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Katie Burden's atmospheric art rock has an ineffable, visceral quality to it. Her taste for the theatrical and shamanistic delivery often conjure up the ghost of Jim Morrison but in a modern context, her sound falls somewhere between Perfume Genius and CocoRosie.
After being raised in a small hippy town in Colorado, Burden spent her formative years bouncing around NYC and San Francisco. In 2012 she moved to LA, and after attending a meditation retreat, synchronistically fell in with a group of blue chip musicians including Jennylee and drummer/producer Norm Block (L7, Jennylee, Ghost Recon Breakpoint) who became the catalyst behind her future output. Together they recorded Burden's 2014 debut EP My Blind Eye and the 2016’s full length KP Strange Moon, which garnered overwhelmingly positive press from tastemakers such as Magnet, Noisey, Nylon and Flaunt.
In 2017 Burden moved to Long Beach, composing new material in a house behind a periwinkle fence while studying to become an art therapist. The songs that would eventually come to make up the Edge of Sleep EP were initially inspired by dreams, liberally taking unexpected twists and turns without needing to conform to songwriting norms. “There’s that ancient Toltec wisdom that describes our conscious life as a waking dream that we sort of project into the world,” Burden reflects. “Edge of Sleep’ refers to an occurrence that shakes one from their waking dream and brings about a new perspective or way of seeing.”
Back in the studio with Norm, the two artists began the process of committing this collection of versatile and inventive songs to tape, looping field recordings, playing handmade bells, and sifting through a sea of tones to find the correct colors to flesh out the songs. The final recordings are like insulated worlds, pregnant with moody little moments and cathartic performances, dark and unusual, brave and innovative. “People tell me that when they listen, it stirs something inside them that they can’t quite put their finger on,” says Burden. “I love the idea that this music is soliciting a hard to define pang of emotion for people.” Edge of Sleep is due out this January is under Cautionary Tail Records.
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The new video for Maybird's "In Technicolor (For The First Time), from their album Things I Remember From Earth has just been released. It's a psychedelic journey that is strikingly contemporary, invoking early Tame Impala and Unknown Mortal Orchestra, while tastefully referencing genre trailblazers The Beatles and Electric Light Orchestra.
Shortly after uploading a few songs to SoundCloud in 2016, bandleader and frontman Josh Netsky received a cold call from Danger Mouse, the Grammy-winning producer and songwriter behind such hit records as "The Grey Album" (a mashup of Jay-Z's "The Black Album" and The Beatles' "White Album"), Gorillaz's "Demon Days," Beck's "Modern Guilt" and Adele's "25."
The band quickly released their Turning Into Water EP for 30th Century that same year, followed by the four-song Unraveling EP produced by Patrick Carney of the Black Keys. 2019 has seen the band deliver their first album, Things I Remember From Earth. It's an immaculate debut, showcasing a band with real songwriting chops and effortless hooks. On the album and final single, Netsky writes -
"Our new album is called Things I Remember From Earth, and that title was inspired by Kurt Vonnegut’s novel The Sirens of Titan. So were many of the themes in the songs. Human purpose, holding on to memories, and losing control of your mind/memory are all themes in the book that found a place on the album. “To You” took its inspiration from the philosophy of human purpose. It’s about following your instinct and identifying what matters most to you personally. Don’t let anything get in the way of that… it’s something that I think everyone needs a reminder of from time to time.”
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Singer/songwriter Michael Colton is set to release a new single titled “Brother” that both pays homage to a trusted family member and that also serves as a ballad inspired by a future son. It’s a poignant track that shows a softer side to the blues rock troubadour. Having garnered significant accolades for his more country inflected work in the past, Colton has streamlined his sound which seamlessly blends rock and blues traditions and is anchored by his striking vocals and serious guitar chops. Produced by noted film and television composer/producer Brett Boyett, “Brother” features Colton on vocals and guitar. Producer Brett Boyett brought a groups of studio musicians to round out the production. Song will be available digitally December 13 and an EP will be released in the coming year.
Says Colton: “’Brother’ came to me when my wife and I were talking about having a second kid. At first, I was on the fence and it was my relationship with my brother that made up my mind. My brother and I live pretty far away from each other and we don’t talk as much as either of us would like but I kept thinking that whenever we get together it’s like no time has passed. The part that really drove the nail home for me was the idea that when both of our parents pass away (they’re still with us) he’s literally the only person I shared that part of my life with. I realized that I wanted that for our son.
Colton burst onto the scene in 2010 with a striking blues-rock track titled “Sugar.” Following that up with a deep dive into the songs of Robert Johnson in 2012, Colton continued to hone his blues guitar cred. With a flurry of single and EP releases beginning in 2016, he immediately caught the attention of outlets such as The Boot, Popdose, Huffington Post with an evolved sound that seamlessly combined elements of rock, country, R&B and blues that are anchored by his otherworldly guitar chops. Earlier this year, Colton released two EPs collecting some of the best moments from 2017 and 2018-- Qualified and California Blue.
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When I sing “Something Real” it feels like a weight has been lifted. It feels like a cathartic release every time. I’ve spent my whole life feeling unfulfilled, like I should be doing something more. Desiring the next big thing. This song is about the inward search for freedom. The music itself feels like an emotional release. It’s earnest but also groovy and sexy. Kind of David Lynch meets Neil Young.
We’re all just spinning in circles of time and space. Retro-pop band Frederick the Younger lasso various transitory states and tensions of the heart on their upcoming new EP "Fever." Across six songs, the Louisville-based songwriters -- Jenni Cochran and Aaron Craker -- seek for something real and dissects such issues as regret, love and letting go.
In 2018 they found creative kinship in drummer Meg Samples and bassist Shelley Anderson and started working on the followup to 2017's Human Child. Producer Kevin Ratterman (My Morning Jacket, Ray LaMontagne) couples the vivid, visceral lyrics and equally-emotive arrangements with a slick, yet dreamy, quality. And it’s never at the expense of the innately imposing stories. Lead single “Back to the Wall” untangles the push and pull of a relationship that’s undergoing an inner struggle. “You could say you love me / But you leave me with my back to the wall,” Cochran casts off her frustrations as a snake shedding its skin.
Their willingness to be so vulnerable serves as the EP’s foundation. “Erased,” featuring Craker’s magnetic, raw vocal, and “Deepest Blue” are other sterling highlights, the latter witnessing Cochran hitting an emotional rock bottom and writing a song about it. “I hate regretting things I’ve done, and I know when I’m in that space that I shouldn’t be doing it. I waste time, and I get carried away. This song is me trying to sing myself out of that funk,” she says of the song.
Cochran and Craker are not only the creative core of the band, but they complete each other on a deeply personal level. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Cochran grew up writing songs, yet never played them out. She initially had ambitions to go to school for anthropology but after working overseas, teaching in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, she returned to the states with a newfound drive to pursue music. She relocated to Louisville, and a two-month stay turned into a permanent move when she met Craker through an improv group.
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Lake Jons, hailing from Helsinki and born from the woods by the darkest waters as their namesake reflects, is comprised of Jooel Jons and Mikko Pennanen, who walk a fine line between producer-tandem and full-on band. Since their formation in 2014, the Finnish duo has come through with delicate folktronica-tinged dream-pop. Following from their self-titled debut, which the band performed on their live circuit during the last year, and championed at festivals across the Nordics as well as by Ja Ja Ja, who showcased the band across London, Berlin and Hamburg.
On their recently released sophomore full-length ‘The Coast’, Lake Jons reconnect with their roots, leaving the city and delving into the viridescence of their moniker’s birthplace, the Towars forest. Thematically, the album is Jons’ endeavour to dismantle life, space and time. They present parts of rough instrumentals, layering them with harmony-laden toplines, while each of the singles’ overall structure seems to assemble again seamlessly.
Commenting on the final single lifted from the new album, which was released ahead of the record, Jooel Jons ruminates over the simultaneous perfection and delicacy of existence; “Circle is such a complete shape. The essence of existence in is so full of intricacies, both delicate and powerful, and the circle of life is among them. It’s something that is maintained, even through humanity’s efforts to break everything. The song tells a small story about a boy who lived by the waters of Lake Jons and one day decided to leave the woods. It’s a letter to a dear friend; life’s a mysterious circle.”
He speaks more about the accompanying visual; “Directed by Raimo Saba, the video does a great job of portraying the theme of the song. I have my uncle Pekka, who is an actor, featured which makes this video a little more personal to me. Seeing the finished version for the first time, it almost allowed me to gain a new perspective and experience of the song. Raimo has managed to capture and convey the emotions interwoven in the song.”
And the Director, Raimo Saba adds; "Thinking about freedom in itself brings with it subconscious limitations. I think the concept of freedom is more valuable than one can even understand. It is not just an external concept. It is bound to be a state of yourself and where outside factors have no effect on your state of being. Lake Jons released the accompanying visual for ‘Circle’ 13th December.
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