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Showing posts from April 2, 2017

Polar States - The 27 - Nacho Londono - Sleep Party People - The Bandicoots - Future Lives

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Polar States - Gold. Background - Emerging Indie Rockers Polar States from Liverpool are back with a brand new single called "Gold" (Release: 7.4.17) taken from the band's upcoming debut EP "Electric". Championed by BBC Radio 1’s Huw Stephens and BBC 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq, up and coming Indie four-piece Polar States from Liverpool have exploded locally and nationally, selling out the Liverpool o2 Academy twice and completing a 10 date UK tour in support of their previous single Elizabeth, which was added to the BBC Radio 1 ‘Best Of Introducing’ playlist and the Topshop playlist. Now the band is back with a fresh new offering called “Gold” taken from their soon to be released debut EP “Electric”. The song embodies everything Polar States stand for: Huge melodies, sparkling guitar riffs and smart lyrics. According to the band the song is about valuing what you have.  “The ‘million in my heart line’ was basically a way of saying you should see wealth not in...

Bumper Jacksons - The School Book Depository - Chloe Foy - Bonzie - Hunter & The Bear - Lillie Mae - Louise Lemón

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Bumper Jacksons - I've Never Met A Stranger. Background - 4am, campfire in Your Backyard, summertime. - The firelight bounces off fiddles, horns, guitars, and the faces of the men and women singing together in the deep parts of the night. They might not know each other’s names, but there they are, pouring their hearts out to one another in song, playing tunes older than their great-grandmothers. A certain magic happens in moments like this where a common thread of humanity, going back thousands of years, is plucked – and strangers become old friends. Music creates a sort of temporary social apocalypse where the niceties and norms of society are blown away and a radical openness to others is allowed to take it's place. These are the experiences that birthed the Bumper Jacksons. Our new album "I’ve Never Met A Stranger" is a toast to all the ways in which we humans bridge the divide between our souls. Website here , Facebook here . Traditional folk music...

Down On Maddy - GRMLN - Second Still

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Down On Maddy - Wake Yourself. Background - Down On Maddy mines enigmatic groove music swathed in majestic synth ambience, funky guitar, rugged beats, and infectious rubbery bass lines.  Down On Maddy evokes the immersive qualities and ambitious arrangements of Pink Floyd, Yeasayer, The Doors, and MGMT. It’s a credo indie producer/multi-instrumentalist Patrick Kleven lives and creates by through the dream funk project Down On Maddy. To produce this cryptic and cathartic music, Patrick has had to confront Loneliness. Demons. A Tumultuous (or Roller Coaster) Past. With Down On Maddy’s debut, he brings listeners light by sharing the passage through darkness. Facebook here . The video provides us with a visual story, whilst 'Wake Yourself' provides a cool soundtrack. Take a second listen without the visuals and the song really does have quality and character in it's own right. Refined alt rock with attention to detail and enough passion to entice another listen. ---...

Dig Deeper - Mermaidens - Mira Aasma - The Megaphonic Thrift - Morrissey and Marshall - Stolen Jars

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Dig Deeper - Stars Tonight (Have You Seen). Background - Dig Deeper share new single "Stars Tonight (Have You Seen)" plus "Stars Tonight" EP is released May 19th through The Alien Agency. “When we realised we were stuck in a northern outpost, where those elected to political power were working to close borders, refuse people in need basic rights and brag about having the strictest policies on immigration in Europe, we decided to make this record.” These are the words of Norway’s Dig Deeper about their new “Stars tonight” EP, which they use as a way to highlight and criticise their government’s inhumane policies on immigration, and tell stories in the tradition of American alt-country from a European perspective – think Richmond Fontaine or Son Volt. This was somewhat of a turn for Dig Deeper; a band that originally set out to focus on having a good time playing trippy guitar music, described as “Norwegian mountain rock with a touch of War On Drugs and paisley u...

Sunshine & the Rain - Sam Rochford - Gitta de Ridder - The Velveteins - Woods - Katie Laffan

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Sunshine & the Rain - I'm Not Your Girl. Background - New York's Sunshine & the Rain new album is set for release on May 12th. Recorded in Sonic Youth’s Echo Canyon West studio with the legendary Jon Spencer, 'In The Darkness Of My Night' is full of pop gems with sugary hooks and dirty Ramones grit. Sunshine & the Rain is a duo consisting of husband and wife Ashley Morey (vocals, bass) and Justin Morey (guitar), both formerly of critically acclaimed psych rockers The Black Hollies. Formed around the same time as the 2014 dissolution of their former band, Sunshine & the Rain kicked things off with the Jesus & Mary Chain vibes of their debut 7? 'Can’t Stop Thinking About You b/w Pale Blue Skies' in late 2015. Early 2016 saw them heading into Sonic Youth’s Echo Canyon West studio with the legendary Jon Spencer to begin work on their debut LP. Eschewing some of the more lengthy psych leanings of their earliest days, Spencer coaxed the band...

Sound Of The Sirens - Coast Modern - Planets - The Company Stores

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Sound Of The Sirens - Smokescreen. Background - There’s a certain transcendent magic that happens when two contrasting voices coalesce in perfect harmony – think The Everly Brothers, Simon & Garfunkel or George Jones and Tammy Wynette. Imperceptibly, they can raise you from the temporal to the spiritual in the breath of a song, and set you floating among the firmament infused with a sense of wonder – just like Sound of the Sirens. Exeter-based duo Abbe Martin and Hannah Wood dovetail beautifully on their debut album, For All Our Sins, a beguiling acoustic pop collection replete with lyrical sensibility on tracks like the first single, Smokescreen (“Living beyond the darkness others create for us, and growing into something positive”), The Circus (“When everyone wants something from you, who can you trust?”) and Mr Wilson (“The chemistry of a new relationship, unsure of where it is going, but knowing that you want more from it”). Already championed by Chris Evans – who declar...

Tashaki Miyaki - Livia Blanc - Odd Couple - Emma Ballantine

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Tashaki Miyaki - Out Of My Head. Background - The Los Angeles-based duo Tashaki Miyaki will release their highly anticipated debut album The Dream on April 7 via Metropolis Records. This week the band wrapped up their residency at the Echoplex in LA and now shares the album's third single "Out Of My Head". Here's what the band's Paige Stark said about the track: "It's a song about wanting to shut off my mind. I suffer from various anxieties and depression that can become exhausting. As John Milton says in Paradise Lost,  'The mind is its own place and in itself, can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.' Musically I wanted it to feel the opposite, soothing and expansive...like a daydream." Tashaki Miyaki have toured and played festivals across North America, Europe and the UK. The band has also performed at art museums around the world, including The Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona and MoMA, New York. Tashaki Miyaki h...