The Vintage Caravan have trouble concentrating, Laura Jane Grace is feeling super, T. Hardy Morris plays by the numbers, Quicksand flip the script, The Boy Who Cried Wolf are ready to rumble — but deep down, your Tuesday Roundup is a lover, not a fighter. Speaking of which, are you ready for your new music speed date? The clock starts … wait for it … now!
1 | The Vintage Caravan | Can’t Get You Off My Mind
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Iceland’s finest modern prog/psych export The Vintage Caravan have just released their truly catchy third single Can’t Get You Off My Mind, from their upcoming album Monuments, out this Friday. With their upcoming full-length, The Vintage Caravan have inarguably catapulted themselves to the spearhead of the genre and are more than ready to share their refreshing, guitar-heavy sound with the all the disciples of the genre and the whole world. Can’t Get You Off My Mind takes its listener on a blistering ride through pounding drums, intense guitar solos and an undeniably catchy chorus, showcasing their ability to generate a potent and bold prog/psych rock sound-swirl. With their cinematic new video, the band not only displays their intoxicating soundscapes, but their vital sense of humor as well.”
2 | Laura Jane Grace | SuperNatural Possession
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Emmy-nominated artist, author, activist and musician Laura Jane Grace has released the video for SuperNatural Possession, from Grace’s solo album Stay Alive. A colorful and kaleidoscopic visual complementing the Joan Jett-like pop-rock stomp of the track, SuperNatural Possession was created by Network 77’s Rachel Lichtman. Grace wasn’t planning on making a solo record this year. In fact, she was planning on making a record with Against Me! But clearly, nothing went according to plan this year. “I sat around for a month and a half at a home just being shell-shocked being like, ‘What the fuck happened and what the fuck is happening with the world?’ As I started to get my bearings, I just came to the realization that waiting was going to kill the record and kill the songs. I spent two years working on all these songs, and the idea of throwing them away didn’t sit well with me,” says Grace. “But then I was like, ‘What am I waiting for?’ All I have to do is adjust my scope. I can sit here on my fucking ass and do nothing, or I can work.”
3 | T. Hardy Morris | The Digital Age Of Rome
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “T. Hardy Morris returns with his album The Digital Age of Rome on June 25. The 10-song set follows the Diamond Rugs and Dead Confederate member’s 2018 acclaimed Dude, The Obscure. Sequestered at his Athens, GA home with his family, Morris, like most everyone else in the past year, mulled over what was truly important to him and in response, crafted an entirely new set of songs. Enlisting a group of musicians including Drive-By Truckers drummer Brad Morgan, singer-songwriter Faye Webster and others, Morris pulled no punches with his mesmerizing lyrics and hazy brand of southern glam rock. Looking directly inward and captivated by the sobering realities of the pandemic, Morris has composed one of his most personal works yet. He tackles the well-worn anxieties of the past year as pandemic and political divisions ravaged America. The Digital Age of Rome is more direct than Morris has ever been and is one of his boldest records yet. Unapologetic and brutally honest, it is a necessary diary for an uncomfortable time that continues to unfold.”
4 | Quicksand | Inversion
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “New York City post-hardcore band Quicksand return with the new single Inversion. The track follows the band’s successful album from 2017, Interiors. Thoughtful, driving, and powerful like the long-lived band itself, the song has an emotional resonance that is only amplified by the events of the past stressed-out, locked-down year. “The music to Inversion was very squatter punk at first,” says frontman Walter Schreifels. “The lyrics reflect the push and pull of being very connected through technology while at the same time being the most emotionally isolated group of humans to ever walk the planet and fun stuff like that.”
5 | The Boy Who Cried Wolf | Bellicose
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Bellicose is the sonic representation of furious anger aimed at the clashing worlds that keep colliding onto us, turning us into feral beasts, nurturing the darkest of wishes, bidding serenity a sickening farewell. It is the title track of the 2020 album from Romania’s The Boy Who Cried Wolf and they are now presenting it in video form. According to the band, Bellicose was recorded in 2018, but it was such an anthemic song for them, that they included it twice on the album, in both electric and acoustic versions to boost the overall theme: “The rage that can rise up inside each and every one of us.” They add: “It’s a renewed struggle to face off the world of the living by singing about our dead hopes and tribulations. The only salvation anyone really has, when they’re a kid trapped in an adult body, trying to be a citizen of the world or even a society, is the inspiration to create such worlds where you can be the victor or at least be honest with yourself, by screaming your fears, anger, and frustration out loud.”
6 | Gridfailure & Mac Gollehon | Crime Scene Designers
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Crime Scene Designers is the new single from Dismemberment Cabaret — the collaborative album between New York harsh/experimental soloist Gridfailure and world-renowned and multi-platinum trumpet player Mac Gollenoh. The video precedes the album’s looming May release. On Dismemberment Cabaret, underworld speakeasy vibes merge with 1970s/1980s slasher/crime films, the uneasy combination projected with unhinged hostility. With Crime Scene Designers, Gollehon reveals, “My intent was to introduce, seduce, then provoke an avalanche of winds and brass in disconfigurations of serial composition paring with serial clustered disorder. Tonal paralipsis of warface demons relentlessly designing crime scenes for now and all other times.”
7 | Oyls | Netflix (Your Product is Too Good)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “L.A. electronic duo Oyls release the video for their song Netflix (Your Product Is Too Good). Both the third single off their most recent album Oyls (For Your Consideration), as well as the third episode in a series of seamless videos, the video stars actor Danny Trejo in a very humanizing role: A lost soul binging Netflix late at night in a motel — with snacks, naturally. The band share: “The song is really about how we cope with our negative feelings, whether they stem from the stress of our daily lives, mental illness, or uncertainty about the world. To have someone of Danny’s stature willing to portray a vulnerable character struggling with his own mind is invaluable to normalizing our conversations about mental health. It really is a huge honor to have him involved.”
8 | Cellus Hamilton | Right Now
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Most people would prefer to bury the past and never look back. They figure that because people weren’t there to witness the dark moments of their lives, it is wise to act like they never happened. Cellus Hamilton is not most people. In his new video Right Now, Hamilton reminisces about the mistakes of his immature past and how they have made him into the man he is today. As a successful business owner, husband, and creator of three charting albums, Hamilton reflects on his days of getting high, chasing women, and writing self-glorifying music. The short song also features a powerful verse in which Hamilton shows his new style of rapping — exposing the ills and injustices of society.”
9 | Teenage Fanclub | In Our Dreams
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Teenage Fanclub share a final preview of their upcoming album with a new song and video. In Our Dreams, written by the band’s Raymond McGinley, is the fifth single off Endless Arcade, out April 30. The song evokes an exploratory voyage inward and reflects the melancholic yet uplifting themes present throughout the rest of the record. McGinley says: “To rephrase an aphorism most famously used by John Lennon, existence is what happens while the human race is busy making other plans. This song is kinda about that, but like all our songs, we write them intuitively and only think about what to say about them afterwards.”
10 | Marc Ribler | Shattered
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Marc Ribler, singer-songwriter, musician-producer and music director for Stevie Van Zandt, is debuting a video for his latest single Shattered in advance of his new solo LP The Whole World Awaits You in June. He says: “(It’s) a song about that unattainable person who twists you up, breaks you down and yet you still keep coming back for more with the hopes that you could actually make it work. Delusion and desire are very powerful drugs.” The Brooklyn-born musician has played with many of the great over the years, including Bruce Springsteen, Carole King, Paul McCartney, Darlene Love and Elvis Costello, to name just a few.”
11 | Havelocke | 100 Seconds
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “To celebrate the release of their Arsonist EP, out today, Sheffield post-hardcore band Havelocke have released a video for 100 Seconds. Vocalist Owen Cousins says: “100 Seconds is the last song we wrote for this EP, in fact it very nearly wasn’t finished in time for recording (we couldn’t get together to practise it through the lockdowns), but when we had most of it down we decided we couldn’t not have it on there. This song is wild to be perfectly honest, there’s so much going on. We really wanted to add a little bit of drama into this release and 100 Seconds has definitely got the drama.”
12 | Moonspell | The Greater Good
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Portuguese dark metal giants Moonspell, who just released their 13th studio album Hermitage, have just unleashed an epic live video from their recent show in Porto, Portugal, in December 2020. Building upon the sensitive facets of the album, Hermitage is an entertaining and revolutionary, yet epic journey through the darkest days of human existence. Beautifully crafted songs such as The Greater Good show us the modernity of the wolves in 2021, while other tracks embrace the Moonspell tradition of writing a dark, gothic metal record like no other band can.”
13 | W.Johann | 6-6-6 Ways
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In these pandemic times, many musicians / artists have produced records and a lot of digital material, and with W.Johann it is no different. His first single 6-6-6 Ways is accompanied by a video clip to present the musician’s solo work. He explains: “This song is a track where I tried to demonstrate different feelings of choices in their passages and riffs. I chose terror / horror as the theme of the music video, because it has a lot to do with personal fears that make people create ghosts and demons. In their lives, and whenever they are afraid of something, we are forced to make quick choices due to psychological pressure within their own imagination.”
https://youtu.be/PcFFfyAKkf0
14 | Tim Schou | Mad Love (ft. Sowfy)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Tim Schou’s new single Mad Love feat. Sowfy, comes from his debut album Hero/Loser, which was released Friday. The explosive and emotional duet was co-written with the English singer and songwriter Ella Henderson, and features the singer-songwriter Sowfy, one of the newest and most exciting voices coming out of the Scandi music scene. As the title implies, the song is about young, overwhelming and untameable love. Inspired by an unrequited infatuation, the music video portrays the emotions and madness we experience as we go through the euphoric and dejected spectrums of love.”
15 | Meara | Blackbird
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Meara’s vocal range will send shivers down your spine, while bold, thumping drum and soaring string arrangements awaken a feeling deep inside yourself. Both soft and threatening, warm and cold, earthy and digital Meara brings her influences of baroque pop and folk into the present and gives an edgy, futuristic twist, taking the listener on a journey. Blackbird, the first in a string of singles culminating in an album, speaks of awakening, reconnection and embracing the dark like a long-lost friend. The artist confides: “I’ve always sung other people’s music yet dreamed of writing my own. I wanted to step out of that box. I want to inspire people to discover their own story and pursue their dreams. Our journeys are never a straight line.”
16 | Vermilia | Pimeä Polku
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Finnish pagan metaller Vermilia reveals a video for an acoustic piano version of the track Pimeä Polku. The song was originally released on her Keskeneräisiä Tarinoita EP in 2020. Comments Vermilia: ”This minimalist version only includes vocals and piano. I think it brings out the song in a whole new way. The original song does not contain clean vocals, except for one small part in the middle of the song, so this is different.”
17 | Adrian Crowley | Bread & Wine
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Adrian Crowley releases Bread and Wine with a hand-drawn storybook video featuring a cast of anthropomorphic characters, and harmony vocals by Katell Keineg. A folk sea ballad with elegant strings and gentle guitar, Bread and Wine is an ode to outcasts (“The stray dogs here follow me around / they seem to know their kind”). It is the second single from Crowley’s forthcoming John Parish-produced LP The Watchful Eye of The Stars, out April 30. Crowley says: “The stars of the video for Bread and Wine were made with a scalpel, pen and a drawing book. It was a curious thing to see the scenarios unfold there on my kitchen table, late one windy night. It’s quite spooky, in a way, how just a few dots and lines on a page can conjure someone up. All those characters spying at the window; like ghosts from someone’s past. They all seem to have an eerie and playful presence.”
18 | Maple Glider | Swimming
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Melbourne’s Maple Glider, the project of Tori Zietsch (say ‘peach’ with a Z), will issue her debut album To Enjoy Is The Only Thing on June 25. To coincide with the announcement, she has shared her world-weary, hypnotizing, almost-love song Swimming, accompanied by a skeletal (literally) music video. Says Zietsch: “This was meant to be a love song, but by the time I finished it, it kind of predetermined a breakup. I’d been experiencing some of the most beautiful places I’d ever been in, and falling out of love was very confusing. I was trying to force myself to be happy and in love, but I was far from home, and really lonely. It made sense to record the song after the breakup. I kind of felt like I was able to handle the sincerity of it then.”
19 | Sandeep Das and Mike Block | Glory In the Meeting House
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Cellist Mike Block and tablaist Sandeep Das have announced the collaborative album Where The Soul Never Dies, due June 11. The first single from the record is a reimagining of the traditional American fiddle tune Glory In The Meeting House. Block notes: “Glory in the Meeting House is a traditional Appalachian fiddle tune, learned via Kentucky fiddler Luther Strong, who recorded it for Alan Lomax in 1937 … The energy of the piece captures the spontaneity and friendship Sandeep and I feel, as we learned from each other’s musical traditions.”
