The Jaws of Brooklyn - Maria Pellicano - Rebecca McCartney - Chris Kelly

The Jaws of Brooklyn - Fever.

Seattle-based band, The Jaws of Brooklyn, announce the release of the 60s influenced Garage Soul Pop single on November 12. It’s off the album, The Shoals, due out in early 2022. Lyrically the song represents embracing every facet of being a woman – especially anger, and being unabashedly unapologetic in showing up fully in every expression of emotion, despite how “unattractive” or unacceptable it might be to society.

The Jaws of Brooklyn fully express these emotions on “Fever” with a sensual, gritty determination. Lead singer Lindsay Love, says “It touches on being someone’s desire but never their ‘dear.’ It’s about pulling the tape off my mouth to finally speak up and get loud without caring how I’m perceived. It also touches on female sexuality from a purely physical stance that dispels the historical notion that women are always seeking something more from men.”

The band recorded the single in The Shoals region of Alabama at Sundrop Sound, the studio owned by Alabama Shakes keyboardist Ben Tanner and John Paul White (formerly of The Civil Wars). The single features Alabama Shakes/Brittney Howard background vocalists Shanay Johnson and Karita Law.  Muscle Shoals Alabama’s rich musical history that includes the likes of Aretha Franklin, Rolling Stones, and Otis Redding, weaves its way into Jaw of Brooklyn’s very essence. 

The Jaws of Brooklyn formed when Radio Raheem’s three members (Zia Uddin-Drums, Paul Christofferson-Bass, Bryan Cohen-Guitar) met singer Lindsay Love in Seattle during the height of the COVID pandemic in August 2020. They recorded a series of 60’s flavored Rock n’ Roll and Soul demos in Cohen’s basement, which included background vocal contributions from Black Pumas’ Lauren Cervantes and keyboards from Funky 2 Death’s Melissa Montalto. The demos caught the ear of Alabama Shakes keyboardist Ben Tanner and Fitz and the Tantrums and Lady Blackbird writer/producer Chris Seefried.

The Jaws of Brooklyn · FEVER

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Maria Pellicano - Forever and Ever.

Inspiring Singer/Songwriter, author, teacher and coach, Maria Pellicano is set to release her transformative single, ‘Forever and Ever’ on 12th November 2021. A song that takes us on a journey of moving through our inner darkness and discovering what lies beyond.. In other words, painting the darkness with colours of hope.

“Often, we don’t want to look at our own darkness, because we are afraid we will find something we cannot solve.. I wanted to highlight that it’s really there for people.. If we want to grow, we have to confront that there are parts of us that we cannot solve.. you need to become aware of it and sit with it.”

After working with producer, Joshua Hennessy, of Pivotal Music Melbourne, on the creation of the track, Maria plans to combine the song with her existing tools as an experienced author, teacher and coach, to create a powerful message to those looking to grow and develop their voice, presence and confidence.

Music and songwriting have not only allowed Maria to express her own soulful song, but have been a gift that has touched and inspired so many people throughout every stage of her life.

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Rebecca McCartney - For Avery, in June.

Rebecca McCartney returns to the city where she was raised by a family of musicians and nerds, now with her own sound and much to say. She grew up immersed in NYC’s classical music world and her early songwriting eventually led to the release of an indie-folk record under the duo name Garden Party (2020) with her close friend, Jakob Leventhal.

Now, after a college career studying jazz and playing in an R&B band, McCartney is preparing to release her genre-bending debut EP, How You Feel. Calling on her eclectic musical influences and experiences, the upcoming record generates an edgy, ethereal sound that celebrates McCartney’s buttery vocals and absorbing lyrical insights. Rebecca is stoked to share her new single out this Friday, November 12th.

Here's what she had to say about it: "I wrote 'For Avery, in June' for my friend who has been knocked down by relationships so many times. Every time she gets hurt by one of these emotionally illiterate men, I just want her to be okay. So the song’s about that, about calling her back home, and saying that even when these men don’t show up for her, I’ll be there. It’s sad but hopeful. A good song to listen to with small tears and then call your friend you haven’t talked to in a year".

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Chris Kelly - Your Day Begins Again.

Cardiff Singer/Songwriter Chris Kelly announces his latest single 'Your Day Begins Again.'

Released independently the single will be streaming everywhere on Friday 26th November.

Former Front-man of 90's Cardiff Band 'The Scooters' Chris Kelly has made quite a name for himself across Wales as a tour de force on the live music circuit. Honing his craft as an accomplished Singer/Songwriter, Chris Kelly has played extensively across all of South Wales and impressing many an audience with his unique brand of Acoustic Americana Pop.

Beast PR · Chris Kelly - Your Day Begins Again

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Dana Gavanski - Kaya Usher - Parrot Dream - Lydia Brownfield

Dana Gavanski - Letting Go.

Following on from her debut album Yesterday Is Gone and her covers EP Wind Songs both released in 2020, Serbian-Canadian musician Dana Gavanski gives us a taste of what's to come next with her brand new single "Letting Go."

It's a slice of wide screen psychedelic pop. Dana and her band are also heading out on the road with Porridge Radio this week, a tour they will be embarking on by train in the interest of lowering their environmental impact.

Of the new single Dana says: "It's like a little mantra for me to sing, though maybe it’s a tad unconventional being that it’s not necessarily the kind of positive message we all associate with pop mantras. It’s more of an account of how the mind works to undermine us. It’s a subverted mantra. In the chord sequence I was trying to excite my ears and explore different melodies."

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Kaya Usher - Heart Clicks.

Kaya Usher's first single as a recording artist is Heart Clicks, a song about the transcending power of love and the ways in which it unites humanity.  The song comes a week ahead of the November 17 release of her debut album, All This Is, produced by Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene and Nyles Spencer. Mastered by Grammy award-winner Emily Lazar, the 10-track project also features Andrea Nann on back-up vocals and two of Usher and Downie’s children, Lou and Willo. Bringing to life the couple’s dream of one day forming a family band, All This Is will self-released and distributed by Arts & Crafts Productions, the label behind Downie’s solo career.

"This is a very personal album for me, not only because I get to jam out with my kids, but also because music has helped me to rise up and transcend what was holding me back,” says Kaya Usher. “Everyone can connect to music. My hope is that this album helps others reach new heights too.”

All This Is represents a reset. It is Usher’s story, told for the first time through a series of songs. Haunting melodies and soul-searching lyrics create an experience for the listener that reflects Usher’s awakening process, a journey that began when she fought breast cancer in her forties. The album speaks to her unraveling, her epiphany and, finally, her metamorphosis.

Kevin Drew met Usher in 2013 through Downie, and they soon became good friends. Their collaboration is heard throughout the album, in its robust compositions, ambient chords and hypnotic rhythms. Featuring her son Lou on keyboard and drums, her daughter Willo on harmonies and Usher playing classical guitar, organ, harmonica and providing vocals, All This Is is an offering almost thirty years in the making. The project was recorded at The Bathouse Recording Studio — a studio owned and managed by The Hip, near Kingston on the shores of Lake Ontario. The album art was designed by Willo.

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Parrot Dream - The End.

NY-based dream-pop duo Parrot Dream are sharing a new single, "The End." It's third and final in the band's 2021 song cycle following "Automatic System" and "Red Circle."

The band shares, "'The End' was not in fact written in response to world events. We were experimenting with big dark synth sounds and wanted to create something minimal but deep & dynamic. The lyrics are essentially final thoughts as a chapter closes and one created world ends. We all move through several worlds during the day; worlds we create ourselves, worlds created by systemic repression, worlds of relationships, worlds created by the illusions of capitalism, to name a few. The world ending in this song is specifically a world built around two beings facing a fire and brimstone type of demise."

Parrot Dream is the Brooklyn via Santiago, Chile duo of Christina Appel and Gonzalo Guerrero. Good Eye released their debut, Light Goes, which dealt with themes of disconnected memory and loss as the partners grappled with their different senses of home.

"The End" is part of a set of material that they had planned on recording in a studio in 2020 and ended up recording in their home throughout the year. It's also their first new work operating fully as a duo.

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Lydia Brownfield - Against The Light.

Lydia Brownfield announces the release of the single “Against the Light." It’s an anthem for those trying over and over again despite the odds and also a reckoning for those getting in their own way.  It’s off the upcoming album, Dig, due out November 19.

The frantic and impulsive tempo symbolizes a moth banging around the dark searching for the light. When she finds it she throws herself against it: “Around and round this light I’m flying banging loudly into the night, torn and broken but not beaten, I will throw myself again and again and again against the light”.

It reflects two areas of Brownfield’s own life she strives to get right, her music career and past relationships. She says, “This song kind of sums up my life. Even after failing at relationships, we all do it again. And again and again. We have to try. I always have to try. It’s the same with music. I’ve been at this for decades. But I still throw myself at it as hard as I can, with whatever I have. Or whatever I have left.”

Brownfield plays acoustic guitar, piano, strings and synths on “Against the Light”. The single produced by Fred Blitzer, also features Andy Harrison on electric guitar, Jeff Martin on drums, and Phil Maneri on bass.

The album travels the euphoric highs of being in love and the dramatic lows of breaking up and discovering internal power. Through genre-bending twists and turns of folk, punk, and pop, it explores the journey of getting caught up in someone else and losing sight of one’s journey of self-discovery.

Lydia Brownfield · Against The Light

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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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