Fans of Gabrielle Aplin may already be familiar with Hannah Grace. The Welsh songbird, born Hannah Vivan-Byrne, supported Aplin on her 2013 English Rain tour, and is signed to Never Fade Records, the label Aplin co-founded with James Barnes.
Grace’s growing discography already boasts radio staples and playlist mainstays such as Praise You and December, while her debut album, “Remedy“, released in September 2020, offered an eclectic mix of soulful and reflective ballads, proving Grace is a strong recording artist whose career remains on the up, despite the setbacks of 2020.
A familiar artist with a striking approach to being a multi-genre singer-songwriter, Grace has a voice that’s commanding yet comforting. 2021 is sure to see her become one of the best new artists to enter the mainstream.
My debut album ‘Remedy’ was released September 2020
Acclaimed singer-songwriter-producer Simone Felice has announced the release of his eagerly awaited new album. “All The Bright Coins” – which marks Felice’s first release through a newly signed deal with Chrysalis Records The record arrives Friday, January 28th, 2022; pre-orders are available now.
It’s Felice’s first studio album in many years, “All The Bright Coins” is preceded by the resonant new single, “Puppet” featuring Four Tet” available now on all DSPs.
I began writing “All The Bright Coins” in 2019,” says Felice. “It had been several years since I had written anything of my own, as I’d felt called to produce records and write with other artists I love. Then one rainy morning I wrote ‘Puppet,’ a mainly autobiographical tune about the dark, empty, and farcical side of being an underground touring troubadour most of my adult life. Part of me felt as though perhaps this should, and would, be the last Simone Felice song I’d ever put out, ‘Puppet stand, Puppet bow,’ a final curtain call. But then a few months later I wrote ‘Prisoner,’ and then ‘Bare Trees.’ The ‘Heat’ (that’s what myself and a few close friends call it: that sweet, painful, ungovernable whisper) was with me once again…”
New video/single Puppet is out now, Feeling major gratitude to have such a staggering amount of talent on this track in my mountain brethren Kieran Hebden/Four Tet on beats & atmospherics, James Felice on vocals, David Baron on sub bass & keys,
Official music video for “Puppet” (featuring Four-Tet) the new single from Simone Felice.
When Amazon Music Produced By series, where I would work with four different artists on four tracks, I had a basic idea who I wanted to collaborate with. But each one of these songs required a unique creative approach.
I had worked with The Lumineers on their last album, so working with Wesley Schultz again felt like a natural fit. We were both looking forward to the session. It had been a few years since we made “Cleopatra” and the fever to get back in the studio together had been building for all of us. Throughout August, we threw around four or five different ideas for which song we should do. Should we try an original? An old, well-loved cover? A weird, obscure cover? We decided that instead of making a hard and fast plan, we should throw some paint at the wall and see what stuck.
The night before we were planning to record, we took a long ride through the mountains to see a friend’s band. We both DJed a bit in my car on the way and landed on “Bell Bottom Blues,” a song that had been haunting me all year. I remembered hearing it when I was a kid, some late- ‘70s flashback riding in my dad’s van with an ice cream cone and a contact high. But this past winter, deep in the inevitable Catskills cabin- fever, low-vitamin-D blues, I rediscovered it by accident while binging on Martin Scorsese and coming across his brilliant film George Harrison: “Living in the Material World”. I was shaken and moved by the story behind the scenes, how George’s close friend Eric Clapton fell in love with his wife Pattie Boyd, and all the drama, pain, music and emotion that followed. I was glad to learn this song was new to Wes and loved how much hearing it for the first time moved him. We pulled over and listened to it again, both of us spellbound.
When we got to the studio the next morning, I was surprised and moved when Wes said, “Let’s do ‘Bell Bottom Blues.’ I can’t get it out of my head.” I wholeheartedly agreed, without a second thought, and we dove right in with my man David Baron, scrambling to set up mics, find the right key and learn the piano chords. It was the kind of studio moment you hear people talk about and, hopefully, experience yourself a few times on the rocky journey of making records—pure spontaneity, inspiration, danger and teamwork. Needless to say, we forgot about all the other songs we had planned to try.
The approach with The Felice Brothers was very different. My brother Ian wrote this beautiful song a few years back about our mother—her strength, struggles and sacrifice. For one reason or another, it never ended up on an album, so this project presented a welcome opportunity to give this special cut, which had become a staple of the Brothers’ live shows, a proper life in the recorded realm. As luck would have it, Conor Oberst and Wes were in the Catskills the same week we planned to record “Patti”— everyone’s become friends over the years and we all revere Ian’s writing—so it felt like the natural thing to do was to ask them both to guest on the track. Growing up, we loved bands with several different unique lead singers: The Beatles, The Band, Beastie Boys, Traveling Wilburys (the first tape I ever owned), Wu- Tang Clan (a few ill cats spittin’ fire). This was a cool chance to try our own dirtbag homage to that tradition and praise the eternal mother.
Phoebe Bridgers had the idea to do “Powerful Man” by Alex G. I can’t take credit for that—I’m lucky that she turned me on to the song for the first time. I had never heard it before so I was coming to it without any baggage and, when I sat down to listen, I was immediately struck by the poetry and the hypnotic flow on the vocal phrasing. It reminded me, in a completely non-derivative way, of some of the best works by one of my all-time favourite artists, Elliott Smith, so I was all in. Then when we got into the studio together, I was absolutely blown away by Phoebe’s interpretation of the song. When we began recording, she performed the rare magic trick that many covers fail to achieve: She made it her own, as if she had recently written it in a moment of genuine inspiration, while still maintaining the essence of the original melody and meaning. It was a very special sleight of hand.
When Conor and I first began talking about what song we’d do together, he directed me toward a few obscure YouTube videos of him singing some unrecorded material live in various random countries and venues. These were rough fan videos, posted online in the heat of devotion, and I had a private little laugh to myself sitting in my workshop listening and watching my old friend singing because I know that, like most prolific geniuses, he had written these incredibly powerful songs, probably in a flash of inspiration, on the road or in some hotel and, without much pomp and circumstance, taught them quickly to his players (in this case my brother James on piano) and played them at a gig or three before moving on to new ideas. That’s Conor’s brilliance—always hunting for the Holy Grail, the key to the Tower of Song—that’s why he’s one of the best ever. I’m very proud that our recording of “LAX” will be the definitive studio version, haunted and inspired like the original YouTube video, but with Phoebe’s ghostly vocals and a bit of macabre orchestration.
One of the weirdest things to happen over the past 15 years or so has been the absolute obliteration of the telephone conversation. The internet’s ultra-connectivity has made making phone calls relatively irrelevant, and while things like Zoom and texts and DMs have replaced the need to reach out and touch someone, the real reason behind the death of phone calls is that no one you ever want to hear from is calling. Spammers, scammers, bots, and assholes pitching extended car warranties or student loan forgiveness bullshit has made the ringtone a harbinger of absolute dread. Not even grandma’s calling anymore; she’s busy on TikTok.
IAN SWEET feels all this, for real, as the project from one-time Bostonian and Los Angeles artist Jilian Medford offers up a cruising new tune that a little new wave, a little indie-pop, and entirely let it go to voicemail-core. It’s called “f*ckthat,” and we’ve got it dialled in.
“My phone causes me a lot of anxiety!” Medford admits. “I really only like to use it to take videos and pictures of my dog. This song is about not wanting to answer calls anymore and wishing I could just throw it out the window and disassociate from its evil/stress inducing technology.”
Produced by Manitoba duo deadmen, “f*ckthat” dropped last week (September 29th) via Polyvinyl, and comes correct with word of a 2022 North American tour. The 18-date month-long run brings Bnny along for the ride, and watch Medford’s self-directed video for “f*ckthat”, edited by previous collaborator Will Duncan.
“f*ckthat” is the new digital single from Ian Sweet, available everywhere September 29th, 2021.
In a world that seems to be increasingly unreliable, The KVB remain a band to count on. The British coldwave duo have unleashed a string of unfuckwithable singles dating back through the past decade, and today, just as the temperatures begin their descent in our corner of the world, deliver an embracing tune of mechanical beauty in “Unité”.
The track will be featured on The KVB’s forthcoming new album, Unity, out November 26th on Invada Records. It was produced and mixed by Andy Savours, known for his work with My Bloody Valentine and The Horrors.
The KVB have also released a visual for the track, which serves as “a homage to our time living in Berlin, with the pounding kick drum and grinding electronics,” the duo declare. Dive in
It features 10 brand new tracks produced by Andy Savours (My Bloody Valentine, Black Country New Road, The Horrors)Available on Limited edition blue & grey marbled vinyl (with deluxe booklet option), black vinyl and CD.
Taken from the new album ‘Unity’, released on 26th November 2021 via Invada Records
At this point, there’s no telling the heights Gang of Youths are set to climb. But as they continue to rise, their music is firmly rooted in where they’ve been. The Australian-born, London-based rock band seem to be filling an interesting void between pop-rock and indie, and after dropping the total serene EP earlier this year, are back with another lower-case, bigger-sound single called “the man himself.”
The track finds Gang of Youths singer Dave Le’aupepe meditating on the loss of his father, using his memory as a foundation to power forward and heal. “the man himself” is about grieving and loss, but also provides a compass on how to reflect the past in our future. “If I ever have kids,” Le’aupepe says, “I’m not really sure how to raise them without my dad helping me out.”
This anthemic, almost-hymnal track is a pretty good start. here is ‘the man himself’, a tune from our upcoming record. we love this track. listen out for ‘Imenetuki Mangaia’ at the song’s core, recorded by the wonderful David Fanshawe on the island of Mangaia a lifetime ago. the magnificent indigenous performers are the stars of the song, we can’t thank them enough
Lost Horizons, the dream-pop project from Cocteau Twins’ Simon Raymonde and Richie Thomas of Dif Juz, have this week shared a new video for standalone single “Florida.” It features vocals from KookieLou, otherwise known as Lily Wolter from Penelope Isles.
It was about a year ago when we first learned of the duo, as they teamed with Porridge Radio’s Dana Margolin for a rumbling tune of retrospection that set the tone for February’s sophomore album In Quiet Moments, released via Raymonde’s label BellaUnion. Here on “Florida,” the collaborators weave an atmospheric sound that floats across grace and sincerity.
Here’s what Wolter has to say about it: “Like most videos my brother Jack [Wolter, also of Penelope Isles] and I make, this one was most certainly trial and error. A lot of the time we find ourselves surrounded in a jungle of paints, flowers, glitter, string, lava lamps and makeshift green screens and say, ‘what have we gotten ourselves into?’ Despite the hours of drawings and the former attempts to make something that suited the trance-like, flowing, softness of the song, we got there in the end!”
She adds: “The lyrics are about a time I spent on tour in America a few years back. We wanted to show an abstract journey overlooking all sorts of weird and wonderful views. I’ve always wanted to go up in a hot air balloon, but I reckon it would be pretty damn scary. Big thanks to our mum for assisting with the paper-mâché balloons, to our dear friend Josh for the helping hand, and to Lost Horizons for wanting me to sing on their music, I’m once again, truly honoured.”
“Florida” by Lost Horizons is out now on Bella UnionRecords.
Over the past few years, Anjimile remained one of the most captivating performers and artists in the New England music community. Now relocated to North Carolina, Anjimile is becoming the world’s to share, and he’s sharing a lot from the inside on an introspective new single titled “Stranger,” out today (October 19th).
The stand-alone single, the first new, original music from Anjimile since acclaimed 2020 debut album, “Giver Taker”, is a delicate folk-pop composition about his trans identity and the changes sustained in his recent years taking testosterone. It was recorded with producer/pianist Thomas Bartlett and songwriter/producer Gabe Goodman.
And it also marks Anjimile’s signing to legendary record label 4AD Records, current home to Big Thief, Dry Cleaning, Helado Negro, and others.
“Stranger’ is something of a confrontation between my past and present selves in relationship to my trans identity,” Anjimile says.”I started testosterone about 3 or 4 years ago, and It’s been simultaneously liberating and alarming to note the changes to my mind and body over the years. ‘Stranger’ is an admission to myself that, while I welcome all of those changes — especially the deepening effect of testosterone on my singing and speaking voice — it’s still scary and there is a degree of internal ambivalence to my transition. In transitioning I lost, or gave up, a part of myself. And that is hard to reconcile. ‘Stranger’ is an attempt at some semblance of reconciliation, I guess.”
The follow-up to “Giver Taker” is currently in the works, but in the meantime, float freely with the gorgeous “Stranger” .
Parquet Courts will host an early celebration of the band’s new album, “Sympathy For Life”, with the premiere of the “Feel Free”visualizer on Wednesday. The project will feature special guest and NBA legend Bill Walton ahead of the album’s release on Friday via Rough Trade Records.
Following the ecstatic post-punk of the excellent ‘Wide Awake!’ was not going to be an easy task, but the New York outfit have smashed expectations once again by upping the variety of influences, creating tracks which would have suited the esoteric dancefloors of 80s NYC. Afrobeat, punk-funk, alternative dance, and 60s garage rock creep into the mix here, supporting their usual wry and abstract storytelling nicely.
In a teaser for the “Feel Free – Sympathy For Life, Visualized” project shared on Monday, the band leans hard on the improvisational approach that birthed its seventh studio album. The opening shot of the clip prominently displays a photo of Jerry Garcia. Beyond that, fans are dropped straight into the lengthy studio jams that co-frontman Austin Brown said Parquet Courts chopped up, sampled, and spliced together to create the cohesive songs found on “Sympathy For Life“.
“Most of the songs were created by taking long improvisations and molding them through our own editing,” Brown said in the initial album announcement. “The biggest asset we have as artists is the band. After ten years together, our greatest instrument is each other. The purest expression of Parquet Courts is when we are improvising.”
Parquet Courts have shared details of a new album, A Sympathy For Life, and previewed it with the lead single, “Plant Life”.
“Plant Life”, comes in the form of an extended mix that would lend itself perfectly to any dance party. Built around a simple backbeat, the song carries on past the 10-minute mark as the trance-like structure continues effortlessly like a never-ending dream.
“’Plant Life’ the song is my story of rediscovering my passion for music through New York City dance floors,” singer/guitarist Austin Brown said in a statement. “It’s a distillation from a 40 plus minute improvisation prompted by producer Rodaidh McDonald, and every way we’ve sliced it up illustrates a different mood of the same perspective of ecstasy and aspiration to not only grow, but form roots outside of our own barriers.”
Who better to help further bolster that jam-friendly approach than Bill Walton, a man whose name carries just as much weight in the world of basketball as it does in that of the Grateful Dead. Also on hand for the premiere is comedian Joe Pera, host of Adult Swim‘s Joe Pera “Talks To You”.
Check out the teaser for Parquet Courts’ Feel Free – “Sympathy For Life”,
The Fat Angel Sings 