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Saturday &: Heliotropes - Josh Hoyer & Soul Colossal - Fieu - Hockey Dad

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Heliotropes - Normandy. Background promo - Brooklyn-based Heliotropes have released the official audio for 'Normandy,' the second track from their upcoming album Over There That Way, out July 15 via The End Records. Heliotropes is comprised of founding member/songwriter/vocalist Jessica Numsuwankijkul, along with a rotating cast of collaborators, including drummer Gregg Giuffré, bassist Richard Thomas, and guitarist Ricci Swift, who are all featured on the band's upcoming album. The band's first recorded offering came with 2012's Ribbons 7", followed the next year by their debut LP entitled A Constant Sea, which was named by Mother Jones as one of the 10 Best Albums Of 2013. Since then, the band has performed on the road with Esben And The Witch and toured nationally with stops at South By Southwest, Firefly and Culture Collide, sharing the stage with a far-reaching variety of bands including Thurston Moore, The Geto Boys, Matt and Kim, Kurt Vile, Parquet Co...

Friday Four: Bin Juice - The Vacationists - John Jefferson - Corbu

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Bin Juice - Astro Surf. Background Info - We are delighted to share the news of Sydney 5 piece Bin Juice signing to Monday Records, and announcing the recording of their debut studio EP. Bin Juice is just the right dose of Funk, Psych and a live set that leaves every punter talking for days. Their signature song-writing centres around their love of jamming, organically spurting out addictive melodies they then turn into songs. Described as “a force to be reckoned with”, Bin Juice ticks all the right boxes, from clever lyrics to electrifying riffs. The boys have developed a seasoned reputation for high-energy performances and drawing a pumping crowd wherever they play. Bin Juice has played alongside bands such as: Flowertruck, Winston Surfshirt, Capital Coast, Raindrop, Salvador Dali Llama, White Blanks, Powla, Bad Valley and Phantastic Ferniture. 'Astro Surf' has a eclectic mixture of sounds and just the right vocal styling to match the music. It's funky, different a...

Synths & More: Papertwin - Exploded View - The Hood Internet x Wolkoff

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Papertwin - The Pool. Background promo - Vacation, the forthcoming EP from Papertwin via Druyan Records represents their third studio collaboration. Self recorded in their New York apartments and mixed by Abe Seiferth (yeasayer,DFA Studios), mastered by Heba Kadry (Neon Indian, Beach House) the EP continues the band's unique sense of synth-pop. Dreamy, dark, nostalgically sci-fi, Vacation features analog synthesizers, melodic guitar lines, driving percussion, and reflective vocals. Drawing on influences from The Cure to Gillian Welch, this EP builds upon the bands previous recordings.   Papertwin is comprised of Max Decker, who makes his own clothes and only writes in calligraphy, Francis Cardinale who used to play in an algebra themed noise band in Olympia, and Nick Shopa who tunes pianos and is a valet car parker. 'Vacation' out June 24 via Druyan Records 'The Pool' really does have that synthy, flowing, dream pop feel to it. Production is crisp enough so th...

The Scenics - In The Summer (New Album)

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The Scenics - Wild Trout. Background promo - In the summer of 1976 Andy Meyers, fresh out of high school, and Ken Badger, working at the local music store, met and started The Scenics. Inspired by raw underground rock and new sounds, they began writing songs that defined Their sound — chancy, risky, noisy, with big pop choruses and gear-stripping guitar and rhythmic bomp. Alien-eyed lyrics that took in the world from the other side of "normal.” The Scenics were artistically amping up, and making recordings as a fiery young band. These songs were never released back in the day, but now they are collected on In The Summer. They played shows with Talking Heads, Simply Saucer, The Troggs, and dozens of other pivotal underground legends. For six years, The Scenics engaged and enraged local audiences by not playing by the punk rules of the day. The band’s wild creativity made any Scenics performance an adventure. And now they’re back, in the flesh, hitting a few of North America’...

Globetrotting: In Letter Form - Citizen of the World - Man Is Not A Bird

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In Letter Form - Face In The Crowd. Background promo - Drawing influence from the works of The (early) Cure, Joy Division, Bauhaus, New Order, Echo and the Bunnymen, Interpol et al, they produce a sound that echoes the past, haunts the present and is constantly in the future. Reflecting on past deeds; some well intentioned while others, not. The ways we had been wronged or the choice to see it that way because sometimes that's easier than the truth. The prose and cons of having thin skin to protect a thick heart, put "in letter form" perhaps? A love letter? An anti love letter? Hate mail? A photograph? A song? An exclamation of the joy of life? A suicide note? The bay area based foursome considers their formation a fortunate turn of events, as they were all experiencing heartbreak on some level when they came together. In Letter Form draws influence from the works of Joy Division, Bauhaus, and Echo and the Bunnymen. The single, “Face In The Crowd,”  blends their po...

Tuesday &: Polarheart - Grace Joyner - The Velveteins

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Polarheart - Enigma. Background promo - Hailing from Sydney, Mary and Chris are Polarheart. The duo began writing together in early 2013. They found a strong chemistry, and a year later Polarheart was born. Their combination of dreamy vocals and abstract soundscapes, makes for a captivating listening experience. After four successful singles and months of writing and recording, the Sydney duo are set to release their much anticipated self-titled debut EP in mid-2016. The success of their previous single, “Dystopia”, launched them into the speakers of a captive international audience, it has hit over 1M plays on MrSuicideSheep. They took their songs to the stage, filling venues with a successful tour of Australia’s East Coast in October 2015. The previous songs have all received multiple spins on triple j, and radio play throughout the US, UK, and the Netherlands and 280k plays on Spotify. You’ll be able to catch Polarheart’s music on the upcoming Cameron Crowe and J.J. Abrams produce...

Genre Wander: Peter Vogelaar - The Sweetest Condition - School '94 - Mary Owens

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Peter Vogelaar - Television (Feat. Ken Lally). Background promo - Peter Vogelaar is a bass player & producer from Waterford, Ireland. His new album 'The Science Of Summer' features collaborations with Deaf Joe, Katie Kim, Cat Dowling, Ken Lally, Susan O'Neill & Aisling Browne. "I wanted to make an electronica/folktronica album, loosely conceptual, that tries to capture the energy and atmosphere of a summers day. The real obstacle was trying to give the album a continuity with all these guest vocalists who had their own personality and flavour. I went back to a lot of the internal sounding albums that turned me onto music years ago by Nick Drake, Linda Perhacs, Sandy Denny and John Martyn - but at the same time I was soaking up a lot of producers whose sound had a particular awareness to it, producers like Gold Panda, Lapalux and Bonobo." 'The Science Of Summer' is released digitally last Friday, the full album is streaming on Soundcloud, Spotif...

Good Ones: BANFF x Caitlin Park - Wildlife - Rude Audio - The United Skies - The Jacques

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BANFF x Caitlin Park - My Love, My Lover. Background promo - Brisbane singer-songwriter BANFF (aka Benjamin Forbes) and Sydney subtronica artist Caitlin Park have teamed up to release their debut collaborative single ‘My Love, My Lover’ – released Friday, May 20 via London-based singles club 0E0E. Incredible lyricism is the craft of both singer-songwriters, who have together shaped a spacious, soul-drenched indie-pop song. The song tells the story of a disrupted relationship - exploring the dialogue between a confused, apathetic young man with his head in the clouds and his compassionate but at times over-committed girlfriend. But in the end, an all over sense of unity and strength between that pair is revealed, as they realise they would inevitably be OK. BANFF says of the song, “When I was initially writing the track, I kept hearing this dialogue between a girl/boy, talking through their struggles and how they were trying to get onto the same page. Insert Caitlin and we bega...

Friday Three: Oddity - Nevruary - Grieving

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Oddity - Ghost. Background promo - Chicago trio Oddity are gearing up to release their debut album ‘Settle Down’, produced by Steve Albini. Talking of the track, the band say; “We wanted to expand on our sound and with that I thought that our production had to be different,” explain the band. “As soon as we can up with the riff for ‘Ghost’ I knew immediately that this was the sound we wanted to go for.” ‘Settle Down’ is due for release on 24th June; “Wind me up, push me around, just don’t tell me to settle down.” That’s the sound of singer Oscar Baker’s voice as it pulsates through the title track of Chicago-based alt-rock trio Oddity’s debut album, Settle Down. Guided by the prolific producer Steve Albini, who steers the band’s sound in line with his own masterful résumé, he pieces together the band’s understanding of their own history, while giving them space to envisage on their own where that history might lead them. “Why fly like a monster, when you’re moving like a dancer,” B...

Quality Not Quantity: Major Leagues - Gregory Alan Isakov

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Major Leagues - Someone Sometime. Background promo - Since releasing their acclaimed debut EP in 2013, Brisbane four-piece Major Leagues have been busy touring throughout Australia with shows alongside the likes of Alvvays, Beach Fossils, Sebadoh, WIld Nothing and Wye Oak as well as local talents, The Preatures, San Cisco and DMAs. The band returns with their sophmore EP 'Dream States'. Dream States was recorded in Brisbane by local producer/engineer Miro Mackie at Plutonium Studios, and mixed in Brooklyn by Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Blouse member, Jacob Portrait and Fergus Miller from Bored Nothing. "With great pride, we're thrilled to be putting out this collection of songs that came together over the last eighteen months. It's been way too long between drinks, and in that void we've lived a world of goodbyes, fleeting romances and hard realities. Many of these stories have made their way onto this EP”- Jacob Knauth The recent singles, ‘Someone S...

Albums On There Way: Jake Morley - Dave Hanson - Ziemba

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Jake Morley - Watch Yourself. Background promo - The London-born singer called Jake Morley, is no stranger to a spotlight of national & international tours, festival performances, glowing press reviews or being supported by the likes of BBC Radio 2 and 6Music. Things were once happening for him with the release of his debut album ‘Many Fish To Fry’. Many individuals were beginning to take notice, people were getting behind Jake, attended his shows, the word kept spreading and things were looking up. That was until a severe mental obsession over the follow-up album swallowed Jake whole. Lost and feeling the absence of his father, Jake withdrew from his life by entering the fearful, doubtful and dangerous inner reality. In that dark frame of mind the voices in his head were all-consuming and no song of his was good enough… Taken from the upcoming album The Manual, (3rd June on Sandwich Emporium Records) the new single 'Watch Yourself’ brings us openly straight into Jake’s ...