Weyes Blood get sanguine, Kerri Ough starts at the end, Tim Moxam gets honest, Ken Tizzard passes judgement and more in today’s Roundup. It was warm enough to go out and shovel snow today, so … yay?
1 As a rule, I don’t have to worry about providing spoiler alerts when I write about these videos. But the clip for Everyday — a bouncy retro-pop treat from singer-songwriter Natalie Mering’s next Weyes Blood album Titanic Rising — is undeniably the exception to that. So I’m not going to say anything except this: The cinematic throwback starts off with a group of young people having a party in an isolated cabin. But that’s definitely not where it ends. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “The new single, Everyday, chronicles the chaos of modern love and dating – short attention spans, restlessness, and the continuous crusade (and carnage) to find some kind of all-encompassing soul mate.” I think you can guess the operative word in that last sentence:
2 We all have to grow up sometime. For Kerri Ough, that time has apparently come. After 10 years, the singer-songwriter and longtime member of Toronto folk-pop trio Good Lovelies is finally putting the finishing touches on her first solo album One Day Soon — and releasing the video for her first single How Is This Going To End, a sweetly welcoming affair laced with popping handclaps and warmly inviting harmonies. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Ough’s fellow Lovelies, Caroline Brooks and Sue Passmore, lend their voices to How Is This Going to End, which benefits from their established synergy without distracting from the album’s sonic character.” Hey, just cause you’ve grown up doesn’t mean you have to leave home:
3 Honesty, as Billy Joel reminded us, is such a lonely word. And mostly what he needs from you. Singer-songwriter Tim Moxam is also in search of a little sincerity in his surprisingly soulful single Honesty — a preview of his upcoming sophomore album Marlborough Hall. Speaking of looks, he also becomes the folkie of 1,000 faces in the accompanying video. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Some of the most defining moments of our lives take place in our twenties. We try on different skins, shedding old ones as we grow and evolve. We are the adventurer, the entrepreneur, the creator, and the worker,” shares Tim. “We retain bits of each manifestation of our developing personalities, eventually forming a version of ourselves that we choose to present to the world around us. Deep down inside, though, beneath each mask we wear is our honest selves. That, we cannot hide from.” Says you:
4 Canadian music fans know Ken Tizzard as the bassist in The Watchmen. But now that the semi-retired prairie rockers only play the occasional reunion show, the St. John’s native has set his sights on the singer-songwriter life, influenced and mentored by fellow Newfoundlander Roy Hynes, who passed away in 2015. Tizzard pays tribute to his old pal on his latest album A Good Dog Is Lost — and hits the bowling alley to sing Hynes’ Judgement in his latest video. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Tizzard used to play “Judgement,” another Hynes classic, with his group Bad Intent. “Ron once said ‘if you ever record a band version of that song, I’d love to hear it,’ so I decided to go for that on this record.” Judge for yourself:
5 Some bands do soft and shimmery. Other bands do loud and crunchy. On their song Naked Creatures, Germany’s Kid Dad not only do both — they put them together pretty seamlessly, and add a hefty dose of melody to the proceedings besides. Get out your tinfoil mask, smear corn flakes on your face and join them, won’t you? SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “I wrote this song two years ago while I was spending some very calm and therapeutic time in Switzerland. I cut myself off from the world around me and cocooned myself in my great uncle’s organ room. The song plays on two extremes – introvertism and extrovertism – we have always combined these two elements, but never to this extent.” No kidding:
6 I have a startling admission to make: I have never played the board game Candyland. So when Toronto duo Hush Pup told me their music “sounds a lot like driving at night through the board game Candyland – soft cotton candy trees brush up against the windows of your glass car as you ride toward a friend’s cabin nearby the molasses swamp,” well, I pretty much have to take their word for it. All I can tell you is that it’s not a bad way to sum up their quietly gleaming dream-pop soother The Hours and the accompanying video. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “The Hours is a song about kindness. It’s about being sweet and slow as a practice. It’s inspired by a scene from an Allen Ginsberg documentary where he conducts a workshop that integrates spirituality into artistic practice.” Your turn:
7 One and one is two. Or Eleven Eleven, if you follow the relationship math behind the gently grooving, softly insistent single from Bay Area dance-pop duo Maniacs. It comes from their fittingly upcoming debut EP Binary — and comes with an animated video that might remind you simultaneously of a Joy Division album cover and an old video game. SAY THE PRESS RELEASE: “Eleven Eleven draws listeners in through Chris Sanders’ hypnotic synth work and Jordan Derrherra’s deep, powerful basslines. The nostalgic dance-floor cut is rounded out with a poetic verses, reflecting on passion and affection. The song is in essence about meeting up with an old friend and having sparks fly, says the duo. It’s about seeing someone you know in a new light and being instantly infatuated.” It all adds up:
8 Tuareg virtuoso Mdou Moctar is already acclaimed as a guitar hero. But during his American tour last month he became a real-life hero when he witnessed a car crash on a Tennessee highway, leapt from his van and kicked open a car door to help one victim to safety. That has nothing to do with the hypnotic groove and stinging six-string work on his single Wiwarsharnine — from his forthcoming album Ilana (The Creator) — but listening to it seems like the least you could do for the guy. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Wiwasharnine is a hometown anthem, and the recording stays true to it’s form with a chorus of stomping and handclaps that bring it back to an outdoor wedding in the desert.” Buckle up:
9 Every artist has a tale to tell. The improbably named Skraeckoedlan have taken it to the next level. The Swedish psychedelic prog-rockers — whose name apparently means Godzilla in their native tongue — enlisted sci-fi author Nils Håkansson to write the story behind their new album Eorþe (Earth), set in the 1920s “amid a mystery heavy with Lovecraftian influence and philosophical nuances.” Based on the preview cut Tentakler & Betar, it also finds a fine balance between stomping boogie-rock and progressive brainic complexity. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “This is by far our most ambitious work of art yet. It’s been a real challenge to do someone else’s story justice whilst making the songs cohesive as well as standing strong on their own. It took a lot of effort, but we’ve done just that.” Turn the page:
10 Music is supposed to bring people together. Yellowknife resident Digawolf’s music does that in more ways than one. A member of the northern Tlicho Nation, Diga sings in both English and Tlicho — an officially endangered language with fewer than 2,500 remaining speakers — as a way to keep his first language alive. Based on the dusty, sombre grace of his laid-back acoustic strummer Elexe (Together) from his forthcoming full-length Yellowstone, he’s succeeding beautifully. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “This is a love song for my children. It is a song about standing together, and that when we stand together we are stronger. It is based on a Tlicho saying, which roughly translates as, strong like two people.” But more is good too:
