Brooklyn’s My Favourite Things Announce New Album, Preview ‘A Little Closer’ Single
Monthly Archives: May 2017
My Favourite Things – Fly I Will, Because I Can (14 July 2017)
LUCKYandLOVE – Lucky + Love LP (SRD Music 30 June 2017)
L.A.’s Synth-sexy LUCKYandLOVE Announce Debut LP, Preview Single ‘Digging in the Earth’
Inspired by artists such as New Order, OMD, Depeche Mode, Washed Out, Tycho, PJ Harvey and Cocteau Twins, their sound falls beautifully into an everyman’s land between electro rock, dream pop, electronica and synth gaze. Justifiably also described as electrowave or indietronica, this music has, in the words of Loren Luck, “lots of LFO, riveting arpeggiations, simultaneous solos via spacey square waves, with April’s smoky vocals”.
This record is an electronic music record, but comes from a more traditional place, where OMD or Kraftwork came from – one of an unsampled, unprogrammed live recording originally at 192kHz/24-bit quality.
“Musically, as much attention was paid sonically to the organic moog instruments as April’s voice, and we offered the analog synths space in the songs to breathe to their true dynamic potential,” says Loren Luck.
This album came to light through recordings at Eagle Rock’s Cave Studio with Josiah Mazzaschi (Light FM), sessions with sound editor Morgen Stary, and Comp-ny Studio with Grammy winner Be Hussey (Guides). The vinyl release was mastered by Kevin Gray, who most recently engineered the reissue of Vangelis’s Blade Runner.
“My hope is that inviting this record into their life gives listeners some strange rose colored glasses to hear through. The lyrics touch many facets of an abstract philosophy of life – from a spark of physical chemistry between two people in a physical room (Sexy) to the intergalactic forces that spark subtle changes in our entire existence (Taureon), to the gratitude of an unobstructed blue sky (Legal Love), and disdain for a future that pulls us further away from each other (Mars),” explains April Love.
Originally from Silver Lake, California, the band formed in 2014, their name inspired by The Good Luck bar where the two had met in 2006. Several mai tai’s later, Loren started a music label and began playing drums for April’s original band. The two later rented out a warehouse in downtown Los Angeles, built a personal skate ramp, screen printed glow-in-the-dark wedding posters, and launched www.luckyandlove.com. Graphic designers by day, they decided to trade in ball-and-chain laptops forever in favor of playing dirty lo-fi electronica.
LUCKYandLOVE currently write and record in their music studio in Echo Park, California. The band is looking forward to recording new tracks with producer John Fryer (This Mortal Coil, Nine Inch Nails, Cocteau Twins, Love and Rockets, His Name is Alive) with plans to drop more singles later in 2017.
1 Sexy
2 Venus
3 Mars
4 You’ll Never Know
5 Digging In The Earth
6 Legal Love
7 Taureon
8 Full Moon
System Corporation – Dismal Universal Hiss (28 April 2017)
New Zealand’s System Corporation Announce Debut Single ‘Dismal Universal Hiss’
Neil – Black Flowers (Seahorse Recordings 26 May 2017)
Seahorse Recordings to Release Neil ‘Black Flowers’ LP, Previews ‘Blank Sheet’ Single
Seahorse Recordings presents the sophomore album from Neil, called ‘Black Flowers’. Recorded on the isle of Sicily in southern Italy with renowned producer Paolo Messere (Blessed Child Opera), these 11 tracks showcase songmanship that mix folk with grunge, and vocals with an uncanny resemblance to Gavin Rossdale (of Bush).
The first single from this album is ‘Blank Sheet’, which deals with writer’s block – that moment when the artist is in front of a white sheet and cannot dial into his muse.
Written and performed by Neil Lucchetta (vocals, guitar, harmonica). This second album offers a more rock-oriented sound than the previous album thanks to the contribution of Andrea Breda on drums and Alessandro “Ake” Donazzon on bass. Now, during live performances, he is accompanied by Andrea Breda and Alex Michielin (bass).
Originating from the Italian city of Pieve di Soligo (Treviso), Neil began his path as a singer-songwriter, having written his first song in English at the age of 14. He’s been composing ever since, his sonic output infused with folk pop, laden with acoustic guitars and dreamy lyrics.
This new album follows up Neil’s debut album ‘Apart’, released in 2013. This new offering takes the listener on an intimate journey through his personal experiences and stories. The unremitting vision permeating his music presents us with great scenery and breathtaking views of the different facets of his life.
The band cite numerous influences, including Sun Kil Moon, Elliott Smith, The Cure, Nick Drake, Puzzle Muteson, Damien Rice, Neil Young, and Rivulets.
‘Black Flowers’ is inspired by Charles Baudelaire’s ‘Les Fleur du Mal’ and more precisely from the collection “Spleen et Idéal”, which is about existential boredom. The 11 pieces that compose it are small stories surrounding this emotion – more precisely, this Spleen.
“Making music is my way of expressing what I live every day, I write about the emotions I live in my life and I would love that the people who listen to me identify themselves in my emotions,” explains Neil Lucchetta. “The idea for ‘Black Flowers’ came from the recordings on my debut album ‘Apart’, which is basically 10 songs about separation. From here came the idea of creating some kind of theme-based album.”
‘Black Flowers’ will be available digitally via key digital music platforms as of May 30 and is already available for pre-order on the band’s Bandcamp.
CREDITS
Produced by Paolo Messere
TRACK LIST
LIVE DATES
Keep up with Neil
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Bandcamp | Soundcloud | MySpace
Pattern Language – Total Squaresville (Happy Robots Records 16 June 2017)
Pattern Language debuts on London’s Happy Robots Records with ‘Total Squaresville’ Mini-Album, Teases First Single
“Each one of the pieces on this album were started from some very basic idea about sound or structure or primary influence, and yet I was surpirsed by all the twists and turns they took through the stages of composition, recording, and mixing,” says Chris Frain. “It’s still fun to listen to each piece and how they took on a life of its own to become something new and unexpected, even to me.”
CREDITS
Music and design concept by Chris Frain
Cover artwork by Matt Ashton (of Saloon and The Leaf Library)
Keep up with Chris Frain
Facebook – Pattern Language | Facebook – Chris Frain | Twitter | Soundcloud | YouTube | Bandcamp
Keep up with Happy Robots Records
Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Soundcloud | Bandcamp
The Stevenson Ranch Davidians – Amerikana (Picture In My Ear Records – 9 June 2017)
Psychedelic rock/folk/Americana stalwarts The Stevenson Ranch Davidians Present ‘Holy Life’ from Coming ‘Amerikana’ Album
While the lineup has continually coalesced around lead singer and songwriter Dwayne Seagraves, the collective has always had a guiding vision and goal: to create music that seeks to simultaneously demystify and deify the human experience.
Seagraves states that Amerikana also celebrates what he views as true magic: human will put to action. Through his songs, he hopes to convey the sense that human beings have been the sole source of all great insights and achievements throughout history, and that power originates from within individuals rather than from gods, governments or other external sources.
“Holy Life is basically a deification of the Human Spirit,” says Dwayne Seagraves. “I view the record and every song on it as a celebration of the human spirit as well as a condemnation of those who seek to destroy it. What inspired it was a period of time in which I was exposed to those who seek to destroy it and the record was written as a direct counter balance to that.”
The Stevenson Ranch Davidians “Amerikana” LP will be available on Classic Black 150G Vinyl with Lyric Inner Sleeve, but is already available for pre-order on Picture in My Ear Records ‘ Bandcamp at https://pictureinmyearrecords.bandcamp.com/album/amerikana
CREDITS
Written, performed and produced by Dwayne Seagraves
Mixed by Bryan Showalter
Mastered by Isaac Betesh
Video created by Jacob Kedzierski