Greentea Peng catches the light, Jacques Greene does it for love, Aoife O’Donovan takes a boss trip, Locean pussyfoots and more in today’s Roundup. Traaaainnnnnnn!
1 | Greentea Peng | Mr. Sun (miss da sun)
THE PRESS RELEASE: “South East London singer-songwriter Greentea Peng shares the video for Mr. Sun (miss da sun) — taken from her new EP Rising — directed by rising talent Felix Brady, with a psych-tinged trip of colour bursts and urban landscapes juxtaposing the majesty of nature. Mr. Sun (miss da sun) continues to document Greentea Peng’s strong sense of spirituality, chronicling the bustle of inner city life and the centring influence of the songs title subject. Of the theme she puts it simply; “I get used to the clouds in London Town but I always miss my man.” Old-soul vocals are met with a twinkling electronic production, courtesy of frequent collaborator Earbuds, who has also worked closely with slowthai. The song incorporates jazzy sax lines and blissful moments of birdsong as Peng hypnotically chants and coaxes.”
2 | Jacques Greene | For Love
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Jacques Greene releases the video for new single For Love, from his forthcoming album Dawn Chorus, out Oct. 18. Greene approached the making of Dawn Chorus as if he were a band. He lived in the studio for five months this past winter – half the time at home in Toronto, the other half in Hudson Mohawke’s studio in L.A. – and wrote these songs in a sprint to capture this chapter in his life. While samples played a big part in his early output, his creative process for Dawn Chorus revolved around recording a stellar cast of musicians, arranging new parts. As a result, it’s his most collaborative project to date, featuring additional production and instrumentation from film composer Brian Reitzell (Lost In Translation), cello by London’s Oliver Coates, additional production from Clams Casino and original vocal contributions from ambient artist Julianna Barwick, rapper Cadence Weapon and singers Ebhoni and Rochelle Jordan, all sampled, processed and stitched back into the album.”
3 | Aoife O’Donovan | Nebraska
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Critically lauded musician and songstress Aoife O’Donovan has released Nebraska, a cover of the title track from Bruce Springsteen’s 1982 album. The track is featured on In The Magic Hour Solo Sessions, a six-song acoustic EP including four songs from In The Magic Hour and a bone-chilling cover of Joni Mitchell’s Turn Me On, I’m A Radio, out Nov. 1. “In 2011, I did a residency at Rockwood Music Hall in NYC, says Aoife. “Each week was a different set, and while planning for the month, I decided to learn the album Nebraska from start to finish. Originally released in 1982, the year I was born, the songs are timeless. The sadness and depravity in the title track urge us to look a little bit deeper into ourselves. “I guess there’s just a meanness in this world.”
4 | Locean | Pussycat
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Formed by founding members Jefferson Temple and Lauren Bolger, experimental Mancunian collective Locean first struck up a tryst in 2012, not in the name of archetypal love but in a shared curiosity for genre apocalypse, live extemporisation and sonic exorcism. Having one of the most singular guitar-sounds in the city, Temple has collaborated with a host of outsider musicians both in Manchester and further afield, while serving as a permanent fixture in Charles Hayward’s Anonymous Bash. Providing a sonic bed for Bolger to lay bare her phonic consciousness, like Temple, she too has served time as a serial collaborator, performing alongside the likes of Thurston Moore and Lydia Lunch.”
5 | Besvärjelsen | All Things Break
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Sweden’s bewitching heavy rockers Besvärjelsen (with former Dozer members) deliver a vertiginous new video taken from the Frost EP. All Things Break’s lyrics deal with the bitter side of relationships that don’t work out. “It’s about the emotions when you feel left behind. Not only romantically, but the general feeling of loneliness. And that everything turns to shit in the end” comments vocalist Lea Amling Azalam. Drummer Erik Bäckwall share crispy details about the shooting: “The video was shot on an old railroad bridge built in 1903, with no train traffic and close to a waterfall called Helvetesfallet (“the Hell fall”). The bridge is about 186 feet tall, with creaky wooden planks with space between, so you could see all the way down. We had set up the drums on the middle of the bridge and I was adjusting the toms when Johan shouted ”Traaaain!”. We thought it was a joke, but it wasn’t. I turned around and heard the train behind the trees. Me and Lea took whatever drum pieces we could get and ran with the train coming behind us. My first thought was to get away from the bridge, the second was that It’s probably gonna hit parts of the drum kit we couldn’t carry. Fortunately, the train driver saw us and stopped. We had to do a walk of shame to collect the rest of the drums with seniors taking pictures from the train, and face an angry train driver.”
6 | Soul Messin’ Allstars | Soul A Go Go
THE PRESS RELEASE: “The new Soul Messin’ Allstars cut Soul A Go Go salutes the legendary monthly PBSFM night Soul-a-Go-Go and celebrates Australia’s community spirit that is Melbourne soul; the scene, the musicians, the DJ’s and the fans. Penned by Jake Mason and Eric McCusker, the track invites you to Realign your mojo…. And groove at the Soul-a-Go-Go. “It wasn’t until I was on the other side of the world doing a radio interview with my Cookin’ On 3 Burners buddies did I realise how unique and special Melbourne’s music scene is, especially funk and soul. This is only a pinch of the amazing players in this town, we could do a whole album with a different line-up on every track and there would still be more … in fact we might just do that one day,” says Mason, who put together the supergroup.”
7 | Blood Eagle | Unsung Zeros
THE PRESS RELEASE: “So what do you get when you throw Napalm Death, Bolt Thrower, Morbid Angel and a tad of Mastodon into the musical cooking pot? The answer is Blood Eagle. Glorified by the metal media as a Danish “supergroup” consisting of metal veterans, according to the band, there is nothing super about it, other than their good friendship and love for old school death metal. Blood Eagle is an unstoppable force, launching their long-awaited debut album in three parts: To Ride in Blood and Bathe in Greed I, II, III.”
8 | Soular Order | Downfall
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Ambient Mancunian musician Soular Order creates experimental, ambient and beat-driven electronica, combining elements of analogue synths, guitars and found sound percussion. Downfall casts its arc in reverberant spaces, traversing rich sonic landscapes. A multi-layered sound palette and ventricular beats resonate through the track, surging steadily into a panoramic ambient trance before receding and dissolving into silence. Speaking of the track he comments: “Downfall is a track in constant progression with generative elements. Starting subtle and building towards a large encompassing ending.”
9 | André Costello & the Cool Minors | Brighter Than Before
THE PRESS RELEASE: “We’ve got some new members in the group and this new single is where we are as a band. Rather than letting things sprawl in the songs, we’re trying to tighten them up and find something concise and digestible, but still tasty. (Typing this, right now, I realize I need to grab some lunch).”
