Yumi Zouma recently shared 'Southwark' which is taken from this coming Friday's album release by the band 'Truth Or Consequences'. Comprising of ten songs the album really is a breath of fresh air, the featured track indicating their refined quality and beautifully crafted music. === Ben Wood and The Bad Ideas have released 'Noon Drunk', following on from 'Cora Cora Cora' which we featured last month. We described the last song as no nonsense rock, this is some more and its gritty, fabulous, and I love the video (I miss those London Pub day's). === We have the new album from Phantoms vs Fire streaming in full below, it's entitled 'Superbloom II'. The electronic artist was featured by Beehive Candy back in 2018, his creativity and imagination impressed us then, this takes the music even further, it's glorious. === Pyrotechnist new album is called 'Fire Crackers' from which we have 'Noi-Zee Boy' and 'Captain Kidd' to enjoy, their mixture of Dub and so much more is just fabulous. === 'Two Minds' is the latest single from Cayley Thomas's forthcoming album, 'How Else Can I Tell You?' and it's melodic, catchy and a beautifully arranged song.
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Yumi Zouma - Southwark.
In the early 2010s, the members of Yumi Zouma spent time together on a New Zealand street that gave its name to their first single, “The Brae.” After the 2011 Christchurch earthquake destroyed that street and much of the city, its members took off for other parts of the globe and soon began writing their first songs over email.
As a result, the band was born, and distance became a recurring theme in Yumi Zouma’s work. This makes sense given the far-flung cities the group of musicians currently call home: New York City for Burgess, London for Ryder, Wellington for Campion, and Simpson remaining in their native Christchurch. Of course, distance can also manifest metaphorically, and it’s in these figurative chasms that Truth or Consequences, Yumi Zouma’s third album and first for Polyvinyl, finds its narrative: romantic and platonic heartbreak, real and imagined emotional distance, disillusionment, and being out of reach. There are no answers, there’s very seldom closure, but there is an undeniable release that comes from saying the truth, if only to oneself.
“In the age we’re living in, there’s an emphasis on making things clear cut” says Burgess about the album’s title. “But in life and in art, nothing is ever that definitive. The truth is usually in the gray zones, and I think that’s so much of what we were trying to explore and understand on this album.”
Whilst exploring these realms, Yumi Zouma deliberately pursued a deeper sense of collaboration in order to craft a record that reflects the bond between them. Produced by the band and mixed by engineer Jake Aron (Solange, Grizzly Bear, Snail Mail), Truth or Consequences stems from sessions in Los Angeles, London, and Christchurch, where the band actively took a collegial approach, often working note-by-note, to ensure the foundations of the album reflected a sense of togetherness.
“We wanted to make the songwriting process as egalitarian as possible. Completely sharing the process helped us feel like we were capturing a purer sense of atmosphere,” says Ryder.
Whilst starting out as a performer in London and a busker on the London Underground, Ben Wood was offered the unique opportunity to contribute to an X-Ray Spex charity album in the US -one of only two UK bands who were offered the privilege. Ben had to find a band and put a Track together and send it over in 48 hours.
Amazingly, he pulled it all together and formed his band, Ben Wood and The Bad Ideas from the experience: the name was a reference to his trepidation about the previous situation. They went on to play many stages: Prince Charles’ Garden Party, the Yes To Life Festival and release their compilation track, Obsessed With You as their debut single.
The band’s single “The Reveal” (released in 2018) featured Bruce Thomas of Elvis Costello and theAttractions on bass as well as artist Cristabel Christo.The band’s 2020 offerings will prove to be no exception with guest spots from legendary musicians such as Dave Barbarossa of Adam and the Ants and Bow Wow Wow, Billy Ritchie of 60s prog pioneers Clouds (Ritchie famously introduced a young David Bowie to Jimi Hendrix) and even Paul Cook of The Sex Pistols. LA based musician Nick Maybury (Scott Weiland Band/ Juliette & The the Licks) and Mike Webster of Southend’s Asylums will also feature on guitar.
“We’ve always tried to push ourselves and to try different ways of making music. We’re really excited about releasing the new material in a different way.” “We love collaborating. Things that we just wouldn’t have thought of come to the fore and it brings such different character and identity to the songs.”
Superbloom II paints a picture of a mystical desert landscape inhabited only by a lone, wandering botanist by observing her roam the expanse from the perspective of the hardy plants surviving the strange land.
Inspired by the early works of Buchla synth pioneer Suzanne Ciani, Brazil's Thiago Desant, Phantoms vs Fire, shapes each track as an embodiment of the voice of one of these watchers -- the shrubs and cacti and wind and stars above -- pulling from the inquisitive progressive electronics of Ciani and fusing with contemporary minimalist and neoclassical harmonies, wandering acoustic soundscapes, orchestral tension, and buried field recordings to concoct an atmosphere as rooted in the earth as it is flashing across the expanses of open space.
Over the arc of the album, the botanist melds with the land around her, days spent studying flora and nights spent gazing at the infinite stars overhead, guiding us along on a journey filled with unending mystery and awe.
After Moon Invaders split in 2014, Nico, former drummer and Pierre, former guitarist reconnected during a Slackers' gig in Belgium. They agreed that the Pum Pum Hotel Studio would be the perfect place to experiment with a new dub project so they scheduled a date to meet there and give it a try.
Just a few minutes after entering the studio, the record key was pressed and the first tracks’ recording of Dub Rocketry was on the way. Nico playing drums with Pierre playing bass first and next Nico adding keyboard, melodica, percussions and Pierre adding the guitars. They were joined later by David Loos and Rolf Langsjoen, previously saxophonist and trumpetist of Moon Invaders.
It took one year to record the 12 tracks and finish the dub mix using analog tapes machines, vintage effects and vintage instruments. With the help of Chuck Wren, "Dub Rocketry" first LP came out in 2016 on Jump Up Records the famous label from Chicago.
They had so much fun doing this first album that they decided to renew the experiment and launched the "Fire Crackers" recordings one year later, right on time for the Badasonic Records label creation.
“Two Minds” is the latest single from Cayley Thomas's forthcoming album, "How Else Can I Tell You?", which will be released in full on May 1st, 2020.
Cayley tells us - “Two Minds” is my favourite song on the record. It is all about the negotiation and mental drama that the primitive part of my brain likes to produce when faced with a challenge. Luckily, I have learned to identify this state and am now able to intervene, bringing my higher consciousness into the equation to form a sort of thought tug-o-war.
Negative emotion does not produce positive action. Criticizing yourself and telling yourself that you should be better than you are just makes you feel worse and act in ways that manifest more of the behaviour you are criticizing.
This is one of the tragedies of perfectionism. Making it seem like the destination is too far to even bother. Because it keeps us thinking that doing a little bit is pointless. But doing a little is everything. You don’t get anywhere with ambitious perfect plans. You get there little bit by little bit.
“Two Minds” is an optimistic song despite the conflicted tone in my voice. It marks an opportunity for a new beginning.
Juliper Sky make their second appearance here with today's new song release 'Reflections of the Winter Sun' the bands dreamy, lush and expansive rock style really stands out again as something special. === A few days back Fruitz shared 'Daydream' a heartfelt and hook filled indie rocker. === Wynnm has just released 'Fire On The Moon' a gentle and melodic song with fabulous vocals above a restrained musical backdrop. === It's our fourth feature for Post Louis who share their brand new song 'Winter Pollen' where the art rock band power up musically surrounding the vocals with swirling guitar licks and more. === We shared a song by Casii Stephan back in May of last year and now we have her brand new single 'Trapeze Artist' which is a wonderful and passionate rocker with plenty of soulful vibes. === Honey Cutt give us a taste of her March album release with the title track 'Coasting' and put simply, it's gorgeous. === We have some no nonsense rock from Ben Wood and The Bad Ideas with 'Cora Cora Cora' a vibrant rocker with vocals that resonate wonderfully with the band.
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Juliper Sky - Reflections of the Winter Sun.
Jumping straight into 2020 Juliper Sky unveil their next offering ‘Reflections of the Winter Sun’ which is set for release on 7th February. The single release will be straight off the back of a busy January tour schedule. The track itself continues to explore and refine the sounds and feelings of escapism, using lushly orchestrated guitar tones a wash with a unhealthy amount of reverb. It experiments with destructive tones, phasing, speaker induced chorus’s and some time-bending for good measure. Lyrically the track is about two humans craving and longing for one another, but due to circumstance it is a dream which can never be realised. The heart often craves what it cannot have and in ‘Reflections of the Winter Sun’ it is in a state of mourning.
This being the last release from a four track EP, officially due to be released in April, Juliper Sky complete their collaboration with producer James Kenosha (Rhodes, Dry The River, Dinosaur Pile Up). Much in the same vein as the previous tracks the band adopted a DIY ethic having all the individual components recorded either in a local Manchester studio (VIBE) or in their home studios. Keeping the recording process local before passing over to James to sculpt the final picture.
Liam Grindell (Synth/Guitar & Backing Vocals) comments as follows on the latest release; ‘we knew we had something with this one assoon as Jamie (Vocals) played us the basic chords and melody. There was a lot of space to play with and we wanted to fill everything single bit of it. We were conscious of wanting to include some new interesting tones into the music but staying true to our sound at the same time. The title was already there at the start of the writing process and it creates such good imagery. It was kind of like paint by numbers and we were just filling in the blanks with guitars, synths and reverbs rather than paints’.
Launching into the music scene in late 2017, FRUITZ quickly made a name for themselves as an exciting live band.
The Dublin quartets first release was hard hitting single ‘KNOTZ’, which was followed up by the melodic rock/pop song ‘U & I’. FRUITZ earned themselves an international following, playing their UK debut to a sold out headline show at Liverpool’s Zanzibar Club and playing Gullivers’ in Manchester for renowned indie label ‘Scruff Of The Neck’.
FRUITZ ended 2019 on a high note by releasing the catchy number ‘Girl Around The Corner’ and playing a hometown show.
Though born amidst the sands and sunburnt rock faces of the Sonoran Desert in the Southwestern United States to an amateur harmonica player father and a first-generation Korean mother, Wynnm’s dark notes and honey-throated tones draw from experiences far beyond her landscape, circumstance, and family myths of origin. CD’s like Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, Moby, The Doors, and Creedence Clearwater Revival spun in the family car on long road trips. She came of age with a love for bass beats and albums by powerful female vocalists like Annie Lennox, Portishead, and Fiona Apple.
Wynnm’s quicksilver sound is an elegant amalgamation of smooth folk and vital bass. Her music emerges from the dusty mirages of Arizona and the private mountains of Idaho but it cycles to the electronic beats of her current residency in Amsterdam.
Kicking off 2020 with a lasting impression, Wynnm presents her single Fire on the Moon: starting off gently with dreamy reverberated guitars supporting her angelic vocals, downtempo beats are added after 2 minutes to complete the overall feeling of synesthesia!
Wynnm on Fire On The Moon: "I am a cheater. So are you. We all are, every once in a while. This song brings me back to that first moment of disbelief. The first landing in Amsterdam." Penned in the first months of Wynnm’s residence, Fire on the Moon tells the truth of looking into the eyes of your companion - their eyes hopeful, your eyes bloodshot - between them is the truth that starts and ends the race.
Exciting five-piece art-rock band, Post Louis, have today released another single from their upcoming debut Descender – new track Winter Pollen was written from the perspective of a young woman internalising the effects of the Me Too movement – a burning rage, suppressed by the daily grind of life. “A couple of Christmases ago I was feeling overwhelmed by all the turmoil produced by the courageous disclosures in the Me Too movement” says Stephanie Davin, lead singer of Post Louis. “The Brock Turner witness statement had been published in the summer of 2016. That act of bravery occupied my mind, alongside a relentless looping mental image that I couldn’t shake, of Emily Doe (Chanel Miller) lying in the road. I wanted to link that image to the idea of heat, rage and being burnt out - whether by work or aspiration or fury. Fiery anger is often apt, but it can be exhausting as well as empowering.”
Winter Pollen reflects this heavy lyrical focus, embodying an anxious determination, painted by huge guitar sounds that were recorded at the garden studio of Bombay Bicycle Club’s Ed Nash. “They didn’t have very long, and you can hear the urgency in the recording. Most of the parts are one-off takes and decisions on sounds and equipment were made impulsively.”
The band garnered critical acclaim for a string of singles sporadically released throughout the last 18 months, and now their iridescent debut album is announced for release on 28th Feb 2020. A colossal stride forward, following on from their early EPs This Could Be a Bridge and Uptight, Post Louis have spent every spare moment outside of their day-jobs experimenting, honing, and pushing the boundaries of their creative capabilities to construct their kaleidoscopic debut album Descender.
And this is the driving force that lies at the heart of the album. Desperate exhaustion – both through mental and physical labour. While the EPs were preoccupied with the ways in which people can damage one other, Descender extends this gaze, taking in questions about love, labour, effort and blame.
After a European tour supporting Secretly Canadian’s Porcelain Raft, Post Louis’ songwriters Davin and Robbie Stern (previously of Cajun Dance Party) retreated to a remote cottage in Wales to avoid the distractions of working life, armed only with a looper and a Dictaphone. They brought the material that surfaced to the rest of the band, together forming the songs that would make up their debut through meticulous testing, deconstructing and experimenting at their rehearsal space: the Norwegian Church (Sjømannskirken) in Bermondsey.
Casii Stephan is a soul pop/rock artist hailing from Minnesota. Now based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the impassioned songstress evokes subtle vibrato notes and roller-coaster-like melodies, which immediately grab the listener, while her emotional lyrics share intimate stories. She has been compared to the likes of Florence Welch, Fiona Apple and Carole King, as her vocal timbre possesses a full and warm quality.
Stephan’s voice is fierce and fearless, but this was not always the case. She grew up shy and afraid of her voice until she started writing songs on the family piano in South St. Paul when she was 16. In music, she discovered something extraordinary that allowed her to transcend everyday life and find a deeper sense of self. Stephan moved to Tulsa in 2014 with the intent to give up her pursuit of a music career, however with a little encouragement from a friend, she continued her journey and started releasing music. Her songs were promptly applauded by critics and have since been racking up a number of awards, as well as garnering acclaim from media and fans across the globe.
Stephan’s latest single “Trapeze Artist” was inspired after scrolling through her social feeds and seeing the highs and lows of humanity. The songwriter reveals, “From finding love to accounts of racism. It's all there and it makes one feel like a trapeze artist swinging back and forth. It's a growth process to know how to process all of this information and what to do with it and know what I can reasonably do in the community I'm in. No one person can change the world”. Sonically “Trapeze Artist” details Stephan’s velvety vocals, cascading piano melodies, swirling string arrangements and bright brass, building into an anthemic and empowering track. Reminiscent of Brandi Carlile meets Adele, Stephan has created a sound which brings power and color, whilst maintaining a quiet intimacy. The visuals play off the feeling of social media leaving people isolated and how community, friends and music help to bring us back to the reality that hope and change is possible.
An underlying theme throughout Stephan’s music is hope, she explains, “Its such a cliched word and yet there are so many layers to it. Hope keeps us alive. It keeps us moving. But it also feels flighty some days like a pixie that does what it wants. But it's not a pixie. It's more like the air we breathe. Some days it's presence is stronger than we realize and some days we forget in our day-to-day lives that it's there... keeping us moving forward”. Her music combines her love for the storytelling elements of Disney ballads and the bold, brilliance of The White Stripes, as well as the soul-wrenching R&B melodies of H.E.R.
Casii Stephan has seen success both obtaining and being nominated for multiple awards from the likes of Independent Music Awards, Hollywood Music in Media Awards and USA Songwriting Competition to name a few. She also heads a female fronted festival entitled MisFEST in Tulsa, that has gained recognition both locally and nationally. Continuing to craft real, authentic, soulful music with the intention to help others feel a little less alone, Casii Stephan is releasing “Trapeze Artist” in 2020.
Honey Cutt are sharing a new single entitled "Coasting", the title-track from their forthcoming LP, out on Kanine Records on March 13th. Released to coincide with the announce of a North American tour (full details of which can be found below), "Coasting" is the second single from the album, following January's "Vacation." - "Coasting" is about trying to hold it together and be strong for my family," says Honeycutt. "I think that sometimes there is strength in just surviving. Seeing my mother get us through the things that she did when I was younger really made me who I am today.” On her debut album, Coasting, Honeycutt lulls you in with emotional personal stories that are refreshingly selfaware and satirical. Her warmth and charm resonates throughout the catchy guitar pop record.
While Honeycutt has been writing songs since she can remember, it wasn’t until she was 21 that she started playing out at small bars in Orlando, Florida. Between working full time to make rent and studying full time at a small community college, Honeycutt fell behind. When her grades dropped, she lost financial aid for school. Honeycutt says, “Something clicked in me after that. I moved into my friends bedroom and shifted focus fully to writing and recording.” The result was an EP she released under the moniker Baby!, but the name quickly proved unsearchable. Honeycutt rebranded herself simply Honey Cutt (2 words) and readied her debut album, Coasting.
Her Florida environment heavily influences the ten tracks that make up her debut album. The youngest of seven children, with four older brothers and a single mom, her family found themselves relocating from Asheville, NC to a small migrant farm town in central Florida called Ocoee when she was just 8 years old. “My grandmother was sick so we moved back to my moms hometown. I remember the day we arrived in the U-Haul, and found out that the rental house my mom had made a payment on was actually a craigslist scam. We arrived in Florida with no money, no home, and the medical bills of my dying grandmother. We slept in the homes of strange ‘sort-of’ cousins, around different places in central Florida, until my mom could save up enough for a new place.”
Drawing from her experiences growing up below the poverty line and being forced to move often throughout central Florida, those problems didn’t go away when she moved to a big city. In Boston, Honeycutt sought new musical friends and a live band. It was there that she found her footing in the world of live music. Working her way from DIY basement shows to opening for bands like Bully, Gus Dapperton, Varsity, and Calpurnia at some of the cities largest music venues, her talent did not go unnoticed. She earned three Boston music award nominations for best indie rock band alongside the likes of other talented New England based artists like Palehound and Sidney Gish.
Honeycutt is ready to debut a full-length record that showcases her relentlessness as an artist. From dirt roads in small Florida towns, to dirty basements flooded with Ivy League college kids dancing along unassumingly to her coy pop tunes, Honeycutt’s love of indie pop and dreamy, surf pop guitar tones run throughout her debut album. Honeycutt is clever and never overstays her welcome while Coasting is delivered with a vulnerability that is both bracingly fun and energizing. Coasting will be released via Kanine Records on March 13th, 2020.
Whilst starting out as a perform er in London and a busker on the London Underground,Ben Wood was offered the unique opportunity to contribute to an X-Ray spex charity album in the U S - one of only two UK bands who were offered the privilege. Ben had to find a band and put a track together and send it over in 48 hours.
Amazingly, he pulled it all together and formed his band, Ben Wood and The Bad Ideas from the experience: the name was a reference to his trepidation about the previous situation. They went on to play many stages: Prince Charles’ Garden Party, the Yes To Life Festivaland release their compilation track, Obsessed with You as their debut single. The band’s 2018 release “The Reveal” featured Bruce Thomas (Elvis Costello and the Attractions) on bass as well as artist Cristabel Christo.
In 2020 the band will be releasing a single per month for a year. The band’s 2020 offerings will have guest spots from legendary musicians such as Dave Barbarossa of Adam and the Ants and Bow Wow Wow , Billy Ritchie of 60s prog pioneers Clouds (Ritchie famously introduced a young David Bowie to Jimi Hendrix) and even Paul Cook of The Sex Pistols. LA based musician Nick Maybury (Scott Weiland Band/Juliette & The Licks) and Mike Webster of Southend’s Baddies and Asylums will also feature on guitar.
