Posts

Jesse Jo Stark - Joey Sweeney & The Neon Grease - Wojtek the bear

Image
Jesse Jo Stark - Dandelion. Background - Los Angeles-based rock goddess Jesse Jo Stark releases her highly anticipated debut EP Dandelion today. The album was written and produced by Jesse Jo, her guitarist Thomas Hunter and Dan Taylor (The Heavy). Steve Jones (Sex Pistols) also makes a special appearance on guitar for the lead track, “Dandelion.” The vibe of Dandelion is on brand – spooky and beguiling, with nods to rock and roll, blues, and old country.                                         Jesse Jo Stark is the femme fatale alternative music has been starving for. If Nick Cave and Elvira had a one-night stand, she might be the resulting progeny. Her last 5 singles – “Down Your Drain,” “Driftwood,” “April Flowers,” “Deadly Doll” and “Fire of Love” – have generated over 1 million Spotify plays and earned praise from fans and critic...

AK Patterson - The Joy Formidable - Starframes - Talkboy

Image
AK Patterson - It's not over till they cry. Background - AK Patterson have released the video for ‘It’s Not Over Till They Cry’, lifted from the band’s forthcoming debut EP ‘Shadows’, which is produced by Charlie Andrew (Alt J, Marika Hackman) and due out on 15 August, 2018 through East City Rockers in partnership with Andrew’s own Square Leg Records. Following a support slot for Alt J earlier this year and appearances at The Great Escape and Dot To Dot, AK Patterson have further summer festival dates lined up including Latitude and the Cambridge Folk Festival (full run of shows below). The band are sharing a new track every month in the run up to the EP’s release, with ‘It’s Not Over Till They Cry’ following previous releases ‘Shadows’ and ‘Lady Greyling’ - watch here. Speaking about the surreal video for the slow-spooling waltz, singer Alex Patterson says; “‘It’s Not Over Till They Cry’ is about being a performer, the pressures of having to deliver something emotional and mo...

Far Caspian - Sons of Bill

Image
Far Caspian - Let's Go Outside. Background - Leeds quartet Far Caspian unveil new single Let’s Go Outside, the second track taken from their forthcoming debut EP, out via UK label Dance To The Radio. Following on from the majestic Holding On, which turned heads when it drifted into the online sphere’s consciousness, Let’s Go Outside reaffirms the band’s knack for hazy, infectious dream-pop. Whilst Far Caspian have been based in Leeds since formation, frontman and guitarist Joel Johnston has only recently moved over to England from his native Ireland. This upheaval provides the basis of Let’s Go Outside’s themes. “Although it's a pretty upbeat instrumental, the lyrics touch on depression and feeling far from something you could call home,” he states, “The whole EP is loosely based on my experiences of moving to England and feeling a disconnect to living in a new city for the first time.” Referencing this dichotomy between themes and music with the playful self-nominated tag...

Moon - Völuspa

Image
Moon - Extinction (Album). Background - Moon: Heavy, melodic, spacious; echo-laden guitars; post-rock bass; shifting time signatures; haunting ethereal vocals. Moon formed in 2010 when drummer Chris Schneberger met guitarist and vocalist David Azizinamini  through Craigslist and invited a bassist he'd tried out with before. The sound they made was instantly cavernous and chiming. After writing a few songs, the sound of the band grew heavier and more propulsive. The group played some initial shows in small clubs in late 2010, and early 2011. After an early EP, Started In The Dark, Moon recorded their debut album in 2012.  Finding and Losing the Light featured six songs including the titular two song suite. Bigger shows followed, opening for Sleepy Sun and Hounds Below at Chicago’s Double Door, opening for Driftless Pony Club at Subterranean Chicago, Blood Red Shoes at Subterranean and Kinski at Subterranean. In addition, Moon headlined their own show with local bands Natur...

Dentist - Paul Steel - Swoone

Image
Dentist - Corked. Background - Indie surf rock outfit Dentist have announced they will release their third album 'Night Swimming' via Cleopatra Records on July 20. Dentist centers around the songwriting partnership of Emily Bornemann (vocals and bass guitar) and Justin Bornemann (guitar), who had been writing songs and performing together in various ways since first meeting in 2008. The band is rounded out by Matt Hockenjos on drums. Rightfully earning their place as one of New Jersey's buzziest bands, Dentist was named one of the top 10 bands at this year's SXSW by Mercury News and a darling of critics at NPR, Stereogum, Flood Magazine and more. The new 'Night Swimming' album juxtaposes catchy indie surf pop with lyrical themes about social anxiety and heartache. ' Night Swimming' showcases an aggressive approach to their beach inspired pop with lyrics covering the spectrum of human emotions. Produced by Andy Bova and Justin Bornemann, this album wa...

Peluché - Guts Club - Dan Lyons

Image
Peluché - To Be A Bird. Background - Pioneers of a genre called ‘Trip Jam’, which fuses elements of Latin, funk, psychedelia, soul and hip hop music, Peluché are a troupe of intrepid troubadours whose freewheeling artistry already has them pegged them as a standout force in London’s rapidly diversifying sound.    The trio have shared brand new single ‘To Be A Bird’ and announced their debut album ‘Unforgettable’, to be released on One Little Indian on September 21st. The album is already shaping to be one of the most distinct and vital British sounds of 2018. Speaking about ‘To Be A Bird’, the band said: “This track started as a trip jam in Syd’s studio (Wilton Way in Hackney), where we came up with a guitar, bass and drum groove and the song developed from there. The melodies in the clarinet and chorus vocals soar over the beat to represent the liberated bird flying away from societies pressures to conform. The video is an abstract piece of art representing the dist...

Tomberlin - Reina Mora - Mayflower Madame - The She's - Princess Chelsea - Basement Revolver - The Wolfhounds

Image
Tomberlin - Seventeen. Background - Tomberlin, the rising Louisville, KY-based artist, has released a video for "Seventeen," the latest from her deeply moving Saddle Creek debut album, At Weddings. On her deeply moving debut album At Weddings, Sarah Beth Tomberlin writes with the clarity and wisdom of an artist well beyond her years. Immeasurable space circulates within the album's ten songs, which set Tomberlin's searching voice against lush backdrops of piano and guitar. Like Julien Baker and Sufjan Stevens, she has a knack for transforming the personal into parable. Like Grouper, she has a feel for the transcendent within the ordinary. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, and now based in Louisville, Kentucky, Tomberlin wrote most of At Weddings while living with her family in southern Illinois during her late teens and early twenties. At 16, she finished her homeschooling curriculum and went to college at a private Christian school she describes, only half-joki...

Dead Naked Hippies - The Rock'n'Roll Hi-Fives - No Coward Soul

Image
Dead Naked Hippies - Guillotine. Background - Thrashing into life in late 2016 with their caustic brand of punchy post-punk, Dead Naked Hippies return with their first track of 2018 - the raw, gritty and atmospheric Guillotine. Capturing the trio, and frontwoman Lucy Jowett especially, at their most honest both sonically and thematically, the track builds on a steady release of acclaimed singles. Opening with a low-key guitar and drum groove, before bursting into fiery life for a cathartic chorus courtesy of Jowett’s trademark vocals, this conflict of duelling musical identities echoes the lyrical messages being conveyed. "Guillotine is an exploration of grief” the vocalist explains, “It’s the fine line between wanting to retaliate to someone who has caused you hurt, versus choosing to cut out the dead weight they have created in your life.” Serving as an excellent vignette for this universally relatable emotional struggle is just one facet of the track, and Dead Naked Hi...

Oldermost - Tempesst

Image
Oldermost - Same To Me. Background - “Same To Me” is the brand-new second single that Philadelphia’s indie rock band Oldermost ahead of the release of their new album How Could You Ever Be The Same? that AntiFragile Music is releasing on Friday, July 13th, following its rollicking lead single "The Danger of Belief”. The introspective song was one of the first written for their new album, and is one of its gorgeous, hazy stand-outs. It’s also frontman Bradford Bucknum’s thesis about love, and how embracing change is a liberating act that permits deeper possibilities of loving someone and loving one’s self. It also highlights the bands’ penchant for creating era-blending Americana-infused rock & roll with a more indie rock vibe in the vein of The War On Drugs (their Philly contemporaries!) or Wilco. How Could You Ever Be The Same? includes two songs that Oldermost previously released but felt like had a home on the new album, including the undeniable track “Honey With Tea”, ...