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Montreal-based indie art rock band Braids announce the release of their new song "Eclipse (Ashley)." Along with the official video, "Eclipse (Ashley)" marks the trio's long-awaited return and the first taste of their forthcoming new album releasing next year on Secret City Records. Dedicated to the singer's best friend, it's a song that sinks deep into a feeling of reverie for nature, the love found in friendship, and the vital essence of personal reflection.
"'Eclipse (Ashley)' is a love song made for my best friend Ashley Obscura," stated singer Raphaelle Standell-Preston. "During the car ride to go and view the total solar eclipse, we were fretting about not having glasses to stare at the sun, you know, those funny ones that look like you’re sitting down to watch a 3D movie. Amongst the chatter Ashley said 'we should take this opportunity to think about what eclipses us in our lives.' BAM. REFOCUS. We all took this sentiment with us as we sat on the side of the quarry, as the moon came to hug the sun. We sat in silence perched amongst the tall grass, the wildflowers, the rocks and glistening water, closed eyes, reflecting. Returning to the studio, the song poured out of us in one shot."
The definition of an eclipse is "the total or partial obscuring of one celestial body by another." With effortless beauty, Braids have crafted a balm to combat the dark forces that cross us. To overcome the fears that plague us, the planets eclipsing our planetary bodies, the patterns that bind us, the anxiety that grips us, the heartbreak that breaks us. The balm is the perfect antidote to such darkness and chaos: that of hope, pleasure and, above all, always love.
Braids is comprised of Standell-Preston, Austin Tufts, and Taylor Smith. Formed in 2007 in Alberta, they have solidified a decade-long reputation for their musical ingenuity and established themselves as one of Canada's most acclaimed art rock bands, garnering two Polaris Prize shortlists and winning the 2016 Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year. With Standell-Preston's vocals as the pillar of their sound, Braids weave organic and electronic elements together amidst a lyrical landscape that is intimate, explosive, and emotionally-immersive. Their albums have earned praise from Pitchfork, NPR, New York Times, T Magazine, NME, and The Guardian among many others. They have supported or toured with artists such as Toro Y Moi, The Antlers, Wye Oak, Purity Ring, and Friendly Fires along with festival appearances around the world including Glastonbury, Primavera, Osheaga, Hopscotch, and SXSW.
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Detroit-based producer and multi-instrumentalist Alister Fawnwoda AKA 13//ali_fawn releases ‘Future Swim’, the first single lifted from forthcoming album ‘Ruby Beach’, due in Summer 2020 and mixed by Welsh powerhouse David Wrench (Caribou, FKA Twigs, Sampha, Shura, The xx, Young Fathers, +++). Born in Motor City, Fawnwoda cultivated his musicianship through learning violin and piano from a young age. Honing his métier, he studied music, poetry and visual arts at The University of Miami and then the Tibetan Buddhist-founded Naropa University.
In 2016 he moved to LA to work under the tutelage of Hans Zimmer as an intern for the following three years. In 2019, Ali moved back to Detroit to quench a hankering for eclectic collaborations, both as a producer and as a musician. To date, he’s worked on projects with producers Cole M. Greif-Neil (Beck, Ariel Pink), Gordon Raphael (The Strokes), Sonny DiPerri (DIIV, Animal Collective), Marta Salogni (Björk, The xx), and many more. Additionally, he’s joined forces with musicians including Alex Carapetis (Nine Inch Nails, The Voidz), Jenny Lee Lindberg and Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint), Mauro Refosco (Talking Heads, Atoms for Peace), and Philip Peterson (Portugal. The Man).
"’Future Swim’ is about time-travel and death, and contemplates whether or not the two are intertwined as one thing," notes Fawnwoda.
"Musically and instrumentally we wanted to give the feeling of time warping and stretching as in the intro, and then skyrocketing forward in a linear fashion. Lyrically, the song is about a man who stands at the edge of a sea cliff, and hears the ocean beckons him in. In his head he hears this as an invitation into a portal in which he can go to another time and place; specifically the past to prevent the death of his loved one."
With a keen eye for aesthetics, Fawnwoda enlisted photographer Daisuke Yokota to curate the visual side of the project. Daisuke and www.anothersomething.org share some words regarding the colour photographs, “With this series,” Yokota explains, he “tried not to take pictures,” and instead sought to “draw out the physical aspect of film.” Another Something talk through the physical process,“Yokota layered sheets of unused large format colour film and applied unorthodox developing methods before scanning the results. Here, documentation is replaced with darkroom alchemy in order to show that the essence of photography rests not necessarily with the camera, but in film itself.”
Fawnwoda was influenced by Daft Punk’s breakthrough album, Homework in addition to electronic artists like Suzanne Ciani, Aphex Twin, Helena Hauff and composer Arvo Pärt. Alister’s work is a combination of all these interests, with a deep passion for production processes that harkens back to his love for The Beatles’ White Album.
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Scottish Fiction are delighted to present some states, the latest and last of this year's releases from Glasgow's five-piece wojtek the bear. some states completes the band's quartet of singles released during 2019, all of which are now collected on a limited edition 12" vinyl, old names for new shapes.
some states sees the band continue their fruitful working relationship with acclaimed producer Jamie Savage at Chem19 Studios [The Twilight Sad, Miaoux Miaoux, The Phantom Band, RM Hubbert]. some states taps straight into a rich vein of melancholy with it's early '90's alternative guitar line and laid back vocals. The addition of strings to the bands permanent sound, once again serves to enrich and lift the track with soaring runs that create a lasting smile that only just the right piece of music can do.
Lead singer, and chief lyricist Tam Killean explains how the song came about, "it's a song about that particuarly painful end section of a failing relationship when it feels like all you're doing is arguing with the other person over the most ridiculous things, look who used the last of the toothpaste and didn't replace it. The title comes from that old(ish) Scottish expression - "I've never been to America, but I've been in some states!" I just really liked that dark, self-depreciating humour of it. I think it's that ability to see the humour in the darkest of times that allows us to get through things sometimes."
The video for the single, shot by Kris Boyle, sees the band expand on the darkly-comic theme of failure with a Nigel Mansell obsessed Killean trying, and failing, to emulate his hero's exploits on the track.
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Packing a punch with their bright pop-punk bravado, Sydney’s The Small Press are back, releasing their debut EP Is This What You Want?
Energetic and upbeat, the four-piece’s radiant take on pop-punk shines across the project’s five tracks. Opening the EP with their three previously released singles, now remastered for this project, the opening is a brilliant introduction into The Small Press' clever indie punk mix. Whether it be the fast paced ‘Not Afraid to Love You’, boppy ‘Console Kids’ or feel-good ‘Remona’, each single stands out with it's own individual aesthetic.
Easing into ‘This Is Falling’, the first of the unreleased tracks, the group’s versatility is demonstrated brilliantly as they slow things down for this heartfelt piece. Ending on a bang, ‘8 Bit Summer’ is a scorcher which boasts gritty guitar lines and an addictive melody. Contrasting with the lively instrumental, lyrically the track is about a terrible relationship, the emotions during, and the aftermath. "It’s a song about those days when you should be outside basking in the sun, but instead you just can’t help but do nothing, stay inside, sleep in and play videos games," singer Maddie Gilholme explains.
Their three aforementioned singles were released last year, and saw spins on triple j’s Short.Fast Loud and Lunchtime shows, alongside praise across triple j Unearthed. Spending the majority of the year relentlessly gigging and honing their sound, the band have gone on to support the likes of Thelma Plum, dave and High Tropics.
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Mother Mariposa is the new project of Jsun Atoms (The Upsidedown, Daydream Machine, PIA) and Thomas Mudrick. For those unfamiliar, Atoms' band The Upsidedown made a name for themselves with TV placements on shows that include HBO's True Blood, Showtime's Ray Donovan, and most recently FX's Animal Kingdom. The band went on to tour extensively with artists such as The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Raveonettes, Psychedelic Furs, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Echo, and the Bunnymen, Allah Las, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Jagwar Ma, and friends Hope Sandoval, Luna, and The Black Angels.
As one could imagine, being around such an esteemed group of artists has to have some effect on a person. Out of The Upsidedown comes a band two years in the making. Joining forces with New Zealand’s Dan Fernie-Harper (Ride Into the Sun, The Dunes), Austin Barone (Lola Buzzkill), and Trask Schulte (Paste), Mother Mariposa have created a melding of electronica, psychedelia, and post-punk brilliance.
The band is proud to announce their debut album titled The Monarch Key. On first listen, many people think the music draws comparisons to dance music, but the spacious, droning tracks are actually the product of a five-piece band with guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums. Lead single "Pilot Light" was written with consultation from legendary indie artist Dean Wareham (Galaxie 500) who described the new record as "Epic." The Monarch Key by Mother Mariposa is out everywhere now via Little Cloud Records.
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Hailing from Vancouver Island, the genre-blending “swoon rock” artist Alexandria Maillot released her sophomore album ‘Benevolence’ on November 22nd 2019. Armed with razor-sharp wit and hopeless romanticism, Alexandria dissects narratives from personal life-experiences and delivers through sometimes schmaltzy and sometimes electropoppy instrumentation and arrangements. For this, she’s often been compared to heavyweights such as Feist, Stevie Nicks and Alabama Shakes’ Brittany Howard.
Maillot has already accumulated an impressive list of credits including being scouted by esteemed Canadian producer and songwriter David Foster (Christina Aguilera, Madonna, Whitney Houston) aged twelve, collaborating with Randy Bachman (Ringo Starr, The Beach Boys), and securing a feature on the Opera Winfrey network.
Touring extensively across Europe and Canada performing at festivals such as Reeperbahn and Iceland Airwaves, Alexandria is no stranger to the live-circuit. Her debut album ‘Time’ also saw her playlisted across national radio and gained her critical acclaim internationally across industry peers and fans.
With her second full-length ‘Benevolence’, we see a change in the Canadian singer-songwriter. On tracks like ‘I Never Liked Your Friends’, we see her exploring a more sardonic side to her songwriting, while ‘Make It Out’ comes from a darker place; she says it’s “a song about depression; the lack of motivation that plagues the day, where solace is only found in sleep at night.”
‘Someone To Keep You Warm’ sees the soloist showcasing menacing synthesisers after a Kelsey Lu-esque introduction. Themed around the joy she gained after seeing her ex struggle to find a lover, the singer had this to say about the schadenfreudian number; “It’s a song about watching a former partner struggle to find companionship and getting enjoyment out of it.”
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Approachable Members Of Your Local Community invite you to join them in another cathartic boogie as they release new single and accompanying video today for ‘Strangest Places’ - a collaboration with fellow Australian indie-poppers, all-female 4-piece, Dulcie. The new release proceeds their forthcoming, Love Thy Neighbour EP, out Jan 31st and comes as the band prepares to showcase at SXSW in 2020.
From the depths of suburban Australia has emerged a commercial partnership so robust, so well-negotiated, that the foundations of our earthly existence have indeed been shaken. ‘Strangest Places’ captures the essence of the band collaborative spirit, “The story of our interstate partnership (with Dulcie) began in the greenrooms of Australia, in what we call the Bitter Winter of 2019. We immediately developed a collaborative commercial relationship with a strong grounding in mutual respect and synergies. Hands were firmly shaken, and the deal was done: a song was to be made. 'Strangest Places' is about making new friends, being in wacky places, and getting up to the business of life.” says Micky Fisher (Bassist) AMOYLC.
Following standout sets at BIGSOUND 2019 and support slots for Polish Club, half•alive (USA), Kira Puru and Joyride and more, the EP marks a culmination of their growth as a band over the last 24 months and features the previously released singles ‘On + On’ and ‘Citrus Fruit’. Working with creative director Giulia McGauran on visuals and writing with the likes of Japanese Wallpaper and Alex Lahey, Approachable Members know that collaboration is key to a successful community. Whatever you come for, Approachable Members Of Your Local Community just want to make you feel at home, and share their little slice of suburban paradise with you.
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