H.C. McEntire - Portland - Scott Goldbaum - The Velvet Hands

H.C. McEntire - New View.

H.C. McEntire shares “New View,” the latest single from her forthcoming album Every Acre, which releases January 27 via Merge Records. Accompanied by a music video directed by Jethro Waters and performed by choreographer/dancer Maya Orchin, “New View” straddles the line between music and poetry, weaving back and forth between each realm. Citing poets “Day, Ada, and Laux, Berry, and Olds,” McEntire’s voice is at moments fierce and others tender, offering a sense of both giving and taking, releasing and claiming.

H.C. McEntire expounds on the new single: “Inspired by a late-night meditation under an October full moon, the lyrics for ‘New View’ were written from a place of possibility and promise – the feeling of falling in love, affirming its realness and rawness, committing to the openness and bravery required for it to fully emerge, being willing to let it lead. It is about leaning into the notion that what you seek is seeking you and making room for its manifestation.”

She continues, “Musically, ‘New View’ is the most collaborative composition on Every Acre, an album that rejoices in creative partnership – Luke, Casey, Daniel, Missy, and myself. In many ways, it is a song that wrote itself, while the tape was rolling – five bodies in a room together, each willing to offer an unfiltered view from where they were standing.”

 
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Portland - Stardust.

Belgian duo, Portland have released the new single, "Stardust" which marks another taste of their forthcoming album Departures – out via [PIAS] Recordings on March 17, 2022. "Stardust", written and composed by Sarah Pepels, is a true wonder of a song. Sarah’s magnificent voice tiptoeing gently through winds and melancholic organ sounds, slowly growing and gaining confidence while getting to the breathtaking chorus. It’s a song about lost love, lives turned upside down and putting the pieces of a broken heart back together.

“In January 2021, I was heartbroken, I had to leave a lot of memories and a part of my life, my love, behind,” Sarah explains, “I didn’t know where to go, but I knew, I had to write music to put those thoughts and heavy emotions into. I needed to be alone, so I went cat-sitting at my niece’s apartment. I locked myself up for four days with nothing but the warmth and company of the furry kittens. It turned out to be a very intense and cathartic journey. And so ‘Stardust, a song that means the world to me, was born.”

It’s also about healing, getting stronger and more confident. The song starts off shy and slowly, barely noticeable, but grows into a beautiful, epic and majestic celebration of once’s inner strength.

Portland is the magical & musical bond between Jente Pironet and Sarah Pepels. The two shared the same student house while studying at the PXL Music School in Hasselt and more so, they shared the same love of music with a specific soft spot for the work of Elliot Smith. Portland, a nod to the home of the late singer-songwriter, came to life. From the start it was clear the chemistry between Jente and Sarah was palpable. Their voices blend and complement each other as a perfectly mixed gin & tonic. Tangy yet soothing, addictive and intoxicating.

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Scott Goldbaum - Trigger Finger.

Los Angeles based multi-instrumentalist Scott Goldbaum, whose credits include Sting, LAUV, Keith Urban, Skylar Grey, Charlotte Lawrence and Maddie Poppe, is releasing his first solo EP “Protector” this fall.

Prior to his five year hiatus from releasing music, Scott Goldbaum's speciality was in providing “transient and breathtaking guitar work” (The Deli Magazine) as well as “beautifully textured vocals” (Indie Music Filter) both on stage and in the studio fronting his former bands Forebear, Wise Cub and The Harm. With songwriting cuts regarded by Consequence of Sound “as an exhilarating testament to abilities” his brand new EP is sure to satisfy fans of the artists whose music inspired the production including Chris Isaak, Radiohead, Bombay Bicycle Club and Damien Rice.

“Protector” is his self produced folk-infused indie rock EP with lush string arrangements by Molly Rogers (Hans Zimmer, Game of Thrones), upright bass from Kaveh Rastegar (Sting, John Legend, Bruce Springstein), drums/percussion by Kiel Feher (Selena Gomez, Zella Day) and mixing from the famed ScottGordon (Alannis Morissette, Alexi Murdoch).

Thematically, the record follows a vulnerable character who’s in need of protection as he becomes the protector of others.  "Drive Too Fast" is a face first collision course into the dark corners of a speed induced lifestyle.  Whereas "Trigger Finger" takes place in a school, a grocery store, a parade, a place of worship or just about any other public gathering place in America. "Blood Knot" acknowledges the roots you grew out of and the tree limbs you wish to keep attached while others tear off in the wind.  In contrast to the beginning of the EP, "Mourning Coffee" makes a distinction between codependency and partnerships that are chosen and decisively cared for while the world is falling apart around you.  "Incremental" is a mediation to stay on the course of progress and empowerment, despite the shadows that closely follow.

 

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The Velvet Hands - Over It Now.

Rising London-via-Cornwall four-piece The Velvet Hands have dropped their last track of the year, “Over It Now”. The track arrives as a tantalising sneak-peek of the new album ‘Sucker Punch’, which lands 3 February 2023, with a special vinyl edition planned for release on Blood Records.

Blending hedonistic hooks reminiscent of The Strokes with a slacker kind of storytelling plucked straight from Pavement’s playbook, the band’s latest outing is an anti-capitalist anthem spun with an easy-going, lackadaisical charm.

As The Velvet Hands explain: “One of the more laidback songs on the album, this came from the four of us just playing around in rehearsal. Lyrically the song focuses on ‘the grind’ culture, which personally we have always found to be exploitative and somewhat ridiculous. The main message is that not everything in life is about money, and you can do things at your own pace. In a nutshell: stick to your guns.”

The band’s final release of 2022, “Over It Now” comes ahead of their second studio album ‘Sucker Punch’, which will be streaming from 3 February 2023. Delivering coming-of-age tales with slacker-rock sensibilities, the new record combines the punchy guitar licks of The Strokes or Parquet Courts with rousing punk choruses that recall The Clash or The Vaccines.

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H.C. McEntire - Addie Brik - Mia Baron - Quarry

Photo - Heather Evans Smith

H.C. McEntire - Dovetail.

H.C. McEntire announces her new album, Every Acre, will be released on January 27 via Merge Records. Co-produced by McEntire, Missy Thangs and Luke Norton, Every Acre features nine poignant new songs, including two tracks with backing vocals provided by S.G. Goodman and Amy Ray. Along with the announcement, McEntire shares “Dovetail,” the new single that imagistically depicts various women and their various gifts, their various traumas.

“‘Dovetail’ began as a jangly, four-on-the-floor country demo I roughly recorded at home,” McEntire explains of the song’s inception. “In the studio, the band and I leaned into the twang and outlaw attitude, recorded it, and moved on to work on other songs. But something kept calling us back to reimagine this song, to look at it from a different angle. One night after a long day of tracking, Luke started playing the ‘Dovetail’ chord progression on piano, but much more slowly. Daniel jumped behind the drums and played a simple halftime beat while I stood next to the piano and sang out into the room. We quickly recorded about a minute of the experiment onto a cell phone and went to bed. The next morning, we referenced the recording and tracked a full-band version of the song in that style—essentially, it took the form of a ballad.”

“This ‘classic’ arrangement offered space for a more nuanced vocal delivery; the slower pace allowed vocal lines to stretch and stand tall with emotion. The less-is-more approach created a vulnerability that felt right and also applied intention—to clearly speak, suspend, and spill out the narrative. Throughout verses, I posed the personalities of various women in juxtaposition—a way to both celebrate differences and individuation, as well as acknowledge the complexities of being in relation with a range of traumas, including my own. The pre-chorus and chorus lyrics nod to a problematic dynamic that can occur when presumptions are made about an Artist solely based on the social consumption and/or interpretations of their Art—romanticism versus reality.”

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Addie Brik - First Odd Prime.

They say all good things arrive in threes, and the third single to be cut from Addie’s upcoming album ‘That Dog Don’t Hunt’ (out 25 November, via Itza Records) is a prime example.

A song that dwells upon the laws of the ultimate numbers game, “The First Odd Prime” finds Addie reflecting on Fibonacci's revolutionary sequence, and the natural order of things. As Addie explains: “This is about compassion, as seen through the lens of Nature, The Golden Ratio, Fibonacci Numbers, with the fairy dust of the Charles Laughton film, Night of The Hunter, thrown in for colour.”

Chiming with the themes of “odd primes, the Golden Mean, rescue and homecoming” expressed in the song, the new single arrives with a mesmeric official video that finds the numerical and the natural artfully intersecting with one another. Directed by Andy Alston (Del Amitri) and co-edited with Addie Brik, the live footage was captured outside Addie’s home in  Scotland, with additional film clips provided by Glenn Lewis (Mick Harvey, Cambodian Space Project).

Featuring a stellar cast of guest players, “The First Odd Prime”’s thunderous rhythms come courtesy of Simple Minds’ Jim McDermott on Drums, with Glenn Lewis (guitars) and Nick Blythe (bass) adding to its swirling maelstrom of sounds. US star N’dea Davenport (Brand New Heavies, Malcolm McClaren) also contributes her vocals to its hypnotic chorus hooks.

 

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Mia Baron - Rebel Without A Cause.

Toronto-based pop singer-songwriter Mia Baron pens lyrics which touch on how challenging it is to figure out who you are and what you want. Baron's songs show that for her, the sky's the limit. Natural talent, swagger, and drive have played a role in this 14-year-old artist racking up close to 300,000 total Spotify streams.

Her latest release, "Rebel Without a Cause," describes teenage rebellion: an adventurous desire to do forbidden things, test the limits and go against what's expected.

Baron started singing at just nine years old and turned professional at 11. When the pandemic halted her busy schedule as a live performer, she pivoted to releasing songs every few months with the help of her production and co-writing team Matt Kahane and Quin Kiu. With a sound shaped by artists like Madison Beer, Nessa Barrett, and The Weeknd, Baron's pop tracks are frequently filled with stuttering beats and moody vibes.

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Quarry - New City Comes Along.

Milan-based singer-songwriter QUARRY is set to release his new single: “New City Comes Along”, taken from his new album ‘Positioning The Sun’ out now. Paying homage to the victims caught up in the Ukraine war, “New City Comes Along” seeks to shine a light on the stories of those citizens whose lives are completely destroyed by such conflict. As Quarry explains:

“A city devastated by bombing and reduced to rubble is one of the most heartbreaking things to see. How many stories are behind those bodies scattered along the streets, those destroyed buildings that were once warm houses to families. I wrote this song thinking of a beautiful city like Kyiv falling into ruin, but it could be any city destroyed by warfare. New cities will, eventually, come along through the skin of the razed ones.”

Agitated by injustice but laced with an optimism for a better, more peaceful future, “New City Comes Along” is a punk-razored track that finds Quarry taking inspiration from the revolutionary class of The Clash while injecting a chorus of hope into their frenzied formula. Showing a new side to the multi-faceted artist that the softer and more reflective previous singles “This Is The Story” and “Beyond Any Sense” perhaps left camouflaged, it blends clangorous drums with impassioned vocals and driving guitars that rise-up like a rallying cry for peace.

The new track was the finishing touch to Quarry’s new LP ‘Positioning The Sun’ (out now via Lowfieye Records); an album born out of the feeling of living suspended in time during the pandemic. Written and recorded in Milan between 2020 and 2022, the LP has a knack for capturing the overwhelming weight of the world’s complications.

 

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Isla Craig - H.C. McEntire - Una Rose - Cozy Slippers

Isla Craig - Moon.

Today, Toronto based songwriter Isla Craig has shared 'Moon', the second single to be taken from her forthcoming album Echo's Reach. Of her new single, Isla says: "The new single is my humble offering into the canon of 'Moon' songs across the ages. A song that is more a vibe and a vibe that asks us to suspend the harsh frequencies of earthbound folly for a moment of reflection and feeling. Keeping it psyche and casting a spell, the lessons of the moon of which I live to tell!"

For over a decade Isla Craig has created a formidable body of work, a unique musical vision last heard on 2018’s The Becoming and stretching back to 2012’s Both the one & the other, (an a cappella suite of songs featuring some of Toronto’s best known vocalists Daniela Gesundheit, Tamara Lindeman, Ivy Mairi, & Felicity Williams). 

With Echo’s Reach, Isla presents a sophisticated set of compositions that perfectly wrap her Highland influenced melodies in an organic blanket of musical peat formed from a mix of jazz, R&B and psychedelic folk. Leading a band of luminaries that include Evan Cartwright (drums), Ted Crosby (sax) and Mike Smith (bass), Isla showcases the affecting vocal presence that has made her an in-demand collaborator with artists such as Jennifer Castle and the spiritual jazz octet The Cosmic Range.

Isla summarises: “The album is a collection of songs that express an earnest desire for meditative paces and spaces, absorbing and reflecting the sacred grounds beneath concrete city life. Echo's Reach describes a desire to illuminate and walk in the transmissions and meditations of life between the fallow and the seed.”

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Photo - Heather Evans Smith

H.C. McEntire - Soft Crook.

H.C. McEntire shares her new single “Soft Crook” via Merge Records. An unfiltered reflection of navigating depression, the strikingly hopeful song is accompanied by a DIY music video she filmed herself. This weekend, H.C. McEntire will hit the road on a fall tour supporting Bob Mould, with stops in Nashville, Atlanta, Vienna and more.

“‘Soft Crook’ was an exercise in vulnerability and trust,” says McEntire. “At its narrative core, the lyrics expose my struggle with depression through an unfiltered lens—calling it what it is, shaking hands with it, unapologetically honoring the power of its grip. It’s a mysterious and unpredictable companion that can make walking this world feel like slogging through unforgiving fields of mud.” She explains, “Navigating the nuances of pandemic isolation while under a debilitating depression fog was the most alone I have ever felt. To embody grief honestly, to embrace its clumsy and unhinged corners—to survive—required efforts and elixirs of self-preservation. The chorus became an anthem, of sorts; a mantra for letting go of guilt in needing these things—whether medication or TV shows or other vices—to offer myself some grace.”

She continues, “I also wanted to capture a moment in time last fall when I’d opened myself back up to love; a way to summon the feeling of resting deeply in my girlfriend’s arms—that safety in hold, that transfer of both white-hot surrender and soft certainty, being touched strong and gentle at the same time; when guards are down and there is peace, if only for a moment, in the quiet consent of joy. So I walked to the front porch and snapped a photo of the late afternoon sky as proof, a reminder that there is much to feel, and much to lose. That love needs to be nurtured, even if stacked with unknowns. And we need to nurture ourselves as best we can, with whatever it takes to move towards another dawn.”

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Photo - Taryn Fleischmann

Una Rose - Resolutions.

“What good comes / from you still believing?” asks Montreal’s Una Rose in “Resolutions,” the opening song on her ephemeral and exploratory debut Myth Between. The solo project of Una Rose (Rosie) Long Decter from shoegaze duo Bodywash, Myth Between finds her trading walls of sound for delicate synths, crystalline vocals and deft lyricism. Far from an exercise in apathy, the EP probes the ineffable—the way feelings circulate and stick, laughter builds and dies—seeking hope in passing impressions.

Long Decter was named after her two grandmothers, Una Decter, a social activist in Winnipeg, and Rose Long, a music teacher in St. John’s. She grew up harmonizing at Newfoundland kitchen parties, playing open mics in Toronto, and studying the songwriting of Joni Mitchell and Neil Young. A move to Montreal at 17 drew her towards dream pop and experimental music, and she founded Bodywash with Chris Steward in 2014. In 2019, they released their debut full-length Comforter via Luminelle Recordings with a follow-up forthcoming in 2023. Long Decter has also refined her musicianship as a band member for rising local acts like Helena Deland and Magi Merlin.

Bringing these experiences together, Long Decter approaches the singer-songwriter tradition from an experimental bent, drawing inspiration from Julianna Barwick’s ambient echoes and Cate Le Bon’s unknowable moods, as well as Sara Ahmed’s theorizations of affect. Composing in her bedroom via synth and voice, Long Decter wrote Myth Between from 2019-2021. She then enlisted the help of electronic producer Yoon Rachel Nam, longtime collaborator Steward, and percussionists Andy Mulcair and Ryan White to flesh out the arrangements.

Mixed by Steve Eldon-Kerr and mastered by Tom Nixon, the EP’s six tracks blend the grounded storytelling of folk with otherworldly atmospherics, lifting Long Decter’s lyrics into a space between real and imagined. Beginning with her personal experiences and observations, the lyrics expand outward. “Partly” tells a story of desire on its way out the door. “Resolutions” is a reflection on phone calls back and forth with her father; “In the Garden Digging” a tribute to her mother’s pandemic planting.

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Cozy Slippers - I Can't Keep You Safe.

Cozy Slippers announce their return with the release of their self titled debut album on Kleine Underground Schallplatten (vinyl) and Subjangle (CD) on October 14th, 2022. The First single from the album was "Nobody Knows Me, Anyhow", a love letter to alienation. A trapped narrator finds solace in knowing that anonymity makes space possible.

"I Can’t Keep You Safe" is an eerie jangler that addresses major pandemic fear - that protecting loved ones was not possible. Previously Cozy Slippers released the 7" "A Million Pieces" (Kleine Underground Schallplatten 2019), and two EPs: ‘Postcards’ (Jigsaw Record 2018) and ‘Late Night In Summertime’ (self-released 2017).

In 2019, the band toured the UK, including an appearance at the Cambridge Indiepop All-dayer. The band largely recorded the album themselves, and it was mixed by Dylan Wall (Versing, Great Grandpa, and High Sunn) and mastered by Paul Gold (The Chills, Allah-lahs).

Cozy Slippers · I Can't Keep You Safe

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Mercy Flight - H.C. McEntire - Caroline Says - Rat the Magnificent

Mercy Flight - Entropy. 

Background by Steve York of Mercy Flight - The band Mercy Flight is a natural evolution of my music. Together with powerhouse musicians – Tony Rabalao & Thomas McKay (Joy Drop), Ricky Tillo (Lady Gaga), Dan Miller (Valerie Dour) and Katey Morley (Gypsy Soul) - we combine to create Mercy Flight’s indie folk sound with a modern twist.

“Entropy,” the first single from our forthcoming record, explores the importance of human connection in a disintegrating world. Technologies designed to bring us together are tearing us apart and destroying our physical realities. “Entropy” is a reminder to connect in the moment.

Set for release on June 15th, Humanizer continues to explore the relationship between humanity and technology. I’ve watched the music industry change from the inside over the past 20 years, and reflect what I’ve witnessed on our new album. Humanizer was recorded straight to analog tape at Revolution Recording in Toronto. FACEBOOK.

'Entropy' mixes indie pop and folk together with some refined vocals and harmonies and a polished musical arrangement. The lyrics are thought provoking and with more material on it's way this is a really good introduction to Mercy Flight.

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H.C. McEntire - Baby's Got the Blues.

Background - H.C. McEntire Invites her family and community into frame for her “Baby’s Got the Blues” music video. 

Back stateside after a trio of sold-out shows in London, two of which were supporting Angel Olsen, H.C. McEntire is sharing a new music video for “Baby’s Got the Blues” off her stellar solo debut, Lionheart.

Director Jared Hogan on creating a visual for the song: "In talking with Heather, we knew that we wanted this video to touch on universal wounds of depression and suffering, but established in a more poetic narrative. We also knew we wanted family and community to play an integral role. All of the subjects in the video are connected to Heather’s life in one way or another, and that was very important to us. The song strikes this beautiful balance between darkness and hope, and we wanted the video to do the same." WEBSITE.

Americana roots vibes course there way through 'Baby's Got the Blues' an earnest and pleasing song. The accompanying video adds further interest, to what is a very engaging track from the 'Lionheart' album.


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Caroline Says - Mea Culpa.

Background - Austin-via-Alabama songwriter Caroline Sallee aka Caroline Says has released a video for “Mea Culpa” to announce US summer dates with label mate Jessica Risker.  “Mea Culpa” is featured on the second Caroline Says album, No Fool Like An Old Fool, which arrived in March on Western Vinyl.

Discussing the video’s creation, Caroline stated:  I made this video with my friend James Pritchard. I asked him to film it because I liked his instagram photos (@________._____.___.__._._). He told me he had never filmed anything before, but we went for it anyway. We decided to make a video that was entirely shots of reflections of water. We spent 2 days  wandering around looking for different puddles and creeks for him to film my reflection. I think James bought a camera that shoots video after we made this music video.

Sallee recorded No Fool Like An Old Fool while simultaneously working three jobs – finding the time was no easy task and her living situation didn't make it any easier – a dank, mildewed basement apartment with noise from her landlords above bleeding through all day.  The hurdles she navigated to record naturally led to ad hoc recording techniques, and endless sonic experimentation, often leading to her use of the computer as an instrument.  Sallee loosens her earthly tether with No Fool, allowing her songs to float to ever higher altitudes on clouds of loops, immaculate melodies, and hypnotic harmonies, as she sings about aging, the daily grind, and hometown stymie.  Lyrics were inspired from an array of sources, including the 1971 film ‘Panic in Needle Park’ and the idea of being in love with a heroin addict.  A NPR story about a young Iraqi man who was killed in an ISIS bombing just before moving to New York City to become a professional dancer.  Terrence Malick's ‘Badlands’ and Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska.  While the song “Black Hole" features multi-voice harmonies sung from the perspective of 50's spree killer Charles Starkweather.

No Fool Like An Old Fool is a fine soundtrack for a kind of liminal state… honest in its weariness, glad to be done with the day, carrying itself into tomorrow with a bleary-eyed sense of wonder and hope for the future. FACEBOOK.

US Tour Dates with labelmate Jessica Risker
08/01 – Austin, TX @ Cheer Up Charlie’s
08/02 – Houston, TX @ Big Top Lounge
08/05 – Knoxville, TN @ Scruffy City
08/08 – Bloomington, IN @ The Bishop
08/12 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle

Gentle vocals and enchanting harmonies are supported by a simple and primarily acoustic backdrop on 'Mea Culpa', one of those songs that allows the hooks to subtly work there way in.


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Rat the Magnificent - Olon.

Background - Rat The Magnificent share new single 'Olon'. Made up of members of Family Manderson, Sunshine Republic, KLLR, Hot Sauce Pony, Modern Men and Brenda, Rat the Magnificent are a heady mix of obstinance and oblivion. Think an overlapping of a Venn diagram made up of Jesus Lizard, Sally Bowles, My Bloody Valentine, Slint, Oxbow and Son House and you’re in the right borough.

The trio’s cacophony of beguiling yet unnerving fuzz-laced experimental noise rock has earned the group a reputation as a must-see live act, having played with the likes of McLusky, IDLES and Adam Betts. Not least, they have also previously recorded with Steve Albini earning the rare would-be plaudits of “I’d have no problem with you being my house band.” Now with an EP and several singles to their name, Rat The Magnificent are set to release their debut LP, ‘The Body As Pleasure’. A collection of 10-tracks that fully encompass the raw, unhinged energy and dark melodic sensibilities that have garnered them much acclaim in the past.

However, like all strong drinks - the whiskey, the coffee - you need balance in strength. The core trio of Anderson’s open blasted guitar checks primitive tradition and bleeds into Davies’ evangelical bass and Dodridge’s fervent drum rhythms, providing a bed for Anderson to belie his vocals. Brooding in white hot intensity, the albums lyrical content tackles personal yet assimilable topics such as the immediacy of desire, animal magnetism, familiar high-stakes anxiety and trial by fire learning. Dexterous vocals layer often voyeuristic glimpses into both the bands misfortunes and success, backed up by oblique and often deceptively catchy instrumentation.

The band celebrate their influences in a caustic yet melodically conscious manner that is both familiar and new. The influences run fast and loose throughout the record, from the direct power and languishing darkness of Swans, Sonic Youth, Peaches and The Birthday Party, right through to 60-80s New York minimalism a la Tony Conrad and La Monte Young. Almost all of the tracks contain microtonal elements; from the bends in ‘Marrtalon’, to the rising synths at the end of ‘The For’, to the guitar gradually riding “out of tune” on ‘The Inevitable’ - The devil is in the details.

Recorded over the course of three years with Brad Hemsell, ‘The Body As Pleasure’ also features huge range of inimitable guest musicians, who add even further depth and dynamics to the record. Guests include: Ian Catskilkin (Future Of The Left, Art Brut), Jen Macro (MBV, Graham Coxon, Charlotte Hatherly, Hurtling), Stephen Gilchrist (Graham Coxon, The Damned, The Cardiacs, Vic and Bob), Jeff Fairley (Cheel Ghar) and Caroline Gilchrist (Hot Sauce Pony). WEBSITE.

Our second helping of Rat The Magnificent and 'Olon' confirms that this is a band who can do full on rock & roll swagger with both style and intensity.

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