LA-based alt-rock group Beauty in Chaos present the new album ‘Beauty Re-Envisioned’ at the same time as unveiling the new video for ‘Storm ft. Ashton Nyte (Acoustic Version)’. Their second long-play includes a wide array of remixes and alternate versions of tracks from their acclaimed debut album ‘Finding Beauty in Chaos’.
Released via LA-based label 33.3 Music Collective, both albums were recorded at Ciravolo’s own SAINTinLA Studio and produced by Grammy-nominated producer Michael Rozon, best known for his work with Ministry.
Beauty in Chaos is the brainchild of guitarist Michael Ciravolo. Originally from New Orleans and now based in Los Angeles, he is perhaps best known as President of Schecter Guitar Research. Ciravolo has played guitar in Human Drama for the past 30 years, as well as playing live and recording with Michael Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel since 1998.
“On ‘Beauty Re-Envisioned’, I basically handed the keys to the car over to an amazingly talented cast of producers, engineers, re-mixers, DJs, and artists, including Tim Palmer, Kevin Haskins, John Fryer, Statik, Ummagma and Marilyn Manson’s Paul Wiley… giving them near-total autonomy to throw the puzzle of ‘Finding Beauty in Chaos’ on the floor and reassemble it as they hear it. Here we have some extremely diverse re-envisions that run the gamut sonically and stylistically, with a few surprises thrown in,” says Michael Ciravolo.
About the new acoustic version of ‘Storm’, he adds, “This version and the accompanying video are the perfect foil to the bombastic ‘Un-Natural Disaster’, the debut single off of this album. It was important to me that not all of the re-mixes and alt-versions on this record where 4-on-the-floor aimed at dance clubs, which some remix records seem to target.”
Mixed and produced by Ashton Nyte (The Awakening), the video for ‘Storm (Acoustic Version)’ was filmed and directed by Vicente Cordero and produced by Industrialism Films.
“When Michael suggested I have a go at re-imagining something for the ‘Beauty Re-envisioned’ album, I knew it had to be ‘Storm’. As the first song we had written together for the first album, it seemed only fitting that it gets a loving remake for the new release. As a big fan of acoustic music, I wanted to try a stripped down, more intimate approach to this version. This meant re-recording it from scratch, as I wanted to re-sing the vocals in a more introspective way, to match the arrangement I had in my head,” says Ashton Nyte.
The debut album ‘Finding Beauty in Chaos’ features numerous music luminaries, including:
- Wayne Hussey (The Mission)
- Simon Gallup (The Cure)
- Robin Zander (Cheap Trick)
- Pete Parada (The Offspring)
- dUg Pinnick (Kings X)
- ICE-T (Body Count)
- Michael Aston (Gene Loves Jezebel)
- Michael Anthony (Van Halen)
- Dirk Doucette (Gene Loves Jezebel)
- Ashton Nyte (The Awakening)
- Pando (A Flock of Seagulls)
- Evi Vine
- Betsy Martin (Caterwaul/Purr Machine)
- Marc Danzeisen (The Riverdogs)
- Kevin Kipnis (Purr Machine/Kommunity FK)
- Rudy Matchinga (Red Scare)
- Johnny Indovina (Human Drama)
- Tish Ciravolo (StunGun/ Daisy Rock Guitars)
The new album involves many of these same players, with the addition of acclaimed producer Tim Palmer, guitar icon Zakk Wylde, Kevin Haskins (Bauhaus, Love & Rockets), Paul Wiley (Marilyn Manson), Danny Lohner (Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson), and Rolan Bolan, who joins Wayne Hussey for a rendition of T-Rex’s ’20th Century Boy’.
Earlier, Beauty in Chaos presented the first single ‘Un-Natural Disaster’ ft. dUg Pinnick, Zakk Wylde and Ice-T (Collide Mix), which premiered in Rolling Stone. The second single ‘Drifting Away’ ft. Robin Zander (Synthetic Capricorn Mix) also has Michael Anthony (Van Halen) on back vocals and was remixed by Paul Wiley (Marilyn Manson) and Steven Alexander Ryan (The Black Queen).
LINKS:
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
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/finding-beauty-in-chaos/1436694940
https://open.spotify.com/album/7cmbwIpDm9aAXS4vVjcq4U?si=LZ_9_Bi1SzaZyN7wOIRCvw
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The Stirrings – Start A Riot
The Stirring has premiered their new video for the track titled ‘Start A Riot’. With the flare of artists and the grit of starving artists, The Stirring gives a subtly emotional guitar driven stomp to kick off the new year with guided angst and creative direction.
ABOUT THE STIRRINGS
An experimental rock band with pop structures and a sound reminiscent of shoegaze, with an emphasis on noise, drones, and distorted soundscapes.
The band was formed in early 2018, and is composed of producer Raúl Galán Berlanga -synths- (Nibble), Juan Pérez Marina -guitar- (Leone, Sangre Fácil, L’Exotighost, Corcobado) and New York musician, Ryan Louis Bradley -bass and voice- (Fearless Sons).
LINKS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgSxCUkXYEY
https://thestirrings.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/thestirrings.band -
Keir – Shiver
With a burning heart, a searing voice and explosive choruses, Keir is not afraid to play with fire. At 25 years old, the singer-songwriter displays a bright mind and a dark soul, nourished on heartache, Weltschmerz and decades of pop-music history – ready to spit it all back out into the future like fuel on a flame.
Keir may stand on the shoulders of soul divas and rock gods, but his craft shows no sense of retro fetishism. This is what the blues sound like in the 21st century, and there’s barely a trace of those worn-out, 12-bar formulas. Instead, Keir offers simultaneously a distillation and an innovation of that musical ritual: transforming inner turmoil into a tune – not to spread misery but to exorcise demons, and in the best case, incite compassion. The first single “Shiver” is a shining example, a seductive groove that shudders with red-hot, angst-ridden sensuality.
Musically, there’s enough mass that you start to feel a gravitational pull, and in lyrical tandem, Keir reveals a heavy heart. But there’s nothing heavy-handed about his words – piercingly sharp when needed, yet bold enough to stay soft. Always honest but often ambiguous, like a painting made of poetry. Ambitious melodies that reach for the radio; a sonic rawness he’s unwilling to tame for the sake of pop appeal.
With his younger brother Kyle on drums, Keir began his eponymous project as a duo. While attending college in Bristol, he found he had trouble with authority. “I didn’t want to know about music theory,” he recalls. “That’s when a song becomes incredibly dull.” Most of his progress was made outside of the classroom, not simply studying music but living it: in the studio, on the stage, and in his sleep. Making music is what he does, and when he doesn’t know what to do with himself, he makes music.
Keir has mastered the art of vocal expression and surrounds himself with equally talented musicians. “I have too much self-loathing to work alone,” he says. In the writing process, Keir doesn’t sweat any lack of proficiency. “I learned to write songs by not knowing how to play chords,” he explains. His perspiration, rather, comes from a primal approach: typical session might mean getting holed up in a room, shouting at each other, getting naked and pounding on the piano.
The further production process, however, places emotions and timbres in perfect alignment. Unhinged, yet exacting: it’s a combination that works not just in the studio but in a concert setting too. Keir and his band have wowed audiences throughout the UK and Europe, including a tour with The Drums and, notably, the Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg, whereas an unknown act he won a standing ovation.
Keir’s creations are neither middle-of-the-road nor left-field, neither over-polished nor DIY – or perhaps a little bit of both. Or neither. Whatever the case, Keir is consumed by music, and in turn, his music is ready to consume you.
LINKS:
https://www.keirmusic.com
https://www.instagram.com/soundofkeir
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2YOYjcNXjBJSW1STwwhE74?si=1kucgH6fQyebPk9ngE2XqQ
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH3jUJBzsR1ChPSXjgYMvvg
https://facebook.com/219951008349474 -
Courtney Farren – Nothing Like It
Singer/ songwriter Courtney Farren has announced her debut album ‘Nothing Like It’, which is being preceded by the title track of the same name. This six-track LP features guitar and piano songs recorded earlier in spring of this year.
Born and primarily raised in the San Francisco Bay area, Farren has made New York City her current home base. Having moved 12 times in childhood to various northern California locations created restless settlement patterns, which followed her into adulthood, having lived in four very different cities in 2017 alone – San Francisco, Palm Springs, Las Vegas, and now New York.
“What is a break up anyway? I was broken up, though, surely… Bad joke. I can’t speak for my ex’s feelings, but this album contains mine. I started seeing someone and I let it consume me in a few ways. One of those ways led to a lot of songs. I wrote this album over the past year,” explains Courtney Farren.
“I think this record is a good representation of what is to come in my music. I am constantly working and reworking my sound and style in order to best showcase my songs, and I am looking forward to sharing what is produced from those transformations along the way.”
Now that she lives in The Big Apple, Farren regularly plays shows, makes videos, and is finding her place in the local music scene. Upon moving to New York, she teamed up with Brett Sullivan of American Anymen, a good friend who was able to quickly help organize/book shows and make videos to support her pursuit of a career as an artist.
Courtney’s emotionally driven and heartfelt songwriting and performances lend themselves to her current live setup of guitar and vocals. While she is often very casual in the way she introduces her songs, when she sings, her words are fueled by honesty and a sense of urgency.
“Two tracks – ‘Right Now’ and ‘Hard To Tell’ – were actually both written on the same night about a night I ended up seeing my ex in New York last year before I ended up moving here,” explains Farren. “I wrote the title track ‘Nothing Like It’ after a particularly heart-wrenching week spent with this person. I realized that I was no longer ignorant to the feelings I had so recently only known from books and films. I started getting really interested in piano and keyboard shortly following this, and began writing songs more in the vein of ‘Someone’ and ‘Change Your Mind’, which I wrote a few days apart during a short stint living in Vegas.”
Often found carrying around a journal (or two or three) and always writing, she translates these recollections to her detailed accounts of her life and relationships in her songs. Nearly entirely focused on music and writing, she often manages to find time to watch cartoons and play the occasional video game with her brother.
Courtney Farren releases ‘Nothing Like It’ on October 6 and will be playing many live shows, both at home and in Europe, in support of this album, including a mini-tour with American Anymen and guest appearances by many talented artists along the way.
SOURCE: Official Bio
LINKS:
http://courtneyfarren.com
http://www.facebook.com/courtneyfarrenmusic
http://twitter.com/CourtneyFarren
http://www.soundcloud.com/courtneyfarrenmusic
http://www.youtube.com/user/h3ll0courtney/videos
http://www.instagram.com/courtneyfarrenmusic