Versing take a turn, Bleached take steps, Black Mountain boogie down, Iceage take the cure, Sasami shows off her Granny and more in today’s Roundup. Remember to keep your hands inside the car for the duration of today’s ride.
1 Immerse yourself in Versing’s new 360° video for Renew, the latest preview of the Seattle outfit’s May 3 album 10000. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Directed by Claire Buss, this 360° video allows the viewer to immerse themselves in a subterranean warehouse world where nothing makes sense and everyone is slowly losing their minds. Use your mouse to scroll right or left to explore. According to the band’s frontman Daniel Salas, the song is about “taking time to care for yourself—even when things are all weird and fucked up.” And going in circles, presumably:
2 Bleached — the L.A. rock duo of sisters Jessica and Jennifer Clavin — dropped their new acoustic single and video Shitty Ballet. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Bleached has always been a pretty loud rock band so we felt it was time to explore a more stripped down style of playing,” says Jennifer. “With the vulnerability of the lyrics we decided to carry that into the instruments as well for the first time recording with just an acoustic guitar and vocals. Sonic change is important to us right now. More of that coming soon.” One shitty step at a time:
3 Vancouver rockers Black Mountain rock out on Boogie Lover, the second single from their forthcoming album Destroyer to be released May 24. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “The serpentine Boogie Lover coils down the Strip. You pull into The Rainbow Bar & Grill to take the edge off. Doesn’t matter what year it is. The band’s Stephen McBean waxes poetic on Boogie Lover: “Slaying hearts with riffs in search of Geezer wood. This one went into the oven twice as it needed an extra topping. Space doom for lovers. Kliph Scurlock [Flaming Lips] pulled some Kiss outta his cape and Randy Holden came knocking on the front door holding a bridge! Rachel Fannan [Sleepy Sun] baked a cake while Jeremy Schmidt & Tom G. Warrior spaced out on some classic Isaac Hayes. Slow burn in a creaky world.” Name-dropper:
4 Copenhagen’s Iceage get an assist from Sky Ferreira on the trippy new video for Pain Killer, one of the standout tracks from their critically acclaimed fourth album Beyondless. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “The video takes visual cues from Wild At Heart, Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas, and the Beastie Boys’ Sabotage. Hallucinogenic epiphanies filmed between Tijuana, San Diego and LA are interspersed throughout with 70s pulp animation. Sky Ferreira makes a cameo, appearing in VHS footage shot in the garage of Instagram celebrity and Fiona Apple collaborator, Lili Hayes. Directed by Mortis Studio with additional animation from Josh Freydkis and featuring lead actors Linda Abud and Sebastian Alvarez, the video for Pain Killer is a potent chaser to the visceral and intoxicating potion of the audio.” And pretty damn weird too:
5 Singer-songwriter Sasami — well, at least her grandma — gets cooking with a video for the song Morning Comes, from the L.A. artist’s critically acclaimed self-titled debut album, out now. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Morning Comes is the first song with lyrics I ever wrote and recorded. I wrote it at the beginning of a year’s cycle of sentiments and emotional convictions. It marked a (fleeting) chapter of independence, confidence, and feeling in control. This was soon followed by many lapses in said control and emotional strength (hence every other song on the album lol). It seemed fitting to make a music video featuring the most stable and strong person I know – my grandmother (Halmoni). She is a boss ass bitch and makes truly the most epic kimchi on planet earth. Watch the video for yourself and visit her shop in LA if you really want to know the TRUTH.” That’s seriously a lot of kimchi:
6 Canadian singer-songwriter December Rose delivers a musical #MeToo manifesto with the video for her song Raise Your Voice. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “There is power in unity,” the Montreal-based indie pop artist details, weaving tight #metoo’s societal shift with war-time footage featured in Raise Your Voice. “The movement is creating massive changes in the entertainment industry and work places and society because women came together and stuck together in volumes to win this ‘war’ of sexual assault silence. This song has been a work-in-progress over the past three or four years,” she continues, recalling the origins of the empowering track. “Originally triggered by discouraging and frustrating experiences in the music industry, it evolved into what it is now after my own incident with sexual assault, and the open discussions with many friends and females who had been suffering in silence about their own.” Time to listen:
7 Former Angelspit vocalist Lorelei Dreaming takes to the air with her video for the song Parachute of Gold (Surrender Mix), originally from her debut EP Banshee. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Band member AJ Gapsevic explains what he likes about the new version of the song and video: “Parachute of Gold was one of my favorite tracks off the original EP. It has a tongue in cheek story and and the music has a great build up to it. Seeing that song get put to a gorgeous, cinematic music video is kinda blowing my mind.” The video for Parachute of Gold (Surrender Mix) was directed by Christopher Davis of Human Twelve and was shot largely at the Medusa Chicago Nightclub.” Buckle up:
8 Icelandic classic rock trio The Vintage Caravan take to the great outdoors in the video for On The Run, a track from their latest album Gateways. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Guitarist/vocalist Óskar states, “We are very happy to share this video with all of you. The director of the video is Nicholas Helgason who also worked with us on Crazy Horses and Babylon. The making of the video was fun and also quite hard, Icelandic weather is not very predictable. It can go from sunny to a snowstorm in a matter of minutes. This video differentiates itself from our other videos, less focused on humor and the weirder things and is more serious because the song is one of our more personal ones. The song is about touring, those moments leading up to going to the airport to leave your loved ones behind. Nicholas had a very good interpretation of the song and his concept for the video gives the song a wider meaning, he really did it justice, well done, man!” Nice coats, guys:
9 Los Angeles industrial-pop outfit Aesthetic Perfection come out swinging on the video for No Boys Allowed, off their latest album Into The Black. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “The video is meant to send a message, embrace who you are instead of who the world wants you to be. The video mocks macho aggressive stereotypes and gives the idea the looks are not always what they appear. Vocalist/Composer Daniel Graves explains the real life events that inspired the video… “When I was around 10, my mother married a man who hated everything I was. He was a giant bodybuilder. He loved Jesus and hated “fags”. I was a skinny atheist. I wore makeup and dresses. We did not get along. I was raised in a world that told me to “man up”. A place where there were no boys allowed. I made this video to show my stepfather the man I’ve become. I sure hope he sees it.” Fighting words:
10 Toronto indie-rock musician Grizzly Coast — real name: Alannah Kavanagh — bares her soul on the video for her song Half-Light Boy. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “My new single, Half-Light Boy, is about the sobering realization that not every person you encounter will have the same heart as you. Someone else’s lack of care for you is often due to something lacking in them – it is never an expression of what you deserve. I was walking home from the grocery store one evening, lugging way too many bags for one girl to carry comfortably. Passing by a venue, I noticed that someone who once held a big place in my life was playing a show there that very night. There was a time when I felt close to this person. Having always been one of their biggest supporters, not getting an invite to their show that was right in my neighbourhood left me feeling pretty small. I went home and wrote this new song as a confrontation that I knew I would never bother to actually have.” Be sure not to send him a copy:
11 The Berlin duo Kliffs — featuring Canadians Mark Bérubé and Kristina Koropecki — take a creative leap with the video for Stratosphere, from their new self-titled EP. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Koropecki explains, “Stratosphere is about one of those very rare moments in adult life, when all expectations, routines and worries completely vanish, and you’re left solely with raw love and wonder. The Zeitgeist says it’s much cooler to be cynical and ironic, which made this quite a hard song to write – without self-sensoring or caving in to such forces.” Go ahead and jump:
12 B.C. singer-songwriter Kenzie Cates spells it out in the video for her debut single Black Magic. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “The song mirrors the artist who created it, as it possesses a dark sweetness, but also mystery with more than just a hint of danger. “There are people out there, both men and women, who just have some- thing about them – something in their nature that is dark and nebulous. It’s mysterious but it is also very magnetic. And depending on the person it can also be a very dangerous quality. So, the song is about a close encounter with somebody like that, an experience that many of us have had, and lived to tell the tale,” she said.” Abracadabra:
https://youtu.be/ohtYBlSa-XY
13 New York singer-songwriter Hannah Cohen shares All I Wanted, another captivating track from her forthcoming third album Welcome Home, due April 26. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “The song is really something everyone has felt… that anticipation of being with your lover. Sometimes you play those moments in your head.” And sometimes you play them right here:
14 Swedish metallers Enforcer unleashed the Spanish version of the track Searching For You, a song from their upcoming fifth studio album Zenith. Why a Spanish version? Why not? SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Vocalist/guitarist Olof Wikstrand stated: “Here’s something for you speed maniacs. Bang your heads!” Golpear su cabeza:
