Covet say farewell, Mirabelle introduce Betty, Jane’s Party have a change of mind, Bibio pass the oakmoss and more in today’s Roundup. A lot of lyric video and animated clips today. Hope you don’t mind music with subtitles and cartoons.
1 | Covet | Farewell
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Following the release of their sophomore album Technicolor, Covet have unleashed a new music video for Farewell, where the band is the musical entertainment for an ’80s prom as it turns into a zombie outbreak. “When you listen to Technicolor, I want you to be transported elsewhere,” says guitarist and vocalist Yvette Young about the 10-song album. “My goal is to uplift and make you feel reflective of emotions and experience a whole spectrum.” Adds bass player David Adamiak: “I second that. For us, Technicolor was a diverse statement. I hope listeners see there are so many facets to this collective and our songwriting. Maybe they’ll join us on the trip.”
2 | Mirabelle | Betty
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Montreal singer-songwriter Mirabelle is sharing her new video for Betty, from her latest album Late Bloomer. Directed by Frederique Bérubé, the video shows a group of high school students preparing for their graduation in isolation, each student celebrating in their own creative, intimate and original way. On the video, Laurence Hélie explains: “Working with teenagers made total sense to me. I realized, after the fact, that a lot of the lyrics and themes throughout the album, along with my influences, were connected to my adolescence. I guess that I often look back on that period of my life, hoping I didn’t let my inner teenager, a girl full of dreams, down. When I saw the videos that had been submitted by the kids, I was blown away. They are so cool, so creative.”
3 | Jane’s Party | Change Her Mind
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Toronto pop-rock quartet Jane’s Party have released a new single titled Change Her Mind. Produced by Carlin Nicholson and Mike O’Brien of Zeus — with Francesca Carbonneau and Nashlyn Lloyd from Vancouver dream-rock band Frankiie singing backup — the infectious tune featuring an impossible not-to-sing-along-with chorus. Says JP about the track, “Being in a long-term relationship in your mid-20s, the thought of breaking up and starting over can sometimes be the backdrop to every argument. This song is about working through a relationship over holding on to past ones, or holding out for something better.” Jane’s Party also premieres an incredibly creative and clever stop-motion animation video to accompany the track, painstakingly created by band member Tom Ionescu. With 90% of all the elements animated frame by frame, the end result of the time-consuming endeavour paid off.”
4 | Bibio | Oakmoss
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Bibio’s new album Sleep On The Wing is out now, and he’s sharing the video for latest single Oakmoss, which shows him playing the track in the studio. Featuring part of the violin melody from his Lovers’ Carvings (WXAXRXP Session), Bibio showcases a heady expanse of strings and lyrics that offer a promise of hope. Speaking about the track, Bibio explains: “Oakmoss has been my favourite track on (Sleep On The Wing) for quite some time, to me it feels like a folkier cousin of Raincoat. It was one of those tracks that came together quite quickly and fluently. It’s a lot of fun to play (on the various instruments used in the song), and it was a lot of fun to record.”
5 | Basement Torture Killings | DIY Store Murder Kit
THE PRESS RELEASE: “With Basement Torture Killings’ bloody new album Lessons In Murder now available, the band have decided to unleash a new lyric video to assist the spread of their doctrine of dominance and destruction. The short, sharp and shocking attack of DIY Store Murder Kit is here. In the band’s words, you can pick up tips on “how to construct your very own murder kit from goods readily available from the local DIY store”, or simply revel in savage sound of snuff grind at its best. The choice would depend on whether you are an armchair psycho or pure predator…”
6 | Zebadiah Crowe | A Horror To The Eyes Of Saintly Men
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Zebadiah Crowe celebrate the release of Host Rider with a new lyric video, A Horror To The Eyes Of Saintly Men. Drawing on dark, dystopian sci-fi imagery to accompany the lyrics of ritual and bloodshed this video is another violent assault on the senses, in true Zebadiah Crowe fashion.”
7 | Bruno Bavota | Apartment Loops #3
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Italian composer Bruno Bavota has crafted a suite of celestial, transcendent songs for synthesizer, written, produced, and recorded in isolation from his home in Southern Italy during the COVID-19 lockdown. Apartment Loops Vol. 1 retains the same emotional resonance that has marked his work throughout his career. Now, though, the space in which the songs are enveloped is explored an expanded to depths never approached by the considerate composer. The ambience is celestial, almost transcendent at its loftiest heights. Out of tragic and surreal circumstances, a new normal has emerged–less comfortable than before, but one more meaningful.”
8 | Consecration | An Elegy For The Departed
THE PRESS RELEASE: “As Consecration’s thoughts turn towards the studio to begin work on the followup to their critically acclaimed album Fragilium, they have decided to bid a fond farewell to their most successful release to date with a new video. An Elegy For The Departed brings together the beautiful Fragilium album artwork images, created by vocalist Daniel Bollans and his haunting lyrics to create a memorable final page in the story of Fragilium. Daniel has been sharing insights into his lyrics and art throughout the lockdown period at the Consecration Facebook page and this new video also makes for a pleasing coda to those insights and revelations.”
9 | Shemekia Copeland | Uncivil War
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Award-winning blues and Americana vocalist Shemekia Copeland presents her timely new song Uncivil War. It is a courageous statement pleading for unity in a time of disunion, and is unlike anything Copeland has previously recorded. Uncivil War takes no sides and speaks to every person’s desire to be safe and free. Featuring iconic mandolin wizard Sam Bush, dobro master Jerry Douglas and background vocals from popular alternative band The Orphan Brigade, the song is simultaneously comforting and challenging, as Copeland sings, “Same old wounds we’ve opened before / Nobody wins an uncivil war.” According to Copeland, “It’s not just a song. I’m trying to put the ‘united’ back in the United States. Like many people, I miss the days when we treated each other better. For me, this country’s all about people with differences coming together to be part of something we all love. That’s what really makes America beautiful.”
10 | Thiago Nassif | Santa
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Thiago Nassif — the Rio de Janeiro-based musician and producer — shared his new track Santa, the third and final single from upcoming album Mente, out July 3. The track features lyrics co-written by artist Fernanda Zerbini as well as the composition’s Afoxé rhythm, which comes from Afro Brazilian Candonblé (religion), which Nassif describes as a “Brazilian Funk Carioca… or an attempt to recreate the type of music being done in Rio’s slums. In my view, this type of music is compared to minimalism and it is the most interesting music Brazil has to offer. It represents Brazilian rhythms in many levels from Samba to Jongo and the African rhythms used in Camdonblé rituals, but all of it transposed to minimal electronic music.”
11 | Cary Morin | Nobody Gotta Know
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Native American blues and Americana artist Cary Morin’s new album Dockside Saints arrives on Aug. 4. Dockside Saints is a spirited gumbo combining Zydeco, Cajun and Creole with generous portions of Piedmont blues and country, and dashes of gospel and folk. The mixture is spicy and soul-satisfying. Today he shares first single Nobody Gotta Know. “One of the first songs that I wrote for this album. I was sitting at a street café in Italy and was thinking about a music community, like New Orleans for instance. It was written from a band musician’s point of view, as the character in the song, talking about playing music in the neighborhood and partying with the community, as the player in a local band. It was written as a fun, light hearted dance tune w/a southern New Orleans style composition in mind. It was really vivid to me as I was sitting in this ancient town in Italy taking in the area scenes. As I was thinking about the album and all the different types of songs I wanted for it, I wanted some blues, some dance tunes, some spirituals, and some instrumentals, all with a southern feel. This one ended up being more of a dance track.”
12 | Marie-Clo | Animals Eating People
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Singer-songwriter and dancer Marie-Clo’s eclectic indie-pop tackles current themes & conscious lyrics, but also conjures a colourful and enchanted world. Marie-Clo’s first English EP — Shell(e) Pt. I (out now) — speaks of strange times as a hockey wife, reconnecting with womanhood & behaviours that permeate sexism. Especially creative during darkness that accompanied her PCOS/endo diagnosis, Marie-Clo’s textured indie-pop-electro immerse us in a somber yet incandescent space. Her new single Animals Eating People points out the irony in how some men treat women like animals, how humans treat animals, and how women treat women. With very clear visions for her world, Marie-Clo brought in choreographer Mackenzie Carlson and director Mario Daoust to help make the official music video a reality with their own expertises.”
13 | Eight Rounds Rapid | Tricks
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Southend stalwarts Eight Rounds Rapid release their third album Love Your Work on Aug. 21. Rooted in the infamous Canvey Island R’n’B tradition, Eight Rounds Rapid channel the fervour of Dr. Feelgood, Wire, Gang of Four and Public Image Limited with their gritty tales of the Essex underworld.”
14 | Dead Rider | The War In My Head
THE PRESS RELEASE: “The firmament, cold and relentless, stretched over his head, a black rainbow riven with ice-white pinpricks. He had come to this far system in the name of familiar duty – and here, in the thin atmosphere of a war-torn moon orbiting an unremarkable ringed planet whose name, a combination of numbers and letters appended to a symbol representing a local God’s name, meant nothing to him beyond its usefulness in a filing system to help make clear where exactly he had rambled, he had once again achieved his goal. The scene of average, almost anonymous devastation extended in all directions. He stood, hammer still clutched and raised, pulsing almost hysterically in one fist. A laser gauntlet on the opposite hand trembled in mid-air, as if uncertain which direction to slice next. But there was no further need.”
15 | Black Elephant | Berta’s Flame
THE PRESS RELEASE: “The planets have aligned, and space itself has opened up to grace us with the heavy roll of Black Elephant’s Seven Swords. The Italian fuzzmongers mark 10 years of cooperative corporeal existence in 2020 with another collection of classic-minded heavy groovers, picking the best the ’70s, ’90s and ’10s had to offer in riffery and melding spacey blowouts with desert-hued hooks. The four-piece bring their finest work to-date in an efficient seven-track/33-minute stretch, building not only on what they accomplished on Cosmic Blues, but also what their prior two full-lengths, 2014ís Bifolchi Inside and 2012ís Spaghetti Cowboys, were building toward. This is a band coming into their own, wasting neither their time or yours in the process. Fuzz pedals preach on, the sky cracks, and the riffs themselves seem to lock bellies in sumo battles, so what the hell? The world’s ending anyway. You might as well have some fun with it.”
