Posts

Weekend Wonders: Lio Nicol - Shaprece - Adrian J - Venkman - Del Caesar - A Valley Son - Woodes

Image
Lio Nicol - Blame. Background bio - Lio Nicol is both sage and sass. With honest yet quirky lyrics, she has found a way to reflect her sense of humor while maintaining her grace, setting her apart from other singer-songwriters. After a few semesters of studying biology at the University of Montana, Nicol left her hometown of Missoula and relocated to California in 2010 to pursue a career in music. A talented pianist and guitarist, Lio Nicol has found her greatest passion lies within songwriting. Inspired by the legendary Diane Warren, Nicol’s songwriting is a reflection of her thoughts, heartbreak, and love. Her powerhouse vocals and catchy indie-pop melodies have led to her being describes as an early Mariah Carey meets Florence and The Machine. Lio Nicol has toured and recorded with some of the industry’s top musicians as well as Grammy award-winning producers. She has performed all over North America in a variety of concerts including the Dragon Boat Festival, Durango Expo, House

Genre Wander: Matt Tiller - The Franklys - Wrenne - The Pinkerton Raid

Image
Matt Tiller - Flat Packing Anger Management. Background - Matt Tiller releases new single Flat Packing Anger Management - a melodic indie pop tune about the despair of the emasculated modern man attempting to assemble flat pack furniture while his more competent girlfriend despairs. It’s a duet with singer and actor Diana Vickers who also stars in the video with actor and comedian David Elms. The single is released on all digital outlets and is taken from a short album about stuff. Matt is a musical comedian (live dates below), writer and television comedy producer behind shows like BBC Two’s Hebburn. He blends musical one-liners, songs and stand up and has won audience appreciation and critical acclaim in clubs and at festivals nationwide, including the Edinburgh Fringe. Website here . 11th Nov: The Hospital Club, Covent Garden London. Album Launch 12th Nov: Sonderfest, Manchester. In the afternoon at Texture 25th Nov Shangri La Cabaret, Prestwich, Manchester. 'Flat Packing

Midweek Muse: The History Of Colour TV - AyOwA - In Light Of - Childcare

Image
The History Of Colour TV - Wreck. Background - Berlin-based trio The History of Colour TV is back with new music, presenting 'Wreck', the first single from their forthcoming third album 'Something Like Eternity'. For this, the band travelled to France in the spring of 2016 to record with Peter Deimel (The Wedding Present, Shellac, The Ex) at the legendary Black Box Recording Studio. The result represents a departure from their hallmark sound by bringing a raw, minimalist aesthetic to the new release. Stylistically, 'Wreck' is a dynamic and open live recording with minimal overdubs and, in this respect, represents a snapshot of the overall album. With an elongated structure and narrative theme, the song itself blends melodic sensibilities with ragged guitar textures. Building on melancholic arpeggio patterns, 'Wreck' unfolds in intensifying sequences, crescendoing in a raging wall-of-sound that engulfs the song in a billowing cloud of guitars. The Histo

Globetrotting: The Wedding Present - Hickory Signals - Snowapple - Songbird

Image
The Wedding Present - Two Bridges. Background - ‘Going, Going…’ is the title of the widely anticipated ninth studio album from UK indie darlings, The Wedding Present, but, in typical Wedding Present fashion... it’s not a conventional release! Going, Going... is out November 18th in North America on HHBTM Records, the album tells the story of a road trip across the USA, revealed across a collection of twenty ‘linked’ songs, each with an accompanying short film. Always challenging and experimental, the idea to release the new project in a multi-media format is something that has been marinating with bandleader David Gedge for some time. As he points out, work began soon after the unveiling of The Wedding Present’s 2012 critically acclaimed album ‘Valentina’. “I’d already decided by then that I didn’t want to make the next release just ‘another album’ and so I came up with the idea of twenty ‘interconnected’ pieces of music. Then, in the summer of 2014 I travelled across the USA with ph

Quality Not Quantity: Levy And The Oaks - Feel Freeze

Image
Levy And The Oaks - Slowly In The Water. Background -   By way of Asbury Park, Levy & The Oaks delivered their 8-song self-titled LP last week for purchase, stream and download here. Delivering a one-two punch of Indie Pop and Grassroots Rock, the collection was written and recorded in their homestate of New Jersey. Today, the record is available on all DSPs. The four-piece band seamlessly blend clever lyrics, spangled melodies and heady arrangements, while putting a tasteful spin on modern (and not so modern culture). Inspired by Duane's own struggles, the LP is about growing up, finding yourself, and ultimately, personal acceptance. The debut track off the LP, “Slowly in the Water” set the tone for the album. "In my experience, the best songs are the ones that come organically, explains Okun.“That’s the case with “Slowly in The Water”. The track channels the emotional state of feeling lost, and the journey to self-awareness. "Out Of The Blue" was the motivati

Sundays Alternative Take: Christine Leakey - Howlite - Severed Limb - Hail Taxi - So Below - Eat the Apple

Image
Christine Leakey - Je Danse Dans Le Discotheque Avec Toulouse Lautrec. Background from Christine - I’m thrilled to share my latest self-produced circus inspired single that I recorded in Los Angeles and Canada, *Je Danse Dans La Discotheque Avec Toulouse Lautrec* from my forthcoming second solo album, *Wanderlust Wishing Well*. The music video by the very talented Sandra Powers features my friends, Timur Bekbosunov (Timur and the Dime Museum and opera singer), Matthew Setzer (Skinny Puppy and he sewed his green gorilla costume), Brett Loudermilk the skeleton (sword swallower with Spiegelworld), Mario Marin as Lautrec, Ghosty the dog and yours truly, the doll. If you listen closely to the recording, you will hear that I used a vintage foley stage (sounds like stomping and kicking leaves and a pipe around) from the world’s oldest sound studio in Hollywood now called, Winslow Court Studios. The studio has such a rich history – It was built by the owner of the Los Angeles Railway at the

Six Of The Best: The Last Exposure - Uncle Lucius - Parlour Tricks - Soft Ledges - Anna Atkinson - Scott Taylor

Image
The Last Exposure - Human. Background - The Last Exposure releases their brand new single ’Human’, following the success of their debut ‘Echo’, ’Human’ is an uplifting song about not feeling as though one belongs in their body and does not in fact feel human. The Last Exposure offer an early 90’s alternative rock punch fronted by sassy and powerful vocals. They take pride in their performance - its rock, it’s loud and it’s fierce. The Sydney band has been playing gigs in the city, non-stop since it’s inception in 2015, in that short life span supporting the likes of Hands like Houses, L-Fresh the Lion, Columbus, Camp Cope and Philadelphia’s Cayetana. The band met while studying their music degrees at university, travelling up to two hours each way just to rehearse and write together. With finishing their courses, they decided to take their original material and continue as The Last Exposure. Chelsea Barnes, singer, says, “It’s a song about getting to the bottom, feeling that low and

Weekend Wonders: Trudy and the Romance - Will Johnson - Bad Reed - Blood and Glass - whenyoung - Joana Serrat - Gemology

Image
Trudy and the Romance - My Baby's Gone Away. Background promo - With a Big Moon support slot this autumn and SXSW in the bag, Trudy and the Romance’s scurvy ascent has been as pestilent as the plague, infecting hearts and minds everywhere. Labelled ‘50s mutant pop’ by assorted members of the press, their previous single ‘He Sings’ sallied lecherously up to number 7 on the UK Spotify viral charts. Their freakbeat flavoured skiffle clearly strikes a chord with legions of mutant fans everywhere and is a broken bottle to the face of blind conformity. 6Music’s Steve Lamacq is a bona fide fan. After seeing them live at their packed-out debut London headline show at The Victoria this July he promptly made them artist of the week. Further feverish support on the wireless has come from Radio 1’s Huw Stephens who included ‘He Sings’ in his Best of BBC Introducing, John Kennedy at Radio X and further afield in LA's KCRW. With more material in the works and more gigging before the year