Westberg have released 'Simple' today and the duo are powerful and hard to ignore from the opening moments with the clarity of their sound, along with a good few hooks throughout the track. === Sam Valdez has been featured here a couple of times in the past and her new song 'Clean' reminded me immediately of just why, her music exudes natural passion and addictive vibes. === Maps & His Mothball Fleet have also released a new single today with the charming 'Coastal Living' and it's a song that has elements of yacht rock alongside some deeper more emotional and absorbing features.
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Westberg - Simple.
Westberg, the Gen X duo of Ariel Westberg and Scott Bruzenak (aka Noisecastle III), wanted to get back to simple. That didn’t mean their usual experimentation was off the table: they collected melodic fragments and blended some of their hallmark eclectic harmonic detours that still ended up in several songs on the resultant album, Boomer Studies, due out Sept 18.
The first single off the album, coincidentally titled “Simple” is a generous reflection on aging gracefully, by a musical collaboration still a long way from being done creating surprises for their listeners. “Simple” is released today June 29.
Focused on pure, classic American songwriting, Westberg and RIAA-certified multi-platinum pop/electronic producer Bruzenak decidedly went “negative but nice this time around.” The former latchkey kids know how to raid their mental closets for musical shoebox memories. The conspicuous result on this album is the song, “Simple,” which features the multi ranging Westberg’s intentionally “bone dry” vocals strolling through a canopy of big guitar exclamation points that will be familiar to Tom Petty fans.
Though Westberg often surprises by taking on characters and tones in her songs as the music shifts gears, here she summons the easy strains emanating through the suburbs from a car radio in the 90’s to channel innocence and plain love of our time. Recognizing the duo’s inclination to complicate and layer, Westberg chose a quieter, lyrical intimacy to relate: In my younger days / I had a lot of things to say / And I’d do it all the hard way / Didn’t care if it was complicated/ Didn’t care if I was compensated.
Sam Valdez shares, "Clean is a love song in a way but it’s more about being drawn to self destruction. It’s about finding comfort in uncertainty and appreciating the darker qualities in someone as well as the good."
Sam Valdez’s immersive indie-rock sensibility reflects her childhood growing up at the edge of the Nevada desert, and her formative musical experiences as a child violinist. The mystery, beauty, and haunting quality of desert life has shaped the LA-based artist’s sense of dreamy textures, and her flair for abstract but emotive lyrics. Classical music’s majesty has informed her imaginative arrangements, and cinematic sense of dynamics.
Sam has melded in an intriguing blend of shoe-gaze, Americana, indie-rock, and pop into a signature aesthetic. Select career highlights thus far include garnering rave reviews in Clash Music, Consequence of Sound, and Earmilk; earning heavy rotation from KCRW for multiple singles; and opening tours for Stella Donnelly, Cayucas, and Giant Rooks.
“I’ve always tried to write from the most genuine place that I can, but, lately, and with this record, I’ve been working on sharing more sides of my views and emotions,” Sam details.
A feeling of 1960s nostalgic balladry courses through many of thesongs on Sam’s debut. She says:” Melancholic, comforting and thought provoking is what I look forin music and what I feel and hope comes across in mine.” The album’s first single, “Toothache,” is a reverb-dipped slow burner glowering with sensual vocals and a twist on a breakup narrative. Here, the feeling is a longing to reconnect with one’s sense of self post romantic rupture.
Maps & His Mothball Fleet announces the release of the yacht rock single “Coastal Living” on June 29. The sun-drenched boy-girl harmonies flirt at summer romance within a melodic haze. “Coastal Living” is the first single off the upcoming album, GULF, due out on August 21 on Azteca Records.
Matt Wanamaker, the heart behind Maps & His Mothball Fleet wrote and recorded the vocals, percussion, and some acoustic guitar for a number of songs on a combination of his phone and handheld tape dictation while working overseas in Afghanistan in 2013. When he went back to sea again in 2018 he wrote over 50 more songs. “Coastal Living” is a warm sea salt kissed single born from those demos. Hayley Richardson joins Wanamaker in a bright call-and-response harmony telling the story of a beach hermit surprised with a love note from a lost love, urging him to take a risk and pursue her. Wanamaker paints a picture from a musical pallet shaded in sunset hues.
As the world tiptoes into a post-pandemic way of life, feelings of anxiety and hesitation are amplified by distance from family and friends. Wanamaker experienced all of these emotions in international isolation. While feelings of isolation might not be unfamiliar for those in the military, the feeling of trying to reconnect afterward is. He explains, “The album describes the feeling of physical separation I had while away and the distance that I was trying to deal with upon coming home.” The album is called GULF not only because it was written along the Gulf of Mexico and the Persian Gulf, but to describe that tangible separation and the ravine of emotional distance that come along with it.
The songs on GULF remain centered on a particular lo-fi aesthetic, prompted by the time and place for which it was recorded as much as by when it was embellished. These homespun nuances become an honest first-person account hidden by the melodies and stories that Wanamaker managed to produce all alone at night…once again adrift at sea.
Geoff Gibbons new song 'Keep On Driving' has just been shared, we have to go back to November 2017 for our last feature, however this is a wonderful reminder of his talented song writing and beautiful delivery. === Dutch duo Feng Suave have a new E.P 'Warping Youth' comprising of six wonderful tracks where timeless soulful moments and exquisite bedroom pop merge and create something very special. === The Danberrys make their third appearance here this year with the new single 'Undertow' ahead of next months album release and again the duos varied Americana, is simply gorgeous.
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Geoff Gibbons - Keep On Driving.
Vancouver-based Roots/Folk Rock artist Geoff Gibbons is a true storyteller, armed with that rare narrative combination of humility, compassion, and troubador wisdom. His songs are melodic and wholly relatable.
Much like Tom Petty or Bruce Springsteen's music, when Geoff Gibbons writes songs, they somehow seem destined for the open road. His new single "Keep on Driving", out now on all platforms, speaks on a theme that most of us have experienced.
About "Keep on Driving": In these times of uncertainty “Keep On Driving” is a longing for freedom. Caught in the well-worn circle of day to day survival… I wondered what would happen if I didn’t turn in the driveway and just kept going. It speaks to life in general.. The smallest move or gesture can completely change the direction of a life. We forget we have control over those moves every minute.. as fear and comfort often hold us where we are.
Dutch duo Feng Suave have just released their new EP 'Warping Youth'. The Amsterdam-hailing ensemble consisting Daniël Schoemaker and Daniël de Jong toe the line between Bill Withers-esque ‘70s soul and quarter-life crisis bedroom-pop.
2020 has seen the Dutch dyad release a string of impressive singles. "Toking, Dozing" and "Maybe Another Time" - the first two tastes of the new EP, secured support from Billboard, Complex, Notion and Lauren Laverne on BBC 6 Music.
Feng Suave are as well-versed with the greats as with current contemporaries like HOMESHAKE or Unknown Mortal Orchestra. Like a lens flare, these influences of the old and new refract and form their own heavily evocative and hazy marque of hypnagogic pop. Previous releases were championed by Iggy Pop on his BBC 6 Music show during their 2019 tour with Khruangbin (their self-titled debut EP in 2017 which featured tracks "Sink Into The Floor" and "Honey, There’s No Time", followed by standalone single "Venus Flytrap" in 2018).
Vaulting their original brand of bedroom-pop and arming themselves with razor-sharp wit on some of the themes on the forthcoming EP, Feng Suave are both lyrically intimate and sardonic. On the new EP, 'Warping Youth', the band said; “We aimed at distancing ourselves from the contemporary ‘bedroom’ sound of our first releases and tried to stay true to the music we like, listen to and admire the most; more organic-sounding, classic songs. Thematically, the songs are about coming of age and the directionless wandering through adolescence that comes with it.”
Nashville’s The Danberrys are somehow both charmingly old-world and very much of this moment. The married couple’s rich pastoral blues and muscly folk evoke the big-hearted storytelling of pioneering giants like the Carter Family but could only come now, as a mixed offshoot of roots music’s ever-growing family tree.
In 2009, the two recorded singer/guitarist DeBerry DeBerry’s original material together on a whim, and The Danberrys were born. More than a decade later, six Independent Music Award nominations, including two nods for best Americana album and one for best EP, punctuate their résumé. Their 2016 LP Give & Receive earned serious acclaim, and the pair’s fourth album, Shine, sails past the high expectations that ensued. Produced by ace drummer Marco Giovino (Band of Joy, Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller) and executive produced by Brian Brinkerhoff, Shine captures the Danberrys’ fiercely guarded independence––and revels in it. Singer Daniel Daniel’s commanding voice roars low and high––an ideally nuanced partner for DeBerry’s subtly virtuosic guitar playing. For the first time in their career, the two co-wrote every song together, pulling in the help of a third songwriter on a handful of the tracks.
Their unforced creative approach is on triumphant display on Shine, the twelve-song collection reveals a pair of artists putting years of passionate study in bluegrass, blues, funk, folk, gospel, and pop to brilliant use: conversational stories and metaphorical sketches of the natural world rest on beds of complex bluesy folk. “I’ve always loved music that makes you guess what it’s about,” Daniel says. “We want our songs to be vague enough that they could be interpreted to mean different things.”
“We could spell it out,” DeBerry adds. “But we’re bored with the obvious.”
The title track kicks off the album with moody, guitar-punched swagger. Darkness sets the stage only to give way to the light Daniel and DeBerry refuse to stop seeking. “The song is a reminder––a daily mantra,” Daniel says. “How do you get through today and continue to grow and let go of all the things from your past that want to keep you down and keep you from being who you really are in the world?” Beginning with only Daniel’s voice, which is soon joined by DeBerry’s somber electric guitar, “The Mountain” addresses similar life-affirming themes. The incomparable Darrell Scott adds backing vocals to the track, which grooves as it soars.
Hermitess has just shared 'Followers' along with a video. We have to go back to 2017 since we last crossed paths, however the new song is exquisite and a good reintroduction to the very talented musician Jennifer Crighton. === Mark Lofgren has released a new album 'Black Moon Book' which is streaming in full below, along with a video for one of the tracks 'You Are Just Not Alone' which makes for a good feel for this bedroom pop (and more) collection. === Wyatt C. Louis just released 'Dancing With Sue' and it's a beautifully flowing Americana song where soulful vibes and refined musicianship rub shoulders. ===Laura Cortese & the Dance Cards were featured last month and they are back with another new song 'Typhoon' and again their mixture of roots and folk music is wonderfully crafted and just plain beautiful.
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Hermitess - Followers.
Hermitess is the solo project of songwriter, visual artist and harpist Jennifer Crighton. Dreaming simultaneously in music and images, her projects are often approached with the sensibility of curator, intent on a carefully imagined collection of collaborators, stories and set pieces. Sonically, layered orchestral textures, choral voices, and pedal driven magic conjuring a fever dream.
Delicate harp lines loop and tangle into an intricate latticework of rhythm and melody, while unfamiliar sounds and unplaceable textures enrich the arrangements. Over this sonic foundation, Crighton sings in the voice of her adopted character, the words part story and part incantation. The lyrics question and caution the listener, walking the line between dreams and nightmares.
Jennifer studied Jazz music at Vancouver Island University before finishing a degree in drawing with a focus on performative art at Alberta University of Arts. While finishing her degree she put on DIY immersive shows and hosted numerous touring bands under the guise of the Summerwood Warren, later embarking on a tour of house venues down the coast of California with orchestral indie pop band The Consonant C. She went on to perform with Deadhorse/Devonian Gardens, touring Canada and the US. In 2017 she released the self titled Hermitess LP which she wrote in an isolated cabin during a residency Northern Michigan, and recorded with John Hornak at Audities Studio in Bearspaw Alberta.
The Tower EP is the Hermitess’s follow-up to the sparse and crystalline self titled, Recorded during a residency at the National Music Center with Elisa Pangsaeng producing, it inhabits a world considerably less removed from society, sharing all the mixed emotions and misgivings of navigating an industrialized modern world.
Still apparent is the rich cast of musical collaborators featuring unique instrumentation, and a particular knack for writing songs that conjure timely cinematic parables of life.
Mark Lofgren's second solo effort Black Moon Book is out now and streaming at Bandcamp.
Like most musicians operating under the new normal, Mark Lofgren (The Luck of Eden Hall, The Thin Cherries) has been spending time in his home studio crafting intimate recordings.
Black Moon Book, an album of exquisite bedroom pop that touches on memory, isolation and, most explicitly, the healing power of hope and love, follows his 2014 solo debut, The Past Perfect.
Lofgren is one of the founders of psychedelic pop/rock mainstays The Luck of Eden Hall, who have toured Europe and released music on a variety of independent labels, including Headspin Records and Fruits de Mer Records.
Wyatt C. Louis is a Cree-Métis folk singer-songwriter, based in Moh’kinstsís (Calgary). He has made an impact on the eclectic city with songs built from soaring melodies, railroad-like finger picking and quiet, haunting vocals and lyrical phrasing.
Dark, rustic tales meld folk and soulful blues to tell tales of love, loss and the journey home. They’re beautiful, subtle creations that juxtapose emotions, striking imagery and experiences that charm and envelop listeners. The sweet and intimate EP On a Journey for the Long Run (2017), had earned him airplay on CBC, CKUA and campus radio across Canada.
Louis’ upcoming release, “Dancing With Sue,” evokes the feeling of nostalgia, and yearning for the times in our lives where we feel the happiest and most free. Captured effortlessly through warm tones and colourful song writing.
The song is dedicated to supportive friends whom he met through various music collectives. “Dancing with Sue” is the first piece of Louis’ new album coming in fall 2020, released via Canadian label, Slow Weather.
Expanding on the boundaries of what an indie-folk band can be, Laura Cortese & the Dance Cards add a lightness and pop sensibility on their upcoming album, BITTER BETTER. This week, they're premiering a video for their song "Typhoon," which was filmed during album sessions in Cortese adopted home of Ghent, Belgium.
BITTER BETTER will be released on July 17 on Compass Records, with the band joining The Mountain Goats for fall US dates. A stunning lesson in all the ways string instruments can be played – bowed, plucked, percussively – combined with lush vocal harmonies, BITTER BETTER showcases Cortese and multi-instrumentalist producer Sam Kassirer (Lula Wiles, Lake Street Dive) striving to capture the most adventurous approach to each moment. The result is an album that incorporates dance-worthy foundational grooves, synth, and loops to push the boundaries of the genre.
“Everything is so heavy in the world right now,” Cortese says, who’s been living in Belgium the past two years. “When someone comes to our show, listens to this album, or hears one of the songs, I want it to feel like relief and release.”
When it came time to record, the band and Kassirer joined forces with percussionist and engineer D. James Goodwin; together they completely dismantled the idea of how a string band “should” sound.
“There was a lot to feel hopeless about, big political changes and taking to the streets to protest. Friends had been marching weekly since January 20th and I could see our energy and optimism waning. I wanted to remind us to take care of ourselves and reconnect with hope and joy as the longer days returned.”
While the album’s 11 tracks provide relief and release, they also encourage self-examination and personal discovery—the work that is necessary to sustain the energy needed to keep striving, to connect, and to continue to make our complicated world a better place. With BITTER BETTER, Laura Cortese & The Dance Cards throw out the rule book, creating a beautifully vivid, musically unexpected canvas from their refreshingly unconventional perspective.
Vilde have just released their new album 'Atopia' which is streaming in full below along with 'Splutter' taken from the collection, a song that makes for a fine indicator of the wonderful quality and beauty that is present throughout the album. ===NKOS are carving out a very distinctive and appealing musical style which is reinforced by their new single and video for 'BOW (Brave Old World)'. === Tali Shear shares 'Fool' a song that suggests this young London singer songwriter is capable of producing both natural and intrinsically personal and gorgeous music. === Hannah Scott makes her fourth appearance on Beehive Candy with her brand new song '98' and again she easily meets indeed exceeds expectations with a beautiful and up-building song. === Finally today we have Freak Heat Waves with 'Nothing Lasts Forever' where the Canadian post-punk/electronic duo are enticing, hard to categorize yet gripping and addictive.
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Vilde - Atopia (Album).
Vilde is the musical project of Thomas Savage. Birthed in Stockholm in 2016, Thomas’ goal has been to release one album per year for the indefinite future. This began with the monthly single release campaign culminating in 12 songs comprising Study/Dance in 2017, followed by 2018’s Thud and Fidget At The Podium in 2019. On schedule, the 4th LP, entitled Atopia is due June 25th.
Thomas writes of the theme, "Without actively considering where the subject matter of this record would go, it sort of drifted predominantly towards the topic of death. It’s one of the most interesting and fascinating laws of the universe, but is universally difficult to discuss. I wonder whether the suppression of the topic in society is hindering our ability to be our most human selves. Once I’d made the record I was able to step away and evaluate the bigger picture of what it was. I feel like it sort of lulls you into a sense of comfort and safety and then quietly whispers concepts of love and death into your ear. I’d love it if this was something you could listen to in your own time and space, but then come to the show and pulse with it.”
The album was written over roughly 12 months across several countries, during a somewhat nomadic time for Thomas.
On the process Thomas writes, "I realised I’d become a bit too comfortable with my recording software. I’d open it up, then start writing parts and throwing them all in. Often I felt the songs had become a sort of frankenstein, shred and glued. I wanted to step away from that process this time. So I began to simply sing ideas into my phone. By the time it came to producing the album, I had around a hundred scraps amassed in my phone’s ‘voice recorder’. So the recording/mixing process which often takes 9 months took barely 2. From there I went in with David Pye [Wild Beasts, Dido] in Norwich for additional mixing, and sent it off to Eric James [Dame Joan Sutherland, Faithless, James Holden] for mastering.”
An international collective conceived after dark, NKOS were always set to tickle the fancy of the global synth-loving, indie-electronica community and their debut single did just that... ‘Little Miss Numb’ was much shared, streamed and even bought(!), it filled dark dance floors, was loved by reviewers, adored by new fans and blogged about like welcoming an old friend home. Not bad considering they haven’t even shared a band picture yet and they are spread around Europe with limited studio time together.
Single number 2 is the dystopian ‘BOW (Brave Old World)’. Despite the title and theme of the song, this was not recorded during the lockdown, it was instead made out of endless phone calls and file sharing between Flavio and Chris Shape, as well as recording sessions scattered over the years with the full band starting as early as 2014. The long, antsy intro sets the path for a track with a title and a set of lyrics perfectly fitting in the current climate even if produced in much ‘better days’. The video, written and directed by the talented Zidrunas Ilgauscas was shot in London last year.
NKOS are Flavio Manieri, Chris Shape, Nancy Natali and Marcus Billeri. They blend lush vocals, production savvy, old school musicianship & dj skills into a real live band. Drawn together through a love of all things 4AD and a good night out, they are where trip hop meets the dance floor, and where electronica meets indie. The end results move seamlessly “from light to dark and minimal to maximal” says Flavio. Where ‘Little Miss Numb was dark, ’BOW’ in its own way it’s probably even darker.
NKOS have just finished the final mixing and mastering of their debut album ‘From Dust To Life’ with a release date set for October on Beatbuzz Records. Very limited edition will be available for pre-order once BOW is out. More formats will be announced soon.
From Tali - I’m Tali Shear, a young singer-songwriter from London. To be completely (and hopefully refreshingly) honest, I’m an independent musician just trying to share my music with people willing to listen and with quite limited help/budget.
I’m so excited to be releasing a new single ‘Fool’ on the 26th of June and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to get in touch with some blogs I’ve come across and have taken a particularly personal interest in. Its a slow, ballad-like pop song about feeling like a fool after being mistreated by someone you fell for.
A bit about me, after the two previous releases in the last two years, I received some great feedback and a big growth in my following. I had a radio interview on Vibe 107.6 and have performed in some great venues across London. My voice and songs have also been compared to the likes of Adele on numerous occasions.
London-Based independent artist Hannah Scott is fast cementing her place as one of the country’s most exciting new songwriters, with her emotive songs and striking voice. 9 8, the second single from her forthcoming album, showcases her powerful and personal storytelling.
The song recounts how at the age of 98, Hannah’s paternal Grandmother has made peace with her own mortality, not something many of us will get the chance to do. It is also a reminder that there is still pleasure to be found in the small things as long as she is alive.
Co-written and produced with long-standing creative partner Stefano Della Casa (Ultra Music Publishing), 98 expertly combines organic, live elements with electronic sounds. The two artists have struck a perfect balance between Hannah’s traditional songwriting craft and Stefano’s unique cinematic production.
Recent highlights for the pair include being awarded funding by Help Musicians UK to go towards the production of the album, opening for Madeleine Peyroux to an audience of 2000 at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre and travelling across Ireland with Paddy Casey to open shows for him in Dublin and in a tiny Irish speaking village near Galway! Their music has also been featured on BBC Radio 2 including a live session with Dermot O’Leary, BBC 6 Music, BBC Introducing, The Guardian, MOJO and Clash Magazine.
Canadian post-punk/electronic duo, Freak Heat Waves have just shared ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’ a fuzzy, psychedelic cut lifted from the forthcoming record, Zap The Planet which is out September 4 on Telephone Explosion.
Zap The Planet follows 2018's Beyond XXXL that found tips at Brooklyn Vegan and FADER and also found Freak Heat Waves opening for the likes of Suuns, Preoccupations, Odonis Odonis, Mattiel and more. The duo, who now live at opposing ends of the country in Montréal and Vancouver, initially hail from the Midwestern Canadian prairies before relocating to Victoria, BC where they cut their teeth, earning acclaim for their early cassette tapes and blistering DIY performances.
New single, ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’ swims in warm hues of psychedelia; arresting baselines are tugged around smoggy vocals and twinkling guitar segments to find the pair once again harnessing their lysergic connotations. “The writing and recording of this track was pretty off the cuff,” says the band. “We wanted to make something that would be really light and laid back, and then also make it a bit kitschy and over the top. At its element, ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’ is an offhand bedroom pop song."
When not touring, the band frequently relocated, adapted and diversified, trading instruments and forging a path-less-followed approach to writing music. As new instruments started to come into the fold, the studio process became more dynamic with the pair – never the type to rest on their laurels – adopting avant-garde recording techniques, experimental sound design and orchestrations that utilized legendary effects, drum machines and synths. Tireless curiosity fuelled the duo as they merged their original sound with discoveries and seemingly disparate influences – the distance between Montreal, QC and Victoria, BC has only helped fuel innovation too.
No Freak Heat Waves record has followed a singular path and no two are alike. Each album is an evolution in musical direction, songwriting and conceptualization. With Zap the Planet, (their second album on Tele- phone Explosion) the duo has manifested more of their intrinsically unique vision and become more pronounced in their unhinged artistic process. The follow up to 2017’s Beyond XXXL finds the Freaks taking a fearless, inventive leap to create the greatest departure from their previous work.
Another Sky have shared 'Fell In Love With The City' and announced their debut album will be released in August, the song itself is a mixture of refined indie rock and some notable vocals from Catrin Vincent. === Chris Bell has been active in the music industry for some time and now he has shared a new song entitled 'Whispering Town' which exudes both quality and heart. === Hannah Frances is a new artist from Melbourne, Australia and her first single from a forthcoming E.P is the rather special 'Wolf' which more than hints some fine new songs on are there way. === Alt rock band Shuffalo share 'Stay On Me' which is one of those tracks that stand out in a crowded musical genre.
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Another Sky - Fell In Love With The City.
Another Sky have announced the release of their debut album I Slept On The Floor, due for release on August 7th via Missing Piece Records / Fiction. They have also released their brand new single “Fell In Love With The City,” by far their most ambitious and euphoric track to date.
On “Fell In Love With The City,” Catrin Vincent (vocalist / lyricist) had to say: "I hate breakup songs. I don't know why, it’s the most universal feeling. Maybe because the world has so many of them. Moving to London was a dramatic shift from small-town life where it didn’t even occur to me I could do music, where this vision of me as a housewife who never amounted to anything felt inescapable, in to a bigger world, of people from all over, of new ideas and a new version of myself.”
On the music video, which was directed by Vincent herself: “We asked if any of our fans had an old mini DV tape camera, and they came through (thanks so much Peter Kavanagh, Victoria Wai and Henry Kenyon). We tried to capture the excitement of being on the road for the first time, replicating the feeling of moving to London seven years ago. “Fell In Love With The City” is the second song we ever wrote as a band and we wanted to make a video that embodied the way you'd film a partner, but you're filming a city instead".
Chris Bell has been writing and recording music since the late 90’s. Born in Dunnville, ON, his introduction onto the Canadian music landscape happened via his high school, post hardcore band Chore. They released three full length albums for Sonic Unyon Records and after extensive touring and studio time with Chore, Bell began venturing out into the solo realm releasing his first independent record, Time Between Failures, in 2001.
The formation of Alive and Living after Chore disbanded in 2004, was an even further extension of this softer, more folk oriented approach and kept Bell busy writing, recording. Alive and Living released an ep called PLO in 2004 and toured extensively in Eastern Canada. More recently Bell has been touring and recording, as the bassist, with the eastern Canadian rock band Wintersleep. Appearing on the band’s last release, In The Land Of, Bell shifted his role from the bands live sound engineer and tour manager to band member. He has worked with many prominent Canadian acts as a live sound engineer; Broken Social Scene, Stars, Basia Bulat, Arkells and the aforementioned Wintersleep to name a few.
These many projects and varying roles have led Chris to his most recent project, self-produced, Division Street. The album touches on all of Bell’s previous sensibilities while offering the most immediately accessible songwriting and multi-faceted production values to be heard in his already high quality body of work. It is the culmination of his years as a budding and driven musician/producer into a finely balanced song cycle that, while bouncing between folk rock and hard rock, coheres into a listening experience that captivates, soothes and gets the toes tapping throughout the track listing.
Having the freedom to work on the album entirely independently and free of any deadlines or technical challenges means that the listener is rewarded with multiple layers of lush vocal harmony, an eclectic range of percussive elements and, as always, Bell’s trademark guitar work making these songs impossible to forget, even after just one listen.
Hailing from Melbourne, Australia, Hannah Frances, is a new name on the music scene and is now inspiring major interest thanks to her beautiful and captivating music.
“Wolf” is the first single from her forthcoming EP and showcases her melodic sound that has gotten critics and fans raving. “Wolf encompasses strong feelings associated with betrayal - we all know a wolf who wears sheep’s clothes”, says Hannah.
Hannah Frances’ music has been described as ‘a sweet and dark musical terrain that traverses folk, pop and the sounds of the singer-songwriter generation of artists who trail blazed out of Greenwich Village in the 60’s’.
Having cut her teeth in open mic nights and backyard concerts around Melbourne, Hannah has now moved her career onto support performances for local and international artists. Melbourne may be a long way from the famous New York region that spawned many musical storytellers, but its echo can be heard loud and clear in Hannah’s intoxicating blend.
Hannah cites Joni Mitchell, Fleetwood Mac and Lana Del Rey as major influences on her unique music style - which is both haunting and hypnotising – and a quality that comes with the stamp of longevity.
Introduction from Shuffalo - Our new single, "Stay On Me," was inspired by the narrative of portals in iconic stories we grew up on: Chronicles of Narnia, Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland.
"Stay On Me" is available everywhere now, inviting you to choose your own adventure as it pulls you into another world and takes you on a journey. The song explores many important topics such as climate change, mortality salience, love, and the fight for a better tomorrow.
The mood starts off slow before it falls down the rabbit hole, two lovers (in a dangerous time) walking down a dirty alley with bursting neon and vines crawling through the cracks while nature takes back the city. The song travels with the pair as they question their past, live in the moment, and explore future challenges.
Hey Elbow have released 'Nurture/Aptitude' a song that sees the Swedish Dream Pop band drift into a more powerful and deeper sound which becomes increasingly irresistible. === Sergeant Buzfuz share 'There's Idiots, Then There's Idiots With Money' accompanied with a video, the bands slick no nonsense approach mixes natural rock and cutting lyrics together, doing so with finesse.
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Hey Elbow - Nurture/Aptitude.
After returning earlier this year to release their captivating single ‘Missit’, Swedish dream-pop outfit Hey Elbow are back once again to share another wonderfully broad and ethereal offering, ‘Nurture/Aptitude’, lifted from their forthcoming full-length ‘WE THREE’.
Created around a loop the band recorded by mistake, ‘Nurture/Aptitude’ sees the group deliver a wonderfully warm and enticing return that manages to juggle deep and emotive atmosphere with a cacophonous symphony of drums and synths. Taking cues from their usually sweeping output, this newest cut sees them showcase a bright and energetic direction as they look to ready us for their highly-anticipated third album ‘WE THREE’, arriving on the 18th September via Adrian Recordings..
Speaking about the new release, the band said, "’Nurture/Aptitude’ is a somewhat catchy track coming from us. The song is based on a loop that we recorded by mistake in the rehearsal place. It was a vocal harmony that by accident was cut to a super short segment at the same time as a coffee cup crashed into a microphone. We can’t really remember but the loop disappeared and we panicked. A few months later in the studio the loop suddenly appeared and we could include it on the recording. It is a pop tune but needed a frame. We did a longer intro and an ambient outro. So it became an Hey Elbow song. For the impatient listener, we also did a convenient but lazy edit.”
Sergeant Buzfuz - There's Idiots, Then There's Idiots With Money.
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 whistle blowing 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" (out 3rd July).
"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’.
Julian Taylor has just released his new album 'The Ridge' and from the opening moments of the title track I just felt I was in for something quite special. Julian's vocals are something to envy, as he surrounds himself with fabulous backing vocals and excellent musicianship on what could be loosely described as Americana at it's finest. === Electronic synth pop duo Rosa Ama have shared 'Oku (Night Version)' and it's a smooth, danceable and seductive song. === From The Mojo Slide we have 'Good Times' which is a potent alt rocker, the vocals are notable as the band deliver some tight, gritty rock. == We have two of the twelve tracks that make up The Purple Shoes new album (Small Town Fairy Tales) namely 'Melody's Eyes' and 'Strange'. Both give a good representation of this very fine album that travels from alt rock to folk and plenty of other excellent musical destinations.
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Julian Taylor - The Ridge (Album).
My grandparents used to live in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, on a beautiful piece of farmland surrounded by the Golden Ears Provincial Park, as well as the Fraser and Alouette Rivers. When I close my eyes and think of my happy place, that is where my mind takes me.
I wrote “The Ridge” to contemplate what life was like back in my grandparents’ day and what life is like now. My grandfather was Mohawk and my step-grandmother cared for me like her own.
She was quite brave to take that on because there was a lot of prejudice back then, which still exists today. This song is my way of pointing out the importance of innocence in a world that is divided.
Electronic synth-pop duo Rosa Ama share “Oku” (Night Version) on Casablanca Sunset Records.
On Oku Night, the duo navigates between smooth synth pop and funky house. Their cleverly crafted creation is highlighted by Harks’ buoyant soft falsetto vocal and Vhyce’s euphoric Ibiza inspired beats. Each delivering their own unique melodies melded together into one bouncy and groovy house single.
The release comes after sharing both of their previous Rosa Ama singles, “Ethers” and “Lost on the People,” on Casablanca Sunset. The ‘Day Version’ of Oku was also released in July of last summer on Kitsuné Musique as their debut single.
The Mojo Slide is a group of musicians, hailing from Cambridgeshire, united in their passion for blues-inspired alternative music.
Formed in 2011, they released their debut album 'Twist Your Bones' in November 2015 on DO IT Records. The album features a contemporary mixture of classic rock 'n' roll, and blues rooted alternative rock. They have had radio play on BBC, Absolute and Planet Rock, amongst others, and have since signed with Nub Records.
The Mojo Slide are:
Mark Wilks (vocals)
Mike Fenna (lead guitar)
Matt Legg (rhythm guitar)
Danny Savage (bass guitar)
Michael Graham (drums)
Though they may sound like they’ve stepped straight out of 1968, The Purple Shoes are very much artists of 2020, their timeless mix of deftly-crafted melodies, jaw-dropping harmonies and story-telling lyrics combining into the heady swirl of Small Town Fairy Tales, their brand-new album is out now! Comprising singer Marie Dance; singer and guitarist, Michael Bickers and aided and abetted by double-bassist Richard Dadson and Stomp legend, Theseus Gerard on drums and household percussion, The South coast of England’s best-kept musical secret is shortly to let loose on a world which is sure to embrace the folk-rock dreamworld The Purple Shoes seem to have plucked straight out of the minds of some of the greatest singer-songwriters of the 1960s and 70s.
Meeting by pure chance after her three-year experience in Thailand and a collection of half-completed songs, Marie Dance and Michael Bickers’ musical union in picturesque Shoreham-by-Sea feels like the culmination of a journey of not only miles but eras. Their spine tingling harmonies immediately bring to mind classic acts such as Simon & Garfunkel and Fleetwood Mac and their songwriting would easily lead you to believe you were listening to songs from the booming counterculture of the Sixties. To reinforce their rock n roll ideals, they travelled the UK and Ireland (in their now deceased Ford Focus, “Athelstan”!), honing their onstage craft and wowing fans, their interaction with audiences becoming as well-loved as their songs. Eschewing pedals and studio effects, The Purple Shoes’ sound is made all the more breath-taking by its truth and honesty – their songs live and breathe in the moment, capturing the sheer majesty of their harmonies and the earworm grooves which come courtesy of Dadson and Gerard, the latter making his name as percussionist and choreographer of world-famous percussion troupe, Stomp.
Small Town Fairy Tales is a collection of 12 songs written over the past two years and, as the title suggests, tells the story of life and love in a recognisable locale of characters we all see in our own lives. Relatable, uplifting and perfect escapism from our current locked-down lives, Small Town Fairy Tales is an invitation to have fun, unwind and remember why you fell in love with music in the first place.
Andy Cook new album 'I'll Be Fine' is streaming in full below. This is a highly original album, musically it sits somewhere between indie and alt rock but drifts beyond there, the production is stunning and the musicianship on a par, Andy's vocals add even more distinction and character, this is class to say the very least. === We have another album in full below, this time from Jenny Reynolds and her new collection entitled 'Any Kind Of Angel', where the singer songwriter delivers some beautifully refined Folk and Americana songs. The storytelling lyrics are notable and the genuine nature of the album enticing. === We featured Sandtimer a couple of times last year and they return with 'Different Seas' which is a reinterpretation of an old song of theirs and it's absolutely stunning (why say more). === Having already shared two songs from her new album we now have the full collection as Jess Knight releases 'Best Kind Of Light'. Mixing blues, roots rock and timeless soul, this is everything the two singles promised and a healthy dose of more. === Sun Cutter debut single is 'Daylight Star' and it's a refreshing singer songwriter piece from an artist who has been through something of a personal storm over the last year or so. === If you like dreamy psychedelic pop then Cold Beaches have something special for you in the form of 'Problems and Heartache (I Got Them)'. === Fans of out there song titles should already be pleased with New Fries brand new song 'Arendt / Adler / Pulley Pulley Pulley Pulley', lovers of genre spanning and originality should be equally delighted, this is strangely addictive.
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Andy Cook - I'll Be Fine (Album).
As a child, Andy Cook was afraid to sing. After years dodging performances in school music classes, he decided it was time to face his fears. Yet 2017 EP In Space and 2018 follow-up Modern Man still bore traces of that childhood anxiety: vocals surrounded by reverb and delay, melting into swelling banks of guitar. This time around, Cook is determined to recognize his voice for the instrument it really is; putting it front and center on new record I’ll Be Fine.
A former hockey player from the Midwest, Cook found new worlds opening up to him as he toured his first records across the country. It was a stop in New York, folded into a tiny Brooklyn bedroom, that helped to crystallize his voice into something he was finally ready to share. This city of dreams—and of harsh realities—was the catalyst Cook needed to push forward with his own dreams in the midst of seemingly unending uncertainty. Recorded live to tape at Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, I’ll Be Fine bristles with a closeness not heard in Cook’s earlier work. With co- production by Matthew Molnar (Sunflower Bean, Friends, Kissing is a Crime) and Jeremy Ylvisaker (Bon Iver, Alpha Consumer, Andrew Bird), Cook is able to anchor a tighter sound with firmer, bolder foundations.
This revamped sound bolsters appropriately direct lyricism, as befitting an artist finding a long-awaited confidence in the stories he chooses to tell. Even the album title I’ll Be Fine faces down the consumerist narratives that bombard us, challenging these ideas of what we should buy, how we should look, who we should like, and how we should talk—instead encouraging us to find a way to be more and more okay with ourselves, however that is.
“Life doesn’t have to be about how many people like your Instagram photo, but it’s hard not to feel devalued when we always feel behind, not good enough,” Cook acknowledges. It’s exactly this pragmatism that makes Cook an artist of note in 2019. His singular narratives have been refined with a close-knit team and released in the self-effacing knowledge that they have to compete for attention with the entire contents of Netflix... and yet Cook still chooses to put them out there. Cook summarizes I’ll Be Fine this way: “These songs are for everyone who’s trying to take our voice from inside and bring it out. It’s scary, but we’ve got to say what we want if we’re going to be heard.”
Native New Englander, Jenny Reynolds, based in Austin, TX, since 2003, is a singer-songwriter, guitarist and storyteller. She performs Americana and folk music finger style on the guitar, and when strumming goes for percussive guitar patterns that make people feel like moving. Jenny grew up in a family that loved music and experienced it together, by listening to albums and going to shows.
At five years old she fell in love with the guitar, and her first one came from Sears. Some of the songs she learned, in the beginning, were “Blossom,” and “St James Infirmary.” Her songs are stories that evoke feelings; and her lyrics expose questions and issues about the human experience. Jenny is releasing her new album, Any Kind of Angel, on Friday, June 19, 2020. As the album unfolds, it is equally tender and powerful. She describes her music, “As a love child from a three-way with James Taylor, John Mayer, and Gillian Welch.”
Any Kind of Angel Jenny’s fourth album was produced by Mark Hallman and André Moran at Congress House Studio, in the heart of Austin. “Mark and André don’t just record what a person can do. They helped me discover what I can do as a guitar player, then they helped me develop that sound, then we recorded it. Hockey great Wayne Gretsky said, “I don’t skate to where the puck is. I skate to where it will be.” Mark and André help me discover where my music will be. This is why I don’t want to record anywhere else. I like what Mark did with Ani DiFranco’s record Dilate (her first studio record), and all of Eliza Gilkyson’s recordings.”
The musicians playing on Any Kind of Angel include Jaimee Harris (harmonies), Scrappy Jud Newcomb (electric and nylon-string guitar), Warren Hood (fiddle), BettySoo (harmonies, mandolin), Oliver Steck (cornet), Jenifer Jackson (harmonies), and Nate Rowe (bass). “Generally the people I like to play and record with are people who listen to others as much as they listen to themselves, much like jazz musicians do. We may not be playing jazz, but we are responding to each other with that kind of attentiveness and creativity.”
Sandtimer have a new single. It’s called ‘Different Seas’ and is a solo piano-led new version of one of their oldest songs, featuring a more reflective and contemplative accompaniment than the upbeat shuffle of the original.
Crafting their arrangements with intricate, interwoven guitars and captivating vocal harmonies, composer Rob Sword and oceanography student Simon Thomas began performing as Sandtimer in 2014, building a small but passionate following on the UK acoustic circuit.
Soon expanding their ensemble to include Rachel Thomas on bass and vocals and Alex Jackson on percussion, as well as embarking on tours to northern Europe and Canada, Sandtimer have found an international audience for their music in the tens of thousands.
After a steady stream of EPs and singles over a period of several years, Sandtimer released their debut full length album, everything is on hold, in 2019. With eleven songs that walk the fine line between hope and despair, and inspired by a wide span of artists and musical styles, everything is on hold reflects the world in its current state- full of chaos, often full of sadness but also, perhaps, full of hope.
Calgary soul-roots singer-songwriter Jess Knights debut full-length record, "Best Kind of Light" is released today.
Commenting on the recently released title track Co-written with Donovan Woods in a Toronto diner over slices of pie, the ballad about a graceful end to a relationship presents Knights’ luminous voice in its rawest form. “I know you’re lonely/I’m lonely, too/But I won’t dare call you/Even though I want to,” she sings, channeling that yearning tug-of-war to go back. It’s a relatable sentiment to anyone that’s left a relationship and chosen instead to move on.
“It’s a choice to move on from any relationship with grace and integrity,” Knights says. “‘Best Kind of Light’ traces a reflection on what was with a recognition of what is, and a choice to remember the good and hopefully learn from the not-so-good.”
Best Kind of Light weaves together Knights’ influences in blues, roots and revivalist soul, and features an array of songsmiths and sidemen, including award-winning producer Joshua Van Tassel, Joey Landreth, R. Grunwald, and others. The lineup adds dimension to Knights’ songs while bringing into focus the moody, dimly lit spectrum of her classically-trained voice. Able to traverse sultry ballads and raise-the-roof-off-the-church soul with ease, this dynamo performer is bound to leave an impression.
Daylight Star is the debut single by Sun Cutter (aka Kevin Pearce), out June 19th on all digital platforms. Taken from the forthcoming eponymous debut, released later in 2020 on Bronzerat Records.
Two years ago Sun Cutter (who is from Colchester, England) suffered a heart attack (on a golf course!), whilst still in his early 30's. As well as having to redress his excessive living, his rehabilitation involved writing and recording the Sun Cutter project.
It is a reflective album of contradistinction; a timeless classic whose vocals, lyrics and craft bring to mind the warmth of Richie Havens, Cat Stevens, Van Morrison and Tim Buckley while displaying - on songs like 'Hold Out’ and ‘Don’t Fail Me Now’ - a more contemporary sound that nonetheless refuses to bow to the whims of fashion.
Co-produced with pal Dean Honer (The Moonlandingz, I Monster, Keeley Forsyth, Eccentronic Research Council). Kevin spent the tail end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020 on tour with Turin Brakes before the pandemic cut it short, with cancelled festival appearances such as Bearded Theory and Glastonbury. Touring will resume when... you know....
Cold Beaches - Problems and Heartache (I Got Them).
"Problems and Heartache (I Got Them)" is a dreamy psychedelic pop feel-good music video created and produced by Sophia Nadia (Cold Beaches). The song features dream pop synth chords, reverberated guitars and gentle, crooning vocals. Nadia shows her vulnerability in this track by transporting to a place where the music is intricate, but to the point, as are her feelings.
Cold Beaches is the psychedelic rock n roll brainchild of Sophia Nadia. The project began in 2015 when Nadia moved from the suburbs of Washington DC to Richmond, Virginia. There she met Connor Wood, the late frontman of local Richmond band 3 Legged Dog, and was convinced to start a solo project. Since releasing her debut DIY lo-fi album, Aching, in 2016, Cold Beaches has toured around the continent, with the lineup changing to whatever could work for the band to tour. Consistently described as an “unapologetic do-er”, Nadia’s career dedication has shown more than most. From incessant touring around North America starting at 16 years old to moving to Chicago only a few years later in the fall of 2017, it was evident Nadia did not want to waste any time. When not on the road, you can find Sophia in her home or at the studio, writing and recording her next release; each one further in both garage rock and orchestral composition and heartbreaking honesty than the last.
Drifter is the first energetic, live recorded and thoroughly orchestrated album Cold Beaches has released yet. With honest lyrics ranging from the heartstring-pulling losses of friends and relationships to the optimism of independence and liberation from depression and anxiety, Sophia Nadia sings these 10 tracks with a newly founded voice of empowerment and fervent energy. Capturing the infamous vivacious reputation Cold Beaches has deservedly earned through years of live performances around North America, Drifter forges new ground. It combines the influences of the plain-spoken lyrical integrity of 90’s Pavement and fluctuating modern composition and arrangement. Equipped with an orchestra of instruments and talented local musicians, Drifter’s instrumentals transition effortlessly between hard garage rock (Ty Segal) to indie surf pop (La Femme). With these newly discovered weapons in hand, Nadia steps away from the lofi sound she’s known for and starts her move towards a new era of songwriting and album construction.
It is essential to listen to Drifter right now in the midst of this tidal wave of isolation that the world is feeling, which is right where Cold Beaches’ consistent expression of loneliness has always thrived. It is an album that people from all walks of life can openly interpret and apply their feelings individually, and find that they are in good company. Cold Beaches especially wants to create a space where marginalized people in the music industry can feel understood and important. Feel important, feel confident, and feel understood when you listen to Drifter. Cold Beaches understands what it is like to gain and lose, love and fall out, and lastly, just to be alone.
New Fries are sharing their latest single, the mind-bending, genre-defying, tongue-twisting "Arendt / Adler / Pulley Pulley Pulley Pulley", the second single from their new album Is The Idea Of Us. Out on August 7th through Telephone Explosion, it is the band's first new material since 2016's More.
On the new track, the band offered, "Something about the women obscuring their gender and traditional roles (intentionally or otherwise) to do their work without interruption or expectation. Being contrarians, shrill. Seeking truth without taking care of emotions. Often their work is forensic, razor-sharp, and bright with clarity.".
The Toronto-based experimental No-Wave inspired band are one of the best kept secrets in the city, and with their new album they delve deeper into their unconventional, ever-changing sound. They worked closely with Carl Didur (Zacht Automaat, formerly U.S. Girls), resulting in a new direction, focusing more on space and repetition, finding the in-between and reflecting on it, examining that transition. Is The Idea Of Us is anxious in its repetitions and unsure of genre, a reflection of musicians and non-musicians making music together; New Fries insist on doing it differently.
