TANDM - T.G. Shand - Jay Wood - Cara Hammond - Moving Into Tucson

TANDM - Sirens (Album).

On the surface, they’re charming in their sweet simplicity – effortlessly compelling thanks to graceful melodies, heartfelt lyricism, and syncopated synergy. But the deeper you dig, the more Toronto duo TANDM’s songs seem to transcend time, place, and even stylistic categorization. The core duo of vocalist/guitarist Maxine Beck-Sinderby and drummer Thomas Franklin first met in their mid-teens and quickly united over a unique creative chemistry.

Their new collection, Sirens, finds the duo teeing up their most engaging and enveloping output to date – a potent distillation of the magical individual components that comprise TANDM’s masterful take on alternative pop but with a newfound polish and elevated production style. The rhythms are entrancing and engaging, drawing the listener into a warm, dreamlike world of stirring melodic dynamism and delicate-but-dauntless vocals.

The title track, “Sirens,” blasts the hopefulness and excitement of youth, with lyrics referencing the Greek myths of Odysseus and Icarus. TANDM describe the painful truths of growing up, independence and severing the connection from family.

“I have always tried to tell a lesson or a story in our music,” says Maxine. “With our first two EPs, the majority of our songs were about teenagehood, with many of the themes touching on negative experiences of growing up. With this upcoming EP Sirens, the music is much more about the transition, post teenage angst. The upcoming songs are about the progress and the ‘moving on’ of past troubles, and how we overcame them. Consider it a sequel to our previous chapter.”

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T.G. Shand - Cinnamon (E.P).

New Zealand based dream pop artist, T. G. Shand, known for her ethereal soundscapes, is announcing the release of her highly anticipated sophomore EP, ‘Cinnamon’. The EP is set to captivate listeners with its meticulously crafted tracks and mesmerizing sonic landscapes.

Released on Friday 28th July, ‘Cinnamon’ showcases T. G. Shand's evolution as an artist. Written and produced by Annemarie Duff (Miniatures), the EP features five tracks that have been developed over the past three years. Building on the success of her previous releases, T. G. Shand's ‘Cinnamon’ EP elevates her signature dreamy sound to new heights. Mastered by Bevan Smith, the EP takes listeners on a journey filled with unforgettable melodies and evocative lyrics.

Lead track, ‘Cinnamon’, stands out as a quirky and driving tune that showcases T. G. Shand's sugary vocals, leaving a lasting impression on listeners. With the rest of the EP featuring a range of musical experiences, from the intro track that evokes a floating sensation to some heavier shoegaze numbers and a captivating electronic closing track.


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Jay Wood - Initial Pulse.

West Australian alt-indie acoustic singer-songwriter, Jay Wood unleashed her eagerly awaited single, 'Initial Pulse' on Friday, July 28th, 2023. This release marks the second single from her upcoming EP, 'Respire,' scheduled for release on 1st September. Jay Wood's latest single promises to captivate audiences with its heartfelt lyrics, soothing melodies, and profound messaging.

Produced, mixed, and mastered by the talented team at Norman Solander Studios, 'Initial Pulse' holds a special place in Jay Wood's heart as it represents her personal journey of rediscovering life and falling in love. “This song was the first song I painstakingly managed to write after a long-time re-learning how to play my instruments post-accident” – Jay Wood

After a long period of re-learning to play her instruments following a life-altering accident and a Catastrophic Traumatic Brain Injury, Jay Wood poured her emotions into this song, depicting the joy and excitement of new love, with ‘love’ representing a deeper meaning of life itself. The title 'Initial Pulse' symbolises those first beats of the heart when encountering someone who sparks a newfound love and rejuvenates life—a fresh start filled with hope and anticipation.

Jay Wood's music is an embodiment of her life experiences and her unique ability to connect with listeners on an intimate level. Her skilful lyricism, passionate vocals, and humble demeanour allow her to effortlessly tug on heartstrings - offering insight into her own soul as well as encouraging reflection upon one's own life experiences. Jay's unique thoughts about love, life and everything in-between come alive through honest yet unconventional and at times "in your face" lyrics which touch audiences deeply.

With 'Initial Pulse' and her 1st September forthcoming EP, ‘Respire’, Jay Wood invites listeners on a journey of self-discovery, love, and the pursuit of happiness. Her music serves as a reminder that we each possess the power to shape our own destinies and find fulfilment no matter the obstacles life presents us with.

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Cara Hammond - America.

'America' is Cara Hammond's second self produced single of 2023. Influenced by Lana Del Reyand Fleetwood Mac, America is a summer anthem about what happens after theAmerican dream. Country guitar slides, gospel organ and 60s girl group harmoniesblend together in creating a classic Americana sound that slowly disintegrates viaharmonic shifts.

I wrote America after returning from showcasing at SXSW 2022. At the beginning of 2022 I’d been dropped by my label & left my management, so when I was invited to play this huge festival in Austin, Texas, I couldn’t have been happier.

I spent all my time practicing, planning and emailing industry in the lead up that I didn’t give anything else much thought. SXSW was a dream so when it ended, I landed home with a bump. The weeks after that I felt very lost and unsure what my next step was. Luckily songwriting held the answer and America was born on a rainy day in Dolgellau, North Wales.

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Moving Into Tucson - Moving Into Tucson.

Hey, come along. We are Moving Into Tucson. There is no stopping us, so join us on our trip. All we wanna do is bring joy, happiness and good music to this world. Now, who can argue with that? No-one can! Not even your most bitter critic.

And here it is. Single number 3. It doesn’t matter if you’re young or old. Anyone will dig the message. This tune is just to cool to ignore. The beat is wild, the harmonies are high. Mr. Tambourine Man is going to get ya. Just think of the Byrd that wouldn’t fly and it all makes sense to you. So, if you ever thought about Moving Into Tucson, this is your chance!

Moving Into Tucson is for fans of: REM, Lemonheads, Sugar, The Posies, Buffalo Tom, Teenage Fanclub and the Counting Crows but also reminiscent to bands as U2 or The Police. Contemporary indie pop rock with an early 90s sound, sometimes dark, sometimes mysterious, or vague, but with depth in the music and certainly in the lyrics.

TCBYML · Moving Into Tucson - Moving Into Tucson

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Off Judy - Moving Into Tucson - Bush Tetras - The Tiger Moths

Off Judy - Under The Weather.

With their nonchalant and carefree attitude, this raucous Byron Bay-based garage surf rock trio, Off Judy, are releasing their latest single, 'Under The Weather' with its accompanying music video today Friday, June 9. Formed as a duo, Off Judy originated with singer and guitarist Finn Mcildowie and drummer Thomas Cameron-Duncan. They have since welcomed the addition of drummer Axl Delandro and Thomas Cameron-Duncan’s transition to bass, solidifying their powerful lineup and expanding their sonic possibilities.

'Under The Weather' is the exhilarating new track that showcases Off Judy's fusion of sun-kissed punk and invigorating surf shack anthems. The song effortlessly combines infectious melodies with euphoric energy, creating a proverbial earworm. 'Under The Weather' has their punk roots shining through with a raw rock foundation that bursts with chant-worthy chorus. Masterfully, they have found a sweet spot between a palatable indie rock bop and a punk-laden belter.

The song reflects the struggles of being in a dark place and emphasizes the importance of supporting one another through difficult times to ultimately emerge stronger together. With Men’s Health Week starting on Monday, June 12th, the boys thought now was a fitting time to release the track. Finn Mcildowie speaks on the meaning behind the track:

“We’ve all found ourselves in dark places. Whether it’s a momentary bad headspace or it feels more like an endurance race with no finish line. This song came to life while I was stuck in a quarantine hotel in Hamilton, New Zealand, which undoubtedly influenced its emotions. However, the message is pretty clear—Be there for your mates, let them know they’re not alone. Lean on each other through the shit times and come out better on the other side.“

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Moving Into Tucson - It Should Have Been You.

It Should Have Been You. And why not? But reality isn’t always as straight-forward as that. Missed opportunities and luckily also second chances are both daytime realities of our real life. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But there is always hope. Always. Even beautiful things can come out of this. See the eponymous new single of Moving Into Tucson. It’s fresh, it’s pop, it’s everything you want from your favorite band. Almost anthem like.

Moving Into Tucson is entering new territories with this second single and heading to even greater promises. But that’s for the near future. First this great new track. It Should Have Been You don’t you think? Definitely!

Moving Into Tucson is basically the side effect of the COVID epidemic. Why, you will ask. Well for the simple reason that the band was formed during the pandemic. Can you call Moving Into Tucson a band? Well, yes as in, it's a band, with a singer, guitarist, bassist, drummer etc. But also no because it's not a band as usual. Band members do not come from the same city or even country, but from different parts of the world. When the world was in lock-down and many were forced to stay at home, there wasn't much left for musicians to do other than work from home. But, how? And better, with whom? Like for many, Zoom video brought a solution. Fortunately, we live in an advanced digital world and a lot is possible without necessarily having to be somewhere. Only someone who arranges it. This is where the label TCBYML, the label of the various artists in the band Moving Into Tucson, stepped in.

Result, twenty songs composed over a period of 18 months. These have now been brought together, mixed, mastered and provided with artwork. In 2023, five of them will be released as singles and together with eight more songs will form the album "Distraction" that will see the light on November 24 of this year. A great initiative that may be followed up in 2024. Who's to say.

TCBYML · Moving Into Tucson - It Should Have Been You

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Bush Tetras - They Live in My Head.

The legendary no-wave punk band Bush Tetras have released the title-track from their upcoming LP, They Live in My Head, out July 27th on Wharf Cat Records. It's a jangly and jagged barn-burner, "about people living in your head rent-free and how life is not all it seems," the band writes in a statement. "Not quite a ballad, with its wild fast choruses, kind of like falling off a cliff."

On the heels of the album announcement and a sold out show at Brooklyn's Union Pool, the New York Times selected the lead single "Things I Put Together" as the first track on their weekly music roundup, proclaiming them "a quintessential Lower East Side post-punk band." Bush Tetras has been credited as the band that "bridged the gap between the Ramones and Sonic Youth" (NY Post), and Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore said they are "without a doubt, one of the greatest rock-and-roll groups born and bred in New York City." Needless to say, Bush Tetras have made an enormous impact on rock 'n' roll in New York City and beyond.

Their first album in 11 years, They Live in My Head was produced by Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth, who is now the band's drummer, joining them after founding member Dee Pop passed away in 2021. Also joining the band on bass is Cait "Rocky" O'Riordan of The Pogues and Elvis Costello. You can catch the new Bush Tetras lineup at their album release show on September 15th at Greenwich Village venue Le Poisson Rouge.


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The Tiger Moths - Dreaming Of Yesterday.

The Tiger Moths release their debut album 'When Sunshine Departs' on June 16th 2023. It includes the current single 'Dreaming Of Yesterday' which has garnered numerous excellent reviews.

An established live act on the London scene, The Tiger Moths reached the Grand Final of the Isle of Wight Festival New Blood Competition in 2021 - making it to the last 20 acts from more than 5,000 who applied.

'When Sunshine Departs' was recorded at the band's home studio in North London, produced and engineered by the band's keyboard player, Alex Rosenberg. While the roots of the Tiger Moths' sound can be traced back to the heydays of the 60s and 70s, the band aim to forge a modern twist on the Americana genre by infusing it with other influences.

In large part, the songs for this album were written during the pandemic. Overall, 'When Sunshine Departs' is a snapshot in time of a band who came together during troubled times to create a record that offers a fitting reflection of that period.

Music Elevator PR · The Tiger Moths - Dreaming Of Yesterday

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The Prairie Joggers - Moving Into Tucson - Olive Louise - Vectralux

The Prairie Joggers - In The Wake.

Describing themselves as a gritty folk-rock band The Prairie Joggers (Cody Goertzen (guitar/vocals) and Adam Hill (drums) will release their new EP, ‘Going Nowhere’, Friday June 9th. We have to say this is a very impressive showcase for the duo, who produce some notably original and addictive music. The second single is out today, we will let the band tell you the rest.

All three tracks were written throughout various lockdowns while the two were stuck inside straightening out their sound. The EP was mixed by Riley Hill at No Fun Club Recording Studio and mastered by Philip Shaw Bova.

Blending warm electric guitar, raw vocals and dampened drums, The Prairie Joggers form a thick vintage sound that cushions their bleak but not entirely hopeless lyrical themes. What the band lacks in bells and whistles they make up for with a sincere sense of nostalgia that agrees with their minimalistic approach to instrumentals.

The songs, which derived sluggishly throughout isolation, all stem from personal past experiences surrounding sketchy jobs, hometown funerals and unhealthy habits. “Writing the songs came pretty easy,” explains Goertzen, “making the music feel good was what took awhile.”

Frank and dry with a punchy groove, the first single, ‘Move Along’, reflects on the life and times of a shady work environment. “It’s about being a fly on a wall somewhere for far too long,” says Hill. Laid back cynicism litters each verse while the chorus delivers a more obvious mantra, “find a space that isn’t this place, whatever you do move along.”

The second track off the EP, ‘In the Wake’, is a somber but not entirely sober account of what going home for a funeral might stir up. “Had a few late nights throughout lockdown digging into tired grief,” Hill recalls, “ended up with a song about a funeral that never happened.” “Although the songs suggest a bleaker meaning for the title, sometimes going nowhere is a pretty good place to be,” says Goertzen, “locked down with your best pal making music in your living room.”

 

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Moving Into Tucson - Never Gonna Be Easy.

Moving Into Tucson is basically the side effect of the COVID epidemic. Why, you will ask. Well for the simple reason that the band was formed during the pandemic. Can you call Moving Into Tucson a band? Well, yes as in, it's a band, with a singer, guitarist, bassist, drummer etc. But also no because it's not a band as usual. Band members do not come from the same city or even country, but from different parts of the world.

When the world was in lock-down and many were forced to stay at home, there wasn't much left for musicians to do other than work from home. But, how? And better, with whom? Like for many, Zoom video brought a solution. Fortunately, we live in an advanced digital world and a lot is possible without necessarily having to be somewhere. Only someone who arranges it. This is where the label TCBYML, the label of the various artists in the band Moving Into Tucson, stepped in.

Result, twenty songs composed over a period of 18 months. These have now been brought together, mixed, mastered and provided with artwork. In 2023, five of them will be released as singles and together with eight more songs will form the album "Distraction" that will see the light on November 24 of this year. A great initiative that may be followed up in 2024. Who's to say.

Moving Into Tucson's music is comparable to that of the early 90's. The sound that all who participated could very much agree on. Moving Into Tucson is therefore for fans of: REM, Lemonheads, Sugar, The Posies, Buffalo Tom, Teenage Fanclub and the Counting Crows but also reminiscent to bands as U2 or The Police. Recognizable indie pop rock, sometimes dark, sometimes mysterious, or vague, but with depth in the music and certainly in the lyrics.

TCBYML · Moving Into Tucson - Never Gonna Be Easy

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Olive Louise - Moroccan Oranges.

The new single "Moroccan Oranges" from NY confessional singer/storyteller Olive Louise is released today. The song was inspired by her mother's passing and the vibrant folk/pop single juxtaposes poignant lyrics about inner strength and trying to hold life and family together even when you are in grief.

Olive confides, "the song is about the summer I traveled to Morocco and Paris with my dad and sister after my mom passed away. It’s about the dissonance I felt looking at my dad trying to hold it together and make us feel okay, knowing that even though we were seeing stunning views, and trying new foods, and were there together, we felt completely shattered."

The single is off of her debut cathartic and enthralling EP 275 Kings Point Road, titled for the place where she grew up the actual Main House of The Great Gatsby estate. Olive’s newest music offers an earnest perspective of the stages of grief, something she knows all too well, losing both parents at a young age. She has received praise for the likes of Refinery 29, Wonderland, American Songwriter, LADYGUNN and more. Elle Magazine is set to cover her unique and storied past.

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Vectralux - The Subtle Extravaganza.

Atlanta Indie Pop Band Vectralux read between the lines, reveling in the subtleties of human life on "The Subtle Extravaganza", out April 28th on streaming platforms. This release thematically addresses the ever-changing flux of thought and emotion as a common, shared experience. Musically, "The Subtle Extravaganza" dances slyly through the shadows and back alleys of the subconscious, resilient and poised with layer upon layer of melodic hooks. Fans of indie rock and indie pop innovators like Guided by Voices, Pavement, Dinosaur Jr., The Pixies and Blur should enjoy this new collection.

Vectralux follows up on 2021's impressive debut "Each Morning and the Morning Thereafter" with a new EP, "The Subtle Extravaganza". This new short set represents as much a maturation of the writing style as a departure from the first record. Still displaying the same decades-spanning influences, but incorporating darker themes and new sounds, this EP still shines with effervescent optimism served with a wry grin.

About the new record, producer/bassist/singer Andy Tegethoff said "We all have contrasts and contradictions that pile up in our lives. Plusses and minuses, details and generalities. There's a sine wave of highs and lows but when you look back, eventually we perceive those ups and downs more as a line than a wave. A blur of good days and bad days -- many days both at once. We may remember peaks and troughs, but on the whole it's a plainsong pageant. Just your typical tornado. A stationary journey. It's a Subtle Extravaganza."

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