Cleopatrick get the van a-rockin’, Illuminati Hotties open up and say Mmmoooaaaaayaya, Yung L sees double, Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard work their magic — and they’re not the only artists with tricks up their sleeves in your Midweek Roundup. Pick a card, any card:
1 | Cleopatrick | Family Van
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Cleopatrick, the Canadian heavy alt-rock duo of Luke Gruntz (guitar/vocals) and Ian Fraser (drums), have announced that their debut album Bummer will be released on CD June 4. The electrifying two-piece have also unveiled the bold, swagger-filled single Family Van. Says Gruntz: “I wrote Family Van after a band ripped one of our songs off. I’m not really going to dive into that whole story because we are very much over that shit — but they were bigger than us and we felt powerless. Family Van was born out of frustration. It’s an exercise in anger, and a conscious acknowledgement of the humble beginnings, independence, and DIY mentality that makes our band what we are.”
2 | Illuminati Hotties | Mmmoooaaaaayaya
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Anyone paying attention to Illuminati Hotties over the past few years will know it’s been a rollercoaster to say the least. Through it all, the band’s fearless leader Sarah Tudzin has risen from the ashes and is about to deliver the band’s most exciting record yet. Illuminati Hotties are also giving fans a sneak peek in the form of Mmmoooaaaaayaya (pronounced MOO!), solidifying the ushering in of a new era for the band. “Somebody told me my music is too ‘CUTE’ to take seriously” Tudzin muses “So I wrote them a love letter. I hope they’re laughing their patoots off. The springboard for the Mmmoooaaaaayaya video pays tribute to the iconic video for D’angelo’s Untitled (How Does It Feel) while demanding space for the subversion of male sexuality and flipping the dynamic of power throughout its three slimey minutes.”
3+4 | Yung L | Rasta (ft. Seun Kuti) + Puna
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Yung L shares the double A-side single Rasta ft. Seun Kuti and Puna from his recently acclaimed album Yaadman Kingsize. Yung L provides a selection of Afro-dancehall anthems primed for summer motives and dancing — thriving in his melodic approach to the genre, and with his sultry baritone grounding the track’s light ambience, this split track highlights two more bonafide gems. With a louche assuredness to his music, as well as the ability to call on high-profile features, Yung L continues to push the boundaries of the contemporary music scene.”
5 | Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard | New Age Millennial Magic
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Welsh band Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard released their single and video New Age Millennial Magic. The single serves as a tantalising bridge between where the band have come from and where they’re heading next. New Age Millennial Magic sees the band, fronted by Tom Rees, sarcastically outlining their views on current affairs, and the pressure this generation feels to have all the answers. A dig at himself as much as others, Rees includes himself as a target as he pokes fun at the know-it-all attitude of his fellow millennials. Rees explains: “Seeing Gen-Z’ers quitting school and actually influencing real change in place of me theorising whether Engels would have put his recycling out really brought into focus how fickle millennials (including myself) really are. I take absolute delight in lecturing a table of half-cut peers on the failures of capitalism, but little do they know my grab bag of 250 plastic guitar picks are already priming their way down the A470 straight to my door in the hands of an underpaid delivery driver with eyes like pissholes in fake snow.”
6 | Julia Stone | Fire In Me
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Just over a week out from the release of her forthcoming third solo album Sixty Summers, Julia Stone has revealed the striking video for her most recent single Fire In Me. Directed by Rhys Day and produced by Coralie Tapper, the video was shot on an isolated cattle station in the remote western Queensland Channel Country. Australian actor David Wenham, Jarrad Seng and Brisbane dancer Clarence Kent star alongside Stone in a creepy and dark narrative that evokes memories of Mad Max and The Walking Dead. Stone declares: “The song is about a fire that drives you. The video echoes different aspects of that fire. We wanted the story to show both the will for survival and the natural urge to be good and do good, against the beauty and harshness of the Outback.”
7 | The Silk War | Slender Slander
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “As they gear up for the release of their debut album Come Evening next month, New York City’s female-fronted indie-rock band The Silk War share their single Slender Slander. Neon ’80s-style synths wobble as a snappy riff cuts through the steady beat, but the danceable shake belies a deeper meaning as the track takes on gun control. “Slender Slander is in reference to the devious, conniving defamation exercised by corrupt people in power who do not support gun control and therein allow gun violence into our daily lives,” explain The Silk War. “This song was written in response to the Parkland School shooting, an example of a heartbreaking phenomenon that will continue to normalize in the eyes of our world if we do not face it head on.”
8 | The High Plains Drifters | Since You’ve Been Gone
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Since You’ve Been Gone is the new video from genre-bending indie band The High Plains Drifters, and the lead single off their forthcoming second album about love and loss out later this year. The track, which tiptoes between neon synths, airy bass, and a glitchy beat, was inspired by a particularly painful breakup when frontman Larry Studnicky was still young enough to believe in the theory of the one and only. The High Plains Drifters were sired after a night of too much booze and too little food at a Tex-Mex spot in Manhattan. Their new release boasts a bevy of undeniably catchy anthems about love and loss that fall somewhere between Eagles and New Order, with more surprises to come.”
9 | Zumbi | Go Deep
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Living in Los Angeles, Dimitri Craven and Jerry Andrews have been friends for over 25 years. They met when their bands played in the same musical circles. A few years later, Dimitri also met rapper/keyboard player Jason Soto, and they all started jamming. Years later, Dimitri, Jerry, and Jason started a band named Zumbi. Their love of electronic music was just starting to hit the scene and it became really big in all the hottest clubs. They loved trip-hop/electronic, alternative and downtempo music. Their new album Ahead Of Time talks about communicate, prostitution, politics, black church fires, female genitalia mutilation in Africa and much more.”
10 | VHS Collection | The Dark
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “VHS Collection have shared their new single The Dark and its accompanying visualizer. The Dark seamlessly fuses analog synths, searing guitar hooks and an anthemic chorus, true to the band’s retro-modern aesthetic while also teasing the more serious tone of the band’s upcoming album. “The Dark is a song about hiding out when the outside world is falling apart,” the band explain. “It was written on Friday, March 13, 2020, just as we were entering lockdowns. We set out to write a song that felt cinematic and ominous, inspired by the movie Drive. We never intended to write about current events, but the lyrics indicate what was floating around our heads that day: ‘We can watch from your bedroom window, We can watch all night, When the dark comes to take control, We can be the light’.”
11 | Livingmore | Got Me Feelin’ Like
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “L.A. female-fronted alt-rock band Livingmore have released their single Got Me Feelin’ Like, the latest off their forthcoming sophomore album Take Me, out May 21. Got Me Feelin’ Like tells the story of a larger-than-life “rhinestone cowboy” character envisioned by lead vocalist Alex Moore, as showcased in the song’s video. “Got Me Feelin’ Like has to do with someone being drunk off their own ego and nothing can ruin their time, even though their life isn’t where they want it to be today — it doesn’t matter!,” shares Moore. “The video is very much a direct representation of what the song is lyrically about. I enjoy mixing reality with fantasy. Daydreams are sometimes grander than where we’re actually standing.”
12 | Dan Mangan | Lay Low
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Dan Mangan is sharing the video for Lay Low from his 2018 album More Or Less. Shot over the span of a year during a global pandemic by director Deryn Robson, we follow the experience of a toddler confronting emotions of frustration, sadness, fear and happiness amidst life in lockdown. “Deryn’s beautiful capturing of his little Auggie throughout the pandemic perfectly captured the listless feeling of floating through moments,” says Mangan. “Sometimes, dealing with yourself is enough workload — such that dealing with others as well as yourself feels like an unmanageable existential obligation. Though toddlers are more demonstrative and erratic, I think that we all basically share the same emotions as Auggie. Sometimes it’s not enough, and sometimes it’s all too much.”
13 | Nicholas Krgovich | LuckLucky
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Lucklucky is the new single by Nicholas Krgovich. It’s taken from the upcoming album This Spring, a covers album celebrating the work of Veda Hille. Says Krgovich: “Lucklucky is a song written by Veda Hille from 2008. I’ve always loved it, I love the looking back and the looking forward simultaneously. Kind of like she zeroed in on the exuberant ‘Well, how did I get here?’ from Talking Heads’ Once In A Lifetime and centred a whole song around it. Veda said, “a map is not the thing it maps. We make maps constantly, in the physical world and in our minds. When you walk around your own city you are wading through layers of maps you’ve made, barely seeing what is actually there. Or making another map to cover the old one as you go.”
14 | Madisyn Gifford | Shapes & Shadows
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Featuring exquisite movement through a delicate black and white lens, Vancouver’s Madisyn Gifford personifies Shapes and Shadows throughout the track’s video. The single was released earlier this month, along with the announcement of her debut EP Learning to Exist, set for release May 14. Madisyn notes, “The music video plays with the imagery of Shapes and Shadows throughout by being black and white and using a lot of different lighting in order to achieve shapes and shadows, which was something I initially thought of when I knew we would be doing a video for this song.”
15 | Quivers | Hold You Back
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Australian band Quivers release the second single, Hold You Back, from their sophomore album Golden Doubt. Hold You Back is a bright and bittersweet summer jam about long-distance love with a propulsive backbeat, fuzz guitar, swelling strings, and airy harmonies. The track depicts riding the edge of romance in its lyrics: “We would kiss close to the precipice, though it makes us feel nervous.” Singer Sam Nicholson says: “Hold You Back is a stranger one. It’s got that snare beat keeping you close to the edge, and lyrically is a freakout about that dance between relationships and traveling/living overseas. The dance between two people. I wanna hold you but I don’t wanna hold you back … I wanted it to feel like arriving at a party where you are way out of your depth and the only one not in a costume.”
