Dead Atlantic take a tumble, Seven Spires pick up the story, All Ears Avow know from nothing, Callow Youth skip a few steps — but you won’t want to miss a moment of your excellent Monday Roundup. No, but really, what the hell was up with Halle Berry’s hair at the Academy Awards? Did she just escape from an asylum? Was it some sort of prank involving a blind hairstylist? Somebody must know.
18 | Dead Atlantic | Falling Into The Grave
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Baltimore melodic metal band Dead Atlantic have released a video for the single Falling Into The Grave, from their upcoming album Lost, which will be released this year. The video was directed by Jared Bell and features a special cameo appearance by the actor Julio Bana Fernandez. Dead Atlantic state, “We couldn’t be more proud to release this single and video, and we’re looking forward to releasing the record to everyone. A lot of hard work went into the production of the video and we are incredibly excited about the final product.”
19 | Seven Spires | The Cursed Muse
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Seven Spires have released the single The Cursed Muse. The song sees the band seamlessly blending their love of the heavy, symphonic, and black metal genres into a mesmerizing mix that is simultaneously furious and catchy. “The Cursed Muse is the reintroduction of our exhausted hero from the previous two albums. Haunted by demons of the past, this sea-captain-turned-psychopomp contemplates their future: a lonesome eternity riddled with regret, resentment, and the crushing belief that they do not deserve happiness,” say the band. The single serves as an appetizer for the forthcoming studio album from the band, due this fall.”
20 | All Ears Avow | Be That Nothing
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “All Ears Avow are back with the soaring, melodic single Be That Nothing, self-released with accompanying music video. Vocalist and guitarist Claire Sutton says: “Written during the first COVID lockdown, Be That Nothing discusses the grim reality we were all made to endure, yet it’s also a celebration of how we all had to seek new ways to find excitement and get that release of stress, within the limitations of the pandemic. Many of us found out things about ourselves we never knew, and were forced to face them.” Be That Nothing is fuelled by pure melody and has a grooving bass-driven lilt. Its video is a trippily effected performance clip, in lieu of the opportunity to actually experience the band’s live show in the flesh.”
21 | Callow Youth | Straight To The End
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Callow Youth epitomize everything that is great about Brit-rock. They are arguably the hottest young band to come out of Manchester in the last few years. Big on melody and soaked in jangly riffs, they deliver a fiery brand of hook-ridden indie-rock. Straight To End is the title track from their new EP out April 30. The EP represents the varied emotions experienced when up against the sometimes-overwhelming complexities of life today.”
22 | Mortgarten | Tales Of My Lands
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Swiss folk/black metal band Mortgarten have just released a lyric video for Tales of My Lands, the second single from their new album Cry of the Lost. Morgarten comment: “Tales of My Lands is the starting point of the story that Cry Of The Lost is based on. It’s about the day a man realizes who he’s meant to be and that he longs for the outdoors. With the song, we want to show this man’s excitement and his dreams, his thirst for great things and for travel, and his will to be a warrior.”
23 | Animal Sun | Touch
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Electro pop-rock band Animal Sun released their lighthearted video for Touch. With a catchy chorus and feel-good vibe, this single is likely to spark a light of optimism and warm hearts as two former lovers reunite and find happiness within each other. Says singer Steven Blake: “Touch was based on a single moment of clarity between two ex-lovers as they push through their individual challenges and reunite once again in perfect resolution. They have grown to love each other in ways both never thought possible, becoming living proof that people are so much more than a representation of their checkered past. The two embrace and the world seems to melt away with the touch of their fingertips.”
24 | Joss Jaffe | Love From Way Out
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Love From Way Out is an outer space love song from Joss Jaffe. The song envisions a long lost love separated by space and time but still awakened in the heart. Leading off with shimmering trumpet reminiscent of The Beatles’ All You Need Is Love, the contemporary beat is punctuated by glimmering guitars and builds to a mesmerizing chorus filled with harmonies. The song is accompanied by a remarkable animated video made by the Taiwanese-American animation artist Crystal Jow.”
25 | Schlindwein | Textures
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “When asked about the inspiration behind Textures’ blitz chess video, Schlindwein explained: ‘I learned chess as a kid from my dad and even was in the local chess club for a short time. When the pandemic started I really got back into it thanks to online tournaments. Now not a day goes by where I am not playing a rapid game or watch some chess videos! And I think it’s time to get chess out of the “boring/nerd/classical music” niche and into pop culture. Textures is the second single from the second album, which is anticipated in July. This track has a classic house feel with a deep and sexy bass groove and that beloved organ sound.”
26 | Okey Dokey | Stop While You’re A Head
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “With Okey Dokey’s multi-band collaborative album Once Upon One Time having been released in October, the Nashville trio are back with a refreshing EP entitled Leaky Sealing. The songs are a collection of B-sides, covers, and new interpretations of some of the band’s favorite songs from the album. “With the Leaky Sealing alternate spelling I was hoping to draw attention to all the leaks. The ones above our heads and the ones above our souls. We live in a world we barely know,” explains frontman Aaron Martin. This week the band share the feel-good Stop While You’re A Head. “We wanted to go for a sort of Sung Tongs sloppy live feel,” explains Jeremy Clark. “So I just set up a couple of my favorite mics and turned all the instruments on. We basically just walked around finding sounds and tracked the first thing that came to mind and put it to tape. Usually the first take. It was a fun and different approach to recording for us for sure since we usually put so much time and effort into making each part ‘just right’.”
27 | Alex Bent + The Emptiness | Just A Phase
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Just A Phase is a song about manic behavior. For fans of Jean Dawson, Post Malone and Joji. Produced with Chris Hatam and ygretz, it’s a song I started messing around with at The Store, a secret studio space where I meet with friends of mine weekly to record music. In isolation, these sessions were my biggest source of inspiration. Just A Phase is also the second single from my upcoming sophomore album due later this year. A perfect soundtrack to your melancholy spring.”
28 | Pablo Bolivar | Dusk Light (ft. Ben Preisinger)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Minimal techno producer Pablo Bolivar has released his latest single Dusk Light, from his upcoming LP Framework Of A Dream, due May 21. Rich with minimal textures and refined electronic chords, Dusk Light is progressively chilled as it incorporates the works of Bolivar and Ben Preisinger into one, cohesive creation. An ode to the synchronicities and complex behaviours found in nature, the single manages to create an organic atmosphere while only using rolling electronic instruments and entrancing synths. Bolivar tells us: “I chose Dusk Light as the first single because I think it gathers the different styles of the album. Ben sent me the atmos as the main idea and I created the rest of the track, adding dub chords, the main keys and rhythms with a classic deep techno spirit, that is what we both like.”
29 | Digital Negative | Self-Crash
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Newly formed electronic/industrial duo Digital Negative will release their debut recordings on an eponymous debut EP in May. Their first single is Self-Crash. Formed over the past year in quarantine, Digital Negative are the new project from Richard Johnson (Drugs Of Faith, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, ex-Enemy Soil) and Daniel Euphrat (Person918x, Timmy Sells His Soul). Their EP features five glitched-out experiments in frigid tension, explosive outcomes, and cerebral terror. The record was produced remotely in Virginia, with Johnson recording his vocals and handing them over to Euphrat, who mixed and manipulated them into his collage of samples, electronic percussion, and guitar. “For a project like this, a big part of it is figuring out sample sources,” offers Euphrat. “The songs are largely made up of fraction-of-a-second samples from fifty-plus sources, ranging from surround-sound tests to assembly line field recordings to early-2000s pop songs. The goal was to make complex and disorienting sound collages that emphasize the artificiality of digital music.”
30 | 10,000 Years | March Of The Ancient Queen
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Less than a year after their self-titled debut EP, 10,000 Years are back with their first album, aptly titled II. Picking up right where the EP left off, II continues the story of the ill-fated Albatross mission and its exploration of time and space through a skullcrushing mixture of stoner-rock, doom and sludge metal. The album was recorded in the legendary Studio Sunlight with the equally legendary Tomas Skogsberg manning the controls.”
31 | Mighty Tim Young | Rock n Roll
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Born and raised in Easton, PA, Tim Mansfield made the first in a successful run of escape routes that have included the Poconos, Middletown, Pa., back to Easton and then a life-changing run in New York City’s Manhattan. There, Tim worked as a professional actor, bartender, file clerk, waiter, busboy, manager of the Figaro Cafe and bar manager with a company who ran the concessions in all the Shubert houses on Broadway. Rock n Roll channels a bluesy, Americana sound, escalating fervently past the 30-second turn. It comes from The Lucky Ones, Tim’s most recent album.”
32 | Mike Edel | One Headlight
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “On the heels of his latest album En Masse, Canadian indie singer-songwriter Mike Edel continues to embrace the positives of the era. His series of contemplative mid-tempo covers is a nod to Edel’s singer-songwriter lean, whereas En Masse embraced co-writing, collaboration, intuition and was decidedly upbeat. Today he covers The Wallflowers’ One Headlight.”
33 | Catty | Bella Donna
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Catty is an independent singer-songwriter whose music is heavily inspired by pop-rock and her upbringing in rural Wales. She started her career in pop duo Dusky Grey. Following four years in London, Catty is back in Caernarfon, North Wales writing and working closely with songwriter and producer Jim Eliot (Kylie Minogue, Will Young, Ellie Goulding). Although the pair have not actually met yet, as the project began on Zoom during the first lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
34 | JW Paris | Sober
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Along with debuting their blistering single Sober, ascending alt-rock duo JW Paris also welcome a new member behind the kit: Gemma Clarke. A founding member of Babyshambles, The Krak and The Suffrajets, Gemma is pleased to join Aaron Forde and Danny Collins as a permanent fixture of JW Paris. A holy trinity of noise, energy and tenacity, they will release their first record together this Spring: the Sober EP. The title track arrives as an early indication of what to expect — a pulverising cut that kicks and snarls like the mongrel cross-breed of Nirvana and Blur. Ironically penned during a late-night drinking session, Sober is a track about those painful pinches of clarity, when the haze of escapism falls away to reveal the cold hard truth that’s been staring you in the face for some time. Speaking about the new track, JW Paris say: “Sober is more about the sobering moments of realisation that we have from time to time. Moments that cut you down from all gust of living and really make you think about where you are … ”
35 | Maddy Hicks | Backseat
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Originally from upstate New York, Maddy Hicks has been performing her self-written music for almost a decade. She moved to Nashville in 2018 to pursue a career as a songwriter and artist while studying at Belmont University. She writes about the twentysomething experience with a unique sense of rhythm and rhyme beneath powerful melodies. Backseat is the first single off of her upcoming album. With honest lyrics and dramatic production elements, this song expresses what it feels like to just be along for the ride in life when you’d rather be in the driver’s seat.”
