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Showing posts from December 31, 2017

Jared Saltiel - Lights and Bridges - Gianni Paci - Lisa Hilton

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Jared Saltiel - The Fountain. Background - “The Fountain,” the scene-setting new single from singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jared Saltiel, begins with a softly strummed guitar and Saltiel’s sweet falsetto, gently ushering the listener into an intoxicating haze of magical storytelling. The ornate arrangement of warm, rich strings, delicate harp, and bittersweet countermelodies give way to a lush trio of female voices, beckoning us toward a beautiful vision. The second single and opening track of Saltiel’s upcoming album Out of Clay (due out February 2), “The Fountain” was recorded at The Bunker Studio, and is available as an approved downloadable mp3. The song unfolds like a chapter in a magical realist novel. Cast in a dreamlike mist, a sailor washes up on the shore of a deserted island. Through the fog he sees an ethereal, silver-y fountain, guarded by three mysterious women; are they spirits, or witches, or distinct manifestations of a Goddess? They show him a beautif...

Berry - VanWyck - Rainbow Reservoir

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Berry - Fragments. Background - The music of Berry is a strange animal. But writing and recording over 100 songs in their 15 years together has resulted in some dense, delicate, graceful pop songs with a certain Searching for Bobby Fischer mentality. Berry formed in 2002 on Martha’s Vineyard when guitarist/vocalist Joey Lemon and drummer Paul Goodenough connected at an intensive four-month music program. When they returned to the Midwest, the two recruited college friend and keyboardist Matt Aufrecht. Their first LP, Marriage (Right Place Records), was released the following year and was met with critical acclaim, allowing the band to tour extensively throughout the country. After several tours and bass players, Berry moved to Chicago in search of a city that would fit their quirky and idiosyncratic music. There, they began a recording frenzy, releasing a series of six EPs between 2007 and 2008. To promote these releases, the band embarked on a novel idea for a tour. Foregoing the u...

Gasoline Lollipops - Peter Kernel

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Gasoline Lollipops - Montreal. Background - Gasoline Lollipops is a Colorado band that combines the sincerity of dirt-floor folk with the energy and rebelliousness of punk. It's an all-new incarnation of alt-country that’s both high-energy and heartfelt, like the American highway's soundtrack. This year marked the release of the GasPops' debut full-length album, Resurrection, and the band’s first-ever vinyl release Soul Mine. Colorado Daily readers voted Gasoline Lollipops "Best Local Musician/Group" for 2017, and in 2016, Denver Westword named Gasoline Lollipops Color ado's Best Country Artist. 2014 and 2015 brought multiple awards and accolades to the Gasoline Lollipops.  These included being selected to play six showcases in Austin during SXSW 2014; getting voted "Best Local Musician/Group" in the Colorado Daily's 2014 and 2015 polls; being selected as one of only six bands across Colorado for the highly coveted SpokesBUZZ Emerging Arti...

Port Cities - Black Mamba

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Port Cities - On the Nights You Stay Home. Background - Port Cities’ music is a perfect balance of Nashville (where much of it was recorded) and Nova Scotia (where the band reside); of the rustic and atmospheric, of indie intimacy and the sort of arena-pop anthems that betray Port Cities’ globe-trotting ambitions; 2018 sees the band embark upon their second cross European tour, including a timely stint here in the UK, where their following is building up nicely off the back of 2017's visit, and the hugely successful #PostcardsFromPortCities series of videos. A port city is a place where cultures and histories collide, where goods and ideas are imported and absorbed into the local bloodstream. Not entirely un-coincidentally, Port Cities the band is the musical equivalent; a melting pot of three of Canada’s most creative individual talents, drawn together to make an entity even more outstanding as a group than as its constituent parts. As with any form of musical collaboration, th...

Libertino Records - ‘I’r Gofod A Byth Yn Ȏl’ Libertino MIX 1 (Compilation Album)

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Libertino Records - ‘I’r Gofod A Byth Yn Ȏl’ Libertino MIX 1. Background from Wale's Libertino Records - ‘Into Space and Never Back’ Libertino MIX 1. This is a celebration of the first eight months of Libertino's releases. What a gloriously, head-spinning roller coaster journey it has been so far; and this is only the beginning.  Holding steadfastly to our ethos of inclusiveness and community grass roots support for emerging artists, our releases have demonstrated a bravely eclectic streak from indie death disco to psychedelic folk and post punk feminist anthems.   This compilation also includes taster songs from artists with whom the label will be working in 2018. ‘I’r Gofod A Byth Yn Ȏl’ Libertino MIX 1 is our way of saying thanks for all the support that Libertino's artists have received this year. All songs are free downloads. Turn up loud and lose yourself in the colours and sounds of our world. Until 2018, thank you and diolch. Love from Libertino x ‘I’r Gofod A...

Andrew Reed - Stephen Michael Murphy

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Andrew Reed - If All the World Were Right. Background - Auspiciously due on 1.1.2018, with "If All the World Were Right" there is a shot of positivity in the world. There is nothing really being sold here except an atmosphere to "believe in yourself" and "embrace your own greatness" with heavy doses of humility thrown in thanks to our struggles through dense matter. This concept album is of a journey...a journey of a Prodigal, who has to return home after being defeated by life and the world... Humility fills the album. The new album, Andrew says, is "about my journey, but I don't think it is unique to me at all. Most of us go through really tough patches during our lives. So much of it has to do with our thinking and the emotions that result from our thinking. We are constantly thinking about how to interpret or reconcile our lives... but we have a choice in how we experience the world! And all it takes to improve things is to change your th...