The Attics - Not Like

The Attics - Not Like.

Background promo - Returning to their roots for their latest release, ‘Not Like’ is quirky pop music, standing on the sidelines of a dancefloor. Sparse verses with minimal beats, choruses that show careful, yet catchy restraint and a twisted psych breakdown with a looping falsetto calling “hometown always is one place; she goes away, but always stays with me”. This is pop songwriting, flirting with deep layers of effected synthetic instruments and wonky bass lines.

Past singles ‘We Broke The Sky’ and ‘Ultraviolets’, from their most recent release, received attention from Australian music blogs, and secured high rotation airplay on several public radio stations across Australia, including triple j Unearthed. These tracks and their mesmerising live show have led to comparisons with acts as wide ranging as The Murlocs, Pond, Jagwar Ma and Unknown Mortal Orchestra. The Attics’ hard work and relentless gigging across Melbourne and Victoria has been recognised and paid off with a slot at the Apollo Bay and Queenscliff Music Festivals as well as securing a position on the By The Meadow line-up alongside Foreign/National, Dorsal Fins and Sunbeam Sound Machine.

‘Not Like’ was recorded with Hector Castillo (two-time x Grammy award winner – worked with David Bowie, Bjork, Lou Reed, Roger Waters) at Sydney’s iconic Studios 301. The track was then mixed and mastered in the careful hands of Isaac Barter (Canary, Life Is Better Blonde). The Attics are excited to announce their upcoming tour hitting regional centres across Victoria as well as headline shows in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra.

Upcoming Shows:
19th Feb - The Barwon Club, Geelong (w/ Murdena, Velvet Bow)
20th Feb - The Loft, Warrnambool (w/ The Stiffys, Blackwood Jack)
26th Feb - Straight Shooters, Colac (w/ Velvet Bow)
4th Mar - The Grace Darling, Melbourne (w/ Uncle Bobby, Neon Queen, IO)
18th Mar - Union Hotel, Sydney (w/ Suiix, Space Monk, Plum)
19th Mar - The Phoenix, Canberra (w/ Wallflower, Mondecreen).

'Not Like' did enough for me to give it a second play. It's definitely a 'grower' possibly because it dares to be different and is so, so unpretentious. Quirky with heaps of style.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday Double: Highasakite - Loop Line

Highasakite - Someone Who'll Get It.

Background promo - Norway’s Highasakite return with perhaps their darkest offering to date, unveiling new single ‘Someone Who’ll Get It’ – the first lifted from the band’s highly-anticipated sophomore LP, slated for release this year. It ricochets; it resonates, with Highasakite’s signature battalion in full force. 

The track hints to the brooding premise of Highasakite’s forthcoming album, serving a worthy successor to debut LP ‘Silent Treatment’ – an effort applauded on both sides of the Atlantic and now claiming the record for longest consecutive run in Norwegian chart history, having spent 94 weeks in the Top 40. Championed by the likes of Pitchfork, NME and The Guardian, ‘Silent Treatment’ has achieved international acclaim since its release in February 2014; awarded 2x Norwegian Grammys, an Impala Nomination (European Independent Album of the Year), a Triple J Hottest 100 (AUS) placing with single ‘Since Last Wednesday’ and Album/Single of the Year listings on NPR (US).

Upon first listen, ‘Someone Who’ll Get It’ presents somewhat sinister, but not without context: “The gunshots make more sense if you hear the new album as a whole,” explains vocalist Ingrid Helene Håvik. “The theme of the album is war and terrorism. Not the war at home, like ‘Silent Treatment’, but what is going on in the world right now.”

Despite loose political commentary, the album is without agenda. The intention is not to persuade or invade but more so, an attempt to make sense of the inner turmoil born of external unrest. “It’s not a political album in the sense that I want people to side with specific party or mindset, but it has been central in my life,” Håvik says. “There are not many love songs on the album, because I haven't been in that state of mind for a long time. Global warming and war have been my main concern.” 

'Someone Who'll Get It' lands ahead of Highasakite’s first ever UK headline at London’s Hoxton Hall on February 9, with tickets having sold out just days after general announce. A new London show is announced at Village Underground on May 24, alongside a string of headline performances throughout Europe. The band has been touring nearly non-stop since the spring of 2014, including dates with Of Monsters and Men (UK/EU/US), London Grammar (US) and a 10,000 capacity show at Sverresborg Arena, Trondheim late last year.

Plenty of positive words have been written and said regarding Highasakite, and not that surprising on the strength of songs like the featured 'Someone Who'll Get It'. It's a really catchy song, maybe indie pop defines it, whatever the category the hooks will get you!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Loop Line - Nothing About You.

Background bio - Loop Line is an indie-rock band based out of multiple locations.  They are but two men, who live in different cities. Currently, Paul lives in Minneapolis and Luke lives in Phoenix. They first met in Minneapolis, where they played together in various bands until 2009, when life got in the way and forced their musical collaboration online.

Geographically challenged ever since, they've been making music together by sending files back and forth over the internet, revising and adding to each other's demos until they become truly collaborative songs.  Hence the moniker "Loop Line," representing the musical data packets that are constantly traveling back and forth between two points, thousands of miles apart. Wakes is the follow up to their 2014 LP, Tides, which was described by L'etoile Magazine as "great, creative interesting stuff...sounds like nothing else going on [in Minneapolis] right now," and "adventurous" and "ebullient" by BandCamp Hunter.

The new EP 'Wakes' came out last Friday (29th Jan), from which 'Nothing About You' is the first track. Luke from the band tells us "We've been compared to the Beach Boys and XTC by L'etoile Magazine" which certainly left me intrigued. Having listened to the EP it's actually a pretty good description, but don't think of the band as clones of the comparisons, they have created some fine songs that stand on there own feet.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two Totally Different: Darla And The Blonde - Left With Pictures

Darla And The Blonde - End of the Party.

Background promo - About ‘End Of The Party’ In the finest tradition of deathless rock’n’roll, ‘End Of The Party’ is an electrifying mix of the grit and the glitter, built on an infectious glam-rock groove interspersed with sparks of searing guitar. Atop this grungy, Ziggy-like bedrock, Jen Demaris and Nina Lovelace’s crystalline voices ring out a catchy and powerful melody, which, rather than being concerned with the closing stages of a heady night out, is in fact about Hong Kong’s Umbrella Revolution of 2014: “This Is The Time And These Are The Places/Where You Must Bend To Changing Faces”. With touches of The Runaways here, Patti Smith there, ‘End Of The Party’’s absorbing progression takes in a pristine solo by guitarist Rob McCabe before climaxing in a rush of vocal harmonies, a fitting final refrain of what is a gleeful testament to the scope of Darla And The Blonde’s ambition.

About Darla And The Blonde Encompassing the seductive glamour of goth, the catchy harmonics of pop, the experimentalism of prog and the narrative traditions of folk, Darla And The Blonde are a broad-based five-piece who craft their influences into a bold and distinctive brand of dramatic alt.rock. Formed in East London by chief songwriter Nina Lovelace (rhythm guitar and backing vocals), the band are completed by Jen Demaris (lead vocals), Rob McCabe (lead guitar), Craig Page (bass) and Tom Loffman (drums). While Darla And The Blonde’s sound is influenced by the likes of Nick Cave and PJ Harvey, and their live performances take cues from musical theatre, Lovelace’s lyrics are primarily inspired by the concerns and experiences of inspirational women, both real and fictional. Darla And The Blonde’s superb single, ‘End Of The Party’, released on 18 March, will shortly be followed by a five-track EP that turns its lyrical focus to subjects ranging from age and trans gender issues to the escapades of feminine espionage, all set to the band’s impassioned and inventive alt.rock sonics.

'End of the Party' is defined by powerful vocals and an equally powerful band. It's a mixture of potent alt. rock with a brooding semi Gothic feel, and enough originality still to make it's own mark.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Left With Pictures - Terra Firma.

Background Bio - Left With Pictures are an orchestral pop ensemble from London. Formed in 2005, they started with three hard-up, classically trained musicians who forsook the orchestra pit for the sanctuary of their keyboard player’s loft. Armed with synths, guitars, strings, kazoos, found-sounds and a shoestring budget, they began with a series of self-releases and impromptu performances in theatres, bars and bedrooms.

In 2008 LWP signed to Organ Grinder Records – with whom they have released two albums, Beyond Our Means (2009) and 2011’s In Time, an album consisting of 12 songs which were released monthly and premiered by Gideon Coe on BBC 6 Music. Over 10 years the band has won critical praise, expanded their live sound, and steadily refined their craft of inventive pop music, where the acoustic and the electronic are intricately combined. Afterlife – their first release in five years – is the result of a band evolving, and pulling apart their sound in order to explore their own innate creativity, much of which can be attributed to the appointment of Richard Formby (Wild Beasts, Ghostpoet, Darkstar, Hood) as producer.

Formby acted as a sounding board and as a voice to challenge any comfort zones the band may slip back into after 10 years together, as Tom Walker explains: "Richard’s job as producer was often to gently unpick what we’d done and refocus it. He encouraged us to change arrangements in the studio –often stripping parts away and leaving a broader, more cinematic sound. Richard is a master of vintage equipment – modular synths, old organs, tape delays, etc. – and he always had ideas about which sounds to use and how to distort, bend and re-imagine the music we made."

In many ways it’s the sound of a band reborn, which is fitting when considering their subject matter. Much of what appears on Afterlife very frankly concerns endings, death and renewal – themes which evolved over the course of the writing and recording process. Bloody Mess doesn’t mince its words with the line “I don’t know what my body will to do me today / I’m scared to go to sleep tonight.” before the album’s lead track Terra Firma (a song very plainly about dying) climaxes in a kind of folktronic, symphonic soup, bolstered by gently swelling strings, ghostly church-pew background vocals and a gorgeous looped synth motif, all preceded by the contemplative lyric “It’s easy to go on without a life you know nothing about, when you spend your days at the water’s edge.”

Left With Pictures are Tom Walker, Stuart Barter and Toby Knowles. They are joined live by Alex Gold on percussion and Mike Cranny on bass.

'Terra Firma' is the 'icing on the cake' for me this week. What an incredible song! On the basis of this one track, my personal music collection is set to expand with their back catalogue. Just wonderful.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two Good Ones: Halfloves - Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros

Halfloves - It's Easy To Love.

Background - Halfloves recently released their first single off their upcoming self-titled full length album out March 4th. This song and forthcoming album are produced by Imagine Dragons’ producer Brandon Darner.

Previously know as The Olympics, Halfloves have been gaining plaudits from many music and press outlets with praise for the bands energy and enthusiasm especially performing live.

Recently they announced on their Facebook page "Thanks to Nate Logsdon at Iowa Informer for including us in this list of Daytrotter sessions and calling us "the best currently active rock band in Iowa"! Indeed it would appear that these guys have been making a big, big impact on their home music scene. Just one of many quotes about the band - "This is an Iowa band you need to know... they’ve matured into an excellent indie rock band capable of weaving tones together into a bright, rocking and melodic dose of pure pop." - Ames Tribune

'It's Easy To Love' is my personal introduction to Halfloves and it's an impressive song. Somewhere between indie pop and rock, this is one of those tracks that just gets into my head and stays there.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros - No Love Like Yours.

Background words - Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros announce the release date of their 4th LP PersonA via Community Music. The ten song set will be available on April 15th.

The first single is entitled "No Love Like Yours".

Singer Alex Ebert says, "We had long been a social experiment first, musicians second. Over time, though, we were emerging, by virtue of hours spent, into a group of musicians who could really play together.” The shift is tangible in the band's latest LP.

Recording the music almost entirely in one room together in New Orleans, their approach was a far cry from the ramshackle, come-one-come-all production audible on recordings of their previous albums.

Lets just say it would be very easy to throw superlatives and compliments all day long at 'No Love Like Yours'. What a great song to start the weekend to, enjoy.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oakes & Smith - Closer To Home (featuring Jon Anderson).

Oakes & Smith - Closer To Home (featuring Jon Anderson).

Background words - Oakes and Smith perform gentle, acoustic folk with voices blending in close harmonies. They sing soothing and soulful tunes inspired by nature, love, spirit, art and poetry. The harmonious blend of their voices creates an ethereal sound and unique quality not often heard in today's popular music, and their songs evoke a sense of wonder, expressing themes such as love, beauty, innocence and mystery. Their debut album, First Flight, mixed by Grammy-winning engineer Oz Fritz and released in November 2013, was received warmly by listeners and critics alike.

The duo has appeared at The Guthrie Center in Great Barrington, MA; the NJ Folk Project in Morristown, NJ; Infinity Music Hall in Norfolk, CT; FloydFest in Floyd, VA; the Hudson Music Fest in Hudson, NY; at Andrea Clearfield's Salon in Philadelphia, PA; at the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Stockbridge, MA; and have had a weekly residency at Canyon Ranch in Lenox, MA since March, 2014. They have opened for HuDost, The Boxcar Lilies, and members of Barefoot Truth.

Both Robert and Katherine were born into musical families and started performing and writing at a very young age. Katherine, whose grandfather, great aunts and uncles, father and mother all sang, started harmonising as a teenager with her parents' Connecticut-based choral group. She then went on to perform musical theatre pieces and jazz and pop songs in high school and college productions. Katherine has also combined her love of singing with an affinity for writing, visual art, stagecraft and acting. Robert began as a kid singing and playing bass guitar in his blues-and-jazz-singing father's band. Later, he sang and played in many New Jersey-based rock bands with his brother before going on to self-produce several albums of original songs and perform in many New York City-area venues. Robert has been writing stories, songs and poems for as long as he can remember, a passion that continues to this day.

They both relocated to the Berkshire Hills of Western Massachusetts, a peaceful place filled with natural and cultural beauty, which very much influences their sound and creative process. Ever since their first — unexpected — meeting there during the summer of 2007, they have both felt like there were unseen hands drawing them together to create something more than each were doing on their own. Since then, they have continued to let themselves be led along a path of collaboration, staying open and saying 'yes' to the possibilities it offered.

'Closer To Home' is the final song from the five track EP 'Between The Earth and The Sky'. With enchanting harmonies and vocals, this is a small collection of songs that leave a big impression. Beyond guitar, piano and drums we are treated to cello, mandolin and even bamboo flute, all of which just add to the richness of the work. If you only have a passing interest in folk orientated music, check this EP out, it really is something quite special.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------