Bebel Gilberto checks in, Alec Lytle thinks young, G. Rag / Zelig Implosion Deluxxe take on the world, Enemy Radio play with their food and more in today’s Roundup. Well, we made it through March. And through another Wednesday. Granted, they’re small victories. But I’m still celebrating.
1 | Bebel Gilberto | Deixa
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Iconic ground-breaking Brazilian artist Bebel Gilberto has released a new music video for her single Deixa. With internationally acclaimed director Erik Sohlström behind the cameras, the video was shot in late 2019 at The Nomad Hotel in Los Angeles, and perfectly captures the chanteuse’s trademark playfulness, sultry style and intoxicating sound. The single is one of 11 tracks from Agora (Now), Gilberto’s stunning new studio album-her first in six years which was produced by Thomas Bartlett (Sufjan Stevens, St. Vincent). “I filmed this video in Los Angeles at the end of 2019 with one of my best friends, and I look back so fondly on what was a truly joyous day,” said Gilberto. “Deixa is a playful song and at the time we were both feeling happy and just wanted to emphasize the fun we always had together.”
2 | Alec Lytle & Them Rounders | Young
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Northern California-based indie folk band Alec Lytle & Them Rounders premiered their latest music video for Young. The single will appear on their upcoming album The Remains of Sunday, which is due out April 17. Alec spoke about the inspiration guiding the video, which was directed by his wife Priscilla: “The story for this video started with several discussions my wife Priscilla and I had about the meaning of this song. We wanted to show that someone’s true and honest soul can best be found in their youth. It is a hope that you can access that youthfulness with the people who are most important to you, that joy, that spontaneity, isolating the connection two people have to each other from the repressive and chaotic realities of the modern world. I wrote Young while my wife was pregnant with our second child, our daughter Cadence, who just turned 4. The song is a response to the realities I imagine women will face as they grow up in our world. It’s a hope that youth can prevail over the realities of modern life… that machine that devours innocence.”
3 | G. Rag / Zelig Implosion Deluxxe | Look Of The World
THE PRESS RELEASE: “On May 1, G. Rag / Zelig Implosion Deluxxe release Laut Los — an album where you think after the first song you know where the journey is going, but in the end you don’t really know where you actually are, even after 12 songs from a to b, with stops at c, d, e, f etc. An album you should definitely make a note of!”
4 | Enemy Radio | Food As A Machine Gun
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Enemy Radio, the DJ+MC auxiliary unit of Public Enemy made up of Chuck D, DJ Lord, Jahi and the S1Ws, release their debut album Loud Is Not Enough. The album is led by the single, Food As a Machine Gun, which features a special guest: Public Enemy (including both Chuck D and Flavor Flav). Says Chuck D: “That’s right, this is Enemy Radio featuring Public Enemy, with more around the corner: Enemy Radio’s debut album, Loud Is Not Enough, is here. Food As A Machine Gun is the first taste, an attack on the food industrial machine that opens minds to the direct need, dependency and necessity — yet killer — of our current lives, taking inspiration from Kristin Lawless and her book, Formerly Known As Food.” Enemy Radio’s debut single sets their sights on the dangers of an industrial food system that adds chemicals and preservatives to grocery store products at the cost of nutrition, resulting in devastating changes to brains and bodies. The concept was inspired by advocate and author Lawless. “The industrial world food machine rolls like gangbangers in the 21st century of chaos. Who protects us from the weapon formerly known as food?” asks Chuck.”
5 | Lakeman | 25,000 + Hectares
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Instrumental prog band Lakeman are their music video 25,000 + Hectares in support of their EP Progenitor, released this past November. The track is the shortest LM song ever recorded, clocking in at a little over seven minutes. The song is a sonic meditation inspired by the forest wildfires that sweep through the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia on an annual basis. The band adds about the track: “The Ponderosa pine in the area relies on fire to open its cone husks to spread its seeds. Destruction breeds creation. The song’s birth was quick yet meaningful. It had a feeling of something writing itself or being channeled by an unknown source. The song balances two simple chords breathing back and forth through different forms of intensities. Josh Pym screams falsetto’s through the pickups in his guitar while Josh Bissonette weaves a harsh bellowing electronic ambiance over top of the pulsing rhythm section.”
6 | Wednesday 13 | The Hearse
THE PRESS RELEASE: “No rest for the wicked! The Duke of Spook and his devilish ghouls, Wednesday 13, have returned with a new lyric video for their latest single, The Hearse, from their recently released album, Neccrophaze. “The heaviest track on the record, and maybe the heaviest track of my musical career,” states Wednesday 13. “The Hearse is a beast with the double kick drum mania provided by drummer Kyle Castronovo. I’m a big fan of the movie Christine. I wanted to write a song about a haunted car, so this was inspired by that mixed with the old rhyme from the Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark book.”
7 | Final Coil | Convicted Of The Right
THE PRESS RELEASE: “On May 1, Final Coil will release the Convicted Of The Right EP on digital format and limited edition cassette. Convicted Of The Right itself is one of the most potent songs on The World We Left Behind For Others and it will lead off the new EP, along with a stunning new promo video. These vibrant versions of the Final Coil classics offer a completely fresh vision of the original tracks and will be a ‘must have’ for Final Coil fans. The band were also captured on film recording at The Lab and the songs will become available as videos at a later date. The Convicted Of The Right EP will provide the perfect conclusion to the incredible journey of The World We Left Behind For Others. The journey of Final Coil however, is just beginning …”
8 | Atreyu | Super Hero
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Atreyu have shared the video for Super Hero from their 2018 album In Our Wake. The track features appearances from Avenged Sevenfold frontman M.Shadows and Underoath drummer/vocalist Aaron Gillespie. “Our song Super Hero was written about what it’s like to be a parent and the vast amount of time, effort, energy, and hard work it takes to be a real-life superhero for your children,” the band says. “The song also has a broader meaning, especially given the current situation the entire world is dealing with. There are many superheroes out there who appear in many forms — namely the first responders, medical personnel, and health care workers who are putting others first as they work to fight COVID-19 and to save lives. We dedicate this song to them.”
9 | Scott Hardware | Millionaire
THE PRESS RELEASE: “This Friday, Scott Hardware is set to release his latest LP, Engel. Today, he shares the new video for Millionaire, which follows Scott through a decades-long fixation on a very memorable one-night-stand. We trail him through the years while ruminations of the encounter both bright and melancholic play in his memory on loop. Cyclical thoughts of power and pleasure aren’t the only things that repeat, however, and both Scott and his lover will eventually find their own way to relieve the encounter. By Millionaire’s end we’re looking two ways: forward towards a potential (or parallel?) future, and behind us to a past this is rooted in something stronger than the passing of time — an archetype.”
10 | Greg Fox | From the Cessation of What
THE PRESS RELEASE: “An extension and evolution of Greg Fox’s rigorous, virtuosic sound-making practices, Contact, his first solo album since 2017’s The Gradual Progression, finds the multidisciplinary artist accessing ever more raw and ruminative states, processing the tumult of sentience into stick-hit-drum. On Contact, the devoted performer, intrepid composer and avid collaborator channels an alchemy of influences and ideas through the kinetic exchange of human and percussive forms. Experience Michael A. Flanagan’s visual expression of From the Cessation of What featuring artwork by Emma Kohlmann.”
11 | The Banshees | Tell Me Everything
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Things can change in the blink of an eye. The world moves fast and just when we settle into a groove with our job, our friends, our romantic relationships and our families, the universe has a way of throwing cosmic curve balls that can throw us off course in an instant. On Tell Me Everything, the new single from the Liverpool outfit The Banshees, the capricious nature of the world around us is captured with aching pop perfection. “Time goes by so delicately/That you don’t get a chance to see/All the things you could have been,” croons singer Vinny Pereira, reminding us that life is short and best lived moment by moment. A wistful, catchy and melodic number, Tell Me Everything is further proof that The Banshees are THE band to watch in 2020.”
12 | The Seshen | CYAN
THE PRESS RELEASE: “San Francisco Bay Area alt-R&B outfit The Seshen released their 12-track album CYAN at the tail end of February. Today, they’ve returned with the full release of the short film that accompanies the album. The chapter-by-chapter rollout of the CYAN short film culminated last week the music video for Faster Than Before. The full short film consists of a four-song sequence that explores uncertainty, depression, and the strength required to overcome adversity in the following order: Wander, Dive, Faster Than Before, and Don’t Answer. The 12-track album features meaningful lyrics as singer-lyricist Lalin St. Juste ties her personal journey with depression to social justice movements in the U.S. and around the world.”
13 | RAC | Carefree
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Grammy-winning producer and songwriter André Allen Anjos, known as RAC, has released Carefree, the second single from his upcoming album BOY. The new track features LA indie-pop artist LeyeT on vocals. “I thought this song might be too weird to include on the album” writes RAC, “yet something kept bringing me back to it. It wasn’t trying to be anything specific, yet the final form feels intentional. It’s just one of those songs that willed itself into existence. LeyeT really turned this into something else.” BOY is a melody-driven indie-electronica record that sees Anjos push his artistic limits by thematically exploring his complex childhood. “This album is about growing up,” writes Anjos. “I was tapping into melodies that remind me of that period of my life. Rooted in a sense of nostalgia, growing pains and coming of age. It’s an elusive feeling but I tried to capture it and ultimately re-interpret it through a modern lens.”
14 | Engutturalment Cephaloslamectomy | Pour Some Pitriffs On Me
THE PRESS RELEASE: “As anticipation grows for the release of their debut full length album, Engutturalment Cephaloslamectomy have unveiled a new single from Glam Not Slam. The monstrous, gut-punching slamfest that is Pour Some Pitriffs On Me delivers brutality with a smile to homes around the world. Following hot on the heels of previous singles Knights In Slammin’ Service and 8.1.2. And Life (Pitriffs Gone Wild), Pour Some Pitriffs On Me is sure to be another hit with slam fans — as well as being another teasing taster for the album Glam Not Slam, which will be released on April 24.”
15 | Adeline Hotel | Trace
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Adeline Hotel — the psych-folk/indie rock project led by guitarist and vocalist Dan Knishkowy — have shared Trace, the second single from their upcoming album Solid Love, out May 8. Trace follows a year of transition, bookended by memories both quiet and cacophonous. Through slow-building, thoughtful melodies that lead to a jagged and beautiful ending jam, Trace is the band at their best. The record is called Solid Love. Half of that title, at least, should be immediately apprehensible when you listen. The songs Knishkowy writes and sings for Adeline Hotel are tender and frank, disarming in their commitment to treating the sweetness of love and friendship with the gravity and wonder such a subject deserves.”
16 | Alkymist | The Dead
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Alkymist enters the void between heaven and hell with the release of their impending second album, Sanctuary. As the album nears release in May, they are now streaming the new single The Dead. Just a year-and-a-half after their acclaimed eponymous debut album, Danish progressive doom act Alkymist sets out once more on a trip that takes you far beyond this world and into their strange and crushingly heavy realm of brutal, yet beautiful and grandiose soundscapes. On Sanctuary, Alkymist offer the listener an immersive, spiritual and transcendent journey. The record revolves around metaphysical questioning, soul searching, mental and cerebral escape and ultimately the quest to achieve redemption of spirit and flesh. Following the release of the LP’s lead single, Draugr, the quartet now unleashes the mesmerizing, The Dead, about which lead vocalist Peter Bjørneg states, “The Dead is a song inspired by two verses from Hávamál, the old Norse codex of conduct. Good advice as how to behave yourself and reconcile in life in order to move peacefully into the afterlife.”
17 | Cochon Double | Restaurant
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Bruxisme is the debut album of Cochon Double. It will be released on 10.04. Bruxisme was recorded exactly when the noisy local hero Cochon Double thought about giving up forever. After playing these songs on stage for years, he had somehow lost them on the way there. Fortunately, Steven Doutaz and Lionel Jodry, his former bandmates from Welington Irish Black Warrior, teamed up with Swiss producer Louis Jucker and convinced him to give his songs a chance in the studio. In five days they re-arranged eight of his strange hip-hop slash noise-rock slash chanson française classics, adding the rhythm part and structure that made them real and unexpected “even my father could understand” kind of songs. The album Bruxisme, sung in French, sounds like a suicidal child who has just discovered razor blades, is a unique sounding record deeply connected to the twisted but generous spirit of its creator. Now there is a first glance from the album with Restaurant. About the song: “150 bux isn’t enough to spend 10 days in Island. This is something you quickly realize, especially when you wanna be a regular tourist.”
18 | Bad Motivator | Bad Taste
THE PRESS RELEASE: “CorpoRAT Records has announced a compilation called Stop Making Cents and unveiled the first single, an unreleased song from Bad Motivator that will also appear on their May 1 EP. Patterned after label compilations that were made popular in the late ’90s by labels like Fat Wreck Chords, Epitaph, Hopeless and others, Stop Making Cents features previously released tracks as well as previously unreleased tracks, brand new songs from forthcoming releases and demos. CorpoRAT Records was launched in January of 2018 by Kris Martin, who had this to say about the label and compilation…. “This label is meant to be a home. A place for those of us who never forgot the feeling of comfort, that discovering new music brings. That instant connection when notes, noises, harmonies and lyrics connect with us. That moment you know they will forever hold space in your life. With every listen, you’re transported back to specific places in time. When you put on headphones to mute out all of life’s problems that you don’t have the tools to fix, and just need to escape.”
19 | Emmett Kai | Stick To My Guns
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Brooklyn via the Bay Area songwriter and producer Emmett Kai unveiled his latest single Stick To My Guns — marking the fourth installment in a growing collection of tracks planned for gradual release throughout the year. Emmett showcases his capability for dream-pop sensibilities on Stick To My Guns as he mixes powerful 808 beats, a knack for ultra-infectious melodies and wistful-yet-summer-ready production. Over the first half of 2020, Emmett will be releasing new music, waterfall-style, eventually building into a larger release under a different name — allowing fans to witness the album gradually come together right in front of their eyes. In doing so, Emmett is embracing the new meaning of an “album” in the streaming age and taking advantage of the uniquely modern ability to create and adjust a project in real time.”
20 | Kadeema | Good Lies
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Southern Ontario’s Kadeema are charting a new path with their debut eight-song EP, Napoleon Tornapart. Songwriters Jimmy Chauveau (vocals) and Tal Vaisman (guitar/vocals) began collaborating together in their former band, Ascot Royals, choosing to continue their creative partnership in the wake of the group’s dissolution. Taking their name from Vaisman’s hometown, which translates to forward in Hebrew, the duo embraced its meaning. Today marks the release of the EP’s newest single, Good Lies. The song offers introspective verses with a contrasting anthemic chorus that acknowledges the lows make the real highs.”
21 | Fiona Harte | At The Hotel
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Fiona Harte releases her new single At The Hotel. Harte is a singer-songwriter from Northern Ireland who has won the hearts of many with her poetic lyrics and ambrosial vocals. After hearing her mother play records such as Dolly Parton and Simon & Garfunkel around the house, Fiona began to develop an interest in the story’s being told behind songs on the radio and started to write her own music at the age of 8. Fiona continued to hone her craft and has since penned hits for artists such as Duke Special and Rachael Sage. At The Hotel showcases a raw sound with elements of folk and country music. Fiona shares “the track tells a story of someone trying to take the good from a bad situation, remembering the better times of a relationship instead of focusing on the pain.”
22 | HMS Morris | Poetry
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Hot on the heels of the well-received Babanod, released in early February, HMS Morris are now pleased to present Poetry. It’s the second in a series of singles due for release in 2020. The song reflects the sliding scale of madness that results from unreciprocated obsessive love. Beginning with some light-hearted hypothetical quasi-stalking, singer Heledd Watkins then moves through self-criticism, recrimination, and finally a full-on banshee-wail of desperation. Structurally the music is indebted to Ravel’s Bolero, a repeating ostinato rising steadily from very quiet to very loud – although in Poetry, HMS cover twice the volume in half the time, in acknowledgement of the limited attention span of the snapchat generation.”
