Kate Ellis - Piper Butcher - YOVA - This Coast Bias

Kate Ellis - Scars.

Scars is the new single from Americana singer-songwriter Kate Ellis, born in Louisiana, raised in New York and now based in London. The single is a dysfunctional love song about the fine line between love and hate in relationships. This quote from author Blakney Francis perfectly sums up that duality: “There are all different sorts of love.

It can even become hate… really, hate is just another kind of caring.” Scars is the fourth and final single from Kate’s much-anticipated sophomore album 'Spirals' due for release on 4th February 2022, on River Rose Records.

The songs on Spirals create a series of scenes, moments and moods, but where the previous single Wonderland constructed an emotional and ethereal space, Scars makes you feel like you've just walked into a rowdy bar where two lovers are arguing like cats and dogs, but eventually kiss and make up. “It’s a love song with attitude and I love the humour in it", Kate says. "Also, how even after the endless rinse and repeat cycles of stormy emotion, there's still love there in the end - summed up by the song’s closing line: "I guess this must be love, 'cos we can't get enough”.

The song was produced by John Reynolds who has recorded and produced some of the most iconic artists in the music world, including Sinead O'Connor, the Indigo Girls, Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno, Belinda Carlisle, The Cranberries, and Damian Dempsey.

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Piper Butcher - Long Road.

Newcastle singer-songwriter, Piper Butcher, has been kicking some huge goals in the last few months.

Not only did her latest EP, “September”, chart at #1 on the iTunes Alternative Chart and at #2 on iTunes All Genres Albums chart just behind Kanye West, but she’s been playing shows with artists including Diesel, Felicity Urquhart & Josh Cunningham and Corey Legge. Piper was also recently announced to open for You Am I and as part of the 2022 Dashville Skyline Cosmic Country Weekender line up in February.

This week also marks the release of the third single lifted from her #1 EP – “Long Road”. According to Piper, the song - co-written with fellow roots act, Cassie Marie - covers the long road of heartbreak.

“The lyrics provoke sorrow and frustration but proves that leaving unhealthy people behind is a difficult but prosperous journey”.

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YOVA - Haunted.

Reaching for a spiritual connection with their younger selves, “Haunted” imagines what words of reassurance and guidance about the ways of life YOVA would pass-on in light of what they know now.

“Listening to the voice within takes us on the right path in life” muses Jova Radevska. “The chorus lyrics tell of that life force, powerful voice as guidance to be followed: ‘There is something inside, wild & free it reaches out’”.

From its skeletal piano-based beginnings to the resplendent, lush string sections that blossom to life over the course of its five minutes, “Haunted” is very much a song for the winter months, but one that holds the promise of brighter times soon-to-come. 

Arriving with bespoke visuals directed by Maltese/British photographer, filmmaker and author Mark Arrigo, the evocative official video for “Haunted” was shot in one-take and captures Jova Radevska in traditional dress, lost amidst the breathtaking and barren landscapes of the Lake District (Eskdale) at the height of mid-winter.

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This Coast Bias - Best Kind Of Trouble.

“BKOT started out as a nonsense song I was singing in the shower. I loved the first melody of the chorus so much that I just decided to dry off and immediately start working on it. From the first mix to the final one, I’ve loved it. It’s the story of a toxic relationship that both people can’t stay away from, and I’m sure we can all relate on some level.”

This Coast Bias is the indie/bedroom pop project of Clay Milford; a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist based out of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. After multiple stints in rock bands, Clay decided to start writing and recording music on his own, citing frustration with the hassle of, “gettin’ a group of people together.” He began releasing music as This Coast Bias in May of 2019, and has since released nineteen original songs, all of which contain a vast smorgasbord of poppy hooks, lush walls of synth, and lyrics with a penchant for calling out past girlfriends. 

“I like to call the kind of music I write breakup pop. I always seem to end up writing music about things that annoy me in relationships, but don’t most people do that?” Clay cites Prince, Tame Impala and ABBA as his influences for This Coast Bias, but says his influences in music don’t stop there. 

“I grew up on a hefty diet of disco and funk from my mom and rock from my dad. I might listen to Led Zeppelin for a week and then be sick of them and only wanna hear Donna Summer for a month straight. I don’t think you should have to pick between genres as a listener or a musician, and these days, the lines are more and more blurred by the day anyway.”

this coast bias · best kind of trouble

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The Magnettes - The Warp/The Weft - Eric Brace & Last Train Home - VanWyck - Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard

The Magnettes - Monster.

”Uh,-oh, we created a monster!” Pajala’s finest pop trio The Magnettes has stumbled out of the studio, signed a new record deal, and return to form with new single ”Monster” – an upbeat, bass-driven bop blending doo-wop choruses, cut-throat horn stabs, new wave synths and a brushy street shuffle.

”Monster” is about that flirty, sexy, excruciating stage where it’s like ”will-they-won’t-they?”, singer Rebecka Digervall explains. You’re a nervous wreck, trying to downplay your feelings but they’re growing and growing.

We’ve definitely been there, adds Sanna Kalla. The gushing, blood rushing, tingly thing that’s partly sweet, mostly unbearable. The single will feature a 50’s small-screen noir video directed by Martin Åhlin, displaying their flare for playful retro looks and cinematic visuals

The Magnettes hail from Pajala, Sweden and have toured in 19 countries including performances at SXSW, Summerfest, Canadian Music Week, Golden Melody Awards, Eurosonic and Reeperbahn Festival.

Their debut album ”Ugly Youth” dropped in 2017 and featured the singles ”Sad Girls Club”, featured on Netflix’s ”Elite”, and ”Young And Wild”, one of the top-ten most played Swedish tracks on national radio that year. Their single ”American” was in radio rotation throughout the summer, fall and winter of 2020. As of 2021 they’re signed to K51, with ”Monster” being the first joint release.

 
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The Warp/The Weft - It May Not Always Be So.

The Warp/The Weft happily presents a musicalization of "It May Not Always Be So," an e. e. cummings sonnet that explores intense love and, with it, the need to nurture the other's happiness. It's lyrically beautiful and introspective: the type of meditation that could come from a band after two years of very limited contact.

The Warp/The Weft, active since 2012 in and beyond New York's Hudson River Valley, has earned praise for its uniqueness and song-crafting from casual and devoted listeners alike.

Blending traditional and avant-garde styles, the warmth of a good wool sweater and the sometimes-bleak cold of an upstate winter, the progressive folk and psychedelia that the band brings to bear is propelled by poetic lyrics and a "spirit-conjuring" lilting tenor that prompted psych-folk legend Tom Rapp (of Pearls Before Swine) to ask, "Can I have your voice when you're through with it?"

The Warp/The Weft · It May Not Always Be So

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Eric Brace & Last Train Home - Everything Will Be.

Sitting at home in isolation for much of this pandemic has forced us all to wrestle with all kinds of questions. One big one has been: "Why bother?" The question can be applied to most everything, but as performing musicians, we are compelled to wonder why we bother making music if we're not going to be able to get out and play music? To all of us in Last Train Home the answer came loud and clear: Because we love making music and we especially love making music together.

And so, 25 years after forming in Washington D.C., Last Train Home has spent much of 2021 recording an album in lots of different places -- Nashville TN, Alexandria VA, Doylestown PA, Franklin TN, Silver Spring MD, Herndon VA, Washington DC. We sent audio files back and forth, bouncing ideas off of satellites and through underground cables, and thanks to producer/engineer/guitarist Jared Bartlett's uncanny ease at layering myriad soundwaves into a coherent whole, we have album #10, Everything Will Be. 

Released today January 14, 2022, Everything Will Be marks yet another chapter in Last Train Home's ongoing audio explorations, with everything from sambas and New Orleans brass bands, Bakersfield picking and reverse guitar tapeloops, bodhráns and baritone saxes all brought into the mix to render seven songs of band leader Eric Brace's and four perfectly chosen covers.

When you tell someone "everything's going to be okay," you know you're lying, right? But if you steer yourself with open mind and heart toward the best things, the beautiful things, then you're going to capture and create moments that will make you glad to be alive, and, with some luck, you can share those moments. I love producer-mixer Jared Bartlett's layers of guitars and Kevin Cordt's bittersweet-yet-hopeful trumpet. Singing along is the sublime D.C. area singer/songwriter Laura Tsaggaris.

Red Beet Records · 01 Everything Will Be

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VanWyck - I Was Innocent.

Amsterdam singer-songwriter, VanWyck, announces the US release of her single, “I Was Innocent” today January 14. The single is off her fourth album, The Epic Tale of the Stranded Man, due out on April 8 through Excelsior Recordings. A David Lynchian quality permeates “I Was Innocent,” reveling in isolation at the crossroads of denying responsibility and deflecting through blame.

Setting the stage for the rest of the album, “I Was Innocent” tells the tale of how The Stranded Man will try to find a way out of his predicament. Written from the perspective of an imprisoned man stuck in a place of confinement, he tries to claim his innocence but at the same time lists his faults. We don’t know if he is guilty or innocent. We don’t know what his supposed crimes are. Is he a victim or a criminal? Is he imprisoned, or did he escape? Can he be saved, or is his end near? Americana-UK’s Jonathan Aird says, “There’s a real sense of mystery, and an intriguing confusion as to where the truth might really lie, an edgy unease only enhanced by the excellent support playing.”

VanWyck says, “I noticed that people often blame others for what went wrong. Criminals often do this when interviewed in prison, but also normal people, when they talk about their lives, so often it’s about what was inflicted on them, and not about their own role in that specific history.”

Enchanting, moody, and rich, the album vividly reflects these confusing modern times through whispered tones and cavernous themes. It’s a timeless album portraying the different ways in which modern man is lost, scared, stuck in his ways, and searching for a way out of his predicament.  Twelve songs that intertwine both lyrically and harmonically. Together they tell a story about a man who washes up on a wondrous island and doesn’t remember where he came from. Is he a victim or a perpetrator? Has he escaped, or is he imprisoned? Can he be saved, or is his end near? Luckily a woman enters the stage. Will she be able to save him?

The album also speaks of these times in a broader sense: we are living on the brink of epic transitions. We know that the old ways will lead to our destruction but can’t decide on the path forward. VanWyck says, “Sometimes it feels like we are trapped in our own prisons, in our inability to take good care of each other and this wonderful planet, like we are failing in our most epic of struggles, the survival of our humanity.”

VanWyck · I Was Innocent

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Photo - Lily Brown

Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard - Break Right In.

The most exciting new band to break out of Wales in recent years, Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard have just shared “Break Right In” — a new track taken from their heavily-anticipated debut album Backhand Deals, which will be released on February 25, 2022 via Missing Piece Records / Communion. The band will make their US debut at SXSW this March.

The video for “Break Right In” is the first part of a two-part film, and is the band’s second collaboration with director Will Clark - who also directed the Sunny Delight-inspired video for “You.” Speaking about the video, vocalist and guitarist Tom Rees says: “Nothing quite illuminates the unjust society we live in, riddled with bad actors and nefarious despots seeking to limit our freedoms and starve us economically, like four young men playing dress up in a massive mansion. All joking aside, Will Clark is a genius.” “Break Right In” follows the previous tracks “Yourself,” “You,” “Crescent Man vs Demolition Dan” and “New Age Millennial Magic.”

As presented on their 2020 debut The Non-Stop EP, the band – Rees, guitarist Zac White, drummer Ethan Hurst and Rees’ brother and bassist Eddie – draw from classic ‘70s rock with a distinctly 21st century twist, dragging the sounds of T-Rex and Steely Dan kicking and screaming into the 2020s. With Backhand Deals, Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard ripped up the rulebook – a rejection of rock music's more archaic ideals, their debut album plunges into Tom Rees’ exploration of honesty and authenticity, and untangles what it means to be a “rock star.” The key to this demystification is Rees’ sharp wit — using sarcasm and humour to keep the listener in limbo, and in turn, leading their audience to face their own thoughts.

“With the record we’re really obsessed with denying our traditional influences by overwhelming the music with contemporary references so we don’t sound like your dad’s cover band who are really good when they don’t overdo the Guinness and the lead singer remembers his lyric sheet,” says Rees. “We know deep down we love ‘70s music too much to just abandon it in pursuit of being considered relevant, so it seems like the right thing to do to use modern recording techniques and contemporary references to make something inherently new.”

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Julie Jurgens - Buster Baer - Allegra Krieger - Tomato Flower

Photo - Joe Mazza

Julie Jurgens - Appointed tasks (Album).

Julie Jurgens is a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist whose fearless, empathetic songs draw upon an upbringing in rural Illinois fraught with experiences of poverty, mental illness and domestic violence, sung from the perspective of a survivor and advocate who is mad as hell and determined to stand her ground. Her clear and honest vocals evoke Patty Griffin and Gillian Welch, and her unflinching lyrics recall Townes Van Zandt and Warren Zevon at their most incisive.

A born performer, Julie began putting on talent shows in her driveway for visitors to her family’s melon stand. By the time she was in kindergarten, her teachers noted her frequent absences – until they discovered her singing in the bathroom, enraptured by the favorable acoustics. In college, a breakup left her with no other option than to buy a guitar and sing out her heartbreak. 

She began to hone her skills in Quad Cities coffeehouses like Theo's JavaClub, singing covers of Dylan, the Cure, and the Beatles (leaving all the pronouns intact because who needs the heteronormativity?), before steadily developing a repertoire of original compositions. Many of these early songs were collected on the LP A Small Affair, released in 2004 and recorded in a bedroom in Muscatine, IA in a single night fueled by a gifted bottle of Absolut Mandarin.

That year, having gone as far as she could in the QC music scene (and having fallen into a pattern of problematic drinking), Julie moved to Chicago. There, she found a community of like-minded artists at open mics at local watering holes such as Subterranean and the Gallery Cabaret, where she would eventually organize and emcee a series of multi-artist tribute nights. She has also lent her musical talent on guitar, banjo and pocket trumpet to such groups as ButterBean, Liz + the Baguettes, and the (now-defunct) Astrohillbillies. Her skills as a storyteller and raconteur have served her well on stage, and her banter game is second to none.

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Buster Baer - In His Image.

'In His Image' is taken from Buster Baer's brand new E.P 'Mock Twang' that is released this week. We featured another song 'Get Deeper' a little while back & the track we have chosen this time, further demonstrates Buster's impressive & pleasingly diverse musical compositions and arrangements.His ability to switch between emotions and the juxtaposition of serous and funny are at the very least fascinating.

Jovial yet intense, Buster Baer represents the nexus between many paradoxes. His demeanor, performance antics, and musical style balance on the tensions between opposites, often collapsing into clownlike comedy amidst deep grooves.

Born into a show business family that named him after Buster Keaton, the childhood Los Angeles influences of beach punk and low-rider doo-wop settle into eclectic blends, equal parts Beatles and Bob Dylan; Parliament-Funkadelic and Tom Waits; Black Flag and Otis Redding.

The songwriter’s new EP release Mock Twang, is a collection of four tracks all performed and recorded himself in a warehouse surrounded by three junkyards in Downtown LA. The songs are smooth yet raw, tender and flippant, easy and also deep.

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Allegra Krieger - Taking It In.

NY based singer-songwriter Allegra Krieger today announced her new album Precious Thing will be released March 4, 2022 via Northern Spy Records. On the wistful lead single/video “Taking It In,” Krieger grapples with losing something important to her after watching it fall apart, and she winds her soft vocals around a circular acoustic guitar melody. Strings swell as flashes of memories drift in and out, from laughing on a beach to driving in a fit of anger, yet Krieger’s voice remains comforting and ever so lovely.

In October 2020, Allegra drove across the country to record Precious Thing in Marin, CA with producer Luke Temple (Here We Go Magic, Art Feynman) and musicians Jeremy Harris, Kalia Vandever, Rob Taylor and Jacob Matheus who contributed organs, synths, bass and lap steel. Delightfully mellow but never bleak, Precious Thing is a soundtrack for the daily motions of our lives.

On Precious Thing, Allegra Kreiger tries to capture fleeting moments in a world that is sick from itself. With a voice that rings like a windchime signaling a storm coming, Allegra masterfully weaves together ephemeral moments as life barrels by her unforgivingly. From singing about sharing a gaze with a man on the train to Coney Island as the clock strikes 12 on New Years, to saying goodbye to a loved one, to processing the religious trauma of wine, Krieger portrays the particular pang of being a woman alive in a modern world.

At the heart of this album is a young, working woman asking “Do you see this right now? I can’t be the only one.” This is an album about looking, and Krieger fills up each lonely space she enters with her gaze. Krieger asks you to look, to really, really look, so that you can remember something, however small it is, when it’s all gone.  

 

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Tomato Flower - World To Come.

Tomato Flower Share "World To Come" Off Upcoming Debut EP 'Gold Arc', out 2/11/22 on Ramp Local. The lyrics in Tomato Flower's new single hint at nature's dominance, and hypothesizes humanities role within it. A poetic reflection on humanity's place in the world to come. "World To Come" is simultaneously an infectious psychedelic pop song and a dark glance at the future.

There’s a place for me
In the world to come
My garden cruel and beautiful
In the ways to come

In the hidden grove
There’s a riven bough
In hope forever at the sound
Of the ways to come

When the sun is so
That it burns the flesh
And holy tests our willingness
Of the world to come

About Gold Arc: How might a Utopia exist? If the goal is social harmony amidst free-thinking citizens, where do the moral sets and ideals come from? It might include existing peacefully and respectfully with the natural world—agriculture and industry on an equal playing field. Maybe, an earthly utopia might not be what we expect. It might not be constant, and it might only exist in minute moments. For the Baltimore quartet Tomato Flower, utopia exists in the compromise between escapism and intellectual inquiry, between conceptual philosophy and pop-rock bliss.

Their debut EP Gold Arc finds Tomato Flower at multiple crossroads. Their sonic curiosity plays with tension between sweetness and a destructive heaviness. Conceptually, Gold Arc hungers for an alternate reality. Sometimes that is a “sustainable paradise,” as drummer Mike Alfieri puts it. Or, on “Lovers Arc,” it’s a desire to be loved constantly. “It's not that all these songs are straightforwardly positive, though,” explains Austyn Wohlers. “I think all of the songs are about longing for a different world and a different future. But, they take various shapes,” she says. “The song ‘Truth Lounge,’ for example, has a lot of pain and longing for a different world. ‘World to Come,’ has maybe a cultish edge to it.”

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Sidney Bird - Michelles - Rosie Thomas - Paula Jivén

Sidney Bird - Renaissance Man.

Sidney Bird is a southwestern darling making a name for herself in New York City. Born and raised in Arizona, Bird holds her own in the western pop scene, alongside artists like Kacey Musgraves and Leon Bridges. A true crossover act, she feels a strong creative impulse when home in Arizona, writing all of her songs there before fleshing them out with producers in Brooklyn.

“I grew up listening to Barenaked Ladies, Norah Jones, Joni Mitchell,” says Bird. “Then became obsessed with Katy Perry, Britney Spears––all the popstars.”

Bird’s background in comedy and musical theater fuels a deep love for world-building and storytelling: “Sometimes I feel like I’m playing characters through my music, using them as a vehicle to express honest and genuine feelings.” Her 2020 debut album “Bad Timing,” featuring singles like “Kisses” and “Wild,” has garnered over 1.7 million combined streams to date. In 2021, Bird followed up with her EP “Big Heart,” debuting the project live at Rockwood Music Hall at the end of the year. With a wealth of music ready for release and a dedicated community of listeners, Bird is well-positioned to make 2022 her year.

Here's what she had to say about it: "I wrote 'Renaissance Man' after reflecting long and hard about my childhood and how my parents raised me. I feel so grateful that I have such amazing and supportive parents, and I aspire to be like them one day. Although I am not looking to have kids anytime soon, this song is about the children I wish to have one day, and a thank you letter to my wonderful parents".

 

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Photo - Chuck Przbyl

Michelles - Illusions.

Chicago-based rock band Michelles – spearheaded by one Michael Daly – are thrilled to share with you, in advance of its official release, their new single “Illusions,” and announce their forthcoming album. 

With a driving, propulsive beat throughout and Daly’s unmistakable vocal style, “Illusions” serves as the lead single to the band’s forthcoming album The Empty Promises of Rock and Roll, set for release on March 1, 2022. The song, out January 11, 2022, will mark the first music Michelles has released since 2017’s critically lauded album, Dark as a Daisy.

Michael Daly on the lead single from the album: ““Illusions” was one of the last songs written for the album. Lyrically, it dances around the idea of the masks we wear, literally and metaphorically, the desire to transcend these disguises, and how on some days it really does feel like the sky is falling, but you have to have some lingering faith in the universe just to get up and do it all again.”

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Rosie Thomas - All Is Full Of Love.

Rosie Thomas’ latest endeavor is truly a project, in the truest sense of the word. A labor of love. An attempt to reach out to parents and help them self-sooth. So, what is Lullabies For Parents? Lullabies For Parents is a multimedia series of resources, entertainment, and encouragement for parents of all ages featuring music, podcast, videos, essays, assorted content and community that promotes finding common ground, connection, and comfort.

The music portion will be a series of singles – some of Rosie’s strongest, most inspired work to date, with a slew of guest vocalists. Rosie has a LOT of musician friends, and almost all of them will appear on this series, including but not limited to: Sufjan Stevens, James Mercer, Sam Beam, The Head and the Heart, Alexi Murdoch, Dawn Landes, David Bazan, William Fitzsimmons and tons more!

-The podcast will finally give a vehicle to some of Rosie’s greatest, and as yet underutilized strengths: her unique ability to quickly disarm, relate to, and encourage people in their struggles, even as they’re entertained by her razor-sharp wit, and engaging, loveable personality. There will be videos, essays, books, and a merch line for both parents and kids alike. Most of all, it will be a community of support, and it’s only just beginning.

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Photo - Eveline Johnsson

Paula Jivén - Say That.

Swedish singer/songwriter Paula Jivén makes spellbindingly original pop music, each song sparked from her radiant imagination. At just 18-years-old, she’s already cultivated a truly singular voice as an artist, one that defies all expectation in favor of following her most playful and daring instincts. Newly signed to Universal Music Sweden, Jivén is now set to deliver a debut EP titled ‘The Duality In Me’ this summer, revealing her supreme gifts as a storyteller and the tremendous power of her captivating voice. Arriving ahead of the EP release is the stand-out single ‘Say That’, a hypnotic chill-pop offering that served as a cathartic song-writing experience for Jivén. On creating the track, Jivén shares:

“‘Say That’ is a song that I wrote at a special time of my life. I had just turned 16, I was in LA on a songwriting trip working with people that I admire and doing meetings in crazy record-label buildings. I was getting to do things I had been dreaming about for so long! But something was still not sitting right with me. I think this was the first time I really experienced the downsides of materialism, and it was overwhelming me in the weirdest way. I felt like although I had so much, I was still missing something, the way all humans do, I guess. We never seem to get enough. And when you think you have it all, it’s still not enough, you can’t really talk about it! And that’s where the title comes in. It was something taking up a lot of my mindspace, but I couldn’t really find a way to talk about it without feeling like I was coming off as ungrateful. Writing about it felt like a healthy way to unpack all of these thoughts in a healthy environment. It helped me realize that it's a privilege to have these problems, but it’s still ok to feel like shit.”

All throughout her debut, Jivén illuminates the potent balance of emotional realism and dreamy sensitivity within her songwriting—a dynamic intensified by each track's graceful interlacing of live instrumentation and electronic experimentation. Made with genre-bending producers like Sir Sly’s Jason Suwito (Imagine Dragons, MisterWives, Dreamers, DeathbyRomy), Jivén’s debut EP ‘The Duality In Me’ moves exponentially forward with a mission she describes as “disrupting the comfortable and comforting the disrupted.”

 “All of these songs are portraits of moments in my life when I’ve felt incredibly strong emotions,” she says. “I love writing songs where I get to vent about something that makes me angry, but I also love writing songs where you sort of take someone into your lap and pat them on the head and let them know that everything’s going to be okay. Either way, I want to convey those strong emotions in a way that brings people closer to a sense of acceptance.” Jivén adds.

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Faeya - Madi Colville-Walker - Colin Lillie Ft Catherine Britt - The Cactus Blossoms Ft Jenny Lewis - Picastro

Faeya - Brave Obsession.

Vulnerable and raw, riveting and real, multi-talented Canadian folk singer/songwriter Faeya explores resilience and perseverance with the release of her new single, “Brave Obsession." As one-third of her most recent EP release, The Blue Period: Volume 1, the Toronto-based indie artist lays it all bare on “Brave Obsession”’s melody, donning a courageous face as she boldly goes where so few have the resolve to venture: the inner workings of one’s heart.

“I wrote this on my acoustic guitar, inspired by the feeling of hopeless dependency of a young infatuation,” Faeya explains. “This song flowered into its folk-inspired sound over several late- summer days at Dream House Studios in Toronto.”

From there, it was between her, recording engineer, Calvin Hartwick, and instrumentalist, Sean Royle, that “Brave Obsession” grew to the sounds and textures we hear on the final cut. “I had been listening to a lot of music by great folk artists like Joni Mitchell and Nick Drake while writing this song, which influenced its sound,” she adds.

The song unearths the longing and resilience to keep pursuing, even if faced with the possibility of hurt and rejection — a deeply mature and ultimately intimate portrait of conveying the heart’s desires. While many shirk the notion that we could allow our hearts to feel this deep, Faeya allows her emotions to feel every fiber, every fragment of want, which she conveys in her music. “The song is different from the others on the EP because of its guitar origin and conversational lyrics,” she muses. “I wanted to tell a story, but still leave it up for interpretation.”

The Canadian songbird is finding early success in her ethereal ballads, having culminated streams online in nearly 60 countries, and thousands of spins on Spotify alone. Her striking, piano-driven, cinematic style pushes the boundaries of songwriting for Faeya, giving her an instrumentation edge among the peers of which she shares her genre.

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Madi Colville-Walker - Less than A Man.

It takes a special talent to stop people in their tracks. Madi Colville-Walker is one of those rare young talents who is blessed with this ability. Madi is a proud Yorta Yorta woman with a captivating talent that transcends boundaries and refuses to be confined to just one musical box.

“Less Than A Man” is Madi’s first release with Red Rebel Music and was produced by Darlinghurst’s Jason Resch. Of the song, Madi says, “Less than A Man is about heartbreak, it’s also about personal growth”. Madi writes from the heart with the ability to transport you to another place – its like she’s lived many lifetimes before and all her knowledge and wisdom, resilience and survival flows so emotionally through her beautiful storytelling.

Hailing from the Echuca/Moama region, Madi has already caught the attention of a number of artists who invited her to perform with them including Archie Roach, Fanny Lumsden, Kutcha Edwards and Darlinghurst. She was a finalist for the 2021 Music Victoria Archie Roach Award for Emerging New Talent and recently performed live on Seven Network’s “Sunrise” program.

Madi draws much of her inspiration from her Grandfather and Yorta Yorta elder, Archie Walker, along with other musical members of her family. She says, “they’ve not only taught me about music but also the importance of a strong family support network. They continually encourage me to do my best in music and inspire and support me in following my musical dreams”.

 

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Colin Lillie Ft Catherine Britt - The Road.

Following the success of “The War” – Beverley Hillbilly Records recording artist - Colin Lillie - today releases the second single from his forthcoming EP. “The Road” is a stunning duet with multi award winner, Catherine Britt, who also oversaw production of not only this track, but the entire EP.

“When all the world was in lockdown in 2020 I got in touch with Catherine to ask if she would be keen to write with me”,says Colin. “I had this guitar melody and some random lyrics but I couldn’t find a solid lyrical foundation. To my surprise, Catherine said yes! So, I sent a very basic demo to Catherine and somehow she plucked a few words and inspiration and “The Road” was born”.

The self proclaimed gypsy Scotsman who resides in the red heart of Australia’s central desert, says “The Road” paints the picture of touring musicians who found it hard being off the road for the best part of the last two years. “The essence of this song was the optimistic idea that we would be back on the road working again as normal after the initial lockdown – how wrong was I?”

“ As a working artist I spent so much time away from home and my family were grateful for the lockdown because they could spend time with me, I could do the odd jobs around the house and we could just be a family again. Yet, underneath that gratitude was the knowing that I longed to be working and I needed to get back on the road to follow my dreams and pay the bills”.

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The Cactus Blossoms - Everybody (feat. Jenny Lewis).

Minneapolis duo The Cactus Blossoms have shared a new song “Everybody” featuring Jenny Lewis. The Cactus Blossoms, comprised of brothers Jack Torrey and Page Burkum, will release their new album One Day on February 11th.

"Have you ever heard the saying “everyone is just doing the best they can”? I wanted to put that idea into a song,” writes Torrey. “It started out as a kind of sad one-sided story, but when I heard it in my head as a back and forth between two people and imagined Jenny singing the lines it became something different. I’m so glad she was up for it, because without her I don’t think it would have the hopefulness that I was looking for." -

The Cactus Blossoms recently announced the new record along with the release of the single “Hey Baby,” which was acclaimed by Guitar World, The Boot, The Bluegrass Situation, as well as The Minneapolis Star-Tribune and more. “That idea of finding a silver lining comes up a lot on this record,” says Torrey about the single. “It’s an acknowledgment that no matter how messed up things might be, people still want to believe in the world and find ways to feel lucky and joyful.”

While The Cactus Blossoms have drawn frequent comparisons to other musical siblings like the Everlys and Louvins over the years, One Day often suggests a more soulful, ’70s-inspired palette, hinting at times to Bobby Charles or JJ Cale with its playful Wurlitzer, breezy guitars, and lean, muscular percussion. The band’s classic country and old-school pop roots are still there, of course, but the growth and evolution underlying One Day is obvious, not only in the duo’s writing, but in their core philosophy, as well.

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Picastro - Hangman.

Prologue by Owen Pallett: I read an interview with Picastro in 2000 or 2001, and was struck by the uniqueness of Liz Hysen’s commentary.  I listened to “Red Your Blues”, loved it, and e-mailed Liz to say so.  A few months later, I joined the band, playing a terrible-sounding student viola as best as I could.

Touring with Picastro was, in retrospect, hilarious.  Sometimes we shared bills with like-minded acts— Xiu Xiu, Born Heller— but more often than not, we shared the stage with more straight-ahead rock bands, an odd contrast to Liz’s dry-cracked songs.

I got a desk job in 2004 and left the band so I could focus on it, but Liz and I remained close friends, and I continued to contribute to subsequent Picastro albums.  Picastro’s albums always showed a band that was in a state of transition, restless, searching for a sonic niche.  As time went on, the albums kept getting better and better, more and more distinctive.  Picastro’s body of work is a monument to longevity, a demonstration that an idea sometimes needs a decade (or two) to be fully realized.  With every subsequent release, Liz’s singular vision with this project becomes more and more tangible, the discreteness of her work from the zeitgeist becomes more pronounced.  This new album is a testament to this.

This covers EP was brought about by the uncertainty of things, the joy of not knowing and the magic created by music that falls outside of boundaries.  Picastro has existed as a musical entity for a long time, too weird to be a pop band, too many songs to be considered experimental that it was time to celebrate likeminded musicians and bands that have influenced our sound   The theme for the album was simple and predictably set off by the pandemic; humans aren’t comfortable when they don’t know what is going to happen and their routines are disrupted so profoundly.  But what about the magic of not knowing? What about using the time to re-connect with your friends and peers in a slow and easy way?

“I’ve never met a stranger” evolved out of these concepts and the musicians who contributed to this project represent the ways in which we can all connect and represent our cities, our communities, our relationships as best we can.  All the songs were chosen based on their lyrical content starting from Pale Blue Eyes “sometimes I feel so happy, sometimes I feel so sad” at the start of the pandemic, running to Richard Dawson’s “Man’s been struck down by hands unseen”.  The magic of all these bands and musicians for me has been their inability to fall neatly into any one category; The Silt, Elfin Saddle, Fire on Fire, Richard Dawson and the Velvet Underground all elegantly skirt around several genres at all times.  I am grateful for all these bands and all the musicians who performed on the record.

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Elowynn - Hate Moss - Sun Cutter - Kodiak Arcade - The Two Spirits

Elowynn - Stop The Wheel.

In an all-embracing pleading towards peace, folk-rock singer/songwriter Elowynn gently affirms her powerfully poignant and increasingly timely new single, “Stop the Wheel” is very much a protest song.

Drawing a colourful sign on the ‘island of peace’ she so loves, the track directly addresses the heartfelt need for mindfulness in a fractured world — and features moving chants from multi-award winning, Order of Canada members and multi-honourable doctorate recipients Indigenous Canadian artist and activist Buffy Sainte-Marie, and Inuit artist Tanya Tagaq.

The song lands alongside Elowynn’s new album, Windtanz. Teeming with imagery of lions, fairies, the wind, and the night, the 11-song release was recorded at Wishing Well Studio in Germany with award-winning English-German producer Andrew Cadie (Broom Bezzums). The release reflects Elowynn’s tenure as a gifted musician and songwriter whose lyrics often depict rolling waves that come with the ‘sea of life’ in a poetic, emotional, and deeply intuitive way.

“We sing against the waste in our western society, and the exclusion and exploitation of poorer countries,” Elowynn — née Anne Haag — explains. “It reminds of the victims of colonialism in a Scottish poem, ‘The Twa Corbies’ where two ravens on a tree look greedily down on the body of a young, fallen soldier — who will be their next meal; the body of the dead soldier is the bitter symbol of the generations of innocent lives, killed by the war of European conquerors on their countries.”

To Elowynn, the symbolism of greed, war, and destruction that continue to drive humanity towards a looming climate crisis, social injustice, and more are met with the belief that it’s not too late to ‘Stop the Wheel,’ and create a more peaceful world.

As part of her continued and ongoing efforts, all of the proceeds from the song will support the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund, which works to build cultural understanding and a path towards reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.

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Credit: Ruggero Lupo Mengoni

Hate Moss - Fog.

With the New Year here and ready for taking - Hate Moss - can confirm the arrival of a new album later in 2022. In anticipation of the release, the Italo-Brazilian industrial / post-punk duo have shared an electrifying new cut: “Fog”. Executed with a mesh-like precision, it’s a clash of stuttering electronics, coruscating beats and razored riffs and serves as an adrenaline-pulsing first peek into their forthcoming second LP.

Spasming with a feverish unpredictability and shadowed with an overarching sense of solitude, “Fog” was written during an extended period of isolation last year and makes for an engrossing document of an artist reaching for freedom.

Written, recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered in just 10 days by Hate Moss’ Tina (vox, electronics) and Ian (vox, drums), the track also sees the duo working in collaboration with celebrated producer and sound engineer Pour Atom Oil. “Fog” is also coupled with a video originally recorded at their rehearsal room in London, and post-produced by visual artists Polarys Collective. Watch the video here.

Hate Moss is an Italo-Brazilian duo formed by Tina and Ian in 2018. Formed in London and currently living a nomadic existence, the duo have performed on numerous stages across South America, Europe and the Middle East, while drawing crowds at international festivals like the Venice Biennale (IT), Locomotiva Festival (BR) and Goiania Noise (BR), earning a cult following in the process.

HATE MOSS · Fog

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Sun Cutter - Dont Fail Me Now.

'Don't Fail Me Now' is the new single by Sun Cutter out on Jan 7th, 2022. It is taken from his John Lennon-esque self-titled debut album, released on Bronzerat Records (Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Gemma Ray, The Still). Hailing from Colchester, Sun Cutter (aka Kevin Pearce)'s  diary-like personal account is mixed in with classic but no-less-original songwriting. Bliss blues, perfect for a sun-bleached winter morning. For fans of Bob Dylan, Alex Chilton and Tim Buckley.

Sun Cutter (aka Kevin Pearce) explains: "when i was writing 'Don't Fail...' I had recently read and remembered the quote from writer David Graeber - 'the ultimate, hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently.' Hit me like a bolt of lightning that something that seems so simple we all rarely do - but its in our power to change both our world and the world around us by simply changing our attitude within it."

This is especially resonant when you learn that the Sun Cutter album was written in reflection of, and as rehabilitation to, a heart attack that Kevin suffered at the age of 33. 

Songs of love and protest befit the man, and his politics of empathy, evident in his lyrics, are also demonstrated by his dayjob as a mental health worker (Mind). Co-produced with pal Dean Honer (Moonlandingz, Eccentronic Research Council, Pins). Dean Honer is also one half of I Monster, and Kevin lent his voice and guitar to the acoustic version of  their hit "Daydream In Blue" . They have also collaborated and created “The Sounds of Science”, a collection of science songs for kids, released in April 2022 on Castles in Space. Previously Kevin  has released (under his real name) the album "Matthew Hopkins & The Wormhole" (AWAL), a concept record about the Witchfinder General who lived in the same village (Mistley in Essex).

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Kodiak Arcade - Why Pretend.

Over the past 15 years Graeme has been lucky enough to work on more than 40 television shows, and has contributed to more than 1000 episodes of television. His work covers the gamut too. He has scored documentary features on BBC and National Geographic, contributed to Triple AAA games and, along with his writing partners, has become one of the worlds most heard composers – most well-known for their work on hit TV shows like Paw Patrol, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood and the Total Drama franchise.

The last five years have brought multiple awards from both SOCAN and BMI – recognizing their musical reach both domestically and internationally. Many of Voodoo Highway’s shows have received Emmys, and in 2020, Graeme and his writing partners took home their second Canadian screen award.

Kodiak Arcade is a passion project where a lifelong television composer is reversing the usual process. Instead of writing music for picture, he is creating visual art posted to Instagram, Twitter and YouTube depicting the feelings and mental states of his music. Visually, this project is a means of exploring the forefront of AI / Human collaboration with generative art. Musically, it has been a means of exploring new musical palette ideas, expanding on orchestration ideas Graeme found while working on other visual media, and has served to expand his network of talented instrumental collaborators.

Kodiak Arcade · Why Pretend

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The Two Spirits - Crossroads.

The Two Spirits is an Alternative band of two sisters from Dallas, Georgia. The older sister, Savannah, is on keys and the guitar, and Gracie, the youngest, sings vocals. The sisters write, record, edit, and produce their own music through their own small independent record label S.G. Records. 

Most of their inspiration comes from the classic rock of the 80’s and 90’s, but the band is also influenced by more modern musicians such as My Chemical Romance. The band dabbles in multiple genres, creating there own unique, new age, pop-rock sound and country-style Melodies.

Crossroads is a song that tells the story of 3 people who sold their soul. It is a depiction of the 27 club and if listened carefully one can tell who the song is about.

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