Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Marriages (3/5 of Red Sparowes) premiere new song via SPIN.com

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Red Sparowes offshoot band Marriages premiere a new song from their forthcoming debut today courtesy of SPIN.com. The track "Ride In My Place" is culled from their new recording, Kitsune and is available to download/stream HERE

Back in February, Marriages released the first track, "Ten Tiny Fingers" which is available to download/stream HERE. Watch a video teaser for Kitsune featuring the band at work in the studio HERE.

Marriages is a new band comprised of Red Sparowes members Emma Ruth Rundle (vocals, guitar), Greg Burns (bass, synthesizer) and David Clifford (drums). Their sound is a singularly sensual kind of heavy, dramatic rock, but perhaps the most stark contrast to their other band, Marriages employs vocals in their songs. Their music is also considerably darker and more experimental, drawn from a wide range of styles and ideas. Emma’s breathy, understated delivery provides a focal point – the eye of the proverbial storm. A haunting presence, as elusive as it is alluring, her voice is a shore upon which waves of overdriven bass, thunderous drums, and cosmic guitars and synths swell and crash. 

Kitsune is their 6-song debut release, a short introduction of an album whose undeniably epic proportions suggest massive things to come. Recorded with the formidable Toshi Kasai (Melvins, Red Sparowes, Tool) at the controls, Kitsune presents a collection of poignant, emotionally-charged tracks that wriggle free of easy classification. The comparisons are diverse; Cocteau Twins and Zola Jesus would appear to be as influential as Boris and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. The songs came together quickly as the band wrote and played their first shows in November 2011 and wrapped recording in January 2012. 
Album opener "Ride in My Place" sets the tone, immediately revealing the undulating, reverb-cloaked darkness at the band’s core. Sounding not unlike PJ Harvey fronting an overdriven rendition of Pink Floyd’s "Echoes", the fittingly-titled song arrives as a fully-formed companion piece for expansive landscapes, perhaps traversing the vastness of the American west.  Hardly overstaying its welcome, the track soon gives way to "Body of Shade", whose cryptic “My body gone forever…” lyric suggests a sort of transcendence echoed in the music itself -- Clifford’s steady backbeat, the tense rhythm and the swirling interplay of synth and cascading guitars recalling the finer moments of The Verve’s early recordings. Opening with a celestial keyboard loop and quickly gaining weight, third track "Ten Tiny Fingers" builds upon a heavy dirge-like rhythm punctuated by Rundle’s vocals, which by now clearly occupy a place among esteemed peers such as Chelsea Wolfe and label mate Lisa Papineau. The song’s cryptic, claustrophobic lyrics, contrasted with a loose (but by no means less thunderous) atmosphere and sense of impending collapse bring to mind The Cure, circa Pornography. The next track, "Pelt", is borne from the decaying remnants of "Ten Tiny Fingers". A menacingly hypnotic three-minute meditation on minimalist doom, it serves as the perfect introduction to the distorted, bass-driven hard rock and wailing psychedelia of instrumental track "White Shape". Seven-minute closer "Part the Dark Again" is a song whose cinematic scope recalls precisely the kind of grandiosity Red Sparowes are synonymous with, taken to its logical extreme. The impassioned, struggling-against-the-odds sentiment of the vocals (“Part the darkness in my heart”, “Don’t say it’s nothing…”, etc.) takes things over the top emotionally, culminating in a soaring, melancholic riff that grinds to a halt far earlier than you’d expect. Throughout, Rundle unassumingly steps to the forefront, showcasing her unique talents as a guitarist often overlooked within Red Sparowes' three guitar onslaught. 
Kitsune is an exciting debut release from a band well aware of their potential, harnessing the skills to fulfill it. Marriages are an expansive, visionary development, a unique combination of elements, a sound signposting the path ahead… Kitsune will be available on LP, CD and download via Sargent House on May 1st, 2012. 


Artist: Marriages 
Album: Kitsune
Label: Sargent House
Release date: May 1st, 2012

Track list:
01. Ride In My Place (MP3)
02. Body of Shade 
03. Ten Tiny Fingers (MP3) 
04. Pelt 
05. White Shape 
06. Part The Dark Again 




On the Web:

Hi-res photos, album art, bio and more:

  

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

British trio Nedry release sophomore album today

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"With their dreamy electronic loops and darker industrial undertones, London dub-rockers Nedry fall somewhere in between Beach House and The Knife. Their 2010 LP, Condors, was a masterful expression of what dubstep can sound like when in the right hands." -- Consequence of Sound



"A futuristic sonic collage of dreamy glitch-folk, shimmering electronica and weapons-grade Dubstep percussion... Feels like a futuristic step forward from Radiohead's In Rainbows or Portishead's Third." Four stars -- Uncut



"When a band is as good, as versatile and as daring as Nedry, you hope the wider world will stand up and take notice." -- Huw Stephens - BBC Radio One 



London UK's dark electronic trio Nedry release their sophomore album In A Dim Light today via
Monotreme Records. A video clip for recent single "Violaceae" is available to stream HERE courtesy of Consequence of Sound

Also, two tracks, the eerily sinister "Float" and surrealistically soaring "Post Six" are available to stream/download HERE.

Drawing on the gothic undertones of David Lynch - and at points, absorbing T.S. Eliot’s ‘Four Quartets’, vocalist Ayu Okakita revels in ruminations urging acceptance of the shadows; to permit the darkness to settle around her.

British bass music clings to few modern regulations. As grey areas become inviting, zones of conflict are transformed into fertile new ground. Nedry are dictating a path that recognizes no genre, no structures, no rules. Ripping progressive dance culture out of the bedroom producers’ smoke stained confines and planting it resolutely on the live stage, Matt Parker and Chris Amblin utilize MPC, laptops, guitars and synths to create a deep, thoughtful musical space.

Nedry are a trio who are dissolving the distance between this cutting edge and hungry audience. Splicing a band aesthetic with the ‘heads down and thumbs up’ bass craft of the UK, they gift the faceless revolution of dark music an inviting visage within which we can all dwell.

The dazzling fusion of electronica, instrumental rock, dubstep rhythms and hauntingly beautiful vocals of their 2010 debut album Condors saw them tipped for greatness by BBC Radio One, The Guardian, Uncut and Q Magazine. In the past two years, Nedry has performed at the Roskilde, Sonar and SXSW festivals, XFM and BBC sessions and tours with 65daysofstatic, Maps & Atlases and These New Puritans

Nedry started performing, producing and recording in summer 2008. In a short amount of time they've made waves on the UK electronic music scene, sharing stages with the likes of Pivot (Warp), Maps (MUTE), The Gaslamp Killer (Brainfeeder) and Daedelus (Ninja Tune). Nedry have steadily gathered critical acclaim since the self-released SZ EP and Condors album in 2010, and In A Dim Light sees the band poised for the bright lights. 

In A Dim Light will be available worldwide March 12, 2012 (March 13th in North America) on Monotreme Records. Available on CD and digital formats and as a 180 gm vinyl edition of 500 on black (200 copies) or white (300 copies) vinyl with a free CD of the album and a free 12" x 24" poster.


Artist: Nedry
Album: In A Dim Light 
Label: Monotreme Records
Release Date: March 13, 2012

01. I Would Rather Explode
02. Post Six (MP3)
03. Violaceae (VIDEO)
04. Havana Nights
05. Dusk Till Dawn
06. Float (MP3)
07. Land Leviathan
08. TMA
09. here.now.here
10. Home




Artist: Nedry
Album: Dusk Till Dawn 
Label: Monotreme Records
Release Date: March 14, 2011

01. Dusk Till Dawn (VIDEO)
02. Dusk TIll Dawn (CAPAC remix)



On the Web:



Nedry are available for interviews. For more information, contact Dave Clifford at dave@usthemgroup.com 


Friday, March 9, 2012

NYC post-metal band Sleep Maps premiere first track from forthcoming album via Prefix Mag


Click image above to watch album teaser video


New York City post-metal band Sleep Maps premiere the first track from their forthcoming album today via Prefix Mag. The song "Men Against The Stars" is culled from the quartet's retro-futurism inspired concept album, Fiction Makes The Future and is available to stream/download HERE. Check out an album teaser video HERE

Sleep Maps play a handful of New York area shows this spring before embarking on a more extensive tour in support of the album. Please see current dates below. 

Sleep Maps is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Ben Kaplan, who performed all of the instruments on Fiction Makes The Future. The band has since expanded to a full 4-piece lineup, playing its aggressive yet atmospheric songs live with poignant visual projections. The band first formed in Los Angeles, before Kaplan picked up a moved to NYC, recording the album on his own prior to finding musicians suited to the task.

A reaction to the present world and a vision of a lost future, Fiction Makes the Future brings the listener back in time to imagine a reality that might have been. Set against a backdrop of ambient synthscapes, crushing guitar builds and explosive drumming, the album tries to make sense of man’s deep seated desire to know his future. Disembodied voices from luminaries of many ages intermingle with echoing guitar leads, soaked in the reverb of outer space, and distorted bass lines that rumble in the low end like the jets of an Apollo spacecraft, blurring the line between traditional post-rock and a new kind of sci-fi instrumental rock.

Fiction Makes The Future was recorded in the woods of Delaware over 3 weeks in October 2011. The 5-song, 40-plus minute album was produced, performed and mixed by Ben Kaplan. It will be available on limited edition CD and Download May 1st, 2012.

SLEEP MAPS LIVE:
04/04   Brooklyn, NY @ Saint Vitus 
04/24   New York, NY @ The Delancey - CD Release show
05/09   Brooklyn, NY @ Trash Bar

Artist: Sleep Maps
Album: Fiction Makes The Future
Label: Lost Future Music
Release Date: May 1st, 2012

01. Men Against The Stars (MP3)
02. The Eternal Wanderer
03. Forbidden Light
04. A Greater Fire
05. Last Future

On the Web:

Thursday, March 8, 2012

San Francisco blissful indie-pop quartet Adios Amigo premiere song via RCRD LBL, announce followup EP



"Pure California dreaming: nostalgic, jangly music that makes you feel sun-soaked and happy." -- The Deli SF Magazine 

"Happy, hopeful, celebratory music." -- NPR

"The pure indie-pop bliss of Adios Amigo occasionally dipped towards mellow Belle & Sebastian sentimentality, at other points rocking more Shins-like." -- SF Bay Guardian

"This indie pop group bolsters itself with warm, murky harmonies and lovely, listless vocals. All four instrumentalists sing on every song, and the resulting music is more akin to British Invasion-style rock than contemporary pop - three-part harmonies rather than a lead over backing vocals. Most tracks start with a tantalizingly drawn-out major seventh chord. Sometimes the musicians hover on one tonal center for an entire song, the same way a painter might obsess over a single color. They're forgiven." -- East Bay Express



San Francisco indie-pop quartet Adios Amigo today premiere the first song from their debut release via RCRD LBL while busy at work recording a followup EP. The simultaneously happy and forlorn sounding track "Debut" (listen/download HERE) is a fitting introduction to the band's masterful pop-craft.

With a critically praised five-song debut recently released, Adios Amigo is already back in the studio to capture more of the band's lithe neo-psychedelic tunes. The as yet untitled followup will be available on June 1st, 2012. Summer tour dates will follow, please see current shows below.

Adios Amigo began in the South American capital city of Santiago, Chile. It was here that singer/songwriter/guitarist Johnny Major, during his college year abroad, began writing love songs on an old, beat-up guitar for a Chilean girl whom he would go on to marry. It would be 8 years and tens of thousands of miles traveled before John would record his music and assemble a band. Adios Amigo is the culmination, and also the beginning of his musical aspirations coming to light. 

Adios Amigo, the band, was put together after completion of recordings in the Sacramento studio of engineer David Pullin (Sholi, The Soft White Sixties). All instruments were performed by Major, and the recordings would go on to become Adios Amigo's self-titled debut EP. With only songs written on acoustic guitar, and having never been played with a full band, the sound was invented through layering of guitar and vocal tracks, and the end result was a harmonious wall of sound, reminiscent of Broken Social Scene's grandiose indie rock symphony. Major's singing and writing style can be likened to Elliott Smith, his vocals delivered softly with strategic harmonies, in traditional pop song structure.

The band's debut 5 track EP is an eclectic batch of songs tied together by a pop sensibility and a calm, upbeat sentimentality. The songs are about various elements of life: love, past, present, future, and falling asleep on the couch with somebody special. There is not an unhappy note on the album. 

In the spring of 2011, Major recruited musician friends to bring his music to life in a live setting. The current lineup includes Jason Forrest (guitar, vocals), Shawn McNamara (bass guitar, vocals), and Steve Wills (drums, vocals). Johnny Major also plays drums in San Francisco based indie-folk band, Il Gato. All members of Adios Amigo reside in San Francisco, CA.  


ADIOS AMIGO LIVE:
03/28 San Francisco, CA @ Hotel Utah
04/20 San Francisco, CA @ Thee Parkside


Artist: Adios Amigo
Album: Adios Amigo
Label: Adios Amigo Music
Release Date: March 5th, 2012

01. Intro
02. Play You (VIDEO)
03. Debut (MP3)
04. Easy To Hide (VIDEO)
05. The Couch

On the Web:











For more information, contact Dave at US/THEM group: dave@usthemgroup.com

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Chicago "sultry dirge" duo Redgrave announce new EP, SXSW and local shows


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"A scorching new band... they play howling hard rock with undercurrents of doom and blues." ­-- Chicago Reader
"Sultry dirges"  -- Time Out Chicago 

"This Chicago duo sounds like they're preying on you, with their slow, deliberately plodding, simmering, stalking kind of stomp, with spare drum parts by Stephen Howard (Ambulette, Pinebender) that are nonetheless proto-metal mean, and a guitar from singer Angie Mead that spits, burps, and subverts the blues like The Move did on "Brontosaurus" nicking the nascent Led Zeppelin, while she bellows like a Robert Plant gone girl for good like My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden." -- The Big Takeover


Chicago "sultry dirge" duo Redgrave announce the forthcoming release of their 5-song debut in June. In anticipation of this release, the band plays a series of shows this month, including the official Lovitt Records SXSW showcase. Please see complete dates below.

Check out songs from Redgrave's recently released 7" EP, "Mantis" HERE and "Gone To Wither" HERE. Watch a live in-studio performance video HERE shot at the band's first ever live show.

Vocalist/guitarist Angie Mead and drummer Stephen Howard generate a massive sound thanks to Mead's powerful, wailing voice and sludgy open tunings backed by Howard's refined rhythmic stomp. Redgrave's songs have the sort of smoldering intensity shared by PJ Harvey and Led Zeppelin alike that is hard to categorize, but immediately easy to feel. The duo's forthcoming EP, National Act was recorded by revered engineer Greg Norman (Russian Circles, Pelican) and will be available in June via Lovitt Records

Mead started writing and recording Redgrave songs in marathon stretches beginning August 2010 from her home in Chicago after furniture was moved into storage and replaced with recording equipment, drums and guitars. She sent these demos to Chicago musician Stephen Howard, whose work she'd admired as guitarist and drummer in Pinebender. A working musician since the age of 13, Howard had grown up playing local Chicago blues clubs; his teachers included Willie Smith, John Primer and Eddie Clearwater, his classrooms in music included stages across the U.S., Europe and Africa. Mead's style has always been playing a right-handed guitar upside down -- ­ a backwards model mimicking Albert King that roughens up the playing. But through playing with Howard, she discovered a way of singing that made her voice crest above his gale-storm drumming. They've been playing together as Redgrave since January 2011.

Tim Rutili of Califone/Red Red Meat fame lends his guitar prowess to the track "Gone To Wither" on the Redgrave debut 7" with art design by David Yow of The Jesus Lizard, produced by Stephen Howard, recorded and mixed by Greg Norman at his studio in Chicago. Lovitt will issue National Act on 12" vinyl and download on June 12th, 2012. 

REDGRAVE LIVE:
03/09 Champaign, IL @ Cowboy Monkey
03/10 Chicago, IL @ The Hideout (SXSW sendoff party)
03/15 Austin, TX @ Club 1808 - Lovitt Records/Slip Productions/Artists Growth Day Party


Artist: Redgrave
Album: National Act
Label: Lovitt Records
Release Date: June 12th, 2012

01. Dick Moves
02. Custom A (VIDEO)
03. Assault Song
04. Lik-M-Aid
05. Taunt

On the Web: