Antonioni have just released 'Mary Bell' after signing to Lauren Records and its a slick hook filled indie rocker. === Max Fry and Lhasa Petik have already gained considerable attention for 'Take It Slow' which is hardly surprising on this wonderfully produced song === The Sea Birds latest single 'A Fine Line' is a well crafted piece that packs genuine feeling and suppressed energy. === Brendan & the Strangest Ways make their third appearance here this year with 'Turn Your Luck' and once again their striking Americana is both powerful and pleasing.
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Antonioni - Mary Bell.
Lauren Records is excited to announce that they have signed Seattle's Antonioni, and unveiled a new single from the band. “Mary Bell” was written while Sarah Pasillas from the band was processing a friend committing an unthinkably violent and inhuman act. What could cause someone to do something so evil? Could that same evil reside in me?
"Mary Bell" is a brash yet melodic song with a dark underbelly. "I wrote this song after watching a couple True Crime Youtube videos about young girls who became murderers. I was drawn to this topic in particular as one of my best friends murdered someone a couple years ago-- an incident that was so traumatizing and close to my heart that I can’t help but explore the grief time and time again through songwriting." says Pasillas of the inspiration behind Antonioni's new single.
"I felt so heart attacked" Pasillas' somber voice rises above the fuzzy clatter, reminding you of melancholy within the song.
"I also like songs that decide to take on traumatic stories (like Polly by Nirvana and John Wayne Gacy Jr. by Sufjan Stevens), as a way to discuss and ask questions like, “how close am I to evil?” No question is more pertinent, right? To face the evil inside yourself and try to recognize it in all its forms" Sarah Pasillas says of the dark subject matter of the song.
Antonioni has been steadily rising within the Seattle indie rock and DIY scene over the past four years. They’ve put out two EPs and a handful of self-produced music videos. Their work has garnered praise from outlets like KEXP and NPR who wrote that their music “sounds and feels like a fuzzy '90s flashback fever dream.”
US producer Max Fry follows up Majestic Casual released "Passage" with another poignant new offering in "Take It Slow". A collaboration with Canadian artist Lhasa Petik, the new single boasts a catchy vocal melody which floats over ukulele chords, until heavy 808s make an entry which perfectly juxtaposes the delicate plucking of the intro.
"Take It Slow" may seem like a plea to a lover upon first listen. However, it is actually a dialogue between Lhasa’s current and former self, following a whirlwind year of loving and letting go. It describes her thought process while letting go of a relationship that she struggled to move on from; “you were looking for a way out, I made you take the long route.”
“Oh I hope that you take it slow, so that if you crash, you’ll still come back home to me” is a plea to herself to ensure that she won't let herself get to that broken place again; so that she always has enough energy to get home.
Max elaborates on the creation process: After hearing Lhasa's most recent project "Outside / Dreaming", I knew I wanted to work with her. Lhasa sent over the original idea for the song - knew we had created something special after combining Lhasa's vocals and ukulele riffs with my drums, backing vocals, and electric guitar.
The latest single from The Sea Birds, A Fine Line, tosses and turns through a broken heart. Written with three contributing songwriters and vocalists, Mike and Loic, take the lead on this single. There is a deep fragility and unwavering honesty lyrically, complimented by a blossoming instrumental section.
The Sea Birds have worked from Headstone Records home base, Studio One.Be, for the past several years. Headstone founder, Dave Warner mixed the latest single and upcoming album, mastering done by Cameron Mitchell. It's an absolute pleasure to be releasing the work from some of the hardest working and most supportive musicians in Melbourne.
The Sea Birds were formed in 2014 in Melbourne, Australia. The band's sound pays homage to classic influences from rock's early 1970's singer-songwriter phase, as well as echoes of the uniquely Australian 1980's east coast music scene. The result is a contemporary take celebrating the best elements of these two great musical eras.
In 2017, The Sea Birds released their debut album "Blue or Grey", recorded at Studio One.Be and Atlantis Sound. Produced by David McCluney with contributions from Greg Arnold, Bruce Haymes, and Georgia Fields. The band has been performing live and developing their upcoming album "Problems of a Different Kind" since their last release.
The new single from Brendan & the Strangest Ways pours another round of whiskey for the broken, bruised, but never down-and-out independent musicians living with the frustration of everyday economic obstacles. “Turn Your Luck” combines a string-plucking melody with a foot-stomping backbeat to tell the dust-tinged story of a touring musician’s lament. The single is out August 10 and is off the upcoming album Are We Sure The Dawn Is Coming? out September 4.
Shea goes into his inspiration, explaining, ”This song is my evaluation of whether or not I still believed in what I was doing after years of trying and traveling a whole lot of miles to get absolutely nowhere.” Musically, the lyrics echo this uncertainty, saying “A dozen years of overhead, not sure how wisely spent / I’m busking at the baseball game to try and cover rent”. The sentiment creates an anthem for anyone who has ever hauled equipment held together with duct tape and stained with water rings to a gig, just to find you’ve spent more money getting there than you end up taking home.
More difficulty comes in the form of a relationship ending, as the later verses depict two people unlucky in love who seem to sabotage themselves by hanging onto past failures. Shea writes “All we had to do was drop our baggage at the door / But people treated poorly gonna make more of the same”. These layers of struggle, both personal and professional, leave us to wonder whether this is really the dark before the dawn, or whether the night will just keep getting darker.
The Electric Mess share 'Last Call' where the bands ability to mix up the rock genres results in this glorious hook laden piece. === Beachtape latest song is 'Somewhere Better' which exudes laid back rock grooves. === Yusuf Sahilli shares his first single 'In The City' taken from his forthcoming album. Both vocals and the musical arrangement are refined on this enticing track. === Brendan & the Strangest Ways make their second appearance here in less than a month with 'We Can Beat Mercury' another fabulous country rocker. ===The Hideaways power up with 'Luminescence' a dominant rocker where even the reprises throb with angst and power. === We have already featured the first two singles and now Clem Snide returns with the third entitled 'Some Ghost' preety much ensuring the forthcoming album 'Forever Just Beyond' is a must hear. === Finally today we have Nicole Atkins and 'Domino' a fabulous modern pop song with an addictive groove throughout.
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The Electric Mess - Last Call.
NYC's rock & roll outfit The Electric Mess serve up a vibey, dark psych-pop single and accompanying music video titled "Last Call". A haunting chorus and memorable break combine for an immersive tune. It comes off their upcoming fifth full-length The Electric Mess V (Soundflat Records) due out April 17th.
"Last Call" opens with a bright guitar lick, quickly moving into an addictively catchy bass groove. Vocalist/keyboardist Oweinama Biu wastes no time jumping into a lyrical tale - pulling listeners ever deeper. "Last Call is dark and poppy, and gets great reactions at our shows," shared the band, making it a natural single ahead of their upcoming release.
Guitarist Dan Crow wrote the song a number of years ago, "about some things that went down in the house I lived in my senior year at college." The lyrics reflect on the outcomes and consequences of choices, lost friends, and what's left at the end of the day, asking "what are you going to do now?". The song came together with heavy sonic inspiration from The 13th Floor Elevators.
The accompanying video was inspired from 80's style MTV music videos, cutting between story-line shots and the band's performance. The band utilized local spots throughout New York City for a DIY approach to further bring the track to life, letting listeners still take their own interpretation
The Electric Mess defy a singular genre, blending elements of 60's garage, 70's punk, psychedelic pop, new wave, and high energy rock and roll into all of their performances. Lead vocals are shared between Biu and front-woman/rhythm guitarist Esther Crow, providing fantastically unique powerhouse of vocal teamwork. The band has a signature sound, yet always keeps listeners on their toes for what's to come.
Channelling the shifting perspectives we encounter over periods of change, ‘Somewhere Better’ is the latest scratchy, sunny indie-rock gem from Brighton quartet Beachtape. It’s being used to announce a new EP, ‘Bigger Picture’, out via CRC Records on April 10th, ahead of which they’ll be heading out to Austin to perform at SXSW.
The four-piece occupy a similar space to Happyness or Willie J Healey in recourse to the stilted, slacker-Americana of Pavement, Wilco and Dinosaur Jr, with a distinct beach-pop sheen adopted from their Brighton base. Their songs cover the fuzz of early-20s anxiety, a transitional phase of life with peaks and troughs dictated by paradoxical moments of drive and listlessness.
The gradual drift into changing circumstances, and the way this offers pause for thought, is the theme in the cross-hairs specifically on ‘Somewhere Better’:
“It’s about change. The inevitable changes in our future, and reflecting on changes from our past. The idea of something feeling so significant in the moment, but becoming so insignificant over time and vice versa. Our lives in and outside of the band have changed a lot over the last year and we’re all in completely different places to what we may have imagined a year ago.”
Whilst the band’s usual laidback style remains, there’s an added sense of subtle urgency, born out of its last-minute addition to the EP: “We wrote this song the day before we got in the studio and had to get a last minute practice the night before to figure out the parts. It was fresh and unprepared, and was the moment we found the final puzzle piece to this EP.”
"In the City" is the first single taken from Yusuf Sahilli’s new album Let’s Do That due out June 5th, 2020. The single comments on consumption in modern society and how difficult it is to break the cycle. Russian animator Gosha Loshadkin brings the story to life by using Icarus from Greek mythology as he battles to make a healthy, well-balanced living - but will he be able to resist the temptations of modern life?
Let's Do That is completed by a video trilogy all animated by Gosha, starting with "Icarus Falling" (21 June 2019) followed by "In the City" (6 March 2020) and finishing with "You're It" (5 June 2020).
“It makes fun of music videos where artists try to show off their wealth with scenes like women in a pool being showered with money,” says Yusuf on the video for "In The City". “The song criticises the bank system that offers loans to people but also shows a society in a hamster wheel working from 9-5, never able to pay off their interest rates. We never see the horizon or the big picture in the city. Everything's fast and volatile. Too much noise. With light pollution now we can’t see the stars anymore. For centuries the saying "looking at the stars" was standing for hope. Especially in Berlin, there are so many contrasts. People try to live healthier lives, there are so many yoga clubs opening up, sometimes several in the same street. At the same time we're seeing more and more pubs and fast food outlets. We live healthily and then we reward ourselves with junk food, cigarettes and alcohol.“
Brendan & the Strangest Ways - We Can Beat Mercury.
Brendan & the Strangest Ways announces the release of the “We Can Beat Mercury” video directed by Omeri Monroe (Tuneworks Media). Through a talent-show-gone-wrong, the video takes on the satirical struggle of an independent musician trying to find an audience. The single is off the album due out later this year.
As any talent show observer knows, it’s often spectacle that grabs attention above everything else. While Brendan Shea earnestly sings his song of hope and optimism, it’s the spectacle surrounding him that gets the judges nodding their head in approval. Nothing is too over the top: ballet and sequined dancers, kickboxers, hoop jugglers all join the mix.
Shea says, “The video pokes fun at the song’s message. ‘We Can Beat Mercury” was intended to be hopeful, optimistic and earnest.’ The video allowed an opportunity to reinterpret those ideas and tell a story where the protagonist, while perseverent, never gets to overcome his obstacles.”
About Brendan & the Strangest Ways - Brendan Shea adopted the moniker Brendan & the Strangest Ways to create music for the restless spirit. Heartfelt reflections comprise the songs: loves and losses experienced over countless miles traveled in search of something that always felt just a little out of reach. Early in 2019, Brendan and the Strangest Ways broke ground on the sophomore album Are We Sure The Dawn Is Coming? at County Q in Nashville. In October 2019, Brendan connected with veterans of Buffalo’s alternative country scene and former members of the band Bareback Jack: Tommy Bijak (electric guitar), Pete Wilson (drums), Paul Belardi (bass) and Kenny Blesy (steel guitar) to reform the Strangest Ways. The members backing Shea on Brendan & the Strangest Ways have done stints in Nashville recording and playing live. In their previous band, they opened for Marty Stuart and Charlie Daniels.
A combination of raging guitars and driving rhythms alongside dark electronic and subtle trip-hop influences … The Hideaways return with new single ‘Luminescence’. Produced by Matt Glasbey (Editors, Marmozets).
"I reckon Luminescence is a spot on example of what we're about musically" says frontman Danny Pugh. "When we're writing we always try to stick a few left turns in tunes that might catch people off guard a bit. That's what we wanted to get from mixing the psychedelic, eerie choruses with all the snarl and noise in the verses. Then for the outro we just wanted something massive that'd give everyone a proper melodic smack in the face".
The Hideaways also continue to build their reputation as a ferocious live act, having supported established names like Shaun Ryder and Little Comets alongside sharing stages with such up and coming bands as Fangclub, BERRIES and Football FC.
Clem Snide, the moniker of Eef Barzelay, shares the new single "Some Ghost" from his first album in five years, Forever Just Beyond, out on March 27 via Ramseur Records/Thirty Tigers. Scott Avett, who produced the record, co-wrote and provided harmonies on the new single as well. "I have not had much luck over the years in my (few) attempts at co-writing," states Barzelay. "But with this one Avett and I just vibed hard and it came together as quick as you please! We both share a deep respect for the unknowing part of the process. It all starts in the dark but then the door was unlocked all along."
"Some Ghost" is the third single from Forever Just Beyond. The second single "Don't Bring No Ladder" was spotlighted by Nashville's Lightning 100 while the first single "Roger Ebert" was described by Rolling Stone as "a pretty, probing ballad that contemplates the mysteries of life...Clem Snide uses Ebert’s epiphany to make something that is wildly abstract, both relatable and comforting”.
Roger Ebert's wife Chaz even heard the song and wrote on RogerEbert.com thanking Eef for the song about her husband, "I was astonished and moved when I listened to 'Roger Ebert,' the new song inspired by words of my late husband, which serves as the lead track on Forever Just Beyond. If Roger's words in any way served as an inspiration to Clem Snide to not give up, it makes my heart overflow with joy. And Clem Snide (Eef Barzelay), I bet Roger appreciates it too."
The road to Forever Just Beyond, Barzelay’s stunning new album under the Clem Snide moniker, was an unlikely one, to say the least. “About ten years ago, everything just seemed to fall apart,” he explains. “The band bottomed out, my marriage was crumbling, I lost my house, and I had to declare bankruptcy. That started this process of ego death for me, where I realized the only way to survive would be to transcend myself and to try to find some kind of deeper, spiritual relationship with life and with being. Once I committed myself to that, miraculous things started to happen.”
Some miracles were financial (a superfan in Spain, for instance, sent Barzelay an unsolicited thank-you-for-the-music donation that covered the exact amount he desperately owed his bankruptcy lawyer); other miracles were more intangible. Roughly four or five years ago, as Barzelay struggled with how and if to carry on, a fan sent him a video of Scott Avett singing a Clem Snide song in front of a massive audience. Shortly after that, another fan sent an interview in which Avett raved about Clem Snide’s music. It seemed like a sign from the universe. “I had just hit this low point where I realized I couldn’t do it alone anymore,” says Barzelay. “I passed along a little message and a new song I wrote to The Avett Brothers’ manager, and Scott wrote me right back to say what a fan he was.”
During the writing of her upcoming album 'Italian Ice', Nicole Atkins experienced a freak sinkhole accident turned life-altering revelation that led her to a new mantra: “Don’t be a bystander. Take action. Speak up. Make something. Live.” To this effect, the Jersey Shore-bred musician had a bold idea she’d typically brush off as unattainable: fuse the funky strut of her beloved French Electro music with the Italian Ice’s analog-focused Boardwalk Soul. And do it in Muscle Shoals, AL.
Atkins channels this fresh sound and attitude into 'Domino', a genre-pushing mission statement for living fully in trouble times. Citing additional inspirations like Prince and 'Miss You' by The Rolling Stones, Atkins delivers a groove-heavy pop gem with the utmost swagger: “I’m not gonna play / Safe and sound / When the world comes tumblin’, tumblin’ down.” In that respect, 'Domino' is not only the radio single off 'Italian Ice', but the vehicle for its central themes.
Like each of the eleven tracks on Italian Ice, 'Domino' was recorded at the hallowed Muscle Shoals Sound Studio with a group of her “best musical friends” – who just happen to be Jim Sclavunos and David “Moose” Sherman of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The Dap-Kings’ Binky Griptite, and drummer McKenzie Smith (St. Vincent, Midlake) – along with Spooner Oldham and David Hood of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Co-produced by Nicole and Ben Tanner (Alabama Shakes), Italian Ice also features special guests Britt Daniel, Seth Avett, John Paul White and Erin Rae, and songs co-written with Daniel, Hamilton Leithauser and Carl Broemel.
Nicole Atkins is a songwriter and performer with a fearless and frank style. Fans of Atkins’ previous release Goodnight Rhonda Lee include Rolling Stone (which before named her a “Top 10 Artist to Watch”), Uncut, Mojo, NPR, and American Songwriter. In addition to writing, recording, and playing music, the Nashville-by-way-of-Asbury Park musician is an art school graduate who specialized in wildlife illustration and is an active painter. Nicole has also shared her original artwork with fans through her newly-launched Patreon page, Natkins Funhouse. Fans who join will have access to items from Nicole including hand-designed monthly calendars and seasonal 8x10 art prints - as well as exclusive content like unreleased videos, demos and brand new covers. Step inside the Natkins Funhouse on Patreon here: www.patreon.com/natkinsfunhouse
Very Very shares 'Badlands' accompanied by a video, a confessional and personal song with plenty of atmosphere. === Sass Jordan moves from her rock singer mode into some passionate blues with 'Leaving Trunk' ahead of her first full blues album due in March. === A month after we first featured The Saxophones they have returned with 'Forgot My Mantra' which is another exquisite song ahead of their 'Eternity Bay' album. === Brendan & the Strangest Ways have just released 'We Can Beat Mercury' a powerful hook laden country rocker. === Today Diners have released 'Cup Of Coffee' with a beautifully matched video for what is one smooth and very catchy song.
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Very Very - Badlands.
Before being banned from the United States for 10 years, Very Very had built a life in New York City. There she found herself crossing boundaries in a relationship based on manipulation, desire and bad decisions that would eventually crumble into disillusionment.
Her debut single, "Badlands," reflects on the role she played, confessed through raw lyrics and moody instrumentation. Written, produced and arranged entirely by the artist, "Badlands" is an alternative pop anthem that speaks to the darker side of desire. This is what temptation feels like.
The video for “Badlands” follows Very Very as she reaches the final stage of a sordid relationship. Moving with focus through memories, highways, and mysterious fields, she works through the complex process of a breakup, steadily fortifying herself for the end. If she wants to leave it behind forever, she'll have to burn it all down first.
Sass Jordan is one of the premiere female rock singers in history, selling over one million albums worldwide. While she has touched upon Blues over her 40-year career, this is the first time she has focused exclusively on creating an album of songs in this tradition, that showcase her talent as a Blues singer. As Jordan acknowledges: “The blues has always been a huge part of my life. It’s a big part of what I grew up with. It’s been there through my entire career.”
Her first blues album arrives in raw, earthy style on the magnificent Rebel Moon
Blues, to be released on Friday, March 13 on Stony Plain Records. Co-produced
with D#, it’s the Juno Award-winner’s ninth studio album and first release in nearly a decade.
More crucially, it’s also a watershed that charts a new course in Jordan’s musical voyage while tracing her love of the blues back to its source. The album features eight songs, freshly interpreted and given the Sass Jordan treatment with her band the Champagne Hookers: guitarists Chris Caddell and Jimmy Reid, bassist Derrick Brady and drummer Cassius Pereira, augmented by blues harp master Steve Marriner and keyboardist Jesse O’Brien.
With The Saxophones' sophomore album Eternity Bay out in less than 3 weeks, the husband-and-wife duo (Alexi Erenkov on vocals, guitar, synths, woodwinds, and Alison Alderdice on drums and vocals) have shared a third and final single, "Forgot My Mantra."
The Saxophones’ band name started out as a half-joke for the songwriting project of Alexi Erenkov, who, at that time, was a disillusioned jazz student. Erenkov had recently ditched the instrument, as jazz hadn't offered the room for self-expression that he sought. His solo project became a band when his wife Alison Alderdice joined on percussion, and their debut album, Songs of the Saxophones, was released just before the birth of their first son in 2018. Written aboard the boat they lived on together (amid the incessant rain of a northern Californian winter), the record established The Saxophones’ style, drawing from fifties exotica, west coast jazz, and seventies Italian lyricism. Drama seeps into The Saxophones' deceptively simple sound, transforming dreamy surf pop into thoughtfully textured pieces, with a spaciousness at the core.
The band's forthcoming second album, Eternity Bay, began to take shape just after the arrival of their first son, who shook up Erenkov’s writing routine far more than choppy boat waters ever did. "My music has always grappled with mortality and the meaning of existence," he says, "but the birth of our first son and the imminent arrival of our second has greatly heightened my sensitivity to these themes." The forced fragmentation of his hours, writing under inky late-night skies and through the liminal glimmer of dawn, brought new qualities to the surface of his songs. "While this record was influenced by a broad range of music," he explains, "the through line seems to be conveying a strong mood or sense of place. I love music that transports listeners to another space, whether it's Jonathan Richman making you feel like you’re walking the streets of Boston in 'I Love Hot Nights' or Arthur Lyman transporting you to a Hawaiian hotel lobby in the 50s."
Brendan & the Strangest Ways - We Can Beat Mercury.
When Brendan Shea first started out as a songwriter in the early 2000s, Buffalo was a broken-down, industrial “Rust Belt” city whose best days were behind it.
Angsty, malcontented feelings came through in his writing. He felt an overwhelming sense in his day to day life to move somewhere else to realize his full potential. So he did… twice. And those experiences made for some pretty good songs.
Fast-forward 15 years and Buffalo has undergone a major cultural and economic renaissance. There’s an expanding creative and artistic scene, and a general buzz around town that the best is yet to come. Shea says, “I feel like that’s a pretty perfect reflection of where I’m at musically with this new album and this new band. There’s just a lot of hope and excitement about what’s ahead.”
Lauren Records has announced the new LP from Diners and unveiled the first single from “Leisure World” via the Ambar Navarro-directed (SWMRS, CUCO, Soccer Mommy, etc.) video for “Cup of Coffee.”
"Back in the day, coffee commercials were akin to a very cheesy cinematic experience, tugging at your heart strings with unfathomably dramatic tales that did little to actually highlight the coffee." says the Grey Estates of the new video, adding "On “Cup of Coffee,” the video from Diners's upcoming album Leisure World, out 4/24, director Ambar Navarro puts Diners’s Tyler Blue Broderick at the center of their own glorious java commercial." The video comes ahead of the release of the single to streaming services everywhere tomorrow,
Leisure World (out April 24th) is the latest album from singer-songwriter Tyler Blue Broderick, who performs with the project Diners. Not only is it the most eclectic and ambitious album in the songwriter’s (already muscular) catalog to date—it’s one of the catchiest, most realized indie pop records released in years.
Like all of their work, Leisure World—which Broderick scrapped and rerecorded several times before landing on an aesthetic they found satisfactory—draws on the most enduring aspects of pop’s past. Its 13 tracks bring to mind the technicolored melodies of ‘60s pop icons like the Beatles and Zombies, the
chilled-out pop proficiency of Laurel Canyon legends like Carole King, and the wry, observational story-telling of Jonathan Richman, and, to cite a more recent artist, Jens Lekman.
