Angelica Garcia sings the devil’s music, The Mavericks share the blame, Small Town Artillery turn yellow, Summersets are a going concern, Braids table their disagreements and more in today’s Roundup. Scroll down for new gems from D.O.A.’s Joe Keithley, The Dears, Los Straitjackets and some upstart named Brian Wilson. It’s a star-studded Thursday here in the Tinnitist bunker.
VIDEOS OF THE DAY:
1 | Angelica Garcia | Lucifer Waiting
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Angelica Garcia shares the video for Lucifer Waiting, a vibrant song off her acclaimed new album Cha Cha Palace, out now. “Lucifer Waiting is about empowering yourself, even if you’re afraid, to recognize what is truly around you,” explains Garcia. Of the track’s accompanying video — directed by Richmond-based Arts & Letters Creative Co. — she adds, “From the beginning, everyone agreed that it would be such a cool challenge to tell this story using the collage on my album cover. We knew we wanted the artwork to interact with real-life performance to tell the song’s story of fighting off evil. I feel like the dance performance by myself and my friend Christine Catherine Wyatt is representative of ourselves fighting off our demons. Thinking back to when I first started making the collage, it was beyond me to imagine it vivified in this way. I’m glad to have a video that captures and combines several memories of the making of Cha Cha Palace.”
2 | The Mavericks | Blame It On Your Heart
THE PRESS RELEASE: “The new video from The Mavericks is an animated video that depicts the band members, who were very involved in its creation. “Blame It on Your Heart was undoubtedly one of our favorite records to come out around that time,” says Raul Malo. “It had all the elements…great hook, beat, lyrics, melody. Turns out it was written by my friend Kostas, who later would help me write some of our best known songs. And let’s not forget that beautiful “high lonesome” voice of Patty’s. This record was as undeniable as anything to ever hit the airwaves…”
3 | Small Town Artillery Set | Yellow Light
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Following the release of their Bright Side Bandits EP last month, Small Town Artillery have another EP coming out on May 7. A Knock At The Door is the second of four EPs that the band plan to release this year. It’s the second chapter in a story of growth.The rat-tat-tat of new information. The wider view you didn’t see. Having your principles challenged, tested, tilted. Standing for what you believe in while being open to the beliefs of others. “This song, Yellow Light, is about the barriers that stand in the way of self-actualization,” says lead vocalist Tom van Deursen. “It all hit me at once – the H.G. Wells words ‘adapt or perish’ — and I was thinking about the heartbreaking divide and anger we saw between ways of thinking as our shows were cancelled on the prairies earlier this year. And honestly, I needed a friend. So, I made the video in one day, in isolation. From a 7AM coffee and a scribbled storyboard on a piece of 1×8, through to a 10PM finished edit. I hope it lands where it needs to.”
ALSO ON THE PLAYLIST
4 | Summersets | Anywhere You Go
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Picture this: two people meet in small town northern Ontario on a Saturday night as summer is coming to an end. A chance encounter that eventually will define the narrative of the rest of their lives. That is both the story that runs through the music of summersets, and also how the new duo’s members, Kalle Mattson and Andrew Sowka, met growing up in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Today, the pair release their first single, Anywhere You Go. “I first started writing this project as an exercise in writing character-based songs, specifically these two characters living in small-town Northern Ontario,” says Mattson. “The idea behind ‘anywhere you go’ was to have it be an introduction into their backstory and how badly they want to change their lives and their surroundings.” “At its core it’s just a love song about escape,” says Sowka. “It weaves in and out of daydreaming both lyrically and musically, really taking influence from Kodachrome meets Born To Run.”
5 | Braids | Just Let Me
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Montreal-based indie trio Braids will release their new album Shadow Offering on June 19. Co-produced with Chris Walla (Death Cab For Cutie), the album finds the band at their most personal, unabashedly flexing a new sense of confidence through songs that reach a higher level of artistry and collaboration. Today they shared their new single Just Let Me, a song that explores the push and pull of a relationship, the narratives created between partners, and inevitable hardships of love. The accompanying video features singer Raphaelle Standell-Preston’s directorial debut with collaborator Derek Branscombe. “The song was born of a desire to get through to one’s partner, to work through those feelings of complacency, stagnation, of pointless arguments; when you feel your partner, though sitting across the table from you, is further away than if they were not there at all,” stated the band. “It’s a yearning to understand how a love that was once there and so clear, could slip away. It asks the universal question that so many relationships encounter along their journey — where did our love go?”
6 | Jess Williamson | Smoke
THE PRESS RELEASE: “L.A. singer/songwriter Jess Williamson shares a new single/video, Smoke, a deep country rock ‘n roll burner from her forthcoming album, Sorceress, out May 15. Album opener Smoke begins with Williamson’s warm, alluring vocals and delicate finger pickings. Eventually, the track rises with muted percussion, lilting pedal steel, and piercing electric guitar. Williamson’s lyrics are both diaristic and universal as she describes a relationship that’s falling apart, using a house as a metaphor for a place of protection, but also a source of danger; “This song is about a codependent relationship. It’s told from the perspective of the person who keeps giving and giving, and, on some level, they like it,” says Williamson.”
https://youtu.be/vINgxOeiCoQ
7 | Joe Keithley & Mike Hurley | We’re All in This Together
THE PRESS RELEASE: “A punk legend / city councillor and local mayor have combined forces to create the seemingly impossible: a COVID-19 rock anthem. Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley and Coun. Joe Keithley celebrate the spirit of our communities and our frontline workers with the release of We’re All in This Together, a passionate, upbeat song for our times. Coun. Keithley sings lead vocals and plays guitar for the arrangement, while Mayor Hurley, a lifelong guitar player, accompanies Keithley on bass and backup vocals. “Writing this song was just a natural as I saw the growing effort by our fellow Canadians to keep as many folks as possible safe throughout the pandemic,” said Keithley, who is also the frontman for legendary punk band D.O.A. “It’s my way of thanking and expressing my admiration for the nurses, doctors and all the front line workers. They are the best!”
8 | Waiting For London | Play It Again
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Now, more than ever, we need music. Simply put, we need the normalcy, the art, the feeling that comes with music being a force of good in our lives. Pop/rock band Waiting for London have embraced this with their new music video Play It Again, which features the band staying optimistic and busy while recording the new music video. Each member recorded themselves over several days showing their quarantine activities to compile all of these videos into the official music video for the track. The video includes clips of them in their respective houses playing with their pets, writing music, and of course, playing their instruments.”
9 | Ruthie Foster | Ring of Fire
THE PRESS RELEASE: “After 25 years of delivering unmatched songwriting through soulful blues rooted in powerful gospel hymns, Ruthie Foster brings her experience full circle with her latest album, Ruthie Foster Big Band: Live at the Paramount. Accolades and Grammy nominations for her work with the blues unleashed her desire to share a lesser-known side of her talent. Her latest album captures personal favorites from original collections and pays tribute to swing-era heroes with dynamic covers from career-influencing jazz musicians. Having performed globally, often sharing the stage with renowned talent, the Paramount theatre appears to be just a number on her list of landmarks. However, stepping out onto the 105-year old stage of Austin’s grand-dame theater is a symbolic homecoming. Today, Foster shares Ring of Fire. “Ring of Fire has always been more of a love story to me. I believe my version of this song is about a love that’s heated but profound.”
10 | Goregäng | Farm The Mother
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Florida death metal duo Goregäng have released a new song Farm The Mother with a music video. The group, which initially started as a studio project back in late 2015, features Jeramie Kling (Venom Inc., Massacre, The Absence) on vocals, and Taylor Nordberg (Massacre, The Absence) on drums and bass, with guitar duties being split between the two members. On the new material Kling said: “I am quite pleased with the direction that we are heading in. It’s brutal both sonically and intellectually. We have our sights set on the goal to be the most lethal dose of buzzsaw and grime.”
https://youtu.be/BbYjNdzO8Aw
11 | Das Kope | Kids In The Sky
THE PRESS RELEASE: “LA-via-Brazil indie/psych artist Das Kope premiered a mind-bending new video. His debut album is a fittingly apocalyptic, lo-fi psychedelic portrait of isolation. Reminiscent of Tame Impala & Ariel Pink with a “Beach Boys trapped in a Black Mirror episode” vibe, he’s also played guitar on Lil Peep’s album and with Elle King, made videos for Bishop Briggs and toured w/ STRFKR.”
12 | An Autumn For Crippled Children | None More Pale
THE PRESS RELEASE: “None More Pale from Dutch atmospheric black metal unit An Autumn For Crippled Children is the latest hymn off the band’s All Fell Silent, Everything Went Quiet full-length. All Fell Silent, Everything Went Quiet is a 10-track chronology of the human condition that heaves under the weight of both distortion and emotion. Defying all genre constraints, vivid melody provides a counterpoint to dismal soundscapes and harsh vocals. Embracing an insular approach to their output, the stunning offering was recorded, engineered, mixed, and mastered by the band. The cover art was also created by the trio, with all elements of the record shaped by their collective vision. The final package delivers an emotional gut punch of melancholic ruminations. Notes the band of their latest single, “The song is about grey days, pale beauty and the death of someone close to you.”
13 | Nova Charisma | The Greater Cause
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Progressive duo Nova Charisma surprised fans with the release of Exposition III. The third installment of the project from the minds of Donovan Melero (Hail The Sun) and Sergio Medina (Royal Coda) sees the pair exploring lighter sounds while still infusing the emotionally gripping lyrical content found in the first two expositions. Opener The Greater Cause bursts with vibey guitars as Melero explores the act of observing self-harm from an outsider’s perspective, through the lens of empathy rather than judgement. The band also shared a music video for the track today, which was directed by Orie McGinness, who met with the pair on location in Las Vegas to film the dark and socially distant clip.”
14 | The Dears | I Know What You’re Thinking And It’s Awful
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Montréal quintet The Dears, led by husband & wife duo Murray Lightburn and Natalia Yanchak, have released I Know What You’re Thinking And It’s Awful, the third single from their upcoming album Lovers Rock. Lightburn recalls that he wrote I Know What You’re Thinking… while a nationwide manhunt dominated headlines and captured his imagination. “This is a song that came in rather suddenly. I woke up one morning and there it was, playing in my head. The news story of a manhunt for a couple of teenage kids who were charged with 2nd degree murder played in the background. I finished the song as news broke that two male bodies found were believed to be them. I am not at all saying the song is about this story, only that I was totally obsessed with the story as I wrote this song.”
15 | Shade | Morningmaker
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Hailing from Hamilton, ON, Shade’s shadowy and razor-sharp six-string raucousness is an all-consuming beast, bruising with a dark and doomy swagger one moment, and pushing skywards with hazy, transcendental trips the next. Today, the band shares their latest single, Morningmaker, taken from Combat Rave, out May 1. “We’re all still trying to figure out exactly who/what the Morningmaker is but we’ll leave it up to the audience to make up their own minds. Making coffee in the morning, Morningmaker. Catch the bus on time, Morningmaker. Getting that pay cheque early, Morningmaker. The Morningmaker is anything and all that’s just right, perhaps. The universe lining up. You can really only tell after four minutes and 13 seconds.”
16 | They Might Be Zombies | Vanishing Lights
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Florida has a long history of producing unique, against the grain Metal and Hard Rock artists, and Miami’s They Might Be Zombies are no exception. The band has released their debut album Reanimate. Produced by Matt LaPlant, the album features 13 tracks of intense melodic Hard Rock and Metal, served up as only the sunshine state can. The band has released the lyric video for Vanishing Lights.”
17 | Rachel Beck | Stronger Than You Know
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Rachel Beck is gearing up to release her sophomore solo record, and shares the empowering and uplifting title track, Stronger Than You Know. Inspired by the forest — its strength, resilience, and serenity — the song is a hopeful reflection on inner strength and perseverance through challenging times. “Although I wrote this song long before ‘COVID-19’ and ‘social distancing’ were part of our everyday language, it has taken on new meaning for me these past few weeks,” Rachel comments. “I think many of us have had to connect with inner strength we didn’t even know we had in order to cope during this challenging time. For me personally, spending time in nature has been so grounding amidst all the fear and stress and chaos. When I feel overwhelmed, I walk out into the woods and just breathe. It’s sounds like such a simple thing, but it allows me to reset and find the strength to keep going.”
18 | Lesley Barth | Nashville
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Lesley Barth’s sophomore album Big Time Baby is the heartfelt and honest result of wrestling with a growing sense of feeling like an outsider in her own life. During the writing process, she questioned what she had learned her whole life about achievement being the key to happiness, quit her corporate job, and started to rebuild a sense of identity that didn’t require outside validation. On the new single Nashville: “I challenged myself to write 30 songs in 30 days to celebrate turning 30 (i.e. avoid thinking about turning 30), and this song came out of that. I was still working at my corporate job at a tech company, and I ostensibly wrote this song about a guy my husband played with once, who had a great voice and presence and wrote good country tunes, but played in bars in New York City. Of course, I realized later this song was about me and my feeling that I wasn’t where I was supposed to be. I think we all have places, settings, jobs, that make us feel more or less comfortable in our own skin. I’ve played this song in nearly every live solo set the past two years and it’s often a crowd favorite, so it’s exciting to share the full-band version. I wanted it to have a bit of that neon cowboy camp, and I’m really happy with the unexpectedness of the production.”
19 | Neck Of The Woods | Ambivalence
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Vancouver progressive death metal unit Neck Of The Woods are pleased to unveil their new lyric video for the track Ambivalence. “The feeling of ambivalence is something we deal with every day of our lives,” notes vocalist Jeff Radomsky of the song’s theme, “be it a small lingering of uncertainty or a relentless mental battle that derails your life we all experience it. This song focuses on my own indecision to exact revenge on someone who wronged me, repeating a mantra I don’t honestly believe in but felt strongly in the moment. Fuck the high road was a cathartic thing to write though it’s not a path I feel many should follow. “
20 | Antonino Lappostato | I Too, Am Flawed
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Hartford, CT musician Antonino Lappostato, frontman of indie rock band Con Etiquette, has released a new solo EP titled I Too, Am Flawed. Antonino says, “This was the first song I wrote for the record and conceptually, spiraled into an inspiration for this collection. Hence the title for the song and the record; Coming to terms with being flawed as a human, and everything from my past has shaped what and who I am currently. All of these events are equally important, whether they where good, bad, beautiful, horrifying, tragedy, loss etc. It is all part of our experience.”
21+22 | Pop Evil | Let The Chaos Reign + Work
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Michigan’s Pop Evil have released two new singles Let The Chaos Reign and Work, marking the first taste of new music from the band since their Pop Evil full-length in 2018. The new tracks arrive as a twin assault of invigorating readymade hits for 2020, from a forthcoming album filled to the brim with a dozen tracks each worthy of a dedicated spotlight. Let the Chaos Reign is the heaviest single the band has ever dropped, a rousing fight song of self-determination and rising to meet any challenge with courage and strength. By contrast, Work puts its heavy guitars atop grooving rhythmic punch, as it champions the working-class heroes struggling to persevere across all industries today. Frontman and band founder Leigh Kakaty stated: “We won’t bore people with the same song over and over. When you come to our live show, we feel like there should be an ebb and flow, peaks and valleys, that are similar to real life. Sometimes you’re up, sometimes you’re down. We like to take people on a journey when they listen to our music or come to see us live.”
23 | Jaime Wyatt | By Your Side
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Jaime Wyatt will release Neon Cross on May 29. The 11-song set was produced by the two-time Grammy-winning producer Shooter Jennings. Today, she shares the album highlight By Your Side. “I tried not to have any filter with these songs,” Wyatt says about her open-book approach to writing. “Because I’ll be honest — it feels like I’m gonna die if I don’t tell people how I feel and who I am. It sounds so dramatic, but that’s the truth. It’s been just this gnarly, gnarly process, but one that is so human. So there’s been a lot of turmoil and drama. But this record is a lot about rebirth, too.”
24 | Brian Wilson & Van Dyke Parks | What A Wonderful World
THE PRESS RELEASE: “In 1966, when Brian Wilson prepared the follow-up to his masterpiece Pet Sounds, he employed the services of the Mississippi-born, L.A.-based musical jack-of-all-trades Van Dyke Parks as lyricist for the Beach Boys’ next album, SMiLE. As SMiLE quickly grew in legendary terms, Brian and Van Dyke each went their separate musical ways, only to reunite briefly in 1972 for the Beach Boys classic Sail on Sailor. So it was perhaps with great apprehension and excitement that these two musical giants should finally reunite in 1994 for some unfinished business. This time, however, the mission would be complete. The musical terrain familiar: a paean to California. Omnivore Recordings is very proud to announce the release of the 25th anniversary special edition of Orange Crate Art, on June 19. Here’s a taste:”
25 | Los Straitjackets | In My Room
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Surf rock perennials Los Straitjackets take on The Beach Boys’ classic In My Room as a literal way to cope with the confinement and isolation of life during quarantine. Complete with all the twings and twangs that the Straitjackets have become known for, their version of In My Room sounds refreshingly beautiful and relaxing during these crazy, crazy times.”
26 | Ilja Alexander| I’ll Wait
THE PRESS RELEASE: “London-based dream-pop artist Ilja Alexander has announced the release of I’ll Wait. Originally from Amsterdam, Alexander has recently formed a band in London. Although his parents were not musical, his grandfather was a gifted piano player. One day his father was playing Beethoven’s Für Elise when Alexander took a seat at the piano and began to play it himself. During high school, Alexander and his siblings were involved in music. He went on an exchange program to Osaka where he discovered that people were interested in his music. It was there that he decided to become a professional singer-songwriter.”
27 | Gridfailure | No Defensive Wounds To Be Found
THE PRESS RELEASE: “New York City-area hostile solo outfit/collaborator cult Gridfailure presents its harrowing new opus, Sixth Mass-Extinction Skulduggery II. The second album in the five-title concept series will see its initial release on June 5. Containing material spanning Gridfailure’s entire four-year lifespan, Sixth Mass-Extinction Skulduggery II infuses many styles of analog and digital percussion, acoustic and electric guitars, bass, ukulele, many types of keys and synth, accordion, trumpet, theremin, powerelectronics, harmonica, didgeridoo, field recordings, and more, some of which were recorded outdoors including in extreme weather events. Stream Gridfailure’s No Defensive Wounds To Be Found now.”
28 | Elephant Stone | American Dream
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Indie-psych band Elephant Stone released their sixth album Hollow shortly before March, eerily about the end of the world. Today, they’ve shared a poignant new single, American Dream. All proceeds will be donated to the PLUS1 COVID-19 Relief Fund, which directly supports touring crews and others in the live music industry who have lost work or have gotten sick during the COVID-19 crisis, and those whose physical health, mental health, safety and wellbeing are most at risk. Frontman Rishi Dhir explains the track: “Growing up in Canada, it was hard to not feel like an ‘also-ran’ when you’re constantly sold the glitz and glamour of America. Over the years, many of my Canadian friends have moved south of the border in search of the American dream, only to find that it really was just a dream. And now, with the dangerous path America is on, I wonder if my same friends are questioning their move and longing for home.”
