Showing posts with label Wild Pink. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wild Pink. Show all posts

Wednesday, 17 February 2021

Marie-Clo - Wild Pink - Genghis Tron - Sunfields

Marie-Clo - Shell(e) Pt III.

A true creative chameleon and seasoned traveler, Marie-Clo is a born performer who ropes her audiences into a feverish pitch in both official languages; thanks to “hooked on phonics”. Singer-songwriter and dancer, her eclectic indie pop tackles current themes & conscious lyrics, but also conjures a colourful and enchanted world.

Marie-Clo began her artistic career on stages worldwide performing in musicals, but honed in soon thereafter on her true passion project, music. She is currently promoting the first of three EP’s which will make up her full-length english album entitled Shell(e). A conceptual feminist narrative, it is slated to be fully released in 2021, produced by Polaris shortlisted drummer/ producer Olivier Fairfield (Fet Nat, Timber Timbre, Leif Vollebek), with the support of the Ontario Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts, and FACTOR.

In 2017, Marie-Clo won TFO’s pan-Canadian tv search for francophone artists Planète BRBR and was given carte blanche to participate at the Granby International Song Festival 2018, as well as at the Petite- Vallée Song Festival 2018. Following these, Aero chocolates bought her song “Sablier” for a 52-week run national commercial in which she stars.

She celebrated the independent release of her debut EP Faune which has since been playing on numerous radio stations across Canada, on Sirius xm, and joined numerous editorial playlists on Spotify. Radio-Canada named her Ontario’s number one artist to discover in 2018 as part of a 13-artist list, Canada wide, for each province & territory. Her latest single Red Flag topped CBC (#2) & Sirius XM’ (#4) top 10 charts for many consecutive months & was featured as a Sirius XM exclusive single. She recently had the pleasure of playing Ottawa’s Bluesfest, the National Arts Center, Place des arts in Montréal & opening for Ariane Moffatt.

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Wild Pink - Pacific City.

Wild Pink's highly anticipated album A Billion Little Lights, is due out this Friday on Royal Mountain Records. On "Pacific City", Ross delivers a slice of pitch-perfect, anthemic indie featuring shimmering steel guitar and soaring saxophone. A rumination on self-acceptance and patience, of giving yourself time and space, he explains the meaning behind the track: "Pacific City is named after the city in Oregon and I was watching Heat a lot while writing it. I wanted to write a few songs with a conventional song structure on this album and this was one of them - we spent a lot of time on the drum tones and used a Yamaha RX21 drum machine. The song is about time passing and realizing you’re not the same person you used to be."

On Wild Pink’s third album and first for Royal Mountain Records, A Billion Little Lights, Ross explores the dichotomy of finally achieving emotional security—of accepting the love and peace he deprived himself of in his twenties—while also feeling existentially smaller and more directionless than ever before. The record is a two-pronged triumph: an extraordinary reflection on the human condition presented through the sharpest, grandest, and most captivating songs Wild Pink have ever composed.

The band, which is rounded out by bassist T.C. Brownell and drummer Dan Keegan, formed in New York City in 2015 and put out a handful of EP’s before releasing their critically acclaimed self-titled debut in 2017. It was a sophisticated showing for a band’s first album, but it was the striking maturation of Yolk In The Fur that established Wild Pink’s unique sound: a glistening variety of pastoral indie-rock akin to The War On Drugs, Death Cab For Cutie, and Kurt Vile, but informed by classic American rock poets like Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty. The album received glowing praise from Pitchfork (a score of 8.1), Billboard, NPR, Stereogum, and Uproxx, the latter deeming them “one of indie’s best emerging bands.”

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Genghis Tron - Ritual Circle.

Genghis Tron have shared a new song titled “Ritual Circle” from their highly-anticipated Dream Weapon full-length. Hamilton Jordan comments, "When writing and recording this album, one of our aims was to create a deep sonic world the listener can really get lost in.  'Ritual Circle' embodies that for me—it still takes me to another place whenever I listen.  Find some headphones, turn it up, and zone out."

The band’s first new studio outing in over a decade, Genghis Tron’s Hamilton Jordan and Michael Sochynsky are now joined by two new collaborators: vocalist Tony Wolski and Sumac/Baptists drummer Nick Yacyshyn. Together, the lineup perfects the unique mix of extreme rock and electronic music Genghis Tron has pioneered over their storied career. A melding of hypnotic rhythms and densely layered synth soundscapes, Dream Weapon was recorded and produced alongside long-time collaborator Kurt Ballou at God City Studio in Salem, Massachusetts, with additional production and engineering by Ben Chisholm (Chelsea Wolfe), JJ Heath (Rain City Recorders) and was mastered by Heba Kadry.

Lyrically and conceptually, Dream Weapon picks up where 2008's heralded LP Board Up The House left off. “That album’s closing track, ‘Relief,’ was about how humans have become a burden to the planet, and how Earth will endure long after we’re gone,” Jordan explains. “There is sadness at the end, but some relief—and beauty—too. Dream Weapon is, loosely, an album-length meditation on that theme.”

From the ethereal, almost robotic vocal phrasings accompanying the industrial attack of “Pyrocene,” to the chaotic, pulse-pounding drumming acrobatics and cyclical guitar patterns in the album’s triumphant title track, Dream Weapon is not just a nod to Genghis Tron’s celebrated past as a metal/progressive/experimental outfit. The new album redefines what these genres, sounds, and musical elements can achieve. Dream Weapon is a record that captures Genghis Tron at a matured, focused state; the ebbs and flows of the album are just as hard-hitting as they are dreamy, soaring, and meditative.

Seasoned Genghis Tron listeners will find Dream Weapon to be both excitingly fresh and reassuringly familiar. “Though it sounds a bit different than our previous albums, I don't think we approached Dream Weapon any differently than the others,” Jordan explains. “Michael and I take years to write and trade demos, with about 80% of our ideas landing on the cutting-room floor. Once we have a rough song idea we both like, we write dozens of drafts of a song over months before we end up with a final demo.”

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Pic - Jennifer Maagendans.
Sunfields - Got Some (But It Ain't Enough).

Imagine Elliot Smith hanging out with Tom Petty in the back of Neil Young’s van while listening to Sparklehorse.

Acid-laced pop Sunfields is the brainchild of singer-songwriter Jason Kent. Although the quartet was born in 2009, three quarters of its members have been playing music on and off together since they were teens. Their tunes carry a classy bombast of chamber rock, the intimacy of a singer songwriter, and the easy-breeziness of vintage pop with some psychedelic undertones thrown in.

Since their formation, Sunfields have toured extensively throughout Canada and Europe. Their fourth album, made in isolation, will be out March 12th, 2021 on Elephants on Parade.

PALACE IN THE SUN (2010) was once described as “…full of stunning imagery, coupled with swooping guitars and harmonizing that the Eagles would be proud of…the most overlooked album of 2010.”

Their sophomore, HABITAT (2014) was described as “…blossoming like a field of poppies in a rainy English field.”

MONO MONO (2017) “An album that catches you from the outset and its beauty is that it has many layers that reveal themselves after every listen.”

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Saturday, 10 October 2020

Jeen - Slow Weather - Girlhood - Wild Pink

Jeen already has a notable legacy in music having started out age sixteen and her brand new song 'Idols' simply demonstrates just how fresh and gorgeous her musical capabilities are. ==== Slow Weather have just shared 'Great White Male' which has all the hallmarks of a timeless UK indie pop song with that extra gritty edge. ==== Girlhood have released 'It Might Take A Woman' where a number of genres come together beautifully and some wonderfully catchy moments cry out for another listen. ==== Wild Pink have a new video and song entitled 'The Shining But Tropical' and it's quickly gaining a whole lot of attention down to the superb nature of this addictive piece.

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Jeen - Idols.

Jeen started in the music industry busking on Queen West in Toronto at 16. It was there she and her band were scooped up by the Jeff Healey team, and were managed by them for the half decade that followed.

After two subsequent solo albums, Jeen was invited to share lead singing/song writing duties on Brendan Canning’s (of Broken Social Scene) Cookie Duster album, When Flying Was Easy.

She then dropped her last name and self produced three more solo albums in succession (Tourist, Modern Life, Gift Shop) which garnered regular radio rotation and much deserved attention from the likes of NPR, Billboard and Buzznet to name a few. Her songs have been used extensively in ad campaigns alongside many TV/film placements (MTV, Google, MasterCard, Molson, etc).

Jeen’s latest offering may be her strongest to date. Self-titled and slated for October 9, 2020, Jeen will release a 12-song LP co-produced by herself and Ian Blurton (Change of Heart, C’mon, Future Now). Recorded at Pro Gold in Toronto in 2019, this album features Ian Blurton on lead guitar, Stephan Szczesniak on drums, Ben O’Brien/Brendan Canning on bass, Jeff Heisholt on synths and a cameo by Kevin Fox on strings. Jeen is currently recording her next album. 


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Slow Weather - Great White Male.

In a time where everyone is looking back at the sounds that defined the blog-age the UK indiepop outfit Slow Weather find this perfect blend of Grandaddy, Gomez, and Badly Drawn Boy and let loose one of the most twisted little earworm potential pop-hits of October titled "Great White Male" off their upcoming EP 'Clean Living' on the Last Night From Glasgow. The track debuted earlier today at the Recoup.

Slow Weather is the new project from renowned producer and Catholic Action front man Chris McCrory and LNFG’s Annie Booth.

Annie and Chris first met when Annie was providing feature vocals on a Wojtek the Bear track. A big fan of his recording style, Annie then went into the studio with Chris to work on her Spectral EP. The process was extremely fun and organic, leading to talk of writing together for a new project.

After they penned their first song together in four hours, the two knew they’d stumbled across something exciting. The Clean Living EP, due for release later in 2020, was recorded mainly at Hermitage Works Studios in London, with the finishing touches added at Chris‘s home.

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Girlhood - It Might Take A Woman.

The new single from Girlhood is 'It Might Take a Woman', which is out now. It's the final single to be taken in advance of the band's debut LP which is out October 23 via Team Talk Records.

This new single finds the pair switching the pace again from the slow-burning groove of Queendom finding a sound the brings with it arresting rhythms and 90s house feel; thematically it looks to celebrate and embrace femaleness and what it means to singer in the group, Tessa Cavanna. 

To recap quickly, the band drew praise for previous material from the likes of Loud & Quiet, The yourselves at Best Fit, Wonderland, Complex, Clash and more for their Neo-soul, R&B and electronic sound – the pair, made up of Christian Pinchbeck and Tessa Cavanna, racked up quite the gig list with dates opening for Poliça and performing festival sets at Iceland Airwaves, Visions and Latitude.

The band has given their take on the sounds of late 90s/early 00s – Fugees, Avalanches and Neneh Cherry all come to mind – with particular favourites of mine such as ’The Love I Need’ earning support from Huw Stephens on his R1 Introducing show and Lauren Laverne. A key theme that runs through the record is Tessa Cavanna's exploration of womanhood and what it means in all its different forms, it’s a record of “transparency and honesty” and the "need to be loved, heard and understood.”

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Wild Pink - The Shining But Tropical.

Wild Pink are announcing their new album A Billion Little Lights, alongside their new single and video for "The Shining But Tropical", starring newly-minted Emmy-winner Annie Murphy (Schitt's Creek). The follow up to 2018's breakthrough Yolk In The Fur, which earned an 8.1 from Pitchfork, and garnered high praise from outlets like Stereogum, FADER, NPR, Paste and Uproxx, the album is the band's first record with Toronto-based label Royal Mountain Records, and will be released on February 19th, 2021.

Of the track, Wild Pink's leader John Ross explains: "It was inspired by Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos” as well as “If I Needed You” by Townes Van Zandt, this song is named for a grim retirement home in Florida. It’s about somebody who was born sheltered realizing how large the world is and how unimportant they are. Julia Steiner’s vocal contributions brought the song to fruition, and it was a lot of fun to make. We spent a lot of time focusing on the drums and percussion, using a phone recording of some cicadas in a quieter part towards the end of the song, and I really like all the stuff Dan came up with like the Agogo bells and Rototoms."

Annie Murphy explains a bit more about the video and the setting: "My family has a cabin in the middle of nowhere in rural Ontario that they use as a hunting camp every October. The previous owner was a woman named Mrs. Clark who lived there with her husband and sons in the 1940's. Though she had them as company, they all worked outside of the house, and most of the time she was very much alone, with no electricity and no running water. After many years of isolation and many long, dark winters, she walked into the woods one afternoon and killed herself.

My uncles, who I think would consider themselves "tough guys", have all had at least one strange and spooky encounter in their time at the hunting camp. Would they fully admit to seeing or hearing Mrs. Clark's ghost? No. But I would on their behalf.

This is a video loosely based on Mrs. Clark's story. When the crew set up the camera's for the first shot in the cabin, the monitor screen just showed static. Mike [McLaughlin, director of photography] was truly baffled and insisted he'd never seen this happen before. That's when my Uncle Pat stepped in and called up the stairs "Hi Mrs. Clark. It's me, Patrick. We're here to make a little film about you. It's respectful and nice and is telling your story, so we hope you don't mind". Five seconds later, the monitor started working. Thanks Mrs. Clark, I hope you like what we made!"

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The Yesters - Steph Cameron - St. Catherine's Child - The Yagas

The Yesters - Billy Blue. Dynamic classic rock duo, The Yesters, has released their latest song and music video titled Billy Blue. This evo...