Wild Powwers suck it up, Bad Buddy bring some honey, Proper Nouns know what they don’t know, Johnny Casino doubles the pot, Jeff Darko follows you — and you know there’s plenty more to come in a high-quality Tuesday Roundup. Be sure to dig deep; there are some cool ones down near the bottom.
1 | Wild Powwers | …Sucks
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Wild Powwers announced that their upcoming album What You Wanted comes out on April 23. They also shared the first single …Sucks. Wild Powwers are a dynamic trio who come from the dark, dank corners of a basement in Seattle. Throughout their several years relentlessly writing and touring as a band, they have grown their sound using the vastly different influences in their lives. They are challenging themselves to write something completely different from the song before, and What You Wanted is the best representation of who they are and what they bring to the table yet.”
2 | Bad Buddy | Fine Hunniez
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Canada’s Motown-inspired-surf-punks Bad Buddy command attention with the release of their newest video for Fine Hunniez, one of 13 tracks that make up their self-titled breakthrough album. “We had a clear vision for the video, so we decided to take creative control and make it ourselves to ensure it turned out how we imagined,” Bad Buddy guitarist and vocalist Emily Bachynski explains. “We’d never made a video before. We shot the entire thing in one day, driving all over the city, making up the choreography on-the-fly. It was exhausting, but a total blast, and the final result is everything we wanted and more.”
3 | Proper Nouns | Known Unknowns
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Proper Nouns are sharing their lead single and video for Known Unknowns, from their debut LP Feel Free due out on April 23. Bandleader Spencer Compton says the song is “an overt anti-war song about being simultaneously disillusioned and captivated by red/blue color lines in U.S. politics. The video (by Aidan Spann) runs through familiar footage of never-ending presidential talking head endorsements for the newest military ‘intervention’ to ‘spread democracy’ for ‘U.S. national interest.’ ”
4+5 | Johnny Casino | Twenty Twenty + People Say
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Australian artist Johnny Casino just released the double A-side single Twenty Twenty and People Say, along with videos. “Written and recorded during the first few weeks of the pandemic while I was stranded in the wonderful city of brotherly love Philadelphia, Twenty Twenty explains how I was feeling during the months of March and April. I had just touched down into Philadelphia International Airport and my brother Billy was waiting to pick me up and his first words were “Brother, I’m surprised they let you in!’’ I had no idea what he was talking about! Me and my wonderful wife Mayra live in a smallish seaside town called Denia in Spain and we knew there was something’ happening but not exactly what! (we ain’t much for watching news or current affairs programs, so we were kinda outta the loop). People Say was recorded (In Spain) with love for our brother Dave Thomas, who will never be forgotten.’’
6 | Jeff Darko | Follow You
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “British-Ghanaian artist Jeff Darko unveils Follow You, his debut single taken from an upcoming album due later in 2021. Follow You is the first taste of Jeff’s distinctive sound, which pays homage to soul, R&B, electronica, African jazz and alternative pop, blending them all together into a musical amalgam he calls Psychedelic Gospel. Jeff joins fellow contemporaries such as Moses Sumney, Childish Gambino, Andre 3000 and Yves Tumor as a Black artist altering the musical landscape.”
7 | Sense Of Noise | The Broken Hope
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Melodic death metal band Sense Of Noise debut with the powerful single The Broken Hope, heavily influenced by bands like In Flames, Dark Tranquillity and Soilwork. The Broken Hope mixes the two distinctive elements from the genre, fast and fierce riffs and growling vocals with an extensive use of catchy melodies on clean vocals and guitars, all together with a modern sound. Lyrically speaking presents an honest, realistic yet optimistic message of hope in this troubled times, a light in the darkness.”
8 | Messiahvore | Cult Worship
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Denver’s Messiahvore have released the video for Cult Worship, a track from their self-titled album due Feb. 26. Cult Worship is a sludgy, doom-drenched track with an industrial fusion, aggressive and thick. Riffs are aggressive and tight, then open and noise-infested with sonic wind and feedback. Cult Worship begins with a stylistically tribal intro beat that bleeds into a minimalistic verse, which is then brought together by a straight-forward driving chorus.”
9 | Toxikull | Metal Defender (ft. Zach Schottler)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “After the announcement of their upcoming Warriors Collection, Toxikull have revealed the opening single of the set: Metal Defender, featuring Zach Schottler from Canadian band Skull Fist. Frontman Lex Thunder says: “During the pandemic, we posted a new epic riff on our Instagram and Zach commented, “I’m a steal that riff,” and then a light went on inside our minds and we asked if he wanted to collaborate on a song with us, the answer was affirmative. Skull Fist has always been an influence on us, since our very first years of Toxikull, we really identified with their attitude, about never giving up on Heavy Metal. So, the Metal Defender song talks about conquering the world by playing music, the adrenaline of being on the road and burning stages, the adventures that keep us pursuing glory even in such dark times like these.”
10 | Lande Hekt | December
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Bristol songwriter Lande Hekt just released the video for December, from her debut solo album Going to Hell. A track centered around feeling scared to do anything when you like someone, the clip for December — co-directed, edited and produced by Martin “Gingerdope” Wisniewska and Josh Bannister — was shot in Hekt’s bedroom and features a single take for the majority of the video, with Hekt her cutting off her own hair in a very bold move. “My hands were shaking as I chopped my hair shorter than I’ve had it since I was four years old, whilst trying to remember the words to the song and not cry.”
11 | Delyn Grey | Ghost Town
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Toronto’s Delyn Grey returns with a somber and timely message in the new single and video for Ghost Town. Delyn’s voice has a sobering, mourning quality as she tackles dark themes with unflinching honesty. About the song, she says: “I wrote this song two days into quarantine. Feelings of helplessness, shock, and disbelief became suffocating. Funnily enough, this is probably the only “uplifting” and “unifying” song I’ve written. The world is in turmoil. That can’t and should NOT be ignored. We have to do our part in taking this seriously. Use your voices. Not to delegate or to sway opinions, but to optimize this opportunity to share, connect, support and heal. Don’t hide behind your screens and wait for someone else to make the difference, find the answers, and feel the feelings.”
12 | Jordan Klassen | Golden Ladder
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Following the success of his 2020 record Tell Me What To Do, singer-songwriter Jordan Klassen releases the impassioned visual for closing track Golden Ladder. The video illuminates the softness and vulnerability of the almost-lullaby track, following the relationship between a mother and her daughter. Using a real family instead of actors, the video fosters an authentic familial bond that’s relatable to their personal experiences. Director Farhad Ghaderi says, “Golden Ladder is a reflection on the lives of a woman and her mother, as they heal in the face of intergenerational trauma [and] what happens when the role of the caretaker is reversed with time… Some of these moments are inspired by my own family’s journey with healing, trauma and immigration.”
13 | Josh Tavares | Con Man
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Toronto alt-pop artist Josh Tavares takes inspiration from literally anything around him: Friends and family, TV shows and occasionally eavesdropping in on a stranger’s conversation while waiting in line for coffee. Song ideas can come at the most inconvenient times, almost always producing the most beautiful results. Josh’s new album Ashes is about growth. Growing out of toxic relationships, figuring out what you want in life, figuring out what it means to be treated properly by someone, or getting through a tough time and coming out smarter and stronger because of an experience. Con Man tackles the social anxiety that Josh struggled with for years. When it re-emerged one New Year’s Eve, it felt like his brain had been temporarily taken over by someone else — by a con man.”
14 | Gal Go Grey | Smoke / FLAMA
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Enigmatic London duo Gal Go Grey return with their new video for Smoke / FLAMA, encompassing two recent releases ahead of their self-titled debut album, due out March 16. They say: “We made this video in and around our different homes on either side of the east London Thames, with the intention of giving a peek into our separate lives, and then visualising our coming together, as this album is the result of our collaboration and relationship and neither one of us could have made anything like it alone.”
15 | Lea Bertucci | On Opposite Sides Of Sleep
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Lea Bertucci’s latest album A Visible Length of Light will be available on April 16. A Visible Length of Light was conceived and recorded over the course of 2020, and is an album of American landscapes, distilled into pieces of music for alto sax, out of tune chord organ, tape, field recordings, bass clarinet and wooden flute. Watch the new video for On Opposites Sides Of Sleep.”
16 | Kutiman | Surface Currents
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Music for doing things.” That’s the intention Kutiman had for Surface Currents, his forthcoming album of ambient atmospherics and modular experiments. However, its beautiful sounds are deeply calming and refreshing, making this a perfect album to do nothing to, as well. Composed and recorded at his home in the middle of the Negev Desert, where the solace and tranquility of his surroundings allow him to truly stretch his creativity, Kutiman’s quiet and solitary lifestyle imbues this project with an ethereal yet joyous aura.”
17 | Stephen Clair | When This Is All Over
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “When This Is All Over, Stephen Clair’s new single, begins to list all the things we’re dreaming of. The kids are gonna make out. We’re gonna hit the road and never stop. We’ll get that tattoo. We’re going out on a limb. So far out, we might not come back again. And while we’re holding in best we can, we can’t wait to freak out. Recorded remotely, in the new old-fashioned way, this little rocker reminds us more of Tom Petty, while Welcome To The World Now had the sweetest shade of John Prine.”
https://youtu.be/ngsB6bKTMTk
18 | Hurricane on Saturn | We Hate
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Italy’s Hurricane on Saturn self-released their debut album Killing Field in November. Today they offer a lyric video for We Hate, a cut from the album. Hurricane on Saturn were started in 2019 by musicians coming from various musical genres — with both national and international live/studio experience — named Dakm, Maydx, Antares, Rastaban and Menkib. Their unique sound is based on their use of electronics in combination with rock and metal influences.”
19 | Andy Rocks | Look At What We’ve Done
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Melodic, maybe a little vintage here and there, straightforward and a bit dirty, but all in all good old rock music — that could be a rough description of the music of Andy Rocks. They already released one EP titled Porcelain Heart and one single titled Digital Detox, and now they’re preparing to release their full length-album titled Look At What We’ve Done. Here’s the title cut.”
20 | Will Stratton | Tokens
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Will Stratton’s new album The Changing Wilderness will be released on May 7. Today he shares first track Tokens and its accompanying lyric video. Stratton says: “Tokens is a song addressed to the fraternal twins, the most frequent subjects of songs since songs were created: time and love. The afternoon that I was writing it, the weird weather we were having that summer was on my mind. I was thinking about how my perception of time is so tied to my perception of the changing seasons, and consequently, how my perception of time hasn’t been quite as sharp as it once was. I was also thinking about the ending of one of my favorite movies, the 2014 Paul Thomas Anderson film Inherent Vice. The way time shimmers and shifts in that movie is fascinating to me, verging on hypnotic, and I was trying to evoke a little of that feeling in this song.”
21 | Danny Golden | I Can’t Change
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Austin musician Danny Golden announced an April 23 release date for his new EP Changes. The announcement comes with the first single I Can’t Change. “The song is an expressionistic postcard and a story of supplication,” Golden says. “You can agonize all you want about choices in your life, but either way, change is going to happen to you. Taking what’s dealt to you and allowing change within yourself determines your quality of existence. I think we all experience periods of listlessness and malaise, often when we’re seeking answers without knowing the questions. Recording I Can’t Change was a chance for me to give lyrical and sonic form to feelings that had been too abstract to understand.”
22 | Chad VanGaalen | Nightwaves
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “On March 19, multimedia auteur Chad VanGaalen will release his latest offering, World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener. The latest single Nightwaves was written, performed, recorded, and mixed by VanGaalen at his Yoko Eno Studio in Calgary. VanGaalen shares that it “is about the endless news feed. Giving in to your digital calendar, when all that’s on your to-do list is checking the online updates. Like a William Gibson waking nightmare, boring marketed as sexy.”
23 | 1782 | The Chosen One
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Sardinian based harbingers of occult doom and sludge 1782 premiere The Chosen One, a sulfur-laden track from their upcoming sophomore full-length From The Graveyard. Say 1782: “The Chosen One is the first song we wrote for our new album From The Graveyard. It’s aggressive and heartbreaking, with heavy riffs accompanied by a powerful drum line. Imagine wandering among the graves on a cold foggy night and being called by voices from far away, familiar and unknown at the same time. The only thing to do is to follow those voices and never turn around.”
24 | Moanaa | Lie
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Polish post-metal outfit Moanaa share Lie, a single from the upcoming record. Based in Southern Poland, the five-piece have already managed to self-release a full-length debut titled Descent (2014), the sophomore LP Passage (2016) and two EPs. Throughout over a decade of existence the band toured a serious roll of places in their native country as suporting act including The Ocean, Blindead, Nachtmystium, Blaze of Perdition and Mord’A’Stigmata.”
25 | Dakar | You Wreck Me
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Alt-rock outfit Dakar are back in March with Over the Line, their first release of 2021. To preview the new song, the Florida foursome present a cover of Tom Petty’s You Wreck Me. David Benfield and Darrell Edmunds co-front the band and say it’s the first time they’ve ever produced something in the recording studio that wasn’t written by them. “It’s always been a fun one to play live,” said Edmunds. “We thought it would be worth tracking in the studio, if for no other reason than to give tribute to such a massive influence on our work.”
26 | Phallosopher | Death is the King and the King has Returned
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Hailing from Tampere, Finland, Phallosopher are a black metal project by Jesse Heikkinen (Hexvessel, Iterum Nata, Kauko Röyhkä & the Boots), aka Fra. Kailash. Phallosopher combine elements of jazz, ambient and avant-garde with black and death metal, creating a collective auditory hallucination formed by transcosmic solar-phallic forces of death, magick and rock ’n’ roll. Phallosopher’s debut album will be released March 19.”
27 | Junia-T | 4AM in Toronto (ft. Miloh Smith)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Producer/musician/DJ Junia-T has released 4AM in Toronto, featuring Atlanta’s Miloh Smith. The song will appear on the upcoming album Studio Monk (Deluxe Edition), which features four new tracks. Says Junia-T: “Miloh and I made this joint while she was in town for the Know Better video shoot. She was in town during February, so she got a real dose of a Toronto winter. After the brisk journey to the studio, we got started and this song came like water.”
28 | Little Suspicions | Limes
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Having used their 2020 downtime to write, record and grow, Little Suspicions release their first music of the year, Limes. Self-recorded between Kent, London and Italy, Limes combines the crooning vocals of Moritz Meyns with the band’s euphoric melodies and sweeping guitar lines, the band’s latest take on indie-rock makes for a modern day love song swimming in 60’s nostalgia; landing somewhere in the middle of Flyte and The Last Shadow Puppets. Little Suspicions say: “Limes follows the thoughts of the narrator’s nervousness while falling in love. It describes his experience of becoming hopelessly distracted when he thinks of his crushes’ green eyes, of which have become his Achilles heel.”
29 | D’orjay The Singing Shaman | New Kind Of Outlaw
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “D’orjay The Singing Shaman was a late bloomer stepping on to the stage. She was 35 years old when she finally grabbed the microphone in a professional capacity. D’orjay’s most authentic self expression and healing comes from writing songs and sharing those stories with vulnerability and emotion to the audience. Her style of country music continues to evolve honouring the classic country music she grew up on living in rural Alberta while also colouring outside the lines of what current mainstream country music has to offer. As a Black Queer woman, D’orjay is passionate, vocal and committed to bringing diversity and inclusiveness to country music.”
30 | No Stress | Wake Up
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “No Stress is a mantra. Repeated as many times as needed during a given day, it helps to clear the head of all the strife and noise of the modern world. It also functions as the pseudonym of multi-instrumentalist Paul Horton, a versatile creator often found playing keys in The Alabama Shakes or crafting improvised jazz compositions in Concurrence. With Prelude No. 1, Horton presents the fruits of a cleared psyche that blends everything from hip-hop and jazz to glitch and transcendental ambience. Wake Up carries the listener away in a dreamlike state with gentle crooning by soul singer Dara Tucker.”
31 | Hikari | The Alarmist
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Stumbling Through The Walls, the explosive second album from Danish progressive/avant noise rock trio Hikari, arrives April 9. The Alarmist is the lead single. Hikari’s Jon Gotlev writes, “The Alarmist is both a beginning and a conclusion. It’s the perfect entry point to the turmoil sound and atmosphere of the new album. At the same time serving as the final track of the sequence with a grim narrative about people who create panic to a degree where they themselves don’t know what is even up and down anymore. Ultimately leading to the inevitable dispute: Where is the moral when you need it?”
