Confessional singer-songwriter Luis Mojica has released his new single ‘City Friends’. Earlier, he announced his new album ‘How A Stranger Is Made’, to be released in early October, while teasing the first single ‘The Ranger’.
This album features production from Mercury Prize-winning producers David Baron (Bat For Lashes, Peter Murphy, Lenny Kravitz, The Lumineers) and Simone Felice (The Lumineers, Bat For Lashes, Dan Mangan) and mixing by three-time Grammy award-winning producer Justin Guip (Levon Helm).
Mojica’s new long-play is intimate and empathic – a beautiful tapestry of piano-driven songs that quite intimately express his healing journey through shamanism, sexuality, trauma and ecstatic joy.
“I wrote this song while walking in NYC’s East Village. The St. Mark’s bookstore had just closed, my favorite tree in Washington Square Park was severed in half, and all around me, my beloved neighborhood was changing so rapidly. I walked around feeling so much loss and, this song became a container for me to pour all kinds of loss I had experienced into it. The loss of friendships, lovers, cities, cultures, the identity of self. I finished the song years after leaving the city for Woodstock, NY. You can hear a duality in the track: a somber, lonely piano and vocals against an upbeat drum and then a full-on ecstatic sounding chorus. It was my way of celebrating the loss, gentrification, and the betrayal – in hindsight. It all brought me to a new life that was much better for me. So I became grateful for the forced growth and transformation,” says Luis Mojica.
“I asked 25 of my friends in Woodstock, NY to each lip-sync one line from the song to create a diverse cast of individuals threaded together with the same sentiment: “I lost something”. The song, originally about NYC, became an anthem for us in Woodstock as we’ve experienced so much change in class, culture, and business. Woodstock is quickly evolving and that old, messy, timeless wild that attracted us to the area is disappearing. I shot the video at the last dive bar, now closed and abandoned, that graced Woodstock’s main street. The video features all locals of Woodstock, most of them my dearest friends, as an almost anthropological project to preserve and document this fading era of people and place”.
‘How A Stranger Is Made’ follows up Mojica’s first studio album ‘Wholesome’, released on August 2016 after two years of touring with the avant-garde cello band Rasputina. He toured this album, which features his unique style of live looped beatboxing and rich vocal harmonies, both as support for Rasputina and as a headliner. The album’s limited pressing sold out quite quickly and now is only available digitally.
A pianist and vocalist now based in Woodstock, New York, Mojica began developing his unique musical style in the crowded apartments and crumbling theaters of NYC’s East Village. In 2012, he moved upstate to the mountains of the Hudson Valley, where he’s become renowned for both his holistic healing work, as well as his musical compositions.
Piano-based, his songs blend his 3+ octave vocal range to create choir-like textures, as well as utilizing unusual character voices and harmonies that explore androgyny, spirituality, and unorthodox male identity. Mojica’s music and sound esthetic is inspired by Leonard Cohen, Tori Amos, Patti Smith, Joanna Newsom, and Kate Bush.
The scenario, filming, and direction for this video were all handled by Mojica himself. Video editing was performed by Joel Patterson at Mountaintop Studios in Petersburgh, NY. The accompanying video was written, filmed and directed by Kelly Merchant with editing and compositing by Fredo Viola. Merchant also took the photo for the cover artwork, while Viola designed it.
SOURCE: Official Bio
“Perfect for those who enjoy the visceral sound of Bjork, the hypnotic vocals of Thom Yorke and looking for something new in the scene”
– Music Existence“Mojica’s music requires refined aesthetics and discernment and is damn near a new wrinkle in the sonic territory”
– Mark S. Tucker“Convincing delivery, it seems he is speaking right to the listener in the same way Tori Amos, Devendra Banhart, Kate Bush and Ani DiFranco manage to. His muse has obviously led him into some deeply personal, vulnerable places. Through his music, Mojica radiates creative joy, making this a thoroughly enjoyable listen”
– Big Takeover Magazine“Luis Mojica’s vocals really are an instrument unto themselves and the pinnacle of what makes this album a jewel among the thistles”
– Band Blurb“The harmonies are exceptional. From the opera style to the beatboxing. I haven’t been this impressed this much with vocal harmonies since I heard Fleet Foxes”
– No More Division“Mojica’s voice is an instrument in itself; it soars as he sings and his beats are like bullets puncturing through the track”
– Mookychic
LINKS:
http://www.luismojica.com
https://www.facebook.com/luismojicamusic
https://luismojica.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/luis.mojica.music
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl-Z3peOvHwczSYyv4J-IVA/videos
https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/luis-mojica/763703531
https://open.spotify.com/artist/0kqaE6tmzfgC4hk6CKXlr7
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Heat Of Damage – The Gift
California Rock/Metal Band Heat of Damage has released the Official Music Video for “The Gift,” the debut single off of their upcoming sophomore LP, due out next year. “The Gift” was shot and directed by Ethan Parilla of Atrocious Works Productions.
Heat Of Damage consists of four talented young musicians who write, produce and perform an edgy and eclectic mix of hard rock and metal music. Their self-produced EP, Orenda, debuted in 2013.
Since then, the band has performed at numerous venues in the Northern California area. The group released their second EP, Lifestyle, in September 2014. The title track was featured on 98 Rock’s Local Licks program for three weeks running. Lifestyle’s “Apocalypse” was released soon after and earned a spot on 98 Rock’s Local Licks Most Liked Song of 2014 Countdown Show. The song came in at #2 for the year!
Following the successes of Lifestyle, the band entered the studio with Sacramento engineer and producer Matt Thomas to record their first full-length album, Open Fire, which was released in October of 2015.
Open Fire was well received following its release, garnering overwhelmingly positive reviews from a wide variety of writers and music critics. The song “Heaven” was the #6 Most Liked Song of 2015 for 98 Rock’s Local Licks, despite only having two months of airplay during the year.
The group is well known for their musicality and showmanship. Shows are high-energy, engaging, and memorable. Their musical range is impressive, with an ability to provide anything from an incredible rock show to an unforgettable metal experience, for any venue’s style and the crowd. Heat Of Damage never disappoints!
LINKS:
http://www.heatofdamage.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Heat-of-Damage/135160809846382
http://twitter.com/heatofdamage
http://www.youtube.com/user/HeatofDamage -
ELYXR – Strange Stubborn Proud (featuring Information Society’s Kurt Harland Larson)
Seattle-based artist ELYXR and Kurt Harland Larson from legendary synth band Information Society have teamed up to present their collaborative single ‘Strange Stubborn Proud’.
Formed in 1982 while in college, Larson started Information Society, which would become a decades-long involvement with music, electronic audio, and recording/programming. As a synthpop band, Information Society achieved mainstream success in the late eighties and early nineties, most widely known for their 1988 hit single ‘What’s On Your Mind? (Pure Energy)’. Larson reunited with his former bandmates in 2007, giving the band new impetus, releasing new material and touring internationally.
ELYXR is a collaborative project with a penchant for concocting modern synthpop potions, headed by Seattle-based indie-electronic artist Kasson Crooker (Symbion Project, Freezepop), who not only produces his releases but also mixes and masters them at Speed of Dark Music studios in Seattle.
Strongly influenced by the likes of Depeche Mode, New Order, Moderat, and Information Society, ELYXR merges the best of old-school 80’s synthpop with modern electropop production, similar to artists like Röyksopp, Goldfrapp, and Marsheaux. The origins of this project trace back to many years of making electropop with Freezepop, during which time Kasson met many other talented artists. ELYXR was the perfect outlet to collaborate with them, creating a fresh synthpop sound.
“I first heard Freezepop in the early ‘00’s, and immediately told my wife, who worked at a record store, about them. Shortly thereafter she got them to come out to San Francisco for an in-store appearance, which was, I think, their first San Francisco trip. I loved Kasson’s work with Freezepop over those years, and when he started Elyxr, I jumped at the chance to make music together for the first time,” explains Kurt Harland Larson.
“The lyrics for SSP were inspired by the words of a friend. I read what she wrote and spun them up into lyrics. I hope that anyone who hears the song can hear the duality in the lyrics: While clearly striking a proud and defiant tone, there is also a note of tragedy in the voice; anyone who must walk this sort of path must endure rather a lot of social suffering.”
While some of ELXYR past work has been dreamy and introspective, ‘Strange Stubborn Proud’ is more an in-your-face mix of classic synthpop and electro. This track is upbeat and energetic, featuring modern synthesizer sounds intermingled with detuned vintage synths over complex and syncopated drum machines. The unique nature of each song’s vocalist takes each composition in a different aesthetic direction.
“Information Society is one of my most influential bands and helped inspire me to begin making synthpop in the 80’s. In fact, InSoc was the very first band I ever went to see as a teenager,” says Kasson Crooker.
“I’ve known Kurt from InSoc now for many years as he and I both do music/audio production for video games. We just needed to find the right song to work on together. I gave him some song options to choose from and was psyched that he found one that channeled a bit of the early InSoc “Running” sound. I love the fact that, through the lyrics, he unapologetically states his motives and how he operates outside of society’s norms and conventions!”
Forfeiting the standard route of releasing albums and EPs, ELXYR is shaking up that model by releasing each single as it is completed. ELYXR has issued a string of six electrifying singles in the past six months, featuring Color Theory, Elissa LeCoque from enigmatic Brooklyn act Kodachrome, Katrina Kope from Seattle-band Purr Gato, Naoko Takamoto of Princess Problems, and long-time collaborator Melissa R. Kaplan from Kasson’s previous band Splashdown.
‘Strange Stubborn Proud’ released on March 9 on all notable online stores and streaming platforms, as well as on ELYXR’s Bandcamp.
“The perfect synthpop storm… one of the catchiest tracks of the year, voiced by a man who set the standard for American synthpop in InSoc’s Kurt Harland Larson”
– Echosynthetic“ELYXR have released a whole selection of electronic gems… a fascinating musical endeavour by the ever-talented Kasson Crooker”
– The Electricity Club“Kasson Crooker is a tireless musical chameleon, exploring the limits of electronic instruments and composition”
– Modern SynthpopLINKS:
http://elyxr.bandcamp.com
http://www.facebook.com/ELYXRband
http://twitter.com/symbionproject
http://www.youtube.com/user/symbionproject -
Claudio Conti – Blazing Lair
Claudio Conti presents ‘Blazing Lair’ is the second single off his new album ‘Garnet Dusk’ album, out now via Seahorse Recordings. This follows up the earlier revealed single ‘Old Clouds Fell‘-. both tracks reel in a delightful ebb and flow, while the new single beautifully embodies California dreaming.
The new accompanying video was entirely filmed last September in Los Angeles, mainly in the West Hollywood and Venice areas in September 2017, this video was filmed and directed by Claudio Conti and Frederick Byron, who also edited it. The two previously cooperated on the video for ‘Old Clouds Fell‘, shot entirely in San Francisco and California’s Bodega Head Beach.
The new film portrays the shadows and lights of Los Angeles, a city that has always been blessed, cursed, crowded and infested by artists, and who shape this luminous place with their greatness, their weaknesses, their achievements and their failures. “L.A. is ambrosia, whispers, and caresses of inspiration but also the kiss of death,” says Claudio Conti. “To have artistic recognition there is the greatest challenge, the city of angels (or of lost angels) seems like the most dangerous and highest mountain to climb unharmed for any artist.”
Claudio Conti is an Italian songwriter whose style is rooted in the same romantic pensiveness that marks the music of Tim Buckley, Nick Drake, Gene Clark. and Tim Hardin. Largely drawn to psychedelic music, folk rock, and 80’s indie rock, he considers Gram Parsons, The Doors, The Smiths and early R.E.M. as his main influences.
His new 14-track album ‘Garnet Dusk’ is a very ambitious and personal album with moods alternating between the chaotic experiences of a man in his early to mid-thirties, the solidification of his beliefs and worldview, including its flaws and qualities. Addressing such issues as migration and maturity, this is a product of deep thinking about life’s inevitable and difficult situations. This album was equally inspired by the sound of the ocean as by a woman’s departure. This is Conti’s attempt to explain unusual encounters like ships passing slowly in the night.
“This album is about the mysticism of love and rediscovered affection. The truth in children’s eyes and parents’ lack of consideration. And the frustrations, the illusions of flippancy that take us far from certain situations and on a detour towards the firmness of our insight, the channel of real life, where we find the life source that we really need,” says Claudio Conti.
Conti’s ‘Garnet Dusk’ is like fire in the sky, lasting just a short while but holding your core intuitions – carpe diem. Then comes the night with its glorious shadows and blinding lights… a reel for the poets… a tryst for the unsatisfied.
LINKS:
http://www.facebook.com/Claudio-Conti-1479110699037058/
http://twitter.com/claudioconti70
http://soundcloud.com/claudio-conti-1981