The Last Waves - Shira - Ben Reel

The Last Waves - under a black sun (E.P).

A couple of months after the release of 'dark is the path', French cold-wave/post-punk/dark-pop/indie-rock five-piece The Last Waves just released another EP called 'under a black sun'.

These five new songs lead us immediately to worry, anguish, loneliness. New uninhabitable space, he shares with us his distress and his despair. The music of The last Waves offers us the sound image of an inaccessible world, it convinces us of its reality. 'under a black sun' was recorded, mixed by the band and mastered by Benjamin Joubert at the Biduloscope studio in Paris.

The Last Waves is a new band created in the middle of the pandemic around three boys and two girls. The name of the band is a wink to the new wave of the eighties, the famous new-wave whose name was borrowed from the new wave of the French cinema of the 50's and 60's and carried notably by the British Joy Division, New Order, Depeche Mode or Simple Minds.

Concerts suspended, venues padlocked, this period of forced silence was the spark that made the band's first two EPs spring up in late April and late June 2021. 'Revenge of the blue' and 'In cold colors avenue' were composed by founding guitarist Romain Champiot in an urgent, visceral and uncompromising way, like the last waves of an uncertain period.

The tracks are a mix between New Wave, Cold Wave, Pop and Indie-Rock. The harmonies are put forward, precise and often dancing. The Last Waves is inspired by the independent music of the 80's and the pop rock of the 2000's, adding a touch of electro rock when the intensity requires it.

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Shira - New York City in December.

Shira shares of the stunning track: "The holidays can be a tough time.  Three years ago was extra hard for me when I was alone, sheltering in place, during the pandemic, while my partner was stuck on the other side of the ocean and I was dreaming of having him here with me in NYC.  There's a certain magic in NYC around the holiday that really doesn't exist anywhere else. I hope this song brings comfort to whoever is listening and reminds them that they're not alone. "

Born in upstate NY to Israeli parents, Shira split her time growing up between Israel and the States. After finishing her service as a singer in the Israeli Army Band, Shira moved to NYC where she studied music and theatre at The American Musical and Dramatic Academy and The New School.

After graduating, Shira met music producer Paul Carbonara (Blondie) as a performer in New York’s vibrant theatre community. She starred in his Off Broadway musicals Solitary Light and Evening 1910 to much critical acclaim. Shira went on to record two albums produced by Carbonara along with an ace six-piece band, including Israeli-American Grammy-nominated drummer Dan Pugach.



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Ben Reel - U People/Scoring Goals.

In memory of my good friend Rainbow George Weiss "The wondering jew" who sadly passed away around this time last year 2021 on the 1st December aged 81. Myself & George co wrote these 2 songs together. George was a mystic visionary that was 100 years ahead of his time. He was definitely the most eccentric person I ever met who became a kind of guru for me even though some of his ideas where totally outlandlish. Rainbow George lived in Hampstead, London where he had some very interesting friends like Ian Jury & his once next door neighbour Peter Cook. When I once visited him in Hampstead to my amusement he was then living in a flat over a shop named "Over the Rainbow" which Rainbow George found very mystical.  George had a great way with words as an example of one of his last quotes was "Everything is relative & we are all related".

I was first introduced to George in 2001 by Belfast legend Terri Hooley in Good vibrations record shop. When I walked into the shop Terri said -  "here is the very man you are looking for George"  As George was looking for an Irish musician to put music to these revolutionary lyrics he had written which was U People and he wanted it in a Reggae style. I may have tweaked some lyrics here and there to make it work better as a song - U people was first recorded in 2005 in Eastcote recording studio in London, produced & mixed by Philip Bagnell who worked with bands like Aswad. The song was recorded on the same recording console as Bob Marleys Exodus album so U People has got the spirit of Bob. The song and video was used as a BBC party political broadcast when George created The Rainbow party with the campaign slogan "Make politicians history" to run in the N.Ireland elections of 2005. I stood as a candidate in Derry and got 33 votes. A very mystical number for George which he thought significant.

The song U People features great London based Jazz musicians Gilad Atmon on Soprano saxaphone, Dylan Howe on Drums, Yaron Stavi on bass & Frank Harrison on keys. Scoring Goals was recorded around 2008 in Tuff Paddy studio Tralee Co Kerry with Alex O'Brien & Miguel Lonergan on beats & mixing. Spoken word by Judd Charlton & backing vocals from Cathrine Taylor Dawson & Sugar Rainbow. I play guitars and sing the vocal. George imagined that it would become an anthem at soccer grounds so I made a special video for the song with some great classic goals from the World Cup. George was a big soccer fan and would surely be enjoying the present World Cup. A lot of people don't know that he once played with QPR reserves as a left winger before a broken leg ended his career. It's funny  that he was a left winger as I think he was the most far left person I ever met. Hopefully now he is scoring goals in Rainbow land.

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The Barefoot Bandit - Cajsa Siik - Resignation

The Barefoot Bandit - Criminal Damage.

South-West, UK 6-piece The Barefoot Bandit return with the striking new single ‘Criminal Damage’, released at the same time as the band’s debut album Hello Welcome. Blending elements of reggae, dub, electronica and even punk rock and world music the band have built a strong and loyal fan base, as well as a growing hype and are set to take things to the next level with the release of the new album.

Talking about the album, the band explain: "’Hello Welcome’ is a collection of sounds written by The Barefoot Bandit. A pipe dream turned true when we had the opportunity to record the album at the awesome Karma Sound Studios in Thailand. A dub fueled exploration of reggae, punk and world music takes you on a journey from the South-West of England to South-East Asia.”

The album’s lead single ‘Criminal Damage’ is a prime example of the band's work. Tight ska rhythms, infectious brass, choppy piano, driving guitar lines and elegant splashes of atmospherics and electronics create an infectious, musically rich soundscape under the pointed, effortlessly catchy lead vocals. Showcasing a unique and supremely polished approach to creating dub, the single is a brilliant example of the kind of inventive ideas and intuitive songwriting to expect across the new album.

Talking about the new single, the band share: “It is about a true event where someone we know ruined an allotment patch when they were young. The song is basically expressing that mistakes are made and you (hopefully) learn from them.”

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Cajsa Siik - Sometimes.

Stockholm based Cajsa Siik’s fourth studio album ”Ninjō” will be out on January 26th via Birds Records. The album holds everything we’ve learned to love with Siik’s songwriting: strong melodies, sparse intelligent arrangements and lyrics aiming straight to the core of your feelings. It’s both playful and powerful. ”Ninjō”, the album, is the sound of an artist once again reinventing herself, working out the songs and sounds during lengthly sessions with producer Erik Moberg.

Cajsa Siik released her debut album ”Plastic House” back in 2012 and has since followed up with 3 full length albums and 2 EP:s. International praise has been constant with the likes of Q Magazine, BBC6, Line of Best Fit and Nylon all joining in. In her home country Siik’s done critically acclaimed appearances on national TV shows ”Babel” and ”GoKväll” as well as being praised by Sweden’s main music journalist Jan Gradvall for her 2018 lo-fi EP ”Low Light Key Sessions”. Tours with, for example, Mitski has taken her to shows in London, Berlin, Dublin and other key European cities.

”Sometimes”, a new single off of the forthcoming album, is out now. A beat driven track that grows bit by bit into a full blown pop anthem.

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Resignation - Eddie Kingston.

Toledo, Ohio's Resignation will release their You Are More Than Right Now EP via Friend Club Records, February 10. 2023.   Vocalist Wes Allen says, "I wrote this song to my family. It’s an admittance of an intense mental health battle and the fears of watching time slip away. I named it after Eddie Kingston because he’s a collective favorite amongst the four of us (my wife, kids, and I). Additionally, Eddie is a strong mental health advocate and has been very open about his own struggles with mental illness. These are the most personal lyrics I’ve ever put to a song. It’s the most vulnerable thing I’ve ever written, but I’m the most of proud it as well."

Resignation's members comprise two different generations in the Northwest Ohio punk/hardcore/emo scene. The result is an amalgamation of their collective influences creating a message of hope, honesty, and empathy for people living in the strangest of timelines. This approach has found them a home amongst their hardcore comrades having such closely aligned philosophies.

The culmination of sounds that make up Resignation’s music is most often labeled post-hardcore, bringing together the primary building blocks that informed that genre. Their foundational influences are apparent: Grade, Hot Water Music, Fairweather, Samiam, Elliott. However, upon further inspection, one can hear the impact of early '00s emo that would have found them comfortably fitting amongst the ranks of bands featured on the Emo Diaries.

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Lucero - Doom Flower - Dead Leaf Echo

Lucero - Raining For Weeks.

Memphis rock/alt-country band Lucero releases their new single “Raining for Weeks” from the upcoming album Should’ve Learned by Now, out February 24 via Liberty & Lament/Thirty Tigers. With a soulful piano and a plucky acoustic guitar, the song offers a meditative rumination on mistakes made and love lost. It is accompanied by a music video featured this morning at Garden & Gun, who said the “ballad-like melancholy falls into equilibrium over jaunty piano, Nichols’s tenacious vocals, and old-school guitar drones.”

“This was a new guitar part that I wrote while playing guitar and chasing my daughter around the basement,” explains bandleader Ben Nichols. “It reminded me of something I might hear in a Wes Anderson film. Maybe one was on TV while we were playing. For such a simple little song, it has some of my favorite lyrics on the album, suggesting the narrator has been completely unaware of the consequences of his actions.” 

Should’ve Learned by Now is a reflection of a band that knows itself. Since forming in Memphis in the late 90’s, Lucero has evolved and embraced everything from southern rock to Stax-inspired Memphis soul, while maintaining their distinctive sonic foundations. After exploring darker, more atmospheric landscapes on their two previous releases, the band’s 12th studio album finds them returning to their punchy driving rhythms and punk-rooted guitar licks. The record is already garnering early acclaim with Lucero’s two previous singles – “One Last F.U.,” which Rolling Stone declared “has the defiant, sneering energy of Lucero’s loudest recordings,” and “Buy a Little Time,” which BrooklynVegan said “finds them embracing fuzzed-out, anthemic heartland rock, sounding like Tom Petty jamming with Crazy Horse but in the way that only Lucero can.”

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Doom Flower - Candle Habit.

Writing about Doom Flower for a feature in the Chicago Tribune last month, Britt Julious says: "There’s a ferocity in their decision making, from their controlled notes on the guitar to their minimalist percussion to Price’s soft, yet emotionally piercing vocals. Moody and evocative, Doom Flower has landed on a formula that should surely make them one of the city’s newest breakout successes."

The next single from Doom Flower's forthcoming full-length "is about choosing to keep going. The candles represent rotations. The chime-like guitar sound replaces the word 'time.'"

I've been really moved by this music and have found it easy to forget that I've already listened through the full-length once, twice, three times. Hypnotically beautiful and effortlessly cool, Doom Flower's Limestone Ritual recalls early Cat Power and Mirah and Bowery Electric but there's more than nostalgia at play here. Jess Price, Bobby Burg, and Matt Lemke expertly and effortlessly use this familiar mode to get their hypnotically beautiful songs into our minds. But it's then impossible not to get to know them for what they are: effortlessly cool, totally dialed in and completely satisfying.

Everyone involved here has significant history in the indie world. Bobby's a longtime member of Joan of Arc and Make Believe and of course his own project Love of Everything; Jess has been fronting Campdogzz since 2013; Matt's got Wedding Dress with Chris from Chin Up Chin Up; and Areif Sless-Kitain has drummed for The Eternals with Damon Locks and Brokeback with Doug McCombs.

The full-length drops next month on January 6th and will be available as a limited cassette and download via 'record label' and on all streaming platforms.

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Dead Leaf Echo - Boo.

Part-inspired by the seminal Madchester movement of the late 80s and 90s, the track is now accompanied by suitably vintage-styled visuals. Directed by New Visions’ Dylan Brannigan, the “Boo” music video arrives like a lost cut from the Granada music show, So It Goes… but with a supernatural twist.

Speaking about the concepts behind the video, L.G. Galleon of Dead Leaf Echo explains: “The Boo video intensifies the viewer’s visions of paranoia and fear about losing a loved one as they are trapped within a television screen forever set to watch themselves on repeat."

An indie-dance anthem with a deliberately retro feel, the track is intended as a tribute to the late Denise Johnson (Primal Scream / New Order), the Mancunion powerhouse vocalist who blessed some of the greatest Madchester-era records with her inimitable character. Scratch beneath its Hacienda-primed sound though and you’ll find an altogether darker and paranoid lyrical substrata. As L.G. Galleon reflects:

“Boo was written five years ago when I was pressed by my girlfriend at the time to write a joke “Manchester” song with a hook. It quickly morphed into a partial ode to Denise Johnson who passed away during the pandemic and also into a creepy Halloween song about surveillance, discovery and scaring your “Boo” with the truth about all your hidden secrets.”

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Ladytron - Zoe Sky Jordan

Ladytron - Faces.

Today, Liverpool’s iconic synth quartet Ladytron release “Faces,” the third single from their highly anticipated seventh studio album ‘Time’s Arrow’.

Over an echoing disco soundscape, “Faces” with title taken from the Cassavetes film of the same name, evokes bittersweet longing and euphoric escape, with expansive synth heavy production recalling 1970s euro diva Amanda Lear.

“Faces” follows the first two singles from Time’s Arrow, “City of Angels” and “Misery Remember Me.” Both garnered media praise upon their releases, with “City of Angels'' and its accompanying music video being described by Flood as a “dynamic electronic track with rich, industrial textures and utopian, shoegaze melodies,” while Brooklyn Vegan praised the sound of “Misery Remember Me” as “an ethereal dream pop song, drifting into Cocteau Twins territory.”

“Faces” also follows Ladytron’s announcement of West Coast U.S. tour dates in Spring 2023, where the band will take the stage in Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco in support of their forthcoming LP, ‘Time’s Arrow’. These will follow a run of previously-announced UK dates in March 2023 in Glasgow, Liverpool, and London.

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Zoe Sky Jordan - Just Fine (Live From The Great Hall).

Zoe Sky Jordan has just dropped two new singles from her upcoming album, "Just Fine" and "Achievement of Youth". Reminiscent of Soccer Mommy, Zoe's new music focuses on acknowledgement, forgiveness, understanding and self-acceptance.

The title track, "Selfish", kicks in with echoey, haunting piano and synths trailing a diary style confession which reveals a main plotline of Zoe Sky Jordan’s new album.  Penned during the pandemic, which saw Zoe and her husband move in with her parents for seven months, the album is reflective, introspective, investigative and dissective. In the same way that many of us gained perspective once we were forced to sit still, Zoe’s voyage home, after years out on her own living in Toronto and Nashville, gave her fresh eyes and ears to embrace a new frame of mind.

Daughter of acclaimed artist / songwriter / producer power couple Amy Sky and Marc Jordan, Zoe watched first-hand the differences afforded a successful man vs a successful woman in the music industry.  The harsh judgements cast upon her ‘not so stay at home’ mother, impacted the at the time very young Zoe.  She brings those feelings to the surface in many of the 13 tracks that comprise the full Selfish album, set for release in Spring 2023.  Acknowledgement, forgiveness, understanding and self-acceptance are the themes that abound.  This is an album that takes you through all of the emotions and plunks you at the doorstep labelled ‘Be at peace with yourself’.

Musically this album is reminiscent of Soccer Mommy, Snail Mail and Ethan Gruska. The first two singles released off the upcoming album, “Just Fine” and “Achievement of Youth”, were produced by Liam Russell, and mixed by Rob Shnapf (Kurt Vile, Elliot Smith). Stepping into a bolder and more brazen persona, "Just Fine" is a jammy and angsty track complete with sloshy guitar, bouncing drums and hypnotic, soaring vocals that proclaims “I always live up to the hype, never crack under pressure”. Zoe shares with us that the inspiration for "Achievement Of Youth" came from some very powerful words spoken by actress/writer Carrie Fisher: “Youth and beauty are not accomplishments.  They’re the temporary happy by-products of time and / or DNA.  Don’t’ hold your breath for either”.  As the years go by, you get a better understanding of who you are as an individual and you’re happy with just being you.

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Beat Awfuls - The Tearaways - Ghostbox

Beat Awfuls - Interstate Skeletons.

Beat Awfuls is the artistic vision of Boston expat and musical factotum Dave Vicini. Drawing from drugs, pop culture, and his personal experience all with a punk rock ethos, Dave dismantles his inspirations until the result is uniquely Beat Awfuls.  Like his heroes in The Breeders, The Velvet Underground, and Violent Femmes, his songs range from driving, enigmatic rockers to dark, vulnerable laments.  These songs are meant to linger, seductive like a pop hook, all while Vicini explores themes of disaffection, drug dependency and the realities of late-stage capitalism.

Beat Awfuls forthcoming album, PAWS, has the visceral and intimate quality of past releases, but finds new voice with dense distorted guitars, layered synths, and dissonance in all the right places. The title is an acronym for “Post-Acute Withdrawal Syndrome,” an affliction of the after-effects of substance misuse.  While the title may pinpoint Vicini’s location during the recording process, it doesn’t bind him; this album isn’t a slow, dour reflection on drug addiction and abuse; it’s an earth-clawing grasp to regain ground.

Dave started Beat Awfuls in 2005 as a 4-track bedroom recording project while living in Boston. These early recordings were released as People’s Champ: Anthology 2005-2011.  After moving to Lexington, KY, and forming a band he released two EPs: Party Slip and Hair to the Throne. In 2016, Beat Awfuls released their first full-length album, Nothing Happens on indie label Jurassic Pop. In 2019, Dave made his way back east, recording his sophomore album, Banana Appeal, before landing in Richmond, VA in 2020. In 2021, he reformed the band and then in 2022 he released a split cassette with Colleen Green. Beat Awfuls await their next full-length release, PAWS, slated for Feb. 10, 2023.

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The Tearaways - Charlie, Keith, and Ringo.

The London-based Dirty Water Records has signed the California-based rock and roll outfit The Tearaways to a 5-year deal.

The label will be releasing the Ed Stasium-produced (Ramones, Talking Heads, Smithereens) record on 1 April 2023 called “And For Our Next Trick.” The band features the dual lead singers of bassist John “Fin” Finseth and rhythm guitarist Greg Brallier, lead guitar David Hekhouse and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame drummer Clem Burke (Blondie). Also, from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Benmont Tench plays keyboards and Steven McCarthy (The Jayhawks, The Long Ryders) added pedal steel guitar.

The new record was recorded at the legendary Village Recorders in Los Angeles and was mastered at Sterling Sound by Greg Calbi. The first single being released to radio is “Charlie, Keith and Ringo,” as well as the award-winning video (Raindance Festival directed by Stephen David Brooks (“Flytrap”). The spring single track “Are You Effing Kidding Me” will be released when the record is launched.

Label chief Paul Manchester: “We are thrilled to have assembled an all-star team including global distributor Cargo Records UK, Wipe Out Music Publishing, and US publicity specialist Lou Mansdorf in the US to help launch this project.“

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Ghostbox - Orbit.

Ghostbox is composed of, Mike Buccino: Bass, Ted Knight: Guitar, Synth, Greg Parent: Drums & Percussion, Tim Parent: Guitar, Synth, Dermot Quigley: Vocals & Percussion, Andrew Stein: Percussion & Produced by Marc Dykeman

"Orbit" has a blues-infused psychedelic sound, which could be compared with The Record Company or The Black Keys. Other artists we appreciate include The War on Drugs, Radiohead, Bon Iver, and Lord Huron.

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