Grace Inspace - The Brother Brothers - Value Void
Background - English-American musician Grace Inspace has announced new single Uncertain, CA, which follows recent releases Watersource and Tame Teens, and is out now through AWAL.
Continuing her unique “Protest Pop” sound, Uncertain, CA is as fictional as it is true to life and addresses the uncertainty of living in America. Produced by David Peters and featuring Jane’s Addiction drummer Stephen Perkins, Grace takes things down a notch on Uncertain, CA, letting her vocals do the talking with a relaxed melody mixed with gentle steel drums. Grace says;
“Uncertain, CA - it’s a make-believe town, a microcosm of the state. I’m wandering through the town, the classic western stranger, the outsider, witness to this place’s constituencies and landscapes and seeing it is a land of topographical and cultural extremes - politically divided, deserted, overcrowded, majestically beautiful, scary, Paleolithic, ultra-modern. In California we are comfortable with the apocalypse and I think it’s because we know to call it by its other name, Rebirth, as well. Ultimately, like the fictitious town and very real state its named for, this apocalyptic song is optimistic.”
A lyricist and singer but also a drummer at heart, Grace plays drums and sings in a California trio Apocalyptic Kitchen. Many of Grace’s current songs began life as beats that she would play on her drum kit while singing melody lines dreamt up “on long window gazes, hours of window gazes, riding shotgun up and down the interstates in a big, lifted Dodge truck loaded with cannabis, survival equipment and guitars”. Her broad sound fuses electronic, country, hard rock and pop to create something that is musically unique and unequivocally memorable, all the while expressing matters close to her heart.
Grace has been working on two forthcoming EPs, produced in part by John King of the Dust Brothers and featuring Steve Perkins of Jane’s Addiction as well as Nick McCabe of The Verve, and will be announcing further music soon. FACEBOOK.
The vocals are melodic, purposeful and hold a simmering level of emotion on 'Uncertain, CA' a gently paced pop song accompanied by a thoughtful musical backdrop, the steel drums giving the piece an additional layer of attractive hooks.
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Background - Brooklyn-based Americana darlings The Brother Brothers have announced their debut album Some People I Know to be released October 19 on Compass Records. The Brother Brothers will embark upon a full U.S. tour this fall, including an extensive support run with I'm With Her and an album release show in Brooklyn on October 19 at Union Pool. Dates are listed below.
Identical twins David and Adam Moss honor a contemporary dissonance with the nostalgic tenderness of another time. Their stunning songcraft blends masterfully gentle guitar, cello and five-string fiddle with the sublime sort of two-part harmonies only brothers can carry. With palpably fraternal stage presence and wonderfully familiar heart, The Brother Brothers have earned repute among today's rising artists, having recently opened for Big Thief, Lake Street Dive, Shakey Graves and more.
More about the song: "Frankie" delves into David's longtime neighborhood of Red Hook in Brooklyn, the members of its community and the tumultuous development it's endured. His melodic testimony sings like a microcosm of problematic economic shift, both in NYC and across the country. In David's words:
I've looked upon the Statue of Liberty, and cherished the idea that someone can come to these shores and have the freedom to make a life unspoiled by an oppressive government or strong handed oppressor. But in her shadow I've seen money take precedent over the things I find most valuable: community, conversation, art, expression. These are the things that make us American and vibrant, but they are not things that allow us to pay our rent or buy property when faced with people who place more value in economics and finance ... value hardly ever begets values." WEBSITE.
From the opening chords on 'Frankie' I was engrossed. The music has everything a classic Americana song needs to make it special, the vocals and exquisite harmonies take the piece even further, this really is a fabulous and timeless piece.
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Background - London trio Value Void announce their debut album Sentimental, due out on 26 October via Tough Love, released on limited edition green vinyl, CD and download. Value Void are an offbeat proposition. A startling bolt from nowhere, their debut album Sentimental is a collection of luxuriantly deep, shag pile-warm, analogue proto-punk. Paz Maddio and Marta Zabala grew up with each other in Azul, a small town south of Buenos Aires, where the seeds of this project were sown. They collaborate in the same way that Elton John and Bernie Taupin wrote songs, with Marta penning lyrics then taking them to Paz to spin them in to music.
The single "Babeland" was one of those songs. As Paz explains; "it was one of the songs we made while Marta was living in London and I was living in Azul, Argentina. So basically it was one of the first songs we made before we started playing". Upon deciding to flesh the songs out for a full length, they returned to TVT studios with Euan in April this year, tweaking the mix and laying down two new songs: “Mind,” a down tempo lullaby/lament in which the band track into the territory of early St. Vincent, Grouper or Julianna Barwick, supported by a raw dirge that blossoms in feedback, and “The Deluge,” which is also reflective but structured by a roaming curiosity and big chorus seeking road movie oblivion.
Marta first came to London on tour with the super-slanted art punks Los Cripis, where she met Luke Tristram (of Cop, Score and Owner) who released their record via his Unwork label. Paz followed to join them and scrape rent from the city's bars and cafes.
By early 2017 the three of them were holed up in practice rooms, Luke adding Evens-esque basslines that laid concrete to their minimalist guitar-lead pop songs. Originally as WVS, they started playing shows with bands that had once orbited the tiny Power Lunches venue in Hackney and, since its death, were now to be found on bills at DIY Space, New River Studios and other dusty successors of its autonomous, cheap drink, creative-friendly spirit.
In common with bands like Shopping, rudimentary surroundings and resources fed into nonetheless ambitious, hooky work. Songs such as “Teen For Him,” a self-effacing lark importing strains of Leslie Gore and the Velvets; the minimal, Guided by Voices-reminiscent chug of “Bariloche” and “Cupids Bow,” an up tempo, Breeders-esque standout, were lynch pins of a pummeling, inspired set. BANDCAMP.
'Babeland' is an uncomplicated and immediately likable song. Value Void's music is refreshing and engaging, it could be described in part as minimalist, I would suggest it's more a case of "less is more" as passion and emotion adds to the sound.
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