Chicago’s Melkbelly will release new album “Pith” in April and they’ve just released this grungy new single and it’s accompanying video. For ‘Humid Heart,’ we wanted to let the mood and tone of the song guide our direction, rather than forcing anything too specific into the video,” say video directors Weird Life. “Loosely based upon the notion of going through everyday life with any sort of heightened emotions can weigh someone down, we followed our hearts and that of the song and fell down a rabbit hole. That being said, we have no regrets.
Right before they unleashed “Pith” upon the world, Melkbelly shared a video for their single “Sickeningly Teeth” which featured a dude waving at the camera with a handful of dog shit in his other hand, and another dude dislodging an entire salad from being stuck between his friend’s teeth. It honestly kinda set the mood for the off-kilter grunge record, with “Teeth” perfectly exemplifying the band’s strength as a group proficient in gentle pop choruses jilted off course by their fixation with off-putting time signatures and screeching guitars—essentially the audio equivalent of sticking spinach between their teeth and smiling.
“Humid Heart” is taken from Melkbelly’s forthcoming record, ‘Pith,’ out April 3rd, 2020 on Wax Nine/Carpark Records.
Introducing Stay Home, a Polyvinyl Record Co. compilation featuring 16 tracks including previously unreleased music, demos, and covers.
We’ve been especially inundated with covers this past month, though most have been recorded live from the artists’ living rooms. Hazel English’s contribution to the covers-heavy Polyvinyl StayHome compilation, though, is considerably less of a novelty item, taking the impossibly dreamy Mamas/Papas joint and cranking up the dreamy factor. It’s stripped to the essentials—vocals, guitar, tambourine, and a Mellotron cameo, making for less emphasis on the plot and more on its unique stylizations .
There are some tracks from recent Polyvinyl releases and some previously unreleased material. That includes Owen covering the 1975’s “Me,” Xiu Xiu covering Kim Jung Mi’s “Haenim,”Palehound covering Karen Dalton’s “Something On Your Mind,” Squirrel Flower covering Emmylou Harris’ “Icy Blue Heart,” and Hazel English covering the Mamas & the Papas’ “CaliforniaDreamin’.” There’s also new songs from Chris Farren and Radiation City, and demos from of Montreal, the Get Up Kids, Yumi Zouma, and STRFKR.
Stay safe, and stay healthy Polyvinyl family. Some gems in this one
John Andrew Fredrick has written and released seventeen The Black Watch albums of quality indie rock since the Los Angeles band’s inception in 1988. For this record Fredrick had the idea of letting producer-friends Scott Campbell, Rob Campanella, and Andy Creighton be his band and record the album. “I have had, I think, too much control, musically speaking, in the past.’ Fredrick says, “And the thought of experimenting this way was really thrilling.” The result may have yielded TBW’s best album in years. The title track of the 18th album by the black watch from Los Angeles, this has all the ingredients of a hit single accompanied by the fantastic video made by Ian Holmes.
The song is released on Jan 28th 2020 and the album “Brilliant Failures” will see its release as limited vinyl editions, CD and digital on March 27th 2020.
John Andrew Fredrick writes the dreamiest pop songs this side of My Bloody Valentine–with just the right amount of six string freakout and Beatlesque harmony. An L.A. treasure!”–Pop Matters
“A band that melds shoegaze, post-punk and jangle-pop in a masterly way.”–LA Buzz Bands
“It’s astonishing that a band as concerned with quality control as California’s the black watch could go for this long with the following the size of a kitchen sponge. They are a literary/melodic marvel–a real treasure, for more than those who merely seek out obscure pop bands who started in the late 80s.”–Trouser Press
Band Members
john andrew fredrick–guitars, vocals; rick woodard–drums; chris rackard–bass; andy creighton–lead guitar
“Brilliant Failures” is the title of the new record and it is out this Friday, March 27th 2020 on A Turntable Friend Records. Highly recommend checking this one out!
At the core of Neil Young’s catalogue is the belief that art has the power to transform the world around us: whether he is speaking truth to power, highlighting the injustices he sees in our society, or using his platform to elevate the voices of those who are not as fortunate as himself, Young has come to signify a certain kind of relentless optimism in the face of a very harsh reality.
Right now, we sorely need this sort of optimism. The Trump administration’s commitment to denigrating, brutalizing, and criminalizing immigrants has reached a fever pitch with the family separation policy. Although the practice of family separation has reportedly been halted, there are still thousands of children that have been lost by DHA.
TFN is excited today to premiere this new video from New Hampshire’s Rick Rude. The track is their version of Neil Young’s “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere,” which can be found on the new release “Look Out For My Love: A Neil Young Covers Album to Benefit RAICES”. Their track is a highlight from the compilation and should also get you geared up to hear some more new music from the band!
The compilation features 18 tracks from different indie musicians, that not only includes Rick Rude but Lung, Halfsour and Adult Mom (which contributed an excellent version of “Harvest Moon.”) All funds raised by this compilation will be donated to RAICES which is a nonprofit that provides free and low-cost legal and social services for immigrants.
Brighton’s Wax Machine comes at you with a full psychedelic sweep on their debut full length Earthsong Of Silence. The band offers a blend of jazz, folk, funk, tropicalia, and exploratory rock which is an accurate description as this record expands on the great singles and EPs the group has released over the last couple of years and really showcases their growth.
The addictive vocals of Brazilian-born, Italian/English-raised Lau Ro (Guitar/Vocals) is the driving force behind Wax Machine. Her guidance and soft tone immediately catches your ear. It also is not hard to hear how Earthsong Of Silence benefits from the production of Kikagaku Moyo’s Go Kurasawa which also gets another boost from him playing additional guitar, percussions and harmonium on the record. The album definitely has some similar vibes of Kikagaku Moyo’s work except now with a female lead.
The subtle intricacy of the music is where Wax Machine shines. Like in the song “Truth,” the guitar comes in with a really sharp force at times that breaks up the soft delivery of Ro’s vocals. In “Sun Dance,” the music moves and flows with a jam ease in parts, almost like there is no set structure, until it settles back down into its normal mellow pacing that is filled with guitar intricacies. The explosion of sound during “Patterns” is memorable when Ro sings “flying into rays of sun,” with her quiet tone as the track goes from the simple and almost a cappella chorus into the fantastic scorching middle eastern guitar sounds that connect all of the parts. It is just another solid example of Wax Machine’s focus on the details.
If you are into the modern psych scene, then Wax Machine should be in your playlist. This is a fantastic sounding album that you will hear something new with every spin. Its transitions are flawless and Lau Ro’s voice is hypnotic. Earthsong Of Silence could easily been like an album a drift in the sea but don’t shy away because its guitar pieces are the perfect beacon to bring you in!
Folk singer-songwriter and Phoebe Bridgers super friend Christian Lee Hutson is about to release his new LP “Beginners”. “I went with “Beginners” as the title because that’s where I feel like I am in my life — like I’m still just learning and trying to figure out how to navigate the world,” Hutson says. He co-wrote several songs for Bridgers’ boygenius and Better Oblivion CommunityCenter records, and in return, she recorded and produced the entirety of his album at LA’s Sound City Studios.
Christian Lee Hutson shared another Beginners track “Get The Old Band Back Together”, which arrives with a video starring album producer Phoebe Bridgers and Conor Oberst.
We’ve already heard a few songs from the upcoming Beginners — “Northsiders,” “Lose This Number,” “Talk.” And now, Hutson has shared one last advance single before the record’s release later this month. “Get The Old Band Back Together,” which features Conor Oberst on Harmonica, Hand Habits’ Meg Duffy on electric guitar, Sharon Silva on harmonies, Anna Butterss on bass, and Marshall Vore on drums, is a warm, comfortably melodic folk-rocker.
“Get The Old Band Back Together” by Christian Lee Hutson from the album ‘Beginners,’
“A few years ago I ran into the drummer of a still-together band from my high school, who had just been kicked out,” Hutson explains. “When he told the singer he’d been considering becoming a building inspector, the guy gave him an ultimatum: the band or inspecting buildings. He chose to inspect buildings, a decision that may have been impacted by the fact that the band never played a show or recorded a song. Still, he was pretty bummed about it, and that gave me the idea for this song.
“I had been wanting to make something with my director friend Michael Tyrone Delaney, who’d had this idea to splice up old talent show footage with footage of me and some friends showcasing some of our own ‘talents,’” he continues. “My partner, Sharon Silva, showcases her Irish dancing. My childhood hero, Conor Oberst, takes an aggressive, impromptu harmonica solo in the video (and on the recording). My adulthood hero and best friend, Phoebe Bridgers, plays a master of puppets. We shot it in April so everyone had to self tape. Every single he’s released has been stellar. I’ve been raving about “Northsiders” and “Lose This Number” for months now. This guy is the real thing and I can’t wait for the record.
Bridgers and Huston are good friends and frequent collaborators. He co-wrote songs for her Better Oblivion Community Center project with Conor Oberst, and her boygenius project with Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus.
On how he picked the LP title, Hutson explains, “I went with Beginners as the title because that’s where I feel like I am in my life – like I’m still just learning and trying to figure out how to navigate the world.”
“Talk” by Christian Lee Hutson from the album ‘Beginners,’ available May 29th
Muse’s Matt Bellamy premiered his brand new solo single “Tomorrow’s World.” As you can probably guess, the song was inspired by the Coronavirus Quarantine, and as Bellamy put it “this song captures my mood and feelings whilst in lockdown”. “Tomorrow’s World” marks Bellamy’s second solo release, following “Pray(High Valyrian)” taken from the Game Of Thrones soundtrack last year.
Fans of Muse’s older material should be pleased with this solo effort, as it captures a bit more the piano-led earlier material that Muse used to deliver before they really took off in the mainstream lens, at least stateside. If there is a man/band that knows how to soundtrack apocalyptic feelings, it’s Bellamy.
Bellamy had this to say about “Tomorrow’s World”:
I have been reminded of what really matters in life and have discovered growing optimism, appreciation and hope for the future,” said Bellamy. “The song title comes from an old BBC TV show called Tomorrow’s World, which I watched as a child in the 1980s and always enjoyed the wild futuristic predictions of what life would be like now.
It all seems rather lovely, comforting and naive in retrospect and reminds me that none of us ever really know what the future holds.
Australian dance-rock outfit Cut Copy turn to social media to announce the release of a brand new song entitled “Love is All We Share.” the first new music from the Melbourne electronic stalwarts in almost three years.
The message read:
“Love is All We Share” is a song we made using only a handful of sounds, hoping to create an intimate and unworldly atmosphere. It was written a year ago about the anxieties of imagined future times, as technology becomes more all-consuming. But in light of recent events, the song took on an eerie significance. Now, with our immediate future uncertain and people the world over self-isolating, “love” more than ever, feels like one of the best things we can share.
It’s a more contemplative and atmospheric based offering that feels rather subdued and gentle for Cut Copy. But it’s definitely fitting to the times that we are all in at the moment.
Cut Copy – Love is All We Share [Official] Video by Takeshi Murata and Christopher Rutledge. via Cutters Records
British Columbia-born singer-songwriter Kandle Osborne has the voice, creativity, and lyrical insight to lift your mood, no matter how low you’re feeling. She’s been getting well-deserved hype under her moniker Kandle, and today you can see why with two brand new songs — “How Can You Hurt Me” and “Little Bad Things” — that she just shared.
Kandle has spent her quarantined days during the coronavirus pandemic recording songs for Untitled, her fourth album. Both of these new tracks come from the upcoming full-length and, considering the situation in which she produced them, sound pretty dang impressive.
How Can You Hurt Me” brings Dusty Springfield vibes to a hidden alley’s coolest cabaret, while “Little Bad Things” is a darkly-pensive showstopper. Together they are a plush romance and comprise the sparkling brand-new single from Montréal’s Kandle Osborne, long an Autumn Roses icon.
This album was created from March 18th to April 17th by James, Steve, Greg, and Michael, with essential contributions from Mike St. Clair, Ian Salazar, Jim Vollentine, Lucas Anderson, JoshuaBlock, Jared Samuel, Daniel McNeill, Jim Eno, Joel Raif, Chris McGaha, Adam Chetwood, Kevin Maenen, Cedric Maes, Alessio Di Turi, Jordan Richardson, and Chad McGillivray.
Austin-based psychedelic-rock quartet White Denim recently undertook an ambitious project: create an album from start to finish in thirty days. From March 18th to April 17th, they wrote, recorded, mixed, and mastered nine full-length songs, which resulted in a new release, World as a Waiting Room.
By way of a WhatsApp group chat, recording separately at their Radio Milk Recording Studio in East Austin, constantly sanitizing their hands, and working remotely at their respective home studios, the band pulled it off while social distancing. The album brims with noisy jams reminiscent of their early years, and involved a slew of past collaborators chipping in—if you look through the album’s credits, you’ll recognize names of past band members like Josh Block and Lucas Anderson, who contributed mixing for tracks like “Go Numb” and “King Prospero,” and lyrics for the kinetic track “Work,” respectively.
While the coronavirus pandemic has by necessity brought on new modes of thinking, being, and creating, it also enabled the band to collaborate and reconnect with past creative partnerships in unexpected ways. With fifteen collaborators and thirty days to pull it off completely remotely, the album stands as an impressive reflection of the array of emotions one might feel during this strange time when life seems to have come to a halt. Following the release of World as a Waiting Room last week, we spoke to front man James Petralli about what went into making it.
Thank you to everyone that has pre-ordered and listened, and to the entire team involved in making the album!
‘World As A Waiting Room’ vinyl update! Thank you for your patience as our manufacturer works through some unavoidable delays with their printing vendor. The current timeline is for records to be assembled the last week of May. They’ll then be shipped to our online store warehouses in the US and UK,
