Stalking Like Candy - Joe Rusi - Belle Miners - Jenn Vix
Stalking Like Candy - Can You See The Light.Background - Stalking Like Candy are celestial beings, transcended from the ennui of terrestrial life. Indomitable. Their latest single Can You See The Light builds on the Cyberpunk universe of movies like Blade Runner and books like Neuromancer. It tells the tale of a street urchin from neo-Tokyo, her rise out of the slums, and the nostalgia she retains for the neon alleyways of her childhood.
Stalking Like Candy combines a Pixies post-punk ethos with synths, beats, raps, and soaring melodies and harmonies. The lineup is Thida G (vox, synths, samples), Dr J (aka Jamie Q) (vox, guitar, synths, ukulele and stuff), Gabe (vox, bass), and Aleŝ ‘jazz hands’ Svoboda (drums). The band grew out of Locos, a covers band that’s been demolishing the Coogee covers scene since early 2016. Stalking mostly plays originals, but they love reinterpreting a few classics to really get the crowd pumping. You’ll see.
Can You See The Light was born on a rainy winter’s morning when Jamie Q was playing around on his son’s ukulele. The song lay dormant for a year before exploding into a Cyberpunk, synth-pop extravaganza in late 2016, when Thida G added her uplifting vocals to the intro and choruses.
The track is set in neo-Tokyo. It tells the tale of a street urchin who watches the rockets arcing over the city on their way to Sky Wheel, a space station like Freeside in Gibson’s Neuromancer. The girl is mentored by Yukio, a down-on-his-luck exec who’s living out of a pod in Shinjuku. In time she makes it out of the slums to herself walk on Sky Wheel. But she can’t forget her roots – the neon alleyways of her youth are forever her home. The messianic cry, Can You See The Light, refers to seeing the flames of the rocket boosters – they are the only light that can be seen in the night sky. But the ignorant slum dwellers think these flames are a sign from God. The children’s voices that shout back ‘Yes, I can see the light!’ speak of hope for a better life. In the video clip, the band cruises the night-time city streets on their rollerblades, the lights of the city mirrored in the neon light-up wheels of their blades. This aesthetic is reminiscent of the glowing umbrella handles in the original Blade Runner.
The song was co-produced by Jamie Q and Syd Green at MonoNest, and mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound. While the Moog analogue synths are a big part of the track, the coolest aspect is the intro and chorus vocals that were run through a Leslie rotating speaker. This gives them their shimmering, old-world quality, which is of course what Cyberpunk is all about – the cutting edge mixed with the archaic. The greatest challenge in recording the track was getting the acoustic guitar just right – exploiting its percussive qualities, but not losing the chords themselves. FACEBOOK.
'Can You See The Light' has a bright synthy & guitar driven vibe that contrasts beautifully with the determined vocals and vibrant harmonies.
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Background - Joe Rusi is out with his 2nd solo album ”À Tout le Monde from…” (BIGHCD1703) on Big H Records (CD and digital). This is the follow up to the album ”Who I Am” which was nominated for Norwegian Grammy/Spellemann in 2015.
”À Tout le Monde From…” is also recorded in New Orleans with legends like Doug Belote (drums), John Papa Gros (piano), Cyril Neville (The Meters), Mark Mullins & the Levee Horns and George Porter Jr (bass, the Meters) in the rhythm section. Arne Skage Jr. (Reidar Larsen and Rita Eriksen) has produced this soulful album recorded at the Music Shed in New Orleans in the late summer of 2017. Joe Rusi is fronting the band with his impeccable guitar playing and soulful vocals. His performance really makes this an album that that stands out from the crowd, brimming with New Orleans vibe and swampy grooves.
Joe started out on violin when he was 6 years old, picked up the guitar at 10 and became a professsional musician at 15. In 2001 he relocated to Flekkefjord on the Norwegian West Coast and has been a force to be reckon with ever since. He has become a favourite on the local club scene and on Norwegian festivals. He also did a US tour back in 2012. Off stage he teaches music at Lundheim Folkehøgskole.
"Joe Rusi's guitar playing is simply great." Rick Peckham (Assistant Chair of the Guitar Department, Berklee College of Music) Since 2013 Joe has had his own radio show ”Blues with Rusi” on Radio Kvinesdal (local station). He has recieved the ”Celebrity Scholarship” from Berklee Collage of Music with Masters Certificate in Songwriting and Guitar (with Steve Vai, Paul Simon, Herbie Hancock and Mark Mothersbaugh in the jury). FACEBOOK.
Rich with New Orleans flavours 'À Tout Le Monde From New Orleans' is a gorgeous funky, soulful, blues song with some fabulous musicianship throughout. There is a respectful nod towards Dr John here, however Joe Rusi really does carve out his own signature style on what is a fabulous album.
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Belle Miners - Night Flight.Background - Glorious folk-pop trio Belle Miners have released a stunning music clip to accompany their latest single, 'Night Flight'.
Taken from their 10-track debut album Powerful Owl, Canadian friends and musicians Felicia Harding and Marina Avros and Australian-based Jaime Jackett blend beautifully into the starry night sky of the Kimberley in outback Western Australia. Their soaring harmonies and delicate instrumentation pop against a sparkling violet vision of moonlit horizons and Magpie geese flying to roost over a blood-red sunset.
The video captures the emotion behind the song's lyrics and deep personal meaning for Jaime, as well as the strong connection Belle Miners have with Australia's birds and the freedom of its landscape. "I imagined myself as a spirit, having left my body, soaring out into the vast expanse beyond our blue-green planet, flying through the cool air like I always wished I could as a child", says Jaime.
The birds were filmed by Simon Mustoe (Belle Miners Manager and founder of Wildiaries) and Nick Hayward (whose most famous work includes the Lyrebird sequence from Attenborough's Life of Birds). The footage was originally collected over 150 days, for a tourism series about Australia's people, nature and places - and even includes a film about Broome Bird Observatory where Jaime now works.
Jaime's reasons for thinking about death are deeply personal - she spent 11 years with a brain stem tumour deemed inoperable. Fortunately, one of the world's leading brain surgeons Dr. Charles Teo removed the tumour and Jaime is now cancer free. The song serves as a powerful and poignant reminder to never give up. Belle Miners will take their songs and stories on tour around Australia in January. WEBSITE, FACEBOOK.
We first featured the Belle Miners back in September and now we have another fine song 'Night Flight'. Last time we described their music as "melodic and with delicious vocals and harmonies", well that is obviously a hallmark of the trio. The bands Australia tour details can be found on their website.
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Background - Alternative singer-singwriter Jenn Vix phas teamed up with Danny Chavis of shoegaze pioneers The Veldt to present the 'Into The Veldt Mix' of 'Complicated'. Featured on her new ‘Unlocked’ EP, this new version is trippy with psychedelic underpinnings and a very urban gazey vibe.
Here Danny Chavis re-envisions this song, contributing guitar and other instrumentation. As a principal member of The Veldt, he has a rich history of collaborations with the likes of TV On The Radio, Mos Def and Lady Miss Kier (Deee-Lite), and touring with Phantogram, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Pixies, Throwing Muses, Echo & The Bunnymen, Cocteau Twins, Manic Street Preachers, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Oasis, Chuck D, Living Colour, and Schooly D.
The accompanying video for this track was directed, produced and edited by Renan DeAraujo, a 27 year old, Brazilian filmmaker who loves to tell stories with light and rhythm. The video features Jenn Vix herself, along with actor Michael French. Not long ago, Vix presented the new video for the original version of 'Complicated Man', working with the same team.
"My interpretation was to put Jenn's personality on the screen, and in particular, the overall feeling of the trck; a mysterious and delicate mood, at the same time. I was trying to express the character's point of view," says DeAraujo.
Based in Rhode Island, Vix is an solo electronic-rock recording artist, songwriter, producer and recording engineer, who has, over the years, ventured into other genres including alternative rock, trip hop, darkwave, modern new wave and electro-industrial.
We featured the original version of 'Complicated Man' back in October and now we have 'Complicated Man (Into The Veldt Mix)' We described the 'Unlocked EP' as "an imaginative, creative collection of material" something this version of the song (which is also part of the EP) helps put more light on.
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