Fresh from a support slot with Grammy Award Winner Beck and shows with The Hot 8 Brass Band, Soulwax and Calvin Harris, the Liverpool trio are just about to complete album 3.
The bands versatility has seen them described as somewhere between Phoenix, Foster the People & Mutemath with a hint of Daft Punk & Depeche Mode thrown in, and this has seen radio support from BBC 6 music, X Radio, and Radio 2 and two hype machine number 1 Kids on Bridges are currently heading back over to America where they are going to finish work on a brand new album and have drafted in Eagles of Death Metal bass player Jennie Vee to join them on a number of tracks, along with New Orleans poet Chuck Perkins. Having previously worked with The Chemical Brothers producer Steve Dub, the new album promises to be a sonic assault! Recently The Band has been on remixing duties for Grammy Nominee Ledisi and Beating Nile Rodgers to the remix of calling all nations for INXS’s Kick 30.
Although the guys are certainly no strangers to having great guest performances on their releases, the last single ‘Say Ok’ featured New Orleans drumming legend Zigaboo Modeliste of the Meters. The band also found themselves nominated for best Alt video at the Paramount Awards in Hollywood for the single ‘Something in the Water’ a song that has recently been featured as the Footlocker advert and is set to also be featured in a new American TV show as the show’s Theme song.
The Bands Track ‘Walls’ was used in many Anti trump marches across America and they were also honoured to be the UK representatives at last year’s Special Olympics in LA performing alongside Stevie Wonder.
With excellent performances at Creamfeilds, Wickerman, Bestival and Ibiza Rocks, the future couldn’t be looking brighter for the Liverpool Band.
LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/KidsOnBridgesMusic
https://twitter.com/Kidsonbridges
https://www.instagram.com/kids_on_bridges/
https://soundcloud.com/kidsonbridges
https://www.youtube.com/user/kidsonbridges
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Voice of Aiko – Prescription Dream
In collaboration with Voice of Aiko, Arts Council England, and charities REST, MIND & APRIL, Enya Belak Gupta unveils a powerful new film to help tackle the global prescription drug crisis. Prescription Dream is a slick and stylish documentary that illustrates with chilling insight the terrible impact prescription drugs can have. The tense, unnerving tone employed throughout represents the helplessness and confusion of dependency sufferers. The film was released online on Wednesday 17th October 2018 with the aim of generating cultural discourse around this pressing issue. Working with Stakk Media and partner charities, the Prescription Dream will be released with a weekly vlog series sharing people’s personal stories of their experiences with prescription drugs. Voice of Aiko is also running musical workshops with those affected as part of the campaign.
What drove us to launch this project was hearing the shocking statistics and stories about what potential harm medications prescribed by the doctor can cause and how easily this can be helped by us just talking about it more, allowing people to make informed choices. We hope that with this emotional song, Enya’s stunning video, the artistic workshops and the weekly vlog we can raise awareness on this very important subject.
For more information please visit:
http://benzoinfo.com
http://www.w-bad.org
http://www.april.org.uk
http://www.mindincamden.org.uk/resources/articles/minor-tranxDirected and Concept by Enya Belak Gupta
Starring Calista Kazuko
Director of Photography: Aadhar Gupta
Edited by Enya Belak Gupta
1st AD: Elena Osipova
Gaffer: Sam Robinson-Horley
Spark: Ana Ferreira De Lima
Camera Assistant: Philip Reinking
Makeup Designer: Esmeralda Velia
Styling and Production Design: Enya Belak Gupta & Calista Kazuko
Color Correction: Teleking, Ljubljana
Grader: Fran Sokolić
Executive Producer: Aadhar GuptaShot at Leman Locke Hotel in London.
Music by Calista Kazuko, Samim Winiger, Miguel Toro & Jack Brown
In collaboration with London based charity REST (MIND) who provides support for individuals who may be experiencing difficulties due to Benzodiazepine dependency.
SPECIAL THANKS:
- Melanie Davis
- Jason Harrington
- Millie Kieve
- Locke Hotels
- Zoran Mihailović
- Sam Robinson-Horley
- Samantha Sheridan
- Lorraine Solomons
- Heather Yeomans
- Pink&Green Colors
About Voice of Aiko
Voice of Aiko is a creative collective of musicians, filmmakers, and artists joining forces to campaign for real societal change. Aiko’s first project Prescription Dream sees founder Calista Kazuko collaborate with fellow musicians Samim, Miguel Toro, and Jack Brown and filmmaker Enya Belak Gupta to spotlight an ongoing global prescription drug epidemic. In England alone, there are an estimated 1.5 million people suffering from medically prescribed benzodiazepine dependency, and more than 1 million patients are taking dependence-forming drugs unnecessarily. Antidepressants are also a major problem, with statistics showing that roughly 50 Americans die from prescription painkiller overdoses every day. In partnership with charities REST, MIND & APRIL, Aiko’s Prescription Dream project will raise awareness and open dialogue on this devastating issue. The campaign includes a series of musical workshops with Let’s All Create which use art to help heal those who have been affected. Voice of Aiko is grateful to be supported with public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.SOURCE: Official Bio
LINKS:
https://twitter.com/VoiceofAiko
https://www.facebook.com/VoiceofAiko
https://www.instagram.com/VoiceofAiko
https://tinyurl.com/voiceofaiko-spotify -
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/ -
Dar.Ra – Phenomenal
Born in Dublin, Ireland, Darragh J Brady – AKA Dar.Ra has been in the music industry for a while with hits in the UK and Australia, signed to EMI, Festival and various dance labels over the years, remixing Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Tears 4 Fears, Savage Garden, and writing for Rachel Brown (Faithless, Groove Armada) plus having music on various Hollywood films like ‘Snakes on Planes’ films starring Hilary Duff on ABC TV, Match Of Day (BBC TV) and US Documentary City Of Hope.
He grew up in Brighton and London and his first solo album Soul Hours was released in 2010 made album of the week of Spain’s Heart FM, as well as receiving support from BBC Radio, playing to over 1 million people on air within one live show.
Also an author, Dar.Ra has a book available called ‘Road Tales’ which has been getting brilliant reviews and is based on people Dar.Ra met while being the road from the late 1990’s to 2008.
On Phenomenal, Dar.Ra says –
“The track is about single mothers and the sacrifice they make to keep everything going, a roof over their heads and food on the table. It’s a tribute to them and my own Mum who brought me and my brother up on her own and worked herself to the point of exhaustion to do it. God bless them all”.
The forthcoming album (2019) titled ‘Planet X’ is a unique blend of rock energy and soulful melodies crossing boundaries from those genres plus visiting the world of reggae and country and world music soundscapes. The sound is heavyweight, tight and never lets you down for a second.
Themes on the album include; strong single mothers on the lead single track ‘Phenomenal’, losing people you love way too soon on a track called ‘Rewind’, world insecurities on ‘Heavier Than Rock n Roll’, and love being your drug of choice on ‘Heart Shaped Pill’.
Dar.Ra is a really unique songwriter, producer and author who makes an amazing blend of rock and soul Music
(21st Artists Hollywood)“Highly impressive”
(Planet Earth Radio USA)Dar.Ra is an incredible act to follow as he is always evolving on each song with incredible results
(Indie People USA)Dar.Ra infuses layers of vocals and instrumentation into each record he makes. The genius of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles, came to mind while listening to “Phenomenal”, “Back To The Brink” and “Heart Shape Pill”
(Tune Loud Magazine USA)LINKS:
https://facebook.com/Dar.Ra7
https://youtube.com/kushadeep7
https://twitter.com/kushadeepmusic
https://instagram.com/dar.ra.brady