Today Kacey Johansing announces the upcoming release of her new album Year Away. The LA-based songwriter has also shared a new video for “Daffodils,” the first single and a stunning centerpiece to the album, built from a pastiche of looping samples, swirling Mellotron and dazzling vibraphone. Year Away will be released on July 28th via Night Bloom records.
An elegiac tribute to someone facing death with grace and curiosity, “Daffodils” finds Johansing confronting own mortality by observing the brief lifespan of a flower. “Keep your heart open wide, you never know your time / Keep your heart wild, true flower child”, Johansing sings as she says goodbye to an elder, while the band reaches a grief-stricken crescendo of woodwinds and chiming bells.
Johansing writes, “Daffodils are one of the first flowers to bloom as the earth begins to thaw, coming even before spring and often emerging from the snow. The vibrant yellow is a sign that a seasonal shift is on the horizon, a gesture of hope and light, even in the darkest of times.”
Throughout Year Away Johansing traverses similarly uncharted emotional landscapes brought upon by the changes occurring all around her. When the world came to an abrupt standstill in 2020, she found herself simultaneously processing this recent personal loss while trying to make sense of a new global reality. She began to fear her Los Angeles musical community was vanishing, as friends and collaborators continually announced they were leaving the city. Across the ensuing months, Johansing found herself increasingly untethered by a world of isolation and political upheaval.
It was in returning to her piano nightly that she found the greatest solace, feverishly writing the songs for a new album. This new sense of time and focus served to help deepen her songwriting. As Johansing recalls, “I felt like a metamorphosis happened during that time. There was a lot of personal growth and healing.”
Jérémie & The Delicious Hounds - 'We Haven't Met Yet.
Jérémie & The Delicious Hounds are new-age fosterers of soul music with a uniquely Canadian twist. Hailing from St. Boniface, the old French quarter of Winnipeg, they have crafted their identity as bilingual artists with their first full-length album, Cruel. Infusing nine fun-loving songs about amour and heartbreak in a mixture of both English and French, the LP serves as an authentic representation of the languages they speak at home. With the support of seasoned producer Murray Pulver, Cruel was recorded "live off the floor" to capture their vintage soul aesthetic and vibrant live performance energy.
The record's focus track, "We Haven't Met Yet," came about when lead singer/guitarist Jérémie came up with some lyrics for a chorus and shared them with lead guitarist Ryan Toupin, who found them inspiring and wrote several verses. The lyrics reminded Ryan of his single days when he would feel too shy to approach any of the beautiful girls he encountered, whether on the bus, at a bar, or in this case, at the library. He had always fantasized about meeting an intelligent girl who shared his love of books.
The Delicious Hounds name is a play on words about their "delicious sound" of smooth melodies, juicy guitar riffs and tasty horn licks. Jérémie's smooth yet smoky voice is accented with a brilliant brass section to deliver round after round of phenomenal hits on golden platters. His staple friendliness, positive vibes and charismatic nature culminate into a profound presence that leaves listeners swooning for another bite of the eight-piece band's modern twist on old-school rhythm and beats.
Following on from the release of their highly praised four-track EP ‘Du å ja’ last year, Swedish duo LOW-RES now return for 2023 to deliver their explosive new album.
Right off the release of their most recent single ‘Stigma’, teaming up with seminal artist Johan Hinders of Audionom for the release, LOW-RES anticipates their album, ‘Däför’. The pair return with all the same power and captivating post-punk textures they are known for. Brimming with a raw and driven aesthetic that flows elegantly between their electronic and organic elements, their newest release cements them as one of the more riveting names on the scene today.
Stockholm based duo LOW-RES writes pulsating pop tunes influenced by 90s ambient guitars and analog synthesizers. They made their debut in 2021 with the full-length album ”Varför” featuring guest appearances by Jukka Rintamäki (Silverbullit) and Per Nordmark (Fireside) among others. A four-track EP "Du å ja" followed in 2022 with a refined sound of analog drum machines and Swedish lyrics.
The eleven songs on ‘Därför’ drag you in, one by one, to a parallel universe where music from bygone eras, like krautrock, early electronic pop/rock and psychedelia, are alive and well and sounding as fresh as ever in modern-day Sweden.
“Varför and Därför belong together,”says LOW-RES. “Both records were written in the same vein and with the same approach: fast, creative and with many collaborations that colour the expression. We have a lot of fun making music and it works as an antidepressant. We just heard the term Art Therapy and that pretty much sums up why we do this.”
Background - Vibe-punks WAAX continue their unstoppable momentum, announcing the release of emotional new single 'Wild & Weak', an impressive new five track EP and their biggest headline tour yet. Exploring the 'internal' for the first time, singer-songwriter Marie De Vita says the band's Wild & Weak EP (out June 2) is the result of an intrinsically cathartic process. "Our first EP was a lot more external - so, it felt like the next evolutive step to explore my inner workings and coincidentally a timely post-traumatic deep-hole started forming within me. These songs are a step by step documentation of what I went through - the steps of finding peace with my past," she says. Those steps, they're all there. Step 1. The Denial ('Wild & Weak') Step 2. The Disorientation ('This Everything') Step 3. The Pattern ('Same Same') Step 4. The Discussion '(Nothing Is Always') Step 5. The Acceptance ('You Wouldn't Believe') With each track the band have offered up somewhat of an artistic jigsaw piece with the single art. Those pieces combine to form the cover for the EP - a picture of a lifeline phone near the Story Bridge in Fortitude Valley. It represents and is a lifeline in every sense. It's a way out. Exploring new sonic territory in the studio on the Wild & Weak EP, WAAX partnered up with Brisbane/LA producer Miro Mackle (Major Leagues, Jeremy Neale, The John Steele Singers) for a hands-on tweak of their now signature sound. The songs were then sent over to the USA for mastering by Grammy Award Winner Joe LaPorta (David Bowie, Foo Fighters). Facebook here, live dates on Beehive Candy's tour page.
The vocals provide most of the melody on 'Wild & Weak' whilst the band add some vigorous and sustained energy and power, to what is a catchy piece of modern punk with a touch of charm.
Background - Kacey Johansing shares the second track "Bow and Arrow" from her upcoming album The Hiding. “It seems great opportunities come in blessings as well as tragedies,” Johansing sings on the title track of her third album, The Hiding. After the breakup of her band Yesway, and an abrupt falling out with her closest musical collaborator, Johansing set out to record a new batch of songs that resulted from the sea change in which she had now found herself. Instead of drawing from her regular band, Johansing pulled from a wider cast of players that she’d come to know in the community of musicians throughout California and the West Coast. The resulting sound is one based wholly and unabashedly in pop. Nods to Christine McVie and Fleetwood Mac can be heard, but Johansing brings these sounds to a modern stage, blending her ethereal vocals with effervescent synthesizer washes and reverberating open-tuned guitar. Recorded at Panoramic House in Stinson Beach, where Kacey worked as caretaker, as well as at home in Bolinas, on a ridge above the cloud layer in Big Sur, and at a friend’s studio in Portland, the album also serves as a document of Kacey’s time spent traveling in search of the sound she was after. After finishing initial tracking, and still reeling from the heartbreak of losing her musical community, Johansing found a necessary move was in order. Landing somewhat-blindly in Los Angeles, she continued to work on the album and hold it close. The end result is The Hiding, a tone poem about loss, growth and “leaving the insular beauty of a tight-knit community,” as Johansing describes it. The release of The Hiding comes at a time when Johansing is deeply longing to emerge from her extended absence and reconnect with her desire to create and share her music. “The Hiding” is set for release June 2 on Night Bloom Records, a brand new label Johansing founded with Real Estate’s Alex Bleeker and longtime-friend and songwriter Jeff Manson. Website here, Facebook here.
Kacey Johansing's beautiful vocals are accompanied by some refined and skillful musicianship on 'Bow And Arrow', a dreamy, melodic and gorgeous song.
Background - Lisa Marie Ellingsen, is currently sharing her new single "Rodeo of Broken Dreams." Singer-songwriter Lisa Marie Ellingsen’s alt-Americana sound has a timeless quality. Combining accomplished guitar playing with clear, heartfelt vocals, Ellingsen’s music is influenced by many uniquely American styles, including rock n’ roll, blues, folk, and country. Lisa Marie Ellingsen has been playing guitar since the age of 15 years old. A lead guitar player for rock and Americana bands, Ellingsen did not begin writing her own songs until her mid-twenties. Often compared to one of her musical heroes Lucinda Williams, Ellingsen’s multiple geographic influences shine through. A native of Southern California she immersed herself into the music scenes of New Orleans and New England. Her blend of Americana draws upon rock n’roll, blues, folk, and country. A compilation of both old and new original songs, the upcoming Lisa Marie Ellingsen album “Nola to Noho” (slated to be released in May 19, 2017) is a tribute to the circuitous route the songwriter took as a musician. Website here, Facebook here.
Musically 'Rodeo of Broken Dreams' has a strong rock'n'roll feel to it, whilst Lisa Marie Ellingsen's vocals add some Americana flavour's to this uptempo and sophisticated song.
Background - Since releasing debut single ”Ghost” in December 2015 twenty year old Gothenburg native Mira Aasma has taken giant steps towards the stars. Follow up ”Stereoscope EP” got praise from The 405, Noisey, Bon Magazine and Nordic By Nature, and she did a full Swedish summer tour, including gigs with current Swedish superstar Miriam Bryant. Since then Mira’s been working in classic Gothenburg indie studio Music-A-Matic, producing what is now her forthcoming debut album for Birds Records. We find ourselves in between the experimental, dark and dystopia, just as much as in the playful, cheerful and welcoming state of mind. Contrasts. Pounding bass meets violins and choirs. Vocal sounds taken from everyday life finds its way through samplers and gets out in completely different shapes and forms. Digital and mechanical sounds clashes with the warmth of analogue. Mira’s been writing, producing and recording this material by herself, also playing the main share of the instruments on the album. The album was mixed and mastered in Stockholm by Robin Rudén. Facebook here.
It's a month to the day since we first featured Mira Aasma, and she has quickly followed up on her last share with 'Mirrors'. The latest song is a delicious indie pop song with electro overtones adding an extra layer of hooks, to a very polished track.
Background - On Us and Us Only's debut album, Full Flower, out July 14 (Topshelf Records), the Baltimore band deliver a rapturous collection of intricate indie rock. This week they shared the album's lead single, "Bored of Black". Us and Us Only formed as a trio in Baltimore around 2009. After self-releasing four EPs that vary between acoustic arrangements to a warped vision of indie rock that features chopped and sampled vocals alongside more dense and distorted soundscapes, the band has settled into a groove that manages to distill all of those sounds into their first LP entitled Full Flower.
Full Flower is an exercise in letting the light in - the result of a band exploring sonic space throughout its thirteen tracks, weaving smaller, more production intensive vignettes into the larger fabric of Us and Us Only’s trademark see-sawing dynamics. In allowing its home in bedroom ambiance to work in harmony with high fidelity studio prowess, Full Flower is a rock album viewed through the morning haze of half-open eyes. Bandcamp here, Facebook here.
'Bored of Black' is an indie rock song that gently begins and allows the music to expand and refrain along the way, as if the band are teasing out the song. Smooth vocals and some thoughtful musicianship ensures the July album release is clearly on our radar.
Background from Midday Swim - We’ve just released a video for “Hold On Tight” - the heart of our upcoming EP Climbing Out of Caves. The surrealist-fantasy feel of the video came from the director, Pedja Milosavlijevic, and our mutual admiration of films like "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", "Pulp Fiction", and "The Grand Budapest Hotel", as well as the general work of directors such as David Lynch, Wes Anderson, Emir Kusturica and some classic Spielberg. When writing this song we made an effort to capture the spirit of childhood - a time when one’s imagination can run wild. Through a child’s eyes the world looks like magic and the song suggests that even now we should try to recapture that sense of youthful wonderment. There is a spirit of perseverance both in the instrumentation and the lyrics that we also wanted to reflect in the music video. Website here, Facebook here.
Midday Swim gradually allow 'Hold On Tight' to unfold with some smooth indie rock music and vocals. As promised the video and song work together and do so very well. Melodic and full of hooks this is a fine track in it's own right, add in the video, and it's a winner.
Background - Everything Turned to Color share their third single, "Invisibility," from their forthcoming, debut album, Life Imagined, due out June 23rd 2017. Everything Turned To Color includes brothers Bryan and Kyle Weber, two ex-alt-rock bandmates who co-own DIY tour booking website IndieOnTheMove.com (which services nearly 100K members) and their classically trained neighbor, Neha Jiwrajka, who left a tech job at Google to pursue a Masters in Jazz and vocal performance (her mother is a classically trained Hindustani singer). Starting March 25th, the trio will hit the road for a 24-date tour through NY, CA, PA, VT, MA, ME, CT and NJ. Inspired largely in part by Bryan and Kyle's foray into parenthood, Life Imagined plays heavily on the bittersweet dualities of life and the big questions we all must ask. While much of the music exudes a whimsical lightheartedness in mood and melody, the lyrics dive deep into the fragility and innocence of childhood, the significance of enduring friendship, and the inevitable moments of love and loss that haunt us all. Website here, Facebook here.
'Invisibility' is an elegant and cultivated modern folk orientated song, where graceful vocals are accompanied by some delicate and exquisite music and subtle harmonies.
Background - Columbia, South Carolina indie/psych pop band Those Lavender Whales, are releasing their sophomore record ‘My Bones Are Singing’ via SC label Fork & Spoon 4/7/2016. Written around singer Aaron Graves’ struggle with a rare, life threatening brain tumor in 2014, the tracks on My Bones Are Singing are existential, intricate pop songs that highlight spirituality, growth, family, and hope. Throughout the record, in the darkest spots and the brightest moments, though, Graves sticks to the central motif of his oeuvre as Those Lavender Whales, which he started in his college dorm room at the turn of the millennium: striving to be a better person. “I know it really hurts to grow,” Graves concedes on “Open Up,” before offering, “I know you’re taking us through rougher weather.” My Bones Are Singing marks a considerable growth for Those Lavender Whales, too. Recorded with Chaz Bundick (Toro Y Moi) in Berkeley, California, and at Graves’s home in Columbia, South Carolina, My Bones Are Singing is full of bigger sounds and a broader palette that parallels the way this band’s world expanded suddenly in a period of rough weather with huge amounts of uncertainty and love. The personal songwriting, thoughtful arrangements and delightful quirkiness that Graves established on a handful of EPs and 2012’s Tomahawk of Praise remain, but Bundick’s production gives My Bones Are Singing an airiness imbued by stacks of vintage synthesizers and crisp production. Indeed, Those Lavender Whales has grown physically as well, not into simply a fleshed-out band, but a full-fledged family. Jessica Bornick, Graves’s wife, plays drums. Multi-instrumentalists Christopher Gardner and Patrick Wall, two of Graves’s longtime friends, round out the band. Facebook here, Bandcamp here.
'Lose My Mind' mixes fuzzy psychedelic sounds, alongside steady rhythmic vocals that seem to rotate around the music creating a hypnotic feel throughout.
Background - Kacey Johansing announces new album, The Hiding, shares first single "Do You Want Me". “It seems great opportunities come in blessings as well as tragedies,” Kacey Johansing sings on the title track of her third album, The Hiding. After the breakup of her band Yesway, and an abrupt falling out with her closest musical collaborator, Johansing set out to record a new batch of songs that resulted from the sea change in which she had now found herself. Instead of drawing from her regular band, Johansing pulled from a wider cast of players that she’d come to know in the community of musicians throughout California and the West Coast. The resulting sound is one based wholly and unabashedly in pop. Nods to Christine McVie and Fleetwood Mac can be heard, but Johansing brings these sounds to a modern stage, blending her ethereal vocals with effervescent synthesizer washes and reverberating open-tuned guitar. Recorded at Panoramic House in Stinson Beach, where Kacey worked as caretaker, as well as at home in Bolinas, on a ridge above the cloud layer in Big Sur, and at a friend’s studio in Portland, the album also serves as a document of Kacey’s time spent traveling in search of the sound she was after. After finishing initial tracking, and still reeling from the heartbreak of losing her musical community, Johansing found a necessary move was in order. Landing somewhat-blindly in Los Angeles, she continued to work on the album and hold it close. The end result is The Hiding, a tone poem about loss, growth and “leaving the insular beauty of a tight-knit community,” as Johansing describes it. The release of The Hiding comes at a time when Johansing is deeply longing to emerge from her extended absence and reconnect with her desire to create and share her music. “The Hiding” is set for release June 2 on Night Bloom Records, a brand new label Johansing founded with Real Estate’s Alex Bleeker and longtime-friend and songwriter Jeff Manson. Website here, Facebook here.
A vibrant pop vibe is right there from the start on 'Do You Want Me'. It's a song that grows in depth musically, whilst the vocals not only drive the melody, they add additional sonic layers and atmosphere.
Background - 23rd Hour are currently sharing their video for "Hypothetically" from their upcoming record Perfect Strangers out this month. 23rd Hour was created after a chance meeting at a coffee house transformed unlikely bedfellows Sherry-Lynn Lee and George Paolini into sympathetic artistic souls. They come from different backgrounds, genres and eras, but when their individual aesthetics intertwine, they hit that sweet spot of subtle adventurousness epitomized by artists such as James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Norah Jones, and The Civil Wars. Sherry and George creatively interlace as songwriters, singers, and instrumentalists. Songs on Perfect Strangers fluidly shift from Sherry at the center, with George on background vocals, to tunes led by George with Sherry providing support. George sings in an understated baritone, and Sherry possesses a versatile mezzo-soprano. Often their vocals blend in tight, flowing harmonies. Both are gifted instrumentalists, proficient on guitar, piano, mandolin, harmonica. And they dabble in cello, clarinet, ukulele and percussion. Their debut album Perfect Strangers wraps visceral stories with clever wordplay and elements of jazz, classical, rock, folk and pop. Their sound is notably organic, employing acoustic instruments and, when electric, a very clean, unprocessed tone. Facebook here.
Both gentle and sensitive 'Hypothetically' mixes a beautiful duet alongside intricately delivered music, that adds to the intimate mood of this delightful song.
Background - The new single from Easy, the highly anticipated new album from rising band The Weeks, has now been shared. The Weeks is twin brothers Cyle (vocals) and Cain (drums), Sam Williams (guitar/vocals) and Damien Bone (bass). Formed when its members were in high school in Jackson, Mississippi, the band self-released its debut EP Dog Days. More than ten years and a handful of critically acclaimed albums later, the band has relocated to Nashville and toured extensively worldwide with Kings Of Leon and the band liked them so much, they set up their own label – Serpents & Snakes – to put out their record. But their influences run deeper than that, and the grittiness and authenticity of their sound has seen them tour with the likes of both Meat Puppets and Local H in the past. Of the record, frontman Cyle Barnes says, “We called it Easy because every time I make music with these guys, it’s easy. It feels good. But the other side of it is there’s nothing easy about being in a band. There’s nothing easy about staying together for ten years and still wanting to make music. We have the hardest and easiest job on the planet. But it works for us.” Thematically, Easy explores new ground for the band. Bassist Damien Bone explains, “We just wanted to make a rock record. We weren’t as concerned making it a southern rock record. The southern thing is always going to part of what we do. ” Facebook here.
Our second feature for The Weeks and 'Start It Up' is another powerful rocker, with vocals and musicians competing for their own personal share in the action. Collectively they deliver a bluesy and punchy rock'n'roll delight.
Background - There is a thumping psyche-rock single with swagger, attitude and meaning coming out on April 14th from Barnsley (UK) based Heavy Suns. When it comes down to it, who doesn’t have a love for The Beatles, Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin? It sounds cliché that South Yorkshire’s newest and most exciting export Heavy Suns take influence from those classic bands as well as recent incarnations of the psyche-rock genres but with the dark, thumping new single ‘Hide’ the five-piece are doing things with these roots that are seriously worthy of note. Exciting as much as it is familiar, the single is the result of years of honing the band after originating as a three piece and the current line-up finally coalescing together in 2015. “Being born and raised in a town like Barnsley you always have some sort of awareness of anybody around you that is involved in music and I think that was the case with the five of us. Travis, Tom and Luke all being in different bands at the same time around 2009. Callan later joining Travis's band and Ross working as a local gig promoter & DJ,” explains lead vocalist and guitarist Travis Glen Eaton. Having recently sold out shows in Sheffield and Leeds, the buzz around this band is really taking hold locally across Yorkshire and title ‘Hide’ is an oxymoron for the band’s plans with its release. The in your face fuzzy riffs and psych atmospheres swallow whole all exposed to it in a gloriously free floating tsunami of hypersonic sound. Facebook here.
'Hide' cuts to the chase as a formidable, dominant rock track. The music is tight and menacing, the vocals add the swagger and psych, and the band deliver with aplomb.
