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Showing posts from June 12, 2022

The Early Mays - Inky Nite - RISO

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Photo - Kristi Jan Hoover The Early Mays - On A Dying Day. Pittsburgh-based duo The Early Mays announce their forthcoming EP,Prettiest Blue, which will release on July 1, 2022. Composed of artists Emily Pinkerton and Ellen Gozion, the pair sing Appalachian-inspired songs over a lush accompaniment of fiddle, banjo, guitar, and harmonium. Somewhere on the border between old-time music and modern American songwriting, The Early Mays have built a band with harmonies that feel like home. It’s a partnership that has shared slow-burning, perfectly paired vocals for ten years—from NPR’s Mountain Stage to house concerts all over the mid-Atlantic “I think part of our aesthetic comes from being introspective people,” Gozion reflects, “We don’t have a flashy, fast sound, but if you let the music engulf you, there are lots of layers. Our songs give people a place to slow down.” “The Early Mays rehearsals are restorative for me,” adds Pinkerton. “The hours spent in Ellen’s living room, with coffee ...

Jillette Johnson - Celestial North - Hippies and Cowboys

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Jillette Johnson - My Closet Life. Nashville-based artist Jillette Johnson has just released her new EP Normal Kid and released the official video for the new song “My Closet Life.” The EP arrives with a trio of music videos directed by Grant Claire that were shot over the course of a single day on a vintage Sony Betamax 88 camera. The four song EP was co-written and produced by Joe Pisapia who collaborated with Johnson on her critically acclaimed 2021 album It’s A Beautiful Day And I Love You. “‘My Closet Life’ is about crawling out of isolation and into the company of friends who light you up,” explains Johnson. “It’s about finding your people, and allowing yourself to belong. Influences: David Byrne, Abba, MGMT.” The Normal Kid EP draws upon late '70s new wave, early '80s synth-pop, and '90s R&B, finding Johnson turning personal revelations about childhood dreams and adulthood realities into universal pop anthems. Last month, Johnson released the official video for ...

The Deer - Mexican Dogs - Art Moore - Nurdjana

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The Deer - I Wouldn't Recognize Me. The Deer announce their new album The Beautiful Undead due September 9 on tastemaking indie label Keeled Scales (Katy Kirby, Sun June, Twain, Buck Meek) and share its first single, “I Wouldn’t Recognize Me” via official music video. The Deer’s 2019 label debut Do No Harm marked a set of breakthroughs for the Austin five-piece. Bandcamp called it a “a country-rock dream machine,” while NPR described it as "haunting and gorgeous ... moody and incapacitating." The album topped the KUTX chart and earned a nomination for the Austin Music Awards’ Album of the Year. When live music took global pause, The Deer had momentum to sort. They took it to the studio, a pressure cooker not only for creativity, but suddenly, for existential contemplation. The result is an uninhibited collection reflecting upon what it means to lose your sense of purpose. Lead single “I Wouldn’t Recognize Me” is a vibrant embrace of the endlessness of change, in fact, an ...

Rachael Dadd - Brittany Collins

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Rachael Dadd - Moon Sails. On 14 October 2022 wildly creative free-form songwriter Rachael Dadd is to release her brand new studio album Kaleidoscope via Memphis Industries. The first taster is ‘Moon Sails’ which comes with a video directed by Narna Hue. Kaleidoscope is Rachael’s second album for Memphis Industries and follows 2019’s Flux, which was released to much acclaim and which she was touring when the pandemic struck. Like so many people disconnected from their communities and struggling through the lockdowns, Rachael Dadd turned inwards, seeking escape through music and connection through songwriting, and her hope is that when people listen to Kaleidoscope “they will feel held and find space to breathe, grieve and celebrate.” "Music for me usually comes from a place where I’m in a state of flow and free-child: playful and explorative and sparked by the infinite possibilities that creating it can bring,” she continues, “so kaleidoscope, a toy with infinite possibilities of...

The Orchids - Andrés Alcover - The Special Pillow

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The Orchids - This Boy Is A Mess. Sometimes it can take several years to realise what you’ve been missing.  Sometimes it can even take decades....  (If you already know all about The Orchids, well, you’re going to like Dreaming Kind a lot.) The Orchids were making sophisticated pop music right back in the early 1990s when Sarah Records first started.  Their songs were as emotionally pure as anything else on that label, but they were always a step ahead of their peers in terms of song arrangements and musical ambition.  With a casual, unpretentious air they made writing perfect pop songs seem easy, almost accidental, and several great releases followed.  The Orchids gained a passionate following: people knew a good thing when they heard it and they hugged it close.  But now it’s time for the rest of the world to be let in on the secret. The songs themselves are a beautiful mix of strength and gentleness.   They wrap you in a powerful embrace, maki...