Sign Libra plays in the key of sea, Montechange blow up real good, Felix Cartal loses some wait, Good Lovelies get in the holiday spirit and more in today’s Roundup. I raked the last leaves yesterday; it snowed today. It’s nice when things work out sometimes.
1 | Sign Libra | Sea of Islands
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Sign Libra is the sigil under which Latvian composer and artist Agata Melnikova delivers her mystical, musical musings. Sea to Sea, Melnikova’s sophomore album, operates at the node between cerebral and celestial, the complex and magnificent systems of our immediate and greater cosmos arranged into exquisite and eccentric sound patterns. For Sea to Sea, Melnikova surveys a different, satellite scenery: the “seas” of the moon’s surface, known collectively as Lunar Maria. These large, dark plains formed by volcanic eruptions were thought to be actual seas by early astronomers. On Sea to Sea, Melnikova studies the philosophical and mythological nature of this surreal landscape, framed by the illumination of the sun, the shadow of the earth, and the personal perceptions of its inhabitants. The moon becomes an inseparable half of the holistic make-up of our world, and its gravity guides Sea to Sea.” Wait, can you tell me that album title one more time?
2 | Montecharge | XVII. Oreste
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Montecharge’s first full-length album Demons Or Someone Else finally erupts from the Geneva underground after years of slow gestation. About six years after their last record (a 7″ 2-tracks single), Swiss metal/hardcore/noise rock practioners Montecharge are about to give birth to their debut full-length in December. In the meantime, the band just premiered a first audio and video glance from its upcoming effort with the music video of XVII. Oreste.”
3 | Felix Cartal | Right Now
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Felix Cartal has become the king of energetic, melodic house music, and he’s pulled out all the stops with a new motivational video project titled Right Now which he created in collaboration with Jacob Crawford. This time the Canadian DJ and producer tackles an issue that all artists know too well: feeling stuck at a creative roadblock with no end in sight. To encourage fellow creatives to push through their dark times, Cartal took a trip to Los Angeles and recruited some friends for insight into what has helped them when they’ve been struggling artistically. Over the backdrop of Cartal’s uplifting melodies and simply inspiring vocals, music icons including Kaskade, ZEDD, Lights, Anna Lunoe, and Chris Lake open up about their mechanisms to get through creative blocks, what success means to them and more. In the end, “Don’t wait, just do it Right Now” is the best advice. No matter how experienced, every creative person can find the motivation to keep going from this touching video. “I’ve always wanted to make a video to help inspire artists who are just getting started. Sometimes it feels like being stuck is something that only happens to you. It’s not true. Everyone feels that way sometimes. This video has been over a year in the making, and I’m so proud of it finally coming together. TO EVERY SINGLE ARTIST, CREATOR, OR HUMAN WHO’S EVER BEEN STUCK. THIS VIDEO IS FOR YOU!” says Cartal.
4 | Good Lovelies | These Christmas Nights
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Juno Award-winning group The Good Lovelies are thrilled to share the new original song These Christmas Nights, the lead single from their forthcoming Christmas album Evergreen, due out Nov. 15th. The new album is the follow up to 2009’s Under The Mistletoe and features three new originals, and an amazing collection of traditional songs such as O Holy Night, Please Come Home For Christmas, and The Beach Boys’ classic Little Saint Nick. “This year marks not only our 13th anniversary as a band but also the 10th anniversary of our Christmas album Under The Mistletoe. To celebrate, we recorded a followup: Evergreen. We love this new record and the band tradition of annual Christmas concerts it honours. It has so many of our favourite winter and holiday songs from the past several years, and showcases a band of amazing musicians we’re delighted to call friends,” share the Good Lovelies.”
5-7 | Various Artists | So Many Singing Vol. 2
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Ruination Record Co. has announced So Many Singing Vol. 2, their second compilation in support of immigrant rights. With songs by 50 different artists, the compilation is an effort to raise awareness and support of organizations working both locally and globally. So Many Singing Vol. 2 will be released on Dec. 6. To kick off the release, Ruination has released a trio of songs from from Barrie, Lala Lala, and Katie Von Schleicher. Other artists who contributed to the compilation include: Alena Spanger (Tiny Hazard), Annie Hart, Ben Seretan, Blue Ranger, Christelle Bofale, Gabriel Birnbaum (Wilder Maker), Garcia Peoples, Hovvdy, Johanna Samuels, Odetta Hartman, Office Culture, Renata Zeiguer, V.V. Lightbody, and many more. Says Katie Von Schleicher: “I wrote and recorded Sacred Bond on tour in St. Louis when I had a room to myself. Being generative while touring is rare for me, since it takes so much work to just maintain stasis. This song emerged to be placid and melancholy, and vaguely demonstrates how much Anne Laplantine I’d been listening to. It’s a moment of stolen time.” All proceeds from So Many Singing Vol. 2 will go to the International Refugee Assistance Project, an institution that organizes law students and lawyers to develop and enforce a set of legal and human rights to refugees and displaced persons.” You have to scroll down on the playlist below to get to the preview cuts.
8 | Lia | Feed Me
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Lia’s sultry vocals carry stories nestled in poetic prose with cinematic electronic productions featuring elements of trip hop and futuristic RnB. At the age of 16, Lia developed the base of her sound crafting acoustic-laid stories on her father’s old guitar in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. After moving to Montreal for school, Lia enveloped herself in the city’s electronic music scene and decided to dispel her academic background to develop production skills and refine her sound. Now Lia grows a universe through her words, voice, and compositions, drawing influence from artists such as Feist, Banks, Bon Iver and James Blake. Lia’s thoughts on her EP Vasilia: “I wrote this EP as I was coming into myself. It was a period of my life when I learned how to love myself and what it meant to show myself respect. The root of this EP grew from the word resilience; resilience in my mental health, as a woman and in my relationships. Upon building the lyrics and the universe of this project, pieces of inspiration found their way to me.”
9 | Floated | Missing From
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Missing From is the first song taken from Floated’s self-titled debut album due out early 2020. Of the single, David Maine says, “In a woeful world, Floated finds escape in the grungy, smoke filled, neon-lit basements of New York City’s dance scene. Anonymous bodies sway to the rhythms, synchronizing through the twilight hours, creating a dreamy and free space…even if just for the night. Floated reminisces on these moments, celebrating the act of raw, pure and unhindered expression.” David Maine is a 28-year-old lifelong musician — a classically trained pianist, multi-instrumentalist, producer and songwriter. Maine was previously the bass player in Frankie Cosmos, touring and recording with the band for four years, often alongside his brother Aaron Maine (of Porches).”
