La Faute - Caitlin Rose - The Money War

La Faute - Blue Girl Nice Day (Album).

A hidden gem from the frozen heart of Toronto, Canada, art school dropout and Sony Music Publishing artist La Faute released her debut album ‘Blue Girl Nice Day’ yesterday, along with the focus single ‘Sorry I Can’t Stay’ and coinciding music video. La Faute’s (AKA Peggy Messing) musical style falls under the indie dream-pop, alternative folk and singer/songwriter categories, allowing Messing to bend genres and formulate her own. Citing artists such as Mitski, Lana Del Rey, Chet Baker and Massive Attack as musical influences – to name a few – Messing’s debut album is a hypnotic embodiment of all of these styles and influences.

Messing describes her inspiration for the album and her creative process, “I think this album is partly about me marrying my two loves of music and visual art. I am really enjoying the videos I am making and how moving pictures and songs affect each other. I have almost zero budget for video, and I’m not going unmasked into indoor crowded places to shoot with other people, but I love constraints like that.”

Speaking of the focus single, which was co-written with French neo classical composer and performer Villemin, Messing said: “I wanted to honour my lost and current loved ones as best I could with this song, and make a sincere message to the living, imagining what those leaving would have wanted to say, what I would want to say when the time comes.” “I found [Villemin] randomly on Instagram and fell in love with her music, and slid into her DMs. Fortunately she was open to collaborating, and when she sent this over, the melody and lyrics came to me right away. I've never met her in real life, but during the pandemic we talked over WhatsApp and I felt a real connection with her, personally and musically. I hope everyone discovers her music, it is very unique, subtle and special.”

The music video for the single is informal and lighthearted, showing Messing blowing bubbles in nature. “This song always makes me cry so I had to focus on the bright side to get through it. All I do is try to blow bubbles in the sunshine, gigantic and small, sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. They're beautiful and don't last long,” she explained. La Faute (the mistake, in French) is Messing’s dark, dreamy solo project. A visual artist, multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter originally from Winnipeg, Canada, she explores themes of surface vs. depth, longing, betrayal, mourning and desire. Using a 4 string tenor electric guitar and obsolete hardware samplers, she created her captivating live show and released her debut EP just before the pandemic.

She has dealt with some chronic health problems which have required her to get creative to find workarounds, but when the pandemic started she chose to pause performing live to protect her health. She focused on the creation, and solutions to the problem of isolation. She connected with fellow artists and producers in France, the UK, Canada and the US to create music, most recently with LA-based Topher Mohr, who produced her album.

La Faute · Blue Girl Nice Day

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Caitlin Rose - Johnny Velvet.

Caitlin Rose announces the deluxe version of CAZIMI will release digitally on June 23 via Missing Piece Records. Along with the announcement, Rose shares the new original single “Johnny Velvet.” The deluxe version also includes a cover of Jason Molina’s “Nashville Moon,” as well as alternate versions of CAZIMI originals “How Far Away,” “Blameless” and “Carried Away.” Next week, Rose joins fellow Nashville favorite Andrew Combs to kick off their co-headlining tour in Louisville, with additional stops in Chicago, Indianapolis, Cleveland, D.C., New York City and Philadelphia, among others.

“I wrote this song after a rather intense dissociative period,” explains Rose. “Alter egos can make for good imaginary friends when you feel like you don’t have any, but while helpful for coping, the long-term effects are less than desirable. Anyways, I found this design company’s swag koozie in a Lubbock bar and it just kind of rolled on from there. It hung around for a couple years until I scheduled a write with Linwood Regensburg. We didn’t get too far on a new song but ended up diving in on this. We tracked some guitar and a scratch vocal and a couple months later he sent me this. It’s definitely a testament to his abilities in working with minimal resources and I love how different of a tone it set for me in a time where I was desperately in need of change.”

Last fall, Rose made her long-awaited return with the release of CAZIMI, her first new album in nearly a decade. Taking its title from the astrological term for when a planet is in such close proximity to the sun that it’s considered to be in the heart of it, CAZIMI chronicles “the slow motion unraveling of somebody’s life” in the aftermath. Co-produced with Jordan Lehning (Andrew Combs, Caroline Spence, Rodney Crowell), the album earned widespread critical acclaim.

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The Money War - Ride.

Following the success of their late 2022 release 'Somebody Loves You' and their early 2023 collab with FEELDs on 'Was It Ever Really Anything?', Western Australian-based duo, The Money War, are stripping things back with their new single Ride, out yesterday Friday, May 26. The duo are also announcing the release of their EP 'I Don't Hear You Anymore', out June 23.

Inspired by the idea of living in the moment, 'Ride' captures the essence of happiness in simplicity. With minimal production, the single features only stripped back guitar and vocals, providing a liberating energy to sit and resonate with. Lead vocals from Dylan Ollivierre, backed up by Carmen Pepper, deliver a lulling, easy-going track that showcases the duo's emotive lyricism and raw talent.

Speaking on the unplugged essence of the track, Ollivierre states: "I wanted the song to feel like a ‘lost demo’, a bit rough around the edges and to feel like someone playing a song in their bedroom. The aim was to make the song feel emotive without all the production bells and whistles."

Pepper adds to what the song means to the two, "We’re currently at a point in our lives where things are pretty chaotic with raising a young family and trying to juggle a few different projects. I sometimes find myself wishing the time away and dreaming of a day when we can have a bit more freedom, so I have to remind myself that this is such an important time for us and we should enjoy it while we’re in it."

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Typical Light - Laura Marie - Tilia - TANDM

Typical Light - Imaginary Ride.

Boston MA USA: record label H1 Massive will release the first full length album from Typical Light. Hailing from Paris FRANCE, the duo creates dreamlike, cinematic synthpop. In 2020, Hélène (vocals, synthesizer) and Hakim (vocals, guitar, bass, drums, synthesizer) joined forces over their mutual love of indie pop, rock, and shoegaze.

Hakim began his musical journey, playing the piano and guitar at 10 years old. “My parents exposed me to a lot of music when I was young, and I wanted to be like the artists they listened to.” Hélène states, “Music has always been a passion for me. I worked as a cultural journalist for several years and putting out this album fulfills a long time dream.” Their first EP SWEET was noticed immediately by French magazine KR Home Studio, because of their catchy melodies and the way Hakim and Hélène weave their silky vocals together.

Typical Light have picked up the baton from French synth pop compatriots M83, and taken it in their own direction. Imaginary Ride is one of those albums where love and disenchantment intertwine, while lyrical imagery and instrumentation playfully interact. Between immersion and introspection, the songs lead us on a wistful guided tour of romance and longing.

“We created Imaginary Ride as a timeless journey, the soundtrack of a slice of life, where joy, sadness and nostalgia mix together. Simultaneously raw and sensual, organic and synthetic sounds interlace to offer multiple dimensions and directions. Images and sounds respond to each other in a dreamlike way.” says Hélène and Hakim.

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Laura Marie - Too Sweet: Songs For Setting Boundaries.

Laura Marie's latest project, Too Sweet: Songs for Setting Boundaries, is a chronicle of pivotal points in one trauma survivor's lifelong struggle to navigate life, love, and relationships. Each song is an intimate conversation in singer-songwriter style that follows Laura Marie's path from self-betrayal to self-empowerment through fierce acts of self-love. This five song EP, accompanied by a book of the same name, is a deeper dive into the "one lesson learned on repeat" referenced in her earlier work ("Honest" Stars Apart , 2016) that further explores the frontiers of self-awareness. From the playful sensuality of the title track to the heart wrenching depiction of loss from drug addiction in "Painkiller" to the joyfully combative "Shadows," Too Sweet is a genuine, wholehearted, and unrestrained confessional that lays bare the inner workings of a sexual assault and suicide attempt survivor through relationships.

The idea of a project centered around creating healthy boundaries came to Laura Marie after several years of working to extract herself from several unhealthy relationships that temporarily derailed her career as a songwriter and just a few months before the pandemic that made healthy boundaries a survival necessity. The instrumentation was recorded remotely at SuperLegal Studios in Brooklyn by Laura Marie's longtime friend and collaborator, producer/arranger Jake Owen for DO Sounds. Owen then flew to San Antonio to record Laura Marie's vocals in a homemade PVC and acoustic blanket vocal booth built by the artist and her husband for her home studio. The EP features Owen (Augustana, BoDeans, Goldspot) on guitar/keyboard/programming, Mauro Refosco (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Atoms for Peace, David Byrne) on drums, and a string quartet arranged and conducted by Owen for the song "Why."

Too Sweet: Songs for Setting Boundaries is set for release in May 2023 as a standalone EP, followed by a book and EP set. The book is a memoir and account of events that inspired the songs on the EP. Laura Marie maintains that her songwriting has always been an effort to heal and an essential element for her survival. She wrote the book in the same spirit and to empower survivors in and out of the music industry to overcome the often debilitating consequences of trauma and sexual abuse.

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Tilia - Ever Ever.

Dream Pop artist Tilia returns with the new single Ever Ever. With her first two albums Focus (2014) and Patterns (2017), the Zurich-based artist received numerous airplays in Switzerland, Germany and Austria and is still present in some playlists.

After two tours in Germany and Switzerland, she took some time off and now returns with a suitcase full of new songs that hold some influences from jangle pop as well as dream pop. A first new EP will be released in the fall.

With her new songs Tilia builds on her proven strengths, but knows even more how to pack timeless melodies into catchy songs and sound independent at the same time. Ever Ever is a wonderful example of this. The song was created together with the Basel producer Philippe Laffer.

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TANDM - The Man in the Sea.

Toronto duo TANDM's songs seem to transcend time, place, and even stylistic categorization. The core duo of vocalist/guitarist Maxine Beck-Sinderby and drummer Thomas Franklin first met in their mid-teens and quickly united over a unique creative chemistry. Their influences are as subtle as they are diverse, weaving tinges of genre-bending modern innovators from Alvvays to Regina Spector to even Vampire Weekend into their work.

New track, "The Man in the Sea," was originally written by Maxine as a poem for an assignment in high school. The poem was inspired by a story told to her as a child by her grandmother; the tale was whimsical about how a giant man in the sea would stir a giant spoon and make the waves. "My inspiration was to convey the sensation of a childhood belief/fantasy, that then shattered from discovering the realities of the world."

The video made by continuing collaborators with TANDM, Akash Jones & Bronte Brazier, uses dreamlike stop motion visuals to accompany the haunting tune. The single is a highlight off the group's dynamic upcoming EP Sirens.

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Bar Pandora - Clementine Valentine - Toria Richings

Bar Pandora - Ultramess.

Bar Pandora is the stage name of UK alt-pop artist Charlie Tophill. The project was named after a literary cafe in La Latina, Madrid, where in 2017 Tophill used to hang out with her friends talking literature, life and feminism over red wine and fizzy sweets. Retrospectively inspired by the empowerment these friendships engendered, she created Bar Pandora in 2021 as a musical project seeking to redress the balance of a life shadowed by self-imposed limitation and baseless inhibition.

Bar Pandora’s melodious alt-pop is playfully sewn together from the offcuts of personal experience. Field recordings, journal entries and improvised fragments bop bewitchingly along to a rich undercurrent of harmonic synths, guitars and dynamic beats. Her eponymous debut EP, released in 2022, was the result of an experimental collaboration with jungle producer Simply Dread and earned Bar Pandora early support and radio play from BBC Radio 6’s Amy Lamé and Tom Robinson as well as praise from The Times newspaper and many more.

Tophill has continued to work with Simply Dread for her upcoming single, ‘Ultramess’, a “collaboration of artistic-differences” resulting in shimmery electro-pop which ripples with restless energy. ‘Ultramess’ is an alluring snapshot of a cynical romance. “It’s not quite a love song,” Tophill says. “It’s more an ode to the wilful ignorance that leads us to love, and the chaos that follows.”

Tophill’s writing is candid, confessional and refreshingly light, and there’s a mischievous streak that peppers her songs and tempers her occasional intensity. “I’m processing a lot of past mistakes through my music,” she says. “While anticipating future f ups which I’m sure will be just as fun to make.”

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Clementine Valentine - Endless Night.

Clementine Valentine, the Aotearoa/New Zealand art-pop duo formerly known as Purple Pilgrims, unveil their shimmering new single 'Endless Night' out via Flying Nun Records. With the embrace of their birth names, sisters Clementine and Valentine Nixon mark a significant turning point as they delve into a refined and sophisticated new sound.

'Endless Night' captures the essence of a heroic romance, offering a blend of wide-eyed fantasy and tongue-in-cheek realism. The song comes alive through its intricate layers of instrumentation, entwined vocals, and soaring chorus, expertly produced by New York City's Randall Dunn (Oneohtrix Point Never, Danny Elfman, Jim Jarmusch) and featuring the legendary drummer Matt Chamberlain (David Bowie, Lana Del Rey, Fiona Apple). Mastered by the skilled hands of Heba Kadry (Björk, Beach House, Slowdive), the track shines with its transcendent soundscapes.

The accompanying visualiser, crafted by Motion Graphics Artist Silas McClintock from FUTURA Studio, showcases the painting 'Clementine & Valentine' by acclaimed Aotearoa artist Liz Maw. Merging religious iconography with contemporary themes, Maw's oil-on-board artworks draw inspiration from European old masters while incorporating celebrities and modern figures. Her imaginative depictions often center around women and delve into the concept of the femme fatale.

Reflecting on 'Endless Night', Clementine Valentine shares, “All songs are moments in time trapped in amber, this one feels particularly so. A relic of a past joy, crystallised behind dusty glass. Part self-fulfilling prophecy, part heartfelt sarcasm ”.

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Toria Richings - Fire.

Originally from the UK, singer-songwriter Toria Richings has landed with both her feet firmly planted in all things Americana. With a style of her own Toria’s music has often been described as songs that feed your soul. Toria is a great storyteller and has a huge imagination when it comes to penning songs, she writes with a depth of emotion that will leave your heart feeling every word she sings.

Her latest single release, ‘Fire’, showcases a fusion of Celtic-inspired melodies and poignant lyrics that explore the intricate layers of love. Toria's ballad captures the essence of two people's intense feelings for each other, while one person struggles to fully grasp the depth of the other's love.

In her own words about the track, Toria shared, “Fire is a love song, it is a ballad steeped full of all the emotions you can feel when you find someone you never want to lose. I am really proud of this song. I put so much into creating the right feels, working closely with my producer to make sure we got the right sounds that I had imagined for it from the beginning.”

The song is a testament to the enduring power of belief in love and the willingness to invest in one more night with the person who holds the key to one's heart. Adorned with a sublime lead guitar and pedal steel, ‘Fire’ is a heartfelt masterpiece that will stir your soul.

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Allie Crow Buckley - Anya Baghina - Clare Siobhan - The Wedding Present

Allie Crow Buckley - Utopian Fantasy (Album).

Los Angeles & London-based atmospheric folk-pop artist, Allie Crow Buckley, unveils her otherworldly sophomore album, Utopian Fantasy. Embarking on a transcendent sonic voyage, this lush record takes the listener on a psychedelic journey into the depths of Buckley's psyche, intertwining Greek Mythology, the mysterious realm of the faerie, and influences of fashion, dance, and poetry. With sonic shades and influences of Joni Mitchell and Black Sabbath, the record was recorded at the 4AD Studio in London, mastered at Abbey Road, and was written, recorded, and produced by Allie Crow Buckley and Jason Boesel (Rilo Kiley, Bright Eyes) everywhere from a small cottage in the lush English countryside to the sunny mountains of Ojai, California, and several hotels in between.

Utopian Fantasy taps into Buckley's love and deep knowledge of mythology. She explains, “It is the sort of feeling of leaving your body - as one does during times of immense stress or when chaos ensues. Escapism of sorts. These themes occur throughout the record - from references to Dionysus (god of wine and chaos) to the myth of Cupid and Psyche. Resigning yourself to whatever is - a sort of submission to chaos. Like in the myth of Apollo and Dionysus. Being naked at the feast, the idea of that vulnerability of just awaiting your fate. How we all long to be carried by Zephyr, the wind, from our fate into a bed of flowers. Just as in the myth of Cupid and Psyche. But what comes next? Coming to terms with your new reality. Like being lost in the realm of the faery, and reemerging years later. Feeling as if it were all one day or one dream."

Allie Crow Buckley is excited to announce a run of headline dates to support the new record that includes stops at Schubas in Chicago, Zebulon in Los Angeles, Baby’s All Right in New York, and Songbyrd in Washington, D.C. Next week marks the start of her tour supporting Lord Huron which includes two sold-out nights at Red Rocks later this month and she will also support Declan Mckenna on his North American fall tour.

Allie Crow Buckley · Utopian Fantasy

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Anya Baghina - It's Clear To Me.

When discussing the video for "It's Clear To Me", Anya Baghina writes: "We see a romanticized version of someone falling for us, represented by a heart-shaped balloon. Ultimately, the balloon pops just as it is caught, like the idea of someone that was largely made up. Three animators worked on the video, Alesya Pavlova, Natasha Bobryakova, and Janovich, and the video was edited by Anton Imbro. The idea and direction were conceived by Aleksei Salomatin. Along the way, I was involved in editing the video as well."

"It's Clear To Me" blends contemporary indie synth-pop with grunge and garage-rock sounds seamlessly. Incorporating honest and heartfelt lyrics and raw vocals, it's a single that cuts across genre lines.

Anya Baghina recounts the inspiration behind her latest single: "In my childhood, I didn't grow up around healthy relationships, and I had to overcome a lot of baggage to get to a healthy place. Having lost my mother, I felt so alone and desperately looked for someone to lean on. When you’re excited about someone, and you really want it to work, you forget about the red flags. It shows the mindlessness of this experience while subconsciously understanding that "it's killing me".

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Clare Siobhan - Flare.

Clare Siobhan is an award-winning singer-songwriter from Truro, Nova Scotia who is making a home for herself in that cozy little intersection of folk, pop, and soul. Her layered harmonies paired with bright piano and ukulele lay the foundation for warm vocals that touch on connection, relationships, worry, and that age-old search for meaning and belonging that we feel as we grow.

After receiving some unexpected and scary news, Siobhan wrote most of the lyrics for the song “Flare” on the drive home, taking voice memos in between tears. It was a few weeks later when she finally wrote the last part of the song, the U-turn where she was able to find joy when there’s big changes happening in life.

“[When I was writing this song,] I looked out my window at the tree in my backyard and thought about the changing of the seasons… life goes on,” Siobhan explains. “There’s this inevitability to change, and such stability in its repetition, and that was a comfort to me at the time. After that, finishing the song was easy – and to be honest, so was adjusting to the new change in my own life.”

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The Wedding Present - 24 Songs (Album).

The Wedding Present are releasing 24 Songs. A triple LP w/ DVD (featuring a live show and documentary) available now in the UK (Clue Records), but due to pressing plant delays out in the USA (HHBTM Records) on June 23rd. 24 Songs covers all twelve of the Wedding Present's 7" singles club series from 2022 in one packaged triple LP release. The album actually contains 29 songs as the band added A remix by Utah Saints and four bonus tracks that didn't make the original club. You can check out the single "We Belong Together" featuring Louise Wener of Sleeper, and the bonus track and Clash cover of "White Riot" which debuted at Slicing Up Eyeballs earlier this week.

Throughout 2022, The Wedding Present's '24 Songs' series saw the legendary indie band release two new tracks a month as double A sided 7"s, ultimately creating a much-sought-after box set. David Gedge has now re-curated full-length versions of all twenty-four tracks for a new compilation album that will also comprise five bonus recordings including one featuring The Wedding Present's first guitarist, Peter Solowka.

'24 Songs' was a doff of the cap to The Wedding Present's 'Hit Parade' project of 30 years previous. That series proved to be a real milestone for the band with them becoming only the second-ever artist to achieve twelve Official UK Top 40 hits in a calendar year – at the time something that only Elvis had achieved!

David Gedge says: "When it came to compiling the '24 Songs' album, I decided not to sequence the tracks in chronological order. With six sides of vinyl, you have six 'beginnings' and six 'ends' to play with, and I felt that the opportunity to build some kind of a musical journey was too good to miss! Listening back to this collection, I have to say that I genuinely believe that, for this project, The Wedding Present have recorded some of the best tracks in our history. I loved releasing the singles, but it's satisfying to have them all rounded up together."

HHBTM Records · The Wedding Present - We Should Be Together (featuring Louise Wener of Sleeper)

HHBTM Records · The Wedding Present - White Riot (Clash Cover)

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Eleni Drake - Oslo Twins - Parliamo - Michael J. Benjamin

Photo - Georgia Walters.

Eleni Drake - Surf The Sun (Album).

British singer-songwriter Eleni Drake releases her phenomenal new album Surf the Sun via her own Vanilla Sky Recordings. Eleni Drake will celebrate the release of her new album with a headline show at Amazing Grace in London on 18th July.

Throughout the self-produced Surf the Sun, Drake deals in distinctly summery melancholy - hazy, shimmering, golden; reverb guitar murmurs and glints, tightly wound amidst lovely, enticing harmonies - eloquently tracking notions of freedom, healing, painful goodbyes and a future of possibilities. At the core of Surf the Sun is the ultimate discovery of freedom and empowerment. Balancing the curiosity and creativity of Adrianne Lenker, Faye Webster and Julien Baker, with the emotion and grandeur of Lana Del Rey - Drake's songwriting is dream-like and bluesy, precise and propellant.

Originally from London, in 2022 Eleni Drake decided to leave her life in the UK behind and move to Melbourne almost on a whim. She knew only a handful of people on that side of the world, but she was longing for a fresh start in an environment where she could feel more like herself; where she could break bad habits and explore life outside of her comfort zone. But first, there were emotional loose ends to tie up back home. This is the driving force of Surf the Sun; the carousel of emotions as Drake prepared for this giant leap.

Over the past 18 months Eleni Drake has cultivated a dedicated legion of fans, for her velvety, striking voice and her understated yet atmospheric orchestration. Surf the Sun is the sound of the sun’s glow on your face, feeling your spirit reach back for it, breaking through the dirt and sprouting into something better. It’s the sound of riding a wave, euphoric, terrified, spat out somewhere new with a sense of purpose. It’s about needing to be somewhere warmer. “I’m a Leo, the sun rules me, and I’ve always had a deep connection with it,” explains Drake, who references the sun on almost all of the album’s 11 tracks. “[The album] is an ode to the sun.”

“What I hope people understand is that an element of liberation and feeling free runs through the album. Despite some sombre undertones, it was made to inspire,” says Drake. What she’s created is a glorious wave to ride; a sun-drenched reminder that the gloom gives way to summer.

                                                                    

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Oslo Twins - Miss Yesterday.

Bristol born dream-pop outfit Oslo Twins have announced their debut EP 'Back To Nothing' will be released 28th July via Fascination Street Records - a new label founded by producer Ali Chant (Yard Act, Perfume Genius, Aldous Harding, Katy J Pearson) in partnership with Bristol's Factory Studios.

The new EP announcement coincides with the release of its second single, the anthemic "Miss Yesterday", following previous EP taster "Breath" which caught the attention of the likes of So Young Magazine, The Independent, DIY Magazine, Rough Trade and The Line Of Best Fit, and was played on Guy Garvey’s Finest Hour on BBC 6 Music.

A summery ode to optimism after difficult times, "Miss Yesterday" evokes anticipation and warmth with its bright, rich instrumentals, trance-like beat and laid-back, vernacular vocal and lyrical tone. “It’s a song of joyful nostalgia, filled with hope and affection,” says vocalist Claudia Vulliamy, “and perhaps a darker hint of ‘Let’s just run away from everything, there’s nothing but us.”

The single is accompanied by a joyfully surreal animated music video by artist Noriko Okaku, in which Claudia, Eric Davies and drummer Luke Brown take us through Okaku’s fantasy world made up of natural images that move in a Monty-Python-esque flip-book style.

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Parliamo - Matters Like.

Arriving as the band’s grittiest, stickiest offering to-date, it sees Parliamo’s usual bright rhythms and funky basslines, traded-in for howling Suede-esque electric guitars, low-slung hooks and unconventional choruses.

Like a migraine growing under the noon-day sun, “Matters Like” has a burbling, off-kilter intensity quite at odds with the brilliant sunshine that baked the Summer of 2022 in which it was written. Finding nuanced inspiration during those mind-melting times in the Fontaines D.C. track “Roman Holiday” and the spring reverb bass of The Last Shadow Puppets’ second record, the band’s Jack Dailly and Finn Freeburn Morrison began assimilating both into a new track that would mark a moody left-turn for the band.

A song about finding confidence in a new relationship and the overcast feelings that can come hand-in-hand with it, vocalist Jack Dailly explains: “”Matters Like” has a moodier sound than most of our previous output, with its screaming guitars and echoing hi-hats. This mood fits well with the lyrics, as the song touches on feelings of uncertainty and internal conflict. It’s a song about insecurity in a fledgling relationship and the plethora of emotions which come with getting to know more about someone than you might have bargained for.”

Weaving their straight-up songwriting and babbling instrumentals niftily through a heatwave-warped collision of influences, “Matters Like” finds a band pushing the Parliamo sound and enjoying getting a little experimental.

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Michael J. Benjamin - The Same Again.

Rising Dutch singer-songwriter Michael J. Benjamin  has unveiled his latest offering “The Same Again”, taken from a debut EP due this Autumn. A radiant, reflective ballad that sees the young musician pair distinctive Cash-meets-Cohen vocals with his knack for heart-rending storytelling, the new track was produced by Jon McMullen (Wet Leg, Michael Kiwanuka) in London. A song that finds the singer-songwriter rewinding sepia-tinted memories of his past, and pausing for thought on what could have been, Michael J. Benjamin explains of “The Same Again”:

“A girl and I used to walk along these farms on the edge of town, then I left for London and when I came back we broke up. After that I used to come back to these seemingly holy farms to find inspiration and tranquillity; to catch a glimpse of light of the moon and relive old memories. Looking back now, it’s the act of not letting go of the past that drove me to write this song. The farms were like a sanctuary, or a relic of better times. Even today it remains a magical place to me.”

With its trickling acoustic guitars and a pared-back approach to instrumentation, “The Same Again” makes for a wistful country-blues record that feels simultaneously nostalgic and refreshing; true to a style that Benjamin is quickly making his own. Staking his place as an auspicious new artist to watch, Michael J. Benjamin’s soul searching songs express a hard-won sense of authority: embracing the world with an engrossing, truth-seeking style of writing which belies his still-tender years.

Like most other millennials, he grew up with the entire history of music readily available at the click of a mouse. Growing up Michael embraced the heroes of old, immersing himself in the works of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen, Joni Mitchell, Johnny Cash and Paul McCartney, before finding more modern realms of influence in the songbooks of Lana Del Rey, Weyes Blood and Jack Antonoff.

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Charlotte Carpenter - Louie & The Wolf Gang - Sara Lew - Fake A Smile - Zito - MOONRiiVR

Charlotte Carpenter - Spinning Plates.

Spinning Plates is the first track taken from East Midland’s singer-songwriter Charlotte Carpenter’s debut album due late 2023. “There’s a lot to unpack in this song” explains Charlotte, “from societal pressures on the roles you are meant to fulfill as a woman, alongside the struggle of keeping up a relentless positivity to being a musician – and how impossible it is to ever get the balance between the two.”

Born out of being overwhelmed, anxious, and it fight or flight mode, this inner turmoil acted like lighter fluid on the song which Charlotte describes as “Erupting out of nowhere and finished in one day,” with its thundering bluesy edges and burning refrain “I can’t find a way out, a way out, a way out.” Spinning Plates is a defiant return with a background story offering a stark reminder of the prevailing sexism and exploitative power structures with the music industry.

Following a successful run of early EPs, championed by BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 2 and Virgin Radio, with tastemakers like The Line of Best Fit through to rock bible Classic Rock praising Charlotte’s raw, soulful songwriting with comparisons to the likes of Cream, Cat Power, Bonnie Riatt and PJ Harvey, Charlotte set out to make her debut album. The following years saw a period of stagnation, frustration and crippling self-doubt caused by a domineering, autocratic producer.

The experience is told in Charlotte’s new album, one she re-wrote and re-recorded after parting ways with the producer, regaining confidence and excelling in the expansive creative freedom previously denied to her. The result as we see on first single Spinning Plates is not only a warning tale but a powerful cry of defiance and strength.

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Louie & The Wolf Gang - Betty.

Worldwide airplay, a rapidly growing fan base, and performances at renowned festivals and relevant clubs: Louie & The Wolf Gang from Baden/Switzerland have gained attention in the rockabilly-scene and beyond.

After gaining wordwide airplay the trio now release «Betty» as their new single on Friday, May 19. The band will celebrate this new track with two concerts on the weekend, as start of several upcoming live-shows in Switzerland and Germany:

'Betty' tells the story of a romantic ride in a Cadillac that abruptly ends somewhere in the middle of nowhere. It has become a favorite among the live audience. Once again, Louie & The Wolf Gang demonstrate in this song their ability to combine danceable rockabilly in the style of Stray Cats, rockin' country reminiscent of Buck Owens and Johnny Cash, with modern neo-rockabilly in the style of Restless.

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Sara Lew - Out of Nowhere.

From her long-awaited forthcoming new album “LOUD”, “Out of Nowhere” is about deep love for the people you are close to and connected with. It is about deep cohesion and the relationships we can have together and with each other and it is about losing them. It is about sadness and powerlessness and it's about having to stand on your own two feet and to learn to feel again and carry the beauty we have from each other with us further, even when life doesn't last forever.

In a similar way, Sara Lew's upcoming album “LOUD” is all based around the development of life. It’s about when young people become adults and experience personal confrontations with the past, in which family stories of shame and taboo culture arise from the subconscious. It explores how to rein in anger and grief, to keep your head above water and be a role model for your own children when life all falls apart and how to protect love and togetherness when everyday life rolls on. Essentially, it’s an album about living in the present moment with love for life's stories, memories, moments of happiness but also life’s unforeseen, manifold trip wires.

On the album Sara Lew's musical embrace is intimate, present and raw, with guitar sequences that scratch the enamel of the heart and hit the diaphragm. Sara writes heartbreaking, melodic songs about the trembling complexities of human life and unfolds her own Nordic brand of melancholic, melodic rock. Her style is a hybrid of singer-songwriter, alternative rock, jazzy improv and indie lo-fi which can hook the listener in from many different angles.

On “Out of Nowhere” the music is played and arranged by Sara Lew (vocals and guitars), Anders Filipsen (keyboards/synth) and Jeppe Gram (drums). The track was recorded by, and in collaboration with, sound and studio engineers Troels Bech Jessen and Casper Nyvang Rask. It was produced by Sara Lew, and mixed-produced by Nis Bysted (Iceage & Choir of Young Believers), with mastering by Emil Thomsen.

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Fake A Smile - Don't Stop.

Having gained acclaim from areas such as The Line Of Best Fit, 10 Magazine, Fashionably Early and more on sunbleached debut single Prom Dress, rising Bouremouth based trio Fake A Smile once again stand out from the pack with attention grabbing second single, Don’t Stop. Taken from their upcoming debut EP Shoot Me To The Moon, the track sees them connect again with Mercury Award winning producer Gianluca Buccellati ( Arlo Parks,Biig Piig) on a grit-pop offering showcasing a more sombre tone than their summer ready debut. Speaking on the track, the band state:

"Don’t Stop" delves into the less breezy and more dark, grittier sound of our record collection. Topically current, the single channels new fangled cross-atlantic inspirations from the likes of early Verve and BRMC to the early aughts scenes of 'meet me in the bathroom'.

While working at a hotel in central London, members Jamie and Luca met producer and songwriter Gianluca Buccellati (Arlo Parks, Lana Del Rey, Biig Piig) by chance while he stayed at the hotel to attend and ultimately win the Mercury Prize in 2021. The band introduced themselves, igniting a kinship that resulted in the trio quitting their jobs and flying themselves out to Los Angeles to create their debut EP.

“Straight off the plane from LA, wearing a baggy Hawaiian shirt and cork hat, Gianluca walked through the doors off a bustling Tower Bridge Road into the hotel lobby, where behind the desk, Luca and I saw him walk in, sticking out like a sore thumb against the London commuters,” as frontman Jamie Kravos puts it.

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Zito - Please Don't Leave Me.

Emerging singer-songwriter Zito returns with her supplicating new single and video, “Please Don’t Leave Me” via FAMA Collective. Inspired by real life, “Please Don’t Leave Me” is a bluesy rock-fueled heartbreak ballad that mirrors the agony of the title’s plea. The story offers a glimpse into the critical moment of a relationship’s demise, sprinkled with lingering memories, thoughts of what could have been, pain, and the uncertainty of unspoken words which have been haunting Zito ever since. Diving deep into Zito’s roots, written in isolation in the Pennsylvania countryside, and recorded with close friends, the self-produced track draws from every authentic resource possible to say what wasn’t said then.

Speaking on the single, Zito shares: “The chorus to ‘PDL’ was one of those melodies that honestly comes to you in the moment, as the dust settles and you process what’s going on. The chorus was the plea repeating in my head. I worked on this song for ages, wrote multiple bridges and outros, and actually have a few different versions in storage. But I sang it to myself on long drives or sitting in airports until it was settled enough in my mind to record, produce, and be able to capture its message. She adds, “By that point, producing it was easy because I’d played it in my head thousands of times over. And when I had to record vocals, I revisited those old wounds, sang it out, and got it out of my system. It was incredibly rewarding.”

The accompanying visual brings to life the track’s emotion as a revolving reel of her travels across the US depicts a reminiscent memory, becoming the foreground to the lyrics all while eliciting a nostalgic feel. “I want the visual to feel like those glimpses of memory you flip through in your mind when you’re really haunted by something in the past that you can’t return to. It’s pretty fascinating how many memories we accumulate in our lives and how some of them are so sweet in the moment but end up being so sad to look back on.”

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MOONRiiVR - Blonde Hair Now.

MOONRiiVR is a brand new band from Toronto, by familiar musicians Gavin Gardiner (frontperson of JUNO-nominated indie-folk band The Wooden Sky) and “Champagne'' James Robertson (guitarist for Lindi Ortega and Dwayne Gretzky).

Listening to their debut album, aptly titled Vol. 1, is like entering an unfamiliar room down a long hallway, closing the door quietly behind you, and finding oneself lost in a different world, one where you’re not sure whether you’re looking forward, backward, or perhaps even into a mirror.

Their first single, “Blonde Hair Now” is a celebration of the small moments in our days that make up our lives – a beautiful homage to the gravity of the simple everyday decisions that shape our world. It invites listeners to imagine a world where you’re dancing in the RCA studios with the ghost of a young Elvis Presley or fast asleep between Richie Valens and Buddy Holly in the backseat of that ill-fated flight.

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Lead Pony - Lala Salama - The Drive-By Truckers - The Broken Islands

Lead Pony - Vultures.

San Diego psych/blues rock group Lead Pony release their new single, “Vultures” this week, the title-track to their upcoming debut full-length, which they have announced for a July 14 release.

Discussing the single, guitarist Jesse Hofstee noted, "’Vultures’ is a story about someone leaving their hometown to go to the city and 'make it big'. It’s about change, taking risks and finding yourself, but also a cautionary tale about the vultures that will take advantage of people that are finding themselves, and send them in the wrong direction. It was one of the first songs we wrote for the record that started to lay the groundwork for the sound and idea of this being a record about the city.”

Lead Pony emerged in 2017, releasing their debut EP, Eclipse, and quickly followed with the appropriately titled, double-single, Two Love Songs in 2018. The band toured relentlessly, and had successes getting music placements, including on the TV show “Shameless”. In 2019 the they decided to take a break to pursue other projects and creative endeavors.

In the summer of 2022, the addition of bassist Seancarlo Ohlin sparked desire to make a full-length record. Writing shifted into overdrive with a goal of creating an environment where these songs could really live. In this case, it’s Lead Pony’s imagined version of ‘70s New York City. Various stories weave through Vultures with a diverse range of sounds and styles all glued together with the voices and production that they were able to achieve with producer Trevor Spencer (Fleet Foxes, Father John Misty, Beach House).

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Lala Salama - Summer Love.

Lala Salama, the newest signing to the All That Plazz record label, is joining the summer hit parade with the release of the irresistibly cheerful single Summer Love. The new single, which is being released today May 17, doesn’t pale sonically alongside the world’s biggest contemporary indie bands at all thanks to mastering by American Grammy nominee Ryan Schwabe.

Lala Salama comprises singer and guitarist Rosa Jules together with drummer Aliisa Keränen and bassist Santeri Hytönen, who also play with the band Bad Sauna. Having gained a following in Helsinki’s punk and indie circles, Lala Salama has previously self-published one EP and a single. With their new single, the band is readier than ever.

Summer Love is a wistful but also empowering and rollicking love song that yearns for a summer love in the style of a modern and urban hit. Musical points of comparison can be found in dreampop and Scandinavian nostalgia pop, but also strongly in shoegaze, indie rock and even punk. Bands like Regina, Beach House, DIIV and Wet Leg come to mind. However, perhaps no one has previously been able to combine Finnish melancholy and jagged romanticism with indie rock quite like Lala Salama does.

The strongly feminist DIY band formed during the pandemic, when Hytönen and Keränen fell in love with the demo tapes of singer and songwriter Rosa Jules. The trio bonded immediately, and Lala Salama became a real band. Summer Love will no doubt grab the attention of not only the local punk gang in Kallio but also wider indie circles, both in Finland and around the world.

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The Drive-By Truckers - Goode’s Field Road (Remixed / Remastered).

The Drive-By Truckers will release The Complete Dirty South on June 16, 2023, via New West Records. Originally released in 2004 to wide acclaim, The Dirty South explores the mean highways and dark hollers of what the band called the “Mythological South,” a tornado-ravaged landscape populated by bootleggers and small-time criminals, everyday folks just scraping to get by and looming icons like Sam Phillips, John Henry, and Sheriff Buford Pusser. The album is a reckoning with the place they call home. Pitchfork sang its praises: “The Drive-By Truckers’ Southern rock always sounds homemade, and like liquor from a still, it’s extremely potent… [They] find the connections between these larger-than-life figures and the life-size experiences that shaped them. For them, the South is a stretch of highway where many have died, an ordinary place made extraordinary by human tragedies. The Dirty South is their homemade roadside memorial.”

The ground-breaking album has been re-sequenced and expanded to the band’s initially proposed 17-song track listing. It includes 3 bonus tracks that were left off the original album, and 4 remixed songs featuring newly updated vocals. Also included is a 32-page book featuring original and new liner notes written by the Drive-By Truckers’ Patterson Hood, track-by-track descriptions written by Hood, Mike Cooley and Jason Isbell, never-before-seen photos, and updated artwork by the late Wes Freed. The Complete Dirty South was remastered by the legendary Greg Calbi. This definitive version of the album will finally be available as the band intended.

This week, the Drive-By Truckers shared the remixed “Goode’s Field Road” featuring new vocals from Patterson Hood. He says, “I wrote the song as part of the album as we originally envisioned it as a kind of connective tissue between the state line gang narrative and the more personal songs on the album. We recorded it in Athens during the fall of 2003. When it ended up being dropped from the sequence, it was later released on The Fine Print collection of outtakes and oddities. This version features a new vocal and mix (and is quite a different version from the one on Brighter Than Creation’s Dark). It has always been one of my favorite songs that I have ever written.”

 

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The Broken Islands - Tempest.

Following on from the release of their highly-acclaimed sophomore LP 'Masquerade’ in 2020, Canadian outfit The Broken Islands are now ready to break their three-year silence with the release of their euphoric new single ‘Tempest’. Lifted from their eagerly-awaited third studio album, which is set to arrive later this year, ‘Tempest’ sees them bring back more of that raw and driven post-punk-meets-shoegaze aesthetic they have developed for themselves over the years. Brimming with broad and immersive textures from start to finish, they are returning with one of their most impactful efforts to date here.

To celebrate the release of their new single, The Broken Islands will also be performing a string of shows across the UK throughout May, including a slot at this year’s Great Escape Festival. The Broken Islands are a Vancouver-based quintet who meld elements of ambient pop, shoegaze, post-rock, post-punk, trip-hop and dark wave to create their own distinct sound. With crashing guitars and delicate sounding keyboards weaving around swooning, siren-like vocals, the band’s songs can sound at times like an otherworldly sonic experience while still being packed with emotion and moments of tenderness.

Their well-received debut album ‘Wars’ was released in the autumn of 2017, with the follow-up LP ‘Masquerade’ released in February 2020. The Broken Islands third album is slated for release in late 2023, with full details emerging soon. Like its predecessors, the new untitled third album has been produced and mixed by Dave ‘Rave’ Ogilvie, who is best known for his work with industrial music titans such as Nine Inch Nails, Ministry and Skinny Puppy and was the perfect choice to harness the many influences that constitute the sound of The Broken Islands.

The Broken Islands · Tempest

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The Pairs - Liam Fender - Doug Levitt

The Pairs - Sunday To Tuesday (Live version at EMAC).

Family is what ties The Pairs together. With soaring harmonies, they share stories of life's hope, hilarity, and hardship. An honest, quirky stage presence and their unbottled chemistry quickly connects them with their audience. The line between the stage and the crowd becomes blurred as if we've all pulled up a seat around their lively kitchen table.

As musicians, our work takes us away from home and many people that we care deeply for. It’s a challenge to find a balance between a life of roaming on the road while still nurturing the kind of loving relationships that we each long for – Lead vocalist Renée Coughlin.

The Pairs' new track, "Sunday to Tuesday," was written in a time when Renée was attempting to carve space in her life to be able to hold on to all of the things that she loved. While close relationships at home didn't see the benefits of a Friday to Sunday weekend, and free weekday evenings, Renée imagined all the love that could fill the days between Sunday and Tuesday, when The Pairs weren't on stage.

 

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Liam Fender - Time Comes Around.

Musician and Newcastle native Liam Fender releases brand new single 'Time Comes Around' alongside his most ambitious music video yet. Following ballet dancers Hayley Walker and Owen Kennedy as they dance through the centre of his hometown in North Shields, Newcastle the video features a host of North East cameos from a mixture of local artists and personalities.

Incorporating beautiful guitar-led melodies, softly lilting drumbeats, strings, and poignantly genuine yet feel-good lyrics, Liam notes that 'Time Comes Around' is 'in essence a song about things coming good after a period of prolonged sadness.'

His latest release from his highly anticipated debut EP, lifelong musician Liam Fender has affirmed himself as someone who has music simply coursing through his veins. Having grown up among the people, voices and stories of different musicians, creatives and free spirits of the North East, Liam has an intuitive ability to combine highly articulate and genuine lyrics that are deeply rooted in his own life experiences with stunningly emotive instrumentals - making him a songwriting force to be reckoned with.

The accompanying music video for ‘Time Comes Around’, directed by Sam Gannie, is in keeping with Liam’s authentic songwriting philosophy and is his most ambitious yet. Filmed in his local high street, with many characters in attendance, the video is a very natural and authentic snapshot of life in the town where Liam grew up. Alongside a host of 'blink and you'll miss it' moments, the music video stars ballet dancers Owen Kennedy and Hayley Walker as they swoop through the town centre. Owen choreographed the video’s moving routine and has previously worked with seminal choreographers such as Christopher Bruce, Thick and Tight, and James Wilton, and Hayley has toured the UK with works by Sharon Watson and Joss Arnot as well as having worked with artists including Nina Nesbitt and brands such as Reebok.

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Doug Levitt - Edge of Everywhere (Album).

Singer-songwriter Doug Levitt has released his debut album Edge of Everywhere. Across 12 powerful tracks, Levitt invites listeners on his ongoing Greyhound bus journey over the last decade, sharing the inspiring stories of folks he’s met along the way with more than 120,000 miles logged on the road.

To date, Edge of Everywhere has already garnered praise from the BBC, American Songwriter, Glide Magazine, Music Connection Magazine, Americana Highways, and Americana UK who gave the album a perfect 10/10 while hailing it as “one of the most important albums of the 21st century.” Produced by GRAMMY Award-winner Trina Shoemaker (Brandi Carlile, Josh Ritter, Sheryl Crow, Emmylou Harris), Edge of Everywhere at its core is about empathy and connection, colored by touching vignettes of the human condition as shown on highlights like the poignant “Cold Comfort” and the cathartic “Highway Signs." The album’s stirring narratives range from a parent who faced the law after running from it to a father who blames himself for his son being shot in a drive-by, and more.

In March, Levitt brought the impactful stories from Edge of Everywhere to life at New York City’s Lincoln Center, where he launched his new partnership with Guitars for Vets. Proceeds from that show along with future tour dates and sales from the album will benefit the organization, which provides guitars for veterans and teaches them how to play. Levitt also recently performed at the men’s and women’s prisons in Attica, NY, which was filmed for an upcoming BBC TV and radio documentary (the second in a series).

With a bourbon-rich baritone and a range that reaches the heights of a falsetto at times recalling Cat Stevens, Levitt brings listeners along on a transcendental trip in which we are all travelers on a bus writ large. Perhaps it was suffering tragedy as a young person which made Levitt so receptive to other people’s stories. When he was 16, he tragically found his father dead by suicide. For years, he says, he couldn't cry and turned to music as an outlet. But before using that music to reflect the journeys of others, he set out on his own, first at Cornell, where he studied Critical Thinking with Carl Sagan, and then as a London-based foreign correspondent for CNN and ABC filing dispatches from such places as Iran, Rwanda, Bosnia and Gaza.

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Margo Cilker - Dubmatix - Annie Bartholomew - Madeline Kenney

Margo Cilker - Lowland Trail.

"Lowland Trail" is the first song to be taken from the eagerly anticipated follow-up to her acclaimed debut Pohorylle which Uncut described as "one of the most auspicious debuts of recent times" back in 2021.

The new album "Valley Of Heart’s Delight” is released on September 15th and sees Cilker working with the same team of Sera Cahoone on production duties with John Morgan Askew recording the album at his Bocce Studio just outside Portland, Oregon.

Cilker says of "Lowland Trail": I wrote this song living in a place where a rise in elevation paid off spectacularly.  And I would climb. Yet, I began to crave just placing one foot in front of the other; a more meditative wandering. Less risk, less reward.

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Dubmatix - The Ska Sessions (Volume 1). 

For the past few years I’ve had an idea bubbling around my head - could I create a song a day, and for how long? In December 2022, I decided to test this concept out and see what would happen starting January 2, 2023. As it turns out, a lot of things can happen and this is just one of them - a full-length Ska album. Over the past 20 years, I had never thought about creating a ska album, but sometimes when you dive into fresh waters, your perspective can be altered and new opportunities appear. That is how this all began.

Starting on January 2, I set out to produce an 8-bar song idea each day, which gradually evolved into sharing 30-second videos and eventually creating full-length songs and videos over the first four months. To date, over 125 song ideas have been created so far, choice ones that resonated with me became full-length songs in the ska style. This adventure has garnered a positive response from an enthusiastic audience, particularly in the ska genre, which I love but have not previously produced much music in.

Delving into it headfirst, I built tracks that pay tribute to the originators of the genre and the 2nd wave movement of Two Tone. What began as a bucket list idea has turned into something wonderful that Dubmatix has thoroughly enjoyed sharing with people and connecting with in a new way.

The vocals used in the album are from loop packs since I work fast daily on new music to achieve this goal. Although there needed to be more time to work with singers, I felt it was important to share their names and give them credit as they are unique and well-known and help to bring these songs to life: The Ragga Twins and Dennis Alcapone plus Double Tiger - Jesse.

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Annie Bartholomew - All For The Klondike's Gold.

After nearly a decade of performing in Alaska’s rowdy bar scene, Juneau folksinger Annie Bartholomew became haunted by the stories of sex workers during the 19th century after touring the brothel museum at Skagway’s Red Onion Saloon. This week, Bartholomew shared the new single and music video for “All For the Klondike’s Gold” from her debut album Sisters of White Chapel.

After conversations with her friend, Arkansas songwriter Willi Carlisle, the scope of the project came to include a play and stage show. The result is her debut album Sisters of White Chapel, out June 16. The music accompanies a play that she wrote Sisters of White Chapel: A Short But True Story, which premiered to acclaim in Bartholomew’s hometown of Juneau. The first single will be “Sisters of White Chapel,” referring to the red light district in Dawson City.

“All For the Klondike’s Gold” is accompanied by driving guitar and fiddle, and is sung by women, abandoned by their male companions but now joining together to survive the gold rush. Annie says, “’All For the Klondike’s Gold’ is adapted from a 1901 miner’s poem anonymously published in the Klondike Nugget, that empathizes with women left behind in the Northland due to the deaths of their male companions. These were the tragedies and very real economic realities that made women turn to sex work.”

In contrast to the art created for tourists, Annie envisioned a musical work that would share these omissions of Alaska’s mining past, and embody the stories of women in Victorian-era Alaska. Through archival materials, personal history, and Alaska’s stringband traditions, Bartholomew brings these women to life, extracting the emotional truth of who they were, why they risked everything to follow a gold rush, and their subsequent journeys and misadventures along the way.

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Madeline Kenney - Superficial Conversation.

In the quiet surrounding the pandemic, Madeline Kenney made sonic sketches in the basement studio she shared with her then-partner. She arranged phrases that called her—the sharp knife of a synth cutting a path along a blooming arpeggio, drums stuttering firm and tight. Working this way, she amassed a collection of songs she had no particular aims for. Some formed her 2021 EP Summer Quarter, others languished.

But in 2022, Kenney’s partner left suddenly and without warning, plunging her into the solitary act of untangling what happened. In the wake of her ensuing depression, she revisited these songs and found in them something prescient. She’d already laid the foundation for A New Reality Mind, her fourth LP (due out July 28th via Carpark Records) which she is announcing today with the album's first single "Superficial Conversation," alongside the track's self-directed video.

That her relationship’s end came without warning is only half true, though. The warnings were in the feelings and fears that inspired Kenney’s critically-acclaimed third album, Sucker’s Lunch (2020), which was co-produced by Jenn Wasner (Flock of Dimes) and centered around the idea of flinging oneself freely into the seemingly-assured destruction of new love, come what may. If sonically Sucker’s Lunch was letting yourself be pulled into the warm bath of a good story, A New Reality Mind reflects the harsh light of truth coming to break the spell. But as sobering as morning light can be, there’s brilliance to it, too. To see in the clarity of day is a gift. A revolution.

This is Kenney’s most expansive work, while also her most solitary. Produced and recorded alone in her basement, these songs are manifestations of what it feels like to be transformed by pain. Textures collide and collude; sonic ornaments emerge and dissipate capriciously; saxophones soar untamed. There's a propulsive power in the album, and there’s also acceptance, self-forgiveness, and a willingness to move forward into life, with all its ways of making a sucker of you. “That way of living, I’m over it,” Kenney declares of the habits that hold her back on "Superficial Conversation." “I do not need to be reminded of what I did,” she assures, the song opening wide and beaming, like a smile expanding to taste a new breath of air.

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