The Deslondes - Jillette Johnson - Dot Allison - DIVES

Photo by Bobbi Wernig

The Deslondes - Dunes.

The Deslondes are set to return with Ways & Means July 8th, 2022 via New West Records. The 14-song set is their first album in five years and follows 2017’s critically acclaimed Hurry Home. Ways & Means was produced by The Deslondes & their longtime collaborator Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes) and was recorded at The Bombshelter in Nashville, TN. The album features Margo Price on the title track, as well as Twain and the multi-instrumentalist Billy Contreras on multiple songs as well. 

Long combining elements of early Stax, Sun, and Atlantic Records with the influence of a more raw, stripped-down sound gleaned off field recordings from Alan Lomax and the Mississippi Records catalog, the band also incorporate psychedelic flourishes that bring to mind the sonic experimentation of Joe Meek, Lee Hazlewood and the Velvet Underground. Infusing everything from saxophone, flute, and synth to string arrangements and a full drum kit for the first time, the group naturally progresses and evolves in real-time on their third full-length offering.

Lauded as “burgeoning stars” by The New York Times, The Deslondes’ 2014 self-titled debut was a breakout hit praised by NPR as “energized, elegant, and new,” and their follow-up, Hurry Home, earned similar acclaim with Rolling Stone calling it “a gritty, grimy mix of early rock ‘n’ roll and lo-fi R&B.” Following the band’s hiatus in late 2018, members Sam Doores and Riley Downing each released debut solo albums to critical acclaim. 

PopMatters called Doore’s eponymous debut “...a deeply poetic and haunting collection that draws upon the musicians’ disparate influences” and “Perhaps not since Los Lobos’ Kiko has an artist so effortlessly married avant-garde and everyman sensibilities, arriving at a place where childlike curiosity meets the fruits of patient practice and ambition. Deep knowledge and unbound imagination coexist peacefully, happily, throughout." Of Downing’s Start It Over (2021), Uncut Magazine in the U.K. called it a “dusty triumph” and described his voice  “...like Johnny Cash with a hangover,” exclaiming “His brain…is abuzz with sounds and ideas, which makes his solo debut a thrill.”

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Jillette Johnson - Cul De Sac.

Nashville-based artist Jillette Johnson has just announced her new EP Normal Kid with the official video for the new song “Cul De Sac.” The four song EP, due out on June 15, was co-written and produced by Joe Pisapia who collaborated with Johnson on her critically acclaimed 2021 album It’s A Beautiful Day And I Love You. 

“‘Cul De Sac’ is about wanting to feel special and wanting to belong, all at the same time,” explains Johnson. “Growing up, it often felt like I had to choose between the two, but as I got older I realized that my me-ness was only made more radiant in connection to the world around me. I am no more or less than anyone else, and by freeing myself of those comparisons, my star really has the space to shine.”

The Normal Kid EP draws upon late '70s new wave, early '80s synth-pop, and '90s R&B, finding Johnson turning personal revelations about childhood dreams and adulthood realities into universal pop anthems. The EP will arrive with a trio of music videos directed by Grant Claire that were shot over the course of a single day on a vintage Sony Betamax 88 camera. Last month, Johnson released the official video for the EP’s title track.

Normal Kid follows Johnson’s first full length in more than 4 years, It’s A Beautiful Day And I Love You. The album was praised by American Songwriter,  GRAMMY.com, No Depression, NPR Music, Refinery29, Rolling Stone and UNCUT, who called it “a springboard into '60s pop, '70s rock, and Noughties indie...It's an adventurous palette that suits her well.” The Nashville Scene said the album “...offers the kind of songwriting that can make a record feel truly timeless… anchored by floating piano and Johnson’s smooth, flawless vocals.”

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Photo - Maria Mochnacz

Dot Allison - Cue the Tears (Anton Newcombe Remix).

Dot Allison releases the third single from The Entangled Remix EP, a reimagining of the Heart-Shaped Scars album track “Cue The Tears” by The Brian Jonestown Massacre founder and frontman Anton Newcombe. This release follows Lee “Scratch” Perry’s remix of “Love Died In Our Arms,” the final production of his career, and The Anchoress’ remix of the previously unreleased “Murder By Heartbreak.”

Last year during covid lockdowns, Dot met Anton online and they began working together, sharing songs back and forth and forming a relationship that eventually resulted in their collaborative creation of the soundtrack for the TV series “Annika.” With proven artistic chemistry between them, Anton’s remix of “Cue The Tears” showcases his unparalleled musical prowess alongside Dot’s one-of-a-kind songwriting and vocals.

The original version of the song, a sound of sparse, intoxicating dream folk, is here reimagined into a hypnotic, psychedelic soundscape under Anton’s production. Dot’s serene, otherworldly vocals are embraced and elevated by the ethereal sound, becoming an instrument of their own, floating dreamily throughout the song.

“I respect Dot's artistry so much.” Says Anton, “I have worked with a great many people, but she is truly unique and an important artist. I have the utmost respect for her personally, artistically, and for her work ethic, and it is a great honor to be asked to do a remix of sorts. Like much of our work together, I try to work around her ideas, rather than gut them, or change the arrangements too much.”

On working with Anton, Dot says, “I love Anton’s music, his unique sound, his perspective on creativity & his approach and vibe as a collaborator..”

The full Entangled Remix EP, out on May 27, also includes contributions from Saint Etienne and Lomond Campbell. Saint Etienne, who remixes the track “One Love,” have always had close ties to Dot, thanks to their mutual connection to Heavenly and Andrew Weatherall, as well as both having come up in the UK indie dance scene of the early 1990s. Lomond Campbell, a BAFTA-winning songwriter and shortlister for the Scottish Album of the Year Award, combines his ambitious creative spirit with Dot’s poignant lyricism on his remix of “Ghost Orchid.”

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 Photographed by Marie Haefner

DIVES - Ego.

Following tours with L.A. Witch and Courtney Barnett, and fresh from being invited to record a session for NPR, Vienna 3-piece DIVES release their first UK single Ego.

DIVES are rock ‘n’ roll time travellers taking you on wild 70s road trips and through Venice beach nostalgia with their earworm blend of surf-pop, garage-rock, and Riot Grrrl attitude, with a message very much for the now: Anti-discrimination and pro-equality and humanity. Ego explores selfishness and narcissism via strange conversations, it’s about people who never listen and just keep talking. "You got to listen and stop, listen and stop,” the lyrics say, “This conversation is too odd, you better shut it up”.

The chords and melodies are the sonic equivalent of road-tripping down the highways in a convertible, tying in with the metaphoric chorus "Ego babe, it's your ego babe, you're on a one-way road and you're driving too fast”. On this one-way street is only room for the ego of the person. "Do you worry at all about someone that's not you? “

DIVES are Dora de Goederen, Viktoria Kirner and Tamara Leichtfried, the 3-piece have previously released one album, their debut Teenage Years Are Over (2019, Siluh Records) which showed them to be profound songwriters, with statements against the patriarchy and toxic macho attitudes wrapped in catchy rock ‘n’ roll songs and sweet melodies. They have played over 150 shows in 13 different countries around Europe, supporting Courtney Barnett and L.A. Witch.

Ego is taken from DIVES second album Wanna Take You There which follows in October 2022 via Siluh Records.

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Moonpools - Marlon Pichel - The Early Mays - Drive-By Truckers

Moonpools - Damaged Goods.

Female fronted Indie/Dreampop quintet Moonpools from Basel, Switzerland have just released their terrific new single ‘Damaged Goods’ via Young and Aspiring! With their newest effort, Moonpools skilfully prove that they are in no way inferior to household names such as Soccer Mommy, Snail Mail and Hatchie.

Moonpools are a five-piece band from Basel, formed in 2016 by Marcie Nyffeler (vocals/ guitar), Jasper Nyffeler (drums), and Francesco Vona (keyboard) and completed in 2017 by Matthias Gusset (guitar) and David Blum (bass). The latter are known from various Basel-based projects such as Sheila She Loves You, Don't Kill The Beast, Brainchild and Mastergrief.

Moonpools released their first EP 'Turbulent Times' in 2019, which was immediately met with positive reactions: For example, the single ‘Brainbug’ was chosen as ‘Song of the Week’ by Swiss national radio station SRF Virus. After a few concerts, including support shows for Oso Oso and Prince Daddy & The Hyena the band started working on new music. The resulting songs will be released in the form of an EP on Young and Aspiring in the late summer of 2022.

The songs became increasingly louder, distorted and straightforward. The sound is inspired by artists like Hatchie, Snail Mail, Ride and Soccer Mommy and moves between Indie Rock and Dream Pop with rousing guitars and anthemic synth parts.

And exactly this mixture can also be heard on the new single 'Damaged Goods', which is also considered the turning point of Moonpools' musical journey. Despite its relaxed mood, the song is to be understood as an ode to the universal lostness and confusion of human existence. This also shows a great strength of singer Marcie Nyffeler (originally from Durham, United Kingdom), who balances between cheerfulness and melancholy with her voice and lyrics seemingly effortlessly, bringing a smile to one's lips while still wiping a tear from one's eye.

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Marlon Pichel - Good Ol' Loving.

Everyone needs some good ol' loving. Especially in these times. The song is a summery soul shuffle with the message "be kind to each other, because there is already enough misery in the world". Recorded the way they did it in the 60's at STAX Records. Covid has had us all in its power. For Marlon Pichel this was no reason to sit still, quite the contrary. He decided to record his first solo album.

Originally a soul guy, Marlon Pichel used the Covid period to unravel the origins of the STAX Records sound. Besides reading articles, books and endless experiments in the studio with his producer and friend Kees Braam (Deersound Studio, Certain Animals), he wanted to get even closer to the source. Soon after, legendary STAX producer Terry Manning, known for his work with Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Booker-T and the MG's and Al green, came into the picture. He was so incredibly kind to answer all questions in a long video call. With all this information in their pocket, Marlon and Kees could start making a STAX inspired 60's Southern soul album.

Now a year later, the album has been completed and Good Ol' Loving is the first single to introduce the soulful sounds of Marlon Pichel to the world to let you relive the STAX sound in the most respectful way.

TCBYML · Marlon Pichel - Good Ol' Loving

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Photo - Kristi Jan Hoover

The Early Mays - The Ballad Of Johnny Fall.

Pittsburgh-based duo The Early Maysannounce their forthcoming EP,Prettiest Blue, which will release on July 1, 2022. Composed of artists Emily Pinkertonand Ellen Gozion, the pair sing Appalachian-inspired songs over a lush accompaniment of fiddle, banjo, guitar, and harmonium. Somewhere on the border between old-time music and modern American songwriting, The EarlyMays have built a band with harmonies that feel like home. It’s a partnership that has shared slow-burning, perfectly paired vocals for ten years—from NPR’s Mountain Stageto house concerts all over the mid-Atlantic.

“I think part of our aesthetic comesfrom being introspective people,” Gozion reflects, “We don’t have a flashy, fast sound, but if you let the music engulf you, there are lots of layers. Our songs give people a place to slow down.” “The Early Mays rehearsals are restorative for me,” adds Pinkerton. “The hours spent in Ellen’s living room, with coffee and dark chocolate, following the harmonies wherever they take us, laughing and just loving that exploration as much as we love singing for other people. I hope you can hear the joy of the process in Prettiest Blue.” From the old-time music community, The Early Mays have absorbed the culture of deep listening that’s central to playing with sensitivity. “Revivalists like us–who didn’t live and breathe Appalachian music growing up–still learn andcreate by ear for the most part,” Pinkerton explains. “Being able to carry hours of tunes in my head was life-changing. And there is new meaning to uncover each time you return to a field recording or slowly build a relationship with a mentor.”

That practice of deep listening–and slow, careful craftsmanship–spills over into every Early Mays performance and production. The duo strives to sculpt a warm, immersive sound. When recording albums, the band has explored everything from a single condensermic in a church sanctuary to analog tape and vintage compressors. ForPrettiest Blue, they were looking for a pared-down “in the room” sound, and recorded at Audible Images in Pittsburgh with Hollis Greathouse, combining live takes with multi-tracked vocals and cello. Drawn by Alex Perialas’ work on Richie Stearns and Rosie Newton’s latest release, The Early Mays decided to mix at Pyramid Sound Studios in Ithaca, NY. Cellist Nicole Myers joins the Mays onPrettiest Blue, lending sweeping melodic lines to support the vocals and old-time textures

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Drive-By Truckers - The Driver.

Drive-By Truckers have announced today’s premiere of 'The Driver', the latest track from their upcoming 14th studio album, 'Welcome 2 Club XIII'. 'Welcome 2 Club XIII' arrives via ATO Records on Friday, June 3.  A hypnotic introduction to the album’s sprawling autobiography, 'The Driver' kicks off 'Welcome 2 Club XIII' with a darkly thrilling epic punctuated with lead-heavy riffs and Mississippi-bred singer-songwriter Schaefer Llana’s unearthly backing vocals.

“Around the same era of Club XIII, I spent a lot of time driving around late at night when I couldn’t sleep,” says founding member/vocalist/guitarist Patterson Hood, “listening to music loud and often having a beer or two. Sometimes during those drives, I’d have these epiphanies about what to do with my life - like listening to Tim by The Replacements not long after it came out and deciding to drop out of school to try and make this whole band thing work.”

Welcome 2 Club XIII also includes the spirited, horn-blasted “Every Single Storied Flameout” and the album’s swinging centrepiece, “Welcome 2 Club XIII,” both available now at all DSPs and streaming services; the latter track – which pays homage to the Muscle Shoals honky-tonk where founding members Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley got their start – is joined by an official music video streaming now via YouTube.

Arriving as Drive-By Truckers enters its 26th year, 'Welcome 2 Club XIII' marks a sharp departure from the trenchant commentary of 'The Unraveling' and 'The New OK' (both released in 2020). Produced by longtime Drive-By Truckers collaborator David Barbe and mainly recorded at his studio in Athens, GA, 'Welcome 2 Club XIII' took shape over the course of three frenetic days in summer 2021 – a doubly extraordinary feat considering that the band had no prior intentions of making a new album. Featuring background vocals from the likes of Margo Price, R.E.M.’s Mike Mills, and Mississippi-bred singer/songwriter Schaefer Llana, 'Welcome 2 Club XIII' was recorded live with most songs cut in one or two takes, fully harnessing Drive-By Truckers’ freewheeling energy. Songs like epic, darkly thrilling 'The Driver' and the spirited, horn-blasted 'Every Single Storied Flameout' see the band – whose lineup also includes keyboardist/guitarist Jay Gonzalez, bassist Matt Patton, and drummer Brad Morgan – looking back on their formative years with both deadpan pragmatism and profound tenderness, instilling each song with the kind of lived-in detail that invites bittersweet reminiscence of your own misspent youth.

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Joy on Fire - WILDES - Personal Space

Joy on Fire - Happy Holidays.

The eclectic New Jersey jazz / rock quartet Joy on Fire have shared their new single “Happy Holidays”, another new track from their forthcoming new album States of America. Unlike previous singles “Anger and Decency” and “Selfies” that took their freewheeling jazz punk sound in a proggier direction with longer runtimes and more experimental song structures, “Happy Holidays” is one of the most immediately energizing songs on the album, wasting no time before throwing you into headfirst into the interplay between guitarist / bassist John Paul Carillo and saxophone player Anna Meadors. As usual, frontman Dan Gutstein’s deadpan spoken word vocals tie the track together, with darkly funny observations and turns of phrase like “I hate spending a lot of time in graveyards / we’re all going to spend a lot of time in graveyards”.

The release of “Happy Holidays” is accompanied by a music video, in which the band performs the song on street corners and graveyards, with Gutstein speaking his lyrics into a cell phone and a broken old payphone. Describing the inspiration and process of making the visuals, John writes: “The video for "Happy Holidays" was directed by Anna and me, and we were able to spin off some of Dan's lyrical gambits, especially "A hood-up is not a phone booth / A phone rings inside a hood-up" as well as the repetition of "graveyards."  

We also spun off the spinning motion invoked in the main riffs of the tune.  So the video, surreal and playful ala Spike Jonze's days working with the Breeders and the Beastie Boys, has a lot of spinning in it -- spinning cameras, spinning musicians (that's us!), and people rolling down a hill in a cemetery (us again!).  The video was filmed both outside of Washington DC and in various spots in New Jersey.  The busted up payphone that's featured throughout the video is in Trenton, near band headquarters, and, well...what is it doing there?  

The thing hasn't worked in at least five years!, and the receiver -- as seen in the video -- is split in two.  I guess it was there waiting for us to film it!  It’s in front of a church of sorts -- one of those somewhat ungainly urban buildings that calls itself a church -- and as Anna and I were filming, some members of the congregation came out and told us we'd been there too long and that we had better head on out, pronto!  No problem, they came out just as we were wrapping up.”

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WILDES - Lightly.

WILDES, the solo project of London-based singer/songwriter Ella Walker, has just released the new single "Lightly". With a sound that never falls short of empowering, "Lightly" and recently released single "Woman In Love" - both produced by St Francis Hotel (Michael Kiwanuka, Little Simz) - are the first tastes of her as-yet-unannounced debut album, due for release later this year.

A defining theme of WILDES' new material is the hard-won process of reclaiming her self-esteem. “Lightly”, was an exercise in learning to like herself again - “I’d been totally absorbed by other people, and I never consulted my own emotions,” recalls Walker.

A piano ballad with a rousing string section to tie your heart in knots, it’s an ode to her own resilience. “It was a pivotal moment in my opinion of myself and helped me navigate leaving this bad relationship. I knew I needed a new outlook on life, writing this song helped me believe it.”

Speaking more on the lyrical themes at play on new single "Lightly", she said: "This song symbolises hope. Writing it gave me permission me to imagine how much better my life could be, beyond the fear and worry I had been living in for a number of years. I realised that I was light, and always had been, and I began to separate myself from the sadness and heaviness someone had inflicted upon me. For the first time I sat down and recognised all of the the qualities I loved about myself, and it was these qualities that ended up seeing me through the darkest and most difficult of times. To me, ‘Lightly’ is the feeling of watching the sunrise after the longest night, feeling the warmth on your face - that warmth and light is almost transcendental. I was encouraging myself to listen to my gut and take the terrifying steps towards a better life for myself."

Sonically falling somewhere in a Bermuda Triangle of Angel Olsen, St Vincent and PJ Harvey, WILDES' music sits within an entrancing skeleton of folk songwriting, all the while lifting the listener up on a storm cloud of cinematic electronics and her sharp, honest lyricism. WILDES notes the influence of PJ Harvey, Patti Smith and SASAMI on her new material - "Unapologetically honest women and musicians. They gave me permission to come out of the box I'd been cowering in."

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Personal Space - Ceviche From Kew Gardens.

"Ceviche from Kew Gardens" is the last single from Personal Space's new EP, Still Life. It follows "Long Live the New Flesh." According to the band's Sam Rosenthal; "Let me preface this by saying I’m a married man, but I remember there being a slew of pandemic articles and op-eds about dating during Covid times, about all the anxiety and apprehension, etc, so it felt like a good and timely subject for a song.

There’s no explicit references to a pandemic or anything, just this lonely person who’s bored and kinda down on the world, texting and DM-ing with a prospective lover, dreaming about getting to see them in person. It shows the ordinary aspects of any courtship, like the constant questioning insecurity (Are they seeing other people? Do they feel the same way I feel?), but there’s also that added feeling of being stuck indoors and in the digital realm that speaks more directly to these past couple of years."

Brooklyn/DC-based Personal Space are a conundrum: indie without a scene, prog disdaining complexity, a dad band without dads. Their 2021 LP, A Lifetime of Lesuire, found the band fretting over downward mobility, preoccupied with ethically sourcing their groceries, and hoping, against hope, that humanity can still find its way to a very chill, socialist utopia.

Still Life is the natural progression as Personal Space grapples with lost connections in a pandemic, tech-bro hustlers and finding the joy in our whirring 2022 realities.

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Lindsay Clark - Tidal Wave

Photo - Myles Katherine

Lindsay Clark - Evening Star.

Lindsay Clark is sharing her new "Evening Star" single/video which features William Tyler on guitar. Carpe Noctem is due out on June 24th via Audiosport Records. Lindsay shared some words behind the meaning of the single "I wrote "Evening Star" one winter when I was visiting my hometown in the mountains of Northern California, and the river there. I was struggling with some patterns in my life that kept ending in loss, but I was also in a time where I felt a sense of deep internal change. I had gone down to the river one day and felt soothed by the sound of water against rock. 

That feeling in the song is set against moon rise and the change of day into night, and is reflected in the changing harmony and rhythmic patterns of the song. When we went to record the song at Panoramic (in Stinson Beach, CA), I wanted to capture the darkness of night and the depth that water has, and William Tyler's guitar and bass parts added so much texture to the song. I always add a lot of layered vocals to my songs, and this one has a lot of those as well to create swells. Really, the song is about change and beginning a new cycle - feeling that before it's happened, but anticipating it."

Lindsay Clark finds balance between traditional folk, English folk, country and her own version of experimental folk that seems to come from within. With influences ranging from the Beach Boys, Elizabeth Cotton, Joni Mitchell, Appalachian folk, her classical upbringing, and her father’s record collection, she blends many worlds into a uniquely warm sound. She has carved out a unique and vibrant place as an artist with her penchant for poetry, rich harmony, and a style of self-taught fingerpicking influenced by Nick Drake, John Fahey, and others.

Originally from the small gold rush town of Nevada City, CA, she now resides in Portland, OR. Her sound has been described as “folk with angelic vocals washing over smooth edges” (1859 Magazine). She has shared the stage with musicians such as Alela Diane, Nat Baldwin (Dirty Projectors), Adam Torres, Ryan Francesconi (Joanna Newsom), Laura Gibson, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and Michael Hurley. “Crystalline” was released in 2018 via boutique German label Oscarson. Her forthcoming album features William Tyler, Alela Diane, Sage Fisher (Dolphin Midwives), Alexis Mahler (Shook Twins) & Andy Rayborn (Paper Gates) and was engineered, co-produced, co-arranged with Jeremy Harris (Devendra Banhart/Vetiver), with additional engineering by Ryan Oxford (Y La Bamba) and Brandon Eggleston (Mountain Goats), out 6/24/22 with Audiosport Records (NL). She has also recently contributed to vocals on Michael Hurley’s latest release, Time of the Foxgloves (No Quarter Records).

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Tidal Wave - Sunbleached.

The name of our band rather accurately depicts the overall tone of an unrelenting unstoppable force. Tidal Wave evokes the melodic elements of indie rock bands, while creating compelling production-heavy ambient synth and guitar textures.

"Sunbleached" is inspired by the feeling of moving on in life. Specifically, I was thinking about my younger self when I was finishing high school. I realized that I may not see some of those people for a very long time or potentially even ever again. There's nothing wrong with people moving on in life and going forward but it can be a lot to process and accept that things will be different.

During the making of the song, getting the vocals right was one of the biggest challenges. I ended up traveling to Joshua Tree National Park in California and spending time in the desert to recharge, and really figure out what the emotions and lyrics of the song meant to me.

In the hole where there once was a heart, I reach right in and yet I feel nothing.

At a certain point you're worn out from wearing your heart on your sleeve and feeling everything so deeply that there simply isn't anything left to feel. And in that moment you feel like it's wrong to not be as broken up as you should be, but the physical truth is that you can’t put yourself through that hurt anymore.

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Cola - Josh Rouse

Cola - Fulton Park.

On Friday, the debut LP from Cola, Deep In View, will be released on Fire Talk Records. The new project from former Ought members Tim Darcy and Ben Stidworthy and US Girls/The Weather Station drummer Evan Cartwright, the band's debut has been one of the most anticipated releases of the year, earning praise from outlets like NPR, FADER and Rolling Stone who named the band an Artist You Need To Know and called their debut "one of the year’s most thrilling rock statements." Today, Cola are sharing a final single from the LP, a track called "Fulton Park."

"Ben and I had a flow writing this record where we would send each other demos every Friday," Darcy has stated. "It was a really motivating way to write, as I would spend the week working on something but then get the bonus of hearing what Ben had written when I sent him my track.  I heard Fulton Park and was immediately excited to work on vocals for it.  

It’s such an interesting instrumental.  These lush almost psychedelic guitars in the intro and chorus are paired with this really stripped down almost honky tonk verse.  It conjured in my mind this kind of old west imagery.  I suppose looking back on the lyrics now, that same kind of juxtaposition is present. Similar to Landers, it takes a look at the natural world and then the odd, magical, sometimes empty things that humans do on that landscape."

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Picture - Jim Harrington

Josh Rouse - Stick Around.

Today, acclaimed singer/songwriter Josh Rouse shares the new single “Stick Around” off his forthcoming album Going Places, which releases July 29 via Yep Roc Records. Inspired by the groovy American and English music of the 1970’s, the song is punctuated with an unexpected Memphis-style horn line.

"I wrote this one summer while doing an outdoor show in Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain,” explains Rouse. “We recorded the song in a couple takes, it sounded somewhere between J.J. Cale and Fairport Convention, until I had Jim Hoke put some saxes on it and it became something else entirely. A barbecue strummer!"

Going Places came together over the last two years when Josh Rouse found himself hunkered down with his family in Spain. Inspired by a desire to perform live during a time when that was virtually impossible to do, he got together with his Spanish band to workshop the songs in a small local venue owned by a friend. The resulting collection of songs trades the polished sheen of his prior work for a looser, more relaxed vibe. Where 2018’s Love in the Modern Age saw Rouse take a left turn to keyboard-based retro-new wave territory, Going Places is steeped in waves of his classic guitar melodies, with touches of organ and horns, layers of backing vocals and a distinctive southern twang. Listen to the debut single “Hollow Moon.”

Over the last two decades, Josh Rouse has solidified his status among this generation’s most acclaimed songwriters with insightful lyrics and a warm, effortless style. His work has been celebrated by press including Associated Press, Billboard, NPR Music, Los Angeles Times, BrooklynVegan, Salon and more. Forbes called him “a masterful songwriter,” and Paste declared, "His knack for setting a simple feeling to a breezy melody shines through again and again.” Now passing 50 years old, Going Places marks the next phase of his career. Looking toward the future, the new album once again proves Rouse’s undeniable ability to evolve and push his sound forward, delivering something that is both familiar and wholly new.

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Elle Celeste - BERRIES - The Local Honeys

Elle Celeste - So Few.

Calgary-based singer/songwriter Elle Celeste releases the second single, “So Few,” from her debut solo album Call On Me, due out in Autumn 2022. Much like the title track, shared back in March, “So Few” offers another powerful glimpse of Elle Celeste’s stunning artistic vision that combines familiar folk-rock elements with cinematic atmospherics, all propelled by her haunting voice, reminiscent of Cat Power’s Chan Marshall and Sharon Van Etten.

“This song was inspired by the original Blade Runner from 1982,” Elle Celeste says. “I enjoy the gloom and dread in the film and the feeling that everyone is just existing. Vangelis did an incredible job on the score. I tried to emulate his synth tone in the intro. Overall, this track is my ode to the rise of machines.”
Elle Celeste’s new material builds on the “21st Century folk music” approach of her former band Copperhead that blended punk, ambient and electronic sounds with traditional elements. She wrote eight of Call On Me’s nine tracks, later crafting them with longtime musical collaborator Kirill Telichev and producer Casey McMechan, better known as the electronica artist Tyrek. 

Beginning in December 2019, the trio assembled Call On Me over the next 18 months, building sonic landscapes to complement Elle Celeste’s unflinching lyrics, many based on her personal experiences. “I feel I’ve matured in almost every way making this record,” Elle Celeste adds. “It’s motivated me to keep looking for ways to connect my experiences and song concepts with audiences.” 

In all, Call On Me provides a dramatic first impression of a dynamic new voice on the Canadian independent music scene. With an ear trained to the past, but with her eyes firmly set on the future, Elle Celeste is an artist with unlimited potential.

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BERRIES - We Are Machines.

BERRIES have unveiled their latest  single ‘We Are Machines’ taken from their forthcoming debut LP ‘How We Function’ (out 8 July 2022).

Once more tackling a hard-hitting theme head on with a razor-sharp blend of fuzzy guitars, driving riffs and gritty rock melodies, ‘We Are Machines’ arrives as BERRIES announce the release of their first cohesive full-length record ‘How We Function’, out 8 July 2022 via Xtra Mile Recordings.

Tracing the thread of guttural garage-rock that ran through earlier single ‘Wall of Noise’ — but lacing it with a more infectious sort of optimism — ‘We Are Machines’ blends jagged noise-driven instrumentals with a rhythmic guitar riff and catchy, convulsing melodies that wriggle in the head long after the track has come to a close. The track itself grapples with the struggles we as humans face in a society hell-bent on dehumanising individuals.

As BERRIES explain: “It is a song about struggling in a demanding society and being exploited by people who have little empathy or concern for your well-being. The song touches on how we are forced to become machines, trying to maintain an impossible level of perfection and how we need to fight against this. Admitting we are only human and finding the strength to stand up and push for balance and rights. In turn, becoming a different type of machine.”

With its expert alloy of barbed guitar lines, polished yet anarchic and densely layered rhythms and melodious vocals, ‘We Are Machines’ is a skillful second glimpse into BERRIES’ forthcoming debut ‘How We Function’ — an album ostensibly about mental health struggles and the resounding empowerment of overcoming and learning to live thoroughly with them.

Of the new record songwriter, guitarist and vocalist Holly explains: “The album is about strength and growth, and recognising the dark times and how you get over them. We’ve got over a lot of mental health struggles, but we wanted the album to have an empowering vibe to it as well. This is our journey to growth. Mental health is not a shadow over what you’re doing — this is really healthy and we can talk about this stuff.”

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The Local Honeys - Dead Horses.

When a master songsmith like Tom T. Hall calls someone “a great credit to a wonderful Kentucky tradition,” it’s time to pull up a chair and pay attention. As it pertains to the nearly-decade-running duo The Local Honeys, he was right on the money. The duo—Linda Jean Stokley and Montana Hobbs—have long been an integral part of Kentucky’s musicscape, and on July 15th, they’ll be adding a new entry into the Bluegrass State’s rich musical canon. Their first release on La Honda Records (Colter Wall, Riddy Arman, Vincent Neil Emerson), The Local Honeys features ten winsome vignettes of rural Kentucky, conjuring 90’s alternatives sounds with hillbilly Radiohead lilts, soaring above layers of deep grooves and rich tones masterfully curated by longtime mentor Jesse Wells, a GRAMMY-nominated producer, musician (currently a member of Tyler Childers’ band The Food Stamps), and Assistant Director at the Kentucky Center for Traditional Music at Morehead State.

Today, The Local Honeys shared their first taste of the new album with “Dead Horses,” an emotional look at the tragedy of animal husbandry. With lines like “Suppose we’re all just animals with slightly different hides,” Stokely displays a cut and dried existence on the farm and the world at large while drums and banjo meld together propelling the tune from verse to verse. The accompanying music video finds Stokley and Hobbs surrounded by nostalgic photos of their equine counterparts, contributed by the band’s fanbase, adding weight to the meaning of the song itself. The“Dead Horses” video can be viewed right here and pre-order or pre-save The Local Honeys ahead of its July 15th release at this link.

Over the years, The Local Honeys have paid their dues, garnering countless accolades and accomplishments (tours with Tyler Childers, Colter Wall, praise from the New York Times), and have become the defining sound of real deal, honest-to-god Kentucky music. With The Local Honeys, Stokley and Hobbs ended up with the most nuanced, moody, deep-holler sound they have captured to date. “This is the first time we’ve actively gotten to express who we are and where we’re from” says Linda Jean, “The songs on the album speak for us,” adds Montana “they’re about what we know, reflections of us as people. We realized we have the power to add our own narrative into Kentucky music.”

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Colyn Cameron - Em Spel - Roxi Copland

Colyn Cameron - Stream.

After almost four years since Sad & Easy, Colyn is excited to be sharing a new album ‘Freehand’. While living in Vancouver, BC, the new material emerged within the paradoxical spaces of experimenting with dispersed and concentrated rhythms. He used the material to explore themes of technology, adventure, self-worth & love with mild nods to worldly trepidation.

The Album was again recorded mostly at home, with additional instrumentation from close collaborators Aiden Ayers and Josh Contant.

It has now been ten years since the release of Wake Owl’s first album. In the years since, Colyn has also composed original music for 2 feature films and numerous different independent projects, and formed new musical and broader artistic collaborations.

His enchanting new single “Stream” was inspired by algorithmic realities, such as near annual iPhone purchases and the screen time data Apple shares. The metaphor in the line “Well I've tried prototypes, but the fruit wasn’t ripe, I’ll pretend differently it’s a bad appetite” suggests that all tech progress is fruitful, but maybe isn’t always ready.

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Em Spel - Golem.

As we round the home stretch towards the release of Em Spel's debut album The Carillon Towers we celebrate the release of the third single "Golem" - a beautifully orchestrated track that meditates on the monkey's paw curse / wish of the Golem from Jewish Folklore.

Of the track Emma Hospelhorn states, "Have you ever loved the idea of someone rather than the real person? In this intimate, slow build of a song, the lush instrumentation is layered in gradually: An improvised noise layer swirls like the static of a person's thoughts over a gentle guitar line played by V.V. Lightbody. A singing violin line, played by Caitlin Edwards, starts out simply and then soars into shimmering counterpoint at the apex of the song, on the lyric "what if you said you'd become someone new?""

The Carillon Towers features luminaries from Chicago's thriving experimental and classical music scene including V.V. Lightbody, Katinka Kleijn, Eric Ridder and Matt Oliphant who work to bring these lushly orchestrated songs to life

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Roxi Copland - I Come From Crazy.

A classically trained musician with a love for great songwriting, Roxi Copland’s innovative sound is forged at the crossroads of Americana, roots, and jazz. From her confessions that “the things I speak aloud might hurt the ones I love” to professing seductively “I prefer my arms with yours entwined,” the five songs that make up her I Come From Crazy EP reveal an artist unafraid to divulge her shortcomings, frustrations, and desires.

"It took a while for me to be self-confident enough to write a song without complex chords in it," she recalls, referencing her previous life as a singing pianist in jazz clubs. "I noticed that what I really loved as a kid were songs that told stories, and a lot of those were country and Americana … my songwriting started to have more of a tilt towards that direction." Throughout the EP, Copland’s sultry vocals are framed by country-tinged instrumentation from a stellar lineup of some of Austin’s finest—including Warren Hood on fiddle (Alejandro Escovedo, Joe Ely, The Waybacks), Adam Nurre on drums (David Ramirez, Jeremy Pinnell) James Bookert on banjo (Whiskey Shivers, Wild Child), Devin North on bass (Arielle), and Justin Douglas, who also engineered and co-produced the album with Copland, on pedal steel and guitar. The resulting sound is akin to a rowdier, rootsier Madeleine Peyroux or Melody Gardot.

Lead single "Daddy Don't Do Politics," which earned an accolade from the International Songwriting Competition (2020 Semi-Finalist, Folk/Singer-Songwriter category), might be the most timely of all the tracks on the EP. In just over two minutes, it offers up a succinct summation of that moment when a father gets a lesson in privilege from his more progressive daughter. “He didn’t appreciate me pointing out that he had a huge head start in life, and I didn’t appreciate him willfully ignoring a massive amount of privilege. So I got a little passive-aggressive and wrote this song and admittedly had a lot of fun while doing it,” Copland recalls.

Looking for an escape of sorts during the pandemic, Copland says she steered her efforts towards simply having fun with music, centering the storytelling, and looking internally to family dynamics for inspiration. “I was focusing on telling a story, whether it was funny, sarcastic, or getting a political dig in, and trying to write to that story rather than coming up with a song and then writing a story to fit.”

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Wy - King Lazy Eye - Vietnam

Wy - Teeth.

Wy are a band strongest at their most vulnerable. The Malmö indie duo, Ebba and Michel Gustafsson Ågren, have showcased their musical skills across three albums, 2017’s Okay, 2019’s Softie and 2021’s Marriage which gained them recognition from KEXP, Line of Best Fit, NBHAP, Tonspion, CLASH and more as well as tours in Germany, Scandinavia and the UK. But what makes them stand out as a band is the raw, brutal emotion they capture in their music. A Wy song at their best sounds like opening it all up, and letting the feelings flow where they will, letting the pain, anger, fear, hope and love steer the song. Those emotions are spun into the band’s skyscaping, cinematic sound, and turned into music that has a force behind it, a power that hits you, even when it's at its softest. Teeth is the first song from new EP Something Amazing which is out on all platforms and a limited CD including a six page booklet (which also includes Marriage) on June 17th.

First single Teeth is about “standing helpless on the sideline when someone close to you is struggling. About feeling desperate to help when there’s nothing you can do but to be by their side and wait for it all to pass. It feels extra relevant now that we have become parents. Suddenly there’s an abundance of things we cannot control, and there’s going to be a lot more of that in the future. It’s a hard thing to accept, but you can’t protect the ones you love from everything, even if you want to.”

Something Amazing picks up where Marriage left off, exploring dramatic life changes, including the experience of knowing that there soon will be a third person in the family. It is the second release since signing to Rama Lama Records (Melby, Steve Buscemi's Dreamy Eyes, Chez Ali etc.) and continues the path from last years Marriage, leaving the more produced style of second album Softie behind, it turns to the simpler sound of their earlier work for music that’s rawer and sharper.

The duo describes it as being about “the light at the end of the tunnel. About narrowing your circle and focusing your gaze on what is important - the people close to you. About a door, opening wide into a completely new life, with entirely new challenges and overwhelming beauty. ”

 
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King Lazy Eye - Slow Burn.

After building a following of over 220,000 people on TikTok who are itching for new music, Southern punk-rocker King Lazy Eye (Dylan Wilson) releases his single, “Slow Burn,” via brand-new Nashville independent record label Sky Daddy. “Slow Burn” is the first single to be released from his debut EP due out in August 2022.

Wilson delivers his crafty songwriting with southern Tennessee twang over upbeat acoustic guitar licks. Now that he’s set with a full band and label backing him, he’s ready to blaze his trail. Inspired by artists like Pinegrove, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, and The Pixies, Wilson has honed in on his talents and delivers them via a well-tuned, heartfelt vehicle for himself and like-minded fans.

With repeating lyrics of “I feel like I’m just a slow burn” in a catchy rhythm that makes it easy to sing along, the song is nothing short of an anthem. The single is about getting clean from methamphetamine and alcohol and subsequently going to jail, as well as how the road to sobriety for everyone is different--the usual motivators like religion or corporal punishment can fail us just like any other system we're indoctrinated into. "Slow Burn" is also weighted with the physical exhaustion that comes from recovering from a five-year narcotics binge.

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Vietnam - In Another Desert. 

‘In Another Desert’ by New Zealand post-punk / indie-guitar band Vietnam is the third video and promo single to be lifted from their latest album, This Quiet Room. Vietnam’s first new record since 1985’s self-titled debut, This Quiet Room was released in New Zealand and Australia in January 2022. Met with an immediate and overwhelmingly warm reception from radio, reviewers, and record collectors alike, vinyl and CD copies of This Quiet Room have now gained wider release across Europe and the UK, through Netherlands distribution label Clear Spot.

Primarily written by co-founding member Peter Dransfield, ‘In Another Desert’ ranges from tumultuous, tension-building rhythms through to breezier moments of melodic release: showcasing Vietnam’s moody early eighties post-punk influences (often compared at the time to Joy Division, The Cure, The Church, or The Sound), blended with New Zealand influences in the tradition of The Pin Group, The Verlaines, or The Chills. The song’s dynamic contrast between light and shade is offset by the new video, capturing an energetic performance from the band, in stark monochrome.

‘In Another Desert’ is both the new album’s opening track, and one of the earliest unreleased songs from the band’s original 1980s repertoire. The song kicks off This Quiet Room with a stick count from original drummer Leon Reedijk (R.I.P.), sampled from the band’s 2017 live reunion show in Wellington, New Zealand. Sadly, Leon died of a sudden heart attack just a few months after that show.

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Ellen Arthur Blyth - Josephine Philip - Ben Talmi

Ellen Arthur Blyth - God Knows.

Dublin-based singer songwriter Ellen Arthur Blyth unveiled her long-awaited debut album ‘Nine’ in April. The collection of Ellen’s unique jazz-pop sound follows the release of the single ‘Young Ones’ and title track ‘Nine’ which earned Ellen support from acclaimed publications such as Notion, Hotpress and Nialler9.

The album is now followed by the release of a stunning new music video for ‘God Knows’, which expresses the themes of pain in the song with visuals of a captivating ballerina. “It's about the time in my life when I had to finally stop drinking. It felt like a relationship was ending, one I'd had from the age of 14. I thought I couldn't live without it and felt heartbroken.” - Ellen shares the meaning behind ‘God Knows’

Born in Dublin, the youngest of nine, in a house where the one who shouted loudest ate most, Ellen learned early how to sing for her supper. Dragged out of bed, dusted down, slung into a polyester frock, her early forays into musical performance consisted of pitch perfect renditions of Any Dream Will Do to family friends. But as success followed the clan, friends turned to ambassadors, heads of state, Hollywood actors and other visiting dignitaries passing through. 

Aged 9, she woke her father and told him she was going to be a famous singer and would buy him a racehorse. He told her to go back to bed. At 16 she made the live finals of Ireland’s ‘You’re a Star’ but lost her voice. Her early adult life was spent serenading drunk punters in a city buried in snow, before finally, she fell through a drunken crevasse. After reaching bottom, she started to climb back out and rediscover her voice.

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Josephine Philip - She Said.

She Said is a song about being a woman. The song unfolds from two perspectives – one being young, carefree and full of hope, but also feeling insecure and scared to make the wrong decisions. The other perspective is delivered from an older narrator, that has lived life – singing to her younger self, wanting to give advice, but not wanting to interfere, because she knows that life has to be lived and experienced, good or bad, wild and mundane. The track is a celebration of all women and a reminder to believe in oneself. Philip’s catchy vocals are supported by gritty drums, dynamic beats and sparse guitar.

Josephine Philip lives and works in Copenhagen. She is inspired by a wealth of artistic expression; choral works, contemporary art and performance, jazz standards, experimental music, film, literature and classical music, and uses this inspiration to tell her engaging tales and stories.

Philip released her debut single as a solo artist, Call My Name in May 2021 and her second The Clue in October 2021. Both songs have been in heavy rotation on Danish radio station P6 Beat and have been very warmly received on both Danish and foreign music media. In February 2022 she released her 3rd single No. 7 and in March 2022 her 4th single Little Boy.

“It’s a fragile, nocturnal piece of cinematic beauty, a track about love and longing, surrounded in an impressive musical setting. The anchor of this delicate tune remains Philip‘s stunning vocal performance which is equally strong and fragile”

The new album - We Get Lost And Found - is written and produced in collaboration with Copenhagen based producer and musician Lasse Martinussen and will be released on 20th May 2022. Josephine Philip was one half of the now defunct dynamic duo JaConfetti, was a founder of and served time in the all-female Ska outfit Favelachic and the dance floor popular sound system Dullen & Dyken.

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Ben Talmi - Berkshires.

As the opening and title track of Ben Talmi's upcoming record, this song really sets the tone for the tunes that follow. An ode to growing up in Western Mass, Ben takes us on a nostalgic journey through some of the most formative moments in his life. With a humorous and often self depracating tone, he describes "the night some friends and I paid tribute to The Ramones by hanging a giant “Rock 'n' Roll High School” banner above our beloved Pittsfield High School. No one saw it and the banner was taken down first thing the following morning." Other memories include going to a Smiths singalong party and feeling shame at not knowing any of the lyrics.

Musically, "Berkshires" introduces us to Ben's talent as an arranger, with a string quartet floating on top of his fingerpicked acoustic. It's as if you crossed Nick Drake with the twee pop of Belle and Sebastian or one of their 90s contemporaries. I love how simple the arrangement is, and the quartet never threatens to overwhelm the delicate stories being told.

As with the previous two singles "Ralph & Mary" and "Canoe Meadows," "Berkshires" epitomizes the kind of homespun nostalgia that jumped out at me upon first listen. Ben is singing about beloved memories from his past, and while we weren't there with him, we can feel the love and affection in his voice.

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Heavy Gus - Bo Milli

Photo - Lauren Jacobson

Heavy Gus - Weird Sad Symbol.

California-based trio Heavy Gus have announced their debut album Notions will release on August 5th through BMG Records. Led by singer/songwriter/guitarist Dorota Szuta, the band includes multi-instrumentalist Stelth Ulvang of The Lumineers and percussionist Ryan Dobrowski of Blind Pilot. The group also shared their new single “Weird Sad Symbol” along with the accompanying music video directed by maven Ben Fee. The video was shot in one take and shows Szuta singing through a montage of pesky hecklers as she revels in resilience and survival. Under the Radar premiered the video saying, “the track captures the trio’s propulsive energy with rollicking rhythms, infectious guitar parts, and impeccable melodic sensibilities一all of the foundations for great garage rock.”

“I wrote ‘Weird Sad Symbol’ as a joyous departure, while living in a damp garage in Santa Cruz, California,” Szuta told Under The Radar who debuted the video. “It's a song about living in chaos and just rolling with it. It's the second track off our debut album, Notions, which we're excited to announce will be released August 5th!”

Heavy Gus emerged last year with the psychedelic-tinged “Do We Have to Talk?”, a track about the intimacy in words unspoken and reaching out for the comfort of a physical connection. Earlier this year, they shared the long-distance-love-song “Dinner For Breakfast,” a droning, bittersweet, reverb-drenched reflection on longing and separation that ultimately finds a reason to hold on in even the darkest of moments.

The band took shape during the pandemic when songwriting couple Uvlang and Szuta (a marine scientist who also has a background in music playing with Laura Gibson and Gill Landry) took a socially distanced road trip to Nashville — picking up Dobrowski in Colorado along the way — to record at The Creative Workshop. The resulting collection of songs blur the lines between grungy garage band fare, hazy desert surf, and dreamy, sun-soaked indie rock. Their debut offering calls to mind everything from Meat Puppets and The Breeders to Yo La Tengo and Acetone in its artful balance of hope and fatalism, loneliness and desire, strength and vulnerability. And while all three bandmates came to Heavy Gus from very different worlds, they fit together like puzzle pieces here, bound by the kind of love and trust that can only grow from years of deep kinship. Notions was engineered and mixed by Parker Cason (Margo Price, All Them Witches, Coin) and mastered by Pete Lyman (Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile).

 
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Bo Milli - At The Wheel.

Bergen, Norway based artist Bo Milli shares the video for debut track "At The Wheel". The latest signing to MADE Management (Sigrid, AURORA), "At The Wheel" was co-produced by Odd Martin Skålnes (Sigrid, Sløtface, AURORA).

With a predisposition to self-criticise and a talent for turning that into art, Bo Milli is an essential new voice in music. Through her diaristic lyrics, the super smart environmentalist writes hook after hook as she navigates her inner conflict. And indeed, in putting her own life into words, she has unknowingly narrated our collective existential angst. “Writing music is an emotional outlet, but it’s also a puzzle,” she says, reflecting on her craft. “Sentences come to me and I try to make the pieces fit together. And if just for a moment my music is a good thing in someone’s life, then I will take any opportunity to play it.”

Debut track “At The Wheel” is a Soccer Mommy-adjacent song about becoming an adult and suddenly finding yourself responsible for not just your own destiny but the future of the planet. “It’s embarrassingly earnest,” she says of the track, in which she questions “who’s at the wheel these days?” from a bed of idiosyncratic lyrics and melodies. “It’s about how the small things feel big, and how you try to relate to the big things but the everyday stuff takes up so much real estate. There are these flashes of ‘oh fuck!’ but then you’re like… ‘wait, where’re my keys?’” The feeling of powerlessness though, is all-too relatable.

Commenting on the track's accompanying video, Bo Milli said: "The video reflects the everyday-feel of the lyrics, leaning into the literal: I sing I'm waiting for the bus having a cigarette, there I am at the bus-stop doing just that. We wanted to capture the theme of aimlessness. I’m waiting for a bus that never comes, sitting in the backseat of a car that never arrives anywhere, and who’s driving anyways?"

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Violent Vickie - Kama Vardi - Ellevator - Keeper E.

Violent Vickie - Division Remixes (Album).

Violent Vickie returns with Division Remixes LP just out on May 6, featuring remixes by Kontravoid, Fragrance, Blood Handsome, in3briant, Dimension 23, Maduro, Ben Arp (C/A/T), Barium Network, Solem Youth, Niet!, Di Auger, Torturetekk,   At0shima 3rror, 40 Octaves Below, 20 Watt Dream, and Ms. Mynx vs. OsO.  The remixes are a wide range of dark electronic genres from darkwave, synthpop, EBM, dark electro, darkrave/witchwave, electronic, industrial, and post-punk.

Violent Vickie is a Los Angeles based Dark Synth-Riot artist consisting of Vickie and co-producer/recording guitarist E.  Vickie has toured with Hanin Elias of Atari Teenage Riot and has shared the stage with Pastel Ghost, Trans X, The Missing Persons,  Them Are Us Too, Aimon and Jessie Evans (The Vanishing).  She has toured the US, Mexico, Canada & Europe and played Insted Fest, Solidarity Fest, Shoutback Fest & Gay Prides and Ladyfests.  Vickie’s tracks have been released by Crunch Pod, Emerald & Doreen Recordings (Berlin), Riot Grrrl Berlin, & LoveCraft Bar (PDX).  Her track "The Wolf“ was featured in a National Organization for Women film and she was interviewed for the documentary “GRRRL”, part of the museum exhibit “Alien She”.  Her LP "Monster Alley” was voted best album by KALX and her tracks have been remixed by 25+ artists.  Violent Vickie's Division LP was released in September 2020,  followed by a remix album of "Under The Gun" in February 2021 and a cover of Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire in July 2021.

Upcoming Violent Vickie shows:

5/22 LA Macabre Fest @ The Offbeat Bar (LA)
5/27 New Orleans, LA @ Carnaval Lounge
6/11 Inland Empire, CA @ Dr Strange Records
10/8 Absolution Fest @ Crowbar (Tampa, FL)

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Photo - Roni Taharlev

Kama Vardi - Bread & Wine.

Critically acclaimed Tel Aviv songstress Kama Vardi returns with a gorgeous new song ‘Bread & Wine’, the first single to be taken from her forthcoming Somewhere East EP which will follow in September 2022.

Written in a little shack in the rural part of north Israel during the harshest moments of the pandemic, ‘Bread & Wine’ is described by Vardi as “A sort of dialogue between two lovers, wanting to be together but disillusioned by the reality of their changing love.”

The imaginative and cinematic video tells the tale of an isolated woman who brings home a disembodied and abandoned suit from a laundromat, a suit that soon comes to life as the man of her dreams, before disappearing again into its old world. It conveys the subtle feelings of hope and loss present in the song, as Vardi expands “It’s like a rude awakening from a dream of perfect, evergreen love that never changes.”

‘Bread & Wine’ is indicative of Vardi’s dreamy and timeless sound where simple production and harmonies leave space for the songwriter’s lyrics to take centre-stage, often poignant life observations told through the lens of the curious characters brought to life in her songs and delivered in Vardi’s softly whispered vocal.

Kama Vardi has previously released a debut album Forgetmenot (2012), followed by the Satchel-Sof Ma’arav EP (2016), and most recently her 2020 long-player Moonticket. The latter was warmly received by the western media with coverage in Uncut, Financial Times and American Songwriter, whilst in her homelands of Israel  the album’s singles had play from the biggest radio stations, including Glglz and 88fm, with the latter placing its first single ‘Whatever Will Be’ (2019) at no. 9 in their ‘Songs of the Year’ chart, with the track also featured on Shazam’s most searched for songs in Israel, and was included on both Apple Music’s ‘Israeli Essential Rock Song Of The 2010s’ and ‘100 Best Songs of 2019’ lists.

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Ellevator - STAR.

The Hamilton, Ontario-based trio, Ellevator have tjust released their Chris Walla-produced debut album, The Words You Spoke Still Move Me via Arts & Crafts. The record arrives alongside the video for the album track, "STAR" and comes following earlier tips from NPR, Consequence, The Needle Drop, Exclaim, FLOOD, The Line of Best Fit, Under the Radar, CBC and more. The band will support the release of the new record with Canadian dates this May with support coming from Pleasure Craft, Deanna Petcoff, Luvr, Emma Worley, Quinn Mills, Equal, Alicia Clara and Lastli across different dates – full run below.

The band, which is comprised of Nabi Sue Bersche, guitarist, Tyler Bersche and bassist/synth player, Elliott Gwynne, will deliver on the promise of their self-titled 2018 EP with their long-awaited debut album. The record was pieced together across numerous locations but primarily while living together at The Bathouse (a Kingston-area facility owned by Canadian alt-rock legends The Tragically Hip) and comes off the back of earlier dates with Amber Run, BANNERS, Cold War Kids, Arkells and Dear Rouge. Across 12 tracks, it inhabits an emotional landscape that is both breathtakingly intimate and impossibly vast, documenting various experiences to turn universal (existential longing, romantic power struggles, the neverending work of true self-discovery) and highly specific (e.g., frontwoman Nabi Sue Bersche’s journey in extracting herself from a cult) storytelling into a truly hypnotic body of work, giving rise to the kind of radiant open-heartedness that radically transforms our own perspective.

Ellevator poses a fantastic ability to sculpt these mammoth, melodramatic post-rock and indie-rock soundscapes, somewhat inspired by the late-aughts sounds of Spoon, Metric, Interpol and Arcade Fire, as well as the stadium-ready sounds of U2, Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel. "STAR" finds the band tapping into their knack for soaring guitar lines and driving percussion while commentating on the distorted image that social media can often present.

Speaking about the new single which arrives with a stunning visual directed by the band's frequent collaborator, Cam Veitch, Nabi says: "There are so many ways to disguise ourselves I don’t think we even notice we’re dressing up anymore. Good art has a human point of view, which is to say it’s nuanced, complicated. It often doesn’t have a clear agenda that’s easily distilled, packaged, and sold. Flattening that perspective into something that fits neatly between the clean lines of social media has been difficult for me. Learning how to do it has changed the way I see the world, brought out ugly instincts, and magnified my vanity and insecurity. The wildest part is that this sort of curation and performance is no longer reserved for people like me: artists who pay people lots of money to convince you to listen to our music. Any fourteen-year-old on TikTok has given at least as much careful attention to their brand as I have. But the neurochemical trick these platforms play is just the latest version of a very old phenomenon. We’ve always built our identities carefully: showing the world our good side is an intrinsic part of evolution, whether it’s holding our arms high to make the bear think we’re bigger than we are or an Instagram story of our eight-car-garage.

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Keeper E. - My Favorite Song.

Steeped in unease and constructed in an unprecedented time, Keeper E.’s new collection of songs comprises a portrait of an anxious existence that’s as deeply worried as it is catchy against all odds.

thank u and please and don’t go is packed with a litany of one-line worries and shame spirals: “I’m always driving in somebody’s blind spot, thinking I’m going to crash”; “I never know expressions and I’m so embarrassing”; “Who will take care of me if I take care of you?” The stress reaches its apex on “What If We Lose Everything,” a mid-tempo climate-change lament scattered through with unsettling dissonant notes: “There’s no way to go back,” she concludes, with considerable disappointment.

Glittering with silvery vocals, playful synths and driving rhythms, Keeper E. invites us into a dreamlike world inside her mind, sharing pages of her journal combined with intriguing melodies. Her songs have a romanticized hopefulness, looking back on past loves, regrets, and fearfulness with gratitude and hope.

Speaking on the focus track, “My Favourite Song'', is about hoping that singing along to your favourite song will take away all the pain and suffering in the world. It’s kind of a joke, like obviously just listening to a song won’t solve anything, but also it’s been my experience that sometimes music is all that can help you out of a hard time. This song talks about personal hardships like not feeling satisfied and always expecting the worst, and it also talks about the unfair power balances in the world and how the life I have is built on these unfair societal structures. In the end, it feels like the anthem of the song convinces you in some way that singing along to your favourite song must in some way help to balance things out, and will always make you feel better.“

Keeper E. is proving herself one of the most exciting new pop acts from Atlantic Canada, with an official showcase at The Great Escape in Brighton and tour dates across Canada planned in support of the release of her sophomore EP, thank you and please and don’t go, which is set for release on May 6, 2022.

But for all the personal anxieties explored in these songs, Elwood’s music is at its most confident, deeply thoughtful and wise beyond its lived experience. Born in Nova Scotia, Elwood began playing the violin at three years old, moved onto piano by four, and found her own musical voice while in university studying classical piano. Though she claims to be a technological Luddite, her production skills rival any hitmaker, and she crafts the indie-pop base of Keeper E. in solitude, with little outside influence.

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