Kent, UK born, Jaz Mattu blends rock, pop, and funk with his music to create a truly unique sound. He sings, plays guitar, bass, synths, and drums – but is the first person in his family to pick up a musical instrument, which he did at the age of 13 after seeing Nirvana’s Smells like Teen Spirit video on MTV.
He pleaded with his mother to get him a guitar and for some reason she did. It seemed to keep him out of trouble and off the streets during those “difficult teen years!”
He took a break from music until finishing university and starting his “proper” job as a software engineer, where he sat at his desk on his first day and figured there was no way he could do that job for the next 40 years… and so he decided to get back into music again.
His 4 track Saachrine Times e.p. came out in January 2017 and was the starting point of the Sanguine Man album. The album is available now and contains 14 tracks of quirky pop, music to rock out to and music to reflect over.
Jaz played plenty of jam nights in Kent with his backing band from 2017 onwards and has now started playing in London at venues like The Fiddler’s Elbow, The Dublin Castle and The Water Rats. He’s currently booking more gigs as we speak.
LINKS:
https://www.instagram.com/jazmattuofficial
https://twitter.com/jazmattusounds
https://www.facebook.com/JazMattuOfficial
http://jazmattu.com
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Rodney Cromwell – Comrades
British indietronica synthpop artist Rodney Cromwell has announced his forthcoming new ‘Rodney’s English Disco’ EP, his first collection of all new material in three years. Previewed by the song ‘Comrades’, which also features a 12″ extended dance mix by electronica act Vieon, the new EP will be available on 7″ vinyl, CD and digitally via London-based Happy Robots Records.
Where the debut album ‘Age of Anxiety’ by Rodney Cromwell (real name Adam Cresswell) drew on personal demons, on this new EP, social and political tribulations in the UK inspired these wry songs of woe. ‘Comrades’ is a robotic turbocharged rebel song for the twitter generation. ‘Barbed Wire’ is a song from across the barricades of the supermarket checkout. ‘Technocrats’ is a song for our illusory robot masters. ‘Dreamland’ is a breakup song for someone who just wants to go back to bed and pretend none of this ever happened. Sonically, this music sits between Kraftwerk, Pye Corner Audio and the Best of Divine.
Rodney Cromwell’s evocative synthpop looks to the proto-electronica of the 70’s and 80’s to construct a twisted soundtrack for the post-truth world. The instrumentation of the new EP has been kept intentionally minimal with its drum sounds taken entirely from a vintage Boss DR-55 drum machine and with a self-imposed limit on the amount of hissy analog gear used in its making. Melody and dark humor combine with simple motorik rhythms, soaring bass lines and the bleeps of retro synths, all within a lo-fi pop aesthetic.
Cromwell’s sound has been compared to the analog electronica of Kraftwerk, Section 25 and the ‘retro-futurists’ of Ghostbox Records. His miserablism and dark humor have been compared to that of The Cure and John Grant.
Rodney Cromwell’s debut album and subsequent EPs found crossover appeal, gaining Cromwell coverage from the likes of NME, Electronic Sound Mag, Huffington Post and Steve Lamacq and Gideon Coe on BBC 6 Music and on Spain’s national RNE3. At the end of 2015, Rodney Cromwell featured in 25 ‘Best of’ lists and was named ‘Most Promising New Act’ by The Electricity Club. ‘Barry Was an Arms Dealer’ featured in the 2015 Official Festive 50.
The video for ‘Comrades’ was produced by Dariy Karyakin, who has produced for David Lynch pet fave Nocturne Blue, has been praised by 6-time Emmy Winner Dutch Rall, and has earned various awards and honors. The sleeve artwork is by Latvian photographer Jelena Osmolovska, whose distinctive gritty post-Soviet fantasy aesthetic compliments the sound of this record.
Along with four original tracks by Rodney Cromwell, the EP features remixes by Rémi Parson, Vieon, Pattern Language and the debut release by Alice Hubble (Arthur & Martha, Mass Datura).
‘Rodney’s English Disco’ EP will be released on May 25 and available on red 7” vinyl, CD and digitally. Distributed by Cargo, this album is already available for pre-order via the Happy Robots Records store or Bandcamp. Catch Rodney Cromwell on tour in May.
LINKS:
http://www.facebook.com/happyrobotsrecords
http://twitter.com/robot_rocker
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_ZvCbaApGUVuQA7m7jaJtg/videos
http://soundcloud.com/happy-robots
http://rodneycromwell.bandcamp.com -
Discrepancies – Rock the Show
Comprised of Garrett Weakley (Bass), Addison Bracher (Guitar/vocals), Steve Declue (Drums), and Antonio Metcalf (Vocals) have formed an undeniably powerful sound. The 4 blend together many genres to create an innovative soundscape that is guaranteed to grab your interest.
Their Release of their Debut Album, The Awakening, was met with a lot of love and success. The first single “Raising The Bar” hit 30,000 views in less than 2 days and continued to rise afterward. The second single “Art Of War” had a strong release and the video for it was featured on Alternative Press, Metal Injection, and more! “Art of War” is currently on a radio cycle and so far is being played nationally in the US.
Together, the four want to connect with people on a deep level and allow for people to be inspired to form their own opinions free from judgment. Together, the four are Discrepancies.
LINKS:
http://www.discrepanciesmusic.com
https://www.facebook.com/Discrepancies
https://twitter.com/Discrepanciestv
https://www.instagram.com/discrepancies -
Piles – Drones and Piles
‘Drones and Piles’ emerged as a reinterpreted live version #13 of a composition from ‘Drones and Drolls’, with 12 previous versions first appearing on the concept album ‘Le Batteur Est Le Meilleur Ami Du Musicien’ by Piles drummer Guigou Chevenier.
Based in the French cities of Nancy and Avignon, Piles is comprised of Guigou Chevenier (Etron Fou Leloublan, Volapük), Anthony Laguerre (Filiamotsa, Club Cactus, Myotis), and Michel Deltruc (Isle-Adam 95, NAJA Nancy Jazz Action). In 2016, Chevenier had the idea for Piles to continue his musical work with experimental trio ‘Les Batteries’ between 1985 and 2000. This drum trio also involved British drummer Charles Hayward and American drummer Rick Brown. Piles’ three drummers have long and rich careers.
‘Una Volta’ is a knock-out record of eight drum sound compositions, revealing secrets of the universe that are written in light. Abstract instrumental, this collection of tracks was created by three friends who teamed up especially for this recording.
Piles’ sound is a free fall into the universe of energetic beats, rhythm, dynamics, repetition of the unexpected. It is an adventure that reveals the hidden depths of their sound spectrum of acoustic drums.
Piles’ drumming is shaped by their individual musical roads by life, architecture, landscapes, nature, politics, film, art, dance and theater. By seeing and hearing the rhythm in all that surrounds us. Taking inspiration from krautrock, free jazz, and improv, they are also influenced by Can, Dave Grohl, Arvo Part, Drumbo (of Captain Beefheart), Robert Wyatt, Abe Cunningham, Jimmy Chamberlain, Jon Theodore, Joe Baron and many others.
Piles ‘Una Volta’ CD is accompanied by a 32-page booklet based on the graphic stop-motion video ‘Drones and Piles’, created by graphic artist Bas Mantel. The visuals were created to the music in the same way the scenes of Eisenstein’s1938 film ‘Alexandre Nevski’ was directed totally based on the rhythm of the music of Sergei Prokofiev.
The rhythmic and fragmentary style of the black and white images exposes the art of dance with Lettraset, dots-dots-dots, molecules transmitting life and death, cells constructing shapes and graphic radiowaves translated into frequencies and velocity, repetition in electromagnetic patterns, and the isolation of getting lost in outer space.
Like Piles’ drum-based sound, these graphic designs are frightening, direct, loud/quiet, raw, layered, fragmentary, abstract and experimental. REV. Lab founder Bas Mantel felt Piles would be a perfect fit for the REV. Lab. series, released jointly with Aagoo Records.
‘Una Volta’ is a limited release of 300 copies, including a CD with book carefully packed in a semi-transparent glassine bag. As of September 21, it will be available via online stores and streaming platforms, but can already be ordered from Aagoo Records’ website and digitally via Bandcamp.
LINKS:
http://www.revlaboratories.com
https://www.facebook.com/revlabrecords
https://revlabrecords.bandcamp.com
https://www.soundcloud.com/revlab
https://www.vimeo.com/revlab
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCorO-e4Y06ICQ67dhV6LsNA