The Money War - Rogue Jones - Nadine Khouri

The Money War - Somebody Loves You.

It's something that we can easily lose sight of, but WA indie-pop songwriting duo The Money War are here to remind us all of an important truth with their beautifully special new song, 'Somebody Loves You', released yesterday.

The Money War is the musical and romantic partnership of Carmen Pepper and Dylan Ollivierre. Making music together since 2016, the BMG/Mirror Publishing-signed pair have toured with none other than Meg Mac, Dope Lemon, Holy Holy and were handpicked by Neil Finn to open for his shows. In addition to playing local festival FOTSUN, they've also crossed the seas for the eponymous SXSW, BIGSOUND and Southbound Festival. They've received a stack of nominations along the way, most notably having debut album 'Home' up for the Australian Music Prize.

With two albums, and three EP's under their belts after the release of 'Blood' EP in 2021, Pepper and Ollivierre continue to add their ever-growing catalogue of music. They now share the important message found on 'Somebody Loves You'.

The track's uplifting melody melts with sincerity from the very first taste. Generously encompassing the undeniable force of love, 'Somebody Loves You' is yet another gem that affirms their knack for songwriting, with the Midas touch afforded by the chemistry of their pairing. It's an instant classic that will leave listeners floating into the ether, or perhaps into the arms of somebody that loves them.

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Rogue Jones - Triongl Dyfed.

'Triongl Dyfed' (The Dyfed Triangle), was the name for the area of west Wales in which there were multiple UFO sightings in the 1970s and 1980s. The central concept of the song is an imagined conspiracy theory that the Meibion Glyndwr holiday cottage arson attacks were carried out by aliens.

Mostly sung from the point of view of the extra-terrestrials – the song borrows from ‘Mae Gen i Het Tri Chornel’ an old welsh nursery rhyme, quotes 70s rockers Edward H Dafis’ hit ‘Mae’n Braf Cael Byw Mewn Tŷ Haf’ (‘It’s nice to live in a holiday home’) and name-checks the legendary singer and actor Bryn Fôn, who was falsely arrested on suspicion of being a member of Meibion Glyndwr, as well as Owain Glyndŵr himself. Both Edward H and Bryn Fôn were extremely accommodating in allowing the band to reference them – Owain Glyndŵr’s silence on the matter is deafening.

As with the whole album, it was recorded in Tŷ Drwg Studios, Grangetown with Frank Naughton and features appearances from Llŷr Parri on drums and Harri Rees on clarinet with everything else performed by Bethan and Ynyr.

"We believe that the second home crisis in Wales is completely out of hand we believe that government should intervene to prevent house prices from rising so dramatically and to allow young people who grew up in the area to buy an affordable home where they live" said the band. 

In case the lyrics get misconstrued; Rogue Jones are categorically not suggesting that burning second homes is the right thing to do - this is a song about aliens coming down from outer space to burn holiday homes.

Libertino · Rogue Jones - Triongl Dyfed

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Nadine Khouri - Keep On Pushing These Walls.

The Beirut-born now London-based singer-songwriter, Nadine Khouri is today sharing her new single, "Keep On Pushing The Walls" – the track emerges as the second to be lifted from Khouri's new album, Another Life which has found support so far from BBC 6 Music and Uncut. The new album, out November 18 via French label, Tailtres was recorded in London and Bristol with longtime collaborator, John Parish (PJ Harvey, Dry Cleaning) and follows her critically-acclaimed debut, The Salted Air which found praise from MOJO, Uncut, Clash, Drowned in Sound, Brooklyn Vegan and many more upon release.

On Another Life, Khouri and Parish take a minimalistic approach to both vocals and music alike: there is a serene, dreamlike quality to the songs, suffused with otherworldly, beatific textures. The soul-inflected “Keep On Pushing These Walls”, set to a stripped-down drum machine and Mellotron saxophones, is a joyous tribute to the late Canadian singer-songwriter Lhasa, who passed away in 2010 aged just 37.

“I wrote Keep On Pushing These Walls in tribute to the late, great Lhasa de Sela,” explains Nadine. “I'd seen Leslie Feist, Melissa Laveaux and others pay tribute to her life and work at the Barbican in London and came home and wrote this song. More generally, it's about songs written by another that open us up to ourselves, to each other and to the world.

“Lhasa was a one-of-a-kind artist, whose music has accompanied me all throughout my life,” she continues. “People often talk about her as an extraordinary singer or performer, but she was equally a brilliant songwriter and storyteller. I often wonder what Lhasa would make of the world today. Her humility, openness and quest for authenticity always inspire me. Her music was expansive, beyond language and genre - she sang from and for the soul.”

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T.G. Shand - Lightnode - Bazooka - Natalie Henry

T.G. Shand - WAWO.

Otautahi, New Zealand based dream pop artist, T. G. Shand is excited to present her latest single release, ‘WAWO’. Out today Friday 11 November. This is the first single off an upcoming EP due out this summer.

Delving back into her heavier Melbourne shoegaze roots, this one  feels the influences of Tamaryn and Sharon Van Etten. It's heavier than the recent tracks but has a dream pop sparkle. Self produced by Annemarie, and mastered by Bevan Smith, the track is both dynamic and ethereal.

"Most of it came together pretty quickly in a weekend, then I spent a month figuring out the bridge and how to include my precious Yamaha CP-70 piano."

T. G. Shand came to life in 2016. “After Miniatures disbanded, it’s been an outlet for music ideas and trying out guitar and bass.” Annemarie’s shoegaze roots found influences from the likes of Curve, Chapterhouse, Medicine, and equally from modern R&B/hip-hop heroes like Pip Millet and Little Simz.

T. G. Shand · T. G. Shand - WAWO

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Lightnode - To be is to be is to be/Same Time Same Place.

At the beginning of October 2022, the Swiss alternative rock band Lightnode released the album single 'Same Time Same Place', which was played on numerous radio stations throughout Europe.

Now follows the debut album entitled 'The Bright Side of The Edge'. The tracks on the album are reflective, concise and atmospheric. Roger Imboden's songs and lyrics reveal profound explorations of various topics: for example, the situation of Mediterranean refugees ("Made of Gold"), but also the view of one's own path of change and transience («Stay»), longings («Out of Range»), the comfort zone («Same Time Same Place») or dealing with low points («Back from Bottom Ground»).

In all 9 songs, a sense of hope always prevails and the realization that new worlds open up off the beaten path; if we dare to unlock the doors («Fine»). «The Bright Side Of The Edge» is a snapshot of the moment, with the unknown waiting at the edges, beckoning longingly, demanding other truths and illuminating the mysterious path to the future.

Lightnode play rock music - straightforward, real and honest. Their style is heavily influenced by 90's rock bands, sometimes recalling the energy of the Counting Crows or indie rock moments of Wilco. Occasionally, however, there are also echoes of the 60s and 70s through the distinctive organ sounds. The individual influences and musical imprints of the five musicians flow together to create their own emotional and powerful sound, sometimes softer, sometimes more powerful.

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Bazooka - Kapou Allou.

The world is falling apart but Bazooka are here with their fourth album (on October 21 via Inner Ear Records, Greece). They take us by the hand on a journey to a world above the earth, a world somewhere else. With 10 songs and their stories captured via the album artwork designed by Australian artist Montero, they transport us to the dreams and nightmares of modern life. ''Kapou Allou (Somewhere Elsewhere)'' is clearly the band's most entertaining and versatile album, their own truth. 

Bazooka’s craziness and instinctive energy are still there but accompanied by a great appetite for experimentation and situations that lead the band to an absolute letting go without any restrictions. The final result is the closest a studio album can get to the band's live performing sound, making this arguably their best album to date.

This five-piece band is originally from Volos, Greece, but relocated to Athens, comprising the core of the new underground psych-rock scene along with other bands, such as Acid Baby Jesus and Komodina 3.  Since then, they have toured Europe several times and around the United States. Their music could be described as psychedelic and very raw, like garage punk with a unique sense of youth mixed with frustration vibes.

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Natalie Henry - White Heat.

White Heat – A state of intense passion or activity. “White Heat” is the title and latest track lifted from Natalie Henry’s acclaimed album and is an obvious, yet yearning number.

Natalie leaves nothing uncovered as she hunts around her broken heart for scraps of unwanted evidence to find what caused her to love this way. Left with nothing but the music and a new lover’s sweat, she unravels it all, and winds it back together like a broken cassette.

If you haven’t discovered this impressive Australian singer-songwriter, immerse yourself in “White Heat” now. “White Heat” is written by Natalie Henry and superbly produced by Michael Moko and Catherine Britt.


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Crying Day Care Choir - Great Time - MF Tomlinson

Crying Day Care Choir - The Dreams Of Alice.

After a successful summer performing at festivals such Sziget Festival, Malmöfestivalen, Be Alternative and many more, Swedish alt-follk trio Crying Day Care Choir recently formed their own label ELZ Productions, with their first release an internationally groundbreaking EP with cover art by Damien Hirst and the art itself as source of inspiration.

CDCC’s new EP ‘Give Me Something Vol.1’, the first of three new collections released in the coming months, explores the relationship between art and music and challenges the idea of how music is created. The full album acts as a continuation of Damien Hirst's project ‘The Currency’, where he explores the concept of value through art and money. The Currency contains 10.000 unique pieces, with different titles produced by an AI generator that's been fed with some of the artist’s favourite music. The buyers of these different art pieces were left with the decision during the summer of 2022, to either keep their physical piece or to keep the NFT version of it and let the physical painting burn.

This project led to new artistic ideas for the musicians in CDCC, and the concept for the record ‘Give Me Something’ took shape. The idea is to take the titles from the burnt artworks and put them together as lyrics, thus giving them new life in a new art form -“Reborn, as songs”.

With Damien Hirst’s permission the work began in September. Damien Hirst’s artwork ‘Give Me Something’ will act as album cover for the release. The world famous artist however is no stranger to the concept of making album art with his latest involvement being in Drake’s ‘Certified Loverboy’ from 2021. CDCC is Jack, Sara and Bill Elz. A Swedish band always breaking new ground by exploring new sounds to mix with their patented brand of indie folk.

Crying Day Care Choir · The Dreams Of Alice

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Great Time - Feather - Live in Philadelphia.

Great Time doesn't want to fit in a box. Living up to their name, the band just wants to have a great time making music that they love. Tired of being advised to "pick a lane" by some of their industry peers, Great time set out to create music that celebrates their wide-ranging sound, incorporating genres from synth-pop and electronic to jazz, punk, rock and R&B.

Prior to the first single, 80z Slo Jam, on the upcoming album Live In Phildelphia, their most recent releases are a series of EPs titled “Sounds Like ____”. The band had the idea to turn the EP titles into a Mad Libs type of game "so that someone could put their own adjective or descriptor for the EP in the blank space," explains singer/multi-instrumentalist Jill Ryan. The projects explore some of the different sounds and styles that influence Great Time. “Some people thought [our 2018 debut LP] 'Great Album' was all over the place, so with the ‘Sounds Like’ series, we decided to lean even further into our multi-genre tendencies and place the option of categorizing or putting us in a box on the listener.”

True to their vision, each EP carries a different sound. On Vol. 1, Great Time create a blissed out atmosphere, with R&B and neo-soul melodies. For Vol. 2, the band zones in on its electronic and pop influences, creating a livelier soundscape that feels ripe for dancing. Whereas Vol. 3 shows a guitar-heavy, more traditionally rock-influenced side to the three-piece group, with individual tracks ranging from punk to acoustic folk.

With their "Sounds Like _____" EP series completed, Great Time's next project is a live album that features the new material, allowing existing fans and new listeners who haven't had the opportunity to see them perform yet enjoy how the band stunningly transforms their songs for live performances. Great Time are so excited to be sharing "Feather (Little Dragon Cover)" ,  the next single from this project is just out.

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MF Tomlinson - The End of the Road.

London-based, Brisbane/Meanjin-born singer-songwriter MF Tomlinson releases his new single "The End Of The Road" - the third track from his upcoming second album We Are Still Wild Horses, out 17th February 2023 via PRAH Recordings (Falle Nioke, the Umlauts, Pozi).

‘The End Of The Road’ is a magical realist hymn for the end of the world. A paean to community and culture - celebrating the hope of humanity in the face of the hopelessness of the human race.

Inspired by his memories of the Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion protests of 2019, Tomlinson’s song plays like a vivid dream in which all ‘the people like me and you’ (those who believe in justice for human beings and the rest of the natural world) convene to enjoy the apocalypse in unison – traveling from Trafalgar Square to the bucolic vista of End Of The Road festival in Dorset, one of the last transcendent communal experiences he had before the onset of the pandemic.

With ‘Last Waltz’ arrangements and luminous vocal imbuements from frequent collaborator Connie Chatwin, Tomlinson verbally paints this paradise under silvery starlight. Protesters and friends all gathered together, crooning with open hearts - at peace with the coming darkness that they know will sweep them away to whatever awaits on the other side. It’s a breathtaking vision of the human spirit, filled with love, compassion and beauty until the very last breath. In that same breath, it's an impassioned protest song - a statement of defiance from a crowd of people to those in power:

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Selfish Bodies - Dan Hatton - Womb

Selfish Bodies - Bambi Legs.

Selfish Bodies are a female lead alternative pop rock trio based in Edmonton, AB, who combine their love of writing with genre-blending, cinematic soundscapes and thoughtful lyrics. They believe music is a universal language. 

What does the band want to say? Whatever their listeners need to hear. Selfish Bodies' goal is to connect with their listeners through the creation of relatable and heartfelt content.

Cathartic new single, "Bambi Legs," was inspired by insecurity. When self consciousness rears its ugly head, it can lead to a lot of fear and second guessing. This is a lonely feeling yet we are oddly united in it as we all feel this way at least sometimes. The duality of the feelings in the lyrics through the instrumentation is magnified as the song sways back and forth between a heaviness to a more lightheartedness.

Selfish Bodies · Bambi Legs (Clean)

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Dan Hatton - Boyish Charm.

Hailing from South London, Dan Hatton is the latest independent artist to grace the Brixton boardwalk.

After a stint in the dizzying, high-rise landscape of the professional world, he dropped his calculator, quit his job, and picked up his guitar... which is why this debut single from Hatton is all the more poignant. 

This is the second offering from Hatton's debut album which is an intimate introduction to what is sure to be an exquisite body of work. Dan Hatton is a singer-songwriter from South London. He loves mint tea, synths, and writing songs about love.

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Womb - When I See You.

Womb have shared a final taste of their upcoming album Dreaming of the Future Again via brand new single, ‘When I See You’. Womb rarely fails to devastate their listeners and the slightly more accelerated ‘When I See You’ is no exception to the rule; a phenomenal teaser to their sophomore album, which is out digitally and on vinyl LP this Friday November 11th via Flying Nun Records.

“When I See You came to us in fragments; a chord progression arrived; then a verse; a driving beat; a guitar line; later, walking around at night listening to a demo of the song, the chorus finally came, the words “We could grow from here” circling round and round in my head. 

This is a song about conflict: there’s a secret conversation going on between the ¾ guitar line that comes in at the start and the 4/4 timing of the rest of the song; the timings are clashing, each wishing to be heard, but in the end they are singing the same song.” - Womb

Womb · When I See You

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Jenny Bakke - The Woolverstones - Lesley Pike

Jenny Bakke - He's Too Famous Now.

Earlier this year, Liverpool-based Norwegian musician Jenny Bakke made her musical debut under the moniker Helven, releasing her debut EP, volume 1, a collection of synth-laden bedroom pop songs. Now she’s preparing to make her return with Morild, her most personal collection yet, fittingly to be released under her own name.

Last month she shared her first single as Jenny Bakke, an experimental mixture of noise and techno called 'New Life', a bold statement of intent for an artist who is comfortable pushing her ever expanding horizons. Today she is sharing new single ‘He’s Too Famous Now’, a laid-back blend of alternative R&B and indie-pop. The track is based on the sentimental bitterness that lies behind a long-distance relationship. Musicians Bendik HK, Oscar Funden, Andrew Murray Baardsen and Oliver Fremo help lay the foundation that Bakke and her cashmere-soft voice floats upon. She sings about the contrast between expectations that aren't met and an undying hope for things to get better. It’s fragile, sentimental, and hopeful, with a psychedelic edge to it.

Jenny Bakke is 22-year-old producer, songwriter and musician from Grimstad on the southern coast of Norway who has quickly built herself a career and a reputation on Norway’s alternate music scene. She’s played live at showcase festivals such as Havstrøm, Vill Vill Vest and by:Larm. In 2022 she released her debut EP, volume 1, as Helven, and her upcoming, ambitious mixtape will serve as another debut of sorts. Due out in Spring 2023, Morild was created in collaboration with a wide selection of talented producers contributing on different songs, which results in an eclectic and varied collection.

Jansen Records · Jenny Bakke - He’s Too Famous Now

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The Woolverstones - Emerald Train.

Contemporary folk duo The Woolverstones have returned following the epic success of their debut single "A Song for Harlequins”, with a visual "Emerald Train”. The track is marked as a slight anomaly, being that it’s the only track from their new studio album (Grey Eyed Dandy) that is geographically set abroad.

The song was first conceived whilst waiting for a train in southern France in the blistering heat. Band members Chris and Lou's shoes were broken, they were thirsty, hungry and not sure when the next train was coming as nobody was around to help.

As they waited pensively for the next train to escape this lonesome place, they were suddenly overcome by a sense of freedom...the oppressive heat and lack of footwear seemed almost liberating. There was something glorious about basking in the knowledge that things surely had to improve and that this minor hardship had led to the beginning of a song. They reflected on two favourite actors Charles Hawtrey (Carry On fame), and Peter Sellers. How much laughter they provided people despite their own turbulent lives.

Pain offers some rewards it seems. Once they'd penned the lyrics, Chris started noodling and found a chord progression which struck him as having a slight Nirvana unplugged feel...happy to be on that path he chased this song down many more paths until he felt The Woolverstones' sound come through. Owing to the embryonic nature of the song, they sensed the chorus required an almost anticlimactic quality, they cracked it, and Emerald Train left the station.

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Lesley Pike - Wild.

Both Lesley Pike’s songwriting and production skills have progressed throughout the crafting of her new, two-volume album, Wild. Wild (Vol. 1) finds a new resilience for the Toronto and London, UK based Pike, who mined her own vulnerability to craft these complex songs. “What we feel deep down, we know. What we feed will grow.”

“Wild,” the album’s title track, is an organic and airy piece of folk pop which reflects on children’s sense of abandon and the freedom which Pike has found within herself. It’s a song about taking the time to reflect and really trust in oneself.

The recording artist’s fourth disc, which will be released in two volumes, is an accumulation of confidence and drive as well as an all-important focus: producing and creating music on her terms. The result of her ambitions? Fourteen stunning recordings which represent new heights in Pike’s song craft-ranging from the personal into the universal.

Lesley Pike · Wild

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H.C. McEntire - Addie Brik - Mia Baron - Quarry

Photo - Heather Evans Smith

H.C. McEntire - Dovetail.

H.C. McEntire announces her new album, Every Acre, will be released on January 27 via Merge Records. Co-produced by McEntire, Missy Thangs and Luke Norton, Every Acre features nine poignant new songs, including two tracks with backing vocals provided by S.G. Goodman and Amy Ray. Along with the announcement, McEntire shares “Dovetail,” the new single that imagistically depicts various women and their various gifts, their various traumas.

“‘Dovetail’ began as a jangly, four-on-the-floor country demo I roughly recorded at home,” McEntire explains of the song’s inception. “In the studio, the band and I leaned into the twang and outlaw attitude, recorded it, and moved on to work on other songs. But something kept calling us back to reimagine this song, to look at it from a different angle. One night after a long day of tracking, Luke started playing the ‘Dovetail’ chord progression on piano, but much more slowly. Daniel jumped behind the drums and played a simple halftime beat while I stood next to the piano and sang out into the room. We quickly recorded about a minute of the experiment onto a cell phone and went to bed. The next morning, we referenced the recording and tracked a full-band version of the song in that style—essentially, it took the form of a ballad.”

“This ‘classic’ arrangement offered space for a more nuanced vocal delivery; the slower pace allowed vocal lines to stretch and stand tall with emotion. The less-is-more approach created a vulnerability that felt right and also applied intention—to clearly speak, suspend, and spill out the narrative. Throughout verses, I posed the personalities of various women in juxtaposition—a way to both celebrate differences and individuation, as well as acknowledge the complexities of being in relation with a range of traumas, including my own. The pre-chorus and chorus lyrics nod to a problematic dynamic that can occur when presumptions are made about an Artist solely based on the social consumption and/or interpretations of their Art—romanticism versus reality.”

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Addie Brik - First Odd Prime.

They say all good things arrive in threes, and the third single to be cut from Addie’s upcoming album ‘That Dog Don’t Hunt’ (out 25 November, via Itza Records) is a prime example.

A song that dwells upon the laws of the ultimate numbers game, “The First Odd Prime” finds Addie reflecting on Fibonacci's revolutionary sequence, and the natural order of things. As Addie explains: “This is about compassion, as seen through the lens of Nature, The Golden Ratio, Fibonacci Numbers, with the fairy dust of the Charles Laughton film, Night of The Hunter, thrown in for colour.”

Chiming with the themes of “odd primes, the Golden Mean, rescue and homecoming” expressed in the song, the new single arrives with a mesmeric official video that finds the numerical and the natural artfully intersecting with one another. Directed by Andy Alston (Del Amitri) and co-edited with Addie Brik, the live footage was captured outside Addie’s home in  Scotland, with additional film clips provided by Glenn Lewis (Mick Harvey, Cambodian Space Project).

Featuring a stellar cast of guest players, “The First Odd Prime”’s thunderous rhythms come courtesy of Simple Minds’ Jim McDermott on Drums, with Glenn Lewis (guitars) and Nick Blythe (bass) adding to its swirling maelstrom of sounds. US star N’dea Davenport (Brand New Heavies, Malcolm McClaren) also contributes her vocals to its hypnotic chorus hooks.

 

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Mia Baron - Rebel Without A Cause.

Toronto-based pop singer-songwriter Mia Baron pens lyrics which touch on how challenging it is to figure out who you are and what you want. Baron's songs show that for her, the sky's the limit. Natural talent, swagger, and drive have played a role in this 14-year-old artist racking up close to 300,000 total Spotify streams.

Her latest release, "Rebel Without a Cause," describes teenage rebellion: an adventurous desire to do forbidden things, test the limits and go against what's expected.

Baron started singing at just nine years old and turned professional at 11. When the pandemic halted her busy schedule as a live performer, she pivoted to releasing songs every few months with the help of her production and co-writing team Matt Kahane and Quin Kiu. With a sound shaped by artists like Madison Beer, Nessa Barrett, and The Weeknd, Baron's pop tracks are frequently filled with stuttering beats and moody vibes.

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Quarry - New City Comes Along.

Milan-based singer-songwriter QUARRY is set to release his new single: “New City Comes Along”, taken from his new album ‘Positioning The Sun’ out now. Paying homage to the victims caught up in the Ukraine war, “New City Comes Along” seeks to shine a light on the stories of those citizens whose lives are completely destroyed by such conflict. As Quarry explains:

“A city devastated by bombing and reduced to rubble is one of the most heartbreaking things to see. How many stories are behind those bodies scattered along the streets, those destroyed buildings that were once warm houses to families. I wrote this song thinking of a beautiful city like Kyiv falling into ruin, but it could be any city destroyed by warfare. New cities will, eventually, come along through the skin of the razed ones.”

Agitated by injustice but laced with an optimism for a better, more peaceful future, “New City Comes Along” is a punk-razored track that finds Quarry taking inspiration from the revolutionary class of The Clash while injecting a chorus of hope into their frenzied formula. Showing a new side to the multi-faceted artist that the softer and more reflective previous singles “This Is The Story” and “Beyond Any Sense” perhaps left camouflaged, it blends clangorous drums with impassioned vocals and driving guitars that rise-up like a rallying cry for peace.

The new track was the finishing touch to Quarry’s new LP ‘Positioning The Sun’ (out now via Lowfieye Records); an album born out of the feeling of living suspended in time during the pandemic. Written and recorded in Milan between 2020 and 2022, the LP has a knack for capturing the overwhelming weight of the world’s complications.

 

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Katherine Fischer - Marlody - Caitlin Rose - Eliza McLamb - Mary Middlefield

Katherine Fischer - To This Day.

Like a re-discovered diary entry on your worst day, Katherine Fischer wants you to feel understood. With over 250 songs in her arsenal and counting, she hopes to be your tour guide through the darkest corners to the brightest balcony of her human experience.

Hailing from London Ontario, Katherine Fischer writes songs for souls with big feelings. In August 2016 Katherine released her debut EP "Here I Am" followed by her sophomore release "Wildflower Heart" in 2019.  Her EP's share folky heart led narratives that rival your favourite coming of age novel. Katherine's song "I Choose You" was included on Amazon's "Best of 2020: Folk" playlist alongside Kathleen Edwards and John Prine. In 2021 her single "Memories" was released and placed on Spotify's "New Music Friday" and most recently her song "The Current" was added to Spotify's "Folk and Friends" playlist.

Funded by the Ontario Arts Council, London Arts Council, SOCAN Foundation and SHINE Foundation, Katherine's debut full length  album "Great Loves" was released November 2022, and has garnered over 60,000 streams and 8,000+ fans worldwide. "Great Loves" blends Americana, indie pop, cinematic strings and harmonies that wrap around you to create a breathtaking folk album. Great Loves is the story of all incapsulating love, of the land, of people, of yourself.

Katherine Fischer · To This Day

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Marlody - Summer.

Marlody’s first album I’m Not Sure At All will be released by Skep Wax in January 2023, and this single is the first taste of what’s to come. The beauty of the music – the rolling waves of keyboard, the apparently simple vocal melody – hit you first.  But Summer is like a trap: it’s drawing you into a darker place.

Sung from the perspective of a young girl whose mother has died, Summer gives a disturbing, eerie picture of an adult world that’s losing its moorings.  The innocence of the child and the sweetness of the music pull us safely through, saving us from the worst of it, but Summer is a perfect example of Marlody’s ability to weave songs so disarming that, for a few minutes, we feel as innocent as the child in the song.  For a while, we don’t notice that summer is over. We don’t notice how dark it’s getting.

There are many echoes here: the infectiousness and daring of some of the vocal melodies might remind you of Kate Bush, the intimacy might remind you of Cate Le Bon, the stabs of anger and pain might remind you of Liz Phair. The harmonies are from another place again – you could imagine hearing them in an Unthanks recording.

 

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Caitlin Rose - Getting It Right (Featuring Courtney Marie Andrews).

Celebrated Nashville singer/songwriter Caitlin Rose released a new single called "Getting It Right" off her forthcoming album CAZIMI (out November 18th via Missing Piece Records). Co-written with Courtney Marie Andrews, who also sings harmonies on the track, "Getting It Right" finds a resolute Rose trying her wearied best at self-improvement.

“Several years ago, I fell in love with Courtney’s first album,” stated Rose. “I had been doing co-writes for a while, but realized I needed to start focusing in on the writers and artists I really wanted to collaborate with. I wasn’t really being set up on things that were fulfilling that desire so I snuck into her DM’s and proposed a write whenever she was in town. Luckily she was already in town and we spent an extremely hot afternoon on the patio talking astrology and music and walking away with what I always thought of as a bit of a banger.”

She continued, “It feels like an obvious anthem for the album with all the time that’s gone by and the hole I was in for a few years. All the disappointment of feeling like I couldn’t do a damn thing right. I’m not even sure how much of that discussion was had, but it was really refreshing to talk and create something with someone on the brink of their own amazing journey. A little of my own cynicism dissolved that day, and even though it would take a few more years before I could actually embark on my own re-entry into the field, it’s definitely a song that helped push me in the right direction

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Eliza McLamb - Pulp.

Singer-songwriter Eliza McLamb is coming of age right in front of us. When the beginning of the pandemic interrupted McLamb’s studies at George Washington University, she eschewed the pre-law path she’d planned for herself and headed west. She started sharing original songs on TikTok while working on farms in North Carolina and Kansas, and was shocked to see her videos find a devoted audience. “I'd been writing songs since I was six years old. It just never really occurred to me that there would be anyone interested,” says McLamb.

Soon, her intimate songs about relationships, body image, and the complexities of life as a young woman started racking up millions of views apiece. Her earliest tracks were deeply personal, made from nothing but her voice and a guitar and recorded in the laundry shed where she lived at the time. Nevertheless, they contained something that resonated — an intimacy borne from her ability to speak to the universal while also speaking only for herself.

Last month McLamb announced her signing to Royal Mountain Records (Wild Pink, Pillow Queens, Girlpuppy), with a track called "Doing Fine", that received a glowing write up from FADER, who said that McLamb "pins down big feelings with sharp observations" adding that her writing is "sharp and heavy at the same time, packing a heftier kick than her singer-songwriter peers." Today, McLamb is back to announce her debut EP Salt Circle, produced by Sarah Tudzin (aka Illuminati Hotties), and sharing a new track entitled “Pulp."

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Mary Middlefield - Band Aid.

Mary Middlefield is a singer, songwriter, guitarist, and classically-trained violinist from Switzerland. Her debut single “Band Aid” features Middlefield’s melody, guitar, and violin writing skills all of which is on full display.

“I really wanted to write a song in which the lyrics could really transmit plenty of different scenes and images,” Explains Mary Middlefield. “I ended up creating a story in which two characters fall out of love before their love story actually begins. I loved the idea of using specific vocabulary that would make the story take place in a theater, where a show should have taken place but never did. I chose to lead with ‘Band Aid’ as a single because I think it’s very relatable. Relationships often break before they even begin and someone always gets hurt, especially if they put themselves out there from the start. The production incorporates everything I love: violins and cellos, folky guitars and smooth drums…”

“The video for ‘Band Aid’ is very similar to the song,” Middlefield continues. “I really wanted it to be set in a theatre where I’m the one putting on a show for a man, desperately trying to give him any character he could potentially want. But it ends up being all in vain as he gets bored and falls asleep during this pathetic show that he doesn’t enjoy. I’m a very openly vulnerable person and give people around me often big pieces of me from the very start. I feel that this video is very true to me and sincere.”

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Moriah Bailey - Paige Bea - SOMOH

Moriah Bailey - The Ocean Life.

Oklahoma songwriter & harpist Moriah Bailey releases “The Ocean Life” from her upcoming album i tried words out December 2nd via Keeled Scales. Inspired by her earliest memories of music, the track is a multifaceted and alludes to notions of freedom, environmental degradation, capitalist consumption, and longing for a different kind of life.

The music video was directed & edited by Lauren Reese, with assistance from Holly Pierce & Elmer Fajardo. “The Ocean Life” music video couples Bailey’s soft but steady harp with snapshots of the natural landscapes in Oklahoma – revealing that change is omni-present.

What Bailey has to say about "The Ocean Life" & music video: "The Ocean Life" is about a lot of things and can be interpreted in different ways. In its broadest sense, for me, the song is longing and hoping for a different kind of life, and its also lamenting losses resulting from the ways that we relate to one another, places, and other beings.

My friend Lauren Reese envisioned and created the video for "the ocean life." When we initially talked about collaborating on this, I let her listen to the whole album and choose a song that she was excited about. The video was filmed at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma. The result is a really compelling illustration of themes in the song that plays with light, reflection, water, and prairie.

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Paige Bea - Autopilot.

London-based singer, songwriter and producer Paige Bea has released her new single "Autopilot" - the latest taste of upcoming EP 'Goodbye, Then!' out 25th November, self-released via The Orchard.

"Autopilot" is the third in a string of recent releases following comeback track "Melt" and most recent single "4x4". Collectively, these releases have firmly re-established Paige Bea within the alternative pop landscape after a 2 year hiatus from releasing music, with wide acclaim and support from notable outlets.

An enthralling, addictive ear-worm that combines R&B hooks and industrial alt-pop production, new single "Autopilot" zeros in on the notion of "no longer being in the drivers’ seat", with the track directly inspired by an argument Paige had with a friend who was trying to pull her out of a bad romantic situation.

“You think that I’m spineless / But my heart’s on autopilot /
I can’t stop / Not possible /
Cruising down love’s slipstream / In the front seat /
At the top speed / I can’t stop / Not possible”

Speaking on the inspiration behind the new single, Paige said: "I was in that all-too familiar phase of a bad relationship when you're losing your own agency and being wilfully ignorant in the face of advice from your oldest and trusted friends but you’re not quite ready to acknowledge the truth. I could see the impact it was having on me - losing sleep, listless and weighed down as I drifted between lover and friend, suspended in the middle of someone else's open relationship - but I still couldn’t untangle myself."

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SOMOH - Anything.

Get acquainted with exciting newcomer SOMOH (Pronounced Soe-Mow”) who today releases the video to your latest new indie-alternative obsession, “Anything.”  Much like her upcoming tracks on her debut EP “A Plan To Get Home” out next year, this track is a profoundly emotional, well-crafted song that explores her relatable feelings of love, friendship, family, and hardship.  “Anything” is available everywhere online via Tiny Library Records.

Speaking about “Anything,” SOMOH whose real name is Sophia Mohan said “This song is about coming to terms with your love for someone & knowing that you’d do just about anything for them. It’s a scary but beautiful feeling to fall that deeply for a person.” The song was produced and mixed by Joel Johnston, who has also produced and mixed SOMOH’s entire debut EP out on his own label, penciled in Spring 2023.

Speaking about her upcoming releases, SOMOH said “I’m really proud of this body of work, it’s been a long time coming. The main focus of this EP is about the transitional stages of life from childhood to your early 20s where part of you doesn’t feel ready to face all the changes. I think these songs convey a lot of those situations you have to deal with as you realise the world isn’t all sunshine and rainbows (e.g falling in love, coming to realisations about the people around you, how you treat yourself). I hope that people listening can find a part of their own story in my songs, it’s always nice to feel like you’re not alone in how you’re feeling.”

SOMOH is Sophia Mohan’s nickname and artist alias. She is 20 years old and hails from Ealing, London, born to a British father and an Italian mother. In her formative years, which she will tell “was a mess” when it came to listening to music, citing anything from Katy Perry to Neck Deep to The 1975 as artists she followed along with pop-punk that still has a special place in her heart. With her music influences more settled now, her music is currently influenced by Indigo De Souza, Alex G, The Japanese House, Adrianne Lenker and Far Caspian.

 

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Sohodolls - The Gilhooly's - The Hengles - Gillie

Photo - Catherine Harder

Sohodolls - Bad.

London's influential electro-rockers Sohodolls are back! After being out of the limelight for more than a decade, a globally enforced lockdown revived one of their classics ‘Bang Bang Bang Bang’ into an unexpected viral TikTok hit among the Gen Z glitterati, which has inspired the band to reform and release some stunning new music.

Following last month’s unveiling of new track ‘Letter To My Ex (Thank You, Goodbye)’, new single ‘Bad’ sees Maya Von Doll giving advice to her younger self on rebelling against gender specific advice:

“I regret not trusting my instinct to stand up for myself. So, this song is about understanding and accepting that fight instinct. About standing up for yourself and rejecting advice that I think is mostly given to young women in my line of work. You shouldn’t always act on it, but you shouldn’t deny its existence. We are all animals - females included!”, she further explains.

‘I can be good and sometimes clever, but when I’m bad I’m so much better’, is the seductive refrain of this stomping rock banger, which embeds catchy hooks under a thick gloss of gothic riffs. Pounding drums, whirring synths and fuzzy guitars melt into an infectious sludge earworm for all of us out there who are inherently bad!

“It took me years to realise I was being walked all over by bigger fish in the music industry. For example, as a burgeoning songwriter writing for other artists, I was given unfair deals that my then management justified as a way of getting on the ladder. Looking back, it was total rubbish and it basically amounted to intellectual property theft! I knew at the time that I could have fought for fairness, but I was told over and over again that to do so would give me a reputation of being difficult and I might not get to work with certain labels again.”, she reveals.

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The Gilhooly's - The Score.

This is one impressive indie rocker where the band are naturally slick and the vocals exude emotion and add an additional layer of power to the track. The bands promo tells us: 

‘The Score’ is a song about appreciating moments in life that didn’t seem a big deal at the time. Now upon reflection they are understood and cherished in a new way. The Gilhooly’s are a cult Glasgow band who came together in the 90’s around the time of Travis, Teenage Fan club and Cosmic Rough Riders. The Ex Cosmic’s Bass Player, James Clifford is now fully entrenched in the Gilhooly’s line up, adding Basslines and Harmonies.

With their old songs gaining attention, praise and Airplay, they have re-emerged from the shadows. Having  signed to Main St Records they released their first Single - STAR  ( No 1 Indy chart) in June 21 and followed up with - WILL GOD FORGIVE - ( No 2 Rock Chart). 

Along with a  new album release in November 21 - G10 - ( No 6 Rock Chart ) and touring Scotland with new songs, It’s been an incredibly busy year for the band. The Fans are back, talking and listening.

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The Hengles - Falling To Pieces.

Ever thought about Falling To Pieces? It’s not that far away as you might think. This new single by The Hengles is playing with all kinds of emotions. It’s deep. Way down. Don’t think it can’t happen to you, because it can! After a long tense, hot summer, this heated world needed a serious cool down. There’s just no alternative. 

And you know it! Falling To Pieces, seemingly starting out of nothing, evolving into an epic fiery Pop song as only The Hengles can do, wandering through nostalgic, eclectic angst, ending with a high note and finally returning to its sweet silent state. It’s a fact of life. So, come on in and join this celebration!

The Hengles have made considerable progress internationally. That resulted in airplay on radio in among others: Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, USA, UK, Denmark, Australia, Canada, Phillipines, Sweden, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Hungary and Austria. Singles from the band also entered the iTunes / Apple Music charts in: Netherlands, Finland, Belgium and Switzerland.

Influenced by more than 60 years of British and American pop music, The Hengles manage to blend this into their own style and give proof of their skill in writing and recording melodic, catchy pop songs with a twist.

TCBYML · The Hengles - Falling To Pieces

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Photo - Fin O'Hara

Gillie - I ti.

‘i ti’ is a song that announces a new beginning and a new creative chapter for Gillie, an intuitively gifted songwriter, guitarist and producer, Libertino are overjoyed to welcome onto the label. It is the first material the Carmarthenshire born artist has written in the Welsh language and the first song written and recorded after her return to live in Wales after spending her late teens and early twenties in London.

Deeply influenced by place, Gillie blends musically on ‘i ti’  the serenity of the Welsh countryside with the industrial undergrowth of city life, to create something hauntingly serene. Blending gold-flecked guitar loops into a ambient haze, Gillie harnesses the anxieties, stress and struggles that had congregated within her and weaves them into something unapologetic yet inherently intimate.

As Gillie explains: "This song centres around a period in my life where I was looking for a change of direction and hoping to rectify frustrations of feeling overwhelmed and worn out. The rhythm is an attempt to reflect the fast pace of a city life that I was ready to leave, whilst the dreamy vocals reflect escapism, and a yearning for something more. I began writing this track in my last month of living in London, but the song itself came to life and was fully realised once I made the move back to my homeland.

"Some of the lyrics are quite disjointed. It doesn’t so much tell a story as it tries to capture a feeling of making decisions. I (kind of) wrote it as a stream of consciousness and didn’t think too much about the concept. I wanted to capture a feeling without over analysing it. The first verse touches on how I often feel that I am pointlessly shouting into the ether, trying to be heard, whilst I slowly get older, collecting defects along the way. The second verse sees me trying to leave some of these thoughts behind, looking toward a new start as things gently begin to fall into place.

Libertino · Gillie - I ti

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Thallo - Liam Fender - Pitou - Micah P. Hinson

Photo - Abi Sinclair

Thallo - Crescent.

Upcoming Welsh (U.K.) artist Thallo makes a haunting, otherworldly blend of bedroom/dream-pop with contemporary classical touches and subtle jazz textures, laced with her featherlight vocal and accompanied by high-end cinematic visuals.

On her enthralling new Crescent EP, Thallo explores a unique subject matter, and one deeply personal to her – immobility. The three track EP chronicles the artist’s own story about an on-going condition causing chronic pain which began in 2020 and left her temporarily unable to walk or stand, locked-in by her condition after the world had been released from lockdown, forced to cancel her planned appearance at this year’s SXSW (re-schedule for 2023).

The title track ‘Crescent’ was inspired by a breakup and friends moving away, with its warm, uplifting brass section mirroring the song’s bittersweet paradox - the undercurrent of inadequacy a dependence on loved ones during a long-term condition can cause, contradicted by feelings of gratitude for the support received. As Thallo explains “I wasn’t as good a friend or girlfriend as I had wanted to be. I wrote the song upon realising I wouldn’t get the chance to ever make up for that imbalance and was left with the guilt of feeling indebted.”

This feeling of being an inadequate version of oneself is explored literally in the song’s music video, created by Abi Sinclair (Director/Producer) and Cat Jones (Director of Photography). It stars Thallo playing two versions of herself, with the broken Thallo trapped in an unknown surreal location in search for the complete, better version of herself.

The Crescent EP also includes the beautiful ‘Carry Me’, a gloriously, rich rush of multi-instrumentation and Thallo’s sublime vocal whirling in a jazz-infused dream before it’s emotive crescendo. Emotionally it captures the moment in time when Thallo first realised the seriousness of her condition; and the EP’s only Welsh language single, the climatic piano led ‘Pluo’ which explores the peculiar pain of watching the world return to normal following lockdown, whilst Thallo remained in what she describes as “My own personal lockdown.”

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Liam Fender - Love Will Conquer.

Newcastle-based musician Liam Fender releases his debut single: 'Love Will Conquer' alongside a semi-autobiographical music video set in the Fish Quay of his hometown North Shields and featuring actor Jacob Anderton ('Dark Angel', '13 Graves' and Coronation Street).

Love Will Conquer's unconventional structure delivers an almost hymn-like quality. Liam notes "Love Will Conquer's universal message of togetherness, belief in better times, and the importance of connection has only grown more poignant amid the turbulence of recent years."

A lifelong musician finally stepping out with his debut official release, Liam is a musical underdog and living proof that music truly can be a calling; he says "I haven't chosen to do this, it's just in my DNA."

If you've joined the dots between Liam's surname and his place of birth you may think he's onto something with his point about DNA. Either way his earthy, honest and optimistic songs showcase an artist more than capable of standing on his own two feet; extraordinary new single Love Will Conquer is just a small taste of what's to come.

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Pitou - Dancer.

Amsterdam based artist Pitou has shared new single ‘Dancer’ the third song from her upcoming debut album, after previous released songs ‘Big Tear’ and 'Angel'.

“I push myself into light, I need it more than ever” sings Pitou, as interwoven harp and guitar parts swell beneath her, supported by subtle but persistently grooving percussion. The song starts with a feeling of restlessness, towards the second verse Pitou builds in confidence. Just before the outro kicks in, we hear her voice almost disappear into a choir of sirens, only for her to come back in a final crescendo, where the first line of the song is repeated over and over again. It is Pitou’s plea: ‘move towards the light’ - to herself and anyone who needs it.

On her new single, Pitou says: “This movement, from dark to light and back again, sometimes feels very violent. Like a natural phenomenon, waves, that you are forced to give in to. I’ve been thinking about these waves, and how I would like to be more graceful in the surrendering. Make it less of a fight, and more of a dance.

The video of this song was shot with my dear friends Jasmine Karimova and Noa Jansma. The coming together of this song and the flow of us working together gave such beautiful energy. We had a lot of fun with this. The song Dancer had a hard time being written - this video was the opposite. I am very grateful to have these people around me."

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Micah P. Hinson - Carelessly.

Micah P. Hinson releases his newest orchestral-country single - "Carelessly" - the third single from the forthcoming album, I Lie To You, out December 2 (Ponderosa Records). "Hinson channels his inner John Prine as he offers a humble and poignant perspective on an issue that is once again in the spotlight." Read and share the full review via Glide.

Born into a strict fundamentalist Christian household in Memphis and raised in the evangelist Abilene, TX, Hinson sings with a prophet-like voice. His songs feel like a patchwork of life experience, from his unsettled early days through his more recent years as a devoted father navigating divorce. Infusing his raw, poetic folk lyrics with inspiration taken from the industrial and alternative music of his youth, Hinson has established a reputation as one of the more innovative and interesting singer/songwriters in the international alt-folk scene.

His songs feel like a patchwork of life experiences, from his early religious upbringing to fatherhood to difficult re But in early 2020, after releasing ten critically acclaimed albums and building a loyal international fanbase from the ground up, Micah P. Hinson nearly walked away from his music career. He felt trapped, explaining “It hit me that all I was doing was writing about my previous relationships and situations, and that meant I had nowhere to go. How can you progress as a human being into the future if all you're doing is writing about all the sh.t that chains you to the past?”

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