The Venomous Pinks band together, Pure X see double, Lord Mantis survive, Discrepancies get back up and more in today’s Roundup. Jesus died for somebody’s sins, but not mine.
1 | The Venomous Pinks | Todos Unidos
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Tempe, AZ all-female punk rock trio The Venomous Pinks has released a another new single and video in advance of the band’s upcoming new album, I Want You. Guitarist/vocalist Drea Doll says: “People are fleeing from other countries to escape violence and poverty, hoping for asylum in the United States. I’ve never had to flee from a suppressive country, but can appreciate what my grandparents went through to better their lives when they left Mexico.” Drummer Cassie Jalilie adds, “Governmental transparency, equality, reforming negative immigration laws, and making healthcare a human right are all values we share strongly as a band.” Bassist Gaby Kaos says, “The time for change is now.”
2+3 | Pure X | Middle America + Fantasy
THE PRESS RELEASE: “It’s been six years since Pure X released their 2014 album Angel, the last in a run of three critically acclaimed LPs from the band’s beginning in 2009. During the break, the band mates developed the movies of their own lives — scattering for a fresh start, having children, traveling, making other music. In 2018, Pure X quietly “reformed”. It was time for the legacy album, the still standing album, the slick backed, silver bracelet, black and white gravitas on the rocks album. After two years of writing, then recording live as a band, their fourth, self-titled album sounds expensive and wise. These are not songs of resignation, but of unsentimental empathy, of understanding one’s surroundings and when it’s time to move on. Pure X has always known how it’s going to end, but has always had the class not to ruin a great party because of that inconvenient detail. Today, they are marking their return from their extended hiatus with two new singles Middle America and Fantasy, a preview of their forthcoming self-titled album due out on May 1.”
4 | Lord Mantis | Santa Muerte
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Lord Mantis has unveiled an official video for Santa Muerte, the track found on the band’s acclaimed fourth album, Universal Death Church, which saw release in November. The video for Santa Muerte was created by Chariot Of Black Moth. Offers Lord Mantis’ Charlie Fell, “The concept for the video comes directly from the lyrics which were based on an experience hanging out in the Kensington ‘badlands’ and seeing a dude come up after being hit with Narcan. He came out clawing the air and screaming he looked as if he just came back from a trip to hell. I had seen this type of thing before, but this was different; the way he came out scratching at the air in pain convulsing and hollering about the cold inside him. This was happening all over Kensington at the time due to a batch of fentanyl called Santa Muerte and in no way am I trying to glorify the use of these drugs; they truly are a curse.”
5 | Discrepancies | Undertow
THE PRESS RELEASE: “It’s never been about the fall, it’s what happens when you GET BACK UP!” St. Louis, MO’s Discrepancies have launched their second single of 2020, Undertow. The single is a massive hip-hop-infused rock anthem with an action-packed music video based around hockey. “Undertow is about not letting discouragement get in the way of progress. There will always be obstacles, but the hardships aren’t what define us. It’s about what you did to overcome,” says frontman Antonio ATG.”
6 | Active Child | In Another Life
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Active Child makes his major-label debut with the release of his newest album In Another Life. The 10-track collection marks singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Patrick Grossi’s first full-length in five years, ushering in a new chapter in Active Child’s already critically-acclaimed career. Of today’s release, Active Child says, “My life has unfurled in such marvelously unexpected ways in these past five years and it’s filled my work with a sense of real purpose. This new album is my first attempt at understanding the wonder and mystery of it all.” As visually creative as he is sonically, Active Child pairs today’s album release with a new music video for album title track In Another Life directed by Grammy-nominated director Andy Hines (Kanye West, Lizzo, Logic). The second half of a larger two-part narrative introduced by Weightless, the new visual finds Active Child once again exploring the overarching concept behind the new album, as he shifts between various moments throughout his life.”
7 | Panic Priest | Lonely City
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Synthpop/Post-Punk artist Panic Priest reveals the details on his new album Second Seduction and releases the music video for his new song Lonely City. Founded by Chicago, IL based artist Jack Armondo, Second Seduction is the sophomore album from Panic Priest. Armondo provides insight in the video for Lonely City: “When I first started writing Lonely City years ago, I could never have anticipated how unfortunately relevant the lyrics would become. Months ago, Brian Fox, co-producer of the upcoming album, suggested a video of people dancing at home. Being isolated myself during this difficult time, I wanted to use that idea to give others a fun project to be a part of. I reached out to over 30 friends and fans who are all staying home due to COVID-19 and was thrilled with the responses I received. I can’t tell you how much it lightened my mood to see video after video of people just letting go and forgetting about their problems, if only for a few minutes. Video editor David Gall did an amazing job putting this together. I hope this video can be a reminder to anyone who needs it, that we are not truly alone.”
8 | DSM | L’Absence
THE PRESS RELEASE: “A few days only after the official release of their new album Elevations, French post-death metallers DSM just premiered a brand new official music video for the song L’Absence. Free and determined, DSM has been following a singular road since 2011 which led it from a first album dedicated to pop culture to a second focused on the sciences of the universe. Four musicians reunited as a single entity which exceeds their individuality, like the atoms of a single molecule in laboratory of research. Deeper but direct, more detailed but easier to listen, Elevations is the result and the consequences of a new beginning for the band, the musical translation of new desires, new creative processes and new knowledge.”
9 | Peter Katz | Paper Thin
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Peter Katz released his brand new single, Paper Thin, co-written with Kyler England (Tiesto, The Rescues) and produced by Juno-nominated producer Derek Hoffman (The Trews, RALPH, Caveboy). “Paper Thin is about restarting and that strength that we find in ourselves during our hardest moments;” shares Katz. “Through catharsis and release, we are able to heal and a new sense of self emerges. When I was 18 years old, I moved from Montreal to Toronto to go to university. Before moving into my new apartment in Toronto, I spent a night at this Motel 6 on the side of the highway, about to cross a ‘life threshold,’ starting out in a new city. Many years later, after sudden and unexpected events in my personal life, I went on a tour that concluded in Montreal. Once again, I found myself driving from Montreal to Toronto about to start my life all over again. I ended up in the same Motel 6, where the time between my visit as an 18 year old and the present felt ‘paper thin.’ ”
10 | Two Car Train | Gone Away
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Two Car Train have released their next single Gone Away from the forthcoming debut album Off The Rails. Featuring killer vocal hooks, 80’s synths rhythms and shredding guitar, the song is about that feeling of invincibility that comes along with a new love. Yet, sadly comes crashing down and you’re torn apart. The Western hard soul experience is ecstatic to be able to share this music they have been working on feverishly since 2017.”
11 | The Parallel | Who I’ve Become
THE PRESS RELEASE: “After the release and critical acclaim of 2018’s Weaver, Toronto’s The Parallel is back and stronger than ever. Who I’ve Become is a new and more powerful take on The Parallel’s unique sound, featuring melodic hooks and a chorus that embodies the essence of commercial and modern metal music. The track thematically revolves around themes of insecurity and growth and is mixed with a crushing progressive edge. The band says, “This track focuses around the topics of internal trial & error; the understanding that it’s okay to feel anxious and show your emotions, and it’s okay to stand up for yourself in circumstances you don’t feel like you deserve.”
12 | Katherine Aly | Misty Me
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Edinburgh (UK) based indie-pop artist Katherine Aly announces the release of her new single Misty Me. Showcasing a darker edge to her already diverse song-writing abilities, Misty Me is a beautifully produced track with an angelic harp setting the way Katherine’s awe-inspiring vocal. The track explores new musical routes whilst staying faithful to her edgy qualities. Originally from Greece, Katherine has developed a unique sound that will resonate with fans of Florence & The Machine and Bjork but yet still delivers fresh and raw performances which put her on a stage of her own.”
13 | Lauren Calve | Better Angels
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Storyteller and songwriter Lauren Calve releases Better Angels off her upcoming Wildfire EP, out June 23. She wrote Better Angels after listening to a radio interview with Jon Meacham, who cited Abraham Lincoln’s inaugural address as inspiration for his book, The Soul of America: The Battle For Our Better Angels. “Meacham applied Lincoln’s message of ‘the better angels of our nature’ to the courage of the American people who dealt with the unprecedented crises of their era,’” says Calve. “As I listened to this, immigrants were being contained, families were being separated, children were held in cages without beds, blankets, or food. Talk about a defining moment in American history and the ‘battle for our better angels.’ Lincoln’s words still held a powerful resonance, and they gave me a deep hope that I hadn’t felt in years. Better Angels came from that surge of hope and optimism. It was a reminder that we would always rise to the occasion, no matter what.”
14 | Cauldron Black Ram | Whore To War
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Cauldron Black Ram — with primary members of Australian bands Mournful Congregation and Stargazer fleshing out its crew — will release the sordid new slab of pillaging metallic wrath upon the lands in the form of their long-time-coming Slaver LP. Following their recently released split EP with Portland’s Sempiternal Dusk, the band’s impending second album is confirmed for release this May, preceded by a warning shot in the form of lead single, Whore To War.”
15 | Godcaster | Serpentine Carcass Crux Birth
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Strange times we are living in my friends. Strange serpents creep through the sewers. Conjured images of scales, flesh, Satan, and death culminate in a nightmarish renaissance of horror, punctuated by marching guitars, trailing falsetto vocal melodies and a chaotic abandon that only the rock music of Godcaster can evoke. A new single by Godcaster is available, and it’s a doozy.”
16 | Slow Dakota | Burial Of The Dead
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Slow Dakota released Burial on Easter Sunday — the third single off his upcoming album Tornado Mass for Voice & Synthesizer, due out May 1. Slow Dakota mastermind PJ Sauerteig is a practising lawyer, but his psyche isn’t all logic and reason. Burial was inspired by superstition and mysticism that shrouds burial practice even today. As technology advances, and people leave religion behind, still, these traditions remain the black, the reading, no expense spared for the great and lavish wooden box. Written long before the COVID epidemic, the song strikes an especially eerie tone in our current cultural moment.”
17 | Luke De-Sciscio | Jamie Song
THE PRESS RELEASE: “English folk artist Luke De-Sciscio has announced that he will release his next album, Eucharist, the second in a planned trilogy of records, on April 24. Today, he shared the album’s first single, Jamie Song. Discussing Eucharist, Luke states, “Anything that I can do to extend a reaching hand or offer even the faintest semblance of hope right now seems like the only path to take. It is an introspective, solitary scrabble for meaning in the face of wordless weight. It is riddled with hope because it dares ask again, and again, and again, in innumerable ways — if THIS is not the way, then what IS? I felt this one as a weight in my belly. To birth it now seems only too appropriate, as we have the time to consider it. It was born of consideration, introspection and solitude.”
18 | Christee Palace | Danger
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Christee Palace is a pop singer/songwriter hailing from a large family of musicians in her hometown of Windsor, ON. She got her start achieving local and Canada-wide success with her first EP, Alive Today, and two followup singles that both charted in their first few weeks on radio. This drove her to pursue music on a larger scale, relocating to Toronto to record her latest EP with a vibrant new team of writers and producers. Christee’s new single, Danger, is about getting over someone that you know will end up hurting you. It’s an electro-pop track that mirrors the feeling of fear when jumping into something unknown. However, there is also the sense of strength in overcoming something that has the potential to consume you.”
