Adam Melchor graduated college with a degree in opera, but as a singer-songwriter, he specializes in dreamy, harmony-dense, Technicolor folk-pop songs like “Three Hours Ahead,” which celebrates a friendship that transcends time zones. Melchor, who recently moved from New Jersey to Los Angeles, sings about what he knows: the search for personal growth and connection, overcoming doubt and holding onto the slivers of the past worth keeping. The relocation proved to be fruitful and has since propelled the singer-songwriter’s career as an artist.
Acoustic singer/songwriter Adam Melchor is also streaming a new song titled “Plan On You.” The track is taken from Melchor’s new Plan On You EP set to arrive on March 20th. Check out the new song below.
With a soft instrumental introduction and Melchor’s delicate indie vocals, “Plan On You” brings us to a nostalgic place. Surrounded by unknown plans, the opera-singer-turned-bedroom-folk-artist sings of the one certainty in his life, crooning, “I don’t have a plan/ I just planned on you.” An ode to the modern love song, Melchor illustrates his brilliant ability to write simple and raw lyrics that resonate with you long after the song has reached its end.
written and performed by Adam Melchor drums by Jon Gilbert
Sarah Tudzin has dubbed her band’s sound “tenderpunk,” which captures a fair bit of her modus operandi: Vibrant and aggressive, illuminati hotties‘ songs storm agreeably without obscuring the bleeding heart at their center. But that tenderpunk portmanteau still doesn’t quite convey the poppy, sunlit sound of Kiss Yr Frenemies and songs like “(You’re Better) Than Ever,” in which Tudzin craftily conveys a flood of mixed emotions: “Texted you a picture where you looked pretty,” she sings, adding, “and wondered if you saved the ones you had of me.”
On their Facebook page, Illuminati Hotties’ genre description reads “post-naptime burrito-core.” Jokes aside, the L.A. band’s jubilant rock would probably pair well with Mexican foods of all varieties, but not so much a midday nap. The group, whose only permanent member is longtime studio musician Sarah Tudzin, released Kiss Yr Frenemies, Tudzin’s first long player record under the moniker, in May. Tudzin, along with her band, stopped by Daytrotter to play a few songs from the record including ”(You’re Better) Than Ever,” “Shape Of My Hands,” “Cuff” and “Paying Off the Happiness.”
Illuminati Hotties – Paying Off The Happiness Recorded Live – Daytrotter Studios – Davenport, IA
To hear Blushh’s “I’m Over It” is to be transported directly to the ’90s in the span of less than 20 seconds. Shab Ferdowsi knows just how to rip into a fuzzy, rousing chorus with maximum efficiency and force — you can just imagine a stadium full of people rising up in unison to shout along while still conveying universal truths about emotional labor and frustration. “I’m Over It” is there to perfectly sum up your lousy day, while invariably improving it. Sometimes it doesn’t take 3:30. No chaff or endless repetition here. These songs are the perfect length and I wish all 2-minute tracks sounded like this.
Breakups are hard; but separating yourself from your partner’s pet is even harder. Illuminati Hotties seem to be well aware of this phenomenon, as their latest single—and first new music since last year’s Tiny Engines debut Kiss Yr Frenemies—is more an homage to a one-time date’s canine companion than it is to Iggy Pop. “One time I went on a date with someone I met through a dating app,” frontwoman Sarah Tudzin talked about the origins of “I Wanna Keep Yr Dog,” a staple of their recent live shows. “Their dog was much cuter than they were.”
You can check out the song below (complete with some stellar Corgi footage), and make sure to catch Illuminati Hotties when they grace their Austin showcase SXSW . As far as any news of dating-app type services specifically for meeting up with local singles’ dogs? .
illuminati hotties – I Wanna Keep Yr Dog Single out March 6th on Tiny Engines
Indie-rock pioneers Sebadoh return with their first new studio album in more than six years “Act Surprised”. The inventors of lo-fi indie rock return with a 15-track blast of melodic melancholy, all delivered by the smudged middle finger of Dinosaur Jr original Lou Barlow…
“The first line of this song: ‘I get the feeling you don’t feel me’ is pretty good. It could be a line in an Ariana Grande song, I like it,” said Lou Barlow. “I followed it from there through some general complaints about a composite character in my life, someone I could never crack. Sometimes the walls are too high. If you think about it, the resistance was always there, even in the very beginning. What to do? Pick endlessly at the seams? Replay moments in my head looking for a way to explain it all? No, stop, there is no one answer and that’s OK…Celebrate the void.”
Act Surprised continues the soulful collaboration that’s defined the band since 1991’s Sebadoh III and 1994’s Bakesale. The new batch of songs reaffirms how vital the creative partnership is between members Barlow, Jason Loewenstein, and Bob D’Amico.
When Barlow recently moved back to his home state of Massachusetts following a series of personal changes, he pressed the restart button and, in time, felt the incentive to reach out to Jason and Bob again to reunite and start work on a new album. The trio convened and began recording in their original stomping grounds in Northampton, MA where they first formed back in 1988. Along with producer/sound engineer Justin Pizzoferatto, Sebadoh have delivered one of the best records of their career. Act Surprised is a 15-song collection that’s as dynamic and visceral as anything the band has ever committed to tape.
Their first studio album since 2013’s ‘Defend Yourself’ and their first release with Fire Records, Lou Barlow and team return with a smorgasbord of beautifully dysfunctional tunes harking back to their finest college rock anthems.
It’s Barlow at his introverted songwriting best; matter-of-factly delivering a stream of self-questioning stories, punctuated by detuned guitars, spine-tingling time changes and throwaway one liners.
A grainy post grunge postcard wrapped in bittersweet melodies with an aftertaste that’s pure heartbreak.
More songs about growing up wrong for those who continue to act surprised at life itself – all illegibly handwritten and lovingly submitted to vinyl.
Lowenstein stated, “Of all the records we have made in our long career, this is definitely the most recent.” Releases May 24th, 2019
Swerving between out-of-focus parable, travel diary, pep talk, polemic, love song, and lullabye, Wand’s forthcoming long-player Laughing Matter has its eyes on a lot of prizes. With lyrical and musical shades varying between Wand’s darkest nights and most pastoral days, there’s a nuanced, eclectic emotional scope onLaughing Matter that’s not been quite so nakedly apparent on any previous Wand release.
Their second single from the forthcoming release is “Thin Air,” which demonstrates their evolving desires to break every convention they encounter, to joyously recombine the fragments of formerly familiar territory. The radical approaches in “Thin Air” are buoyed by Wand‘s autodidact enthusiams, as DIY impulses create a delirious cascade of molten guitars and a twinkling of keys. With our institutions crashing all around us, “Thin Air” offers a departure from the decadent mindlessness of the mundane for the electricity-free hills above the town. Gamelan guitars roll into to an arena-worthy chorus: “don’t you dare turn your back again”. Take this directive to heart and heed to Wand’s command, put your hands to the wheel and let go.
Frankie and the Witch Fingers’ upcoming LP, ZAM, bleeds beyond borders and boundaries. Its opening preternatural sounds bubble up out of the primordial soup, spilling into our world, invading the inner recesses of the listener’s mind. Like a two-headed snake wrapped around the skull, the album pendulates between winding instrumentals and dancey riffs that pop like supernovas out of the black void. Just when a song goes one way, it propels another through long stretches of a cosmic inferno.
Bringing glimmers of krautrock and funk, its eleven tracks unleash a versatile and tenacious weight, slithering between the sexy, the aggressive, the vivacious, and the disorienting—until the living invasion is felt—ZAM—a supernatural entity summoned by four madmen obsessed with tearing open a gateway to dark space. After being pulled apart atom-by-atom, the listener is reconfigured on the other side, born unto starry wasteland. Where head is separated from body. Where music is seen and apocalyptic soundscapes flow to revelation. A funhouse undercurrent pulses through the album’s epoch, reflecting a carnival mosaic shrewdly lulling and doggedly brutal. As one track bleeds into the next, that hour of running time becomes wormhole travel, until the listener returns earthbound, transmuted, craving more odyssey. (Record Company Blurb)
Los Angeles’s Frankie and The Witch Fingers latest double LP is out now!,
“…the band is melting down details from Krautrock, funk, soul, psych, and space then ladling them into the loving cup atop the alter of Hawkwind.” – Raven Sings The Blues,
“ZAM is the kind of record that does not want its listeners to catch a breath, and perhaps the ever-expanding universe of indie-rock — indie-rock of the psychedelic persuasion, to be exact — needs more of this.” – Shindig
“The album leans on everything from krautrock, funk and psych to prog and garage rock, ensuring an adrenaline-pumping trip no matter what.” – Paste
“They’ve produced an album that is both an expansion and a refinement on what has come prior; broader in its scope, maturer in its delivery, and braver in its exploration. In a word: sha-fucking-ZAM!” – The Skinny
“On this sonic manifesto, Frankie and The Witch Fingers flirt with prog and experimental music, but use these concepts more for inspiration rather than strict instruction, resulting in high-energy headbangers with white-hot guitars and ferocious drums.” – LA Record
“ZAM is the best rock n roll has to offer.” – ANON Magazine
“…it’s clear that the psych rock outfit have been knocking back the black milk.” – Popbollocks
Spencer Berger The Los Angeles based artist performed all the vocals and instruments on The First Music, his second LP releasing on January 27th. “The album is a hunt for answers to unanswerable questions,” explains Berger. “Most of them are questions I’ve had my entire life. Some make me sad to think about, some bring me joy, some terrify me, and some stir emotions within me I don’t have a name for.”
The First Music is a fifteen song masterwork that is both thoughtful and catchy.
Its hard keeping up with the output of this man Ty Segall has a new record coming out. Of course, that’s almost always true, considering this is everyone’s favourite lo-fi, indie-punk, psychedelic workaholic and a man who’s single-handedly trying to overload the servers over at discogs.com with his prolific musical output.
His latest thing, due for release on March 29th via Drag City Records, is a live album in conjunction with his Freedom Band entitled Deforming Lobes. All the eight tracks on the album were recorded at the Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles and the closing tune, “Love Fuzz”, released in advance as a teaser for the album, absolutely fizzes.
Love Fuzz was taken from one of Segall’s 2012 albums Twins and has been a live favourite since then. The original is a lumbering, low-tempo piece of sleazy, grunge garage with a sweet, high-pitched vocal. Meanwhile, the live rendition on Deforming Lobes cranks up the pace, ramps up the raucousness and introduces a feedback/noise break which doubles the song’s running time despite the frantic energy on show. The guitars are overdriven to a roaring, metallic cacophony while for his live vocal, Segall dismisses sweetness in favour of a throat-shredding scream channelling Iggy, Mick Jagger and Rob Tyner simultaneously. Altogether it’s scintillating enough to scorch your eyebrows.
The translation of this this high-volume fun from an LA stage to your stereo has been helped in part by the involvement of Steve Albini who’s been on mixing duties for the project. Obviously, Albini’s experienced ear for the extreme guarantees a certain decibel level, but Ty Segall and the Freedom Band sure do give him a hell of a lot to work with.
Ty Segall and Freedom Band, Deforming Lobes, Live will be released by Drag City Records on 29th March and is available for pre-order on LP, Cassette, CD, MP3 and FLAC download now from Drag City and from Bandcamp.
The Regrettes have dropped a new track, ‘Pumpkin’.
A taster of their forthcoming second album, it comes ahead of their UK support tour with Twenty One Pilots.
PUMPKIN Is out now! go watch the lyric video(made by Genessa Gariano) and listen on all platforms. this is a special one to us.
The Los Angeles-based band, fronted by 18-year-old vocalist/guitarist Lydia Night, follow ‘California Friends’ and their recent cover of Queen’s classic ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’, which was recorded for a national Silk ad spot that premiered during the Golden Globe Awards.
The Fat Angel Sings 