London born, France resident singer Blakk Pearl released her debut single ‘Cowboy’ at the end of last year. Sleek and commodious and driven by a subtle backbeat and a warm marimba sound, the track perfectly showcases Blakk Pearl’s haunting, mellifluent tones floating atop a lush and otherworldly dreamscape.
Blakk Pearl has now shared a video for her debut single, a video she has put together herself: “I love 1930’s era cut-out animation, and when I came across this clip of this beautiful trio of fairies trying to help a soldier, who had lost his way in the woods, I knew it was the perfect video for ‘Cowboy.’ It tells the story of ‘Cowboy’ so beautifully and delicately, and in such a feminine way”.
Blakk Pearl grew up in North London and moved to Devon when she was a young teenager, where she would watch her, by now absent, father on US TV shows and hear of his activities in LA as a manager of NWA.
She now lives in a convent just outside Toulouse in France. Having rebuilt it from a ruin, it serves as her creative hub and sanctuary. Blakk Pearl divides her time between Toulouse, London and Paris.
Blakk Pearl’s first EP is set for release via Kobalt in early 2018.
LINKS:
http://blakkpearlmusic.com
https://instagram.com/blakkpearlmusic
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Ben Walsh – She Gives Me Love
Ben Walsh is a rare kind of musician these days. Born and raised in the Australian beach-town-slash-hippie-enclave of Byron Bay, his long blond hair and flat-brimmed hat make him easy to identify as a music-maker. But perhaps nothing tells you as much about Walsh as his smile: a big, broad, toothy grin that seems to make his whole face open up. He smiles often and he smiles easy and talking to him, you get the sense that his facial muscles may actually be more comfortable smiling than they are at rest. He’s the kind of person where you feel like he could connect with anyone and form a true friendship within the first 5 minutes of talking to them – and as life so often imitates art, that’s exactly what he seeks to do with his music.
SOURCE: Official Bio
Photo by C.D. Hale.
LINKS:
http://benwalshofficial.com
https://www.instagram.com/benwalshmusic
https://twitter.com/benwalshmusic
https://facebook.com/iambenwalsh
https://youtube.com/benwalshmusic
https://music.apple.com/au/album/she-gives-me-love-single/1490064441
https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Ben_Walsh_She_Gives_Me_Love?id=Bdhad4rprh5uwdrn562gsumujue -
K Michelle DuBois – Waves Break
K Michelle DuBois’ new video for her single titled ‘Waves Break’ is, well, I’ll just come out and say it; creatively exhilarating! Yes, totally. I absolutely love this video! And it totally fits the song as well, which is a quasi mix of retro pop-rock and fusion beats but with a totally modern twist combining Andy Summers-style guitars with Miami infused synth and, soaring overhead, is Ms. DuBois’ beautiful vocals which have that perfect sexy blend of rasp and rapture. Put this video on repeat and let it define your day.
About K Michelle DuBois & ‘Waves Break’
Atlanta-based indie-pop artist K Michelle DuBois presents an upbeat and fun summer single ‘Waves Break’. This is the first taste of her forthcoming album, which will be released later this year.“We fully went for a surfy new-wave vibe with layers of percussion. Waves Break began with a fascination with fearlessness in people (especially females) who love surfing, skateboarding or any sport where they get beat up and dive right back in,” says K Michelle Dubois.
“The lyrics evolved to be metaphorical as well as staying on topic while blending in double-meaning wordplay – ‘I keep you close to my chest’ and ‘you know where the shark’s prey’. The instrumentation of Waves Break has an early Duran Duran, Bowie, Gang of Four vibes.”
This new single follows up her third solo release ‘Harness’, as well as the singles ‘Wild Weed’, ‘Orchid’ and ‘Love and Only Love’. DuBois also recently collaborated with Wales-based post-punk dreampop artist Lights That Change on the single ‘Untold’.
While most of DuBois’ solo output intertwines classic power-pop with 90s college rock, ‘Harness’ boasts a heftier sonic tone than her previous album ‘Astral Heart’ (2016) with its bouncy rhythms, jangly guitars and sing-song charm.
Based in Atlanta, GA, Dubois’ counts Blondie’s ‘Autoamerican’ and Divinyls among her influences, along with Stevie Nicks, Roxy Music, Flaming Lips, Grandaddy, and Fever Ray. DuBois’s live band includes Chandler Rentz (drums), Jim Prible (bass), André Griffin (keys) and Dan Dixon (guitar), who also recorded, produced and mastered this album at RCDC studio in Atlanta.
K Michelle DuBois got into music very young, building harmonies to pass the time during the family’s frequent road trips. DuBois began writing her own material as a teenager in Nashville after receiving a bass guitar for Christmas. She crafted her early songs on bass, a Yamaha synthesizer and a drum machine in her parents’ four-track studio, but a flood of creative possibilities came upon discovering open-tuning on acoustic guitar, thereafter solidifying her commitment to songwriting.
After forming her first band Ultrababyfat and releasing ‘Silver Tones Smile’ (1998), the group’s infectious pop-punk sound garnered national attention, leading to opening slots for numerous noteworthy acts Pavement and PJ Harvey, and a 2001 stint on The Warped Tour as one of the few female-led bands showcased in the festival’s lineup.
After the band disbanded in 2005, DuBois formed Luigi to explore her more progressive, art-rock leanings. After seven years together and ample critical acclaim, she re-emerged as a solo artist under the tempered guidance of producer Ben Price at Studilaroche, releasing her debut album ‘Lux Capone’ in 2012. DuBois also contributes vocals for Atlanta-based dream-gaze collective Parsons Rocket Project.
LINKS:
http://www.kmichelledubois.com
https://www.facebook.com/KMichelleDuBoisMusic
https://www.twitter.com/kmichelledubois
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoQgGNlVSlwQhtWDpAAu44w
https://www.instagram.com/kshelldubois
https://squareup.com/store/kmd-projects
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2M8M9NxuEmOAaqlbEHN5LW?si=T_ffSKKLTJugWZUaS4bMLA
https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/k-michelle-dubois/536605594 -
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