Wolf Parade bring it home, Sparta make you believe, Too Free have fun and more in today’s Roundup. It’s quiet out there today. Too quiet.
1 | Wolf Parade | Julia Take Your Man Home
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Wolf Parade is sharing official video for Julia Take Your Man Home, directed by multi-disciplinary artist and Sub Pop labelmate Chad VanGaalen. The song is from Thin Mind, the group’s forthcoming fifth album available Friday, Jan. 24. Thin Mind, which features the singles Forest Green, the aforementioned Julia Take Your Man Home, and Against the Day, was produced by John Goodmanson at Risque Disque on Vancouver Island, BC, mixed by Goodmanson at Bogroll Studios in Seattle, and mastered by Noah Mintz at Lacquer Channel Mastering in Toronto. The album packaging features artwork from comic book artists Simon Roy and Hayleyglyphs throughout.”
2 | Sparta | Believe
THE PRESS RELEASE: “El Paso, Texas post-hardcore outfit Sparta will release Trust The River, their first full-length studio album since 2006’s Threes, on April 10. Along with this news, Sparta has released a video for lead single Believe. Of the single, Jim Ward notes, “Believe is a song that’s been on my desk for 10 years, I’ve recorded numerous versions but couldn’t quite get it where I thought it was ready until now. Once we had the basic track I sent it to my friend Carlos Arevalo from Chicano Batman for some guitar touches and was over the moon with his contribution. I couldn’t think of a better song from Trust The River to kick this new chapter off.”
3 | Too Free | No Fun
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Too Free share their newest single and video No Fun, the second single off their forthcoming debut album Love In High Demand, out Feb. 21. “No Fun is a series of affirmations that I wanted to speak into existence,” explains singer and lyricist Awad Bilal. “Reclaiming agency over your mind and your body – accepting love and using it to activate others. The video for No Fun is an investigation of the freedom of movement. We went into a dance studio here in DC with just an iPhone 11 and a backpack full of clothes and I gave myself free reign. It’s an homage to one of my oldest friends, John, and the resilience of black, queer bodies like mine.”
4 | Sorry | More
THE PRESS RELEASE: “North London’s Sorry have announced their hotly-anticipated debut record, 925, due out March 27. They also shared a new single, More, accompanied by a typically feverish visual by Sorry figurehead Asha Lorenz and frequent collaborator Jasper Cable-Alexander.”
5 | Fit For An Autopsy | Warfare
THE PRESS RELEASE: “New Jersey six-piece Fit For An Autopsy will embark on a 28-date European tour. To celebrate the occasion, the band presents a brand new music video for their track Warfare, off their latest album The Sea Of Tragic Beasts, released last October.”
6 | Locate S,1 | Personalia
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Christina Schneider, the brainchild behind Locate S,1, is ready to release her beautiful LP Personalia (out April 3). The album aims to understand and expel a darkness that has come over her (and society at large) in order to live a more fulfilling life. Produced by Kevin Barnes (of Montreal) this album is pushing the outer limits of pop music.”
7 | Horse Lords | Fanfare for Effective Freedom
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Horse Lords announced their new album The Common Task and shared lead single Fanfare for Effective Freedom. An exciting introduction to the new LP, the track moves along from one surprisingly danceable riff to the next, lingering on one motif only long enough to make its point. “Musically, the piece takes as its compositional jumping off point the joining of rhythmic and pitch relationships,” the Baltimore band said, remarking on the song’s main ideas, “the track takes its title from a book by cybernetician Stafford Beer detailing his work on the Chilean project Cybersyn, applying cybernetics to the management of the Chilean socialist government of president Salvador Allende in the early 1970’s. This project was interrupted by the 1973 Chilean coup d’état.”
8 | Orthodox | Look At Me
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Nashville metal act Orthodox shared the latest single Look At Me from their sophomore full-length, Let It Take Its Course, due out Feb. 7. Adam Easterling (vocals), had this to say regarding the track, “In terms of where the song is in the place of the record, for me it’s the realization of the feeling that you’ve obsessed over has actually changed you and you can’t really hide it anymore.” Look At Me is the follow up to previous singles, I Can Show You God and the title track Let It Take Its Course, and continues to set the tone for their highly-anticipated new album. While the previous drops established that Orthodox is still out for blood, Look At Me expertly combines all of their influences while treading new ground sonically. The result is a perfect snapshot of their album and the story of revenge, love, and confronting one’s self that is at its core.”
9 | Azure Emote | Loss
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Azure Emote is the brainchild of vocalist Mike Hrubovcak, joined by guitarist Ryan Moll. Their album The Third Perspective also sees drums provided Mike Heller, bass from Kelly Conlon (who also played trumpet), vocals from Melissa Ferlaak, violins from Pete Johansen, and keyboards by Jonah Weingarten. Hrubovcak offers, “The song Loss is a melancholic dirge encompassing moments of rage and depression. It is meant to be a reflection on personal mortality, the tragedy of watching loved ones die, and the freedom that comes with your own death and the inevitable loss of everything.”
10 | Jaunt | Nostalgia For The Present Moment
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Toronto-based six-piece outfit Jaunt open the New Year with Nostalgia For The Present Moment, the lead single from their forthcoming full-length debut album due out this spring. “The title of the song, Nostalgia For The Present Moment, came well before any of the actual lyrics were written,” says singer/guitarist Tom Helliwell. “However, the idea of being aware and in the moment helped to guide the overall theme of the song. It is about being open to change and how such an openness can foster new and better habits. The lyrics are a kind of post-mortem of past negative thought and behaviour patterns. It is about looking back with a sense of gratitude and calm that one no longer thinks or feels that way. It is a celebration of how we learn and change and forgive ourselves and others.”
11 | Odario | Low Light (In This Space)
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Guyanese-born, Winnipeg-raised and Toronto-based artist Odario has debuted a bumpin’ new track titled Low Light (In This Space) from his upcoming solo EP Good Morning, Hunter slated for release this May. Notable for fronting popular hip-hop collective Grand Analog, Odario’s foray into a solo project is superbly produced by Alister Johnson and features the soulful, vocal stylings of WCMA winner and Vancouver native Dawn Pemberton. Says Odario about the inspiration for the new track, “‘In this space we know nothing … but we can learn a little something if we try’. That opening line was written as a reminder to always try to leave the ego at the door when entering a new space in my life. I feel, as everyday people, we spend too much time and energy pointing out the negative aspects of our differences. As I wrote this song I imagined us, as community, clicking delete on what we perceive as our differences and encourage one another to embrace our similarities as humans. With that comes emotion, something we all embrace together. The gospel of anger … a hunt for an answer. This song is a new space for you to reflect, release and get down low. We came to get down, and pick you up.”
12 | Verböten | He’s A Panther (Live)
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Verböten, a new musical inspired by Jason Narducy’s now-seminal childhood punk rock band of the same name, will open Jan. 26 in Chicago. In advance of opening, Verböten are pleased to announce their first-ever official release — a self-titled, retrospective EP 7”, out now. The EP features a live version of He’s A Panther, originally captured on camcorder by Narducy’s father in 1983 in Chicago when the group shared a bill with Naked Raygun and Rights Of The Accused. Narducy formed Verböten in 1982 in Evanston, IL, when he was just 10 years old. Although the band only lasted a year, it went on the inspire musicians like Dave Grohl (cousin of the band’s singer, Tracy Bradford), who spoke of the band in the documentary series Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways.“
