fountain-Best.

The namesake of her new album, Reb says on the single, “'Iris' is a love letter to my sisters and my many selves, an embrace that holds all the stories we never shared, a rainbow connection, a feminist arsenal, a space to rest, a prism for the heart. What’s in your heart that you dare not speak? If love be our currency, what stories we would tell?"

==========================================================================

Gustaf - Cruel.

Brooklyn art punks Gustaf have released their highly anticipated debut album, Audio Drag For Ego Slobs via Royal Mountain Records. Following love from the likes of NPR, DIY, NME, Paste, BrooklynVegan and more for their past singles "Best Behavior", "Book" and "The Motions", the band are sharing a final video for album standout "Cruel" ahead of their supporting run with IDLES throughout the US.

With further dates planned with new Royal Mountain label-mates Pillow Queens, as well as California legends Osees, Audio Drag For Ego Slobs sees Gustaf staking their claim as New York’s “hardest working…and most reliably fun bands” 

Vocalist Lydia Gammill expands on "Cruel", "When I started working out the lyrics for cruel, I liked the idea of someone getting mad at the sunlight for shining through their window. I wanted to play with the idea of someone victimizing themselves over a blessing. Ultimately "Cruel" became a ‘love’ song — or as it goes with a lot of Gustaf songs, an anti-love song."

She continues, "The protagonist in "Cruel" is unfairly upset at someone who gave them a glimpse of a good thing and then took it away. Now they’re left obsessing over the thrill of what could have been. They were content with what they already had, but once they knew something more was possible they became indignant over losing it. Selfishly musing that if they knew it would be like this, they would’ve rather not had the thing at all."

==========================================================================

Daisy Chute - Let Me Be Your Home.

Daisy Chute is a folk/Americana singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and regular on the London music scene. Daisy's new single ‘Let Me Be Your Home’ is taken from her forthcoming new EP ‘Songs of Solace’.

’Let Me Be Your Home’ is the second in a concept EP entitled ‘Songs of Solace’ that follows the beginning, middle and end of a relationship and explores themes of mental health and depression. The EP features acoustic heartfelt songs with female vocal,   guitar, cello, violin & piano. 

Daisy says “Let me Be Your Home represents the honeymoon phase of the relationship. It's simply about being someone's safe place, their home. It's cosy and comforting, with a tinge of sadness hinted at with lyrics like 'when you find that life's too much to bear’”

While her musical roots were born out of her Scottish/American heritage, Daisy has had forays and extensive training in both the jazz and classical genres.  Whilst still at school Daisy signed to Universal/Decca as one quarter and lead vocalist of multi platinum selling band All Angels.
A mix of Celtic, American, Classical and Jazz backgrounds has since seen her feature across Film, TV, Game soundtracks ranging from The Sims 4, Tomb Raider, Shaun The Sheep the movie, 47 Ronin and Yesterday, to David Attenborough documentaries (A Perfect Planet) and Radiohead albums (session musician on A Moon Shaped Pool).

==========================================================================