Arogya turn to dust, Kimon Kirk feels evergreen, Wassailer conjures up ghosts, Hundred Headless Horsemen head for the apocalypse — and they’re not the only ones who are hot to trot in your Thursday Roundup. Get a move on!
19 | Arogya | Dust
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Arogya from Assam/India present Dust, their second video from the upcoming album Genesis, out April 23. Genesis deals thematically as well as musically with the story of creation: The past manifests itself in their propulsive synth-rock that creates an ’80s nostalgia, while genuine metal dominates the present and a fine pinch of dark pop stands for the future in a true feast for the senses, sonically as well as visually. “Dust is about betrayal from someone you love and trust, who destroys what you believe in. Its concept is applicable for how Satan leads and deceives an innocent soul, for treachery and lies in a relationship, betrayal between friends, deceit, and broken ties between family. It tells of how fake humans can be to one another (represented as mannequins in the video) and what you see of the human character can be fake painted on the outside, the real hidden on the inside. It is about how one’s love, trust & faith can be turned to dust.”
20 | Kimon Kirk | Evergreen
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Kimon Kirk is a Boston bassist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He has toured and recorded as bassist with Aimee Mann, Alejandro Escovedo, Grant-Lee Phillips and others, and produced albums for a slate of aritsts. He released his second full-length solo album Altitude in February. Evergreen is his latest single and video.”
21 | Wassailer | Ghosts (ft. DemiMa & Johnny Woodham)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Jazz trumpet and piano breathe trees into existence. Electronic kit drags more ephemeral sketches into and out of existence. Bass brings the frenetically unstable cloudy backdrop to life. As the song builds, the video for Wassailer’s Ghosts grows more frantic and perfectly represents the complexity and eclecticism of this new wave urban folk song. Wassasiler says: “At a time where I had to be a waiter and a teacher, as well as being a full-time professional musician (as it wasn’t enough to survive London’s rent), I felt a bit confused by the millions the Royal family received to refurbish their own palaces. I suppose I don’t really understand the general concept, but that’s probably because I was raised with stupid values like sharing and working and all that. Anyway, I came up with this idea of invisible ghosts wandering in empty palaces.”
22 | Hundred Headless Horseman | Cataclysm
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Hundred Headless Horsemen are a psychedelic death metal band from Helsinki. Cataclysm is the first single from their first full length, a concept album titled Apokalepsia due May 21. The band blend different subgenres from the past and present to create a unique sound. Their musical approach mirrors the narrative of the album, moving in multiple dimensions based on fragments of articles about a formerly unknown psychoneurological condition. They say: “We were so sure of ourselves. So sure we were in control that we forgot we all were, first and foremost, biomass. Biomass that consisted of trillions of bacteria inside our own bodies whose sole reason for existence was to continue existing. We should have learned ages ago that we were never unaffected by the needs of what was living inside of us. In fact, how could we tell which of our desires were our own and which of them were born out of the other living mechanisms inside us?”
23 | Turfu | Astrale Nouba (ft. Kate Yong)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “French electro-dance duo Turfu are unique — the band pride themselves on their unusual blending of traditional folk instrumentation and vocals and dance beats. Their new single Astrale Nouba typifies this and is unusual and fascinating as it gets: a traditional Bulgarian song with a futuristic makeover of trancey techno dance with folk vocals provided by Scottish Folk artist Kate Young. The visual representation of this track is manifested in the video: a colourful ‘trance dance’ gathering of mountains, a Scottish sorceress, several ethereal beings and all the llamas you could possibly handle in one go!”
24 | LP | One Last Time
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Singer/songwriter LP released her new single One Last Time. The third previeew of an album to be released later this year, One Last Time is accompanied by a video co-starring actor/filmmaker/model Jaime King. A passionate powerhouse, One Last Time pulls at the heartstrings while lifting the listener up to sing and dance. It is both a reflection and a celebration, with poignant verses swelling to a joyous and anthemic, stadium-sized, singalong chorus. LP said, “One Last Time is about the fleeting nature of relationships, romantic or otherwise, and how every moment is precious. No matter how little or much we get of someone we find ourselves fantasizing about the past with them and the things we wished we’d said or done before our time together was through.”
https://youtu.be/2r00QeezXbY
25 | Eli West | Tapered Point Of Stone
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “It’s always illuminating to ask an artist how they understand music, but Eli West’s perspective is nothing short of ground-breaking. A trained designer, he sees music architecturally, visualizing his compositions spatially. It’s a highly unusual way to think about music, tied to his home in the verdant natural world of the Pacific Northwest. On his new album, Tapered Point of Stone, due out April 23 West lays out original songs and tunes like houses built by hand, weaving their melodies into the setting of acoustic roots music that first inspired him. Over the 13 songs, West explores the joy of communal musicmaking and the grief of his father’s recent passing. It’s an intimate snapshot of a time before the world went dark and we all turned inward, and a bit of light at the end of the tunnel.”
26 | Christopher Nielsen | Waiting On You
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Christopher Nielsen began his career in music as a drummer in the 1980s, when he led a group with three other young and extremely talented jazz fusion musicians. The Lowertown Jazz Ensemble, later shortened to Lowertown, were named after the emerging artisan community of Lowertown St. Paul. This quartet quickly gained notoriety in the Twin Cities music scene. In the mid ’80s the original quartered disbanded but Lowertown forged forward with a variety of the Twin Cities’ finest musicians. Waiting On You, from Christoher’s new album Our Voyage Home, was among the most popular original fusion songs and jazz standards they played.”
27 | Boy Destroy | Beautiful Crimes
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Swedish rising alt-star Boy Destroy has shared Beautiful Crimes, taken from his forthcoming debut EP Warpaint, due April 15. Boy Destroy says, “Everybody longs for connection. Togetherness. A need that can be fulfilled with flesh or love or peace or whatever. I used to be in a twisted relationship with a person that I didn’t really love, but I said I did. I wasn’t a very good person to her, but I made it look like I was. I wasn’t faithful, and I felt like the devil. But then and there it felt like it was exactly how it should be. She hates me now, and I deserve it. You can fix yourself if you’re lucky.”
28 | Flynn Marks | Waiting For Us
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Waiting For Us is lifted from Flynn Marks‘ forthcoming EP Cold Comfort, out April 22. Much like his work to date, Waiting For Us sees him conjure a simple and stripped-back aesthetic, allowing us to truly appreciate his rich and uplifting vocal performance. Using little more than an acoustic guitar and his own spectacular voice, his newest delight sets the stage for his upcoming EP. Flynn said, “Waiting For Us is one of my favourite tracks from the EP. It takes the lyrical stance from a situation where you feel uncertain about an entire relationship, and therefore you begin to wonder if things will ever move forward, or if you’re just stuck in a stagnant position.”
29 | Jean-Paul De Roover | This Letter
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Hard working and prolific singer-songwriter Jean-Paul De Roover’s brilliant new EP This Letter is meant to be an extension of the former album, featuring an acoustic sound with both a timely original and a cover song. Accompanying the EP is a humorous lyric video for The Letter to balance the heavy content of the song. The letter in the title, written to his wife and two young sons, is one that he keeps on his person in case he doesn’t make it through his shift. The song culminates with an agonizing, heartbreaking question that’s tearing him apart. “The idea that this frontline health-care worker was aware of the repercussions of his job but still did it, was something that I found both depressing and fascinating,” says De Roover. “Appreciate your frontline workers as often as you can.”
30 | Lumière | Amitié.Déchue
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Lumière, the solo project of multi-instrumentalist Étienne Côté, presents Amitié.Déchue, the third single off his debut album A.M.I.E.S.A.M.O.U.R., due out May 14. With its flourishing, imaginative lyrics written like a tale, Amitié.Déchue is a seemingly joyous play, yet it tells a story of friendship filled with resentment and uneasiness. Musically, it is a nod to the country sounds of Paul & Linda McCartney.”
31 | Grand Soleil | Violence
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Violence is the new single from Grand Soleil, and announces Human Error, the two brothers’ debut album which will be available on April 9. Violence is considered by Grand Soleil to be the “hardest” track on the album. This title was born after several tests on their Juno 60 synthesizer keyboard. Then came the idea to add the iconic sample “Can you dig it !?” from the movie The Warriors. But the most striking will be the excerpt chosen for the intro: “I say the future is ours!”
32 | Pearl Harbour | Trouble
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Vocalist Pearl E. Gates, more commonly known as Pearl Harbour, formed a band in 1988 with Buck Naked from The Bare Bottom Boys. The band was flourishing until in 1992, when a madman shot and killed Buck in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. After some time off, the band regrouped and decided to move forward. On lead guitar is the amazing East Bay Ray of Dead Kennedys, as well as Stinky Le Pew on rhythm guitar, Lee Vilensky on bass and Mike Hunter on drums. This record was recorded and dedicated to Buck Naked. This single is a cover originally recorded by Buck Naked and the Bare Bottom Boys and is produced by Eric Pressly at Brilliant Studios in San Francisco.”
33 | Leon Vynehall | Snakeskin ∞ Has-Been
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Leon Vynehall recently announced his new album Rare, Forever will be released on April 30. Today he shared track Snakeskin ∞ Has-Been. Vynehall says: “Over and over in a snake’s life it will molt and shed its old, outgrown skin. It does not grow with the size of the snake itself, and soon hinders its advancement, leaving the skin behind like a memory. An artefact of where it once was. I believe good artists do this too. It’s what I try to do with every record.”
34 | Alyson McNamara | Shutting Down
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Alyson McNamara is announcing that her third album Let Me Sleep comes out June 4. Alyson is also sharing the video for the lead single Shutting Down, a song about “being half asleep and half awake and wondering if that in-between feels anything like travelling to the afterlife. The vocal harmonies remind me of distant voices calling me to join them in The Great Bay, which is my version of an imaginary, blissful place — think of a ferry rocking over to a pretty clearing, surrounded by happy little islands.”
35 | Dräger | Light Years
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Brooklyn musician and creator Dräger shared his single Light Years alongside the announcement of his debut album Goths à la Discothèque, out May 7. Light Years is a perfect example of Dräger’s synthedelic pop sound — a sonic combination of ’80s-inspired new wave, elements of the underground dance scene, and a healthy dose of modern pop. Lyrically, the track grabs into the notion of “chasing a thrill” and coming back to reality with your future. Dräger says: “It’s a moment where you look back on all the things that have landed you here and you wonder if the signs are still leading you forward with the road you’ve been on or if they’re telling you to take the next exit to the unknown.”
36 | Johanna Samuels | Single File
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The sixth single of Kill Rock Stars’ 30-year anniversary cover series titled Stars Rock Kill (Rock Stars) is a cover of Elliott Smith’s Single File by Johanna Samuels. This track first appeared on Smith’s 1995 self-titled album, the first he released on Kill Rock Stars. Samuels is a Los Angeles and New York-based singer-songwriter, who is constantly broadening the definition of pop music with her unique bell-like voice, singing about the depths and dualities of life.”
