WESTERMAN – ” Your Hero Is Not Dead “

Posted: April 28, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
Tags: , , , ,
0

Image may contain: one or more people

West London’s Will Westerman, who releases music simply under his last name, is releasing his debut full-length album, Your Hero Is Not Dead, on June 5th via Partisan. On Tuesday he shared another song from it, title track “Your Hero Is Not Dead,” which he says is inspired by the 2019 passing of Talk Talk’s Mark Hollis. He has also put out a new SoundCloud mix he calls “freeform communal music” and has titled Huxley. It features Neil Young, Thundercat, George Harrison, Arthur Russell, and others.

Westerman had this to say about “Your Hero Is Not Dead” in a press release: “This was the last song I wrote for the whole record, but I had the title for the album before any of the music was formed. I remember I wrote it on the day that Mark Hollis died. He’s probably as close to a musical hero as I have. The song isn’t about him or Talk Talk necessarily, but when he died I wanted to put myself to task and respond to the sadness I was feeling at that moment.”

Westerman recorded Your Hero Is Not Dead in Southern Portugal and London with his friend and producer Nathan Jenkins (aka Bullion). The album includes tracks “Blue Comanche,” a new song Westerman shared in January. Then when the album was announced he shared another new song from it, “Think I’ll Stay,” and another song from it, “Waiting On Design,” .

“I hope this suspension of life as we know it isn’t too much for you at the moment. I have been thinking a lot about what I can do and what I should do. It’s disorientating when the rug gets pulled on everything, it’s been wonderful to see such a rapid collective response to these times of enforced solitude. It’s helpful for me to think of the different ways music sustains people who are feeling alone. This music comes in response to the feeling of isolation and disconnect, and I hope it finds you and your loved ones alone, together.”

“Your Hero Is Not Dead” is taken from Westerman’s upcoming album of the same name, out 5th June on Play It Again Sam / Partisan Records.

MAX BLOOM (YUCK) – ” Perfume “

Posted: April 28, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
Tags: , ,
0

Yuck guitarist Max Bloom recorded his debut solo album Perfume following a painful breakup and a move back into his family home after 10 years of independence. Bloom pivoted to a more intimate, downtempo sound with unadorned vocals, influenced by the likes of George Harrison and Harry Nilsson, following three blown-out indie rock albums with Yuck. The result is a contemplative record that pivots between sunny melancholia, tongue-in-cheek humor and good old-fashioned yearning, and Bloom’s perky guitar work lightens the mood. “I decided to call the album Perfume because of how powerful smell can be,” Bloom says. “For me anyway, smelling a familiar smell can send me back in time like no other sense can. And when I smelled a jumper she had left behind, it brought everything back again.”

I never thought that I’d be releasing the album in these circumstances, but there you go. However dire the global situation, I never considered delaying the release. Partly because I think it’s important now more than ever for musicians to be putting their art into the world, but also because this plan has been years in the making, and nothing was going to get in the way.

MAPACHE – ” From Liberty Street “

Posted: April 28, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
Tags: , , , , , ,
0

Image may contain: 1 person, concert

Formed in January 2016. Mapache is a new folk / blues / rock / bluegrass / psychadelic duo born in Los Angeles California. Mapache is interested in spreading good feelings of love as well as raw musical talent to anyone and everyone. Mapache is an experience both live and in the studio presenting a memorable and honest sound.

Produced by longtime collaborator Dan Horne (Circles Around the Sun, Allah Las), Mapache’s new album From Liberty Street promises angelic harmonies weaving somewhere between traditional folk and modern cosmic country music. These songs are inspired by everything from Mexican boleros, to Bakersfield twang, to lonesome cowboy campfire tunes.

Clay Finch and Sam Blasucci, both born and raised in Glendale, California, display their brotherly chemistry and casual Cali attitude in the country tune and video premiering today. Directed by Nicole Hawkins, the visual features the pair wandering around New Orleans, past trees laced with Spanish moss and across green fields, a small dog in a hot pink jacket trotting at their side.

“We chose to shoot the video in New Orleans because we love it there,” Blasucci shares. “Besides the spots in the video, we like to visit many other places: the Made Market uptown (RIP), the music and wine at Bacchanal, Euclid Records, the lovely fountain in Audubon park (great for a dip on a hot day), and lots of other beautiful places.”

Hawkins adds, “We shot the video in and around the greater New Orleans area. It jumps from different times of day and different places within one continuous wandering walk. I wanted the video to feel as familiar and unpretentious as Mapache, without too many distracting elements that might take away from the nuances of the song and from their personalities. The Boston Terrier, Roscoe, is a part of the family, so it only seemed right that he wear his pink sweater and wander with us. “

Clay Finch: vocals, guitar Sam Blasucci: vocals, guitar Dan Horne: bass Austin Beede: drums Dusty Ineman: percussion

“Life On Fire” is from Mapache’s album, From Liberty Street.

No photo description available.

SLEEP EATERS – ” In This Town “

Posted: April 28, 2020 in MUSIC
Tags: , , ,
0

No photo description available.

Sleep Eaters are a five piece Country Garage experience from South London!. Their debut EP ‘Holy Days’ OUT now via PNKSLM. London, UK country garage quintet Sleep Eaters is sharing new music in the midst of covid-19 quarantine in the shape of “In This Town”, which is in fact the very first track the band recorded together two years ago – before the acclaimed debut EP Holy Days which was released in August 2019 to acclaim from KEXP, So Young and more. Produced by Younghusband’s Euan Hinshelwood and mastered by Pete Maher who’s worked with everyone from The Rolling Stones to Nick Cave, it’s a stopgap release to tide everyone over during the quarantine, with a full-length scheduled for next year.

http://

Released April 27th, 2020

Performed by Sleep Eaters.
Written by Glenn Wild, Sean Wild, William Atkins, Danny Herman & Declan Shields-Appleton.

PUP – ” Anaphylaxis “

Posted: April 28, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
Tags: , ,
0

Image may contain: 1 person, indoor

PUP is serving up a slightly different thesis on the flying insects. “Anaphylaxis” is yet another anxiety attack from the Toronto punks, this time focusing on the panic at the thought of a fatal bee sting—and the comedy of this irrational fear in retrospect.

“I got the idea for the song when I was at my partner’s cottage and her cousin got stung by a bee and his whole head started to swell up,” vocalist Stefan Babcock shared in a press statement. “His wife, although she was concerned, also thought it was pretty hilarious and started making fun of him even as they were headed to the hospital. He ended up being totally fine, but it was just funny to watch him freaking out and her just lighting him up at the same time. It reminded me of all the times I’ve started panicking for whatever reason and was convinced I was dying and the world was ending and no one would take me seriously.”

The claymation video for the track, created by Callum Scott-Dyson, is a pretty graphic depiction (well, it’s pretty tame in relation to the band’s live action videos) of the worst case scenario envisioned by the song’s narrator, pairing the song’s searing riffs and intense vocals with body horror imagery.

“Anaphylaxis” – New Song and Video! Hypochondria, paranoia, hallucinations, guitars that sound like bees! This song’s got it all!

DESTROY BOYS – ” Honey I’m Home “

Posted: April 27, 2020 in MUSIC
Tags: , , , ,
0

Image may contain: one or more people, people on stage and night

Destroy Boys are redefining Left Coast punk. Equal parts hardcore and fun, Destroy Boys is what would happen if Blondie stumbled into a Misfits recording session. Lead singer Alexia Roditis’ haunting melodies and Vi Mayugba’s shredding guitar are both an homage and an evolution of all things classically punk.

Destroy Boys had a pretty quick come-up, getting a shout out from Billie Joe Armstrong in Rolling Stone before they were even out of high school. Now, two records later, the Sacramento riot grrrl trio are pretty established in the scene, dropping the one-off single “Fences” at the beginning of the year to a quickly blossoming fan-base.

This morning they’ll be following that track up with another one-off release: “Honey I’m Home” heightens its predecessor’s viscous bite and matches it’s theme of frustrated constriction. “[It] was written at a time in my life where I felt mentally trapped on all sides,” shares guitarist Vi Mayugaba. “I was boxed in by everything around me. Even though there were no physical restraints keeping me from escaping my situation, I couldn’t bring myself to leave. I was able to free myself a few months back, and now the song is more of a redemption song than anything. No more bars on the window, freaky cliff metaphors, et cetera. It’s a perfect quarantine anthem, considering we are all trapped at home.”

Band Members
Alexia Roditis – lead vox + rhythm gtr
Vi Mayugba – lead guitar + vox
Narsai Malik – drums

Destroy Boys‘ official lyric video for their new single ‘Honey I’m Home’ – out now everywhere in the world.

HAZEL ENGLISH – ” Wake Up “

Posted: April 27, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
Tags: , , ,
0

Image may contain: 1 person, closeup

With her debut full-length album, Wake UP!, Hazel English has traded the hazy, reverb drenched production styles prevalent in her earlier work for sounds synonymous with classic pop records from the late 60’s. Production isn’t the only dramatic change, however. A move from San Francisco to Los Angeles to explore a collaborative relationship with producer Justin Raisen (Sky Ferreira, Charli XCX, Angel Olsen) proved to bring a fine tuned sense of pop craftsmanship to the songs that would become Wake UP!

On tracks like Shaking, Off My Mind, and Five and Dime, English’s sharpened sense for song writing are on full display with timeless pop hooks and addictive melodies. Wake UP! casts a wry, appraising eye over modern life and promises to be one of the highlights of 2020.

Straw-man time: If it’s hard to make a truly bad dream-pop album, it’s equally tricky to make a really good one, and for identical reasons. The essential ingredients are the same in either case. You need reverb, introspection and hazy melodies that evoke ’60s pop. How you fit them together is what makes all the difference. Australian-born Los Angeles transplant Hazel English puts those elements to use in service of 10 songs that glide by comfortably on her full-length debut, Wake Up!. It’s a respectable enough effort, full of chiming guitars and sleek vocals as English delivers lyrics that parse feelings of isolation and explore power dynamics from romantic relationships to capitalism. Despite the sometimes fraught subject matter, her songs are engaging and pleasant, as well as a reminder to be present and engaged with herself and the world around her.

They also feel more fussed-over than the EPs she released in 2016 and 2017, which had an immediacy these songs sometimes lack. After demonstrating intimacy and charm on her earlier material, English shows with Wake Up! that she’s capable of making a bright, big-sounding album. Once she gets around to combining those sensibilities, well, look out.

ANGELO De AUGUSTINE – ” Santa Barbara ” Feat. Sufjan Stevens

Posted: April 27, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
Tags: , ,
0

Image may contain: 1 person

Angelo De Augustine’s new single featuring Sufjan Stevens out now: Angelo De Augustine has shared a new track the beautifully contemplative “Santa Barbara,” released via Steven’s label Asthmatic Kitty. The track arrived in tandem with a music video self-directed by Augustine, featuring a glistening coastline and existential pondering. “‘Santa Barbara’ touches on the uncertainties and realities of being mortal in the landscape that we view through our experience; displaying ghostly apparitions, love, death, and a famous British novelist,” De Augustine told Rolling Stone. “It was a good experience to record this song with my friend Sufjan. I look forward to sharing more soon.”

Angelo De Augustine: “Santa Barbara” (Feat. Sufjan Stevens)

WARES – ” Survival “

Posted: April 27, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
Tags: , , , ,
0

No photo description available.

For all of their fire, fury, and revolutionary antagonism, the Edmonton-based experimental rock band have never quite seemed of this world. The band’s founder and leader Cassia Hardy has an ear for the unnatural and a habit of slipping into alluring pop melodies without warning, often moments before tumbling down into chaos. And coupled with a desire to play a lot of things really fucking loud, Hardy often makes Wares‘ songs feel transcendent. Hardy’s lyrics deal with trauma and disaster, but Wares‘ music either confronts them with wrecking ball of guitar noise, or offsets them with a piercing fragility. “It’s places like this that take me away from the mess that I’m in,” she sang on “Dirt” from the band’s self-titled 2017 debut, articulating something that Wares usually leave unsaid.

Edmonton outfit Wares is the project of singer/songwriter and guitarist Cassia Hardy, and today, the band has shared their first release for Mint Records, Survival. It’s an emotionally uplifting record characterized by inner turmoil and guitars that range from furiously sweltering to pleasantly warm. “This record is dedicated to decolonial activists, anti-fascist agitators, prairie queers fighting for community and a better life,” Hardy writes in the liner notes. Their latest album Survival released earlier this year. It’s a deeply personal album with fervent, textured guitars and dynamic song arcs. Survival is anything but stereotypical: “Living Proof” channels melodramatic electro-goth, “Hands, Skin” takes cues from emo-punk and “Surrender into Waiting Arms” boils to a metal guitar finale.

Wares is a musical project engineered by Edmonton. From teeth rattling electric convulsions to barely-there, reverb drenched refrains, the musical inflections explored by Wares are as varied as they are enthralling.
Band Members
Cassia Hardy: Guitar, trumpet, bass, drums, harmonica, keyboard, yelling, pedal stomping.
PAST MEMBERS:
Zach Pyshniak: Bass
Joel Dinicola: Drums

Wares – Surrender into Waiting Arms From the album ‘Survival’ available on LP / CD / CASS / Digital now from Mint Records.

HOTEL LUX – ” Barstool Preaching ” EP

Posted: April 27, 2020 in MUSIC
Tags: , , , ,
0

Image may contain: one or more people, text and indoor

Portsmouth-via-London band Hotel Lux have shared their debut EP Barstool Preaching via Nice Swan Records (Sports Team, Pip Blom, Fur). The EP follows a series of singles over the past few years like “The Last Hangman,” “Berlin Wall” and “English Disease.”

The five-track release spans slow-crawling, introspective rock (“Charades”), self-aware post-punk (“Loneliness of the Stage Performer”) and even jubilant organ-led guitar-pop (“Ballad of You & I”). There’s self-deprecating humor (“I scroll through pages upon pages on eBay to find the biggest ego and I beat the highest bidder”), stark frankness (“It’s just another day / Wasting our lives away”) and moments of clarity (“Sometimes I forget the people I meet are not the people for me / You see”). It’s also just a jolly good time with rollicking guitar lines and frontman Lewis Duffin’s cloak-and-dagger vocals.

“It was good fun working on a release that’s a bit bigger than what we’ve done before,” Duffin says. “The tunes seemed to come in pairs when writing ‘em—we’d make a little playlist of 5-10 tunes as inspiration and go from there. The songs are more introspective lyrically than we’ve been in the past, more personal as opposed to stories so the EP has an air of vulnerability to it—to us at least.”.

‘It was good fun working on a release that’s a bit bigger than what we’ve done before. The tunes seemed to come in pairs when writing ‘em, we’d make a little playlist of 5-10 tunes as inspiration and go from there. The songs are more introspective lyrically than we’ve been in the past, more personal as opposed to stories, so the EP has an air of vulnerablility to it. To us at least.’

‘Barstool Preaching’ EP out April 24th via Nice Swan Records.

Older Entries
Newer Entries