Kate is joined in the studio by Grammy Award-winning producer Stewart Lerman (Boardwalk Empire, Vinyl, Patti Smith, Elvis Costello), Steve Holley (Wings, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Kiki Dee, Joe Cocker, Ian Hunter) on drums, Steuart Smith (The Eagles, Rodney Crowell, Michelle Branch, Don Henley) on piano, guitar and various instruments, David Mansfield (Bob Dylan, Bruce Hornsby and the Range) and Paul Socolow (Herbie Mann), among other musicians. “I listened to Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris on the record player while imagining how I wanted to do this song,” Kate said. “These women and their sounds and styles are timeless, and I wanted to create a classic and lasting rendition of my one of my favorite Christmas songs.”
LINKS:
http://www.kategrom.com
http://www.facebook.com/kategrommusic
https://twitter.com/kategrommusic
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Blacklite District – Hard Pill To Swallow
Blacklite District has experienced a meteoric rise over the past several months, with their YouTube following edging near 100,000 in less than a year and their wildly popular Minecraft videos–“Cold As Ice” and “The Struggle”–garnering around 70 million views cumulatively. Says Kyle, “I work with multiple major YouTube channels that promote my music to a huge worldwide audience. It’s been amazing as an independent artist of this generation to reach an audience of this size.” As a result of their rapidly expanding youth audience, the duo has seen incredible online sales and Spotify streams and playlists, as well as significant Mainstream Rock Songs Billboard charting.
Blacklite District follows no rules. With sounds of everything from electronic, EDM and hip-hop, to hard rock and alternative, the band truly stands out from the pack of what has become today’s generic sounding “Active Rock”. Formed in 2012 by Kyle Pfeiffer and Roman James, ages 12 and 11 respectively, the band grew organically in their local music scene through the years to come. In 2011, BLD was discovered by Grammy Award-winning producer, Stephen Short (Paul McCartney, Queen), which resulted in a 10-day recording session at the world’s largest residential recording studio, Sonic Ranch, just outside of Mexico in Tonillo, TX. The group relocated to Los Angeles and played some of the most famous venues in the world for the remainder of 2011.
In 2013, the group released “With Me Now” as the lead from its debut album Worldwide Controversy. “With Me Now” immediately went to #1 on SiriusXM channels Octane and Faction, hit the Top 40 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Chart (#32), and sold 100,000 copies. BLD went on a very successful US tour with Saving Abel in Jan-Apr 2014, with 26 of those shows SOLD OUT. After a legal battle with their management and record label, Blacklite District went on hiatus in late 2014.
On August 23, “The Struggle” was released to radio and To Whom It May Concern went for pre-order at digital retailers. Revolver Magazine premiered the music video for “The Struggle” on August 25. The band also announced a 41 date tour called “The Struggle Is Real Tour”. Blacklite District released a Nightcore remix of “The Struggle” to YouTube on September 6, which got over 2,000,000 plays and resulted in the single breaking the Top 40 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Indicator chart at #36.
One month later, on October 6, the group released a Nightcore remix of “We Are The Danger” which got over 400,000 plays on YouTube. A couple of weeks later, the band released “Broken Souls” to radio, as well as a Nightcore remix which resulted in 500,000 plays and hitting #30 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Indicator. This was the second song in the month of October to break the Top 40 (along with “The Struggle.”)
“The Ghost of You and Me” was released as a music video and a Nightcore remix on December 28, 2016. The song was yet again a success for Blacklite District resulting in 400,000.
On January 20, 2017, BLD released “Living In A Nightmare” as the first single from upcoming album Instant Gratification. With a coinciding Nightcore release, “Living In A Nightmare” broke the Top 25 on the BDS Indicator chart, marking the bands highest spot in chart history. The song has been streamed over 250,000 times.
On February 24, famed radio DJ Lou Brutus posted the bands video for “Cold As Ice”, which was released the same day. The song scored a whopping 350,000 streams in its first week alone, and as of May 2017, has over 3.5 million combined views on YouTube. “Cold As Ice” serves as the second single from Instant Gratification. In the summer of 2017, “Cold As Ice” was added to Spotify’s “Rock Hard” playlist, and was put into rotation on SiriusXM’s alternative channel Faction. In October, “Cold As Ice” was added to rotation on SiriusXM Octane, and it’s Minecraft music video has over 10 million views on YouTube. There are about 4 videos about a Herobrine invasion with zombies and “nether watchers” and how the main character, a player in a blue suit, survives. There are 4 songs in total in the order of The Struggle, Cold as Ice, We are the Danger (possibly not from Blacklite District), and Just so you Know.
Blacklite District released their third album Instant Gratification on September 22, going Top 10 on Amazon’s Top Electronic Albums chart.
LINKS:
http://www.blacklitedistrict.net
https://www.facebook.com/BlackliteDistrict
http://www.twitter.com/officialbld
https://www.instagram.com/blacklitedistrict -
Frankie Animal – Peaches
Frankie Animal has today released their new video for the track titled ‘Peaches’. Perfect pop sensibility combined with subdued sensuality is what is musically at the heart of ‘Peaches’. But you also get that layer of originality that is the hook and harmony of it all. And that is where the brilliance lay.
“The main idea in the lyrics was heavily drawn from Luca Guadagnino’s film, Call Me By Your Name,” the band said in a statement. “The idea was of a secret relationship and, not to sound cheesy here, but a forbidden love. Even the title was borrowed from the movies’ infamous peach scene.”
ABOUT FRANKIE ANIMAL
When quirky rawness meets the delicate nature of Feist and Jeff Buckley you get a certain something known as Frankie Animal.
Frankie Animal is an Estonian indie-rock act formed in 2012 by Marie M. Vaigla (vocals), Jonas Kaarnamets (guitar), and Jan-Christopher Soovik (bass). Within a year of forming, the band was earning praise from Radio 2, one of the most important radios in Estonia, who named the band a station and audience’s favorite in 2012.
Following their initial EP in 2013, Frankie Animal’s long-awaited debut album, The Backbeat, arrived in April 2016 to national praise. Kaspar Viilup of Estonian Public Broadcasting praised Vaigla’s vocals as “remarkably versatile, at one point as fragile as Karen O’s solo projects and the next moment screaming-roaring as The Kills’ lead vocalist Alison Mosshart.”
Placing in the Eurovision-adjacent Estonian Song Contest and continuing to steadily gain praise, Frankie Animal released a new single “Playful” in June 2019 under the Sony Music label Made in Baltics. The following month, “Playful” was the most played song on Radio 2. Next month, the band is set to release “Peaches,” a lounging slice of indie-pop that’s meant to sound like the peachy colors reflecting off windows during a midsummer sunset in the city.
LINKS:
http://www.frankieanimal.com
https://www.facebook.com/FrankieAnimal
https://www.instagram.com/frankieanimal
https://twitter.com/frankie_animal -
Romancer – Nausicaa
Romancer is a four-piece Ambient Punk-Rock band that comes from Kitchener Ontario, Canada. Combined with members with incredible musical talents, Romancer has one goal; to bring the fans a sound that toes the line between soft intimacy and explosive aggressiveness.
Currently, this bunch of humble guys is ramping up to the release of their new project “honeybee” – their second and latest release as Romancer. “Honeybee is our most lyrically honest, and experimental release to date. I am so proud of us this time around, and I can say with confidence that we’ve all reached into the depths of our musicality and creativity to bring out the best in each other and this record” says Romancer lead vocalist/guitarist Adam Horrocks. The band released their debut EP “As We Both Close in on the Water” last year on June 10, 2016.
Shortly after the band released the record, it quickly gained the likes of fans in numerous markets across Canada, USA, Europe, Mexico, and Japan. Their track “Fireworks” had been featured on a compilation CD that was released via LA punk label Wiretap Records shortly after the release of their debut LP. FFO: Jimmy Eat World, Alexisonfire, Brand New & Moneen, this is surely one well-written and engaging record, and will stimulate from beginning to end.
Frequently touring, the band’s fanbase keeps growing in current and new markets. 2017 is set for the release of “honeybee,” a new music video and two tours, one being through eastern Canada.
Romancer is Nathan Cumber, Ben Abu Halaga-Dilgert, Adam Horrocks and Riley O’Donnell.
LINKS:
https://www.romancerband.com
https://www.facebook.com/RomancerBand
https://twitter.com/romancerband
https://www.instagram.com/romancerband