Bala see red, Capra battle demons, Bodom After Midnight finish what their former leader started, Ty Morn go to war — but there’s no reason to fight over your Weekend Roundup. There’s more than enough music for everybody:
44 | Bala | Mi Orden
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Bala release their new track and video for Mi Orden today. “Mi Orden is a journey from darkness to light,” they explain. “We get used to that twilight situation until something happens and everything blows up. Our order ceases to receive chaos. The great change that at first scares us, but later we are so grateful for it. Without knowing it, this change brings us the light that we needed so much. This journey also becomes something literal through the video, which transports us hypnotically from a dark tunnel to the color of the blooming flowers.”
45 | Capra | Medusa
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Capra just released their debut album In Transmission, along with a video for the album track Medusa. Formed in 2016 by guitarist Tyler Harper and drummer Jeremy Randazzo, who had previously worked together in multiple projects, Harper had just come out of a 90-day stint in rehab and was looking to focus on something new. The initial idea was to create something that would be fresh while still giving listeners a sense of nostalgia for the sounds of the late ’90s and early 2000s hardcore and punk scenes. Harper asserts: “This band symbolizes that hard work, determination, passion, and drive can lead to success. We’re all very outspoken on our past struggles and intend to help others that feel like they’re in a hole so deep that they can’t climb out of it.”
46 | Bodom After Midnight | Payback’s A Bitch
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Bodom After Midnight released their three-track EP Paint the Sky with Blood today. The EP that was recorded back in Finland — to be followed by a album later in the year — now embodies a new meaning and remains as the only work by Bodom After Midnight. Paint the Sky with Blood is undeniable evidence of late guitarist Alexi Laiho’s artistic spirit and his extraordinary musical skills, in synthesis with his bandmates Daniel Freyberg, Waltteri Väyrynen, Mitja Toivonen and live keyboardist Vili Itäpelto. “Like ourselves, Alexi was beyond stoked about these songs and anxious to get these out, so we are happy that we can fulfill his wish,” they say. “Needless to say, we are honored and proud to be a part of his very last creative work and to unleash it the way he wanted it. It’s time to let the beast out of the cage one more time as a celebration of Alexi’s music, legacy and the man himself.”
47 | Ty Morn | War Of Nations
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “To celebrate Ty Morn signing a new record deal for their sophomore album Last Villain Testament — due out in late 2021— the band have released their new single and video War of Nations.”
https://youtu.be/e66Xlq6PHco
48 | No Hope For The Lost | Jecht
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Following the Covid-related demise of their band Deadlights, Re Mayer (guitar/backing vocals/synth) and Nathanael Bohnet (bass/lead vocals) took the opportunity to reimagine their sound and image to create No Hope For The Lost. Unleashing their introductory EP The Pilgrimage this month, the duo gave fans a taste of their new sound, but left it just short enough to keep hype levels high. Today, the band share the video for Jecht. They add: “Jecht is a reimagining of a song originally written by Nate on his first solo album dubbed The Painted World. The song was originally intended to be played live in the Deadlights setlist, but after spending a lot of time in the studio with it and switching off ideas with Re, the song slowly evolved into an entirely almost new track.”
49 | Winterforever | Inadvertently
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Winterforever are a post-hardcore band from Boise. What started as a small side project in 2018 quickly grew into something much bigger than it was ever supposed to be. The band just released Inadvertently, the first single off their upcoming debut LP Lævitas, which is set for release on May 28. Vocalist-guitarist and songwriter Corey Hugo says, “Inadvertently was written about a toxic relationship that had hit a breaking point. It ended in a pretty explosive argument, but it made me realize the best thing I could do was move on and learn from the situation. Ultimately that falling out is the reason Winterforever exists.”
50 | Rise Against | Nowhere Generation (Ghost Note Symphonies)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Rise Against’s new single Nowhere Generation is exploding. Naturally, with that kind of heat, the punk rockers have put a whole new spin on the track in the form of Nowhere Generation (Ghost Note Symphonies), a stripped-down, reimagined take on the original that stays true to its punk spirit and blistering message. This is not the first time Rise Against have transformed a fiery punk rock song into an orchestrated acoustic presentation. 2018 saw the release of Ghost Note Symphonies, Vol 1, a creative endeavour where the band reimagined their music in a way no one expected. The stripped-down orchestration was raw and revealing lyrically while powerful and compelling musically. Said vocalist/lyricist Tim McIlrath, “Any good song should be able to be stripped down to an acoustic guitar and played around a campfire. Nowhere Generation struck us as one of those songs and we returned to the Blasting Room last year after finishing the album to track an acoustic version that we included as the B-side of a limited edition seven inch. To make it happen, we called up our Ghost Note string players and changed the feel. We gave it The Ghost Note Symphonies unplugged treatment to re-create the same song but with a completely different vibe.”
51 | Fred Lee & The Restless | Devil’s Chokehold
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Fredrik Lindkvist, primarily known as the former singer and frontman of Swedish hardcore band Totalt Jävla Mörker, has launched a new solo project. Under the name Fred Lee & The Restless, he will release his solo album Sleepwalking in Daylight on June 11. Embracing a completely different sound and style of songwriting, Fredrik’s solo project sounds like nothing he’s done before. Traditional storytelling, bittersweet vocal melodies, and clean guitar licks adds up to a colorful and exciting take on folk-rock. ”I hope that the people listening to this record realize that I’m more than just hardcore. Maybe even get an insight into my life.” The second single leading up to the album is Devil’s Chokehold.”
52 | Devon Kay & The Solutions | Liver
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Liver is a punchy anthemic punk-ska-pop-dad-rock tune that speaks to Devon’s weird fascination with religious people and their confidence in the afterlife. Once again the band have taken all six members’ vast range of influences and poured them out into a song that sounds like Less Than Jake got messed up with Queen and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. “This song rules because it has all these elements of our past sprinkled in it,” says Devon, “I wrote the song back in high school, it was way different back then but the opening riff is pretty consistent. It also features a horn part from Jacob Horn’s high school band that closes out the song. It’s not only a banger but it’s a bunch of musical inside jokes … like when a jazz fan laughs during a live performance. Like they get the jazz joke no one else does.”
53 | Pure Obsessions & Red Nights | Among The Wolves (Algorithm Remix)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Pure Obsession & Red Nights have teamed with synthwave/metal producer The Algorithm. Their new single Among The Wolves is out now. It’s a pure synth-wave track with industrial-rock vibes.”
54 | Mikael Tobias | Gennem Rav
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Multi-faceted composer Mikael Tobias signals the release of his sophomore album Aperture with second single and video Gennem Rav, a kaleidoscopic probe into the movement of ages. Bubbling analog synths punctuated by brass and strings are underpinned by pulsating bass and skittering percussive noise in a persistent dance of expansion and contraction. Gennem Rav (Danish for Through Amber) explores the passage of time in both micro and macro gestures. Unforgiving throughout millions of years, amber has the power to freeze time only to mark its fleeting transience. All of humanity is but a blink of an eye on this scale, and we are humbled to remember that the material composition of nature sees us when we arrive, when we live and when we pass.”
55 | Gee-Aitch | Hello
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “After Left-hand Page and Odyssey, Insane closes the first step of my career. The three records were written between 2017 and 2019, a period of reflection and a paradigm shift in my personal and professional life. Insane seemed to guess what was going to happen a few years later with the arrival of this pandemic. The discomfort with ourselves that took us out of our comfort zone but that also forced us to reinvent our daily lives and to discover that there is a lot in us that we only know in very adverse situations. The record has strong electronics, in pop structures with a dark crooner style. Along with the EP, the the video for the song Hello is out now too.”
56 | Claptone | Golden (ft. Two Another)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Claptone, the musician with the maximum possible level of mystery, continues his form on Golden, featuring the vocal talents of Two Another. Progressing from his signature electronic sound, Claptone now layers in pop elements, blending with his inimitable dance music style and giving this release a fresh new feel. Amsterdam/Stockholm duo Two Another’s vocals perfectly complement the track. Says Claptone: “Golden is no doubt a very positive and powerful song. You look back on all the difficult times you had to go through and realize how they made you much stronger. My hope is that Golden, when you lose yourself in the song’s groove and melody, warms your heart, fills it with hope and joy and will indeed make you feel golden.”
57 | Moris Blak | Burying Place (ft. Alicia May)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Industrial bass maestro Moris Blak has released his new EP Irregular Revisions Vol II. It’s a collection of remixes from Blak’s The Irregularity of Being and new songs like Burying Place, which features the vocal talents of Alicia May (formerly of SNVFF). The song is a satisfying, full-bodied journey through holographic dreamscapes and lush cybernetic environments, giving way to a frenetic, irresistibly danceable climax. Alicia’s emotive lyrics speak powerfully to the heart as mechanized basslines rumble below: Abusers keep their power through secrecy, by making the truth feel harder to tell than the pain of staying quiet. This song is dedicated to those taking back their power by telling their truth.”
58 | The Prize Fighter Inferno | Rock Bottom
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Claudio Sanchez, most known as the big-haired founding member of Coheed and Cambria, has long enjoyed dabbling in synths and acoustic guitars on the side under the moniker The Prize Fighter Inferno. His introspective, experimental 10-track LP The City Introvert is out today. This marks Prize Fighter’s first full-length since 2006, and first physical offering in a decade. Ahead of the release, Sanchez has been dropping songs throughout the pandemic, giving fans a taste of the collection — songs filled with touching messages and instrumentation like modular synthesizers, vintage drum machines and layered, manipulated vocals.”
59 | Sp8ce Owl | Summer Rays
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Producer/artist Sp8ce Owl (Joseph Meyers) has released his debut EP To A Future’s Past. Meyers created and chose the songs for the EP while mourning the passing of his dog. He created the music to show how the experience of beginnings and endings are interwoven together throughout the course of life. Solitary Steps and A Motion in Time are about the transition and vibrations of leaving the physical realm and the pain and attachment felt by those left behind as well as the persistent droning of time that makes one move on. Juxtaposed in that thought process are the songs The Future Awaits and Summer Rays, about the birth of cycles and the hopefulness that comes with beginnings.”
60 | Sarram | Midnight
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Discover Sarram, the solo ambient/drone and post-metal project of Sardinian multi-instrumentalist and creative Valerio Marras. Transcending the use of guitars, sound effects, synths, glockenspiel and more through a stripped-down and atmospheric 40-minute exploration, his upcoming fourth studio album Albero (Italian for Tree) could be described as the resilient pulse of Mother Nature, a haunting instrumental ceremony in which every detail from the delicate humming to the loudest guitars, are perfectly highlighted by James Plotkin’s mastering. Says Marras: “I consider Albero a doom-ish record, a real swarm of sounds that provides a transversal experience and a wide array of feelings. I tried to push things in a way I had never experienced before and it turned out very dark and intense. I called it Albero because the first thing that came to my mind when listening to it was a big tree.”
61 |Ballaké Sissoko | Jeu sur la Symphonie Fantastique (ft. Patrick Messina & Vincent Segal)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Malian kora player Ballaké Sissoko releases a video to accompany Jeu Sur La Symphonie Fantastique, from his widely praised album Djourou. The track — on which Sissoko is joined by clarinettist Patrick Messina and cellist & long-term collaborator Vincent Segal — is captured in a live video filmed in the leather atelier belonging to Segal’s wife. Having previously partnered on projects with Toumani Diabaté, Taj Mahal and Ludovic Einaudi, Ballaké collaborates here with African legend Salif Keita, Nouvelle Vague’s Camille, French rapper Oxmo Puccino and leading female kora player Sona Jobarteh.”
62 | Chalk Portraits | Memory III
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Chalk Portraits, the ambient solo project of Greg Kennelty,released Memory III from his upcoming album Memory. Kennelty commented: “Memory III is my favorite song off Memory. I love that it’s in 5/4 and has this long, drawn out feel to it, with everything coming together on the fifth beat every time once all the instruments enter. Plus, the arpeggiator bouncing off itself adds a really cool atmosphere. Of the Chalk Portraits songs I’ve written so far this year, Memory III is definitely my most listened to.”
63+64 | Ryan Kinder | Hell Is + Blame
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “It’s riff-roaring rock with a sweet side of Southern soul.” That’s how country music’s newest renaissance man Ryan Kinder describes the sound of his debut album Room To Dream (July 31), and he’s certainly not wrong. In the age of fitting a mold, Kinder has preserved the influences and nuances which set him apart from the crowd on his road warrior ascent to streaming stardom. Today he previews two songs. The radio-ready heartbreaker Hell Is was inspired by an argument overheard in a YMCA locker room. “I began writing on my Notes app on my phone immediately and brought what I wrote into the session I had that day. On the other hand, Blame is a huge-sounding, guitar-laden rocker driven along with stomps, claps, and thick background vocals.”
