Walking Papers play the long game, Oxymorrons see green, Scott MacKay reads between the lines, Small Bills consult the almanac, Sarin are a force to be reckoned with — and if you think that’s the end of your Friday Roundup, you must be new around here. About time you showed up.
1 | Walking Papers | Divine Intervention
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Walking Papers (frontman Jefferson Angell and keyboard player/longtime collaborator Benjamin Anderson) are ringing in the new year with the release of Divine Intervention from their upcoming third album The Light Below. The video, which clocks in at 12:30, was shot in the band’s hometown of Seattle. It’s actually a combination of two new songs from The Light Below that were brought together for the David Lynch-inspired clip. As Angell explains: “We just showed up and allowed ourselves to be carried away, the song was originally one piece and we broke it into two for the record (Divine Intervention and Stood Up At The Gates of Heaven) and when we were editing the video, we decided to put it back as one for an extended art piece.”
2 | Oxymorrons | Green Vision
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “New York City’s Oxymorrons have been frontrunners of the genre blending and BIPOC rock revolutions. They turned heads in 2020 with their anti-racism war cry Justice. Now they set the tone for 2021 with their single Green Vision — a blended hip-hop x hard-rock vibe that makes you want to hit the mosh pit and the dance floor. The braggadocious, IDGAF track is pure Oxymorrons.”
3 | Scott MacKay | Romance Novel
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Scott MacKay just released his new album Stupid Cupid, a collection of 10 original songs that combine the Charlottetown native’s sharp contemporary wit with his fondness for vintage country music of the ’50s and ’60s. “I really became smitten with songwriters such as Shel Silverstein, Hank Williams, Bobby Bare, Roger Miller and others,” he says. “It made me focus my attention on improving my songwriting, and I tried to learn as much about it as I could. I took a lyric writing class, a storytelling class, and a creative writing class. I even took part in a songwriting workshop in Nashville where I got to meet and learn from some of the greatest songwriters in the world.”
4 | Small Bills (Euclie & The Lasso) | Banneker’s Almanac
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The futuristic shamanic channeling of energy on the track breaks the boundaries that separate generations and revels in a timeless state as Elucid lyrically dances through snapshots of ancestral battles occurring in the here and now of his existence. From the album Don’t Play It Straight.“
5 | Sarin | Reckoner
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Say hello to Sarin. The Toronto post-metal four-piece release their new album You Can’t Go Back on Feb. 5. The disc captures Sarin’s crushing sound at its dynamic best. Fusing emotionally charged lyrical themes of interpersonal struggle and a euphoric wall-of-sound approach to their songwriting, the band’s first single Reckoner is out now.”
6 | Evergrey | Eternal Nocturnal
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Swedish progressive metal band Evergrey are gearing up for the release of their 12th album Escape Of The Phoenix, another heavy, melancholic and thought-provoking journey. Unlike a typical creative process, which is often interrupted by appointments, travelling and one-off shows, lockdown requirements gave the band much needed time to work unhindered. The result is 11 songs that embody everything Evergrey fans have to expect, albeit ‘a more metal version of The Atlantic, with songs that are more direct’ according to the band.”
7 | Tombstones In Their Eyes | Silhouhette
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Los Angeles indie psych-rock outfit Tombstones in Their Eyes present their single Silhouhette, from the Collection anthology, accompanied by a clever animated video. Recently transformed from a quartet to trio when bassist Mike Mason moved from LA, the band now consists of John Treanor (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Stephen Striegel (drums, percussion) and Josh Drew (bass), with Paul Boutin (guitar) on board for future shows and recordings. Their melodic sound reveals cavernous stoner lullabies wrapped in dark shoegazing dreamscapes that descend into post-rock soundscapes.”
8 | Virgil Abloh | Delicate Limbs (ft. serpentwithfeet)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Multi-hyphenate Virgil Abloh has teamed up with serpentwithfeet to drop his latest track and video Delicate Limbs. Having previously collaborated with the likes of Boys Noize, Tiga & The Martinez Brothers, this release follows his recent remix of Mercury Award-winner Michael Kiwanuka’s hit Solid Ground. The single launches with a video directed by Kordae Jatafa Henry.”
9 | Lucy Spraggan | Animal
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “No stranger to the spotlight, Lucy Spraggan is one of the U.K.’s most exciting and talented artists. Lucy starts 2021 with Animal, the third single from her album Choices, due out Feb. 26 and inspired by a rich tapestry of life experiences that have given her the headspace to mature and grow, both musically and personally. On Animal, Lucy says: “I do a lot of skipping, ‘cause I do a lot of working out and do a lot of weightlifting, and my favorite thing to skip to is Bollywood music. It’s fucking sick! Bollywood music, bhangra music — we don’t have a Western rhythm like that. There’s so much energy and it makes me feel so passionate and alive. I was skipping and came in and just started writing that little guitar riff.”
10 | Nick Hans | I Ride Junk
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Anti-Corporate Music presents the fifth title in their acclaimed singer-songwriter series The Magnolia Sessions: Taos folk artist Nick Hans. He offers, “It was a real pleasure to make these recordings. I felt like I was playing around the fire, felt like I was busking in the quarter. I think that feeling came through in the songs. There are so many talented musicians involved in this project.”
11 | A Better Hand Sign | Wrong One
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Minneapolis alt-rock band A Better Hand’s debut Cheap Smokes and Champagne is out Feb. 26. It was produced by Seth Henderson at ABG Recording (State Champs, Knuckle Puck) and includes five frenetic new tracks which should appeal to fans of Issues & Point North. The single Wrong One is out now.”
12 | Charley Crockett | I Can Help
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Sometimes the best creativity comes by accident while one is busy making other plans. While he works on the followup to 2020’s acclaimed Welcome to Hard Times, Charley Crockett cut a song for The Next Waltz, Vol. 3 compilation, a project from Bruce Robison’s label. The song was Billy Swan’s 1974 country/pop crossover hit I Can Help. According to Crockett, “We showed up at the studio without any idea what we were gonna cut. Once we got in there I remembered this old Billy Swan number and I’d always wanted to record it. I think we got it in one or two takes. Like everything else at Bruce’s place, magic stuck to the tape.”
13 | TruCarr | She Got That (ft. Hardini)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Watts rapper TruCarr teams up with Hardini on She Got That, the latest fiery single off his upcoming debut Based On a Tru Story. Directed by NCF, the visual featuring a Blueface cameo sees the two rappers bringing the party wherever they go. From late-night ragers to daytime offices, anyplace they’re at is guaranteed to be a good time.”
14 | Passenger | Sword From The Stone
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Singer-songwriter Passenger (Mike Rosenberg) has released his full-length Songs for the Drunk and Broken Hearted, an album populated by characters that live up to the title — and written mostly when Rosenberg was newly single. Originally slated for a May 2020 release, when the global pandemic turned the world upside-down, Rosenberg decided the album wasn’t quite done after all. A few songs no longer seemed to fit and came off. More importantly, three new songs were added, including opener Sword from the Stone.”
15 | Araya | Color Palette
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Araya is a Thai-Chilean Brooklyn singer-songwriter, whose introspective lyrics cover themes ranging from inclusivity to identity, coupled with his serene vocal ability. Araya’s main focus this past year has been his debut LP Atlas, due this month. The lead track Color Palette pays homage to the importance that design plays in Araya’s world. “I think my music is mainly inspired by curiosity to forever learn and further investigate certain parts of myself that have led me to a deeper understanding of my place here. I think music has provided me a space to dissect my thoughts and experiences in an organic way that is lasting. The drafts of both my perspective and choices come to represent me and my journey.”
16 | Myles Sanko | Streams Of Time
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Myles Sanko shares Streams Of Time, the third single — and a soulful song with a heartfelt message — from his forthcoming album Memories Of Love, which will be out on March 12. Mixing soul with folk, jazz and gospel in a spectacular way, it is one of the key songs on Memories Of Love: “This song is about not wasting time and letting the important people in your life know that you love them very much,” says Sanko. “I feel I go through life so focussed on my goals that I forget to enjoy the here and now with the people I love. So before my time comes to an end I’d like to make peace with everyone I hold dear.”
17 | Nina Schofield | Not Perfect Now
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Heart-on-her-sleeve Nina Schofield continues her musical evolution with a personal confession on her breezy alt-pop single Not Perfect Now. She says: “I wrote Not Perfect Now after realising I had this internal battle going on between two different parts of myself: the part that pushes to always make things perfect and says ‘nothing is good enough’ (“Don’t give me your best, give me even more than that”) and the part that wants me to be my own best friend and treat myself with kindness (“Take back the pressure you place on me and watch as I rise up in your release”). It’s something I think a lot of us silently go through every day and it’s still an uphill battle for me.”
18 | Zayde Wølf | Back At It
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Nashville writer and producer Zayde Wølf is storming into 2021 with the tour-de-force fist-pumper Back At It. This powerhouse song sets the tone for what is bound to be a huge year for Dustin Burnett, the mastermind behind Zayde Wølf. Back at It is the first single from Wølf’s third full-length album due out this spring. “These songs are helping me in all these different ways,” says Burnett. “For a song to start in one place and then move all over the world to people who speak very little English is wild. These people reach out to me daily and say they are impacted by these songs in ways that turn their week around for better, or that the songs lead them to rethink a hard situation … and that’s powerful and humbling to me.”
19 | Summoning The Lich | The Nightmare Begins
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Summoning The Lich have announced that their debut album United In Chaos is due for release on Feb. 26. The band accompanied the announcement with a new single titled The Nightmare Begins, accopanied by a lyric video.”
20 | Werewolves | Crushgasm
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Australian death metal trio Werewolves have released the third single from their upcoming second album What A Time To Be Alive. Crushgasm is an all-out death metal and grind assault on the senses and a welcome slice of extreme metal escapism. The trio of Dave Haley (Psycroptic, Ruins, King), Matt Wilcock and Sam Bean (both of The Bezerker, The Antichrist Imperium), will release What A Time To Be Alive on Jan. 29.”
