Holy Death Trio give off bad vibes, Miss Lava dose you with eternal love, Big Mother Big bet on the underdog, Iceage take you by the hand, Old City Murs fly the punk Flag — and they’re just the appetizers for the musical buffet being served up for your Tuesday Roundup. This is a lot of rock for a Tuesday. Hope you can handle it.
1 | Holy Death Trio | Bad Vibrations
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Born out of a Mercury retrograde, the stars literally aligned when Holy Death Trio formed in 2016. These Central Texas natives sound like what would happen if Jimi Hendrix played with Black Sabbath and John Dwyer from Thee Of Sees set up his pedalboard. Suffice it to say, the ever shredding band knew they were onto something special from the first. Psychedelia rams into hard-hitting riffs when Holy Death Trio play, and they are determined to give their all. In anticipation of their upcoming debut release, the band recently issued a series of digital singles, including the Bad Vibrations video.”
2 | Miss Lava | Brotherhood Of Eternal Love
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Lisbon retro-rock bringers Miss Lava unveil their trippy video for Brotherhood Of Eternal Love, from the band’s latest full-length Doom Machine, released last month. “The lyrics were inspired by a documentary called Sunshine Makers, where some of the first LSD makers wanted to offer LSD to everyone in order to end wars,” notes Miss Lava vocalist Johnny Lee. “Of course, things turned out differently and out of control; a bit like the world we live in nowadays.”
3 | Big Mother Gig | The Underdog
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Milwaukee-bred/L.A.-based indie-rock band Big Mother Gig announced the April 30 release of their album Gusto. A celebration of sobriety, Gusto is first and foremost a recovery record. “I celebrated my first year of sobriety alone over a stormy spring weekend in a desert cabin with some recording gear,” frontman Richard Jankovich recalls. “The album just flowed out of me — 13 songs over three days. I wrote from morning until night and it was cathartic.” Cloaked in guitar-driven catharsis and featuring guest vocals from Leah Wellbaum of Slothrust, the new single The Underdog refers to Jankovich himself, but is an ode to his wife, who never left and helped him through a life of high-functioning alcoholism and disappointment. She helped uncover his trauma, addiction and overall issues.”
4 | Iceage | The Holding Hand
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Ten years since the release of their debut album New Brigade, Copenhagen’s Iceage return with The Holding Hand. Throughout the track, romance and desire are feelings that stretch torturously — a race without a finish line. Elias Bender Rønnenfelt’s voice crawls over slow-marching percussion and glittering wind chimes, and as scorching guitar and Nils Gröndahl’s piercing violin layer in, the song rises to an intense peak. “The song lives in a slurred world, movements are elastically stretched out and strength is found in weakness while you find it hard to tell the difference between fume and matter,” says Rønnenfelt. “Gently the swaying intensifies, feel it escalate. Reach out for the holding hand, it seems almost within scope now.”
5 | Old City | Sixers (ft. Murs)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “My story ain’t like yours … ” begins Murs in Sixers, the newest single by Old City. The track is a fusion of punk and hip-hop: A verbal onslaught over production that’s percussive, abrasive and raw. Joining Murs on the track is Old City’s main collab Tre Marsh (aka Tr38cho), a Buffalo native effortlessly balancing the tone. Sampling Black Flag’s iconic Six Pack, Sixers is about the weirdos, the renegades, and finding your tribe through style. It’s for all rappers that favor other genres outside of hip-hop as an influence and suburban punk kids that only want to vent their frustrations in the moshpit of a sweaty basement.”
6 | The Jailbirds | I Will Move On
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Dynamic Canadian hard rock trio The Jailbirds have dropped the single I Will Move On, from the band’s upcoming five-track concept EP. I Will Move On sees The Jailbirds back at their origins — heavy, modern hard rock, with loud and aggressive guitar tones, soft, crisp acoustic and clean guitars, with powerful thrashing drums, eerie vocals and chilling harmonies. I Will Move On is the last song on the EP, and the last part of the story. It again follows the same character, rising up above the negativity in their life and gaining the confidence to keep on going.”
7 | M. Ward | Violets For Your Furs
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “M. Ward has released his video for Violets For Your Furs, a rendition of the Billie Holiday song featured on his latest album Think of Spring. Directed by Holly Andres, Ward performs the song on acoustic guitar in a dreamlike state. “I first heard [Billie’s album] Lady In Satin in a mega-shopping mall somewhere in San Francisco,” M. Ward explained. “I was about 20 years old and didn’t know much about Billie’s records or her life or how her voice changed over the years. Anyway, the sound was coming from the other side of the mall and I remember mistaking her voice for a beautiful perfectly distorted electric guitar — some other-world thing floating there on this strange mournful ocean of strings and I was hooked for life.”
8 | Max Foreman | Underground
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Underground is the debut solo release from Los Angeles songwriter and producer Max Foreman. A figure in the West Coast music scene for two decades, Foreman is best known for his keyboard and vocal work in the electric pop duo Bouquet, and as guitarist of the San Francisco math-rock trio Tenebre. On his new EP, Foreman’s meticulous songwriting has delivered a classic work of pop surrealism. The lyrics of Underground oscillate between serenity and alienation, searching for moments of reprieve in the midst of unprecedented crisis. The story unfolds in fragments — the prematurely changing seasons, the sensation of radiant city lights, and in the title track, an earthquake striking just after midnight. Sometimes, as Foreman intones, “Heaven speaks from underground.”
9 | The Weather Station | Parking Lot
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Weather Station — a project of Tamara Lindeman — will release her album Ignorance this Friday. Today’s new song/video Parking Lot is the latest in a string of singles that put Lindeman’s refined sound front and center — another dynamic stunner in which Lindeman places a vulnerable love song to a bird against subtle disco. “Parking Lot is my strange gentle disco song about a humble encounter with a bird and being tired and being in love, and being heartbroken in ways I didn’t quite yet understand,” says Lindeman. “I don’t fully know how everything connects in this song other than it obviously does. I wanted to make the recording very passionate and beautiful while also being very muscular while also being very gentle, and so I did.”
10 | Indii G. | Drifting
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: ” Multi-talented lo-fi hip-hop rapper Indii G. shares his new single Drifting. The vibey lotrack featuring minimalist guitars and soulful melodies demonstrates Indii’s keen ability for producing bedroom indie-pop. “This song is a product of me sitting around feeling nostalgic about my childhood. Growing up and having people that were once so important to you just fade away is still crazy to me,” explains Indii. “Drifting highlights one person in particular because without her and the times we spent together, I definitely wouldn’t be who I am now and I feel she deserves to know that.” The video, featuring a treatment written by Indii and directed by Aaron Marsh, attempts to recreate those special moments while juxtaposing them with the representation of absence depicted with a cat plushie.”
11 | Beams | Born To Win
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Always saying yes means you’re always on the go,” is the resounding chorus of Born To Win, the lead single off the album Ego Death from Toronto’s Beams. Ego Death works as a hero’s journey; chronicling songwriter Anna Mērnieks’ challenges with mental health contrasted with the joy of transformation. Reminiscent of classic Fleetwood Mac and Kate Bush, Born to Win combines psychedelic folk, shimmering vocal harmonies, and lyrics we can all connect with.”
12 | Laurence-Anne | Indigo
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Laurence-Anne unveils Indigo, the first single off her sophomore album due later this year. This song follows the release of her EP and short film Accident in 2020, and her debut album Première Apparition (2019). The single’s visuals take shape in the video under the creativity of Matthew Rankin. Shot on 16mm film, the video features Laurence-Anne as a ghostly entity who appears and disappears through thick smoke. Textured, intense, shiny and chaotic, the video creates the sensation of being caught up in an electrical storm, and Laurence-Anne is the vortex. She’s the air, the electricity, she travels across the universe.”
13 | Ebony Buckle | Wonder
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Ebony Buckle is a London-based singer-songwriter originally from her tropical seaside home of Townsville, Australia. Writing and performing with her husband, musician Nick Burns, who also produces her music, Buckle uses captivating stories to hold a mirror up to herself and the world. Her latest single Wonder is inspired by the world’s loneliest whale. 52 was first discovered in the ’80s, singing at a frequency of 52hz (higher than any species known to humans). It was believed that this whale would not be heard by any of the other whales in the ocean, but now after decades of research there is another theory, that the whale’s song is heard by all other whales, as it stands out with its uniqueness. Wonder features a sample of the actual whale’s call, as well as haunting organs. Buckle’s spine-tingling vocals, float delicately atop minimalistic, ethereal melodies, creating an almost hypnotic effect.”
14 | Black Soul Horde | The Frail And The Weak (Frail Version)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Greek epic heavy-metal trio Black Soul Horde have just revealed a video for a track from their new EP A Lonely Road, featuring acoustic versions of two songs from their second album Land of Demise. The acoustic version for The Frail And The Weak features Johnny Thermos on piano and Katerina Garofallidi on vocals. Land of Demise was produced, recorded, mixed and mastered in Mothstudio Productions, Athens, Greece by guitarist John Tsiakopoulos and features Vasilis Nanos as session drummer.”
15 | Joseph Shabason | The Fellowship
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Across eight tracks that mesh spacious, jazz-laced composition with fourth-world and adult-contemporary tonality, Toronto saxophonist Joseph Shabason sketches an auditory map of the transcendence, unity, conditioning, and eventual renunciation of his upbringing in an Islamic and Jewish dual-faith household. The resulting album The Fellowship bears the name of the insular Islamic community Shabason’s traditionally Jewish parents belonged to from a time before he was even born; a mental and spiritual push pull which continued shaping, even controlling, his outlook well into his adulthood. As a listening experience The Fellowship follows a chronological arc that spans three generations covering his parents’ early lives, his own spiritual and physical adolescence, and his subsequent struggle to eschew the problematic habituations of such a conflicted past. ”
16 | Mind’s Doors | The Light
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “After two years, Spanish progressive rock combo Mind’s Doors are back to launch their video for The Light, taken from their 2018 album The Edge of the World. “Mind’s Doors haven’t stopped through the last 2020, they’ve been working on their upcoming album, which will be the fourth in their career. Despite these hard times, they’re still looking for new ideas to develop another great story that undoubtedly will surprise you. As an appetizer, Mind’s Doors offer a video for The Light, a vital song to understand the story underneath this incredible album, where you will find the magic that music can produce to everyone.”
17 | Shem Thomas | Old Ferry Road
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Don’t we all know them? Those moments in life when we ask ourselves if we’re still on the right path. And those when we become painfully aware that we have lost our way. On Old Ferry Road, the second single from his upcoming album 8, Shem Thomas sings touchingly about how he lost his anchor as a 24-year-old and how he wanted to find it again. His words and story cast a spell on the listener. You can feel the longing and urgency in his voice. Old Ferry Road is a homage to something ancient and original in us — the longing for happiness.”
18 | Psymon Spine | Channels
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Psymon Spine are sharing their single Channels, a cathartic foray into punk for the dance/psych outfit and final preview from their sophomore full-length Charismatic Megafauna, coming Feb. 19. Says member Noah Prebish: “The lyrics came from this analogy of the creative mind being a map with various bodies of water scattered throughout (each body of water representing some area of interest, skill, or trait), and how as an artist our job is to daily cultivate and irrigate this land, making sure every part is getting enough water and that no part is getting flooded. I had initially planned on delivering the lyrics in a more laidback/spoken manner, but as we kept tracking everyone kept telling me to push it further each time, and when we finally got the best take I was screaming my guts out — I literally could taste blood. It ended up working out just how it was supposed to and gave the song this totally different energy that I had initially expected.”
19 | Drew Jodi | Coward
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Candid melancholy meets percussive, downtempo art pop in debut single Coward from South London producer-turned singer-songwriter Drew Jodi. A timely reflection on loneliness and self-worth, the ambient, synth-driven track walks listeners through the re-emergence of an old flame, under an all too familiar backdrop of looming despondence. Jodi reflects:”On a day I’d found myself mentally struggling, I lingered on a SourSync beat on Instagram. It perfectly scored the moment I was having and within an hour I had written the lyrics.”
20 | Geometry of Chaos | Spiral Staircase
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Italian band Geometry of Chaos are the new project from Fabio La Manna (guitarist, bassist and songwriter) and Davide Cardella, drummer and much more. Recently they released their first album Soldiers of Τhe Νew World Order, with influences from metal to classic rock to progressive rock and alternative.”
21 | Feculent | Host Consumed
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Featuring current members of Shackles, Snorlax, Resin Tomb, Descent, Siberian Hell Sounds and Idle Ruin, Brisbane death-metal quartet Feculent have unleashed the first audio from their forthcoming debut album The Grotesque Arena, due out on March 19. Merging the perverted brutality of death metal with the moribund stench of doom-metal, like a contagious, flesh-eating disease feeding on dying corpses, The Grotesque Arena is perhaps one the most rotten, brutal and the filthiest death-metal releases to come out this year.”
22 | Gravesend | Ashen Piles Of Incinerated
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Ashen Piles Of Incinerated from N.Y.C. black/death metal trio Gravesend is now streaming as the band’s debut LP, Methods Of Human Disposal, nears release in just over two weeks. Gravesend arise with ill intent like a foul emanation from the aging sewage filled rot slowly winding its way beneath the city’s vast concrete walls and pavement pathways; a New York of discarded needles, noxious fumes, scavenging rats, broken bottles, and cracked minds. An aural manifesto of urban blight and disgust, Methods Of Human Disposal is the appropriately grotesque followup to their cult-revered Preparations For Human Disposal 2020 demo.”
23 | Puma Blue | Already Falling
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Puma Blue shares his new single Already Falling ahead of the release of his debut album In Praise of Shadows on Friday. Already Falling features arguably the smoothest, most sensual vocals of Puma Blue’s career to date. Thematically it continues Blue’s flair for opening up about introspective vulnerabilities. As he explains, “Already Falling was written about the intoxication of waking up with someone special. You want to fall down the rabbit hole with them forever, but you’re also trying not to get too ahead of yourself. There’s a realization that it’s too late for that, but it’s OK to give into those feelings when you trust yourself.”
24 | Bongzilla | Sundae Driver
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Midwestern sludge behemoths and all-time weed metal pioneers Bongzilla unleashed their single Sundae Driver, taken from their forthcoming fifth album Weedsconsin, due out April 20. Featuring a three-piece lineup of all-original members — bassist/vocalist Muleboy, guitarist Spanky and drummer Magma — Sundae Driver delivers the kind of hazy, heavy-as-hell doom that Bongzilla earned their reputation. The riffs on Sundae Driver are low and slow, sounding like they originate in a smoke-filled room; paired with a flattening rhythm section, the instruments create the ideal backdrop for Muleboy’s throat-shredding, smoke-destroyed vocals.”
25 | Aeonblack | Warriors Call
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “South German heavy/power metallers Aeonblack are set to release their second full-length The Time Will Come on Feb. 26. The Time Will Come features 11 tracks of traditional heavy metal with powerful, raw and sophisticated arrangements. Listen to their first single Warriors Call.”
26 | Almost Owen | 2020 Heartbreak
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Almost Owen has released his rock and hip-hop-infused pop single 2020 Heartbreak. He describes 2020 Heartbreak as “a high-key f*ck you to the totally batshit year that was 2020.” Featuring one of Almost Owen’s most aggressive and outrageous vocal performances yet, he sings a humorous eulogy for an awful epoch. The track is both explosive and euphoric, falling somewhere between what one might expect from Machine Gun Kelly and Post Malone. 2020 Heartbreak is ultimately about resilience in the face of so much American carnage, and the dubious hope that the years to come will be better.”
27 | Jordan Dean | Local
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Jordan Dean grew up in Cleveland, but his musical heroes are very clearly on the other side of the pond, as evidenced by the tracks on his new EP Local. With his own take on indie-pop — which incorporates a raw, live sound — he draws influence from all the music he comes across, but you’ll be quick to pick up on the melodies and sounds of artists such as Jamie T, The Kooks and Arctic Monkeys. However, Local is distinctly Jordan Dean, comforting and familiar yet fresh and engaging.”
28 | Moon City Masters | Takin’ It Back
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Our single Takin’ It Back is out today. The one thing we have to say about our next tune is “Power to the people.” Takin’ It Back is a big, riffing rock anthem to lift you up. The song started with a jam, but then that jam became a plan to take it to the man. The nascent funky riffs became a tune that we took to Grammy-nominated producer Justin Craig. Together we turned it into an all-out, grooving rock tune.”
29 | Julia Brennan | Unblame
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Minneapolis singer-songwriter Julia Brennan dropped three singles last year, and just released the EP Honest. It’s a beautiful cumulation of her craft: A fivetrack project exploring loss, desire and heartache. Written by Julia in collaboration with renowned producers and songwriters Jenna Andrews (BTS, Dua Lipa, Drake), BoyMatthews (Hayden James, Oliver Heldens) and Steve Soloman (James Arthur), lead single Unblame is an emotional cut from a young artist navigating her way through heartbreak.”
30 | The Prairie States | High That I’m Riding
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Mixing the cadence and rhythms of ’60s soul and ’70s rock with modern country, The Prairie States were born out of a desire to put a fresh touch on a classic design. With a stack of recordings already completed and even more underway with CCMA and Juno winner Bart McKay, they show no signs of slowing down. The Prairie States’ latest single High That I’m Riding is a euphoric country rocker that gallops headfirst towards the indescribable feelings that only the one you love can ignite inside of you. The track continues to showcase the band’s unique take on modern country music.”
