Toledo, OH-based alternative rock band Inner Circle Avenue has released the Official Music Video for their single, ‘Goin’ Nowhere Fast’, off of their 2016 released, debut EP, Greetings from the Inner Circle. Says the foursome about the track:
“The song, ‘Goin’ Nowhere Fast’, illustrates young souls looking for a sense of belonging in a confusing and tumultuous world. The fruits of your labor combined with life’s passions far too often fall short of expectations. Clouded by a sense of pure determination, one could become misguided. However, youthful ambitions triumph over a repressed society. Through the song, ‘Goin’ Nowhere Fast’, we have acknowledged our inner struggles and overcome them through an overwhelming sense of family and friendship.”
Inner Circle Avenue is a 4-piece, high-energy rock band comprised of three siblings (two brothers and one sister), hailing from the small town of Blissfield, Michigan. With an additional friend brought in to complete the band, the overall sense of family, camaraderie, and passion for rock and roll is truly unleashed through Inner Circle Avenue. From rock ballads to fast, heavy-hitting anthems and everything in-between, the band aims to bring music that listeners can truly connect with. Both through their music and electric, onstage presence, the band always brings a crowd together for a one-of-a-kind experience during every live performance. Inner Circle Avenue has released one 6-song EP and is currently finishing demos for a full-length album.
Inner Circle Avenue has always pursued opportunities to give back to the community through charity shows. These shows have raised money for benefits such as CS Mott Children’s Hospital, battling childhood cancer, Assistant Dogs for Achieving Independence, Andover Apartment Fire Benefit and The Beach House, which provides monetary funding and housing for battered women and children.
Inner Circle Avenue has been featured multiple times in two separate local papers called The Blissfield Advance and the Adrian Telegram. These articles discussed the overall development of the band. The band is also working with a local television network through Buckeye Cable in Toledo, Ohio to film a two-episode documentary on the band for a featured show titled Rise Up. The documentary will reflect the creative/recording process of the band’s new album. Owens Community College Radio has also interviewed Inner Circle Avenue to discuss the band’s musical influences and formation. This radio station features the band’s music on the regular rotation. Inner Circle Avenue has also been interviewed and featured on other local radio stations in the Toledo area as well as WTOL Channel 11 News.
SOURCE: Official Bio
LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/InnerCircleAvenue
https://twitter.com/innercircleave
https://www.instagram.com/inner_circle_avenue
https://open.spotify.com/artist/0ux42n517ZDCUt8rufhso4
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The Membranes – A Strange Perfume
With sixteen epic, powerful and darkly romantic songs on offer, this is The Membranes’ eighth studio album overall and the second since they reformed in 2010 when former support band My Bloody Valentine convinced them to return to the stage for the ATP festival. This album is a game changer in the tradition of Manchester bands like Joy Division.
This album features appearances from vocalist Kirk Brandon (Theatre of Hate, Spear of Destiny) and 84-year-old folk singer Shirley Collins, one of England’s premier folk singers of the ’60s revival. Renowned nature TV presenter Chris Packham also contributes, as does the legendary Jordan, who practically invented the punk look in 1975. Half the tracks also feature the 20-piece BIMM Choir, offsetting a sound laden with dark drones and an atmosphere of melancholic epic power.
The album was recorded at 6DB Studio in Manchester with Ding Archer, a former band member with PJ Harvey, The Pixies and producer of the last nine albums by The Fall. John Robb wrote all the parts for the choir. This release follows up their acclaimed album ‘Dark Matter/Dark Energy’, the band’s best selling release, which received rave reviews and ample radio play on BBC 6 Music and internationally.
‘What Nature Gives… Nature Takes Away’ is about the beauty and violence of nature. This is a very diverse work with dark, brooding cinematic choir-driven songs. Imagine the sound of Hieronymus Bosch paintings to discordant wild songs about crows, demon flowers, strange perfumes, voluptuous petals, voluminous oceans, treacherous seasons and the poetry of life and death set to spooked pulsing musical pieces, ranging from epic choir-driven postpunk songs to dark dub workouts, from throbbing dirty disco dark wave pulses to grinding heavy bass-driven pieces, from apocalyptic visions to choir-driven epic swirls.
“This is the pinnacle of our long and strange journey. This album is steeped in the powerful forces of nature and an underlying emotional undertow that is dark and brooding bass driven postpunk with the epic swirl of the choir and diversity of sounds that takes you on a trip. I put my life into this album musically, lyrically and emotionally,” says John Robb.
“The Membranes was born of postpunk in the late 1970s – a time when a generation inspired by punk rock created music on their own terms. We were immersed in that scene and that world and when we reformed we picked up on those themes and ideas and the diverse fellow travelers that we were contemporaries of like Joy Division, Bauhaus, Einsturzende Neubauten, Nick Cave, PiL, Big Black, and newer bands like Godspeed You Black Emperor, Mogwai, Ulver, and Wardruna – bands who fuck with the template to create an atmosphere and mood.”
Formed in 1978 in Blackpool, The Membranes played classic bass-driven northern post-punk and were part of the same world as bands like The Fall, Sisters Of Mercy, Echo and The Bunnymen and Cabaret Voltaire, all inspired by 1977 to launch their own idiosyncratic journeys. The band released a remarkable series of records that combined their small town frustration with a love of heavy bass and distortion. This ultimately became a prime influence and the precursors to such American noiseniks as Steve Albini, Swans and Sonic Youth.
John Peel and music press favourites, a continual frenzy of releases, public acclaim and touring worldwide with national TV appearances, the band went on hiatus in 1990 until finally reforming in 2010.
The Membranes are Peter Byrchmore (guitar), Nick Brown guitar), Rob Haynes (drums), and John Robb (vocals and bass), a renowned TV and radio pundit, editor of Louder Than War, a key UK music site and national magazine, and curator of the Louder Than Words festival. In autumn, John Robb will also release ‘The Art Of Darkness’, a book on the darker side of post-punk, adding to his collection of best-selling books on punk rock.
As of June 7, ‘What Nature Gives … Nature Takes Away’ will be available on vinyl and CD, and digitally from stores such as iTunes and streaming platforms like Spotify. There is also a deluxe double vinyl ultra limited edition of 150 copies. This summer, cosmetics company Lush will release a Membranes perfume called ‘A Strange Perfume’ after the album’s opening track. In the meantime, the band will tour the UK in support of their new LP.
LINKS:
http://www.themembranes.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/themembranes
https://www.twitter.com/membranes1
https://www.instagram/themembranes
https://membranes.bandcamp.com -
Shriekback – And The Rain
Seminal British alternative rock outfit Shriekback has announced they will release their new album ‘Why Anything? Why This?’ on May 25. As a teaser, they are previewing the first single ‘And The Rain’, along with a darkly intriguing video filmed by Howard Davidson (a.k.a. Hodah).
Shriekback was formed in 1980 by ex-XTC keyboardist Barry Andrews and bassist Dave Allen on his departure from Gang Of Four, in collaboration with guitarist Carl Marsh from Out On Blue Six. Under the auspices of the visionary Y Records label (home to The Slits, The Pop Group and Pigbag), the group found their voice experimenting in EMI Music’s KPM demo studio in London, refining a uniquely recognizable sound in 1982 on their first full-length album ‘Care’ and eventually achieving wider recognition with the singles ‘Lined Up’ and ‘My Spine (Is The Bassline)’. In 1983, they were joined by drummer Martyn Barker (King Swamp, Billy Bragg).
A move to a major label, Arista, allowed the band to fully realize their sound on ‘Oil & Gold’(1985), a milestone album that remains the band’s best-known (helped by the success of the single ‘Nemesis’) and the foundation of their popularity on the US college circuit and elsewhere.
‘And The Rain’ is dark and infectious, conjuring up steamy, swampy, Southern Gothic blues.This 14th studio album, which boasts a wide, organic and detailed sound, is already being described by early listeners as their best since the landmark album ‘Oil & Gold’. The sound is dense, woody and fibrous. Here we find evolved Bo Diddley beats and African blues”. However you describe it, this is Shriekback refocused, reinvented and reinvigorated.
Band members have also pushed themselves musically and sonically – Barry contributes a lot of guitars, Carl has essayed some slide guitar and keyboards and Martyn has brought in a whole arsenal of world percussion alongside his drumkit. Regular Shriekback listeners will hear more guitars and live drums and fewer loops and electronics. The sonic palette is very broad.
Written, performed and produced almost exclusively by the core trio, this is very much a ‘band’ album, crafted over time with the three core members working in their own studios, as well as in group sessions at Yellow Fish and Echo Zoo studios to capture live drums. But the writing and production on this release have been much more collaborative, with Martyn, in particular, having more input than previously.
New collaborator Scott Firth (of P.i.L) adds irrefutable bass to selected tracks, while Shriekback regulars Wendy and Sarah Partridge contribute their ever-invaluable backing vocals. Live drums were recorded by Ian Caple (who’s been with Shriekback since the beginning) at Yellow Fish in Lewes and Christoph Skirl at Echo Zoo in Eastbourne. The album was mixed and mastered by Stuart Rowe in The Lighterthief Bunker, Swindon – his fifth Shriekback album in this role, an indication of the value placed on his objective ear and technical skill.
‘Why Anything? Why This?’ will be released on May 25, 2018. While fans should keep an eye out for the album via digital stores and streaming platforms, the album is already available for pre-order from the band directly at https://shriekback.com/store.
LINKS:
http://www.shriekback.com
http://www.facebook.com/shriekback
http://twitter.com/shriekbackmusic
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJMkzOIkm9sqOjch00BhHBg/videos
http://soundcloud.com/shriekbackband
http://open.spotify.com/artist/5zdhsKuFI263xttcgdoW3c?si=ygb7IlYKSASw5xefkBQfDA
http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/shriekback/85136
http://shriekbackmusic.tumblr.com -
Evidence – Bad Publicity feat. Krondon
As both a solo artist and one-third of Dilated Peoples, Evidence has established himself as one of hip-hop’s most accomplished rappers and producers, working with Domo Genesis, Linkin Park, Beastie Boys, Defari, Madchild, and Krondon, amongst others.
His production work has already earned him a Grammy Award for co-production on Kanye West’s College Dropout, and two JUNO Awards for his work with Canadian hip-hop group Swollen Members.
As fans would expect, “Weather or Not” embodies the very heart of the hip-hop culture; clever wordplay laid over heavy boom-bap production, but Evidence also exhibits his gift for weaving moments of personal and introspective reflection into his writing, whilst remaining true to his hardcore hip-hop sonic and lyrical sensibility.
The album features an array of exciting collaborations including the likes of Slug (Atmosphere), Rakaa (Dilated Peoples) and Jonwayne, plus production from Evidence himself, Alchemist, Nottz, and DJ Premier.
After an array of spellbinding videos to compliment the album, his latest outing is for the track Bad Publicity featuring Krondon.
Directed by Todd Angkasuwan the video showcases many prominent locations of Los Angeles where it appears the whole city has been shut down with all the roadways clear of cars and people. The Nottz produced track features Strong Arm Stready rapper Krondon with his deep voice on the chorus, who has recently found new fame by playing the key villain Tobias Whale on DC series Black Lightning.
LINKS:
http://rhymesayers.com/evidence
http://facebook.com/misterevidence
http://twitter.com/evidence
http://instagram.com/evidence
http://youtube.com/rhymesayers