This 21-year-old young woman from country Victoria is leaving everyone stunned by her raw lyrics and haunting melody. Jack Grace is producing her, adding the electronic elements driving the beats and sonics. This one is going to be a special one!” .The Australian talent wrote ‘Figure It Out’ recently, with production coming from fellow rising artist Jack Grace.
A simple piano and vocal combination, it’s remarkably effective, with the songwriter dreaming of a return to her youth. Yearning for a simpler time, this theme turns the video into something extraordinarily effective.
Shot in Eliott’s home town and even features some of her family and friends.
“I think it was so important to go back to my hometown for this video,” she says, “It was such a special few days filming, because I got to do it with all of my best mates – there was no acting, it was honest and real. Figure it out is about leaving the comforts of home and doing something purely for yourself.”
Following the release of her acclaimed debut single ‘Figure it Out’ rising newcomer Eliott, has just revealed a video for her next single release ‘Over & Over’ which is released on the 2nd March 2018 and has been produced by rising fellow Aussie artist Jack Grace.
Official music video for The Blue Marble by GUM off his album, The Underdog. If a member of both TameImpala and Pond made a solo record, what would it sound like? The answer is GUM. The solo project of multi-instrumentalist Jay Watson, GUM is another offering of psychedelic pop from a man who is well versed in the genre. His full album, The Underdog, drops April 6th.
Sydney-based band Noire aka Jessica Mincher (vocals and synth) and Billy James (guitar). Following up their self-released EP Baby Blue in 2015, Noire have announced the release of their debut album‘Some Kind of Blue’, Growing up in the small regional town of Gympie, QLD before moving to Sydney where they formed in 2014, Noire craft dark, melodic and tenderly sculptured pop songs that traverse shoegaze, reverb heavy blues and indie rock.
Citing inspiration from Air, Mazzy Star, David Lynch, Wim Wenders and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, ‘Some Kind of Blue’ is a cinematic soundscape charting the fluidity of love and loneliness.
Noire’s patient guitar licks sound like you’ve just turned up in a 1950s western town that’s piecing itself back together after a shootout. The Sydney band’s ethereal vocals via lead singer Jessica Mincher, and effortless production and song arrangement make you want to just close your eyes, block out the world, and drift away for a few minutes.
Official music video for ‘He’s My Baby’, the second track from NOIRE’s debut album ‘Some Kind of Blue’ released 29th September 2017 via Spunk Records.
What kinda 24-year-old can writes lyrics as light-hearted and fun as, “Sittin’ at the swim club stretchin’ my quads, everyone wants to be a part of my squad”, and brutally honest as, “She doesn’t wanna see me tonight, not for a minute, not for a second, she says ‘nothing here for you to make right’”? (Sandy) Alex G, that’s who. While those in certain circles are probably crying out that he’s far from an undiscovered act, we believe the multi-instrumentalist from Philadelphia is someone everyone should know. Discovered largely via his releases on Bandcamp, and now signed to Domino, Alex G began his career making music in his bedroom, and he’s still there (only ’cause he’s uncomfortable relinquishing control of the songwriting process in a typical studio setting). Give him a listen, you won’t regret it.
(Sandy) Alex G – “Proud” from ‘Rocket’, released 2017 on Domino Record Co.
Texan singer-songwriter Jess Williamson’s sophomore album Heart Song is not even a year and a half old yet, but Williamson is about to return with a new collection, her first for the label Mexican Summer. Named Cosmic Wink, it finds Williamson once more exploring a new chapter of her life in new surroundings while, appropriately enough, further broadening her musical palette.
The name Cosmic Wink is apparently a nod to the Jungian concept of synchronicity, summing up an album as rooted in an “inspired companionship as it is a rebirth.” Plenty of Williamson’s past work chronicled her experiences in and outside of Texas, her stints in other towns and the call of home and the anxiety of searching for new places. Cosmic Wink picks up where its predecessors left off, with Williamson having fallen in love and decamping to California. Across the album, she meditates on her new life, at times conveying her thoughts via folk-rock, other times bearing the influence of her new home by situating ruminative narratives in enveloping, warm compositions that recall stray elements of ’60s rock.
Along with the announcement, Williamson has shared Cosmic Wink’s lead single “I See The White.” It’s a low key gorgeous composition, an acoustic rocker that sounds like a meandering, twilit journey down the beach that’s equal parts melancholic and joyous. Starting with the memorable line “Tell me everything you know about consciousness,” “I See The White” soon builds to one hell of an old-school pop paean of a chorus. Here’s what Williamson had to say about the song:
Love is at once so precious and so painful when we acknowledge how little time we have with the ones we love. Most of us walk through life like we will live forever. Since most of us have no memory of ever dying or being born, it’s pretty common for us to act like we are immortal. There are benefits to this way of living, but the dark side of that is it can lead to a lot of complacency. But start to notice the graying of your dog’s fur around her eyes, see the sun move lower in the sky, recognize that the wave you’re riding will one day descend, and see how your life starts to change when you inject a little more gratitude into your every day. This song is a love song and it’s also kind of me throwing a tantrum. It’s begging for answers and making a few demands too. I get it, life is short but our souls live on, right? So, I’m gonna need my sweetheart to come too, okay? And maybe my dog. Is that so much to ask? Musically, I wanted this song to feel joyful and pretty, because why shouldn’t we celebrate love alongside the tough questions? Life is wild and beautiful and sad and ecstatic all at once, and I wanted this song to be the same way. We might as well dance and sing and have fun with the time we have because we’re here and then we’re gone, and nothing lasts forever… or does it? 😉
“I See The White” also comes with a video by Eli Welbourne that alternates between matter-of-fact beauty and tongue-in-cheek reflections on mortality. Early on, Williamson serenades a skull and accidentally shatters an hourglass. Later, she dances on the beach and wanders LA.
Psych-rock greats Dead Meadow turn 20 years old this year, and the long-running band will release their eighth album The Nothing They Need this week on Xemu Records. Ahead of its release, we’re premiering a new track from the LP, “Nobody Home.” The band tells us it’s “a song about being alone in solitary places,” and it’s the kind of psych freak-out that Dead Meadow do so well, with fuzzed-out proto-metal riffs, trippy wah solos, and a permastoned vocal delivery.
Dead Meadow are playing psych festival Levitation in Austin Texas,
Dead Meadow have shared Nobody Home, a new track from their forthcoming album, The Nothing They Need. It is a classic, riffed up, behemoth of fuzzed up psych rock.
Two important events occurred during the making of White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood. I became “Simulated Reality” paranoid and I fell in LOVE.
Well a lot more happened during the process of writing and recording, but those are the two big ones. I also reached a healthy point of self-forgiveness for my failed marriage and became deeply educated in the lies of America the Great.
I feel like a switch was recently turned on in my brain and now I’m beginning to see through the lies that have been fed to me my whole life by the masters of media and by those who control and manipulate the narrative of our cultural identity and social order.
My paranoia began during the presidential election cycle and reached a dangerous peak shortly after the inauguration. In the meantime I watched and read countless works of art in a mad effort to be reminded of how many truly brilliant people there are living/struggling among us and to try to maintain a positive outlook. The works of Angela Davis, Noam Chomsky, Chris Kraus, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and the Autobiographies of Malcolm X and Mark E Smith were all great inspirations, to name a few.
Musically, I was very inspired by the extended dance mixes that people used to make for pop singles back in the ‘80s. It’s so cool how a lot of the 80’s hits had these really intricate and interesting longer versions that wouldn’t get played on the radio and could only be heard in the clubs. I used that template with these tracks, I wanted them all to feel like the extended “club edit” of album tracks.
I also decided to abandon the “live band in a room” approach that I had been using on the recent albums and work more on my own or remotely with collaborators. I used the same drum sample packs throughout because I wanted the album to have a rhythmic continuity to it. I wanted the drums to have a strong and consistent identity, similar to how Prince’s Linn Electronics LM-1 drum machine played such an important role on his classic albums. ZacColwell also played a huge role on this album, adding saxophones and synths to most of the songs. I also got a lot of help from long time collaborators, and “of Montreal” touring members, Clayton Rychlik and JoJo Glidewell.
The two title concept came to me when I was thinking about how difficult it is to frame the message of a song with just one title, because so often the songs are about so many different subjects. ‘White Is Relic’ was inspired by James Baldwin’s writings regarding the creation and propagation of a toxic American White identity. I’ve come to learn how it’s just a tool wielded by the 1% to give poor white people a false sense of superiority in an effort to keep the masses placated and numb to how deeply we’re all getting fucked by our capitalist rulers. An ‘Irrealis Mood’ is a linguistic indicator that something isn’t yet reality but does have the potential to become so.
I’m always searching for new identities so this concept of the death of “Whiteness” appeals to me greatly. Might be the only way to save the world. Kevin Barnes, January 2018
Taken from the Suggestive Listening EP, to be released as a part of Record Store Day 2018. Limited to 1000 copies – 500 blue cover, 500 pink – and only available through independent record shops. An extended play record, offered referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single, but is usually unqualified as an album or LP. EPs usually do not contain as many tracks as albums, & are considered “less expensive & time consuming” for an artist to produce than an album.
An EP originally referred to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play (SP) & LP, but it is now applied to mid-length CDs and downloads as well. Beginning in the 1980s, many so called “singles” have been sold in formats with more than two tracks. Because of this, the definition of an EP is not determined only by the number of tracks or the playing time; an EP is typically seen as four (or more) tracks of equal importance as opposed to a four-track single with an obvious A side & three B-sides. Suggestive Listening is an EP written by Ulrika Spacek
Hey Everyone!
We’ve always loved playing in the UK, and we are extremely excited for the shows coming up in London on March 9/10/11. These will be such a blast. To celebrate in advance, we thought we’d drop two more new Hold Steady songs directly to the fans. Check them out:
1. Eureka
2. Esther
These songs were recorded in Brooklyn in November at the same sessions as “Entitlement Crew” and “A Snake In The Shower”. We are excited to share them with you.These will be available for the fans here on Bandcamp for this week, and next week we will make them available via the major digital music providers.
If you choose to download these two songs, a donation will be made to benefit the K+L Guardian Foundation. ALL monies received from downloads will be transferred to the K+L Guardian Foundation.
The K+L Guardian Foundation was formed to benefit “Jersey” Mike Van Jura’s children after he suddenly passed away in November 2012 at only 36 years of age.
Released March 5th, 2018 The Hold Steady “Eureka” b/w “Esther”
The Hold Steady are: Bobby Drake, Craig Finn, Tad Kubler, Franz Nicolay, Galen Polivka, Steve Selvidge
Additional performers: Stuart Bogie, Michael Leonhart, Annie Nero
