ROCH - Magnapop - Make Friends - Sandtimer

ROCH is a London based artist and her new song 'All Time Favourite Girl' is accompanied by an intriguing video, the song itself is a gorgeous and creative piece that put simply, is stunning.

And I quote "Atlanta, Georgia's 90's alt-rock pioneers Magnapop return and debut new single and first music in a decade for "Need to Change." The alt rockers jump start into a magnificent two and a bit minutes of full on music, the album will be eagerly anticipated by a good number of people I suspect.

Make Friends have just released a video for their latest song 'Ellie'. It's a smooth indie pop track with more than a hint of rock to it, and it's totally engaging.

Following on from our first feature for Sandtimer (we shared 'Dormant' back in April) we now have 'Whats On Your Mind' which is another striking Indie Folk song, where the duo once again demonstrate their notable talent.
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ROCH - All Time Favourite Girl.

ROCH is 24 year old Kate Miller. Based in London, her spiralling R&B-tinged pop creations are something completely unique. She is now sharing new single 'All Time Favourite Girl' (produced with Ben Christophers – Bat For Lashes, Nakhane, etc), alongside a stunning, painstakingly animated accompanying video.

ROCH's music is like nothing else. Otherworldly, romantic, challenging - 'All Time Favourite Girl' is an apt taste of what's to come. Lucid synths, reverb-laden drums, and enchanting guitar passages - ROCH's vocal delivery is superb throughout, paired with  intriguing electronics and glitching production motifs.

Smattered with spoken-word, Miller examines relationships with women on 'All Time Favourite Girl'; with mothers, daughters, and specifically with her all-women coworkers. She ruminates on the sacrifices made to work, and how those sacrifices affect her fellow labourers. “When I sit and listen to you / I know exactly what you mean,” Miller croons. “I wish I could say it myself / We’d be a team / My mind is warped / And yours is full of hope and good things.”

In the video for the song, which Miller helped produce, animated by YONK Studios – a group of headless pregnant mannequins cavort and unite in an endless dystopian office space. “The office space determines how they interact with each other,” she explains. “Throughout the video they come together as a big team, and rely on each other to prop themselves up.”

It’s about support networks, and social tendencies within groups of women. How being physically close leads to solidarity and community, to survival through adaptation, to reclamation of objects and space.


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Magnapop - Need To Change.

Atlanta, Georgia's 90's alt-rock pioneers Magnapop return and debut new single and first music in a decade for "Need to Change" from their upcoming album The Circle is Round on HHBTM Records .

Magnapop’s new album, The Circle Is Round, is the Atlanta-based group’s debut release for HHBTM Records, and is their sixth album, coming nearly a decade after their previous record, 2009’s Chase Park. Prior to this, the group had a fruitful run during the Alternative Rock heyday of the mid-90s, finding critical acclaim with 1994’s Hotboxing (with single “Slowly, Slowly”) and 1996’s Rubbing Doesn’t Help, which featured their most beloved song, “Open The Door.” And although the phrase was an endearing joke courtesy of slacker film Singles, Magnapop were indeed “big in Belgium,” finding enduring success that has led them to visit the Benelux region numerous times over their three decade career. (They have a tour slated for the area this September.)

Yet let’s not think of it as a “comeback,” shall we? Magnapop never really went away, appearing on the live circuit in Europe sporadically since their last release. The seeds that would blossom into The Circle Is Round were planted in 2011. “We reunited in 2011 when bassist Shannon Mulvaney contacted us about playing a benefit for Criminal Records, a local record store,” says guitarist and songwriter Ruthie Morris. “Playing together was easy, but we knew we needed time together to play our old songs again. The more we played together, the more we realized we wanted to work on new material.”

The Circle Is Round was recorded at Furies Studios in Marietta, Georgia, and produced by the band and studio owner Ed Burdell—he worked with the band on one of their first recording sessions—the album came together quickly this past February. Furthermore, there’s a sense of the circular nature of existence at play, as a few of the songs are some of the band’s earliest. “’Change Your Hair’ was the very first song Linda and I ever wrote together, before there was a band,” says Morris. “Our drummer, David McNair, was the one who came up with the idea of recording it. At first it seemed like a crazy idea, but the more I listened to it, the more I thought it would be fun!” The album also includes two demos from a 1992 recording session, previously unheard until now. Longtime fans of the band will find much to love with The Circle Is Round, while new listeners will get a taste of what converted listeners way back when to become lifetime fans.

“During one of our recent tours of Benelux we were interviewed on a Belgian radio program,” says Morris. “We were talking about the four of us reuniting and coming back together as a band. The interviewer said something in Flemish and he translated it as "The circle is round" to describe our situation. At first it sounded kind of funny, but the more we thought about it, the more poignant and appropriate it seemed.”

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Make Friends - Ellie.

Playlist-ed by Spotify on their Lo-Fi Indie, Hot New Bands & Surf Pop 2019 playlists, and played on BBC Radio 6 Music, Radio X, Amazing Radio, and BBC Introducing, Bristol’s Make Friends have just released a video to go with their gorgeous new indie single ‘Ellie.’

Speaking of the latest single, lead singer Tom Andrew says "Ellie is the most personal track on the EP. It's a retrospective account of the frustration and emptiness felt from a lack of connection in your relationship. It's also about coming to terms with the fact that maybe it coming to an end was for the best and accepting that they might be happier with someone else."

Dispensing hook-laden, infectious indie-pop, the band have already earned favourable comparisons to the likes of Bombay Bicycle Club and Bloc Party. Their debut release Drop Naked found its way onto the Amazing Radio Playlist by winning the Audition Poll and got plays on BBC Radio 6 Music, Radio X, Amazing Radio and BBC Introducing.


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Sandtimer - What's On Your Mind.

From the band - This one is called ‘What’s On Your Mind’. It is about technology addiction and how we, as a society, have become collectively hooked on social media and technology, letting it become part of our identity.

The song explores a feeling of complicity and of being part of the machine we’re trapped in, while also pointing at the hard labour that still goes on around the world to keep this technology running.

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Ali Horn - Dave Banks - Ead Wood & The Heights

Ali Horn's current single 'Dreamers' came out a few days ago and is well worth catching up with, his melodic hooks and fine vocals are getting noticed, as this indie pop song demonstrates, that's quite understandable.

Dave Banks song 'She's Like' is a modern country piece with plenty of charm, it's fresh, natural and just right for playing on a road trip.

'Plum Cake' from Ead Wood & The Heights is another melodic and very catchy song, the musical arrangement is refined and Ead's vocals are vibrant and likable.
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Ali Horn - Dreamers.

Ali Horn has had an interesting 2019 so far. His current single, ‘Dreamers’, had its release date moved forward when 6 Music’s Liz Kershaw fixed on it as her track of the year to date. His last single Modern Voodoo, was regularly heard on 6 Music and, the day after we meet, he is flying to Ulyanovsk, birthplace of Lenin, as part of a Unesco sponsored cultural exchange. This is not standard stuff for an aspiring singer / songwriter.

Ali will be representing his adopted hometown of Liverpool in Russia, a UNESCO world music city, to Ulyanovsk’s UNESCO world literature city. The coming together of Liverpool and Russia’s aspiring creative forces creates both excitement and apprehension. For now, not knowing who is picking him up from the airport is a more immediate concern.

Yet, Ali’s story to date is characterised by taking leaps of faith whilst committing to the hard work necessary to transform dreams into reality. The child of a folk guitar playing father, Ali convinced his parents to take his musical ambitions seriously by enrolling in a Saturday music school, foregoing standard lazy teenager weekends to learn production techniques alongside honing his playing.

A similar focus led to him developing the songs that are now finding friends across the UK whilst playing guitar in Liverpool’s best kept secret The Strange Collective. Taking his cue from a love of simple pop song structure and primary melodies, Ali stepped out of the shadows to centre stage to train the expansive psychedelia of that band into the surf flecked pop of the solo Ali Horn. As Ali puts it in characteristically self-effacing fashion, ‘I didn’t want to shy away from pop music anymore, I wanted to work within that verse / chorus structure’.

Initial releases under the guidance of Carl Hunter, former member of The Farm and current director of ‘Sometimes, Always, Never’ starring Bill Nighy, Jenny Agutter and ‘Control’s’ Sam Riley, led to a deal with Rooftop Records / Funnel Music and a team that includes producer Chris Taylor, Studio Manager at Parr Street Studios where Ali performed for 6 Music in March of this year.

It is a team that will be very busy for the remainder of 2019. Ali’s debut album is in process, an opportunity that he sees as the next self-imposed challenge ‘From starting writing, I saw a completed work. An album that puts the singles into a new context and gives me the opportunity to explore the other side of my music to what you hear with the singles. I love albums that flow for the listener, that are more than just a collection of songs’. Before that there are more tracks and live dates to look forward to. Assuming that airport pick up happened……

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Dave Banks - She's Like.

I'm just a simple country boy singin' country songs. I work 9 to 5, throw my boots on, put my guitar in my truck, and head to the next dive bar to sing some country songs.

I am 100% independent, all the way down to owning and operating my own record label, Reel Country Entertainment. I am determined to take on the machine and put country music back into country folks' hands.

"She's Like" is my first single released under my own record label, Reel Country Entertainment. It blends a contemporary sound with a vibe of more traditional country music. The intro guitar loop pulls the listener in and brings them all the way to the bass drop after the bridge.

"She's Like" is the quintessential love song to blast when you're flying down a backroad, surrounded by cotton fields, with your windows down.

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Ead Wood & The Heights - Plum Cake.

Bristol based Ead Wood delivers a shimmering, sunny indie-pop bop in latest single ‘Plum Cake’ - lilting gorgeously in all the right ways, it calls to mind Alvvays, Amber Arcades, Mazzy Star or Real Estate in its softly infectious sound. He is backed as ever by London band Margot, moonlighting as The Heights for this project. Recording in their own studio, there’s a resolutely DIY feel to the project that fits into the ambitious Bristol music scene.

Paradoxically to its lackadaisical sound, ‘Plum Cake’ channels the low-level anxiety that comes with everyday indecision. Indeed this fed into the naming of the track, as Ead elaborates:

"’Plum Cake’ is written about my lack of decision making. Especially when it comes down to those small everyday insignificant choices that really don’t matter, but I just can’t decide.

The title came as I was playing the song for one of the first times in Munich last summer and typically I couldn’t decide on a name for the track. I asked the audience if anyone had any ideas for a title and to shout them out at the end. As the song finished I asked again, no one replied as half the crowd was eating cake, I asked what the cake was and they shouted Special Bavarian Plum Cake, and there’s the title!"

Backed by influential outlets in DIY and Clash Magazine, as well as building an exciting live plot taking in venues across the country and further afield with European dates, that culminated with a performance at this year’s Glastonbury Festival, Ead Wood’s brand of catchy, breezy guitar pop is turning heads and getting them nodding.

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Tanya Gallagher - Michael Paul Lawson - Ducks Unlimited - Andrew Rinehart

Tanya Gallagher has just released her 'One Hand On My Heart' E.P and we have the song 'Dark Side' to enjoy, the singer-songwriter has a natural talent for modern folk as is demonstrated with this fine song.

Michael Paul Lawson recently released the seven song E.P 'Some Fights You'll Never Win' streaming in full below. It's a collection of music rich in Americana and alt folk, his distinct vocals are spot on for these genres, and his material is really high class.

'Get Bleak' from Ducks Unlimited is a vibrant jangle pop song, full of melodic hooks and with a feisty beat, it's pretty much guaranteed a second listen.

Back in March we featured Andrew Rinehart for the first time and he returns with 'Rose Gold' which is another gem of a song, it's personal, pleasing and positive... that's good enough for me!
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Tanya Gallagher - Dark Side.

Florida singer/songwriter Tanya Gallagher has just released a brand new E.P. entitled "One Hand On My Heart". “One Hand On My Heart” is a touching folk and country influenced collection of melodic modern pop songs, with minimal but fitting instrumentation and arrangements beautifully displaying Gallagher’s strong and soulful voice, which could be considered one of the stand out instruments of this EP itself.

The songs are mainly driven by acoustic guitar with Gallagher singing in deep personal tones that seem to be heavily influenced by classic folk artists such as Joni Mitchell along side of singer/songwriting artists of the last couple of decades like Sheryl Crow and Alanis Morissette. Gallagher’s vocals serve her insightful and personal lyrics extremely well with her simple guitar chord progressions being tastefully accompanied by delicate keyboards and straight forward percussion.

"Both in relationships and in grad school, you face a lot of rejection, and so sometimes I would come home after a tough period and think, Well, what would I say if I felt confident?” she says. “Writing these songs helped me to face my insecurities and kept me moving forward.”

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Michael Paul Lawson - Some Fights You'll Never Win (E.P).

Michael Paul Lawson was born into a deeply musical family, with generations of band leaders, classically trained academics, and brass band legends before him. While his early inclinations were to follow in their footsteps, his contentious relationship with his father and the urgings of his family to pursue more lucrative career paths, dampened his musical ambitions. Trading in the rust of northern New York for the luster of Long Island’s gold coast, Lawson set his artistry to the side in pursuit of corporate life. Eight years later, saddled with student loan debt and weary from the relentless New York City grind, Lawson moved, on a whim, to Norfolk, VA.

In Norfolk Lawson found space and clarity. He could watch the sunrise over the Atlantic and the sunset across the Blue Ridge Mountains in the same day. In Virginia the music started to flow. Plain-spoken ballads with deceptively straight-forward lyrics. A mix of beautiful prose and raw realities, conjuring up the early work of Jason Isbell and the slow burning, sobering lyrics of John Prine. Lawson was soon singing these songs in breweries and bars across Virginia, working it out, making up for lost time.

A disciplined artist with a punch-clock work ethic, Lawson began building a reputation as one of the most prolific writers and performers in the area, and he quickly began securing notable slots at the Norfolk Folk Festival and providing opening support for The Steel Wheels, and Sons of Bill. Eventually, his songs reached producer Daniel Mendez (Noah Gundersen, The Native Sibling) who offered Michael a development deal and an invite to track a debut EP in Austin.

Returning to Austin, where Lawson spent childhood summers visiting his father, was cathartic. It had been 16 years since Lawson was last in hill country, and 16 years since he last saw his father’s silhouette in the back of a squad car, when the constant drinking and violence came to a head in the Texas night, ultimately leading to their estrangement. It was an odd place to return now that he was carving out a new life path, but it also felt strangely in step with the material he had written for his debut EP, Some Fights You’ll Never Win. He was reconciling his relationship with his father, there in the flesh, and in the studio, as he committed his highly personal songs to tape. It was a healing experience, coming full circle, continuing the lineage of musical craftsmanship that had run in his family for generations.

“It’s taken a long time for me to get to where I should have been going from the start,” Lawson reflects. But taking the ‘back roads’ gave him the clear understanding, as the songs on Some Fights You’ll Never Win attest, that the most important battles to dive into are internal.

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Ducks Unlimited - Get Bleak.

The Toronto-based jangle-pop quartet, Ducks Unlimited, are now airing their new cut ‘Get Bleak’ - listen here Featuring a contribution from Laura Hermiston of Twist, the track follows on from earlier singles that drew tastemaker acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic and will be followed with a date at The Garrison, Toronto on July 20 in support of Sacred Paws.

Drawing on the sounds of Sarah Records and Flying Nun acts like The Go-Betweens, The Verlaines and Field Mice, Tom Mcgreevy of the band says: “‘Get Bleak’ is a song about this idea that moving somewhere else is going to solve all your problems. It's something that I’ve heard expressed by a lot of friends in one way or another, especially as more and more people are getting priced out of cities like Toronto, New York and London.”

“There can be plenty of good reasons to leave the place that you're from or somewhere you've made your home for a long time, but I think there's this "grass is always greener" thing that in my experience, and anecdotally from people I know just isn't true. It's hard to move to a new place and you're still going to be you when you get there with the same issues and hang-ups, plus you're going to miss the people who care about you and they're going to miss you.”

Produced by Josh Korody (Weaves, F Up) and Shehzaad Jiwani (Greys), Ducks Unlimited’s early releases found the band opening for the likes of Weyes Blood, Rolling Blackouts Coast Fever and The Goon Sax. ‘Get Bleak’ is available via streaming services now and will be part of an EP set to be released later this year, additional live dates will follow shortly too.


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Andrew Rinehart - Rose Gold.

Andrew Rinehart shares the music video for his latest single, "Rose Gold".  The video was directed by Joseph Kenneth, Andrew Rinehart, & Frankie Latina and features Paige Elkington. Rinehart recalls how the song and video concept came together:

""Rose Gold" was one of those rare songs that came in a flash — the entire song all at once, verses, choruses, lyrics, everything, all in one dizzying vision. I had just reconnected with someone I was totally in love with, so in that moment I was high out of my mind on life and literally anything and everything seemed possible. Basically I was in a headspace of 100% pure optimistic glee. I don’t experience that perspective very often, so I leaned into it hard and waddya know, out came this song.

So it’s sort of a rare one of mine in the sense that it is 100% positive, uplifting, and sweet natured. I’m not sure I have any other songs like that to be honest. For the music video we basically just ran around like idiots at Salvation Mountain (with some Super Bloom footage for good measure) in a similarly blissed out and frenzied-happy state. Shout out to my friends Joseph Kenneth, Glen Jennings, Frankie Latino, and Paige Elkington for helping me make it! Hopefully its Technicolor swirl broadcasts the same kind of mega joy I felt when the song showed up like some stupid happy dog psyched to take off running."

Rinehart is a Louisville, KY native who has, for the last 5 years or so, paid his dues bouncing around the usual bigger-city zones, finally settling on Los Angeles as home.  He was one of the original 10 founders of the influential Body Actualized Center in Brooklyn, and more recently threw shows at Basic Flowers, a DIY space in downtown LA which Ariel Pink co-funded.  Now on the verge of exiting the purgatory of grad school, Rinehart is currently in the process of releasing a series of singles (“Off On A Roll…” being the first), all of which explore the inscrutable ups and downs inherent to that age-old pleasure/torture device: love.


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Flora Hibberd - Lola Marsh - Magnetic Skies

We first featured Flora Hibberd in April and she returns today with 'In Violence' an atmosphere drenched song where her imagination and creativity are again notable as is her fabulous voice.

With close to forty thousand views since last Friday the new video from Lola Marsh for 'Echoes' has attracted a lot of attention, not surprising really it's a hook fuelled psych folk piece and the video is fabulous.

Coming out this Friday is the brand new E.P. from Magnetic Skies titled 'Hold On' and along with this they will also release their second single 'Refugee'. As this is our fourth feature for them this year, I think it safe to say we like them (and some).
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Flora Hibberd - In Violence.

Born in East London but currently residing in Paris, Flora Hibberd has been described as ‘intelligent and measured…there is a profound intuition in her work’ and her songs as ‘deeply rooted in the timeless lyricism of Dylan and Cohen.’

With influences as diverse as Nick Cave, Joan Baez and Jacques Brel, she moves effortlessly between acoustic folk traditions and the bruised indie of PJ Harvey, Jason Molina and Cat Power. Her powerfully emotive voice, evocative melodies and poetic lyrics combine beautifully to give her songs a deeply haunting and unforgettable quality.

Flora’s debut single ‘The Absentee’, was released March 2019, was a bold statement of intent and announced her as a powerful newcomer. Follow-up single, ’In Violence’ is Flora’s follow-up single, out July 12th. Flora states that this commanding new song ‘comes from anger, specifically about something that I witnessed happen to a friend, and more generally about all the people that are put in that position every day. It is painful, but I don’t think it is entirely dark. There is power in the anger.’

Her debut single ‘The Absentee’, released by ClearLight Records / Declared Goods, is out now. New single ‘In Violence’ is out now. The Absentee EP is scheduled for release September 2019.

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Lola Marsh - Echoes.

Lola Marsh are pleased to release their new single Echoes, out now, along with a brand new video directed by Indy Hait. Lola Marsh - aka vocalist Yael Shoshana Cohen and multi-instrumentalist Gil Landau - cut an upbeat tone on this new offering, sending the listener on a dizzying psych-folk journey complete with Cohen’s honeyed vocals. The accompanying video provides a visual art feast, featuring Gil and Yael with multiple versions of themselves. The band creates an army with 70’s vintage stylings, and like opposite sides of a mirror, play with energy and urgency both against and towards each other.

“"Echoes is about that feeling you sometimes have when you want to disappear, but at the same time, want to be found. That scary beautiful moment just before falling asleep, when you are the most lonesome version of yourself. And it’s for Maya."- Lola Marsh

Lola Marsh create music that combine clever lyrics with deep warm harmonies. Together with their 5-piece live band, they first made waves at Primavera Sound in 2014, following which the duo immediate gained industry attraction. It wasn't long till the band graced the stages on the festival circuit including Primavera Sound, Exit and Pukkelpop, as well asintensively touring Europe. Following their breakthrough success, their debut album Remember Roses was released in June 2017 (Anova Music / Universal Music Group).

The leading single 'Wishing Girl’ became a fan favorite and was featured in ads for leading brands such as Ebay and California Lottery. The band have made a big impact internationally; featuring in leading publications, gaining positive reviews, climbing to the top of Spotify’s most viral charts, and hitting over 40 million streams that are growing by the day. Their popularity crossed over to Hollywood and they co-wrote a song for the film “Criminal”, and were featured in the hit TV series "Better Call Saul".


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Magnetic Skies - Refugee.

Hot on the heels of supporting Heaven 17, synth-rock band Magnetic Skies are set to release their second EP, “Hold On”, in July 2019 via the independent ReprinT Records label. Lead track “Hold On” just came out as a single with a second single “Refugee” to be released on 19 July 2019.

Following on the heels of the duo’s debut EP, “Dreams And Memories”, which received glowing praise, the 5 tracks on the new release showcase the diverse elements of the band’s output, moving from synth pop and rock to ambient soundscapes. The songs feature Kent’s delicate and instinctively melodic vocals set against Womar’s synth backdrops, evoking the emotionally-charged hooks of some of the 80’s defining pop bands, such as Japan, Duran Duran and Tears For Fears.

“Refugee” is an uptempo synth rock track dealing with the nature of reality and the suffocation of anxiety and panic: “I’m drowned in confusion/blind by illusion/I want to find a reason/something to believe in”. The track is a re-recorded and re-worked version of a song Simon had written before the band was formed, and features a video of him as an astronaut taking off from Portsmouth’s Spinnaker Tower, in which the Queen is seen making a guest appearance.

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