WILDES - Rowsie - Dan Pallotta - Syd Warwick

WILDES - Far and Wide.

WILDES just announced her debut album 'Other Words Fail Me' will be released on 7th October via AWAL. Produced by St Francis Hotel (Michael Kiwanuka, Little Simz) the album will feature previously released tracks "Lightly" and "Woman In Love" and this weeks newly released single "Far and Wide".

The solo project of London-based singer/songwriter Ella Walker, WILDES' music sonically falls somewhere in a Bermuda Triangle of Angel Olsen, St Vincent and Mazzy Star, embedded within an entrancing skeleton of folk songwriting, all the while lifting the listener up on a storm cloud of cinematic electronics and her sharp, honest lyricism. Citing the influence of PJ Harvey, Patti Smith and SASAMI on her new album, WILDES notes - "They are unapologetically honest women and musicians. They gave me permission to come out of the box I'd been cowering in."

New single "Far and Wide" is released today alongside a new video directed by WILDES herself, with the music deftly showcasing her stronghold of emotional clarity. Specifically focusing on the importance of friendship in early adulthood, "Far and Wide" unites a delicate swell of electronic atmospherics, churning muted guitars and WILDES' serene vocal.

Of the song's lyrical inspiration, she said: "Far and Wide is a celebration of friendship. It reflects the madness and uncertainty of early adulthood and the constant change and turbulence we all go through. After neglecting them for a long time, I realised how constant and secure my friendships had become. They saved me, melting away my shame and holding me when I couldn’t cope. Banding together against our shared, frenzied existences, it dawned on me that these loving and intimate friendships were more valuable than any boyfriend had ever been. The constant support and unconditional love of these people is the reason I am here today. So this is a love letter to those friends who saved me - I would do anything for you."

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

Rowsie - Gaslight.

Rowsie [pronounced rosy] sound like a car crash between Lou Reed, The Replacements and Dinosaur Jr, while listening to the best indie rock mixtape you made when you were seventeen… or still are. It was an idea sowed a long time ago in New York - but got lost due to the need to pay rent. Now, the rent is paid and Rowsie has been quietly building a buzz around central London and beyond. No longer an idea, just a whole lotta Rowsie.

Just back from a Spring tour of Mexico in support of Freddie Cowan of the Vaccines the band are on fire, and a full LP looks likely for 2022 amongst lots more live shows and a residency at The Social in London along with their residency at Sixty Sixty Sounds, Denmark Street. 

This June saw the release of their second EP, four noble rock n roll anthems for modern times. Set closer and epic six minute plus beauty ‘Gaslight’ leads the charge while EP title ‘Searching’ and two other titles ‘Love So Clear’ and ‘Legs Of Sand’ implore you to further fall for this vagabond group of misfits conjured from what may be the ghost of Tom Petty.

If you’re not already acquainted Rowsie are an English baroque pop singer-songwriter, a Canadian filmmaking composer and one of London’s coolest teenage jazz drummers along with Brooklyn’s belated rock star Richie Rothenberg. They all were playing in different scenes, different genres, different genders, and different cultural generations. They make no sense together at all! But when they play together magical music alchemy ensues.

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

Dan Pallotta - Charity Town.

Massachusetts-based folk singer-songwriter Dan Pallotta is sharing the second single from his upcoming LP, American Pictures, out October 5th.

“Charity Town” connects directly to his career as a philanthropist, where Pallotta is sometimes asked to speak for local community foundations in towns that have lost their major economic drivers.

This track reflects empathetically on the resilience and loss endured by citizens of these towns, who Pallotta describes as “the people left behind when the future has moved on.”

Featuring percussion composed by Pallotta’s fourteen-year-old daughter, “Charity Town” is a rousing yet intimate piece of storytelling folk, capturing the reality of the circumstances that have befallen these communities.

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

Syd Warwick - Mercury.

Vancouver-based musician Syd Warwick released her latest single, “Mercury” yesterday, with a video directed by Nathalie Taylor. The track is featured on Warwick’s upcoming debut EP, Sad Astra, out August 26 release via Nevado Music.

Discussing the track, Warwick stated, “‘Mercury' is a journey through the grief that comes with processing family trauma, and the difficulty of having to cut ties with people that you love. Even though there’s fear, uncertainty and pain within the process of letting go, there’s also a first step towards empowerment—the kind that comes when we face the world as an individual, belonging to no one but ourselves.

‘Mercury’ is about being your own advocate, understanding the cyclical nature of abuse and trauma within a family system and remembering that you are so much more than where you come from. It serves as a reminder to put yourself first, else you may never be able to move forward and become the person that you’re meant to be."

For Warwick, songwriting has shaped her into the person she is today. Writing songs is how she expresses herself and processes the world. Creating Sad Astra has been a progression through healing, as she worked on older songs whose production eluded her and new songs that pushed their way into the world through her creative process. The hardship Warwick experienced in this creative endeavor was amplified by the difficulties of working during a global pandemic and uncertainty about whether or not the music industry would come out okay on the other side of it. For Warwick, being in a room with a friend to record these songs was one way through those hard times and to see them released feels like a triumph.



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

Gaby Condulețz - Jesca Hoop

Gaby Condulețz - Reality Hits.

The song is about the specific moment when you realize how much reality can hurt you when your expectations are shattered.

The melody tries to physically show the pain inside somebody's chest when reality hits. And sometimes, reality hits hard.

Gaby is an easy name to remember & she tell us - I'm 18 and I tend to write songs whenever I have a deep feeling that I want to fix in my memory like a picture or when I'm tired of crying to myself while eating ice cream. Writing and singing for me is the cure, a therapy, something I physically feel in my chest.

Produced by Ricky Ferranti at Fuzzo Studio, Mastering by Jacopo Camagni at Monkey Studio.

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

Jesca Hoop - Sioux Falls.

Last month Jesca Hoop announced her sixth album, Order of Romance, the follow up to her 2019 LP Stonechild, an album that earned high praise from outlets like Pitchfork, NPR, The Guardian and The New York Times, saw Hoop perform her second Tiny Desk Concert, and was the critical high watermark of her career to date. The album was announced with the single "Hatred Has A Mother", and today Hoop is sharing a second single from the record, a track called "Sioux Falls".

A cryptic and unsettling lullaby, Sioux Falls, is a of series memories recalled in snapshots of harmony and melody a nation sleepwalking to the falls.

“Deeper into the Psychosis Cyclone as paranoia strikes. All the Preppers double up on supply and double down on guns. America the home of the free.” says Jesca “The vernacular all too familiar, like verses I learned in bible study, as the term “greater good” takes the shape of a dog whistle for the death spiral. Meanwhile, we over here are just simply looking out for each other while we manage the hard facts of life.”

Order of Romance is Hoop's most intricate and finely balanced album to date, one that draws on classic song writing, recalling anything from Gershwin to Paul Simon, but creating something that is unmistakably, indelibly Jesca Hoop.

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

C.Ross - Ralph Of London

C.Ross - Wrong Side Of The Sky.

“Skull Creator” is the new solo record by Canadian singer/guitarist C.Ross, better known as Chad Ross, who currently fronts Toronto psych rockers Comet Control (Teepee Records). The new record features eight genre-stradling songs of americana tinged folk-rock, while hinting at Ross’s fuzzy psych-rock past. Recorded, produced and mixed by Joshua Wells (Lightning Dust, Destroyer, Black Mountain) at the Balloon Factory in Vancouver, British Columbia (home studio of Dan Bejar of Destroyer), the new album “Skull Creator” was written at first as a solo acoustic project. 

When Destroyer’s Joshua Wells joined in on both drums and keys, Isaiah Mitchell (Earthless, Golden Void, the Black Crowes) on guitar, and Aaron Goldstein on pedal steel, the project morphed into a sweet psych-folk adventure.  Speaking of the hauntingly powerful album, Ross states: “I had it in my head that I was gonna make an acoustic record, with the sole purpose of making fun of myself, reflecting on a few of my past wasted lives and just generally taking the singer/songwriter thing out with the trash. The lyrics all made me laugh at one point, but when Josh and Isaiah got involved, things got elevated…. as they tend to do with musicians like that.”

“Wrong Side of the Sky” is the first single and video off of the new album. It is a sunny psych folk jam that will start your summer off with haunting, mellow vibes that transport the listener back in time to the gentle late ‘60s. The video was created by Waterloo, Ontario artist/musician Olde Nightrifter. She has created lush and beautifully psychedelic videos for the likes of Shabazz Palaces, Knife Knights, Comet Control and Icky Reels. The video takes you on a visual journey through light and dark spaces, with morphing objects that intertwine and complement the lyrical and compositional feel of the song.

Ross has spent years navigating the Canadian music scene as the singer/ guitarist for heavy psych rockers Quest for Fire (Teepee), solo acoustic as Nordic Nomadic (Blue Fog, Teepee), a member of legendary garage rock band The Deadly Snakes (In the Red) and a touring member of Vancouver’s Pink Mountaintops. Get your hands on his newest project which branches off from these influences and shows his maturing songcraft into psych-folk territory. “Skull Creator” is available July 13, 2022 as an LP co-release on Atlanta’s Echodelick Records, Canada’s Noise Agony Mayhem and Australia’s Ramble Records. Available digitally on Party Product Records.

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

Ralph Of London - Flower Of Edo.

Alternative-pop quartet Ralph of London have released the music video for their recent single Flowers of Edo today alongside an accompanying B-side single Sun Bleach.

Currently based between London and the North of France, Ralph of London was formed in 2016 as a solo project by songwriter, drummer and producer Ralph Phillips who has spent the better part of his life developing various music, art and film projects in the UK, France, Switzerland, Germany and Japan, touring across Europe as a session musician for established artists such as Scritti Politti and Go-Kart Mozart as well as scoring soundtracks.

After putting out a handful of singles and recording his first full length album as Ralph of London, Ralph was invited to put a band together in the North of France and has since been working with musicians Léopold, François and Diane on developing Ralph of London’s now full-band live repertoire, and playing shows in both France and the UK. The group bring together synthesised rock and roll, West African polyrhythms and English folk fused into melodic pop songs that glance in on our fragmented social milieu from the sidelines.

Following up on the 2022 release of their recent EP Yellow Sky Highway, recorded at their recently self-built Yellow Sky Studios, located within the disused premises of a Protestant Temple, comes Flowers of Edo which was lyrically inspired by the sinister side of hedonism on display in the music industry.

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

Nervous Twitch - ACER - Rat Tally - Alison Sudol - Basset - Ashley Heath

Nervous Twitch - Forgive Yourself.

Leeds UK indierock trio Nervous Twitch debut new single "Forgive Yourself" and announce upcoming new album 'Some People Never Change' on Reckless Yes Records.

It's pretty hard to put into words but I'm gonna try, but seriously I'm way excited to be working and bringing this new album by Nervous Twitch on the awesome UK label Reckless Yes to your attention. I've been following Reckless Yes for a few years and have become a big fan of not only their roster but also the way they do business and how they treat others and create a solid inclusive community, so working with them is a big honor. 

This new album by Nervous Twitch is like a guide to UK and US indiepop and indierock with nods to Mambo Taxi, Huggy Bear, Modern Lovers, Television Personalities, the Pixies, Sleeper, Ash, Lovely Eggs, Dressy Bessy, and even a bit of Swearin'. I could go on and on, but I say just check out the first single "Forgive Yourself" which debuted earlier today at Austin Town Hall. If you want a promo copy hit me up, but you can stream or download the album below. The band are up for doing mix tapes, features, guest editor spots, you name it, and we have a few exclusive still up for grabs so seriously like reach out. ~ Mike 

Nervous Twitch—talk about a perfect band name! Listening to their fifth album, Some People Never Change, it’s hard not to notice the nervous energy of front woman Erin Hyde’s vocals. Nervous Twitch built a solid reputation for songs that bristle with punk energy, mixing a vibe that also incorporates girl group passion, post-punk angularity, and even the occasional surf guitar cool.

Reckless Yes Records · 5. Forgive Yourself

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

ACER - Someone Else's Dream.

ACER is a dream pop duo made up of multi-instrumentalist Kyle Gottschalk & vocalist/art director Connory Ballantyne. Borrowing from the brooding post-punk sound of their former band House Art, Ballantyne’s vocals lend a confident and lyrical vision to the dynamically maximalist instrumentals written out of Gottschalk’s love for bedroom-pop & shoegaze.

Starting in 2019- and writing together during the past year of lockdown as housemates- the duo is set to debut their first mini-album in 2021- the 6 track self titled “ACER” – a youthful, hungry record showcasing the musical diversity & raw energy of the two producers.

Dreamy atmospheres abound (a nod to Beach House, Daniel Lanois, or Eno), the tracks sputter & glitch to life reminiscent of bedroom producers like JPEGMAFIA or the recent work of Toro Y Moi, and Ballantyne’s vocals constantly flirt between the swaggering bravado of artists like Archie Marshal’s King Krule, the effect-laden Justin Vernon or Kanye, and the soft ambience of Slowdive.

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

Rat Tally - Longshot.

Singer-songwriter Rat Tally has shared a new track from her upcoming debut album. Single Longshot is an insight into the singer's anxiety and cyclical thought patterns, adorned with lush instrumentation and elevated by her unique vocal style.

Out August 12th, the debut album from one of the most exciting young singer-songwriters to emerge in recent years, 'In My Car' sees Rat Tally (aka Addy Harris) deliver on the promise of her earlier releases and her distinctive candid style both sonically and lyrically. With concise yet poignant lyrics, and guest features from Jay Som and Madeline Kenney, 'In My Car' is easily one of the most fully realised debut albums in the indie rock realm.

"This is the opening track and one of my favorites off the record. The song is a lot about anxiety and not being able to stop overthinking, so I wanted the verses to feel tense, lyrically and musically" says Harris of the song.

“Longshot and In My Car have a wall of quadrupled power chord guitars that my producer Max Grazier recorded that just absolutely smack you in the face. When I wrote it I was really obsessively listening to Fountains of Wayne, XTC, and a lot of 90s and early 2000s hits, and I wanted it to have a big stadium rock vibe. I had this hook that I hummed in the demo and thought I would eventually write words to it, but it works so much better as just a melody riding on top of the huge guitars."

Hailing from Chicago (by way of LA and Boston), Rat Tally emerged in 2019 with an impressively fully formed sound on her self-released debut EP, 'When You Wake Up'. The release quickly caught the attention of 6131 Records (Julien Baker, Joyce Manor, Katie Malco), who were eager to work with the young, yet clearly very talented musician.

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

Alison Sudol - Meteor Shower.

American singer-songwriter and actress Alison Sudol unveils the hypnotic visuals for her recently released single ‘Meteor Shower’ and shares the details of her upcoming new album, ‘Still Come The Night’, due for release on September 30th via Kartel Music Group.

The video is an invitation to witness and partake in a series of self-imposed actions and rituals.  Alison presents herself to the camera in her truest form; raw, vulnerable, enduring, powerful, while using a variety of visual approaches - from  irregular depth of field, video feedback loops, erratic zooms to affected speeds - the director transports the viewer beyond this dimension, intimately navigating levels of Alison’s subconscious.

Directed by Alison’s close collaborator and Creative Director Federico Nessi, also responsible for the upcoming album’s art direction, the video concept, Nessi explains “stemmed from the song’s hypnotically repetitive beat and Alison’s stoic tone - a mystical force seducing the listener to join in on a meditative journey of self-exploration.”

Talking about the visuals, Alison adds; “Federico’s vision for ‘Meteor Shower’ matched the heartbeat of the song and leaned into it. Sitting with grief - whether noticed or not - kinetic ritual. I had never seen tapping before Fede introduced it to me but I have done it naturally at different points in my life. Energy and emotion can get trapped and settle in parts of the body. There’s a tremendous amount of power in movement and healing in touch”.

‘Meteor Shower’ serves as the upcoming album’s poetic finale, book ending the equally hypnotic opener, ‘Bone Tired’. “It’s the moment of space between one chapter ending and a new one beginning - a moment of uncertainty, the unknown... of possibility. The record begins with exhaustion and ends the same way, but with light pouring in.”

The video follows the release of recent single ‘Meteor Shower’ and the deeply personal ‘Peaches’, as well as her recent support dates with Goldfrapp at London’s Royal Festival Hall, and the UK release of ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore’, in which Alison reprised her role as Queenie Goldstein. The new tracks precede the release of the full length ‘Still Come The Night’, the album Alison wrote, co-produced and recorded at Giant Wafer Studios nestled between sheep fields in the Welsh countryside with London based multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer Chris Hyson, who is also half of adventurous collective Snowpoet.

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

Basset - In The Clay.

We’re Sam Clark and Yasmine Shelton. Together we are the folk-duo Basset. We call Toronto home, and this gritty, massive, in-your-face, messy place is woven deep into the music we create. Through fiddle and intricate harmonies, our voices wrap around each other and evoke the rawness of this city.

Our lead single, “In The Clay,” is from our debut full-length album and is an account of our experience living in a big city yet feeling isolated for 2 years. We came far, we still managed to grow in the dark,  but it was very heavy.

This album was conceived in isolation. We felt very tucked away underground, and we couldn’t go anywhere aside from the long, long walks we took through the west end of the city. It was easy to feel trapped in the monotony, the rhythms we repeated each day; especially underground, where the lack of sunlight was crushing. This got morbidly fascinating. Maybe to distract ourselves, we fell into some rhythms of really intense work, trying to shape ourselves into the musicians - and humans - we wanted to be, to create this album.

We practiced hard, we studied, and we pushed our bodies too. We ate less and worked out. At times, we ate too little and worked ourselves too hard. We constantly chased after light, on long walks on the coldest day of the winter, our “happy lamps” and “grow lights.” All these, perhaps, were ways of trying to make something of being trapped in that basement and the trials that everyone faced for the past few years.

This song evokes the feelings from Sam’s weeks-long canoe trips in the Canadian wilderness. The first few hours of paddling are always hard, and aches start to set in. It’s easy to wonder how you could possibly do this for days on end. But then the aches seem to settle, and your mind flows into the rhythm.

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

Ashley Heath - Something To Believe.

A powerful singer and songwriter who can convey passion, confusion, strength, pleading and more sometimes all at once Asheville, North Carolina’s Ashley Heath has gained a fervent fan base with appearances at festivals like MerleFest, Bonnaroo, Shakori Hills, and Floydfest. Now, she’s signed with Organic Records and is making a head-turning debut with “Something to Believe,” the first single and title track from her forthcoming EP. 

The track opens with guitar, bass and organ serving up a twisty blues-rock figure that sets an ominous tone before Heath makes her entrance, giving soulful voice to the mood of unease:

"I spent my time getting lost in a dream
But I can’t let go of memories of the bad things I’ve seen" 

From there, the song never lets up in intensity, even as it swells and subsides in volume and complexity, underlining the insistent questions of its chorus: 

"Let me in or let me out
Give me answers show me somehow
Are we gonna end this or work it out?...
Give me, give me, something to believe" 

Accompanied by members of her touring band, Heath gives a compelling performance that is at once boldly and intimately expressive, offering a common thread of emotion that fits equally well not only with a personal interpretation of the song’s plea, but of a broader one, too, revealing the distinctive outlook and artistry that has earned Heath a growing number of fans around her western North Carolina home. 

“There have been many times in the last few years where we as a collective have felt very powerless and lacking a sense of control,” she notes. “The entire world shut down due to Covid-19 and with it crashed our livelihoods, our sense of safety in the world, and being able to be close with our family and friends. When we did see each other, our faces were behind masks. ‘Something to Believe’ was written about these angsty yet melancholy feelings that came up by trying to make sense of it all. At certain points, I was thinking, give me any sign that I can continue doing this thing that I love and have put my heart into for years. ‘Are we done with the hard times, are they over?’

Syntax Creative · Ashley Heath - "Something to Believe"

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

Claude - Karen Harding - Pizza Crunch

Claude - roses.

Claude—the Chicago based existential dream pop solo project of Claudia Ferme—today shared “roses”, their second and final single off their upcoming debut full-length, a lot’s gonna change, produced with Michael Mac (Tenci, Tasha, Devin Shaffer, Mia Joy) and out August 12th, 2022 via American Dreams Records

The single “roses” arrives alongside a Reilly Drew-directed music video. On the track, Claude issued the following statement: "'roses' was inspired by a line in Love in the Time of Cholera where the protagonist starts eating flowers and roses because of how obsessed with someone he is. 

I think in the novel it’s supposed to symbolize how his obsession became all-consuming but I thought about a rose and the thorns on its stem and how someone eating a rose was a perfect metaphor for how as humans we’re so self-torturous, mentally and emotionally, and very unforgiving of ourselves. In the video, we wanted to show this imagery in a more abstract way while still including actual roses - I made the purple top and gray dress and am wearing other pieces that have peaks and spikes and that play with the making and release of tension to show the back and forth we have with ourselves in certain situations."

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

Karen Harding - I've Got A Secret.

Following the release of her first 6 singles, Karen Harding returns with the first single release and title track from her Upcoming EP, ‘I’ve Got A Secret’ on Friday 8th July 2022. 

Written during the Melbourne, Australia Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns, dramatic singer-songwriter single, ‘I’ve Got A Secret’ dives straight into the heart of fear and anxiety, when sharing a less than perfect side, that you know leaves you open to judgement from others. 

We live in a world that is filled with images of perfection.. Where we believe that to be good enough, we must line up with the messages that essentially only show the highlight reels of a life. This leads us to locking away our own vulnerabilities.. That is, until you reach a point, where you realise that your struggles are a secret that no one knows about. The idea of sharing these fills us with fear, questioning and mistrust, and this is the message within ‘I’ve Got A Secret’. 

The four track EP, ‘I’ve Got A Secret’ is being released one single at a time, each month, and will be available in its entirety by October 2022. The EP is available for purchase at Bandcamp in digital download and CD formats.

KarenHarding · I've Got A Secret

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

Pizza Crunch - Wilting Youth.

Glasgow alternative-rock group Pizza Crunch are pleased to announce their follow up single to 'Young Excitement' with new track ‘Wilting Youth’, which is set to be released on the 8th of July. 

The band are excited to release this track, having played it live at a sold-out King Tuts as well as at the Left of the Dial festival in Rotterdam and Stockton Calling. This release is the second of a plethora that will be unveiled this summer. 

Unlike the reflective tone of previous single 'Young Excitement', Wilting Youth arrives from a more yielded perspective, as the lyrics openly admit that the bright, vibrant days of the past have not only vanished, but they aren’t returning.  The track was produced, mixed and mastered by Chris Marshall (Baby Strange, Gerry Cinnamon and Declan Welsh and the Decadent West) at Castle of Doom Studios.

Pizza Crunch · Wilting Youth

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