Lauran Hibberd returns for a seventh time here with her brand new song 'Frankie's Girlfriend'. It's a full blown rocker and contrasts well with her previous material, her knack for creating hook filled tunes remaining intact.
Just over a month since she first appeared on Beehive Candy Marina Elderton aka UV returns with 'Blind Deities'. Her vocals are once again enticing and emotive and the ambient synth backdrop matches so well.
Seablite have a colourful new video for 'Pillbox' a zesty upbeat song that packs melodic energy into this sub three minute whirlwind of music.
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Lauran Hibberd - Frankie's Girlfriend.
Enigmatic Isle Of Wight sensation Lauran Hibberd continues her remarkable ascent with infectious new single Frankie’s Girlfriend, and announces the arrival of debut EP Everything is Dogs, set for release 20th September.
Exuding confidence and packed with her trademark charisma, the slacker-pop specialist’s newest effort heralds the next chapter in a whirlwind summer which has already included a rousing display on Glastonbury’s BBC Introducing stage, an EU tour alongside US indie rockers Hippo Campus and her own biggest headline shows to date.
Having earned enormous praise across the airwaves from BBC Radio 1’s Annie Mac, Huw Stephens and Jack Saunders, the rising musician’s witty persona and fuzzy anthems have also drawn widespread plaudits throughout the press landscape. Flattering comparisons to contemporaries Courtney Barnett and Phoebe Bridgers have followed, and with a debut EP incoming, attention around the indie newcomer is sure to intensify.
Discussing her irresistible latest cut, Hibberd explained: “Frankie’s Girlfriend is exactly why it can suck to be a nice person. This track is a story, based on true events and exaggerated for selling millions of (aka 600) records. It’s honestly about a pal of mine Frankie, I had a dream about him, like a weird one. And it spiraled. His chick at the time was a nightmare, I was lucky enough to witness that first hand. For me, it’s my darkest track yet. But not dark scary, dark as in three-week holiday to Mexico”.
Following a Sold Out show at St Pancras Old Church last week, Marina Elderton (aka UV) returns with more ethereal dream-pop; haunting vocals draped over interlaced harmonies, guitar strands, electronic textures and pulsing rhythms.
Supported by the PRS Women Make Music Foundation, and previously fronting ethereal-psych band KULL and electronic duo White Russia. UV is the solo project of London-based artist & award-winning composer Marina Elderton.
'Blind Deities' is the new track taken from the debut UV EP 'Defender', released alongside a sold out live launch at St. Pancras Old Church on 19th July 2019. Blind Deities weaves pitch bending analogue synths and an original space echo unit with layered vocals and pulsing rhythms, melting into a sun-drenched haze.
Previously fronting ethereal-psych band KULL and electronic duo White Russia, Marina Elderton is also co-founder of the female sound artist collective Erinyes, has also composed soundtracks for Film4, Royal Television Society award winning documentaries, and shorts, and commercially for the likes of Lynx, NBA and Cadburys.
Bay area dreampop shoegaze band Seablite debut the brand new video for "Pillbox" off their hot buzzy debut album Grass Stains and Novocaine. (Emotional Response Records)
After a gloriously received cassette EP, Emotional Response are proud to release the debut full length from this acclaimed and adored Bay area pop-band.
Seablite, (3 gals, one guy), spread their infectious pop-chops over 11 surefire winners, with a confident mix of shimmering and weightless female vocal melodies and blissed out guitar pop, providing a mix of UK ‘80’s DIY-indiepop coupled with an updated take on many of the greats of the shoegaze era, such as Lush, Pale Saints, and MBV.
Weird Milk have a new release entitled 'Honey, I'm Around' and it's a fabulous and refreshingly unpretentious pop song with gorgeous vocals and harmonies.
'Gold Day' from Hunting is a gently paced indie rock song flowing with melodic hooks and a cool laid back feel.
We have already featured Anna Rose a couple of times this year and the new video for 'Sucker Puncher' is clever and a fine companion for a determined rocker of a song.
In session at the Tapetown Studio's we have Bull and their song 'Eugene' that was first released in May. It's a fine version, the band clearly comfortable in this live setting and giving the piece plenty of natural character.
Ana Egge returns for a third time on Beehive Candy with a music video for her new single 'Hurt A Little', a beautiful song where the musical backdrop is restrained and her melodic vocals are very much centre stage.
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Weird Milk - Honey, I'm Around.
North London’s Weird Milk continue their impressive ascent with soothing new release Honey, I’m Around, once more channelling the influences of The Beach Boys, The Strokes and Rex Orange County to perfection in their own eccentric style.
With high praise following the release of previous single Anything You Want, buzzing across the BBC Radio 1/6 Music airwaves (Annie Mac, Jack Saunders, Steve Lamacq) and throughout the tastemaker community (NME, The Line Of Best Fit, So Young), the baroque pop quartet’s status amongst the emerging indie elite continues to grow significantly.
Discussing their upcoming summery release, the band explained: “This song touches on themes of romance and escapism, whilst cherishing the notion that sometimes it is important to be patient and persistent in one’s endeavours, without lingering in the past”.
Having already chalked off supports alongside the likes of Frank Carter, Pip Blom, Thyla and Lazy Day, the four-piece will be headlining London’s Camden Assembly next month before heading out on tour alongside Trudy and the Romance in the autumn, with further live plans afoot.
Hunting is barely recognizable as the same band that released a debut album five years ago: it’s gone from a solo project to a trio, from folk to catchy electro-rock, and from wistful melancholy to buoyant exuberance. All this can be heard on the group’s sophomore album, Whatever You Need, due out in summer 2019 via Nevado Music.
Songwriter-producer Bradley Ferguson initially intended the album as a quick follow-up to 2014’s rootsy Hunting LP, but the initial sessions stalled. Instead, Bradley put Hunting on the back burner: he produced an electro-pop LP for Vancouver vocalist Jessicka, and acted as a bassist-for-hire in an array of projects.
Hunting eventually got back on track with the addition of two new members: Jessicka came on board as a full-time backing vocalist, while songwriter Dustin Bentall joined as a co-frontman. “We went back and started the album from scratch,” Bradley remembers. “We decided to approach it in a more organic way. I had been editing it to pop perfection — but then we breathed new life into it and it came together really quickly.”
Dustin Bentall is a well-travelled troubadour in his own right, and he contributed five of his own songs to the recording sessions at Afterlife Studios. Dustin says, “I had this batch of songs that weren’t really going to fit my next record, and I realized they worked seamlessly with Hunting.”
Bradley and Dustin’s songs mesh perfectly on Whatever You Need, tied together by pillowy vintage synth pads and surging rock rhythms. Returning collaborator John Raham (Destroyer) acted as engineer as well as drummer, Paul Rigby (Neko Case) added additional guitars, and Mother Mother’s Ryan Guldemond co-wrote a handful of tracks.
Opener “Scenes from TV Screens” begins the album with muted ‘80s guitars and sly, slinky pop hooks, while “Black Shirt” cranks the distortion with heavy rock riffs, and “Better With Time” is streaked with twinkling synth orchestrations — the result of Bradley’s fondness for spending hours perfecting a single sound. A swooning cover of Sparklehorse’s “Gold Day” is the lone holdover from Hunting’s scrapped prior sessions, acting as a link between Hunting’s early days and their current iteration.
The album’s tone is one of joyful, sonic exploration, marking a big departure from the lonesome folk Hunting used to be known for. “I loved making that first album, but I’m not quite as melancholy as I was back then,” Bradley acknowledges. “I’m a lot more content and life is a lot more solid. I’m not constantly wandering around by myself after some terrible heartbreak.”
That contentment shines on Whatever You Need. With electrifying collaborative chemistry between friends and an anything-goes approach to catchy synth-rock, Hunting has been reborn.
New York-based singer, songwriter, and musician, Anna Rose, releases the official music video for “Sucker Puncher,” the second single from her forthcoming album produced by Paul Moak.
With a tinge of roots rock, “Sucker Puncher” encapsulates what makes Rose such a dynamic performer: provocative lyrics, powerhouse vocals, and authentic, punch-you-in-the-nose female badassery.
The video for “Sucker Puncher” was directed by Rose’s longtime friend, Émilie Richard-Froozan, who directed Suki Waterhouse's "Valentine,” as well as Hurray For The Riff Raff's "I Know It's Wrong (But That's Alright),” which won Offbeat Magazine’s 2015 Best Music Video of The Year. Froozan’s first feature film, Buttercup Bill, premiered at the Marfa Film Festival.
“Émilie and I grew up together, dancing our asses off to any hit song we could get our hands on, singing at the top of our lungs,” remembers Rose. “We wanted to make a video that felt like that. We’d go on road trips, get lost and make videos, so this was really just an excuse for us to do what we’ve always done for the love of a song."
Filmed in Desert Hot Springs, California, the engaging music video features dancer Dean Elex Bais & a sweeping desert road.
"It is a song for all of the underdogs out there," describes Rose. "For me personally, the struggle to be heard in an industry where a songwriter’s work is so undervalued has almost crippled me at times, but writing this song with Justin Glasco felt like a triumph. Truthfully, this whole upcoming record is brutally honest in a lyrical sense and this song felt incredibly cathartic in its writing and production. It’s a testament to the fight I have inside me. I’ve never been quiet, I’ve always been rebellious, I have never cowered to the industry standard and I do not apologize for that."
We have a freshly released Tapetown Sessions video featuring York's four-piece Bull. The band got to present their track “Eugene” in a completely different setting during their Tapetown performance:
In the session, the song - written a couple years back and made available on streaming platforms in May 2019 - left some of its ambience layering and sound effects behind, which were all beautifully substituted by even deeper, raw elements and live instruments that Tapetown Studio is well known for.
Undoubtedly, the unique studio facility helped the act highlight their live energy in the best way possible, and the effect of that is this stunning live session that celebrates their union - an ambitious band with one of their best compositions on one side, and on the other, a specialised studio facility filled with knowledge, passion and love for alternative and edgy sounds.
Ana Egge has shared the music video for her new single "Hurt A Little", the second off her upcoming album Is It The Kiss, out September 6 via StorySound Records.
"When you fall for someone, that doesn’t mean that it’s a one-time choice to be with them. Every day you wake up and choose," said the Brooklyn singer-songwriter of the new track which features Buck Meek of Big Thief on electric guitar.
“'Hurt A Little' catches Egge in a vulnerable state, reminiscing over past relationships and laughing at the inevitability of romantic pain," stated American Songwriter. "A soft snare beat propels the song forward as Egge encourages others to power through the pain with her hard-earned relationship wisdom. Meek adds subtle flourishes of rock and pop with his electric guitar."
Is It the Kiss, Ana Egge’s eleventh album, has nine originals along with one cover, all featuring her singularly soulful singing and songwriting which Steve Earle (producer of Egge's Bad Blood) has said sounds “like she’s telling us her deepest, darkest secrets.”
The country side of things is well-represented by pedal steel (Matt Davidson of Twain) and fiddle (Alex Hargreaves) on songs such as the lead single “Cocaine Cowboys” (also featuring Buck Meek on electric guitar), and her affecting duet with Iris DeMent on their cover of Diana Jones’ “Ballad of the Poor Child.”
But despite its traditional roots, Is It The Kiss is something of a soul record as well. The tracks are grounded by the Brooklyn indie-all-star rhythm section of Jacob Silver and Robin MacMillan, the slow grooves are sweetened by horns like molasses (Cole Kamen-Green and Adam Dotson), and at the center of it all is Ana’s guitar, that sounds like it knows something about how Steve Cropper and Curtis Mayfield could delicately, but determinedly, provide a sweetly-beating funky heart. Along with providing the wind and brass arrangements throughout the album, the whole is put togther by multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and producer Alec Spiegelman (Cuddle Magic). Is It The Kiss serves as the follow up to last year's White Tiger, released to wide spread acclaim.
We featured Ganser three times last year and they are more than welcome back with the new video for 'Bad Form'. On this song the bands post-punk is edgy with suppressed tension and the practically spoken vocals add to the fervour and intensity.
SoccerPractise have just shared 'Posture' along with a cleverly matched video, the music straddles genres it's lo-fi rock with energised beats, a contradiction that works so well below the "mantra" like vocals.
We have to go back to March of last year for our first and only previous feature for Frankiie, so it's a pleasure now to share their new song and lyric video for 'Compare'. Describing their music as indie dream rock, I would just add that it's full of stylish hooks and subtle charm.
Junaco have now released their debut E.P. 'Awry'. Having already shared a couple of songs from the collection, we now have the whole piece and the duo continue to impress with the melodic and irresistible garage folk.
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Ganser - Bad Form.
Chicago post-punk outfit Ganser share a new single, “Bad Form,” in advance of playing Riot Fest in September.
The band has been recording material over the past six months towards their second album, after last year’s debut Odd Talk that saw favorable coverage from The New York Times, Billboard, Stereogum, and other publications. “Bad Form” is the cathartic reaction to a year-long songwriting period.
“When you’re in the middle of writing and recording, it’s very easy to fall into extreme feelings of guilt over procrastination, when you’re already stretched thin,” says bassist and vocalist Alicia Gaines. The song expresses a common yet isolating paralysis of not doing enough. Nadia Garofalo’s agitated vocals for “Bad Form” represent the band’s collaborative writing process both lyrically and musically. “It’s nice to operate as a team, and act as a unit that can take the burden of some really ugly inner talk.”
In the video, light blinds in a moment of paralysis. Quick cuts and surreal vignettes communicate the wishful thinking of being someone else, running in circles to no end, disorienting doubles and the blinding light of being seen.
First as a statement, then a command, the track ends with the mantra “Look at the sun,” accompanied by visceral gnashing guitar by Charlie Landsman and punching drums from Brian Cundiff. The cacophony dovetails with Gaines’ methodical bass, as if willing anxiety to burn itself clean.
Vocalist Geneva Alexander-Marsters recites her sardonic mantra over a pulsing, lo-fi industrial garage beat that erupts with heady siren guitars and scratched atmospherics – a demented catwalk of self-consciousness caving in on itself.
Speaking on the new track, Geneva explained: "The song is about maintaining composure in a world of myriad contradictions and cynicism. It’s about how best intentions can can be enveloped and absorbed by chaos and things are fall apart all around you. it’s an acerbic self help mantra, but really about how sometimes the only person you have to believe in you is you. It’s also about my parents. And Yoga.”
The video, shot in Hong Kong during the June protests, features dancer and choreographer Sudhee Liao making her way desperately through a labrynth-like mall of food stalls and bemused onlookers - part performance art, part pscyhic breakdown.
The unsettling visual is the first in a planned series by wellington-based visual artists Erica Skelnars [Lady Lazerlight] and Dan Harris [Illojgali], who are working exclusively with SoccerPractise on ‘Te Pō’.
Both the song and video are a taste of things to come from SoccerPractise’s second album. Te Pō (the night or darkness) is a collection of sonic dreams, visual nightmares and fragmented hallucinations set deep in the night of a strangely familiar yet unknown city.
Frankiie is a Vancouver-based indie dream-rock group.
With live shows from Mexico City to Haida Gwaii, an east coast tour supporting The Charlatans UK, and recording with Jason Corbett of Jacknife Sound the journey of Frankiie over the last year has been non-stop.
Their forthcoming album Forget Your Head, due September 20th on Paper Bag Records, marries the lush qualities of Big Thief with an intimate anthemic approach reminiscent of Heart.
Reverb-drenched guitars and intoxicating harmonies have united 4 women into a dream-rock outfit whose live performance can’t be missed.
Awry is the new debut EP from Los Angeles honeyed garage folk duo Junaco. Entitled Awry, the five track release is filled with soothing guitar riffs that lead into dulcet vocals. With two singles ‘In Between’ and ‘Willow’ already released on the EP, Junaco has attracted passionate listeners in with their flourishing organic sound.
Junaco is the foundation of Shahana Jaffer and Joey LaRosa. Born in the unincorporated mountain town on the outskirts coastal Northern California, the duo found an escape from musical conventions. Fleeing the rituals of rushing through songs, away from the nonsense of worrying, a budding partnership was found based equally on half-parts progression and melody. Mellow bursts of epiphany and pleas of gentle seduction give way to driving grooves in Junaco’s music, leaving the immediate fan with a delicate, instantly familiar and completely unassailable batch of songs.
Jaffer, a natural talent whose limbs were too long to dance, met a counterpart in LaRosa, a guitarist and percussionist’s dream who from a young age had been told that “musician” wasn’t an achievable career. Though conventionally unlikely on the global scale that a Pakistani songstress would find her way into the creative adventures of a drummer from Indianapolis, they found in their partnership a desire to make music for music’s sake; to write honest songs that meant something true enough for themselves, that someone else might be able to take it and make it true for them, as well.
The forthcoming EP helmed by Omar Yakar (War on Drugs, Perfume Genius) from Boulevard Recording, whose engineering and production prowess brought this young and refreshing outfit’s mountainous incubations to life. The duo initially set out with the intention of nothing but creation and expression and resulted in a stunning collection of tracks detailing the emotions of freedom. Jaffer reveals, “The underlying theme is about coming to terms with experiences and hardships we have faced and finally putting them out there. It’s very healing.”
Junaco hope to create music that will leave listeners feeling a sense of connection and closeness to. With the aim to remind others of our innate human emotions, Junaco’s debut EP highlights just how similar we are at our cores.
Frog have shared 'Black Friday' taken from their fourth album 'Count Bateman' due for release next month. The band carve out a pleasing and unique blend of genre styles with just a little quirkiness to further their originality.
From Zooni we have a new video for 'Cotton Blue' which is a beautifully arranged piece, that gently drifts somewhere between lo-fi and alt rock.
We have two songs from Catherine MacLennan namely 'Roll With The Wind' and 'Emmet's Song'. Both are pretty special to say the least, as this talented singer-song writer creates some pristine and natural roots music.
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Frog - Black Friday.
Count Bateman is the fourth release from Frog, the acclaimed cult Wyrd-Americana Indie band from Queens, NYC. Their music has found over one million streams on Spotify, they’ve received support from the BBC, NPR Music and many more.
On their latest eclectic and emotional outing, there’s hints of the Carole King’s ‘70s pop, Jonathan Richman’s earnest eccentricity, Ned Doheny’s white boy funk, Greg Dulli’s lust, the Meat Puppets’ bastardized Americana and the wild wit and narrow self-control of The Silver Jews.
Count Bateman will be co-released August 16th by Audio Antihero and Frog founder Danny Bateman's fledgling Tape Wormies imprint (which he describes as “a hippie commune label, seeking to make its artists co-owners/profit sharers so that everyone will help each other succeed”).
‘Cotton Blue’ follows the April release of their debut single ‘Pany’, which appeared on the Radio X Evening Playlist, was included on Spotify’s ‘New Music Friday’ and ‘Hot New Bands’ playlists, and was followed by a packed performance at The Great Escape Festival.
Discovered by Mercury and Brit award winning producer Charlie Andrew (Alt J, Nick Mulvey, Marika Hackman), the band - Peter Martin, George Godwin, Ben Clark, and Matt Glasbey - mix hypnotic beats with delicate piano, angular guitars, and haunting vocals.
Talking about the single, they explain "Cotton Blue is an introspective song about giving up on a broken relationship. It was written and demoed on a retreat to the Welsh countryside with the producer Jay Pocknell.”
Following their sold out debut London show on July 2nd at The Waiting Room, the band will appear at the below festivals:
Kendal Calling, Cumbria | July 25-28
Moseley Folk & Arts Festival, Birmingham | Aug 30 – Sept 1
Catherine MacLennan - Roll With The Wind / Emmet's Song.
Hot on the heels of her first two singles released last month, JUNO-award winner Catherine MacLellan, returns with another double release, "Roll With The Wind" and "Emmet’s Song" from her forthcoming album Coyote. This self-produced record is a travelogue through heartbreak, loss and the joy of life, set to be released in October 2019.
Some thoughts from Catherine on the songs: "Roll With The Wind" was written for a few male friends in my life, who would come and visit me at my country home and somehow disturb all the quiet peace. They’d waltz in from the city, break all the girl’s hearts, start fights with the guys, drink all the booze, and then leave me to clean up their mess. And yet, I would always welcome them back.
“Emmet’s Song" was written for my teenage nephew. He was going through such a tough point of his life, so much change and feeling outcast from society and his family. He asked to stay with me for a while, and I took him in. The two of us learned so much during that time. I was so inspired by his bravery, walking through life with his head up and heart open despite the hardships he was going through.
Catherine’s previous album of original material, The Raven’s Sun, won a JUNO for Roots Recording of the Year in 2015. Since then she’s been building a catalogue of songs just waiting to come to light. The songs are a result of big changes in her life and perspective. And while The Raven’s Sun was an intimate look into her musical work with long-time collaborator Chris Gauthier, COYOTE builds on that and adds the sounds of a fuller band. As well, it adds some more traditional East Coast instrumentation of accordions, fiddles and bouzouki.
Bjørn Tomren third track release from his upcoming album ‘Bad Science Fiction’ is 'Hiroshima Mon Amour'. The song itself is beautiful, the dual vocals wonderful, enjoy!
I have said it before that music transcends language and 'Mae'n Hawdd' from Welsh artist Ynys more than reaffirms that opinion I feel, this is a splendid song.
'Infrared Panda Club' from Chickn is something else, even the promo calls it "bizarre" it's also a highly addictive psych piece, that's simply uplifting.
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Bjørn Tomren - Hiroshima Mon Amour.
Bjørn Tomren has released the third track ‘Hiroshima Mon Amour’ from his upcoming album ‘Bad Science Fiction’, which is due for release on 20th September via Norwegian powerhouse Propeller Recordings (Dagny, Highasakite, Sløtface and more). After accidentally announcing on a national radio show that him and his partner Åse are expecting a baby, the release of ‘Hiroshima Mon Amour’ is a token of apology to Åse, to compensate for the early, unexpected annoucement!
‘Hiroshima Mon Amour’ follows suit of Bjørn’s previous singles of intriguing, poetry-like storytelling, telling the tale of a man’s bus journey through a winter’s landscape after the festive season; contrasting the merriment of the season with an illustration of lost love and desolation.
Bjørn says of the track “it was one of the first songs I wrote for this project. I got the idea about a guy riding a bus through a winter landscape, from a play by Jon Fosse called Sonen (the son)” which he heard on the radio one day while walking the length of Norway.
The hauntingly beautiful single was inspired by a film of the same name from
1959. Bjørn explains “The movie portrays a man and a woman who spend 36 hours together in Hiroshima, a decade or so after the war. They both have experienced loss and grief, but they handle it differently - a new love and relationship for the woman is impossible.”
‘Caneuon’, the debut single by Ynys, succeeded in establishing this new project by Dylan Hughes, former member of Race Horses, as one of the most exciting sounds breaking out of a rejuvenated and confident Welsh music scene.
His new single was originally written about 5 years ago following a midnight coastal walk. This was the first song he had recorded for years, and it sets a cinematic backdrop of the midnight moon and mist over the rolling waves.
Featuring long time friend Mali Llywelyn on vocals, the song was recorded with a mixture of 80s sequencers, 70s string machines and melancholic harmonies. Lyrically Dylan created a nostalgic black and white movie scene set in West Wales in 2013!
The themes of soul searching, transition, travel and isolation feature, interspersed with an uplifting chorus. It is about letting go and understanding that everything is easy when you know how.
Ynys has a full summer and autumn on the road playing at different venues and festivals including Sŵn Festival in his adopted home city of Cardiff.
Chickn announce the release of their third album. "Bel Esprit" is due out on October 18 via Inner Ear Records. The follow-up to last year's "Wowsers" sees the Greek psych-heads exploring a variety of different styles. From blues-rock to synth-prog and beyond, "Bel Esprit" will generously provide you with all the touchy – feeliness you'll ever need. It will be hidden inside intimate voices telling distant stories, cosmic whistles or even in the form of cadenced grooves from outer space.
"Bel Esprit" was recorded between March and June of 2019 in Athens, Greece engineered by Nikos Triantafyllou and Iraklis Vlahakis, produced by Angelos Krallis & Chickn.
"Infrared Panda Club" is the first offer of Chickn's third LP "Bel Esprit", track-listed third on the album. A truly bizarre yet uplifting song that popped Angelos, the band's guitarist and Vocalist, out of a nightmare some months ago and furled into the smallest club into this world. It's nothing more but an Infrared, meaning when not using a filter the club behaves like a normal club with no special characteristics. Alike Panda bears, it involves gallons of water. Feel free to join the Club!
ROCH is a London based artist and her new song 'All Time Favourite Girl' is accompanied by an intriguing video, the song itself is a gorgeous and creative piece that put simply, is stunning.
And I quote "Atlanta, Georgia's 90's alt-rock pioneers Magnapop return and debut new single and first music in a decade for "Need to Change." The alt rockers jump start into a magnificent two and a bit minutes of full on music, the album will be eagerly anticipated by a good number of people I suspect.
Make Friends have just released a video for their latest song 'Ellie'. It's a smooth indie pop track with more than a hint of rock to it, and it's totally engaging.
Following on from our first feature for Sandtimer (we shared 'Dormant' back in April) we now have 'Whats On Your Mind' which is another striking Indie Folk song, where the duo once again demonstrate their notable talent.
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ROCH - All Time Favourite Girl.
ROCH is 24 year old Kate Miller. Based in London, her spiralling R&B-tinged pop creations are something completely unique. She is now sharing new single 'All Time Favourite Girl' (produced with Ben Christophers – Bat For Lashes, Nakhane, etc), alongside a stunning, painstakingly animated accompanying video.
ROCH's music is like nothing else. Otherworldly, romantic, challenging - 'All Time Favourite Girl' is an apt taste of what's to come. Lucid synths, reverb-laden drums, and enchanting guitar passages - ROCH's vocal delivery is superb throughout, paired with intriguing electronics and glitching production motifs.
Smattered with spoken-word, Miller examines relationships with women on 'All Time Favourite Girl'; with mothers, daughters, and specifically with her all-women coworkers. She ruminates on the sacrifices made to work, and how those sacrifices affect her fellow labourers. “When I sit and listen to you / I know exactly what you mean,” Miller croons. “I wish I could say it myself / We’d be a team / My mind is warped / And yours is full of hope and good things.”
In the video for the song, which Miller helped produce, animated by YONK Studios – a group of headless pregnant mannequins cavort and unite in an endless dystopian office space. “The office space determines how they interact with each other,” she explains. “Throughout the video they come together as a big team, and rely on each other to prop themselves up.”
It’s about support networks, and social tendencies within groups of women. How being physically close leads to solidarity and community, to survival through adaptation, to reclamation of objects and space.
Atlanta, Georgia's 90's alt-rock pioneers Magnapop return and debut new single and first music in a decade for "Need to Change" from their upcoming album The Circle is Round on HHBTM Records .
Magnapop’s new album, The Circle Is Round, is the Atlanta-based group’s debut release for HHBTM Records, and is their sixth album, coming nearly a decade after their previous record, 2009’s Chase Park. Prior to this, the group had a fruitful run during the Alternative Rock heyday of the mid-90s, finding critical acclaim with 1994’s Hotboxing (with single “Slowly, Slowly”) and 1996’s Rubbing Doesn’t Help, which featured their most beloved song, “Open The Door.” And although the phrase was an endearing joke courtesy of slacker film Singles, Magnapop were indeed “big in Belgium,” finding enduring success that has led them to visit the Benelux region numerous times over their three decade career. (They have a tour slated for the area this September.)
Yet let’s not think of it as a “comeback,” shall we? Magnapop never really went away, appearing on the live circuit in Europe sporadically since their last release. The seeds that would blossom into The Circle Is Round were planted in 2011. “We reunited in 2011 when bassist Shannon Mulvaney contacted us about playing a benefit for Criminal Records, a local record store,” says guitarist and songwriter Ruthie Morris. “Playing together was easy, but we knew we needed time together to play our old songs again. The more we played together, the more we realized we wanted to work on new material.”
The Circle Is Round was recorded at Furies Studios in Marietta, Georgia, and produced by the band and studio owner Ed Burdell—he worked with the band on one of their first recording sessions—the album came together quickly this past February. Furthermore, there’s a sense of the circular nature of existence at play, as a few of the songs are some of the band’s earliest. “’Change Your Hair’ was the very first song Linda and I ever wrote together, before there was a band,” says Morris. “Our drummer, David McNair, was the one who came up with the idea of recording it. At first it seemed like a crazy idea, but the more I listened to it, the more I thought it would be fun!” The album also includes two demos from a 1992 recording session, previously unheard until now. Longtime fans of the band will find much to love with The Circle Is Round, while new listeners will get a taste of what converted listeners way back when to become lifetime fans.
“During one of our recent tours of Benelux we were interviewed on a Belgian radio program,” says Morris. “We were talking about the four of us reuniting and coming back together as a band. The interviewer said something in Flemish and he translated it as "The circle is round" to describe our situation. At first it sounded kind of funny, but the more we thought about it, the more poignant and appropriate it seemed.”
Playlist-ed by Spotify on their Lo-Fi Indie, Hot New Bands & Surf Pop 2019 playlists, and played on BBC Radio 6 Music, Radio X, Amazing Radio, and BBC Introducing, Bristol’s Make Friends have just released a video to go with their gorgeous new indie single ‘Ellie.’
Speaking of the latest single, lead singer Tom Andrew says "Ellie is the most personal track on the EP. It's a retrospective account of the frustration and emptiness felt from a lack of connection in your relationship. It's also about coming to terms with the fact that maybe it coming to an end was for the best and accepting that they might be happier with someone else."
Dispensing hook-laden, infectious indie-pop, the band have already earned favourable comparisons to the likes of Bombay Bicycle Club and Bloc Party. Their debut release Drop Naked found its way onto the Amazing Radio Playlist by winning the Audition Poll and got plays on BBC Radio 6 Music, Radio X, Amazing Radio and BBC Introducing.
From the band - This one is called ‘What’s On Your Mind’. It is about technology addiction and how we, as a society, have become collectively hooked on social media and technology, letting it become part of our identity.
The song explores a feeling of complicity and of being part of the machine we’re trapped in, while also pointing at the hard labour that still goes on around the world to keep this technology running.
Ali Horn's current single 'Dreamers' came out a few days ago and is well worth catching up with, his melodic hooks and fine vocals are getting noticed, as this indie pop song demonstrates, that's quite understandable.
Dave Banks song 'She's Like' is a modern country piece with plenty of charm, it's fresh, natural and just right for playing on a road trip.
'Plum Cake' from Ead Wood & The Heights is another melodic and very catchy song, the musical arrangement is refined and Ead's vocals are vibrant and likable.
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Ali Horn - Dreamers.
Ali Horn has had an interesting 2019 so far. His current single, ‘Dreamers’, had its release date moved forward when 6 Music’s Liz Kershaw fixed on it as her track of the year to date. His last single Modern Voodoo, was regularly heard on 6 Music and, the day after we meet, he is flying to Ulyanovsk, birthplace of Lenin, as part of a Unesco sponsored cultural exchange. This is not standard stuff for an aspiring singer / songwriter.
Ali will be representing his adopted hometown of Liverpool in Russia, a UNESCO world music city, to Ulyanovsk’s UNESCO world literature city. The coming together of Liverpool and Russia’s aspiring creative forces creates both excitement and apprehension. For now, not knowing who is picking him up from the airport is a more immediate concern.
Yet, Ali’s story to date is characterised by taking leaps of faith whilst committing to the hard work necessary to transform dreams into reality. The child of a folk guitar playing father, Ali convinced his parents to take his musical ambitions seriously by enrolling in a Saturday music school, foregoing standard lazy teenager weekends to learn production techniques alongside honing his playing.
A similar focus led to him developing the songs that are now finding friends across the UK whilst playing guitar in Liverpool’s best kept secret The Strange Collective. Taking his cue from a love of simple pop song structure and primary melodies, Ali stepped out of the shadows to centre stage to train the expansive psychedelia of that band into the surf flecked pop of the solo Ali Horn. As Ali puts it in characteristically self-effacing fashion, ‘I didn’t want to shy away from pop music anymore, I wanted to work within that verse / chorus structure’.
Initial releases under the guidance of Carl Hunter, former member of The Farm and current director of ‘Sometimes, Always, Never’ starring Bill Nighy, Jenny Agutter and ‘Control’s’ Sam Riley, led to a deal with Rooftop Records / Funnel Music and a team that includes producer Chris Taylor, Studio Manager at Parr Street Studios where Ali performed for 6 Music in March of this year.
It is a team that will be very busy for the remainder of 2019. Ali’s debut album is in process, an opportunity that he sees as the next self-imposed challenge ‘From starting writing, I saw a completed work. An album that puts the singles into a new context and gives me the opportunity to explore the other side of my music to what you hear with the singles. I love albums that flow for the listener, that are more than just a collection of songs’. Before that there are more tracks and live dates to look forward to. Assuming that airport pick up happened……
I'm just a simple country boy singin' country songs. I work 9 to 5, throw my boots on, put my guitar in my truck, and head to the next dive bar to sing some country songs.
I am 100% independent, all the way down to owning and operating my own record label, Reel Country Entertainment. I am determined to take on the machine and put country music back into country folks' hands.
"She's Like" is my first single released under my own record label, Reel Country Entertainment. It blends a contemporary sound with a vibe of more traditional country music. The intro guitar loop pulls the listener in and brings them all the way to the bass drop after the bridge.
"She's Like" is the quintessential love song to blast when you're flying down a backroad, surrounded by cotton fields, with your windows down.
Bristol based Ead Wood delivers a shimmering, sunny indie-pop bop in latest single ‘Plum Cake’ - lilting gorgeously in all the right ways, it calls to mind Alvvays, Amber Arcades, Mazzy Star or Real Estate in its softly infectious sound. He is backed as ever by London band Margot, moonlighting as The Heights for this project. Recording in their own studio, there’s a resolutely DIY feel to the project that fits into the ambitious Bristol music scene.
Paradoxically to its lackadaisical sound, ‘Plum Cake’ channels the low-level anxiety that comes with everyday indecision. Indeed this fed into the naming of the track, as Ead elaborates:
"’Plum Cake’ is written about my lack of decision making. Especially when it comes down to those small everyday insignificant choices that really don’t matter, but I just can’t decide.
The title came as I was playing the song for one of the first times in Munich last summer and typically I couldn’t decide on a name for the track. I asked the audience if anyone had any ideas for a title and to shout them out at the end. As the song finished I asked again, no one replied as half the crowd was eating cake, I asked what the cake was and they shouted Special Bavarian Plum Cake, and there’s the title!"
Backed by influential outlets in DIY and Clash Magazine, as well as building an exciting live plot taking in venues across the country and further afield with European dates, that culminated with a performance at this year’s Glastonbury Festival, Ead Wood’s brand of catchy, breezy guitar pop is turning heads and getting them nodding.
Tanya Gallagher has just released her 'One Hand On My Heart' E.P and we have the song 'Dark Side' to enjoy, the singer-songwriter has a natural talent for modern folk as is demonstrated with this fine song.
Michael Paul Lawson recently released the seven song E.P 'Some Fights You'll Never Win' streaming in full below. It's a collection of music rich in Americana and alt folk, his distinct vocals are spot on for these genres, and his material is really high class.
'Get Bleak' from Ducks Unlimited is a vibrant jangle pop song, full of melodic hooks and with a feisty beat, it's pretty much guaranteed a second listen.
Back in March we featured Andrew Rinehart for the first time and he returns with 'Rose Gold' which is another gem of a song, it's personal, pleasing and positive... that's good enough for me!
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Tanya Gallagher - Dark Side.
Florida singer/songwriter Tanya Gallagher has just released a brand new E.P. entitled "One Hand On My Heart". “One Hand On My Heart” is a touching folk and country influenced collection of melodic modern pop songs, with minimal but fitting instrumentation and arrangements beautifully displaying Gallagher’s strong and soulful voice, which could be considered one of the stand out instruments of this EP itself.
The songs are mainly driven by acoustic guitar with Gallagher singing in deep personal tones that seem to be heavily influenced by classic folk artists such as Joni Mitchell along side of singer/songwriting artists of the last couple of decades like Sheryl Crow and Alanis Morissette. Gallagher’s vocals serve her insightful and personal lyrics extremely well with her simple guitar chord progressions being tastefully accompanied by delicate keyboards and straight forward percussion.
"Both in relationships and in grad school, you face a lot of rejection, and so sometimes I would come home after a tough period and think, Well, what would I say if I felt confident?” she says. “Writing these songs helped me to face my insecurities and kept me moving forward.”
Michael Paul Lawson - Some Fights You'll Never Win (E.P).
Michael Paul Lawson was born into a deeply musical family, with generations of band leaders, classically trained academics, and brass band legends before him. While his early inclinations were to follow in their footsteps, his contentious relationship with his father and the urgings of his family to pursue more lucrative career paths, dampened his musical ambitions. Trading in the rust of northern New York for the luster of Long Island’s gold coast, Lawson set his artistry to the side in pursuit of corporate life. Eight years later, saddled with student loan debt and weary from the relentless New York City grind, Lawson moved, on a whim, to Norfolk, VA.
In Norfolk Lawson found space and clarity. He could watch the sunrise over the Atlantic and the sunset across the Blue Ridge Mountains in the same day. In Virginia the music started to flow. Plain-spoken ballads with deceptively straight-forward lyrics. A mix of beautiful prose and raw realities, conjuring up the early work of Jason Isbell and the slow burning, sobering lyrics of John Prine. Lawson was soon singing these songs in breweries and bars across Virginia, working it out, making up for lost time.
A disciplined artist with a punch-clock work ethic, Lawson began building a reputation as one of the most prolific writers and performers in the area, and he quickly began securing notable slots at the Norfolk Folk Festival and providing opening support for The Steel Wheels, and Sons of Bill. Eventually, his songs reached producer Daniel Mendez (Noah Gundersen, The Native Sibling) who offered Michael a development deal and an invite to track a debut EP in Austin.
Returning to Austin, where Lawson spent childhood summers visiting his father, was cathartic. It had been 16 years since Lawson was last in hill country, and 16 years since he last saw his father’s silhouette in the back of a squad car, when the constant drinking and violence came to a head in the Texas night, ultimately leading to their estrangement. It was an odd place to return now that he was carving out a new life path, but it also felt strangely in step with the material he had written for his debut EP, Some Fights You’ll Never Win. He was reconciling his relationship with his father, there in the flesh, and in the studio, as he committed his highly personal songs to tape. It was a healing experience, coming full circle, continuing the lineage of musical craftsmanship that had run in his family for generations.
“It’s taken a long time for me to get to where I should have been going from the start,” Lawson reflects. But taking the ‘back roads’ gave him the clear understanding, as the songs on Some Fights You’ll Never Win attest, that the most important battles to dive into are internal.
The Toronto-based jangle-pop quartet, Ducks Unlimited, are now airing their new cut ‘Get Bleak’ - listen here Featuring a contribution from Laura Hermiston of Twist, the track follows on from earlier singles that drew tastemaker acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic and will be followed with a date at The Garrison, Toronto on July 20 in support of Sacred Paws.
Drawing on the sounds of Sarah Records and Flying Nun acts like The Go-Betweens, The Verlaines and Field Mice, Tom Mcgreevy of the band says: “‘Get Bleak’ is a song about this idea that moving somewhere else is going to solve all your problems. It's something that I’ve heard expressed by a lot of friends in one way or another, especially as more and more people are getting priced out of cities like Toronto, New York and London.”
“There can be plenty of good reasons to leave the place that you're from or somewhere you've made your home for a long time, but I think there's this "grass is always greener" thing that in my experience, and anecdotally from people I know just isn't true. It's hard to move to a new place and you're still going to be you when you get there with the same issues and hang-ups, plus you're going to miss the people who care about you and they're going to miss you.”
Produced by Josh Korody (Weaves, F Up) and Shehzaad Jiwani (Greys), Ducks Unlimited’s early releases found the band opening for the likes of Weyes Blood, Rolling Blackouts Coast Fever and The Goon Sax. ‘Get Bleak’ is available via streaming services now and will be part of an EP set to be released later this year, additional live dates will follow shortly too.
Andrew Rinehart shares the music video for his latest single, "Rose Gold". The video was directed by Joseph Kenneth, Andrew Rinehart, & Frankie Latina and features Paige Elkington. Rinehart recalls how the song and video concept came together:
""Rose Gold" was one of those rare songs that came in a flash — the entire song all at once, verses, choruses, lyrics, everything, all in one dizzying vision. I had just reconnected with someone I was totally in love with, so in that moment I was high out of my mind on life and literally anything and everything seemed possible. Basically I was in a headspace of 100% pure optimistic glee. I don’t experience that perspective very often, so I leaned into it hard and waddya know, out came this song.
So it’s sort of a rare one of mine in the sense that it is 100% positive, uplifting, and sweet natured. I’m not sure I have any other songs like that to be honest. For the music video we basically just ran around like idiots at Salvation Mountain (with some Super Bloom footage for good measure) in a similarly blissed out and frenzied-happy state. Shout out to my friends Joseph Kenneth, Glen Jennings, Frankie Latino, and Paige Elkington for helping me make it! Hopefully its Technicolor swirl broadcasts the same kind of mega joy I felt when the song showed up like some stupid happy dog psyched to take off running."
Rinehart is a Louisville, KY native who has, for the last 5 years or so, paid his dues bouncing around the usual bigger-city zones, finally settling on Los Angeles as home. He was one of the original 10 founders of the influential Body Actualized Center in Brooklyn, and more recently threw shows at Basic Flowers, a DIY space in downtown LA which Ariel Pink co-funded. Now on the verge of exiting the purgatory of grad school, Rinehart is currently in the process of releasing a series of singles (“Off On A Roll…” being the first), all of which explore the inscrutable ups and downs inherent to that age-old pleasure/torture device: love.
We first featured Flora Hibberd in April and she returns today with 'In Violence' an atmosphere drenched song where her imagination and creativity are again notable as is her fabulous voice.
With close to forty thousand views since last Friday the new video from Lola Marsh for 'Echoes' has attracted a lot of attention, not surprising really it's a hook fuelled psych folk piece and the video is fabulous.
Coming out this Friday is the brand new E.P. from Magnetic Skies titled 'Hold On' and along with this they will also release their second single 'Refugee'. As this is our fourth feature for them this year, I think it safe to say we like them (and some).
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Flora Hibberd - In Violence.
Born in East London but currently residing in Paris, Flora Hibberd has been described as ‘intelligent and measured…there is a profound intuition in her work’ and her songs as ‘deeply rooted in the timeless lyricism of Dylan and Cohen.’
With influences as diverse as Nick Cave, Joan Baez and Jacques Brel, she moves effortlessly between acoustic folk traditions and the bruised indie of PJ Harvey, Jason Molina and Cat Power. Her powerfully emotive voice, evocative melodies and poetic lyrics combine beautifully to give her songs a deeply haunting and unforgettable quality.
Flora’s debut single ‘The Absentee’, was released March 2019, was a bold statement of intent and announced her as a powerful newcomer. Follow-up single, ’In Violence’ is Flora’s follow-up single, out July 12th. Flora states that this commanding new song ‘comes from anger, specifically about something that I witnessed happen to a friend, and more generally about all the people that are put in that position every day. It is painful, but I don’t think it is entirely dark. There is power in the anger.’
Her debut single ‘The Absentee’, released by ClearLight Records / Declared Goods, is out now. New single ‘In Violence’ is out now. The Absentee EP is scheduled for release September 2019.
Lola Marsh are pleased to release their new single Echoes, out now, along with a brand new video directed by Indy Hait. Lola Marsh - aka vocalist Yael Shoshana Cohen and multi-instrumentalist Gil Landau - cut an upbeat tone on this new offering, sending the listener on a dizzying psych-folk journey complete with Cohen’s honeyed vocals. The accompanying video provides a visual art feast, featuring Gil and Yael with multiple versions of themselves. The band creates an army with 70’s vintage stylings, and like opposite sides of a mirror, play with energy and urgency both against and towards each other.
“"Echoes is about that feeling you sometimes have when you want to disappear, but at the same time, want to be found. That scary beautiful moment just before falling asleep, when you are the most lonesome version of yourself. And it’s for Maya."- Lola Marsh
Lola Marsh create music that combine clever lyrics with deep warm harmonies. Together with their 5-piece live band, they first made waves at Primavera Sound in 2014, following which the duo immediate gained industry attraction. It wasn't long till the band graced the stages on the festival circuit including Primavera Sound, Exit and Pukkelpop, as well asintensively touring Europe. Following their breakthrough success, their debut album Remember Roses was released in June 2017 (Anova Music / Universal Music Group).
The leading single 'Wishing Girl’ became a fan favorite and was featured in ads for leading brands such as Ebay and California Lottery. The band have made a big impact internationally; featuring in leading publications, gaining positive reviews, climbing to the top of Spotify’s most viral charts, and hitting over 40 million streams that are growing by the day. Their popularity crossed over to Hollywood and they co-wrote a song for the film “Criminal”, and were featured in the hit TV series "Better Call Saul".
Hot on the heels of supporting Heaven 17, synth-rock band Magnetic Skies are set to release their second EP, “Hold On”, in July 2019 via the independent ReprinT Records label. Lead track “Hold On” just came out as a single with a second single “Refugee” to be released on 19 July 2019.
Following on the heels of the duo’s debut EP, “Dreams And Memories”, which received glowing praise, the 5 tracks on the new release showcase the diverse elements of the band’s output, moving from synth pop and rock to ambient soundscapes. The songs feature Kent’s delicate and instinctively melodic vocals set against Womar’s synth backdrops, evoking the emotionally-charged hooks of some of the 80’s defining pop bands, such as Japan, Duran Duran and Tears For Fears.
“Refugee” is an uptempo synth rock track dealing with the nature of reality and the suffocation of anxiety and panic: “I’m drowned in confusion/blind by illusion/I want to find a reason/something to believe in”. The track is a re-recorded and re-worked version of a song Simon had written before the band was formed, and features a video of him as an astronaut taking off from Portsmouth’s Spinnaker Tower, in which the Queen is seen making a guest appearance.
We have a couple of tracks from Madame Psychosis namely 'Crashing Down' and 'Kapow'. The bands mixture of indie rock and alt pop is very impressive, whether they are performing more melodic and refined pieces such as 'Crashing Down' or full on rockers like 'Kapow', they give every song their all, and do so with considerable class.
Smoking Alaska recently released their new E.P. 'Bring Me Back a Souvenir', and these Dutch indie rockers can and do cover plenty of differing styles. From slick and pleasing indie rock like 'Sirens in the Sky' to the more expansive and vibe filled 'Allegory of the Cave', the new E.P is imaginative and genuinely worth listening to in full.
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Madame Psychosis - Crashing Down / Kapow.
Madame Psychosis is a five-piece alt pop & indie rock band from Toronto. Members include singer Michelle Mondesir, guitar players Bret McCaffrey and Rene Ip, drummer Jaina Tharakan, and bass player Giovanni Paola.
The band released their debut album in June 2017 and received a positive response. Most notably, the single “Space Motorcycle” cracked Alan Cross’ Top 11 Playlist. The album was also featured on 94.9 The Rock FM‘s artist spotlight, Generation Next, in May of 2018. Four songs from the debut album were showcased, including “Space Motorcycle”, “Run”, “On Top of The Game”, and “Mellow”. The band supported the album by performing at venues across Toronto, including at the legendary Opera House and The Horseshoe Tavern.
Madame Psychosis is now working on new material for their upcoming album. They released the “soaring” single “Crashing Down” in May, 2019 ahead of their two showcase performances at Canadian Music Week 2019. They also released a music video for the single. “A song that takes the listener on a poetic journey”, “Crashing Down” is the followup to “Just Wanna Be Myself“, which was released in January as the lead single. The band performed the song live on Global News’ national broadcast of The Morning Show.
Smoking Alaska is a dutch indie-rock band that takes inspiration from bands like Nothing but Thieves and Foals. 'Bring Me Back a Souvenir' is an EP with the overarching theme of getting out of your confort zone.
We want the entire EP to be listened to as much as possible so any of the 7 songs can be featured in playlists/blogs. For convenience sake I'll just be focusing on the opening track of the EP called 'Sirens in the Sky'. 'Sirens in the Sky' is about dealing with anxiety and panic-attacks and how those things can affect your relationship aswell. It's an energetic indie-rock song with a lush guitar sound and a melody that swings back and forth.
Dreamy guitars changing into warm distortion by Thijs, extensive bass riffs with a deep sound performed by Frank, a tight drum by Wiebe and a unique voice from Alex that come together to form a whole. Smoking Alaska knows how to create a good atmosphere with their huge variety from soft melancholic songs to hard alternative rock. The foursome, who describes their music as indie/alternative rock, has been active as a band for over 5 years.
