Planet For Sale share 'Old Father Time' which has a gentle rock vibe and notable vocals, the band enjoy a cult following in Iran, what other band can claim that! === Hailey Whitters has a new video for her stunning song 'Janice At The Hotel Bar' it's one of those Nashville tracks that just needs an immediate second listen. === From Xanthe Alexis we have 'Compass' and the indie artist really impresses both vocally, lyrically and through the understated musical arrangement. === Big Little Lions have released 'It's Amazing' ahead of a new E.P and the dual vocals and harmonies are gorgeous from this creative pair.
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Planet For Sale - Old Father Time.
Planet For Sale are a Brighton based musical universe whose artful fusion of rock and blues is a mix of compelling lyrical imagery, incendiary guitar solos and trippy psychedelia. They are the anguished sound of the feverish fire sale that’s happening on planet Earth, this tiny rock hurtling through the vastness of space.
Planet For Sale was formed in 2017 by British-Iranian singer/songwriter Rooz Golpa, nephew of Akbar Golpa, the celebrated Persian vocalist whose career of more than 50 years earned him a legendary status in Iran and a Golden Rose for his worldwide contribution to music.
Planet For Sale were the first band in Iran to debut original music performed/sung in English since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and enjoy a cult following in the country. As a music student in Brighton’s Northbrook College, Rooz fell into a heated musical debate with fellow students Jim Cannings and Jamie Snelling, only to discover that they were all able to connect the dots between 1960s Brit Rock, Led Zeppelin, Abba and Joy Division.
Planet For Sale released their debut album Earth in 2018 and continue to perform regularly in clubs across the South East.
Planet For Sale's musical inspirations include The War On Drugs, Delta Blues, The Beatles and Sigrid. With their wide range of musical inspirations, PFS’s ambition is to create their own musical universe where the “odd misfits of the working-class regime can dream.”
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Hailey Whitters - Janice At The Hotel Bar.
Iowa-born, Nashville-based artist and singer-songwriter Hailey Whitters has released the official music video for “Janice at the Hotel Bar,” a standout track from her critically-acclaimed album The Dream that was named a “Song You Need to Know” by Rolling Stone and included on in Paste Magazine’s “The 25 Best Songs of 2020 (So Far)" list.
The video was directed by Erica Silverman, in partnership with creative director Harper Smith, and shot on location in Austin, TX.
“Given that this song was based on a real encounter with an 80-something-year-old woman named Janice, we felt it was important to keep it as rich visually as it is lyrically,” Whitters explains. “Erica and Harper were able to capture the individual eccentricities that make up the collective female experience in living a life well-lived.”
Recently, American Songwriter and Paste Magazine both spotlighted THE DREAM on their “Best Albums of 2020 (So Far)” lists, while SPIN marked “All The Cool Girls” on their list of “The 50 Best Songs of 2020 (So Far).” The Washington Post called THE DREAM “the year’s deepest country album,” and Pitchfork included it on a list of “Great Records You May Have Missed.”
The video release follows a recent feature in Rolling Stone that announced Whitters’ new partnership with Big Loud Records / Songs & Daughters – Nashville’s first-of-its-kind female-driven label formed by Big Loud Records and BMI Songwriter of the Year (2019) Nicolle Galyon. Big Loud Records / Songs & Daughters will continue marketing and promotion of THE DREAM, which was originally self-released via her label Pigasus Records.
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Xanthe Alexis - Compass.
Whether she’s guiding patients to recovery as a trauma therapist or transporting audiences to transcendence as an acclaimed indie artist, Xanthe Alexis has devoted her life to healing others, and her extraordinary new album, ‘The Offering’ (out 8/21), is no exception.
Recorded in Alexis’s adopted hometown of Colorado Springs, the record pairs soaring melodies with lush, hypnotic soundscapes as it grapples with anxiety and strength, worry and comfort, heartbreak and hope. Hinting at everything from Angel Olsen and Sharon Van Etten to Julien Baker and Feist, it’s a deeply compassionate, unflinchingly honesty collection, one that finds Alexis baring her most vulnerable self in a timely and much-needed act of radical empathy and connection.
Keep an eye out for an upcoming spotlight from Seattle NPR station KEXP, and take an early listen to lead single “Compass” (out 7/21), which prompted American Songwriter to rave that “her voice is somehow burnt at the edges. Her melodies yellowed from years in the light. But there is something so fundamental about taking in the stuff word by word.”
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Big Little Lions - It's Amazing.
Big Little Lions have spent the past few months writing and recording a brand new EP full of songs inspired by the current times. Are We There Yet? will be released on July 23rd.
Although these are much different times, Big Little Lions have been used to recording remotely - it's what they've always done!
Helen is based in BC and Paul is based in Ohio. With the lack of touring they dove into recording a new album and this is the result.
This week they released a video for their single from the album It's Amazing. Including a new video.
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Saturday, 11 July 2020
Friday, 10 July 2020
The Jayhawks - The Commander In Chief - Lara Taubman - Ci Gofod - KEYS
The Jayhawks have released their album XOXO today and taken from it we have the new single 'Bitter Pill' with the bands thirty year track record of creating great music remaining easily intact. === We featured The Commander In Chief in May with two songs 'Non Si Sa Mai' and 'The Manager' both taken from her brand new album 'Berit Vol.2' which is released this week, she also shared 'The Lockdown' recently which is another example of The Commanders exceptional talent. === From New York we have a new album 'Revelation' by Outlaw Folk Americana Musician Lara Taubman it's streaming in full below and put simply it's a gorgeous collection of wonderful songs. === Ci Gofod shared 'TV Screens' today and it's accompanied with a fine video that does justice to this very catchy song. === We featured KEYS twice last year and now have their new single 'This Side Of Luv' to enjoy, described by the band as an "attempt at joyous early 70’s Midlands pop" that description kinda makes sense.
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The Jayhawks - Bitter Pill.
The Jayhawks have released “Bitter Pill,” the latest song from the band’s most collaborative album to date – XOXO, out today July 10 via Sham/Thirty Tigers. Written by Gary Louris, Tim O’Reagan and Karen Grotberg, “Bitter Pill” is a harmony-rich, infectious new track that illustrates the never-ending search for happiness. Parade featured it last week, praising the “sweet and sorrowful tune that captures the heart and moves the soul.” The Jayhawks also appeared on this weekend’s CBS This Morning: Saturday, performing two songs off the new album, “This Forgotten Town” and “Living In A Bubble,” in addition to their 2018 song “Gonna Be A Darkness.”
"This is a rare example of me writing a story song,” Louris explains. “I tend towards stream of consciousness writing, but 'Bitter Pill' is a linear lyric that explores the tendency for some of always searching for the next fix of happiness, the missing piece...never being happy with what one has. It is really a continuation on the theme of my song 'Lovers Of The Sun' from our Paging Mr. Proust album. It is a theme that hits close to home for me. And the song really blossomed when my old pal and forever Jayhawk Stephen McCarthy played such beautiful and blistering B-Bender guitar on it.”
After 30 years together, The Jayhawks have delivered their most diverse and wide-ranging set of songs to date. XOXO marks a new era for the band, with all four members contributing to lead vocals and songwriting for the first time. Showcasing The Jayhawks’ unrelenting ability to evolve while staying true to their authentic sound, the new album reminds us why they continue to be such an influential and respected band. XOXO has already garnered early coverage from MOJO, HuffPost, BrooklynVegan, Billboard and Rolling Stone, who praised the opening track “This Forgotten Town” as a “jangly roots-pop gem.”
Carrying on their success since returning to the core members from the late-90’s lineup, The Jayhawks released Paging Mr. Proust in 2016 and Back Roads and Abandoned Motels in 2018 to widespread critical acclaim. The culmination of five years spent growing even more together, XOXO is a sonically and emotionally cohesive album that stands as a testament to the band’s consistent forward motion.
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The Commander In Chief - The Lockdown.
Internationally acclaimed, trail blazing 7 string guitar virtuoso,singer, songwriter and pianist “The Commander In Chief” is releasing her much awaited new album; “Berit, Vol. 2” on July 9, 2020. It’s the 2nd album in a series of 4, with new, original music.
As always, it is impossible to place her album in just one genre, as it has elements reminiscent of the great rock bands of the -70s, European pop and her very own mix of catchy hooks and innovative songwriting. Her smooth electric guitar-sound, blistering guitar technique and dramatic piano arrangements give the listener a taste of her virtuosity, without giving into the temptation of showing off, as the main instrument on these “acoustic” albums is her four octaves, soulful, crystal clear, Norwegian voice.
By brilliant use of humour, satire and self irony, The Commander In Chief stands tall like a lighthouse, beaming confident rays of hope, laughter and compassion to a world engulfed in the darkness of political correctness; where everyone is afraid of offending someone - no matter how innocent their intentions are. She reminds us how important it is to be able to laugh at ourselves, and be humble, as she does with the songs “Messin’ It Up,” “Change of Seasons” and “The Manager.”
She assures us that even when we find ourselves under attack by evil forces, or when facing the potentially devastating consequences of someone else’s wrong decision, there is a way to turn something horrible into something funny, by looking at it through the lens of dark humour, as she does in the very personal songs “Trailer Trash” and “Go Back To Norway.” In those 2 songs she introduces her brother, William, as the voice actor and background singer.
She displays her big heart and compassion in the heartbreakingly beautiful “The Lockdown” - dedicated to everyone affected by the Corona Virus, and she challenges us all to do more in “So He Set Out Walking.” In the only Italian song on the album, she asks the big questions about life. See the video for “Non Si Sa Mai” here.
As always, there was no use of Auto Tune, or other means of “lack of talent compensation,” on “Berit, Vol.2.” While she has been a trailblazer with international success in heavy metal and classical crossover music; with TV show appearances, viral videos and major press, this is - perhaps - her most important release. It comes at a time when humour itself is under relentless attack, and artists no longer know what to do or what to say.
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Lara Taubman - Revelation (Album).
New York-based Outlaw Folk Americana Musician Lara Taubman's new album 'Revelation' represents a momentous rite of passage for the artist (both physically and spiritually).
Following an inner nudge, Lara travelled to record the album in Wolfe Island, Canada with Wolfe Island Records founder and producer Hugh Christopher Brown. She's still following that nudge, using her music and lyrics as alchemy while working through emotional pain and trauma.
With a signature sound that is all authenticity and effortlessly classic, Lara Taubman's haunting lyrics and melodies should appeal to fans of artists like Gillian Welch and Joni Mitchell.
From the Artist: “Revelation” is about my journey to heal through making music. Following a call to begin singing five years ago led me to a series of fortuitous events that created this album. Music always saved me, now I hope to return the favor. Due today July 10th on all platforms, "Revelation" will also be available on vinyl.
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Ci Gofod - TV Screens.
Ci Gofod is a bedroom project nested in the valleys of South Wales, although I have become familiar with the local scene, I have tried to utilise as much time as i could writing and recording any material that I could. What may make this project different is that I still have made it a goal to collaborate.
So, while still isolated, I have ensured to use the magic of technology to make frequent collaborations (while distanced of course). With this release we see a guest appearance from Lloyd Bastian from the band Pseudo Cool.
The new release is about monotony and I try to reflect this in the songwriting. The tune begins modest with a repetitive riff, but as the song draws to a close there is an explosion of sound. I hope that the ever changing dynamic of the song is worth your time.
This project has had great acclaim from the BBC, such as getting frequent airplay on BBC Radio Wales and hopes to turn heads with this latest release, particularly you of course.
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KEYS - This Side Of Luv.
“The hiss is another instrument” and it’s an instrument integral to the new recordings, sounds and songs by KEYS. Over the next few weeks we will be unveiling the latest collection of songs by the band, as Matthew Evans vocals / guitar / songwriter explains: “We recorded these tracks on Cassette four track machines during lockdown. Let’s not pretend we had access to an expensive studio, we didn’t.
It was a time to connect with bedroom songwriting again. These are not band arrangements worked out in a rehearsal room – these were written and recorded simultaneously. Not demos but songs that took shape during the "recording process.”
The hiss of the cassette turning is the sound of the endless possibilities and magic of the pop song spilling out in vivid colours at the exact moment inspiration took hold. No second guessing or over thinking, only the joy of creating.
A perfect example of this is the first single ‘This Side of Luv’. “This was our attempt at joyous early 70’s Midlands pop. 3-day weeks, winters of discontent, a Tory government…yet out of that bleakness came some heroic, ecstatic British pop music.
Music has the power to lift the spirit, if we can do that for 3 and a half minutes then we’ll feel our efforts were not in vain.” Matthew summarises this collection of songs, also written in trying times, as: “something to help us get through this lockdown. Hopefully you can use it too.”
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The Jayhawks - Bitter Pill.
The Jayhawks have released “Bitter Pill,” the latest song from the band’s most collaborative album to date – XOXO, out today July 10 via Sham/Thirty Tigers. Written by Gary Louris, Tim O’Reagan and Karen Grotberg, “Bitter Pill” is a harmony-rich, infectious new track that illustrates the never-ending search for happiness. Parade featured it last week, praising the “sweet and sorrowful tune that captures the heart and moves the soul.” The Jayhawks also appeared on this weekend’s CBS This Morning: Saturday, performing two songs off the new album, “This Forgotten Town” and “Living In A Bubble,” in addition to their 2018 song “Gonna Be A Darkness.”
"This is a rare example of me writing a story song,” Louris explains. “I tend towards stream of consciousness writing, but 'Bitter Pill' is a linear lyric that explores the tendency for some of always searching for the next fix of happiness, the missing piece...never being happy with what one has. It is really a continuation on the theme of my song 'Lovers Of The Sun' from our Paging Mr. Proust album. It is a theme that hits close to home for me. And the song really blossomed when my old pal and forever Jayhawk Stephen McCarthy played such beautiful and blistering B-Bender guitar on it.”
After 30 years together, The Jayhawks have delivered their most diverse and wide-ranging set of songs to date. XOXO marks a new era for the band, with all four members contributing to lead vocals and songwriting for the first time. Showcasing The Jayhawks’ unrelenting ability to evolve while staying true to their authentic sound, the new album reminds us why they continue to be such an influential and respected band. XOXO has already garnered early coverage from MOJO, HuffPost, BrooklynVegan, Billboard and Rolling Stone, who praised the opening track “This Forgotten Town” as a “jangly roots-pop gem.”
Carrying on their success since returning to the core members from the late-90’s lineup, The Jayhawks released Paging Mr. Proust in 2016 and Back Roads and Abandoned Motels in 2018 to widespread critical acclaim. The culmination of five years spent growing even more together, XOXO is a sonically and emotionally cohesive album that stands as a testament to the band’s consistent forward motion.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Commander In Chief - The Lockdown.
Internationally acclaimed, trail blazing 7 string guitar virtuoso,singer, songwriter and pianist “The Commander In Chief” is releasing her much awaited new album; “Berit, Vol. 2” on July 9, 2020. It’s the 2nd album in a series of 4, with new, original music.
As always, it is impossible to place her album in just one genre, as it has elements reminiscent of the great rock bands of the -70s, European pop and her very own mix of catchy hooks and innovative songwriting. Her smooth electric guitar-sound, blistering guitar technique and dramatic piano arrangements give the listener a taste of her virtuosity, without giving into the temptation of showing off, as the main instrument on these “acoustic” albums is her four octaves, soulful, crystal clear, Norwegian voice.
By brilliant use of humour, satire and self irony, The Commander In Chief stands tall like a lighthouse, beaming confident rays of hope, laughter and compassion to a world engulfed in the darkness of political correctness; where everyone is afraid of offending someone - no matter how innocent their intentions are. She reminds us how important it is to be able to laugh at ourselves, and be humble, as she does with the songs “Messin’ It Up,” “Change of Seasons” and “The Manager.”
She assures us that even when we find ourselves under attack by evil forces, or when facing the potentially devastating consequences of someone else’s wrong decision, there is a way to turn something horrible into something funny, by looking at it through the lens of dark humour, as she does in the very personal songs “Trailer Trash” and “Go Back To Norway.” In those 2 songs she introduces her brother, William, as the voice actor and background singer.
She displays her big heart and compassion in the heartbreakingly beautiful “The Lockdown” - dedicated to everyone affected by the Corona Virus, and she challenges us all to do more in “So He Set Out Walking.” In the only Italian song on the album, she asks the big questions about life. See the video for “Non Si Sa Mai” here.
As always, there was no use of Auto Tune, or other means of “lack of talent compensation,” on “Berit, Vol.2.” While she has been a trailblazer with international success in heavy metal and classical crossover music; with TV show appearances, viral videos and major press, this is - perhaps - her most important release. It comes at a time when humour itself is under relentless attack, and artists no longer know what to do or what to say.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lara Taubman - Revelation (Album).
New York-based Outlaw Folk Americana Musician Lara Taubman's new album 'Revelation' represents a momentous rite of passage for the artist (both physically and spiritually).
Following an inner nudge, Lara travelled to record the album in Wolfe Island, Canada with Wolfe Island Records founder and producer Hugh Christopher Brown. She's still following that nudge, using her music and lyrics as alchemy while working through emotional pain and trauma.
With a signature sound that is all authenticity and effortlessly classic, Lara Taubman's haunting lyrics and melodies should appeal to fans of artists like Gillian Welch and Joni Mitchell.
From the Artist: “Revelation” is about my journey to heal through making music. Following a call to begin singing five years ago led me to a series of fortuitous events that created this album. Music always saved me, now I hope to return the favor. Due today July 10th on all platforms, "Revelation" will also be available on vinyl.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ci Gofod - TV Screens.
Ci Gofod is a bedroom project nested in the valleys of South Wales, although I have become familiar with the local scene, I have tried to utilise as much time as i could writing and recording any material that I could. What may make this project different is that I still have made it a goal to collaborate.
So, while still isolated, I have ensured to use the magic of technology to make frequent collaborations (while distanced of course). With this release we see a guest appearance from Lloyd Bastian from the band Pseudo Cool.
The new release is about monotony and I try to reflect this in the songwriting. The tune begins modest with a repetitive riff, but as the song draws to a close there is an explosion of sound. I hope that the ever changing dynamic of the song is worth your time.
This project has had great acclaim from the BBC, such as getting frequent airplay on BBC Radio Wales and hopes to turn heads with this latest release, particularly you of course.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KEYS - This Side Of Luv.
“The hiss is another instrument” and it’s an instrument integral to the new recordings, sounds and songs by KEYS. Over the next few weeks we will be unveiling the latest collection of songs by the band, as Matthew Evans vocals / guitar / songwriter explains: “We recorded these tracks on Cassette four track machines during lockdown. Let’s not pretend we had access to an expensive studio, we didn’t.
It was a time to connect with bedroom songwriting again. These are not band arrangements worked out in a rehearsal room – these were written and recorded simultaneously. Not demos but songs that took shape during the "recording process.”
The hiss of the cassette turning is the sound of the endless possibilities and magic of the pop song spilling out in vivid colours at the exact moment inspiration took hold. No second guessing or over thinking, only the joy of creating.
A perfect example of this is the first single ‘This Side of Luv’. “This was our attempt at joyous early 70’s Midlands pop. 3-day weeks, winters of discontent, a Tory government…yet out of that bleakness came some heroic, ecstatic British pop music.
Music has the power to lift the spirit, if we can do that for 3 and a half minutes then we’ll feel our efforts were not in vain.” Matthew summarises this collection of songs, also written in trying times, as: “something to help us get through this lockdown. Hopefully you can use it too.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 8 July 2020
Miesha and The Spanks - Macajey - Gasoline Lollipops - PainKillers
Miesha and The Spanks have released 'Unstoppable' and the "high octane garage rock description" is well deserved and considering that they have been around since 2008, the energy levels are something else. === Macajey shares 'Mornin' which is a melodic and fresh indie song, with a beautiful vibe running throughout. === Gasoline Lollipops have shared the title track from their next album 'All The Misery Money Can Buy' due in September, it's a slick mixture of Americana and refined rock that bodes well for the album. === PainKillers brand new song 'Live Your Dreams' starts out gently enough, but hold on to your hats, this builds with musical layers and some feisty passion.
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Miesha and The Spanks - Unstoppable.
Miesha & The Spanks are a high octane garage rock duo from Calgary AB, made up of rock n roll matriarch Miesha Louie and her partner in crime, the hardest hitting Sean Hamilton on drums. Together they draw inspiration from classics like The Runaways, L7, and The Buzzcocks to create some modern noise that’s catchy enough to raise a fist and sing along.
Noise Journal describes them as “a filthy rocket of pure jet-fuel up the nostril, with surf rock sensibilities, a grunge groove and hair metal swagger,” while Canadian Beats called their last album “reminiscent of Queens of the Stone Age meets The Animals – a certain coolness about it, making it impossible to forget.”
They’ve made a name for themselves as a band that really goes for it. Since Miesha created The Spanks in 2008, she’s opened every door, and taken advantage of each opportunity that’s come her way. Tour after tour down Canadian highway to play every small town and big city, with as many drummers as are up to the task, until landing someone crazy enough to stick around.
While the Covid-19 pandemic did slow down production, Miesha & The Spanks have put their full weight behind first single "Unstoppable" – a juggernaut garage rock banger, reminding us that sometimes head first, full throttle, is the only way to get it done.
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Macajey - Mornin'.
Mornin’ is a new track by Macajey that aims to give a template of a day, one that for him personally, would be perfect. “One thought to start the day, breath in and out. Easily. Freely” sets the tone for the whole day with a sense of calm. “2 steps, you’re on your way.
It’s not so hard. Keep it simple, and a little bit mystical”, life doesn’t have to be so hard it can in fact be simple, and always allowing room for unexpected surprises to come into your life. So in one moment, let some peace in, give a kiss to your loved ones, and just for now, don’t think and have a little hope.
Macajey's music has been described as organic, uplifting psychedelic, folktronica with emotional ranges from energetic, feel- good dance tracks to transcendental, sonic meditations. The music is infused with the landscape tones of his two home bases; the dry mirage laden heat of California summers and the dim lit winters of Estonia.
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Gasoline Lollipops - All The Misery Money Can Buy.
On their web site, the Gasoline Lollipops slot themselves among the alt-country crowd, and the rock crowd, and the Americana crowd. It’s not that they can’t make up their minds, it’s that they don’t concern themselves with being pigeonholed, so you needn’t either.
“For so long I thought we had to have a genre,” says front man/songwriter/visionary Clay Rose. “At first it was a cow-punk band, then I needed a rock band, then a folk rock band, then I needed a country band, then I needed an Americana band. But I guess coloring inside the lines is not in my cards.” Bully for that. Outside the lines is where things get interesting.
It’s a necessary evil to liken an artist to a better-known commodity, so how about the Jayhawks (with balls) and Nick Drake? Tom Petty and Leonard Cohen meeting for coffee. James McMurtry remaking the Black Crowes in his own image. A side-salad of Muscle Shoals with a tangy dash of Stax. Yadda yadda. Short answer, the Gas Pops sound like the United States of America.
The songs on their new album, All the Misery Money Can Buy (due out on September 11, 2020 on Soundly Music), back it up. In sturdy, hard-bitten, no-nonsense elegies, Clay takes snapshots of dusty wanderlust. It’s all masterfully concise, with 11 songs populated by restless souls who live entire lives in three minutes, mining triumph out of desperation, chasing the American Dream, and “choking on a pot of gold.” “What I took from Leonard Cohen was the value of a word,” Clay says, “If it’s not needed, it doesn’t go on the page. You whittle a lyric down to its essence, say it once, and that’s enough.”
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PainKillers - Live Your Dreams.
“Live Your Dreams” is the second single from the recent debut album “Storyteller” by the punk-rock band PainKillers.
The song is a Punk-Rock ballad arranged in a modern key, with sweet, melodic and at the same time scratchy sounds.
The album “Storyteller” from which the single is taken, recently released via Valery Records and distributed by Audioglobe, is available in the best record stores, on iTunes & Apple Music, on Spotify and on every streaming platform and digital stores.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Miesha and The Spanks - Unstoppable.
Miesha & The Spanks are a high octane garage rock duo from Calgary AB, made up of rock n roll matriarch Miesha Louie and her partner in crime, the hardest hitting Sean Hamilton on drums. Together they draw inspiration from classics like The Runaways, L7, and The Buzzcocks to create some modern noise that’s catchy enough to raise a fist and sing along.
Noise Journal describes them as “a filthy rocket of pure jet-fuel up the nostril, with surf rock sensibilities, a grunge groove and hair metal swagger,” while Canadian Beats called their last album “reminiscent of Queens of the Stone Age meets The Animals – a certain coolness about it, making it impossible to forget.”
They’ve made a name for themselves as a band that really goes for it. Since Miesha created The Spanks in 2008, she’s opened every door, and taken advantage of each opportunity that’s come her way. Tour after tour down Canadian highway to play every small town and big city, with as many drummers as are up to the task, until landing someone crazy enough to stick around.
While the Covid-19 pandemic did slow down production, Miesha & The Spanks have put their full weight behind first single "Unstoppable" – a juggernaut garage rock banger, reminding us that sometimes head first, full throttle, is the only way to get it done.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Macajey - Mornin'.
Mornin’ is a new track by Macajey that aims to give a template of a day, one that for him personally, would be perfect. “One thought to start the day, breath in and out. Easily. Freely” sets the tone for the whole day with a sense of calm. “2 steps, you’re on your way.
It’s not so hard. Keep it simple, and a little bit mystical”, life doesn’t have to be so hard it can in fact be simple, and always allowing room for unexpected surprises to come into your life. So in one moment, let some peace in, give a kiss to your loved ones, and just for now, don’t think and have a little hope.
Macajey's music has been described as organic, uplifting psychedelic, folktronica with emotional ranges from energetic, feel- good dance tracks to transcendental, sonic meditations. The music is infused with the landscape tones of his two home bases; the dry mirage laden heat of California summers and the dim lit winters of Estonia.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gasoline Lollipops - All The Misery Money Can Buy.
On their web site, the Gasoline Lollipops slot themselves among the alt-country crowd, and the rock crowd, and the Americana crowd. It’s not that they can’t make up their minds, it’s that they don’t concern themselves with being pigeonholed, so you needn’t either.
“For so long I thought we had to have a genre,” says front man/songwriter/visionary Clay Rose. “At first it was a cow-punk band, then I needed a rock band, then a folk rock band, then I needed a country band, then I needed an Americana band. But I guess coloring inside the lines is not in my cards.” Bully for that. Outside the lines is where things get interesting.
It’s a necessary evil to liken an artist to a better-known commodity, so how about the Jayhawks (with balls) and Nick Drake? Tom Petty and Leonard Cohen meeting for coffee. James McMurtry remaking the Black Crowes in his own image. A side-salad of Muscle Shoals with a tangy dash of Stax. Yadda yadda. Short answer, the Gas Pops sound like the United States of America.
The songs on their new album, All the Misery Money Can Buy (due out on September 11, 2020 on Soundly Music), back it up. In sturdy, hard-bitten, no-nonsense elegies, Clay takes snapshots of dusty wanderlust. It’s all masterfully concise, with 11 songs populated by restless souls who live entire lives in three minutes, mining triumph out of desperation, chasing the American Dream, and “choking on a pot of gold.” “What I took from Leonard Cohen was the value of a word,” Clay says, “If it’s not needed, it doesn’t go on the page. You whittle a lyric down to its essence, say it once, and that’s enough.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PainKillers - Live Your Dreams.
“Live Your Dreams” is the second single from the recent debut album “Storyteller” by the punk-rock band PainKillers.
The song is a Punk-Rock ballad arranged in a modern key, with sweet, melodic and at the same time scratchy sounds.
The album “Storyteller” from which the single is taken, recently released via Valery Records and distributed by Audioglobe, is available in the best record stores, on iTunes & Apple Music, on Spotify and on every streaming platform and digital stores.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 7 July 2020
sir Was and Casper Clausen - Sam Valdez
sir Was and Casper Clausen just released 'Flyder' and it's a creative beauty, with gliding vocals and a wonderful soundscape. === Just a week after featuring 'Clean' from Sam Valdez she returns with another gorgeous song entitled 'Toothache' and again her blend of genres (anything from Shoegaze to Americana) really impresses.
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sir Was and Casper Clausen - Flyder.
sir Was and Casper Clausen, singer of experimental Danish post-rockers Efterklang, yesterday released their collaboration ‘Flyder’ ( Floating). sir Was’ album ‘Holding on to a Dream’ and recent follow up EP ‘Letter’ have received praise and support worldwide from BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 1, Radio Nova, KCRW, Double J, Complex, Les Inrocks and Notion. He headlined Scala in November and would have had a mainstage appearance at All Points East alongside Tame Impala and Caribou before the current lockdown.
Efterklang released their 6th studio album 'Altid Sammen' in Sep 2019 which was a welcome return for their multitudes of dedicated fans. They took the album on a sold out European and US tour peaking in a triumphant celebration at the stunning concert venue Elphilharmonie in Hamburg. Joel and Casper first met whilst in Berlin when they were both invited to be part of PEOPLE, a 7-day creative experience put together by and involving musicians including Beirut’s Zach Condon, Justin Vernon, Feist and the National’s Dessner brothers.
Casper recalls “It was a kinda love at first sight, Joel and I clicked and during that week of creation, we developed a friendship which led to many more hangs and recordings over the past couple of years. Joel joined the Efterklang recordings of our most recent album “Altid Sammen” last year and we also wrote the Efterklang song “Lyset” together in Joel’ studio in Gothenburg. I love writing music with Joel, his ability to frame a moment and his ear for melody, texture and groove is a rare treat to be around. We supplement each other well and we have a lot of fun making music together.”
‘Flyder’ started as a small sketch around the time when Joel went to join the Efterklang recordings in Copenhagen last year. After bouncing the song back and forth, between Gothenberg and Casper’s studio in Almada (looking across the bay to Lisbon), the song was finally finished off by Joel back in Gothenburg where he added his signature live drums and production magic. The result is a sumptuous track that bears the unmistakable warm sir Was sound and Casper’s tender vocal sung in his native Danish.
“Flyder is a song to the stream that carries our boat, a celebration and a fear for the metaphysical place where we decide to stay and grow our roots, our home on a floating dock, a moving hub and a made-up flower of all the things we give importance. When you manage to let go on your own power of control, when you are floating and staying at the same time.”
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Sam Valdez - Toothache.
Sam Valdez’s immersive indie-rock sensibility reflects her childhood growing up at the edge of the Nevada desert, and her formative musical experiences as a child violinist. The mystery, beauty, and haunting quality of desert life has shaped the LA-based artist’s sense of dreamy textures, and her flair for abstract but emotive lyrics. Classical music’s majesty has informed her imaginative arrangements, and cinematic sense of dynamics.
Sam has melded in an intriguing blend of shoe-gaze, Americana, indie-rock, and pop into a signature aesthetic. Select career highlights thus far include garnering rave reviews in Clash Music, Consequence of Sound, and Earmilk; earning heavy rotation from KCRW for multiple singles; and opening tours for Stella Donnelly, Cayucas, and Giant Rooks.
“I’ve always tried to write from the most genuine place that I can, but, lately, and with this record, I’ve been working on sharing more sides of my views and emotions,” Sam details.
A feeling of 1960s nostalgic balladry courses through many of thesongs on Sam’s debut. She says:” Melancholic, comforting and thought provoking is what I look forin music and what I feel and hope comes across in mine.” The album’s first single, “Toothache,” is a reverb-dipped slow burner glowering with sensual vocals and a twist on a breakup narrative. Here, the feeling is a longing to reconnect with one’s sense of self post romantic rupture.
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sir Was and Casper Clausen - Flyder.
sir Was and Casper Clausen, singer of experimental Danish post-rockers Efterklang, yesterday released their collaboration ‘Flyder’ ( Floating). sir Was’ album ‘Holding on to a Dream’ and recent follow up EP ‘Letter’ have received praise and support worldwide from BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 1, Radio Nova, KCRW, Double J, Complex, Les Inrocks and Notion. He headlined Scala in November and would have had a mainstage appearance at All Points East alongside Tame Impala and Caribou before the current lockdown.
Efterklang released their 6th studio album 'Altid Sammen' in Sep 2019 which was a welcome return for their multitudes of dedicated fans. They took the album on a sold out European and US tour peaking in a triumphant celebration at the stunning concert venue Elphilharmonie in Hamburg. Joel and Casper first met whilst in Berlin when they were both invited to be part of PEOPLE, a 7-day creative experience put together by and involving musicians including Beirut’s Zach Condon, Justin Vernon, Feist and the National’s Dessner brothers.
Casper recalls “It was a kinda love at first sight, Joel and I clicked and during that week of creation, we developed a friendship which led to many more hangs and recordings over the past couple of years. Joel joined the Efterklang recordings of our most recent album “Altid Sammen” last year and we also wrote the Efterklang song “Lyset” together in Joel’ studio in Gothenburg. I love writing music with Joel, his ability to frame a moment and his ear for melody, texture and groove is a rare treat to be around. We supplement each other well and we have a lot of fun making music together.”
‘Flyder’ started as a small sketch around the time when Joel went to join the Efterklang recordings in Copenhagen last year. After bouncing the song back and forth, between Gothenberg and Casper’s studio in Almada (looking across the bay to Lisbon), the song was finally finished off by Joel back in Gothenburg where he added his signature live drums and production magic. The result is a sumptuous track that bears the unmistakable warm sir Was sound and Casper’s tender vocal sung in his native Danish.
“Flyder is a song to the stream that carries our boat, a celebration and a fear for the metaphysical place where we decide to stay and grow our roots, our home on a floating dock, a moving hub and a made-up flower of all the things we give importance. When you manage to let go on your own power of control, when you are floating and staying at the same time.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sam Valdez - Toothache.
Sam Valdez’s immersive indie-rock sensibility reflects her childhood growing up at the edge of the Nevada desert, and her formative musical experiences as a child violinist. The mystery, beauty, and haunting quality of desert life has shaped the LA-based artist’s sense of dreamy textures, and her flair for abstract but emotive lyrics. Classical music’s majesty has informed her imaginative arrangements, and cinematic sense of dynamics.
Sam has melded in an intriguing blend of shoe-gaze, Americana, indie-rock, and pop into a signature aesthetic. Select career highlights thus far include garnering rave reviews in Clash Music, Consequence of Sound, and Earmilk; earning heavy rotation from KCRW for multiple singles; and opening tours for Stella Donnelly, Cayucas, and Giant Rooks.
“I’ve always tried to write from the most genuine place that I can, but, lately, and with this record, I’ve been working on sharing more sides of my views and emotions,” Sam details.
A feeling of 1960s nostalgic balladry courses through many of thesongs on Sam’s debut. She says:” Melancholic, comforting and thought provoking is what I look forin music and what I feel and hope comes across in mine.” The album’s first single, “Toothache,” is a reverb-dipped slow burner glowering with sensual vocals and a twist on a breakup narrative. Here, the feeling is a longing to reconnect with one’s sense of self post romantic rupture.
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Sunday, 5 July 2020
Grace Gillespie - Zoe Polanski - Shem Sharples - Zachary Kibbee
Grace Gillespie makes her fifth appearance here with 'Empty In The Capital', we've described her music as creative and beautiful in the past, so have some more of all that, with the new song. === Zoe Polanski shares 'The Willows' which is a delightful mixture of dream pop and ambient soundscapes. === Shem Sharples just released 'Clear Crystal View' where his distinctive and energized indie folk is irresistible. === Zachary Kibbee has a double A side out which kicks off with a potent rocker 'Somewhere To Put My Gold' accompanied with 'Come Back' and a gorgeous bonus track that could be a single in it's own right.
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Grace Gillespie - Empty In The Capital.
Grace Gillespie is a London-based artist and producer originally from Devon, who spent much of 2017 touring as part of the live line-up for 4AD’s Pixx. Her first two singles found their way onto Spotify’s ‘Fresh Folk’ playlist and received extensive support from Apple Music, appearing on their ‘A-List’ and ‘Best of the Week’ playlists.
Grace’s sound takes influence from the folk, psych and dream-pop traditions, providing a backdrop to her intriguing vocal melodies, shifting harmonies and introspective lyricism, as heard on her new single “Empty In The Capital.”
I wrote my new song, “Empty In The Capital,” just before lockdown about themes that were coming up in my own life. Then suddenly, Covid is here and we are all sharing in my isolation, fear and frustrations. I don’t like London at the best of times and the idea of being stuck here was almost scary to me.
The track very much follows the pattern of a day for me. Much of my time is spent trying to reassure myself through rationalizing and acceptance, heard in the song’s verses, coupled with outbursts of inward frustration that I express in the choruses. I think it’s a pattern we have all been through throughout lockdown. We are trying with all our hearts to make the most of this gift of time and be ‘grateful for the day’ but then realizing that we are sipping coffee and trying to create (or just get on with work) while ambulances are filing past. - Grace Gillespie.
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Zoe Polanski - The Willows.
We have the new single of beautiful ambient dream pop from Zoe Polanski. “I wrote ‘The Willows’ after spending a few months far away from home, traveling with a guy across the U.S. It was a surreal affair I had with a musician which I really admired, and it ended painfully. When I returned to Israel, the 2014 Gaza conflict started, and I remember being stuck in my room, which was on a rooftop in Jaffa, hearing long sirens and then explosions over my head. I recall being conflicted between empathizing with the civilians in Gaza and southern Israel while at the same time longing for being as far away from this as possible. I longed to go back to those magical days of traveling, and writing the song kind of helped me do that. Years later I recorded a demo of it on a 4-track, and then played it to Aviad when we met. It was the first song we ever worked on together.” - Zoe Polanski
New York-based record label Youngbloods presents Violent Flowers, a glistening collection of Experimental Dream Pop from Israeli singer, songwriter, and film composer Zoe Polanski. Written in collaboration with producer Aviad Zinemanas, Violent Flowers uses Polanski’s tranquilizing voice as a guide across a vibrant landscape of inner musings that reflect her visual, and often cinematic, approach to songwriting.
Born to a musical family in the tense northern city of Haifa, Polanski sought from an early age an escape from everyday life through music, first learning cello then piano and eventually guitar. In contrast to her family's affinity for jazz and world music, Polanski was drawn to the entrancing and transportive effect of ethereal, lo-fi sounds. After her obligatory service in the IDF, Polanski moved to New York City to record with the band Katamine and enrolled for a summer course in cinematography at the School of Visual Arts. Becoming enraptured with music’s ability to enliven a visual scene, she returned to Israel settling in the liberal, multicultural hub of Tel Aviv and started her new project named after the renown Hungarian avant garde filmmaker Béla Tarr. Like the project’s namesake, the music was imbued with a sense of slow cinema verité, juxtaposing dark lyrical observations against the surreal aura generated by spacious, floating guitar lines soaked in reverb.
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Shem Sharples - Clear Crystal View.
British singer-songwriter Shem Sharples has joined forces with bass powerhouse Thor Brown to create his beautiful new single Clear Crystal View. The song is an indie-folk gem that portrays an uplifting and joyful outlook on the world, more important now than ever.
From the first line, “Sunlight sparkles in the champagne afternoon,” Shem sets set the scene to the song’s positive message. He unites smooth, swirling vocals with captivating lyrics to take us on a journey as we celebrate the end of a dark regime and welcome in a bright new adventure.
Clear Crystal View is the first single taken from Shem’s upcoming album ‘Strange Sounds from the Wreckage’ due to be released on September 25th. The whole album showcases Shem’s talent and love for using masterful lyrics to create a narrative of his surroundings and a true view of the world, Clear Crystal View is no exception.
The album unites the talent of Shem and lifetime friend Thor Brown to create a masterpiece. The pair have been playing together since 2014 and have built up a tight act which allows them to perform live as a duo and share their unique sound with fans. An uplifting lyrical adventure starts here…
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Zachary Kibbee - Somewhere To Put My Gold / Come Back.
Born and raised in sunny Los Angeles, California, Zachary Kibbee’s childhood was surrounded not by music, but by sports. Though the melodies of The Eagles and The Backstreet Boys could be heard from the car, thanks to the musical tastes of his mother and sisters, Mike Piazza, Vin Scully, and baseball were what inspired him. The music bug bit him at 14 when he traded in a cracked baseball bat for a new bass-guitar and started jamming with friends from the neighborhood. Not long after, he was playing in his first bands, one of which opened for B.B. King at The Abbott Kinney Festival in Venice, CA at the age of 17. After getting his feet wet in the local LA bar scene and on small tours around the Pacific Southwest with his band Stonefeather, Kibbee decided he needed to carve his own path in the music world, combining his love for blues and classic rock with more modern elements from bands like Sublime and the Red Hot Chili Peppers who also brought a SoCal flair into the equation.
He enlisted friend, mentor, and producer Joseph Holiday, and together they recorded his first EP, Little Clocks which came out in 2014. Notably one song, "My Own Two Feet" was used by Microsoft for their Surface Pro 3 commercial nationwide. From there the duo would go on to create music together on a weekly basis, and what came from it was his first album Songs From The Mud, released in 2016 as well as several other singles.
Since then, Kibbee has branched out as a songwriter, recording artist, and producer collaborating with up-and-coming and established artists, even Grammy award winners, around the world. His songs have been used in over 100 television shows, films, and commercials since 2014. His music can be heard in advertisements like Victoria’s Secret, Volkswagen, Microsoft, and Uber Eats, and on television shows like Ray Donovan, Daredevil, Lucifer, Shameless, and The Night Shift, for which he wrote the theme song.
After several tours of the West Coast as well as one national tour, Kibbee set his sights across the pond and has had 2 successful tours of the UK and Sweden to date. His latest album Life In Low Fidelity will arrive July 31, 2020 worldwide. It is a hard-hitting, yet tender rock record that is surely a huge step forward for Kibbee musically, bringing in more modern elements to his already established gritty, bluesy style.
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Grace Gillespie - Empty In The Capital.
Grace Gillespie is a London-based artist and producer originally from Devon, who spent much of 2017 touring as part of the live line-up for 4AD’s Pixx. Her first two singles found their way onto Spotify’s ‘Fresh Folk’ playlist and received extensive support from Apple Music, appearing on their ‘A-List’ and ‘Best of the Week’ playlists.
Grace’s sound takes influence from the folk, psych and dream-pop traditions, providing a backdrop to her intriguing vocal melodies, shifting harmonies and introspective lyricism, as heard on her new single “Empty In The Capital.”
I wrote my new song, “Empty In The Capital,” just before lockdown about themes that were coming up in my own life. Then suddenly, Covid is here and we are all sharing in my isolation, fear and frustrations. I don’t like London at the best of times and the idea of being stuck here was almost scary to me.
The track very much follows the pattern of a day for me. Much of my time is spent trying to reassure myself through rationalizing and acceptance, heard in the song’s verses, coupled with outbursts of inward frustration that I express in the choruses. I think it’s a pattern we have all been through throughout lockdown. We are trying with all our hearts to make the most of this gift of time and be ‘grateful for the day’ but then realizing that we are sipping coffee and trying to create (or just get on with work) while ambulances are filing past. - Grace Gillespie.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zoe Polanski - The Willows.
We have the new single of beautiful ambient dream pop from Zoe Polanski. “I wrote ‘The Willows’ after spending a few months far away from home, traveling with a guy across the U.S. It was a surreal affair I had with a musician which I really admired, and it ended painfully. When I returned to Israel, the 2014 Gaza conflict started, and I remember being stuck in my room, which was on a rooftop in Jaffa, hearing long sirens and then explosions over my head. I recall being conflicted between empathizing with the civilians in Gaza and southern Israel while at the same time longing for being as far away from this as possible. I longed to go back to those magical days of traveling, and writing the song kind of helped me do that. Years later I recorded a demo of it on a 4-track, and then played it to Aviad when we met. It was the first song we ever worked on together.” - Zoe Polanski
New York-based record label Youngbloods presents Violent Flowers, a glistening collection of Experimental Dream Pop from Israeli singer, songwriter, and film composer Zoe Polanski. Written in collaboration with producer Aviad Zinemanas, Violent Flowers uses Polanski’s tranquilizing voice as a guide across a vibrant landscape of inner musings that reflect her visual, and often cinematic, approach to songwriting.
Born to a musical family in the tense northern city of Haifa, Polanski sought from an early age an escape from everyday life through music, first learning cello then piano and eventually guitar. In contrast to her family's affinity for jazz and world music, Polanski was drawn to the entrancing and transportive effect of ethereal, lo-fi sounds. After her obligatory service in the IDF, Polanski moved to New York City to record with the band Katamine and enrolled for a summer course in cinematography at the School of Visual Arts. Becoming enraptured with music’s ability to enliven a visual scene, she returned to Israel settling in the liberal, multicultural hub of Tel Aviv and started her new project named after the renown Hungarian avant garde filmmaker Béla Tarr. Like the project’s namesake, the music was imbued with a sense of slow cinema verité, juxtaposing dark lyrical observations against the surreal aura generated by spacious, floating guitar lines soaked in reverb.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shem Sharples - Clear Crystal View.
British singer-songwriter Shem Sharples has joined forces with bass powerhouse Thor Brown to create his beautiful new single Clear Crystal View. The song is an indie-folk gem that portrays an uplifting and joyful outlook on the world, more important now than ever.
From the first line, “Sunlight sparkles in the champagne afternoon,” Shem sets set the scene to the song’s positive message. He unites smooth, swirling vocals with captivating lyrics to take us on a journey as we celebrate the end of a dark regime and welcome in a bright new adventure.
Clear Crystal View is the first single taken from Shem’s upcoming album ‘Strange Sounds from the Wreckage’ due to be released on September 25th. The whole album showcases Shem’s talent and love for using masterful lyrics to create a narrative of his surroundings and a true view of the world, Clear Crystal View is no exception.
The album unites the talent of Shem and lifetime friend Thor Brown to create a masterpiece. The pair have been playing together since 2014 and have built up a tight act which allows them to perform live as a duo and share their unique sound with fans. An uplifting lyrical adventure starts here…
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zachary Kibbee - Somewhere To Put My Gold / Come Back.
Born and raised in sunny Los Angeles, California, Zachary Kibbee’s childhood was surrounded not by music, but by sports. Though the melodies of The Eagles and The Backstreet Boys could be heard from the car, thanks to the musical tastes of his mother and sisters, Mike Piazza, Vin Scully, and baseball were what inspired him. The music bug bit him at 14 when he traded in a cracked baseball bat for a new bass-guitar and started jamming with friends from the neighborhood. Not long after, he was playing in his first bands, one of which opened for B.B. King at The Abbott Kinney Festival in Venice, CA at the age of 17. After getting his feet wet in the local LA bar scene and on small tours around the Pacific Southwest with his band Stonefeather, Kibbee decided he needed to carve his own path in the music world, combining his love for blues and classic rock with more modern elements from bands like Sublime and the Red Hot Chili Peppers who also brought a SoCal flair into the equation.
He enlisted friend, mentor, and producer Joseph Holiday, and together they recorded his first EP, Little Clocks which came out in 2014. Notably one song, "My Own Two Feet" was used by Microsoft for their Surface Pro 3 commercial nationwide. From there the duo would go on to create music together on a weekly basis, and what came from it was his first album Songs From The Mud, released in 2016 as well as several other singles.
Since then, Kibbee has branched out as a songwriter, recording artist, and producer collaborating with up-and-coming and established artists, even Grammy award winners, around the world. His songs have been used in over 100 television shows, films, and commercials since 2014. His music can be heard in advertisements like Victoria’s Secret, Volkswagen, Microsoft, and Uber Eats, and on television shows like Ray Donovan, Daredevil, Lucifer, Shameless, and The Night Shift, for which he wrote the theme song.
After several tours of the West Coast as well as one national tour, Kibbee set his sights across the pond and has had 2 successful tours of the UK and Sweden to date. His latest album Life In Low Fidelity will arrive July 31, 2020 worldwide. It is a hard-hitting, yet tender rock record that is surely a huge step forward for Kibbee musically, bringing in more modern elements to his already established gritty, bluesy style.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, 3 July 2020
All Things Blue - Garrett Owen - Jody & The Jerms
All Things Blue just shared 'Dicking Around' alongside announcing that their debut album 'Get Bit' will be out in October. The new song is stylish and atmospheric dream pop, however expect additional genres when the album arrives. === From Texas we have Garrett Owen and 'These Modern Times' which is released today and it's a lush indie folk piece with a superb musical backdrop. === Jody & The Jerms also have a new double A side released today with 'Deeper' and 'I Knew A Boy' both sounding really good as the bands timeless indie music once again delights.
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All Things Blue - Dicking Around.
Dream-punk band All Things Blue have announced their debut album Get Bit will be released 2nd October. Along with the album announcement, the LA-based outfit led by frontwoman India Coombs (or simply, Blue) and collaborator Jon Joseph, are releasing new single "Dicking Around".
All Things Blue traverse genres and sounds. One moment flirting with abrasive garage-punk, the next soaring psych-pop; debut album Get Bit finds the band weaving between the spirited psychedelia of Melody’s Echo Chamber, the timeless proto-punk of Patti Smith and the exhilarating alt-pop of St Vincent.
New single "Dicking Around" looks darkly inward as an all-too-casual narrator contemplates acting on their worst impulses. Sonically toying with the paisley underground sound of the 1980's but with a distinctly modern flair; "Dicking Around" utilises an expansive array of swirling guitars, psychedelic electronic flourishes and a potent rhythm section. Speaking on the new single, India Coombs said: "The phenomenon Edgar Allen Poe once coined 'the imp of the perverse' rang true to me as a strong parallel of the tone in Dicking Around. The mind can be surprising without what feels like the ability to help it. I wrote this as a wrap for thoughts of acting on my own worst impulses despite recognising they’re naughty hehe."
New single "Dicking Around" follows the previously released cut "Chad", and are both lifted from All Things Blue’s forthcoming debut full length album Get Bit, which will be self-released by the band on October 2nd. Covering everything from pensive love songs to directly addressing social issues and political ironies; India herself compares the album to Gabriel Garcia Márquez’s ever-relevant novel Love In The Time of Cholera. Indeed, the the band's new material promises love, however ethereal it may seem, at the end of a very dark tunnel, if not somewhere along the way.
India and Jon originally met in LA at the age of 18, having both independently moved to the city; Coombs driving across the country in her broken down pickup truck from Philadelphia, and Jon hailing from further south in California. The pair wasted no time becoming friends and firing out an eclectic assortment of demos. They did so namelessly for some time, but eventually settled on "All Things Blue”. The name itself was coined by India's late mother, who, when India was having trouble getting by in the rough and overpriced world that is Los Angeles, told her that she was just feeling blue and sometimes all things are blue for a bit but they'll get better.
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Garrett Owen - These Modern Times.
Garrett Owen, is a Texas troubadour who is pushing the boundaries of indie-folk with his forthcoming LP Quiet Lives, due out Sept. 18th. The album's lead single, "These Modern Times," is out today Friday, July 3rd.
Garrett's got an interesting perspective from which he views the world and writes his songs; raised in Africa by parents who were missionaries, Garrett's landscape teemed with the kinds of wild animals we have to pay admission to see.
When the family transitioned back to the States, Garrett struggled to fit into a culture he couldn't understand, which led to pain, confusion, and an attempt to take his own life. Now, he's strong and ready to share this collection of songs, his observations on the culture, with the world.
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Jody & The Jerms - Deeper / I Knew A Boy.
Oxford’s Jody and the Jerms return with not just one but two fiendishly catchy new tracks ahead of their much-anticipated debut album. With added support from Spanish radio giant RTVE and BBC Introducing, ‘Deeper’ and ‘I Knew a Boy’ are the crystallised indie-pop tunes which are just what the doctor ordered for your post-lockdown shindigs.
It’s difficult to believe that this time last year, Jody had never sung in front of anyone. Now with a band assembled around her, comprising former members of the band The Anydays, and who played with Radiohead and Supergrass in the 90s, hit the pages of the NME in it's heyday and gaining airplay on Mark Radcliffe’s show on BBC Radio 2, Jody is ready to take on the world!
Jody & the Jerms’ sound harks back to those untouchable days indie music enjoyed in the 90s, possessing seemingly effortlessness melodies and choruses which embed themselves in your head for days. If you detect an influence for some of the breakout bands from the power pop movement of the late 70s and 80s, you might be onto something, checkout their recent cover of The Only Ones ‘Another Girl, Another Planet’!
Lockdown has proved a fruitful time for Jody & the Jerms, not only seeing them sign a vinyl distribution deal but also recording a full album’s worth of tracks…as well as the cover version! The benefits of guitarist Niall Jeger being the husband of singer Jody certainly ensured work never stopped! With their ranks swelled from three (alongside drummer, Alex Bridge) to six to allow for a full tour of the UK and Spain in the New Year, Jody and the Jerms are a well-oiled machine and this summer looks set have their songs imprinted in the musical minds of audiences everywhere.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All Things Blue - Dicking Around.
Dream-punk band All Things Blue have announced their debut album Get Bit will be released 2nd October. Along with the album announcement, the LA-based outfit led by frontwoman India Coombs (or simply, Blue) and collaborator Jon Joseph, are releasing new single "Dicking Around".
All Things Blue traverse genres and sounds. One moment flirting with abrasive garage-punk, the next soaring psych-pop; debut album Get Bit finds the band weaving between the spirited psychedelia of Melody’s Echo Chamber, the timeless proto-punk of Patti Smith and the exhilarating alt-pop of St Vincent.
New single "Dicking Around" looks darkly inward as an all-too-casual narrator contemplates acting on their worst impulses. Sonically toying with the paisley underground sound of the 1980's but with a distinctly modern flair; "Dicking Around" utilises an expansive array of swirling guitars, psychedelic electronic flourishes and a potent rhythm section. Speaking on the new single, India Coombs said: "The phenomenon Edgar Allen Poe once coined 'the imp of the perverse' rang true to me as a strong parallel of the tone in Dicking Around. The mind can be surprising without what feels like the ability to help it. I wrote this as a wrap for thoughts of acting on my own worst impulses despite recognising they’re naughty hehe."
New single "Dicking Around" follows the previously released cut "Chad", and are both lifted from All Things Blue’s forthcoming debut full length album Get Bit, which will be self-released by the band on October 2nd. Covering everything from pensive love songs to directly addressing social issues and political ironies; India herself compares the album to Gabriel Garcia Márquez’s ever-relevant novel Love In The Time of Cholera. Indeed, the the band's new material promises love, however ethereal it may seem, at the end of a very dark tunnel, if not somewhere along the way.
India and Jon originally met in LA at the age of 18, having both independently moved to the city; Coombs driving across the country in her broken down pickup truck from Philadelphia, and Jon hailing from further south in California. The pair wasted no time becoming friends and firing out an eclectic assortment of demos. They did so namelessly for some time, but eventually settled on "All Things Blue”. The name itself was coined by India's late mother, who, when India was having trouble getting by in the rough and overpriced world that is Los Angeles, told her that she was just feeling blue and sometimes all things are blue for a bit but they'll get better.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Garrett Owen - These Modern Times.
Garrett Owen, is a Texas troubadour who is pushing the boundaries of indie-folk with his forthcoming LP Quiet Lives, due out Sept. 18th. The album's lead single, "These Modern Times," is out today Friday, July 3rd.
Garrett's got an interesting perspective from which he views the world and writes his songs; raised in Africa by parents who were missionaries, Garrett's landscape teemed with the kinds of wild animals we have to pay admission to see.
When the family transitioned back to the States, Garrett struggled to fit into a culture he couldn't understand, which led to pain, confusion, and an attempt to take his own life. Now, he's strong and ready to share this collection of songs, his observations on the culture, with the world.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jody & The Jerms - Deeper / I Knew A Boy.
Oxford’s Jody and the Jerms return with not just one but two fiendishly catchy new tracks ahead of their much-anticipated debut album. With added support from Spanish radio giant RTVE and BBC Introducing, ‘Deeper’ and ‘I Knew a Boy’ are the crystallised indie-pop tunes which are just what the doctor ordered for your post-lockdown shindigs.
It’s difficult to believe that this time last year, Jody had never sung in front of anyone. Now with a band assembled around her, comprising former members of the band The Anydays, and who played with Radiohead and Supergrass in the 90s, hit the pages of the NME in it's heyday and gaining airplay on Mark Radcliffe’s show on BBC Radio 2, Jody is ready to take on the world!
Jody & the Jerms’ sound harks back to those untouchable days indie music enjoyed in the 90s, possessing seemingly effortlessness melodies and choruses which embed themselves in your head for days. If you detect an influence for some of the breakout bands from the power pop movement of the late 70s and 80s, you might be onto something, checkout their recent cover of The Only Ones ‘Another Girl, Another Planet’!
Lockdown has proved a fruitful time for Jody & the Jerms, not only seeing them sign a vinyl distribution deal but also recording a full album’s worth of tracks…as well as the cover version! The benefits of guitarist Niall Jeger being the husband of singer Jody certainly ensured work never stopped! With their ranks swelled from three (alongside drummer, Alex Bridge) to six to allow for a full tour of the UK and Spain in the New Year, Jody and the Jerms are a well-oiled machine and this summer looks set have their songs imprinted in the musical minds of audiences everywhere.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 1 July 2020
Aaron Burdett - Ceder - Rex - Carmanah - The Highway Women
Aaron Burdett latest single 'Dirt Poor' has now had a video added, the song itself is a refined mixture of Americana and folk, the imagery adding even more to the story line. === Ceder has shared a new and dreamy song 'Closer' her indie pop sensibilities are superb as is the production on this track. === Rex have now released their self titles E.P 'Rex' comprising of five tracks, we have already shared a couple of them, the full collection living up to all the high expectations. === We have already featured two songs by Carmanah this year and now we have 'Stand Up' taken from their forthcoming album 'Iris', the melodic and beautiful vibes are once again present and wonderful. === The Highway Women have a brand new video for 'Shake The Dust' which came out a week or so back, the bands vocal harmonies and mixed vocals are simply stunning.
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Aaron Burdett - Dirt Poor.
Aaron Burdett has released a video for his song "Dirt Poor". The latest single from the award-winning songwriter, "Dirt Poor" is recorded with a lean, yet irresistibly rhythmic acoustic sound. It’s an authentic, clear-eyed but loving look at the distance between yesterday and today.
“This new video for ‘Dirt Poor’ is shot at my childhood home, where my folks still live. It includes old scrapbook photos of my family and their friends, interspersed with shots of my daughter playing in the same places and in the same way my brothers and I did back in the ’80s'. "To me, this song at depth is about nostalgia and aging and time. Things are totally different now, but also the same as they were way back when. As hard as it is to remember to do, we should all try to cherish the moment we’re in now, today. It may well be what we’re looking back on years down the road as the ‘good old days.’ Hope you enjoy it!”
Aaron Burdett’s lyrics are soul-touching, intelligent, witty, and poetic all at once, while his music style is a seamless blend of Americana, country, blues, bluegrass, and folk.
Aaron is listed as one of the Top 10 most important musicians of western North Carolina by WNC Magazine, alongside such greats as Doc Watson, Steep Canyon Rangers, and The Avett Brothers. He has also received critical acclaim as a songwriter, Most recently winning the grand prize in the folk category of the USA Songwriting Contest with “A Couple Broken Windows” from his latest album Refuge (2018). His new single “Rockefeller” is one of three finalists in the bluegrass category In the prestigious Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at Merlefest for 2020 (postponed until 2021).
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Ceder - Closer.
Ceder, 25, is a Swedish singer/songwriter and producer. She writes honest indie-pop with ear-catching melodies.
The ambient textures paired with her dynamic and vulnerable voice takes you on an emotional trip amplified by the creative arrangement and production choices.
"Closer" is a chill indie-pop song based on harmonies and emotions. It's about when you're seeing someone but the timing is off. You want that person closer, but if you do, you might fall in love. Written and produced by the Swedish artist and producer, Ced.
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Rex - Rex (E.P).
Known for post punk, new wave and Spanish rhythms, the Amsterdam-based band Rex explore topics on the darker side of life. In a chaotic whirlwind of lost love, loneliness and companionship, the band are soon to release their self-titled debut EP ‘Rex’ which will be available from 26th June 2020.
Despite sharing the same influential interests from the likes of The Bad Seeds, Lou Reed and Leonard Cohen, the bands idiosyncratic sound stems from their own musical backgrounds. Frontman, and guitarist Jonathan Rex was born with flamenco in his blood, while Drummer Nout Kooij was raised as a die-hard punk, and Bass player Sara Elzinga was introduced to blues music before she could walk.
Opener ‘Palaces’ embraces love and death and the many facets in-between; the band say, “it’s the sorrow of loss and powerlessness you feel when someone close to you steps out, and how to continue on with your dreams.”
‘Lovers Like We Used To Be’ is a sensational blend of mellifluous guitar riffs and lead singer Jonathan’s robust vocals. Subjected around hopeless romanticism and resentment, they tell us “It’s a story that happens on a certain night, when you think it’s better to leave a person because all that you have done together is repetitive. You’re left feeling frustrated, but soon realise that it’s your own patterns that causes the friction.”
Elsewhere on in the record, focus post-punk track ‘hondje’ is a story told through the perspective of a dog and the bittersweet relationship that he shares with his companion. Discussing further, they say “The dog’s best friend has returned to him after time apart; someone he has really missed. Although the dog is glad to his friend, something is different. He follows his owner to the same bars and then a tragedy occurs. Together they want a change, but then he realizes it’s too late.”
Dark ballad ‘Dm’ deals with a troublesome male calling for his lost lover. Expanding on the story, Rex say “His lover tells him that they can only be together if he chooses to cross the ‘other side’ where she will be waiting for him. Knowing that he will have to cross the river to the land of the dead, insanity starts to creep in.” While ‘Punk por buleria’ wrestles between desire and aversion. Explaining further, the band tell us: “It’s like being trapped in a game; where you can only escape by playing it. There are no winners or losers, but you’re still attracted to it, whilst loathing it. It makes you feel a deep loneliness."
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Carmanah - Stand Up.
Like the rainforests from which their name derives, the steady beat of the west coast can be found in the sound of Carmanah. The band’s first album, Speak in Rhythms produced two #1 CBC Music tracks, setting the tone for their west coast sound.
With one album behind them and one ahead, Carmanah crafts a vintage blend of the intuitive and the technical; a blend that lies somewhere among roots, rock and blues — all seamlessly woven together by Laura Mina Mitic’s soulfully luminous vocals.
The band just released a new single from their upcoming album, Iris. “Stand Up” is a kind of lullaby for anyone who sometimes feels like the world is weighing them down.
The track was intended to be a little cheeky, but the song was also written as a simple wish for love to prevail and for all the haters to just sit down and listen.
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The Highway Women - Shake The Dust.
The Highway Women release a new music video for their most recent single “Shake The Dust” which released on June 19, 2020. The all-women band are following the release of their stunning single with an equally compelling video for their fans.
The music video for "Shake The Dust" is a triumphant call to action completing their 3 song trilogy of the Highway Women's music journey in the music industry. "Stand Up and Fight" inspires the listener to find their voice and courageously fight for what they believe in. "God Made Me Right" is a beautiful statement of victory that everyone is beautiful and perfectly made. "Shake The Dust" completes the message of empowerment and encourages action in making their mission and dreams come true.
“In the newly released music video for “Shake the Dust”, the Highway Women tell the story of how they have indeed, shaken the dust, and pursued the life they wanted. This video points out that following your dream isn’t always easy but it’s always worth it. The group showcases the reliance on faith they have to walk into the great unknowns as the lyrics “sometimes it takes a leap of faith” play over the image of them joining together in prayer. It is a beautiful visual addition that enhances the musicality and lyrics in “Shake the Dust”.
Shake the Dust is a call to action for every former prom queen, previous football quarterback, and anyone who has ever been apprehensive to follow a dream. In contrast to previous releases this song is meant to intimately come alongside listeners and gently say "you can do this". Featuring familiar acoustic guitar sounds and powerful electric guitar riffs this single blends musical elements that echo its lyrical message." - Aria Mae (Music Update Central).
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Aaron Burdett - Dirt Poor.
Aaron Burdett has released a video for his song "Dirt Poor". The latest single from the award-winning songwriter, "Dirt Poor" is recorded with a lean, yet irresistibly rhythmic acoustic sound. It’s an authentic, clear-eyed but loving look at the distance between yesterday and today.
“This new video for ‘Dirt Poor’ is shot at my childhood home, where my folks still live. It includes old scrapbook photos of my family and their friends, interspersed with shots of my daughter playing in the same places and in the same way my brothers and I did back in the ’80s'. "To me, this song at depth is about nostalgia and aging and time. Things are totally different now, but also the same as they were way back when. As hard as it is to remember to do, we should all try to cherish the moment we’re in now, today. It may well be what we’re looking back on years down the road as the ‘good old days.’ Hope you enjoy it!”
Aaron Burdett’s lyrics are soul-touching, intelligent, witty, and poetic all at once, while his music style is a seamless blend of Americana, country, blues, bluegrass, and folk.
Aaron is listed as one of the Top 10 most important musicians of western North Carolina by WNC Magazine, alongside such greats as Doc Watson, Steep Canyon Rangers, and The Avett Brothers. He has also received critical acclaim as a songwriter, Most recently winning the grand prize in the folk category of the USA Songwriting Contest with “A Couple Broken Windows” from his latest album Refuge (2018). His new single “Rockefeller” is one of three finalists in the bluegrass category In the prestigious Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at Merlefest for 2020 (postponed until 2021).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ceder - Closer.
Ceder, 25, is a Swedish singer/songwriter and producer. She writes honest indie-pop with ear-catching melodies.
The ambient textures paired with her dynamic and vulnerable voice takes you on an emotional trip amplified by the creative arrangement and production choices.
"Closer" is a chill indie-pop song based on harmonies and emotions. It's about when you're seeing someone but the timing is off. You want that person closer, but if you do, you might fall in love. Written and produced by the Swedish artist and producer, Ced.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rex - Rex (E.P).
Known for post punk, new wave and Spanish rhythms, the Amsterdam-based band Rex explore topics on the darker side of life. In a chaotic whirlwind of lost love, loneliness and companionship, the band are soon to release their self-titled debut EP ‘Rex’ which will be available from 26th June 2020.
Despite sharing the same influential interests from the likes of The Bad Seeds, Lou Reed and Leonard Cohen, the bands idiosyncratic sound stems from their own musical backgrounds. Frontman, and guitarist Jonathan Rex was born with flamenco in his blood, while Drummer Nout Kooij was raised as a die-hard punk, and Bass player Sara Elzinga was introduced to blues music before she could walk.
Opener ‘Palaces’ embraces love and death and the many facets in-between; the band say, “it’s the sorrow of loss and powerlessness you feel when someone close to you steps out, and how to continue on with your dreams.”
‘Lovers Like We Used To Be’ is a sensational blend of mellifluous guitar riffs and lead singer Jonathan’s robust vocals. Subjected around hopeless romanticism and resentment, they tell us “It’s a story that happens on a certain night, when you think it’s better to leave a person because all that you have done together is repetitive. You’re left feeling frustrated, but soon realise that it’s your own patterns that causes the friction.”
Elsewhere on in the record, focus post-punk track ‘hondje’ is a story told through the perspective of a dog and the bittersweet relationship that he shares with his companion. Discussing further, they say “The dog’s best friend has returned to him after time apart; someone he has really missed. Although the dog is glad to his friend, something is different. He follows his owner to the same bars and then a tragedy occurs. Together they want a change, but then he realizes it’s too late.”
Dark ballad ‘Dm’ deals with a troublesome male calling for his lost lover. Expanding on the story, Rex say “His lover tells him that they can only be together if he chooses to cross the ‘other side’ where she will be waiting for him. Knowing that he will have to cross the river to the land of the dead, insanity starts to creep in.” While ‘Punk por buleria’ wrestles between desire and aversion. Explaining further, the band tell us: “It’s like being trapped in a game; where you can only escape by playing it. There are no winners or losers, but you’re still attracted to it, whilst loathing it. It makes you feel a deep loneliness."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carmanah - Stand Up.
Like the rainforests from which their name derives, the steady beat of the west coast can be found in the sound of Carmanah. The band’s first album, Speak in Rhythms produced two #1 CBC Music tracks, setting the tone for their west coast sound.
With one album behind them and one ahead, Carmanah crafts a vintage blend of the intuitive and the technical; a blend that lies somewhere among roots, rock and blues — all seamlessly woven together by Laura Mina Mitic’s soulfully luminous vocals.
The band just released a new single from their upcoming album, Iris. “Stand Up” is a kind of lullaby for anyone who sometimes feels like the world is weighing them down.
The track was intended to be a little cheeky, but the song was also written as a simple wish for love to prevail and for all the haters to just sit down and listen.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Highway Women - Shake The Dust.
The Highway Women release a new music video for their most recent single “Shake The Dust” which released on June 19, 2020. The all-women band are following the release of their stunning single with an equally compelling video for their fans.
The music video for "Shake The Dust" is a triumphant call to action completing their 3 song trilogy of the Highway Women's music journey in the music industry. "Stand Up and Fight" inspires the listener to find their voice and courageously fight for what they believe in. "God Made Me Right" is a beautiful statement of victory that everyone is beautiful and perfectly made. "Shake The Dust" completes the message of empowerment and encourages action in making their mission and dreams come true.
“In the newly released music video for “Shake the Dust”, the Highway Women tell the story of how they have indeed, shaken the dust, and pursued the life they wanted. This video points out that following your dream isn’t always easy but it’s always worth it. The group showcases the reliance on faith they have to walk into the great unknowns as the lyrics “sometimes it takes a leap of faith” play over the image of them joining together in prayer. It is a beautiful visual addition that enhances the musicality and lyrics in “Shake the Dust”.
Shake the Dust is a call to action for every former prom queen, previous football quarterback, and anyone who has ever been apprehensive to follow a dream. In contrast to previous releases this song is meant to intimately come alongside listeners and gently say "you can do this". Featuring familiar acoustic guitar sounds and powerful electric guitar riffs this single blends musical elements that echo its lyrical message." - Aria Mae (Music Update Central).
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Monday, 29 June 2020
Westberg - Sam Valdez - Maps & His Mothball Fleet
Westberg have released 'Simple' today and the duo are powerful and hard to ignore from the opening moments with the clarity of their sound, along with a good few hooks throughout the track. === Sam Valdez has been featured here a couple of times in the past and her new song 'Clean' reminded me immediately of just why, her music exudes natural passion and addictive vibes. === Maps & His Mothball Fleet have also released a new single today with the charming 'Coastal Living' and it's a song that has elements of yacht rock alongside some deeper more emotional and absorbing features.
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Westberg - Simple.
Westberg, the Gen X duo of Ariel Westberg and Scott Bruzenak (aka Noisecastle III), wanted to get back to simple. That didn’t mean their usual experimentation was off the table: they collected melodic fragments and blended some of their hallmark eclectic harmonic detours that still ended up in several songs on the resultant album, Boomer Studies, due out Sept 18.
The first single off the album, coincidentally titled “Simple” is a generous reflection on aging gracefully, by a musical collaboration still a long way from being done creating surprises for their listeners. “Simple” is released today June 29.
Focused on pure, classic American songwriting, Westberg and RIAA-certified multi-platinum pop/electronic producer Bruzenak decidedly went “negative but nice this time around.” The former latchkey kids know how to raid their mental closets for musical shoebox memories. The conspicuous result on this album is the song, “Simple,” which features the multi ranging Westberg’s intentionally “bone dry” vocals strolling through a canopy of big guitar exclamation points that will be familiar to Tom Petty fans.
Though Westberg often surprises by taking on characters and tones in her songs as the music shifts gears, here she summons the easy strains emanating through the suburbs from a car radio in the 90’s to channel innocence and plain love of our time. Recognizing the duo’s inclination to complicate and layer, Westberg chose a quieter, lyrical intimacy to relate: In my younger days / I had a lot of things to say / And I’d do it all the hard way / Didn’t care if it was complicated/ Didn’t care if I was compensated.
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Sam Valdez - Clean.
Sam Valdez shares, "Clean is a love song in a way but it’s more about being drawn to self destruction. It’s about finding comfort in uncertainty and appreciating the darker qualities in someone as well as the good."
Sam Valdez’s immersive indie-rock sensibility reflects her childhood growing up at the edge of the Nevada desert, and her formative musical experiences as a child violinist. The mystery, beauty, and haunting quality of desert life has shaped the LA-based artist’s sense of dreamy textures, and her flair for abstract but emotive lyrics. Classical music’s majesty has informed her imaginative arrangements, and cinematic sense of dynamics.
Sam has melded in an intriguing blend of shoe-gaze, Americana, indie-rock, and pop into a signature aesthetic. Select career highlights thus far include garnering rave reviews in Clash Music, Consequence of Sound, and Earmilk; earning heavy rotation from KCRW for multiple singles; and opening tours for Stella Donnelly, Cayucas, and Giant Rooks.
“I’ve always tried to write from the most genuine place that I can, but, lately, and with this record, I’ve been working on sharing more sides of my views and emotions,” Sam details.
A feeling of 1960s nostalgic balladry courses through many of thesongs on Sam’s debut. She says:” Melancholic, comforting and thought provoking is what I look forin music and what I feel and hope comes across in mine.” The album’s first single, “Toothache,” is a reverb-dipped slow burner glowering with sensual vocals and a twist on a breakup narrative. Here, the feeling is a longing to reconnect with one’s sense of self post romantic rupture.
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Maps & His Mothball Fleet - Coastal Living.
Maps & His Mothball Fleet announces the release of the yacht rock single “Coastal Living” on June 29. The sun-drenched boy-girl harmonies flirt at summer romance within a melodic haze. “Coastal Living” is the first single off the upcoming album, GULF, due out on August 21 on Azteca Records.
Matt Wanamaker, the heart behind Maps & His Mothball Fleet wrote and recorded the vocals, percussion, and some acoustic guitar for a number of songs on a combination of his phone and handheld tape dictation while working overseas in Afghanistan in 2013. When he went back to sea again in 2018 he wrote over 50 more songs. “Coastal Living” is a warm sea salt kissed single born from those demos. Hayley Richardson joins Wanamaker in a bright call-and-response harmony telling the story of a beach hermit surprised with a love note from a lost love, urging him to take a risk and pursue her. Wanamaker paints a picture from a musical pallet shaded in sunset hues.
As the world tiptoes into a post-pandemic way of life, feelings of anxiety and hesitation are amplified by distance from family and friends. Wanamaker experienced all of these emotions in international isolation. While feelings of isolation might not be unfamiliar for those in the military, the feeling of trying to reconnect afterward is. He explains, “The album describes the feeling of physical separation I had while away and the distance that I was trying to deal with upon coming home.” The album is called GULF not only because it was written along the Gulf of Mexico and the Persian Gulf, but to describe that tangible separation and the ravine of emotional distance that come along with it.
The songs on GULF remain centered on a particular lo-fi aesthetic, prompted by the time and place for which it was recorded as much as by when it was embellished. These homespun nuances become an honest first-person account hidden by the melodies and stories that Wanamaker managed to produce all alone at night…once again adrift at sea.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Westberg - Simple.
Westberg, the Gen X duo of Ariel Westberg and Scott Bruzenak (aka Noisecastle III), wanted to get back to simple. That didn’t mean their usual experimentation was off the table: they collected melodic fragments and blended some of their hallmark eclectic harmonic detours that still ended up in several songs on the resultant album, Boomer Studies, due out Sept 18.
The first single off the album, coincidentally titled “Simple” is a generous reflection on aging gracefully, by a musical collaboration still a long way from being done creating surprises for their listeners. “Simple” is released today June 29.
Focused on pure, classic American songwriting, Westberg and RIAA-certified multi-platinum pop/electronic producer Bruzenak decidedly went “negative but nice this time around.” The former latchkey kids know how to raid their mental closets for musical shoebox memories. The conspicuous result on this album is the song, “Simple,” which features the multi ranging Westberg’s intentionally “bone dry” vocals strolling through a canopy of big guitar exclamation points that will be familiar to Tom Petty fans.
Though Westberg often surprises by taking on characters and tones in her songs as the music shifts gears, here she summons the easy strains emanating through the suburbs from a car radio in the 90’s to channel innocence and plain love of our time. Recognizing the duo’s inclination to complicate and layer, Westberg chose a quieter, lyrical intimacy to relate: In my younger days / I had a lot of things to say / And I’d do it all the hard way / Didn’t care if it was complicated/ Didn’t care if I was compensated.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sam Valdez - Clean.
Sam Valdez shares, "Clean is a love song in a way but it’s more about being drawn to self destruction. It’s about finding comfort in uncertainty and appreciating the darker qualities in someone as well as the good."
Sam Valdez’s immersive indie-rock sensibility reflects her childhood growing up at the edge of the Nevada desert, and her formative musical experiences as a child violinist. The mystery, beauty, and haunting quality of desert life has shaped the LA-based artist’s sense of dreamy textures, and her flair for abstract but emotive lyrics. Classical music’s majesty has informed her imaginative arrangements, and cinematic sense of dynamics.
Sam has melded in an intriguing blend of shoe-gaze, Americana, indie-rock, and pop into a signature aesthetic. Select career highlights thus far include garnering rave reviews in Clash Music, Consequence of Sound, and Earmilk; earning heavy rotation from KCRW for multiple singles; and opening tours for Stella Donnelly, Cayucas, and Giant Rooks.
“I’ve always tried to write from the most genuine place that I can, but, lately, and with this record, I’ve been working on sharing more sides of my views and emotions,” Sam details.
A feeling of 1960s nostalgic balladry courses through many of thesongs on Sam’s debut. She says:” Melancholic, comforting and thought provoking is what I look forin music and what I feel and hope comes across in mine.” The album’s first single, “Toothache,” is a reverb-dipped slow burner glowering with sensual vocals and a twist on a breakup narrative. Here, the feeling is a longing to reconnect with one’s sense of self post romantic rupture.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maps & His Mothball Fleet - Coastal Living.
Maps & His Mothball Fleet announces the release of the yacht rock single “Coastal Living” on June 29. The sun-drenched boy-girl harmonies flirt at summer romance within a melodic haze. “Coastal Living” is the first single off the upcoming album, GULF, due out on August 21 on Azteca Records.
Matt Wanamaker, the heart behind Maps & His Mothball Fleet wrote and recorded the vocals, percussion, and some acoustic guitar for a number of songs on a combination of his phone and handheld tape dictation while working overseas in Afghanistan in 2013. When he went back to sea again in 2018 he wrote over 50 more songs. “Coastal Living” is a warm sea salt kissed single born from those demos. Hayley Richardson joins Wanamaker in a bright call-and-response harmony telling the story of a beach hermit surprised with a love note from a lost love, urging him to take a risk and pursue her. Wanamaker paints a picture from a musical pallet shaded in sunset hues.
As the world tiptoes into a post-pandemic way of life, feelings of anxiety and hesitation are amplified by distance from family and friends. Wanamaker experienced all of these emotions in international isolation. While feelings of isolation might not be unfamiliar for those in the military, the feeling of trying to reconnect afterward is. He explains, “The album describes the feeling of physical separation I had while away and the distance that I was trying to deal with upon coming home.” The album is called GULF not only because it was written along the Gulf of Mexico and the Persian Gulf, but to describe that tangible separation and the ravine of emotional distance that come along with it.
The songs on GULF remain centered on a particular lo-fi aesthetic, prompted by the time and place for which it was recorded as much as by when it was embellished. These homespun nuances become an honest first-person account hidden by the melodies and stories that Wanamaker managed to produce all alone at night…once again adrift at sea.
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Sunday, 28 June 2020
Geoff Gibbons - Feng Suave - The Danberrys
Geoff Gibbons new song 'Keep On Driving' has just been shared, we have to go back to November 2017 for our last feature, however this is a wonderful reminder of his talented song writing and beautiful delivery. === Dutch duo Feng Suave have a new E.P 'Warping Youth' comprising of six wonderful tracks where timeless soulful moments and exquisite bedroom pop merge and create something very special. === The Danberrys make their third appearance here this year with the new single 'Undertow' ahead of next months album release and again the duos varied Americana, is simply gorgeous.
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Geoff Gibbons - Keep On Driving.
Vancouver-based Roots/Folk Rock artist Geoff Gibbons is a true storyteller, armed with that rare narrative combination of humility, compassion, and troubador wisdom. His songs are melodic and wholly relatable.
Much like Tom Petty or Bruce Springsteen's music, when Geoff Gibbons writes songs, they somehow seem destined for the open road. His new single "Keep on Driving", out now on all platforms, speaks on a theme that most of us have experienced.
About "Keep on Driving": In these times of uncertainty “Keep On Driving” is a longing for freedom. Caught in the well-worn circle of day to day survival… I wondered what would happen if I didn’t turn in the driveway and just kept going. It speaks to life in general.. The smallest move or gesture can completely change the direction of a life. We forget we have control over those moves every minute.. as fear and comfort often hold us where we are.
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Feng Suave - Warping Youth (E.P).
Dutch duo Feng Suave have just released their new EP 'Warping Youth'. The Amsterdam-hailing ensemble consisting Daniël Schoemaker and Daniël de Jong toe the line between Bill Withers-esque ‘70s soul and quarter-life crisis bedroom-pop.
2020 has seen the Dutch dyad release a string of impressive singles. "Toking, Dozing" and "Maybe Another Time" - the first two tastes of the new EP, secured support from Billboard, Complex, Notion and Lauren Laverne on BBC 6 Music.
Feng Suave are as well-versed with the greats as with current contemporaries like HOMESHAKE or Unknown Mortal Orchestra. Like a lens flare, these influences of the old and new refract and form their own heavily evocative and hazy marque of hypnagogic pop. Previous releases were championed by Iggy Pop on his BBC 6 Music show during their 2019 tour with Khruangbin (their self-titled debut EP in 2017 which featured tracks "Sink Into The Floor" and "Honey, There’s No Time", followed by standalone single "Venus Flytrap" in 2018).
Vaulting their original brand of bedroom-pop and arming themselves with razor-sharp wit on some of the themes on the forthcoming EP, Feng Suave are both lyrically intimate and sardonic. On the new EP, 'Warping Youth', the band said; “We aimed at distancing ourselves from the contemporary ‘bedroom’ sound of our first releases and tried to stay true to the music we like, listen to and admire the most; more organic-sounding, classic songs. Thematically, the songs are about coming of age and the directionless wandering through adolescence that comes with it.”
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The Danberrys - Undertow.
Nashville’s The Danberrys are somehow both charmingly old-world and very much of this moment. The married couple’s rich pastoral blues and muscly folk evoke the big-hearted storytelling of pioneering giants like the Carter Family but could only come now, as a mixed offshoot of roots music’s ever-growing family tree.
In 2009, the two recorded singer/guitarist DeBerry DeBerry’s original material together on a whim, and The Danberrys were born. More than a decade later, six Independent Music Award nominations, including two nods for best Americana album and one for best EP, punctuate their résumé. Their 2016 LP Give & Receive earned serious acclaim, and the pair’s fourth album, Shine, sails past the high expectations that ensued. Produced by ace drummer Marco Giovino (Band of Joy, Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller) and executive produced by Brian Brinkerhoff, Shine captures the Danberrys’ fiercely guarded independence––and revels in it. Singer Daniel Daniel’s commanding voice roars low and high––an ideally nuanced partner for DeBerry’s subtly virtuosic guitar playing. For the first time in their career, the two co-wrote every song together, pulling in the help of a third songwriter on a handful of the tracks.
Their unforced creative approach is on triumphant display on Shine, the twelve-song collection reveals a pair of artists putting years of passionate study in bluegrass, blues, funk, folk, gospel, and pop to brilliant use: conversational stories and metaphorical sketches of the natural world rest on beds of complex bluesy folk. “I’ve always loved music that makes you guess what it’s about,” Daniel says. “We want our songs to be vague enough that they could be interpreted to mean different things.”
“We could spell it out,” DeBerry adds. “But we’re bored with the obvious.”
The title track kicks off the album with moody, guitar-punched swagger. Darkness sets the stage only to give way to the light Daniel and DeBerry refuse to stop seeking. “The song is a reminder––a daily mantra,” Daniel says. “How do you get through today and continue to grow and let go of all the things from your past that want to keep you down and keep you from being who you really are in the world?” Beginning with only Daniel’s voice, which is soon joined by DeBerry’s somber electric guitar, “The Mountain” addresses similar life-affirming themes. The incomparable Darrell Scott adds backing vocals to the track, which grooves as it soars.
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Geoff Gibbons - Keep On Driving.
Vancouver-based Roots/Folk Rock artist Geoff Gibbons is a true storyteller, armed with that rare narrative combination of humility, compassion, and troubador wisdom. His songs are melodic and wholly relatable.
Much like Tom Petty or Bruce Springsteen's music, when Geoff Gibbons writes songs, they somehow seem destined for the open road. His new single "Keep on Driving", out now on all platforms, speaks on a theme that most of us have experienced.
About "Keep on Driving": In these times of uncertainty “Keep On Driving” is a longing for freedom. Caught in the well-worn circle of day to day survival… I wondered what would happen if I didn’t turn in the driveway and just kept going. It speaks to life in general.. The smallest move or gesture can completely change the direction of a life. We forget we have control over those moves every minute.. as fear and comfort often hold us where we are.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Feng Suave - Warping Youth (E.P).
Dutch duo Feng Suave have just released their new EP 'Warping Youth'. The Amsterdam-hailing ensemble consisting Daniël Schoemaker and Daniël de Jong toe the line between Bill Withers-esque ‘70s soul and quarter-life crisis bedroom-pop.
2020 has seen the Dutch dyad release a string of impressive singles. "Toking, Dozing" and "Maybe Another Time" - the first two tastes of the new EP, secured support from Billboard, Complex, Notion and Lauren Laverne on BBC 6 Music.
Feng Suave are as well-versed with the greats as with current contemporaries like HOMESHAKE or Unknown Mortal Orchestra. Like a lens flare, these influences of the old and new refract and form their own heavily evocative and hazy marque of hypnagogic pop. Previous releases were championed by Iggy Pop on his BBC 6 Music show during their 2019 tour with Khruangbin (their self-titled debut EP in 2017 which featured tracks "Sink Into The Floor" and "Honey, There’s No Time", followed by standalone single "Venus Flytrap" in 2018).
Vaulting their original brand of bedroom-pop and arming themselves with razor-sharp wit on some of the themes on the forthcoming EP, Feng Suave are both lyrically intimate and sardonic. On the new EP, 'Warping Youth', the band said; “We aimed at distancing ourselves from the contemporary ‘bedroom’ sound of our first releases and tried to stay true to the music we like, listen to and admire the most; more organic-sounding, classic songs. Thematically, the songs are about coming of age and the directionless wandering through adolescence that comes with it.”
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The Danberrys - Undertow.
Nashville’s The Danberrys are somehow both charmingly old-world and very much of this moment. The married couple’s rich pastoral blues and muscly folk evoke the big-hearted storytelling of pioneering giants like the Carter Family but could only come now, as a mixed offshoot of roots music’s ever-growing family tree.
In 2009, the two recorded singer/guitarist DeBerry DeBerry’s original material together on a whim, and The Danberrys were born. More than a decade later, six Independent Music Award nominations, including two nods for best Americana album and one for best EP, punctuate their résumé. Their 2016 LP Give & Receive earned serious acclaim, and the pair’s fourth album, Shine, sails past the high expectations that ensued. Produced by ace drummer Marco Giovino (Band of Joy, Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller) and executive produced by Brian Brinkerhoff, Shine captures the Danberrys’ fiercely guarded independence––and revels in it. Singer Daniel Daniel’s commanding voice roars low and high––an ideally nuanced partner for DeBerry’s subtly virtuosic guitar playing. For the first time in their career, the two co-wrote every song together, pulling in the help of a third songwriter on a handful of the tracks.
Their unforced creative approach is on triumphant display on Shine, the twelve-song collection reveals a pair of artists putting years of passionate study in bluegrass, blues, funk, folk, gospel, and pop to brilliant use: conversational stories and metaphorical sketches of the natural world rest on beds of complex bluesy folk. “I’ve always loved music that makes you guess what it’s about,” Daniel says. “We want our songs to be vague enough that they could be interpreted to mean different things.”
“We could spell it out,” DeBerry adds. “But we’re bored with the obvious.”
The title track kicks off the album with moody, guitar-punched swagger. Darkness sets the stage only to give way to the light Daniel and DeBerry refuse to stop seeking. “The song is a reminder––a daily mantra,” Daniel says. “How do you get through today and continue to grow and let go of all the things from your past that want to keep you down and keep you from being who you really are in the world?” Beginning with only Daniel’s voice, which is soon joined by DeBerry’s somber electric guitar, “The Mountain” addresses similar life-affirming themes. The incomparable Darrell Scott adds backing vocals to the track, which grooves as it soars.
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