Vök - Central Heat Exchange (feat. Stephanie Smith) - Lexie Roth (feat. Willy Mason)

Vök - Skin.

Icelandic trio Vök have shared the stunning video for their enchanting and reflective new single Skin, which is out now through Nettwerk Records.

New single Skin follows recently released single and video Lost in the Weekend, which gave an early taste of their new material recorded last year in their Reykjavík studios. The single was the follow-up to their acclaimed 2019 album In the Dark, which was written and recorded by the band in collaboration with producer James Earp (Bipolar Sunshine, Fickle Friends, Lewis Capaldi).

With every track, Vök continue to develop their progressive alt-pop sound and Skin cements just how intricately captivating the band can be. Opening emotively and delicately, the song builds to an ethereal and pensive chorus that lyrically conveys someone not knowing who they are and being stuck in their own ‘skin’. The expansive video, directed by Arnar Helgi, shows the band performing in a stunning location at Rauðhólar outside of Reykjavík amidst a backdrop of mountains and neon lights as the sun sets.

Lead singer Margrét says; “Our character has been living by the standards of her community but feels like she is betraying herself. She is afraid of who she is becoming, as that person is someone that she doesn’t relate to, and she feels trapped and doesn’t know who or what she is – she is stuck in her own skin.”

Through their unique and lushly layered sound that blends electro and indie with forward-thinking pop and a self-assured aesthetic, that is just as striking as their sound, Vök continue to cement their position as one of the most exciting alternative bands right now. Following two critically acclaimed albums, Lost in the Weekend and Skin are just the first musical moments in an exciting year for Vök, with further new music announced soon.

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

Central Heat Exchange (feat. Varsity's Stephanie Smith) - Directly Down.

Central Heat Exchange (C.H.E.) is a collaborative project by musicians spread throughout the US & Canada, primarily in the Central Time Zone. Split across Austin, Chicago, & Winnipeg, its core members are Adam Soloway of Living Hour, Santiago RD of Daphne Tunes and Jacob and Paul Stoltz of Varsity and Pool Holograph, though their forthcoming recorded output involves a broad network of collaborators that include members of Broken Social Scene, Lala Lala, Fran, The Weakerthans, Sun June, Do Make Say Think and many others. Today they are formally announcing their self-titled debut album (due out September 10th on Birthday Cake, Citrus City and Sunroom Records) and sharing the single "Directly Down," which features lead vocals from Stephanie Smith of Varsity and drums from Lala Lala's Abby Black.

"'Directly Down' started as a demo for another project, Discus," says Paul Stoltz. "It was initially tracked in March at the beginning of quarantine while Jake and I were planning to record the second Discus LP. As it became apparent that we were not going to be able to record in person for quite some time (still haven’t), I added this song to the mix for CHE."

The drum machine, rhythm guitar, bass, and post-chorus ambient sounds were all tracked by Paul on a Tascam 4-track tape machine. Jake tracked some loose vocal melodies for the song in addition to his lead guitar, but was unsatisfied with the way they turned out. That's when we turned to Stephanie Smith from Varsity, an amazing singer and frequent collaborator or ours. The whole track has a stumbling, spiraling vibe that Stef highlights in her lyrics beautifully, taking Jake's initial lyrics about a depressive spiral and morphing it into a song about humans destroying the earth."

"It's a song about humans destroying the earth," Smith continues. "We’ve destroyed it so much by now that maybe we're past the point of no return but maybe we’re not."

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

Lexie Roth - Western Skies feat. Willy Mason.

Like many artists, acclaimed pop-folk singer/songwriter, Lexie Roth, found inspiration in the world shutting down and then slowly coming back to life. Roth is dropping a poignant new single, “Western Skies,” set for release on July 9, via American Songwriter.  Roth plans to release the official video for “Western Skies” later this month.

"I wrote Western Skies after spending a significant time on the west coast and on the road driving across the country, over six times now,” shares Roth.

“There is a certain innate grief that comes over me when driving through small desolate towns. I wanted to imagine what my personal pain would feel like through the lens of a husband being widowed by his beloved wife and being left to raise their children without her. I wanted to depict how moving it is for him to see her."

Produced by Roth, “Western Skies” features vocal contributions from Willy Mason, as well as ethereal slide guitar riffs from Roth’s father, Arlen, a virtuosic guitarist who has performed and recorded with the best artists of his generation, including Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Simon and Garfunkel, The Bee-Gees and Phoebe Snow. The soon-to-be-released video for “Western Skies” was directed by David Henry Gerson, whose work has won prizes from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Sundance Film Festival, and has been acquired into the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in NY.

Raised between Westchester, New York and Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, Roth released her eponymous, bluesy debut album in 2012, which included the song ‘Call You My Hon,’ featured in the award-winning film Maria My Love. Roth, who is often compared to artists like Lucy Dacus and Jenny Lewis, has a way of creating music that is soul-inflected, with the wisdom and weight of American music history in an eminently listenable contemporary package.

Lexie Roth · Western Skies feat. Willy Mason

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

Motorists - Pearl & The Oysters - Good Job Honey

Motorists - Through To You.

Toronto's motorik jangle-pop trio, Motorists have just shared their new single, "Through To You" which arrives with an accompanying video inspired by the German TV show, Beat Club. In tandem with sharing the new music, the band are announcing their debut LP, Surrounded which comes mastered by Mikey Young (Total Control, Eddy Current Suppression Ring) and is set for release via We Are Time – a new label, part-helmed by Chandra Oppenheim – Bobo Integral and Debt Offensive on September 3, 2021.

Driving is a huge part of rock and roll’s enduring mythology. Images of cruising down the highway with friends and lovers while basking in the freedom of the open road pervade pop music’s lyrical canon. Yet, so often, these idealized images clash with the everyday drudgery of being a motorist: traffic jams, detours, and bad news on the radio.

This tension is central to Surrounded, an album that is as much about the colourful possibilities of life as it is about the way those possibilities are boxed in by technologies. In a world where everyone’s been in their own bubble, Motorists have pushed theirs together and worked through feelings of isolation as a group to the tune of jangly guitars, infectious power-pop hooks, and a steady motorik beat. Surrounded is an album about modern living and, as Fahner succinctly describes, “isolation in a technologically saturated society, laden with romanticism around radical togetherness.”

The album's first single, “Through to You”, is a song about yearning to connect with other people, attempting to peel back the curtain of solitude that has engulfed us over the last 15 months or so. Written during the first lockdown, when hope for a bit of familiarity was starting to blossom, it zeroes in on the desire to feel close to someone without having to speak a word. The band addresses this notion beautifully, both lyrically as a feeling of “flowing through the veins of another heart,” and musically with the brightest jangly melodies on the album and a wistfully sweet vocal.

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

Photo - Laura Moreau

Pearl & The Oysters - Soft Science (feat. Kuo).

The LA-Based, French-American Psych Pop Duo Pearl & The Oysters have just shared a video for "Soft Science". Flowerland is the third album from them and will be available September 3rd, 2021 via Chicago’s Feeltrip Records.

With the band having recently relocated to LA, the album was intended as the final installment of Pearl & The Oysters’ ‘Florida trilogy,’ begun on their self-titled debut (2017) and continued on Canned Music (2018), a space age odyssey equal parts fawning over the Floweredland’s natural spectacles and mourning the peril that climate change has wrought on it all.

In comparison with previous releases, Flowerland reveals more of the inner workings of Davis and Polack’s minds, with the pair trading fantastical stories about zany characters for more personal narratives detailing worries of the everyday and universal variety. While the music remains primarily indebted to the escapist optimism of late-1960s soft pop, cloudier themes such as eco-anxiety, depression, and the stresses of finishing graduate school are all explored (somewhat cryptically) in the lyrics, although never in an overwhelming way. For Davis and Polack, Flowerland was meant as an attempt to channel crippling emotions into an uplifting listen, rather than a deliberately heavy experience.

P&TO’s take on Richard Tee and Stuff’s mellowest moments, the title track is in keeping with the band’s extended space opera metaphor seeing Florida become a foreign planet on which Davis and Polack crashed—rather than safely landed—, an unexpected but ultimately lucky detour. In the admittedly semi-autobiographical opener « Soft Science, » the band tries their hand at nouvelle vague romantic candor, in a duet staging a lovers’ trivial but tender argument, backed by samba-inspired percussion and phasing electric piano swirls. « Evening Sun, » one of P&TO’s more affected and pessimistic tracks to date, turns the ‘Endless Summer’ trope on its head by contemplating the concerning proposition hidden (in plain sight) behind what was once as a catchy slogan for tourism: when is the paradisiac promise of an eternal Summer actually becoming a dystopian menace? With its reverb-drenched flutes and whirling analog synthesizers, it is without doubt the album’s most cinematic cut.

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

Good Job Honey - Crazy Country.

Is the reward worth the risk? Sometimes all you need is to stray away from the beaten path, take a leap of faith, and follow your heart. West Coast-based folk band Good Job Honey invites you to take the leap of faith in search of adventure in their latest single, “Crazy Country.” 

A track reflecting on the universal woes we in society all live through, the band speaks on life and its trials and tribulations over a country inspired melody. The song illustrates embracing the risk of following the unknown path with the hope of a greater reward at the end of the unclear journey. Good Job Honey releases “Crazy County” on all digital platforms now. 

The third release from the band's long-awaited debut album, Why You So Sticky, out July 30, 2021, “Crazy Country” showcases the band's versatility and sonic style. Written by a family member, the track shines a spotlight on lead singer April Roberts' commanding and delicate voice. Good Job Honey aims to let their unique sound be heard while inspiring others to live their authentic selves.

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

Ålesund - The WildViolets - The Golden Seals - Josienne Clarke

Ålesund- Dawn Chorus.

Following up on the 2020 release of their second EP ‘All Hail To Your Queen’, Bristol-based atmospheric Alt-Pop quartet Ålesund return with upcoming EP ‘A Thread In The Dark’, due for release July 9th.

After the untimely curtailing of their European Tour in Spring 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Ålesund travelled back to the UK feeling uncertain. Although things were going so well with a new offering and an extensive touring and festival schedule to get stuck into, the timing of the unplanned hiatus was less than ideal. Rather than take it to heart, the group’s vocalist and songwriter Alba Torriset retreated to her hometown of Hastings to try and reconnect with music in a positive way.

 “With all the negativity in the world, I wanted to create something uplifting and optimistic,” she says, and so the four track EP ‘A Thread In The Dark’ was created. Alba and guitarist Lloyd Starr started to put together demos with a euphoric and festival-tinged edge. They then engaged with long term collaborator and producer Jake Bright to help build the record.

This is the first time that a batch of songs have been created in this way for the band. Due to the inability to all be in the same room, Alba tried her hand at Logic and demoed her ideas to send to the others. She went back to basics creating rhythm and texture by layering up clapping and even using wooden spoons to get the percussive sounds she was after. She also layered up lots of backing vocals to flesh out her ideas. These all became features within the record and the rest of the band liked how the lockdown restrictions had actually pushed the sound forward in ways it perhaps wouldn’t have if they had all been able to jam the ideas in the same room.

Throughout the EP Alba’s intoxicating vocals take on totally different auras that interchange based on the musical landscapes they’re placed against; soaring atmospheric synth-laden soundscapes, shimmering guitars and tantalizing grooves.

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

The WildViolets - Indian Summer.

'The WildViolets are a London-based trio that have taken a unique turn in music making, endeavoring to restore the soul in pop. Drawing inspiration from the likes of Franc Moody, Jamiroquai and Nile Rodgers, the band strive for a fresh ‘funkypop’ sound that gets audiences on their feet and dancing.

Since 2015, the WildViolets have released a sizzling blend of songs that combine soulful vocals with funky guitar and playful brass backing. During their journey across the London circuit, the experienced live act has performed at some of the city’s most prestigious venues, including the O2 Academy Islington and Camden Assembly.

The jovial, uplifting, summery vibe of The WildViolets’ latest single “Indian Summer” is inspired by the band’s affection for the summertime. An affection which is particularly relevant given the easing of COVID-19 restrictions and the hope amongst the musical community for a ‘Third Summer of Love.’ Felipe Franco, The WildViolets, said: In the UK our hot summer days tend to be short and infrequent. This is similar to the phenomena of the “Indian Summer” which is where brief spells of glorious sunshine break up the bleak autumnal months.

So, in its very essence, they are both fleeting occasions which we long for but are only briefly in our grasp. This longing can also be a metaphor for someone you love who you rarely cross paths with anymore. Or for the longing for some normality which the opening up of society on July 19th can hopefully bring. A ‘Third Summer of Love’ is just what we all need right now!”

The WildViolets · Indian Summer

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

The Golden Seals - To Be or Not To Be (With Me).

With The Golden Seals’ latest feel-good summer banger, “To Be or Not To Be (With Me)” — available now — vocalist, bassist and guitarist Dave Merritt channels the soliloquy spirit of ‘The Bard’ with the lyrics “I know I'm no Olivier, I'm just an old clown; but the irony is, I’m bringing us down.”

The Ottawa-based pop rock ensemble’s retro-ish new single transports listeners back to a vintage 1970s-era soundscape via today’s digital DeLorean — in a kaleidoscope-induced, Cheap Trick-esque kind of way!

Along with drummer/percussionist Philip Shaw Bova and guitarist/synths Kevin Lacroix (Ron Sexsmith, Communism) — The Golden Seals continue to deliver a plethora of chart-topping hits. The Canadian band’s 2019 release “Something Isn’t Happening” featured the CBC national radio mainstay “Independence Day.”

Prior to Merritt hitching himself to the Seals’ golden ride, the multi-faceted musician was a staple for over three decades on the Canadian music scene, including with his first project, Adam West. Merritt’s songs have also been recorded by Rheostatics and sung by songstress Sarah Harmer.

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

Josienne Clarke - Super Recogniser.

“Searching for a tune / That I haven’t sung before / One that’s lesser used and lesser sad / But somehow maybe more,” award-winning singer-songwriter Josienne Clarke sings on ‘Super Recogniser’, the opening track of her new album, A Small Unknowable Thing. For the first time since her early beginnings, Clarke is flying solo. No label, no musical partner, no producer. Clarke is in complete control of her songwriting, arranging, producing, release schedule and musical direction. It’s not only enabled her to find a tune she’s never sung before, but it’s also lesser sad and more – because for the first time, Clarke isn’t being told what to do.

“I realised that I had to be so explicit in explaining how much I’d done in order to get credit for it,” Clarke explains. “I started saying ‘No, actually, I did all of this, can we put my name on this thing?’ It’s really resisted – it’s as if I’m being an arrogant megalomaniac for wanting the credit for stuff that I did. Now, I just do it all by myself. If there isn’t another name on it, then there can’t be a misappropriation.”

A Small Unknowable Thing is, at least in part, about recognising there are still existing structures to keep women in their place – but it’s also about having the courage to break those structures down too. While the themes might feel familiar to her fans, the musical journey will not, with Clarke taking in a wide range of new and diverse influences across the album – from Adrianne Lenker’s ‘Hours Were The Birds’, IDLES’ ‘Colossus’, Radiohead’s ‘Airbag’ to Phoebe Bridgers ‘Garden Song’, The Beastie Boys’ ‘Remote Control’ and Sandy Denny’s ‘Listen, Listen’ and more, the album’s touchstones span a vast musical collage of anger and hope.

Clarke’s stunning, Joni Mitchell-like voice is allowed to soar on the gorgeous ‘Super Recogniser’ with sparse, minimalistic guitar allowing for a renewed focus on Clarke’s poetic lyricism and storytelling. At times, songs on A Small Unknowable Thing take you out of harsh realities and into hopeful daydreams, finding positives from the negatives via synth-folk and surprising, unexpected sonic experimentation which pushes the boundary of indie-folk to daring new areas.

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

Jon Mckiel - Benedict Sinister - Lip Talk

Jon Mckiel - Mourning Dove.

By Jesse Locke · April 29, 2020: In 2015, cult Canadian indie-rocker Jon McKiel purchased a Teac A-2340 reel-to-reel recorder from a stranger online. After setting up the machine, he discovered one of the 30 tapes it came with contained recordings made by a previous owner. These included snippets of single instruments, vocals, and one nearly fully formed song. 

Four years later, McKiel teamed up with producer Jay Crocker (Constellation Records’ experimental electronic artist JOYFULTALK) to transfer all the material they could excavate from the reels to a hard drive. McKiel then chopped the sounds into 10-second loops, and used those samples as a foundation for a series of eerie, psychedelic pop songs. The project was credited to a character who was partially McKiel, and partially the stranger who sold him the machine: Bobby Joe Hope.

If Bobby Joe Hope has a predecessor, it’s the 2009 album Broadcast and the Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age. That hauntological project features British art-rock group Broadcast working with samples from horror films, TV broadcasts, and nursery rhymes. Though McKiel’s record shares Broadcast’s tumbling drum fills and dusty ambience, Bobby Joe Hope feels more intimate. Tranquil loops provide a soft bed over which McKiel’s gentle voice hovers on songs like opener “Mourning Dove” and the gorgeous “Deeper Shade.” 

The strolling, melancholy pace of “Management” will appeal to fans of Chris Cohen, while the video game tribute “Secret of Mana” might just be the nerdiest song of 2020. Perhaps the record’s most apt contemporary comparison are the ramshackle home recordings of Sub Pop artist Chad VanGaalen, as well as his production work for the spindly, post-punk group Women. The influence of both can be heard strongly on Bobby Joe Hope’s standout track “Object Permanence.” As McKiel’s lulling delivery floats over chiming guitars and a stately bass line, he raises spirits in more ways than one.

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

Benedict Sinister - Going Away - Extended Club Mix.

Club hit “Going Away” by Benedict Sinister (which has already reached the top ten in the UK MusicWeek Club Charts) is poised to cross over to the pop charts with a new video combining a sexy video game aesthetic with a cold evocation of a relationship break-up.

“Going Away” is the best example yet of Sinister’s extraordinary combination of house lounge music with adult alternative vocal style and subject matter: break-ups and the great art they have inspired, from Verlaine to Hemingway to Gainsbourg, Jimmy Webb, Jeff Buckley and Lana Del Rey – who are all quoted in the song.

Gigsoup says Sinister’s music is “like Leonard Cohen warped into EDM in the coolest way possible.” Artistrack says: “His smart, sexy, sharply-observed songs are a fusion of adult alternative and chill house.” Wonderland magazine call Sinister a “boundary-pushing revered musical veteran.” Cool Husting reports: “something beautiful has been born.”

Sinister teamed up with LA DJ and tastemaker Christian B on this track. Their last collaboration, “16 Lines from Bryan Ferry” hit the No. 5 Breakout spot on Billboard’s Dance Club chart.

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

Lip Talk - HD.

LIP TALK–the solo moniker of Sarah K. Pedinotti (Kalbells, Hayley Williams, Okkervil River, The Secret Machines) has just announced her upcoming album Laughing & Eating Cake is releasing August 4, 2021 via Northern Spy. 

In the lead up to the album’s release, LIP TALK will share a new single every Tuesday, beginning today with the curious and vibrant track “HD” and accompanying music video by Haoyan of America. 

Pedinotti explains further about the track which was written the week after US Election Day 2020: "After a traumatic week of increased television consumption I started having dreams in HD. The highly defined quality of the news anchorʼs skin painted perfectly with make-up and the fly on Mike Penceʼs head seemed to loop inside my head. I let myself get psychedelic in the verse and in the chorus I pretended I was Dolly Parton, for the sake of America."

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

Premiere: Warp Trio & Raina Sokolov-Gonzalez - The Well

Warp Trio & Raina Sokolov-Gonzalez - The Well.

A collaboration between Warp Trio, and the rising sensation Raina Sokolov-Gonzalez, “The Well” is a sweeping and epic tour de force that depicts the story of how isolation during the pandemic forces one to confront one’s self-identity, deal with their demons, and conquer them. The music video features the talents of amazing New York City dancer Emily Houghton with original choreography.

Taken from their forthcoming album due out August 20, 2021, the new six track collection came about against the following background. "Like musicians all over the World, New York City’s Warp Trio entered the Fall of 2020 with a full instrumental record ready to go, but no tour to play it on. In light of their forced hiatus from road life, and in efforts to make something positive out of these dark days, they decided to get to work on a new record that would not only signify the times, but also one that they would purposefully not be able to feasibly take on the road. Rick threw down some beats and bass, Mikael added his keys and synths, and after Josh & J.Y created a lush Disco-esque orchestra of strings, they reached out to some of their talented and inspiring vocalist, filmmaker, animator, and dancer friends to collaborate on a project that aims to show a small glimpse of the roller-coaster of feelings and experiences lived by folks in this time of tumult.

After many hours of home recording, “Zoom-Jams”, and a few All-Night film shoots, Warp Trio’s Pandemic Disco Fantasy was born. Clocking in at a little over half an hour, P.D.F. is a six-track video concept album that musically posits the Warp Trio alongside several guest vocalists (Likwuid, Mirah, Raina Sokolov-Gonzalez, Daniel Henri Emond, and Claire Wellin) as soloists with an orchestra. Each track is accompanied by a video chapter that tells the fantastical stylized story of the narrative. Visually, the movement talents of Emily Houghton, Sophia Qin’s psychedelic animations, and the film making prowess of Andrew Wells Ryder bring the music to life".

From Beehive Candy's point of view this is a superb song and one that set's expectation for the album rightly high. The musicianship is both dramatic and skillfully delivered, the vocals demanding equal attention and the video adds another layer of thoughtfully crafted art. As for the rest of the collection, well let's just say if you like this piece, you will love the rest.