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Genre Mix: Suit of Lights - HOO HAs - Stevie

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Suit of Lights - Break Open The Head. Background - Suit of Lights is an American music group founded by Joe Darone, formerly of The Fiendz and The Rosenbergs. Described as genre-defying, Suit of Lights artfully blends elements of 60's pop, punk, progressive rock, metal, jazz, and baroque pop. The group's alumni boasts members of Mr Bungle, Thursday, Streetlight Manifesto and The Tea Club. At an early age, Joe Darone dedicated his life to making art and music. Darone’s career as a drummer took him everywhere from CBGB’s to The Fillmore, from opening for The Ramones in his punk band, The Fiendz, to touring with Echo & The Bunnymen with The Rosenbergs. Darone is also a visual artist, creating artwork for the likes of Madonna, Agnostic Front, and Van Halen under the name Zeckle. He continues to create the album artwork for each Suit of Lights release. In 2003, Darone began focusing on songwriting, and Suit of Lights was born. Not satisfied to stand still creatively, each new

Friday Four: Ivey - Mother Leads - Lunch Duchess - Old Sault

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Ivey - All Things Good. Background promo - Fresh faced, born and bred to take on new adventures, Gold Coast's Ivey have been charming the pants off music fans and critics alike since 2013. Remaining just as breezy and young in their delivery but continuing to tighten the screws, Ivey ask nothing more of you, dear listener, than to revel in their indie-pop dream. With half the band still tending to their high school studies, the young troupe is led by young Millie (15), with Lachlan (18) co-fronting on vocals and guitar. Matthew (17) and Dante (19) fill the rhythm out. With Millie at the front-and-centre, Ivey is empowering young teens, irregardless of gender, to pursue their passions. Building on the warm familiarity of previous single, 'Smell of Smoke' but also daring to tread new grounds, 'All Things Good' both sways and wallops with its charming delivery of honest lyrics that imbed in your brain. 'All Thing Good' was recorded with the helping hand of p

Lake Ruth - Actual Entity (Album Release)

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Lake Ruth - Dr. Snow And The Broad Street Pump. Background promo - Lake Ruth was formed in 2015 by multi-instrumentalist Hewson Chen of The New Lines, drummer Matt Schulz and vocalist Allison Brice, best known for her prior work with UK groups The Eighteenth Day of May and The Silver Abduction. With a unique sound rooted in 1960s experimentation, the trio blends elements of baroque pop, pysch, kraut, jazz and electronic music – resulting in rhythmically propulsive tunes, rich with multilayered guitars, modular synths and atmospheric vocals. The nine songs of 'Actual Entity' are highly varied in style yet sonically cohesive, ranging from cinematic Italian soundscapes and post-C86 pop anthems to delicate English folk songs and extended motorik jams. The album's title 'Actual Entity' is a reference to the Process Philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead, and alludes to the fluid nature of reality. Its nine songs are populated with a collection of marginal characters – th

Quality Not Quantity: Febria - Moddi - Brother Hawk

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Febria - The End Of Something. Background promo - Febria is a five-piece alternative rock band washed up on the banks of the river Usk. Originally formed in high school in Pontypool, and influenced by everything from prog, metal, grunge, indie and folk, they have recorded several EPs and a full-length live album, and have played many gigs around South Wales and the UK. Their music reflects a wide range of influences, varying from acoustic folk all the way through to dense prog, and they are proud of not easily fitting into one particular genre as a result. Their latest EP, 'The Sea Around Us', is their fifth recording, and they are currently working on their next release.   This EP represents an evolution in sound, carrying even further the complexity and rejection of traditional structure already shown in some of their previous releases adding multiple layers of vocals and guitars. One of the approaches to the songs was the idea of writing music which sounds like math/pos

Genre Wander: A Treehouse Wait - Searls - Basement Revolver - Chelan

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A Treehouse Wait - Faith. Background promo - Jenny Wahlström from A Treehouse Wait grew up with one foot at a country farm in the south of Sweden. She had her other foot in Asia, where her parents worked for several periods of time during her childhood. She has mainly worked as a songwriter in the EDM-stage, co-writing and performing with acts like Martin Garrix (Virus), Shermanology (Stranger) and Ferry Corsten (Many ways). Realising that it wasn’t just songs that made sense to herself, but the fact that people actually listened when she started singing re-inspired her. After spending a month in the USA, being the opening act for a Swedish folksinger, singer and songwriter Jenny Wahlström plucked up the courage to put the songs down on paper and record the songs she didn’t think she’d ever share with the rest of the world. A Treehouse Wait was born. The music is mostly inspired by the things one is so familiar with, but mostly would not talk about. Like empty city streets during

Sunday Gems: The Big Bend - Robbie Miller - Naropa

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The Big Bend - Celebrate. Background promo - “Celebrate” is the title track to The Big Bend’s new album that the always-reliable label Misra Records (Phosphorescent, Melaena Cadiz, Destroyer, etc) is putting out on July 22nd. Celebrate is the band's fourth release and has all the hallmarks of a career milestone, calling to mind early-‘70s Neil Young in its songwriting, with vocals reminiscent of The Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle. The Big Bend is led by Chet Vincent, who's been kicking around Pittsburgh playing in bands since he was a teenager. A regular fixture of the city’s quietly thriving music scene, he's established a reputation as one of the city’s most dedicated figures. Celebrate shows the band’s dynamic range - from the first discordant, psychedelic notes of album opener “The Spins,” through the closing bars of the stripped-down, folky “Su La Ley.” In between, Vincent’s vocals show range stylistically, from shouts on the rowdier tunes, to lilting crooning rem

Friday Mix: Destrends - Kolumbus - Kid Bloom - Slowcoaching

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Destrends - Papa. Background promo - Outfitted in Dr Martens, tight jeans and glitter, Destrends are a Melbourne based three-piece quickly building a reputation as a distinctly theatrical live band with a sound influenced by early 80s post-punk. Their sound is a unique blend, reminiscent of the new wave sound of the late 70s and early 80s, with a gentle touch of gothic hysteria. “Papa” is the first offering off Destrends’ forthcoming debut EP, which is set for release in late 2016. The Melbourne post-punk three piece have clocked up a handful of impressive gigs since forming in 2014, including sharing the stage Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age), touring with Stonefield and Apes on their recent national tours, supporting Aussie icons Hoodoo Gurus, and performing at King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s inaugural Dawn of Gizzfest. Recorded by Finn Keane at Head Gap Studios, “Papa” is loud, fast paced and aggressive whilst maintaining pop sensibilities. The track

Quality Not Quantity: Divan - Earth Heart

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Divan - Sale Of Lakes. Background promo - There's a lot of life in the city. Growing up in the idyllic Irish countryside and finding a place amid the alien, urban sprawl had a huge impact on Divan. Their music; all pulsating rhythm, soaring vocals and oscillating guitars, draws on a rich tapestry of styles and sounds, which evolves into a real statement of intent: the desire to understand art and its relevance in modern life.  Singer, Jamie Clarke writes: 'I think always having an innate desire to surround yourself with activity & action when all you've known is peace & tranquillity comes out in our music. It draws me to people, and also to the art that I love.' The lyrical narrative in Modern Knowledge weaves its way through such themes, affecting not just today's artists and creators but everyone that, like Jamie, is drawn to the bustle of something more than what was known... From experimenting with accessible but unusual time signatures in ‘Shards’

Midweek Double: Ghost Wave - Pip Blom

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Ghost Wave - All U Do Is Kill. Background promo - New Zealand’s Ghost Wave return with their sophomore album Radio Norfolk. Following on from 2013’s Ages the latest album sees the duo explore deeper into their psychedelic sound, while adding a more electronic focus to their sunny warped songs. From the opening track onwards Radio Norfolk is a series of trippy, psych hooks filled with clashes of keys, organs, and percussion. Taking minimal cues from their previous work, Radio Norfolk’s songs dance through a colourful, hyperactive rhythm sets (All U Do Is Kill), dazed, dub-laden melodies (Honeypunch, Blues Signal ’79), 70s jangle gems (Don’t Ask Why, Slow Cone Descent), the album offers no limit to the duo’s vision.  It’s the album they started a band to make, in the first place. On top of this, they aptly brought on the talents of Spaceman 3’s Sonic Boom to master the record. With a less serious, yet more focused, approach to their craft and seeking good times only, they created  ind

Genre Busters: Prison Escapee - SPC ECO - Closely

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Prison Escapee - Gunslinger. Background Bio - Prison Escapee is the moniker of Erik David Hidde located in Los Angeles, CA. After running the independent record label, Housewarming Records, out of New York from 2011-2013, Hidde has since decided to put all his focus into his original music. Inspired by equal parts post-rock, electronica, lo-fi field recordings, and film soundtracks, Hidde has been investing the hours into his music when he returns home from his day-job until he puts himself to sleep. Both his debut and sophomore albums were written, recorded, produced, and mixed in his living room. Hidde was raised in Fort Hunter, a hamlet located in upstate New York by a christian family, which is represented in his music. Surround by water, Fort Hunter is also a common subject in his music, which subject matter often includes reflecting back on his childhood. Other subject matter includes loss, which is centred around his close friend's prison cell suicide. Hidde was brough

Genre Wander: Vallens - Shaun Black - Graveyard Lovers

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Vallens - Devour. Background - Vallens debut album Consent (out June 24 via HDD). The songs on Consent are quite dark and discuss important issues to songwriter Robyn Phillips, such as the title track of the album "Consent." The song is about various issues around consent, consent to have a stranger talk to you, no means no, why women have to do something triply better than a man to just be considered, and the ever underlying sense that women only do things for the attention of men. Robyn Phillips created Vallens in late 2014 to serve as her performance alter ego, secretly constructing her own world of music alone while playing guitar and gigging in various Toronto projects. The Vallens moniker allowed Robyn to introduce her own sound within the scene under the influence of namesake, David Lynch’s Dorothy Vallens. Conjuring the likes of Rowland S. Howard, Wire, Angelo Badalamenti and Portishead; Vallens has been living deep in the construction of her first record, Consen

Quality Not Quantity: Renders - Arc Iris - La Legacie - Chain Wallet

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Renders - Running Through The Night. Kelly McMichael (Renders) has this to say about the featured song and forthcoming EP - The song is my 'take back the night' anthem, inspired by Slutwalk, dedicated to empowering those of us who feel vulnerable walking at night, and to protest victim-blaming. It's the first track off my Self-titled EP. The EP is out July 8th. On this EP, I am looking both inwards towards the emotional core and outwards to the dance floor. I write about the fluid and complex relationships we face - relationships tied to personal growth, inner struggles, and the multi-faceted world of human relations. This debut EP is about claiming space and demanding acceptance. Writing from an emotional intelligence; and singing for the fluid and tangled forces tied to nature. Keeping a keen ear to both classic and contemporary pop music. There are four really cool songs on the EP and featured track 'Running Through The Night' is the opener. Beehive Candy