pMad’s new single ‘Sisters’

Paul Dillon from Portumna, Co. Galway in Ireland is solo artist named pMad that follows a path of introspection with a unique view of the world and what we are doing to ourselves and the planet!

Dillon started out writing and playing with The Suicidal Dufflecoats, The Return of the Suicidal Dufflecoats, The Greeting and now pMad.

The new pMad single, ‘Sisters‘, that came out 31^st August, take on those we love, gone too soon. They don’t go away very far, they walk beside us every day… having left such an impression on us! They are still loved, still missed and a very important influence on our lives.

‘Sisters’ was created in Ireland (self-released on Zedakube Records), in collaboration with Germany (Protonaut Studio) & Mexico (Elith Mastering Labs) without ever being in the same room together.

It is available on all digital platforms

To keep up with pMad

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It’s Karma It’s Cool, have a new single out, feat. Peter Holsapple (REM, The dB’s, Hootie & the Blowfish) on keyboards.

IT’S KARMA IT’S COOL  release brand new digital single ‘A GENTLE REMINDER’  (featuring Peter Holsapple)

The song will be available from all the usual digital platforms and direct from the band’s Bandcamp.

Just A Gentle Reminder from It’s Karma It’s Cool

Call it New Wave. Call it Post-Punk. Call it Power-pop with a bite! Call it what you want, I doubt that It’s Karma It’s Cool care, they are just having too much fun making the music to worry about labels and taglines. And fun not just making the music but also playing such august and iconic locations as The Cavern Club as part of the International Pop Overthrow Festival. They do get about!

Perhaps the most exciting thing that the band has done of late, amongst a raft of exciting things, is team up with “honorary 5th IKIC member” Peter Holsapple for some long-distance recording (isn’t the modern age wonderful?)

Over the next 3 months the band will be releasing 6 singles, three of which feature the aforementioned Peter, whose long and varied career includes playing with such luminaries as The dB’s. R.E.M. and Hootie & The Blowfish.

A Gentle Reminder kicks things off in fine style. A typically cool and quirky slice of pop, buoyant beats and driving bass urges, choppy guitars and the sort of groove that looks you straight in the eye and dares you to keep still!  And of course, Mr H. weaves some glorious keyboards in, around, through and under the other instruments to complete the picture. A marvelous and majestic affair if ever there was one.

This run of single releases looks to be a music collector’s dream, six short, sharp and shockingly cool slices of intelligent pop for the discerning listener to snap up, wolf down and sonically digest. No one is going hungry this summer!

To keep up with the band

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Elk City – That Someone

Art pop band ELK CITY present ‘That Someone’, previewing ambitious new album

Art pop band Elk City shares ‘That Someone’, a song exploring the dual nature of self and other, excitement and dismay. The sound is vibrant, raw-edged, guitar-driven and maybe even a little scary.

The first single from their forthcoming ‘Above the Water’ LP, opens a new chapter in the Montclair, New Jersey-based band’s evolutionary story, showcasing a new guitar-rich lineup featuring members of Versus, Luna and the Psychedelic Furs side-project Feed.

Elk City revolves around its founders, artist/vocalist Renee LoBue and producer/drummer Ray Ketchem. Ketchem’s Magic Door Recording studio is homebase, where the band creates their uniquely swirling dream pop for insomniacs.

‘That Someone’ and the full ‘Above the Water’ LP will be released via the new Magic Door Record Label, founded by Guided by Voices drummer Kevin March with Ketchem and LoBue. These three neighbors, collaborators and friends launched the label with a simple mission to release music created by the rich community of artists who surround them.

With a glimmering rock thread, ‘That Someone’ dishes up potent atmospheric pop with psychedelic undertones and overtones. Ketchem and LoBue’s co-pilots here are uniquely qualified for this high-flying task: twin rods of lightning in guitarists Sean Eden(Luna) and Chris Robertson(Feed, Punch Havana), and electrifying bass courtesy of Richard Baluyut (Versus).

Since 1999, Elk City has faced the omnipresent question: What does Elk City sound like? Given their output of 5 albums, 3 EPs and countless one-off tracks, the answer is ever evolving. But that’s a good thing, revealing an even deeper question:

What does Elk City feel like?

It feels pretty good, man. ‘That Someone’ is definitive in this regard: Like so many Elk City songs, it feels like it’s happening at night, and there’s a storm coming.

Opening with a riff akin to early Sleater-Kinney or ‘Loaded’-era Velvets, it quickly goes Blondie, then unleashes into the kind of full-fledged tornado that is uniquely Elk City.

“We’ve never used this much improv before,” says Renee LoBue of this initial single and the forthcoming album.

“The stuff you hear is happening in the moment, while tape was rolling,” says Ray Ketchem.From there, Richard Baluyut became the band’s rehearsal tape archivist and obsessive editor, building out these rehearsal room jams into something completely different: The kind of elegantly crafted 3:30 pop songs that decades ago, bands would press onto a 12-inch, one to a side, almost as if to say, “Here’s a song you can get swept up in. Here’s a song about what it feels like to be alive.”

‘Above the Water’ was recorded, mixed and mastered at Ketchem’s Magic Door Recording, opened in 2017 as an acoustically lush refuge where musical expression and experimentation can unfurl. Ketchem, whose production credits include Guided By Voices, Luna, and Gramercy Arms, partnered with legendary studio designer George Augspurger to transform a cavernous warehouse into a freeform studio where vintage microphones, modern studio gear, and bespoke sound tuning elevate and inspire.

As of August 24, ‘That Someone’ will be available everywhere digitally, including Apple Music, Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify and Bandcamp, where the full album can already be pre-ordered. The ‘Above The Water’ LP will be released on October 21.

CREDITS 
Renee LoBue – lead vocals, percussion
Chris Robertson – guitars, backing vocals
Ray Ketchem – drums, percussion, synths, sounds
Sean Eden – guitars
Richard Baluyut – bass, synths, backing vocals
Recorded, Mixed & Mastered by Ray Ketchem at Magic Door Recording, Montclair, NJ
Songs written and performed by Elk City
© 2022 sound is crazy music (BMI)
Single cover artwork by Ray Ketchem
Album cover artwork by Ray Ketchem and Renee LoBue

Keep up with Elk City
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Lannie Flowers “Flavor Of The Month” on vinyl, with new exclusive Bonus CD (September 30)

LANNIE FLOWERS’ hit 2022 album FLAVOR OF THE MONTH arrives on vinyl September 30 — featuring a new bonus CD filled with exclusive tracks! A new single/focus track and video, “Lost In A Daydream”, will accompany the LP.

The FLAVOR OF THE MONTH LP/CD package is up for pre-sale now at www.bigstirrecords.com and most online music retailers now, and on record store shelves worldwide as of the street date, with the new single and video “Lost In A Daydream” signaling the highly anticipated arrival of album on wax.

The LP package itself is a thing of beauty, as expected from SpyderPop Records and their in-house designer Dan Zimmer: a gatefold jacket, with song notes from Lannie and the original artwork from all the singles inside, and more. The CD, entitled THE ORIGINAL MARCH TO HOME SINGLES COLLECTION, features the single mixes of 13 of the 14 Lannie Flowers tracks that became the new record (and one one exclusive Holiday-themed treat). These versions are true exclusives: the tracks will not be available on streaming services, and the CD is only available in the LP package!

As for the story behind the singles that came together to create Flavor of The Month (released on CD and Digital in February of 2022) in their all-new remixed versions, that’s a tale in itself, told in detail when the album bowed in CD and Digital forms this past February.

 

Black Nite Crash – The Take

Seattle indie rockers Black Nite Crash announce new album, tease first single ‘The Take

Seattle-based psychedelic rock outfit Black Nite Crash have announced they will release their new album ‘Washed in the Sound with Black Nite Crash’ in mid-October. To quench your sonic thirst for now, they present the lead track ‘The Take’, a storyteller-led pulsating noir singalong with a trippy silhouette-laden video directed by Jim Biggs with assistance from James Stone.

Formed in Seattle twenty years ago, Black Nite Crash has, over the years, involved more than 30 members around Jim Biggs, the last remaining original member. Yet somehow, the band has maintained a coherent sound and vision throughout.

Born of the desire to do something more simple and direct than the myriad Radiohead wannabes flooding the indie and alternative airwaves at the time, the band embraced loud guitars, memorable hooks and solid pop tunes with simple arrangements, which have guided the band in their compositions through to today.

Today Jim Beggs (vocals, guitar) is joined by John Parker (bass), James Stone (guitar), Tony Zuniga (drums) and Claire Tucker (guitar/vocals).  

“This album was started before the pandemic and then endlessly delayed until now, which speaks to the perseverance of the band. This is the band’s fifth full length in nearly twenty years of existence, and it looks to be the start of a period of more frequent releases as we work through our backlog of unreleased recorded songs, not to mention the surplus of new material we’re working on even now,” says Jim Biggs.

“After a long career of creating fuzzed out noise pop with wall of sound guitars somewhere between psychedelia and shoegaze, we’re branching out into more subtle dynamics and stretching our sound to include different stylistic flourishes – everything from Murder Ballads to Baggy pop tunes. There’s also something about it that sounds like the wide open west; for a band that lives in the soggy Pacific Northwest, the sound of the desert has long seemed to haunt our music (to be fair, the band, as constituted on this release includes Tony and Sharim, both from Las Vegas and Jasun is from Arizona). All of that being said, we are not completely abandoning our fuzzy pop tunes.”

Work on the ‘Washed in the Sound with Black Nite Crash’ LP began before the pandemic, the songs a reflection of a band finding its feet again, with (then) relatively new members Claire Tucker and Sharim Johnson putting their imprint on this batch of songs. Then can lockdown before tracking could be completed.

In that time, longtime bassist Jasun Hadaway, who made a big contribution to the album, left the band. As things opened back up, we began to slowly progress towards completing the album. Sharim left the band just as longtime collaborator Matt Brown (Trespassers William) finished the mixing and the band handed the recording to mastering genius Adam Straney. The result is the most diverse set of songs the band has ever released, combining the band’s standard fuzzed out guitars with some newer flavours.

As of August 24, ‘The Take’ will be available everywhere online, including Apple Music, Spotify and Bandcamp.  The full album ‘Washed in the Sound with Black Nite Crash’ will be released on October 14 through the Neon Sigh label.

SINGLE CREDITS
Jim Biggs – guitars, vocals
Jasun Hadaway – bass
Tony Zuniga – drums, percussion
Claire Tucker – guitars, vocals
Sharim Johnson – guitars
Matt Brown – organ
Written by Biggs / Black Nite Crash
Engineered and mixed by Matt Brown at Crackle and Pop and Spaceranch Studios in Seattle, assisted by Skyler Holcombe
Produced by Matt Brown and the Band
Mastered by Adam Straney at Breakpoint Mastering
Video directed by Jim Biggs with assistance from James Stone

TRACK LIST
1. The Take
2. S.P.M.U.
3. In Time
4. Tie Me Down
5. NY Animal
6. Sugarwave
7. Stupid Games
8. Something About You
9. Failure

Keep up with Black Nite Crash
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New SPECTRA*Paris album & video

Today, the enigmatic Italian singer Elena Alice Fossi has released “Modernism,” the fifth album from her eclectic synth flavored project SPECTRA*Paris along with the female empowered “Moondrops“ video.

The charismatic and absolutely intoxicating Elena, best known for her work with Italian electro-trailblazers Kirlian Camera, has brought together several collaborators into a beautiful kaleidoscope of stylistic colors ranging from EBM, future pop, dark electronic, art pop, and various influences more.

“Modernism,” released today by Dependent Records of Germany is available through all digital and streaming platforms along with compact disc.

“Modernism” features appearances by Kirlian Camera mastermind Angelo Bergamini, Project Pitchfork, Seasurfer, legendary producer John Fryer (Depeche Mode/Nine Inch Nails/Nexus), John Rox & Oxydion, African singer-songwriter Fakeba, and guitarist and producer Michael Ciravolo (Beauty In Chaos, Human Drama).

Bandcamp

 

London’s More Kicks Announce LP with Teaser-Single “Terminal Love”

London, England’s More Kicks have just announced the release of their sophomore LP Punch Drunk (due out September 16th on Milwaukee’s Dirtnap Records and Rotterdam’s Stardumb Records) with their newest video-single for Terminal Love. Singer James “Sulli” Sullivan says “The song is actually a fairly sad expression of a relationship ending. Or rather the creeping realisation that something is just slightly off kilter. So I enjoy the fact that the video stands directly in opposition to that and just shows how – a couple of years down the line – the world can feel a little brighter when you’re with your friends in Spain, slurping honey from a plastic bottle and trying to make people dance.” The video, shot while on a two week tour of Spain, is a video-diary of a band on the road consisting of petrol stations, the Spanish countryside and the typical daily routine of traveling musicians. Sulli expands, “As is increasingly becoming a motto for More Kicks, we decided to make a virtue of it. When we’re old men in our rocking chair on the porch, I’m happy to say this video is very much what it looks like to be on tour with us. Service station ice lollies, a desperate hunt for weird local bars, deranged pre-show voice-saving techniques”.

More Kicks’ new album Punch Drunk marks a new era for the band: heavier, more expansive, and with more twists and turns. It veers from sparkling harmonies to fearsome riffing in the blink of an eye, with never a second wasted. As with the first record, it was recorded live on to 2” tape. It’s bottled lightning and the sound of a band firing on all cylinders. Listeners will hear influences from classic 60s garage, 70s NYC rock and roll, and jagged 90s guitar pop – all wrapped in a razor sharp bundle. A glance backwards and a decisive step forwards. “When the world collapsed in 2020, I realized more than ever how much I rely on music and More Kicks,” says Sulli. “This album became a total obsession and a lifeline. Stuck in one place, the songs all came from heartbreak, frustration, anger, hope. It feels like a unique set of circumstances that produced this record and I’m really proud of what we’ve done.” “We can’t wait to play it for as many people as possible”.

More Kicks is an explosion of pop melodies, jet-fuelled guitar riffs and shifting, sinewy rhythms with James Sullivan (Sulli) on lead vocals and guitar, Kris Hood on drums, and Paolo Mantovani on bass/vox. The band arrived from nowhere – seemingly fully formed – at the end of 2017 on London’s garage scene. The self-titled debut album was released in November 2019 on a coalition of five independent labels (Wanda Records, Snap Records, Dirt Cult Record, Beluga Records and Adrenalin Fix Music) – a concise and ragged lesson in pop songwriting dripping in melody, cynicism and energy. This indie-garage-pop gem will please fans of Guided by Voices, The Buzzcocks, The Replacements, The Exploding Hearts and The Kinks alike. 

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The Godfathers – Alpha Beta Gamma Delta

Legendary British rock & roll band The Godfathers return with an almighty bang on their highly-anticipated new album Alpha Beta Gamma Delta. Featuring thirteen tracks of new material, the album is described by the band’s lead singer and founder Peter Coyne as “a sonic tour de force” and is their first full-length studio release since the critically acclaimed A Big Bad Beautiful Noise in 2017.

Written and recorded during the course of the Covid pandemic, the album was produced by The Godfathers’ bassist (and former Damned member) Jon Priestley. Following on from the double A-side single ‘I’m Not Your Slave’ / ‘Wild And Free’ released in 2020, Alpha Beta Gamma Delta is the first Godfathers’ album to feature the new line-up of Coyne, Priestley, ex-Heavy Drapes’ members Billy Duncanson (drums) and Richie Simpson (guitar) and guitarist Wayne Vermaak from The Great St Louis.

“’Alpha Beta Gamma Delta’ is definitely one of the very best albums The Godfathers have ever made – it’s exciting, dark, dangerous contemporary rock & roll!” states Coyne.

Originally formed in 1985 out of the ashes of The Sid Presley Experience, The Godfathers quickly earned a serious reputation for their electrifying brand of primal rock & roll and their incendiary live shows, aided and abetted by a string of classic radio hits and chart-bothering albums.

With numerous sold-out international tours and festival appearances to their credit, The Godfathers remain a consistent and reliable draw on the world’s stages and Alpha Beta Gamma Delta marks a thrilling new chapter in The Godfathers’ saga.

The album will be preceded by a 4-track EP entitled Midnight Rider on Friday 26th August, featuring two album tracks (‘Midnight Rider’ and ‘OCD’) plus two brand new and exclusive non-album tracks ‘When The Cowards Fall’ and ‘Fade Away’.

The Godfathers will be announcing a full Autumn tour to coincide with the album’s release.

Alpha Beta Gamma Delta tracklisting

Alpha Beta Gamma Delta / Bring On The Sunshine / You Gotta Wait / I Hate The 21st Century / OCD / Midnight Rider / Straight Down The Line / Lay That Money Down / Tonight / I’m Not Your Slave / There’s No Time / Dead In Los Angeles / I Despair 

The Alpha Beta Gamma Delta album & Midnight Rider EP can be pre-ordered now via www.thegodfathers.bigcartel.com

 

Black Needle Noise with Ruby Friedman and Colin McGuinness “Fair Winds”

“Fair Winds” was originally written to be the theme song for a TV show about the history of the Isle Of Man. Unfortunately it has been put on the back burner because of Covid. Hopefully, this will happen down the line, but John Fryer decided to release this gorgeous masterpiece in the meantime.

John has an incredible knack for giving songs this huge expansive sound that consistently evolves and grows. You can listen to his tracks over and over and still discover some new magic that he wove into the fabric of the music. “Fair Winds” also directly parallels his most iconic project, This Mortal Coil. Lush, beautiful, and full of depth and emotion. “Fair Winds” was created to delight our senses and soul.

The record also features two exceptional musicians:

Ruby Friedman is an incredible vocalist with deep roots in the soundtrack genre and was the perfect choice for “Fair Winds”. Her delivery on both tracks elevates and enhances John’s cinematic music.

Colin McGuinness 

Colin over the years has played live [Japan being one of them] and recorded with many many bands. His playing and fashion style stand out a mile in the crowd.

Fans can buy the record on Bandcamp

Track Listing

1 Fair Winds 5:44

2 DollHouse On Fire 3:29

3 Fair Winds (Instrumental Version) 5:48

4 DollHouse On Fire (Instrumental Version) 4:34

 

Los Angeles’ The Sweet Kill Announce Debut LP with Synth-Soaked Post-Punk Single “Darkness”

The Sweet Kill have just announced the release of their debut LP Darkness with their newest video-single by the same name. The Sweet Kill is a one-man post-punk project which focuses on the more dark and gothic side of the genre. Perpetually recording and producing at his own SHADOW ZONE SOUND in Los Angeles, Pete Mills wrote The Sweet Kill’s sonic cinematic debut Darkness with the intent to inspire those lost in the shadows of life. Driven by cold synths, atmospheric guitar and melodic bass, multi-instrumentalist and velvety crooning baritone Mills conducts a darkwave masterpiece of romantic sorrow echoing the laments of The Cure and Joy Division. 

The video for the single Darkness was shot and produced in Los Angeles by director James Mitchell. The video features Mills in a straitjacket, tormented by an inescapable, faceless antagonist draped in BDSM gear. While Mills is tortured and teased by his nemesis in erotic black vinyl, he comes face to face with a real-live panther which eventually becomes one with his inner being. Reflecting on the meaning of the single Darkness, Mills states, “The spark between dark and gothic attraction can lead to a charged demise. Perpetually intertwined with murky chemistry and twilight solemnity, Darkness polarizes this extravagance”. Starring Murphy The Panther, the video for Darkness also features actors/dancers Andrea Feyler, Paradise Brittain, Luliia Lozovaia, and of course Pete Mills as himself.

The album Darkness, due out on vinyl in September 2022, is a dark and gothic post-punk diviner of millenarian angst. Darkness bridges the decades between the early days of post-punk and the now. You can hear elements of The Cure and Bauhaus reverberate through Mills’ taut, brooding vocal performances, while the pounding bass lines and brisk percussion are reminiscent of artists like The Killers or Franz Ferdinand. The personal lyrics and accessible melody and production fall somewhere between Editors and Fontaines D.C., lending the songs an openness that will appeal to fans of pop and rock, not just post-punk.

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