Juliana Hatfield polices herself, Aruba Red is electrified, Destroyer cues the synth, Sweet Lizzy Project moon you and more in today’s Roundup. You win this time, Lotto Max. But we’ll meet again.
SONG OF THE DAY
1 | Juliana Hatfield | Can’t Stand Losing You
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Juliana Hatfield releases her video for Can’t Stand Losing You directed by Rachel Lichtman today. It is the first track on her most recent covers project Juliana Hatfield Sings The Police which debuted in November. Like the album itself, the video pays homage to The Police’s Can’t Stand Losing You video and features three Julianas representing Sting, Andy Summers and Steward Copeland. “Rachel shot me playing each individual part on each different instrument and then used her magical skills to put all three of me together, like an all-woman, cloned Police.” She admits, “I think this is the first time anyone out there will be seeing me play drums — usually I do it in secret!” Read my interview with Hatfield HERE.
ALSO ON THE PLAYLIST:
2 | Aruba Red | Violet Electric
THE PRESS RELEASE: “To bring in the new decade, Aruba Red released Violet Electric — a creative way to release energy from the last ten years, but also set her intentions for the new era ahead. Featuring a guitar solo from renown Phil Manzanera (Roxy Music), the song is ethereal and uplifting, signifying hope for the future. Aruba Red said: “This song and video pay tribute to all those who have come before, providing the spiritual practises and support that have served so many for so long. It’s about accepting that we are the creators of our own experience, that we can belong to ourselves, that we can save ourselves, that divinity lives within us all and that we only have to learn how to tap into that power and love and to hold ourselves responsible.”
3 | Destroyer | Cue Synthesizer
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Destroyer shares Cue Synthesizer, the latest single from the upcoming album, Have We Met, out on Jan. 31. Described by Dan Bejar as “maybe the most audacious piece of music Destroyer’s laid to tape,” Cue Synthesizer adds a bit of humor to the bandleader’s trademark wordplay. “Cue synthesizer, cue guitar,” he commands over a build-up of instrumentation. Self-aware and much more relaxed, the groover is unlike anything heard from Have We Met so far. Likewise, the single’s visuals set it further apart from the album’s earlier singles. A hooded crew of warehouse workers go about encasing their environment in plastic wrap. “The idea of the world is no good,” Bejar sings from the security of his car, also coated in the icy blue covering. Frigid and isolating, the coating protects its contents from an equally bleak existence.”
4 | Sweet Lizzy Project | Travel To The Moon
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Sweet Lizzy Project, one of the most culturally significant bands to emerge from Cuba in recent years, has a distinctive sound imbued with overtones of classic American indie pop-rock suffused with an intoxicating Latino flair. Lead singer Lisset Diaz’s incomparable voice, which has been likened to that of a long-caged sparrow finally set free, captures listeners’ imaginations, note by note, leaving fans enthralled as they surrender to the group’s mesmerizing forcefield of sound. Sweet Lizzy’s songs, all original and penned in English, are reflective of the members’ wide range of ages, from their 20´s to 40´s. SLP has attracted international attention with its high-energy, genre-defying live performances. In 2017, they were showcased on Havana Time Machine, alongside Grammy-winning group The Mavericks. It was a fortuitous pairing, as it gave SLP an opportunity to forge a relationship with Raul Malo, the Mavericks congenial lead singer, who invited them to Nashville the following year. Since arriving in the United States, SLP has performed coast-to-coast. The group just completed its second album, Technicolor, which was mixed by renowned sound engineer Niko Bolas and Thom Pununzio at Blackbird Studios in Nashville.”
5 | Circa Waves | Move To San Francisco
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Circa Waves release the new track and self-shot video for Move to San Francisco ahead of the release of the Happy side of their fourth studio album Sad Happy, which will be available on all streaming platforms on Jan. 10. Discussing Move to San Francisco, Kieran Shudall says: “Inspired by The Beatles’ favourite instrument the Mellotron, San Francisco was written in a quick burst. It’s about escapism, pessimism, and Bruce Springsteen. In the spirit of DIY, we decided to film the video ourselves and let Joe edit the shit out of it. We walked to the highest point in San Fran, went to the lowest dive bars, and even filmed the Golden Gate Bridge. What the video lacks in camera prowess, it makes up for in idiotic charm.”
6 | Darsombra | Transmission
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Following the release of their sprawling fifth album, Transmission, Baltimore’s audiovisual progressive/psychedelic duo Darsombra has digitally released a film, to accompany the entire record. Released independently by the band last summer, Transmission consists of one continuous 41-minute flood of Darsombra’s sprawling, mind-expanding, musical exploration. Ranging from relentless, charged, and cinematic, to ephemeral, transcendent, and delicate, the song embraces its many qualities as it wraps itself into a thematic, uncompromising saga with a million different interpretations available to the listener. The band’s filmmaker, Ann Everton, directed, shot, and edited the new film accompanying the album, backing the entire song with a visual experience as vivid, vast, and harrowingly psychedelic as the music itself.
7 | Obsidian | Static Waves
THE PRESS RELEASE: “On the verge of a new decade in metal music, French Progressive Metalcore unit Obsidian embraces many influences, from post-hardcore to ambient, djent or progressive scenes and merges them into one defined style. Their music is organic, moving constantly between spacious contemplation to forefront rhythmics. Right now, they just unveiled the first audio and video excerpt from their upcoming album with the single Static Waves. This song will feature on the Obsidian first full-length record, called Before and coming out in February.”
8 | Bruno Bavota | Darkest Light
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Bruno Bavota – the young, prolific Italian composer whose music has often been labeled with earnest, adjective-laden descriptors such as “disarmingly sincere” and “extraordinarily emotional” – has experienced a self-imposed creative transformation over the past few years. Where his early records were pristine, piano-driven expressions of universal themes, his more recent works have found him in a place of thorough meditation and self-examination. As Bavota explains, “While at the beginning of my music and career, I focused on crystal clear piano sounds, eventually all the time spent at the piano day after day changed my sense of the piano itself. I started to see the piano like a living instrument.”
9 | Phil Demmel & Echoes of Reckoning | The Permanent Decay
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Vio-lence and former Machine Head guitarist Phil Demmel has released a lyric video for the track The Permanent Decay, under his new project umbrella Echoes of Reckoning, featuring an all-star cast including Bleeding Through vocalist Brandan Schieppati, Megadeth bassist David Ellefson, and Sacred Reich (former Machine Head) drummer Dave McClain. Says Demmel, “I had some tracks I had written and submitted for a previous band, that were never used, and I really liked them. Dave McClain and I had worked some of them up, and I kept thinking of who would be perfect to sing on it. My wife plays in Bleeding Through with Brandan, he ended up writing all the vocals, and singing on it, and it came out killer. Ellefson and I had been talking at NAMM last year about doing something together, so when this came up, it was the perfect opportunity to do that as well. We don’t know if we’re a band, we don’t know what we’re doing, other than that we all played on this song, and that we dig it. No one knows what the future holds.”
10 | Forever | Make It Happen
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Forever – recording project of popstar, poet, and provocateur June Moon – announces Close To The Flame, her new EP out Feb. 14, and shares the lead single, Make It Happen, along with a self-directed, self-edited video. Make It Happen is driven by a staccato beat, and features a guest verse by Just John. Forever’s ethereal vocals unfurl as she defiantly describes moving on from a past relationship. Across Close To The Flame, Forever whispers confessions about love and desire with a featherlight touch, refracting pop with glimpses of trip-hop, downtempo, R&B and house productions. It captures both the grandeur and grotesqueries of love and loss — including twisted romance and personal struggle.
11 | Silverstein | Infinite
THE PRESS RELEASE: “On March 6, Silverstein will celebrate their 20th anniversary with the release of A Beautiful Place To Drown; the Ontario-based post-hardcore legends’ ninth, and perhaps strongest effort to date. Today, the band share ABPTD’s lead single/video, Infinite, featuring Aaron Gillespie of Underoath. A blistering cut of aggression and melody, Infinite demonstrates Silverstein’s ability to seamlessly blend modern sonics with the evergreen energy of their punk roots. “It’s harder to gauge success these days but we’re still making what we believe is our best music. It’s nice to know that we’ve survived and we did it in a way that feels right,” says Shane Told.”
12 | Wolf Parade | Julia Take Your Man Home
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Today, Wolf Parade is sharing Julia Take Your Man Home, a new single from Thin Mind, the group’s forthcoming fifth album, out Jan. 24. Featuring Spencer Krug on lead vocals, the song is like a caricature of male stupidity. “I’m singing about some other, worse version of myself. It’s not actually me.” Krug says. “I’ve never carved shapes that look like dicks into anything.”
13 | Bad Ambassadors | Saturday
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Bad Ambassadors, the Chicago based duo of Rich Jones and Walkingshoe, will release their debut, self-titled EP, on Jan. 10. Bad Ambassadors explores the determination to pursue your passion in the face of the inevitable obstacles life places in your way. Musically, the project combines elements of surf-rock, psychedelic hip-hop, and dance beats into a quick, easy-to-swallow pill that will get you your fix on first listen all the way to your tenth. Ahead of its release, the duo offers the project’s second single, Saturday. Following the upbeat lead single Up for You, Saturday is mellow, and features bright synth and layered vocals. “Saturday was the only song I wrote Summer 2015 before we really got cooking in the Fall,” says Jones. “Had been feeling particularly low as I dealt with a multitude of things – the murder of a dear friend, the growing pains of a new relationship, a lack of trust of those around me who I’d previously felt iron clad about – that by that point in the year had crescendoed into a wave that felt like it would be tough to make it over. All the good things indeed felt so very far away from me and I desperately needed that to change.”
