Femi and Made Kuti keep it all in the family, Shinyribs borrows some money from Rihanna, Healthy Junkies deliver a sitrep, Flamingos Pink remember the good old days, Goat Girl get cracking and more in today’s Indie Roundup. Margo Price, Sarah Harmer, Texas, Wu-Tang Clan and more — that’s a pretty star-studded lineup for a Tuesday, if I do say so myself.
1+2 | Femi Kuti + Made Kuti | Pà Pá Pà + Your Enemy
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Legendary activist and Afrobeat originator Fela Kuti used his music to lament social injustices and political corruption in his native Nigeria. His son Femi and grandson Made both carry his legacy as torchbearers for change. On Feb. 5, both men will release new albums, packaged together and appropriately subtitled Legacy +. Today, each has shared a new song. Your Enemy from Made’s album For(e)ward turns a swirling and modern Afrobeat sound into an impassioned call for justice. Pà Pá Pà from Femi’s Stop The Hate implores Nigerians to rail against the dishonesty of local politicians.”
3 | Shinyribs | Bitch Better Have My Money
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Next Waltz, a label/platform launched by Bruce Robison, recently dropped the vinyl compilation The Next Waltz Vol. 3, featuring Shinyribs’ cover or Rihanna’s Bitch Better Have My Money. The Next Waltz Vol. 3 was recorded at The Bunker in Lockhart, Texas with no digital shenanigans, creating an auditory guestbook of greatness featuring talent such as Jack Ingram, Flatland Cavalry, Charley Crockett, Robert Ellis, Bruce Robison & Kelly Willis and more!”
4 | Healthy Junkies | Tricky Situation
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Healthy Junkies are everything that epitomizes the indie punk spirit — driven, authentic, and capable of causing a riot at any moment. Following the release of their new album Forever on the Road Pt. 1, the band are back with a new single from the record in the form of infectious full on garage rock onslaught Tricky Situation, as they prepare to release Forever on the Road Pt. 2 on Dec. 11. Guitarist Phil Honey Jones explains, “the lyrics take on a variety of tricky situations including ‘getting lost in translation’, ‘a bloody revolution’ and problems with ‘The U.S immigration’. The Brexit fiasco is referenced with ‘No deal, no good’ and ‘Off with her head’ being symbolic of course.”
5 | The Flamingos Pink | Best We Ever Had
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Montreal rock ’n’ roll duo The Flamingos Pink — Sacha Gubany (guitar/vocals) and Julien Corrado (drums/percussion) — drop a live take of Best We Ever Had, the latest visual from their sophomore album Outtacontroller. It’s a stroll down memory lane that reveals how that at one time, we could all get together, have fun, party, go to a show and rock out. Say the band, “Remember live shows? The feeling of closeness to strangers while getting pummeled by a tower of sound? This is the past. What’s next? Let’s close out this year strong and look straight ahead, steady as she goes. Keep surfin’ the waves and feeling the heat. Let’s ride this through.”
6 | Goat Girl | The Crack
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The new single by Goat Girl, The Crack, is taken from the forthcoming album On All Fours, out Jan. 29. The Crack is accompanied by a timely and surreal video directed by Molly Ann Pendlebury. Goat Girl say: “The Crack emerged from an imagined post-apocalyptic world whereby people flee into space for a new life on an unruined planet, as the result of the pillaging of Planet Earth.”
7 | Basia Bulat | Love Is At The End of the World
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Singer-songwriter Basia Bulat releases a video for Love is at the End of the World directed by Nora Rosenthal. This is the closing track on her most recent album Are You in Love?, produced by Jim James of My Morning Jacket. Basia explains: “It began as a prayer of gratitude to friends who helped me through one of my darkest moments and became a promise to myself to always choose love over fear … It’s been such a hard year for so many — whenever I feel like the world is ending I know that at the same time so much love is being built into a new one.”
8 | Texas & Wu-Tang Clan | Hi
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Christmas comes early for Texas fans as they release new single Hi featuring old friends Wu-Tang Clan. Hi is an exhilarating slice of joy, offering the first taste of Texas’ forthcoming album and the first new music from Wu-Tang Clan in three years. Sharleen Spiteri flexes her soulful vocals over the Ennio Morricone-style guitar and raps by RZA and Ghostface Killah. The results are guaranteed to make you smile.”
9 | Margo Price | River
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Margo Price welcomes the holidays with the release of River, a special rendition of one of her favourite Joni Mitchell songs. Accompanying herself on keys, she captures the wishful, wistful feelings behind the Christmastime classic, more prevalent than ever as we prepare to face the challenges of a winter like no other. With the song, Margo sends fans a message of peace and love for the rest of the year, and the hope for 2021 to be everything 2020 wasn’t.”
10 | Bodies of Water | I Knew Your Brother
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Bodies of Water’s I Knew Your Brother features an unlikely combo; a dancing ostrich & firework explosions. It comes from the album Is This What It’s Like. Say the band: “We played all these instruments live, mainly because we don’t know how to use midi, sequencing, any of that. Also, to use these tools, I think you need to play to a click (a metronome). Of course, this is fine for some music, but our songs would sound stupid if they never sped up or slowed down. My friend told me that when he was in Brazil, he was surprised that nobody he played (drums) with down there expected him to keep a constant tempo. They wanted him to get fast or slow depending on what’s happening in the song. Is pushing to keep a song at a fixed tempo a cultural thing, or a personality thing?”
11 | Metalite | Peacekeepers
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Swedish power metal quintet Metalite will release their album A Virtual World on March 26. It’s barely even a year and a half since they returned with their new singer Erica Ohlsson — who brought in a massive amount of energy and musicianship. The Swedes continue to make expert use of electronic elements: Spheric layers mix with vibrating sequences and pulsating beats fitting like a second skin for the massive, melodic and outrageously catchy wall of sound. Guitarist Edwin Premberg states: “We see ourselves as a modern band that works differently than most of the melodic metal bands out there.”
12 | State To State | Bye Bye
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Los Angeles alt-rock quartet State To State released their second single of 2020, Bye Bye, along with an animated video by DeBurk Studios. Produced by Grammy-nominated Johnny K, the track offers another taste from a sophomore album due in 2021. Discussing the single, Shea Stratton offered: “Bye Bye took its sweet time to come into fruition, but letting it grow proved rewarding. Johnny nailed the production and helped bring what I heard in my head through the speakers.”
13 | San Holo | bb u ok?
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Known for blending guitars with honest vocals in his genre-bending music, the artist and producer San Holo (real name Sander Van Dijck) is widely recognised as an innovator of electronic music. Today he shares an emotive new single bb u ok? “bb u ok? is a question for you to ask yourself & the lovely people around you,” explains Sander. “Life is so fast paced these days, we often don’t take the time to answer this question genuinely. It’s so easy to fall out of touch with yourself and the people you love. We need genuine conversations and connections to keep going.”
14 | Benjamin Lazar Davis | What If I?
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Brooklyn multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and producer Benjamin Lazar Davis has made his name as a valued collaborator as well as a gifted solo artist. What If I? follows If You Want It as his first new music since 2018’s break-out debut solo album Nothing Matters. “Cole Kamen-Green was really excited to show me a Bach chorale called, Preserve My Faith From Error Free. I started writing a melody over it, and soon I had the verse and out of my gibberish came the words ‘Sylvia, my own.’ We made the song about a relationship that needed saving, and we thought if we sang the chorus enough times maybe Sylvia would come back. She never did.”
15 | Sarah Harmer | Little Frogs
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Sarah Harmer releases a charming video for a song from her acclaimed new album, Are You Gone. Accompanying the cozy, homebound Little Frogs is an endearing portrait of a flannel-clad frog created by Juno-winning director and puppeteer Ali Eisner. “Written from a list of summer memories and life’s small pleasures, the video takes you through a day in the life of a little frog — hoser by day, crooner by nightfall,” says Harmer, who joins her friend in chorus by barnyard candlelight.”
16 | Ghita | No Stopping
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Unrestricted by sonic or geographic boundaries, Ghita’s vision has created a style of futuristic pop with an appeal that stretches across the continents. Ghita now shares No Stopping as she gears up to release her debut EP Lost Angeles on Dec. 10. “No Stopping is about me feeling very down about my career in L.A.,” says Ghita. “I was writing to feel better and, more importantly, to remind myself who I really am inside, which is not someone who gives up easily.”
17 | Budokan Boys | The Magic Mountain
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Berlin duo Budokan Boys just released the video for The Magic Mountain, the final track on their album So Broken Up About You Dying. The visuals were created by Polish filmmaker Tomek Popakul. A cryptic, darkly comic fairy tale, The Magic Mountain details, by way of a series of increasingly strange and absurd instructions, the journey of a soul from darkness to more darkness and finally to repose. Popakul’s innovative film takes literal cues from the music and lyrics, but also interpolates a sense of sublimity and even hope.”
18 | Gramn. | Under My Fro
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Hot on the heels of their recent EP MinimumN, Hackney’s brightest new act Gramn. drop the video for Under My Fro. With the visuals a gloriously homespun ode to natural hair, the lyrical content goes much deeper as Aux examines life lessons and identity. The classic R&B vibes conjures an instant throwback sound but sharpened with Aux’s ever-insightful commentary takes this to an entirely new level.”
19 | Taumel | Away
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Taumel is the musical formation of Sven Pollkoetter and Jakob Diehl. With the album There Is No Time To Run Away From Here, Taumel present the first part of the music series Traum, which will be developed further over several albums. In this series, Taumel concentrate on a slow minimalism in instrumental quartet formation: piano/Rhodes, electric guitar, flugelhorn and drums. Today Taumel unleash a new video session for the track Away, the fourth doomy and gloomy instalment on the album.”
20 | Palm Ghosts | Static Swell
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Nashville dream-pop act Palm Ghosts have released Static Swell. Musically inspired by late ’80s/early ’90s shoegaze and psychedelic pop sounds from the U.K., Static Swell observes the confusion of living in today’s world — from toxic partisan politics and the pandemic to the 24-hour news cycle, it’s impossible not to feel isolated. Textured, atmospheric and incredibly addictive, Static Swell pique the attention of fans of their influences whilst digging their way into the aural senses of a new of batch of fans, high on current day dream-pop.”
21 | King of Sweden | Dreaming About The Emerald
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “King of Sweden’s Dreaming About the Emerald is the first peek into their upcoming EP The Training — and it paints both a dreamy and energetic musical landscape. Echoes of bands like King Crimson, Genesis, Gentle Giant, Yes and modern prog bands like Porcupine Tree, Dream Theater and The Pineapple Thief flow through King of Sweden.”
22 | Esther Rose | Keeps Me Running
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “New Orleans songwriter Esther Rose has a new track in the form of the propulsive, galloping Keeps Me Running. Esther gave us a bit of background: “Although the fire theme is literal — me sitting alone in a room singing to a candle — I think that fire and intuition are linked somehow. You know how intense loss or heartbreak will sometimes streamline intuition? This song is about not being ready for a new relationship but being okay with that. I think it’s my most recklessly optimistic loner anthem to-date.”
23 | Holy Roller Baby | Drag The Lake
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Who loves a good lyric video? Who misses Saturday morning cartoons? Who remembers the follow-the-bouncing-ball singalong ones? Well we’ve got you covered. Drag The Lake is here in lyric video form. This makes music video #3 for us.”
24 | Muzz | Nobody Wants A Lonely Heart
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Muzz have announced details of a new EP, Covers, which sees the trio of Paul Banks, Josh Kaufman and Matt Barrick reimagining songs by Arthur Russell, Bob Dylan, Mazzy Star and Tracy Chapman. Out Dec. 9, Covers is as much an illustration of the band’s collective inspirations as it is a sonic testament to their expansive imagination and fluidity as a musical outfit. Arthur Russell’s Nobody Wants A Lonely Heart is deconstructed to its mesmerising foundations, with Banks’ baritone gliding over Kaufman’s submerged piano and Barrick’s gentle shuffle.”
25 | Kate Boothman | 17
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Kate Boothman’s 17 was written in 20 minutes and emerged fully formed: “I wrote it after a particularly heavy day during a particularly heavy time in my life. I was overworked, overwhelmed, under-slept, heartbroken, and generally confused. I got home at around 11 p.m. after being away for a while. I lay down on the floor for an hour and when I finally got up I wrote the entire song.”
26 | Daydream | Conscious Rising
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Daydream’s sound is difficult to describe. It’s noisy and chaotic but held together by riffs and melodies that will get stuck in your head for days. It sounds like Lebenden Toten through a Jesus Lizard filter. Mystic Operative is the band’s second LP. The band writes about the record, “We are designed and raised to be soldiers, informants, producers, and workers for the state. The more categorized we are by identity, the easier it is to be commodified; all culture, ideas, and thoughts throw into countless algorithms. Just as any of our sacred experiences continually changed – joy and loss, oppression and pain, sexual and gender deviancy, bliss and enlightenment — so do their tactics. Every moment has the potential to be capitalized on or commodified. Every moment offers them useful data to sell to you, implicate you, or both. They empower us to inflict violence and implicate on another. Relation and even existence feel impossible without their tools. But there are moments, those sacred moments, that are unique to us. WE have to fight the operative to keep those experiences ours, without giving it to them for their uses. Watch out for the mystics, inside and out.”
27 | Sofia Talvik | This Mess We’re In
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Sofia Talvik has followed her tradition of releasing a Christmas single every year for over 10 years. In 2017 she gathered her songs up till then and released the album When Winter Comes. For this new single she has taken a step away from her usual acoustic Folk/Americana sound and explored the wonders of dream-folk. ”I guess you could call it a doomsday Christmas song, because why not, it’s 2020.”
28 | Olive Louise | Undefined
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Olive Louise is a classically trained musician with an innate pop sensibility. The New York artist is a promising new voice in alt-pop, thoughtfully carving her own path through captivating storytelling and refreshing vulnerability. Now, Louise is ready to move forward into a new chapter. “It feels like I’ve actually processed a lot of things,” she says. “I can still be like, ‘Wow, I went through that’ but it doesn’t make me angry at anyone anymore. It just feels like there’s way more freedom in my writing.”
29 | John Garrison | The Revolution Is Just Waiting A Name
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Copenhagen-based British singer-songwriter John Garrison is set to release his album Extinguisher this Friday. Garrison shares, In the single, The Revolution Is Just Waiting A Name, Garrison ponders the question: “Imagine if we could go back in time and pinpoint where this separation and division started. We went from actually talking to our neighbours to sending them an invisible ‘like’. Filters and endless storage means that we can alter, re-shoot, and manipulate our own lives to fit in with the ones we watch and envy everyday. The moment we handed over control of what we and our kids see on a daily basis, to a computer program. What would we have done differently? Would we all just sit back and watch? Or would we do something about it?”
