Snurfu couldn’t care less, The Gooms have a clothes encounter, Janet Devlin heads out into the world, Saves The Day make a triple play, Catbite get animalistic and more in today’s Roundup. Be sure to scroll down for new goodies from Steve Earle, Dexateens and Louis Jucker & Coilguns, whose upcoming album should definitely be on your radar.
SONG OF THE DAY
1 | Snurfu | No Fucks Given
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Driven by high energy and formed in 2009, Snurfu is a five-piece kick-ass-live band from Switzerland playing a raw rock ’n’ roll including garage vibes and punk taste-like, giving to their fans a sweet mix of sweats and malt vapors. About six years after their debut full-length Play This Game, Snurfu members got back in studio on Fall 2019 to record their sophomore album Round Two. Today, we get to give you the first taste! Fill your eyes and ears with No Fucks Given! Say the band: “No brain surgery, it’s that kind of rock you’ll love or hate – but if you love it, you’ll have to play it loud and grab a beer or two. The stage is our place of debauchery so catch us live!”
ALSO ON THE PLAYLIST
2 | The Gooms | Free Sweaters? Fantastic!
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Los Angeles-based indie rock quartet The Gooms have premiered their new video for Free Sweaters? Fantastic! The track is featured on The Gooms’ debut album Laugh., due July 24. Discussing Free Sweaters? Fantastic!, The Gooms state, “We’re slowly, but surely unraveling in the face of deciding which version of ourselves we want to be today — something many of us are feeling right now. Free Sweaters? Fantastic! is the feverish ramblings of someone completely losing their mind and spiraling out of control. The rhythmic structure and chord progressions give the song an upbeat and humorous demeanor, while the lyrical structure is meant to feel staggered, as if the brain is moving faster than the mouth.”
3 | Janet Devlin | Big Wide World
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Following the release of her long-awaited sophomore album Confessional and autobiography My Confessional last Friday, Janet Devlin has released Big Wide World, her newest single/ video which fully embraces the outside world and inadvertently takes on a new positive meaning during the pandemic. Written with Lauren Aquilina and produced by Jonathan Quarmby (Lewis Capaldi, Tom Walker, Benjamin Clementine), Big Wide World has the word “anthem” written all over it. With Janet’s signature ukulele, delicate yet driving mandolin and infectious, pacey feel, it is a perfect antidote for those who’ve had weeks spent boxed in by the same four walls. The song’s energy and lively atmosphere combines folk-pop elements and uplifting rhythms, with legendary traditional Irish musician Brian Fleming providing bodhran and percussion. Big Wide World is a track bursting with happiness; a starting gun to a delayed summer and the result of Janet’s new-found optimistic outlook on life.”
4 | Saves The Day | Remember / Verona / Ring Pop (Ft. Lloyd Vines)
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Albany, NY label Equal Vision Records have released Safe & Sound: An Isolation Compilation as a way to give back to their artists. The compilation features re-imagined and exclusive versions of songs from bands on the label including long-time staples like Saves The Day, Armor For Sleep, and I The Mighty, and newer acts like Young Culture, Sleep On It, and Vagrants. Released digitally via Bandcamp, Equal Vision Records will be giving 100% of the sale proceeds to bands who contributed to the compilation, many of whom’s tour schedules were canceled due to the ongoing pandemic. The compilation includes Saves The Day, who turned three songs from their 2013 self-titled album — Remember, Verona, and Ring Pop — into a totally new, yet still recognizable 10-minute medley featuring contributions from hip-hop artist Lloyd Vines. In celebration, the band has also released a music video for the medley which you can view here now.”
5 | Catbite | Horizontal Aggression
THE PRESS RELEASE: “On June 5, California independent label Bad Time Records quietly released a split 7-inch that pairs Philadelphia’s soul-ska outfit Catbite with East Bay’s newest ska-punk trio Omnigone — featuring members of the beloved late ’90s ska-core band Link 80. Catbite put together a music video for their cover of Horizontal Aggression by Omnigone. If you need two minutes of cats and dogs dancing to ska music then this is the video for you. Catbite is Brittany, Tim, Ben & Chris. To the uninitiated: they are your new favorite band, you just don’t know it yet. Blending ska with ’50s rock, soul & punk, their sound is simultaneously classic & forward-thinking. It’s music for the next generation of punks, you could put it on and dance with your grandmother to it. Their debut self-titled release has been cited as a definitive example of how ska can be done right.”
6 | Distant Cousins | Angelina
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Los Angeles trio Distant Cousins have released an intimate live performance video of Angelina. Originally released in 2018, this new acoustic revision has drawn comparisons to folk-pop peers The Lumineers and The Avett Brothers. It will be included on their forthcoming visual album Here & Now, available June 26. Recorded earlier this year at Boulevard Recording in Los Angeles, Here & Now features stripped-down, acoustic renditions of songs from Distant Cousins’ previous releases — the Distant Cousins EP and the full-length debut Next of Kin — as well as the new original songs The Day and Here & Now featuring Lindsey Ray.”
7 | Shattercones | Love on Repeat
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Since forming in late 2018, Shattercones have designed soundscapes for a number of immersive thatre and audio-visual projects, drawing from the same waters as Ennio Morricone, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Nadine Shah, Scott Walker, Suicide, Philip Glass, Dirty Three, Tindersticks and John Coltrane… Love on Repeat is the new single released from the four-track debut EP Oppenheimer, released in April. “We are proud to bring you this video and hope your community safe and well. This unreleased video was filmed in Latin America pre Covid-19. The footage is escapism from the present confinement of the walls and repetitions of our homes and shows gauchos, volcanic landscapes, vast horizons, big skies and what it’s like to be in the clouds at 5,000-meter altitudes.”
8 | Wax Tailor | Keep It Movin’ (ft. D Smoke)
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Renowned producer Wax Tailor, in collaboration with U.S. rap sensation D Smoke, presents the music video for Keep It Movin’, a solar banger with electro-funk accents. Directed by Hugo Dauffy, a young accredited director and motion designer based in Rennes, France, the music video for Keep It Moving (ft. D Smoke) is a sight to behold. With bold, even harsh colours paired with the collage-esque style of art, Dauffy has managed to produce an exemplary music video while working within the confines of social distancing. There is, ultimately, an unstoppable attitude about the music video that triumphs despite the trials faced. Anarchist tendencies can be found within the video, presented using some of the more striking lyrics while the occasional splashes of humour provide balance.”
9 | Little Kid | All Night (Golden Ring)
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Though Toronto’s Little Kid have been bubbling under in DIY circles since 2011 the band are beginning to garner widespread international attention. Led by songwriter Kenny Boothby, the band built a cult audience through performances with artists like Car Seat Headrest, Horse Jumper of Love, Fog Lake and Half Waif, and a prolific output of idiosyncratic home recordings. They announced their forthcoming album Transfiguration Highway in early May, and share a second single from the record entitled All Night (Golden Ring). A duet between Boothby and bandmate Megan Lunn, the track explores the relationship between Tammy Wynette and George Jones on a track that is named for an album of duets (Golden Ring) from the two country singers who were also a real-life couple.”
10 | The Great Serpent Mound Of Ohio | Kamera
THE PRESS RELEASE: “We are a five-piece psychedelic rock band from Dayton, Ohio. We released an album called Reliquary in 2019. This is from a brand new EP due out in a couple weeks. It’s a tribute to American songwriter Jeff Tweedy. The album is called Surfing On An Ocean Of Guitars. We are currently working on a new double album project which should be done by the end of the year. Here’s our cover of Kamera, a new single released today.”
https://youtu.be/_Pm8yVOn29Q
11 | Geo & Gld | Do It Like This
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Rising producers Geo & Gld share Do It Like This, an uptempo track that seamlessly combines hard dance drops with trap and breakbeat influences. Hailing from Long Beach, CA, Geo began experimenting with music production at the young age of 13. Since then, he has morphed into one of hard dance’s most intriguing producers. Collaborating with Geo is Connecticut-based electronic duo Gld, who are on a mission to take over the world with their genre-defying compositions. They create songs that breaks the rules, influenced by their love of hardcore, punk, jazz, hip-hop and electronic music.”
12 | Louis Jucker & Coilguns | A Simple Song
THE PRESS RELEASE: “A Simple Song is the second single off of Louis Jucker & Coilguns play Kråkeslottet and Other Songs from The Northern Shores, out July 10. About the song: “I wrote that song during the summer 2012, as I was (with many Swiss friends) taking part to the Artijuli Festival in Krakeslottet. We were in our mid-20s and the Sun was never going to bed. We were painting, recording and swimming a bit next to the seals. Years later as I came back to that very special place, and began writing new songs, alone in the darkest nights of the winter, I thought of that one again, and it put a smile on my face.”
13 | Steve Earle | Times Like These
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Steve Earle released an acoustic version of a new song, Times Like These. A full-band rendition will drop on Aug. 29 as the first of three Record Store Day events. “This is a song I wrote for a moment at the beginning of the Trumpian nightmare that I planned on releasing closer to the election, but I reckon its time has come today.”
14 | 박혜진 Park Hye Jin | How Can I
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Ahead of her highly anticipated new record out June 26, 박혜진 Park Hye Jin has released the EP’s title track How Can I. The six tracks on How Can I — completed over the course of 2019, primarily in transit as she travelled for the first time across Europe, North America and Australia — showcase the multitude of styles and influences that have come to be encapsulated in her output to date. No matter in which direction they move, the tracks on How Can I are imbued with subtlety and emotion. For Hye Jin, it was important that she release the music as soon as possible, noting, pragmatically: “who knows if I might die tomorrow, but at least if that happens, I’ll die really happy.”
15 | Zoe Polanski | Pharaoh’s Island
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Pharaoh’s Island started out as an exciting and unexpected match between one of my guitar loops and a Goblet Drum rhythm (a very common, household instrument in Israel). The unusual combination of sounds inspired me to think about an Island east off the shore of Sinai (Egypt) and a little bit south to the Israeli city of Eilat. This island, called Pharaoh’s Island, or Coral Island, is the site of an ancient fortress, used throughout the centuries as a strategic point in wars between the people of the area. What enchanted me about the place was the fact that underneath this militarized land there is a parallel universe that exists underwater, in the base of the island — an exceptionally rich colony of corals and marine life. It’s this shifting of focus from the surface inwards that inspired my musical and lyrical expression in this song.”
16+17 | Dexateens | Makers Mound + Grandaddy’s Mouth
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Hailing from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, The Dexateens have built an institution from their fiery brand of punk and roll. Since 1998, as one lineup or another, they’ve left jaws agape and arms akimbo as if some kind of inadvertent hypnotism has occurred. This past Feb. 13, the band kicked off Drive-By Truckers’ annual Heathens Homecoming at the legendary 40 Watt Club in Athens, Georgia. Thankfully, Athens producer David Barbe (Sugar, Drive-By Truckers), had his mobile rig humming to catch this show in all its glory. Dexateens Live from Athens, GA – Heathens Homecoming 2020 will be a Bandcamp-only release available on July 3. Easter eggs include Andy Griffith and craftily inserted Jimmy Page solos to name just a few! A phenomenal representation of bare-bones rock ’n’ roll. Check out Makers Mound and Grandaddy’s Mouth now.”
18 | Trial | Colony Of Trial
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Cloaked in steel the damaged object descends. A covered face. A hand that scrapes away time.” Newly formed UK dark thrash outfit Trial have completed work on their first recorded output, which arrives in these times of chaos in the form of 1. The debut EP 1 is a willful, monolithic statement of ongoing intent: five short, destructive bursts, forged from the stinging, acrid, particulate storms that batter their plane of existence. Trial is already immersed in the creation of new material to follow 1 in the months ahead. “In fallow lands. Endless iron sky. No memories. All was turned to dust.”
19 | Carlos Niño & Miguel Atwood-Ferguson | Part VI – Into Eternity
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Long-time collaborators (and life-long Los Angelenos) Carlos Niño and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson announce Chicago Waves, an album of improvised performances, out digitally June 26. Niño, a multidimensional and catalytic producer, arranger, percussionist, and DJ, alongside Atwood-Ferguson, a prolific arranger, composer, music director, producer and multi-instrumentalist in his own right, recorded Chicago Waves in 2018 at Chicago’s Co-Prosperity Sphere. It is their first album as a duo since their 2007 Fill the Heart Shaped Cup. Today, they present its first offering, Part VI – Into Eternity.”
20 | Cooper Phillip | Not Perfect
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Russian-born, Los Angeles-based pop-soul artist Cooper Phillip succeeds in capturing the undivided attention of listeners across the globe. With her intense drive, soaring vocals and passionate songwriting, Phillip is elevating herself to the top of her genre. Phillip’s music features an underlying theme of strength, grace and empowerment. “I believe we underestimate ourselves often and our fear takes over. My goal is to show people that they are stronger and can do much more than they think they can”, she admits. The new single Not Perfect narrates embracing one’s own faults and understanding that even though we can never be truly perfect, we are enough. The empowering song features infectious pop melodies and confident vocals emitting a feel-good vibe.”
21 | Mass Datura | Sutra Swoon Sutra
THE PRESS RELEASE: “London band Mass Datura has announced the released of their sophomore album Wish Untitled, out on July 10. Today, they have shared the opening track Sutra Swoon Sutra. Minimal at first, the song springs into a chorus of orchestral sounds. Layered violin, synths and a combination of hi and lo-fi vocals grapple for attention before resolving to a deep and earthy piano rise, guiding the spring reverb vocals “it’s a fairytale for two and we’re down on our knees, sutra swoon sutra” to a close.”
