Last month, Malmö, Sweden shoegaze/dreampop trio Echo Ladies announced that they have signed to Rama Lama Records/Gazehop Records and will release their second album Lillies on 8th September 2023.
Commenting on the track, the band say: “‘This is a song about the fear of getting stuck in life, doing repetitive things, please others and putting yourself second all the time. The song's name, Fabrik, actually means Factory in swedish. We wanted the sound of the synths and the drums to remind of some sort of big factory, a repetitive loop of big sounds that shaped a rhythm.”
Echo Ladies are Matilda Bogren, Mattis Andersson and Joar Andersén—three school-friends who, after playing together in a few different bands, realised that they worked best on their own. In 2014, after looking for “a name that represented our sound”, they became Echo Ladies, partly inspired by the name of the drum machine from another of their favourite bands, Echo & The Bunnymen (though their own drum machine, for now, remains nameless).
Following a quiet spell for the band while the rest of the world turned upside down, Echo Ladies are now proudly returning with their second album Lillies, recorded and mastered by Joakim Lindberg at Studio Sickan in Malmö, and following on from their acclaimed 2018 debut Pink Noise on Sonic Cathedral, which was one of Rough Trade’s albums of the year.
East Midland’s singer-songwriter Charlotte Carpenter announces details of her long-awaited debut album A Modern Rage on 6th October 2023, and drops the album’s second teaser ‘Not Good Enough.’
‘Not Good Enough’ is a heart-wrenching song about the effects of toxic people on our own self-worth. It explores a real-life working relationship Charlotte had whilst in her early 20’s with an older, more experienced producer.
“It was my first experience of the industry, and I was made to feel it was an opportunity of a lifetime” explains Charlotte. “I was also made to feel I was being protected from the industry too, but as the years went on, I realised this wasn’t the case at all. I was playing to somebody’s else’s rules and expectations of what I should be; I didn’t know who I was. There is so much sadness in this song, and a yearning to find myself again.”
This experience was a catalyst for Charlotte’s deeply personal, at times raw, and cathartic debut album A Modern Rage, which touches upon power structures in the music industry, and society in general, which are detrimental to women, and also explores how life’s profound experiences are navigated – in Charlotte’s case, loss, love, addiction, mental health, and more recently the pandemic - within the often claustrophobic and pressurised confines of womanhood.
Musically A Modern Rage pays homage to Charlotte’s favourite artists from the 70’s through to the 00’s, from Elvis to Avril Lavigne, The Killers to Sheryl Crow, with the accomplished album spanning rock, pop, blues, with subtle country twangs and moments of old soul.
Gretta Ray - America Forever (with Maisie Peters & Carol Ades).
Gretta Ray today releases new track ‘America Forever’ (with Maisie Peters & Carol Ades), lifted from her forthcoming album Positive Spin, a pure pop project that comes to you bathed in golden light, a hazy sunset of love and heartbreak, growth and understanding… a project full of beautiful moments of classic and emotive pop set for release on August 18.
Written in one of the ‘homelands’ of music that makes up her second album, ‘America Forever’ (with Maisie Peters & Carol Ades) is a more stripped back effort of soft confession side-by-side with an acoustic guitar as she finds her way. The production on the track slowly elevates and increases the tempo and the hope, true to the album’s pop foundation.
On writing with collaborator Carol Ades, Gretta says “if you’re lucky, you’ll meet someone who just is music, personified. That’s Carol. She is it!”. Hearing a demo only, Maisie Peters - who just landed her first #1 album in the UK - lent her voice to the song.
“I’ve always felt extra creatively driven as soon as I touch down in L.A. - the energy there permits me to fully believe in myself and the art that I make. On my final day in L.A last March, I rocked up to a session with Carol, and complained to her about having to fly home to Australia. I just wanted to stay in America, forever. The two of us spent the day unpacking this further on the couch in her living room, just us and an acoustic guitar. We also drove through Pasadena and continued writing as we looked out over the city, sparkling in the afternoon sunlight. When a certain place brings out the best version of yourself, it’s hard to leave it behind without feeling like you’re abandoning a piece of yourself. The more creatively liberated I am, the more I feel like me.” explains Gretta.
The Legendary Ten Seconds - Captain Richard Scott / Rumours Of War.
We have two songs from todays 'Cornish and Devonian' album release from the excellent Legendary Ten Seconds. As always the knack of mixing old and new musical styles along with a fine selection of historical accounts is both inspiring and beautiful!
The Legendary Ten Seconds started off as the solo music project of Ian Churchward during the time when he was the lead guitar player of The Morrisons who were featured on John Peel's radio one show back in 1987. In 2013 Lord Zarquon joined Ian's music project and since then various guest musicians and vocalists have helped out in the recording studio. The most recent musician to join the project is Jay Brown who has helped to compose and record a song called the Time Stream.
The Legendary Ten Seconds have recorded many critically acclaimed English folk rock albums which chronicle the Wars of the Roses and the life and times of Richard III in England during the late 15th century. The albums are available on Amazon and itunes and the band have donated money to a scoliosis charity from some of the income generated from the sale of their music.
In 2018 the band recorded the Mer de Mort album which was commissioned by the Mortimer History Society to commemorate the Society's tenth anniversary. It is a historically accurate album of songs which tells the story of the significantly important Mortimer medieval family from their roots in Normandy prior to the battle of Hastings and into the 15th century. The album includes historical narratives read by the actor John Challis ( Boycie in Only Fools and Horses ) who was the patron of the Mortimer History Society.
Several albums were released throughout 2019 to 2022. The latest albums are a very silly comedy concept album called the Rejects of Lord Zarquon and a sensible one called Astounding Songs. The next album to be released is due out in July 2023 and will be an English folk rock concept album about Cornwall and Devon called Cornish and Devonian.
Annie Taylor’s newest single and video ‘Schoolgirl’ was released yesterday through Taxi Gauche Records and is taken from their forthcoming album ‘Inner Smile’. The band have recently recorded their eagerly-anticipated second album (‘Inner Smile’) in Bristol, UK, with uber-producer Ali Chant (Yard Act; Katy J. Pearson; Aldous Harding; Sorry). Annie Taylor also recently performed two triumphant shows at The Great Escape 2023.
The band's signature sound is evermore present in their newest single ‘Schoolgirl’, a mixture of contemporary indie rock similar to that of Wolf Alice, combined with 90s girl band rock, making it a track that would be at home on an angsty teen movie soundtrack. Undeniably catchy, the punchy guitar driven single is made up of snappy riffs, tight snares and lead singer Gini Jungi’s pristine vocals, capturing the excitement and uncertainty of falling in love in a fresh and honest way.
England's music luminaries Gigwise describes Annie Taylor as "Mellow, cool guitar romp through desert rock, shoegaze, indie and pop influences. Lush." - and not without reason! Band member Jungi said of the single: “Falling in love can be thrilling and confusing at the same time. Especially when you’re not sure what you’re about to get yourself into. It can make you feel bold and shy, excited and nervous but still, it’s a feeling that fills you up with energy and hedonism.”
“Schoolgirl is a reflection on the early stages of a relationship where everything is new and exciting, but it can also make one feel extremely confused and nervous. The lyrics capture the feeling of being young and in love, not knowing where it will all lead, but being excited to find out,” Jungi continued. The four friends Gini Jungi, Tobias Arn, Michael Mutter and Daniel Bachmann joined the Taxi Gauche Records family when they collectively decided to jump on a train for the most exhilarating adventure of their lives.
Singer-songwriter Paris Paloma has released her enchanting new single “yeti,” the anticipated follow-up to her break-out single “labour”. Featuring vocals from acclaimed indie singer/songwriter/producer Old Sea Brigade, the song offers a unique perspective on the transformative power of closure in a relationship.
Guided by her captivating vocals and lyrical prowess, Paris takes listeners on an emotive journey through the complexities of human connection. “‘yeti’ is about the quiet, healing realization that comes with giving oneself closure after a relationship; when you’ve moved through a period of intense intertwinement - almost obsession - with another, and what feels like the vast chasm of time and space between that passion, and the point of indifference towards them that is reached in the healed-over aftermath.
It’s not a spiteful, false indifference, nor a bitter apathy, but a breathing-out of sorts, when those feelings let themselves out quietly in the night, without saying goodbye or marking the day. The gentle accompanying vocals from Ben Cramer of Old Sea Brigade completes the presence of both parties, who share in this realization, so these two people become eerily connected in their acceptance of how far apart they have grown,” elaborates Paris.
Colorado-based Allison Lorenzen's latest track "MTO (More Than Once)" is out now. Weaving some of the most muscular guitar work we've heard in Allison's work around her buzzing synths and rafter-reaching vocals, "MTO" sounds like the final climax of a Mark Fischer-influenced hauntological prom scene. Leaning into the well-deserved Julee Cruise and Kate Bush comparisons, the resonant core of "MTO" is a meditation on the cyclical way patterns retreat and return several times before we recognize them - and make choices to either embrace or change them.
The grace for self required for this work is one that Lorenzen is well acquainted with. After a nomadic stint following the breakup of her band School Dance, Allison wrote this song while contemplating how this era in her life would close. This led her operating a hot springs in Southern Colorado where sojourners come to rest and recuperate.
"MTO" was written and recorded in the shipping container that doubles as Allison's living quarters and recording studio. Following on the heels of 2022's "The Fourth Cycle", and her beloved cover of "Glycerine" with Midwife, "MTO" presages a follow up to 2021's critically acclaimed solo debut record Tender released on Whited Sepulchre Records.
Emerging like the score of a silver screen classic that never was, the Montreal artist’s latest single ensnares with all the potency and poison of its namesake. Casting strings of a knife-edge tension against the unexpected twists that unfold with its dramatic key changes, “Hollywood” finds Nicol play a starring role in a song of downbeat and disturbing Lynchian thrills.
A song about living with the tension of unrealised aspirations while striving for gratitude in the present, “Hollywood” hits home like a bruised lament for what could have been and what may never be.
“I’ll never go to Hollywood, I’ll never be a star” sighs Nicol, seemingly stepping into the well-trodden shoes of an actor down on their luck and feeling the weight of the world. Yet for all the despair that surrounds its lead protagonist, a cathartic chorus adorned with glimmering and atmospheric arrangements finds Nicol offer a silver lining of hope; a contentment to be found in the acceptance of our fates. Mirroring some of the resentments and realisations that have earmarked chapters of his own life story, Alex explains:
“Lyrically, “Hollywood” is a reflective song in which I begrudgingly accept that I have failed to find success yet, with Hollywood symbolizing the fame-in-youth narrative that, because I am no longer young, I will never be able to claim. But if the verses are where I list all the things I will never do, in the choruses I remind myself of all that nourishes me at home, and how far I have come. I have always considered myself a late bloomer, and Hollywood ends optimistically: me and the great blue sky, and all the opportunity that it conveys. Hollywood is a signpost in my path as a musician, marking the end of my youth, in which I was ravaged by self-doubt, and the beginning of my next chapter, in which the sky's the limit.”
Gal Musette is the artist name used by Grace Freeman, who began writing piano and guitar based lyrical compositions and performing at open mics in her home city of San Clemente, CA at the age of 10. Her graceful approach to melody-driven indie-folk has captured audiences all over Southern California.
At age 14, inspired by The Magnetic Fields’ triple album 69 Love Songs, Gal recorded her own collection titled 70 Love Songs, which caught the attention of the band, and won her an opening slot on a few of their Midwestern U.S. tour dates. In more recent years, Gal has opened for several renowned artists such as Macy Gray, Suzanne Vega, Todd Snyder, and Donavon Frankenreiter. While her artist name is taken from bal-musette, the accordion-based, waltz-style French instrumental music, Gal’s primary inspiration is drawn from songwriters including Joni Mitchell, Regina Spektor, Björk, Cocteau Twins, Burt Bacharach, Big Thief and The Cure.
In October 2021, Gal released her debut album, Backwards Lullaby, featuring a vocal duet with one of her biggest musical inspirations, Rufus Wainwright. The record explores the pangs of hopeless romances and unrequited love, what it’s like to move beyond idealized love into the acceptance of what is real and constant, as well as the cyclical nature of life and love in relationships. In July 2022, Gal released an orchestral EP consisting of three re-imagined cuts from Backwards Lullaby featuring the musicianship of Via Mardot a talented multi-instrumentalist based in Detroit, Michigan.
Gal's latest single "Into the Blue" is a breezy, euphoric song immersing the listener into a free-flowing and dreamlike aura of kaleidoscopic sounds and hopeful narratives. Gal confides, "Into The Blue" is "about letting go of all the expectations I clung on so tightly to, and attempting to break the delusional patterns of my mind, self-loathing and narrow minded thinking. The catharsis of realizing the lack of control I have even over my own mind."
McDermott & North, the captivating indie folk duo known for their heartfelt sounds and irresistible melodies release 'The Hollywood EP'. Released yesterday via Weirder Together Records, the EP is a beautiful celebration of love, connection, and the beauty of everyday moments.
Since bursting onto the scene in 2016, McDermott & North have been winning hearts with their busking performances and beautiful songs. The duo already have a stack of singles and an EP, countless tours and hundreds of hours of performing under their belts, including having played at Bluesfest, BIGSOUND and Ted X Brisbane.
The unknown slow boil of 'The Hollywood EP' began in 2021 when the duo caught the attention of acclaimed Australian singer-songwriter and producer Ben Lee, who stumbled upon the two stylish troubadours singing in perfect 60s folk harmony. Little did they anticipate that this serendipitous encounter would pave the way for a remarkable collaboration resulting in the creation of this EP and one of the first releases for the new label Weirder Together Records run by Lee and his partner, Ione Skye.
After supporting Ben Lee at a show in Brisbane, he invited them to record with him in LA. Though recording in Los Angeles wasn't feasible, McDermott & North entrusted Ben Lee with their guitar and vocal stems to complete the EP. Ben Lee rallied an exceptional team to contribute their expertise, including Joey Waronker on drums (Beck, Roger Waters, REM), Roger Manning Jr on keys (Jellyfish, Glen Campbell, U2, Broken Social Scene), and Mike Viola on bass (Panic at the Disco, Dawes, Ryan Adams). It is a credit to McDermott & North that their songs were enough to draw a team like this together.
Budding Bristol-based band, Hunny Buzz, share their brand new video to their punchy surf-pop banger “Now I Can Get Over You” released only a few days ago. Drenched in a rich layer of grungy guitar with lead singer’s Lyd Read’s personality and panache spilling out across every second of the track. Today’s new track is the first of many in the build-up to their forthcoming Pacific Wax EP out later this year.
Speaking about the track's narrative-driven lyrics and melancholic nature, Lydia Read explains “‘Now I can get over you’ is a blow-by-blow account of when a relationship goes so wrong, there can be relief in accepting the romance is dead and moving on.”
2023 is the year to keep an eye on Hunny Buzz, who are already super tight live since they formed in 2020, and possess the vitality of British tour successes Black Honey, Dream Wife and Wet Leg. The Group is made up of singer-songwriter Lydia Read, guitarist Rowan Barfoot, drummer Billy Pedrick and songwriter, producer and bassist Ewan Base.
Margo Cilker is set to return with her highly anticipated second LP Valley Of Heart’s Delight on September 15th via Loose. The upcoming record sees Cilker with the same group of collaborators (and a few additions) as her widely acclaimed 2021 debut Pohorylle. The 11-track set was produced by Sub Pop alum Sera Cahoone, who also contributes drums, and recorded by John Morgan Askew (Neko Case, Laura Gibson) with studio players from The Decemberists, Band Of Horses, and Beirut. Cilker and her touring band will take the new songs on the road this fall for an extensive run throughout the United States.
“‘'Keep It on a Burner’ is a stream-of-consciousness reflection,” Cilker offers. “Fittingly, I started writing it while floating down the Salmon River on a whitewater rafting trip full of rattlesnakes and wildfire smoke. I think of it as a song about playing the long game and pursuing your heart’s delight, despite life's winding waterways.”
Valley Of Heart’s Delight refers to a place where Cilker can't return: California’s Santa Clara Valley, as it was known before the orchards were paved over and became more famous for Silicon than apricots. She is the fifth generation of her namesake born there, and in this 11-song collection, family and nature intertwine as guiding motifs, at once precious and endangered, beautiful and exhausting. Cilker moved from California to the Pacific Northwest in her mid-twenties and wrote much of Valley Of Heart's Delight while living in Enterprise, Oregon, a small town near the Snake River and powered by the river’s massive, publicly-funded hydroelectric dams. The dams (part of the same system Woody Guthrie was hired to write about) provide clean electricity to much of the western United States but make it extraordinarily difficult for anadromous fish (such as Steelhead Trout) to return from the ocean and spawn in their native streams. Valley Of Heart’s Delight feeds off of this tension - how we live in and off of nature, how we live within and without family, and why we return to the places we were born. Of the forthcoming record, Cilker explains:
“I wrote these songs surrounded by the wild landscapes of the Northwest, but I was leaning toward the place I’d come from. I felt cut off from my family and the valley that held them. I spent hours thinking about my sense of belonging. I’d traveled through many places and then, when the travel stopped, I ruminated on where I had ended up. Where were you when the music stopped? I was in Enterprise, OR. And there in Enterprise, my mind drifted back to the Valley of Heart’s Delight. I wrote about family — about death and rebirth, and the arcs of love and art through a family line. There are songs that hint at missteps and redemption. There are songs about trees: in orchard rows, family trees, redwoods. And water: agricultural runoff, wild rivers, dammed rivers, baptismal flows. And there’s a [cover] song about a fish, cause it’s a damn good song and I wanted to record it.”
Many of you know Badasonic from it's many sweet Reggae releases. We think you might enjoy their newest offering something a little different and wonderful!
Recorded on analog tape at the Retromixer studio in
Châlons-en-Champagne, France, “Tumbling Walls” blows on the incandescent
embers of 60's beat and soul, ignites minds and sets bodies ablaze,
brings awareness and a contemporary outlook.
5/5 - "This is dope. Thank you! Love the rawness and the recording style makes this even more beautiful." - Hober Mallow - 2SER 107.3 FM - Sydney, NSW, Australia
"Brilliant update of that groovy 60s French pop sound!!" - Jeffrey Jones - WJOB 88.9 FM - Reserve, WI, USA
5/5 - "Some GROOOVY stuff from this French group! Vintage and yet modern... No synth sounds to be heard!" - Dr. StrangeDub - KFAI-FM 90.3 / 106.7 FM - St. Paul, Minneapolis
"We really like the sound of The Ready-Mades. Ready made for us here at CIUT-FM, Toronto." - Ken Stower - CIUT 89.5 FM - Toronto, ON, Canada
"Loving on this sound. Ready Made for listening." - Mister G - WSUM 91.7 FM - Madison, WI, USA.
