Alyssa Gengos - Mae Mae - KAVYA - Phonosonics

Photo - Morgan Hamilton

Alyssa Gengos - Gothenburg English.

Alyssa is a multi-talented producer who's been making records auteur-style on her laptop for years ("I feel most comfortable when I'm completely alone" she says in the bio below). Her music is straight forward in style, but elegant in construction and form.

Here's what Alyssa had to say about the meaning behind the song and the video: I began writing “Gothenburg English” in my head while walking around the titular city near the end of my Scandinavian sojourn. Six months prior, I’d left a long term partner behind in New York City, hoping the relationship would survive. It did not. I finally accepted the end of it while wandering around Gothenburg and the Delsjö wilderness on the outskirts of the city. A friend told me the local accent is one of the most sing-songy in the Swedish language, and it’s audible when speaking English, too, creating a kind of “Gothenburg English.” I think of this song as a road song in the sense of American road novels and movies. I sing about my travels during this time, and admit the realization that I came to once I returned home: I was ready to move on from the relationship that had brought me so much stress and misery. I

eventually left New York for my home of Los Angeles, where I filmed the music video for this song with the help of some of my oldest friends. In it, the audience gets a glimpse into my home studio , as well as different locations that left marks on my adolescence, as I connect the person I was when I first started making music to the person I have become.

During this past year, when the stimuli from the outer world ceased, Alyssa Gengos was having some weird-ass dreams. In one that stuck with her, she dreamed that an old school bully was being kind to her. “That was a very strange dream for me to have because I don't think about this person really ever,” she says. “But it reflected to me that I have this really deep desire to be liked.” So poignant was this realization that it makes two appearances on her debut full-length Mechanical Sweetness, which melds her dreams and personal nostalgia into a new-wavey indie rock homecoming album.

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Photo - Eliot Lee Hazel

Mae Mae - Squishy.

Atlanta-born and Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Mae Mae has released “Squishy,” the first single and video from her debut EP, Gummy Heart Eyes. With shimmering xylophone and mischievous bass fluttering throughout, “Squishy” is magnified by a kaleidoscope of whimsical sounds and an infectious hook as the track emulates the joyous emotions you feel when you’re surrounded by people you love.

Inspired by the bliss she feels from life’s little pleasures, Mae Mae’s storytelling reflects how her wide-eyed wonder and optimism collide with the world around her. The same is true of the song’s video, which depicts a home movie-style walk through a garden with her very sweet four-legged companion. 

The video’s calm and inviting aesthetic mirrors Mae Mae’s earnestness, “Squishy” is unconventional yet welcoming, reflecting how her distinctive charm blends into pop appeal.

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KAVYA - Lay Your Head Down.

‘Lay Your Head Down’ marks the 2nd release from KAVYA’s debut EP 'Know Me Better'. The song talks about what are the ingredients required for a friendship to stand the test of time. Friendship is a priceless gift which should be honoured and a common theme to be observed in a relationship of any form. What are the ingredients required to build on a promising friendship?

For KAVYA, it starts off with being present in the physical form with the other, opening up multiple conversation points, and understanding what makes the other person. Then, delving a bit deeper and exploring the future prospective she sees with the other, how she can contribute and enhance the other’s life and vice versa.

Aligned with prospective, it is equally important for her to uncover the individual’s aspirations and expectations so that she can be the friend who can encourage the other to achieve them, be aware and mindful of her role to not disappoint the other when expectations aren’t met. And in this entire process, if things don’t go as planned, she opens up the opportunity to ‘lay your head down’ and just be present as that is the truest point of friendship achieved - once of accepting the circumstances as is and not giving up on someone who you have invested your time and opened your heart too. That is the key to sustain a fruitful friendship built over time.

"Lay Your Head Down was written over many years where I found myself wanting to understand the various layers of all my friendships and what truly makes them special. This track is a tribute to my curiosity to connections made between people."

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Phonosonics - New Again (Album).

Phonosonics is a Canadian Rocksteady and Early Reggae band, pleased to announce their latest album New Again. Since 2015, this group has been dazzling audiences with their reverent yet modern take on Rocksteady, Ska and Early Reggae. Phonosonics began as the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist and producer Spencer Cleave and has grown to be one of Canada’s fastest emerging Reggae acts.

The band has been racking up accolades since their earliest days. Their releases have been featured on some of the most listened-to Reggae radio shows in the world and consistently charted in the top 10 on Canadian independent radio. They have opened for The Wailers and served as backing band for The Fabulous Lolo, Sister Nancy and Leroy “Heptone” Sibbles.

These connections to the worldwide Reggae community came in handy when production began on New Again in 2019. The album was slated for a 2020 release, but unfortunately sidelined by the pandemic. The group persevered and tenaciously finished putting together a beautiful and vintage-sounding collection of Rocksteady, Early Reggae, Ska and Blue Beat style tunes with a positive message.

With their characteristically painstaking commitment to authenticity and respect for the source material, New Again feels more like it could have been produced in 1970s Kingston than 2020s Victoria. Drawing on their friends in the Reggae community, they were able to recruit artists such as Leroy Sibbles, Horseman, Montreal’s Dr. Watson, and Roger Rivas of the Aggrolites to join in on the record. New Again is the story of rebirth and redemption, and its themes have taken on new meaning these past years. Phonosonics want you to know it's never too late to turn it all back around, and make it new again.

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KIN - Massage

KIN - The Runaways.

Ambient indie pop band KIN return with their most ambitious single yet, The Runaways. Following the success of their first three singles, which have been collectively streamed over 310,000k times on Spotify, their new track, unleashed last Friday, is a pulsating pop anthem with dreamy guitar riffs, beautiful melodies, and mesmerising beats. The song is produced by Josh Tyrrell (Lana Del Rey, Mark Ronson, Tony Visconti) and released with 3tone Music. 

The band is formed of Grace (performance maker and model), Ritu (lead in the Netflix series The Umbrella Academy and star in the film Red Notice alongside Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot and Dwayne Johnson) and Adam (last seen on stage at the National Theatre).

Their music blends electronic keys and catchy guitar riffs to produce a sound that is unique, dynamic, and constantly evolving. Influences include indie powerhouses such as The XX, Warpaint, Still Corners and Foals as well as female-fronted bands like Chromatics, Cocteau Twins and Soccer Mommy.

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Massage - In Gray & Blue.

Just a few months after releasing their acclaimed second album Still Life, Los Angeles indie-pop band Massage returns with Lane Lines — a six-track EP out in early 2022 on Mt.St.Mtn. (Cindy, Flowertown, Blues Lawyer) that finds the quintet expanding on their Sarah-meets-Creation Records sound with new touches of soft psychedelia, Feelies-ish frenzy and Haçienda-era escapism.

"This sparkling homage to New Order's Ibiza period is the first single off Massage's new Lane Lines EP.  If the first Pains album is your favorite, Massage are very much in that vein, but with a little more emphasis on '80s British indie, from Mary Chain noise to Field Mice preciousness. The lead track, 'In Gray & Blue,' is a warm, melodic winner that draws from a very specific influence -- the guitary half of New Order's 1989 Ibiza-made album Technique."

The band didn’t plan to follow Still Lines so quickly. But after the pandemic further delayed that multi-year project, Alex Naidus (guitar, vocals, former Pains of Being Pure at Heart), Andrew Romano (guitar, vocals), Gabrielle Ferrer (keyboards, percussion, vocals), David Rager (bass) and Natalie de Almeida (drums) leapt at the chance to make music together again in real life and started gathering on random summer evenings in the tiny rehearsal-space studio of producer-composer Andrew Brassell (Susanna Hoffs) with no clear goal in mind.

Lane Lines is the surprise product of those informal sessions — a flash of pent-up creative energy that serves as both a companion piece to Still Life and an exploration of textures and influences that didn’t quite fit the full-length but have always been deeply embedded in the band’s DNA, with new echoes of 1980s artists that sought to refract the 1960s through their own skewed prisms: Flying Nun, the Paisley Underground, The Feelies covering The Beatles, “Second Summer of Love” New Order.

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James - Nichole Wagner - The Alex Leach Band

James - Miss America (Library Session).

James are pleased to announce the release of The Campfire EP, available on November 19, 2021. Filmed at Broughton Hall in the UK’s Yorkshire Dales earlier this year, the EP features uniquely intimate versions of three tracks from James’ latest album, All The Colours Of You along with the added bonus of their classic “Just Like Fred Astaire,” taken from their 1999 record, Millionaires.

The Campfire EP will be exclusively available on the James store and at the merchandise store on their forthcoming tour. The release will be limited edition, numbered and include a QR code to download the Campfire videos.

Tim Booth says “The beginning of the new James 9 piece began at Broughton Hall. The sessions there felt magical. Here is a slice of the magic that we created around a campfire one evening...”

James will perform tracks from the new record and many more from their rich catalogue on the forthcoming arena tour with special guests Happy Mondays.

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Nichole Wagner - Raised By Wolves.

Austin, Texas's Nichole Wagner is back with another single and video to preview her upcoming full length album (2022). Once again teaming up with producer Justin Douglas, Wagner's 'Raised By Wolves" features a full band and does an amazing job of highlighting her chops as both a songwriter and a performer.

Confronting her upbringing in an honest and interesting way, Wagner says of the track:
Life as a child could be unpredictable (thanks to an alcoholic mother) and I had to grow up very early, taking on responsibilities that were unfair to my age.  It toughened me up but left scars and that trauma has a way of showing up when I don’t expect it. I would joke about having been raised by wolves, something I’d tell people to soften the edges when they didn’t understand where I was coming from - a shorthand to avoid sharing details. I’ve been doing a lot of work through it these past few years and it’s showing up in my writing in a way that I hadn’t been comfortable with before.

"Raised By Wolves" and it's video, which was created by Austin's Seela, come a few months after Wagner shared the first look at her upcoming album with the track "Monsters" and it's video. With these two tracks already set upon the musical world, it's easy to get excited about the aforementioned record. Wagner continues to grow and write compelling songs that are both incredibly enjoyable from a sonic perspective as well as highly relatable lyrically.

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The Alex Leach Band - Slip Slidin' Away / Up To You.

Although he has helped carry on the legacy of bluegrass founding fathers, singer/songwriter/guitarist Alex Leach and the eponymous band he fronts are joining contemporaries like Billy Strings in redefining what modern roots music and bluegrass are through originality and a purposeful evolution away from long held stereotypes. I’m The Happiest When I’m Moving, their Jim Lauderdale-produced Mountain Home Music Company debut, marked the starting point of that evolution, blending a couple of traditional-sounding touchstones with more contemporary original material and some organically framed nods in the direction of Americana and the broader roots music world.  Now, with the release of two new singles that display the breadth of their multifaceted talent, The Alex Leach Band are doubling down on their commitment to blazing their own, unique musical trail.

On the bluegrass side, “Up To You,” written with producer Jon Weisberger, delves deeper into Leach’s propensity for thoughtful lyrics and his fondness for the progressive and newgrass-flavored sounds of musical progenitors like the Country Gentlemen and Cliff Waldron & the New Shades of Grass. The band — Miranda Leach (vocals), Joshua Gooding (mandolin, vocals), Jason Johnson (banjo) and JT Coleman (bass), along with guest violinist Chris Sexton of Nothin’ Fancy and legendary studio drummer Tony Creasman — delivers a solid groove and supple, distinctive solos, as Leach delivers a meditation on how our views of situations reflect our individual outlooks and experiences.

“I am very excited to release ‘Up To You,’” notes Leach. “I brought the idea to Jon a few months back about an optimist and a pessimist on a trip together, and how each of them viewed a stressful situation. After writing for a bit, we decided to let the listener be the one to decide if they thought of themselves as a positive thinker or a negative thinker. I also want to compliment how tastefully the band played and sang on this track. I hope this song will cause the listener to think about how they deal with situations, all while groovin’ to the music — but at the end of the day, take it exactly how you want, it’s completely ‘up to you.’”

In contrast to the original “Up To You,” the group’s cover of Paul Simon’s “Slip Slidin’ Away” foregoes the ‘grassy accents of the banjo and delivers instead a carefully crafted yet utterly natural reading that focuses tightly on the singing of Alex and Miranda. Framed by Leach’s inventive guitar figures and Sexton’s subtle violin, the husband and wife duo reveal Simon’s enigmatic parables with intimate, sympathetic tone and phrasing, making the familiar masterpiece feel as if it’s being heard for the first time.

Syntax Creative · The Alex Leach Band - "Slip Slidin' Away"

Syntax Creative · The Alex Leach Band - "Up to You"

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Geowulf - November Ultra - Benz - Clever Hopes

Geowulf - Open Me Up.

Following on from the triumphant ‘I’ve Been Over It’, which marked Geowulf’s reintroduction to the world and the first glimpse of a forthcoming EP, the band return with brand new single ‘Open Me Up’.

‘Open Me Up’ is a country-tinged song written in the height of Covid that bristles with raw honesty and emotion as Star opines on falling in and out of love in a strange time.

About the track Star says: “Toma and I were having a brief catch up on the phone - I showed him a melody real quick I was working on, he was like “shit yeah I love it!” and we spent next two hours on FaceTime between London & Australia finishing the song. It’s a raw song for me that tells a personal story but it’s also one of my favourites we’ve done so far.”

Geowulf are an Australian alt-pop duo based between London, UK and Noosa, Australia. Childhood friends Star Kendrick and Toma Banjanin dived into the dream-pop scene in 2018 with their luminous debut album ‘Great Big Blue’ featuring their breakout single ‘Saltwater’. The duo followed up with their brilliant sophomore LP ‘My Resignation’ in 2019.

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November Ultra - le manège.

Often praised for her deep and warm voice, France’s November Ultra first entered people’s ears and hearts in November 2020 with the soothing DIY lullaby "Soft & Tender". Her first effort was quickly followed by the sweet and sour heartbreak anthem "Miel" and a maxi EP Honey please be soft & tender, which includes the gut-wrenching bonus track "The End." - giving us a taste of what this singer-songwriter is all about: comforting, personal, intimate and always very cinematographic bedroom pop.

Yesterday, she revealed the song “le manège” and showcases the musical roots of an artist who grew up listening to folk music, r&b and with a very obsessive Spanish grand-father addicted to 60’s musicals and Spanish copla, embracing all of it and proving the adage: "we contain multitudes".

Camila Cabello posted a video on TikTok using the song ‘’Come into my arms’’. As a singer-songwriter, she divides her time between recording studios and her DIY bedroom-studio, working for others as a topliner/songwriter (Jaden Smith, Kungs, Barbara Pravi etc) while recording, exploring and producing her own songs on Ableton.

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Benz - This Could Be The End (E.P).

Ebba Salomonsson (Benz) grew up in her stepfather's record store where she explored endless different influences and styles. Benz have signed to Rama Lama Records (Melby, Wy, Chez Ali etc.) and is back with another collection of songs packed with her playful and diverse psych-tinged indie folk.

Its a sound where Benz with big confidence lets her music both be direct and breathe - creating a musical soundscape for the listener to get swept away in. The new EP 'This Could Be The End' is out now. 

Thematically, the EP treats a broken relationship. But this is not your usual romantic sad-break-up-indie, as the lyrics tell the story about breaking up with an old friend. Ebba herself has compared the EP to "six seasons of Girls, a comedy-drama in a compressed format".

Rama Lama Records · Benz - This Could Be The End EP

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Clever Hopes - Shadow Waltz.

While in Tasmania, the island was on fire, and travel was limited to a small coastal region near the capital city of Hobart. 

Andrew spent his birthday in a beautiful beach villa with a woman he'd met along the way, who was already on her way elsewhere by the time he left the island. They swam as the ash from the fire was snowing down on the beach.

"Shadow Waltz" is about that conflict you can feel when you know things are changing and you need to say goodbye to who you were without fully understanding who it is you're about to become.

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