Lore City - J.D. Wilkes & Legendary Shack Shakers w/Jello Biafra - Nelson Sobral - Tidal Wave - Kat Von D - Birdtalker

Lore City - Participation Mystique (Album).

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow never was. Move your piece around the board, sheath of the physical. Light the lamp within. Corral. Catch sight of a fireball careening across the sky, blazing. Something is on fire, and it’s coming down on us. Lull into the love that is afforded to you, lull into the lead of sleep, lull into the movies. 

Push, pull. Marching to our realizations, marching to work, marching to our resolutions. And you’re waiting, waiting for that call to come. Standing across from, standing next to, coming to a standstill. Earthly divide. The eternal afternoons, parallel. The moments when something moves closer. A phantom ship wafting, calling home across the water. Recreating the familiar, ancient original feeling. An expanse, cascading.

Queued up in a world of limbo and revolution, Lore City tunneled into new songs, finally sending Alchemical Task to press in the early summer days. By then, they were halfway through Participation Mystique. Original Feeling cleared the way, and by the time Buttons materialized with somber holiness, they knew it was finished. Another installment for the continuum, its contents esoterically encyclopedic.

Lore City is an American art rock duo formed in 2011 and currently based in Portland, Oregon. Band members include Laura Mariposa Williams (vocals, keyboard, guitar) and Eric Angelo Bessel (percussion, keyboard, guitar). They met in 2003 as peers in the College of Visual & Performing Arts at Syracuse University. Reconnecting years later, Laura and Eric formed Lore City in 2011 and married shortly after that.

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J.D. Wilkes & Legendary Shack Shakers w/Jello Biafra - Rawhide!

Twenty-five years. Two-and-a-half decades. A quarter of a century. A long time no matter what you are talking about. So it’s no surprise J.D. Wilkes wanted to celebrate that milestone for his band, the Legendary Shack Shakers.

Founder/frontman/multi-instrumentalist Wilkes decided the best way to commemorate a quarter century of making music with his band was — of course — by making more music. But like most long-lasting groups, the Legendary Shack Shakers have had a lot of band members come and go through the years. So a “family reunion” was planned, one that would host past members and the current lineup for celebratory recording sessions. The result is the group’s new full-length offering from Alternative Tentacles, Cockadoodledeux, due out October 8, 2021.

The title is a nod to the Shack Shakers’ 2003 album, Cockadoodledon’t. Though not their debut record, it was the one that broke the group to a wider audience. Its explosive collision of punk, blues and country was perhaps what made the Shack Shakers legendary.

Cockadoodledeux, however, is more singular in its focus. Wilkes had been yearning to set his rock ’n’ roll leanings aside and record something new. This time, instead of hopping genres as many of his albums do, Wilkes wanted to explore one genre alone. He wanted to just make a country-and-Western record.

“Our older albums jump around all over the place, genre to genre, styles that are almost diametrically-opposed even,” he says. “But this record jumps only within country music itself. It's a big-tent genre, really. It has all these little subgenres within it providing endless variety. From Western swing and rockabilly to spaghetti Western and bluegrass — and even Tex Mex.”

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Nelson Sobral - In The Middle Of The Night

Background from Nelson - I was down in Nashville writing, performing, and fired up after playing at The Bluebird when I had the riff for my gritty new single bouncing around in my head.

The lyrical slant for "In The Middle Of The Night" started to form as I wanted to share the experience with my wife who was back home in Toronto.

I'm a huge classic soul & country music fan, and this track hits the sweet spot.

This rockin' song is about those early days of dating when it feels like you're the only two people that exist. You keep it your little secret because you don't want anyone to know yet, so you hang out in the middle of the night when there's no one else around. – Nelson Sobral.

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Tidal Wave - Next Year.

Tidal Wave is a seven-piece art rock band known for their powerful soundscapes and diverse instrumentation.

Formed in 2018, the group met each other working and performing in the local live scene in Toronto. This eclectic group of songwriters was initially put together by guitarist and lead vocalist Connor Young who assembled guitarist Marco Carboni, guitarist and producer Marcus Retterath, drummer and keyboard player Mike Poisson, violinist and vocalist Joey Assaad, violinist Brittany Iwanciwski, and bassist Kyle Texiera.

Whether you are listening to their recorded or live material, the band meticulously layers it’s elements to give the music a full wall of sound with forward momentum. It is an ever present atmosphere composed of rich textures of guitars and synthesizers, with a delicate balance between soaring string lines and strong vocal melodies. The name of the band rather accurately depicts the overall tone of an unrelenting unstoppable force.

Tidal Wave evokes the melodic elements of indie rock bands like Arcade Fire, while creating compelling production-heavy ambient synth and guitar textures comparable to Godspeed! You Black Emperor and My Bloody Valentine. In 2020 they released their single “Our Silhouettes” on all streaming services and will be releasing their EP in the fall of 2021.

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Kat Von D - Fear You.

Gifted multi-hyphenate Kat Von D shares synthwave driven single ‘Fear You’. On the track, impassioned paranoia seeps through the cracks of her delivery as she details “being scared to let yourself fall in love,” bathed in a gorgeous retro soundscape laced with instantly recognisable 808 drums. Lyrically, the track explores trust, self-exploration and the concept of overcoming your inner fears when it comes to fully committing your heart to a loved one. Written with Linda Perry, the single was produced by Kat and her band members Gregg Foreman AKA Mr. Pharmacist (synth 1), Sammi Doll (synth 2) and Dave Parley (drums).

Talking about the track Kat says; “this was originally my favorite track. It still might be! I chose it to be the fifth song, because five is my favorite number. Lyrically, it’s about how you can’t lose if you don’t play. You’re so scared of taking the leap and trying, because you assume you’re going to fail. I was in a relationship where we were too scared to make it real. It was self-tormenting. You’re building it up to fall apart. You want to know someone wholeheartedly, but that would require you to get over your fear. You just won’t.”

The new cut follows on recently released singles, the driving darkwave laced ‘Enough’, the vulnerable synthwave slow jam, ‘I Am Nothing’, which found the talented artist at her most intimate and vulnerable, and the debut single ‘Exorcism’ - defined by Billboard as “a darkwave bop about love, loss and change” - which unveiled the album's recurring theme, in Kat’s own words; “‘Love Made Me Do It’ is a collection of all my hopeless romantic thoughts poured into one album.”

‘Love Made Me Do It’ sits at the core of Kat’s universe, proving that music is her first and strongest passion. Having been a classically trained pianist since her youth with a deep appreciation for music of all genres, Kat poured her soul into this long-awaited full-length debut album. The project features collaborators including Dave Grohl, Linda Perry, Dave Sitek (TV On The Radio), Peter Murphy (Bauhaus), Danny Lohner (Nine Inch Nails), Ladyhawke and Charo.

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Birdtalker - Old Sob Story.

Nashville-based indie/folk group Birdtalker announced their anticipated sophomore album will release on October 8th through AntiFragile Music. The self-titled effort is the follow-up to their 2018 critically acclaimed debut One. With their new album, Birdtalker find solid ground and step into their own with their most confident and unrestrained set of songs to date. They also released today their new single "Old Sob Story," a rollicking song exemplifying the band's newfound creative freedom. Full of bravado and sass, it brazenly marches into new distortion-soaked sonic territory.

"'Old Sob Story' is about getting out of the head and into the body and a deeper sense of knowing," stated the band. "It feels like an echo of 'Heavy,' but instead of being sensitive and melodramatic, we're very open-handed and unabashed, almost silly. Lyrically, it's got a 'I'm tired of myself' vibe; just done with the old and ready for the new."

Fronted by couple Zack and Dani Green, along with Brian Seligman (guitar), Jesse Baker (bass), and newcomer Chris Wilson (drums/percussion), Birdtalker explore how to navigate the unknown, embrace uncertainty, and learn to let go. With the unexpected success of their 2017 breakout single "Heavy" (now over 80 million streams), the band had to write, record, and release their first album with a sense of urgency. The whirlwind debut (which garnered acclaim from Rolling Stone, NPR Music, Billboard, World Cafe, American Songwriter, and Relix among others) led to non-stop touring, festival appearances, and even their debut performance on the world famous Grand Ole Opry.

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Martha Wainwright - Single Girl, Married Girl - Nelson Sobral

Photo - Gaelle Leroyer

Martha Wainwright - Hole In My Heart.

Martha Wainwright is beginning again. The beguiling performer and songwriter returns with Love Will Be Reborn, out in August. Not since 2012’s Come Home to Mama has a Martha Wainwright record been so full of original written material. Wainwright’s fifth studio album follows recent years of loneliness and clarity in search of optimism and joy.

Wainwright wrote the first song—and what would become the title track— of the record a few years ago. It was a very dark time, she says, but the positivity and luminosity of “Love Will Be Reborn” signalled what was to come. Wainwright was at a friend’s home in London to collaborate on something else entirely when she was struck by the need to write the song. Wainwright demures when songwriting – her process is undisciplined and she prefers to be alone. That day, soon left to that solitude, “Love Will Be Reborn” poured out of her.

“I wrote the song in its entirety within ten or fifteen minutes. I was bawling.” The track feels very English to Wainwright with a soft melody and thrumming guitar, evoking pastoral scenes. Wainwright croons, “There is love in every part of me, I know / But the key has fallen deep into the snow / When the spring comes I will find it, and unlock my heart to unwind it.” It’s poetic and mysterious, yet still there is a yearning for joy and renewal. Wainwright sang the as-yet recorded “Love Will Be Reborn” on tour, serving as an anthem, giving her hope in a time when it was hard to have some.

Much of Wainwright’s songwriting since 2016’s Goodnight City felt too raw. “There were several years where I picked up the guitar, and I was so, so sad and depressed. I would just put it down because It was terrible.” Before writing it out, or writing through it for catharsis, Wainwright had to live it. Album opener “Middle of the Lake” reinforces Wainwright’s path forward as she sings over voltaic chords and percussion, “I sing my songs of love and pain / Winds of change or simply singing, I’m singing in the rain.” Her work never shies away from an existential throbbing wound. “There are a couple major subjects on the record. From what I can tell, there’s really dark and then light,” she says. “It really is reflective of a very difficult period of divorce. Then, after that, it’s meeting somebody new and amazing. And so you hear certain songs about this new love.”

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Photo - Anna Azarov

Single Girl, Married Girl - Hurt Her So.

Steeped in a folk songwriting tradition that harkens back to Pete Seeger and Joan Baez mixed with modern songwriting elements in the style of Jenny Lewis and Brandi Carlile, Single Girl, Married Girl, fearlessly tackles issues ranging from loss and drug addiction to insecurity and depression.

The LA-based pop/folk/Americana group fronted by singer/songwriter and banjo player, Chelsey Coy, have released “Hurt Her So,” their first offering since 2017’s album, Spark. The haunting, harmony-rich track offers a taste of what’s to come from the band, filled with poignant lyrics, lush instrumentation, catchy melodies and sweeping musical arrangements.

Coy co-wrote this song, along with many others to be released soon, with her husband, Gary Knight, drawing on personal struggles including the death of close family members, health challenges, and battles with depression that paralleled the Coronavirus pandemic. "Art happens on a subconscious level and sometimes it's only after you've written the songs that you look back on them and realize what you’re processing," Knight says.

Single Girl, Married Girl · Hurt Her So

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Nelson Sobral - In The Middle Of The Night.

Following in the footsteps of “Pendulum,” the acclaimed spring 2021 single from Toronto-based songwriter Nelson Sobral, comes “In The Middle Of The Night,” a song which marks a further venture into Sobral’s eclectic and trademark mix of soul, country and rock and roll. While equally reminiscent of ’70s Rolling Stones, the most stomping numbers by Johnny Cash, and the most celebrated tracks from the extensive Stax Records catalogue, “In The Middle Of The Night” was written as an ode to those fleeting moments shared only by lovers bound for the deepest of deepest bonds. “It’s about the early days of when you first start seeing each other,” Sobral describes. “Where you’re just sort of sharing little secrets, and starting to build that private, intimate thing.”

Composed after a trip to Nashville, Sobral recalls how overwhelmingly inspired he was by the rhythm and texture of the bustling, musically vibrant city. “If you walk away from that place without coming away with that energy, you’re sort of missing the point,” Sobral explains. Visiting all the iconic landmarks that adorn Broadway or Music Row, Sobral was deep within the grips of Nashville’s bustling and contagious buzz. Of the teary pedal steels, shimmering acoustic guitars, pounding kick drums, and glowing horns constantly emanating from the fronts of open bars, Sobral remarks: “You should always walk away from an experience like that feeling inspired.”

With its bombastic horn sections provided by Selcuk Suna and featuring Sobral’s virtuosic and guitar playing, “In The Middle Of The Night.” exemplifies the songwriter’s effortless amalgamation of the touchstone styles of Americana, of which Nashville is a welcoming, beckoning light. The single further explores Sobral’s passion for mixing soul, country, and rock and roll into one celebratory style. “This is like Otis Redding wrote a song with Willie Nelson,” Sobral reveals. “My two main roads are old country and old soul, driven down the rock and roll path.”

Nelson Sobral · In The Middle Of The Night

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Dessa - Nelson Sobral - The Catenary Wires

Dessa - Life On Land.

Today singer, writer, and rapper Dessa has released “Life On Land,” the third installment of her new single series IDES — the project sees Dessa dropping new music on the 15th of each month.

“I started writing ‘Life on Land’ sitting at my Casio keyboard wearing a green sweater and with my hair still wet from the shower,” Dessa explains. “I know because I filmed a little video of myself playing the key line to make sure I didn’t forget it. The first lyrics came easily: ‘Flip a coin, flip a car / I don’t care where we are / the picture and the sound won’t sync / some things time can’t fix’. Almost every other line resisted being written. 

I walk a lot to try and solve that problem, muttering for a mile or two and coming home with another viable four bars. Like the other songs in the IDES series, this track is a collaboration between me and producers Lazerbeak and Andy Thompson. All three of us thought the song needed an epic pop chorus…but those are easier to talk about than they are to write. When we finally had words and music for each section, we tried several sequences before landing at the structure on record. In the end, we built with pop bricks, but decided to ditch the pop floorpan and go rogue.”

Alongside this release, Dessa is also announcing a collaboration with Dogwood Coffee Co. on a limited-edition coffee. IDES coffee—available in 12 oz whole bean packages—is a blend of coffees from Mexico and Colombia, lightly roasted to produce a cup with notes of maple syrup and dark chocolate covered almonds. Online orders can be placed via Doomtree’s website, and packages will be available at Dogwood’s three retail locations in Minneapolis and St. Paul later this month. A portion of proceeds from sales at Dogwood’s shops will benefit Second Harvest Heartland, one of the nation’s largest and most effective hunger relief organizations. The custom coffee is Dessa’s latest venture into food and beverage collaborations, joining her two signature ice cream flavors with Izzy’s Ice Cream and limited-edition bourbon and rye from RockFilter Distillery.

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Nelson Sobral - Pendulum.

Long, swaying grass, the hoofbeats of horses, and infinite blue skies: this is the typical imagery that has long come to mind when someone brings up Americana. But for Toronto-based Nelson Sobral, when you inject Americana with a hard-edged, urban blast of gritty midwest blues, rock ‘n’ roll, and northern soul, Americana adopts an entirely new identity, one of overpasses, subway trains, and the grit of city streets.

“I really don’t care if people think I’m ‘rural’ or not,” Sobral says from within the murky labyrinth of downtown Toronto. Despite being born and raised in the rough-and-tumble Parkdale neighbourhood, Sobral has long been surrounded by an outlaw spirit and lawless, yet valorous, energy. “My uncle loved country music—Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson were always playing at his place—but Otis Redding is my spirit animal for vocals, and growing up, I admired all the guitar players that served the song and meant more to me than just solos, like Jimmy Page and Keith Richards: they had dynamics and song craft. All of it is part of my gumbo, for lack of a better word.”

For Sobral, all that is sacred is the song, and the means by which it is delivered transcends genre. Though clearly inspired by the roots songwriting giants—the Hank Williams and the Gram Parsons of the world—Sobral’s work deserves a wider scope, a wider breadth, and a wider reach. Through the lens of soul, blues, and rock and roll, Sobral’s songwriting, paired with his incomparable voice and monster guitar playing, is fit for any stage, any night of the week, any audience, anywhere.

Nelson Sobral has already defined his road-hardened career by sharing stages with the likes of legends such as David Wilcox, The Trews, and Jeff Healey, and his knuckles-to-the-dirt, workhorse spirit has seen him tour and play relentlessly across Canada and the United States. “You need to do those things as a musician to experience life,” Sobral continues. “Even if you write from that perspective, you can tell if someone’s done it or not. You can tell when someone’s paid their dues.”

Sobral certainly has, like the aforementioned songwriting greats that have come before him. With a career due to be long, enduring, and unconcerned with being pigeonholed and catering to one image, one sound, and one spirit, Nelson Sobral has bigger plans: beneath the wide canopy of his influences and styles, Sobral continues to unite listeners with the impact of his songs and energy, as varied and wide-reaching as car wheels on a gravel road and the barreling rhythm of a Toronto streetcar.

Nelson Sobral · Pendulum

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The Catenary Wires - Mirrorball.

Mirrorball takes two lonely single people, and takes them for a night out in an 80s disco.  Surrounded by divorcees and middle-aged drunks, will they be too shy to talk, or will they find some love action?  Is this going to be heaven or hell?

This is definitely the most positive and the most romantic duet The Catenary Wires have ever released.   With delicate – and not so delicate – musical tributes to the 80s, Mirrorball starts off sceptical, but ends up falling in love with the music of a decade that was pure, unsubtle, tasteless and synthetic.  The 80s disco turns out to be heavenly!

To celebrate, there’s a real (virtual) 80s disco in the diary - and everyone is invited.  Top indie club How Does It Feel has invited The Catenary Wires (and a lot of guest DJs) to take over for the night on March 27th. The playlist will be mostly heaven, but there will be a bit of hell thrown in...

Rob and Amelia (ex Talulah Gosh, Heavenly) started The Catenary Wires as a duo, but they’re a full band now – and the new recordings have a very different tone, with the inspired contributions of Fay Hallam (keyboard), Ian Button (drums) and Andy Lewis (bass).

The Catenary Wires write songs for grown-up indie kids.  They don’t pretend to be 23 any more, but they do remember what it felt like.   Their songs are a combination of joy and regret, innocence and experience.

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