Great Lake Swimmers bring the family, Charlie Clark gets personal with his idol worship, Peggy Seeger has a strict curfew, Ebony Buckles tests your memory — and that should do it for your easygoing Thursday Roundup. Here’s hoping Good Friday is just as relaxed (he said, knowing full well it’s likely to be yet another full-on, no-holds-barred shitstorm of music).
18 | Great Lake Swimmers | I Am Part Of A Large Family
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Great Lake Swimmers are sharing the live version of I Am Part Of A Large Family from their upcoming release Live At The Redeemer 2007. The concert capped off the band’s Canadian spring tour of 2007, just days before the group continued on to embark on a full European tour to support the album Ongiara. “This live version of I Am Part Of A Large Family has one of my favourite Great Lake Swimmers live band lineups,” says songwriter Tony Dekker. “Bob Egan on dobro, Owen Pallett on violin, and Basia Bulat on backing vocals, alongside the core four-piece band at the time. There is an energy in the performance which is absolutely intrinsic to that place and time. The live version rivals the album version in my mind, and really flourishes once the band gets going, transcending the sum of its parts.”
19 | Charlie Clark | A Bridge To Your Idol
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The natural successor to recent single Don’t Have A Cow Man — which documented Charlie giving up his life in L.A. to come home and care for his terminally ill father — A Bridge To Your Idol offers a humbling tribute in his father’s memory. As Clark says: “After losing our dad last summer and becoming a dad just months later myself, I have so much gratitude about how lucky (my brother) Kevin and I were to have such an incredible father. I’d written this song before my dad died but with the mindset it was coming sooner rather than later … The video was filmed over the last month of Dad’s life when he had all of his family around him, which was him at his best.”
20 | Peggy Seeger | Gotta Get Home By Midnight
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Peggy Seeger releases Gotta Get Home By Midnight, the final track from what is likely to be her final album of original material, First Farewell, due out on April 9. Mellowing, however, is not Seeger’s style and she’s not going quietly. Her remarkable 24th album underscores her importance & continued relevance as a songwriter and performer, cementing her place as one of the most uncompromising and inspiring female artists of any genre and age. The video for Gotta Get Home By Midnight blends archive images from across her near-70-year career.”
21 | Ebony Buckle | Who Remembers
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Conceptual dream-pop singer-songwriter Ebony Buckle is set to release her debut album Disco Lasers, a collection of audio-visual stories that celebrate the wonders of our universe and how we as human beings make sense of our existence through folklore legends, science and our imagination. The album will be released as separate songs each month, allowing the listener to join the journey and immerse themselves in a different story every time. So far she has released Wonder and The Planet Who Believed. The latest chapter Who Remembers is set on another Earth, where an alien invasion has completely wiped out the population of a planet. A lone survivor is making one last plea for help.”
22 | Arched Fire | Wormhole
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Finnish heavy metallers Arched Fire are proud to unleash the lyric video for Wormhole, taken from the band’s debut album Remote Control, due on April 30. “Lyrically, Wormhole is a song about being born, about children being the future. In order to prevent the history repeating itself, people have to raise their kids not to make the same old mistakes all over again. That’s the only way to control the future in the long term.”
23 | Cadaveria | Shamanic Path
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Italian black/goth metal act Cadaveria have released the single Shamanic Path. The song is based on Cadaveria herself’s true story and in particular on her shamanic experiences lived in contact with a Brazilian indigenous tribe.”
24 | Danny Elfman | Kick Me (Zach Hill Remix)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Danny Elfman has shared a cacophonously glitchy remix of his latest single Kick Me today, reimagined by Zach Hill of Death Grips. “I was a big fan of Death Grips and Zach Hill’s work, and so appreciative to have him jump in with his creative energy,” Elfman exclaimed. Kick Me features vocals, guitars and synths by Elfman, drums by Josh Freese, guitars by Warren Fitzgerald, bass by Stu Brooks, percussion by Sidney Hopson and strings by the Lyris Quartet.”
25 | Dyatlove | The Chrysalis
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Vancouver’s Dyatlove have a fresh single out to weave into ears everywhere. Written near the end of 2019, the single speaks of evolving as a person, the personal growth we all hope to achieve. After sitting on it for quite some time, Dyatlove feels this is the time to unleash it. As they explain: “We decided to record it and put it out to keep things moving during the dreaded 2020 experience. There was the need to keep productive and have something to work towards as everything was shut down here in British Columbia.”
26 | Dead Witches | D.I.E. (Dragged Into Emptiness)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “D.I.E. (Dragged Into Emptiness) makes a strong intent statement for Dead Witches, who recently welcomed new vocalist Spring Thompson into their ranks. The Dorset foursome are back in the saddle after releasing two well-acclaimed full-lengths, and hell knows what they will be up to after their darkness-filled Doom Sessions collaboration with France’s up-and-coming doomsters Witchthroat Serpent.”
27 | Morris Madrone | Runaways
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Morris Madrone is a soulful singer-songwriter making music influenced by retro rock ’n’ roll. The multi-instrumentalist wrote and produced his self-titled debut album, which he independently released last year. Madrone kicks off a busy 2021 with the rockabilly-inspired Runaways, which transports listeners into a vivid, gritty fantasy about two lovers on the run. His driving, passionate vocals are reminiscent of legends like Roy Orbison, Danzig and Elvis Presley. Drawing production inspiration from modern classics like The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights, Madrone’s latest single is a perfect introduction to his decade-defying take on the alternative genre.”
28 | Paul Cafcae | Downtown
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Paul Cafcae has just released his single Downtown. Why should you care? Well, it was mixed and mastered by Glen Robinson, who has worked on records for artists from The Ramones and The Beach Boys to Nashville Pussy, Voivod, and even U2. Plus it has an extraordinarily sizzling harmonica solo by Hector Alexander.”
29 | Steve Goodman | City Of New Orleans
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “There is no denying Steve Goodman’s impact on the world of songwriting. It Sure Looked Good on Paper: The Steve Goodman Demos, due May 14, presents an unparalleled look into his two-decade career from a songwriting and an “in the studio” perspective. From demos of the now classic City of New Orleans and You Never Even Call Me by My Name to early versions of The Auctioneer (written by Leroy Van Dyke and Buddy Black) and the traditional The Water Is Wide, It Sure Looked Good on Paper finds Goodman artistically exploring.”
30 | Emma Hewson | Mismatched
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Toronto pianist and singer-songwriter Emma Hewson has made herself known as a versatile session musician, teacher and artist. Her first self-titled EP was released in 2014. The new single Mismatched was written when Emma was coming to terms with the fact that she would eventually have to leave the relationship she was in at the time. While writing, Emma melded a lot of the experiences of her past relationships together, thinking of the specifically dramatic and mismatched, if you will, moments in previous relationships.”
31 | Nice Breeze | En Passant
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “D.C. lo-fi rock trio Nice Breeze release En Passant, from their upcoming album Magician’s Rabbit, due April 20. Magician’s Rabbit offers a fierce form of raw irreverence, humor and intellect rarely heard anymore. Yanked from the gnarled drool of The Fall and Swell Maps, the uncooked candor of Half Japanese and Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments, the sandpapered fragmentations of early Pavement and Silver Jews, and the ghosts of many heroic basement bands still haunting the magnets of discarded four-track recorders. The result is an ever-changing, beautifully deteriorating sound capable of primitive slobber, muscle-moving fire, and profound poetics, often all within the span of one chopped verse.”
32 | Cannon | Light In The Fog
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Melbourne indie-rock trio Cannon return with their first single of the year, Light In The Fog, lifted from their upcoming debut album Connexion. Having nervously decided to rehearse as an overdue excuse to come together over a few drinks, Reminiscent of T. Rex, hinting at early Kasabian and Primal Scream, but blasting like Ty Segall, Cannon are a collection of guitars, noise and subtle ’80s synth, connected by philosophical songs about anxiety, the fine line between survival and self-destruction, and an indignant, yet tranquilised, social malaise. Says Mitch McIvor: “Light in the Fog is a song inspired by absurdist philosophy, and the tension between a desire to find meaning for our existence where no such meaning exists. Fog is about making the most of any situation and seeing beauty within darkness, and doing so despite a lack of ‘true meaning’ being attached to our being.”
33 | Pretty In Between | Clear
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Pretty in Between’s Clear is a tender rock jam, expanded upon by melodic vocals, spirited brass, and bustling rhythms. Somewhere out there between folk and fury, where jazz rocks out and rock takes a breath, there’s an expanse of musical terrain to be explored. Pretty in Between are the art child of Ohio-born San Francisco musician Austin Wasielewski, whose albums with Analog Dog and Odakota have made quite the impression amongst the California indie scenes and beyond. With a psychedelic blend of rock/pop/jazz fusion, this debut LP is the culmination of many sounds and an underlying thesis.”
34 | Fair Visions | Down
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Down, the first single from Fair Visions’ new EP Modern Kids, begins with a plea from the heart — a rueful admission of how things really are. Plaintive as a long-lost friend in need, the song introduces the winding melancholy that permeates the record’s six tracks. Ryan of the group shares: “Down is a song I’d had in my head a long time. Both the desire to have someone be there in times of need and the tension of being alone in one’s own thoughts guided this song to what it is now. In relation to the songs to come, Down could be seen as the base state and the others channels off the river.”
35 | Compltr | Everything You Wanted
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Compltr is a charged and expansive indie-rock project from S.F. and L.A.. Originally a bedroom project, the band released a consistent catalog of singles and EPs over the past four years. Everything You Wanted was written by the band remotely and then after over a year apart and then recorded in Los Angeles at the beginning of 2021.”
36 | Shadow Puppet Theatre | Stargazer
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Shadow Puppet Theatre are a four-piece Malaysian rock band based in Kuala Lumpur. From a musical perspective, they amalgamate both narrative and the feels: A quintessential element that adds a little sparkle of life into each, and every, musical note they play. The band got together in 2016, with some degree of changing personnel ever since.”
37 | Casey Noel | Page 52
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “A Costa Rican singer-songwriter by way of Greensboro, N.C., Casey Noel has hit the ground running in 2021 with gorgeous country-folk ballad Page 52. Noel and co-producer Doug Williams deliver a song that’s classic as well as distinctly original, musically captivating and lyrically unique. Over Noel’s fingerpicked acoustic, a keening slide and a soulful fiddle, this rising songsmith expands masterfully on the concept of “not being on the same page” with a love. The harmony-rich chorus reminds us how easy it is to fall in love, but Noel’s narrator is in it for the long haul. In the rich tradition of country-music metaphor, Page 52 skillfully expresses that feeling when you notice a red flag at the beginning of a romance — the sadness, but also the determination to use the moment to let a lover know where you stand, and the glimmer of hope that by articulating what you want, you may just get it. If not this time, then next time around.”
