Posts

Hover Bored - Esmé - You Want Fox

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Hover Bored - Safe Side. Background - Formed in Wakefield, but now based in Manchester, Hover Bored are an up-and-coming grunge-pop quartet set to release their new single, the fiery, exhilarating Safe Side on March 30th. Searing riffs, rolling bass, crashing drums and bratty vocals coalesce into a fiercely infectious track. Only just breaking the two-minute barrier, it calls to mind the likes of Dinosaur Pile-Up, Honey Lung and King Nun. Hover Bored’s sound is a fuzzy concoction of modern grunge and scuzzed out power-pop. “With our music constantly adapting, 'Safe Side' captures the progression we have made over the past year” the guys explain,“It began as a throwaway idea until we made it the ending of another song. We fell in love with the energy that this small interlude brought to rehearsals and shows; so we decided to make it a full track.” Gigging extensively across the key cities in the musical hot-bed that is the North West of England, Manchester, Liverpool and Le

Frog Eyes - The Rare Occasions - Lavender Child - Moonshine Booze

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Frog Eyes - Idea Man. Background - Frog Eyes are set to release their final album Violet Psalms May 18th on Paper Bag Records. Frog Eyes have announced a North American tour in support of the album. Frog Eyes have made their last album. 17 years after their teetering debut, the Vancouver band unveils Violet Psalms—a giddy lament; a gnashing jubilee; a rain-drenched allocution on hope vs. horror, paradise vs. pride, Marx and Brexit and bad acid trips. It's an ending like a beginning. "We were trying to pretend it was our first record," Carey Mercer says. This is their final record, Frog Eyes' last gasp—but the art-rockers wanted to capture the energy of a debut, the freedom you feel "when there's no expectation that anyone will actually listen." They made it at home, burrowing under the house where Mercer lives with drummer Melanie Campbell. The goal was to blot out the world, focusing on what they could grow down there, four musicians in a basement. C

HARE - Jaunt - Bokito - The Black Delta Movement - Chloe Styler - Sharaya Summers - Pale Rivers

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HARE - Rolls Along. Background - HARE is the project of New Jersey based songwriter and musician Sebastien Isaac, accompanied by drummer Michael Santa Cruz, keyboardist Jon Caplan, and guitarists James Licata and Graham Orbe. After honing his songwriting during his time in college, Isaac returned to NJ and began showcasing at open mics around the tri-state area.  He soon began collaborating with Santa Cruz, Caplan, Licata and Orbe, developing a new unified sound, and set his sights on breaking into the New York City music scene. Seb, admittedly, doesn't have all the answers. The NYC based pop-rock artist understands that his journey, up till now, has all the benchmarks of many millennial coming-of-age stories: a passion placed on the back burner, pursuing a pricey degree, accumulation of debt, a transitional period of stasis, and, finally, lifting the passion off the back burner in spite of all the raised eyebrows.  He knows that happiness may just be a fool’s errand, but

Vamos - You Are Wolf - Em Joy

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Vamos - Outsiders. Background - After a nearly three-year wait, Chicago garage punks Vamos are about to drop their sophomore LP, 1~2~3, via Maximum Pelt, a Windy City-based, small batch cassette and record label that specializes in punk, garage, psych, noise and experimental music. Vamos (Ryan Murphy-guitar/vocals, Will Wood-bass, Josh Lambert-drums) formed during Chicago’s epic blizzard of 2011 and began playing the city’s thriving DIY scene, quickly garnering the attention of local blogs, including Chicagoist, who described the trio as having “a potent and turbulent energy both live and in their recorded material.” On the live front, Vamos graduated from playing shows at local underground venues, including Wally World and Animal Kingdom, to touring nationally, with show and festival appearances on both coasts, in Austin, Texas during SXSW and in their hometown for Riot Fest. Vamos released the Heatwave EP in spring of 2013 and followed up quickly that winter with the EP Midwaste

Gris-de-Lin - Archie and The Bunkers - Tremends

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Gris-de-Lin - Muhammad Ali. Background - Gris about the song: "Inspired by a true story – a patient escaped from a local hospital and broke into my old flat overnight, leaving behind a pile of clothes and a nametag that read ‘Muhammad Ali’. This got me thinking about incarceration, whether physical or mental, and the idea that ‘whatever you do to me I will still have freedom of thought’." Gris-de-Lin is a singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Dorset. Her music is a heady mix of post-rock, blues and alt-folk peppered with warped electronics. Her debut album, Sprung, comes out on BB*Island in April 2018. The album was recorded in a nursery school and saw her playing virtually all of the instruments herself — from guitars and synths to drums and saxophone. Working with producer/engineer Chris Hamilton (Torres/Kite Base), she also drafted in Rob Ellis (PJ Harvey/Anna Calvi) to play drums on several tracks. Alongside her solo projects, Gris-de-Lin has worked with a

Trampled By Turtles - Chakra Efendi - Willie Breeding - Scratch

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Trampled By Turtles - The Middle. Background - The much-adored Minnesota sextet, Trampled By Turtles have shared their new single, ‘The Middle’, the second to be taken from their forthcoming album Life Is Good On The Open Road, due for release via Thirty Tigers on June 1, 2018 - you can listen to the new single here. After an indefinite hiatus, the band are returning with their first new album in four years following in the wake of previous Billboard-charting records which have included three No.1s on the Bluegrass and Folk charts. Life Is Good On The Open Road is the welcome return that the group’s legions of passionate fans have been waiting for. Led by the songwriting of lead singer Dave Simonett, the new songs touch on key elements from the entire spectrum of Trampled By Turtles’ body of work, while creating something that sounds fresh and invigorated. Simonett, and bandmates Erik Berry, Ryan Young, Dave Carroll, Tim Saxhaug and Eamonn McLain reunited at a cabin in the Minneso

Ruby Vidor - Diamond Thug - Basement Revolver

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Ruby Vidor - Ten Days. Background - Ruby Vidor, is a 19-year old Melbourne based singer-songwriter releasing her debut independent single, 10 Days. 10 Days is a song about the pain and heartache when time conspires against a relationship. It’s melancholy and gentle vocal underlies the heartbreak that weaves through the captivating melody.  The lyric starts with a question - can the relationship survive? As the songs builds it reaches the conclusion that the relationship has come to a natural end. “I wrote this song whilst studying in New York. Relationships start with such promise and yet often the timing is just not right” stated Ruby Vidor. As a songwriter, Ruby loves to tell stories that are inspired by real life experiences. She has a passion to tell a story that connects her with her audience. The folk vibe and love of storytelling is inspired by her greatest musical influences, Missy Higgins, Joni Mitchel and Birdy. Her musical style ranges from Pop, to Indie and even a

Annabel Allum - Bryde - Drinks - Dead Man's Knee - Birdpeople

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Annabel Allum - Rascal. Background - Guildford-based Annabel Allum shares boisterous new single Rascal, her second offering of the year following acclaimed January release Beat The Birds and critically successful 2017 EP All That For What. Loaded with pulsating hooks and the enigmatic singer-songwriter’s tenacious vocals, Allum oozes charisma and once more showcases her ability to marry folk-style storytelling with snarling fuzzy indie. “Rascal pinpoints a phase in time when it felt like no matter what I was doing, it wouldn’t be right”. Allum says, “Trying to look after myself, the people close to me, the people around me, and never finding a balance in any of it. I would either give too much or nothing at all. I still do that. It’s quite a sad song. Self-scrutiny, really. I guess I’m just still learning that it’s okay to not be able to please everything all the time”. Alongside the striking sonic aesthetic of her music, her original look and self-styling has led to endorsements