A Flock of Seagulls are back in their original form for the first time since 1984. Mike Score, Ali Score, Frank Maudsley and Paul Reynolds release “Space Age Love Song”.
LINKS:
https://soundcloud.com/aflockofseagulls
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcluFtLtRzipm7CdtERnceA
https://facebook.com/seagullsrunning
https://twitter.com/seagullsrunning
https://instragram.com/seagullsrunning
http://www.aflockofseagulls.org
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Half the Animal – Bad Bad Love
Formed in 2016, Los Angeles-based alternative rock quartet Half the Animal produces an infectious sound, which blends catchy, hook-laden rock attitude and pop-driven styles. Originally founded by vocalist Chase Johnson and drummer Nick Gross—who were featured cast members in the hit MTV reality TV series ‘Laguna Beach’ during their formative days as the band Open Air Stereo—Half the Animal also includes bassist Evan Smith (Silversun Pickups/Chromeo/Big Data) and classically trained guitarist Dan Graham.
Half the Animal made an impact with their memorable debut single “Babylon,” a grandiose, stadium-sized rock anthem that became the band’s first-ever viral hit, garnering over 1 million streams online, collectively, since its release in July 2016. The song quickly earned the band nationwide industry attention and strong radio support on multiple SiriusXM channels, including Top 40 radio station Hits 1 and The Pulse, as well as regular airplay on tastemaker Los Angeles stations ALT 98.7 and KROQ, which featured Half the Animal on their celebrated Locals Only program. Collectively, Half the Animal also count over 1 million YouTube views to date and have been featured on ‘Billboard’ and Ones to Watch (Live Nation).
In fall 2017, Half the Animal released the successful follow-up single “Bad Bad Love” via the group’s independent imprint Noise Nest Records. Featuring a lush soundscape built atop hypnotic vocal melodies, piercing piano chords and dreamy synths, the track was highlighted on Spotify’s influential New Music Friday playlist. The band also launched a 33-date US Fall tour in September 2017 alongside Atlas Genius in support of the track.
LINKS:
http://www.halftheanimal.com
https://www.facebook.com/halftheanimal
https://twitter.com/halftheanimal
https://www.instagram.com/halftheanimal -
Beauty in Chaos ft. Kat Leon – Stranger (Holy Wars – Cruel World Mix)
Beauty in Chaos have teamed up with holy Wars’ Kat Leon and Nick Perez to come up with a completely different and sublimely beautiful reimaging of ‘Stranger’ from the ‘Out of Chaos Comes…’.
The video is a clear departure stylistically from the past videos of Beauty in Chaos. Featuring a more haunting and introverted visual, the video encapsulates with dark precision the mood of the new song, taking a dark turn from the original version in ways that almost hint ‘alternate universe’.
Not quite industrial, not quite darkwave, not quite post-modern, not quite dystopian, the Holy Wars Cruel World Mix of ‘Stranger’ rolls uphill to a dark crescendo with the bravado of original music and the swagger of legends.
Check out our Q & A with Michael Ciravolo, curator of all things beautiful and chaotic, about this new mix below.
How did you and Kat Leon come to work together?
I stumbled on Holy Wars after they opened up for a Schecter band… Papa Roach. I thought Kat had an amazing voice. I checked out a few of their videos on YouTube and just reached out. She and Nick came by and we hit it off well. They are nice, genuine and some of the hardest working people I have met in this business. After Michael Rozon and I did the music to what eventually became ‘Stranger’, I sent it to her and she poured her heart, soul and ‘story’ into the lyrics. It is my favorite track on ‘The Storm Before The Calm’, and I look forward to having her on the next record.
The new video seems to be an even bigger departure stylistically than the previous video. Is that a conscious decision and is the new remixes an influence on that?
I think if you look at all our BIC videos, I think you will see sort of that ‘pattern’. I strive for each video to be as different visually from its predecessor as possible. I had seen Fre’s work on a few Holy Wars’ videos and felt it was a perfect visual counterpart to Nick’s remix. With this in mind, I was happy that I could pull the ‘Temple Of Desire’ video together as quickly as we did as we needed to sit between this new ‘Stranger’ video and ‘A Kind Cruelty’. This new video is also as different visually as it is musically from the original version that closes out ‘The Storm Before The Calm’ vinyl.
Is the current album of remixes showing a hint at what the new album could be or may be?
I certainly love the ‘elements’ that the great and diverse cast of artists used in creating their individual remixes on ‘Out Of Chaos Comes…’. Not sure what of that will seep into the new album yet. I do know that I am looking forward to having both Kat Leon and Cinthya Hussey; who are a big part of this remix album, on what comes next. I think my off-the-cuff description of ‘Bauhaus meets Bjork’ is going to have to suffice…. for now 🙂 .
Check out our other features with Beauty in Chaos HERE.
ABOUT ‘STRANGER (HOLY WARS – CRUEL WORLD MIX)’
Beauty in Chaos announces the third video/single from their ‘Out Of Chaos Comes…’ album – ‘Stranger’ (Holy Wars -Cruel World Mix) featuring Kat Leon. This extreme sonic treatment to the original ‘Cocteau Twins-esque’ version that appears on ‘The Storm Before The Calm’ was created by Holy Wars guitarist Nick Perez.
BIC’s main-man Michael Ciravolo says “Since Beauty In Chaos is not a typical band, our videos are really the ‘face’ of BIC, I strive for each video to be different and as much of a 180-degree shift from the previous as possible! Fre’s video treatment on this video is certainly light years different than ‘Temple Of Desire’ so I can check that box! ‘Stanger’ is one of my favorite songs we have done. This was certainly a popular choice for many of the artists to remix, and I really love what Nick did with the song and his deconstructing approach, injecting sort of Massive Attack / ‘90s NIN sonics to it. As soon as I heard it, I knew it would be perfect for Fre’s editing style.”
Kat Leon adds “The reimagination of “Stranger” by Nick Perez (Holy Wars) is one of my favorites. I love how he restructured the song and made a new arrangement giving it an overall mechanical, dark, and industrial vibe. The music video for this track, edited by Fre Pacheco, compliments the song well with its intense and thought-provoking imagery. The idea to bury one’s self is the feeling in this video- using footage I previously shot waiting for the right track to showcase it and this remix of Stranger seemed to be a perfect fit. I would say the video for this remix was much of a remix itself using footage from my personal arsenal, footage from the original “Stranger” music video, and additional imagery bridging all worlds together.”
“The Cruel World remix is a dark cinematic interpretation of “Stranger”. The original piece was so lush and beautiful that it seemed it would be a great challenge to make it ugly and cold using heavy distortion, industrial elements, and tape”
Nick Perez (Holy Wars)CREDITS
‘Stranger’ written by Kat Leon, Michael Rozon, and Michael Ciravolo
Kat Leon; voice
Nick Perez: guitars, synths, and drum programming
Michael Ciravolo: guitars
Michael Rozon: pianoVIDEO CREDITS
Created and edited by Fre Pacheco (Flares and Glitches)
Additional footage by Erin Nahifeh and Arden Fisher
Drone footage by Leo Lesh
Original ‘Stranger’ video footage by Leslie Gladney and Eric ThirteenLINKS:
https://www.beautyinchaosmusic.com
https://www.facebook.com/beautyinchaosmusic
https://www.instagram.com/beauty.inchaos
https://twitter.com/MichaelCiravolo
https://www.beautyinchaosmusic.com/music-store
https://www.beautyinchaosmusic.com/bic-blog
https://soundcloud.com/33-3-music-collective
https://beautyinchaos.bandcamp.com -
The Silverbeets – Girlfriend
With a rich dark green sound interspersed with multi-colored stems, their non-formulaic style is distinct. Like their forthcoming 8-track full-length album, this single evokes the spirit of artists such as Can, They Might be Giants, and XTC.
Formed in 2014, The Silverbeets hail from Hobart, Tasmania – the small Australian island state at the bottom of the world. This relative isolation has led the band to craft an idiosyncratic sound that borrows from luminary rock acts like Pink Floyd, The Byrds, David Bowie, Radiohead, The Pixies, Queen, Fleet Foxes, Simon & Garfunkel, Nick Cave, and Neil Young, among others.
The Silverbeets consist of Farnz Cordeaux (rhythm guitar, vocals), Jamie Scott (lead guitar, vocals), Nigel Hope (bass), and Bill O’Brien (drums) but their recorded sound is also heavily influenced by their “5th member”, producer and multi-instrumentalist, Ernie Oppenheimer.
“This is a song about how the government, or people in power, once treated people with some common decency, like we mattered. However all semblance of caring seems to have completely gone by the wayside and all we have left is the greed of man, the greed of those in power who know how to use it against the 99% Viva la revolution!” says frontman Farnz Cordeaux.
“This is the band’s third multi-track release – we are starting to show who we are. By this, we mean that only now, looking back at all our releases, can people start to get a handle on what we are trying to do. We don’t sit in one style, we don’t just write one mood of music but instead are reaching to push ourselves to show a range of human emotions and incorporate different musical styles while doing so”.
The ‘Halcyon Days’ was recorded at Bad Radio Studios and Urban Fringe Compound between mid-2019 and mid-2020. All songs were mixed and mastered by Ernie O at Urban Fringe Compound.
In 2016, The Silverbeets debuted with their ‘Purple Stems’ EP, rated among the year’s best releases by the NBTMusicRadio. The band followed up with a ripper cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘We’ve Got a Groovy Thing Goin’ (2016) and their ‘Stay Tuned’ LP in 2018, an epic homage to the concept album (also rated the year’s 16th best album by NBTMusicRadio). In January 2020, they released ‘I’ve Got to Get Away (on an Hawaiian Holiday)’, a polemic tune on the lack of government leadership in handling the fires in Australia.
LINKS:
http://www.thesilverbeets.com
https://thesilverbeets.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/TheSilverbeets
https://www.instagram.com/thesilverbeets
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7WHM47mdXfW9kpTIRjI01w