Ultra Music Festival continues to be a highlight across the live calendar, from Japan to its legendary cityscape event in Miami, the latter was certain to be a sparkling jewel in the crown of an amazing run of live dates for Hardwell. From his now-iconic to the scene live sets that have been watched by millions online, Hardwell is pleased to now reveal his full Ultra Miami headline live set for 2017 become part of the movement and join united with Hardwell and his fans across all corners of the globe.
-
Rachel Mason – Roses
Rachel Mason gives performance art a new meaning with her latest video for the track titled “Roses”. A combination of avant garde and dystopian landscape with a dash of pop reverence, “Roses” becomes a catchy duo-tone-esque track with a chorus hook relevant to any genre. Bravo!
About Rachel Mason and “Roses”
Performance artist Rachel Mason presents the video for ‘Roses’, a track from her new album ‘Das Ram’ LP, co-released by Los Angeles-based Cleopatra Records and artist-run cassette label Practical Records present new album ‘Das Ram’LP. Comprised of eight tracks, this album conveys the stories of specific characters, who define and delight in their own realities and cosmologies, and individuals who create their own world views, their own religions, and fantasy lives.‘Das Ram’ is an inversion of the name of renowned healer Ram Dass, and also a play on Mason’s own initials, Rachel Ann Mason. The track “Roses”, produced and co-written by Jeff Hassay, is a powerful anthem with Mason’s crisp sonorous vocals and positively loaded drive.
The ‘Roses’ video was produced and directed by Los Angeles-based artist team BeckandCol. They also contribute costumes and choreography, while Mason created the masks, one of the hallmark features of her live shows. In their work, BeckandCol use humor and chaos to investigate the crisis of human exceptionalism. “Their work explores alternate universes populated with monsters, who obsess over humanity and emulate its dominant attributes,” says Rachel Mason. “Their monsters resist any classification built on hierarchy or a merely binary opposition and instead exposes hierarchical behaviors as absurdities, forcing a rethinking of social and cultural norms.”
Mason met BeckandCol after one of her L.A. concerts, impressed with her performance, elaborate costumes and dancers. They became mutual admireres and began working together on live performances. They are currently involved in Mason’s new project, which is being pursued as part of her residency at Los Angeles’ world-renowned Hammer Museum.
The new video follows those for ‘Heart Explodes’, which was initially shown at a festival for new video works by women artists at Red Bull Studios NYC and ‘Tigers in the Dark’, which first screened at the LTD Los Angeles gallery.
Touted as “one of the most creative forces in the world” by Impose Magazine, Mason is best known in music circles for delivering fantastical narratives which interweave musical, theatrical and narrative elements into unexpected operatic journeys. Through her wide-ranging portfolio of mixed media work, she instigates fantasy and harsh realities through scripts, sculpture, rock operas, live performances and compositions that span over a decade.
She has recorded 13 albums and created many music videos. Her feature film The Lives of Hamilton Fish toured the world in 2015 and recently released on VOD. Mason has exhibited her visual art and performance work at museums, film and performance festivals internationally and at many of the country’s leading art galleries. Her work has received praise in VICE, Interview Magazine, The New York Times, Artforum, LA Weekly, The New Yorker, The Los Angeles Times, Art in America, and Flash Art.
The ‘Das Ram’ LP is out now via Cleopatra Records, whose roster includes acts ranging from Ministry, Wolfgang Flür, Christian Death and Iggy Pop to folk legend Judy Collins, and also available on limited edition cassette via Practical Records.
“More than a touch of Siouxie Sioux or Karen O ’s drama in her expressive vocals, supported by electronic pop sonics”
The Big Takeover Magazine“A Spellbinding Singer”
New York Music Daily“One of the most creative forces in the world”
Impose Magazine“A voice part Emmylou Harris and part Yoko Ono”
New York Times“Equally indebted to the Who’s Quadrophenia and the Steve Reich opera The Cave, with video and music interacting in fluid, complex ways”
VICE“Soothsayer, harlequin, medicine woman”
Deli Magazine“Tempting to draw comparisons to both Kate Bush and Paul Giovanni’s earthy soundtrack for The Wicker Man, but this is all Mason, her persona leaving an indelible impression on the listener”
PopMattersLINKS:
http://www.rachelannmason.com/
http://www.facebook.com/RachelMasonArt
http://rachelmason.bandcamp.com/
http://soundcloud.com/rachelannmason
http://twitter.com/RachelMasonArt
http://www.youtube.com/c/rachelmasonrocks
http://www.instagram.com/futureclown/ -
Holygram – A Faction
German post-punk shoegaze outfit Holygram present ‘A Faction’ – the second single off their long-awaited debut LP ‘Modern Cults’. Comprised of eleven tracks, this album will be released on CD and double vinyl, as well as digitally via Cleopatra Records, on November 9, 2018.
This news follows the lead single ‘Signals’. Prior to that, the Cologne-based outfit released their self-titled EP in 2016. Holygram cleverly blends new wave and Krautrock with post-punk and shoegaze to achieve headstrong multi-layered bliss. This is a thoroughly contemporary homage to the sound of the ’80s with a resolute look to the future – the result is driving, dark and catchy.
Produced by Maurizio Baggio, who also produced The Soft Moon’s ‘Deeper’ and ‘Criminal’ albums, this long-play was recorded at Cologne’s Amen Studios. The new video for ‘A Faction’ is produced by WE OWN YOU GmbH and directed by Jan-Peter Horns with animation by Alison Flora.
Holygram is Patrick Blümel (vocals), Sebastian Heer (drums), Marius Lansing (guitars), Pilo Lenger (synthesizers) and Bennett Reimann (bass). Formed in 2015, the band’s approach to making music references the past, while remaining future-oriented. Hard-to-combine elements cleverly come together to become the soundtrack of a city that appears threatening in the twilight.
The new album intensifies Holygram‘s contemplation of themes such as big cities, alienation and anonymity, hope and memories, love and identity. These reflections interact closely with the band’s unmistakable signature sound. Atmosphere oscillates between the brutal sounds of the big city and the fragility of the people that lose themselves in it – intelligently observed scenarios of a world falling apart in which individuals have long ceased to play a leading role.
The band recently accompanied British synthpop legends OMD on their 2017 European tour and have played numerous festivals, including Mailfeld Derby, Wave-Gotik-Treffen and New Waves Day. Wrapping themselves in dense wafts of mist and cool lighting on stage, they’ve made quite a name for themselves on the live circuit.
As of November 9, the ‘Modern Cults’ LP will be available everywhere, but can already be ordered via Cleopatra Records on CD and vinyl, and also digitally via Bandcamp. The album will be released in Europe via Oblivion / SPV.
Holygram will be touring Europe and US/Canada this fall with one of the biggest electronic bands on the planet, VNV Nation, as well as DE/VISION for the North American tour. They will hold two release shows – the first, in Cologne on Nov. 9, marks the end of their European tour, while the Los Angeles release show on Nov. 14 (at The Viper Room) kicks off their North American tour.
LINKS:
http://holygram.band
https://www.facebook.com/holygram.official
https://holygram.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/holygram_band -
Moonshine Booze – Happy
Moonshine Booze present ‘Happy’ as the second single off their debut album ‘Desert Road’, released via Seahorse Recordings. Along with that, they reveal a new surreal video shot against the backdrop of vivid Kafkaesque scenery. Written by Emiliano Zapata and realized with the masterful supervision of videographer Jessica Montebello, who shot and edited the clip, in addition to her tremendous artistic contribution involving certain peculiar characters.
This story juxtaposes the immense landscape of the scorching desert with a smoky and dark journey that projects through an illusory door. Darkness and light, solitude and freedom side-by-side and yet opposite, and the fragile equilibrium of the characters, such as the emblematic clown, obsessed by chronic mood swings. These are allegories of the most arduous and torturing journey the mind can conceive – a journey towards happiness and the demolition of ‘social rules’ that inevitably tide the mind within stringent tormentous borders.
Combining grit blues rock with alternative country, Moonshine Booze’s music has been described as psychedelic country blues-tinged rock, as well as brazen desert alcoholic acoustic rock. The album’s release was preceded by their first single ‘The Place’, along with a fiery retro-freakish yet humorous video.
Moonshine Booze formed in the summer of 2014 in Teramo, Italy. This trio is comprised of Andrea Manila (vocals), Emiliano Zapata (guitar) and Fabio Manchos (drums). The video for ‘The Place’ was a collaborative effort between Emiliano Zapata and Josh Heisenberg, with Zapata writing the scenario, Josh handling the filming and editing, and both on direction.
Having been active on the music scene for over twenty years in various bands, both in Italy and The USA, the trio has gathered and elaborate experiences from different musical genres, putting them to good use in their new project.
The initial idea behind this band was to put out a series of classic covers from Johnny Cash to Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Little Walter and J.B. Leonor, which were to be completely rearranged while still preserving the rude and crude grooves of their roots.
After honing their sound during several years of playing many small venues (the band prefers such intimate venues), Moonshine Booze realized that they had developed their own unique sound – a sort of cynical mix of western-funk-tex-mex-rock in a bluesy tone sauce and with bizarre touches, setting them apart from the standard fare in the ‘rock’ realm.
The idea led the band to finally isolate themselves in the studio for over three months to write, record and complete their debut album ‘Desert Road’. Strongly influenced by the likes of The Who, Johnny Cash, The Rolling Stones, Tom Waits, The Kinks and ZZ Top, they managed to create 14 unique tracks for their debut release, integrating what the band had collectively gained from their previous musical experience. In the recording process, they did not follow any formal rules or standard, but simply adhered to the motto “if it sounds good … it’s good!”.
‘Desert Road’ is now available across digital stores and streaming platforms and can also be found via Seahorse Recordings’ Bandcamp.
LINKS:
http://www.facebook.com/moonshinebooze
http://soundcloud.com/moonshinebooze
http://seahorserec.bandcamp.com/album/moonshine-booze-desert-road