Danko Jones puts ’em up, Chastity Belt lounge, Amber Run feel lonely, City and Colour space out and more in today’s Roundup. That’s enough of a Friday for me. How about you?
1 Is there a better way to start the weekend than with a new Danko Jones video? I daresay there is not. So throw your dukes in the air and wave ’em like you got no hair as the Canadian rock powerhouse unleashes his new clip for Fists Up High. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Fists Up High is my favorite song on our new album A Rock Supreme,” Danko says. “We’re very excited for everyone to see the new video and can’t wait to play it when we hit the road with Volbeat.”
2 Chastity Belt cut loose in the indulgently mischievous video for It Takes Time, the latest single form the acclaimed Seattle band’s brand-new self-titled album, their first new music since 2017. So quit lounging around and go pick it up. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “As Gretchen Grimm explains, “We had the idea for a video set in a jazz lounge for a little while and we’re very grateful to Weird Dog for helping us bring it to life. We’re all huge fans of jazz and pasta. We have a special pasta dish that we cook when we’re together called La Vasta. It’s our famous dish, we’ve been making it since college and have shared many fond memories slurping it down together. Before we dig in we join hands in the prayer: When you’re here, you’re family.”
3 Amber Run put their best foot forward with What Could Be As Lonely As Love, the latest single and video from the British rockers’ Sept. 27 full-length Philophobia. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Speaking about What Could Be As Lonely As Love, frontman Joe Keogh explains “Unconsciously, over the course of our three records, it feels like we’ve started to soundtrack the more difficult moments in people’s lives. With this song, we wanted to juxtapose the sentiment of not feeling worthy of love with a more optimistic soundtrack, in order to gain some perspective when you’re too deep in the situation to see clarity. We wanted both sides of the coin.”
4 City and Colour, led by acclaimed singer-songwriter Dallas Green, launch their captivating and ethereal new video for the song Astronaut from the Oct. album A Pill for Loneliness. Let the countdown begin. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Green once again teamed up with Michael Maxxis who directed City and Colour’s Fragile Bird, Thirst, Lover Come Back and Strangers. Says Maxxis, “I felt that Astronaut demanded epic visuals. The lyrics, vocals, and the instrumentation are all big, beautiful, and profound. Dallas shared his inspiration for the song with me, and then I went to work. This was one of those miracle productions, where somehow everything came together with just a couple days of prep. In the end this is a video I am very proud of. I think we captured the patient beauty of Astronaut in a simple, poetic way.”
5 Chilean death-metal masters Strigoi will rise from their crypt and deliver their nihilistic, crusty and cinematically grand debut album Abandon All Faith unto the world on Nov. 22. Gird your loins for the first single Phantoms. Boo! SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Abandon All Faith is a bone-crushing beast comprising old-school death metal, grindcore and haunting left turns, which conjure feelings of both dread and hostility and is laced with guitarist Greg Mackintosh’s trademark lead guitar lines and biting death metal roar.”
6 Brighton electro-grunge duo Corlyx give in to their darkest carnal desires in their seductive new music video Nightfalls. You have been warned. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Directed by Raw Art Creations, Nightfalls explores what it is like to free and just let go. The world around us is very different at night. The cover of darkness gives some the chance to show and be who they really are deep down. Vocalist/Producer Caitlin Stokes gives her take: “Nightfalls is about giving yourself over to your carnal obsessions, no matter how dark they go.”
https://youtu.be/FURSAJsNpLM
7 Punk cult heroes Tsunami Bomb blast back on Nov. 8 with The Spine That Binds, their first new LP in 15 years. Light the fuse with the strangely titled first single The Hathors. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Vocalist Kate Jacobi says, “The story of The Hathors is haunting and sad as much as defiant. In the journey of learning to be happy with who you are, there are those that won’t believe in you and people who will be let down with who you become. It’s about turning down the voices in your head of everyone that said “you can’t” and silencing the doubt, knowing that it will never fully go away.”
8 Calgary riff lords Woodhawk will unleash their Violent Nature on Nov. 1. But fear not; that’s just the title of their upcoming sophomore album. And before they get all heavy on you, they’re setting you up for a hard fall with their first single Weightless Light. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “The song stems from my struggle to sleep for a few months over the fall of 2018. I would wake up every night at the same time and lay awake staring at nothing. My mind would race and inhibit me from sleeping, no matter what. So I would lay in this state of almost non-existence where I couldn’t tell if I was asleep, awake, alive or dead. It was an odd feeling of vulnerability. To pass the time, I would get up and play guitar in the middle of the night, until I felt I could attempt to go back to sleep for the last 45 minutes before my alarm.”
9 Alternative-electronic artist iskwē gets personal with her raw new single Sweet Tuesday, an homage to a departed friend and a preview of her Nov. 8 album acākosīk (pronounced acha-ko-suk, translated in English as The Stars). SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “I wrote this song for my dear friend, a kindred spirit who ventured back to the sky world after a long and courageous battle with cancer. This song and its visuals are a commemoration of our last visit together, during which we embraced our mutual fears for the road ahead as much as we celebrated the beauty and mystery life offers. My hope is to convey the importance of not getting stuck in the despair of loss through celebrating those who have transitioned on and honouring every facet of life’s journey from birth to death. Sweet Tuesday is my contribution to the ethos of healing and embracing every emotion along the way.”
10 Some singer-songwriters like to look back. Others like to look way back. But Donovan Woods is the kind of singer-songwriter who’s willing to go Way Way Back, as he does in his latest single. That’s just the level of commitment he brings to the table. You gotta admire that. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “My partner said something once about the idea when people get back together with past romantic partners,” says Woods. “You always go as far as you’ve gone. If you slept together back then, you’d sleep together again. I thought it was a funny thought, and definitely true. But, it’s not something I’d ever heard anyone say out loud. So, I took that idea and explored the peculiar space that old sexual partners seem to occupy in everyone’s mind. It can be hard to escape the comfort and nostalgia that memory lane offers, and that’s what Way Way Back is about. The whole song — production and arrangement — is indicative of this push and pull between the risky excitement of something new and the ease of something familiar.”
11 Last time we heard from Raul Malo and The Mavericks, they were revamping the John Anderson chestnut Swingin’. Now they’re putting the moves on Freddy Fender’s Tex-Mex classic Before the Next Teardrop Falls. And if you haven’t already figured it out by now, their next disc will be a covers album. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Malo says the rest of the album will feature “a collection of songs that have meant something to us — there are some classic country music songs in there, obviously, and there’s a few surprises thrown in there for good measure.”
12 Toronto indie-soul singer-songwriter Aphrose will be in her Element when her album of the same name arrives Nov. 8. Right now, however, she’s apparently feeling Invincible, based on the title of her single. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “This song is about the euphoria you feel when you have someone in your life loving you in a way that uplifts your soul to the highest heights,” shares Aphrose. “You literally feel you can do and accomplish anything, and you would do everything to have this feeling forever.”
13 There’s no easy way to say this, but Goran does not love you anymore. I was able to discern this from the London dance-pop singer-songwriter’s latest single — the very subtly titled I Don’t Love You Anymore. Condolences. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “I was finding it incredibly difficult to express exactly what I was trying to say lyrically in those last few weeks of being with her – it was only once we ended the relationship that I found I was able to completely let go and properly finish the song. It really helped me come to terms with how I was feeling, and how I had been feeling for quite a while. It became clear that the verses were a poetic summary of the fundamental weaknesses in the relationship. The middle 8 was the last section I wrote, and were some of the most painful lyrics I’ve ever had to write, as I realised whilst writing it that it was one final parting note to the person I thought I loved. The song honestly means more to me than almost anything”.
