Sneakpeek - Bethan Lloyd - Gal Musette - Sarah McQuaid

Sneakpeek - Serendipity.

Los Angeles duo Sneakpeek have just returned with new single “Serendipity,” to announce their long-awaited sophomore album, Scene Within A Dream, for a June 2 release..” Discussing, Sneakpeek’s Dora Hiller noted, "Inspired by the teachings of Abraham Hicks and Yogananda, ‘Serendipity' is about the magic of synchronicity and how the universe sends us messages if we are willing to notice the signs.”

Hiller and Aric Bohn reemerged last autumn with the single, “Dreams That You Discarded,” time away focusing their creative energies on other mediums. The duo had released their self-titled debut album in 2013 on Burger Records, with the LA Times hailing it as a, “noisy nine-track album offering up heavy, druggy guitar riffs that’d make Kurt Vile (or Lou Reed) proud.”

While that record combined elements of dream pop with grungy, garage-rock sludge, “Dreams That You Discarded” pointed to a new direction in the duo’s material, with one foot in abstract avant-garde and another foot firmly rooted within the sensibilities of new wave and disco embedded with strands of mutant DNA. Surrounded by walls of synthesizers and vintage drum machines in their Glassell Park home studio, Dora and Aric leaned into their psychedelic abandonments, taking them out on the dance floor.

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Bethan Lloyd - Metamorphosis (4 tracks).

Bethan Lloyd is a Welsh artist whose trance inducing vocals expand over an ocean of rave inspired production, harmonic layering and otherworldly ecstasy. Her sonic exploration has taken her from training as a classical singer, immersing herself in Berlin’s experimental music scene, to learning with shamans, masters and the ancient teachings of the natural world. In her latest album, Metamorphosis, Bethan, producing alongside Pre-Human bandmate and master of noise Isaac Ray, takes her intense explorations of the spirit and emotional realms and blends them into something playful and danceable, a gritty experimental pop.

 

 

Tracklisting
1.Boss Of Big Dreams
2.No Umbilical
3.Antares
4.Aria
5.Cutting Circuits
6.Parasitic Yes
7.None Of The Above
8.Whatever We Delete

Using expressive vocal layers and hypnotic acid breaks to pull the listener into an ecstatic experience, Bethan Lloyd begins this album by exploring the primal state of emptiness, a place where no thought exists and only being, acting and living remain. It is this state of emptiness and often The landscape itself which becomes the inspiration for Bethan's creativity. She is frequently journeying with her sonic tools to ancient Neolithic sites and places of awe and wonder and allowing her surroundings to inspire a unique vocal soundscape. A soundscape that stirs up a sense of the forgotten past.

The album explores the cosmos and the dark euphoria within it, the themes of mind control and diluted society ask a question about where we are headed as a collective. The music is a spell for transformation. A cry for a return to sovereignty and autonomy of mind and body. This project delves into the philosophy of animism, guiding humanity back from its abusive relationship with nature. Cutting the chords of consumerism. Cutting the circuits of control and returning to our true gifts, to the web and to the void.

Bethan Lloyd · Metamorphosis

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Gal Musette - Moment.

The new single "Moment" from pop noir singer/songwriter and piano virtuoso Gal Musette is quite stunning.

Gal confides, "Moment was a song I wrote one verse for 7 years ago, but at some point I lost the paper with lyrics on it and over time almost completely forgot the melody. Years later when I experienced a significant personal loss, I was struggling to express my grief and fell into a crippling season of writer's block.

By a stroke of serendipity, the lyric reappeared on a folded piece of paper in my glove compartment which triggered a memory of the melody, and led full circle to my finishing the song and beginning to let go." Gal's cinematic vocals sing bittersweet melodies over intoxicatedly esoteric chamber pop soundscapes.

Gal Musette · Moment

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Sarah McQuaid - If We DUB Any Deeper It Could Get Dangerous.

Ahead of a 21-show April-May UK tour that takes her from the West Country to Aberdeenshire and from Cumbria to Kent, folk singer-songwriter Sarah McQuaid has joined forces with Tim Norman of 1990s acid and ambient dub duo UVX ((Ultraviolet Explorer)) for “If We DUB Any Deeper It Could Get Dangerous”, a new remix of the title track from her 2018 album If We Dig Any Deeper It Could Get Dangerous.

“It all started with a tongue-in-cheek conversation when we were on tour in the USA to promote the album back in 2018,” explains Sarah’s longtime manager, producer and sound engineer, Martin Stansbury. “Long drives and longer days led, as they often do, to rambling chats that were occasionally intense and often frivolous in nature.”

One such conversation featured the development of a less-than-serious concept in which If We Dig Any Deeper It Could Get Dangerous could be reimagined as a dub album, akin to the Easy Star All-Stars’ classic Dub Side of the Moon.

The “dub remix” idea continued to pop up from time to time as a jokey reference over the ensuing years — until one day Tim Norman asked Martin to master a dub remix he’d done for a US-based singer/songwriter. This transformed into a simple labour exchange, and “If We DUB Any Deeper It Could Get Dangerous” became a reality.

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Sarah McQuaid - Karen Myatt - Blake Dagley

Sarah McQuaid - The Tug Of The Moon

Today a new video for “The Tug Of The Moon (The St Buryan Sessions)” has been shared. Sarah tells us "I was inspired to write it by the “leap second” that we had to add to the New Year’s Eve countdown back in 2016, in order to compensate for the slowing of the earth’s rotation caused by the moon’s gravitational pull."

As with the rest of the album, the track was filmed by Cornish filmmaker Mawgan Lewis and second cameraman John Crooks as it was being recorded live in St Buryan Church.

Born out of the pandemic, The St Buryan Sessions is the sixth solo album by award-winning multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter Sarah McQuaid, and is her most powerful and emotive offering yet.

The album had its genesis in the spring of 2020, when Sarah’s gigs and tours were cancelled due to COVID-19. Thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign, she was able to finance a live solo recording(sans audience) in the lovely medieval church of St Buryan, not far from her home in rural West Cornwall.

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Karen Myatt - Goodnite.

Canadian songstress Karen Myatt has released the second single/video from her sophomore album Femoir. Goodnite is the second in a series of singles/lyric videos to roll-out over the coming months.

“As we bid adieu to 2021, Goodnite is a fitting and timely au revoir; bon nuit, bons rêves” shares Myatt. “A gentle and haunting lullaby to remind us that drifting off to dreams brings relief during troubling times.”

Co-written by Myatt and Montreal composer J. Rimbaudelaire, Goodnite is one of several original compositions to appear on the new recording. Femoir’s 14 songs are a fusion of soul, rock, jazz, worldbeat, and more.

The album was tracked at The Sonic Temple Recording Studio in Halifax, NS and engineered by Darren van Niekerk. It was mixed and mastered by Christian St. Germain at Studio 360 in Montreal, QC.

Some of Canada’s most renowned musicians appear on the new recording, including Chris Mitchell (saxophone), Matt Myer (trumpet), Lisa MacDougall (keyboards), Adam Fine (bass), Geoff Arsenault (drums), Shimon Walt (cello) and Jennifer Jones (violin).

 

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Blake Dagley - Ain't Going Down Like This.

Why Travel When Blake Dagley’s “The Nashville Sessions” Takes You Straight to Tennessee. Take a look inside the emotional smash debut EP that’s sure to make any music lover feel something

What better way to end 2021 than to reflect on the previous few years that we’ve all experienced? After arguably the most emotional time our world has ever seen in decades, Dallas Based singer-songwriter, Blake Dagley, turned all those emotions and struggles with social and emotional anxiety into head-turning music that’s sure to make you think all while singing along to his undeniably ear-catching melodies and relatable lyrics.

“The Nashville Sessions” was recorded with Producer Dean Miller at Sound Emporium Studios & OMNIsound Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. The EP contains 3 powerful, soulful/americana style songs that tug at all the heartstrings. Between Ain’t Going Down Like This, Paradox, and Milly, and with themes like doubt, anxiety, choice, and hope listeners are sure to relate to the lyrics in a variety of ways.

Dagley plans to promote his first EP “The Nashville Sessions” with a whole new visual element. Dagley will release three videos in support of the new EP to gain listener recognition and attraction while increasing his fan base.

"Ain’t Going Down Like This" is a song written to my anxiety and insecurities. After the invitation to come to Nashville, my anxiety came creeping in, and I began to doubt the reality of the moment. I sat down on my back porch (which is my happy place) and began to write a song in response to the doubts and fears that I was feeling. Ain’t Going Down This is a song for anyone with doubts, fears, and anxiety and wants to punch it in the face and tell it; you don’t control me.

 

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Sarah McQuaid - Joce Reyome - The Gracious Losers - Crocodyle

Sarah McQuaid - Charlie’s Gone Home.

For the second and third singles of her new album and video series The St Buryan Sessions, Cornwall-based singer-songwriter Sarah McQuaid delves deep into her back catalog to resurrect “Charlie’s Gone Home”, the first original song she ever recorded as a solo artist, then jumps forward again with “The Day Of Wrath, That Day”, a powerful instrumental composition for electric guitar.

Originally recorded on her 1997 debut album When Two Lovers Meet, “Charlie’s Gone Home” wasn’t a brand new song even then, Sarah recalls. “I’d actually written it back when I was still living in Philadelphia, so it would have been the late 1980s or early 90s. I can remember very clearly the day I wrote it – back in those days I was still thinking of myself not as a songwriter but as a folksinger who happened to write an occasional song when inspiration struck, so to speak.

“I remember reading an interview with some poet whose name I can’t remember, where she said that when she felt a new poem starting to arrive it was like an oncoming train, and she had to rush to her desk to be there ready with pen and paper when the train pulled in to the station.

“Well, this song hit me exactly like an oncoming train, only one that was barrelling along at full steam with whistles blaring. It really knocked me for six, and I remember just sitting on the sofa crying and trying to wipe the tears off my guitar so they didn’t mark the finish – not because it was a sad song but just from the overwhelming emotional impact of writing it.

“It’s been kind of a special song for me ever since, and a lot of people have told me it’s a special song for them, too – at least two different people said ‘Well, I hope “Charlie’s Gone Home” is going to be on it’ as soon as I told them about the project.”

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Joce Reyome - Cross My Heart.

From Joce: Allow my new single "Cross My Heart" to transport you to summertime. This will be one to listen to at max volume, driving in the car on a comfy summer night.

When I was first starting to write my own music, it was very tame and folky, just me and an acoustic guitar. I really wanted to explore other genres, and started listening to some Otis Redding, Janis Joplin, Earl Hooker to feel that sound that comes from an old soul. And all of a sudden, this straight blues idea came to mind, and I said "Damn! I gotta get on this!"

It was a fantastic experience working with Erin Costelo and Colin Buchanan (Paper Lions) on this song. In my day-to-day life I am very easy-going, almost to a fault. When it came time to say "yes" or "no" or "I don't like that" during recording, I struggled a bit. But I learned very quickly that only I know what I want it to sound like, and nobody is going to know if I don’t tell them!

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The Gracious Losers - Loath To Leave.

Glasgow-based Folk outfit The Gracious Losers have done the near-impossible, cutting a full record with a 15-piece band. As one-man acoustic shows and sparse live sets dominate the musical landscape, Gracious Losers, headed by songwriter and guitarist Jonathan Lilley, have succeeded in draping listeners in a full-bodied orchestral experience on their new album “Six Road Ends,” while leaving ample room for vulnerable stripped-down moments and opportunities to get down.

The Gracious Losers are a 9-piece supergroup, featuring members of Sister John, Thrum, God Help the Girl, The Parsonage, Sporting Hero and the Berie Big Band, The Gracious Losers draw on their shared and disparate musical influences including celtic folk, 70s psychedelia, and outlaw country. The album title, 'Six Road Ends' refers to an arcane place in Northern Ireland, where six rural roads haphazardly converged at one perilous junction. The crossing no longer exists, and thus has assumed a mythical quality despite once being very real - a place of stuckness, hesitation, and risk. Lilley’s intricate songwriting reflects these themes, feeling at times planted in an intersection and at others moving lightspeed toward uncertainty.

The lead single “Loath to Leave,'' premiering on Here Comes the Flood, follows the throughline of impermanence with a lightly plodding funk groove, unexpectedly melancholy lyrics, and decaying organ frills alluding to a peaceful evaporation. Wailing slide guitar propels listeners along as the track evolves through what feels like time and space. The track’s video underscores the detachment from spacetime, as Lilley and vocalist Amanda McKeown fluctuate freely between chairs in a “perpetual state of magic” before disappearing altogether. The duo can be seen in a state of waiting in a liminal living-room, passing the time by checking watches or kicking the ground, before resolving the tension created by transitional moments with a sense of relief.

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Crocodyle - Passenger Seat.

With precision, drive, and wit, three-piece garage rock band, Crocodyle, has a unique ability to articulate the otherwise inexplicable.

Coming off the release of their last single, “I Feel Good,” which set the internet positively abuzz last summer, Crocodyle is dropping their newest track, “Passenger Seat,” along with its accompanying video. “This song is a direct address to all your special someones,” shares Crocodyle.

“Whoever makes you feel like the coolest version of yourself, whoever is the easiest to laugh with, whoever feels best by your side. It’s nice to have somebody who you know you can run to when nobody else makes sense, and ‘Passenger Seat’ is a rocker dedicated to whoever that is for you.”

The video for “Passenger seat” was filmed in and around residential Nashville under the artistic guidance of Seth Endelman. Endelman is a Nashville-based videographer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and label owner.

“Passenger Seat” is the latest single from Crocodyle’s forthcoming EP, Sharing a Twin Bed, which is set for release in April. Sharing a Twin Bed was produced by Lincoln Parish, the former lead guitarist for Cage the Elephant. Parish left Cage the Elephant in 2013 to follow his passion for producing.

“Crocodyle hits every note that defines punk rock for me,” says Parish. “Their music is young, energetic and fun whilst still maintaining pop sensibilities of artists well beyond their years, I’m excited to see what’s next for these dudes!”

Crocodyle has played in cities all over the US and toured the UK, making a stop in Ireland. Spotted at a small club in Dublin, they were invited to do two sets at Ireland's "Coachella," Electric Picnic, headlined by Kendrick Lamar and The Prodigy.

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Paragon Cause - Ade - Chateau Chateau - Sarah McQuaid - Dallas Moore - IS TROPICAL

Paragon Cause - Making Up For Lost Time.

Life will start to come back to us. "Making Up For Lost Time" is an optimistic song with a sense of longing, a glimmer of hope through the long fog of isolation, whether it be from an old relationship or this last year.

The dreamy video for "Making Up For Lost Time" perfectly captures the emotions and beauty at its core. When you close your eyes after looking at someone you love, the image sits on your retina and slowly fades away, but the memory remains in your head, distorted. It's about time rushing forward and never able to catch up to your future plans. Lost opportunities and warning your past not to make the same mistakes, but feeling it is inevitable.

"Making Up For Lost Time" is the lead single from our full-length album Autopilot due in 2022, produced by The Raveonettes' Sune Rose Wagner.

By the end of the song, we would like for you to be excited to begin the next chapter in your life. Don't settle. Take chances, make mistakes, and acknowledge those same missteps. It's never too late to make up for lost time. - Paragon Cause

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Ade - Something Good.

Adeola “Ade” Fabola is a Manchester based singer/songwriter whose upbeat acoustic pop is laced with rootsy folk, world music and jazz. His intricate figer picking and soft, soulful vocals combine effortlessly into a sweet feel good vibe that has drawn comparisons to Jack Johnson, Tracy Chapman and Nina Simone.
Ade’s journey began in Kano, Nigeria where as a child he learned the piano and the guitar, laying a solid music theory foundation to his expression. 

Ade continued his musical self-development by moving to Manchester in 2018 where his immaculate dress sense and intrinsic aptitude for entertainment has been wowing audiences at festivals, lounges and cafés alike.

Ade Fabola’s quest is to take pleasure in the small things, like realising after a show that a member of the audience seriously thought he was will.i.am. It could have been entirely plausible at a sold out Matt & Phreds, Manchester’s Iconic Jazz club, where many legends have played.

The Animal Farm Label · Ade_Something Good

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Chateau Chateau - Come On Steven.
 

Come on Steven is a relaxing indie-pop song about watching the scenery change through a car window while thinking of the happy memories shared with friends along the way. From the desert’s teeth jutting from green cacti ribs to beach sands and tide pools, Come on Steven is the soundtrack to next summer’s road trip adventures.

Chateau Chateau is an evolving community of musicians led by power couple Alex and Rachel. With beginnings in an abandoned aerospace warehouse in 2018, Chateau Chateau has grown into Tucson’s favorite self-deprecating-glam-rock band - dusty and sparkly at the same time.

Previous singles from Chateau Chateau have already been played on radio in a.o.: Germany, Belgium, USA, Canada, The Netherlands, Australia, Phillipines, UK, Austria, Sweden, New Zealand, Luxembourg, Switzerland and France. Singles from the band also entered the iTunes / Apple Music charts in: Spain, Belgium, The Netherlands and France.

Alex (vocals and guitar) and Rachel (vox and keytar) have perfected the art of playing off of each other's strengths to make the ideal pair. Tom (drums), Jordan (keyboard and guitar), and Zach (bass and guitar) fill out the group.
The band works from Alex’s home studio, where they write, demo, and record every song since their debut single, Crisis Party. During those first recording sessions, the band developed their creative bond and technical process, with each member’s insight and personal touch being implemented along the way. In addition to songwriting, the band takes pride in doing everything from start to finish, together, including recording songs, printing shirts, building props, and sewing stage costumes.

The band has often been noted for their colorful, flamboyant, and party-like vibe that is best on display in their wild and freaky live shows. Despite this festive atmosphere surrounding the band, you can find a much darker, sobering, and visceral imagery in their lyrics, as they frequent the deep end of subjects like mental illnesses, addiction, and suicide. The result of this blend between music and lyrics is a self-deprecating dramedy of five self-loathing introverts imploring their audience to sing and dance with them while they shoot confetti cannons and wave a 6’ tall magnifying glass.

TCBYML · Chateau Chateau - Come On Steven

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Sarah McQuaid - The Silence Above Us (The St Buryan Sessions)

“The Silence Above Us” is the first single from The St Buryan Sessions, Cornwall-based singer-songwriter Sarah McQuaid’s forthcoming new album and video series filmed and recorded in the beautiful church of St Buryan, parts of which date back to the 11th century.

The St Buryan Sessions had its genesis last spring, when Sarah’s gigs and tours were cancelled due to COVID-19. Wary of the technical pitfalls of live-streaming, she decided instead to pursue a long-held dream of making a live album.

“I’ve always believed that there’s an element of magic in a live concert that’s really difficult to replicate in a studio,” she explains, “plus a lot of my songs have evolved and changed since I originally recorded them. I also felt like the standard of my own performances had really turned a corner in the last year or so, and I
wanted to capture that on video — but with multiple cameras and high production values, not just somebody’s random film on a phone from the back of the room.”

Sarah set up a crowdfunding campaign on the FundRazr platform, and by the end of June it had reached over 100 percent of its £5,000 target, enabling her to hire an impressive team consisting of her longtime manager and sound engineer, Martin Stansbury, who produced, recorded and mixed the project; mastering
engineer Stuart Bruce; Cornish filmmaker and director Mawgan Lewis of Purple Knif, who worked previously with Sarah on videos for her 2018 album If We Dig Any Deeper It Could Get Dangerous; and Eden Sessions veteran camera operator John Crooks.

“We wanted to try and somehow re-create what anyone would hear and see at a typical show,” Martin recalls. “Of course, what we wouldn’t have was an audience, so we looked for key factors that would influence Sarah’s performance. We decided to use her local church, a space she’d been singing in as part of the choir ever since she moved to Cornwall. We set her up as if it were a regular gig, no flash studio mics, just the same touring PA and monitors she’d walked onstage to a thousand times, so it would be truly home territory. There was a set list and she was to play her set and we would record it.”

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Dallas Moore - The Rain.

Outlaw country mainstay Dallas Moore has released the first single and title track from his upcoming LP The Rain at The Boot. The single will be available on all streaming platforms January 29, with the full album slated for an April 9 release date.

2020 started like any other year for Dallas Moore. On the heels of his 2019 LP Tryin’ To Be A Blessing, Moore and his band were booked to perform over 300 shows for the tenth year in a row, prepped and ready to continue tearing up asphalt between dive bars and honky tonks across the country. However, as the global pandemic brought the live music industry to a screeching halt, Moore suddenly found himself with something he wasn’t familiar with after all those years of constant touring: downtime.

“I do most of my writing when I'm riding my Harley Davidson Road King or cutting grass,” Moore notes. “Our tour schedule had been so heavy for the last several years that I hadn't been doing very much of either. All of a sudden I found plenty of time to ride my bike and write.”

The songs came quickly, capturing a sense of renewed energy that Moore found in his downtime. “I hadn't written a song in nearly two years,” he recalls, pointing to the silver linings of being pulled off the road. “All of a sudden, eleven songs poured out in a three-week span. That makes The Rain different from anything I've ever done after all these years of constant touring.”

Make no mistake, though — The Rain is not a pandemic/quarantine-concept record — it still bears the timeless honky-tonk swagger for which Moore has become acclaimed over the years. From the flint-and-tinder autobiographical swagger of “Every Night I Burn Another Honky Tonk Down” to the timely awareness of “Better Days” and the album’s anthemic title track, this is Dallas Moore at the height of his craft -- a bona fide troubadour continuing down the path, even if the path might look a little different after 2020.

Moore and his band returned to Nashville’s OmniSound Studios — quickly becoming the band’s home court — to track the album, once again tapping the renowned Dean Miller as producer. Moore’s self-proclaimed “Honky Tonk Dream Team Band” consisted of Chuck “Lucky Chucky” Morpurgo (Moore’s guitarist of 25 years), Tim Galloway and Guthrie Trapp on guitar duties, Jenee Fleenor (CMA Instrumentalist of the Year) on fiddle, Chad Cromwell on drums, Steve Hinson on pedal steel and dobro, Gordon Mote on piano and organ, Lex Price on bass, Sweepy Walker on harmonica and Perry Coleman on backing vocals.

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IS TROPICAL - Hummingbird.

We are continuing working on our song sketches and home recordings and with the help of our dear friend and producer JP Sancho and with the blessing of Axis Mundi Records, Giovanna Ferin and United Talent Agency, we’re pleased to release music from our upcoming fourth LP, COLA SPIRIT.

This collection of tracks is inspired by Lawrence Krauss on A Universe From Nothing, the unicorn tapestries, and a desire after this intervening period to pinpoint the unreal locus.

Of the many people deserving of our gratitude up until now: former agent, greg lowe & the mystery jets. We thank you for strengthening us. During recording we utilised a(n) solina strings alongside our ageing bodies.  We offer sincere contrition and apology for getting obliterated and lost at melt and needing rescue.

May our intentions redeem us, and our actions absolve us. With all of the above, in plenitude, with memories of catch 22 and beyond. For ten of the best years of our lives shared together. In dedication to the future.