Seattle-based artist ELYXR and Kurt Harland Larson from legendary synth band Information Society have teamed up to present their collaborative single ‘Strange Stubborn Proud’.
Formed in 1982 while in college, Larson started Information Society, which would become a decades-long involvement with music, electronic audio, and recording/programming. As a synthpop band, Information Society achieved mainstream success in the late eighties and early nineties, most widely known for their 1988 hit single ‘What’s On Your Mind? (Pure Energy)’. Larson reunited with his former bandmates in 2007, giving the band new impetus, releasing new material and touring internationally.
ELYXR is a collaborative project with a penchant for concocting modern synthpop potions, headed by Seattle-based indie-electronic artist Kasson Crooker (Symbion Project, Freezepop), who not only produces his releases but also mixes and masters them at Speed of Dark Music studios in Seattle.
Strongly influenced by the likes of Depeche Mode, New Order, Moderat, and Information Society, ELYXR merges the best of old-school 80’s synthpop with modern electropop production, similar to artists like Röyksopp, Goldfrapp, and Marsheaux. The origins of this project trace back to many years of making electropop with Freezepop, during which time Kasson met many other talented artists. ELYXR was the perfect outlet to collaborate with them, creating a fresh synthpop sound.
“I first heard Freezepop in the early ‘00’s, and immediately told my wife, who worked at a record store, about them. Shortly thereafter she got them to come out to San Francisco for an in-store appearance, which was, I think, their first San Francisco trip. I loved Kasson’s work with Freezepop over those years, and when he started Elyxr, I jumped at the chance to make music together for the first time,” explains Kurt Harland Larson.
“The lyrics for SSP were inspired by the words of a friend. I read what she wrote and spun them up into lyrics. I hope that anyone who hears the song can hear the duality in the lyrics: While clearly striking a proud and defiant tone, there is also a note of tragedy in the voice; anyone who must walk this sort of path must endure rather a lot of social suffering.”
While some of ELXYR past work has been dreamy and introspective, ‘Strange Stubborn Proud’ is more an in-your-face mix of classic synthpop and electro. This track is upbeat and energetic, featuring modern synthesizer sounds intermingled with detuned vintage synths over complex and syncopated drum machines. The unique nature of each song’s vocalist takes each composition in a different aesthetic direction.
“Information Society is one of my most influential bands and helped inspire me to begin making synthpop in the 80’s. In fact, InSoc was the very first band I ever went to see as a teenager,” says Kasson Crooker.
“I’ve known Kurt from InSoc now for many years as he and I both do music/audio production for video games. We just needed to find the right song to work on together. I gave him some song options to choose from and was psyched that he found one that channeled a bit of the early InSoc “Running” sound. I love the fact that, through the lyrics, he unapologetically states his motives and how he operates outside of society’s norms and conventions!”
Forfeiting the standard route of releasing albums and EPs, ELXYR is shaking up that model by releasing each single as it is completed. ELYXR has issued a string of six electrifying singles in the past six months, featuring Color Theory, Elissa LeCoque from enigmatic Brooklyn act Kodachrome, Katrina Kope from Seattle-band Purr Gato, Naoko Takamoto of Princess Problems, and long-time collaborator Melissa R. Kaplan from Kasson’s previous band Splashdown.
‘Strange Stubborn Proud’ released on March 9 on all notable online stores and streaming platforms, as well as on ELYXR’s Bandcamp.
“The perfect synthpop storm… one of the catchiest tracks of the year, voiced by a man who set the standard for American synthpop in InSoc’s Kurt Harland Larson”
– Echosynthetic“ELYXR have released a whole selection of electronic gems… a fascinating musical endeavour by the ever-talented Kasson Crooker”
– The Electricity Club“Kasson Crooker is a tireless musical chameleon, exploring the limits of electronic instruments and composition”
– Modern Synthpop
LINKS:
http://elyxr.bandcamp.com
http://www.facebook.com/ELYXRband
http://twitter.com/symbionproject
http://www.youtube.com/user/symbionproject
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Someday – Last Lesson
Trippy and musically fantastic, the new track from Italian band Someday titled “Last Lesson” is a fast-paced hook-laden track with hooks galore and a steady two-speed rhythm that chugs along with carefree reckless abandon. Until you listen to the lyrics. But, as in life, happiness is always made sweeter from the bitterness of sadness. Let that be your last lesson.
About Someday
Seahorse Recordings presents the new 10-track album from Someday, called ‘This Doesn’t Exist’. Now based in Turin (Torino), this trio is comprised of Daniele Bianco, Michele Fierro, and Fabio Digitali. The first single from this album is ‘Last Lesson’.This is Someday’s debut album, entailing a search for balance and essentialness that may be appreciated by fans of early Tokyo Police Club and Foals, Bombay Bicycle Club, Placebo, Born Ruffians, Hot Hot Heat, and The Stills. The band cites numerous influences, including early Sparklehorse, The Smiths, Joy Division, Placebo, Sonic Youth, The Cure, Paolo Conte and La Crus.
“Our song ‘Last Lesson’ was inspired by a true story happened some years ago, a very common and sad story. What happened made me think that, sometimes, when “something strange embraces you” and you think you are helpless, you just have to wait, nothing else… because maybe the solution is simple but you can’t just see it,” says Daniele Bianco. “As usually happens with bands, the first album is both a starting point and a goal… I hope it’s only the beginning because we have a lot of other stories to tell, and some of them are ready for the telling.”
“‘Last Lesson’ came about naturally, as it often happens when music works well… we play, we look in each other’s eyes and we know immediately that the song just works. It sounds sweet and disturbing… like the feelings we often feel,” explains Michele Fierro. “We are very happy because it is like we always wanted it to. Every song has its particular feeling and it sounds like we imagined. We can’t wait to play it live.”
Aptly titled ‘This Doesn’t Exist’, the lyrics from this album speak about what no longer exists, never existed and will never exist. Lead tracks ‘Last Lesson’ and ‘Clean Couch’ are about people or animals that have gone to a better place. ‘Little Choices’ cites that we have no more achievable choices. ‘Shelters and Picture’ note places that are no longer reachable. ‘Jokes’ explores imaginary lives built on a lie, while ‘Maurizio’ tells of lives that have lost something very important. ‘Forgotten’ reveals certainties that are nothing but obvious illusions.
Through this album, the band highlight the trivial occurrences of ordinary lives, with shifting musical trajectories between dark and post-rock (Forgotten, Waitings, Little Choices) to indie pop (Clean Couch, Shelters, Picture), as well as new wave and light psychedelia (Last Lesson, Gliding, Jokes). ‘This Doesn’t Exist’ is full of black and white atmospheres but celebrates the many shades of grey in between.
Someday was formed in Collegno, a city close to Torino (Piedmont, Italy) by two childhood friends – Daniel Bianco (guitar/vocals/lyrics) and Michele Fierro (bass). Initially rehearsing in Michele’s living room and Daniel’s cellar, they began making demo tapes, had several singles on Italian music compilations, and eventually released their debut EP “Flowers in the Cellar” and two singles ‘Divano Pulito’ and ‘Rifugi’ in 2016, produced by Luca “Vicio” Vicini of Subsonica. They were then joined by drummer Federico Segato to form a trio, who was subsequently replaced by Fabio Digitali.
SOURCE: Official Bio
LINKS:
http://www.facebook.com/somedaytorino
http://someday.bandcamp.com
http://twitter.com/somedaytorino
http://soundcloud.com/somedaymusic
http://www.instagram.com/somedaytorino
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV_7mHdPn5FT-IHasZIuHVA -
Blakk Pearl – Cowboy
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 -
indifferentMonKeY – God or Machine?
indifferentMonKeY has released the video for the track titled ‘God or Machine?’. A few weeks ago we reviewed the single from indifferentMonKeY and now the video, in my opinion, encapsulates the darkly sensual and introvertedly rhythmic sense of self within the song. Belle’s voice is angelic with a touch of sin and her walk on the beach gives that longing for what once was in this world. Doing that with style is an originality just out of reach from most but firmly in the grasp of indifferentMonKeY. Future funk with a touch of the new reality.
Their debut E.P. ‘Inner Lockdown’ is due for release in April 2021.
About indifferentMonKeY
‘God or Machine?’ starts with a thunderstorm, the rain you can hear is real. The audio is a home studio where the vocals were laid down in a day, a real storm was overhead. Although the rain was pounding on the windows they decided to carry on recording, joking it would add to the atmosphere, on mixing the track, the elements proved to lend themselves perfectly to this brooding, beat-heavy gem. With stunning vocals from Belle and a superb mix/production, you could easily believe ‘God or Machine’ was a hidden track on Massive Attack’s legendary ‘Mezzanine’.
indifferentMonKeY was formed by songwriter/producer Joe Lowe, the sound is drawn from a number of influences and styles but is best described as ‘Heavy Trip Hop’.
The band kicked this year off in style having been played on BBC Introducing with Sean McGinty throughout the whole of January and the track will also be appearing on U.S music publication Relix Magazine’s CD sampler this coming March.
indifferentMonKeY are:
- Belle: Vocals
- Joe Lowe: Writer, arranger, and producer. Bass Guitar, Guitars, Strings, Vocals.
- Luke Wilding: Bass & Guitars
- Keith Ashcroft: Bass & Guitars (Guitarist on “Murder on the Dancefloor” by Gregg Alexander and Sophie Ellis-Bextor). Keith very sadly passed away suddenly a few months ago. RIP Keith Ashcroft. We’ll always miss you always.
- Drums: George Ashcroft-Smith
LINKS:
https://indifferentmonkey.com
https://dazyrcords.com
https://soundcloud.com/joe-lowe-626028563
https://www.facebook.com/indifferentmonkey
https://twitter.com/IndifferentM
https://www.facebook.com/DazyRecords-583724738473361
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCllGh8sArGdof2aQGHbHUPA/videos