Donovan Woods whiles away, Alexa Villa owns it, Rituals of Mine get heavy, Overtime drinks alone and more in today’s Roundup. Having one less weasel-faced, smarmy, hate-filled, thieving shitstain in Canadian politics is always cause for celebration, no?
1 | Donovan Woods | All the While
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Multi-award-winning artist Donovan Woods shares a first-person, home video footage encounter of Paris in his new video for While All The While. Yet it’s not what you’d assume. Directed by Amanda Louise Macchia, the mini film follows a young female around the city, offering the viewer an interesting, juxtaposed experience of first-hand grief and thrilling new culture. “Amanda created a poignant visual representation of the song,” says Woods. “Experiencing one the greatest cities in the world while someone else is on your mind. It’s a struggle to be present for so many reasons these days, and our phones have brought us the end of true absence from each other. We can always be in touch. So heartache must be getting harder.”
2 | Tycho | No Stress
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Tycho is celebrating their Grammy-nominated new album Weather with the release of the Stress EP. The three-track EP unites the Weather highlight No Stress (Feat. Saint Sinner), with No Stress (Instrumental) and the stunning new recording Stress. In addition, No Stress (Feat. Saint Sinner) is joined by a new official video. Scott Hansen of Tycho said “I’ve always wanted to explore the process of approaching the same idea from two totally different perspectives. With Stress I wanted to expand the original version from Weather into a very different space while maintaining some common elements. I think viewing the core concepts through these two lenses better illustrates the underlying meaning of the song.”
3 | Aexa Villa | Own It
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Los Angeles rock/pop artist Alexa Villa premieres the “seriously fierce” video for Own It. All parts were written on the piano from Alexa’s home studio and later transposed for bass, guitar and synth parts. Own It was written as a mantra to herself that no matter the struggles, attitude is everything. “I wrote this song about taking ownership of a situation and taking charge of your life regardless of circumstance or pushback,” says Alexa. “I really feel that attitude is everything and can get you far. This song is a reminder to myself of just that.”
4 | Rituals of Mine | Heavyweight
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Rituals of Mine – the electronic recording project of Los Angeles-based songwriter Terra Lopez and percussionist Adam Pierce – shares the video for Heavyweight a track from its Sleeper Hold EP. Heavyweight is inspired by the after effects of grief and trauma in relation to the body and mind, particularly Lopez’s own surrounding her father’s suicide and the unexpected loss of her best friend. “We wanted to create a video that depicts the weight that grief imposes on anyone that experiences it; the ways in which we have to deconstruct, contort and carry grief with us in our day to day,” says Lopez. “At the start of the video you see three womxn holding their cumbersome grief and traumas, having to learn how to move in the world with it. As the video goes on, you see that same grief and trauma decrease in size as the womxn learn how to navigate their world with it. That was the theme we wanted to focus on: we will all have to experience grief at some point in our lives, unfortunately. So, how do we learn how to cope? Grief never leaves you entirely but if you do the work and learn to move through it, you can see beyond it one day. “
5 | Overtime | Lemme Drink My Whiskey
THE PRESS RELEASE: “With the release of his new album Divided We Fall on the horizon, Montana country rapper Overtime has released his brand new video for Lemme Drink My Whiskey feat. Austin Martin. Overtime is an American rapper/singer/songwriter best known for his blue-collar work ethic and music that fuses together hip-hop, country, and rock. Born in Bozeman but raised in Missoula, Overtime has been making a name for himself as one of the most explosive acts to mix together country and rap.”
6 | Tylor Dory Trio | Dying Light
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Tylor Dory Trio from Edmonton are putting out a new record and it’s exactly the warm proggy hug you need this winter. Unsought Salvation is full to the brim with warm riffs and spicy drumming, topped with delectable vocals that will comfort you as the nights grow longer. For their second single, the band have shared the proggy acoustic guitar-driven track Dying Light. Tylor Dory explains: “One of the album’s primarily acoustic tracks, our first EP and the Carried Away EP both featured an acoustic song and it was very important to us to carry that forward with Unsought Salvation. The song is played in an unconventional tuning (DABGAD) that I came up with while trying to gain access to certain chord voicing that wouldn’t have been available otherwise. Like many of our songs, Dying Light is a journey through many feels and tonalities, starting quite soft and gradually building up to an erupting guitar solo.”
7 | Umphrey’s McGee | Ride On Pony
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Improv-rockers Umphrey’s McGee are ready to release new music. Earlier this year, on a show day in New Haven, the band found themselves recording a studio version of live show fan-favorite, Ride On Pony. First played live back in 2009, and written by guitarist Jake Cinninger a dozen years before that, this recording marks the first official release of the country-tinged, Bob Seger-inspired tune. “This song goes back almost to pre-adolescence,” says Umphrey’s guitarist Cinninger. “It harkens back to the days of those mixed-up feelings and trying to cut loose, a teenage daydream. It’s all real…no joke, about the feel of being a teenager. We tried to recapture some of those magical years gone past for everyone that listens.”
8 | Kisos | He Didn’t Want Me
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Raised in California’s Bay Area, Kisos crafts moody alt-pop to break your heart and heal your soul. He trained his voice singing with his college’s gospel choir, started learning production, and upon graduating, moved across the country to make it as a musician in New York City. New single He Didn’t Want Me is a blunt, piercingly emotional song about accepting powerlessness in the wake of a breakup. The song was fully produced by Kisos and Jo Lee, and is the second single from his sweet nothings EP (out early 2020). Kisos says, “He Didn’t Want Me is me realizing I couldn’t blame myself anymore for the breakup. No matter how I tried to save us, the love was doomed if he didn’t want us to be saved. Acceptance was the saddest stage of grief for me, admitting that my ideal would never exist. Despite writing this song a couple years ago, I cried during the recording process; dormant memories flashing back all at once.”
9 | World/Inferno Friendship Society | All I Can Do To Help You With Your Nightmares Is Keep You Up Late
THE PRESS RELEASE: “World/Inferno Friendship Society’s long awaited new album dares you to try and decipher it’s multi-layered, encrypted message, while dragging you kicking and screaming through a succession of flashbacks, alternate realities and drug and alcohol induced delusions. While World / Inferno is known for its utter disregard for boundaries of genre, All Borders are Porous to Cats deliberately pushes the limits of what could possibly be perceived as punk rock. It scores tales of fugitives, arson, larceny, perjury, drug addiction and freedom with elements of soul, funk, Latin, polka, and classical music, as well as World /Inferno’s signature punk cabaret sound. 3 years in the making, 4 missed release dates, 5 lost band members, many a bridge burned, and a defamation lawsuit waiting to happen, The World /Inferno Friendship Society invites you to enjoy the fruits of their perpetual torment.”
10 | Irreversible Entanglements | Homeless/Global
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Free jazz collective Irreversible Entanglements — poet/MC Camae Ayewa (aka Moor Mother), saxophonist Keir Neuringer, trumpeter Aquiles Navarro, bassist Luke Stewart, and drummer Tcheser Holmes — return with a new standalone single. Homeless/Global is an unabridged take from the first moments of a recent Philadelphia recording session, and is the first piece of new music the group has released since their 2017 acclaimed self-titled debut. Their forthcoming followup LP will see release in Spring of 2020. Homeless/Global stretches out inside a vacuum of time, running over 23 minutes in a blink of an eye. A statement on the music, from the band: “As with the session for our first album, we began this session by just setting studio levels and hitting that record button. Homeless/Global was the first thing we played, no script, no plan. It’s a studio take that reflects what we do live: take the stage without a map, navigate the world in deep, telepathic, contrapuntal communion with each other and the histories we’re tapping into, push into the known and unknown, and arrive at the end together.”
11 | Kendal Conrad | Leader of the Pack
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Kendal Conrad is a singer, actor, published writer, and award-winning songwriter. Kendal appeared on MTV and sang a duet onstage with Keith Urban. She also joined Walker Hayes onstage to perform Halloween. She is International Miss Talent and won the title with her original song Girlstrong. She has performed at the White House. Kendal has sung the U.S. National Anthem for MLB, NBA, MMA, NASCAR, and the National Dog Show. As an extra in in the film Silver Linings Playbook, she can be seen bumping into Bradley Cooper. Kendal recorded her first EP in country star Reba McEntire’s studio in Nashville.
