Welcome to another Friday afternoon — and another onslaught of press releases from publicists trying to clear their desks before the weekend. All I can do is rake them up like so many fallen leaves and slap them together into the weekly compost bin that is the Friday Roundup — or should I say RounDUMP? Either way, dig in. And enjoy your weekend.
1 Artsy South African pop-rockers The Parlotones have the cure for what ails you: It’s the fittingly title Antidote, the latest synth-pop single and cinematic video from their recent album China. Just what the rock ’n’ roll doctor ordered. Now stick out your tongue. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “The song tackles the theme of ‘last chances’ and admitting fault in one’s self. It pleads for one more shot at being the person the other one deserves by changing their selfish ways and growing as a person. Originally written as a piano ballad, it took on an 80’s synth pop vibe reminiscent of Pet Shop Boys/Depeche Mode to create a more upbeat song but with a darker undertone. It asks for forgiveness but also knows you have to sleep in the bed you made.” Say aaahhh:
2 Dragons and wizards and potions, oh my! You’ll get all the fantasy action you can handle — and plenty more — in the video for Swedish adventure metal brigade Twilight Force’s Dawn Of The Dragonstar, the title cut of their Aug. 16 album. Abracadabra and rock on, m’lord! SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Keyboard wizard Blackwald proclaims, “Knights and apprentices! We are delighted and excited to finally present to you the title track from our third creation – Dawn Of The Dragonstar! This hymn tells the olden tale of a mighty and ancient dragon, whose final fate is to ascend to the firmaments and become a star of guiding light. The splendour of his gleaming soul brings honour, courage and strength to all humans, elves, and dwarves.” Get all that hocus-pocus in focus:
3 Supergroup alert: Sons Of Apollo — featuring former Dream Theater members Mike Portnoy and Derek Sherinian, Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal of Guns N’ Roses, Billy Sheehan of Winery Dogs, Mr. Big and David Lee Roth, and Jeff Scott Soto of Journey and ex-Yngwie Malmsteen’s Rising Force — are dropping their classically fuelled concert set Live With The Plovdiv Psychotic Symphony on Aug. 30. Warm up with this clip of them performing Dream Theater’s Just Let Me Breathe. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Portnoy comments: “I’ve released several dozen live albums through the years with about a dozen different bands, but I have to say that this live release from Sons Of Apollo may indeed be the most special one of them all!! Everything was aligned that evening: an absolutely beautiful Roman amphitheatre and a perfectly gorgeous summer evening, one set of SOA material and one set of specially chosen cover songs, and to top it all off being joined by a symphony orchestra and choir…it was a magical evening for everybody in attendance and now we can share it with the rest of the world immortalized in this incredible live package.” Breathe it in:
4 Steppenwolf were Born to Be Wild. Motörhead were Born to Lose (but lived to win). Johnny Thunders was Born Too Loose. But on Aug. 9, German thrash titans Destruction take it to the max with their 17th album Born to Perish. Thankfully, they aren’t checking out before they drop the record’s second single and video Betrayal. Don’t say they never did anything or you. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “This is maybe my fave song from the new album cause of its classic thrash feel and the very catchy chorus. Randy is all guns blazing here and Mike & Damir have an awesome solo battle. We all have our experience with Betrayal and wanted an emotional, atmospheric and different video!” Way to kill it:
5 Kris Kelly has a lot on his plate. The Brooklyn singer-songwriter is putting the finishing touches on his upcoming album Runaways, which arrives in August. And he’s already dropped a few singles to whet your appetite. Here’s the latest and last: The gentle folk-pop serenade Cracked Porcelain. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Kelly sings of finding equilibrium between the sacred and the profane, carnal desire and true love, within the freedom of an open relationship. He explains, “I think the LGBTQ+ community has a unique opportunity to redefine our relationships between sex and healthy partnerships, but it also comes with a great responsibility, and I think we often fail. I failed at least. And that’s ok, because I realized that if I wanted to be happy, I had to make a change.” Food for thought:
6 Sometimes you have to be your own best friend. Just ask Alex Bent. The Saskatoon R&B singer says Baby, the latest album from his solo project The Emptiness, “was meant to be a love letter to someone, but ended up being one to me.” And what do you do when you get a love letter from yourself? You say Thank Ya — as he does in his latest single, which was cut in his bedroom. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Written in the dead of winter, Thank Ya is a song about being self-aware.” And maybe just a little self-involved (but in a good way):
7 Welcome to oblivion. Actually, make that welcome back. North Carolina’s Crywolf continues his Oblivion [Reimagined] series of remixes with this instalment from Florida producer Swarm, a hyper-dark, metal-influenced electronic artist who puts his unique touch on Quixote, a cut from Crywolf’s album Widow [OBLIVION pt. 1]. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “There is something about Quixote in particular that is deeply haunting to me. I could feel my own emotions in every aspect of it, from the cathartic atmosphere to the painfully raw lyrics. In my re-imagination, I wanted to bring that psychological grit to light in a more aggressive way by using my own background in metal and industrial music.”Give it a tilt:
8 What’s black and white and ed all over? Why, the Infrared Panda Club of course. And what is the Infrared Panda Club, you may well ask. Why, it’s the new single and lyric video from Greek psyche-rockers Chickn, whose third album Bel Esprit arrives Oct. 18. Hope they don’t lay an egg. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “A truly bizarre yet uplifting song that popped Angelos, the band’s guitarist and vocalist, out of a nightmare some months ago and furled into the smallest club into this world. It’s nothing more but an Infrared, meaning when not using a filter the club behaves like a normal club with no special characteristics. Alike Panda bears, it involves gallons of water. Feel free to join the Club!” Hey, it’s all Greek to me:
9 Southwestern DJ Bijou makes contact — and delivers your weekly dose of Dim Mak-endorsed dance music — with his new single Touch Me. Get the picture? SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Fusing a seductive vocal with a driving bassline, Arizona house music producer BIJOU blesses Dim Mak with a deep late-night floor-filler Touch Me.” Can you feel him?
10 A little mystery never hurt anybody. And Sleep Token have that in spades. The anonymous Londoners continue to dole out songs from their upcoming album Sundowning every two weeks like clockwork. Why? Your guess is as good as mine. All I know is that the third instalment Levitate just landed in my in-box. So here it is. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “You were the bad guy in their story, but that part of their story is now over. The intense pain of realising someone you love does not need you anymore.” Don’t sleep on it:
11 At some point or another, you have have tried to contact a friend and received the reply: ‘New phone, who dis?’ But I will wager you have never received the reply: New Bitch, Who Dis? At least, not unless you asked L.A. electro-popster Cuja for the title of her latest single. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “I wanted New Bitch, Who Dis? to be the song people listen to when they want to be all about themselves, when they’re getting ready for a night out or when they need a friend to say ‘Babe, he’s not even worth it.’ ” Speaking of dis:
12 Cuja isn’t the only artist dealing with telephonic issues today. Prolific Hamilton indie-rocker Drew Thomson calls in with Phone Ring, the latest single from his grandly handled Drew Thomson Foundation, whose self-titled debut album arrives Sept. 6. Pick up. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “By drinking a decade away, I also pushed away a lot of people close to me,” he admits. “People had been telling me to quit for years and I never listened to them. You really have to want to get sober and believe it’s for the best. I don’t ask anyone else in the band to avoid drinking, but if I have one or two I slip back into that other world, so I just avoid it completely. It’s been a huge benefit. I write more, I work better, I’m less reactive, and easier to be around. I just have to handle self-doubt on my own. I don’t want to base everything I do around sobriety, but it’s been the biggest thing in my life lately, and made everything with the Foundation possible.” Good call:
13 Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Most of the time, blues skies are just blue skies. But not when you’re talking about the Blue Skies of London singer-songwriter Ayia Gold. And If you’ve ever been in her hometown, you know that blue skies are special indeed. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Blue Skies is an intimate song about the beauty & vulnerability of falling in love. Wearing your heart on your sleeve and the desire for that same openness back”, she says about the genre-blurring debut single.” Things are looking up:
14 What’s the secret to a good acronym? It makes you wonder what it stands for. Case in point: OOMS, the new single from New York electro-popster Evvy (whose name only looks like an acronym). I could tell you what OOMS means, but where’s the fun in that? SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “OOMS was written during a time where I confronted the anxiety and depression that I had let takeover my life.” DIY is always the best approach:
15 What’s the difference between an anthem and something that simply resembles an anthem? Good question. And intercontinental electro-popsters Lola Dutronic — the duo of Torontonian (and former Diodes member) Richard Citroen and German Stephanie B-Yen, who collaborate long-distance — are happy to outline the answer in their latest single Sounds Like an Anthem. All rise. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Sounds Like An Anthem marks a welcome return to the band’s trademark 4-on-the-floor Wall Of Sound. The new single also marks a new phase of Lola Dutronic‘s career where in order to reflect the realities of the streaming world we now live in, after releasing five critically acclaimed albums (The World of Lola Dutronic, The Love Parade, In Berlin, Everyone’s A Star & Lost In Translation), they will be concentrating on releasing singles from now on.” Sounds like a plan:
16 Some matches are made in heaven. I suspect the pairing of industrial stalwarts Black Needle Noise — the brainchild of legendary producer John Fryer — and — led by frontman Raymond Watts — had its origins in a darker, hotter and (let’s be honest) far more interesting place. Check out their unholy racket on the collaborative single See of Evil. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “When John Fryer called, it was like cream was fed to my poison crop. I was thrilled to lend Satan’s little helping hand to Black Needle Noise,” says Watts of the devilish collaboration. “The result from this marriage made in hell was appropriately called Seed of Evil … it pours out of me into the night, where the devil ties it nice and tight.”
Say your prayers:
17 When you make art-rock, you probably hear the word affectations a lot — and not always in a good way. But experimental artist Alexander Noice turns the tables with a minimalist, hypnotic new single titled (yep) Affectations — and throws in a sax solo to boot. Ball’s in your court, haters. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Alexander Noice’s modern take on art-rock pulls on jazz, electronic music, and minimalist opera to create a sound that is inimitable and deeply personal. This amalgam of stylistic influences provides a variegated sonic bed for lyrics that delve into topics involving false pretenses pervasive in modern social contexts, and the search for meaning in revelations of science and technology. Grappling with counterintuitive manifestations of these trends, Noice dresses these themes in a sonic tapestry that marries mechanistic elements with undeniably human expression.” Noice:
18 As Honest Abe Lincoln noted more than a century ago, you can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time. Things haven’t changed much since then — based on the fact that about half the population at any given time seems to believe one liar or another. Thankfully, Son of Dave — aka former Crash Test Dummies member and Friend of Tinnitist Ben Darvill — has a few choice words for those suckers in his new single You Keep on Buying It. And as usual, he’s set them to a low-riding blues groove laced with his honking harmonica. You best believe that. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Why even give compulsive liars the platform? Well, yell all we want, people keep on buying it. Might as well cash in on the argument.” Ain’t it the truth:
