Answering Machine have bad luck, Slow Leaves miss you, Edoheart ride the seesaw and more in today’s early Roundup. After all, it’s never too late to start early.
1 | Answering Machine | Bad Luck
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Answering Machine is a Rock & Roll band out of Brooklyn, NY. Their influences range everywhere from The Replacements, The Ramones, Blondie, The Ronettes, Tom Petty, Stevie Nicks, and Bruce Springsteen to Jenny Lewis, Against Me, and plenty in between. Samantha (vocals) and JD (guitar/vocals), two public school teachers in Brooklyn, started the band back in 2016. Close friends quickly filled the gaps with Jackson on guitar, Louis on drums, and Craig on bass. Craig and Louis played in a few popular local Brooklyn bands (Cold Wrecks, Ellen and The Degenerates). Jackson has been playing in bands with JD since childhood. Answering Machine has just recorded their debut LP, titled Bad Luck. Writing and recording this album allowed their influences to blend and the band to find the sound they’ve been developing over the past few years.”
2 | Slow Leaves | Miss You
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Slow Leaves – Winnipeg singer-songwriter Grant Davidson – announces his sixth-studio album, Shelf Life, due out April 3. Known for his ability to breathe poetry into the ordinary, the Juno Master Class alumnus continues his deep exploration of the self with Shelf Life. The 10-track LP leans into themes of romantic memory, domestic duty, artistic ambition, and dreams unfulfilled, underpinning the belief that there is indeed great strength in vulnerability. The first single from the LP, Miss You, ponders “the slippery quality of time, which is a theme that runs through just about every song I write,” says Davidson. “In a sense, I’m preoccupied with the past, perhaps at the detriment of the present. I’m not great at looking ahead. Naturally, I miss certain things and certain people. I guess that’s life. We recorded the song live as a four-piece band and I wanted to capture that quality in a simple video that borrowed from the style of 1970s television concerts.”
3 | Edoheart | Seesaw
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Nigerian-born poet, dancer, and singer Edoheart has announced her EP For The Love, due out on April 10. Edoheart has also released the EP’s lead single Seesaw, a fun and bouncy throwback to ‘80s dancehall that dives into heteronormative relationships and cultural norms. Seesaw celebrates women who are authentic to their own beauty.”
4 | Chorus Grant | Canem
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Only a few months after the release of the experimental Nordic folk album Vernacular Music, Chorus Grant aka Kristian Finne Kristensen shares two new songs, showing a new side of the gifted songwriter: Filled with light, life and airy drums. First song Canem (‘dog’ in Latin) sounds like the bastard child of Timber Timbre, MGMT (anno Congratulations) and Elliott Smith. With its airy drum-beat, tablas, rusty piano and acoustic guitars the scene is set for singer and songwriter Kristian Finne to contemplate flood and ebb and stoically ask “Be you familiar with the Devil World?”
5 | Lost Legacy | Front Line
THE PRESS RELEASE: “New York power metallers Lost Legacy will be releasing their new album In The Name of Freedom on March 20. Featuring forty-six minutes of pure metal, the sophomore release is a concept album serving as an act II to their debut full length, which was inspired by the tragedy of 9/11. The band explains: “The concept of In The Name of Freedom is our way to thank our men and women of the armed forces for their sacrifice. It’s not about glorifying war, but these gallant people give so much and are often forgotten.” The first single, Front Line, is a melodic track that has a heavy breakdown rhythm section prior to a soaring guitar solo. Dave Franco’s vocals are like a cannon and make this song a headbanger for everyone.”
6 | Satin Nickel | Call It
THE PRESS RELEASE: “This was such a blast to make, and we couldn’t have done it without our director Genevieve Thompson, A.D. Zena Wood, D.P. Xavier Portillo, and colorist Sarah Aiosa. Thank you for making this happen!”
7 | FXRRVST | Bad Things
THE PRESS RELEASE: “When Holly Forrest decided to travel half a world away to Canada to pursue a career in music, she never expected her artistic dreams to come true so quickly and so completely. Twelve hours after landing at Toronto’s Pearson airport, the Australian native met the person who not only helped her accomplish this epic creative quest but who would also become her music partner and confidente, Toronto singer/songwriter Matt Fuentes. The serendipitous meeting was the beginning of an exciting and fulfilling collaboration which they aptly named FXRRVST (pronounced forest). The momentum has continued unabated through to the early days of 2020, as the anticipation for the upcoming release of the new FXRRVST EP, Dear Friend; (Side A) has become incandescently hot. The first two singles, Bad Things (out today), and This Rough Patch (March 27), are palpably buzz-worthy for how compelling and memorable the compositions are, and for the depth and evocative nature of the stories they tell.”
8 | Terra 1nc0gnita | Stranger
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Led by the charismatic New York based frontman Billy Vass, Terra 1nc0gnita walk the path of a multitude of metal styles and tones. The band achieves to smoothly mix their influences in a unique, characteristic, dark and aggressive, but at the same time melodic and lyrical sound. Their latest release is the single Stranger, a Progressive / Power Metal adaptation to a Greek repertoire’s classic.”
9 | Whitney Rose | Believe Me, Angela
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Whitney Rose has never been daunted or intimidated by challenges. Whether she’s perusing the possibilities that accompany a new project, or following up on her early transition to residency in Austin, she’s always eagerly embraced any opportunity to further amplify her art and her career. That’s certainly the case with her upcoming album, We Still Go to Rodeos, due out on April 24. While the sound, style and stance retain her trademark reverence for Americana authenticity, her confidence and creativity elevate her to a new plateau. There’s a familiarity factor to be sure, but the album also reflects a rugged independent spirit, one that takes its cue from the best of the Texas tradition, as exemplified by artists such as Lucinda Williams, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, and Jerry Jeff Walker. “I draw from a lot of different influences, but I’d like to think there’s a certain uniqueness in my work,” Whitney herself remarks. “I don’t want to make the same album over and over again and this one is no different. I’m not changing styles or redirecting my career as much as I’m expanding on avenues that I’ve explored previously. Maybe it’s because I heard Marty Stuart call Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers the best country band of all time and I got excited. In any case, this record has some distinct differences in production style and instrumental focus from previous works and I’m proud of the outcome.”
10 | Pokey LaFarge | End of My Rope
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Pokey LaFarge is set to release Rock Bottom Rhapsody on April 10. The 13-song set was produced by Chris Seefried (Fitz and the Tantrums). The album was recorded at Reliable Recorders on Chicago’s Northwest Side during the polar vortex of 2019 and features the guitarist Joel Paterson, keyboardist Scott Ligon, upright/electric bassist Jimmy Sutton, and drummer Alex Hall. Rock Bottom Rhapsody is LaFarge’s first album in over three years and follows 2017’s acclaimed Manic Revelations. Today, he shares the track End Of My Rope. LaFarge said “I like to think of End of My Rope as kind of a Charlie Feathers meets The Everly Brothers meets T-Rex kind of sound.” They say the track “brings folk music and rock ‘n’ roll together in a way that feels fresh.”
11 | Mountain Head | Your Own Ocean
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Your Own Ocean initially came about from a desire to create a song with one note. We utilized rhythm in order to keep the song interesting. We later discovered we were going to have to play more than one note in order to make a chorus that was appealing. We built this song akin to a hip hop track, starting with a D’angelo-inspired drum beat, a swinging bass line and some aggressive fuzz guitar. The chorus came about and we built the whole song around the lines: “When you swim in your own ocean, then you live in your own notion.” This is pretty self explanatory in creating your own path in life.”
