Single Mothers get nihilistic, Icon the Great come back for more, Confidence Man make you feel good, Alex Chilton does double demo duty and more in today’s Roundup. Those new Rick and Morty episodes are totally worth the wait, amirite?
1 | Single Mothers | Nihilist Headlights
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Single Mothers are premiering their new single Nihilist Headlights. The song is an older one, dating back to the sessions from the band’s 2017 album Our Pleasure, but prior to today has never been shared by the band. As vocalist Drew Thomson explains below, the album was a creative peak for the band and, having been written and recorded around when Thomson first quit drinking, the songs from that period hold a special significance for Thomson and the band. “I thought all the B-sides from Our Pleasure were really good. Brandon, Justis, Ross and I worked so well together we ended up recording 17 songs in that session. I had it in my head I wanted a 10 song record so we had to cut some, looking back – probably didn’t have to.”
2 | Icon the Great | Back For More
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Icon the Great was formed when Big Wave teamed up with long time collaborator and best friend Tripper, to try and create something raw, pure, and most importantly fun. “We both came in with clean slates of our musical pasts and laid down what felt natural and exciting. We crushed a case of Miller Lite, talked, hit record and let what happen happen,” Tripper recalls. The result is first single Coming Back For More, a ferocious emotional unloading about how no one else matters but you and the people you hold close. “This shit is the two of us and that’s it.” says Big Wave. “We write it, produce it, make the artwork, get our friends to help with videos and pictures, and if you want to come along for the ride then be our guest.”
3 | Confidence Man | Does It Make You Feel Good?
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Confidence Man have a question for you: “Does it make you feel good?” Propelled by a bouncy beat, a healthy helping of 90’s dance bop influence, and a seductive repeated vocal, the cut pulls ever forwards to an all out disco breakdown. Constantly swirling and building, the song manages to fit a full dancefloor jam session into 4 minutes and 50 seconds. By the time it’s through, the song’s titular question will feel like the only one worth asking. “Feelings are in right now and we’ve got some for you. Watch out, ‘cause the dance floor is wet with tears. Open up, and let us travel the waterslide deep into your heart. How does it make you feel? Does it make you feel good?”
4 | Reuben and the Dark | Weightlessness
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Last month, Reuben and the Dark’s new album, un | love, hit the record store shelves, and today, the celebrated songwriter Reuben Bullock shares the video for album track Weightlessness which finds him giving something back to the skate community. “I wanted to make a video that felt light,” says Bullock. “Riding a skateboard has kept me young, and my relationship with Darcy over the years has had such a positive affect on my life. I wanted to capture those two things. Darcy was my little brother with Big Brothers and Big Sisters, and 13 years later, we’re still close.” Skateboarding has been a teacher, learning to smile through pain. Push past fear. I’ve taken many lessons and feel like I owe it so much in return. Weightlessness is a small gift back to a culture that has given me so much; friends, community, confidence, and individuality. And I’m always just looking for an excuse to get on a board.”
5 | Debra-Jean Creelman | Smoke
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Although she’s been making music professionally for 25 years, it wasn’t until recently that Debra-Jean Creelman felt she had finally found her voice. The result is the 6-song experimental electro-pop EP Triggers & Mirrors, set for release on Nov. 29. Smoke, the newest single from the upcoming EP, was written at a time when Debra-Jean was growing weary of trying to fit into any sort of music scene and worrying about whether what she was doing would be met with approval. It’s still a work in progress, but since then she has been getting better at trusting her own instincts, and creating for the sake of creating.”
6 Kataklysm | The Last Breath I’ll Take Is Yours
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Kataklysm have launched a lyric video for the track The Last Breath I’ll Take Is Yours, from their 2018 studio album Meditations. Frontman Maurizio Iacono states, “The Last Breath I’ll Take Is Yours is a song that deals with having to prove yourself over and over again to society. The world keeps consuming everything and keeps throwing challenges at you. It’s about navigating life through struggle and in the end…having the last word over it on your own terms. We release this song as the final chapter of the successful campaign for our latest album Meditations.”
7 | Autograf feat. Jared Lee | Ain’t Deep Enough
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Chicago-based duo Autograf announces the release of their new song Ain’t Deep Enough featuring silk vocal of LA-based singer/songwriter/producer Jared Lee. The track is the first single of Autograf’s upcoming debut album The Ace of You for which each song comes with a corresponding tarot card.”
8+9 | Alex Chilton | My Rival & Windows Hotel
THE PRESS RELEASE: “It’s mid- to late-1975, what remained of Big Star is no longer, Third/Sister Lovers was sitting on a shelf and Alex Chilton was in Memphis at a very low point. Chris Bell spent a large part of the year in London trying to get a solo record deal, but turned up empty and flew home to visit family in late summer. While at home, Bell was cutting more solo tracks at Ardent, one of which, You And Your Sister, needed a harmony vocal, so he called in Alex. Fans have long thought that was the last recording of Bell and Chilton collaborating in the studio, but within what was probably a few days of that session, they were in the studio together again, with Bell engineering a set of demos for Alex. Chilton laid down early takes of My Rival (later re-cut for the Like Flies On Sherbert album) and All Of The Time (later re-cut for the Singer Not The Song EP and Bach’s Bottom album) as well as the then unissued tracks, She Might Look My Way (which first appeared on co-writer Tommy Hoehn’s 1978 album, Losing You To Sleep) and Windows Hotel (which finally saw release in 2015 on the live album, Ocean Club ’77). Unfortunately, working together was not in the cards, nor was a Big Star reunion of any sort. “I don’t know if (Chris) wanted to work together again or not,” Chilton reflected years later. “I don’t remember that being the case. I mean, musicians get together to do things all the time, on all sorts of bases. I personally had no intentions of ever getting back together in a band with anybody again, pretty much.”
10 | Gino & the Goons | She Can Take It
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Gino and the Goons recently announced they will release a new LP called Off the Rails on Dec. 6. Now the band is back with a new single. Gino and the Goons are a American rock n’ roll band. They are fast and loose, loose and loud. Not so fast you can’t dance and not too loose where you’ll catch a VD. Gino Bambino started this band in 2007 and he will end it when he sees fit. Goons come and go. Some come and come again. Others don’t. Stationed in Tampa, Florida, and traveling all over the world, they want to come to your town and boogie down. They want to make you sweat, dance and laugh all at once. In the spirit of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s they bring you a fart sound of today. I meant, fresh. A fresh sound of today. Rock n roll is forever! Gino and the Goons are forever!”
