Art d’Ecco goes straight to your head, Arrows to Fire get your motor running, Yard Of Blondes have deja vu all over again, Timo Ellis sees doom at every turn — and I hope you’re ready for another mega-sized Weekend Roundup. Actually, I don’t care if you’re ready. This is happening:
1 | Art d’Ecco | Head Rush
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Art d’Ecco’s latest single Head Rush is the second release off of the upcoming album In Standard Definition, out April 23. d’Ecco elaborates: “It’s a song about the head rush of our youth. Nostalgia is a powerful drug, it distorts and reframes the past, often reconciling our memories into one place for easy access and to better suit our current disposition or state of mind.”
2 | Arrows to Fire | I’m Supersonic
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Austin indie-rockers Arrows To Fire deliver their latest single I’m Supersonic. Driven by solid guitar power, their sound is in keeping with a tradition of ’90s-rooted alternative rock, only with a current twist. A U.S.-French collaboration, Arrows To Fire is Texan John Joyo on vocals and French/American guitarist Chris Lavigne, who warns listeners to “Get ready for a ride and rock on.” Joyo adds: “Chris and I both love Harley-Davidson motorcycles and both love anything that goes fast. “I’m Supersonic is written from the perspective of a vintage 74 cubic inch Harley-Davidson Shovelhead motor.”
3 | Yard Of Blondes | Hummingbird
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “L.A. rockers Yard Of Blondes share the video for Hummingbird, the fourth single from their upcoming album Feed The Moon. Say the band: “The song was written in 2016 after the Ferguson unrest and the fatal shooting of Michael Brown. Unfortunately, the last year showed us with George Floyd and Breonna Taylor that the song was still accurate and the deadly pandemic gave it an unsuspected new meaning. The video directed by Fanny and Vincent shows a menace coming at people who don’t have time to react. It spreads like a deadly virus among the population … Sounds familiar?”
4 | Timo Ellis | Death Is Everywhere
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Next week, New York City’s Timo Ellis — known as the vocalist/frontman for Netherlands, as well as his extensive catalog of recordings with countless international artists — will unveil his latest solo EP, Death Is Everywhere. Today he presents a video for the title track. Ellis reveals: “A funky sludge/R&B song in 7/8, this song is about how — in my opinion — modern, hyper-individualist, hyper-mediated capitalist life more and more deeply hoodwinks people into confusing nihilism with liberation, and generally how modern post-industrial civilization, contrary to appearances, is functionally a runaway, ecocidal death cult.”
5 | Volvopenta | One To Five
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “One To Five is the new video by noisy post-rock quartet Volvopenta, taken from the Simulacrum album due Feb. 26. The band say: “The video is a rather free-associative thing. The text is about the G20 summit and the riots in Hamburg. In the video you can see an alpine summit, and the short almost imperceptible inserts are scenes from a film snippet about the street protests. So, somehow everything makes sense, but not in an intellectual way.”
6+7 | Plague Of Carcosa | Rats In The Walls + Sarnath Live
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “After a year’s silence, Plague of Carcosa announce their return with a live performance video by guitarist Eric Zann and new drummer Alexander Adams, summoning doom almighty at Chicago’s Livewire Lounge. The duo feud with the darkest of voids in this two-song, half-hour performance consisting of the band’s standing behemoth Rats in the Walls followed by an entirely new piece called Sarnath, named after the ancient city of Lovecraft’s writing.”
8 | John Paul Keith | The Sun’s Gonna Shine Again
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Memphis artist John Paul Keith’s new album The Rhythm of the City is out today. To celebrate, he shared the video for one of the record’s highlights, the wonderully uplifting Sun’s Gonna Shine Again. He explains: “Promoting an album without being able to tour presents a unique challenge. We’d already finished the record by the time the pandemic started, but we hadn’t decided on when or how to release it. I kept hearing about pop stars shooting music videos with phones, so I thought I’d give it a try, since I’d never made a music video at all before. After a few months of trial and error we released my first video, How Can You Walk Away, and people liked it well enough for me to make another one.”
9 | Myd | Born A Loser
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The delightfully irreverent French DJ, musician and producer Myd will release his debut album Born A Loser on April 30. The album contains 14 tracks, including previous single Moving Men with Mac DeMarco, and new single Born A Loser. Myd says: “The song is an anthem dedicated to all the people who think they are losers. This feeling should give them the strength they need to go and achieve great things.”
10 | Skraeckoedlan | Universum
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “A decade has passed since Skraeckoedlan released their debut Äppelträdet, an album that marked the start of the modern Swedish stoner-rock scene. One of the heaviest cuts of the album was Universe, released with English lyrics. Now, 10 years later, the band re-recorded the track with Swedish lyrics. It sounds more fierce than ever, adding a new dimension to Skraeckoedlan’s unique, massive sound.”
11 | The Hawkins | Roomer
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Hawkins released Roomer in spring 2020 as the first taste of the band’s second studio album Silence is a Bomb. Being an energetic and undeniably catchy track, the band also decided to record it live and include it on their latest album Live in the Woods.”
12 | Volcanova | Live at Gaukurinn
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Volcanova did a live stream last week from Iceland. Being an active live band who has shared stages with Elder, Brain Police, Sólstafir and The Vintage Caravan, Volcanova are a joy to behold on stage. With explosive energy, palpable stage presence and with three members who all sing, they deliver a highly entertaining package of fuzzy rock. Live at Gaukurinn is a must to watch for anyone longing for volcanic, sweaty live shows.”
13-15 | Beyond Remains | Silent City + Rhythm Of The Night + Fall From Heaven
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The two Djentlemen of Beyond Remains just unveiled a new live session recorded in a gazebo as a preview of their upcoming record. All these tracks will featured on After The Violence, a concept mini-album serving up six very different songs that widen the spectrum of their musical palette, plus a new single. Even though After The Violence is rooted in metalcore and thrash, it also doesn’t shy away from rock, classical and acoustic influences.”
16 | Cadence Weapon | Senna (ft. Jacques Greene)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Cadence Weapon, the moniker of Toronto rapper, producer, writer and poet Rollie Pemberton, says his new LP Parallel World will be out April 30. The album’s first single Senna arrived today. “Senna is inspired by legendary Brazilian F1 driver Ayrton Senna. The documentary about him from 2010 has floated in the periphery of my mind ever since I first saw it,” Cadence describes. “Musically, it shares the spirit of early U.K. grime but what we ended up creating feels completely new. When Jacques Greene and I were in the studio working on this track and I heard the beat he was making, Senna started floating around my head like a mantra.”
17 | The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer | Forever Fool
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Four years after the original release of Apocalipstick, Post-Apocalipstick takes disparate elements from The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer’s original record, puts them in a blender and spits out completely new interpretations. The thought process behind Post-Apocalipstick was to create a remix record that didn’t sound like a remix record, but more of an out-of-the-box re-imagining of each track. Forever Fool, the first new offering + accompanying music video (dir. Peter Ricq), evokes ’80s horror synth scores and reflects that in its visuals — pink neon colours and sunglasses bathed in a VHS texture.”
18 | Valerie June | Why The Bright Stars Glow
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Valerie June shares Why The Bright Stars Glow, the latest track and video from her album The Moon & Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers, out March 12. Directed by Renata Raksha (Purity Ring, Brooke Candy), the ethereal clip embodies a dreamer’s aura as Valerie’s shimmering figure cuts against a night sky.”
19 | Vallens | While You Are Still Waiting
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Toronto art-pop combo Vallens indulge in some Warpaint-worthy wiggle on their latest single While You Are Still Waiting, which is out today and taken from their forthcoming album In Era, out March 19. Vocalist, guitarist, keyboardist and songwriter Robyn Philips says, “All the songs feel special to me. Which is not to speak highly of myself, but it’s just a nice feeling to have — to know that I really tried to make this album the most reflective of my current style and taste and musicianship and it’s so rare that you actually get that and I think I achieved that. So I’m just proud of it. I don’t necessarily know that everyone’s gonna resonate with it, but it feels nice to feel strong in your own feelings about it.”
20 | Arlo Maverick | Hashtag
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Edmonton hip-hop artist Arlo Maverick is unveiling a video/short film for the track Hashtag, a song of protest about racial profiling and police brutality that will appear on his forthcoming EP Soul Merchant, set for release in spring. Maverick suggests the prevalence of the bias-based policing that leads to violence. “When you see the chalk outlines of bodies and all of the hashtags come up at the end of the video, I wanted the viewer to be overwhelmed by the number of names on the screen. For them to think, ‘How many more Black lives need to be taken for changes to happen?’” said Maverick. “Since the video was filmed, more people have been killed. Before the end of the year, it’s going to happen again.”
21 | Hail The Sun | Parasitic Cleanse
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Chico, CA genre-benders Hail The Sun are back with Parasitic Cleanse. The song marks the second preview from their upcoming Kris Crummett-produced album New Age Filth, out April 16. Donovan Melero explains: “Humans have been so terrible to each other throughout history. One way this is justified is by one side feeling that the other side isn’t really human. If the attacking party can convince its followers that their enemies are less than human, it becomes easier to do horrific things as a larger group. The first atom bomb came with unthinkable carnage, but it was sold to the public as necessary, and the after-effects hidden from the general population for many years.”
