Wavrunner are def, dumb and blonde, Premium Leisure is ready as anybody can be, Gong Wah are on the losing side, Emi Wes wants to get paid, La Femme play it cool in Colorado and more in your Tuesday Roundup. Insert your own snide comment here. I got nothing today.
1 | Wavrunner | Uh Huh, I Like It
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Cleveland pop/hip-hop upstarts Wavrunner get the party started with the release of their debut single Uh Huh, I Like It. This first offering sets the tone for this group’s unique brand of dance floor anthems — seamlessly blending classic West Coast hip-hop funk with influences spanning the history of the earliest stages of club music with today’s modern viral chart mainstays. According to Wavrunner: “We’re not gonna apologize for having fun, even during these crazy-as-fuck times we’re all living in. You can laugh with us or you can laugh at us, but as long as you’re laughing, we’re good!”
2 | Premium Leisure | Ready For Forever
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Today marks the release of Ready for Forever from Oxford singer/producer Premium Leisure. Produced with Oli Barton-Wood, the single will feature on an EP due early 2021. Channelling a unique groove that draws from 70’s psych-pop, Ready For Forever was written in a period where the artist was reflecting upon his way of living and questioning the longevity of what he was doing. Premium Leisure — aka Chris Barker — explains; “The song describes characters drifting about without any burdens or liability; asking me to give up the guilty conscience and loosen up.”
3 | Gong Wah | Get Lost
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In the beginning of 2018 singer Inga Nelke met guitarists Thorsten Dohle & Felix Will in a dark cave in Cologne, Germany. Impressed by the reverb and accompanied by a drum machine, they accidentally create a sound that sits somewhere between shoegaze, psychedelic and Krautrock, while breathing the DIY spirit of a punk new wave era. They turn on, tune in and drop out. Starting to write songs, rehearsing every minute of spare time, call themselves Gong Wah and dub their sound Fuzzwave. Their self-titled debut album is out now.”
4 | Emi Wes | Where’s My Money
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Following on from the release of her debut single Issues, emerging singer-songwriter Emi Wes has returned with her bold and bouncing Where’s My Money. With a voice that balances the fragility of Joss Stone against the sheer tone of Nina Simone, Emi Wes has spent the last couple of years working with Danish Songwriters and experimenting with different genres to perfect her musical craft.”
5 | La Femme | Cool Colorado
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “French psych-pop band La Femme present Cool Colorado, an excerpt of their upcoming third album. This new song composed by members Sacha Got and Marlon Magnée immediately evokes the psychedelic spirit. “Colorado is the first American state which legalized cannabis, this is where the line ‘And I smoke in the streets without stress’ comes from,” La Femme explain. “This song is also related to the Beatnik spirit, to the literature of Kerouac. Do you remember the Magic Bus? It was going from Europe to Kathmandu on a now-mythical hippie trail.”
6 | Spacette | City Of Gold
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Spacette have shared their colorful L.A. cityscape music video for City Of Gold and announced their debut EP. Spacette offer a bit of backstory: “City of Gold is the first song we started on and it’s a sort of center of gravity for the sound of the EP. The hybrid disco beat meets Toto-ish shuffle was a fun discovery, with Tony and Heather slaying the synth solo — actually two killer solos interwoven.”
7 | Natalie Shay | Naked
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Natalie Shay is an indie pop/rock artist from North London. Shay’s latest five-track EP Naked saw the songwriter delving into the everyday experiences of a 21 year old, detailing relationships and life as a young musician. Title track illustrates the breakdown in a relationship, knowing you have interest elsewhere but struggling to let go for the fear of being alone. The single finds Shay including brass in her music, bringing the song to life through a vibrant saxophone solo.”
8 | Zenith Moon | Illuminate
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Melbourne’s Zenith Moon have created quite a stir over the last few months. Their latest single Illuminate is a run-in with self-doubt. Drawing from indie-rock and dream-pop, Illuminate is as soft as the rising sun. With a groove built upon African cross rhythms, Andie (drums/keys) throws his weight behind the kit, making every note heavy with emotion. Kalliope (vocals) is powerful yet beautifully intimate in her performance and Matt (guitars) juxtaposes beautiful colour and an emotive rawness that delicately draws you in.”
9 | Scalping | Deadlock
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Bristol’s Scalping return with the propulsive, muscular Deadlock. The band explain: “Deadlock has been in our live set for over a year now and it’s always a highlight; it’s fierce, relentless and gets a great reaction whenever we play it.” Scalping initially formed at the end of 2017 with a desire to pair their hometown’s visionary, off-kilter dance music to the more organic instrumentation you might find in noise-rock and post-punk.”
10 | Vaughan | Youngest At The Party
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Confronting the self-destruction that fuelled his past, Vaughan looks to come from the depths of his own hedonism, and shares this honest telling of the dark underbelly of the queer party scene with his new single Youngest At The Party. “It’s a song about the loss of innocence. It’s about finding myself in places that I wish I had never been. Realising that I was the youngest person there and wondering how I got to this point. How far away from the world did I need to be, to get myself there?”
11 | Bicep | Saku
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Following on from their single Apricots and the announcement that their album Isles is set for release on Jan. 22, Bicep have unveiled Saku. It features vocalist Clara La San, whose honey-sweet vocals feint toward UK garage over Saku’s slowed-down polyrhythms before diving chest-first into cosmic synths. “We aim to pull influences from a broad range of inspiration when we write music, our tracks often go through many iterations and directions before we settle on the final ingredients,” explain Bicep. “Saku feels like a good example of a hybrid for us. We drew from IDM and footwork via ’90s R&B, and it was amazing to work with Clara, who totally gets that vibe.”
12 | Cara Bateman | Love Is
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Love is is a reflection on lessons learned through past loves. It is about discovering what is and is not good, healthy, and nurturing love. Our own behaviours and those of our partners that, through hindsight, we recognize to have been destructive. It touches on our personal shift in priorities: previously admired qualities become less desirable, and different needs occur as we continue to develop and grow in life and love.”
13 | Tony Lewis | Gonna Make You Love Me
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Following his unexpected death last month, the family of Tony Lewis, lead singer and bassist of the 1980s rock band The Outfield, have posthumously released his EP More Than I Dared. Additionally, they’ve shared the video for Gonna Make You Love Me. “On behalf of my girls and myself, I’d like to thank everyone for the outpouring of love, affection and sadness for the loss of our adored Tony,” shares his wife Carol Lewis. “Tony’s life was full of music; he was never happier than being on stage connecting with a crowd or meeting fans and listening to their stories. He was truly grateful for his career.”
14 | Grande Fox | Hangman
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Grande Fox is a psychedelic stoner-rock band from Greece. They released their debut album Space Nest in 2016, the EP Kulning in 2018, and the single Documento in 2019. Their second album Empty Nest is due for release early 2021 and will contain 11 songs, including Hangman.”
15 | Brooke Law | Home
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “London-born singer and songwriter Brooke Law releases the emotive single Home for Christmas 2020, with 100% of proceeds going to U.K. charity Crisis. Says Brooke: “I can’t imagine not being home at Christmas with my family and the thought of being all alone or unable to be comforted by loved ones at such a difficult time really affected me. I just felt that I could be doing more to help someone less fortunate than I am.”
16 | Alex Little & The Suspicious Minds | Across The City
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Vancouver’s Alex Little & The Suspicious Minds share their video for Across the City. The single is a memoir of growing up in Vancouver and features old home video footage edited by Adam Sabla. Alex explains, “I would just sit quietly in the corner for hours and film people, zoom up on their faces, or just whatever caught my eye. Then when the preteen/early teen years started, it was all about lip-syncing to Avril Lavigne, Pink, and The Josie and the Pussycats soundtrack. My best friend at the time and I would just film each other singing in my room, sober, for hours.”
17 | Winston C.W. | Business
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Pianist and singer-songwriter Winston C.W. — Winston Cook-Wilson of Office Culture — will release his third solo album Good Guess on Dec. 4. Today, Cook-Wilson shares the second single Business, a catchy and mournful track about “the business of getting through life and a given day. The lyrics of the song create this ghostly dream landscape of memory. The narrator is looking for a way out of a hall of mirrors that reflects back ugly and poignant memories. The riff kind of feels like the ‘monolith’ the opening lyric suggests, or a natural process playing out.”
18 | Julius Black | Summer
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Julius Black’s new track Summer is a heart-wrenching second chapter to the story that he commenced with Mirrors. Today he releases the video for the breakup single. Filmed in Christchurch, New Zealand, the video is simple and beautifully shot, overlooking the city just before sunset with just Julius and a guitar. “I was moving cities, and we both knew we’d be leaving behind what we had,” says Julius. “I wanted to see it through, right ‘til the end, even though it was stupidly uncomfortable knowing that we won’t last. Summer is that feeling; a world coming to an end.”
19 | Nappynappa | Bagz 4 Th Lost
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “I Feel Just Lyk Their Art is the new album by D.C. avant-rap prodigy Nappynappa. It’s a record that confronts the displacement of ancient African artifacts; a post-colonial state of play that violates African ancestry, denying agency, freedom and existence. In his own words: “I Feel Just Lyk Their Art is my magnifying glass on the void that turned to a cyclic portal left by years of my mother not just Africa (though that is where most take place) but the entire Earth & our hearts & natural/native heritages & resources being stripped & extracted & rates that only leave the babies born with only a thirst for our own blood … This ends with us.”
20 | Low Island | Don’t Let The Light In
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Following Low Island’s first single in over a year, the band release a stunning animated video for Don’t Let The Light In, directed by Danaé Gosset . Speaking of the video, Singer Carlos Posada says: “The artwork for the track was inspired by Wim Wenders’ film for Pina Bausch — out of that was born the idea for the video. It’s been amazing learning about the process of animation and watching the video come together.”
21 | Matt Badger | The Fold
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Seattle’s Matt Badger, a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, has made a gorgeous and earnest album in The Fold. Introspective and melancholy, each song is swaddled in a lush arrangement. On the the title track, which also serves as the album closer, Badger laments, “I just can’t get anywhere, I just don’t get anywhere.” An eerie and sweet melody hovers and billows, channeling the ghosts of Bolan and Bowie.”
22 | Hannah Georgas | Pray It Away (ft. Matt Berninger)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Indie-pop songstress Hannah Georgas shares a new version of Pray It Away from her latest album All That Emotion. Co-written with Aaron Dessner, the new version is a duet with The National frontman Matt Berninger. “In a lot of ways, All That Emotion is a personal record,” Georgas explains, “but Pray It Away ended up being very collaborative … A close friend of mine inspired the lyrics. She told me over dinner one night that a family member didn’t want to attend her wedding because she was marrying a woman. I wrote the song the next day.”
23 | Skam | When Liquid Is The New Solid
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Skam was formed in Sweden in 2019 as an outlet to produce ‘cathartic music’. The main motivation for this project is the release of stress and to reduce it. Thirteen tracks clocking in just under 30 minutes that can be regarded as a cleansing of the soul and mind in the most brutal of ways. No remorse, no compromise, a full on assault on the senses. A wake up call for a world in despair, a world in turmoil, a world in desperate need for some stress relief. Within the menace and mayhem of the current times, Skam provides the ultimate soundtrack!”
24 | Concede | Misgiven
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Haling from Australia, Concede have been around for a couple of years and managed to leave a lasting impression on the local and international scene already. With several EPs and singles under their belt the band now unleashes their first album Indoctrinate. You can feel the pain, anger and frustration that motivates this band throughout the entire album. A journey through the darkened era mankind is currently facing.”
25 | Noël Wells | Lovely Day
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Actress, filmmaker, comedian and singer-songwriter Noël Wells releases her version of the Bill Withers classic Lovely Day. Produced by David Thomas Jones, Wells’ cover of the iconic R&B/soul song was born out of a vision of the world dancing, along with a much-needed global exhale. “During this whole political season, I’ve been watching people’s roller-skating videos on Instagram as a way of getting a little serotonin bump,” Wells says. “I wanted the track to feel like a glitter disco, something you can dance and skate to and feel really free.”
26 | Field Medic | Tranquilized (Gia Margaret Remix)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Last month Kevin Patrick Sullivan, the L.A. songwriter known as Field Medic, revealed his new album Floral Prince. Now he has teamed with Gia Margaret for a remix of Tranquilized. Margaret said, “I was drawn to Tranquilized because it is so obviously melancholic and full of isolated feelings (to which I found incredibly relevant). It was fun to include my friend and bandmate John Morton (of Post Radio), who brought us additional heartbreak with his violin.”
27 | Promise and The Monster | Beating Heart
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Having established herself as one of Sweden’s most esoteric and mesmerising songwriters, Promise and the Monster (aka Billie Lindahl) delivers Beating Heart, from her forthcoming EP Chewing Gum. Following on from the recently shared offering Closed My Eyes, Beating Heart continues the smooth and lofty aesthetic that she is known for. Billie said: “Beating Heart is about two sisters watching each other’s back through adulthood. One of them is more reckless though so the other one has a lot to do. It was fun recording the song since it got bigger and bigger all the time, like a suitcase full of random stuff.”
28 |The Rough Go | Salvage
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Rough Go is the eclectic, eccentric rock project of Toronto’s Jimmy Ruffian. With heavy punk influences, but also glam, classic rock, folk, and electronic in the mix, Ruffisn creates songs of political rage, mental anguish, and overcoming the obstacles. The Rough Go’s debut single Salvage is folk-rock leaning with acoustic guitar at the forefront of the sound.”
29 | Jacqueline Tucci | Home
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Drawing from everyday experiences and the happenings of the world around her, no topic is off limits for Toronto artist Jacqueline Tucci. Her track Home is ultimately about authenticity and taking chances, rather than fighting our feelings. It’s about finding the courage to be honest with ourselves, feel our true feelings, and embrace vulnerability.”
30 | Flowers | Candour
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Candour is the B-side to Flowers’ upcoming Slumberland single, due Dec. 4. Formed in London in 2012, Flowers have released two albums and an increasingly assured string of singles: Beautiful, effecting pop with echoes of C86 indie, post-punk pop, shoegaze, ’90s 4AD and more. Far more than just a sum of their influences, they’ve dazzled pop fans around the world with their distinctively spiky songs and Rachel Kennedy’s thrilling, ethereal vocals.”
31 | Dezron Douglas & Brandee Younger | The Creator Has a Master Plan
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Bassist Dezron Douglas and harpist Brandee Younger announce their debut album Force Majeure, out Dec. 4, and present its lead single, a cover of the Pharoah Sanders and Leon Thomas classic The Creator Has A Master Plan. A comforting album that cathartically encapsulates an all-too-familiar human experience of 2020, Force Majeure features 11 pieces performed by Douglas and Younger across a series of live-streamed shows from their living room in Harlem, NY, all self-recorded by the duo using just a single microphone.”
32+33 | Johnny Labelle | In The Sun + Doppelganger
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Greek singer-songwriter Johnny Labelle has announced a new album titled XVIII. It’s out Dec. 4. Check out the two new singles from the album, In the Sun and Doppelgänger. In The Sun is a crooner song, set in a smoky dark cellar-bar with a jukebox that spins Leonard Cohen, Diamanda Galas, Tim Buckley and Alan Vega. Brilliantly juggling between the most beautiful jazz standards and retro-futuristic pop synth music, Doppelgänger is a weirdly dark and touching song.”
34 | Middle Part | Busy
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Brooklyn indie-pop artist Middle Part (aka Andrew Selkōw) creates synth-laden music in the hopes of making you feel something. His latest single Busy is the third single off his upcoming EP I Wish I Was Alive. Selkōw confides, “A lot of this record is about ego, vulnerability, and dealing with loss. It’s also about finding a balance with your mental well being. Busy touches on that theme of letting go of your ego and being more vulnerable with the people around you.”
35 | Dirty Laces | These Days
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Manchester’s Dirty Laces are a down-and-out rock ’n’ roll outfit who hit you with crunching and hypnotic guitars, huge drum fills and a sound that echoes the likes of The Cult and Led Zeppelin meshed with a Libertines vibe. “These Days is a song about the times we now live in, along with the history of class struggle and the rise and fall of empires and how that’s relevant to what we’re experiencing now … There has always been struggle and resistance towards power in history. It’s obviously not a new thing.”
36 | Drones | Our Hell Is Right Here
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Punk band Drones announced that their second album, Our Hell Is Right Here, will be released Feb. 12. “It’s been a pretty rough ride for the past couple of years,” says vocalist Lois McDougall. “Whilst writing this record, I went through a divorce, lost a family member and was battling with my own mental health. At the same time, it felt like the world was falling apart. Our Hell Is Right Here is the product of my experiences over the past few months. There’s a lot of sadness on this record, but I can now look back and celebrate who I have become in spite of it all.”
37 | The Culture Industry | Middle Aged Kids
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Culture Industry is an Australian punk band that consists of Gnarly on rhythm guitar/ lead vocals, Nagy on bass/vocals, Leemoss on drums/vocals and new addition Arrian shredding on lead guitar like it’s nobody’s business. With a hardworking DIY ethos, these middle-aged-kids have played internationally and even more at home around Sydney, Canberra, and the East Coast of Australia. Play hard. Party hard. It’s time to get Cultured in the Industrial sense of the word!!”
