Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band air their dirty laundry, Bodies of Water know how to baby a woman, Lisa Remar throws a swingin’ party, Citizen have a psychedelic Sunday — and those are just a few of the musical wonders that await you in an unusually cinematic Tuesday Roundup. You might want to make some popcorn. I like mine with plenty of butter and salt, please.
1 | Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band | Ways and Means
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The new album from Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band was written by candlelight and then recorded using the best technology available … in the 1950s. But listeners won’t find another album as relevant, electrifying and timely as Dance Songs for Hard Times. Scheduled for release April 9, Dance Songs for Hard Times conveys the hopes and fears of pandemic living. Rev. Peyton, the Big Damn Band’s vocalist and world-class fingerstyle guitarist, details topical challenges on songs like Ways and Means. “It’s a personal song, like all of my songs, but the song Ways and Means is written for all those folks that have the moves, the style, the substance, the talent, but maybe not the seed money or the famous last name. All those people that had to work extra hard, because they didn’t get to start way ahead. Folks that have been playing catch-up since they were born, and had to get really good just to make it to zero. The idea for the video was born from the lyrics, but also as a wink and a nod to those folks that know what it’s like inside of a laundromat. There could be a lot of magic hidden inside the people that you interact with in places like a laundromat, and my hope was to convey that.”
2 | Bodies of Water | Women in Love
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Bodies of Water are sharing their comical Women in Love video, which closes with quite an unexpected twist. David Metcalf gave some background on the video: “The stars of the video are our friends Thom and Kate, and Meredith’s and my daughter Bernadette (who just turned one year old! Covid baby). Kate came over first and we filmed her and the baby until Bernadette started crying, which was like 20 minutes (a surprisingly long time). Then Thom came over and the two of them shot their scenes on the couch. Kyle (bass player) came over too, and he and Meredith shot the shit in the kitchen while I filmed Thom and Kate in the other room and fed snacks to the baby while she sat in a high chair next to us. So while Thom and Kate tried to make out on the couch there was a man filming them and a baby next to them, squawking loudly. Very normal stuff. And through it all, they delivered A++ performances! What an inspiration.”
3 | Lisa Remar | Sonny
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “New York City native Lisa Remar has always loved music. Her passion for songwriting, producing and singing lives in her songs. Characterized by her soulful vocals and her unique sonic sensibility, Lisa’s music takes the listener to a familiar place they’ve never been before. Moments of playfulness transition into epic scores and vice versa. Boom-bap inspired rhythms appear unexpectedly and coast over her silky voice. Lisa’s psychedelic soundscape threads through most of her tracks and revels in tinges of melancholia. Similar to her music, Lisa’s style also draws influence from various backgrounds, and is representative of her biracial heritage. There’s something exciting about the music Lisa is making. It almost feels like listening to Fiona Apple or Lana Del Rey for the first time. A shock to the system — a refined rawness.”
4 | Citizen | Blue Sunday
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Toledo rock powerhouse Citizen recently announced their upcoming fourth full-length Life In Your Glass World, due out March 26. Today the band share another early taste of the record with their new single Blue Sunday. For over a decade Citizen have been challenging expectations, and on Life In Your Glass World they once again refuse to be easily defined. Every aspect of the album was made completely on their own terms, with vocalist Mat Kerekes building a studio in his garage where Citizen tracked the entire album. Kerekes discussed the new song, saying: “The song came about once I wrote the bass and drums to the verse for Blue Sunday. I sent it to the rest of the band and then we all got together to do the rest. Everything flowed naturally and it is one of my favorite songs on the record. It’s essentially about me never wanting to leave my house and although that makes me happy, it is bad for me in different ways.”
5 | Megan Nash & The Best Of Intentions | Quiet
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Megan Nash is sharing the workout video for her latest single Quiet. “This is my ‘Parking Lot Approved’ workout,” says Nash. “A way to get the blood flowing after sitting in a van for a couple of hours. Exercise helps me manage my anxiety and it’s something I need to make a priority when we get touring again. It’s a very goofy video but the intent is to bring some home workout joy to folks in the dark month of February and maybe help a dialogue with musicians about practicing movement as self care while touring. (When it is safe to do so!)”
6 | Practice | I Don’t Need Love
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The video is a love letter to the rave in a time of masks and isolation. We miss you, Rave,” says N.Y.C.’s Michael Tapper of indie electro-pop project Practice about his new video I Don’t Need Love. The tongue-in-cheek song is off his debut solo album Not A Game (out Feb. 19). Formerly a drummer for indie faves We Are Scientists, Bishop Allen, Fool’s Gold and Yellow Ostrich, Tapper is embracing a DIY aesthetic and striking out on his own with Practice, taking on the duties of songwriting, arranging, producing, recording, mixing, and videomaking himself. To make I Don’t Need Love, he asked a few of his friends to come over and dance, then he edited the video to make it look like everyone was together. He says the masks are not only a reference to the pandemic but also partly about persona and authenticity, or the lack thereof. “Who is the real you in this age of performative living, so to speak? Masks behind masks behind masks, etc.”
7 | Island | Octopus
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “London four-piece Island return with their new single Octopus. It follows on from the band’s 2019 EP When We’re Still and their 2018 debut Feels Like Air. The band say: “Octopus describes the feeling of looking back on rebellious teenage years from a time where an impulse to cause trouble has been replaced with new sentiments. It’s about the conflict felt as a musician between wanting to grow older and wiser and wanting to stay young, and it asks if we as a world are only interested in stories, and whether normality is something to be desired. A world in which you might be persuaded to change yourself to fit in, like an octopus changes colour to adapt to its surroundings. The song ends by flirting with the idea of reverting back to old ways, and getting back to making trouble.”
8 | The Tølks | Dancefloor
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “From the shadows, The Tølks step back in to the spotlight by introducing their new crown jewel: Dancefloor. Within the beat you can hear the echoes from the prom night, just before the final slow ones. It captures that magical moment when the party hits the ceiling and young souls feel free to feel free. The familiar Tølks groove drives the rock ’n’ roll to its edges with fresh twist. With no doubt, The Tölks will be taking the Dancefloor out to the clubs and to the bars. And there, out in the wild and among you party people, it will surely be with its kind.”
9 | Dry Cleaning | Strong Feelings
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Dry Cleaning have announced details of their debut studio album and have shared a new single Strong Feelings. The South London group of Nick Buxton (drums), Tom Dowse (guitar), Lewis Maynard (bass) and Florence Shaw (vocals) will release New Long Leg on April 2. New single Strong Feelings is a love song, of sorts. Shaw says, “it’s about secretly being in love with someone who doesn’t know it, and Brexit’s disruptive role in romantic relationships.” Its accompanying visuals, directed by guitarist Dowse, came about after Google searches brought together an informational video on road building basics from New Zealand and Massachusetts-based glitch artist Sabato Visconti.”
10 | The Parson Red Heads | Falling Fading
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Not only is Falling Fading the last song on The Parson Red Heads’ newest album Lifetime of Comedy, it was the last song frontman Evan Way wrote for the album, and the last song the band tracked in the studio. The new video captures that very moment — the final take of the final song for the album. Filmed and edited by Jared Lichtenberg, the video captures the magic of the Parsons — their friendship, their charisma, the joy they exude when they are together making music. It’s a true document of a moment in time, a month before the world changed, and because of this there is also an undeniable sense of nostalgia throughout the video — a nostalgia of a time not long past, that we all hope will not be long in returning.”
11 | King Baal | The Grand Judgement
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Symphonic metal outfit King Baal have released the official lyric video for The Grand Judgement, from their album Conjurements. The band comment: “The Grand Judgement is about being judged by your actions and being welcomed by Satan because he accepts everyone, no matter how they are. It is criticism to the judgemental religious mentality.”
12 | Los Disidentes Del Sucio Motel | Blood-Planet Child
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Nearly five years after the release of Human Collapse, French heavy rockers Los Disidentes Del Sucio Motel are back with their fourth album Polaris, set for release on April 2. Recorded at White Bat Recorders by Rémi Gettliffe, Polaris is the band’s most daring, dynamic and mature release to date and sees them further delving into progressive terrains.”
13 | Lisel + Booker Stardrum | I Am Not Ready To Go
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Lisel (vocalist and composer Eliza Bagg) and Booker Stardrum (electronic musician and percussionist) have announced the release of their first collaborative album Mycelial Echo, out April 9. The lead single I Am Not Ready To Go is out now, alongside a video directed and edited by Eliza Bagg (Lisel). The album brings together Stardrum’s textural, polyrhythmic production with the sweeping, ethereal world of Lisel’s fractured, futurist form of pop.”
14 | Josh Halper | Honest Feeling
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Nashville guitarist Josh Halper quips, “I was raised in Tennessee by a Jewish, New York Deadhead.” That’s not all you need to know about him, but that curious and compelling combination captures the mixture of humor, sorrow and musical virtuosity that ripples throughout Halper’s debut album Alrightnik. Halper is a classically trained guitarist who spent years playing in local bands, and has become a go-to hired gun session musician. Alrightnik bridges all these facets of Halper’s young but already-prolific career. Constructed from the live sets he’d been playing around town, the record comprises a mix of deftly wry self-reflections, intricate guitar-forward instrumentals and one faithful Randy Newman cover.”
15 | Mark Clennon | Don’t Start A Fire
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Future-soul artist Mark Clennon is back with the poignant single Don’t Start A Fire. On this new track, the Toronto artist explores relationship ambiguity and the far-too-common phenomenon of playing with another person’s feelings. This song encapsulates what the Jamaican-born musician is all about, using his powerful, touching voice and a sweeping track. Don’t Start A Fire is the first single from Clennon’s upcoming EP Foreign, due March 19. Says Clennon: “I wanted to be in the place where I felt the most comfortable in the world and that’s my apartment, it’s also the space where the events that inspired me to write the song took place.”
16 | Valfreya | Warlords
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The world needs astonishing stories as outlet for strong emotions now more than ever. In the shape of Montreal’s larger-than-life metal warriors Valfreya, it has them! And in their striking vocalist, it has its Valkyrie! Watch Valfreya’s new video for the track Warlords.”
17 | Best Ex | Feed The Sharks
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “It’s really hard to remind yourself that the online bandwagon is a horrible beast that preys on the most vulnerable,” says Mariel Loveland of N.Y.C. indiepop band Best Ex about her new track/video Feed The Sharks. “It wants to brutally devour someone it doesn’t even know for some perceived belief about how they are. It doesn’t allow for humanity. To me, it felt like I was feeding pieces of myself to sharks every time I opened my phone.” Feed The Sharks is taken off last year’s Good At Feeling Bad EP. The music video was filmed during the first lockdown and Loveland says she wanted to play around with the colour so it would represent how it feels when you’re in a “hole of internet negativity” — from the awful comments to the terrible news cycle. “There’s this Wizard of Oz moment,” she says, “when I step outside and realize the whole world is actually beautiful as long as you choose to go out and experience that beauty. I think that’s something important I often forget: the internet makes the world seem like a terrible place, especially during a pandemic when we can’t go outside and it’s like our lifeline, but it’s lying to us.”
18 | Averted | The Curse
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Averted just released the lyric video for The Curse, from their EP Silenced. “I wrote The Curse out of my own frustration to see the world divided and self destructing, I wanted to understand the reasons why someone could justify bringing so much chaos where there could be peace. In this song the character is torn between their beliefs and the new realisation that there’s no way back from the path of blood they have chosen to take.”
19 | Sonic Boom | On A Summer’s Day
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “To Sonic Boom’s Pete Kember, re-imagining the past can lead to ways forward on life’s natural,interconnected path. In April, he released his first album in over 20 years called All Things Being Equal, a lush and psychedelic record full of interwoven synthesizers and droning vocal melodies,concerned with the state of humanity and the natural world. An entire year later, Kember has re-imagined his last release and created an album of self-remixed tracks called Almost Nothing Is Nearly Enough, inspired by the spirit of late ’70s, early ’80s records by artists like Kraftwerk, Moroder, Blondie and Eddy Grant. His new album is hypnotic and moody, holding onto the existential framework of the original, but exposes a fresh, beating realm of possibility.”
20 | Reternity | No Deeper Hole
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Reternity have released a new animated lyric video for the track No Deeper Hole, taken from their latest album A Test Of Shadows.”
21 | Mista Savona | The Fire from Africa (ft. Micah Shemaiah, The Gideon & Anyilena)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Fire From Africa blends roots Jamaican reggae with Afro-Cuban chants, bringing together traditional and spiritual elements of both islands.”
https://youtu.be/7sgjUeybjEQ
22 | Sangit | Anta La Balo (ft. Kadi Coulibaly & Adina Shine)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Funky, upbeat, and blending elements of Afro-Jazz, soul, funk and world music flavors, Sangit’s Anta La Balo features musicians from a wide variety of cultures and highlights the soulful voices of Israel’s Adina Shine and Burkina Faso’s Kadi Coulibaly.”
23 | Claire Rousay | Discrete (The Market)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Experimental musician Claire Rousay and visual artist Dani Toral have been in each others’ orbit since young adulthood in San Antonio, but it took a decade for them to find A Softer Focus. Before Rousay had put her compositional gray matter to task for the album’s music, she knew she wanted to work with Toral. Toral’s vibrant color palette and reinterpretations of comfort in oneself and the natural, vegetative world connected easily with her explorations in communication and intimacy. Historically, Rousay primarily operated in non-melodic experimental music, sculpting compositions from obsessive field recordings, inserting voice-to-text, percussion played via text message sounds, conversations, and daily life. By contrast, the six-song collection and collaborative project a softer focus is lush and almost entirely melodic, even veering into pop at a couple points.”
24 | Minor Moon | Under An Ocean Of Holes
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Minor Moon — the Chicago cosmic Americana group led by multi-instrumentalist Sam Cantor — have shared Under An Ocean Of Holes, from their March 26 album Tethers. Says Cantor: “I was trying to dive deeper into the experience of a separation with a partner that was defined by confusion and a sense of being lost. A lot of ideas, emotions and attachments that had come to define a large part of my life were getting reordered or vanishing altogether. That thick fog made it hard to think, speak or write about anything directly. Transforming the narrative into a big, grandiose metaphor, ‘an ocean of holes,’ a frightening descent into some magical deep-down unknown realm, seemed more accurate to me than any lucid, mundane account of things. Writing this way helped open the door to the rest of the songs on Tethers.”
25 | Drones | Live & Let Live
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Live & Let Live is for anyone who has ever felt trapped in their own skin,” says Drones vocalist Lois McDougall of the band’s highly relatable new track. “We’re all born with unique bodies. We don’t have a say in what they’re going to look like, yet for some reason, we’ve built a society where we’re judged based on our appearance — The colour of our skin, our height, our hair colour, our sex, our body shape. Try to see past what’s been drilled into you by people’s contrived views. We have to actively work to fight those deeply ingrained preconceptions because we are all unique, and most of us have felt the damage of unfounded opinion in some way.” Drones’ new album Our Hell Is Right Here, comes out Friday.”
26 | Gal Go Grey | Flama
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Enigmatic London duo Gal Go Grey arrive with their new single Flama. The new track is accompanied by the announcement of their self-titled debut album, which is due out March 16. Gal Go Grey is the product of Argentinian saxophonist Ignacio Salvadores aka Galgo and Tom Grey, a London born experimental producer. On Flama, Ignacio pushes his saxophone to the limit, while Grey’s trudging drums and lush pads engulf the low end of the mix. This combination of acoustic and electronic sound creates a visceral energy that originally emerged in the dynamic and unpredictable live performances Gal Go Grey played before lockdown struck.”
27 | Kris Delmhorst | Light Breaks Through
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Following on the heels of last summer’s album Long Day in the Milky Way, Kris Delmhorst will release Light Breaks Through on March 26 — a postscript EP of three additional songs from the same session. Today, Delmhorst shares the title track. Light Breaks Through was written from the perspective of witnessing someone wrestling with depression, but translates well to the current mood as a general expression of optimism and relief. A straight-up, unabashed jam, made for a stretch of open road with the windows rolled down. “This one was pure recreation,” Delmhorst says. “No overthinking, no discussion, just play it how it feels good.”
28 | Spiritual Exit | Painless
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Aaron Davis was born in England but grew up in Minot, North Dakota, near a large military base known for housing one of America’s most strategic caches of nuclear weapons. In 2004 Davis launched his long-running solo drone vehicle Acre. Following an extended artistic sabbatical, Davis has returned to his calling of miasmic electronics under a new banner: Spiritual Exit. Themes of Ruination, his debut, skews more nuanced and diverse than earlier work, utilizing an array of digital synthesizers, guitars, and vintage software. Album opener Painless floats on a bed of strings and horns, awash in anesthetic reverb.”
29 | Young Empress | Home
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Home is about being afraid. It’s that moment of uncertainty, the fear of not knowing what the future holds. It’s about being scared to be your true, authentic self. It’s about feeling small and childlike, lost and trying to find a sense of belonging. Home is written from the perspective of those caught up within the depths of anxiety, feeling like a darkness surrounds them while they try to find the strength to overcome their fears and stand tall again. Home is ethereal and haunting. Its melancholic retro wave opens with brooding undertones but evolves into bouncing pop vibes. It is heavily influenced by vocal harmony led classics and encapsulates the sound of an ’80s movie montage where the hero of the story has reached their lowest point but has risen up to overcome their demons. Analogue synths, guitars drenched in chorus and vocals reverberating out into the darkness, Home was written at the birth of Young Empress and marks a special place in our journey together as a duo.”
