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Three To Please You This Weekend

Moon Types - Know the Reason (Jigsaw). What we are told - Here's yet another Jigsaw 7" from a new Swedish band, and like our previous one (by Animal Daydream - check 'em out!), this one features a set of easy-going and jangly pop songs in the vein of fellow Jigsawers, the Zebras and Ocean Party, as well as Ladybug Transistor (check out the trumpet in the title track!) and some more hipper bands like Real Estate. Though "Know The Reason" is the obvious hit, due to its instantly catchy melody and bouncy feel, the other two songs are no less dazzling in their own subtle ways, from the descending chord progression in the chorus of "Nothing's Holy" to the haunting feedbacky/ebow-ed guitar melody in "Do It All Over Again" . Jangle pop simple as that, easy on the ear and mind. A catchy song that pleases, more always welcome when they are performed this well. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------...

August & September Releases - A Taste Of Something Special

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Connie Constance - debut EP "In The Grass" released 25th September 2015 on Black Acre. Some background words provided - Connie danced from a young age, having left school at 16, she moved to Hoxton where she began working professionally as a dancer, further opening her mind and soul to music through movement. In 2015 a friend introduced Connie to UK musician Blue Daisy, their friendship was instant and Blue swiftly became her producer and mentor. Together they set about carving a uniquely tripped-out sound. Wild dreams punctuated by stark reality. Speaking of her collaboration with Kwesi Darko AKA Blue Daisy Connie says; “Imagine your uncle is god and he only let's the people who enter his heaven know who he really is. (His heaven being a dark and cave like studio filled with stories of the utmost enjoyment of solitude). That's what working with Blue is like.” At just 20 years of age, Connie’s aura surpasses the time she’s been on this planet. She wanted to...

Quality Not Quantity - And We Mean It

Ancient River - Keeper of the Dawn. Ancient River, the sonic brainchild of singer/songwriter James Barreto, is an ever-evolving source of rock n’ roll and psychedelia, its influences flowing from the swampy roots of the American south to the far reaches of space. The band's origins can be traced back the music scene in Gainesville, Florida and its thriving home grown DIY scene. Barreto began recording local bands, producing several albums as well as creating music for local independent films. His house soon grew into a fully-fledged home studio/rehearsal space, where like-minded musicians could be found tirelessly sharpening their wide range of sounds, encapsulating everything from noisy shoegaze and psychedelia to classic Americana. Locked away in the pursuit of his sonic vision, it took two years for Barreto to take Ancient River to the stage, emerging with an unmistakable space-rock guitar sound and creating a captivating live show accompanied by entrancing psychedelic vi...

Turk Tresize - Album - If It Is To Be

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Turk Tresize - If It Is To Be - The album that nearly got away... Well the bio has this to say - Turk Tresize is the embodiment of dusty backroads, Australian rock ‘n’ roll. Turk’s music drifts through the best decades of Rock ‘n’ Roll and takes his listeners on a story-telling trip through time. Raised on his family’s farm in Cannons Creek, Victoria, Australia, Turk is a music man that has embraced the hand that life has dealt him. Turk has managed to perform music across the globe, operate a successful annual music festival and launch a record label that released his highly-touted debut album, Soul Casino. He has accomplished this while fighting a deep-rooted battle for the family’s land. Turk continues to tell his intriguing story in the form of song with his sophomore album, If It Is to Be. ‘If It Is to Be’ draws attention to Turk’s rock roots while sharing stories of hard-won lessons he learned while growing up. The album takes you on a musical journey. It is a classic r...

2015 - Out Of Our Inbox - July - Three

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YOKOTA - Minimal Background - At 21 years old, singer-songwriter-producer YOKOTA, has released her indie-pop single 'Blindside' fusing elements of elements of soul, jazz and hip hop to create her her poppy brass fueled single. Currently recording in her home studio on Sydney's north side, YOKOTA's debut EP is set to thread these common elements and will be unleashed later in 2015 . So this really has to be a case of letting the music do the talking, which is fine. Actually it's a whole lot more than fine as I am sure you will find out, so give this totally enjoyable song a listen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bulls  - Background - The Bulls, Anna Bulbrook of The Airborne Toxic Event (and sometimes Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes) and Marc Sallis of The Duke Spirit, are sharing the title track off their new record Small Problems, today in advance of ...

Sundays Minimalist Alternative Take

Paul Mac "Anechoic [Everybody's Singing]" (feat. Tim Derricourt) - Love Club vs Stereogamous. I tried a little experiment. I had an idea for a song called 'Anechoic'. I was looking for a collaborator to bounce ideas off. One of my favourite whimsical vocalists is Tim Derricourt (Dappled Cities). We workshopped the concept and came up with a kind of choir of lovers leaving planet Earth, singing in space where no-one can hear you, but it feels good. Letting go and drifting into the unknown. Or something like that! It made sense at the time . Dark and light, broody and moody and upbeat all rolled into one. Official website ( here ). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hardkiss - Revolution (Hardkiss Remixes) The new Hardkiss single Revolution is a calling to arms to citizens who are tired and sick of the apathy and complacency in our collective hearts. There's so ...

And Four More For Saturday

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Oakland - As a matter of interest - Following on from last month's sold out single launch for brand new track 'Into The Sea', Perth alt-indie-popsters Oakland are wasting no time with their EP launch of the same name, with proceedings to take place at  Mojo's Bar in Fremantle July 31. Channeling a love for such universal acts as The National and Arcade Fire, Oakland gigged feverishly last year before settling down with esteemed engineer Andy Lawson (Eskimo Joe, Tired Lion, Our Man in Berlin) to carefully piece together the five track offering. Guided by a refined pop sensibility, the EP features a compelling mix of cavernous reverbs, driving beats and earnestly delivered vocals. Gathering momentum, crumbling into minimalism, then picking itself back up again, “Into the Sea” as the leading single is both emotionally rich and dynamically engaging, confirming the band’s investment in focused and impactful song writing . Indie rock like so many music genres, is a c...

Five For Friday

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Roses and Revolutions  - Based in Rochester, New York, Roses and Revolutions are guitarist Matt Merritt and singer Alyssa Coco. Their new EP ‘Torch’ was released this week. Roses and Revolutions' songs have appeared in soundtracks everywhere from MTV and VH1 to Showtime and E!, and they've shared stages with The Head and The Heart, The Lone Bellow and many others. This is a fine EP. There may only be two of them however they have an expansive sound on some songs. It's also hard to try an pin them into one genre, a mixture of indie pop and folk with a hint of singer songwriter thrown in for good measure. There is a mature feel to the lyrics and the production is spot on. Facebook ( here ). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Binary Circus - Background - Binary Circus have brewed up something special with the upcoming release of their latest single ‘Storm’ on the 7th of Aug...

The Singularity - Album - '404 Not Found'

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The Singularity - The Bio - Los Angeles based The Singularity ready themselves to release their self-titled debut album.  Front man and multi-instrumentalist Julian Shah Tayler’s childlike fascination with science, space and the big questions that trouble the human condition has fuelled the creative output of The Singularity since the band’s inception in early 2012. “Everything burst out of the centre of a super massive black hole,” remarks Julian, “and we are going back there one day, so let's just enjoy it.” This sentiment pretty much sums up  The Singularity’s manifesto and echoes the ‘party like its 1999’ hedonistic attitude of the artist Julian has been most frequently compared to, Prince.  Taking their name from the Ray Kurzweil book, The Singularity is Near, which heralds a new frontier of indistinguishable integration between man and machine, the sextet has spent the last 12 months shaping Julian’s unique songs into a captivating live experience, which has bee...

Quality Not Quantity - Acoustic & Electric Delights

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Great Father - Coming soon - Bicentennial Blue by Great Father out on September 25, 2015. After taking a break from song writing for more than a dozen years to work full-time as a hospice social worker and found the label Exit Stencil Recordings, Brandon Stevens delivers us a meditation on the commonplace complexities of ageing---the disappointments, losses, regrets, and inevitable changes that arise as youth fades further in the rear view and middle-age unexpectedly approaches.   The album has a decidedly overcast aesthetic, wrapped in the warm tones of nostalgia for the '70s a la Tobias Jesso Jr., and delivered from a perspective of someone who lives with loss close at hand.  At times reminiscent of Mojave 3's dream/country/folk amalgamation; at others, an Elliot Smith / Conor Oberst-like approach to lyrics and vocalisation; and at others, just approaching things straight up like Pink Floyd and letting it breathe. Keep Great Father in mind, the featured track is j...

Jefferson Starship - Santa Cruz, 1992 (Internet Archive).

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From the Internet Archive this is Jefferson Starship live at The Catalyst, Santa Cruz, USA, back on October 9th, 1992.  Prior to inclusion on the Internet Archive the recording circulated as a bootleg and was originally titled, "Hal's Death by Jefferson Starship #1," it included a phone message and an interview with Papa John and Gretchen Creech, which were removed to ensure there would be no conflict with anyone's permission policies. In 1992, Kantner reestablished the group as "Jefferson Starship – The Next Generation," a nod to the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. This version of the band would, at times, include various former Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship and Starship members, to tour and perform. After the first couple of years, the band dropped the use of "The Next Generation", and began to perform as Jefferson Starship. The revived band grew out of Paul Kantner’s decision, following the "Unplugged"...

Sundays Expansive Alternative Take

DVN - About them - Nileskog & Anton Stjärnqvist are DVN. At just 22 & 23 years-old, DVN have been have been hard at work in their studio for three years now, and with a big with a side-dish of DJing which in the past have had them open for a few big domestic names in the form of, Sebjak, Mikael Wermeets and Alex Moreno. They now have honed their skills to a point where they are ready to release their soulful deep-house influenced first single Oblivion feat. Duncan. DVN hail from Landskrona, in the southernmost part of Sweden. A place that has shaped them musically and where they work daily in their production-lab . Passionately sung vocals over a refreshing soundtrack take it in turns to dominate this piece, all to good effect. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoons in Stereo - Tells us -  It's been ten years since my first Afternoons in Stereo release and I'm celebr...

Two Very Different Tunes For Saturday

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Ember Isles - Background -  Brooklyn's finest trio of delicate harmonies, Ember Isles, released their newest 'Love Song' from their seven track, debut EP, Embers earlier this week.  'Love Song' was written during a muggy summer in a half furnished room at their first apartment in Brooklyn and speaks to a younger view of love and wanting. The kind of song you might need after a solid weekend of drinking and falling in and out of love with strangers and exes or after reading a Hemingway book, lying in your hammock in the heat of summer. Ember Isles is a trinity of modern folk writers, lyricists, and instrumentalists. Their yearning vocals and raw lullabies scratch at the ribs and burn the throat like scotch whisky. With personal origins stretching from Scotland to California, and back over the grey Atlantic waters to England, The Isles evoke the foggy dawn seashore and the warm cup of tea you would crave after a forlorn walk down the coast. Whether on a ukulel...

2015 - Out Of Our Inbox - July - Two

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Background - Teen Daze will release his first album for Paper Bag Records on August 7th 2015.  'Morning World' was recorded with John Vanderslice at Tiny Telephone, his all-analog studio in San Francisco with co-producer Simon Bridgefoot. Teen Daze has also announced a massive tour of North America. In 2010, Jamison, the person behind Teen Daze, had no idea what Four More Years would bring. That debut EP, a collection of blissful home recordings, was the work of a carefree 24 year-old. By 2012, things had changed, as they tend to do: relationships dissolved, illness affected his family, windows for outward communication were closing. The gravity of it all made for constant output; he reached for futuristic utopia with All Of Us, Together, found a devotional sanctuary inside The Inner Mansions, and embraced hibernation on Glacier. In hindsight, this was an artist coping through various forms of introverted escapism. While proud of the material, Jamison sought to break thi...