Circa Waves get sad happy, Born Ruffians share a dedication, Caleb Landry Jones raises the flag, Krief visits Venus and more in today’s Roundup. Anybody feel like taking a walk?
1 | Circa Waves | Sad Happy
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Circa Waves unveil the video for Sad Happy, the eponymous first single from the Sad side of their forthcoming album Sad Happy (out March 13). A banging, soulful track that drives along strummed chords and keyboard riffs, it’s another example of Kieran Shudall’s ever developing songwriting, perfectly encapsulating the uptempo yet emotional tensions that cut right to the heart of the album Sad Happy. The video is directed by fast rising duo Bousher & Gee, and sees Shudall in the middle of a One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest-esque nightmare. Cutting between performance footage and the story of Schudall’s descent as one of a group of heartbroken clowns going through increasing twisted therapy sessions, the video tracks his hellish inner turmoil and the brutal ‘treatment’ that eventually leads him to the point of no return.”
2 | Born Ruffians | Dedication
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Toronto trio Born Ruffians have released their latest single Dedication, as well as a new inspirational infomercial video. Discussing the single, Born Ruffians guitarist/vocalist Luke Lalonde stated, “Dedication is about destruction. Dedication to global destruction in the name of greed, glory, and God. All of our stupid human follies and fancies. Easter Island on a global scale. How everything modern and human may be designed and dedicated to consumption and death.” Director Robert Galvez explained his inspiration for the video: “Dedication is like one of those beautiful poisonous frogs from deep in the rainforest. On the surface it’s all blue, green, and gorgeous, but once you lick that sucker — you’re toast. The song invites you in with immediate energy, and before long you realize you’re singing along to humanity’s demise. For the video we wanted to bottle that trickery and literally sell it. We got a functioning 1-800 number, hired some local actors, threw on some ridiculous makeup, and shot a full-blown infomercial.”
3 | Caleb Landry Jones | Flag Day / The Mother Stone
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Actor and musician Caleb Landry Jones announces his debut album, The Mother Stone, out May 1, and presents the lead single/video, Flag Day / The Mother Stone. The Mother Stone is sprawling and psychedelic, built from abrupt detours and schizoid shifts of voice. Shaped by the marks left by Jones’ formative encounters with The Beatles’ White Album and Syd Barrett’s solo work, The Mother Stone is a parade led by multiple unreliable narrators who rail against the universe, profess their love and vacate the stage before we can ask them a question.”
4 | Krief | Venus
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Montreal’s singer-songwriter, Patrick Krief, premieres his video for Venus, off of his album Dovetale. The Indie artist, better known as Krief, is revisiting his 2019 album release with a vibrant visualization of the song central to the themes of this record. Krief shared that while he was writing arrangements for Venus, he had clear visuals in mind. Venus was the first song he set out to direct those visuals into a treatment. “I wanted to show a man living in isolation, burying something, eulogizing it with a song, and leaving that life behind forever.”
5 | YellowStraps | Take Over
THE PRESS RELEASE: “In conjunction with the unveiling of their brand new EP Goldress on Friday, the Belgian brothers of luxurious alternative R&B duo YellowStraps release the dreamy new video for highlight track Take Over. Take Over leads with a jazzy electric guitar that keeps the listener enraptured throughout the track. Pairing the dynamic guitar style with a rhythmic set of drums and spacious pauses creates the equipoise between complex and boisterous. The Murenzi brothers reveal a little about the complexities behind the track: “Take Over describes the toxic situation in a relationship where one party is overly dependant on the other. It takes the form of a direct conversation in which one of the parties explains to the other that it is essential to have their own balanced path and way of life, instead of relying on the others.”
6 | John “Papa” Gros | You Do It
THE PRESS RELEASE: “New Orleans native John “Papa” Gros (pronounced “grow”) has been celebrating the Crescent City’s culture with the world for over three decades. His third solo album Central City, out on April 17, is the latest chapter in the singer and pianist’s lifelong tribute to his city’s diverse musical legacy. The album is an upbeat collection of classic New Orleans party songs, both new and old, filtered through Gros’ dedication to his craft. “Sharing New Orleans with the world is my calling,” Gros says. “That’s what I have been doing, and that’s what I’ll do with the rest of my life.” In addition to announcing Central City, Gros has shared the video for his brand new song You Do It. The track encapsulates the feelings of true love in New Orleans by referencing musical and cultural icon Dr. John, the funkiest drummer on the planet Zigaboo Modeliste, the Mississippi River and Marie Laveau, all in one catchy chorus,” says Gros. He recorded the song with a who’s who of New Orleans luminaries, most notably George Porter Jr. (bass), Herlin Riley (drums), and Ivan Neville (background vocals).”
7 | Banisher | Apotheosis
THE PRESS RELEASE: “As Polish death crew Banisher prepare to release fourth album Degrees Of Isolation, they have unveiled the new single Apotheosis. Recorded by Banisher’s powerful lineup including members and ex-members of Decapitated, Belphegor, Vital Remains, Hate, Redemptor, and Shodan, Degrees Of Isolation delivers eight new songs totaling forty minutes of pulverization. The album was recorded at Invent-Sound Studio in Bydgoszcz, Poland and the cover art created by Łukasz Jaszak. The new Apotheosis video clip was made by Rafał “Kvass” Kwaśny. The band offers with its release, “Apotheosis was the first song that was written on Degrees Of Isolation. It’s a hate-mockery hymn against all hypocrites who are pretending to be someone else that they are in real life. This is the only song on Degrees Of Isolation that sticks out from the concept of the album. This is a very raw, furious song, with a motoric verse, catchy refrain, savage blast beat coda, and crushing breakdown at the end. This is also the shortest song on the album, sort of a ‘shot in the face.’ What is also worth mentioning, the opening riff from the verse was written ‘out of the head’ on a sheet of paper during incarceration and adapted on the instrument later on after being released from custody.”
8 | Datura4 | You’re The Only One
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Hot on the heels of their critically acclaimed third album, Blessed is the Boogie, Australian rockers Datura4 have hit the motorway running for another sonic journey through burning boogie, dirty blues and rock & roll soundscapes on their follow-up opus West Coast Highway Cosmic. West Coast Highway Cosmic sees Datura4 stretch out and experiment with their sound that they’ve been building on ever since their debut release Demon Blues in 2015. “I see every album as an extension from the previous one,” admits frontman Dom Mariani, “and I’m conscious about not rehashing the same things over. The collection of tunes on WCHC is slightly more eclectic than on the previous albums, which makes it really interesting and exciting for albums in the future. There was a more spontaneous and looser approach for the majority of the recording, where we would take the basic song idea and let things go until we had the take that we liked. We got into the grooves you might say.”
9 | Enter Shikari | The Dreamer’s Hotel
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Enter Shikari will release Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible on April 17. In anticipation of their forthcoming release, the band has just revealed lead single The Dreamer’s Hotel. From a band at the peak of their creative output with a unique story underlining their 13-year succession as a pioneering and uncompromising musical force, Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible is about possibility, the unnerving irony of endless possibility, the band asking themselves what they can achieve as the world questions “what is possible?”
10 | Caroline Rose | Freak Like Me
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Caroline Rose presents a new single, Freak Like Me, from her forthcoming album, Superstar, due March 6. As described by Rose, “Freak Like Me is a S&M-themed love song about falling in love with your dominatrix. The song’s melody is very floral and beautiful. I imagine it as some sort of delicate dress dancing around 17th century Versailles. I wanted to juxtapose this daintiness with grotesque lyrics. I’ve always wanted to write a pretty song with the word ‘vomit’ in it. Paradoxes are fun. I had been wanting to sample Aaron Embry’s Raven Song in a beat for the longest time. Then I had this kind of ‘ah ha!’ moment while working on the song on tour. I chopped up the sample, pitched it and it just fit perfectly. It really took the song to another level and completed the paradox.”
11 | Charlotte Cornfield | In My Corner
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Celebrated songwriter Charlotte Cornfield is announcing In My Corner, a new four-song EP featuring two originals and covers by Lucinda Williams and Yo La Tengo. “The idea was to have some fun exploring rhythm and space in the studio without overthinking the little details that one tends to stew over while making a record,” says Cornfield. Recorded together with Sam Gleason and Evan Cartwright, In My Corner will be released on March 20. The EP’s first single, In My Corner is a spacious romp about chance encounters on the road. “Life as a touring musician is full of transient friendships and sprawling geography,” says Cornfield. “Sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason to where and when you might cross paths with someone you haven’t seen in a while. This is a song about the beauty and inconsistency of those friendships that transcend time and distance. And really, it’s about people being there for each other.”
12 | Too Free | Elastic
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Too Free releases a new single, Elastic, from their forthcoming debut album, Love In High Demand, out Feb. 21. Elastic is driven by a bouncing beat and jaunty percussion. “Elastic is an attempt to define those intangible spaces between seduction and letting go of your inhibitions,” says Awad Bilal. “Unlearning generations of conditioning to explore the different kinds of love that we are capable of feeling without stigma or fear.” Too Free is the Washington, D.C.-based trio of Awad Bilal, Carson Cox and Don Godwin. Their only mission is a desire to connect with others in the space that music creates. Drawing from improvisation and experimentation, they deconstruct their songs to their most necessary elements, leaning into their collective punk ethos and DIY backgrounds.”
13 | Adult Mom | Berlin
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Adult Mom released a new song entitled Berlin today. “Berlin is a song that took over a year to write. It’s about processing the loss of an important friendship without knowing the exact cause of the loss.” says Stevie Knipe, adding “Through loss, there are moments recalled, like meeting for the first time, the moment you got close with that person, singing “hole” in dorm rooms, drinking beer in a bathroom, and of course, the complete paralyzation that comes with loss. It’s about being in between healed and not, and trying my best to calculate the reasons why she left.”
14 | Ben Seretan | Am I Doing Right By You?
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Acclaimed New York City based guitarist and singer-songwriter Ben Seretan has released the second single from his impending new album Youth Pastoral, out Feb. 28. The album explores the mythic California Seretan experienced as a Christian teenager, as well as his departure from god’s shadow and the path of fire he later walked down in the midst of a tumultuous codependent relationship. It is a deeply personal record, one in which he explicitly sets the simple triumph of living through it to music. On Am I Doing Right By You?, Seretan worships alternates between a flawed lover and a flawed god. At a certain point in the song, Seretan’s “oh my gods” become sarcastic, almost demonic. “I think the chanting and the demented guitar playing at the end goes from desperately wanting approval to then resenting the person you are beholden to. Then it becomes wanting to intentionally irritate, and then openly mock. It’s crucial to understand that there are two versions of “oh my god,” he says. “There’s the “oh, my god?” in which I wonder if the person listening is really there, and there’s the exclamation (oh my god!), which conveys shock, anger, incredulity.”
15 | Auscultation | Glowing Hearts In The Rainbow Room
THE PRESS RELEASE: “A term for listening to sounds within the body as a method of diagnosis is a poignantly perfect moniker for Portland producer Joel Shanahan’s most elusive and emotive electronic aura-reading solo alias: Auscultation. III arrives a full four years after its predecessor, L’étreinte Imaginaire, delayed by tragedies too expansive to enumerate. Throughout, these shadowy psychic rhythms percolated at the periphery, as both escape and exorcism. The songs share a smeared mood of longing and lament, foggy melodies gliding through low-lit spaces, dissipated dance floor ether spiraling like smoke under a streetlight. It’s a music of faces in the night and things unsaid, swaying at the threshold. What could have been and what will always be.”
16 | Ben Holmes | First We Were Sad; Then We Danced
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Trumpet/composer Ben Holmes is proud to present Naked Lore, a set of original music exploring folkloric themes originating in the forgotten chants and rites of ancient history, brought into the 21st century as an exciting program of highly expressive chamber jazz. Drawing on Holmes’ decades of experience in jazz, klezmer, classical and improvised music, and the complimentary specialties of his bandmates, the ensemble features Holmes’ trumpet in conversation with Brad Shepik on guitar and Shane Shanahan on percussion. The group describes itself as “the soundtrack to the folk-tales your great-grandparents vowed never to repeat”, a sly nod to the half-mythical Old World sound of their music.”
17 | Whim | Abuzz in the Abyss
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Abuzz in the Abyss is an album of impossibly catchy indie-pop gems, shoulder bopping singalongs, and tender indie folk ballads. This is pop music at it’s best, played with real instruments. The 13 tracks clocking in at just about 3 minutes each are a case study in economical songwriting. They get right to the point, and leave you wanting more. The first single Somebody Else’s Tongue is a raw pop-rock track about a devastating moment of realization, set to a plodding beat, with crunchy guitars, and jangly percussion. It will draw you in from the opening guitar riff, and by the time it gets to the chorus you’ll be singing along before you even realize what it is you’re singing… “Feels like I’ve swallowed a tongue, But not mine, Somebody else’s tongue, Maybe the wrong one.”
