Sweater Curse - Moo Malika - Goldray - Shantell Ogden

Sweater Curse are from Brisbane, Australia and they have just released a fabulous, catchy new indie song called 'Close' accompanied by a Zoom filmed video. === Moo Malika shares 'Aziza'  which is a personal song regarding racism, the musical backdrop has some lovable Arabic vibes and the song itself instantly crosses borders with it's charm. === And from one musical style to a very different another, as Goldray serve up 'How Do You Know' a track immersed in psych rock sensations with a video that adds a mixture of Siouxsie and the Banshees versus Grace Slick imagery. === Shantell Ogden released 'On A Haystack' over the weekend and it's a sophisticated modern country song with plenty of heart and feeling.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sweater Curse - Close.

Brisbane's loveable indie outfit sweater curse grace us today with powerful new single 'Close', and news of a second EP. Written during a turbulent time with the help of their friend, Alex Lahey, the song premiered via triple j's Home & Hosed last night, and already receiving multiple five-star reviews on their unearthed page. Leading with crisp guitar riffs for melodic texture from guitarist Chris Langenberg, the track immediately follows with hazy vocal harmonies of lead singer and bassist, Monica Sottile and driving percussion accompaniment from Rei Bingham.

Taking on similar notes of their previous work, 'Close' is a poignant and introspective indie-rock track inspired by the human condition as well as another step towards the band's ever-evolving sound. "I think our work will continue to explore those kinds of topics, with more precision as our sound matures," says Monica. Lyrically, the song explores the dynamic of relationships through miscommunication and the apprehension of feeling disconnected as a result. Chris continues: "It talks of the struggles within a relationship (friendship, general or romantic) and at times it explores themes and emotions of self-deprecating."

Co-written with Alex Lahey in a small studio in Marrickville, the band also recruited the production skills of Ball Park Music's Sam Cromack to create a piece that has allowed the band to lean into and experiment with a pop sound. The video also arrives today, filmed entirely via Zoom and thematically compliments the track and relevance in the current COVID-19 climate. "My favourite part of making this video was being able to see all of our friends from other cities that we would usually hang out with when we are on tour. The idea of the video ties in with the concept of feeling close to our friends even when we can’t see them or hang out with them physically," says Rei. The video clip features appearances from a large cast of fellow musicians who all take part in singing 'Close'; notable cameos include Julia Jacklin, Maz Devita & James Gatling (WAAX), Alex Lahey, Sam Cromack (Ball Park Music), Patience Hodgson (The Grates), Phil Jamieson (Grinspoon), Andrew Dooris (The Jungle Giants), Connor Brooker (Bugs), Kieran Lama & Peppa Lane (Spacey Jane) and more.

The band have had an exciting career to date; previously dubbed as a triple j Unearthed feature artistas well as receiving airplay across triple j and unearthed radio. They've been seen gracing stages nationally at music festivals such as St. Jerome's Laneway, Falls Festival, Farmer & The Owl and playing with bands The Jungle Giants, Grinspoon, Violent Soho, Middle Kids, Ball Park Music, WAAX, Bugs and Polish Club.

'Close' marks the beginning of a new chapter for this Brisbane trio with more exciting news, and second EP later this year. Dial-in, bless up and get close (while practising responsible social distancing) with sweater curse.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Moo Malika - Aziza.

“Aziza” is Moo Malika’s most personal song to date and is about the discrimination of women in the Maghreb states and the problems faced by refugees. The Swiss woman with Tunisian roots only just escaped such a fate. Because Moo’s mother is Swiss and she and her father decided to live in Switzerland, she was born here. Despite this and although she perfectly speaks Swiss German, she sometimes has to face racism because she looks like she is “not from here”.

If Moo is only discriminated against because of her appearance and surname, how hard does it have to hit those who flee in panic, don’t know the language yet and have to start all over again? Moo: “I have the luck to be born here and feel committed to help.” Since Moo Malika speaks Arabic, she volunteers to support a Syrian refugee and helps her to gain a professional foothold and familiarize herself with the culture of Switzerland. In addition, she provides direct aid to Fatima and her two children in Tunisia, who were left on the street by her husband and the police (because the man was “in the right” according to Tunisian law despite his crimes).

Thanks to this direct aid, the children can continue to go to school and therefore have a perspective. “Sometimes I ask myself why I was so lucky and others not. The place of birth can influence so many things. Many have to flee, although they do not want to. Are welcomed in the new country by some with closed arms and hostility and are directly stamped as “foreigners”. I have had conversations where many only make judgments, hearing the saddest, most heartbreaking and unjust stories from a few women. Aziza is inspired by these women. They are so strong, so militant and yet so hurt. That touched me incredibly.”

Aziza means “darling” in Arabic and is the story of a young woman who had to flee alone and often thinks of her mother, who had always called her Aziza and is now no longer with her. The song was written by Moo Malika and Daniel Volpe in Germany.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Goldray - How Do You Know.

We have a psych-rock release for Goldray (from Kenwyn of Reef)'s new singles 'How Do You Know' and 'Oz' out now and accompanied by a mesmerising music video, with an album to follow on 31st July! Following the release of their critically acclaimed debut album, ‘Rising’ in 2017, Kenwyn House (Reef) and Leah Rasmussen (EMI, Bedrock, Renaissance) AKA Goldray, return with a psych-rock fuelled second album ‘Feel The Change’, released on July 31.

Written and produced by House and Rasmussen. Mixed by Pedro Ferreira (The Darkness, Therapy?, Enter Shikari, Meatloaf, David Gray) at Spinroad Studios in Gothenburg, Sweden. This eight-track album is a development in the duos sound giving a heavier edge but at the same time sounding more accessible than their debut ‘Rising’ whilst still remaining deeply bedded in their psych roots

Their new music exudes their inspiration and passion. They release a new double a-side single on May 29th - ‘How do you know’ which builds through the entirety of its four-minutes demonstrating Rasmussen’s huge range and power vocally, ending with a massive crescendo. And ‘Oz’, a monster seven-minute-plus track driven through House’s incredible guitar playing, the song is an ambitious journey of rock and psych, building with power, then dropping into a feeling of surreal psychedelia only to be slapped back in the face with the thunderous riff!

Sharing a song writing vision blending psych and prog experimental arrangements with etheric yet powerful female vocals, House and Rasmussen first started working together as an experimental side project for the pair that soon grew into an all consuming passion. With a clear identity both musically and visually, Goldray pulls huge inspiration from the late 1960s and early 1970s and are very much at the centre of the emerging psych-rock scene.

The band have garnered a formidable reputation live with performances at Glastonbury, Bestival, Download, Ramblin’ Man, HRH, Camden Rocks Festival and various headline shows over the past three years in the UK and Europe. Live, the band (who tour as a four-piece) ensure the ethos and feel of the show emanates the same feeling as the music. Visually striking with vocalist Rasmussen looking resplendent (described in a live review by Prog magazine in 2018 as “... the high priestess of hard rock”), and House’s playing still powerful and irresistibly hooky but somehow sliding into psychedelic hypnosis that ensures the live shows are a sensory overload!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shantell Ogden - On A Haystack.

Nashville-based Shantell Ogden's highly anticipated sixth studio album,Song Sampler vol. 1 & 2, is available for pre-order beginning today, May 29. The album will be released June 19th. It’s a seven-song collection that follows on the heels of the highly successful Road That Drives Me, which was named Americana Album of the Year by the International Music and Entertainment Association (IMEA).

“The women in my family grew up creating needlepoint samplers with vibrant threads and homespun wisdom,” says Ogden. “This album is my version of a sampler - and I hope everyone will enjoy the different musical colors.” The album is already receiving early rave reviews:"As a true artist and major star in the making, this sampler showcases Shantell’s songwriting talents and her ability to capture ears instantly. The theme that runs through all five songs is the same: be open about life’s difficulties, but optimistic about what the future holds. An incredibly honest and beautiful recording." - Alan Cackett, British Music Country Hall of Fame.

"A strong confident feminine voice overlaid on some heartfelt personal songs. It’s mostly a mainstream country vibe with some Stones-y rock in the mix. Highlight for me is “Love On The Fast Track.” - Calvin Powers, Americana Music Show. The album release celebration will be streamed lived on Saturday, June 20, on the Center Stage Magazine Facebook page at 3:00 p.m. CDT (https://www.facebook.com/centerstagemag/). Center Stage Magazine is a Nashville-based magazine covering music, comedy, movies, and a variety of entertainers with a unique focus on new, up-and-coming talent.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Melody - Amaroun - Cat Princess - Grace Gillespie

Melody was raised in a musical family and at sixteen years of age her new song 'Room 111' clearly demonstrates the fruit-age of that environment, with this gorgeous singer songwriter song. === Amaroun makes her third appearance on Beehive Candy with 'Rise' and once again this talented artist develops a unique and rich musical piece. === It's been a year since we last shared some music from Cat Princess however they are back with a cover version of 'These Boots Are Made For Walkin' where they notably put their own stamp on it. === Grace Gillespie returns with her latest single 'HUH' and again she is consistently creative and just wonderful to listen too.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Melody - Room 111.

Melody recently announced she will release a new EP called Teachers Pet on June 12th via Lauren Records, and she's back with a new track.

Melody Caudill is a 16 year old singer-songwriter from Los Angeles, California. Coming from a musical family, and learning how to play piano at the ripe age of four, she’s been immersed in the creative world of songwriting since before she was in kindergarten. After picking up the ukulele at 13, learning guitar became the natural next step. With inspirations from artists like Priscilla Ahn, Phoebe Bridgers, and Elliott Smith, Caudill writes with a certain sense of vulnerability and confidence.

”Room 111” is about Melody's 8th grade English class/teacher who saw herself in Melody and made her realize the feelings she was experiencing were totally normal and actually really special. Or as Melody puts it, the song is about "the longing for familiarity, but also the desire to move on and not be that awkward, sweaty middle schooler anymore."

Ever since she could remember, Melody was always making up new songs. “It was never a question, I always did that.” Caudill shared about writing her own music. At the age of 12, she became enamored with music in a new way. She decided to record some of the songs she had written at 13 to keep as a makeshift time capsule for herself. After the producer told her she should consider releasing the music she had created, Melody did just that.

At 13, she recorded and released her first EP, Thirteen. Thirteen chronicles the life of a pre-teen navigating new life changes. Now 16, Melody has written her second EP, Teachers Pet. Teachers Pet captures the essence of what it’s like to be in high school dealing with issues of self-confidence and finding a sense of belonging. However, Melody isn’t to be boiled down to another angst-driven teen. Her songwriting touches the core of the emotional turmoil we all go through. Whether that’s feeling smaller than your peers or being afraid to show your true self, there are just some inner-struggles we never grow out of.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Amaroun - Rise.

Amaroun is back with new single ‘Rise’.  It follows last months release of ‘Alive’, a collaboration with Mansa and produced by Boris Labant, and the March release of the Charles Watson (Slowclub) co-written and Charlie Andrews (Alt J/ Matt Corby/ Maricka Hackman) produced single ’Talk’.

Once again co written with Boris Labant, ‘Rise’ tells the story of a woman who is in doubt and in deep self hate but her inner positive voice breaks through telling her to rise, Jay (Amaroun) explains that "When you fall or get knocked down, do not stay down, do not let them hold you down, rise up, rise up against oppression. If you are marginalised, if you are queer, it’s hard out there! Tell your story proudly, see yourself, your change and your journey as beautiful and as growth. You are an ever changing authentic being so just be exactly that".

Amaroun has appeared at The Great Escape, Standon Calling, Liverpool Sound City, Dot To Dot, Hit The North, Live At Leeds, Deer Shed Festival, and Curious Arts Festival, and been played by Huw Stephens (BBC Radio 1), Chris Hawkins (BBC 6 Music), Lal Mattock (BBC Introducing), Amazing Radio and Radio X.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cat Princess - These Boots Are Made For Walkin'.

Uppsala quintet Cat Princess formed at a New Year's party and debuted only days after playing at guitarist Robin's birthday party. Singer Nils joined the gang after the band heard him sing that same night. Just as spontaneous as the band's birth are their music. Last year Cat Princess' long-awaited debut album Forbidden Items was released on all platforms and limited vinyl. The album contained singles Rocko's Theme, Silver Socks and Sweet which have all received praise from as well Swedish media and international blogs.

The band is now back with a cover of Nancy Sinatra classic These Boots Are Made for Walkin’. A version that embodies the spirit of Cat Princess perfectly. Intense changes in tempo, aggressive guitar riffs and the unique voice of Nils Krång. When performed live the audience have quickly embraced the stomping beat and danced themselves sweaty.

The band tells the story behind the cover: “For every Rama Lama party we play we usually do a special cover. So just by tradition we did a surf version of this track for their third birthday party. We immediately felt that our version took this iconic track to a new level and simply felt we just had to record it ”.

Cat Princess' sound have been crafted since their 2016 debut EP Please Me which received positive reviews from Swedish magazines GAFFA and HYMN, stating that their explosive combination of modern indie pop and 80's art-pop channeled the spirit of David Bowie and Talking Heads. The band later signed to Rama Lama Records which re-released the EP on cassette. The quintet has since the EP shared stage with acts like OMD, Pale Honey, Magic Potion and Cloud Nothings as well as playing frequently on the Stockholm indie scene and a international appearance in Copenhagen and London.

Fly on Your Wall and b-side Marxist with a Twist followed in 2017, two fine representations of the band's live intensity and a powerful showcase of their uniquely flavoured indie pop which have been compared to the energetic early days of Franz Ferdinand. Front man Nils Krång's thrilling, almost psychotic, vocal performance adds something even more special to the band's unique sound. A sound which during the band's young career already has developed from the more standard indie pop-ish early singles to a fusion of 80's art rock and modern indie influences resulting in the danceable chaotic sound that's shown on the debut album.

Forbidden Items showed every side and aspect of the always renewing Cat Princess. From instant sing-a-long live favourite Silver Socks through mysterious Rockefeller Phoneline to dance-friendly and summery Sweet. The album took a majority of 2018 and a lot of obstacles had to be overcame to make it. The result is an eclectic art rock mix consisting, equally put together by the bands' influences spanning from 80s new wave to contemporary greats.

These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ is out now on all platforms via Rama Lama Records (Melby, Steve Buscemi’s Dreamy Eyes, Kluster B, Chez Ali etc.).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Grace Gillespie - HUH.

Grace Gillespie is a London-based artist and producer originally from Devon, who spent much of 2017 touring as part of the live line-up for 4AD’s Pixx. In 2019 Grace received PRS’s WMM funding and consequently released her debut EP ‘Pretending,’ which garnered support from the likes of The Line of Best Fit, Clash and Earmilk.

This year she has received support from the ‘Help Musicians’ ‘Do it Differently’ award, and is using this to release an EP in the autumn. Some of her notable live shows include supporting James Morrison at Dingwalls, Camden and headlining a stage the folk stage at Tipping Point festival in Newcastle. Her first two singles found their way onto Spotify’s ‘Fresh Folk’ playlist and received extensive support from Apple Music, appearing on their ‘A-List’ and ‘Best of the Week’ playlists, as well as backing from NME, Crack In The Road and The Wild Honey Pie.

She has received radio plays from BBC 6 music as well as being a featured artist on BBC Introducing London. Her early demo of ‘Restoration’ saw her tipped to Q Magazine by Newton Faulkner and brought her to the attention of Kaleidoscope, who worked with her to produce her first solo releases in 2018. Her sound takes influences from the folk, psych and dream-pop traditions, providing a backdrop to her intriguing vocal melodies, shifting harmonies and introspective lyricism.

Grace Gillespie · HUH

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Market Junction - Certain Animals - The Brave Faces

Market Junction will release their latest album, 'Burning Bridges', on August 7 and ahead of that they have shared 'Nebraska' a song where the vocals are fabulous and the musicianship comfortably on a par. === As this is our sixth feature for the Dutch band Certain Animals I guess it's safe to say we like them and new song 'TV' sees them keeping up the momentum with another fine rocker. === We featured their debut single back in March and Brighton based band The Brave Faces are back with 'Lots Of Nights Out' which is another solid indie rock song, that stands out both musically and vocally.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Market Junction - Nebraska.

Of the song, Matt says: "Home is not a place. It is a connection to another person. When you lose those people, you feel uprooted, disconnected, and lost. Being out on the road is hard on a relationship, yet the constant war inside us wages between the dreams we chase and the people we love. Sometimes the road wins and we are left with nothing but our own wanderlust."

Market Junction. Not a place as the name implies but rather the name of a band that has engaged fans with their songs of love and loss since 2012 when they released their freshman effort, Heroes Have Gravestones.

In 2011, Matt Parrish gifted friend and fellow songcrafter Justin Lofton a vinyl pressing of Ray LaMontagne’s God Willin’ & The Creek Don’t Rise for his birthday and the fires of inspiration were ignited. The pair set out on a journey to create the kind of music they not only loved to listen to but music that they loved to play. Since those early days, the band soon expanded its lineup to include Taylor Hilyard on bass guitar and Michael Blattel on drums, sharing stages with Cory Morrow, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Jack Ingram, Radney Foster and more.

“We’ve done nothing the conventional way”, says Parrish. “It’s taken us nine years to figure out who we are and what direction we want to take our careers,” adds Lofton. The combination of lyrical prowess and Lofton’s fretboard mastery has resulted in a sound that is rooted in place and time, but that transcends both. While the band has found success in their beloved home state of Texas, they are ready to show the rest of the world what they can do.

The wait will have been well worth it for Americana music fans across the country - Market Junction will release their latest LP, Burning Bridges, on August 7, 2020. This collection of songs tells one story, one of a young man learning about love and its consequences. Sometimes the heartbreak spurs the traveling, and other times the traveling is the cause of the heartbreak. Either way, Burning Bridges will break your heart in the best kind of way, and have you reaching for the keys.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Certain Animals - TV.

The new Certain Animals single TV opens with a phaser-turned drum fill, followed by an epic double guitar harmony with a battery-powered fuzzbox set to the max. Flanked by a rhythm section consisting of congas, bongos and grunting bass that wouldn't look out of place on an obscure soul record, Certain Animals are telling a story about two sides of the media medal. On the one hand, uptempo and full of bravado: the media magnates and internet giants who look forward to a glorious future where your sins are forgiven, as long as you stick to the screen. On the other hand, harmonious and melancholic: the memory of simpler times, with two or three television channels and a more sincere look. With their single TV, Certain Animals capture the ambivalent feelings they have about the contemporary media in just under five minutes.

Dutch band Certain Animals serves you melodic rock filled with vocal harmonies. The members aren't afraid to show which records they've been listening to. Musical titans from the '60s and '70s are spinning on their turntable on a daily basis. The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Neil Young, Crosby, Stills & Nash and Electric Light Orchestra are regular companions in their musical life, but also the fuzzy and phasey sounds of contemporary bands like Tame Impala influence the music of Certain Animals.

Without being stuck in the past and with a critical view on the present, the band brings you their intriguing sound which makes for an energetic live show filled with intimate moments and explosive bursts of energy. In less then three years, the band managed to build a strong live reputation by playing shows on major Dutch festivals in famous venues all over the country, and they also performed across the border in Belgium and Germany.

While busy touring, band members Thijs van Leeuwen (vocals, guitars), Niels-Jan van Dijk (bass, vocals) and Kees Braam (drums, vocals) managed to build their own recording studio at a former red light district in the port of Rotterdam. At their home base the trio writes, produces and mixes their music single-handedly.

The album release had to be postponed until September, but no worries, Certain Animals got you covered this summer! The last two singles of Certain Animals were picked up by UK's Amazing Radio - the only station in the world playing 100% new and emerging music. Single 'Tangerine' even made it to #5 in The Amazing Chart!

TCBYML · Certain Animals - TV

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Brave Faces - Lots Of Nights Out.

The Brave Faces, Brighton post-punk/indie band, have released their second single, ‘Lots of Nights Out’. Influenced by 80s post-punk, shoegaze and contemporary indie, The Brave Faces push forward bristling melodies and sweeping soundscapes. Wiry, melodic guitars layer driving industrial drums.

The band’s new single, 'Lots of Nights Out', bursts straight out of the gate with two intertwining guitar lines. Complementing and competing, the two create a frantic indie soundscape while bass and drums combine to keep the peace. The chorus’ catchy hook is deceptively bright and poppy, distracting from the tension and exhaustion expressed in the lyrics. In the track’s penultimate offering, the lyrical tone switches up and delivers a mantra to reassure: ‘just give it time, time will heal, it’ll be okay’. The song sets out to take you through many different headspaces before setting you up to do it all again.

“‘Lots of Nights Out’ is about getting to an age by which you’d always thought you’d have it all figured out, but you still haven't. You're in pain, you’re worried about getting old and you feel directionless.” says the band’s lead vocalist, Darrell.

“It explores and critiques the only ‘medication’ I had at my disposal at that time of my life: going out and getting drunk. It’s from the perspective of someone reflecting on their lifestyle, talking about the time they spend trying to escape and impress other people. This track is about taking a step back and seeing this mentality for what it was to me — fun, but ultimately exhausting and damaging. The end of the song tries to encourage anyone in a bad spot that things can and do get better”.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meggie Lennon - Katy Kirby

Meggie Lennon shares 'Mind Games' which is a dreamy indie song, where her smooth flowing vocals are immersed in an equally melodic musical backdrop. === Katy Kirby new song 'Tap Twice' gently unfolds adding a few musical layers moving from a folk vibe into a refrained indie rock song, her fine vocals keeping the flow going.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meggie Lennon - Mind Games.

Somewhere in the land of uninhibited love and playful sins, Meggie Lennon is both the game and the rule that begs to be broken, crafting her songs through spirals of unrepentant escapism.

Following the release of GAMIQ nominated EP Endless Dreams and Dreamlike Mornings in 2017, under the name Abrdeen, the singer-songwriter wasted no time making a name for herself, taking her music across the province alongside well-established acts such as Good Morning, The Dears, Julie Doiron, Sugar Candy Mountain and Laura Sauvage.

Now working under her own name, Lennon teamed up with producers Samuel Gemme (Corridor, Anemone) and Jules Henry to work on her new release Sounds From Your Lips, which is due in 2020.

An original take on modern music where dream pop and make-out psych rock become the soundtrack to whatever comes next.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Katy Kirby - Tap Twice.

"Tap Twice is about the formation of unspoken agreements in a new relationship, the process of silently negotiating with someone what you might mean to each other, and what happens when negotiation turns into an arm wrestling match over how much you’re willing to reveal. About the weird rapport that develops as you’re circling each other this way (unless it’s all in your head?), triangulating data from small gestures and two-word texts, analyzing the face smiling at you from a profile picture, reading into the murky details of an internet persona. It’s about sooner or later accepting all this as part of the territory--learning to live in that spooky interpretive space with someone, respecting it as a part of the deal you’ve struck up."

Katy Kirby is a songwriter and indie rock practitioner with a writers focus on unspoken rules, misunderstandings of all kinds, and boredom.

Kirby was born, raised, and home schooled by two ex-cheerleaders in small-town Texas, where she started singing in church amidst the soaring, pasteurized-pop choruses of evangelical worship services. After high school, Kirby moved to Nashville, where she managed to graduate college with a rapidly expanding circle of artistic allies, an amorphous collection of leftist beliefs, and a few handfuls of songs.

After a series of painful failures to complete a record that reflected the temperament of those songs, Kirby finally turned to dear friends and co-conspirators to form a band capable of constructing a satisfying full length.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mighty Brother - Sergeant Buzfuz - The Cradle feat: Lily Konigsberg - Kairos 4tet feat: Emilia Martensson

Mighty Brother share a new video for 'Summer Road' a song that is upbeat and genre spanning, the musicianship is superb. === Sergeant Buzfuz latest song is entitled 'Theresa McKee' and it's a short, sharp and very catchy track. === The Cradle featuring Lily Konigsberg just released 'One To Many Times' it has a stripped back yet rich musical backdrop that's just right for the vocals on this singer-songwriter piece. === Kairos 4tet feat: Emilia Martensson have released the beautiful song 'The Body Keeps the Score' the incredible story behind it is included below, the track itself is exquisite.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mighty Brother - Summer Road.

New Orleans band, Mighty Brother, has released their music video “Summer Road” - the second installment of their upcoming double album (The Rabbit. The Owl.), releasing on June 29th. The music video follows the band’s 2019 ‘Summer Road Tour’ across the country, from New Orleans to Denver, onward through Chicago and down the East Coast and captures the ‘simple fortunes’ of the open road, juxtaposing the camaraderie and friendships forged with the demands of touring. The music itself captures the band's genre-bending sound of contemporary Folk Americana mixed with upbeat funk elements and instrumentation. “Summer Road” beautifully encapsulates those innumerable hours of reflection one might find gazing out the window on any long drive, the mind caught somewhere between going and finding, and leaving and lost.

Mighty Brother’s upcoming third album, The Rabbit. The Owl., is a prime showcase of the band’s unique musical flair and serves as an introspective look into Mighty Brother’s exploration of sound, concepts, and ideas. Exploring the emergent theme of duality in the band’s writing, many of the songs pose different perspectives to the same questions. Traversing concepts of introversion/extroversion, light/dark, day/night, spontaneity/meticulous calculation, action/reflection, and the colloquial/poetic, Mighty Brother ultimately challenges the listener to simultaneously both reflect on and look introspectively into one’s own conscience to understand the duality of intent and impact.

Musically, The Rabbit. The Owl. poses two different versions of the band with soundscapes balancing between folk/funk and experimental adventures into new sonic territory. The first half, The Rabbit., is the folk/funk influenced half of the double album, exploring familiar classic rock styles with a tip of the hat to St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Avett Brothers, Decemberists, Rosebuds, Bob Dylan, Marcus Fetch, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Fleet Foxes, Beck, and many more. Described as a “fun summer, day-drive album” The Rabbit. showcases the band’s musical roots and ingenuity that has allowed them to evolve. The Owl. is a sonic adventure into new territory exploring the less conventional, boasting subtle arrangement choices, and thoughtfully approaching poetic content. The Owl. is the more cinematic and patient member of the pair nodding to influences like Alabama Shakes, Pink Floyd, Feist, Bon Iver, Grizzly Bear, Alt-J, Radiohead, and Black Keys, among others.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sergeant Buzfuz - Theresa McKee.

Since writing the last Sergeant Buzfuz album, 2015's "Balloons For Thin Linda", songwriter Joe Murphy has lost both parents, got married, been a victim of a smear campaign (as a whistleblowing union rep), co-founded charity QQF (a theatre company for adults with special needs) and relocated to his native Sheffield.  Joe has also continued to co-run Blang, the DIT* label he started in 2005 (including working on the first album from ex-Fall members Brix & The Extricated) and has worked part-time in special needs schools in London and Sheffield to fund the recording of "Fox Pop".

"Balloons For Thin Linda" received positive press but life events got in the way of much live promotion. The band recruited Joss on bass, Stu on slide guitar and Polly on backing vocals and released the "Humble Pie" EP in 2017. The debut album from the new line-up is finally here. It's the seventh Buzfuz album. It's got tunes bursting out all over the place, lyrics from the head, heart and fist and is rich in variety with two-minute pop songs, ballads, post-punk, freakbeat and strands of the band's Celtic DNA.

Opening track ‘There’s Idiots, Then There’s Idiots With Money’ “is about me imagining I'm attending one of those Mansion House dinners where the Chancellor gets summoned to report to the City.” Says Joe. It’s a stomping working class anthem that quickly gets under the skin with intricately woven shuffling guitars and percussion that make way for a psychedelic flute solo. Second track ‘Theresa McKee’ is a refreshing lively blast of pop peppered with mandolin and acoustic guitar, showing off the band’s more folky roots with finesse.

Other album highlights include ‘Who Art In Seven Hills’, a clever and humorous re-work of The Lord’s Prayer replacing names and places with those of Joe’s native Sheffield (a la Ian Dury's Bus Driver's Prayer). The interlude makes way for the jollity off-kilter harmonies of quirky ‘Rare & Racy’, a busker-esque jam about a second hand record/book shop in Sheffield which had to close when the Council, having to obey new Tory Government planning laws, approved the property owner's plans to turn the building into flats.

‘Fill In The Blanks’ and ‘Rear View Mirror’ are other great moments of raw and instantly familiar catchy classic punk on this album which celebrates real lives and real musicianship through the band’s own unique lens. The album, with its Squeeze & Kinks like anti-folk chant singalongs and storytelling is a perfectly crafted antidote to chart pop, Brexit and the current state of the world. It’s fun and meaningful and a constantly surprising delight from this band who are well sewn into the fabric of the UK music scene.

Buzfuz have played three live 6 Music sessions for Marc Riley and Tom Robinson and had lots of radio support from Gideon Coe as well as press acclaim across the board including from the likes of NME who described them as ‘Universally Charming’.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Cradle (feat: Lily Konigsberg) - One To Many Times.

The Cradle--the solo project of singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Paco Cathcart (Big Neck Police, Eyes of Love, Shimmer)--today announced his upcoming 21-track album, Laughing In My Sleep, will release August 21st, 2020 via NNA Tapes. Along with the announcement, Cathcart has shared the album's lead single, "One Too Many Times," featuring Lily Konigsberg (of Palberta) on backing vocals. “It’s a lament about miscommunication, and the difficulties of being vulnerable and clear with one another,” Cathcart explains, “It’s about feeling desperately apart from the “vanguard,” that is, those who are fearless and true with their language, politically and personally.”

I recorded this album two years ago, Spring 2018, meaning the songs really come out of experiences in 2017 and early ‘18, which was a dense time with some healthy personal upheaval and a lot of traveling. April ’17’s month long Megabus/Greyhound tour was particularly formative, and found me falling in love with the idea that I could do a successful solo tour without a car, and with the act itself of traveling around the States by bus and all that entails (the song “Society of Men” came directly out of a greyhound bus riding experience from that tour).

In September we got pushed out of our house on Prospect Place in Crown Heights where we’d been consistently putting on shows for three years (we called it “Bottom Bell”, and the song by that title on this album is from a voice memo recorded in the living room), and where a ton of music was written, practiced, and/or recorded, specifically every Cradle album from “Basketball is Beautiful” through “Bag of Holding”.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Kairos 4tet feat: Emilia Martensson - The Body Keeps the Score.

Adam Waldmann, saxophonist, composer and Kairos4tet frontman releases his first piece of music in seven years, a deeply moving ode to his grandmother who would have celebrated her 100th birthday this month. A “beacon of love and optimism”, her motto was “tomorrow may be a better day”. Scheduled for release later in the year, Waldmann decided to share the song, and his grandmother’s incredible story, today, saying “in these uncertain times, now feels the right time”.

Accompanied by a beautifully-shot, in-studio video, the folk-inflected jazzy ballad features the pure and intimate voice of Emilia Mårtensson framed beautifully by Waldmann’s delicate sax, which, through the use of electronics creates a droney sound underscoring the songs contemplative mood.

Waldmann, reflects: “On May 26th, my grandmother Rena Young would have turned 100 years old. I often think of her, particularly during challenging periods. I know whatever I may be experiencing cannot possibly compare to what she and many other victims of illness, war, prejudice and displacement had and have to endure.

Fleeing Nazi invaded Poland only to find herself in Stalin occupied Poland, Rena, along with many other refugees, was sent to a work camp in Siberia where she was given the task of making bricks. This perhaps was the beginnings of her becoming a sculptor in later life. After a harrowing few years she was able to leave Siberia with General Anders Army-in-exile after Germany declared war on Russia. This took her on another epic journey through Russia, the Caspian Sea, Persia, Beirut and eventually to a resettlement camp near Brighton where my father spent his first years. He sometimes speaks about the corrugated iron hut they called home.

When Rena passed away in 2017 after a long and full life of caring for others, she had been suffering from dementia for many years. One of the cruellest of illnesses. Despite all the hardships she experienced, Rena remained a beacon of love and optimism, which was best encapsulated in her well-known catchphrase “tomorrow may be a better day”.

Like most of us, I’ve been left heartbroken seeing recent events unfold around the world. The loss of loved ones in devastating numbers and the actions of some governments has been hard to process. Human lives reduced to mere statistics. At the same time, I am deeply inspired and full of gratitude for all the brave people on the front-line saving lives and keeping society functioning. With all that in mind, I’d like to share this song written in Rena’s memory. It was due for release later in the year on a new album but now felt like the right time.

It’s called ‘The Body Keeps the Score’, the title of the brilliant book about trauma by Bessell van der Kolk. I hope this song in some small way can speak to the spirit of communion and unity needed to see us through this time, and that it honours Rena’s story. It is dedicated to her and the many others who weren’t able to say goodbye. May tomorrow be a better day”.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SuperGlu - Gizmo Varillas - The Commander In Chief - DAYLA - Ebony Buckle

SuperGlu are a punk pop band and their recent song 'Soil' is now accompanied by a video for what is a powerful and hook filled track. === Our second feature for Gizmo Varillas this year is for 'Born Again' where the beats and bright vocals really please. === We have a couple of recent songs and videos from The Commander In Chief namely 'Non Si Sa Mai' and 'The Manager' and where do I begin, let's just say highly talented and creative for starters. === DAYLA has released 'Lighthouse' a modern and very individual pop song where the refined vocals are notable. === Singer songwriter Ebony Buckle shares her beautiful new song 'Ghost' which mixes a little folk styling with some wonderful pop sensibilities.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SuperGlu - Soil.

Manningtree punk-pop fourpiece SuperGlu have shared the video for their recent single Soil, which is out now alongside an exclusive vinyl only release on Flying Vinyl. Following the band’s triumphant return last year with single Forever Endeavour, which formed a new beginning for the band and reminded us what we’ve been missing following their two-year hiatus, Soil marks a thoughtful and ambitious return.

Funded by the PRS Foundation Open Fund for Music Creators, the track was exclusively released on vinyl via Flying Vinyl on 24th April and was released digitally earlier this month through the band's imprint Don't Try, in conjunction with Antigen Records. Soil is a song about escapism and bravery delivered emotively and with a dose of tongue-in-cheek wit, in true unique SuperGlu style. The animated video, created by Studio Goblin, is a captivating watch and intently illustrates the meaning of the song. They say;

“We kinda let the guys at Studio Goblin create what they wanted to - it was important to us that they had the chance to interpret the song and come up with their own ideas. Everyone hears, sees and experiences the world in a different way, so why not celebrate that.”

SuperGlu released their debut EP Horse in 2016 and Communion released single Welcome Home/Rounder in 2017 and have since built an avid following for their vigorous punk-pop sound, with support from Huw Stephens and Annie Mac at BBC Radio 1, Steve Lamacq at BBC 6Music, John Kennedy at Radio X and BBC Introducing.

Their reputation as one of the UK’s best live acts has built them an impressive resume, which includes numerous shows at SXSW, support slots with Twin Atlantic and The Stranglers and a headline show on the BBC Introducing Stage at Reading and Leeds festival. The band performed a full UK tour in Autumn 2019 and their live show is one not to be missed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gizmo Varillas - Born Again.

Gizmo Varillas has revealed a video to go with his latest single ‘Born Again’.  A beat laden crescendo of a track featuring dueling guitars that blasts off with a message of renewal and better days ahead.

In the last 12 months Gizmo has received plays from Lauren Laverne, Huw Stephens, Jo Whiley, Chris Hawkins, Tom Robinson, Gary Crowley, and Shell Zenner across BBC Radio 2, 6Music, BBC London, BBC Wales, and Amazing Radio, and picked up over 30 million streams.  He will release his third album ‘Out Of The Darkness’ on June 5th.

In the run up to the release of his third album, Gizmo Varillas teases us with ‘Born Again’. A beat laden crescendo of a track featuring dueling funk and reggae guitars that blasts off with a message of renewal and better days ahead.

In his own words, ‘Born Again is about personal transformation, changing from within and giving yourself the chance to start over. Even if we reach our lowest point, we can always rise up again. And in many ways, it’s about never giving up and empowering yourself to go on.’

Featured in the BBC’s brand-new series Alabama, Born Again follows on from the incredible success of Tony Allen featuring single ‘Saving Grace’ and ‘Love Over Everything’ both of which were played across radio networks from LA to Athens and saw him cross the 30 Million Streams landmark. With more new music coming very soon, Gizmo resonates as a most unique of solo acts with a timely message that will resonate with many.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Commander In Chief - Non Si Sa Mai / The Manager.

The Commander In Chief is about to release “Berit - Vol.2” in just a few weeks, which will be the second of the four albums in the series. She just released the 2nd single and music video from it; “The Manager,” a very humorous song, filled with catchy hooks, a great guitar solo and lots of irony about how it is for an artist to record music, while cooperating with a manager who always wants to add changes.

The first single and video from the album was the stunningly beautiful and catchy song Non Si Sa Mai - written in Italian - as a tribute to the many happy childhood years she spent in Verona, Italy, as an expat.

As an independent/unsigned artist, this 7 string guitar virtuoso, singer, songwriter and pianist smashed her way onto the heavy metal scene, getting universal acclaim as “1 of 10 modern guitar gods,” by major magazines, before successfully crossing over to classical music; with a #1 album on Amazon and viral music videos. She was the first guitarist ever to record some of the most challenging pieces written for violin virtuosos, on guitar. Her guitar duel version of Sarasate’s “Zigeunerweisen Op.20” went viral immediately and it has been featured on TV stations in several countries and in a movie.

The release of “Berit - Vol.2” has been postponed until June 2020, due to unforeseen delays caused by the Corona virus, when it comes to both the recording process, the CD manufacturer and the digital distributor. Due to the virus lockdown, The Chief had to be creative when it comes to recording vocals, since she did not have access to her usual recording location. The walk in wardrobe turned out to be a perfect vocal booth.

It is hard to find a more humble and down to earth artist than her, and her work ethics and drive to push herself is well known. With her upcoming album she also shows the world her great sense of (very dark) humour and well developed self irony, and that she is willing to aim her deadly, verbal missiles at wrongdoers again. While she attacked big corporations, intrusive government, mad scientists and corruption in her earlier recordings, it is way more personal this time, as she fires back at the neighbour-from-hell, the over-eager immigration officer who sent her back to Norway(!) and others in “Berit - Vol.2".

Born in Norway, The Chief and her family emigrated to Italy when she was 6 years old. She was raised in Verona, before moving to France, USA (3 different states) and England. She and her family have swapped the big city life of London and Chicago with the quiet and inspiring hills and greens of the Cotswolds, where they have lived for more than 4 years.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DAYLA - Lighthouse.

Parisian artist based in London, for the past few years DAYLA has travelled between the two cities working on what would become her first EP with producer and long-term friend NBO TOWN. Her thoughtful lyrics, delivered with deep, ringing vocals, invite us into her dreamspace. She finds inspiration in the maelstrom of life and the vulnerability that its turbulence exposes. Using abstract and undulating imagery, she transports you into her own unbounded world. Intimate, honest and affective, her music is flavoured with minimalist electronic sounds and soulful vocals.

After releasing her debut single “Closer” in 2019, winning the praise of The Times, Earmilk and Clash magazine, DAYLA returns with “Lighthouse”, a more personal track depicting the journey to overcome life’s struggles.

"Lighthouse is not a classic pop song: it tells a story,” says DAYLA. I wrote it when I was struggling to get along with a loved one,” she explains. "The idea was to bring love, ‘the light’ of the lighthouse, to people who aren’t ok, who might be negative and hard to deal with. Through time, it became the song that gave me hope when my mom was dying then helped me through the grieving process. I hope this song will help someone during this difficult time we're all facing. "It’s alright" to feel all the things you’re feeling. "It’s alright,'" she adds.

For her new visuals, DAYLA has been working with her friends at CY Collaboration. "The video shoot was done in one day with no budget: we only had a green screen, a DV camera and the natural light," she says. "The aim was to do something spontaneous and raw, to see what we could come up with. Just to be in the moment without caring too much about the technical side of things or our budget but simply creating. It’s a real struggle as a musician to get all the assets for a song done with little to no money, so this experience was very freeing for me. The team at CY Collaboration was very easy to work with and came up with very cool ideas," she adds.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ebony Buckle - Ghost.

Ebony Buckle is a London-based singer/songwriter, originally from the tropical seaside town of Townsville, Australia. Taking listeners on a whimsical leftfield-pop journey with her complex harmonies and imaginative storytelling lyricism, Buckle sings about universal themes of romance and broken hearts to more poetic themes of disgruntled mermaids, lonely whales and joyous, hypothetical alien invasions.

Over the last couple of years, Buckle has realised that in order to create an authentic narrative and preserve her unique creative style, she had to make her own music. She confides, “I am a naturally shy person and sometimes find it hard to be myself in front of other people, but music has really helped me connect to my true self. I feel like the songs I write come straight from my inner dialogue and they are a true expression of who I am”. She writes and performs with her husband, musician Nick Burns, who also produces her music.

Her latest single “Ghost” details the heart-wrenching experience that Buckle and her English husband Nick endured during their fight to renew her visa after their marriage. Despite her specific experience, Ghost is a universal song of love, loss, commitment and pain of feeling utterly helpless. “Ghost” was written over Skype between her and her newly-wed husband, as they were kept apart for nearly two years. It was a time in their lives when normality was turned upside down, and they were put in limbo.

Developing an immeasurable sense of depression due to the separation, the couple couldn’t plan for any future and during this time had no end date to look forward to together. It was in this difficult time, Buckle and Nick wrote “Ghost”. The song acted as not only a healing mechanism, for their pain and loss; but allowed them to move forward together - with something beautiful that they had created during their separation. Sonically, “Ghost” builds from delicate, sweeping soundscapes into a dramatically haunting release, soaring with atmospheric harmonies and organic instrumentation.

Ebony Buckle · GHOST

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Forest Bees - Tenci - Bear - High Wasted - Julia Logan

Forest Bees (aka San Francisco solo artist Sheetal Singh) has just released 'Alone Together' after some time away from the music scene, this is a fresh, creative and genre spanning track. === Tenci has a new single entitled 'Forgot My Horse's Name', it's a mixture of modern folk with some Americana feeling to it and a refined musical backdrop. === Bear shares 'Matched & Gasoline' which is a gently paced country song, that gradually adds musical layers behind her really fine vocals. === Today NYC rockers High Wasted have released their new album 'Sick Of Saying Sorry' and it's playing in full below, the bands often feisty indie rock is matched with some clever pop sensibilities, making for a vibrant sound throughout. === Julia Logan has shared her debut single 'To Be True' which is a refreshing and beautiful song, with a strong melodic hook running through it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Forest Bees - Alone Together.

At a glance, the genesis of Forest Bees (aka San Francisco solo artist Sheetal Singh) reads like standard music biz fare: a critically-acclaimed indie band has a brush with the big time, fizzles in the face of industry frustrations, and a former member goes it alone.

Only Forest Bees is going it alone fifteen years later, as a mother of two and, as she puts it, “a brown woman in what is still a very white indie rock world”. And Forest Bees explores themes rare in such dream pop, from postpartum depression and loneliness within marriage, to cultural expectations and humanity’s intersection with artificial intelligence.

In the early aughts Singh played bass for San Francisco shoegazers The Stratford 4 which, after two acclaimed indie albums, was signed to Elektra Records by Cars legend Ric Ocasek. Ocasek produced their third record, but it got lost in the post-Napster music industry meltdown and the band split. The Stratford 4 reunited in 2015 to rave reviews but also, for Singh, a realization.

“I was bored. It wasn’t what I wanted to do. In fact, it never really was,” she recalls. “I never felt like I was able to express myself in the Stratford 4, which was a white, male-fronted, guitar-heavy shoegaze band. I did love the music and my bandmates … [But] I knew I needed to do it on my own terms.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tenci - Forgot My Horse's Name.

"Forgot My Horse’s Name” follows a string of previously-released singles and videos, including “Joy,” “Earthquake,” and “Serpent.” Throughout, Shoman’s voice is soft and enchanting, her distinct vibrato lulling over waltzing guitar. The accompanying video, directed and filmed by coool (John TerEick and Jake Nokovic ) over a weekend in Minnesota, reflects the song’s beautiful simplicity. It features Shoman riding a horse, illuminated by a golden sunset.

“‘Forgot My Horse’s Name’ is quite literally about a time I went horseback riding and afterwards forgot my horse’s name,” says Shoman. “The horse and I weren’t really getting along. She wasn’t listening to me and kept running me into trees because she didn’t want to get mud on her feet. By the end of it I was all scratched up and her name was erased from my mind.

Since then the song has taken on a deeper meaning about relationships. You can put so much time into nurturing and creating something meaningful, but sometimes by the end you are left with something that’s bruised and nameless.”

Tenci began as the bedroom-folk project of Jess Shoman in December 2018. The band name comes from Shoman’s grandmother's name Hortencia, who she feels is her kindred spirit. Her memories of hearing her sing while cooking or cleaning influenced some of the same qualities in her own voice. Shoman’s music is vividly introspective, blooming with her sweet and shaky vibrato.

These days Shoman collaborates with a lineup of Chicago musicians she met playing some of her earliest shows— Curt Oren (saxophone, flute, and guitar), Izzy True’s Isabel Reidy (bass) and Joseph Farago of Joey Nebulous (drums).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bear - Matched & Gasoline.

Bear’s sassy and fresh take on songwriting is exactly what country music needs. Originally from Chicago, she earned the nickname, Bear, during her time in Texas.

Inspired by Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, and Dolly Parton, her songwriting transcends generations. Performing since the age of 7, Bear is no stranger to entertaining crowds. Bear is one of county music’s rising stars!

Matches & Gasoline is a song about a toxic relationship that has finally come to an end. This pop country track will make you want to sing at the top of your lungs!




------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

High Wasted - Sick Of Saying Sorry (Album).

NYC-based rockers High Waisted have released their new record, Sick of Saying Sorry, out everywhere today.

High Waisted's Jessica Louise Dye (lead vox, guitar) shares, "This is an unapologetic record about finding hope in a hopeless situation and the strength to get up when the world is screaming at you to stay down.

Our first record was about living in the moment and being the life of the party—it captured the carelessness of youth. Our sophomore album embodies what happens when you leave the party at dawn to go home to your tiny apartment, alone.

High Waisted’s music has always been dreadfully sad songs disguised as happy ones—the tracks on our new record follow the same pattern. Songwriting is like spell casting. That’s why I’ve used the writing as my own personal time machine. I get to rewrite history and edit out the parts that are too heavy to bear. I get to finally say all the things I wish I had. Never date a songwriter, because we always get the last word."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Julia Logan - To Be True.

Julia Logan just released her debut single "To Be True"!

“It’s about the desire to break through the invisible piece of space that seems to separate us from someone else, and what can happen when you, somehow, manage to break through”, says Stockholm, Sweden, based Julia Logan about her first single, released via Playground Music today.

Logan has played on the same bill as acts like Courtney Marie Andrews and Neko Case, whose drummer Kyle Crane (Daniel Lanois, M. Ward, Bon Iver) turned up for the studio sessions. The song was written and recorded in close collaboration with Daniel Bengtson of Studio Rymden.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Immaterial Possession - Violent Vickie - AMJ Collective - Casual Fan - banfi - Nichole Wagner

The first track from Immaterial Possession forthcoming album is 'Midnight Wander' and it's accompanied by a suitably matched video as the bands dramatic doom-dance quickly demands more than a little attention. === Los Angeles based Violent Vickie releases 'Circle Square' today, where sweeping synths glide over techno/electro beats as the shimmering vocals drift in and out. === AMJ Collective have shared their extended single 'Earth Is Calling' where instrumental reggae and some fabulous dub music shine beautifully. === Casual Fan just released 'Runners' a melodic indie song which exudes natural personal feeling through the vocals. === The brand new album from banfi entitled 'Colour Waits In The Dark' is an absolute feast of wonderful music and is streaming in full below. Creative and superbly delivered musical ideas cover considerable ground on what is a really fine album, one to take time out for. === Nichole Wagner releases her new E.P 'Dance Songs For the Apocalypse' with five distinctly different songs Nichole covers a lot of musical ground her consistently fine vocals keeping the overall feel together, this is a high quality collection.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Immaterial Possession - Midnight Wander.

Midnight Wander is an energetic, doom-dance song, navigating the throws of impending earthly catastrophe, not without an uplifting shimmering view through the dark clouds.

Immaterial Possession was conceived by Atlanta natives, Cooper Holmes and Madeline Polites, whom share a history of the underground DIY Atlanta music, theater, and arts scene. The duo moved to Athens and was soon granted the seasoned drummer, John Spiegel, and eventually fulfilled with Kiran Jeremy Fernandes (keyboards, clarinets, flutes)- descendant of Elephant 6's beloved John Fernandes (Circulatory System, Olivia Tremor Control, Cloud Recordings).

All members bring forth a spectral hue unique to the ear- with Holmes' dark and driving punk-rooted base interwoven with Spiegel's vast repertoire of drumming artistry and sacral ardor. Polites, inspired by the musical scales of the Greeks and Spanish, weaves from her haunting bedroom classical guitar and transposes to a grittier electric. Fernandes' hands dance fearlessly along the keyboard as well as clarinet, offering windows into far away eastern lands as a light in the looming darkness.

The group's vocal charm is shared by both Holmes and Polites, tying the dynamic of the band into an intricate bow- sometimes in relatable rawness, other times by billowing operatic impulses. All together they create a sort of entrancement exclaimed as distinctly rare. "Immaterial Possession", the debut LP to be released on Cloud Recordings, is as much a visual journey as auditory. With Holmes, Polites, and Fernandes all sharing ties to surreal and abstract theater, each song on the album creates a distinct 'world' of impression and mystery.

The album commences with the apocalyptic fury of "Midnight Wander" to "See Through Stares"- the catching pop tale of altering the past through the present. It takes you through the psychedelic landscapes of "In the Loom", the hallucinatory darkness of "Accidental Summoning", towards the final 'Night Cap'- a soft, but inescapable ushering into the depths of the ancestral dream state. Cover tin-type by Salvage Sparrow.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Violent Vickie - Circle Square.

Los Angeles-based Dark Synth-Riot artist Violent Vickie, is launching her latest track “Circle Square" today.

After being featured in EDM Joy, Brutal Resonance, and Fresh on the Net for her music video/single "Serotonin", Violent Vickie returns with "Circle Square", a gloomy, noisy electronic track with forlorn and haughty vocals that explores the illusion of not belonging.  The second single from her upcoming Division LP, Circle Square is a mix of techno/electro beats and noisy synth texture, reminiscent of the dark techno tunes Vickie partied to at Oakland warehouse parties.

Violent Vickie is a Los Angeles based Dark Synth-Riot artist consisting of Vickie and co-producer/recording guitarist E.  Vickie has toured with Hanin Elias of Atari Teenage Riot and supported Jessie Evans (The Vanishing), Trans X, Them Are Us Too, Aimon & The Missing Persons.

Her track "The Wolf“ was featured in a National Organization for Women film and she was interviewed for the documentary “GRRRL”, part of the museum exhibit “Alien She”.  Her LP "Monster Alley” was voted best album by KALX and her tracks have been remixed by 25+ artists.  Violent Vickie’s “Division” LP will be out in the fall of 2020 on Crunch Pod.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AMJ Collective - Earth Is Calling.

Earth is Calling is a powerful instrumental lamenting the state of our planet with an uplifting call for a wiser, positive future. It was recorded live in the studio with the band.

The mixes feature once more the skills of Rob Smith at the controls. This tune will grow, there are more versions to come (including vocals), but we thought we’d share what we have with you right now and send some good energy out to the world. - Bless. AMJ

Led by producer John Hollis, the AMJ Collective is a group of musicians, thinkers and creators originating from the UK, Jamaica, Cuba, Colombia and Africa.

AMJ have been releasing fresh, modern dub tracks since 2011, steadily building a solid reputation for an original sound. Their first album, Sky Blue Love, a collaboration with dub maestro Rob Smith (RSD, Smith & Mighty), came out in 2016 to wide acclaim across the world. This was followed in 2017 with the Believe album. Now they embark on the 2020 Series, a collection of their latest recordings.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Casual Fan - Runners.

It’s early March and you’re sitting in your car at a lookout on top of the ocean, looking down on the beaches you grew up on, thinking about a city you’re moving to and already missing the people you won’t get to see all the time.

You stay there a while and it gets to 6:30pm and cos of daylight savings it’s still light outside. The surfers are still all out there, and the sun setting over the hill shoots beams into the blue and orange haze and it’s like everything stands still, just for a moment.

Recorded in Cairns in late 2019 by Mark Myers (The Middle East) and mixed by Tim Fitz (Middle Kids), “Runners” is a song about the slow jog of life, and the rare moments you get to sit and watch it all run by.

Casual Fan · Runners

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

banfi - Colour Waits In The Dark (album).

Having relocated from North West England to South Wales via Edinburgh, Cornwall, Sheffield and 6 years in London, Joe Banfi has settled amongst the stark beauty of the Gower Peninsula. He entirely self-produced and recorded the album here, before heading to Eastcote Studios in London to mix the record with Eliot James (Two Door Cinema Club, Noah & The Whale).

Thus far 2 singles have been released from the album - the summertime-reckoning pop-hooks of ‘So Bright’ and the hypnotically addictive ‘Always Goodbye’.

Talking about these tracks and the album, Joe explains "Time and natural landscapes in relation to how I feel... I'm just trying to weave these things together for the listener... love and the passing of love among ancient things. Time and love entwined with the blood in the sky blessing my heart and the shells down on the beach that will go on sighing without me.

I've tried to voice a kind of void-fear amongst hope... John Keats’ gravestone (“Here lies one whose name was writ in water”) evokes a dread of time leaving each moment behind in a centreless dark, like goodbyes written on pages that'll one day float away.

But then there are no real grounds for believing that an afterlife, or lack of one, is any more eternal or real than the fact that you have once existed and always will have, forever in the past. We tend to project our linear view of time onto death, and maybe that's a mistaken view of the world. For me these answerless trails of thought create a flowing, bird-in-the-wind feeling of surrender to the force of time that I’ve tried to capture”.

banfi · Colour Waits in the Dark

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nichole Wagner - Dance Songs For the Apocalypse (E.P).

Born and raised in the small town of Louviers, Colorado, Nichole Wagner grew up with a love of music and an extraordinary voice, but she had no way to really share her passion with the world. “I grew up writing song lyrics and wanting to be a musician, but I didn’t really play an instrument,” she says, “so that was a problem.”

At eighteen Nichole moved to Arizona to study journalism at Arizona State University, a career path that would offer a steady paycheck while also allowing her to indulge her love of photography.  But she found that it’s not so easy to let go of a dream.

“I wanted to be Stevie Nicks,” she laughs, “but I had no idea how to start playing music out in public, and I still didn’t play an instrument with any degree of skill.”  So I put that dream up on a shelf and said ‘well that’s probably a thing I’m not going to get to do.’”

After college, she moved to Austin, where she photographed the music scene and wrote articles from the sidelines. But the dream refused to die, and one day she found herself onstage at an open mic. She started writing new songs, learned to play guitar, and like wildfire the long-buried dream flared back to life.

In 2018 Nichole’s first album, And the Sky Caught Fire, was released, a terrific collection of country-rock that balances commerciality and integrity. It earned high praise from none other than Americana sage and No Depression magazine founder Peter Blackstock, who wrote in the Austin-American Statesman, “Wagner’s first full-length record establishes her as one of Austin’s most promising young singer-songwriters.”

Her new EP, Dance Songs for the Apocalypse, is another great leap forward. The first single, a funky, soulful take on the Talking Heads’ Life During Wartime, is a stunner: a deep and danceable track that takes David Byrne’s dystopian vision one step further and highlights Wagner’s abilities as an interpreter as she takes the song into deeper and darker territory. Those interpretive skills show themselves again in an intimate and mournful eight-minute take on Neil Young’s Ambulance Blues, a gorgeous piano and violin trip through sadness and reflection. Yet somehow none of it comes off as doom and gloom. There is the triumph of Better Son and Daughter, which starts off with an acoustic guitar and Wagner’s front porch delivery, but then builds as the band comes in, gathering steam and force. Finally, Bird Set Free shows off an electric piano and strings and carries you off to an ethereal and poignant place.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------