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Primed to capitalise on growing widespread acclaim, resident slacker pop specialist Lauran Hibberd continues her ascent towards the peak of the indie landscape with playful new cut ‘Old Nudes’, set for release April 23rd.
Producing her most infectious track to date, the hotly-tipped Isle of Wight native’s satirical approach and anthemic tendencies shine through once again, providing the perfect follow-up to pop-infused January release ‘Bang Bang Bang’ and subsequent sold-out UK tour, as she transitions towards bigger audiences and bigger stages.
Occupying a similar space to contemporaries including Phoebe Bridgers and Weezer, Hibberd’s popularity is certainly on the rise, with considerable support across the BBC Radio 1 airwaves (Annie Mac, Huw Stephens, Jack Saunders) and key champions at press (The Line Of Best Fit, Dork, Billboard, Clash, Gigwise) helping her notch gripping UK/EU support tours alongside US heavyweights Hippo Campus and The Regrettes in recent months.
With appearances on the BBC Introducing and The Line Of Best Fit stages at SXSW curtailed earlier this year, the newcomer will be looking to pick up where she left off with a slew of festival appearances and extensive UK dates in the autumn, where she’ll play some of her biggest shows to date.
Detailing her upcoming release, Hibberd revealed: “‘Old Nudes’ is unfortunately based upon a true story. We’ve all been there right!? The track looks back on the ‘mistake’, and almost mocks it using over confidence. It belittles the receiver, and oozes sarcasm and naivety. I keep writing songs about being young because I’m scared of getting too old to joke about these things”.
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Pantayo, the Vice-tipped Toronto by-way-of Philippines quintet, has just shared their new single, ‘V V V (They Lie)’. The new track is the latest in a string of singles to be lifted from their forthcoming self-titled debut album, set for release via Telephone Explosion Records on May 8, 2020.
‘V V V (They Lie)’ was put together over the course of a single day with the group finding inspiration, to an extent, in bubble tea. “The composition of the song was as a lot like a cup of bubble tea,” says the band. “We added 2 cups of blended percussion as the base, then some analog synth tapioca pearls to keep the texture interesting and fun, and finally topped it off with a few tablespoons of fresh tropical vocal fruits for some added sweetness.”
Pantayo is an audio diary of how the ensemble has grown together as writers and performers. The songwriting process started with members workshopping and performing traditional kulintang pieces whilst adapting kick drums and synths to the modal tuning of the gongs, further expanding Pantayo’s ability to incorporate modern musical expressions. “If you listen to the recordings of our rehearsals and songwriting sessions, you can hear us deconstructing the kulintang parts section-by-section and practicing our songs in different styles,” says keyboardist and vocalist Eirene Cloma.
Grounded in the interpretation of kulintang music, Pantayo can be a vehicle for discussions around diasporic Filipino identity. All five members have different experiences of settling in Canada and with that comes their relationships with music. Kat Estacio, co-founder of Pantayo, says “One way that we can make this world feel like home for folks like us is to mix the kulintang music that we learned with different sounds and song structures that feel familiar to us."
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Cheshire alternative pop fourpiece The Modern Society have announced their new single Liquid Love, which is available to buy and stream now. Aged between only 17, 18 and 19-years-old and forming the band whilst still at school, The Modern Society have a unique sound that blends indie and rock with funk and pop alongside youthful and direct lyrics.
New single Liquid Love follows recently released debut single Bad Thoughts, which was the first introduction to the band’s sound. Produced by Simon Jones (The Verve), Liquid Love is a jazz-inspired indie pop song written about young love, with innocent lyrics backed by a catchy melody full of romance, hazy days and optimism. The track is backed by a humorous video shot in Brighton and featuring the band themselves. The band say;
“Liquid Love is inspired by the summertime & sunshine and the overwhelming power of young and innocent romance. It is a feel-good, organic, summer love song.”
The Modern Society have been building their local following playing shows in and around Cheshire over the last year, including a recent show at Manchester’s Band on the Wall and the Jacaranda Club in Liverpool. The Modern Society are Lucas Humpheys (vocals & piano), Declan Fowles (drums), Jack Varah (guitar & backing vocals) and Connor Loman (bass guitar and backing vocals).
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As a young Mancunian teenager, Paul Baird hung around at a recording studio often enough that they eventually gave him a job. This led to Baird being involved in (read: cleaning tape heads, answering the phone and making brews) the recording of Teenage Fanclub's album, Thirteen and the remixing of The Who's seminal live album, Live at Leeds.
Baird soon cut his teeth as a sixteen-year-old guitarist in Manchester punk band, Breather, receiving national press attention and gigging throughout the UK, including an official show at In the City, in Dublin, at the request of the late Tony Wilson, before suddenly departing the group, to paint abstract canvases and study philosophy, no less! Unintentionally scuppering Breather's plans (of signing with RCA Records) in the process.
Baird later went on to front Manchester dream-pop acts; Glass (Soviet Union Records & Caserta Red Records), I See Angels (Mimic This Records) & Just Everywhere (Ramber Records), chalking up A play-listed singles on the likes of NME radio, playing shows at venues such as the 02 Apollo Manchester and The Fuzz Club (Athens, Greece) and found himself the focus of interviews by the BBC, XFM and the Manchester Evening News, before retreating once more, this time to raise a family, just as things were beginning to look promising.
Ever the outsider, Paul Baird is Hostile Tribes these days… His swooning vocal instantly recognisable as it carries gorgeous melodies across otherwise digitally corrupted indie-pop, synth-pop and dream-pop. An accomplished singer, guitarist, and producer, amongst other things, Baird often throws several synth-led bouts of songwriting into his mixes, reverberated vocal loops and fragile harmonies surging alongside electronic loops and classic hip-hop influenced beats, pretty instrumental interludes, the aching hum of ambience and fuzzy guitars.
An aggressive acid eats away at Baird from the inside; his tracks play urgently as a result, whether they’re of the dreamy electronic variety, psychedelic pop, or short stabs of art-punk, periodically running riot with distortion pedals and protesting guitar squeal. Pin Baird down with any precision to a location and his momentum goes haywire. Track his speed and lose the man in space forever.
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'Forever Sunday' the new video clip of dreampop band Beach Scvm definitely brings back memories of happier times. Of times when nobody talked about corona yet. When people in front of stage bounced their sorrows away. Moments in which life just raced by, for example when we were skateboarding. But «Forever Sunday» is as well about those worn-out moments when, after a night of partying and performing live, the sun falls through the windows of the small tour bus.
Beach Scvm are convinced that these times return – an optimism that seems specially authentic as they're a band from France, which has been particularly hit strong by corona-crisis. While others would be accused of spreading platitudes, Beach Scvm know perfectly well how to emphasise their wishes of a fun-filled world in musical ways.
Beach Scvm have wrapped their visions into tasty dreampop and shoegaze. They underline the choruses with their Beach Boys-inspired harmonies, which of course support their surfer image. No wonder that Beach Scvm were invited to play at big windsurfing festivals in their home country in the summer. Whether these events can actually really take place is unsure: it is likely that corona-pandemy will stop them.
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