Carter Sampson - Jarrod Dickenson - Rama Lama Records 2020

Continental Record Services have shared a few songs this week and we have chosen a couple starting with Carter Sampson and 'There's Always Next Year'. Lyrically timely and poignant, it's also one very fine, melodic and engaging Americana track ===== Secondly we have Jarrod Dickenson and his beautiful cover version of the George Harrison song 'I Live For You'. Packed with natural feeling this is a refined piece which takes the song into a more Americana dimension. ===== For a second year we have a compilation from Rama Lama Records where many of the artists have been featured by us over the past twelve months, such is the quality of the music and artists the Stockholm label manages to work with.

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Carter Sampson - There's Always Next Year.

Continental Record Services write - On the brink of a new year, we hope to please you with some releases that also surprised us. Covid/Corona Quarantines, however much we dislike them, seem to be good for creative processes. 

So here are some singles that may bring you a bit of joy and light in these dark days..........

As Carter Sampson says herself: "Surprise! I hadn't planned on releasing any new music yet but I wrote you a song and think it's better off heard now. My new single now available anywhere you listen and download music! 

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Jarrod Dickenson - I Live For You (George Harrison Cover).

And here is another cover for you, officially available on all streaming services now. Jarrod Dickenson pays tribute to George Harrison.

" 2020 marks 50 years since the release of George Harrison's landmark album, 'All Things Must Pass'. To pay tribute to Harrison and that fantastic record, here is a cover of the song "I Live For You", which was originally recorded during the 'All Things Must Pass' sessions, but was left off the initial track listing. 

The song was finally released on the 30th anniversary of the album's release, and has been a favorite of mine ever since."

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Rama Lama Records 2020 - Various Artists.

Rama Lama Records proudly presents "Rama Lama Records 2020", a compilation of the best music we put out during the notoriously bad year 2020. The album gathers nineteen tracks from Cat Princess, Chez Ali, Guds Pengar, Gula Blend, Kindsight, Kluster B, Lilla Parasit, Loaver, Melby och Steve Buscemi's Dreamy Eyes.

2020 didn't exactly go according to plan. We could be negative and nag about the fact that we've never put on as few live gigs as we did this year, but at the same time we've never released this much music. Music that has helped us not give up during these "strange times".

During 2020, we've had interesting debuts from Kindsight and Gula Blend mixed with follow-ups by Kluster B and Melby, the great return of Chez Ali and debut albums from Lilla Parasit, Guds Pengar, Loaver and Steve Buscemi's Dreamy Eyes. What stands out to us this year is the great and eclectic mix these wonderful acts form when they come together, and we're so glad and proud to have released them all. We hope this compilation can work both as an introduction for the curious and a reminder for the great people who continue to follow and support our little label.

Rama Lama Records 2020 is available on all digital platforms and as a free download on Bandcamp. In 2021, we turn five and we plan to celebrate it a lot, stay tuned!

Rama Lama Records · Rama Lama Records 2020

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Another Sky - Bitter Defeat

Another Sky have just shared their latest single 'Was I Unkind?' along with a video of them performing with London Contemporary Voices. We have added a second video which features two extra songs 'Tree' and 'Avalanche’ again with London Contemporary Voices. This is our fourth feature for this exceptional band this year and these superb versions of their music really are something quite special and an absolute pleasure to share. ===== Bitter Defeat are a New Zealand based band and their brand new single 'Better' is a distinctive indie rock song. Gritty and packing some gorgeous hooks, this quickly becomes "sing along" music, and needless to say pretty much a certainty for a good few more listens. 

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Another Sky - Was I Unkind? / Another Sky with London Contemporary Voices

Another Sky releases “Was I Unkind?” taken from 'Music For Winter Vol. 1 EP' out January 1st via Missing Piece Records / Fiction. On the first day of 2021, Another Sky will release their latest body of work, an EP entitled Music For Winter Vol. I. The EP follows their debut full-length I Slept on The Floor, released earlier this year via Fiction / Missing Piece Records. Yesterday, the band released the EP’s third single "Was I Unkind?", following the recently released "It Keeps Coming" and "Sun Seeker". Alongside the studio version of  “Was I Unkind?,” the London-based four piece have also released two very special live performance videos, recorded with London Contemporary Voices at London’s Union Chapel in 2019. The first being a live version of “Was I Unkind?,” and the second a medley of “Was I Unkind?,” “Tree,” and “Avalanche.”

“We wanted to release a song to celebrate Winter Solstice, a significant time of year in many cultures,” Catrin Vincent, vocalist and lyricist of Another Sky says of the new single. “‘Was I Unkind?’ was written about the time I accidentally killed my favourite plant. The plant became symbolic of how I treated myself. I realised I was as trapped in the world as the plant was, at the mercy of myself. Winter Solstice is a time of death and rebirth.”

"Winter is the perfect time for sombre music," she continues. On how the project came together, Catrin explains, "some songs are old, some are new, all are entirely collaborative. After being kept apart because of the lockdown and writing a bunch of our second album separately, we just wanted to get back into our studio and record." The entire EP was recorded, produced and mixed by the band themselves at their South London studio, The Lighthouse, in October 2020.

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Bitter Defeat - Better.

Kirikiriroa Hamilton (Aotearoa New Zealand) based indie-rock band Bitter Defeat today released their third single ‘Better’. One of several tracks recorded at Hamilton’s The Porch Studio (by long-time The Datsuns sound engineer and collaborator Scott Newth), ‘Better’ is the third release from the five-piece, who list the likes of The Wedding Present, Guided By Voices, The Clean, Galaxie 500 and Pavement amongst their influences.
 

"‘Better’ is a happy song about crappy things ending" said Rob Shirlow the songs writer. "More specifically relationships and things in your life that are totally toxic but for some reason you don’t see it or don’t want to see it, or just can’t imagine that this thing which you think you really love or is important to you is actually really bad for you and messing you up and then it ends. The joy that comes from being released from such awful situations can be quite immense, and that’s what this song is about, really. It’s not about one specific relationship, more a theme of past experiences, some work situations of the past, social groups or ‘friends’ you realise were just truly awful things in your life...when they end, the big breathe out and ‘Oh my god what was I thinking!?’ moments.” Shirlow goes on to say “Musically it starts off a bit Britpop of all things, but I like to think we channel The Clash once it gets going. It’s a favourite to play live and is cathartic to sing and just let it all go!”
 

The band also recorded and starred in their second music video. “We worked with a friend of ours again, Kat Waswo, (WAZKAT Productions), in Hamilton one sunny afternoon in early summer. She did an amazing job. We had a bit more of an idea about what we wanted for this, and it’s basically us having a big old mess around outdoors, being very happy and doing mildly odd things for middle aged people. We considered a narrative of someone coming out of a troubled relationship and then being happy, but decided to focus on the ‘being happy’ element of the song, so that’s what you see. We don’t take ourselves particularly seriously, not that the subject matter isn’t serious or from the heart, but portraying that on screen is a different thing altogether. We’re very happy with the result and are grateful for all of Kat’s mahi with the video”

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Rob Kovaks - Dr Schwamp

Rob Kovaks first appeared here just a month ago and left a fine impression with his song 'Here in the Future' . He has followed that up with 'Fizzle' and it's another refined song that showcases both his excellent piano skills and vocals and reinforces Rob's high quality song writing ability. ===== Dr Schwamp has a new album entitled 'Tunes, Tall Tales & Tinctures' from which we have 'Dr Schwamp's Brand New Cure-All Tonic'. Despite the clear overtones of Dr John, this is a thoroughly good eleven track album, with plenty of originality throughout.  

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Rob Kovaks - Fizzle.

With the release of the new single, “Fizzle,” indie-rock singer-songwriter and pianist Rob Kovacs has announced his debut solo album, Let Go, to be released February 18, 2021.

Named “Best Pianist/Keyboardist” by the Cleveland Free Times, Kovacs has been widely hailed for his shape-shifting musical experimentalism, spanning history-making classical feats and audacious recreations of videogame soundtracks to crafting mesmerizing indie rock both as bandleader and now, at long last, solo artist. Kovacs has invested more than a decade in the creation of his debut solo album, a brave and bittersweet song cycle written in the years following an intensely impactful romantic relationship and then recorded over an even longer span. The album tells the story of one relationship, in chronological order. “The songs are about love, longing, loss, desire, confusion, acceptance, pain, the struggle to let go – all that fun stuff,” he states.

“Fizzle” is not only the first song on the album but also the first one written. “It was a rare case where I wrote the melody a cappella first (rather than coming up with piano part first). The melody came to me on the drive home after the first time hanging out with the girl who would ultimately inspire the whole album. I often write a song because I come upon a musical idea that catches my attention. Writing music helps to express a feeling that I may otherwise struggle to express. Through this song, I try to convey the feeling of connecting and falling for someone combined with the anxiety about that feeling and the understanding that, for whatever reason, you can’t be with that person.” 

Rob Kovacs · Fizzle

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Dr Schwamp - Dr Schwamp's Brand New Cure-All Tonic.

Dr Schwamp and his ensemble extravaganza release musically invigorating album 'Tunes, Tall Tales & Tinctures', and single 'Cure All Tonic'

Dr Schwamp and his ensemble extravaganza have today released ‘Tunes, Tall Tales & Tinctures’, a mind contorting, sense disorientating and musically invigorating 11-track album, spinning the precarious line between restraint and excess, the ordinary and the extraordinary, betwixt Heaven and Hell… with the wondrous, magnificent and all-curing video for ‘Cure All Tonic’.

For the mysterious, peripatetic Dr Schwamp, every performance is a walk-in surgery, at which he and his highly trained acolytes serve up a thrilling "Cure-All Tonic" involving a secret recipe of blues, funk, gypsy, folk and swing all delivered with poetry, precision and power. 

Dr Schwamp will enthrall you with his combo of gritty vocals, witty lyrics and dizzying facility on violin, blues harp and BAGPIPES! (We kid you not). While his highly skilled team of sonic surgeons perform complicated operations involving finely tuned instruments and fleet-fingered frettings, the album takes you on a sonic journey, uplifting and energetic, and is one to be enjoyed in full.

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Eric Anders and Mark O'Bitz - JEWLS

Eric Anders and Mark O'Bitz have shared a beautiful Americana song entitled 'Careful Now My Son'. The impassioned vocals cry out for attention and the slow rhythmic musical arrangement just adds to the emotion and feeling this track conveys. ===== JEWLS debut song 'Take It' is a heartfelt and touching piece. Her natural and refined vocals are immersed in a gentle soundscape that seemingly dances around her singing, adding more depth to this gorgeous piece.

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Eric Anders and Mark O'Bitz - Careful Now My Son.

"Careful Now My Son" is the first song of the collection Eric Anders and Mark O'Bitz have named "music in the time of coronavirus."  Eric decided to have three separate releases for this collection so that each release would be more consistent style-wise.

Everything done for this collection--from songwriting to recording to mastering--was done remotely during shelter in place (Eric in NorCal; Mark and Mike in SoCal).  Most of the songs were inspired by the isolation, anxiety, and cultural upheaval of the pandemic year of 2020.

"Careful Now My Son" is the only song that was done in a truly Americana style, so they've decided to release it as a single. They also thought that its foreboding feel and lyrics worked well to represent how we were feeling during this pandemic--so it would make a good kick-off song.

From the Artist:The song is about both the pandemic and the authoritarian and cultish politics of Trumpism. We were deeply afraid of both infectious diseases during 2020 and as 2021 gets going.  With regard to Trumpism, "Careful Now My Son" can be understood as an Americana companion song to our song, "Wounded Son"on our 2019 album, Ghosts To Ancestors. 

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JEWLS - Take It.

JEWLS released her debut single 'Take It' an alternative pop gem that takes you higher.

JEWLS is a melancholic pop alternative to hold on to. With her debut single 'Take It' she shows her mixture of a husky, sensitive, sometimes even moody voice and heartbreaking honest lyrics. JEWLS her music is predestined to go under the skin. For her, writing and composing music is a way to express what’s underneath. The release comes with a self-directed music video:

JEWLS: Will is lost. The cold has returned. Hearing footsteps above and the rain outside. Blue pretends to be my colour now.  Moments of the past rushing back, cloaked in ice. Everything seems to be a reminder and silence has never been so loud.

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Myths - Big Little Lions

Myths just shared 'When You Go Where You Go When You Die' and it's a catchy, melodic and gorgeous psychedelic song with timeless pop sensibilities and yet still manages to retain a fresh and modern feel. ===== Big Little Lions have also just released a new single entitled 'Turn It Off'. Mixing folk and high class pop the song has refined dual vocals and harmonies and a whole load of musical hooks running throughout this refreshing track.

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Myths - When You Go Where You Go When You Die.

“When You Go Where You Go When You Die” is the latest offering from Australian psychedelic pop band Myths. The song comes as the first single from their
upcoming second LP “The Art of Pretending” – a project over two years in the making, and due for release in 2021. The track is a playful ode to the macabre and surreal experience of trying to reconcile everyday life with unexpected bouts of nihilism. Much like their previous releases “When You Go Where You Go When You Die” is entirely self produced by the band’s songwriters Mike Nutt & Jamie Turner and was recorded throughout the last year in various makeshift home studios.

The track was mixed by Sydney-based producer and musician Jack Mo ffitt (The Preatures, I Know Leopard) who the band is currently working with to put the finishing touches on their new album.

Myths formed in 2017 and are based in Perth, Western Australia. Their music is best described as neo-psychedelia, taking inspiration from the styles and sounds of the 60s and 70s, and merging them with a modern approach to sound design. This comes to the forefront in their new single, opening with an 8-bit collage of old video game death sounds before layers of vintage synthesizers, sitars and more take over. In 2018 the band released their self-produced debut album “Paradigm”, and work on a follow-up has been underway almost immediately.

MYTHS · When You Go Where You Go When You Die

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Big Little Lions - Turn It Off.

Big Little Lions have been described as ‘a blissful marriage of new folk and
sophisticated pop’. Prolific songwriting, infectious folk-pop style, and an
offbeat, memorable live show. This award winning duo consists of Helen Austin and Paul Otten who, despite living thousands of miles apart, have found a way to connect and create music together. Despite being in two different countries, they have found common ground to share their message.

Call it destiny, or call it fate, call it a necessary progression for these modern times. Helen lives in British Columbia, Canada and Paul lives in Cincinnati, OH. But the distance provides the necessity to create in a new way. Using technology as their ally and their differences as their strength.

Their monthly single releases are their way of getting through this pandemic
while all the usual album cycle release plans don’t make sense anymore. Their
music is jam-packed with emotion and tight harmonies, the sound of two
people working side-by-side.

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