Brandon Wolfe Scott shares his burden, The Grahams visit Dumpville, Suicide Silence do it to death, Karima Francis looks at life from both sides now, Tylor Dory Trio seek salvation and more in today’s Roundup. We finally finished the leftover Halloween goodies. If I never see another fun-size candy bar or bag of 15 tiny potato chips, I’ll be just fine.
1 | Brandon Wolfe Scott | Burden On Your Shoulders
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Brandon Wolfe Scott, best known as the guitarist and co-songwriter in the Juno-nominated Yukon Blonde, shares the title track from his upcoming EP Burden On Your Shoulders. “Burden On Your Shoulders was the first song I wrote and recorded at the beginning of 2019,” says Wolfe. “It’s an earnest, autobiographical song about self-preservation, something I’m trying to get better at but constantly struggle with. I was hesitant to show my bandmate James Bull as it’s quite personal, but I liked the song a lot and needed an outside ear, I knew he would give me an honest opinion. He immediately called with enthusiasm and told me to send over the track files so he could start mixing it. This started the process for my EP.”
2 | The Grahams | Heartbroken Town
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Channeling the tenderhearted nostalgia of Carole King and the sentimentality of Joni Mitchell, indie rock band The Grahams have just premiered their latest video and single Heartbroken Town. The track is the third single off their upcoming record Kids Like Us (set for release on March 6). Opening with Doug’s glowing guitar sound and layering on blankets of mellotron and tubular bells, the song (co-written with their songwriting partner Bryan McCann) features a powerful vocal performance from Alyssa that embodies the nature of a true heartbreak. The video features Alyssa and Doug with their band (Aaron Boehler, Paddy Ryan and Thayer Serrano) live at the world renowned Abbey Road Studios, embodying the portrait of a 70’s recording session and showcasing their performance chops.”
3 | Suicide Silence | Love Me To Death
THE PRESS RELEASE: “California extreme metal titans Suicide Silence will release their sixth studio album Become The Hunter on Feb. 14. Today, the band release the music video for Love Me To Death, directed by Scott Hansen of Digital Thunderdome. Become The Hunter was produced by Steve Evetts at The Omen Room and mixed by Josh Wilbur. Ted Jensen mastered the album at Sterling Sound Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. The artwork for the album was created by Adrian Baxter.”
4 | Karima Francis | Shelf Life
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Karima Francis is a critically acclaimed musician and songwriter hailing from the illuminated seaside resort of Blackpool. Known for her ability to blend haunting melodies with honest lyrics and an alluring ambiance, Francis creates entirely captivating music, oozing with emotion and rooted in sentiment. Seeking new inspiration and an escape from London life, Francis recognised her overwhelming sense to explore something new in Los Angeles. Her time spent there resulted in the highly anticipated single Shelf Life. The stunning track narrates Los Angeles’ deepening homelessness crisis. On the surface the City of Angels is a place of celebrities and million dollar mansions, but scratch a bit deeper and you will find the devastating truth which is encompassing so many people’s lives. Karima felt beyond compelled to write about the epidemic and shine light on the reality of the situation, sharing “The music was inspired by the homelessness crisis out in LA. I was just devastated by what I was seeing and the contrast between the rich and poor out there was uncomfortable to see”.
5 | Tylor Dory Trio | Unsought Salvation
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Tylor Dory Trio from Edmonton are putting out a new record and it’s exactly the warm proggy hug you need this winter. Unsought Salvation is full to the brim with warm riffs and spicy drumming, topped with delectable vocals that will comfort you as the nights grow longer. For the first single off the album, East of Eden, the trio have put together a video featuring their adventures in Norway where the full length’s bass, drums, and guitars were recorded with Christer Cederberg at Cederberg Studios in Kristiansand in 2017. “It’s our leading single and one of the most accessible and hooky songs on the album. I love how the chorus evolves in this song, getting bigger and bolder each time. A song about betrayal, we feel that East of Eden matches the fire of the lyrics while staying refined musically. Also, the only song, other than the acoustic tracks, recorded on six-string guitars as opposed to eights.”
6 | Nightwish | Slaying The Dreamer Live
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Today, Nightwish release Slaying The Dreamer Live, the second single from Decades: Live In Buenos Aires, the upcoming divine new live release from Finland’s finest. The live and album and video were captured by 19 cameras at the Estadio Malvinas in Buenos Aires on Sept. 30, 2018, on an extraordinary night in Argentina. Released back in 2018, Decades was so much more than a run-of-the-mill best-of. This comprehensive chronology of the band’s first two decades not only marked the band’s 20th anniversary; it was also the end of yet another era in the stellar career of Finland’s internationally most successful group. The consequent tour, too, was so much more than a regular anniversary run; the seventh Nightwish world tour enthralled 82 cities across Europe, North America and South America.”
7 | Despised Icon | Light Speed
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Canadian deathcore pioneers Despised Icon are proud to release their sixth full length album Purgatory today. In celebration, the band offer a lyric video for the song Light Speed. Despied Icon’s Eric Jarrin comments, “We gave everything we had on this one and a lot of heart and soul went into the making of these songs. This is 100% Despised Icon!” Without a doubt their most dynamic venture to date, Despised Icon have a fresh and energy filled arrangement just waiting to see the light of day in the form of Purgatory. For many years, they have laid the foundation of Deathcore and spearheaded different sounds and movements within the genre.”
8 | Curbi | Don’t Stop feat. RayRay
THE PRESS RELEASE: “British DJ and producer Curbi marries elements of tech-house and electro together on his punchy club thumper Don’t Stop, featuring jittery vocals from RayRay. Don’t Stop arrives following a busy October, which saw the 20-year-old producer play shows in across China, Poland, Taiwan and ADE on his Too Much tour. Since breaking through four years ago with the single Discharge, Curbi has become one of the most exciting young artists to watch in dance music. He’s racked up millions of streams and dance music titans including Zedd, Steve Aoki and Galantis have called upon Curbi for official remixes. Curbi’s passion to evolve his own unique sound is stronger than ever, while he continues to prove himself as a leading name in electronic music’s next generation.”
9 | Elephant Stone | Darker Time, Darker Space
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Montreal’s Elephant Stone is the psyche-pop creation of Rishi Dhir (vox, bass, sitar) along with long-time collaborators Miles Dupire (drums), Robbie MacArthur (guitar) and touring member Jason Kent (keys/guitar). Debuting in 2009, Elephant Stone has released five critically-acclaimed albums and toured extensively throughout North America and Europe and enjoyed significant success on US college/non-comm and Canadian commercial radio. The band has released Darker Time, Darker Space, a new single off of their forthcoming Hollow World LP, set for release Feb 14. “We can’t believe what is happening. We don’t know what to do. Scientists reveal they have built a spaceship that can take the top candidates for continuing humanity to New Earth. We’ve never been there, but we have heard transmissions that suggest life exists like ours. Who are the lucky ones that get to board starship Harmonia for planet B?”
10 | David Dondero | Easy Chair
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Today marks the release of Easy Chair, the lead track from David Dondero’s forthcoming LP The Filter Bubble Blues, due Jan. 17. David Dondero describes the track as “A post apocalyptic narrative from the perspective of a societal castaway. Not even realizing the house is burning all around while you sit in the easy chair immersed in the screen. The echo chamber mirroring your identity back to you. The ignorance and utter disregard for humanism. Thinking the bomb blast is beautiful not knowing what it is. The narcissistic society perishes after one last photo of itself. Still searching for validation from the “easy chair”.”
11 | Colour of the Jungle | Humblebee
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Colour of the Jungle are a five-piece rock band, whose captivating songwriting and raucous energy has been resonating with audiences from Munich to the South coast of England. Their catchy-but-emotional, approachable-yet-raw sound is built upon sexy bass-driven rhythms and edgy instrumentation, creating music that sticks in the head and the heart. Following the release of Steel Tray, which garnered both critical and commercial acclaim, the band are dropping Humblebee. The single narrates the current environmental crisis and how years of ignorance from the human race has taken its toll on the planet. It highlights how our selfish acts have caused us to forget the bigger picture and are ultimately destroying our future. “My sister had gone to a bee farm after her fight with leukaemia and my friend was struggling with a cocaine habit. These events inspired my lyrics. Everyone has stuff going on whether it’s happy or not. I try to deal with my ups and downs by writing songs and each one marks that point in my life”.
12 | Dante Palminteri | Far From Me
THE PRESS RELEASE: “American singer-songwriter and actor Dante Palminteri (son of Chazz) matured his musical styling at an early age, drawing inspiration from John Mayer’s poetic mastery of the human psyche and Ed Sheeran’s genre-defying melodies. His lyrics narrate complex compilations about unrequited love, soul mates lost and found, and the growing pains of adulthood. The single Far From Me showcases simple guitar melodies, velvety vocals illustrating his impressive range and yearning lyrics which tug at your heart strings. “Writing for me is like therapy, all of my emotions and experiences get baked into my music. All of these songs are about very different points in my life. All of these songs are a narration of what was happening to me at the time. Without giving anything away – some are inspirational, some are depressing, and everything in-between”.
