Showing posts with label William the Conqueror. Show all posts
Showing posts with label William the Conqueror. Show all posts

MARBL - Kindsight - Allegra Krieger - Sandy Bailey - Silva & Steini - William The Conqueror

MARBL - A Song For Mom.

Tel-Aviv based singer songwriter MARBL is releasing her new single "A Song for Mom", that is part of the artist's unique piano project. "Mom has always let me paint my unique trails to walk along. She knows best how to plant the confidence and passion in me, to do whatever my heart desires the most, and quiet down the voices of fear.

She is an eternal home to me, where I can find endless support, listening, and unconditional love. "A Song for Mom", is the least I can give her as a gift." - Moria Or MARBL's music has its own widely spread range of influences like Sufjan Stevens, Laura Marling, Norah Jones, Big Thief, Iron & Wine and more. 

MARBL has already drawn the attention of dominant radio stations, music bloggers, journalists & publicists in France, the UK, Spain, Italy, Germany, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland, Israel, the USA, Japan, and more, and hit some big official Spotify playlists around the world, alongside leading TV commercials and campaigns. Nowadays, MARBL is releasing a unique piano project, in which she offers a glance into her very first musical passion - the piano, that draws the likes of Norah Jones, Tori Amos, Kate Bush.


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Kindsight - Tibet.

Danish four-piece Kindsight make music that draws from 80’s and 90’s alternative rock and combines it with the shimmering Scandinavian pop that the region has become so renowned for, resulting in a sound that is both fuzzy and melodic in equal measure.

This week the band share the new single 'Tibet'. The single follows the atmospheric 'Love You Baby All The Time' and experimental slowly building "Madhouse Breakout Multitool" and continues to expand the band's sound without losing their lovable characteristics. The band is playing Roskilde Festival on June 26th, a festival they've attended many times and as so many danes before them, partly grown up at.

About the track, Kindsight says: "Our most political love song to date, Tibet celebrates the wildest forms of conformity and anti-self-realization."

In 2022, the band released their debut LP via Rama Lama Records to praise such as "your new favourite band". Titled "Swedish Punk", it's an album packed with charming and infectiously catchy noise-jangle-pop melodies full of exuberant optimism and coming-of-age tales inspired by acts such as Pixies, Cocteau Twins, Snail Mail and Big Thief. The album was followed by tour dates in Scandinavia, UK and Germany as well as several shows at SXSW.

Atop jangling guitars, Nina Rasmussen’s distinctive voice dances somewhere between that of Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval and Alvvays’ Molly Rankin, leaving the listened renched in the nostalgic optimism of summers gone by. There’s not a single song that would feel out of place in an 00’s independent movie. The band possess an unmistakable talent for crafting disarmingly buoyant yet achingly nostalgic indie-rock songs based on the everyday.

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Allegra Krieger - Lingering.

In May, the New York-based songwriter Allegra Kreiger announced her signing to Double Double Whammy (Florist, Babehoven, Hatchie) for the release of her new LP I Keep My Feet on The Fragile Plane (out July 21st). The first single from the album, "Nothing In This World Ever Stays Still," attracted immediate attention, earning praise from outlets like FADER, Stereogum, BrooklynVegan, Exclaim, NYLON and Paste, who called Krieger "one of the best working songwriters."

This past Sunday Krieger played the release show for Greg Mendez' new LP at Purgatory in Brooklyn, and this week she's sharing a new single entitled "Lingering." "Lingering" neatly captures the chaotic possibility of city living. Rich with little details – black mold on an apartment ceiling, the smell of piss and garbage – the track has a timeless quality, and showcases Krieger's ability to imbue the outlines of everyday experience with a deep emotional resonance.

"Lingering is about new love, entering that fragile plane, shared pleasure, returning to the stasis of a room, of an apartment in a city that is always moving," Krieger explains to NYLON. "Objects sitting and hanging. Wanting something, but not wanting to want anything. Crossing the street. A nice day, a nice moment."


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Sandy Bailey - Get The Message Through.

Massachusetts-based singer-songwriter Sandy Baileyhas unveiled “Get The Message Through,” the lead single from Daughter Of Abraham, her first LP with Red Parlor Records, set for release on August 18th.

“The latest single from Sandy Bailey -a soft-country power ballad about mortality and heartbreak and everyday existentialism -is the kind of song that country music was built on,” says Hollerin their premiere. “Delivered with a faux breeziness, it’s both painfully real and bleakly comical. Her almost throwaway, conversational delivery making the lines land even harder as she ponders her grown up children leaving home, while the song slowly spirals towards a deeper truth about how disconnected and isolated we become from each other as adults....

It’s like if an AI music generator had been tasked to come up with a Carole King song that perfectly tapped into the futility of doom scrolling and the existential dread of the pre-apocalypse.”“A headline caught my eye in The Wall Street Journalthat read ‘Moms in Middle Age: Rarely Alone, Often Online and Increasingly Lonely,’” Bailey told Holler. “I thought about my love/hate relationship with social media and wrote a song about the irony of the current environment that we live in, where we are more connected than ever through the internet but also lonelier than ever.”For the video, Bailey put a team together from the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.

“We knew we wanted the video to have a throwback 70's feel,” Bailey explained to Holler. “In going through a bunch of vintage stock footage for ideas, the director Sofi Taylor was inspired by a video of a clean, empty kitchen. The contrast of a once vibrant house now unlived in was our inspiration for showing change, loneliness, and the passage of time.” 

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Silva & Steini - If It Was.

Entrepreneur, filmmaker and bestselling author Scott Blum has announced his next venture, FOUND, a US-based independent record label focusing on the contemporary music scene of Iceland. The label’s first signings include jazz vocal duo Silva & Steini, composer Magnús Jóhann, and punk band GRÓA.

FOUND is marking the occasion with the release of the music video for Silva & Steini’s “If It Was” from their debut album More Than You Know. The popular song already has 2 million streams on Spotify and was written by Alan Hampton (Andrew Bird, Fiona Apple, Sufjan Stevens, etc.).

The video is directed by noted Icelandic visual artist Anna Maggý and was shot in gorgeous black & white at the unique "Library of Water" location in Stykkishólmur, Iceland, a fine art installation by Roni Horn featuring large tubes of water from glaciers around Iceland. The dreamlike visuals echo the lyrical themes of memory, loss and rebirth from the evocative song. "Anna Maggý used her unique mind and talent to create and capture something magical," notes singer Silva. "She manages to make her work one of a kind because she is so passionate and knows exactly what she wants in the moment."


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William The Conqueror - The Bruises.

William The Conqueror have just unveiled the video to their new single ‘The Bruises’. Taken from their forthcoming album ‘Excuse Me While I Vanish’, out 28th July on Chrysalis Records, the track is the follow-up to last month’s single ‘The Puppet and the Puppeteer’. Produced by the band in a playground of vintage gear and mixed by Barny Barnicott (Arctic Monkeys, Sam Fender, Kasabian), the ten tracks on ‘Excuse Me While I Vanish’ marry earworm tunes with insistent, imperious, soaring rock shapes, punctuated by chorus hooks that are simultaneously nuanced and anthemic. William The Conqueror, who performed to a packed room at The Great Escape last month, head out on a European tour with Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats next week. The band will embark on a headline tour of the UK in October.

"My favourite kind of songwriting is when you have no control over what's happening” explains frontman Ruarri. “The song just arrives, finding its way through your fingers onto the fret board, as the pen wanders the page and somehow says everything you didn't realise you needed to say. The Bruises was like that. It wasn't and then all of a sudden, it was." Bassist Naomi adds, “'The Bruises' will stay with you all day. And with a verse that catchy, you don’t really need a chorus. Which is lucky.”

‘Excuse Me While I Vanish’, very nearly didn’t happen. Following the imposition of lockdown restrictions, Joseph found himself cocooned at home in Cornwall, ruminating on an uncertain creative future, watching on as his wife Mandy, a valiant mental health social worker, engaged with the all-too-real dilemmas of the pandemic-riven here and now. Her example motivated Joseph to become a temporary care worker, an experience which would provide renewed focus and influence the songwriting on the new album.


Ålesund - My Name is Ian - William The Conqueror - Sneakpeek - Krooked Kings

Ålesund - Rode Off Into The Sun.

Bristol-based alt-pop outfit Ålesund release their single 'Rode Off Into The Sun', today May 12th 2023. The second single to come from their upcoming EP, Rode Off Into The Sun is a triumphant, up tempo, galloping tune that is made for summer months.

Fronted by the ethereal vocals of British-Norwegian singer-songwriter Alba Torriset, Ålesund's sound is a fusion of dreamy pop hooks, atmospheric soundscapes and alternative rock riffs, which have drawn comparisons to the likes of Kate Bush, Florence and the Machine and London Grammar.

Lyrically, Rode Off Into The Sun reflects on the admiration held for a character who knows her worth, who picks herself despite any adversity and makes the best out of any situation.

“I was so impressed by a friend who had been dealt a rough hand and instead of wallowing and seeing the glass as half empty, she just dusted herself off and charged on with making the best out of her life. It was inspiring to witness and became the main theme of the song”, says vocalist and lyricist Alba Torriset.

 

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My Name is Ian - Thank You.

‘Thank You’ is the latest release from the Cardiff-based band, My Name is Ian. The track is released today May 12th and is a tribute to the people who have supported them over the years, drug smuggling, Stephen Mulhern and falling in love.

‘Thank You’, is the first track from the band’s upcoming 8th studio album: ‘GO BANANAS GO BANANAS GO BANANAS GO BANANAS GO BANANAS’. The record will be full of the trademark blend of catchy pop melodies, witty lyrics, and infectious energy. Songs about hating your life, loving your life, Norwegian families, coconut crabs, 90s television shows, feeling like a loser, not trusting the government and Peppa pig. There is something for everyone.

Creatures of Cardiff, My Name Is Ian have already built a back catalogue that would have taken The Stone Roses millennia to mirror. Since 2010 their output of has dealt with break-ups, breakdowns, mysterious lion paintings and characters from the Tom Hanks movie Big. This restless productivity has seen genres including but not restricted to lo-fi, bedroom punk, garage rock, prog and anti-folk, all filtered through the pop-oriented cranium of frontman Reginald Foxwell.

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William The Conqueror - The Puppet And The Puppeteer (Live at Marshall Studios).

William The Conqueror have just unveiled their new single ‘The Puppet and the Puppeteer’. Taken from their forthcoming album ‘Excuse Me While I Vanish’, out 28th July on Chrysalis Records, the track is the follow-up to last month’s single ‘Somebody Else’. Produced by the band in a playground of vintage gear and mixed by Barny Barnicott (Arctic Monkeys, Sam Fender, Kasabian), the ten tracks on ‘Excuse Me While I Vanish’ marry earworm tunes with insistent, imperious, soaring rock shapes, punctuated by chorus hooks that are simultaneously nuanced and anthemic.

“’The Puppet and the Puppeteer’ could be a Jekyll and Hyde or Frankenstein's monster story—about wrestling with or losing control of your creation—who controls whom,” explains frontman Ruarri. “I definitely feel like William has the upper hand sometimes.” Harry and Nae add, “It's a favourite for us in our live shows. It deserves to be played loud, on a big sound system. You can bring the hustle, the mosh and the lighter sway to this party.”

‘Excuse Me While I Vanish’, very nearly didn’t happen. Following the imposition of lockdown restrictions, Joseph found himself cocooned at home in Cornwall, ruminating on an uncertain creative future, watching on as his wife Mandy, a valiant mental health social worker, engaged with the all-too-real dilemmas of the pandemic-riven here and now. Her example motivated Joseph to become a temporary care worker, an experience which would provide renewed focus and influence the songwriting on the new album.

“My wife was insomniac for the first six months of lockdown, which made it impossible for me to moan or grieve the fact that everything I’d been working on for the last five years had come to a standstill. It was a much-needed perspective and made me realise what a selfish undertaking William had been – navel-gazing with my head in the clouds when what people needed was boots firmly on the ground, preferably on the feet of someone like Mandy.”

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Sneakpeek - Strawberry Reality.

Los Angeles duo Sneakpeek share their latest single, “Strawberry Reality,” a psychedelic liquid lullaby inspired by Dora Hiller’s visual artwork, which she creates collages from vintage magazines, and appears in Sneakpeek’s artwork.

“Strawberry Reality” is the third single shared from Hiller and Aric Bohn’s long awaited sophomore album, Scene Within A Dream, due out June 2, following “Serendipity,” in March, which Under the Radar called, "an intoxicating haze of pulsing rhythms and iridescent synth textures.” And “Dreams That You Discarded,” which signaled the duo’s return last November. Buzzbands LA called the single, “exhilarating and vaguely dangerous, with Hiller’s airy vocals casting sublime charms over swirling, rubbery synths.”

Sneakpeak 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, Scene Within A Dream finds the duo heading in new directions.

Surrounded by walls of synthesizers and vintage drum machines in their Glassell Park studio, Dora and Aric leaned into their psychedelic abandonments, pushing their mostly analogue gear to its limits. “We love obscure electronic music from the 70s, 80s + 90s,” notes Hiller, “and wanted to experiment with a new sound that embodied those elements but with our own spin on it.” Throughout Scene Within A Dream, Sneakpeek explores the world of dreams, the mysteries of nature, mortality, magic and manifestation; old Hollywood studios, non linear timelines, synchronicity, and paranormal experiences, leading the listener out onto a surreal, dreamy dancefloor.




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Krooked Kings - All Out of Good Days (Album).

On the back of a stand out SXSW, rising Salt Lake City based indie rock quintet Krooked Kings have released their brand new album, All Out Of Good Days.Produced by surf-rock darling Day Wave, the album is a body of work built on garage rock roots and decorated with indie-pop choruses.  With 13,000 tickets sold on the west coast of North America before the album release, Krooked Kings are a DIY success story who have built a fan base on the back of a committed touring schedule, driving guitars and vibrant vocals, All Out Of Good Days promises to take Krooked Kings to the next level. Speaking on the project, they state:

 ‘We’re just five guys from Utah making music both for pleasure and to process our experiences of the world. This album is a scrapbook of thoughts and feelings bound to the time we wrote it. It’s about the weird time between college and the rest of your life and everything that surrounds that. About how utterly confusing, depressing, and joyful it can be.’

A grass roots band who were raised in the Mormon faith before taking the decision to walk away from the religion and embrace music, Krooked Kings are a unique band with a unique story. In 2019, a group of five college friends from the University of Utah came together to write music and play shows in backyards and basements. Over the course of the last few years, the band has proven time and again their ability to write heartfelt indie rock gems. After signing with Los Angeles based indie label Nobody Gets It Records in 2020, the band released their breakout single, “‘96 Subaru”, which has amassed over three million streams. By September 23, 2021, Krooked Kings released their debut project, The Comedown. After the release, Krooked Kings hit the road on two support tours with Goth Babe and Rare Americans, as well as three headline dates in Denver, Salt Lake City, and Los Angeles.

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Güero - Part Time Signals - Paradox Arcade - William The Conqueror

Güero - Mind's Eye.

Sacramento quartet Güero have released their latest single “Mind’s Eye”  in advance of their sophomore full-length album, Wednesdays, arriving this Friday, April 7 via Dutch Records. The guys once again tapped director Paul Bates to bring the song to life with a video.

Discussing “Mind’s Eye,” guitarist/vocalist Rik Krull noted, "We played this song for a while never really trying to tame it. When we play live in the greater Sacramento area, we tend to play a 2-3 hour set. During one of our gigs we had some time to fill and played 'Mind’s Eye' knowing we could jam it awhile. It ended up being an epic rendition, one that will never be played that way again. Luckily, we have, Russell our scribe who caught it on his phone.

Maybe because we weren’t really thinking it needed to be anything specific, everyone’s part just fell into place, perfectly. Some of those things we played that night were developed into the recorded version since we were able to draw from Russell’s recording. We really like how we added the mellow beginning to the song and how, Mike changes to the four on the floor during the second verse.  It’s the little things about this song that we have grown to love."

Güero announced Wednesdays in January with the “Streams of Light” single, which Under the Radar called it, "a lost classic reemerging from a forgotten corner of the radio.” The album was recorded live at Pus Cavern Studios in Sacramento with ace recording engineer Joe Johnson and further elevated by Oakland producer and fellow musician, Akiyoshi Ehara (The Seshen, Geographer); who amping up and dialing down dynamics added greater tones, higher fidelity, heavy delays and string arrangements.

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Part Time Signals - The Man.

Part Time Signals is the brand new project formed by Sock vocalist and guitarist Jacob Church. The band came together initially by taking demo seeds written by Jacob, which were then planted into a musical garden when introduced to a live band setting. Part Time Signals features the talents of Sam Barnes (bass), Gavin Jenkins (drums) and Michael Blanchfield (keys).

The first taste of music from the band, The Man, is released across all digital platforms today April 5th. The track was recorded at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, mixed by Sam Barnes and mastered by Eddie Al-Shakarchi.

Jacob explains the meaning behind the song: “The Man is whoever you want it to be. Maybe it's that delivery driver throwing your parcel about, maybe it's your landlord increasing your rent, maybe it's the Tory government. Perhaps all of the above?”. Catch Part Time Signals performing live at Porters, Cardiff on 26th April.




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Paradox Arcade - The World That We Know.

The Guelph-based indie music and art project Paradox Arcade recently released its debut single, “The World That We Know” (RCS Records), a song of hope that calls out the illusions that cause division and inspires people to look beyond to the better world we can all create.

“Each of us in our own way reaches for a better world,” says Xristopher Bland (often simply called ‘X’), composer and author of the song and creator of the song’s cover art called The Reaching. “Even if we can’t see it or fall to the doubts and opinions of others, we know it’s there.”

Mixed and mastered by Alastair Sims (Barenaked Ladies, The Trews, Arkells), the song also reflects the present state of the world, characterized by Oxfam as a decidedly broken world of “extreme inequality. Yet as powerless, disenfranchised, or cast out as many may understandably feel, Xris points out what others have said before.

“The world that we know is not the world we can know. One simple act like saying no to something helps change the world because even the smallest of stones cast into an ocean causes ripples. That’s what this song is. It’s a ripple that moves to the language of repair and healing by calling out the deceptions that separate us, the orchestrations of conflict, and the noise that fragments our innate knowing of who we really are. It’s reawakening call to equity, equality, and peace.”

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William The Conqueror - Somebody Else.

William The Conqueror will release their new album ‘Excuse Me While I Vanish’ through Chrysalis Records on 28th July. Produced by the band in a playground of vintage gear and mixed by Barny Barnicott (Arctic Monkeys, Sam Fender, Kasabian), the resulting album's ten tracks marry earworm tunes with insistent, imperious, soaring rock shapes, punctuated by chorus hooks that are simultaneously nuanced and anthemic. ‘Excuse Me While I Vanish’ is the follow-up to 2021’s critically-acclaimed album, ‘Maverick Thinker’, and will be available on multiple vinyl formats, CD and streaming platforms. William The Conqueror today unveil new track ’Somebody Else’ with an accompanying video filmed at Marshall Studios.

"Somebody Else came from a very specific memory of not knowing which version of myself I was supposed to be playing,” explains frontman Ruarri Joseph. “An identity crisis in real-time. It's so cathartic to play. Harry's drums absolutely beast along. He has a way of finding that extra gear just when you think it can't possibly go any higher.”

‘Excuse Me While I Vanish’, very nearly didn’t happen. Following the imposition of lockdown restrictions, Joseph found himself cocooned at home in Cornwall, ruminating on an uncertain creative future, watching on as his wife Mandy, a valiant mental health social worker, engaged with the all-too-real dilemmas of the pandemic-riven here and now. Her example motivated Joseph to become a temporary care worker, an experience which would provide renewed focus and influence the songwriting on the new album.

“My wife was insomniac for the first six months of lockdown, which made it impossible for me to moan or grieve the fact that everything I’d been working on for the last five years had come to a standstill. It was a much-needed perspective and made me realise what a selfish undertaking William had been – navel-gazing with my head in the clouds when what people needed was boots firmly on the ground, preferably on the feet of someone like Mandy.”

William The Conqueror's fourth album finds the indie-rock trio firing on all cylinders as Joseph confronts the thin line between creativity and madness, inspired by compassion for the real-life angels of the world. Ruarri’s compelling semi-spoken vocals and swamp-blues-Seattle-scuzz guitars are propelled by the rhythm section of Naomi Holmes (bass) and Harry Harding (drums) as ‘Excuse Me While I Vanish’ delivers an effortlessly winning blend of melody and ensemble dynamics, the most accomplished and undeniable William The Conqueror album to date.


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Caoilfhionn Rose - Melby - William The Conqueror - The Long War - the Slowlinks

Caoilfhionn Rose - Fireflies.

Manchester singer-songwriter Caoilfhionn Rose (pronounced Keelin) has today shared a new song from her luscious, soulful new album Truly. ‘Fireflies’ echoes a message of hope that permeates throughout the album.

Talking about the new track, Rose says: “To me, ‘Fireflies’ has a nostalgic and comforting feel. It’s about feeling hopeful about the future ‘though there may be dark clouds the sun will always come’. There are references to older lyrics I have written. The line ‘free from all the chaos’ is a nod to a song I collaborated on with The Durutti Column. The song is about acknowledging the past and moving on as ‘time is always healing’.”

Truly moves through a tapestry of curious musical inflections; nods towards folk, jazz, ambient, electronica and even a subtle influence of psychedelia, it never stands still to take a breath, despite its ethereal and delicate core. Out April 9th on Gondwana Records (Mammal Hands, Portico Quartet, Matthew Halsall, Hania Rani), in Truly, the young singer-songwriter has accomplished a body of work that is both sonically and lyrically wise beyond her years.

Co-produced by Kier Stewart of The Durutti Column following Rose’s collaborative endeavours with them on their album Chronicle LX:XL, the musician’s song writing draws from a diverse palette of influences, including Building Instrument, Rachel Sermanni, Alabaster dePlume and Broadcast. Rose also professes to a love for beautiful, stripped back, piano based music, such as Dustin O’Halloran and label mate Hania Rani.

Truly came to exist due to a deep-routed need to create – even though its conception was interrupted as Caoilfhionn Rose recovered in hospital from an illness, she found strength within writing music. “In Spring 2019 I took part in a gig swap with my good friend and fellow musician Kristian Harting who is from Denmark. We played several gigs in the UK but unfortunately the Denmark part of the tour was cut short as I was taken ill. I was hospitalised for several weeks and have taken the last year out to recover” says Rose. “I gradually returned to finishing my second album” she continues. “Coming back to creating after being unwell was challenging but also therapeutic. This record marks a difficult time of my life and writing it helped get me through that. I am really grateful to have music as an outlet.” It may be this tremendously challenging period that has abetted its characterising qualities.

Rose’s beautifully restrained vocal is all at once soothing yet mesmerising. She demands and holds attention through her evident talent yet hypnotises the listener into a trance with her experimental tendencies. “After being unwell, getting back to recording helped me recover my voice after not singing for so long. Finishing bits of songs, writing lyrics and recording vocals helped me get back on my feet and get better.”


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Melby - Somewhere New.

Stockholm four-piece Melby have constantly been growing since their debut with catchy single 'Human' in 2016. In 2019, the band released their acclaimed debut record 'None of this makes me worry' which was followed by tour dates all over Europe. During the pandemic in 2020, the band have worked on new material in a new way. From these sessions, we've previously heard 'Common Sense' and 'Old Life' and now the dynamic 'Somewhere New' follows.

On 'Somewhere New', Melby continues to cement their role as one of the most interesting Scandinavian acts around, a band so home and accomplished within their sound that they're now ready to continue to experiment with it without losing their characteristic. The new material was mainly written and straight-away recorded in the studio in close collaboration with producer Alexander Eldefors, this is a completely new way for a band that previously in many cases have toured material for years before recording them. 'Somewhere New' is a track where Melby embrace their talent as songwriters, both combining multiple genres and building crescendos.

The band often gets compared to fellow Swedes Dungen and Amason but Melby’s dynamic sound, with influences from folk, psych, indie and pop, stand out. The quartet's light, semi-psychedelic folk pop is led by Matilda Wiezell’s enchanting voice which fits perfectly with Melby’s unique musical landscape - a sound that's been called "otherworldly, and wholly brilliant" by The Line of Best Fit.

The band tells us about Somewhere New: "The Somewhere New demo really set out to be this ambitious attempt at an indie song inspired by classical counterpoint composition. However, it evolved into something else when we started rehearsing it together, definitely to the better. The end result is this maxed out two-part journey spanning from low-key indie to intense psych-rock. So lean back and enjoy the ride, I guess."

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William The Conqueror - The Deep End.

South West England trio William The Conqueror released today their new album Maverick Thinker through Chrysalis Records. A record of cuts and bruises, wrapped within bittersweet leftfield rock n roll tunes, Maverick Thinker is razor sharp, dripping with the blues and an oft sardonic vocal delivery.

William The Conqueror is fronted by Ruarri Joseph, a wry, patient storyteller, who has managed enough living to portray a world-weary wisdom in his words, but balances it all with enough optimism to suggest he hasn't quite lived. Maverick Thinker is a record of short, sharp shots to the arm. Fuzzy college rock with chops, one foot lingering menacingly over the distortion pedal.

Recorded in Los Angeles at the infamous Sound City Studios, Ruarri, Naomi Holmes (bass) and Harry Harding (drums) rattled through the album's ten tunes at a breakneck speed. Which turned out to have been a good thing, because the sessions were cut short as the pandemic took grip. With the studio doors locked, the band spent a final, eerie day wandering a deserted Venice Beach before flying home early, captured by the band and featured in their video for "Quiet Life." All that chaos brings a certain unpredictability to an album that nods to some of the US lo-fi greats and yet arrives at something innately British.

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The Long War - Robot Heart.

The Long War is a shared battle story between five people who have each fought to actualize their dream of becoming musicians. 

Unified onstage, in the studio and on record, they are a shared belief, a war of attrition. A shared philosophy between five people, all on the same path, that through hard work and honesty, beautifully authentic music can be made.

"Robot Heart," the brand new single from The Long War, was inspired at a time of feeling alone and cooped up through the fall months. Staring out the window watching crows fly above as they do in Vancouver every single day at the same time to the same spot, over and over again. 

It's routine, instinctual – but in a way also mechanical, built in. "Robot Heart" alludes to our own default habits in matters of the heart and the longing to reprogram, to stop making the same mistakes.

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the Slowlinks - One Shoe.

the Slowlinks is a shared battle story between five people who have each fought to actualize their dream of becoming musicians. Unified onstage, in the studio and on record they are a shared belief, proof that the journey is worth the war.

But if not for one fateful night in Dawson City, The Long War might have never happened. It was there that singer/songwriter Jarrett Lee landed after leaving his hometown of Ottawa, a frustrated and disillusioned cover musician. He traveled across Canada trying to make sense of life. Inevitably, he ended up another lost soul drawn to the silence of the Yukon. It was there, under the northern lights, that the spell was broken. His muse was born on the horizon and the songs began to spill out of him.

An invisible pull guided Jarrett toward Vancouver and his next chapter – autobiographical tales that reflect the landscapes and places that have inspired him as well the people who have come and gone throughout it all. “I see the world as a collage of moving pictures and so I try to write and produce songs that capture the cinematic essence of life.”

Building out from this foundation of storytelling Chad Gilmour (guitar/vocals), Jess Lee (keyboards/vocals), Neil Williamson (drums) and Jonny Battistuzzi (bass) each come to The Long War through their own journeys and provide support in beautiful musical and vocal arrangements. With lasting hooks and strong melodies the band’s sophomore release UNDER A HEAVY SKY is cathartic, deeply personal and speaks to those who have both loved and lost.

Formed in Vancouver in 2016, The Long War won the 2017 CBC Searchlight Contest and their song “Breathe In Breathe Out” was listed as one of CBC Music’s Top 100 songs that year. Their first album LANDSCAPES debuted on CBC First Play and the band has been featured on Q with Tom Power and in the pages of Canadian Musician Magazine. They’ve toured across Canada performing at the CBC Music Festival in Toronto, Banff Performance In The Park as well as the reopening of Ottawa’s National Arts Centre as part of the Canada 150 Celebrations and the Break Out West stage at Folk Alliance International in Montreal.

The Long War is a war of attrition. It is a shared philosophy between five people all on the same path that through hard work and honesty, beautifully authentic music can be made.

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Jo Yonderly - Mark Elliott - Turkey The Bird - Souly Us - Loumy - William The Conqueror - Kalbells

Jo Yonderly - Dead inside the inside.

The long time missing underground artist Jo Yonderly has finally been found! After years of searching, the man behind the mystical and enchanting demos that reached the Rama Lama HQ some time ago have been tracked down in Malmö, Sweden. 

This with great help from Djoana Djones who is currently making a documentary about the journey, the first teaser is available to see here. ‘Dead inside the inside’ is the first track to reach the public’s ears from a forthcoming debut album.

‘Dead inside the inside’ is something you’d imagine to be a classic, but hard to define from what decade, or is it even from the future? It hits you right from the start and as the title line echoes in eternity you really get the feeling of being “dead inside”.

We asked Jo Yonderly to describe Dead inside the inside for this press release and he said: "I generally don't like blogs and papers, and so it evens out, but if you have to quote me, tell them it's about the abscense of mental health".

Dead inside the outside is out now on all platforms through Rama Lama Record.

 

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Mark Elliott - Talk to Yourself.

Mark Elliott's “Talk to Yourself” The Runaway Home member’s latest single begins with a mellow guitar intro evocative of Chris Stapleton’s Jazzmaster on “Tennessee Whiskey.”  The groove will immediately bring you into the bluesy, guitar-forward, country space occupied by Keith Urban’s “Blue Ain’t Your Color” and Hunter Hayes’ “Rainy Season.” However, “Talk to Yourself” is far from a sad song about a downhearted girl or a failing relationship. 

It’s a heartfelt, comforting waltz that reassures you “it’ll all work out if you try” and treat yourself like a good mother or kind friend would. With his earnest, soulful voice, Elliott comes across as exactly such a figure. Accompanied by American Idol alum Melinda Doolittle, the Americana singer-songwriter delivers just the track we need to help us recover from a long and hectic year.


Mark Elliott is a Nashville-based singer, songwriter, author, and principal vocalist/guitarist for the Americana band Runaway Home. He has written for some of Nashville’s top publishing houses, including Sony-Tree, Maypop, and Bluewater Music. He’s a winner of the coveted Kerrville New Folk Award and had songs covered by both indie and major-label artists. Mark’s book, The Sons of Starmount: Memoir of a Ten-Year-Old Boy, is out in paperback and audiobook.


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Turkey The Bird - Cave Rave.

Turkey The Bird, the band feat. Andre Manella from Switzerland is on guitar, is New Zealand's answer to Simon & Garfunkel (if & was a musician too). They write catchy folk songs with stunning rich melodies. Songs that tell uplifting stories about love and life. You can hear them on their new single 'Cave Rave'. But this time, life proved its quite dramatic side. 

Cave Rave is based on a true story. It's a song about a sailing trip through the Pacific in 2014, when their boat «Sol» was hit by a storm. The trio remembers those days in serious trouble: «Our yacht was beached and scrapped. Whilst waiting for rescue, a number of small people gave us refuge in their dwelling. It was a home carved by hand into the side of a cliff, and this is a song in their memory.»

Turkey The Bird are spread around the globe, creating beautiful three part harmonies and toe tapping rhythms: Andre Manella from Switzerland is on guitar, bass and percussion. Adrian Whelan from Ireland is on guitar, bass and spoons, and Sol Bear Coulton, the token kiwi, on Banjo.


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Souly Us - Everything Has Changed.

Rising Australian country duo Souly Us have released the music video for their latest single “Everything Has Changed.” The video, which features gorgeous scenes of members Ben and Kate performing on the Aussie shores, made its Australian debut on MTV and CMT last night. The corresponding single was recorded by the couple in lockdown and was released this past December on all digital and streaming platforms.

“Everything Has Changed” combines the duo’s signature country sound with a strong indie influence to create a truly unique and captivating soundscape. The song opens up with bright acoustic guitar and clean electric guitar accompanied by a locked-in rhythm section. Kate’s vocals provide a beautiful and soothing melody to complement the instrumentals. Considering how mellow the beginning of the song is, it feels fitting that the corresponding scenes of the music video are set in the couple’s home.

The chorus finds the 2020 Akademia Music Award winners barefoot on the rocky beaches of their hometown singing about how “everything has changed.”

“We are from Inverloch, a beautiful coastal town in southern Victoria, Australia. Living by the beach has definitely had an influence on the music we create, especially lyrically. We often speak of beach surroundings and we even go there to write sometimes! It’s amazing the inspiration that comes to you just by sitting there, breathing in the ocean air and watching the waves hit the shore.” - (Ben Mawdsley, Souly Us)

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Loumy - What I Need.

Her last singles made it into the playlists of various radios, even abroad. Now Zurich-based Loumy is following this success with «What I Need», her intense dreampop-inspired ep. Rarely you hear such intimate and dreamy music coming from Switzerland, in the feel of Heather Nova.

«What I need», the leading-song of the ep, is about self-sabotage and represents a conversation between Loumy's reasonable, rational side and her emotional, impulsive one. While the emotional side has known for a long time that certain things are not working, she still is holding on them, looking for reasons and explanations. Meanwhile all rational warnings are set to fail.

Loumy's career started writing her own songs at the age of 15. Soon she founded the duo Tales of Two with a friend. First concerts and an EP followed. For three years now Loumy has been pursuing her solo career, which led to the release of her first single «December» in 2019.

Winning a singer-songwriter competition of HoneyBee Records, Loumy got the chance to record one of her own songs with five other artists in early 2020: «Moonlight» once marked the beginning of her career. One she's now continuing with her new ep «What I need».

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William The Conqueror - Quiet Life.

Acclaimed UK band William The Conqueror announce their new album Maverick Thinker will release on March 5th through Chrysalis Records. The band also shared their new single "Quiet Life," a charming, slow-building lament that broadens out like a rolling landscape with a fuzz and crunch that gets toned down for something altogether more reflective.

Of the new single, frontman Ruarri Joseph stated, "With 'Quiet Life,' we wanted to step outside the sound of the trio and build some walls, add some layers for this one. It's a trippy, fuzzy wander down someone else's memory lane, so we went cinematic."

"The video is a time capsule of a very strange morning back in March 2020," he continued. "My friend and filmmaker Luke had just arrived in LA from Sydney to shoot some super 8 of us in the studio, but as soon as he arrived, the studio shut down and we all had to leave. We had a few hours before our new flights, so we headed to Venice Beach thinking it'd be a cool, buzzing place to get some shots and turn some film over. I guess having been in the studio bubble for the past week, we hadn't had a reference for this 'pandemic' we kept hearing about. Wandering around an empty Venice Beach was a rough landing for sure. Consider the bubble well and truly burst. And full props to Luke for flying from Sydney to LA and back in the space of two days and not complaining once (at least not to us anyway)."

Maverick Thinker was recorded out in LA (alongside producer Joseph Lorge) at the legendary Sound City Studios right ahead of last year's March lockdown, and put the band behind the glass and treading the same carpet as Nirvana, Johnny Cash, Neil Young, and Fleetwood Mac. A cursory listen to this new record suggests they might well have inhaled the spirit of them all. But to compare them with the greats does the West Country's William The Conqueror a disservice for they sound unlike any of the above. These are slinky, swampy rock 'n roll songs, razor sharp, dripping with the blues and an oft sardonic vocal delivery by Ruarri, the band's songwriter chief and lead vocalist. Written in the English countryside, it's made for sticky basement bar room stages where they dare to come alive with a vision of bigger rooms and broader stages. Taking that zest to tape has lost none of that fervour.

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Kalbells - Purplepink.

Kalbells—led by Kalmia Traver (of Rubblebucket) with her bandmates Angelica Bess (Body Language), Zoë Brecher (Hushpuppy, Sad13), and Sarah Pedinotti (Okkervil River, LipTalk)—have announced the release of their sophomore album Max Heart, out March 26 on NNA Tapes.

Max Heart explores what happens when we let go of what doesn’t serve us in order to leave space for the blessings that do. The album’s ten vibrant and subtly layered tracks of mesmerizing psychedelic synth pop (co-engineered with Luke Temple) were birthed from the band’s practice of listening and accountability, rejoicing in their queerness, and promoting each other to be their most genuine selves. Max Heart is a portrait of badass women harnessing their improvisational magic.

A prime example of Kalbells furthering their sum energies is the effervescent funk of lead single “Purplepink,” out today. Co-written between Traver, Bess, and Pedinotti, a hyper synth bass darts around elongated keyboard sighs. The video, conceptualized and directed by Lisa Schatz, features 3D animated rocket ships, faceless furry creatures, a 30 foot glittery hologram of Maddie Rice (Jon Batiste’s Stay Human, Saturday Night Live Band) shredding on guitar, and Kalbells as warrior space queens. Read the full bio here.

Max Heart is available to pre-order on standard black & "Salty Pickle" green vinyl, as well as on compact disc and digital formats here. The album will be available on "Red Marker" red vinyl exclusively from local indie record stores.

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William the Conqueror - Natalie Shay - Eerie Wanda - Business of Dreams - I Was a King - Hawksley Workman

Our catching up for January 2019 continues with Beehive Candy Lite part two.

William the Conqueror - Looking For The Cure.

Looking for the Cure is a song about redemption. It's raw, laid-bare song-writing but with an acerbic wit and an overall cathartic effect that turns a dark experience into something more hopeful, even joyous. As frontman Ruarri Joseph expands:

“'Looking for the Cure' started out as a mournful ballad about witnessing the process of recovery from addiction: the tragedy of searching for something that doesn’t exist. Then it dawned on me that if you're looking, at least it means you're alive to do so, and that’s a cure in itself.”


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Natalie Shay - Yesterday.

Natalie Shay is a 20 year old multi award-winning, indie pop/rock artist from North London. Deemed as one of London’s hottest emerging talents and having already acquired an impressive array of awards, Shay is ready to launch herself into the forefront of the industry, with her highly anticipated upcoming release.

As a classically trained guitarist from the age of five, Shay's outstanding talents soon found herself accepted into the prestigious BRIT school, known for producing such prodigies as Adele, Jessie J and Katy B. Shay credits her time at the famed BRIT school for encouraging her independence, “It allows student’s to develop creatively and socially so that they are prepared for the world once they graduate”, explains Shay.


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Eerie Wanda - Pet Town.

Eerie Wanda shares the title track from its upcoming sophomore LP, Pet Town. The video was filmed partially at the Nine Lives Cat Cafe in Indianapolis, IN over the holidays. Pet Town is out Jan. 25 on Joyful Noise.

Eerie Wanda is the brainchild of audio and visual artist Marina Tadic. Born to Croatian parents in the former Yugoslavia, Marina became a political refugee when she was just 6 years old. Forced to leave their home due to the Bosnian war, Marina’s parents sought asylum in the Netherlands- which is where Marina grew into an adult, became an accomplished artist, and where she still resides.


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Business of Dreams - Keep The Blues Away.

Corey Cunningham's Business of Dreams is all about emotional catharsis. When his father passed away a few years ago, Cunningham took leave from his long-running Bay Area/LA musical partnerships Magic Bullets and Terry Malts to return to his home state of Tennessee to grieve and confront his past.

Making music to cope with this loss resulted in Business of Dreams' lovely eponymous debut album, an unexpected pop pleasure that wound up on Bandcamp's and Raven Sings The Blues' year-end lists for 2017. Soon the live version of Business Of Dreams took shape as Cunningham opened for Rogue Wave on a national tour and played scores of local shows with Frankie Rose, Real Estate and many others.

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I Was a King - Bubble.

Originating from the windswept, moody southwestern coast of Norway, I Was A King are living proof that the sweetest pop songs can be cultivated and thrive in the oddest places.

I Was A King are announcing the release of new album Slow Century, out March 8th via Coastal Town Recordings. With the album announcement the band also released a new single 'Bubble'.

 Led by singers and guitarists Frode Strømstad and Anne Lise Frøkedal, whose united vocals melt into one extraterrestrial voice, their new album Slow Century is the result of a close collaboration with Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub) - who produced the new album.


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Hawksley Workman – Lazy.

I’ve always had this constant hunger to innovate, reevaluate what I do, and keep remaking it to confuse myself and maybe confuse my audience. This time, I’m just committing to writing focused and honest songs, which feels like the most interesting thing I can do right now.

“Lazy” is the latest single off of Median Age Wasteland, my upcoming new record. It’s an exploration of love and memories. Childlike images of winter and school portables give way to a lover's proclamation of staying awake and staying the course. The profound decision of love meets the feeling of love.







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Bumper Catch Up featuring: Rubblebucket - Mollie Elizabeth - Lilly Hiatt - The Kearns Family - WILDES and St Francis Hotel - Lucette - Caroline Strickland - Mon Rayon - Lala Salama

Keeping the comments a little shorter so we can cram a few more songs in than usual, this is our first bumper catch up of some really fine r...