Corniglia - TC&I - Walter Martin - Wild Child - Lauren Ruth Ward
Corniglia - Strange Desires.Background - Corniglia is a wonderful, psychedelic infused shoegaze band from Perth, Australia. Their second single from their self-titled debut album, "Strange Desires," both released this week. The songs are ethereal, tinged with a melancholia that somehow coexists with a feeling of transcendence. The gauze-y hooks in the guitar textures blend with Matt and Chloe's voice and bring a feeling of compassion to the bleak themes of the songs.
Matt says of the new single, "It's a song written in two parts. Most of the lyrics were written about 4 or 5 years ago. Looking back, it was mostly about a general sense of feeling lonely or not fitting in. It was revisited and finished off recently, where I view it differently now. Most people probably feel like they don't fit in at some point. Everyone is a lot more similar, working through the same problems and insecurities. I feel the song is more about growing up now."
There is a dark and somber beauty suffusing all of the art the group produces. It is the layers of sinewy texture overlaying the tracks. It’s in the lyrics that paint abstract portraits of these impressions. It’s in both Chloe and Matt’s voices. Chloe lends her artistic strength, as well as her voice to the band. She was raised to adolescence in Italy, before moving to Australia and continuing her creative studies.
Corniglia is a respite from and a reflection on the very peculiar world of Matt and Chloe. The two do not just write and record all of the music but also make all of the art and all of the videos for the project. It is an endeavour that is entirely DIY, with all of the artistic output, naturally with the help of family and friends who help them realise their vision, made by Matt and Chloe at the home they share. WEBSITE, FACEBOOK.
Fourth time around on Beehive Candy for Corniglia, this time with 'Strange Desires' the second single from their debut album. Once again we are treated to some dreamy genre spanning music, the rhythm is faster paced than the vocals and other musical components, providing additional energy and another dimension to the bands sound.
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Background - Fans of XTC will be thrilled to know that bandmates Terry Chambers and drummer Colin Moulding, the rhythmic powerhouse behind the Swindon-based legends, have reunited to release new music under the tongue-in-cheek name of TC&I. Their new 'Great Aspirations' EP consists of four new original recordings that allow us to fully appreciate Colin’s English pop vision.
On this debut offering as TC&I, Moulding and Chambers put their XTC history behind them to create some truly original music. Not only is this a new start, but also a thing apart from their musical past. This is also the first new material from Moulding in many years.
"I thought I’ve got to do something, you can’t just sit around and eat chocolate cake and then you get the inkling that you should start writing again and you start meddling and the next thing you know Terry’s on the door step," says Colin Moulding.
Terry Chambers adds, “You’re only here once in your life and this felt a bit like unfinished business. When I left XTC it wasn’t the greatest set of circumstances and you can’t go through your life thinking ‘what if?’ so when Colin offered the opportunity I thought, yes lets do this again."
The EP delivers XTC's trademark qualities of melody, rhythm, variety, and idiosyncratic subject matter, mixed in with nostalgia fuelled by an understated political anger. In following with his songwriting history to date, Moulding shows an appreciation of the good things, such as friendship, landscape and longing. Here he again reminds us of what we stand to lose in the name of progress, looking at the rapidly changing world around him. FACEBOOK, PLEDGEMUSIC.
TC&I have a fine legacy to build on and rather than play it safe and set out from where their time with XTC ended, the new EP and featured song 'Scatter Me' are both original and refreshing. There is a certain "Englishness" to their sound, along with some fresh and creative music, TC&I have not let us down, this is a superb EP.
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Walter Martin - Ride Down The Avenue.Background - Walter Martin (co-writer/multi-instrumentalist of The Walkmen) will release his new album Reminisce Bar & Grill on February 16th via Ile Flottante Music. His fourth solo record since The Walkmen's hiatus in 2013, it's one that might throw fans of his two award winning kids' records (2014's We're All Young Together and last year's My Kinda Music) for a loop. Listeners will still recognize the same affable narrator and quirky musical style, but here the subject matter is shifted dramatically. With frankness, poignancy and humor, Martin, now a 43-year-old married man with two young children, squarely tackles the subject of adulthood - specifically, his own.
While Martin approaches these subject matters with candor and sincerity, he clearly also enjoys mining them for humor. "I wanted this album to be an entertaining discussion of marriage, fatherhood, work, fear, and weakness," he explained. "I'm definitely influenced by Woody Allen movies. No matter how serious or romantic or dark his story may be, there's always a strong undercurrent of comedy."
Reminisce Bar & Grill was recorded at various studios in Brooklyn and at Richard Swift's National Freedom Studio in Cottage Grove Oregon. The songs were mixed by D. James Goodwin (Bob Weir, Craig Finn), Richard Swift (The Shins, Foxygen) and Phil Ek (Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses). A nimble multi-instrumentalist, Martin handled guitar, piano, organ, bass and percussion duties, but he also relied on the services of a coterie of crafty players and singers: Brian Kantor (Fruit Bats) on drums, Josh Kaufman (Craig Finn, Josh Ritter) on guitar, and Jamie Krents (French Kicks) on bass. The soaring harmony vocals woven throughout the album are delivered by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah singer Alec Ounsworth. WEBSITE, FACEBOOK.
Less than a month ago we featured 'I Can Run Now From The Hellhounds But I Can't Hide' by Walter Martin and 'Ride Down The Avenue' is another fine song that pretty much ensures the forthcoming album receives our attention. The song is hard to pigeonhole into any one genre, its melodic, energised and catchy, that much is certain.
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Background - Wild Child latest singles "Sinking Ship" and "Back & Forth," were produced by Max Frost and Delta Spirit's Matthew Logan Vasquez, respectively. The band's gearing up for the release of their new album, Expectations, out February 9th on Dualtone Records.
Wild Child won't settle. For seven years now the Austin-based ensemble has carried its infectious blend of indie-pop and infectious melodies across the international music scene, charting viral hits and wrapping their arms around a diverse and dedicated fan base. But earlier this year when the band set out to make their fourth studio album, they found they had their hands full: After half a decade of maturation, the group had grown beyond its traditional writing and recording process. “We had too many ideas for how we wanted to make this record” says Kelsey Wilson, the group’s lead vocalist and violinist. She shrugs. “So we said, ‘Why not just do all of them?’”
The group realized this offered an exciting opportunity to make a kind of record bands rarely get right: To take a new, multispectral approach to writing and recording that went beyond simply trying to engineer success. The band made a list of their favorite musicians who were also great producers in their own right — choosing ones they thought would shine a new and unique light on specific compositions — and then Wild Child set about chasing their album from studio to studio all over the world, never saying no to an idea. The result — the band’s fourth album, Expectations — is Wild Child’s most creative, colorful and intellectually engaging album to date.
Now a seven-piece pop mini-orchestra (Wilson on violin and vocals; Alexander Beggins on ukulele and vocals; Sadie Wolfe on cello; Matt Bradshaw on keyboards, trumpet, and harmonica; Tom Myers on drums; Cody Ackors on guitar and trombone; and Tyler Osmond on bass), Wild Child formed in 2010 when the group's core duo of Wilson and Beggins wrote and released their first album, Pillow Talk. WEBSITE, FACEBOOK.
Another band we featured last month and they are back and again sharing two more songs for our pleasure. 'Sinking Ship' and 'Back & Forth' are two very contrasting pieces, 'Sinking Ship' is a beautiful and gentle song with gorgeous vocals and harmonies. 'Back & Forth' is a feisty full bodied tune with a funky blues feel, this band do variety and they do it with style.
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Lauren Ruth Ward - Sideways.Background - Lauren Ruth Ward just released her new song "Sideways". "Sideways" is an anthem for those who get lost while acclimating to a new life."
Says Lauren, "Whether it's intentional or unintentional, you gotta roll with it but not let the people walking faster than you distract you." The song is about when Lauren moved from Baltimore to Los Angeles about 2 years ago.
Her new album "Well, Hell" is coming out February 9th, and you can see the campaign that American Apparel did with her here. She is a hairstylist during the day to be able to keep her music career afloat.
Lauren has organically grown fans in places like Italy, France, Spain, Germany, etc. There is such a love for her music that they created fan pages on Instagram. FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM.
'Sideways' is the second song from Lauren Ruth Ward that we have shared, and once again her rock vocals are centre stage and gripping. This is natural and exuberant rock & roll, dive in and enjoy!
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