Posts Tagged ‘singer songwriter’

TIA GOSTELOW – ” Psycho “

Posted: May 24, 2020 in MUSIC
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Australian alt/pop artist Tia Gostelow makes us all feel a little more normal in her honest new single “Psycho.” Showing us that we’re really all the same when it comes to playing the relationship roulette, Gostelow wants to remind you to never lose track of who you are and what you want. 

 Through relaxed soundscapes, sun-soaked melodies and soulful, glowing tones, Gostelow paints a relatable picture of modern day dating. In a world full of uncertainty, it’s important to remember who you are and although at times we may come across a little crazy, we’re definitely not “psycho.”  I wrote this song a little while ago with my friend @aidanhogg at @plutoniumstudios. I really wanted to share a little bit about the meaning behind it before it comes out going into the session I felt like I really wanted to write a song about something that was really prominent in the media at the time and was also something personal to me and a lot of my friends. conversations about gaslighting in relationships/friendships was all I was reading about on my phone, it was all over my Facebook and Instagram.⠀
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It forced me to really think about the situations and relationships myself and my friends have been in where we’ve experienced gaslighting and how it made us go fucking crazy. I feel like when you are in these circumstances, it feels like you’re going insane. I felt like I was turning into this psycho person and it seemed like nobody else saw where I was coming from or understood why i was acting this way.⠀

Seeing all of these other people speaking up about it, made me deal with my emotions that I had just ignored and I finally felt like I could put all of my anger and frustration into something that means something. I hope this song helps other people who may be feeling or experiencing the same things

SKULLCRUSHER – ” Places Plans “

Posted: May 24, 2020 in MUSIC
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Skullcrusher is not, as you might expect, some black metal band from Scandinavia, but instead LA-based songwriter Helen Ballentine.
She will release her debut four track EP via Secretly Canadian on the 26th June and the stunning “Places/Plans” is the lead from it, a sparse and gorgeously intimate song that is all the more powerful and compelling for its minimalist arrangement. In the case of Places / Plans the debut single by Skullcrusher, all of these elements are brought together. The video is carefully set up and washed with a haunting home-filmed haziness the re-watching of old family footage, with the lyrics incorporated book-style, and the song itself is compiled of a pretty loneliness.

The song and music video work side by side. It’s just one camera shot of a back garden, the house being white and grand and likely host to supernatural goings on. Skullcrusher sits on a blanket in the middle of the beaten lawn, having a picnic with herself like a child having an imaginary tea party with their toys. Another Skullcrusher sits swinging moodily on a swing, and a third stands on the steps by the backdoor sawing a piece of wood. They are clones, fragments of herself, lost in solitary thought. All while this is taking place, the lyrics appear at the bottom of the recording in gothic font- journal style questions such as ‘Does it matter if I’m a really good friend? And ‘Can I make it up there as I am?.

Skullcrusher is the musical project of LA based songwriter Helen Ballentine “Places/Plans” by Skullcrusher, from her forthcoming self-titled EP out June 26th on Secretly Canadian.

STU LARSEN – ” Marigold “

Posted: May 23, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Stu Larsen has no fixed residence…all he owns is a suitcase. You can find him in his native Australia, in Spain, Japan or South America before he picks up and leaves for his next destination. The Queensland, Australia-born singer-songwriter, and narrator packed up his life in a suitcase and has circled the globe on a near twelve-year and five-continent international trip. He has chronicled this journey through his music, including his newest full-length album “Marigold”.

On April 3rd, singer-songwriter Stu Larsen will release his most intimate album-to-date, “Marigold” (via Nettwerk Records).  The eleven tracks on Marigold speak to Larsen’s external and internal progression, bookended by first single “Whisky & Blankets (A Tu Lado)” and the final cut on the album, “Phone Call From My Lover.” In between Marigold and his earlier LP Resolute, Larsen fell in love only to fall into heartbreak and, ultimately, find the inspiration to write straight from the heart.  The latest single, “Hurricane” is about the emotional force of love which swept – quickly and unexpectedly – in (and out) of his life.

“I came into her life so unexpectedly and turned everything upside down, she felt things she hadn’t felt before and maybe didn’t know how to respond, which turned the relationship into such a rollercoaster. ‘Hurricane’ is a short and punchy song that starts and finishes before you have a chance to settle into it,” says Larsen.

Currently, Stu Larsen has no fixed residence…all he owns is a suitcase, a guitar and a couple of cameras. You can find him in his native Australia, in Spain, Japan or South America before he picks up and leaves for his new destination.  The Queensland, Australia-born singer, songwriter, and narrator packed up his life in a suitcase and circled the globe on a near twelve-year and five-continent international trip, as chronicled in photography and music.

Stu has now toured the globe numerous times over, cultivating fans with sold-out concerts around the world. As a result, fan favorites like “San Francisco” and “Thirteen Sad Farewells” have earned 100 million+ combined streams across digital platforms. In addition to documenting his travels through photos, Stu has lived numerous adventures, including an emergency appendectomy in Indonesia and being surprised by a jaguar at a party in Mexico City. Last month, Larsen announced his latest globe-trotting adventure that would take him through 11 countries in 31 days.  But, with that, he still plans to return to North American this Spring.

from the new album Marigold, out now

JESSICA PRATT – ” Quiet Signs “

Posted: May 17, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The title of “Opening Night,” the introductory song on Quiet Signs, Jessica Pratt’s third album, is a reference to Gena Rowlands‘ harrowing, haunted performance in the John Cassavetes film of the same name. It’s also an emblem of where this spare, mysterious collection of songs falls in the course of Pratt’s career. “On some level I considered an audience while making the last record,” she writes, “but my creative world was still very private then and I analyzed the process less. This was the first time I approached writing with the idea of a cohesive record in mind.”

After a collection of demos and early studio recordings earned her a small, dedicated audience, Pratt moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles and recorded her first intentional album in her bedroom in a matter of months. That album, On Your Own Love Again (Drag City, 2015), would bring her around the world many times, leading many to fall under the spell of Jessica Pratt the performer, the songwriter, the singer with the heavy-lidded voice that feels alien and familiar at the same time.

Her first album fully recorded in a professional studio setting, Pratt’s songwriting and accompanying guitar work are refined on Quiet Signs, more distinct and direct. Songs like “Fare Thee Well” and “Poly Blue” retain glimmers of OYOLA‘s hazy day afternoon spells, yet delicate flute, strings sustained by organ arrangements, and rehearsal room piano now gesture towards the lush chamber pop and longing of The Left Banke. On the album’s first single, “This Time Around,” Pratt hits on a profound, late-night clarity over just a couple of deep chords, evoking Caetano Veloso‘s casual seaside brilliance. And before the curtain drops Quiet Signs, Pratt provides a show-stopping closer, “Aeroplane.”

In the world of Quiet Signs, the black of night usually represents fear, despair, resignation; finally at home descending towards the illuminated city, she sings over black leather drone and tambourine shuffle with a newfound resolve. Quiet Signs is the journey of an artist emerging from the darkened wings, growing comfortable as a solitary figure on a sprawling stage.

The album was written in Los Angeles and recorded at Gary’s Electric in Brooklyn, NY over 2017 and 2018. It was co-produced by Al Carlson. He plays flute, organ and piano on some songs. Matt McDermott also played piano and string synthesizer. It will be released on Mexican Summer in the US and City Slang in Europe .

ADA LEE – ” Woman ” EP

Posted: May 12, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Alexandra Levy makes music for maximum intimacy: Augmented by acoustic guitars, she frequently sings in a weary, tortured whisper. But her deeply reflective breakup songs crackle with tension and life, thanks in part to arrangements that lean on found sounds and field recordings. All that quiet clatter helps lend a diaristic quality to songs that aren’t heard so much as listened in on. Appropriately enough, her debut album is titled What We Say In Private.

Less than a year after the release of her highly-acclaimed debut album, What We Say In Private, Montreal, Quebec-based musician Alexandra Levy – who records and performs as Ada Lea – returns in early 2020 with a new four-song EP which acts as a bridge between what’s come before and where she means to go next.

A mix of both the old and new, the woman, here EP takes its name from a brand new composition recorded recently in LA with Marshall Vore (Phoebe Bridgers, Better Oblivion Community Center). Perhaps her most direct work to-date, the new song offers a beautiful glimpse into the bold new chapter of Ada Lea. “I went to LA and recorded the song in a day and a half with Marshall,” Levy says of the song. “The writing and recording of this song happened like magic.”

Aside from the title-track, which is shared here alongside a raw and captivating demo version, the woman, here EP also offers two previously-unheard recordings from the What We Say In Private sessions, in the form of the reflective and melancholy ‘perfect world’, and the sparse and dream-like ‘jade’, which was inspired by a John Updike short story.

Ada Lea – perfect world from the EP woman, A fascinating glimpse behind the curtain, Levy says that the new EP should be seen as being “like a second cousin” to what we say in private. “We included the songs that we still felt close to,” she explains, “but didn’t seem to have a place on the album.”

Ada Lea – “Wild Heart”
from the album “What We Say In Private – Out 7/19/19!

FENNE LILY – ” On Hold “

Posted: May 11, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Over the last couple of years Fenne Lily has made a real name for herself as a songwriter, surpassing over 30 million streams for her five self-released singles and supporting the likes of Marlon Williams, Charlie Cunningham and many more across Europe. Despite the first song she wrote at the age of 15 proving an almost instant hit upon release, she’s not rushed into releasing her debut collection, instead taking time to perfect her songs and develop her sound while living in Bristol and continuing to perform around the continent. Deciding she wanted to get out of the city to record the album, Fenne travelled to see some musical friends on The Isle of Wight where she formed a band and recorded a number of tracks in a basement studio with upcoming producer James Thorpe. Returning to Bristol to finish the tracks with long-time collaborator Dave Dixon (Tamu Massif) and Ali Chant (Youth Lagoon, Perfume Genius, PJ Harvey) her debut album has taken shape and is now available.

Throughout 2018’s On Hold, Fenne Lily’s quaveringly intimate voice recalls the early works of Sharon Van Etten, particularly in the way she layers her own voice during choruses that ache and swoon. That almost jarringly beautiful effect jumps out in a minimalist mix that’s so stripped down, you can often hear fingers sweeping across guitar strings.

A record full of quiet strength, brightness, and yearning: The self-released debut “On Hold” establishes Fenne Lily’s ability to lean into emotion. “I’ve villainized my body for too long,” sings Fenne on the opening “Car Park.” Her writing is sharp and charged; the production is sparse and intimate. Track by track, the album maintains a cohesive narrative arch, following a heartbreak and resolving with self-acceptance – even self-love.

LYDIA AINSWORTH – ” Forever “

Posted: May 7, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Los Angeles-via-Toronto songwriter and composer Lydia Ainsworth released her third album, Phantom Forest, last year, and as she works on her fourth, she’s shared a new single, “Forever,” which she says “is a song about an attempt at astral projection in order to be close to a loved one who is far away, Forever is a song about my futile attempts at astral travel

Written and Produced by Lydia Ainsworth
released May 1st, 2020

DAVID BLUE – ” David Blue “

Posted: April 29, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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David Blue quit high school at age 17, left home, and joined the Navy, but was soon thrown out for his “Inability to adjust to a military way of life.” Blue became an integral part of the “Greenwich Village” Folk music”scene in New York City which included singer songwriters Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs and Dave Van Ronk Tom Paxton, Bob Neuwirth, and Eric Andersen. … Of the singers and writers on the scene at this time, David Blue appears to have been closest to Dylan…” “He needed a friend,” Blue said. “So he started including me in his scene and I got tight with him.

David Blue is best known for writing the song “Outlaw Man” for the Eagles (band)” which was included on their 1973 “Desperado”. Blue’s original version of “Outlaw Man” was the lead track of his own Nice Baby and the Angel album, re-issued on CD, with the entire David Blue catalogue, in 2007 on Wounded Bird Records.

Blue joined Dylan’s “Rolling Thunder Revue” in 1975 and appeared in Renaldo and Clara the 1978 movie that was filmed during that tour. Blue acted in other films including, “The American Friend (1977), directed by Wim Wenders The Ordeal of Patty Hearst (a 1979 TV movie) and “Human Highway” by Neil Young” premiered in 1983 after Blue’s death. Blue also performed onstage in Stephen Poliakoff ‘s play “American Days” at the Manhattan Theatre Club”  in New York City in December 1980, directed by Jacques Levy”

David Blue does write every track but the album is full of inventiveness and cracking tunes with a distinctly alternative edge to it, and dare I say tinges of psych on some tracks… There is, probably inevitably, the feel of a recently electrified Dylan on here including some occasional Bloomfield-esque guitar moments,

Blue died of Heart attack in December 1982 at the age of 41, while jogging in Washington Square Park New York

LAURAN HIBBERD – ” Old Nudes “

Posted: April 29, 2020 in MUSIC
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Rising slacker star Lauran Hibberd is getting her revenge on a shitty ex with her new track ‘Old Nudes’ which takes an embaresing moment from the past and transforms it into a huge life affirming anthem, striking back at all the crap guys out there.

“‘Old Nudes’ is unfortunately based upon a true story. We’ve all been there right!? The track looks back on the ‘mistake’, and almost mocks it using over confidence. It belittles the receiver, and oozes sarcasm and naivety. I keep writing songs about being young because I’m scared of getting too old to joke about these things”.

“I jumped into a pool of Weezer and found myself confessing my old nude anxieties. The song resents itself in a laughable way, and hints at how it really feels to hate someone you once loved.”

“The video felt appropriate to self record, not only because of isolation but because it encapsulates the setting in how we all get into this mess in the first place. The webcam on my old laptop has seen some sites in its life, but never quite to this extent. There’s something quite special about not giving a damn, and this song and this video cements that idea. I can’t wait to cringe at this in six months time.”

Lauran Hibberd
Released on: 2020-04-23

BEDOUINE – ” The Hum “

Posted: April 28, 2020 in MUSIC
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Single out today, my cover of Margo Guryan’s “The Hum”. I’ve been a fan of MG for a while but only recently absorbed the lyrics to The Hum. Though it was written about the Nixon administration, it’s poignant how much of it rings true today. We tracked this earlier but if this pandemic has confirmed anything, it’s that some people devote their lives to government simply to destroy it from the inside, to shrink its accountability for its citizens. Today we find ourselves living a perfect example of why we need a strong centralized office, one that’s capable of responding swiftly to a crisis. Instead we have someone who dissolved the pandemic response team in 2018. Instead we have a health crisis that’s causing everyone to LOSE their health insurance, another thing for which government refuses to take responsibility. I digress… Margo’s cutting wit is something to admire. Please enjoy such gems as “The rich save money and the poor save gas, we vote for an elephant and get an ass, he hires and he fires, he appoints and sacks, but HE CANT FIGURE OUT HIS INCOME TAX.”.

Bedouine covers Margo Guryan’s “The Hum”

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