The Mowgli's - Eddie 'Tan Tan' Thornton - Ben Watt

There is a brand new video from The Mowgli's for 'Wasting Time', a gorgeous, catchy indie pop song that really charms. === Eddie ‘Tan-Tan’ Thornton has been in the music business for decades and played with some of the best, his new single 'Fur Elise' is a refreshing reggae/ska take on a Beethoven classic and is taken from the splendid 'The Reggae and Ska Nostalgia Album'. === Ben Watt latest single is 'Figures In The Landscape' which comes from his forthcoming 'Storm Damage' album due at the end of this month. Once again Ben's solo work is impressive and oozes personal feeling and passion.
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The Mowgli's - Wasting Time.

We have the new visuals from The Mowgli's. Entitled "Wasting Time", the song details the struggle to find meaning in life.  Joshua Hogan confides "We all want to do something meaningful, but we don’t always figure out how. This song tells the story of being lost in a repeating loop of every day routine and the fight to keep moving forward." 'Wasting Time' features bold pop melodies, dreamy synths and driving rhythms. The Mowgli's have garnered over 150 million streams on Spotify alone and are about to embark on a U.K. tour.

All of life is a journey and the best journeys are those taken with friends. For the 5 members of The Mowgli’s that road has seen their friendship tested and rebuilt numerous times. From their earliest Venice, California days as a 10+ revolving cast of characters to their current line-up, the core members have evolved from playing midnight warehouse parties to the stages of the largest festivals.

While there have been many highlights - appearances on late night TV shows, incredibly rewarding collaborations with charities and electrifying performances in legendary venues among them - there have also been tests: Losing band members, battling with the stress of constant touring and maintaining their friendship, trying to remain both grounded and optimistic when things go amazingly well and when they don’t. But there have been benefits of creating deep bonds and close relationships, not least the marriage of singers Katie Jayne Earl and Josh Hogan in 2017. “Being in a touring band is hard work,” says Katie, “but inspiring. It only works because people care about the band and we have a core who support us, people who have both been there since the beginning and joined along the way. Those supporters keep us motivated.”

The release of The Mowgli’s first major-label LP Waiting For The Dawn in 2013 saw immediate success with the hit single San Francisco. The record - which focused on the joy of bringing people together - immediately connected in a cynical world. The band quickly found themselves playing to sold out crowds in clubs around the US and inundated by requests for press, sponsorships and partnerships. Appearances at Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Firefly, Osheaga, Bottlerock and many other festivals followed as did performances on The Tonight Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Conan and a stint as the SXSW House band for Andy Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live (Bravo)

The follow up LP, 2015’s Kids in Love (which spawned the feel-good single I’m Good) saw the band explore personal relationships including their own inter-band ones, and their third LP Where’d Your Weekend Go? which came in the Fall of 2016, often found the band working on songs together from their very inception - giving much of the record a relaxed and communal feeling.

Parting ways with their original label in 2017, The Mowgli’s released a pair of EPs: I Was Starting To Wonder (2018) and American Feelings (2019), each backed by national US tours and both exploring the “band experience” to a large extent. The first EP focused on travelling, missing home, looking for excitement in the daily churn of a tour, finding it in the back alleys and on the rooftops of America. The more recent EP American Feelings turned more towards relationships and connections, noticeable in Talk About It and Mr. Telephone which both harken to the lack of discourse and engagement prevalent in society today, especially with technology serving as both a facilitator and barrier. Says singer/guitarist Josh Hogan, “Communication is a very powerful tool. If we could learn to communicate in a healthy way, this place would be much less divided.”

Katie adds: “Talk About It started out being a song about communicating your way through difficult situations, but as it evolved, it became a song not only about having hard conversations, but about forgiveness. And it’s really special to me.” Whereas those songs look outwards, Hard To Love and Norman Rockwell focus inwards, taking a critical look at emotional failings in the former, and attempting to create a new reality to escape to in the latter.

“…Wonder” was supported by a deliberately small club tour. “It was exciting to get back out on the road, up close and personal with our fans who have stuck with us from the beginning,” says Katie. “We took a really needed break after [Where’d Your Weekend Go?] - after years of almost non-stop touring.”

“It was a relief to get back on the road and do something a little different for that tour,” adds Josh.

The band also travelled to Honduras and Guantanamo Bay last year, entertaining the Armed Forces during the week of July 4th. Truly an eye-opening experience, the two shows rank as unforgettable for the band. “You get that sense that people are really grateful to just have a connection with back-home - especially in Honduras,” says Josh. “It was so cool to feel that energy and look around when you’re playing and realize where we were and what it meant to everyone.”

For The Mowgli’s, as for any band, this whole experience is a journey - and not always an easy one. It tests your self-belief, your stamina, your relationships and your mental and emotional health. “Since this band started we’ve been through a lot of changes: gained members, lost members, been shuffled around labels and learned a lot about the music industry,” says Andy. “Now it feels like we’re really independent again, refocused on curating our live show, more in touch with the business of being this band.” He adds “Our sound has evolved but we always circle back to the basic themes: love, feeling good, excited for life no matter what the day delivers.”

Always with a mission to bring hope and positivity into the world, The Mowgli’s have been involved with numerous charities including The IRC, Heal The Bay, Happy Bottoms and many food banks and homeless shelters.

Upcoming tour dates:
JAN 14 TUE The Wardrobe Leeds, United Kingdom
JAN 15 WED Clwb Ifor Bach Cardiff, United kingdom
JAN 16 THU The Joiners Southampton, United Kindom
JAN 17 FRI The Castle & Falcon Birmingham, United Kindom
JAN 18 SAT Cluny Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kindom
JAN 19 SUN Stereo Glasgow, United Kindom
JAN 21 TUE Castle Hotel Manchester, United Kindom
JAN 22 WED Louisiana Bristol, United Kindom
JAN 23 THU The Camden Assembly London, United Kindom
JAN 24 FRI Phase One Liverpool, United Kindom

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Eddie ‘Tan-Tan’ Thornton - Fur Elise.

Eddie Tan-Tan Thornton’s journey to his first solo album, is a love story spanning some 50 years, which began in Spanish Town, Jamaica. Fur Elise (Single) is taken from The Reggae & Ska Nostalgia Album.

Soon after his father passed away, the 13 year old Tan-Tan was sent to the musical Alpha School, run by Nuns, which was to influence and change his life in ways he never would have expected.  Tan-Tan’s life could easily have been one of crime, but instead, thanks to one nun in particular, Sister Ignatius, he found his lifelong faith and passion for music, the trumpet!  Even today, Tan-Tan still thinks very highly of her, proudly showing the few remaining photographs he holds close to his heart.

Reggae & Ska Nostalgia is a journey of some 35 years, representing some of his favourite tracks to which Tan-Tan adds his musical touch and trumpet, demonstrating why he has played for the cream of the crop of musicians: Boney M, The Beatles (Got To Get You In To My Life), Andy Fairweather Low, Georgie Fame, The Small Faces, Desmond Dekker, ASWAD, Lilly Allen, Gyspy Kings, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Jools Holland, Jimmi Hendrix, Sandy Shaw, to name a few.

At the age of 87 Tan-Tan is still gigging on a weekly basis, and can often be seen riding his bike around Acton!

These tracks were all recorded in analogue, on 24 track tapes. Producers Mike Howlett and Anthony Cooper decided to digitise the first single, Beethoven’s Fur Elise, out on February 14th, to maximise on the improved technology, some 35 years after Tan-Tan and Anthony initially recorded the track together! There is a vibrant animated video to accompany the single release, and Tan-Tan hopes that classical purists, will enjoy the track too!

It was following a young Jamacian girl, in search of work, that brought Tan-Tan to the UK.  He was not part of the Windrush movement, that was happening simultaneously. No, he arrived, like that star he was to become, by plane, rather than by boat!  So it was following his heart that brought Tan-Tan to the UK, bringing his trumpeting to the attention of so many of Britain’s  best musicians. But it is to May, a Scottish lass, whom he finally married and made a home with in Acton, west London, where he still lives today.

About Eddie ‘Tan-Tan’ Thornton: Tan-Tan credits his days at The Alpha School when he says “To me, Alpha is like heaven.  You get up, you eat, you play music, you eat, you play music.  Alpha is the most inspirational place for me.  The discipline and respect and everything.”  To this day, Tan-Tan is an ardent Roman Catholic, having made two pilgrimages to Rome, to see the Pope.

In ‘60s London Tan-Tan and his fellow musicians would hang out at Blaises, The Marquee Club and The Roaring Twenties, where he would be found in the company of John, Paul, Ringo and George Harrison.  The Small Faces even dedicated a song to him, ‘Eddie’s Dreaming’.

Eddie Thornton says “I am very grateful to The Father for everything.  Coming from nowhere, I’m very grateful.  Travelling around the world three times - my passport is full up!  And it’s all because of Alpha.”

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Ben Watt - Figures In The Landscape.

"Figures in the Landscape" is the latest single to be taken from musician-writer-DJ Ben Watt's upcoming fourth solo LP, Storm Damage, out on January 31, 2020. It follows the recent singles "Balanced on a Wire," described by BlackBook as "one of the most visceral pieces of music he’s ever recorded" and premiered on Lauren Laverne’s BBC 6 Music show, and "Irene" featuring Low's Alan Sparhawk.

The single is accompanied by a powerful half-lit performance video directed by photographer-film-maker Edward Bishop, and shot at RAK Studios in London, where the album was recorded in April 2019.

"It’s a call to action in response to feelings of powerlessness," says Watt of the song. "I wrote it in a period of personal crisis and political upheaval. The random nature of both can leave you feeling insignificant, lacking agency in the world, but in the end I guess you have a simple choice: to get up and celebrate what you have, or get out and take issue with it."

The production - a contemporary hybrid blend of Watt’s new "future-retro trio" (upright piano, double bass, acoustic-electronic drums), pulsing vocoder and impressionistic samples - sees the song open on a "stuck" piano hook before breaking free under cascading synths and Watt’s urgent vocal.

Storm Damage completes a compelling trilogy of albums since Watt's late-flowering return to solo songwriting and singing six years ago after ten years as an acclaimed DJ-remixer-label boss with Buzzin' Fly and seventeen in multi-million-selling duo, Everything But The Girl with Tracey Thorn. 2014's acclaimed "comeback" album, Hendra won Best Second Album at the AIM Awards, UK. It was followed by Fever Dream in 2016, which caused The Guardian to comment, "In his early fifties Watt in making some of the best music of his career."

Watt also adds an extra date to his upcoming North American tour. He plays Club Helsinki in Hudson, NY on Saturday April 4. Full itinerary below.

Tour Dates:
3/31: Washington, D.C. - Union Stage
4/2: New York, NY - Le Poisson Rouge
4/3: Boston, MA - City Winery
4/4: Hudson, NY - Club Helsinki
4/5: Toronto, ON - Rivoli
4/7: Ann Arbor, MI - The Ark
4/8: Indianapolis, IN - Lo-Fi Lounge
4/9: Evanston, IL - Space
4/10: Milwaukee, WI - The Back Room at Colectivo
4/11: Minneapolis, MN - The Dakota
4/14: Seattle, WA - The Triple Door
4/15: Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios
4/17: San Francisco, CA - The Chapel
4/18: Los Angeles, CA - Largo

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Emmrose - The Pairs - The Know - Big Fox - Ben Watt - Ducks Unlimited - Brooke Bentham - Lilla Parasit

Emmrose has a new single entitled 'Hopeless Romantics'. With hints of Latin music and Emmrose's melodic and engaging vocals this is feisty and catchy affair. === The Pairs have shared 'Will And A Way' where beautiful vocals and harmonies are accompanied by a gentle acoustic backdrop on this mesmerising track. === Formed in late 2018 The Know have a new video for '143', a dreamy and atmospheric song that seemingly glides along. === Folk singer-songwriter Big Fox has just released 'All I'm Trying' the Sweden based artist's vocals are sublime on this gentle song. === We featured 'Sunlight Follows The Night' back in September and Ben Watt returns with another video, this time for 'Balanced On A Wire' that once again suggests his forthcoming album 'Storm Damage' is going to be rather special. === We first featured Ducks Unlimited back in July and they return now with 'Gleaming Spires' which is another vibrant, melodic and charming song. === It's just over a month since we shared 'All My Friends Are Drunk' by Brooke Bentham who now returns with 'Perform For You' a fabulous track, and another massive teaser for next February's album release. === Rounding off today's musical round up we have Lilla Parasit with 'Feather Soul' where the bands brand new track exudes originality, plenty of hooks and a refined indie rock feel.
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Emmrose - Hopeless Romantics.

Darkly emotive pop artist Emmrose returns with another single “Hopeless Romantics”. As the title suggests, it delves into the frustrations of modern dating and unrequited love – hoping for something more, and feeling hopeless as a result. Though just sixteen years old, NYC-native Emmrose delivers intense, self-reflective lyrics, and cleverly catchy pop melodies that keep listeners coming back for more.

“The song is about a hopeless ‘relationship’ I had last year,” shared Emmrose. “I’d wonder whether or not it was real the entire time. On some days he’d say the nicest things and then I’d hear nothing at all. I felt used, really.” The lyrics reveal the heart-break of the story, opening with a question, “Is this it? Is this all we’re gonna be?” It’s the hope of a budding relationship, that becomes crushed when the feelings and expectations of one side are raised, teased, and left unreturned; dashed against the rocks in inevitable hurt. Emmrose’s lyrical honesty cuts deep, in hurtful anger stating, “I think you knew, I was never good enough for you.” She went on to share, “When I had first written this song, the lyrics were what I was afraid of. That I ‘wasn’t good enough’ and that we were’t going to be anything more than ‘friends with benefits’ or whatever that means. Of course, all this then happened – and it took me forever to get over it.” Continuing in the vein of previous singles, her lyrics are deeply introspective and poetically written. Relatable, yet never predictable, her music explores the swells and depths of love, relationships, and emotion with stunning finesse. Emmrose never shies from being her honest self, even if that means admitting feeling like a hopeless romantic in the modern world.

“Being so connected with phones and social media can definitely get your hopes up,” mused Emmrose, reflecting on her own experiences as a high school junior. “People can text you at any time, and be in touch so much that it begins to make you think ‘wow this person must really like me’ even though in reality they might just be stringing you along.”

Sonically, the track continues Emmrose’s exploration of a dark pop palette, but also pulls in uptempo, Latin-inspired flair. “When I first began writing this song my dad mentioned that it sort of sounded like a Spanish bull-fighting song,” laughed Emmrose. “I originally wrote it on the ukulele, and kept going with that vibe because I thought it was fun and felt really natural to try something new.” Producer/engineer Michael Abiuso (Behind the Curtains Media) commented further on the development of the single. “I recall Emmrose having such fantastic melodies and lyrics floating around; at the time she was just learning new chords on ukulele. The easiest thing I could think of to play along with her on guitar was just moving one major chord back-and-forth a half step, giving a very Latin-esque feel to the track. I could see a look of excitement on her face and that she was internally cooking up some ideas! She returned to the studio within a few days with “Hopeless Romantics” fully structured with chords, melodies, and lyrics that I absolutely adored. I then showed her some Bjork tracks such as “Hunter” to get some sonic pallet influences and the rest is history.”


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The Pairs - Will And A Way.

The Pairs don’t quite fit any particular genre and they like that! With three unique songwriters at the helm, The Pairs create a diverse repertoire using their individual lives as inspiration. Employing music as a tool for sharing stories of life’s challenges, hope and hilarity, The Pairs inherently connect with their audience through their emotion-full performances. Powered by 3 classically trained vocalists and a former punk rock drummer, their unique blend of harmony and rhythm will hug your eardrums and inspire you to dance!

The album “Noise” is a collection of songs written from a place of hope, hilarity, tragedy and questioning. With lyrics, unique interpretations of rhythm, and unpredictable, sometimes haunting harmonies, this album articulates the idea that at any given moment a multitude of perspectives exist. The word “noise” is representative of the often chaotic experience of human life— whether it’s the noise of the world around us, the internal noise we try to make sense of, or simply the noise we can’t help but make as we fumble our way through our own beautiful journey.

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The Know - 143.

The Know began in late 2018 when Daniel Knowles suggested to his wife, Jennifer Farmer, that instead of traveling home for the holidays (to the UK and Texas respectively) that the LA based transplants stay put and try to create music together, just the two of them. This would be the married couple’s gift to themselves. For the next few weeks, they isolated themselves in their home studio with no real plan except a mutual love of Beach House, Julee Cruise, Ye Ye, The Jesus and Mary Chain, 60's girl groups, and the evocative storytelling lyricism of Patsy Cline and The National.

The first result was lead single '143.' Inspired by Tom Waits’ ‘(Looking for) The Heart of Saturday Night’, the dream pop song melds autobiographical with fantastical lyrics and unfolds as a series of conversations, images, and hazy recollections of a night out. Their love for ethereal, dreamy atmospheres is shown in ‘143’, glistening with warm melodies, thick soundscapes, and quirky spontaneous flares. Four more songs quickly followed in the wake of 143, tracks that provide an unflinching look at the couple. The EP often delves deep into the duo’s personal lives by honestly narrating stories from their relationship and life experiences against a kaleidoscopic sonic palette.

Recording together wasn’t entirely new to the couple, a few years prior they had made an album as “Ghostel” with a friend providing vocals. Knowles, previously a producer and guitarist for UK shoegaze band “Amusement Parks on Fire” and live sound engineer for bands like Cigarettes After Sex, Sharon Van Etten, and Phoebe Bridgers, recorded the project while Farmer became a co-writer and bassist for the first time. They’d later have one of their songs featured prominently in the trailer for Oscar nominated film, “Mustang.”

The debut EP which was produced, mixed, and mastered by Knowles while Farmer handled the band’s visuals further reiterates their wish to craft something wholly their own. In addition, Knowles solely played all of the instruments while Farmer, for the first time, took on lead vocals. With a strong desire but no professional training and a deep seated fear, so intense in fact that previous attempts had reduced her to tears, Farmer’s voice emerges as courageous and powerful.


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Big Fox - All I'm Trying.

Malmö, Sweden-based artist Charlotta Perers AKA Big Fox returns six years after her last album release with fourth single lifted from upcoming full-length “See How the Light Falls”. Initially due for release in May 2018, Charlotta received some news which derailed the campaign. “A few weeks before the album was supposed to be released, I was diagnosed with Lymphoma,” she says. “It all happened very quickly and it was almost like entering a parallel world with a different time scale, rules and priorities.” The process permitted a much deeper sense of perspective to come to light for Perers; “Life suddenly became very intense, very here and now - but that amplified positive experiences too. But it felt good to know that the album was waiting for me on the other side. It was a reminder of something else, the someone I was outside the hospital.”

18 months down the line, Charlotta is better and “slowly reclaiming my life back”. The period of gestation gave the finished album more gravity and significance for the songwriter. “When I listen to it now, I actually like the album even more,” she says. “I have some distance from it. When you’re in the middle of the process, it's easy to get caught up in the details and not really hear the song anymore.” Following sync placements on Charmed, You’re the Worst and MTV’s Catfish, Big Fox’s 2013 single “Shadows” has surpassed 2million+ streams on Spotify alone, while her total streaming numbers exceed 3.6million. Charlotta didn’t allow “See How the Light Falls” to be rushed. Taking two and a half years to finish, and five years to release the album, Perers laboured over it, allowing it to unravel and accumulate organically.

“My experience of creativity is that I get this vague feeling of being pointed in a certain direction,” she says. “It rarely explains itself more than that. But I’ve learnt that if I give it time and attention then things slowly start to move and grow into something, like with the lyrics, I can search for the right lyrics for a long time, even give up, and then some months later it’s as if the missing words find me rather than the other way around.” Produced by Tom Malmros (Alice Boman, This is Head), the full-length explores varying sonic avenues, showcasing instrumental eclecticism in the form of subtle brass blasts, swelling cello and scintillating synthesisers.

At times new single ‘All I’m Trying’ can feel aurally reminiscent of Cate Le Bon or a deeply deconstructed Aldous Harding. Big Fox comments that she found it difficult to pen the lo-fi feat; “Some songs are hard to write about. They just move like a slow train, as if they had no intention of causing any big fuss or drama. But they are sincere, honest. Every word is carefully selected, every synthesizer questioned. And the more time you spend with them, the more you start loving them. That’s how I feel about “All I’m Trying”.”

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Ben Watt - Balanced On A Wire.

Award-winning musician-writer-DJ Ben Watt releases a new song "Balanced On A Wire" ahead of his forthcoming new album Storm Damage (out Jan 31) together with an atmospheric performance video filmed at the legendary RAK Studios in London where the album was recorded in April earlier this year. The video and track, which BlackBook called "...one of the most visceral pieces of music he's ever recorded," gives a flavor of Watt's powerful new "future-retro trio" which will tour in support of the album. Additionally, Watt's first US dates in almost three years are also announced today. The US tour kicks off on March 31 in Washington, D.C. and will make stops in New York, Minneapolis, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and more.

"My kids were teenagers leaving home for the first time when I wrote it,' says Watt of the new song. "I was moved by their mixture of anxiety and determination. It reminded me of being nineteen myself, standing on the edge of something new, how you cope, how you need to open up when the other half of you is screaming 'no'. And I realised I still felt like that now sometimes. Perhaps that feeling never really leaves you."

Recently, Watt released the single "Sunlight Follows The Night" and "Irene," featuring Low's Alan Sparhawk on electric guitar and harmony vocal. Stereogum called Sparhawk "...an ideal accompaniment for the song’s central substance, which amounts to Watt crooning with earthy singer-songwriter gravitas over a finger-picked metal resonator guitar and a synthetic tape loop." Following the release of "Irene," Flood Magazine published an in-depth and inspiring conversation between Sparhawk and Watt.

Storm Damage - a hybrid contemporary acoustic-electronic set - completes a compelling trilogy of albums since Watt's late-flowering return to solo songwriting and singing six years ago after ten years as an acclaimed DJ-remixer-label boss and seventeen in best-selling duo, Everything But The Girl with Tracey Thorn.

"My closest half-brother died unexpectedly in 2016, only four years after my half-sister," he says of events surrounding the album's origins. "I got stuck for a year, angry inside and angry at the political world casually detonating around me. I felt half powerless, half driven. When the songs finally came, some were dark, yes, but there is always room for light. Always. I just tried to put that across." Emotional and inventive, Storm Damage is released on Unmade Road through Caroline International.


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Ducks Unlimited - Gleaming Spires.

Ducks Unlimited are sharing their breezy new single, ‘Gleaming Spires’ – this is the latest to be taken from their debut EP, ‘Get Bleak’ which is due out next Friday (Nov 29) via Bobo Integral.

‘Gleaming Spires’ follows hot on the heels of last month’s ‘Anhedonia’ release, as well as the Brooklyn Vegan and Paste-tipped EP-titled track. It’s an effervescent new C86-tinged cut that rides the buoyant jangle-pop twang of Sarah Records and Postcard-signed acts – The Chills, Orange Juice, The Go-Betweens, etc. The new tracks –self-recorded and produced by the band in guitarist, Evan Lewis’s bedroom – add to previous singles (produced by Josh Korody, also Dilly Dally, Weaves) that found the quartet support Rolling Blackouts CF, The Goon Sax and Weyes Blood.

Speaking about the single that thematically addresses hometowns and the push-pull relationships we share with them, frontman Tom Mcgreevy says: "It’s about the emotional energy that gets put into hating a place. I feel like the manic intensity with which I've heard friends sometimes shit on the town they live in is often pretty transparently an exercise in the displacement of issues in other parts of their lives.”

“There's also this thing I've always found oddly charming about Toronto where, as a colonial leftover it has a bunch of streets named for various royal things, but normally in a vague way,” he continues. “‘King Street’ and ‘Queen Street’ being the major ones, but there are also some other names that either reference British history ('Victoria Street') or just have a kind of Camelot vibe (at least in my head) like 'John Street’.”


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Brooke Bentham - Perform For You.

Brooke Bentham has announced the release of her debut album Everyday Nothing on AllPoints on the 28th of February. She also shares a second single, ‘Perform For You’, a melancholy meditation on the power dynamics in toxic relationships. Inspired by novels that Brooke was reading at the time. She probes beneath the surface of a doomed romance from the get-go.  “It’s like surrendering to something, even though you know it’s never going to work, realising you’re so dependent on someone and knowing your presence in that relationship. It’s love in the worst way.” she says.

“‘Perform For You’ is probably my favourite, because it reminds me of lots of the music I love. Once we’d recorded that, I knew we were making an album. Musically it was exactly where I wanted to be.” Everyday Nothing follows two EPs of music shored up by intense reflection, which has earned the 23 year old many admirers and a rapidly growing fanbase.

Brooke writes sharp and eloquent songs about her experiences as she understands them, using words and music to resolve and record the tensions of young adulthood. Confronted with the mundanities of life and caught between two jobs in London, she finds intense lyricism in the struggle for purpose and direction. The album is, in her words, “in part an ode to the little moments in life, the frustration of being young and unaware of what you want, but getting older and realising you still don’t know. It’s an album I searched for myself in, filled with questions I asked myself."

Written entirely by Brooke, with a few contributions from producer Bill Ryder-Jones (who’s own album Yawn was showered with 4 and 5 star reviews last year), Everyday Nothing documents a fast-rising 23-year-old looking to make sense of her existence. So impressed was Ryder-Jones with Brooke’s observational lyricism that he said: "I've worked with some amazing songwriters in my career. I think Brooke at 23 is well on her way to being up there with Alex (Turner), Saint Saviour, Mick (Head) and James (Skelly). Her lyric writing will be overlooked because of her voice but it is her words that will set her apart from others.”

"Perform For You" follows "All My Friends Are Drunk" released early October which was the first taster of Everyday Nothing. A looser indie rock sound than her previous EPs pitched somewhere between Mazzy Star, Yo La Tengo, Sparklehorse and early Angel Olsen and nods to the ‘90s rock bands she was listening to leading up to the album being written, notably Low, Yo La Tengo and Broadcast.


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Lilla Parasit - Feather Soul.

Earlier this fall, Lilla Parasit signed with Stockholm label family Rama Lama Records (Chez Ali, Steve Buscemi's Dreamy Eyes, Julia Rakel etc.) and introduced themselves with the excellent Gaslights. Today, new single Feather Soul is released on all platforms, the second cut from the band's forthcoming, self-titled debut album which is out early 2020.

Lilla Parasit may be a new band, but the members are no strangers for fans of the Swedish psychedelic and indie scene. The band is lead by Are, who's band Melby released their debut album this spring to great acclaim, and made complete by Amanda Lindgren (Systraskap), David Svedmyr (Me and My Kites) and Jessica Klingsell.

The project started out three years ago and has since changed both names and members before finding both the perfect setting and sound. The band's grand semi-psychedelic lo-fi folk is now finally ready to reach the world's ears. Feather Soul showcases the band's softer and more melodic sides and is a beautiful piece taken from the upcoming mini album Lilla Parasit, out in March 2020.

"Feather soul is the second single from our upcoming album. The first one, Gaslights, was a mishmash of everything from the record, while this one is probably the song that stands out the most. It is much more straight-forward, both lyrically and musically. Perhaps so much so that it feels a bit off in the whole of the album, but it just had to be like that. I wrote it to my sister when she had a kind of hard time. She, and the rest of my family live in the north of Norway, almost 24 hours away by train. That was extra strange to relate to when she was unwell. So I guess that is what the song is about. "

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Kristina Stykos - Brudini - Ted Z and The Wranglers - Ben Watt

Kristina Stykos has released a new album entitled 'River Of Light'. The country/folk singer has delivered a superb collection of material where the lyrics take you on a variety of journeys. The music can be gritty, stripped back or warm and exuding Americana rock styles, what remains at the centre is Kristina's unique vocals that convey emotion, determination and more, and the comparison to Patti Smith is a fair one albeit more regarding the delivery than the sound. With thirteen songs this really is a musical feast to enjoy.

We have to go back over two years for our only other feature for Brudini that said, the new song 'Pale Gold' adds credence to the old cliche "it was well worth the wait". The musical arrangement is simply wonderful and Brudini has distinct and captivating vocals, put simply I can't wait for the November album release.
 
Ted Z and The Wranglers return just weeks after our first taste of the bands music with new song 'Corner Store'. Once again the classic country rock vibes are everywhere, the bands instruments spar with each other and the feel good nature is notable.

We have a brand new video for Ben Watt and his song 'Sunlight Follows The Night'. An emotional and poignant song, the musical set up is around piano, double bass and drums, that allow Ben's voice to carry the feeling on this wonderful song.
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Kristina Stykos - River Of Light (Album).

Award-winning outlaw country/folk singer songwriter exemplifies pure determination and a fiercely independent spirit. Kristina Stykos's dark, self-produced, poetry-soaked music, lyrics and original vocal cadence bears resemblance to rock n' roll/punk icons like Patti Smith. Her recording studio, Pepperbox Studio, is solar, wind and generator powered.

In 2017, Stykos was diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia, a disorder that
makes speaking and singing difficult or even impossible. That doesn't stop Kristina from continuing to write and record new music; it simply changes how she does it.

Stykos describes the album "River of Light" as 'an exciting departure from anything I've done before.' "I'm a poet-musician working at the outer boundaries of the music industry, and I believe that we can all take control of our own message."

Kristina Stykos is a music producer, recording engineer, songwriter, radio host, podcaster and musician based in Vermont.

Kristina solidified her launch as an audio engineer in 2008, earning a certificate in studio production from the Berklee School of Music. As of 2019, she holds producer credits for upwards of 30 albums created at her hill-top recording loft, Pepperbox Studio: a solar, wind and generator powered, fully off-grid facility. She is also founder-owner of a small, Americana label, Thunder Ridge Records.

Her recent albums include three collaborative projects: The Detangler (2018) with Ariel Zevon, daughter of Warren Zevon; Beautiful Blood (2013) with singer-songwriter Steve Mayone of Brooklyn NY, and Raven (2011), with Grammy-nominated pianist Philip Aaberg of Montana.

Kristina's newest solo album River of Light (2019) brings in Jackson Browne guitarist Val McCallum, along with other notable friends & session players.

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Brudini - Pale Gold.

A demo of the song was written 5 years ago, and in a world that seems to be turning darker, the narrative turned out to be strangely prophetic for the artist, who was once an owner of Soho´s tiny literary-bohemian bastion The Society Club.

“The release coincides with the UK leaving the EU, and me ultimately abandoning London, the liberal, multi-cultural bastion which has been my home for the last 13 years. And the song echoes my sadness over both these events, yet maintains a sense of hope for a new future and shift in my priorities as I return to my homeland, Norway, to be closer to my three year old daughter.”

Pale Gold is the 3rd single from forthcoming debut album From Darkness, Light which is due for release in November. It follows the critically acclaimed singles Reflections and Emotional Outlaw.

Growing up amidst the mountains and fjords of Bergen on Norway’s southwest coast, with a Norwegian father and a Thai mother, a sense of otherness, of not quite fitting in, led Brudini to travel. To Tokyo, to Paris, to New York and eventually to London and the high-stakes world of city traders. A world of huge wins and heavy losses – lucrative but not entirely fulfilling.

While his daytimes were spent in the rapid pace trajectory of a modern capitalist society, evenings were increasingly passed in Soho, amidst a world of artists, musicians, performers and poets. A chance encounter with Babette Kulik eventually lead him to become part-owner of now legendary bohemian-literary Soho outpost The Society Club. As part of this hidden, free-spirited scene of creatives, Brudini began to conjure his music - singing in underground venues in Soho and Hackney armed with guitars, piano and analogue synthesizers, flanked by a rhythm section of local jazz musicians and drawing praise from NYC punk legend Danny Fields (Iggy Pop, Jim Morrison, The Ramones) in the process.

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Ted Z and The Wranglers - Corner Store.

Ted Z and The Wranglers, of Southern California, deliver outlaw country-charged rock. Ted's catchy story-songs are fully-realized tales of love, regret, getting older and getting in trouble. The band stirs up it's Americana influences, featuring quick picking and bluesy slide guitar over galloping train beats and swinging shuffles.

The Wranglers are Collin Mclean (bass), Jackson Leverone (lead and slide guitar, vocals) and Jordan Lipp (drums). The band has honed it's sound on big stages and in biker bars alike. They get audiences dancing and bring them back for more.

Ted Z and The Wranglers were signed to Rip Cat Records in 2015. Their first label release, Ghost Train, was recorded at Yellow Dog Studios in Wimberley, TX and produced by Monty Byrom (Big House, Eddie Money). 2017 Winner Hard Rock Rising LA, Jam in The Van (2017) Headlined Sturgis Buffalo Chip (2018).

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Ben Watt - Sunlight Follows The Night.

Completing a compelling trilogy of albums since his late-flowering return to solo songwriting and singing six years ago, Ben Watt releases his fourth LP, Storm Damage on January 31, 2020, and with it a new sound and fervency. The first track to be shared is "Sunlight Follows The Night" with an accompanying video by award-winning film maker Rahim Moledina, who wrote and directed the video for the title track from Watt's album Hendra in 2014.

"Dawn always breaks out of darkness," says Watt of the song. "For all the struggle there's always a way out."

"I needed a fresh approach," says Watt, 56. "The album came out of an intense period of personal anguish and political anger. Sometimes repeating yourself musically feels disrespectful to the sharpness of your feelings. You have to search for a new way to capture the energy."

Across four decades Watt has maintained a committed forward-looking course, from the ardent echo-drenched folk of his early solo work with Robert Wyatt, through seventeen years as musical mainspring and co-lyricist in the best-selling Everything But The Girl with Tracey Thorn - and ten at the helm of his smart electronic label Buzzin' Fly - to his recent moving non-fiction and mid-life solo albums, the award-winning Hendra (2014) and Fever Dream (2016).

New album Storm Damage is no exception. Sonically adventurous, lyrically detailed and engaged, the album - written and produced by Watt - is a personal journey through anxiety and change cut through with an insistent defiance.

"My closest half-brother died unexpectedly in 2016, only four years after my half-sister," he says of events surrounding the album's origins. "I got stuck for a year, angry inside and angry at the political world casually detonating around me. I felt half powerless, half driven. When the songs finally came, some were dark, yes, but there is always room for light. Always. I just tried to put that across."

Sonically the album forgoes the acclaimed twin-guitar approach of its two predecessors, and boldly shifts focus onto - in Watt's words - "a future-retro trio" of upright piano, double bass and hybrid acoustic-electronic drums, set against a half-lit backdrop of lone analogue synths, spiralling echo spins and impressionistic 'found sounds' adapted from online public-domain recording archives. Low's Alan Sparhawk makes a guest appearance on electric guitar and harmony vocal.


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