Okkervil River frontman Will Sheff has announced the release of his debut solo album, “Nothing Special”, which will be out on October 7th via ATO Records.Sheff has also shared a video for the album track “Estrangement Zone.” In a press release, Sheff elaborates on the new album: “When I was just a kid, I got caught up in the dream of being a rock and roll star. Like so many other young people, I fell in love with the idea of being called to this glorious path outside of ordinary life. And I ended up in a band with people who felt this same especially our brilliant drummer Travis Nelsen, who was like a brother to me.
We would trade tales of hilarious antics and outrageous excess and tragic death like they were almost scripture. Travis and I fell out painfully, and he died in the early weeks of lockdown. I think a big part of “Nothing Special” centres around grieving for him, grieving for everything my friends have lost, grieving for the rock and rock and roll myth, and trying to open my eyes to a more transcendent reality.”
“Nothing Special” features musical contributions from guitarist Will Graefe, bassist Benjamin Lazar Davis, Christian Lee Hutson, Dawes drummer Griffin Goldsmith, and Death Cab For Cutie pianist Zac Rae. The album also features guest vocals from Cassandra Jenkins and Eric D. Johnson of Fruit Bats and BonnyLight Horseman. It was engineered by John Congleton, Matt Linesch, and Marshall Vore.
On Wednesday, Brooklyn-based psych-rock quintet Gift announced the release of their debut album, “Momentary Presence”, which will be out on October 14th via Dedstrange Records. They also shared a video for the album’s lead single, “Gumball Garden.”
“I wrote this song way before most people knew what the word pandemic meant,” band leader TJ Freda says of “Gumball Garden” in a press release. “I had a dream in late 2019 where I woke up one day and there was nobody on earth. I was walking around looking for any forms of life to no avail. It was sad but also strangely peaceful. When the pandemic happened, this song took on a whole new meaning. We did wake up one day and the streets were empty. Everyone had gone away. This song is about finding peace in solitude.”
Brooklyn’s GIFT open the gates to a technicolour shoegazing fantasy island on “Gumball Garden,” the first single from their debut LP, “Momentary Presence”, due out October 14th, 2022 on Dedstrange. The psychedelic Brooklyn quintet splice together dank strains of psych, krautrock and dream pop to grow their own hybrid—one that according to Rolling Stone, is heady enough to “[open] a portal to another dimension.” Dipped in syrupy synths and topped with powdered fuzz riffs, “Gumball Garden” is a delectable confection of heavy neo-psychedelic euphoria.
debut LP, “Momentary Presence”, due out October 14th, 2022 on Dedstrange.
After making a name with her fierce 2019 debut “Beware of the Dogs“, Perth singer/songwriter StellaDonnelly turned inward. “I’m taken out to sea in the flood / Swimmer looking for the line,” she sings on “Flood’s” title track, a bittersweet beauty of a center piece about keeping one’s head above water while awash in the emotional tumult that tends to accompany such introspection.
Where “Beware of the Dogs” paired Donnelly’s emotionally explosive song writing with bright indie-pop sounds and only occasional solemnity, “Flood” flips that script, as if to bare Donnelly’s battered heart (“Is it a pipe dream to want my children / Never to wake up and hear a woman screaming?” she considers on “Morning Silence”) with a newfound sense of peace and acceptance.
“I do love observing human dynamics,” Donnelly said in a previous press release, in relation to “Lungs,” the album’s opening track. “Dynamics between old best friends, or dynamics between housemates, or a relationship where the two people are broken up and haven’t spoken in years. I like getting into the mind of someone who we’ve all been at some point.”
Donnelly wrote “Flood” on piano, rather than guitar, a major contributor to the record’s more stately approach—“You’re the bit that holds us all together,” she declares on “Move Me,” as if in tribute to the instrument. It’s a serious album from a serious song writing talent.
Donnelly had this to say about “How Was Your Day?” in a press release: “This is my attempt at building a song out of a very specific dynamic between two monogamously involved people. The verses are just excerpts from real conversations, fragments of what two people talk about when they both know they need to have a real talk but neither wants to be the one to bring it up. This song came out of lockdown and seeing a lot of friends break up or get married.”
Of the video, she says: “This video does a really good job of portraying how annoying I am! We shot it from opposite sides of the world which was a little bit stressful but a lot of fun.”
Australian singer/songwriter Stella Donnelly is releasing a new album, “Flood”, on August 26th via Secretly Canadian.
The third album from Chichester’s Traams is their first in seven years. on first listen it felt like it didn’t hit quite as hard as a traams album should (there are only live drums on two tracks & Stu Hopkins is also experimenting with softer vocal tones). on second listen it felt much more powerful. and by the third listen (& on every subsequent full blast indulgence), we’ve found ourselves totally immersed & completely obsessed. Though the band never officially broke up after the release of nine-minute behemoth ‘A House On Fire’ and the subsequent tour at the end of 2017, a break made sense to all three members. “I couldn’t really write, and I didn’t have the motivation to do anything musical. I’m pretty sure I didn’t pick up a guitar for 2 years,” vocalist and guitarist Stuart Hopkins reflects. “I was waiting for that feeling to come back.” In the intervening years, the band went their separate ways.
Joe Casey, the idiosyncratic frontman of past and future TRAAMS tourmates Protomartyr also makes an appearance on the album’s blistering centerpiece, ‘The Light At Night’. “I had this part where I was trying to sound like a preacher, or someone with unequivocal authority, delivering this ranting speech,” Stu says of his idea for the song, “and as much as I tried to get a good version of me doing it, it just wasn’t working. It just sounded like I was trying to be Joe.” What better conclusion, then, than to get the man himself involved? A speculative Instagram message followed, ending up in Casey writing a brilliantly vivid, chaotic verse to send the track towards oblivion. “Kill the body then the head dies,” he spits over and over at the end of the song in a crazed manner only Casey is capable of, adding some blood and guts to the album’s poise and guile.
In the protracted gap preceding the Sussex group’s difficult third record, drummer/multi-instrumentalist Adam Stock focused his energy on learning new instruments and acquiring new synthesizers. Coupled with the pandemic-mandated adherence to low-decibel experimentation due to the closure of rehearsal studios, “Personal Best” finds the group unreservedly embracing the electro-ambient sounds that imbued their earlier, though more stentorian, work.
“Before it’s always been obnoxiously loud,” frontperson Stu Hopkins noted in a press release. “All the things we’d usually relied upon bass and drums locking in, guitar feedback, shouted words—were no longer applicable in this new way of writing.” With this pared-down palette, the band reinvents itself while reinforcing the timelessness of their left-of-centre drone rock.
At the tail end of 2019 the urge to reconnect struck the band, and they headed to Brighton for some initial sessions in a similar way to previous records – guitar, bass, drums, vocals. This continued until the first lockdown happened. After having this initial momentum scuppered, work on ‘personal best’ began again in earnest in summer of 2020, when lockdown restrictions eased. The trio were allowed to meet up in a studio and rehearsal space cobbled together in Stu’s workplace in Chichester.
As a result, ‘Dry’ and ‘Comedown’ – the two songs that bookend the new album, written in those early Brighton sessions – are the only two to feature live drums, a previous staple of TRAAMS’ sound. “There was an element of me not wanting to play drums as much anyway, but lockdown made it happen as we just couldn’t get to a drum kit,” Adam Stock remembers. For a while, the idea was to write within the restraints they were set initially, before imagining full band sessions to flesh out the sound in a more traditional way later down the line.
Due to flats in close proximity and only being able to play and record at night, the band were forced to write music at a hushed volume. “We had to re-learn how to play together,” the frontman says. “It was really quiet and considered, whereas before it’s always been obnoxiously loud. All the things we’d usually relied upon – bass and drums locking in, guitar feedback, shouted words – were no longer applicable in this new way of writing. After our initial reservations, it was incredibly inspiring and freeing.”
Beach BunnyLili Trifilio talks feeling things in a big way on the Chicago outfit’s sophomore album, out now via Mom+PopRecords she is back with “Blame Game” EP — their first new music since their breakout debut album “Honeymoon“. Take a listen to the riveting collection of four tracks below, along with a brand new music video for the EP’s title track “Blame Game.”
Plus, don’t miss Beach Bunny’s late night TV debut performing the EP’s first single “Good Girls (Don’t Get Used)” on Jimmy Kimmel.
Following their 2021 album “A Billion Little Lights“, Wild Pink released a couple transcendent one-off singles “Florida” and “Q. Degraw” to tide us over until their next release, seems we didn’t have to wait too long. Today, they’ve announced their fourth full-length “ILYSM” and shared the titled track, which feels urgent and grand like an anthem rivalling those of U2 or Arcade Fire. The album out October 14th on Royal Mountain Records, was co-produced by the group’s John Ross with Justin Pizzoferrato (Pixies, Speedy Ortiz). “ILYSM” also features an exciting line-up of a guest musicians including: J Mascis, JulienBaker, Ryley Walker, Yasmin Williams, and Samantha Crain.
“This song, like a few others on this record, takes place where I live and the field next to it,” Ross says about the new single. “A full moon will light up all the rooms here in a way I’ve never really seen and I feel like this song wrote itself a little bit. This album is about love in its many forms and this song in particular is a metaphor for love and obsession.”
The track also comes with a visualizer by John Smith that used the Dall-E 2 AI system to make the art. “The imagery of the specific clips were directly inspired by different lyrical lines or references, then edited together to make an experimental animation,” Smith said. “Perhaps one of the first animations using this new model. Early in the pandemic I started a deep dive learning about how I could use and utilize machine learning in my creative practice, and I found that it can be a very exciting and expressive tool for image making.”
Songs written and produced by John Ross
John Ross: Vocals, Guitars and Keys Dan Keegan: Drums and Percussion Arden Yonkers: Bass and Keys David Moore: Piano, Banjo and Farfisa Jeremy Viner: Saxophone and Clarinet Peter Silberman: Vocals, Guitars and Keys Mike ‘Slo Mo’ Brenner: Pedal Steel Julien Baker: Vocals on “Hold My Hand” Samantha Crain: Vocals on “St. Beater Camry” J Mascis: Guitar on “See You Better Now” Julia Steiner: Vocals on “ILYSM” and “See You Better Now” Ryley Walker: Guitar on “Simple Glyphs” Yasmin Williams: Guitar on “The Grass Widow In The Glass Window”
The album, which is out October 14th on Royal Mountain Records
Los Angeles based artist Young Jesus has announced the follow-up to 2020’s “Welcome to Conceptual Beach” and it’s called “Shepherd Head“. The first glimpse at the album, which is out September 16th via Saddle Creek, is the sublime single “Ocean” featuring vocals from labelmate Tomberlin. The single comes with a video directed by Stuart McClave.
The music of Young Jesus has always been about change. Bandleader and sole original member JohnRossiter is a restless spirit, always moving, always seeking new sounds, new thoughts, new methods of working. Young Jesus’ new album “Shepherd Head” is a dramatic departure for the band, delving deeper into the themes that have always fascinated Rossiter—love, loss, and God—approached in a completely new direction. It’s a record of growth and exploration, pushing forward into the future with hope while still holding the pain and regrets of the past, seeking a balance for the present.
“Ocean” opens with babbles of water before John Rossiter’s gentle, somewhat weepy vocals command: “Stay” he sings, letting the silence be over overridden by delicate finger-plucked guitar and Marcel Borbón Peréz’s pronounced bass. “Where I’m at is where I’m not,” he continues. “God is just the ocean where I’m lost.”
Immediately, Young Jesus surrounds us with intricate instrumentation that swells as Rossiter’s poetically weary observations move toward acceptance. It’s gorgeous how Young Jesus transforms a sense of being lost into an encouragement to wonder without question.
There’s a new compilation out that celebrates the legacy of pop greats The Everly Brothers. “Hey Doll Baby”, released earlier this year, includes hidden gems and rarities from the American rock pioneers. The 17-track project was compiled by Tom Petty’s daughter Adria Petty, and it was the last contribution from the last living brother Don Everly, who passed away last year. Today, we’re sharing a tribute to The Everlys from Best Coast‘s Bethany Cosentino and Butch Walker covering “Bye Bye Love.”
“The Everly Brothers were a big influence to the early Best Coast sound, so when my friend Butch Walker asked me to cover this with him—I of course said yes,” Cosentino says. “I can’t think of a more quintessential Everly Brothers track than ‘Bye Bye Love’ either—a perfect catchy melody that will be lodged in your brain for days, and some of the most beautiful vocals ever. It was super fun to get to sing this as a duet with Butch and harmonize together, I love singing with him.”
Walker adds, “My love for the Everly Bros. goes deep, and when I told Bethany I was doing ‘Bye Bye Love,’ she said she would kill me if i didn’t ask her to sing it with me. So here we are. I love how we sang it together!”
Hey Doll Baby Virtual Festival: Celebrating The Lives & Music Of The Everly Brothers 2022
Silversun Pickups have shared the second single off their upcoming album “Physical Thrills”, and this one’s an ethereal, climactic song fuelled by a powerful vocal performance by bassist Nikki Moninger who says she was channelling her inner Kate Bush for this one.
In a few weeks, Silversun Pickups will unveil their sixth studio album titled “Physical Thrills“, which was produced by Butch Vig and will be released on August 19th through the band’s own label New MachineRecordings. With the buzzing and vaguely funky lead single “Scared Together” featuring vocals from bassist Nikki Monninger on the chorus, the title of the second single “Alone on a Hill” reflects Monninger’s solo vocals on the track.
“This song exposes a side I didn’t know I had in me,” she shares of the more stripped-back tune. “It felt freeing, especially with everything going on in the past couple of years. I’m grateful everyone gave me so much support during the recording process as I am a bit timid when it comes to hearing the sound of my own voice. [Lead vocalist Brian Aubert] just kept telling me to channel my inner Kate Bush.”
A friend that was finally introduced to Butch Vig, once we got vaccinated, and blew through his studio like a tornado made of cotton candy, leaving little pieces of residue everywhere. But most importantly, this friend really doesn’t give a fuck. I know. That sounds brash. I just mean it’s a thing that is truly free. And now, this little living headspace no longer visits me. I visit it through this album. I hope you like it. My friend wouldn’t care. Little rascal.
New album “Physical Thrills” out August 19th! 2022, New Machine Recordings
Sorry are currently on tour across North America opening for Sleaford Mods. Get down early enough and catch them performing their new song, written about the ways we all become clichés the moment we feel even the slightest bit alone.
North London’s Sorry have shared new single “There’s So Many People That Want To Be Loved” – a thrilling first taste of a new body of work slated for release later this year. The exciting return of Sorry comes with a video, directed by Sorry’s Asha Lorenz and frequent collaborator Flo Webb and produced by Asia Amad.
Lorenz on the new track: “’There’s So Many People…’ is supposed to be a bit of a sad-funny love song! When we’re out of love we can feel detached and think ‘oh we’ll never be in love again… cry, cry’ but also try and laugh a bit… It’s easy to laugh or think you’ll never be That person then the next moment you can feel like the loneliest person in the world.”
“There’s So Many People That Want To Be Loved” is the first taste of new music to emerge from Sorry since the “Twixtustwain” EP arrived in February 2021, alongside the official digital release of their 2017 mixtapes Home Demo/ns Vol I. and Home Demo/ns Vol. II. The single will be pressed as a limited 7” with “15’4” featured as the B-side.
Comprised of best friends and co-conspirators Lorenz and Louis O’Bryen, joined by drummer LincolnBarrett, multi-instrumentalist Campbell Baum, and Marco Pini on electronics, Sorry rose from a thriving scene of bands in London; unveiling a series of mixtapes, sporadic singles and generally experimenting with the disparate tastes and sounds that would eventually give their March 2020 debut album “925” its distinctively modern and apocalyptic sound.
The Fat Angel Sings 