murmurmur (pronounced mer-mer-mer) was born in February 2017 when Will Fletcher stumbled across the idiosyncratic guitar riff that provides the defining moment in “I Can’t Stop Thinking About All The Time I’ve Taken From You”. Fletcher was soon joined by Alex Crosara (guitar), Fintan Bradley (synthesiser), Jack Davies (bass) and Luke Haaja (drums), who helped to bring his prog/psych-pop odysseys to life.
Across the four songs that comprise murmurmur’s debut self-titled EP (produced by Oscar Dawson of Holy Holy), Fletcher’s haunting, emotive vocal blends with guitar hooks that sink into the recesses of your mind and stay there. There is an urgency to murmurmur’s soundscapes – they sound like a time and place you’re not aware of but which you’re desperate to find.
The Melbourne five-piece who’re bringing all of my psych pop dreams to life with their debut single. Coming ahead of their first EP as produced by the coveted Oscar Dawson, “Cable Car” is the kind of song that grows more kaleidoscopic with every passing minute, with frontman Will Fletcher rising like a star in the making above the cascades of reverb-drenched guitars.
Richard Swift, a former member of indie rock greats, The Shins and The Black Keys has passed away at age 41. Swift had been suffering from an undisclosed “life-threatening condition”, in which a GoFundMe page was launched last month to help cover his medical bills.
Swift was an essential figure in the indie rock scene, releasing music as a solo artist as well as contributing as an instrumentalist and producer to a slew of other bands. Swift played with The Shins from 2011 to 2016 and was the touring bassist of the Black Keys in 2017. Dan Auerbach confirmed. Swift, a multi-instrumentalist, had been a member of side project the Arcs, and also a studio owner, producer and film-maker.
“Today the world lost one of the most talented musicians I know,” Auerbach said via Instagram, alongside a picture of the pair together. “He’s now with his Mom and Sister. I will miss you my friend.” A post on Swift’s official Facebook page confirmed his passing, adding, “And all the angels sing ’Que Sera Sera.’”
He played drums in the Arcs and keyboards for Starflyer 59. Swift also lent his production talents to bands Foxygen, Guster, the Mynabirds, Sharon Van Etten, Damien Jurado, Pure Bathing Culture and founded the National Freedom recording studio.
A sad day in the world of music: the sudden passing of Richard Swift. Great producer, instrumental to so many strong artists, but also a wonderful songwriter himself. Hear his double opus “The Novelist / Walking without effort”. He will be missed and heard for times to come.
A post on Swift’s Facebook page reads, “And all the angels sing, “Que Sera Sera”, with tributes from his peers pouring out over social media. The Black Keys’ frontman Dan Auerbach took to Twitter to say, “Today the world lost one of the most talented musicians I know. He’s now with his Mom and Sister. I will miss you my friend.”
Talented musician and producer Richard Swift lost a battle with an undisclosed serious illness on July 3rd, and today the nature of that illness was revealed via this letter:
An update:We are grateful to the many fans, friends, artists and collaborators who have shared their thoughts, love and support this week. It has been a bracing force for many of us.
A number of questions have come up surrounding Swift’s life, his work and his death, and we’d like to answer some of them candidly, here:
Yes, Richard Swift suffered from alcohol addiction, and it’s ultimately what took his life. With the support of family and friends and the assistance of MusiCares, Richard had checked himself into rehab for multiple stays over the past two years, but his body gave out before he could overcome the disease. He was diagnosed with hepatitis and liver and kidney distress in June. Multiple hospitals worked to help stabilize him over the course of that month, but his body was unable to heal and, per his wishes and with his family’s consent, he was moved to hospice care. Richard passed in the early morning of July 3rd, 2018 in a hospice facility in Tacoma, WA. He is survived by his wife Shealynn and their three children Madison, Adrian & Kennedy.
Yes, Richard was working on new music, originally planned for release in November of this year. We do not have a timeline for its completion yet, but we hope to share it with you sooner than that.
With love,
The Swift family, Secretly Canadian & Next Wave Management.
After months of anticipation, La Luz’s lush, lysergic new album Floating Features is finally out . Shot through with rays of smoggy LA sunshine, the record navigates disorienting dreamscapes throughout its 11 impeccable tracks–particularly “Mean Dream,” which has a new music video from director Ryan D. Browne . If you’ve got a title like “Mean Dream,” the video just begs for surreal treatment. La Luz deliver in a wonderfully low-tech way, as they play on a jungle-themed set with giant body parts dancing around them. It’s simple but really fits with the band’s style, which was already pretty dreamy, Bend your mind and watch it in full below. La Luz play the first show of a massive 35-date North American tour this week.
“Mean Dream” is the third official music video from La Luz’s Floating Features, out now on LP, CD, digital, and cassette.
Hardly Art Records is pleased to announce that Seattle riffers Versing have officially joined the roster. The four-piece has been turning heads in the city for the past two years with their taut and brainy take on Northwest rock, and today they’ve shared “Silver Dollar,” a digital single that constructs a narrative around the social injustice of so-called “affluenza.”
This Seattle-based band should have a slew of positives that should be attached to their name. The latest signing to Hardly Art Records mines post-punk, alt pop and shoegaze to create their newest single “Silver Dollar,” a droning number with an attached VHS-style video that recalls James, Catherine Wheel, latter-era the Clean and early XTC in one fell swoop. Heavy guitars are a tell for the band’s previous endeavors, but they never take precedent over the group’s overall melodic focus despite the song’s twisted subject matter — a privileged individual guilty of hit and run who expects to get away with it due to social status.
To celebrate the release of his album Boarding House Reach in March 2018, Jack White embarked on a mini-tour of intimate venues and small clubs. Starting at his hometown go-to stage in the Blue Room at Third Man Records in Nashville, filtering through dreams and dives in NYC and Los Angeles and London and eventually hitting White’s home away from home at Third Man Records Cass Corridor in Detroit, the performances were explosive and commanding. Chronicled in a new triple-album set. Jack White Live in Nashville / Live in Detroit showcases performances in the two cities he’s called home.
In the spirit of the classic baseball “home-and-away” Vault package #37 highlights the momentous, tour-de-force set White unfurled in Nashville on March 16th and augments it with the unhinged Detroit performance a month later. Highlights include the raucous live debut of stadium anthem “Battle Cry,” the frenetic, stinging guitar fight of “Over and Over and Over” and masterful crowd singalongs for White Stripes classics like “Dead Leavesand the Dirty Ground.” As is par for the Vault, releases both of these shows are exemplary entries into the twenty-plus years of epic, life-affirming Jack White live performances.
According to a post on the website for White’s label, Third Man Records, much of the album was recorded at the Blue Room at Third Man’s shop in Nashville, with the rest coming from its Detroit counterpart, Third Man Records Cass Corridor. The news arrived with a preview of “Corporation” from the set,
White has also given attention to the LP’s artwork. “Packaged in a die-cut sleeve with peep-in artwork reminiscent of [Led] Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti or the [Rolling] Stones’ Some Girls, the interplay between the sleeve and the jacket will provide fans with hours upon hours of flip-flopping fun,” the post notes. “The discs will be pressed on lustrous black, beautiful blue and wonderful white vinyl.”
The album also comes with three glossy 8×10 pictures courtesy of White’s personal photographer, David Swanson, and a flag featuring White’s logo.
Christchurch, New Zealand’s Salad Boys are back with “This Is Glue”, the follow up to their critically acclaimed 2015 debut album “Metalmania”. Recorded once again by bandleader/guitarist Joe Sampson at his home studio, “This Is Glue”s twelve songs dig deeper, with sharper hooks embedded deep within a more mature musicality.
This Is Glue” hones Sampson’s songwriting chops to a razor edge, with many of the album’s songs sounding utterly timeless. The riffs and melodies seem all too familiar, perhaps recalling greats that came before them this entire scene owes a heavy debt to New Zealand’s Flying Nun Records and the various bands that recorded for it in the 1980s. On songs like “Psych Slasher” and “Blown Up” the Salad Boys share the propulsive drive and rich guitars of Rolling Blackouts, charging ever forward into deeply satisfying pop territory, but with an almost metallic heaviness rarely found in bands like the Clean or the Chills. That edge might make them the best bet on this list to break out in America like Rolling Blackouts have.
From the album “This Is Glue”, out January 19th, 2018 on Trouble In Mind Records,
Ola’s Kool Kitchen is a show on KCLA 99.3 FM in Los Angeles, 107.5 andhow.FM, Rock Velvet Radio, Maximum Threshold Radio, Rock Radio UK, Sword Radio UK, Jammerstream One, Kor Radio, Firebrand Radio, Bombshell Radio, and Hank’s Alternative Radio and you can hear more shows here www.mixcloud.com/olaskoolkitchen/
Show 364
1. The Lovely Eggs-Wiggy Giggy-This Is Eggland-Egg
2. Drop Nineteens-Happen-Delaware-Caroline
3. Grasscourt-Come Alive-single-Lost Map
4. V.V. Lightbody – Fish In Fives-Bathing Peach
5. Belaver – Radiate-single-Feel Bad Records
6. Amyl and The Sniffers-I’m Not A Loser-Big Attraction-Giddy Up-Homeless
7. Drahla – 12 Divisions of The Day-Single-Captured Tracks
8. M83-Lower Your Eyelids To Die With The Sun-Before The Dawn Heals US-Gooom
9. Hatchie-Sure-Sugar and Spice
10. Status Quo-The Price of Love-single-Pye Records
11. Bonny St Claire-Tame Me Tiger-single-Omega
12. Courtney Barnett-Hopefulessness-Tell Me How You Really Feel-Mom + Pop Music
Now over a year since debut single ‘There’s A Honey’ painted them as one of the most exciting new bands in the country, and with a debut EP under their belts, Pale Waves are truly beginning to find their voice. Pelting towards their debut album, new track ‘Noises’ – a live favourite for a while now – sees Heather Baron-Gracie translating the swagger and confidence she’s recently found on stage onto tape, and is a sign of a band still firmly on the up.
Adding yet more colours to the four-piece’s already-vibrant palette, ‘Noises’ is a spacious and anthemic return. “I feel like I’m slowly losing myself / I’m afraid that I need help” Heather sings, and though the track concerns self-doubt and a lack of confidence, it’s transmitted through her strongest vocal performance yet.
The moment he pointed down the camera during his appearance on the BBC in July 1972 was also the precise moment that David Bowie became a major star
48 years ago today, David Bowie played Starman on Top Of The Pops. And for many British music fans, Something changed in those three minutes. It was probably also present in the performance of Starman that he recorded for the ITV show Lift Off With Ayshea three weeks before that historic Top of the Pops appearance. But ITV lost the tape, which seems typical somehow.
Like everybody else on 6th July 1972, I genuinely remember seeing David Bowie perform Starman on Top of the Pops. It’s one of the few historic pieces of pop television. I knew who David Bowie was, had already bought his record and had even seen him wearing a dress on the cover of Melody Maker. That short appearance with the Spiders From Mars, doing a song that only got on the record because somebody at RCA thought it was a hit, felt like an arrival. It wasn’t just the clothes. Lots of acts raided the dressing-up box. The way Bowie pointed that finger, smilingly draped an arm around Mick Ronson, the way he worked out which camera he was on and looked beyond the camera to engage the audience sitting at home.
When Bowie appeared on Top of the Pops singing Starman. That was the moment Bowie went above ground and nationwide. The hype may have led us to expect something edgy and challenging. The record was as simple and hummable a radio hit as you could possibly desire. For the post-Beatles generation coming into their albums-buying majority, the record wasn’t really the point. The point was the way he looked at them.
The last time he’d been on Top of the Pops was playing piano behind Peter Noone on the latter’s hit version of his own Oh! You Pretty Things. Bowie’s people were furiously working the machine. His first release of 1972, Changes, was not a hit, despite being single of the week on Tony Blackburn’s Radio 1 show.
Held on a working farm,A few miles outside Gloucester “Barn On The Farm” is one of the most chilled out, intimate and relaxed festivals around. Every year Barn On The Farm hosts artists and bands most who return year after year, as well as new up and coming bands and singer songwriters who join the ever expanding barn family.With Tom Grennan and Tom Misch headlining the event this year in 2018,
So who should you see this year…?
Lauren Aquilina
After retiring from music two years ago due to mental health issues, Lauren is now playing her first festival in three years. Being announced to play the Friday of Barn on the Farm as part of ‘Behind Barn Doors Friday’, she last played her “fave festival” back in 2015, so is bound to pull out all of the stops with her brand of melancholic pop for her appearance this year.
Anteros
The band Anteros have been working the festival circuit hard over the past 2 years and it shows. They’re growing in so many ways, I saw them recently at the Handmade Festival, they have a great guitar player but its lead vocalist Laura Hayden who shines with so much Charisma their uptempo tracks and a really entertaining live show, Anteros have more than earned a place on our ones to watch list! just for the fun they bring.
Lewis Capaldi
Scottish singer songwriter Capaldi rose to prominence after the release of his first single ‘Bruises’ which climbed to reached 28 million streams on Spotify, which made him the fastest ever unsigned artist to reach 25 million streams on the site. He was also on the list for BBC sound of 2018: all these achievements have lead him to selling out UK tours, supporting Niall Horan, and playing countless festivals. He released his debut EP ‘Bloom’ in October With his gravelly vocal and repertoire of sad and lost love songs He is definitely one to look out for over the weekend.
Lily Moore
I don’t even really know where to begin with Lily Moore. I’ve seen her twice now, she has impressed equally on both occasions. She is self-assured singer songwriter and really lets her emotions shine through . Aside from being amazing, you really couldn’t ask for more from a performance. She also knows how to engage her crowd, chatting away in between. It’s an absolute pleasure and her vocal … just watch it below and go see her, I won’t spoil it.
Gengahr
After the release of their second album ‘Where Wildness Grows’ in March of this year, Gengahr have been relentlessly on the touring circuit with a bustling run of festivals still on their itinerary this summer. Their record has been highly well received, and is full of uplifting, summery and memorable guitar riffs that we hoping will be translated live with a heavy elegance.
Lewis Watson
Having played Barn On The Farm multiple times, Lewis Watson is well known to returning festival goers, and is bound to grace the fields with his heart-felt lyrics, heavenly vocals, and acoustic guitar melodies that intermingle perfectly to create his signature indie folk tunes. Having recently released an EP with covers from the 90s,00s, and 10s, the excitement for him to perform live again is at an all time high.
Nina Nesbitt
Scottish singer-songwriter Nina Nesbsitt is well known for her cover of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Dont Stop’ which was used on a John Lewis advert back in 2014. Since the start of her music career in 2011,. Her recent release ‘The Sun Will Come Up, The Seasons Will Change’ is very laid back, synth heavy offering — a lot slower than her prior releases from ‘Peroxide’, but is a welcome progression that we hope to see at this year’s Barn On The Farm.
Fours
A bnad thats getting some good press, I’ve been wanting to see for over a year and haven’t managed to yet. London’s Fours make indie pop that really blows my skirt up. There’s an edge to it, a spunky attitude and frontwoman Edit has a vocal that is more than your average indie pop vocal, it would sit well among peers such as Yonaka and Estrons should she decide she wanted to go darker and harder. Really excited at the prospect of seeing them at such a brilliant setting.
Orla Gartland
Irish singer-songwriter Orla Gartland started out by putting songs up on her YouTube channel in 2007, and now she’s playing to sold out crowds across the country and playing festivals across the world. In May 2018 she released her first single in three years ‘I Go Crazy’, and comparing this to her last EP ‘Lonely People’ you can see how much she has grown musically in the past three years.
Along with all these amazing artists there are many, many more who you should try and catch, such as: Tom Misch; Hudson Taylor; Aquilo; Pale Waves; Billie Marten; and Ten Tonnes.
The Intimate Thursday, and Behind Barn Doors Friday line-ups have just been released, so if you managed to grab a ticket for those days, you are in for a treat.
Thursday:Billie Marten, Matthew and the Atlas, Dan Owen, Cassi, Vistas, Secret Headliner (Zak Abel).
